The Missionary Review of the World — February 1917
CHINA-A HUMAN GOD OF
The Bogda or Incarnate Buddha, who is also the Hutukhta or Ruler. Is he worthy of worship and absolute obedience?
MISSIONARY
'EVIEW~ VOL. FEBRUARY, 1917 NUMBER XL Two SIGNS OF THE TIMES QUIET EVANGELISM IN CHINA THE week of February 4th to 11th has been set aside among Chi· nese missions and churches as a week of special evangelism. Rev. W. M. Hayes, of Tsingchowfu, who has been a missionary in China for over thirty years, records some interesting signs of progress in letters froIn native evangelists. The first of these is the prevalent desire of the women to learn. One elder wrote that while itinerating with a tent which seats about 250 it would be packed with men, while many women gathered around listening on the outside. It would offend Chinese ideas as to womanly modesty for them to press into the tent among the men, but they are welcome to all the space there is out-ofdoors. The women stand, shifting back and forth on small feet, straining to hear, and show a yearning to know more of the Christian message.
The tendency to accept Christianity by families seems to be growing. This is the way that the Gospel makes its most substantial progress, not in a wave of excitement, which sometimes does more harm than good, but quietly from family to family and from village to village. The word "family" is used in the patriarchal sense, embracing grandfather, father and sons, several families in one, and frequently in one large compound. Families sometimes offer to furnish a room for the evangelist to stay in, or a larger room for worship on Sabbaths.
Mr. Arthur Polhill, of the China Inland Mission, also writes of a spiritual movement in Chengk'o, an unoccupied part of eastern Szechuan. Many of the wealthy in all directions are destroying their idols, and on a recent Sunday over one hundred men and sixty women were present at the service, so that the meeting place was literally crowded out. Mr. and Mrs. Polhill received an invitation to go to a large coun-
try house to spend three days teaching a wealthy family who want to give up idolatry and ii1entify themselves with the Church. In eastern Szechuan, at Tais·ichen, a large market town, another out-station was opened as the result of the testimony of a Mr. Wang, who has exerted a wonderful influence, so that some thirty families have put away their idols.
ENCOURAGEMENTS IN SHANTUNG ' f { A I WHANG" (opening the wilderness) ·is the Chinese designa- tion for preaching among raw heathen. So vast is the un- touched population and so few the workers in many parts of the Republic that there are thousands of towns, villages and groups of huts where people not only have no knowledge of the "Jesus doctrine," but have never seen a foreigner. The Rev. Charles E. Scott reports that in one section near Tsingtau there are one hundred and eight raw heathen villages. In some of them there has been preaching, and the willingness of the people to listen to the Gospel is remarkable. In part it may be induced by the Chinese feeling of utter hopelessness of the future of their country and lack of all confidence in their officials. The saying among them is: "All officials ought to be put out, but what is the use? If deposed, others just as bad would come to take their place." A new experience as to this willingness to listen to the Gospel is reported by Mr. Scott on a recent trip, when he was invited in these villages to stay and preach in the family temples. "These are ordinary 'Sancta Sanctorum,' where families grouped together worship the ghosts of their ancestors, place their family genealogies, and, locked securely, the tablets of their ancestors. In one place, where they had thrown out their idols, we are planning for a school in the massivebeamed, spacious room, and we not only held worship there several times while I was in the village but even commemorated the Lord's Supper. "In another village an influential priest, the head of a company possessed of some three hundred acres, assured me that his Taoist religion was the same as mine. Welcoming me into his rooms with the wellworn Confucian saw, 'All within the four seas are brethren,' he explained to me the nature of each of the hideous-visaged deities within the temple. Before the great deity of that temple, backed on either side by two monstrous dragons, glaring out from the pillars to which they clung, I prayed to the true God." There is progress evident on every hand. In one Kai Whang district Mr. Scott baptized ten women, who, even last January, were so afraid of the Christian religion that they did not even dare see a Chinese Bible woman. Their fervor in the doctrine and surrender were remarkable. All have unbound their feet. It is unfortunately true, how- . ever, that very few Chinese women have done this. Mr. Scott says that in all his travels through hundreds of villages he has never yet seen a
OF THE
heathen woman with unbound feet. There is still an immense amount of social work to be done among the Chinese, both non-Christian and Christian.
SOCIAL CHANGES AMONG THE CHINESE T HE Christian forces in China are becoming increasingly effective in their efforts to improve social and sanitary conditions in Chi- nese cities. The Young Men's Christian Association has been conducting a city-wide health campaign in Hangchow, which is, in the eyes of the Chinese, the most practical and far-reaching work that it has undertaken. The abbot of the largest Buddhist temple in Cent~al China (a sustaining member of the Association) invited Mr. Turner, the secretary, to repeat his lecture on sanitation in the temple. There were more than IOO priests and about 200 villagers to hear the lantern lecture on sanitation. Mr. Turner distributed tuberculosis story calendars -the story of two brothers; one followed the laws of health and lived to a good old age, the other did not and died of tuberculosis at an early age. A week after the lecture the abbot of the temple came to the Association bringing with him two priests to become members. These men represent much of superstition and yet have latent power. They are now friendly with the missionaries and may become Christians.
The material improvements in the cities have also been largely due to missionary influence and to that of the Chinese students from abroad. More improvements have been made in Foochow during the past year than during the previous fifty years. The Foochow Electric Company now furnishes good light to the public and to householders. Streets have been widened, strengthened and macadamized. Until last January no wheeled vehicle of any kind was used in Foochow. Now three hundred rickshaws, besides several horse carriages, carry passengers cheaper than sedan chairs. The drains have been opened and the streets cleaned, so that both bubonic plague and cholera have greatly decreased. These changes do not merely make China interesting to us. Christianity is responsible, directly or indirectly, for every change.
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN THE FAR EAST THE Sunday-school movement is growing in the mission fields and is attracting much. ~tte~tion. This is esp.ecially true in Asia. N 0- where, except posslbly m Egypt and Indla, has the Sunday-school been so effectively used on the mission field as in Japan, Korea and China. This is largely due to superior organization and supervision, cared for in China and in India by full-time special secretaries.
The China Sunday-School Union was formed in I91O, as an outgrowth of the China Centenary Conference of I 907. At first it was a ward of the British Sunday-School Union, but because of war burdens it is now cared for jointly by that organization and the American Section
of the World's Association. In China the Sunday-schools are largely made up of pupils in Christian day schools and higher institutions of learning, of men in the Christian Associations, of catechumens and of relatively few church members. Thus far they are poorly graded and insufficiently provided with competent teachers, the missionaries being almost the only ones thoroughly competent to teach in modern ways. Where no missionary is available, the school is apt to degenerate into a second-rate preaching service. Yet here are gathered 133,474 scholars in over 3,200 schools, and the most manifest need to which the Union is addressing itself is the training of competent teachers. It has prepared a special set of books-six in Chinese and English-cares for two six-weeks' summer schools for training Sunday-school workers and Bible teachers, and issues a periodical well adapted for this end. The present point of emphasis is an adult Bible-class movement for the enlistment, training and use of men and women for effective Bible study and teaching, evangelistic work and Christian service.
Korea illustrates the ideal of all the church in the Sunday-school and of all the Sunday-school in the church. Until recently the eagerness of adults to study the Bible led to the neglect of the children, who must shift for themselves in classes intended for adults. Children outside the church received almost no attention. Thanks to the visit of Dr. and Mrs. Hamill, of the World's Sunday-School Association, and the experiment of Mr. Swinehart, of the Southern Presbyterian Board, which led to the addition of 2,500 to the Sunday-school membership in his Mission, the children are now to be especially sought. The eightyear-old Korea Sunday-School Association reports a present membership of 171,632 scholars and 6,631 officers and teachers. The graded lessons were found to be less suited to Korean need than consecutive Bible study, yet there are four grades in three-fourths of the schools. Most of the teaching is done by Koreans trained in the excellent Bible institutes which are held several times a year for ten days each. When the World's Sunday-School Commission was in Korea three years ago and a Sunday-school demonstration of 15,000 scholars assembled in the old palace grounds, the Japanese officials were so moved thereby that they have since given time there and in America to study the Sundayschool in its relation to the new primary school system and the education of the young in morals. The Young People's Buddhist Society has been stimulated to attempt something of the sort for their children and youth, though with little success.
Japan's forward movement in Sunday-school work dates from 1907, when the National Sunday-School Association was formed under the inspiration of Secretary Frank L. Brown. The first president was Judge Watanabe, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea. Its two secretaries, one a Japanese and ·the other a trained American worker, Mr. Coleman, of the Society of Friends, are co-operating in the development of appropriate literature, the training of pastors, super-
intendents and teachers through reading and training courses and in workers' institutes. "The Japanese are born teachers," says Mr. Brown, "and through their training in recitation of the legends and hero stories of old Japan are particularly effective in telling Bible stories. . . . Girls from the girls' schools make it a practice to go out by twos and gather the children from the streets into Japanese homes, and there, by the use of a blackboard, wall charts and graded lessons adapted from American models and illustrated with Japanese pictures, these children are very effectively taught."
As Japan is the banner country of the world in school attendance, with ninety-eight per cent of its children in public schools, the problem of grading is an easy one. J apanicized American methods are rainyday tickets, birthday cards, banners, welcome cards, rolls of honor, attendance badges and medals, besides a series of quarterly exercises which are mostly illustrated from Japanese life. As already stated in the REVIEW, the imitation by the Buddhists, and strong opposition of some priests and public school teachers who are Buddhists, are indications of the strength of the movement. Had it not been for the war, the World's Sunday-School Association would have held its convention in Tokyo last year. The 'event has been delayed, but when it occurs it will demonstrate the power of the Sunday-school in the development of individual character, community social service, the national spirit and fraternal bonds between nations.
UNITY IN THE KOREAN CHURCH THERE are signs that indicate a growing sense of unity among the native Christians in the foreign fields where it is to be hoped that the disunion such as exists in Christendom will not be perpetuated. "Ten years ago," writes Rev. C. E. Blair, "the missions working in Korea attained exceptional results along many lines of church union and comity. These have been a great blessing. More recently, special interests have absorbed a predominant ,influence, and a drift toward denominationalism seemed to be setting in. But during last summer a hunger for even better things in Christian fellowship and a sense of duty to give the Korean Church a choice to grow up as one body in Christ without Western denominational stamp moved many hearts, and now we have probably seen the most fruitful steps taken in years toward comity and union. May this new impulse grow till the one Evangelical Christian Church of Korea becomes a reality."
At a meeting of the Federal Council of the missions in Korea, held last fall, resolutions were passed to the effect that the missionaries communicate with the Korean churches, "describing the benefits of the Federal Council of Missions, and suggesting that they consider the advisability of forming a similar body among themselves." This communication was presented to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, where it was favorably received, and a committee was appointed
to confer with any similar committees appointed by the Methodist Conferences.
CHURCH FEDERATION WORK IN AMERICA T HERE are indications that closer fellowship among denominations is more than an academic question for platform discussion. The Commission on Federated Movements of the Federal Council of Churches, of which Rev. Roy B. Guild is the Executive Secretary, declares that there has never been a time when so many ministers and laymen were ready to enter upon a sane and constructive Christian program of co-operation under efficient leadership as now. The secretaries of the Commission recently took a trip through the Western States and discovered the readiness not only of many individual church members, but of home mission secretaries and state superintendents, to put community welfare before denominational growth. In North Dakota the Congregational and Methodist superintendents made a list of twelve towns having both churches, each receiving missionary money. Byagreement, each denomination withdrew from half the fields, leaving the other in charge to the advantage of the community and of the churches.
In Minneapolis, St. Paul, Seattle, Spokane, Portla:nd, San Diego, Denver, strong committees were appointed to promote the organization of city-wide federations, that executive secretaries might be employed to combine the various inter-church committees already existing, and to lead in performing outstanding community Christian tasks. Fourteen other cities throughout the country already have such secretaries at work.
THE INDIAN EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN H OPEFUL results are coming from the native evangelistic cam- paign in India. A missionary, closely in touch with the present evangelistic movement, summarizes some results as follows: "The campaign has revealed new opportunities for evangelism which were not fully realized before. In the Madura District many an old Bible was discovered in the houses of Hindus, sometimes read and sometimes unread. Not only so, but this campaign has helped to follow up the pupils of the missionary schools and has provided an opportunity for continuing the work already done in the schools. In some parts it has given a stimulus to old mass movements which had practically died out. Under the impulse of this movement various quarrels and factions in churches have been healed and parties brought together, in some cases in a very remarkable way.
"The movement has also led to the discovery of new methods of evangelism. It shows how the Indian Church will work on its own lines when it is really enthused with the spirit of evangelism. For the Indian Church it means new life. For India it means a new vision of Christ in the lives and in the service of those who are His."
MISSIONARY CONCEPTION OF
T HERE has been born of the great war a demand for a new and truer thought of God. The false glorification of man, of his ability to do anything; the idea of his perfectibility in his own strength, of his mastery of himself and of the tides of social life and feeling, have collapsed, and men who have been thought of as agnostics or religious neutrals have come to realize and confess the world's need of God and of a definite and positive conception of Him. As Qne of these, Mr. H. G. Wells, has just written, "People habitually religious have been stirred to new depths of sincerity and reality and people are thinking of religion who never thought of religion before." And then he adds, "but thinking and feeling about a matter is of no permanent value unless something is thought out, unless there is a change of boundary, of relationship." Not only has the war broken down man's vain self-boasting and compelled him to bow down and look up, but it has taught him that this looking up must involve not a mere vague selfdiscontent but a clean and commanding conception of God. Whatever strength has been disclosed by the war has been found to have sprung from life ordered by great convictions. And the greatest of all convictions is God.
And just because men are now driven to find God are they compelled to turn to the Christian thought of God, which is the only clear and fearless and satisfying idea. Men like Professor Gilbert Murray, another of the minds classed as religiously neutral before the war, have turned to the central truth of the Gospel, the death of Christ for human sin. As the London Christian remarks, "The thought of the innocent suffering for the guilty, once said by liberal theology to be immoral, has been illumined by the red light of war and has brought back to men's minds the central truth of the faith."
And it has been especially the universal conception of the Christian God which the war has lifted in men's thought. The tribal and ethnic gods have paled and the heart of humanity has revolted at the idea of such chaos and civil war in God as follows inevitably from the conception of German gods and French gods and Russian gods and British gods. Men want the one God and Father, and every day that the war lasts deepens that longing.
In other words, the whole great yearning of the world to-day is for the missionary idea of God: one God and Father of all mankind, in whom the whole family of the earth is made one, before whom every race does its own work and makes its contribution to the common service and glory of humanity.
SAPLESS STATISTICS?
ST ATISTI CS certainly-pages on pages of them-but they are' sapless only for those who see meaningless figures in a statistical volume. In our "Missionary Library" will be found a note concerning "World Statistics of Christian Missions," the latest publication of its class. Here we call attention to a few outstanding and eloquent facts, selected from its multitudinous entries.
In this enterprise of Protestantism there are 4 12 different societies directing work on the mission fields, aided by 98 other organizations, which are independent though not directing such operations. Allied societies reporting through the previous groups increase the number by 189. In the year 1915 these societies contributed for the work $38,- 922,822, an amount that has been somewhat lessened by the war. Of the directing societies sending missionaries to foreign fields, 12 are Canadian, 128 are located in the United States, 17 are Australasian, 92 are in the British Isles, 70 are Continental societies, and the remainder have their headquarters in Africa, South America, Asia, Malaysia and the West Indies. Figures like these make one realize that America is not the only land interested in missions; yet it is interesting to note that, in 19 I 5, the United States supplied forty-six per cent of the money expended by the Protestant societies of the world on foreign missions.
In the same year various mission fields had a total foreign staff numbering 24,039, of whom 13,719 were women and 7,041 were ordained men. The medical missionaries totaled 1,052, of whom 743 were men and 309 were women. The stations where these light-bearers were resident were 4,094 in all, counting only once the towns in which a number of Boards were represented. In Tokyo, for instance, thirtyfour societies report missionaries in residence. The native Christian staff co-operating with the foreign missionaries was 109,099 strong, 7,430 being ordained and 19,540 being women workers wholly unsung but greatly useful in the uplift of needy womanhood.
A most hopeful item shows that there were 26,210 organized churches and 30,752 other places having regular services. In these churches were gathered 2,408,900 communicants, with 1,423,3 J 4 others under instruction; also 36,610 Sunday-schools, enrolling 1,777.433 pupils and teachers. The contributions of these congregations for church work totaled $4,5 15 ,984-a sum that should be multiplied by at least five to show its real cost to the givers, most of whom are very poor.
Educational work on the foreign fields is far greater than most Christian givers to missions realize. Here are a few of the data found in the tables: Total individuals under instruction, 1,973,8 I 6; fees received, $1,565,207.
In 1,234 dispensaries medical missionaries gave 8,833,759 treatments during the year, while the 703 hospitals had their 17,364 beds occupied by 253,633 in-patients.
COMMENT
These are a few of the thousands of items recorded in this striking exhibit of foreign missionary activities under Protestant societies. A summary of what Roman and Greek Catholic Missions are doing is also given. The general impression of the volume is at once encouraging and discouraging, according as one thinks of what has been accomplished or of the vastly greater work left wholly untouched. If the reader could sit down for half a day and ask a missionary to interpret the significance of these figures, or selected samples, the value of the volume would be manifest.
THE FOREIGN MISSIONS CONFERENCE M ORE than two hundred delegates and visitors recently attended the conference of Foreign Mission Boards of the United States and Canada, held in Garden City, New York, January 9th to lIth.
It was marked by a series of addresses and discussions of remarkable interest and importance. The Committee on Statistics reported a total income of $24,688,728 received by the 130 societies in the United States and $ 1,266,040 in the 16 Canadian organizations. These statistics are more fully given in our insert. They represent the largest sum ever reported for Foreign Missions, and are four times the amount reported fifteen years ago.
The Conference received illuminating reports on the needs and opportunities in Latin America as revealed by the studies undertaken in connection with the Congress at Panama last year. Africa, with its Mohammedan problem and the needs of its great industrial camps and untouched areas, occupied one evening session. Other topics considered at length were those connected with missionary administration, the selection and preparation of candidates, education in the mission field and the cultivation of the churches at home.
Devotion, energy, efficiency and Christian statesmanship characterize these annual gatherings, which have accomplished wonders in the last quarter of a century in bringing missionary agencies together and in developing a harmonized and aggressive policy in Foreign Mission work.
THE HOME MISSIONS COUNCIL THE tenth annual meeting of the Home Missions Council was held in New York City simultaneously with the Foreign Missions Con- ference and the Women's Council of Home Mission Boards. The most important topic brought up for discussion was doubtless the proposal to take steps to unite more closely the home missionary organizations in their common task of evangelizing North America. This is a statesmanlike project and one that cannot but appeal to largehearted, far-seeing Christians.
The President of the Council read a paper in which he proposed that steps be taken to organize and equip an educational bureau which should be a clearing house of information on home missions and a center for supplies. It was also suggested that a field service be estab- lished to eliminate duplication of work on the home field, to forward economy, co-operation and the adequate accomplishment of unfinished tasks. Home Mission Boards have made considerable progress in the last decade, but there is need for a still more energetic and constructive program in order that the problems of the frontiers, the rural commu- nities, the negroes, the Indians, the immigrants and the cities may be studied and solved efficiently. A committee was appointed to consider the proposal. There is reason to hope that denominational rivalry will in time give way before a larger, clearer view of the needs of humanity and the unified program of God.
THE "REVIEW" AND THE BOARDS CO-OPERATION is the modern missionary watchword. Separate and independent agencies may be necessary and best to carryon the work of the various denominations, and each of these agen- cies requires an official mouthpiece. But there are so many common problems and interests, and each agency can gain so much of inspira- tion and instruction from other workers, that there has been an increasing sentiment in favor of a magazine to represent the whole missionary cause, home and foreign.
This sentiment has crystallized in the acceptance of THE MISSION- ARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD as the magazine which shall be the clear- ing house for information, inspirational ideals and best methods for workers. The present Board of Directors represents various denomina- tions, and there are on this and on the Editorial Council officials of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, the Missionary Education Movement, th.e World's Sunday-School Association, the Edinburgh Continuation Committee, the Latin-American Committee on Co-operation, and the Student Volunteer Movement.
At the recent meetings of the Home Missions Council, the Coun- cil of Women for Home Missions and Foreign Missions Conference, which includes the Federation of Women's Foreign lVlission Boards, each of these bodies, in fine spirit of co-operation, appointed commit- tees to represent them on the Editorial Council of the REVIEW. These committees will not onlv be a channel of communication between the REVIEW and the variou~ Boards, but will help to shape the editorial plans of the REVIEW and to make sure that no field or important work is neglected. It is our hope and belief that the REVIEYv will thus become increasingly valuable and influential among a larger and larger con- ~ stituency.
The progress made since the magazine was taken over by the new
Board of Directors is most encouraging. Already over $46,000 of the $50,000 capital has been subscribed, and the increase in the list of paid subscribers is nearly 25 per cent. If this progress continues, the REVIEW will soon be more than self-supporting, and we will be enabled to make further improvements in the magazine.
Our readers are again earnestly invited to help us advance the cause of Christ among men and women of every kindred, tribe and nation by making the REVIEW a more effective and widely read advo- cate of the accomplishment of the common task of the whole Church.
HOW CAN WE HELP CHIXA?
SEVERAL important articles and items of news this month reveal the present opportunities and the trend of the times in China. The increased interest and receptiveness in villages throughout the Republic show the need for more Christian workers. The awakenings among the women reveal the need for women's colleges. The boys and students are responsive to the influence of the Young Men's Christian Association. The "indemnity students" are being Jrained in America for future leadership in China. As Rev. Robert P. Wilder said at a recent meeting of the China Inland Mission in London: "China seems to be at the parting of the ways. Shall she choose materialism or Christ? Politically and morally her needs are great. One of her sons, a professor in a Chinese college, has said, 'Doctrines of equality and liberty have been interpreted as authorizing a general lawlessness of conduct at home, in the school and in public. The most ardent reformers in China can scarcely wish that the new order, with its many untried innovations, should altogether supplant the old virtues that have held together for so long the component parts of this heterogeneous empire. Among these, filial respect has always occupied a prominent place, but even this is threatened. . . . China is to-day in pressing need of men, men who are willing to sacrifice their lives for a good cause. You cannot find this type . . . in schools which train men to be physically and intellectually strong, but not morally strong. . . . China needs a true religion that teaches men to honor the Supreme Intellect and 'to minister, but not to be ministered unto.' … The men who possess the qualifications to minister can only be found in the school of Christ."
N ow, when workers are most needed, the war is cutting down the youth of Great Britain, and America, alone of all the Protestant Christian lands, is free to send her young men and young women and her money to help train the future leaders of China in the ideals and power of Jesus Christ. MONGOLIA m.-.( … .,….:-"..'..f.W …I…-…..lu.::… ,.u . ……. ""' …. . .• .
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From the book" Vith the Russians in Mongolia"
OF THE MONGOLS, HIS HOl!SE AND
This is the home of one of the ('settled" Mongols. The nomadic tribes live in t ents.
The Neglected Land of Kublai Khan MONGOLIA-A GREAT UNOCCUPIED MISSION FIELD IlY REV. G. H. BONFIELD} D.D., CHINA Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society Mongolia is a land six tim es th e size of Germany, with 5,000,000 peop/e- mosl of 'Whom are ignoranl and d egraded. Among them are only ten Christian lflissionariei. Think of it! What are 'We going to do about it? R ead this paper 'Writtell by one who has beat among tltem.-EDlroR.
T HE Mongols have recently succeeded in securing for themselves a small measure of public attention. The successful revolution of the northern tribes at the close of 191 I, and the dramatic events which rapidly followed not only brought to the attention of newspaper readers in the West the almost forgotten Mongoli a, but also indicated its political importance to each of the three great Powers which dominate eastern Asia. A glance at the map will show how its geographical position has brought the country within the scope of the conflicting interests or ambitions of Russia and Japan, and has enhanced its value as a loyal and integral part of the Chinese Republic.
On the east of Mongolia is Manchuria; on the west, Chinese Turkestan and Zungaria; on the north and northeast the Russian Empire extends along the frontier for 2,000 miles, while along the southern boundary lie the provinces of China. The approximate area of Mongolia is 1,367,000 square miles, which makes it nearly as large as the
whole of the eighteen provinces of China, or more than six times the size of Germany. The general physical characteristics of the country may be likened to an immense shallow basin surrounded by an irregu- lar series of mountain ranges, scattered hills and undulating plains.
The basin or plateau has an altitude of from 3,000 to 4,500 feet above the sea level, and is broken by spurs and foothills which run out from the mountain ranges and cross it in aU directions. This is especially the case in northern and western Mongo lia.
A considerable part of the central plateau is occupied by the desert known as the Gobi or Shamo. This desert country, however, is not the desolate sandy waste of popular imagination, but rather an arid region-" a rainless sea," as the Chinese describe it. There ar e, especially in the southwest, parched, waterless regions where the sand is blown by the wind into an endl ess series ;f rounded bil- lows ; there a re also stony, ba rren areas in whi ch bare rocks stand up like islands. But there is much good land on which small shrubs g row plenti fully and which yield, when there is a late snowfall or plantiful summer rain, a crop of nutritious grass.
South of th e desert is a fer- tile belt of "grass country" from 50 to 100 miles broad; while on the north, for a breadth of 300 miles, a succession of well-watered A MONGOLIAN "YOURT" OR TENT valleys alternate with wooded hills and stretches of fo rest.
Again, on the east of the Khingans the country is but a continuation of the rich grain-growing and pasture land of Manchuria.
The climate of Mongolia is, for seven months of the year, rigor- ous in the extreme; while the strong winds, which sweep down from the Arctic regions and blow almost continuously, intensify the natural cold and add greatly to the difficulty and danger of winter traveling.
The brief summer with its wealth of sunshine, its cooling rain storms, its exhilarating air, and its long days, is delightful. Given a strong constitution, Mongolia is a healthy country for men from the Vest.
After Mongolia came under the sway of the Chinese they divided it into two unequal parts-Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia. This division, ho·weve r, has an administrative or political rather than a geographical significance. 1nne!" Mongolia consists of the territory occupied by ce rtain of the tribes, who were either allies of the Man-
9 1 7J THE NEGLECTED LAND OF KUBLAI KHAN
chus when they conquered China, or who have since come under the direct control of Peking. It includes that part of the country which lies east of the Khingan mountains and south of the Gobi. Outer Mongolia is the designation of practically all the rest of the country.
WHO LIVE IN MONGOLIA?
For so large an area the population of Mongolia is extremely small. Probably less than 5,000,000 souls all told, and- in this total is inclueed the large number of Chinese who, during the last twenty-five years, have pressed over the eastern and southern borders in everincreasing numbers. The Chinese now not only occupy milch of the best land, but also have flourishing commercial settlements or marts and monopolize most of the Mongol trade.
The Mongols are split up into numerous tribes, which are both grouped in Khanates or leagues, and are divided into clans or banners. Thus in Outer l10ngolia there are four leagues with 86 banners, and in Inner Mongolia six leagues with 49 banners. Outside these leagues and separately organized, or holding special relations to other tribes or to the Chinese Government, there are, in the Kobdo and Altai districts of Outer Mongolia, four Eleuth and seven U rianhai tribes, while in the little known territory that lies north of the Tannuola range there are the reindeer-using Tannu-Urianhai Mongols. In Inner Mongolia, in addition to the six leagues, there are the Chahars, the Tumets, the Alashan tribes, and a small number of the old Torguts or Kalmucks.
Important as the foregoing details of the Mongol tribes and tribal organizations are to an understanding of the Mongolia of to-day, A SCENE ON THE PLAINS OF SOUTHERN MONGOLIA
it will suffice for the general reader to remember the three main historical and geographical divisions, viz., the Khalkas in the north, the Eleuths in the west, and the tribes in Inner or southeastern Mongolia. One other fact must also be borne in mind-the members of all the Mongol tribes now inhabiting Mongolia do not, even on the most generous estimate, number three million souls.
This small remnant is all that now remains of the mighty nation that, under leaders who may be justly ranked with Alexander the Great, Julius Ccesar, and Napoleon, were once the conquerors 'and rulers of the largest empire the world has ever seen. All students of history know that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Mongols' not only conquered the whole of China, but pushed their conquests westward through Central Asia into India on the one hand, and Asia Minor and Europe on the other; eastward into the Korean Peninsula, and southward into Cambodia and Burma. Thus at the height of their power, when China was under the Yuan or Mongol dynasty (A. D. f28o-f368), the Mongols held sway over a vast and populous empire, embracing many races and tongues, 1l-nd stretching from the Pacific Ocean westward to Poland and Hungary, and from Siberia southward to the Indian Ocean. The startling rapidity with which the Mongols rose to power and their extraordinary successes are only paralleled by the completeness of their downfall and the speediness of their decline.
In less than one hundred years after they had become complete masters of China and placed their leader, Kublai Khan, on the throne, the grit and spirit, begotten in the fierce struggle for existence on the wild steppes of the north, had so degenerated amid the luxury and effeminate influences of Chinese civilization and city life that their power was gone, and they were swept from the country. The subsequent history of the Mongols has been one of disintegration and decay, and their present condition is as pathetic as it is instructive.
RECENT EVENTS IN MONGOLIA Of the recent political changes in Mongolia it is extremely difficult to write intelligently in the space at our disposal. But it may be explained briefly that the old fear of invasion is the key to the policy pursued by the late Manchu Dynasty toward the Mongols. Tribal divisions were encouraged, Chinese Ambans or resident political officers were appointed, while special privileges were granted to tribes that placed themselves under or supported Chinese rule. Opportunities of further curtailing the independence and weakening the cohesion of the strong Khalka tribes in Outer Mongolia were used without the slightest regard for Mongol rights or interests. Chinese immigration was encouraged and much of the best pasture land has been taken from the Mongols and leased to Chinese settlers; while such advan-
A LAMAIST TEMPLE AND MONASTERY-ONE OF THE CENTERS OF BUDDHIST
tages were given to Chinese traders that the wealth of lYlongolia passed into their hands.
In order to secure redress for their innumerable grievances against the alien official or merchant or farmer, the Mongols could only appeal to distant Chinese Courts of Justice, where judgments were rarely impartial and given only after much delay. Moreover, China's neglect has been as obvious as her administrative mismanagement. Through all the centuries of her rule. or suzerainty nothing whatever was done for the education or uplift of the Mongols or for the development of their resources. No schools were opened; no industries were fostered, and no attempts were made to promote agriculture or improve the flocks and herds on which the tribes are so largely dependent. The lYlongols were despised on the one hand, and plundered on the other; while hundreds of square miles of their country were absorbed without the slightest compensation.
This selfish and short-sighted policy of the Chinese has naturally defeated itself; for Mongolia, instead of being a strong and loyal buffer state between China and Russia, became divided in its allegiance, while the more vigorous tribes four years ago declared their independence and entered into treaty relations with the northern power. Happily for China, and as the result of long negotiations with Russia and the loss of more territory, the northern Mongols in June last revoked their declaration and they are now all united with the other races that make up the Chinese republic.
The Mongol retains not a few of his original characteristics, though he is no longer a nomad in the strict sense of the word. His habitation or his grazing rights are more or less fixed, and it is only within a prescribed area that the pastoral Mongol or herdsman,moves his tent. In appearance he is none too clean. His unwashed face and hands, tousled hair, and greasy sheepskin garments prejudice the foreigner against him; and this prejudice his hard, flat face and squat figure do little to remove. His fatalism, his laziness and lack of ambition, his love of strong drink, and his quick temper have also to be reckoned with. But with all his failings there is much in the Mongol, when you get to know him, that deepens interest and wins respect.
The Mongols are a deeply religious people, but, unfortunately, their religion is the Buddhism or Lamaism of Tibet, which was introduced by the great Mongol Emperor, Kublai Khan. What Lamaism has done for Tibet it has also done for Mongolia. It has practically ruined the nation. Its womanhood has been degraded, and its family life poisoned. Its manhood has been robbed of its energy and independence; for upon men and women alike Lamaism has fastened a burden that is indeed grievous to be borne-the burden of a religion that brings no comfort or relief, while it imposes a never-ending round of exacting obligations; that is ministered by an all-powerful and unscrupulous priesthood which has at its head a "god" or incarnate
NEGLECTED LAND OF KUBLAI KHAN
A MONGOLIAN RELIGIOUS LEADER-AN OLD LAMA IN URGA Buddha whose debaucheries are notorious throughout the length and breadth of the land.
EVIl, INFL UENCE OF THE LAMAS Naturally Lamaism has had a profound influence on Mongol life and character. By its doctrine of reincarnation it has restrained predatory and savage instincts. It has formed a bond of union between the various tribes, and has made them open-handed and hospitable. But, on the other hand, it has cramped their outlook, and strangled progress; it has kept them ignorant and confused their sense of right and wrong. The number of lamas or priests in Mongolia is stated,
on good authority, to be over 60 per cent of the male population. The majority of these lamas are under vows of celibacy; but while they do not marry, they make no pretense of chastity. Prostitution flourishes to an appalling extent in the neighborhood of every temple and monastery, and the habit of promiscuous living has so blunted the sense of virtue that wives and daughters surrender themselves to this degrading practice without shame or loss of social position. No nation can stand such a drain upon its manhood and such a degradation of its family life, and, consequently, the Mongols are steadily decreasing in numbers. Until the power of Lamaism is broken there can be no hope of arresting their sure decay, or of preventing their ultimate extinction.
CAN THE MISSIONARY ENTER?
Mongolia is open to the missionary, and the condition of the Mongols constitutes a special call to the Christian Church. What but the Gospel of Jesus Christ can liberate and uplift and save this interesting people? Their great past, their present humiliation, and their dire need· call to us and have called for years. Yet the response has been wholly inadequate and painfully slow.
The pioneer Protestant missionaries to Mongolia were Messrs. Swan, Stallybrass, and Yuile, of the London Missionary Society, who settled among the Buriat Mongols on the Siberian frontier as early as 1817-18, and carried on their work for over twenty years. Thirty years later the devoted James Gilmour (also of the London Missionary Society) commenced his itinerations, which continued for another twenty years-mainly, however, among the southern Mongols. During the same period and extending to still later years, the missionaries of the American Board stationed at Kalgan included the nearer Mongol settlements in their field of service; while the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the early nineties organized a Mongolia mission and placed a number of its missionaries at strategic points on the Chinese border. Unhappily all the members of this promising mission, save two, were swept away in the Boxer catastrophe of 1900, and the work was not resumed.
While no missionary work can be judged by tabulated results, and while it must be said that all these early missions to the Mongols were little more than beginnings, the missionaries of to-day, as the result of the labors of these pioneers, have the whole Bible in the Mongolian language. This translation was the work of Swan and Stallybrass, and it· has been of the utmost value to everyone who has endeavored to evangelize the Mongols.
Since 1900, when all missiollary work for the Mongols wa" brought to a standstill, two new missions have been started and some of the older work has been reorganized. The Christian forces now engaged or taking part in this difficult enterprise are:
NEGLECTED LAND OF KUBLAI KHAN
( I) The Scandina'1.'ian Alliance ]VIission in Mongolia. This mission, which is a branch of the Scandinavian Alliance Mission in America, is working out an interesting experiment. On a large· tract of land just north of the Ordos desert and irrigated from the Yellow River, an agricultural and industrial colony has been started with the object of getting Mongols to settle there. In this way it is hoped that Mongol families will come under the influence of the Gospel, and be free from both the interference of the lamas and the opposition of the tribes. The missionaries superintending this work have had to'
THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY CARAVAN IN MONGOLIA IN WINTER overcome many difficulties, and have met with no little discouragement. But their labors are now bearing fruit. Some Mongol families have settled on the land, many more are hiendly, and come to the station to purchase grain, etc., while not a few attend the religious services. A school has been started and there are now twelve pupils, all of whom are learning to read the New Testament. Five Mongols have been baptized and there is one inquirer. . The work is most promising, for one outstation has been opened and a Mongol has been set apart as evangelist, but the mission staff, consisting of only two men and their wives, is altogether inadequate.
(2) The Swedish Mongol l11ission has a staff of three missionaries-two unmarried men and one single lady. The headquarters of this mission are at Halong Osso, a small Mongol settlement some eighty miles north of Kalgan. Several attempts have been made to start a school, but no regular pupils have been forthcoming. Writing
in June last, the senior missionary stated that there was only one inquirer, but added that they were gradually gaining the confidence of the Mongols of the district, and that their medical work had brought Mongols from a distance to the station. A service is regularly held on Sundays, and a few children attend the Sunday-school. N eighboring settlements and tents are visited and tracts and Gospels are distributed. An extension of this mission to Dolonor, a Mongol trading center two or three days' journey eastward, is contemplated.
(3) The Gashatay lVIissiol1. A little south of Halong Osso, representatives of the Pentecostal movement in Canada have their headquarters at Gashatay, another small Mongol settlement. The staff at present consists of three missionaries–Mr. and Mrs. Hindle, and Miss Fordham, all of whom have been on the field since 19 11.
THE MISSION HOUSE ON HALONG OSSO, MONGOLIA Preparations are now being made to open a school, and it is hoped that something may be done in other directions; but "whichever way the missionary turns," writes Mr. Hindle, "he is up against the lamas."
(4) The British and Foreign Bible Society. This society published the Swan and Stallybrass translation of the Bible in literary Mongolian over seventy years ago, and has recently published a revised version of the Four Gospels and Acts. It has also published the Gospel of Matthew in colloquial Mongolian, the New Testament in Kalmuk, and the Gospels and Acts for the Buriats. For many years the distribution of any of these Scriptures was beset with great difficulties; but since 1902 the society has set apart one (and for a time two) of .its sub-agents for this particular work. Long journeys have been made and the printed Gospels have been taken to remote parts of the country. The society's caravan has crossed the Gobi over twenty times. Although the distribution of the Scriptures is, III one
NEGLECTED LAND OF KUBLAI KHAN
WORTH SAVING-TWO MONGOL YOUNG WOMEN IN HOLIDAY DRESS sense, but an. indirect attack, it has, in Mongolia, been of incalculable value. The story of the Cross has been made known to lamas and laymen, while hundreds of boys preparing for the priesthood have used the printed Gospels as reading books in their schools. The Bible Society baptizes no converts and founds no church, but it does open the door, and in Mongolia it has prepared the way for other forms of missionary work in a singularly successful manner. Its special ministry is being carried on to-day with unabated vigor.
(5) lVlissions on the Chinese borders. Many Mongol families
have settled down among the Chinese on both sides of the border, and among these Chinese-speaking Mongols good work has been done by the Irish Presbyterian Mission from two of their stations in Manchuria; by the brethren from several stations in northeast Chihli; by the Scandinavian Alliance Mission in the extreme north of Shansi, and by other missions from various centers. The latest reports from these missions indicate that increasing attention is being given to the Mon- gols, and that four or five Mongols were received into the church during the past year.
(6) The work of the Roman Catholic missions is beyond the scope of this paper, but it may be said in passing that while there are a chain of stations along the Chinese border, and several stations on the Mongol plains, the converts have been largely Chinese. At two or three places there are small Mongol congregations under priests who speak the language, but information about these missions is still very incomplete.
THE OUTLOOK-TIME TO ADVANCE It will be seen that while some missionary work is being done . the forces are utterly unequal to the task, and that the evangelization of Mongolia can hardly be said to have begun. A few stations scantily equipped and sadly undermanned on the southern borders; less than a dozen Mongol Christians connected with Protestant missions; less than a score of children in schools; only three stations at which preaching in the Mongol tongue is carried on, with a few Mongol hearers or inquirers listening to the Gospel as it is preached in Chi- nese, is all that can be reported. It is surely a reproach to the Chris- tian churches of Europe and America that such scanty fruits should be the only "harvest" that can be brought to the Master at this late hour of the day.
The time is ripe for a distinct advance in Mongolia. The country is open to the missionary as never before., The Mongols are awake and realize the need of education, of national and social reorganiza- tion, of political reforms, and of the readjustment of their relations with the countries and peoples that surround them. Some intelligent Mongols begin to murmur at the control of the lamas, and to long for intellectual freedom and a purer religion. Recent events have shaken their self-complacency, enlarged their outlook, and brought home to them the hopelessness of their present condition. Difficulties and hardships, many and severe, confront the missionary still, but beginnings have been made and the way now will be easier for other workers and further advances.
There is no missionary in the whole of Outer Mongolia or among the strongest and most numerous tribes.
No missionary in eastern Mongolia, though the country is easily ftccessible from several points on the Manchurian railways.
A MONGOL CHRISTIAN AND HER
There arc still very few Christians in Mongolia, but they offer a great opportunity forl,evangelism.
No missionary in western Mongolia. No missionary in U rga, the center of the Mongol's political and religious life. It is surely time that such forgetfulness or neglect should be corrected, and that strong and well-organized missions should be established. Picked men and women will be required for this work; methods will have to be elastic and great patience will be needed; but the Christian hospital and the Christian school, Christian literature and the printed Scriptures, the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, and the influence of Christian lives will win the Mongols for Christ, as they have won other degraded tribes under conditions equally hard. The needs of Mongolia are urgent, and the present opportunity is unique. The people are slowly but surely passing away j the integrity of the country is seriously threatened, while the present missionary work only touches the fringe of the southern plains. Surely we have here an appeal that ought not to be unheeded, and a challenge that must be taken up for the honor of our common Lord.
MONGOLIA-AN INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM In a brawl at Changchitung, on the border between Manchuria and Mongolia, last August, Chinese soldiers killed some Japanese. Immediately Japan sent soldiers to the district, and demanded as reparation: I. The dismissal of the Chinese officers in command of the troops at the scene of trouble.
2. The withdrawal of the Chinese garrison. 3. The indemnification of the families of the Japanese killed. 4. The right of Japan to police Inner Mongolia.
History has shown that the five million Mongols are not a race to trifle with. To-day they may seem simple enough, mostly stock-breeders and caravan drivers. The native princes of Outer Mongolia, however, along the Russian border, hold their heads high, and during the anti- Manchu revolution (19 I I) declared that their country had sev~ered its connection with China. They requested help from Russia in framing a new government, and later Russian troops crossed the frontier and occupied strategic points. Then followed an agreement by which Mongolia was to be free to make industrial and commercial treaties with any nation, subject to Russian approval, the Mongolians pledging to Russia certain agricultural and trading privileges. Thus Russia obtained all the benefits of a dominating influence without the evils of actual administration.
Mongolia is really a buffer state between Russia and China. In 1913 China recognized the autonomy of the Outer Mongolia, an agreeable circumstance to Russia, since Outer Mongolia is next to her. Not so Inner Mongolia, and now Russia seems to have given way to Japan.
CHINA AND ONE OFITHE ROUND DOORS OF GINLING
An Open Door for Chinese Women Beginnings of Work at Ginling College, Nanking, China BY MISS FREDERICA R. MEAD 'ANYONE would be interested in Ginling College the moment she stepped through one of your round doorways," remarked one of our friends. We all like doorways, particularly open doorways, and when they are round of course they are a little more attractive because they are Chinese. Let us step through this one at once and be interested in Ginling College.
I like to think that the spirit of unity and Gooperation that have built Ginling College are typified by the circle of the doorway through which we have come. Years ago the idea that there was need for a college for women in the Yangtse Valley grew into a conviction in the minds and hearts of several of the principals of girl's high schools in Central China. At Kuling, one summer, they deliberated together, and finally, with Miss Pyle of The Laura Haygood School in Soochow as chairman, a committee representing seven denominations assembled to make plans for such an institution.
When the constitution, drawn up by this committee, was presented to the authorities in China and in America, the terms of co-operation were approved by the Baptist, the Christian, the Northern and Southern Methodist, and the Northern Presbyterian Mission Boards, and each promised to fulfill the following conditions;
( I) To provides I 0,000 gold toward expense of plant and equipment.
(2.) To provide one member of the faculty.
(3) To make an annual appropriation toward current expenses of not less than $600 gold.
With that assurance of support, the committee became the Board of Control, made up of three representatives of each of the five churches. Thev invited Mrs. Lawrence Thurston to undertake the presidency, and· in 19 13 she came to Nanking to enter upon her duties of organization.
Nanking was named by the China Continuation Committee as one of the five cities where women's colleges should be established, and was chosen as the site for the Yangtse Valley College for several· good reasons. The Nanking Mandarin vies with the Pekingese ·Mandarin as the most universally understood language in China; Nanking University for men is a flourishing union work of Central China, and was ready to cooperate in any possible way with a college for siao dzies, or "little sisters," as young women are called in Nanking. Lastly, this ancient capital, situated only seven hours by train west of the metropolis of Shanghai, has always been a center of Chinese education, and has kept many of the best old traditions that are dying out in the port cities.
As our doorway is more attractive because it is round, so we think that our college is more attractive because it is growing in a distinctly Chinese city, and because, too, we have as our college home a Chinese official residence. It was built by the Li Hung Chang family, and not only roilnd doorways between the front courtyards, but carved timbering in the ceilings; southern windows, where the sun sifts in through rice-papered lattices; long vistas from court to court, with their pleasant contrasts of sunlight and shadow; and a fascinating garden with tea house and sunny pools, all speak of the best in Chinese architecture and gardens.
But the round doorway is more than a shape, more than a structure; it has brought us into a living opportunity that is Ginling College itself. Five of the nine girls who finished the first year's course last spring have now come back to form, with a new student, our present sophomore class. The freshmen again number nine. The girls of our college group are sensitive natures and their personalities are too sacred to describe individually. Among them are just the types that we find in an American college. There is the girl who is not independently interested in college work, but is there because her parent or guardian sends her. She has yet to wake up. Then there is the girl who has had some experience in teaching and is willing to work her hardest to learn what will help her to make her future work more effective. There is also the girl who has had privileges of education from the beginning
OPEN DOOR FOR CHINESE WOMEN 10<
and looks to her college work as the fulfilment of her dream for the best preparation for a life of service-the abundant life.
Let us pretend that we are transported to Ginling and are going, invisibly, through a day with the students to see how this aim is working out. At half-past six we hear the rising bell, waking the stillness of the court where are the students' dormitories, good-sized rooms, opening on the stone terrace downstairs, upstairs, on the balcony that surrounds the court. Morning voices and laughter sound from behind SOME OF THE STUDENTS AT GINLING COLLEGE the latticed doors and windows, for the girls are experiencing what it is to have one instead of many roommates, as is so often necessary in mission high schools. Soon we watch them hurrying to breakfast in 'the adjoining court, where they enter the dining room through another round doorway, this one not built of brick and plaster, but of wood, latticed in a cherry-blossom design. Mrs. Djang, the well-loved matron, presides over the girls' meals and does the housekeeping for this part of our college family. Classes begin at eight o'clock in the morning, and except on the coldest days, when we make special arrangements, gather in open-air classrooms-the whole south side of the rooms being nothing but woodwork screens. The forenoon classes are all studying Western subjects and are taught in English, and as all do not come on the same day, you may take your choice in visiting them. Among the freshman courses there is Miss Goucher's English class, which she is basing on a series of English essays. She is a graduate of Goucher College in Baltimore, founded by her father, Dr. John F. Goucher. She also has a valuable course in practical art. The ch6mistry class is under the direction of Miss Nichols, who has been
loaned by the Southern Methodist Board. In Miss Nourse's psychology class are gathered all the freshmen and those sophomores who did not take the course last year. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago and is introducing these girls to the principles of psychology which will help them most to help themselves in their studies and in their daily life. History and mathematics are substituted for chern· istry and psychology in the second semester. Mrs. Thurston teaches a course in the Life of Christ.
The sophomore courses of- fered are those by Miss Nourse in English history and sociology, Miss Nichols in botany, Mrs.
Thurston in college algebra and astronomy, Miss Goucher in do- mestic architecture, and Miss Riv- enberg, a Vassar graduate, in the Bible.
This has been a very busy morning and we are glad when the noon bell calls us to chapel in the quiet, paved hall opening on one of the front courtyards. Here the whole family gathers and one of the members of the faculty has charge of the services, in which the hymns, the Bible reading, the short talk, and the prayers touch the keynote of the day.
After luncheon, old China is brought vividly before us as we watch the girls walking up and THE GUARDIAN OF THE COLLEGE GATE down through the courtyards con- ning their Chinese classics. Al- though we are trying to add more of constructive thought and intelli- gent criticism and appreciation to the study of the classics, there is still an imperative demand for a large amount of memory work. Later the girls are free for recreation, and the general trend is toward th e garden, where they walk up and down under the rose trellises, quietly read in a corner of one of the benches, or enjoy a game of tennis.
On Friday we might slip into a class on hygiene at 4 P.M., which is under the direction of Dr. Tsao, one of our most valued faculty members. She is a graduate of the Philadelphia Medical School for Women, and has probably the largest and most influential practice of any physician in Nanking. Although she is a Chinese, she conducts the course almost entirely in English. '
OPEN DOOR FOR CHINESE WOMEN
As the evening closes, let us step into the library where the girls are studying. In structure it is like the chapel. Opposite the door is the long, southern expanse of latticed windows which gives almost the effect of heavy leaded glass. High overhead the soft gray tiles of the roof shed a medieval atmosphere from above the heavy timbering. After supper all sorts of things may be happening. Perhaps it is a quiet evening for study j perhaps there is a "Current Events Club" meeting in progress j perhaps a lecture; or better still, an informal evening of music and sociability in the faculty living room.
This visit having been on a week day we will want to go back to Ginling for an hour on a Sunday. Most of the day is like any Sunday in any school where there is a loving wish to have the day one of worship and growth in spirit, but I do not believe there are many schools or colleges where there is such an attractive Sunday-school as the one that assembles in our chapel at two o'clock Sunday afternoon. The pupils are the little ragamuffins of the neighborhood, the teachers are our college girls, and last spring the attendance reached an average of fifty. Let me quote a bit from the letter of Miss Zee, one of the students, who tells about this year's start: "I want to give you a report of. to-day's Sunday-school, which was the first time we had this year. How many children will you guess we had, without looking at the following numbers? While we were cutting the pictures out for lessons, some said that the children viOuld not come because no one had even told them that we would begin our Sunday-school this week. How could they come? Some said they would not come because it was raining. But when the time for Sunday-school drew nigh, and eight of us went to the chapel, what do you think we saw-children sitting quietly in three rows; there were thirty-six altogether. We felt so ashamed of our idle expectations. The Sunday-school went regularly LOOKING PAST THE RECEPTION ROOM ATJ GINLING COLLEGE
as we did last year. The children did not forget at all the songs which we taught them. So, Miss :Mead, I trust that God will use us to accomplish something for our neighbors here."
Dr. J. E. Villiams, of Nanking University, has said, "The future of the Christian Church in China depends upon her women." Here at Ginling we have gathered together girls, many of whom are of the same type of mind as those that, coming to America, stand at the head of their classes at Columbia and other leading colleges. Our students have a great advantage in not having to leave their homes for years so as to become out of touch with the life of their own people. We are stirred as we think in terms of the Kingdom of God of the individual possibilities of the lives of these girls in leadership in the homes and schools and churches of their country.
Ginling offers a living opportunity not only to our college girls and our neighborhood, and through them to China, but to those in America. The College Committee of the Board of Trustees, which is made up of representatives of each of our five co-operating boards, and of which Dr. Robert E. Speer, 156 Fifth Avenue, is chairman, and Miss Elizabeth Bender, ISO Fifth Avenue, secretary, is cooperating in a splendid way in gathering funds, friends, and members of the faculty. Smith College is also deeply interested in this her newly adopted sister college in the East, and for the coming year has subscribed $ I,OOO toward the English department.
Our present buildings are rented for four more years. By that time we expect to have outgrown them and will be needing such a permanent.equipment as the best we can offer to the Chinese to meet their needs. We must compete with the growing tendency of the most brilliant students to leave their own country in order to study in American colleges. Here is an opportunity for friends to enter into this opportunity and to have a share in these buildings.
In laying strong foundations for college work there must be specializing on the part of th.e faculty, and some of the staff must be proficient enough in Chinese to give their lectures in that language instead of in English. This takes time. Furthermore, unless we fulfill our promises to our students, and fulfill them efficiently, we shall not be able to hold the confidence of the very best womanhood of China. Our greatest need at present is for professors for the biological and physical sciences and for music.
May the round doorway of opportunity in Ginling College stir prayers in many a heart that Christ may enter in and fulfill His plan for each student and member of the faculty and for each one who has stepped into a vital interest in His work there.
Men Don't Believe in
A Consideration of Some Objections to Foreign Missions BY REV. JAMES L. BARTON, D.O., BOSTON, MASS.
The reasons given for not being interested in Foreign Missions or for declining to support them, 'Would fill a book. Some of these reasons are trivial,. some based upon lack of knowledge,. some upon misinformation, 'While other$ are sinare. A candid consideration of some of theu objections is here presented by one who ~as himself been a missionary and is now one of the missionary statesmen of A merica.-EDITOR.
I T is not surprising that an enterprise, the field of which is in the midst of a distant and an unknown civilization, and that is based chiefly on the commands of Christ and that demands so much sacrific, should be variously interpreted and often strongly opposed.
A number of experienced missionary administrators have furnished a list of the objections to missions with which they have most frequently been confronted. Over fifty stock objections are the result, most of which have been current for half a century or more. We will consider these objections under four divisions, although many of the topics could be placed under three of these headings. The divisions under which we will consider the subject are: I. Objections raised by non-Christians and by anti-Christians. II. Objections raised by professing Christians who fail to grasp the full significance of our faith. III. Objections growing out of ignorance of what missions are.
Ir. Objections based upon difference of judgment as to methods of administration and policy.
I. OBJECTIONS BY NON-CHRISTIANS I. We have no right to interfere with another man's religion. This objection is put in a variety of ways. The position is defended by the declaration that every people, if not every person, has a religion in which he was born, which is adapted to his way of living and the civilization of which he is a part, and it is the rankest impudence to assume that our religion is better than his or more suited to his environment. He is satisfied with what he has, so why attempt to make him dissati.sfied? Out of non-Christian civilization have come men of recognized ability, thus showing that their religion is not a failure. We would, therefore, better mind our own business and religion and let the other man do the same. This sounds plausible to many people who fail to apply the same line of reasoning to any other phase of interracial relationships. Those
who object to sending the Christian missionary with a message of comfort and peace to peoples who may not wholly be satisfied with their religion are usually believers in and supporters of the commercial missionary, whose chief concern is to make the peoples he reaches dissatisfied with what they have. The people of Asia a half century ago did their sewing by hand and were satisfied with the methods employed. The sewing-machine missionary entered their country, and by demonstrating what a sewing-machine would do, created a dissatisfaction and unrest that resulted in introducing machines for sewing cloth and leather extensively in the Near and Far East. I have seen in one tailor shop in a city in the interior of China nineteen sewing-machines, which illustrates the success of missionaries of this class.
Then comes the cigarette missionary with his brilliant posters, illustrated literature and free cigarettes. The old pipe loses much of its charm by comparison, and the African and innocent Asiatic who have never been conscious of a need of tobacco at all, come to be regular customers, and the cigarette business becomes a part of the activities of the awakening East.
It is clear that the one who is so solicitous that the Eastern peoples be not aroused into a state of dissatisfaction over their ancestal religion is not loath to employ numberless means and agencies to make the same people dissatisfied with practically everything connected with their ancestral habits and customs, except religion. They advocate missionaries whose only purpose is to exploit the people and the resources of the country for personal gains, and ctmdemn the missionary who, without hope of personal gain, carries that which exalts every ideal, promotes the moral excellence of the race and nation and lays the foundation for the true Christian civilization. Such objectors laud selfishness and condemn self-sacrificing service.
2. The people of the East already ha've a satisfactory religion. This statement is usually due to ignorance. One cannot but wonder if, in the face of the horrors which even now are being perpetrated in the Turkish Empire upon non-Moslem subjects by Moslem leaders and in the name of Mohammedanism, these objectors would affirm that Islam is a satisfactory religion. When the history of Mohammedanism and its blasting effect upon every civilization it has dominated is studied, it is difficult to comprehend the frame of mind of him who declares that the religion of the 230,000,000 of Moslems is satisfactory. As Hinduism is studied in the face of its effect upon society, its treatment of widows and its insistence upon the permanent degradation of millions and tens of millions of India's low-castes simply because they chanced to be born into a caste from which in Hinduism there is no door of escape upwards, it is impossible to comprehend the thinking of him who says that religion is satisfactory.
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We cannot dwell upon the savage races of the Pacific Islands and Africa or the non-progressive Buddhist faith that held for centuries Japan and China in its stereotyped mold and ask, by what possible canon of interpretation we can proclaim these religions as satisfactory.
If we should consult thousands of Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and fetish worshipers in all parts of the world, who have begun to think seriously upon religious matters, we would discover that multitudes of these are deeply dissatisfied with their religion and are attempting to make it better through some process of reformation or are contemplating a change. No awakened man of the East can be satisfied with any religion that he is not convinced is the best. No religion short of this is good enough for any individual or any race.
3. God will look after the heathen without our interference.
It is difficult to take this statement seriously. It is contrary to all other rules of human action and so, with the rarest exceptions, must be taken as a trivial reply by those who have little esteem for God or men. It would seem to be the expression of unbelief accompanied by disregard of the lessons of history and the principles by which nations and races and peoples are moulded in their practices and in the shaping of their civilizations. Even the races of the remotest antiquity were led through human agencies. Race and inter-race changes have been brought about through contacts of men with men and the outreachings of the influence of such relationships. In the face of these facts, to affirm that a people's religion, that which lies deepest in their hearts and lives, may meet with a radical change without human agency and human effort, is to deny the facts of history and the teaching of all religion.
4. Missionaries are a lot of pious loafers and self-seekers.
This objection is usually offered in the smoke-room of steamers, by hangers-on at Eastern tourist hotels. By this simple declaration the objector would put an end to all foreign missionary work. He does not wish to know the facts; he has settled the case forever.
The answers to all such are the life and work of the missionaries themselves. Some objectors are won over by being thrown into personal relations with a single missionary, although the conversion may be to belief in one missionary rather than to a work. Noone would deny that there have been unworthy missionaries. Missionary administrators would be more than human were this not the case. There was one unworthy disciple among the Apostles, but his presence there did not condemn the entire body. The story of missionary martyrdom and the self-sacrificing, heroic service rendered in times of pestilence, famine and massacres, can be explained in no other way than as self-forgetful devotion. At the present time the presence of over two hundred American missionaries in the Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Persia, the Caucasus and Syria, with freedom to leave at any time, surrounded by atrocities beyond the power of language to describe, beset with disease and pestilence and
famine, cut off from communication with friends and kept in ignorance of what is going on in the world, now and then laying down a life in willing. sacrifice, but always alert to a service almost divine and scorning to retreat; these and hundreds like them in the history of missions constitute the answer to him who would crush with an epithet the noblest class of men and women this world knows.
II. OBJECTIONS BY PROFESSING CHRISTIANS The idea of foreign missions had no large place in the Church, either in Europe or America, until a little over a century ago, and it is within the last fifty years that the most of the interest and knowledge now prevalent has been created. All loyal church members do not yet believe in the obligation and privilege of all followers of Jesus Christ to make Him known to all nations. The process of instruction must continue until the entire Church comprehends the complete Gospel of world redemption. We hear such objections as the following: 1. There is work enough at home or there are heathen enough at home.
This is true enough if we mean there are more heathen at home than there ought to be. But if the fact is used as a reason for not sending missionaries to foreign and non-Christian .countries, then we are wrong.
All moral, intellectual, social and religious advance is by the process of diffusion. It has been so in all history and will probably continue to be so to the end of time. In promoting education in America we do not concentrate upon one locality until every worthy youth therein secures a general or a college education. We establish schools and colleges all over the country, even though the city of New York alone is in crying need of more educational facilities. We do not attempt, in promoting the cause of purity or temperance, to bring all our forces to bear upon one township or county or even one State, but these principles are widely advocated all over the country and the results begin to appear in localities widely separated.
In religion the same law has been in operation. Buddha and his followers did not confine their labors to one territory until all had become Buddhists, nor did Mohammed and his successors concentrate their entire effort upon Mecca and Arabia, but both of these religions grew by diffusion until they had covered, but only in part, many countries.
The same is true of Christianity. Christ did not confine his efforts to anyone section of Palestine, but went about performing miracles and teaching in widely separated areas. After His deatl1 His disciples did the same.
One wonders what would have been the result had the disciples decided to .begin with Bethlehem, the birthplace of our Lord, and to do nothing for Jerusalem so long as there remained a single non-Christian
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there; after this to take Jerusalem, the city of His burial, and when all had accepted Him as Redeemer and Lord, to move on to Nazareth and so over Palestine and from there to Asia Minor and Rome. By this process the Church could hardly have survived the first generation, or would still have been working away in Bethlehem, for surely there would have remained a few obstinate Jews and a lot of pagan immigrants to command the attention of the Church.
With every third person at home a member of a Christian congregation, no one has a right to say, in the face of history and the physical, psychological and spiritual law of the expansion of religious ideas, that there are so many heathen at home that we are released from the obligation to carry the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth.
2. We need the money for church expe'lses. "Charity begins at home."
This is the utterance of supreme selfishness and in defiance of the law of spiritual equivalents. Charity that stays at home miserably dies and the church that lives but for itself loses all that made it a church of Jesus Christ. No church can long continue as a living spiritual body that has no unselfish means of sacrificial expression. The spring that gives out no stream soon becomes a stagnant and festering pool. The Christian who makes no sacrifices in service becomes incapable of sacrifice. Foreign Missions, quite apart from what they accomplish 'in turning multitudes in foreign lands to Christ, are worth all they cost and more in keeping alive among Christians the true spirit lived and. taught by Christ Himself. Was there ever a church or a communion in all history that made itself poorer by giving men and money to carry the gospel to those outside? And to this is added a wealth of new spiritual insight and power of priceless value.
3. It is a hopeless undertaking. It is in this truth that we center our hopes. If we expect to win the world to Christ by the rule of mathematics or the law of averages or through the physical resources wrapped up in a few thousand missionaries and a few million dollars, then we are indeed undertaking a hopeless and a fruitless task. rt is because the task is humanly impos- sible that we find our supreme $atisfaction. We are thrown back upon the words of our Lord, Who declared that all power was given to Him in Heaven and on earth and that He would go with His disciples to the ends of the earth and give them the victory. The disciples undertook a hopeless task when they set out to convert the Roman world, but they succeeded. The modern missionary movement has achieved triumphs no less marked and, in the face of appalling difficulties, is registering triumphs to-day no less significant, because the power of God and the living Christ is with them.
4. Our own religious life is too imperfect. For a moment we are staggered by this objection. We ask, who is worthy to take up the task Christ and His disciples laid down and carry it on to completion? Then, as we see the lack of spirituality in the churches and the failure of Christians to live up to the high standards laid down by our Lord, we are forced to exclaim, "Who is sufficient for these things?" Without attempting to deny our own unworthiness, we find hope in the fact that Christ used woefully inadequate means to achieve high spiritual ends. This has been true throughout the history of the Christian Church. The Epistles of Paul show how far from perfect were some of the apostolic churches, and yet they exhibited tremendous power for good through the ability of God to use imperfect means to produce worthy results. One of the surest means of perfecting and spiritualizing our own religious life is by attempting to impart the blessings of our religion to others.
III. IGNORANCE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS A visit to mission stations and the realization of what miSSIOnaries accomplish will remove the objections of those who are unbelieving through ignorance. We name here four of the more common in this class of objections: I. The aim of missions is too narrow; it does not ele7.;ate the entire man and the 'lohole fabric of society.
This objection is based largely upon missions as carried on half a century and more ago, when, undoubtedly, aims and operations were more narrowly superscribed than in these later days. Modern missionary magazines and books reveal the comprehensive sweep of modern missionary operations.
Education in all department~ and phases, the kindergarten, the college, the Christian university, literary, scientific, professional and practical, has become a part of missionary endeavor. Uplifting literature of all classes, industrial advance in a mulitude of forms, including agriculture, social movements reaching and elevating every department of the native social order; these and many others are but the common every-day operations in the foreign missionary field, demonstrating the breadth and thoroughness with which the missionaries are lifting up the entire man as well as the whole fabric of native society.
2. Missionaries live in luxury and have an easy time.
If by living in luxury one means different from the people among whom they dwell and in some cases much better than many of them, we cheerfully acknowledge that this is true. Experience has shown that missionaries can most effectively do the work they are sent to accomplish by retaining many of the customs of Western home life. In many countries an attempt to live as the natives live would be disastrous to influence and fatal to health.
MEN DON'T BELIEVE IN
A brief residence among missionaries in the field or an examination of the books of the missionary societies at home reveals the absurdity of the charge of luxury. At the same time, the missionary is one of the chief assets of the work. He has usually given at least ten years to study and from two to four years to acquiring the language and in spe- cial preparation. Mission boards insist that health be conserved by securing as good hygienic and sanitary surroundings as possible. In spite of this a large number of missionaries die of plagues and scourges that infest the country where they live. One mission board last year lost four missionaries from typhus, three of them physicians, while four times that number had the dread disease. Cholera, smallpox, bubonic plague, malaria and other tropical diseases are always present in some missionary field, and every year a considerable number die because of. them.
Few have ever heard a foreign missionary refer to any hardship he has endured, and yet few men and women have as a class ever been called upon to face greater privations, endure more hardships and meet more real perils than are the foreign missionaries who enter upon their work for life and seldom look back when once they have put their hand to the plow.
3. Missions cause governments great trouble.
In some cases missionaries or missionary societies have appealed to government on behalf of missionaries and their institutions; for a missionary does not give up his citizenship when he goes abroad, nor do missionary institutions erected and supported by American funds become outlawed because they are missionary. But these cases are infrequent.
The records of the State Department would reveal the fact that the missionaries have been far more a help than a burden to the Department and their embassies abroad. The cases are many where in crises the legations have been greatly dependent upon the trained, experienced missionary, with °his wide knowledge of the country and his marked influence with the government. Many ambassadors have freely acknowledged that but for the missionaries in such cases they would have been almost helpless. The presence of the missionaries and their institutions has given the representatives of their government a prestige and a standing in a great many instances that they never could of themselves have acquired. Repeatedly missionaries have been drafted into the consular or diplomatic service in times of emergency, where they have rendered conspicuous service.
4. Sectarian controversies on the field are a disgrace.
We heartily accept this position, but such controversies are not as common and disgraceful as the objector believes. The foreign missionaries realize the foolishness, even the criminality, of letting denominational differences deter the progress of the Kingdom, and they have
adopted almost numberless methods of co-operation covering every department of missionary activity. Many articles have been written upon this subject. While foreign missions are not yet wholly free from sectarian difficulties and hindrances to the most rapid and effective advance, the missionaries are already teaching us l~ssons in co-operation and even the closest interdenominational affiliation that put us to shame at home.
IV. ADMINISTRATIVE QUESTIONS AND POLICY Here the intelligent critic may be of great help to the miSSIOn boards and to missionaries. A true science of missions has not yet been fully wrought out. There is a place for suggestion and criticism that will be of substantial aid in reaching the basis of a real science of the expanding Kingdom of God.
I. O'l-'erlapping by different societies. One might answer this by calling attention to the way parishes of different churches in the United States are hopelessly mixed. This, however, is not pleaded as an excuse for overlapping in the mission field. The tendency in most mission countries is to prevent this, although a question of policy is involved, which is, shall a communion follow with a preacher and a church its communicants when they go into a territory that has been assigned to another body or missionary? Some believe they should not, while some feel it to be the duty of every church to see that its communicants are provided with a preacher and a church accord· ing to their faith and order.
2. l'Ifissions cost too much. There is need of constant vigilance upon this question of expenditure of mission funds. It is easy to become careless, and officers of boards and missionaries need constantly to guard against waste and costly experiments. The matter of expenditures should be perpetually scrutinized, and whoever does this in a spirit of fairness and intelli· gence is a true friend of the cause. Some critics in ignorance speak rashly and even harshly. If they would only visit their missionary headquarters and go through the accounts, see. how carefully budgets are prepared upon the field and then scrutinized at home before appro· priations are made, understand how everywhere endeavor is exercised to stretch every dollar so as to make it do the work of two, he would be convinced of the purpose of his society not to waste a cent of sacred funds. This problem of economy is one that missions and boards are trying to solve.
3. The results do not justify the cost. If by results we mean only the additions to the native churches, . there is reason for pressing this criticism. Noone doubts that the con· version of individuals and bringing them into the Church of Christ is an end and aim which we must not allow to be clouded, not to say lost sight of. Yet there are many who believe that it is no less necessary to
MEN DON'T BELIEVE IN MISSIONS
train a native ministry and a body of native leaders who shall go on doing their work even when the missionary is not there. Nevertheless, it is a genuine and important question as to how much of the funds given to a mission board for its regular work can legitimately be invested in work that is remotely related to the Church.
4. J1fissions gi",'e too much to medical and educational operations and too little to direct e",'angelization.
This is too large a matter to deal with here. We must not forget that the most of the miracles of Christ were miracles of healing, and that the Church in the mission field must be made an indigenous Church, led, supported and propagated by its own people. If this end is ever to be attained, Christian institutions of great variety must be planted in every country. Great wisdom is needed to keep these many departments of work in proper balance, that no one may eclipse the others, and that all in perfect harmony work together to the one goal, the permanent planting of the Kingdom of God throughout the entire world.
IN CONCLUSION Opposition at home to foreign missions or the failure to support them arises from one or more of the following causes: I. Hostility to Christianity and the principles for which it stands. 2. Fixed prejudice against peoples of other races. 3. Misconception of what missions are and what they have accomplished. 4. Stock objections that have done service for decades, the most of which are without any foundation in fact.
s. Absence of an impelling desire to help those who are in need of assistance. 6. Supreme selfishness. 7. Failure to appreciate the Fatherhood of God as Creator, and the common brotherhood of all men. S. Misapprehension of what Christianity demands of all its fol- lowers. 9. Absence of a lively imagination to picture vividly the needs of people of another and a remote country. 10. Mistrust of the sincerity and the ability of the missionaries. I I. Unworthy missionaries whose failure is known and who are taken as representatives of the class. 12. Satisfied ignorance of need and opportunity. 13. Lack of confidence in the management of the missIOnary so- ciety or board. 14. Shrinking from what an interest in missions might demand of personal service. 15. Absence of an impelling devotion to Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and Lord.
A CANADIAN INDIA N FAMILV OF FOUR GENERATIONS AT
Canadian Indians and the Great Spirit BY REV. F. G. STEVENS, FISHER RIVER, lJANTTOBA, Missionary of the Canadian Methodist Church CANAbIAN Indians are of very diverse kinds. Many languages are spoken and many modes of life and very different types of character are found among these people, as they occupy our land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Our remarks apply to the Indians of the Algonquin confederacy-the Crees, Salteaux, and Ojibways. These are kindred peoples, speaking similar tongues.
Their pagan religion is practically devil worship. They have a concept of a Great Spirit who is good and beneficent and all-powerful; the Creator of all things, including man. He is to be worshiped, yet no special stress is placed on His propitiation.
Evil spirits are many and include those dwelling on the earth, under the earth and above the earth. The pagan Indian lives in constant fear of these, and his whole aim in religion is to propitiate the had spirits in order that they may not do him harm. rn common with aU other devil wOl·shipers, their religion consists of fetichism and incantations accompanied by the use of drums and rattles, also of medi-
INDIANS AND THE GREAT SPIRIT
cines, having as their object the producing of evil to others or the warding off of the same. Thus the pagan life of these people is pitiable in the extreme; for with them evil is prominently present and the good not very much in evidence.
When the Gospel message came to these people they had little reason for its rejection. It brought good tidings of life, light and love to those who were verily "sitting in darkness and the shadow of death." Emphasizing as it did the prominence and power of the Great Spirit and His interest in and His love for men, as evidenced by the sacrifice of His only Son for them, the new message was indeed good news, glad tidings, to these people.
— -…
A CANADIAN MISSIONARY AND HIS DOG TEAM Of the three tribes above named, the Crees received the Word most gladly. To this day work among the Salteaux has been most backward. Almost to a man they cling to their old pagan religion, declaring that the Great Spirit gave the Indian a different religion from the white man, and they must cling to what was given them. The Ojibways have been a little more tractable and some advancement has been made among them.
The Crees have accepted the Gospel message, with all that it means. In the Lake Winnipeg region and northward, and also in the Province of Alberta, are missions of the Methodist Church ministering to these people. The Protestant Episcopal Church has a large work among them also.
We must take into consideration the former trend of mind, mode of life and traits of character of any people, when we begin to study how they have received the Great Spirit's message. Everywhere,
among all peoples, God takes people as they are, and through the con- cepts already in their minds tries to convey to those minds divine truth; therefore their ideas of truth will be colored by their preconceptions.
So we find it with these people. Having little but fear and misery to hold them to their old religion, they readily gave it up. As those old beliefs had little real hold over them, so they accepted the new religion a good deal as a matter of form, and it had no very powerful hold over them. To many the whole matter was summed up in outward performance or an endeavor to keep up appearances before the mis- sionaries. Others went in for religion because it was what the crowd 'was doing and was thus fashionable; but in all our missions there have been cases of remarkable conver- THE r.QRD'S PRA.YER. sions and of lives lived that told of a real change of heart and of real obedience to the teachings of the Holy Spirit.
One of the characteristics of P(P"U~IICb') P.6·"!>.6·); these people is thyir extremely de- P)U6…6·6·) P( 6·!>r"r<~o; pendent nature. In their worldly affairs they are dependent on their masters. Just so in things of re- ligion; if they are unde r strong control ~nd wise leadership in their church relations, then all will 'Vb.6·7 /r'''q~lI( o-Ln be well with them and the relig- q 61' 'Vb /,-'''q ious work will flourish . When a change comes, if it happens to be for the worse, their progress will then be the wrong way.
Two things have been very ra.. much against successful work among these people. One is their roving habits. Living in a wild, inclement and somewhat inacces- I sible country, and following the A SPECUMEN OF THE CREE LANGUAGE trapper's life of wandering, it has been difficult to do effectual work for them, even though devoted missionaries have followed them into the wilds. Work among roving Indians has nowhere proven success- ful. Where the Indians have been induced to settle down and form steady habits of life, near church and school, great success has attended the missionaries' efforts.
The other element that has hindered is that we have been too near the home church, although doing the work at a goodly distance.
The tendency has been for men to devote a few years only to Indian missions, and then, when family cares, etc., made it difficllit to live in
the Northland, to return to the home field. This has been hard on a work where, of all things, steady, prolonged effort is necessary.
The Indians have the great Spirit's Word in the plain Cree language. This was given them long years ago by Rev. James Evans, who, divinely inspired, invented the Cree syllabic characters in which to print the Bible in the beautiful language of the Crees. This Bible has been recently revised. They have hymn books, Pilgrim's Progress and a number of pamphlets in their language.
SOME RESULTS-A DAY SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN AT FISHER RIVER A difficulty has arisen as to the reading of these books by the Indians. Their instruction in schools has been in English, and many who could read English, parrot fashion, despised their own language and are nearly as badly off as if they could not read at all. Under wise direction more and more are reading God's Word in their mother tongue. A good many can also read and understand English, and comparing the two is a great help.
SOME RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS For twenty years I have been among these people and know them in all stages of degradation and development. Nearly thirteen years ago I was privileged to travel from end to end of our work on Lake Vinnipeg district and to see, in advancing stages, the condition of Indians from heathenism up to a good state of Christian civilization. I was among real pagans at Sandy Lake and had the pleasure of bringing a whole band from heathenism to Christianity, and, as I traveled northwestward and then southward, I saw at each succeeding station
increasing evidences of the Gospel's enlightening effect upon the Indians. Tome it seemed like the advancing stages of light from darkness to dawn, then sunrise, and then well on toward noon.
In the summer of 19 13 I had again the pleasure of going over the ground of my former work. Everywhere there were signs of advancement and much to encourage. Former Christians had progressed, and those who were formerly heathen were now Christians.
The story of the Deer Lake Indians is particularly romantic. When I first saw them they were pagans. Now, almost without any outside influence, they are all turned to the Christian religion. One of their number had married a woman from a neighboring band. He used to summer with his wife's people, who were Christians. These people were without a resident missionary, but were visited by one at stated periods. Necessarily their mode of worship was of crude form, yet here this man learned something of the Great Spirit's way and will. He became at last the leader of his people in religious things. Under his instructions they have built a small, crude church and carry on worship to the Good Spirit therein. They had been doing this for fi~e ,Years, and our visit last summer was the first they had from any mIssIOnary.
We find the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be the really effectual means of reaching these people. They are emotional in their services, and our meetings put us in mind of good, old-fashioned Methodist worship. Not being given to reading or meditation, they seem to need a great deal of public worship to satisfy their religious longings. They are fond of the class meetings and will sing and pray and testify all night long if they are .allowed. Like the negroes, they dearly love to preach.
During years of working among these people we have come across many bright samples and also many of the opposite kind. N ever do we expect to find such another as Pa-pa-mee-kee-see-quap, or William Campbell, as he was baptized, Chief of the Crane Indians, who lived at Sandy Lake, away up in what is now New Ontario. Even while a pagan he seemed to be naturally good, and when he heard even indistinct tidings of the Gospel message, he seemed at once to believe and to begin to live the Christian life. During our intercourse, we were moved with wonderment at his goodness. When famine blighted his people, in the winter of 1899-1900, he was simply heroic in his efforts to help his poor people. Since then he has gone to his reward. We think of his lonely grave there in a great, lone land, but his brave spirit is surely up yonder and we shall meet again some day by and by.
We have strong hopes for the future. If the work is properly pressed there will surely be good results. Weare not building up a nation of Indians, but we are trying to assimilate an aboriginal people into our body politic, with its Christian life and civilization. Of this work it may be said, "This must decrease, and that must increase." In the meantime precious souls are being garnered in the home above.
Calls in the
BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA A YOUNG GIRL sat 10 Northfield, Massachusetts. In her hand was a message which contained sufficient cause for the troubled expression on her face.
The message summoned her to come to India to see her mother, who was ill on the mission field.
Ida Scudder did not want to go to India. She thought almost resent- fully of the many members of her family who had given their lives to India.
Her noble grandfather, Dr.
John Scudder, might have been the most prominent of New York's physicians if he had not read "The Call of Six Hundred Millions" as he waited to see a patient in New York City. That call from out of the darkness and superstition and suffering laid hold of his heart and drew him out to India to give his life in self-spending ministration.
His life and work had blazed the way with a trail of light through India's darkness, and never, since it set the light a-shining, had there been a cia y when there was no Scudder in India to keep this torch DR. IDA SCUDDER . VELLORE. I NDB burning.
One by one they had come back to America to be educated-his children and his grandchildren. One by one the call of God and of Indi a's awful need had drawn them back. Seven of his children and fifteen of his grandchildren had already gone back to India. Ida Scud- der had been born there. Her father and mother were there now, pouring out their lives in service.
"It is enough," said Ida Scudder as she sat in Northfield with the summons in her hand. She would go, eagerly, gladly, to be with her mother while she was sick, but, when her mother was well, she would no
longer bury herself in India. She would hasten back to America to live her life as other girls were living theirs.
So Ida Scudder took passage for India to see her sick motheronly to see her sick mother. She assured herself and her friends over and over again that there was no danger of her staying in India-the India that had already claimed more than its share of Scudders.
One night she sat in her father's house in India. As the dusk of the twilight was deepening into the darkness of the night a knock sounded at the door. The girl answered its summons. A man stood before her. He was a high-caste Mohammedan, tall, slender, whiterobed. He bowed low and spoke.
"My young wife is ill-ill to the death. Our doctors can do nothing for her. Vill the gracious lady come to attend her?" Ida Scudder knew naught of medicine.
"My father," she answered eagerly, "is a medical man. He will come to see your wife."
The Mohammedan drew himself up proudly. "Na man has ever looked upon the face of my wife. We are high born. I should rather a thousand times that she should die than that a man should look upon her face." Silently he turned and went out into the darkness. Ida Scudder sat down and thought. She was in India now. In India with this pitiful, unpitied child-wife, who might be dying even as she sat and thought of her. How long she sat she knew not. She was startled by a second knock that sounded. Possibly the man had been softened by the sight of the agony of his little wife, and had come for her father. Eagerly she opened the door. It was not the same man who stood there. Possibly it was his messenger. "My wife,"-began this man, as had the other, "my wife is very sick. She is giving me much trouble. It is a pity that a wife should give her husband so much trouble. After all my pains she may die unless the mem sahib comes and heals her." The girl looked at him hopefully. Surely he could not be as prejudiced as the other one. "I am not a doctor," she explained. "My father is a medical man.
He will–" The man interrupted her with a proud uplifting of his turbaned head. "I am a high-caste man," he said. "No man dare look upon the face of my wife."
Even as he spoke he turned and disappeared in the darkness. Ida Scudder's thoughts went with him back to the girl. Perhaps she was only a little girl. So many of them were. Perhaps she was dying even now because no man could help her and there was no woman to help. Something clutched at the heart of the American girl over there in India and choked her throat as she sat helpless and unhelping. It was terrible that two calls should come in such rapid succession on
the same night. As she shuddered at the thought and the misery of it all a third knock sounded. A third man came before her. His voice was almost eager.
"My wife," he said. "She is ill, very ill. They told me T could find help for her here. A wonderful foreign doctor who had done re- markable things." At last there was a call for her father!
"Oh, yes, I will send my father," she answered gladly. The man involuntarily straightened himself. "Not a man! No man shall look upon the face of my wife. You must come." In vain did the girl plead that her father would come. Sadly and alone the man departed as had the tvvo other men before him. Ida Scudder sat down again. Were all the suffering child-wives in India calling to her that night? "Vas one of those endless processions she had read about in missionary magazines actually going to march by her door with unending, maddening continuance? The night passed on. The day dawned. Jda Scudder walked out into the street. As she passed a gateway she heard wailing and loud lamentation. It chilled her heart. She knew that the life of one of the child-wives had passed with the passing of the day. She went on. At another house the beating of the musical instru- ments, the shrieks and the moans, told her that a second little wife was dead. She would have turned back, sick at heart, but a relentless hand drew her on until she stooel before the rude bier bedecked with flowers, which was to carry away the poor little body of the third wife whom the skilled touch of a physician might have healed. Unspoken accusations sounded in her ears though no voice sounded the words that accused her, "If thou hadst been here, these might not have died." That fall, among the names of those who entered the Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia, there appeared the name of Ida S. Scudder. She heard the call of the women and children of India; the call of her grandfather's love and of his life; the call of her father's and mother's sacrifice. Above all, she heard a call which came from the lips of a Man Who hung upon a Cross. The print of thorns was upon His brow. Nail wounds were in His hands and His feet, and His side was pierced. The Cross seemed to be transplanted until it stood in India's soil, and the voice of Him upon it said not "Go ye" but "I have died for India. Come follow me." As she has followed the Cross into India Dr. Ida Scudder has brought blessing and health and life to thousands of India's girls and .women. She passes on to the girls and women of America those knocks that are summoning aid in the night. The night is dark in India and we have light. The call comes not from three only but from the three hundred and fifteen millions of India's people. They appeal with an insistent call for some to go and for all to give and to pray.
Missions In China Pay?
A Testimony to American Missionaries in China Mr. Julian Arnold, a Commercial Attache oj the American Embassy in Peking, gives a very jorcejul and deserved tribute to the American Missionaries T HE American missionary population in China numbers about two thousand five hundred and represents nearly fifty per cent of the entire foreign Protestant missionary population in this country. In mission- ary educational and hospital work, American institutions represent probably seventy-five per cent of the work being done by all missionary bodies. More Americans resident in China are engaged in missionary activities than in mercantile pursuits. Thus, in a way, our missionary interests are our pre- dominant interests in Chinn. They probably spend as much as $2,000,000 a year in China, the bulk of which is sent from the United States.
Does it pay? Yes, and from whatever viewpoint it is considered. Contrary to statements often made in print and in speech, the Chinese do appreciate the labors of the foreign missionaries and do welcome them in their communities. There are instances of opposition on the part of native communities to missionary work in these localities, but this opposition generally gives way under a better knowledge of the work of the societies in these communities. Time generally wears away this opposition, and often societies which at one time met with violent opposition in a community are now warmly supported by the same community. 1!1issionaries are often criticized for living in good foreign houses and for having comforts quite superior to those enjoyed by the Chinese among whom they work. In fact, one will find a missionary in China living as well as foreigners in other walks of life. But, why not? It would be a snd reflection on western civilization if we obligated our missionaries to live in the sordid, unsanitary way in which the mass of Chinese live. It would also reflect sadly on the missionary if he were to come to China from the United States and leave behind him the lessons which our country has to teach in sanitation and cleanliness. As the majority of missionaries live in the interior of China, away from treaty ports, that ,is, in places where foreign merchants are not by treaty permitted to live, does it not stand to reason that the missionary, in living in western style rather than in Chinese style, incidentally teaches the Chinese among whom he works to understand the virtues of things western? First toleration, then investigation, and later adoption, is the process of the result of the missionary carrying things western into the interior of China. Our merchants and manufacturers could well afford, as a business proposition, to equip American mission stations in the interior of China with American furnishings. Thus, let the American merchant be the last to criticize adversely the American missionary for carrying American ideas of living and comfort to the interior of China.
No people have done so much to acquaint the English-speaking world with the Chinese people and things Chinese as have British and American missionaries through their books and other publications on China and its people. These missionaries learn the language of the communities in which they reside and come to know the people among whom they work more intimately than do Britishers or Americans in other walks of life in China. As a result they have given to the English-speaking world a flood of knowledge regarding this strange country and its people, which, from a commercial viewpoint, is in itself a very important work.
METHODS
BEST METHODS FOR MISSION STUDY BY MRS. NOBLE C. KING, OAK PARK, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Secretary for Missionary Education of the Woman's Presbyterian Board of the Northwest T HE study of the Bible and the study stay at home than to those who go to of World Missions are very closely the mission field. connected. The one is a study of God's vital truth, the principles of salvation, The fact that the subject of missions ui holy living and of service to our fel- is being more widely studied by the 10w men; the other is a study of these Church to-day than ever before in its principles at work in the lives of men, history, that mission study is being put saving, transforming and renewing them. into every organization of the Church, and that the leadership is so inadequate The stud·y of God's Word and God's to the task, makes it important to raise World Work should go hand in hand. a high standard of missionary education The story of modern missions and the and to give these leaders the very best establishment of the Christian Church methods and the best training for their in every land is in very truth the story work. of "The New Acts of the Apostles, the continuation of the things which Jesus Opportune Times for Holding Study began to do and to teach. " Yet in Classes large measure the Church of to-day accepts only a part of the "Program of The time chosen for holding study God," studying His Word but not the classes should be a matter of careful record of His World Work. For this consideration. Putting them in at inreason the Church is finding it necessary opportune times has been a prolific cause to lay large plans for the missionary of failure. education of its members. The custom is increasing, not only in The study of the great world fields, Episcopalian churches but also in of the heroism of those who have not churches of all denominations, of using counted their lives dear unto themselves, the Lenten season for a study class peof the triumphs of the Cross and the riod. The reasons are obvious. Many trophies won from rocky soil, together of the most successful classes have been with the realization of the fact that God held during this period set apart for is at work in Oriental and pagan lands quiet meditation and sacrificial servto-day no less than in Christendom, gives ice, the closing session being held before great stimulus to the Church in the the special meetings of Holy Week behomeland. The benefits to the indi- gin. vidual Christian from mission study are likewise many, the most important of all Other favorable times are the autumn, being that it gives a new understanding when it is possible to put in a six-weeks' and conception of God's purpose and the class before Thanksgiving, or immedimighty task He has laid upon His ately after the holidays, when people are Church, and results in a wonderful through with the Christmas rush. deepening of spiritual life. The call to heroic service is seen to be not to the In many localities the summer month, missionary alone but to every follower furnish the best time for such courses. of Christ-that the call to unselfish, For those who do not attend the sumsacrificial service is no less to those who mer conferences, there is a great oppor- tunity in utilizing the hotel veranda, the woodsy retreats, the morning hours. Literature is not available in such large
quantities, but the freedom from winter little groups hidden away in somebody's cares gives time for quiet thought and parlor or dining-room, or possibly a constrength for study which make up for ference or church class room, known whatever lack of material there may be. only to a comparative few-quiet, Some fine classes have been held at thoughtful, dead-in-earnest groups facsummer homes and at summer resorts.* ing mighty world problems-are chang- ing the whole attitude of the Church 'l'ypes of Mission Study Classes toward the misionary enterprise. Per- haps we may change the tense and say In the main there are four types of that they have already changed the mission study classes operating in the ,vhole attitude of the Church in regard churches, all seeming to fill a place in to missions. A few years ago a missionthe missionary education of the present ary from India returning for his second day. They are as follows: furlough was pleased to note how greatly the home church had grown, 1. The lecture course based on some since his former visit, in intelligence study book. These are largely con- in regard to the work in India. He ducted by Women's Interdenominational declared that he could only account for Missionary Federations in all sections of it by the fact that the chu~ch had really the country and at the summer schools. bee~ studying missions in the then new In these courses a large amount of sub- study class movement. ject matter is covered and much inspiration gained. Books are bought and The Idwl Class notes are taken. Sometimes discussion is allowed, though not always. The quality of the work done in mis- sion study is steadily advancing, though 2. The large, extensive class where even yet the highest type of study class text-books are purchased by all, topics is but little understood. This is eviare assigned and prepared by the mem- denced by the number of reports which bers, and a portion of the time is given the writer receives of classes that are to discussion. Notable under this type still reciting their lessons. of class is that led each year during Lent by Mrs. Wallace Radcliffe, of the In the ideal class recitations, papers New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, and set talks are excluded or used very Vashington, D. C., with over one hun- rarely, and the discussion method, based dred women in attendance. upon a previous study of the sub- ject by the class as well as the leader, is 3. The reading circle, where a mis- substituted. It should have one leader sionary book (not necessarily a text- for the entire course; weekly meetings book) is read and discussed by a group which give time for preparation yet of persons who for various reasons are without loss of interest between sessions; unable to undertake preparatory work and questions for discussion of the subor who are disinclined to take up regular ject assigned by the leader the week study. Much is gained, of course, by previous. In such classes the leader the mere reading together of the book guides and develops the discussions to and the possibilities under a consecrated definite conclusions which have a real leadership are very great. Such reading value. circles often lead into real study classes. The mission study class is really the 4. The small, intensive class, limited only method of missionary education in number, which meets either for the which seeks to assimilate missionary food. study of a text-book or for a study of Vhen the first mission study textthe methods of teaching based on a text- book, "Via Christi," was issued by the book. This is the ideal method. Such Central Committee for United Study for Foreign Missions, after the Ecumenical "Winter resorts in Florida and elsewhere Council in 1910, that gifted woman, also furnish excellent opportunities for hold- Miss Abbie Childs, one of the commiting mission study classes. See the account of tee, earnestly urged that in the preparaa "Tourist Mission Study Class," held in St. Petersburg, Florida, which appeared in the Best Methods Department of THE RE- VIEW, in May, I9I6.-B. M. B.
METHODS
tion of the committee text-books it intellectual tone of the class. The should be presupposed that they were problem is how to get spiritual leaders to be studied. "We collect the food," who have in addition the trained abilitv she said, in effect, "from all over the to develop thought in a class session and world. We carefully prepare it, elimi- produce "team work" on the part of the nating all waste matter, cook and season members. it skilfully, serve and garnish it attrac- tively on a convenient table for our read- Years ago a leader of a young peo- ers. But we cannot be expected to chew ple's missionary society in Ohio solved the food for them!" the problem in her church. First she prayed for leaders; then she studied the Where the function of the text-book young people, picked out the promising ends, that of the study class begins. It material and trained them to active serv- "chews the food"! ice in the home church. At the same time she impressed them with her own How much missionary food we take strong personality. The result was that into our systems through reading, ser- a very large number of them went forth mons, lectures and programs, yet how to fields of service in all parts of the little of it we really assimilate! "I re- world. member so little of a chapter when I read it," said a member of a study class A pastor of an Indiana church is at- recently, "but when I have studied it tempting to solve it in a somewhat dif- with the class, it stands out clearly in ferent way. Being deeply imbued with my mind." the missionary spirit and desiring to make a strong missionary impression on his The Ideal Leader church, he chose four young women of his congregation and sent them last sum- One of the greatest needs of the rap- mer to the Lake Geneva Conference of idly growing study class movement is the Missionary Education Movement. trained leaders, especially leaders with They went home filled with new ideas a spiritual vision. Sometimes we have which are no doubt being worked out training without spirituality, and vice in that church at the present time. 7!erSa, but for the ideal leader both are Why did not a hundred other pastor~ needed. do the same thing?
Too often the tone of the class is in- Pastors and other Christian workers tellectual rather than spiritual. A class can do a great work in choosing, guidin a suburb of Chicago which recently ing and praying for their young people, completed a course in "The Living and giving them opportunities of getting Christ for Latin America," included in the world-wide vision which will count its membership one who had for many in all their work throughout their whole years followed the false teachings of lives. Are they doing it? Christian Science but had at length been brought out from it into a living faith In this day of summer conferences in Lord Jesus Christ. "I have been in and 'winter institutes there is abundant many mission study classes," she said to opportunity for young lives to come into the leader at the close, "but they have close touch with great missionaries from all been largely intellectual studies. the field and great missionary leaders in This one has shown me the possibilities the homeland. But some one must open of revealing, through the study of world- up these advantages to them. For this wide missions, the marvelous plan of reason every society should pay the ex- God for bringing the world to Himself." penses of one or more delegates to these gatherings every year. In some societies Surelv we cannot put our intellectual where the available funds are not standards too high, but would it be sufficient to send more than one deleworth while if we should stop there? gate, the plan is being tried of paying half the expenses of two, and it seems How to Get Leaders to work very well.
The leader is responsible to a great extent for the spiritual as well as the
Promoters of Mission Study "throw people into classes" if they are To do its best work every mission to be gotten at all. study class should have a promoter as well as a leader. The promoter may In some churches a promoter is apbe an individual or a committee, the pointed to look after the interests of duties being the same in either case, i.e., mission study in all the various organisecuring the leader; enlisting member~ zations of the church. In such cases he for the class; arranging the time and (more often she) is usually given the place for the meetings; procuring text- title of "Secretary of Mission Study," books, maps, charts; assisting in securing and his opportunities are very great. If books for collateral reading; and seeing your church does not include such a prothat assignments are conveyed to ab- moter among its regular officials, it would be well to appoint one at oncc.
sentees. The promoter should always be included in the membership of the Enlisting Recruits for Mission Study class and should in every possible way In a church in the Middle West stand back of the leader in making the which has a very live and energetic pro- class a success. moter of mission study, it was planned to A good promoter is sometimes as diffi- start a campaign with an organization cult to find as a good leader and is quite meeting, though it was not so called.
as necessary to the success of the class. It was advertised instead as an informal To be a good promoter one must have social missionary gathering with a pro- initiative, tact, persistence and enthusi- gram and invitation of such attractive- asm, and must be deeply in earnest ness that a large number were induced and impressed with the possibilities of to attend.
the task. Whenever great success is, As Latin America was the subject to achieved, either in an individual class be studied in the prospective classes, it or in a campaign, it is safe to say that some strong personality has been behind was made the topic of the program. it. Maps of La~in America were drawn from memory and afforded much amuse- The task of the promoter, especially ment. Picture posters were displayed along the line of securing members for showing the superlatives of Latin Arner- the class, is often up-hill work. There ica-( I) the highest active volcano; (2) is so much to be done in the way of the highest waterfall; (3) the highest overcoming inertia, dislike for study, lake; (4) the largest coffee crop; (5 i the "too busy" excuse, and countless the largest dairy in the world; (6) the other objections, that were it not for finest emeralds; (7) the richest country the fact that it is worth while to give in plants, shrubs and trees of commercial even one person a new vision of the worth. Charts were also shown giving missionary enterprise and his relation to the comparative areas of Anglo-Saxon it, few would be willing to undertake and Latin America, the population, edu- it. Yet it is a task with great possibilities cation, etc. Chili sauce was served (brief and great rewards. stories of patriots and missionaries of At Lake Geneva last summer one of Chili) and Brazil nuts were cracked the two-hour normal classes culminated (paper cut in the form of a Brazil nut in a deep, heart-searching session where doubled, painted brown and having a many decisions for service were made. quiz question written inside).
"I was simply thrown into this class," At the close of the program, announce- said a lady to the writer at the close. "I ment was made of the classes which were did not want to come, I was planning to to meet for the six successive weeks and do something else. But how glad I am enrollments were taken. Almost every that somebody, figuratively speaking, one bought a text-book and a large pro- threw me in. I shall never forget it. portion of those present agreed to join It will influence my whole life and one of the classes. Lesson assignments work." Sometimes the promoter must ,'!>-ere given out for the first week and
METHODS I35
the campaign was launched with great out the plans of the general committee.
enthusiasm. The goal was at least one mission study A Class of Program Makers class in every church in Greater Chicago in which there is a Christian Endeavor An excellent way to enlist recruits Society.
for a study class is to appoint a group The month of January, 1916, was de- of people to some special service and then voted to publicity and at the close of the offer the study class as an opportunity month the drive was formally initiated to secure training for that service. by a series of parlor conferences, one in A class in a church in Oak Park, Illi- each of the eleven districts of the nois, which held its sessions last autumn Union. The presidents and missionary and used "The Living Christ in Latin chairmen of the local societies were in- America" as its text-book, had, as a large vited to these conferences, the plans were part of its membership, women who had laid before them, their interest was been asked to prepare the programs on aroused and their co-operation secured.
Latin America for the Voman's Society. Returning to their home churches, they They came eager to learn all they could enlisted their own local workers, and and remained through the entire course, chose their leaders without delay.
thus getting the background of the entire The next step was a series of Normal book rather than of the single chapter Classes for the training of the leaders each was to take as the basis of her chosen by the various societies. There program. were five of these classes and during the When the class had completed its ses- first three weeks of February they met sions, these leaders met to plan their simultaneously in the loop district (the programs, each choosing an aim for her heart of the city) for two sessions each chapter, the material which should be week, the place of meeting the offices of used and how to adapt it. One woman one of the Mission Boards having head- announced that, through studying the quarters in Chicago. At the beginning chapter, "The Heritage of a People," she all the classes united for a brief meeting had herself gained such a deep sympathy at which plans were outlined and thor- for the Latin American people that she oughly explained. Then the various wished to make this the aim and appeal classes retired to smaller offices for their of her program. own class sessions. The text-books used Some o'ne has said that it is a crime to were "The Rising Church in Non- have stupid programs when there is so Christian Lands," "Comrades in Serv- much fascinating material to make them ice," and "Around the World with Jack interesting. A sure way to make them and Janet," and the leaders were the helpful and attractive is to precede them very best that could be secured in the with a study class. city of Chicago.
Chicago's Mission Study Drive Following the completion of the nor- mal work came the organization of the Last year a very successful campaign local classes, and by the end of March known as a "Mission Study Drive" was every society enlisted in the campaign carried to a successful completion in had a class studying missions. Close Chicago among the young people of the watch was kept on all classes and the city and suburbs under the auspices of final count showed the number to be 130 the Chicago Christian Endeavor Union. classes. This year will probably see The promoting for this drive was even greater results, for plans on a much done by a strong committee with Mr. larger scale have already been laid.
Charles E. McBurney, missionary super- . A Two-Section Study Class intendent of the Chicago C. E. Union, as chairman. Even the smallest details A recent letter from a worker in of it were planned long in advance, sub- Oquaka, Illinois, tells of something new committees on text-books, leaders, meet- in mission study. The Voman's Society ing places, etc., being appointed to carry of thirty-two members has been divided
by the president into two sections, each ing the class. Almost all text-books with its own leader. The two sections require adaptation, additions or subtracor classes meet separately for study. tions being made with the viewpoint of Then the whole society comes together the class always in mind. again and the two sides are tested by a set of previously prepared questions How to Make Assignments.-An asafter the order of an old-fashioned spell- signed lesson should consist of from three ing-match. There is also a svstem of to five questions. Before assigning them credits. Each side is given one credit to members of the class care should be for each member in attendance and ten taken that they are clearly stated, that credits for each new member secured for they cover the material and assist in the the society as a whole. realization of the chosen aim.
"Instead of a drowsy, comatose or- How to Make Use of Assignments.- ganization," says this worker from In the average class, the leader calls on Oquaka, "we now have a lively crowd those to whom topics were assigned, at of women who are actually learning appropriate times during the class session. many facts concerning missions, and their Is there not a hint of a better way in interest will surelv be awakened when the following incident? In a class rethey understand the work." cently conducted on Latin America, the Things a Leader Ought to Know leader privately asked Mrs. J – – to How to Begin.-When a leader be- look up the life of the great educator, gins his preparation for teaching a text- Sarmiento, and give it in about three book, he should, first of all, read it en- minutes at the next session of the class. tirely through, making comments, noting Then at the class hour, when the disdown impressions, questions, lessons, etc., cussion turned upon educational progress as he reads. in Argentina, Mrs. J – – watched her How to Outline the Chapters.-Before teaching each chapter, the leader opportunity and at an opportune moment should make an outline of it, working presented her information without being it over and over until he is satisfied that called upon. It caused no break in the it is clear, concise and comprehensive. discussion, and was a distinct contribu- This is necessary to give him the mastery tion. The fact that it had been preof its entire contents so essential to suc- arranged and was not spontaneous was cess. not discovered by the class. This is ideal where the discussion method is used. How to Select an Aim.-The leader should have a dominating purpose for How to Make a Teaching Outline.- the entire course; he should also make After the leader has mastered the conpreparation for each session with a tents of the chapter to be taught, chosen special aim in view. "What do I wish an aim and assigned questions and speto impress upon the minds and hearts cial topics, then a teaching outline of these wide-awake, ready-to-listen, should be drawn up, based on the above. open-hearted young people through the Sub-questions should be carefully noted presentation of this chapter? How shall which will develop the thought of the I make the best use of my one-hour op- lesson and lead out the members of the portunity with them?" These questions class to earnest thinking and self-expresshould ever be uppermost in his mind. sion, and to definite impressions and con- clusions. How to Adapt the Text-book.-The leader should select from each chapter as How to Use Prayer and the Scriphe studies it as much as can be profitably tures.-There is no question as to the used in the time allotted to the class advanta~e of the use of prayer and the session. If but a portion can be well Scriptures in the opening and closing covered it should be chosen with a view devotional services of any religious gathto the course as a whole and with special ering. They lead our thoughts Godward reference to the needs of those compos- at the beginning and tie up impressions at the close. But there is another use of both possible in a study class which counts for even more. The discussion
METHODS
of the great world problems and ques- 6. Arrange for the presentation of the tions, viewed from the religious stand- special stereopticon lectures on Latin point, again and again throws us back America prepared by the Board of Forupon the actual truth of God's Word eign Missions. as we realize our own inability to solve these mighty problems. When 7. Promote the formation of other hearts and minds are thus quickened, classes or groups for the study of Latin the Scriptures take special hold, and America. the use of them becomes wonderfully fruitful and convincing. And prayer- 8. Prepare to lead such a group yourwhen hearts are powerfully stirred by self. some great truth, there is nothing one wants to do but pray, and timid souls are 9. Increase your gifts to foreign misencouraged to voice their petitions aud- sions as much as possible. ibly before others for the first time. In the ideal class the writer would elimi- 10. If there are those among your acnate all perfunctory use of the Scriptures quaintances who do not give because and prayer, but seize upon every oppor- they do not know of the opportunities tunity for the use of both in the most for investment, try to give them the facts effective manner. and secure gifts from them.
Expecting Results.-Leaders should I I. Practice prayer yourself and pro· not only attempt to reach a high stand- mote it in your church. Ask your pasard of teaching, but they should expect tor and Sunday-school superintendent to definite results from their work. The arrange for definite prayer for Latin following suggestive "Things To Do" America from the pulpit and the Sundayis being put in the hands of all Presby- school platform. terian class members following the study of Latin-America. It is condensed and 12. Bring the call for personal seradapted from a leaflet by Mr. B. Car- vice on the mission field to the attention ter Milliken, Educational Secretary of of your young people. the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and can easily be adapted to other DETERMINE what you can do, text-books. The leaflet is published by and straightway do it. To receive an the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- impression and not act on it, to see a sions, 156 Fifth Avenue, and in its vision and be disobedient to it-these complete form will be found excellent tend to harden one's spiritual sensibilifor distribution. ties and retard one's development.
For Members of Classes Studying Latin To see the vision and to follow it America means enlargement of LIFE. There is great joy in MAXIMUM SERVICE. J. Begin at once to pass or; any information you have gained. DO IT NOW.
2. Endeavor to have the text-book, TWO RESULTS OF MISSION STUDY "The Living Christ for Latin America," placed in every home in your church. I. It brings the student into closer and truer relationship with God in Christ and 3. Ask your pastor to preach a series with his fellow men. of sermons on Latin America. 2. It releases power in the form of 4. Keep the subject of Latin America gifts, prayer, personal service and conbefore your church by means of posters, secration of life-the means God uses charts, maps, mottoes and a bulletin to win the world to Himself. board with items of current news. DO YOU DESIRE SUCH RESULTS IN 5. Urge your Sunday-school superin- YOUR CHURCH? tendent to take up the subject of missions in Latin America in the Sunday- THEN GIVE THIS METHOD A TRIAL s~hool, B. CARTER MILLIKIN:
Woman's Federation
EDITED BY MRS. HENRY W. PEABODY, BEVERLEY, MASS.
A WOMAN'S CLEARING HOUSE BY MRS. WILLIAM H. FARMER, MONTCLAIR, N. J.
T HE Federation of Woman's Boards On the foreign field the Federation of Foreign Missions of North plans Christian literature for women America ought to be a great and efficient and children of non-Christian lands, and clearing-house for woman's foreign mis- gathers information in regard to such sion work. Progressive ideas and ideals interdenominational institutions as the should circulate like bills and checks. new Union Woman's College at Ma- The interchange of methods, the dras, India; the new medical school in strengthening of prayer life, the enthu- Veilare, India; Ginling College in siasm of united effort among women of China, and the hoped-for women's col- different Boards should offer new life to lege in Tokyo.
all churches. And are not vitality and Each Board belonging to the Federa- responsibility pressing needs to-day? tion is asked to appoint one woman, To become a member of the Federa- preferably an officer, who shall be the tion each denomination pays a fee based means of communication between the upon its annual income for foreign mis- Executive Committee and her own sions, and its voting power, expressed Board. She is to be known as a "Fed- by delegates sent to the annual meeting eration Representative," and will be in January, is in like proportion. From promptly notified of all action taken hy so broad a constituency as all North the Executive Committee.
America, speakers and expert leaders of One does not need prophetic vision to the highest ability can be secured. grasp the possible importance of such an Through the wise counsels of those organization as this. Simple in form, whose practical experience has been democratic in spirit, effective in pub- long and varied, there will surely be licity, wise in counsel, may the Federa- found a solution for many a vexing tion minister to the deepest needs and problem, and discussion frank and the highest aims of every Christian luminous may be anticipated. church of North America.
The special fields of Federation work UNITED STUDY BOOKS FOR ~9~ 'T-~918 are clearly shown in the standing committees. These include methods of A REAL treat is in store for students work among women, young people and of missions in two remarkable boob children, plans for increasing interest in to be published this month. About four the mission enterprise, with follow-up years ago the Central Committee on the work and publicity; foreign mission United Study of Foreign Missions se- propaganda in schools and colleges; in- cured Miss Jean Kenyon Mackenzie, a vestigation of summer schools and con- missionary of the Presbyterian Board, in ferences; and publication work which is Kamerun, Africa, to write a study book.
delegated to the Central Committee on The general topic assigned was: "The the United Study of Foreign Missions. Approach of the Gospel to Primitive Home Base work is the concern of these Peoples." The new book, "An African committees, but the Federation is also Trail," is the result.
interested in local federations that are Miss Mackenzie is known not only springing up rapidly. Helpful emphasis as a missionary, but as the author of is laid on the Day of Prayer, mission notable letters which appeared in The study in groups large or small, and in- Atlantic Monthly in 1915, under the terdenominational fellowship. title, "Black Sheep." The response to these letters, later issued in book form, genius. In the story of two African boys she introduces local color, thrills led the editors of The Atlantic Monthly of adventure and a background of mis- sionary motive and achievement. It is to seek permission from the Central a story of equal interest for girls. Little Asala is as great an adventurer as her Committee to publish two chapters of brothers. It is a story, and we all love stories. I t is a story of heroes, and boys the coming text-book in their magazine. and girls delight in the heroic. It is far more than a study book, and because These chapters appeared in the N ovem- we believe it will take a place among the classics for young people, the usual ber and December numbers of The questions and helps for a text-book are not included but will be provided else- A tlantie. The entire book of six chap- where. The young reader may start on his adventure with these two real boys ters carries out the promise of this fore- in Africa unimpeded by the thought of study, or tests, or moral lessons. Try it taste. on any boy or girl of any age who can Miss Mackenzie's fitness for writing read, and note the result. The book is delightfully illustrated with sixteen halfthe book is based on her first-hand tone cuts from photographs furnished by knowledge of the field, her charming the author. The chapter headings are as follows: literary style, which has passed the high- est test of American literature, and her rare psychological insight, strengthened by training of the highest order. We quote Miss Mackenzie's own words in the opening paragraph of her book: "This is a book about a neighborhood -a neighborhood like many others in the forests of equatorial Africa. It is a book about a tribe, one like many others of the tribes of the Bantu people of Africa. It is a book about an adven- Chapter I. The Family of Akulu Mejo. Chapter II. White Men and Their Adture-an African adventure which re- Chapter III. ventures. peats itself wherever the Word of God Assam tells more about Liv- Chapter IV. makes entrance into a neighborhood of Chapter V. ingstone. An Adventure with Dwarfs. those forests and addresses itself to those Chapter VI. Adventures of Assam and tribes. This is not a book of ethnology, Mejo. The Return of the Advenor anthropology, or zoology, or geogra- turers. phy, though in our neighborhood and in our tribe there is rich quarry for such effort. Neither is it a book of mission- Both books will be published March 1st, in ample time for leaders to preary history or biography, though we pare programs for the coming year and for summer school lecturers to arrange have been not without honor in our their notes. * corps and history. This book is an ac- All boards are urged by Miss Maccount of the impact of the Word of kenzie to provide supplementary material on their own missions in Africa. God, in a Bantu dialect, upon the hearts of some of the tribes of the Bantu." * The chapter headings are as follows: Chapter I. The Vhite Man in Africa. WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, Chapter II. The Bulu. Chapter III. The Bulu and God. TJUADRAS Chapter IV. The Ten Tyings. HE cheery little magazine of the Chapter V. The New Tribe. new college for women in India is Chapter VI. The New Custom. called The Sun Flower. The second number includes many interesting fea- 'l'he Junior Book 1'or :l9:l7-:l!H8 tures. The frontispiece gives two charm- ing views of the new building given by T HE book for Juniors, entitled "Af- the Woman's American Baptist Foreign rican Adventurers," was also written Mission Society from the legacy by by Miss Mackenzie and is a stroke of ;< The book contains 16 half-tone illustra- .. Price of Junior book of I20 pages, paper tions. It may be ordered from Woman's covers, 30 cents, postpaid; cloth covers, 50 Boards of Missions. cents, postpaid. Order from your Board.
Price, 30 cents in paper, postage to be added; So cents in cloth, postage 8 cents.
Laura Spelman Rockefeller. These im- "At one side of the big house is a posing buildings, which we hope to show small, oblong building which has been readers of THE REVIEW in a later issue, transformed from a storeroom into a are set in a compound of ten acres on peaceful little chapel, where we meet the banks of the river. The building twice a day for prayers. Behind the has had a notable history. Since its chapel are the kitchens and out-houses erection, prior to 1798, it has been the and one more small building known as home of famous Englishmen and Indians. the Enclosure, which contains eight or The residents have included one noto- nine student rooms, built round an optn rious character, a native ruler who at- courtyard in the form of a real Indian tempted the murder of an English offi- house. cial. He has left as his memorial on the college grounds a little stone house "The grounds contain two tennis which his monkeys occupied. courts, two badminton courts, and ample room for other games, even though we The following bit of description from should layout several more Rower the college magazine gives an idea of beds. We are gradually acquiring the location and color, and hints at some plants in pots, without which a house further needs of the college: and compound in India look very bare. Where the ample stables of Doveton "Nungambaukam is a quiet residen- House now stand, we hope to erect, in tial quarter with shady roads between the near future, a hall of residence, gardens and estates. You enter our which will increase our very limited acpremises by a white gate-with its sign, commodation for staff and students and 'Women's Christian College'-and a enable us to use more rooms in the main bamboo-bordered driveway which re- building for classes. We need this new veals nothing until it bends to the left. hall very much and are waiting only From that bend you can take in the for the necessary lakh of rupees which whole contour of the place at one sweep- will make it possible. Our ten acres of ing glance. Three white buildings stand land offer us considerable room for exin the midst of green lawns, and trees, pansion, and if the college continues to and shrubbery, and all the vivid coloring grow at its present rate, expansion will of blossom-time-purple bougainvillea, be the next great problem which we pink antigonon and cassia, yellow portia must face, for our present buildings are and acacia, and scarlet flame of the for- filled to overflowing." est. The small two-story house on the left is the bungalow, where twenty-five Miss Macdougall, the president of the of the students and two of the staff college, writes in her last letter of the have their rooms. But your eye will be arrival of the new American members caught first by the main building-a of the faculty, Miss Edith Coon, M.A., high, imposing mansion at the head of formerly of the faculty of Mt. Holyoke the driveway, with a scarlet tree shad- College, Massachusetts, and Miss Mabel ing its white pillared porch. The build- Dibell, of Western College, Oxford, ing is shaped like a T, with the stem toward the river bank at the rear. This Ohio. portion of the building contains the We quote from Miss Macdougall's large dining hall downstairs, and the library above it, both surrounded by letter the very pleasant words concernsemi-circular verandas that overlook the ing our American representatives: river. The front part of the house contains the office, staff sitting-room, central "I should like you to understand how staircase, large airy class-rooms, rooms very much we appreciate your choice of for five of the staff, and a third-story Miss Coon and Miss Dibell for us. sleeping room, now occupied by nine They both seem part of us already. students. The charm of the house is When Miss Coon, after a fortnight in its residential, rather than institutional, college, went away to begin her travels appearance. by visiting Madal'lapalle, we felt a real blank. She will be a most valuable ad- dition to our little band of professors. Her sweet, gentle ways attracted the
WOMAN'S FEDERATION BULLETIN
students from the very first. We all Those who have looked into the horror look forward to January, when she will of darkness represented by this place can take up her abode permanently with us. appreciate in some slight degree what Meantime we are planning for her to has been accomplished by the sacrifice of see Travancore, Vellore, Nellore, Ma- this noble life. dura, Palamcotta and perhaps Guntur also. Every mission has been inviting The little group of women whom her. Miss Bonnell gathered about her have shared in her work of faith and have "Miss Dibell is now hard at work helped to rescue thousands of girls. One with science students and seems very of the last appeals was for. a building happy and content. We like her very in which to segregate those who were much indeed. She has taken charge of affiicted with tuberculosis. the athletics of the college. That will bring her into pleasant relations with The Industrial Department of the all the students. We have 75 students school has provided a part of the supnow, of whom 9 are Hindus." port, and free-will offerings from resi- dents in China and friends in America FOREIG.N NOTES have supplemented the work of the girls.
Ginting College MISS NAROLA RIVENBURG, WOMEN, MISSIONS AND PEACE B.A., B.D., graduate of Vassar By the Rev. Sidney L. Gnlick, D.D College and Hartford Theological H AS not the time come for every School, has arrived in Nanking, China, church to establish a Committee on aqd received a hearty welcome from the World Problems and to introduce into college and its president, Mrs. Thurston. all its groups at some suitable time the The students have nearly doubled this study of the methods and responsibiliyear in numbers and the prospect for ties for establishing World Righteous- Ginling College is exceedingly bright. ness and World Peace? No new organ- ization is proposed and no new meetings. Miss Frederica Mead, whose interesting article on Ginling College appears in The World's Alliance for Promoting this number of THE REVIEW, a mem- International Friendship through the ber of the faculty and a graduate of Churches and the Federal Council of Smith College, is now at home for a year the Churches of Christ in America inof study in Teachers' College, New vite the co-operation of each church by York. Smith College students have re- the appointment of such a committee. cently signified their deep interest in Ginling College by offering to be re- Christian women have their peculiar sponsible for one of the departments in responsibilities in these matters. They the college. train the children in the home, in the schools and in the Sunday-schools. They Miss Bonnell, of Shanghai look upon international problems and policies with interests less warped than THOSE who read in THE REVIEW men by ambition for great financial recently the most interesting account gains, commercial conquests and national glory. The disasters and calamities of of the "Door of Hope" in Shanghai will grieve to hear of the death of the war fall most heavily upon them.
founder of this work, Miss Cornelia Through their Missionary Societies, Bonnell. This brave Vassar girl went Women's Clubs and Chautauqua Courses out to China as a teacher, since no board they are organized for study and for felt willing to invest in a representative work as are no other groups in the with such frail health~ After a few country. They, therefore, should bend years of secular teaching, Miss Bonnell their energies to the study of these queswas convinced that her work lay with tions and to the development of intellithe unfortunate girls who are bought gent convictions and sane methods for and sold in that infamous quarter of the establishment of international right- Shanghai known as "Foochow Road." eousness and good will.
THOUGHTS
MIS SHONARY ADDRJESSJ8S BY REV. JAMES M. GRAY, D.D., CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. Dean of the Moody Bible Institute A SERMON OUTLINE Testament, but are judged by the law written on their hearts (12-16). Missionary Motives The Jew had the Old Testament, and I. Obedience to the Divine command. while equally sinful with the Gentile, was trusting in the letter of the law 2. Sympathy for our fellow-men. while violating its commands (17-20). 3. Reward of service. The Jew is morally no better than The foundation for the second point the Gentile (iii. 10-18). lies in man's ·lost condition (Romans, Chapter i. 18 to iii. 20). The following Therefore, the boasting of the Jew is is a suggested outline of this inspired stopped, and all the world has become Classic: guilty before God (19).
In the previous verses we learn that On the ground of works no man can man becomes righteous before God only be accounted righteous before God (20). on receiving by faith a righteousness through Christ. At verse 18 we begin This condition of the world stirs our to see what man's condition is which deepest pity, and lays upon us an obligamakes this a necessity. tion to hasten the proclamation of the remedy! Compare the cause of appeals (a) A Divine declaration about sin for war relief with the destiny of a lost (i. 18-21). soul ! Note the call to do all that lies in our power by prayer, by word of Men hold down the Truth by their mouth, by giving, and in every other unrighteousness. It does not get a way, to turn men "from darkness unto chance to be known because of this (18). light and from the power of Satan unto God" (Acts xxvi. 18). God's eternal power and Godhead might thus be known by the facts of FACTS FROM THE FIEI,D creation, so that men are without excuse (20). Hunger for the Word Man is fallen from God through his THE following is taken from some reown ingratitude and conceited reason- cent correspondence of Mr. Gordon ings. It is a moral rather than an intellectual fall, for his foolish or sense- Robertson, who represents the Africa Inless heart is darkened (21). land Mission in Mahagi Centre, Congo BeIge, Africa; (b) A revelation of its punitive and degenerative effects (22-23). "Now that I have a grip of the lan- guage I am going out every second day At once sin becomes punitive and de- to villages preaching the Gospel. We generative (22-25). have a regular service every morning at seven o'clock, with an average attend- Note that the awful indictment ance of 160. Then various classes duragainst the Gentile world is corrobo- ing the week, with an attendance of rated by the Greek and Latin classicr.. from ten to thirty.
( c) Instruction as to the universality "It seems so strange at first, when of sin (ii. 1 to iii. 20). they gather round sitting on the grass, and then, after the message has been Even philosophers and moralizers given, they will not move but want it were no better than the common people given all over again! I never saw a peo- ( 1-3). ple so hungry for the Word of God.
God is no respecter of persons, as between Gentiles and Jews (6- I I ).
The Gentiles did not possess the Old "There are some bright Christians Of thy cross the wondrous story, among them. Last week one boy said Be it to the nations told; he wanted to talk to the people, and then gave them a good Gospel message. Also Let them see thee in thy glory he gave two weeks' wages to God and And thy mercy manifold. without money being mentioned. How – A rthur Cleveland Coxe. the work of God would prosper if those who are more enlightened had something I feel sure that, as long as we look of his spirit! on prayer chiefly as the means of main- taining our own Christian life, we shall Tile Great Need not know fully what it is meant to be. But when we learn to regard it as the "The chief was very much against highest part of the work entrusted to my coming here, as he thinks all the us, the root and strength of all other heathen practices will have to be given work, we shall see that there is nothup. He said, 'You have come to make ing we so need to study and practice as us have only one wife, we want ten j the art of praying aright. . . . It is you have come to make us stop dancing only when the church gives herself up and stop drinking beer.' I told him I to this holy work of intercession that had come with but one purpose, and we can expect the power of Christ to that was to tell him and his people about manifest itself in her behalf. . . . With the Lord Jesus. He asked me what I disciples full of faith in Himself, and would do if the people still went on bold in prayer to ask great things, Christ with their sins and their shame, and I can conquer the world. "Lord, teach us told him I would still tell them of the to pray."-Andrew Murray. Lord Jesus. He thought this "vas very strange. [,pt Us Give Thanks, 'l1be (;a11 of Af.·ica For the influence and power of the missionary appeal: "There is work for one hundred persons near here. People send word im- Thanks be to thee, 0 Lord our God, ploring us to come and start schools and for the high privilege of telling all men meetings. They also come long dis- the story of thy love. Thou who hast tances to hear the Word of God. My set us on our journey bring us, we pray tent is on a big hill, from where I have thee, to our goal and use us always for a view of fifty miles-west, south and thy glory. northwest—over a beautiful territory teeming with people who have never For the heroes of missions: heard the name of Christ. A few nights ago I was telling my boys there were For the splendid zeal and courage of thousands of people in my country who all those who in the past have witnessed knew Him; and when they were at for thee among the nations of the earth, prayer a little later they asked God to we bless and praise tlty Itoly name! send more of the white people to tell them about Jesus." For the gifts made by the church for the extension of thy kingdom: ~IISSIONARY AJUMUNITION o God of the endless years, make our Selections from a pamphlet prepared bv a Committee of the Foreign Mis- little day fruitful for thee! sions Conference exclusively for pas- tors. This may be secured by clergy- For the self-sacrifice of our doctors and men from their Foreign Mission nurses in the mission field: Board. Thou who didst Iteal tlte sick, bless THE SANCTUARY OF MISSIONS and support those who heal in thy name: Let Us Pray, Saviour, sprinkle many nations; Fruitful let thy sorrows be; For the growth of the missionary ideal among ministers: By thy pains and consolations Draw the Gentile unto thee! o Lord, who hast called thy servants to speak in thy name, make us instant in prayer and effort for the furtherance of thy world-wide kingdom.
CHINESE REPUBJ,IC HOHle Mission Worli: In
A Profitable Investlnent THE eleven Protestant Episcopal mis- sionary dioceses in China (seven Eng- A N annual gift of $1,000 enabled the Shansi mission of the American lish, three American and one Canadian) Board to open up new work in the re- are bound together in the Chung Hua mote province of Shensi lying to the Sheng Kung Hui, with its synod, its west. Here was a district the size of forty thousand baptized, its self-support- Massachusetts, with ten walled cities, ing parishes, its native clergy and its teeming with population, and with organized Sunday-schools. Small as yet, stretches of rich agricultural land reach- compared with the teeming millions of ing to the great wall of China, utterly China, it is nevertheless an earnest of untouched by the Gospel. By means the great things which are to come. of this one gift, Mr. W. O. Pye, the missionary in charge, has been able to The first act of this synod after it place ten native pastors in as many met, fully organized, in 1915, was to cities. The first reports are full of en- constitute itself as the Board of Missions couragement. Mr. Pye has recently in- of the Church and to appoint an Execu- spected the work and finds that already tive Committee instructed to prosecute 267 converts have been made and that plans for a new mission, to be conducted at several centers churches may soon be by Chinese churchmen in some part of organized. On this trip he opened six China hitherto untouched, with the hope new preaching places. The people, who that at once or later a new diocese might had not even heard there was a Christ, be formed there under a Chinese bishop. are keenly interested in the Gospel story, and, unless signs fail, the Shensi work The Executive Committee has chosen will be assuming large proportions in a a remote part of the jurisdiction of the few years. lVIr. Pye is bringing the new Bishop in North China, 600 miles southconverts in groups of 80 to the city of west of Peking, to center round Si-An- Liu-lin-chen for special instruction in Fu, the capital of the Province of Shensi. Christianity. The course lasts about tWQ The two Chinese clergy who have been months and will help anchor the con- selected to start the mission, both graduverts in the new faith. ates of St. John's University, Shanghai, were expected to arrive at their post in Chinese Attack Inll.noralit-y September last. The entire expense of this work is being borne by Chinese INVITATIONS have been issued by Christians. the Reform Society of Peking to all A Cllinese Moslem Converted Chinese who are willing to give up vice to join the organization. The 10,000 t MOHAMMEDAN young man, members of the society have pledged themselves to abstain from plural mar- .L Mr. Gin Liang Foo, who was a riages; gambling and impurity. The or- patient in the hospital in Tsinanfu, has ganization is headed by Honorable Yung accepted Christ and been baptized. Rev. Tao, who became a church member in W. P. Pailing writes of him: "Some of May, and who, it will be remembered, my happiest hours in China have been gave away 10,000 New Testaments be- spent by the bedside of this delightful fore that time, and prominent among the young fellow; but Mr. Gin, having members is C. T. Wang, until recently found Christ for himself, like Andrew a high official in the government. Mem- of old, feels constrained to go and seek bers of an advisory committee include his brother, too. He has persuaded his Paul Reinsch, the American minister, mother, brother, and two sisters (his and Rev. Chauncey Goodrich. father is dead) to examine the 'qoctrine' for themselves, and he informed me some time ago that they, too. are becoming
FROM MANY
interested, for they have seen the great }root-Binding StilI COIllDlon change Christ has produced in him. On many occasions when I have entered the BECAUSE certain of the more adwards, I have found that he has walked vanced Chinese women have unwith the aid of his crutches to the bedside of some fellow-patient and there bound their feet, there seems to be a occupied himself in teaching him a hymn, wide-spread impression in America that reading some passage from the gospels, foot-binding is a thing of the past. Lisor talking to him of Christ; while on ten to the recent testimony of a young one occasion, when a student failed to woman missionary in Tsingtau: turn up to take the ward service, rather than have no service in the ward that "I have itinerated all these years, night, Mr. Gin himself sat on the table through hundreds of villages, and never to conduct the service, and, I afterwards yet have seen a heathen woman with unheard, gave quite a good talk on one of bound feet, and what is significant to the parables. On Christmas Day, as I me now, as a student of the social consat beside his bed during service, it made ditions in China, is to see everywhere no one's soul thrill as one listened to this heathen little girls with unbound feet, man singing the Christmas hymns from that is, none who have come to the age the very depth of his heart, and eagerly of foot-binding. Nor have I seen any drinking in the Christmas message." Christian women as old as I am with feet unbound; though, of course, usually Christian Work for Chinese Boys Christian school girls, ranging below my age, have unbound feet. Of course, 'TIENTSIN as a field for extensive many Christian women older than I have boys' work is most alluring," writes Ilnbound their feet as much as they dare. I cannot tell you how interesting every Mr. R. M. Hershey, secretary of the phase of the Chinese life is to me, and Young Men's Christian Association in as I- purposely walk, eat and sleep with that city. "In the year and a half since the Chinese, what they reveal in confithe boys' department was organized over dence of Chinese conditions, heathen and 400 boys have joined as paymg mem- Christian, as we are counselling tobers and over 200 are daily using the gether, discussing the country's condiprivileges. Under the leadership of a tions, the status of the Church and the thoroughly wide-awake departmental problems of each home to which we go, committee these members are being or- with reflections on it after leaving, and ganized into various groups where they the comments they make on the heathwill find opportunity for service and enism bristling everywhere along the development of Christian character. road, are simply wonderful." • "About 300 of the boy members are in Valuable Addition.. to Churcb educational classes. Already five Bible study and social groups have been organ- TWO members of a group admitted ized. The Sunday Meeting Club has to the church in Changsha were a been one of the most successful features, the aim being to secure the attendance captain in the revolutionary army and of a definite group regularly. This at- an ex-member of the provincial parliatendance has been as high as 200 of ment. Rev. Walworth Tyng writes of the same boys coming throughout a these men: "The captain is a fine, upmonth. With 10,000 boys in the grade standing man and an earnest Christian. schools and the old family unable to He tells us he became interested through furnish the desired ideals and training, one of his privates, who was treated in with educational problems incident to our hospital service during the revolustarting a new system, these potential tion. The member of parliament we home builders await the service and help prize as a very unusual man. He is a which the Association can render, pro- man of means and of education, includvided adequate leadership in staff and ing three years in Japan, and above all equipment can be secured." of kind heart and most winning person- ality. He is a real progressive. For, though the wealthy here are given to
plural marriages, not so his clan. Three ary's house, was arrested and put in jail, generations, embracing seventy members, the latter, hearing of it, went to see him, have had no secondary wives. He him- and offered to help his family, if he had self decided ten years ago to give his any dependent on him, while he was in daughters an equal inheritance with his prison. This was the first thing that sons (they usually get nothing), and, impressed him favorably toward Chris- against the opposition of his immediate tianity. Then there was among the mlatives, refused to bind their feet, 'In Christians a policeman, lower in rank ten years,' he said, 'we shall see an end than himself, but bold and fearless even of foot-binding.' This gentleman's wife when derided. This Christian's characand eldest son were received as catechu- ter and courage greatly impressed him. mens along with him. The son had been Vhen suffering serious eye-trouble and in our boarding school for a year." threatened with blindness, the Christian doctor, an eye-specialist, was so kind and JAPAN-CHOSEN comforted him with so many Bible verses, that he was again deeply impressed. The IN 1907 the American House of Bish- fourth step was the careful instruction of ops of the Protestant Episcopal the pastor. During this period, while chief of police in another town, he per- Church adopted a series of resolutions, mitted the holding of a class for the containing the conditions on which it regular study of English and the Bible would consent to the consecration of a in the police headquarters, though himnative bishop for the Church in Japan. self at that time only favorably disposed These conditions have apparently been toward Christianity, and not all all reccomplied with, so that the following ognizing its truth as the only religion. resolution was carried at the recent General Convention in St. Louis: A JalJRneSe Salyatiollhd "Resolved, That the House of Bishops T HE recently deceased wife of Colorecognizes, with gratitude to God, the nel Yamamuro of the Salvation Army progress of the Gospel in the Empire of became a Christian while studying at Japan whereby, through the efforts of the Women's College in Tokyo. Shortly the missionaries of this Church, of the after, she was brought into contact with Church of England, and of the Church Salvation Army lasses from England, of England in Canada, a Japanese volunteered to help them in the language, Church has been established under the and ultimately was drawn into Army title of the 'Nippon Sei Kokwai,' and service. She was the manager of the records ~ts conviction that the said Nip- first Army Rescue Home in Japan for pon Sei Kokwai is competent to proceed women and often faced angry mobs, to the election, whenever it deems it ad- seething about the house, when some visable, of a Japanese Bishop, in accord- girl had escaped the clutches of the ance with the provisions of its Constitu- nether world. Later she was the mother tion and Canons, and that the Bishops of a large family and the helpmate of of said Church will be justified in pro- her eloquent, able, and devoted husband. ceeding to the consecration of said She displayed many of the characteris- Bishop when he shall be duly elected tics of the English mother of the Salvaand confirmed." tion Army, Catherine Booth. How esteemed she and her work were can be Whnt Won. the policeIlluIl inferred from the fact that to her funeral came more than twenty members of IT is the witness of the life, rather than Parliament, forty professors of univer- of words, that makes the deepest im- sities and colleges, many leaders in the pression on non-Christian people. This commercial life of Japan, and various is shown by a Japanese chief of police members of the nobility. The Marquis who recently told the steps which had Okuma, the late Premier of Japan, sent led up to his conversion. his personal representative. Mrs. Yama- About sixteen years ago, when a thief, who had broken into a mission-
FROM MANY LANDS
muro's dying words were, "True happi- crossed rough mountain passes, walking ness is by the side of the Cross of Jesus." from fifteen to thirty miles per day in -Record of Christian Work. heat or cold to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. For seven years he Korean Christian Literature has lived in this field, enduring great hardship, passing through spiritual crises O NE of the enterprises which claimed successfully, and winning the affections the attention of the late Dr. H. G. of his people. With an insufficient sal- Underwood· was an effort to provide ary, his property has all gone into his adequate Christian literature for the living, and he has suffered many priva- Christians of Korea. tions for the faith. For four years now he has spent about three and one-half There is now not a single Bible dic- months each spring at the Theological tionary or concordance, hardly a single Seminary in Pyeng Yang, and will commentary on the Scriptures, no Chris- graduate next spring. He has left home tian biographies excepting those of and kindred, has given money and time Luther and Wesley, and very few devo- and strength in ungrudging missionary tional books. In fine, the splendid evan- work in the destitute regions, but who gelistic character and activities of the that knows him can doubt that his joy Church in Korea are handicapped by in the Master's service grows deeper the lack of Christian books. and fuller each year?-VV. M. CLARK, Chunju, Korea. Just before he died, Dr. Underwood communicated to H. B. Hulbert, who INDIA, BUR1UA, CEYI.ON lived in Korea for twenty-three years, the fact that the united missionary body IU1I)Ortnnce of tbe Out<-Rt!Jie of Korea had made a special request that Mr. Hulbert act as the field agent in "THE future of India will not be in this country for the Korean Religious the hands of the high-caste Hindu, Book and Tract Society, for the purpose of putting that society on a firm basis. but in the hands of the low·caste and the Dr. Underwood gave the last ounce of outcaste." This is not quoted from any his power to planning for this pressing missionary, though it represents the beneed of the Korean church and laid it lief of most of them. The sentence apupon the hearts and consciences of the peared in a publication of the Arya Christians of America to stand loyally Somaj, a high-caste organization which behind the organization. aims at a revival of a purer type of Hin- duism. Despite all persecution, the In- Besides a fund for the printing and dian low castes and outcastes are turning distribution of the literature, the society to Christianity literally by the thouneeds adequate quarters in the city of sand. So great has this trend become Seoul. A fine site has been secured in that the leaders of Hindu thought are the very heart of the city, and $25,000 thoroughly alarmed. The Arya Somaj, is needed to build a fireproof edifice for which is much more anti-Christian than a depository and distribution center for is the Brahmo Somaj, has begun misthe books. The work has the whole- sionary work among the masses of these hearted endorsement of the mission people, and is in dead earnest about it. boards affected. The challenge of opportunity is be- A Korean Evangelist fore the Church. The low caste and outcaste do hold in their hands the OF good family, Mr. Kim Sung Won future of India. They are looking to is rough and plain of speech, ugly Christianity for intellectual and spiritual in appearance, yet a man of ability and freedom. Whether India is to be won an interesting speaker. No one but he soon for the Master will depend upon could have cared for the mountainous how fully Christianity can meet the opterritory that he traverses with so much portunity presented by the movement of fidelity. Strong physically, he has these people toward the Church of Christ.
BrallIuin WOJllen'S Views on Caste Young Men's Christian Association sec- retary, to organize a Cosmopolitan Club W ALUBAI, a Bible woman in India, for the women. reports an encouraging experience. One day, while she was on the train, at A Moslelll Tribute to Mission Schools one of the stations some low-caste women entered the car. There were Brahmin THE Indian Standard prints the foland other high-caste women in the car and they complained that they did not lowing extract from a letter written wish these low-caste women to come in. recently by a Mohammedan gentleman They called them names and told them who is at present a collector and magisin an angry manner to get out and not trate of a district: touch them. Walubai got into conversation with some of the Brahmin women "As a graduate of St. Stephen's Coland said: "Why should you be cross with lege, Delhi, I have a personal experience those women? God made them as well of the education imparted in a mission as ourselves; they are our sisters." One school, under the guidance and direct of the Brahmin women, hearing her say supervision of the Cambridge Mission this, said, "Oh! you must be a Chris- fathers, and its salutary effect in after tian; they are the people who talk like life on moral and spiritual development this." They had a good talk, the women of all willing and thoughtful youths. acknowledging that they were not right In point of moral culture, I have no in their thoughts about the low castes. faith in government and other colleges, "But we are taught from childhood," excepting those conducted by some misthey said, "and that is the reason we are sion or other. I should therefore natuharsh. Some day these thoughts of rally desire that my son run his career Christians will prevail and caste will be of studentship in a mission school and a given up." mission college."
Reaching Parsees in Karachi The TestiInony of a Brahnlin DR. J. HOPE MOULTON, of A REMARKABLE case of the con- Manchester University, an authority on Zoroastrianism, came to Karachi for • version of a Brahmin Pandit at five days. His first lecture was given in Gopinganj, Benares District, is reported the Government College auditorium. by the Rev. A. W. MacMillan, L.M.S., The second lecture, to the Parsees, was in the annual report of the North India attended by practically all the English- Tract and Book Society. Ramswarup, speaking Parsees of the city. At both the Pandit, purchased some tracts from of these lectures Dr. Dhalla, the Parsee the society, and reading some lyrics, subhigh priest, a graduate of Columbia Uni- stituted the name of God wherever versity and possibly the most intellectual Christ's name appeared. During six fol- Parsee in India, presided. The follow- lowing years he had read several books ing day, at a splendid garden party given of the society, and both he and his wife by the Parsees in honor of Dr. Moulton, were "greatly affected" while reading a he was invested with the dastur's shawl, tract on the atonement. The Arya which is worn by the priests and is the Somaj, learning the state of affairs, orhighest honor which the Parsees can be- ganized a debating meeting to prove that stow on anyone. On the following Christ was a sinner. After three hours night Dr. Moulton lectured in the of discussion, Ramswarup got up and Young Men's Christian Association au- calmly told the audience of some 300 ditorium upon "Young Men's Christian people that he was Christ's, and would Association Ideals," and was greatly sur- on no account "be unfaithful to Him." prised to find half his audience Parsees. Instead of an uproar, there was a perfect One of the results of this visit was a stillness. This stillness "was wonderrequest from the leading Parsee women ful." The next morning Ramswarup for Mrs. Shumaker, the wife of the publicly witnessed, giving voluntary tes- timony of the good received from the society's books, and was baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity.
FROM MANY
Karen Christians Build a School ness and sending forth young men and young women eager to lay their lives on THE new Sgaw Karen High School the altar of God's service in the spirit of building at Bassein furnishes a fine Christ among the people of the land. The challenge is to remain in Turkey- illustration of what is being achieved in many ways a harder call, involving along Christian educational lines by the more sacrifice than the call to go, to native Christians of Burma. This which we listen at our conferences. building, 105 by 36 feet, finished in brick and metallic shingles and completely The majority of these volunteers are surrounded by a protective veranda, was Greek Orthodox and Armenian Gregoconstructed at the expense of the native rians. There are a few Protestants, and Christians themselves, except for a grant one Turk. These students face the of Rs. 9,000 ($3,000) from the Govern- reformation and deepening of the spirment. N a financial aid was asked of ituallife of the great historic churches to the constituency at home. The work of which they belong. And ever before building was begun at a critical period them looms that Gibraltar of resistance -just at the time when the European to the claims of Christ, that mightiest of war raids were seriously threating Bur- Christianity's opponents in the fieldma's and especially the Karens' chief in- Islam. dustry, rice exportation. The wealthy gave money, one of the donors remark- Action Against the ArIllenian Patriarch ing at the completion of the building that he had invested Rs. 1,500 in it and THE Turkish Government has taken the investment had afforded him the significant action agairist the Armegreatest pleasure of any yet made; teachers and students, after class hours, nian Patriarch by depriving him of his dismantled and helped remove the two political functions. It was objected that old houses that were to be replaced by the patriarch had a relation to a superior the school; trained pupils did the paint- in Russia that could no longer be toling, oiling, grading and some of the con- erated and that the communal statl.S crete work; the Government engineer established by the Armenian Constitucourteously drew up the plans of the tion was a menace to the existing order. building free of charge, and the school The action now taken abolishes the hired its own masons and carpenters and Patriarchates at Constantinople, Aktasupplied the timber from its mills. The marh (Lake Van), and Sis (in Cilicia), building is now practically free of debt, and recognizes only that of Jerusalem. and stands as a monument to the ambition and efficiency of the Karen I t annuls the National Constitution Christians. drafted in 1863, which provided for a representative body, called the General MOSLEM LANDS Assembly, to meet twice a year. This assembly elected two bodies, known as Student Volunteers in Turkey the Ecclesiastical and Lay Councils, com- posed of fourteen clericals and twenty A T the first Young Men's Christian laymen from the notables. These coun- Association Conference in the Turk- cils, through several sub-committees, have ish Empire, held in June, 1914, above had full charge of all matters relating Beirut in the Lebanon, the Student Vol- to the community. The patriarch of unteer Movement of the Turkish Em- Constantinople was the chief executive pire was formed. of the nation, a~ well as its representa- tive at the Sublime Porte. Except in local centers, this movement does not yet have any formal ArlHenian Need Increasing organization. It has no officers, no secretary, no reports. At the Lebanon A FEW days before the sailing of Conference a few men met together and prayed earnestly that this movement the Christmas ship, $410,000 was might gain headway among the college cabled by the American Committee for students of Turkey, consuming selfish- Armenian and Syrian Relief from New York to Tiflis in the Russian Caucasus,
to Tabriz, Beirut, Jerusalem, and sev- come to know the moral, social, and eral other inland cities of Asia Minor political causes which led up to the war, for the relief of starving and homeless and when their present sufferings have thousands accessible from these centers. exerted their sobering influence, they will In addition to this the committee appro- then be led to look for something more priated $500,000 to be sent early in spiritual than their own faith can sup- January, legally binding itself to this ply." amount, although the treasury was practically exhausted. It also gave assur- In recent years there has been an inances to the distribution commissions in creasing demand for the Scriptures in the field that still another $500,000 Mesopotamia. The British and Foreign would be forthcoming in January, if it Bible Society has depots in Busrah, Bagcould possibly collect that sum. dad, and Mosul. Two other missionary societies are at work in this great field, Latest reports, received through the the Dutch Reformed Church of America State Department from the American and the Church Missionary Society. A Ambassador, indicate that the need is Bible depot, a mission hospital, and a practically indescribable and will con- church are crying needs for Bagdad, tinue through the winter and indefi- particularly a church. nitely thereafter, with sufferings multiplied by increased cold and hunger. Persian Mountaineers Accessible The telegram states that this is a THE mountain field of the West crucial time and that the pressure Persia Mission of the Presbyterian brought to bear upon the refugees to compel them to embrace the lYloham- Church, U. S. A., has for the time being medan religion continues in the interior, been blotted out, as far as organized this being especially true outside of the mission work is concerned. The Rev. relief centers. E. W. McDowell, who has had this work in charge, writes: To preserve the Armenians and Syrians throughout the winter, at least "During the unrest of the past year $5,000,000 is required-merely to pre- the mountain Nestorians were driven by vent wholesale starvation. To repatriate the Kurds and Turks from their mounthe hundreds of thousands of Armenians tain villages into the Salmas Plain. The and the Syrians who have been driven Kurds and Turks killed all who came from their homes will require as much in their way, but the bulk of the people more, at the very lowest estimate. escaped and some 40,000 crossed the Turkish border. Since the fall of 19I5 Need and OPI)Ortunity in Bagtlnd they have been living as refugees and have been cared for with other war- BAGDAD'S importance as a mission stricken people. center is enhanced by the proximity "Opportunity is being offered to us to it of the sacred cities of Kerbela and to preach the Gospel to these mountain- Nedjef, resorted to by thousands of pil- eers to a degree never possible before. grims, in addition to its being the resi- In one service we have preached to peodence of the Quadiriyah order of der- ple to have reached whom in other days vishes. Bagdad contains 70,000 Jews, would have required weeks of travel. more than Jerusalem, yet there is no Then we could meet with them only missionary to them. Says Dr. Johnson, for a few days, and that at long intera medical missionary of the C. M. S.: vals; now we may preach to them daily. Formerly they only knew us slightly "An intelligent Moslem in Bagdad and had many prejudices against us j was not far wrong when he said to me now they have come to know us well in the autumn of 1914: 'This war is a and to trust us as friends. They had punishment inflicted by the Almighty on before heard the Gospel preached, but Jews, Moslems, and Christians alike, for now they both hear it preached and see all have grown cold in religion, in their it exemplified. It has indeed been a unrestrained pursuit after wealth.' I vonderful opportunity." think it is safe to say that when Moslems
FROlvI MANY
AFRICA ing guns and brandishing knives along the streets in wild mock fights. Then , OI)portnnlty 011 the llilger WRITING in his diocesan maga- came the weighing of their valuable rub- zine, Bishop Tugwell, of Western ber with a falsified balance, their pay- Equatorial Africa, tells of a visit to the ment partly in rum, and their dismissal U di district. From Onitsha, about ISO -each stage lubricated with rum. This miles up the Niger, the Bishop jour- was the return for that rich product neyed to Awka, and thence to Udi, now which might have furnished means for famous for its coal field, and already developing many a happy, sober, native linked up with Port Harcourt by rail, Christian village, a consummation made from which port thousands of tons of impossible by rum."-W. P. DODSON.
coal will shortly be shipped. The Bishop Critical Situation in Nigeria writes: A RCHDEACON DENNIS, who has "We were kindly welcomed by the been at work in the Eastern Provmanager at N gwo, the center of the ince of Nigeria since 1893, writes: "The coal-mining area. We were able to area occupied by the Niger Mission (C. visit some of the chiefs in the neighbor- M. S.) contains a population of perhood, whilst at the coal mines we met haps 3,000,000 souls, and is as yet largely companies of Ibos and Yorubas, Chris- unevangelized. It is everywhere open tians who urged upon us their claims to us, we have the ear of the people, and for spiritual help. U di stands on a seldom indeed has an out-station been plateau some 1,200 feet above sea level, from which a wonderful view of the occupied of recent years without speedy surrounding country can be obtained. It visible results. In hundreds of towns was a most heart-stirring experience to and villages, where it seems but the other stand upon the brow of a cliff and look day that the sowing of the good seed was upon the vast expanse of country, thick- commenced, the fields 'are white already ly populated, and to realize that through- to harvest.' The unique opportunity so out that region not a ray of light has, as evidently given us by God should be yet, penetrated the darkness which for centuries has brooded o'er the land. I bought up without delay. For it is passwas constrained to cable to the Church ing, and delay is perilous. The Mo- Missionary Society: 'Immediate expansion, Udi urgent.' " hammedan Hausas from Northern Ni- geria are everywhere more and more in ~vidence. Naturally the unsophisticated pagan looks upon them with a certain Rubber for Rnm respect, representing, as they do, a civili- zation in some ways superior to his own. "I WITNESSED III the town of They are to be found in all parts of the Dando, Angola, at the head of country, peddling their attractive wares navigation of the Quanza River, the from house to house, thus coming into process by which trade with the native closest contact with all classes of the is made a farce, and his life forfeited as community, and steadily increasing an inwell as his produce. It was an unusu- fluence which is uniformly hostile to ally fine season for the rubber trade, and Christianity. Before the present falarge baskets were brought down from vorable attitude turns to one of indifthe interior by thousands of natives ar- ference or hostility, and in view also of riving in large companies, entering the the activity of the numerous and zealous town in single file, singing as they came. Romish priests, it is surely of the first The first act of the trader was to get importance that those who are preaching as many of these as he could into his the pure Gospel should lose no time." large yard and give them rum and a present of some sort. Drinking was fol- Troubles in the Congo lowed by drunkenness and drunkenness CERTAIN Protestant missionaries and by frenzy, and in this state the poor native converts in the Belgian Congo wretches were allowed to march in com- have recently had some very painful ex- panies, dressed in flashing colors, carry- periences with the agents of the Roman
Catholic Church. One missionary feeling an increasing responsibility for writes: "On a certain day 1 was In one the evangelization of the native peoples, of the villages and a Roman Catholic and is taking more interest in missionary priest was there. At his instigation our work among them than heretofore. The two teachers were arrested and beaten reports to the Assembly held at Maritzwithout trial, cruelly tied up for the burg and the increased contributions benight, tied together by the neck in the ing made to the Mission Fund distinctly morning, and forced to attend a Roman show this. The funds are in a hopeful Catholic service, the priest officiating. I and encouraging state, in spite of the was a witness of all this, even to stand- many claims that the war has made. ing at the door of the church, hoping to Some of the congregations have doubled encourage my teachers thereby." their contributions.
Another missionary writes: "I was in Attention was called to the rapid dea village and a priest came into the vil- velopment of mission work in the Orange lage and began shouting and using Free State, and it was resolved to take abusive language, winding up by say- steps to secure a superintendent for this ing, 'You are a devil, go home to your work and to aim at raising a sum of women.' This was all done before the $10,000 for further extension there. natives in the village." Other openings are mentioned in the Transvaal and in Swaziland. The Missionary Survey comments: "I t cannot possibly be in the interest of In the Gold Mines of Johannesburg the Roman Catholic Church in Africa or anywhere else that a spirit 'of hatred and TO the gold mines of Johannesburg strife should be engendered between its followers and the adherents of evangeli- the black men come from the very cal missions." heart of Africa, from all the territory south of the Zambezi, even from Lake A plan is on foot for calling a gen- Nyasa. As many as 270,000 are in the eral conference of Protestant mission- "Rand" at one time, and in a year fully aries in the Congo, especially to consider 400,000 come and go. Separated from this question. kraal and tribal associations, they are sus- ceptible to all the evils of civilization. GerDlRn ])lission in Southwest Africa "They come to the Rand harmless sav- ages from the bush. They go back GOOD news comes to the Rhenish devils." So writes Frederick Bridgman. That is why he is investing his life in Mission from Southwest Africa, Johannesburg, for the thousands of men where the people are recuperating from who work in the mines must be reached, the severe famine. Multitudes are com- and if won to Christ, they go back into ing to the mission services, and among the interior to preach Him in the kraals. the Ovambo in Hereroland, Missionary W ulfhorst reports more than 30 bap- On his motor-cycle he tours among tisms and 140 new inquirers. the compounds for miles around, and in and out among the slums of the great The Berlin Mission receives good re- city he and Mrs. Bridgman go, doing ports of their churches, but in Transvaal their transforming work. The Bible is the schools have been taken from the being distributed in thirty languages. Berlin Mission, the seminary has been Nine chapels have been built in J ohanclosed and German teachers have been nesburg alone, and the congregations expelled. range from twenty to four hundred. The influence of Johannesburg for good Horne Missions in Sontll Afl·iea reaches far back into the interior. Young men who might never have been THE Colonials in South Africa are won to Christ back in the kraals are won generally hard on the natives and in Johannesburg, and, converted, they go into the interior to win others to make the work of Christians indispens- Christ, able to native welfare. The Presbyterian Church of South Africa, which is made up of Europeans, is fortunately
FROM MANY LANDS
ISLANDS OF 'l'HE PACIFIC on to the political liberties of the people. They are, therefore, more than ready for Malekulan Martyrs the Protestant religion, which they asso- ciate with American institutions. There SIX native Christians in the island of is a freedom of soul in Protestantism Malekula, in the New Hebrides, which is exactly what the Filipino wants and most needs. If our Church meets have recently met death for Christ. A her opportunity, Christ, as He has been band of ten Christian teachers went into revealed to us, will become the guide and the bush to reach the fierce tribes, and inspiration of the people of Mindanao. established friendly relations with two If our Church fails to meet her opporvillages. But at the third a trap was tunity now, it will pass, and no one can laid. As they were about to begin their predict what will take its place." service a man called out, "What have you come for?" The teachers replied. LellrOsy tn tile Ne,v Hebrides With that the man fired. This was the signal for a volley, and four teachers LEPROSY, introduced from New fell dead. Two more of the party fell Caledonia, has been spreading in the as they ran for the scrub. The other four escaped, one of them being wounded. New HehTides. Mr. Fred Paton, some Gloating over their cruel deed, the sav- time ago, began urging the people to set ages cooked and ate five of the bodies. apart a tract of land upon which the Dr. Sandiland writes that the Christian infected could be segregated. The sugparty are bearing the blow in a humble, gestion vvas at first treated with indifchildlike spirit, but that the heathen rela- ference; but finally the islanders became tives of the fallen heroes are thirsting for convinced of the danger, and presented a revenge. Much prayer is asked that hu- site, with plenty of running water, rich man passions will be restrained, bereaved soil, and fruit trees. One fact is worth hearts comforted and a stricken church recording-in every case where the man sustained. alone and none of his family was a leper, the wife elected to enter the leper camp Japan and Cal)tured Islanlls with him; but in no single case was a "well" husband willing to go to the T HOSE interested in the evangeliza- segregation camp with a leprous wife! tion of the Caroline and Marianne "The blessing of God," writes Mr. Islands, in the Pacific, will note that the Paton, "seems to have rested upon these Japanese have agreed not to make a self-sacrificing Tanna women. In no part of their demands in peace the right single case did the wife contract the disto hold permanently the South Sea ease. In every case, save one, the husislands which were wrested from Ger- band died; and the widow, after being many at the outbreak of the war. examined and pronounced free from the disease, returned to her own people." Opportunity ill the PhiliPl)ines I,lfe in tbe Ne,v Hebrides REV. FRANK C. LAUBACH, of . the American Board, who is asking A MENTAL picture of the conditions surrounding missionary life in the for seventeen new workers for Min- New Hebrides may be formed from the danao, writes: "Mindanao is to-day one following items culled from a letter reof the mo:t fertile fields for evangelistic ceived from Rev. Fred Paton, of Malework in the world. The wild folks kula: "Not long ago a quiet, inoffensive know nothing about the evangelical British subject was murdered by the Christian movement; but the educated North Malekula bushmen, about eighpeoples on the north coast of the island teen miles from here. They came to the do. They associate the Catholic Church seacoast and sold him cocoanuts. He with the oppression of the Spanish days. evidently sat down to chat and smoke, Hence there is a widespread opinion that and had pipe in one hand and tobacco in Catholicism is hanging as a weight on the other, They killed him with his OWI1 the spiritual progress of the Filipinos just !IS the Spanish regime was hanging
axe. Then they rushed into the house, October 80 more Chinese students sailed where tea was already laid, and killed from Shanghai for Ame;ican colleges five children, cutting their bodies to and universities-65 men and IS wompieces and taking one body away to eat en, all of them to be supported in Amerat a bush festival. . . . Owing to fight- ica from the "indemnity fund." Other ing and shooting in the villages behind students, who will maintain themselves Onua, five bushmen have come to the while abroad, accompanied the governshore, and we hope they will stay alto- ment students. Previous to their degether. They don't know any shore parture receptions were given them by language, and we talk by signs. . .. the American University Club, composed We have our communion next Sabbath. of graduates from American universities Two old cannibals will join. Our col- residing in Shanghai, and by the Young lection will go to the relief fund of the Men's and Young Women's Christian Belgians. We sold the nuts on the mis- Associations. sion land as copra last week for 35 shillings, which is a good start." There are now in America more than 1,200 of these "indemnity fund stu- Indians ill Fiji dents," who represent the best in intellect that the new China has to offer. To REV. J. W. BURTON writes from gain the privilege of being supported by this fund these students have had to pass Fiji: "A great change is about to severe competitive examinations. Many take place in the conditions on this field. are filled with the highest patriotism; Hitherto there has been what is known many of them also come with the kindlias the 'Indenture System' among the est anticipatory feeling toward America Indian workers in these islands. The as the nation that really embodies the people are brought out from India-re- true Christian spirit. Some have expecruited by agents in the provinces-and rienced sad disillusionment, because the are then indentured to a planter for five Americans they have met have treated years. The wages have been very low them in a manner contrary to the spirit and the moral conditions have been al- of Christianity. The importance of most indescribably bad. The coolies reaching these men and women for have been herded together like so many Christ cannot be over-emphasized. Sevbeasts, and given very little chance of eral of the conspicuous Christian leaders clean life-all for the sake of gain. Re- who are making the new China were cently there visited Fiji, on behalf of the trained in America, while, on the other Hindu and Mohammedan community in hand, the most active Confucian propa- India, two Christian English gentlemen gandist in China is a Columbia U niver- -Mr. C. F. Andrews and Mr. W. W. sity-trained Chinese. American Chris- Pearson. These men made an inde- tians have a great responsibility in their pendent report on the conditions of coolie manifestation of Christianity to these labor in Fiji, and in a large measure, visitors. Qwing to their investigations, the Indian Government has decided, with the con- Word Frolll the B01·der sent of the Secretary for State for India, that the whole indenture system shall be A GOOD deal is already known of abolished. Many of us feel inclined to the work which the Young Men's sing a Te Deum, for the system has been Christian Association is doing among the a disgrace to civilization and a serious soldiers on the border, but one of its obstacle to Christian missionary work." best features is a quiet piece of "follow- up work," of which naturally little is NOR'l'H AMERICA said. From the various camps letters are sent to hundreds of parents, friends, Chinese Students in America pastors of churches and secretaries of local Associations, giving them names of N0 one can estimate the good results men from their local communities and that have come to America and to homes who had either signed cards ex- China in the return of the "indemnity fund" after the Boxer uprising. Last
FROM MANY LANDS
pressing their determination to lead the sinking fund amounting to $288,346,- Christian life or the "clean living" cards, 839.76, and this surplus would have pledging themselves to abstain from pro- fully covered the military and naval ap- fanity, drink, and other vices. These propriation on the preparedness program letters establish a point of contact be- vetoed by Congress." tween the man with his new determina- tion and new purpose in life and the Appalling as these figures are, there is influence of the home that will contribute encouragement in the fact that the "wet" most to his winning out in his fight for territory is narrowing. At the last elec- character. tion four "dry" States were added to the list. N ow the sentiment for national A Strong tJity Mission prohibition is growing. It is estimated that one-half the population living in A SPLENDID piece of constructive wet territory lives in four States. One- work was done by the Presbyterians sixth lives in six cities. One-half the of Louisville, Ky., when more than saloons in the United States are in four- $52,000 in subscriptions covering a pe- teen cities. In thirty-six States there are riod of five years, or $IO,400 a year, was fewer saloons than in New York City. raised for the maintenance of the "Pres- There are fewer saloon, south of the byterian Colored Mission" of that city. Mason and Dixon Line than in Chicago. The work is under the direction of Rev. John Little and an executive committee An Extra. Million Needed representing all the Presbyterian and Reformed churches of Louisville. THE Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions is seeking to raise an extra Seventeen years ago a group of six students from the Presbyterian Theological million dollars for certain strategic Seminary found a section of the city pieces of advance work over and above thickly populated with colored people that provided for it in the regular budhaving no religious advantages and in get. ·One of the most urgent of these absolute ignorance of God. On the first opportunities is the Latin-American de- Sunday twenty-three colored children velopment, for which a large fund is came together. In the seventeen years needed. The new comity arrangements the work has grown from a small mission have thrown on the Presbyterian Church school in a rented building to two large an increased territory and also an ininstitutional plants with I,585 people at- creased share in union schemes. The tending its classes, clubs, and services Presbyterian Church carries alone the recarried on under the direction of ninety- sponsibility for missionary work in Siam, four white teachers in two buildings open and part of the new fund is to be apseven days in the week. The work: in- plied to the extension of work in that cludes not only religious services, but Empire. Conditions in China which also classes in sewing, cooking, carpentry, have thrown open I,700 walled cities and basket weaving. have suggested a plan of evangelization which seems sensible and wholly attrac- Tile Liquor Traffic tive, whereby a native center would be established in each city, the former LAST year the drink bill of the United pawnshop buildings being purchased, States was $2,4II,856,678. The equipped and manned with three native workers, supported by outside funds for total budget for the United States Gov- three or five years, after that to be selfernment for the same year was only supporting;. For many of these cities the $I,06I,574,9I9.I2. "In other words, Presbyterian Church is responsible, and a the money spent for intoxicants would fund is to be raised to inaugurate the have provided the nation's budget for scheme. The amazing mass movement all purposes for two consecutive years, among the lower castes in India has been without additional appropriation or tax- demanding attention for some time, and ation on the part of Congress, and in it is the simplest missionary statesmanaddition thereto would have provided the ship to take advantage of it. Provision difference, a surplus, in the form of a
is made for this in the fund now being In Puebla 5,000 Bibles, or portions, raised. Five educational enterprises are have been distributed in six months, and included also: Silliman Institute in the still more are demanded. "The wonder- Philippine Islands, Teheran College in ful Book is really becoming popular in" Persia, Peking Federated University in Mexico," writes Mr. F. F. Wolf. "In China, the Training School at Moga in the public concerts which the city gives, India, and the women's colleges and the orators seldom fail to refer to Jesus other institutions of higher education in or to the Bible, though they often mis- Japan. interpret its teachings. When the Lord thus raises up political orators to help l~iolleer Life }-'ft,I'tltest North spread His Word we can but see the great interest He is taking in this part P OINT BARROW, ALASKA, IS of His vineyard." the northernmost' mission point in the world. Rev. F. H. Spence, M.D., Coopf"'ration in Cuba writes from there: IN a field the size of Cuba, where "We have no telegraph, telephone, twelve American missionary societies wireless, automobile, overland limited or airship; but neither do we have the sa- are at work, it would seem that economy loon, the brothel, or Sabbath desecra- and efficiency demand a union or corretion; and the house of God is filled. lation of the different denominations for Three times a week do they flock to the higher educational work. Growing God's house, and with them all their out of the Regional Conference in Hachildren, from the oldest to the youngest. vana, following the Panama Congress, Their faith is simple. If they lack food, an interdenominational committee was they pray to God to give to them, If appointed to study the field and make any are sick, they ask Him to restore recommendations to the several boards. them to health. Gentle are they, kind One of the chief questions before this and generous to one another. It may committee will be that of education, to be at times we look with longing eyes at determine how many and what schools the privileges you enjoy, and then the are needed to give higher and technical peace and faith and quiet of these people education. Much interest centers in the steal over us and we are content." possibility of an interdenominational in- stitution for the training of teachers, LATIN AMERICA kindergarten teachers, and ministers.
The Bible in Mexico A plan is also under consideration to organize a union church for English- REPORTS to the American Bible So- speaking residents of Havana. At pres- ciety indicate that Mexican officials, ent the M. E. Church South has an organized congregation served by a pastroops and civilians are welcoming the tor appointed exclusively for English- Scriptures more eagerly and widely than speaking work, and the Presbyterians and they can be supplied. Rev. W. F. Jor- Baptists have weekly preaching services dan, the Society's agent in Mexico, in English. It is believed that a union writes: "I found the two workers who congregation, with its own place of worhad gone down to Mexico City very ship, would meet the needs better than much elated with the success they were separate services have done. having. In the first two weeks of the campaign 17,000 gospels had been dis- Vburches Destroyed ill St. Thomas tributed. Pastors and churches were cooperating heartily. Of course, they were THE probability that the Danish West not getting cost prices for the books. Indies will soon be under the Ameri- They were being sold for ten cents each, Mexican money, or about two-fifths of a can flag should increase very much our cent American money. As at the present interest in the missionary work now berate of exchange, however, a peon's ing carried on there. The Moravian wages are only'about ten cents, it was as Mission Board has churches on several much as it was best to ask for them at of the islands, but these were seriously this time." damaged, if not destroyed, by the hurri-
FROM MANY LANDS
cane last autumn. In describing the the united efforts being made by the effects of the storm, the Moravian says: churches of all denominations in Sao Paulo, a center of culture and study for "It is very plain that help of a two- the greatest republic in the Southern fold sort is urgently needed-money Qr continent. During the last two years the clothing to meet the pressing wants of Christian forces have drawn together in the unfortunate, who, at least in St. services for prayer, and now for united Thomas, usually depend in the best of work. In the month of September the times to some degree on imported food, "Gaumont Palace"-a former skatingand money to aid the congregations to rink, holding five thousand persons and restore their places of worshilJ and mis- said to be the largest auditorium in sion houses: thousands of dollars will "be South America-was rented for a whole needed. week. All members of evangelical churches were organized to attend the "For many years these people, at no meeting each evening and secure thetime well off, have been faithfullv trying presence of as many friends and strangers: to work forward to the goal of self- as possible. Speakers presented the prinsupport and independence of the moneyed ciples and truths affirmed by evangelicar aid of their friends in America and Eu- Christianity, and a vigorous effort was rope, so far as their religious wants were made to arrest the attention of the great concerned." city in behalf of the "living Christ." This is but one of the advance steps A. Bisllop for Central America taken by a body of Christians, where one congregation recently built a new church T HE possibility of undertaking more seating over eight hundred persons. aggressive work in Central America has been before the Protestant Episcopal Tile Problems in Brazil Church for some years. The matter carne before the General Convention in A FTER spending a month in studying a concrete form through a recommenda- conditions in Brazil, John Nelson tion of the Board of Missions, which Mills writes that the problems confrontsuggested that the House of Bishops con- ing the missionary forces are three: sider the consecration of a bishop for the Canal Zone, who should take over such First, the low morality of the people, further jurisdiction in the neighboring aided and abetted by both Church and republics as the Church of England State. The Brazilian government is might see fit to relinquish. After care- largely supported by a lottery, which has ful consideration, resolutions were passed its agencies by the thousands in every to bring this about. The territory in large city and its soliciting agents by the question comprises the republics of Gua- tens of thousands throughout the countemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, try. Everywhere one travels, at every Costa Rica and Panama. These have railway station, in every village, he is all been a part of the Diocese of Hon- importuned by men and boys to buy duras, which will now be confined to chances in the federal lottery for that the colony of British Honduras. day's drawing. Cities have their munici- pal lotteries and the Catholic churches The population of Central America is have theirs. Is it any wonder, then, that about four and a half millions, of whom gambling is rampant? There is not a nearly half are Indians and in the re- bank but has suffered by the defalcations maining half is a considerable proportion of its gambling clerks. Candalaria, the of negroes, very many of whom are richest church in Brazil, is supported by members of the English Church. a lottery. Indeed, in some places the Church is more wicked than the State. Union Services in Sao Faulo Second, alienation of the leading men, A FEW weeks since there appeared by these and other immoral practices. in 0 Puritano, the largest evan- not only from the Church, but from regelical periodical in South America, ligion. When a man has been deceived published at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, an item which shows one of the effects of the Regional Conference. It refers to
by the only form of Christianity he has is the oldest. The next III age is the known, it is difficult to attract him to Indo-Ceylonese Christian Association, any. which was revived last autumn and which holds meetings regularly through- Third, the temperament of the people. out the year. At its Retreat last Easter This induces to strife, and prevents even it was decided to enlarge the Association Protestants from working unitedly to- to include Indian and Ceylonese students gether. Said one of the missionaries to throughout the British Isles. Until then me, "There is something in the Bra- it had been limited to London. The zilian atmosphere that leads to revolu- cOll)mittee appointed for this consisted of tion. I feel it in myself." The united one representative for the Indian stueffort carried on so successfully in India, dents in Scotland, one for those in Eng- China, Korea, Porto Rico seems impos- land outside of London, one for Wales, sible here. three for London, and also one foreign student secretary. Last March a meet- EUROPE ing was held for West Africans, at the close of which those present decided to Prohibiti0l' ill England form a Christian Union. The Egyptian Christian Society was formed as a result REFERENCE has already been made of a meeting of Coptic students at the in the REVIEW to the monster peti- home of Mr. Robert Wilder. They have been meeting regularly to study the tion, asking for the abolition of the religious and Association needs of Egypt liquor traffic, which has been presented and for Bible study, in which they use to the British Throne. In connection the Arabic Bible. with this, an appeal for a nation-wide publicity campaign has recently appeared The Belgian Y .. M. C. A. iu Danger in the London Christian, signed by Rev. A CORRESPONDENT of The Out- J. Stuart Holden, from which the fol- look calls attention to the fact that not the least of the misfortunes which lowing paragraph is quoted: the war has caused in Belgium is the "The threatened interests of the almost complete ruin of the Young Men's Christian Association work in 'Trade' are organized to oppose, with that country. The Brussels Young all the power of wealth and influence at ]vlen's Christian Association, in spite of their command, this liberation of the the fact that the Protestant population nation from its fatal curse. Unless it is of the city is very small, had before the strongly brought home to the Govern- war several hundred members and was ment that the great majority of the peo- beginning to play an important part in ple demand courageous action in the the religious life of the city. Its effectslaying of this giant, which has too long iveness was due largely to the enterprise held our people in bondage, filched our of the two foreign sections, German and money, and crippled our resources in war Anglo-American, which disappeared enas in peace time, there is only too much tirely at the outbreak of the war; and, as ground for fearing that it will yield to millions of Belgians are wholly or parthe 'Trade,' as it has yielded before. tially objects of charity, the society is And if Drink wins now it wins for good. now almost :l.bsolutely without funds. For never again will such an opportunity For the past two years Mr. Van Duynen, for its overthrow be before us." the Brussels secretary, has received only a fraction of his always modest salary, Foreign Students in England and if help is not forthcoming it is pos- sible that it will be necessary to abandon OF the 2,000 foreign students in the work entirely. Minister Brand Great Britain, 280 are Egyptian, Whitlock has given assurance that funds 300 Chinese, 1,200 Indian and Cey- addressed to him for the Young Men's lonese, and 60 Siamese. There are a few West Africans and Japanese and several from the Malay States and South America. Of the 1,200 Indians and Ceylonese, 700 are in London. There are four Christian Unions among these foreign students. Of these the Chinese
FROM MANY LANDS
Christian Association will reach the college, to cost from a quarter to a half proper hands safely. million dollars. When the proposed five-story building and its tower are comoThe MeAll Mission in War-Tillle pleted the visitor will see the American WING to the changed conditions College, a landmark hardly less con- and unforeseen circumstances aris- spicuous than the dome of St. Peter's. ing out of the present war, the McAll There is no doubt that a first-class, up- Mission has had to adapt itself as best to-date college there will draw I,CXlO stuit could to the pressing and varied needs dents, and such a school the Methodist of possibly the most critical period in its workers are planning." history. The work has been greatly affected by the war; nevertheless, it has The Sufferings of Poland been carried on with many tokens of blessing. A CCORD I N G to a statement made by the honorary executive secretary Two of the workers have been ap- of the Polish War Victims, "the latest pointed army chaplains, and one is chap- authentic reports from Poland are that lain to the fleet, whilst a fourth is acting all children under seven years of age in that kind of capacity whilst serving have ceased to exist, having died from as a stretcher bearer. The last has re- hunger and disease." When the war cently won the "War Cross." broke out there was in Poland a popula- tion of 34,CXlO,000. At the end of the One of the army chaplains, Pasteur second year, according to the authority Nich, the superintendent of the Fives- just named, 14,000,000 human beings Lille Branch, has, in addition to win- have perished from various causes in ning the "War Cross," gained "the Poland. The property damage in that Cross of the Legion of Honor" for country due directly to the war is esticonspicuous gallantry on the battlefield. He has written that the work of an army mated at about $I 1,000,CXlO,000. More chaplain is very solemn, because one by one his soldier-parishioners are killed. than 200 towns and 20,000 villages have Some have been wounded as often as been razed to the ground; 1,600 churches four times before receiving their death- have been destroyed. As an instance of blow. the vastness of the destruction of human life occurring in Poland, the following Pasteur Nich lends books, and one is given: "In Galicia, Austrian Poland, that the Christian soldiers appreciate in the district of Gorlice, where a battle greatly is the biography of Hudson Tay- raged for several months, 1,500,000 lor. But there are some that find all that civilians, caught between the lines of the thev need-relaxation, advice, encourage- contending armies, have perished right ment-in the Bible alone, and they stick there from starvation while in hiding." to that. ADlerieans in Monastir A Mission College in ROIne T HE entrance of the Allies into Mon- A N observer of religious conditions in astir is of special interest because the Italy, after commenting on the in- American Board has maintained work different attitude of the young men to- in that city since 1873. Four of the misday toward the Roman Church, goes on sionaries are supposed to be there at to say: present: Rev. and Mrs. William P. Clarke, who have general charge of evan- "The Waldensian churches-'evan- gelistic, industrial, and educational work; gelicals'-are pressing their simple gos- Miss Mary L. Matthews, principal of pel service in many places, and other de- the Girls' Boarding School; and Miss nominations are pushing their work Hilda Hawley, a young English nurse, forward. The American Methodists who is associated with the American have 4,000 Italian church members. Mission, but has for two years been They have secured six acres of land on serving in the military hospitals. Monte Mario, north of the Vatican, and are planning to open a high-grade Within the last five years the posses- sion of Monastir has changed several
times: from Turkey to Bulgaria, from arduous labors in connection with safe- Bulgaria to Serbia, from Serbia back to guarding the lives of foreigners in that Bulgaria and her allies, and now the uprising, and he retired five years later. Entente Allies are in possession. In He was the author of several books in spite of the changes, the work of the Chinese and in English. Americans has gone steadily on. The schools have not closed; sick and wound- lley. Grahnnl J~ee, D.D. ed have been cared for, irrespective of nationality; the missionaries have gone REV. GRAHAM LEE, D.D., for among people of all classes; and the many years a valued and honored houses of the American missionaries have been centers of friendliness and help- member of the Korea Mission of the fulness. Presbyterian Board, died December 2d in California, where he had been obliged OBITUARY NOTES to live since 1912 on account of his health. In 1892 he was assigned to the Dr. John L. Dearing, of Japan Korea Mission, where he labored with indefatigable zeal; his whole heart was W E referred very briefly in our Janu- in the Christian message and it was the ary number to the death of the supreme joy of his life to preach Jesus Rev. John L. Dearing, D.D., a leader Christ and Him Crucified to the people in the Japan Mission of the American of Korea. They, on their part, quickly Baptist Foreign Mission Society, on De- learned to recognize the unselfish charcember 20th, at Clifton Springs, N. Y. acter and the loving devotion of the man, Dr. and Mrs. Dearing came to America and Dr. Lee became one of the active on furlough last May and he had been members of the mission, through whom doing deputation work. the power of God was mightily mani- fested in northern Korea. Dr. Dearing was born in Webster, Me., in 1858 and was educated at Colby Dr. Aliee Mitehell, of Indio College and Newton Theological Seminary. After holding several pastorates, T HE Presbyterian Board reports the he was appointed a missionary, and in death, on November 21, 1916, of 1889 sailed for Yokohama, Japan, where Dr. Alice Mitchell, a member since 1895 his influence as a missionary statesman of the Punjab Mission, and the daughter became widespread. In 1894 he became of Dr. Arthur Mitchell, for eight years president of the Yokohama Baptist Theo- one of the secretaries of the board. Since logical Seminary, and later, for some 1896 Dr. Mitchell's work has been in time, acted as general missionary for connection with the Woodstock School, China, Japan, and the Philippines. He and she has exercised general superintendwas secretary' of the Edinburgh Con- ency both of the Woodstock School and tinuation Committee, editor of The of the Woodstock College. How heavy Christian Movement in Japan, and sec- was the burden of the work she carried retary of the Federated Mission Move- is indicated by one of her last reports, ment. in which she speaks of having taught seventeen periods a week in the school Dr. H. D. Porter, of China classes and of having conducted the whole work of the office, including a heavy HENRY DWIGHT PORTER, correspondence, the. discipline of the M.D., missionary to China under school and its general administration. In spite of delicate health, Dr. Mitchell the American Board, 1872-1906, died did her work with unwearied fidelity and recently at his home in La Mesa, Cal., with full devotion. aged seventy-one. His missionary work began at Tientsin and was continued at Dr. W. A. P. Martin, of China Pangchwang, Shantung province, where he founded Williams Hospital in 1882. A biographical article on the late Dr. Driven out with the missionaries of other Martin, written by Dr. Arthur J. boards in Shantung by the Boxer troubles Brown, will appear in our March of 1900, he was compelled the next year number. to return on furlough because of his ~TlHlB MlISSIONARY LlllBlRARY_ D'VtJ: ~.. .j – ~ LJ'UU"""CHriJ' "iOU1)Uiiii.
• "ii'iAi ii .D"U'U•••••• ~=-@: ~.
World Statistics of Christian Missions: nominations to which they belong. Then Containing a Directory of Missionary Societies, a Classified Summary of follows Part II, the statistics of missions Statistics, and an Index of Mission Stations Throughout the World. under the general headings of General Edited by Professor Harlan P. Beach and Burton St. John. Quarto, 148 and Evangelistic, Educational, Medical pp. $2.00. The Committee of Refer- ence and Counsel of the Foreign Mis- and Philanthropic. Each of these main sions Conference of North America, New York, 1916. divisions includes the data from each This volume is the product of more mission land; separately exhibited, so that than a year of patient and careful collecting of data and its subsequent criti- 'one can see at a glance just what a given cism and revision. Its object is to present an exhibit of the work of Christian society is doing in a given mission field. missions at a period midway between the decennial years when world conferences Part III contains the indexes of missioncall for a full exposition of the status of the missionary enterprise. While it is ary societies, and the most time-consuma lineal successor of the Edinburgh Conference "Statistical Atlas of Christian ing section of all, the Station I4n,doe9x~ Missions" and of its later and fuller which shows the location of the edition, the "World Atlas of Christian Missions," it differs somewhat from those resident mission stations, with the sopublications. Mr. Charles H. Fahs and Professor Beach repres~nt the committee cieties working in each of them and the which prepared the two atlases just mentioned, and Mr. St. John was one of the force of each society. The rectification compilers of the Edinburgh Atlas; yet the present one differs in some particu- of these stations on the maps has called lars from its predecessors. The most noticeable variation is its lack of maps. for months of work, which unfortunately This is due to the large expense involved in remaking them and also to the fact does not appear on the maps, though the that the maps of the previous atlases are nearly enough complete to make corrections are noted in type in the index their reprinting unnecessary. Another lack is the fuller tables of missions to the itself. Jews which appeared in the former compilations. Only Jewish work conducted The reader is referred to paragraphs in foreign mission fields is entered, whereas in previous editions that done in the "Editorial Comments," in which in Europe and North America was also included in the tables. some of the leading figures of this atlas The contents of the volume are as are given. It is a volume unique in the follows: After the preface and introduction comes Part I, containing a di- statistics of missionary work, and one rectory of missionary societies, classified under the sending countries and the de- which every student of missions and every board office should possess. I t is unfortunate that the semi-decennial pe- riod when this work has been prepared should be in the midst of a war which has almost wholly interrupted German missionary activities and which has crip- pled other operations as well. Yet it is work that has been very carefully done, and it is no longer necessary for speakers and writers to use statistics collected in 1909 for the Edinburgh Atlas. These for the year 1915 are reasonably com- plete and are essential in all discussions including statistical items affecting mis- sions.
A Map of China. Prepared by Mar- shall Broomhall. 2 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 5 in. China Inland Mission, 1916.
The sainted Dr. Somerville, of Scot- land, a powerful promoter of missions, once appeared before the General Assem- bly and held out before his Presbyterian brethren a prayer-book! Possibly it of national freedom. A final chapter might have been given a cold reception treats of "The Modernista Movement:' had he not opened it and shown the A carefully prepared Bibliography and value of his special edition, which proved an Index of Names add to the usefulness to be a general world atlas with full of the volume. maps of the great mission fields, whose needs, as he pictured them, made the We find here not only a history of volume alive with suggestions and ap- Spanish American literature, but also a peals for prayer. history of those phases of Spanish Ameri- can life which have been the sources of The most perfect missionary map the literature. Dr. Coester's definite made, perhaps, is Mr. Broomhall's re-' placing of authors in connection with vised edition of "A Map of China, Pre- the history of the times in which they pared for the China Inland Missions, wrote and his illuminating account of 1916." Its execution was placed in the the personal relation of each writer to hands of Stanford's map establishment, the social and political developments rethe British Government's cartographers. flected in his literary work lead the It contains not only all the mission sta- reader on with unflagging interest. tions of all missionary boards, distinguished from other cities and towns by Whatever degree of sympathy or lack a red cross surmounting the town mark, of sympathy one may feel for the ideals but all important towns and cities as expressed, the fact that these ideals were well, thus showing the cities and towns held sincerely, tenaciously, at cost of yet unoccupied, thousands of them per- imprisonment, banishment, even of marhaps in all. Its size, which is 2 ft. tyrdom in some cases, compels a growing 8 in. by 3 ft. 5 in., would suggest a appreciation of the strength of Spanish wall map; but its multitudinous towns American character. and other data are in such small type that it could not be read except when He notes for us the characteristics of near it. While it is not as spacious as different nationalities as manifested III a recent map several times as large, their literatures-the seriousness of published by the Far Eastern Geograph- Chileans, expressing itself chiefly in hisical Establishment, it is perhaps the torical writing, in contrast with the most accurate of all maps of the Chinese "gay wit and subtle irony" of the merrepublic. The provincial markings and curial and excitable Peruvians, as shown those of actual and proposed railways are in letrilla and comedy. "But fiction by very clear, and the old town marks of a curiosity of fate was cultivated in various shapes indicate the former rank Peru by women.'" "Aves sin Nido," by of cities as prefectural, district, etc. Clorinda Matto de Turner, depicting' While under the republic all are hsien conditions affecting Indian life, has been cities, their former status is helpful for compared to "Uncle Tom's Cabin," bethose who would know the relative im- cause of its social importance. portance of their mission stations. To whatever degree the people of the The Literary History of Spain. By various Spanish American republics may Alfred Coester, Ph.D. 495 pp. differ from each other, the literature of $2.50. New York, The Macmillan each country seems to indicate strong Company, 1916. patriotic feeling and instinctive appre- ciation of beauty and grandeur in nature. This volume provides invaluable aid in meeting the Anglo-Saxon problem of Reviewing the long procession of "a sympathetic penetration into the writers brought before us, from Alonso Latin American spirit." de Ercilla y Zuniga to Jose Santos Cho- cano, one longs to be able to quote of Dr. Coester presents the literary pro- them all the words with which the talductions of Spanish America in three ented poet, Ruben Dario, in "Portico," groups-those of the Colonial Period, closes his retrospect of the moods, cathose of the Revolution;:ry Period, and, prices, ideals and resolves which have with fuller detail, the literatures of the dominated his own life and workseveral countries since their achievement "And toward Bethlehem … the cara- van passes by." FABER FOLDING "The World ORGANS In Christ's Time"
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The Missionary Review of the World — February 1905
FIRST GIRLS' SCHOOL AT DOLAIB HILL, ON THE SOBAT
The American United Presbyterian Mission Station A VILLAGE SCENE IN THE SUDAN Missionary Review of the World Old Series t FEBRUARY j New Series VOL. XXVIII. No.2 f 1 VOL. XVIII. No. 2 FROM DEMONIAC TO MISSIONARY A STUDY OF THE GADARENE DEMONIAC AND HIS MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS * BY REV. HENRY H. JESSUP, D.D., BEIRUT, SYRIA Author of H Kamil, " .. Women of the Arabs," etc.
The first missionary ordained to preach the Gospel east of the Jordan was chosen and commissioned by our Lord Himself. In that region of Greek and Roman cities, of high officials, amphitheaters and great wealth, one might naturally expect our Lord to select a scholar like PauloI' a disciple like John. But no, He selected a Gadarene demoniac out of whom He had cast a legion of demons; He chose a man. who had been a terror to the land, and who was both feared and hated by the whole population. In his life he had assaulted them, and now in the hour of his healing he had caused their property to be destroyed. Yet Christ chose him, ordained him, and sent him as missionary to Decapolis. The man begged, naturally, to be allowed to stay with Christ, to be under Ilis protection and instruction; but no, Christ taught him that the disciple nearest to Him is the one who obeys Him and does His service. "Go to thy house," said Jesus, "and tell thy friends how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and how He had mercy on thee." And the man went and preached in the cities, telling what the Savior had done for him.
In what respects was this man a well-qualified missionary? 1. A. missionary should have a vivid sense of the power of Satan over men. In undertaking aggressive work we must know the power of the enemy. To underrate our foe is to invite disaster. This is true in our individual spiritual life, in labors for moral reform, and in the great enterprise of conquering the world for Christ. A. missionary to Mohammedans should know that Islam is not a decrepit and tottering system, but an organized force in the Eastern world, united, fanatical, aggressive, and hostile to Christianity. A. missionary to China or Japan should understand that Confucianism, Buddhism, Tauism, and Shintoism have preoccupied the moral fortresses of that colossal empire, and will not surrender in a day. To ignore Satan and his wiles is to be off our guard. This rescued Gadarene had known and felt in every fi0er of his being the terrific power of Satan. His mind, his soul, his will. his hands and feet, his • From an address to outgoing missionaries, delivered in the First Presbyterian Chnrch, New York.
eyes and his tongue, had been poisoned, and then completely subjugated by this fiendish tyrant, Now that a stronger than the "strong man" had set him free, emancipated his will, calmed his spirit, let light into his mind and reenthroned him in control of his eyes and hands and tongue, he looked upon his wounded body, gashed and mangled with the sharp flint-stones of the mountain, and felt the exhaustion of his long enthralment, and could realize the power of the Evil One. He could now warn and entreat his friends and neighbors to resist the devil, to beware of Satan's wiles, and guard against his tern ptat.ions.
2. A missionary should realize the power of Christ over Satan. This man had seen two thousand of the demon host, the legion soldiery of Satan, put to inglorious flight and driven into the depths of the sea by a word from Christ, his King and Savior.
A missionary, above all men, should believe in the supreme power, the omnipotent sway, of Jesus Christ, the Great Head of the Church; that He who gave the great last comm~J1(1, "Go teach all nations," has all power in heaven and in earth, and "will be with him always, even unto the end of the age." To believe less than this is mischief and disloyalty. Christ has all power, and He is ready to use it. " According to your faith be it unto you." Every Christian missionary should believe with all his soul and mind and heart that omnipotence is armed on the side of the Gospel, and that Satan's empire is to be overthrown. He will not be deceived by the subtle pbilosophies of Oriental religions or their hoary antiquity, or overawed by the countless multitudes of Asiatic and African populations, or discouraged by the pessimistic wail of faint-hearted Christian theorists. "If God be for us, who can be against us?"
If a missionary has felt in bis OWll soul the power of Christ over Satan in giving him the victory over self and sin, he can preach COllfidently the Gospel as the "power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth," high or low, rich or poor, civilized or savage.
3. A missionary should be able to spealc from experience of the love of Christ for him personally. 'rhis the Gadarene could do from his heart of hearts. We can imagine him entering his native town, and preaching to the awestricken and wondering people: "Listen, my kinsmen and friends, my neighbors and countrymen. I have come to tell JOu of the surpassing love of Jesus of Nazareth. You know my awful history, my wild, demon-possessed fury, my life in the tombs, my struggles with wild beasts, my imbruted appearance, my nakedness, and wounds! Why should He, a stranger, think on me? What could He gain by coming to me? But He came on the wings of love. I met Him face to face-and such a face! beaming with the light of heaven! Such an eye of pity, such a voice of love! It banished the demon host, it broke my heart, it melted me to tears, it was love con-
FROM DEMONIAC TO MISSIONARY
quering death and hell. He is the Christ of God. He has saved me and He is ready to save you. Oh, how I love Him! He has sent me to tell you of His love and power and willingness to save. Come to Him and He will give you rest."
There is no eloquence like that inspired by the experience of Divine love, and who can say that this man was not thus eminently qualified to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ! Let no man enter upon the work of saving men at home or abroad unless he has known by experience the power of Christ's love. Without this, he is but" sounding brass," but with it, he can speak words full of the eloquence of personal experience.
4. A missionary mnst have a sense oj men's lost estate w£thout Ghrist. This the Gadarene had felt in his own life. and had seen it in the hard-heartedness of his friends in driving Christ away from them. If we would sincerely preach Christ as the only Savior we must believe that men need Him and are lost without Him; that Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. Christ is "The light of the world," not one among many lights. He is the Savior, not one among many saviors. Without Him men are lost, not simply unfortunate. The Gadarene knew that in all Decapolis men were in want of just such a Savior as Jesus Christ. We know that all the world is lost without Him.
5. A missionary should be jarnil£ar with the language and the people. In this respect the Gadarene was fully prepared. '1'he Aramaic and the Greek were familiar to him as to all the people. He knew their customs, their modes of thought, their prejudices, their religious views, their superstitions, their hopes, and their fears. He could speak without danger of being misunderstood.
A knowledge of the language is the first need of the missionary. Without it he is helpless. The dispersion and confusion of tongues at Babel has rendered the proclamation of the Gospel most difficult. Diversity of languages is an immense barrier between the races of men. But the missionary must break this barrier down. Everything else must bend to this object. To preach through an interpreter is to rob the message of a great part of its power, to say nothing of the danger of perversion and misrepresentation of the truth. The missionary must identify himself with the people-use their idioms, their common speech, their proverbs, know their national prejudices, so as not to offend and alienate them, and without a knowledge of their language this will be impossible.
6. A missionary should have sympathy with the people. He should live near their life. As soon as possible he should train native preachers, who ought to be by far the most effective laborers for their own people. Jerry McAuley in New York, Sheshadri in India, and Neesima in Japan, are examples of the success of men in sympathy
with those to whom they preach. An Arabic proverb says: "The handle of the ax which cuts down the tree is made from a limb of the tree." An American missionary, while proud of his native land, must remember that he is first a Ohristian and second an American, and that the commonwealth of Christian love is wider than any nation- ality. His foreign habits and ways are more an obstacle than a help to his work, and' any assumption of superiority will repel those whom he came to win to the truth.
7. A missionary should have a personal call to tlte work. This Gadarene could have 110 doubt about the genuineness of his call. Christ Himself who healed him called him to a special service. There could be no mistake about it.
Can we now be sure of such a call? Why not? Christ has healed us, forgiven us, saved us. He has called us out of darkness into light, out of conflict into peace, out of hostility or apathy into active loyalty and service. A call by Christ to follow Him is a call to His service. Once enrolled in His army we are sworn to !iteral obedience to His commands. The fac! of service is settled once for all. 'The mere detail of locality or kind of work is a secondary matter. The foreign missionary work is a part of Christ's work which is to be done. If you are fitted for it and there are no providential obstacles in the way of your going, then Christ calls you to it. We need not wait for an audible voice. The cry of a nation for help is an indication as to what Christ wants us to do. All the providential openings among the nations are echoes of the voice of Christ. We are called to take the message or send it by a substitute.
What has Christ done for you? Count up your mercies, the gifts of His hand, beginning at the greatest and coming to the least-spiritual, moral, intellectual, social, and physical. What has He not done for you? How, then, will you show your gratitude? The Gadarene thought it would be better and safer for him to be in Christ's immediate society, and enjoying His instruction and protection; but the Master sent him away to active work in his own country. That was hard work. Ol~e needs strong faith and burning love to be able to speak of Christ in his own village or city, and among his own friends. A prop~et is not ordinarily honored at home.
Let us go and tell our neighbors the glad news of salvation in Christ, and we shall find our neighbors everywhere. Any and every needy man is the Christian's neighbor. Some live near and some far away. They have varied customs and speak many languages. Let us tell them what Christ has done for us, His sufferings and atoning death, His resurrection, ascension, and glorious regal intercession for us. Let us tell them of His power to save unto the uttermost, for time and eternity, ALL who come unto God by Him.
MISSIONARY CONDITIONS IN THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN
A WAR-DANCE OF THE SHULL.S AT DOLAIB HILL MISSIONARY CONDITIONS IN THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN BY REV. CHARLES R. 'YATSON, PHILADELPHIA, PA. Secretary of the United Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions The term" Sudan" is applied with considerable latitude to sections of Central Africa fully three thousand miles distant from each other. The term is a general one, however, and simply means, as its deriva- tion indicates," 'fhe Land of the Blacks." When we speak of the Egyptian Sudan we are limiting ourselves to that portion of the Sudan which is in political affiliation with Egypt.
The ordinary line of travel. to the Egyptian Sudan is by way of Egypt and along the Nile. Eleven hundred miles of travel by rail . from Alexandria brings the traveler to the First Cataract at Assuan, the site of that great dam whose construction is such a tribute to Brit- ish engineers and such a blessing to Egyptian agriculture. After two hundred more miles of travel by river steamer over the most picturesque portion of the Nile, the town of Wadi HaIfa is reached, which is the first town in the Egyptian Sudan. Here General Kitchener's railroad begins. Its farther terminus lies 575 miles beyond, at North Khartum, just across the river from Khartum, the capital of the Sudan. Khartum is 1,887 miles up the Nile by river, or 1,564 miles from the Mediter- ranean by mail route. To reach the southern frontier of the Egyp- tian Sudan one has to go 1,150 miles farther South, but this entire voyage can be comfortably made in the almost luxurious steamers which are devoted to tourist service on the Nile.
It is hard to describe conditions existing in a country which ex- tends from 22 0 north latitude to about 50 north latitude. Speaking
quite generally, however, the country north of Khartum is to be considered separately from that which lies to the south. 'ro the north is the Arab, speaking the Arabic language and holding to the Moslem faith. To the son th are the negro tribes, speaking their own tribal aialects and having either a 1 fetish religion or one slightly colored by Mohammedan doc- trines. At Khartum and to the north Western civilization is much in evidence; to the south, as you advance, there is an increasing absence of civili- zation, until whole tribes are fonnd entirely destitute of clothing and constantly bearing clubs and spears.
Missionary conditions may be considered under a number of different aspects.
The Country and the People A TYPICAL SL'DANESE NEGRU 1. lJfissionary conditions 1'n J'elation to the climate of the country. The climate of the Egyptian Sudan has perhaps been slan- dered. It is perfectly possible for a foreigner to live, work, and enjoy good health i.n the Sudan. When this is said the admission must still be made thaf the climate of the Sudan is trying. Life is more or less a battle with fever. The climate is hard on the nerves, inducing that nervous irritability which has been designated" The Sudan Temper."
April and May are the hottest months, the temperature rising to 1100 in the shade, and being especially trying through the abundance of moisture immediately preceding the rains.
The country, however, is being rapidly opened by the railroad, by river navigation, and by commerce. It is safe to say that with the in- troduction of satisfactory building material, the erection of sanitary dwellings, and the solution of other problems pertaining to food and habitation, there need be no serious anxiety in regard to life and health in the Egyptian Sudan.
2. Missionary conditions in relation to the popUlation of the coun- try. The evangelization of a land like India is a staggering problem, owing to the enormous popUlation of that country. The Egyp- tian Sudan has an area just about one-third that of India, bu t its population is not one one-hundred-and-fiftieth part of that of India. Sir Reginald Wingate, Governor-General of the Egyp- tian Sudan, estimates that the popu.Iation of the country has been
——-811
N l EGYPT .AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN u
MISSIONARY CONDITIONS IN THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN
reduced from 8,525,000 prior to the dervish rule to a present popula- tion of 1,870,500. Sir William Garstin, in report.ing on the material and agricultural develop'ment of the country, makes the following pertinent remark: "Its chief want for many years to come must be population." .
The present condition of the population is both a limitation and an incentive to missionary work. It must be an arduous task to reach a population so widely scattered and so broken up into innumerable tribes, each speaking its own lan- guage or dialect. On the other hand, what a magnificent opportunity to enter in and accomplish the evangel- ization of these two millions of people before the increase in population shall have made the task so great that its accomplishment will be in- definitely postponed!
The Religious Beliefs of the Sudanese 3. Missionary conditions -in re- AN ARAB WOMAN OF THE SUDAN lation to the religious beliefs of the people. There is a common impression that the entire population of the Egyptian Sudan is Mohammedan. This is a wholly wrong impres- sion, so far, at least, as one-fourth of the population is concerned. It is only nominally true so far as another one-fourth of the population is concerned, for while the term" Moslem" is met with far into the interior, it is often nothing but a name, adopted for general respect- ability's sake and through the influence of some Moslem trader. The name is without meaning to all such, involving no knowledge of Mohammedan truth and no observance of Mohammedan practises, the speaker simply saying that he "swears by the Prophet," which he certainly does, and that he "prays to the Prophet," which he prob- ably does not do.
The negro tribes of the Upper Nile and the Bahr el Ghazal provinces may be reckoned solidly as non-Moslem. Their religion consists of a general belief in a supreme being, with the recognition and worship of demi-gods. In a general way these religious beliefs may be regarded as fetish worship. The following conversation, taken from missionary experience. may illustrate something of their beliefs: " Do you have a god?"
"Yes; our god is Ding-diL."
'rilE GOVERNOR's PALACE AT KHARTUM, WITH THE RIVER GUNBOAT IN THE FOREOlWUND "How can you learn about your god?" ., Our great men know, and they· tell us." "Do you love your god, or do you only fear him?" The reply here is indefinite, not distinguishing between the two sentiments, but declaring a relationship between god and man, where men offer grain to the god. "Our God loves the good, but hates stealing, clll'sing, killing, lying." " Yes, we believe that, too." "When a man does what is wrong, what happens to him?" "He is punished by us." "When a man dies, what happens to him?" " He is buried and goes into the ground." "Does his soul go into the ground?" "When he dies, his body and soul go into the ground, and that IS the end." To the north, Mohammedanism is the religious faith of the overwhelming majority. There is no need to enter here into any description of it, but there is need to emphasize its bigoted and fanatical character, due in part to the natural excitability of the Sudanese, and in part to their present ignorant and unreasoning mental condition. There is no better way of appreciating the religious temper of the Sudanese than by reading the story of the Mahdi movement. The' devotion, the religious enthusiasm, the utter indifference to suffering and danger with which thousands upon thousands were willing to pour out their lives as a libation to a cause which they thought to be divine, must stir the heart of every reader and compel the exclamation, "What magnificent Ohristians these men would have made!" It is that same religious r,atllre, that same passionate devotion to
U)05] MISSIONARY CONDITlONS IN THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN
whatever they take up, which makes the Sudanese a prize worth coveting for the possession of Christ.
Tact, judgment, and common sense are especially needed in missionary work in the Sudan. Among this easily led and excitable reople, untold harm and prejudice might result from unwise missionary effort, but admitting reasonable caution and tact on the part of the missionary, and ordinary firmness on the part of the government, there is no need whatever for living in constant fear of an uprising due to religious teaChing. On the other hand, there is abundant reason for expecting that this naturally religious people, so frequently disappointed in the past by the hopes of a false religion, shall accept with enthusiasm the Gospel of a Sllre hope and of unfailing love.
The British Government and Christian Missions 4. Af/:ssiollary condit£ons in relation to the poWical gOl'ernment of the country. On arrival at Wadi HaIfa, the British and Egyptian flags may be seen flying side by side over the government building which fronts the river. This is sufficient announcement of the fact that Great Britain is in control in the Sudan in some different sense' and to some greater degree than in Egypt. In the Sudan, as well as in Egypt and in the outside world, Great Britain is recognized not only as being the real power governing the Sudan, but as having the right to hold that power, since it was British brains and British push and British blood which made possible. the conquest of the Sudan.
For some inexplicable reason, however, the British policy seems to desire to repudiate this right and to advertise the recognition of the Sudan as an integral part of Egypt. Thus in Lord Cromer's report to SUNRISE AT THE AMERICAN MISSION, DOLAIB HILL
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARIES AND THEIR STAFF AT THE DOLAIB HILL STATION both Houses of Parliament ill 1903, be says: "'l'he Convention of J anuary 19, 1899, was framed with the express object of relieving the Sudan, and therefore Egypt, in the government of that province, from all those cumbersome international institutions which have added so· enormously to the complications of Egyptian administration. Had it not been for this consideration, there was, from the purely British point of view, no reason why the British flag should be hoisted at Khartum any more than at Assouan or Tantah."
This raises a question which is most vital to the entire Ohristian world, and especially to all those who are engaged in missionary work. If the Sudan belongs absolutely to Egypt, then the government of the Sudan will logically be, as in Egypt, a Mohammedan government, and Ohristianity can claim no rights whatever, save those which a Mohammedan government may be pleased to accord. In this case, however, Great Britain is deliberately pouring her physical strength, ber brain power, and her life-blood into the upbuilding of a Mohammedan government and a Mohammedan faith, and she is giving to this hostile religion a position and a power which she could never have secured for herself.
This policy would doubtless not meet with the approval of the British public, yet the fact remains that government offices in the Sudan are closed on Friday and are kept open on the Sabbath. This policy has gone 80 far as to color the entire educational scheme of the government and invade the well-known Gordon Memorial Oollege at Khartum. I have before me a copy of the Syllabus of that college for
MISSIONARY CONDITIONS IN THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN
1904, and I find in the primary school curriculum the following studies listed: Third year: Koran, one hour; Islam, two hours. Second year: Koran, three hours; Islam, two hours. First year: Koran, five hours; Islam, two hours.
In the training colleges for teachers and kadis (judges): Preparatory year-: Koran, four hours. First year: Koran, two hours. Second year: Koran, two hours.
It is needless to say that there is no teaching of the Bible. On the contrary, the doors of the college are open on the Sabbath, but are closed on Friday. We witnessed a class of young men, avowedly preparing themselves by the curriculum of the college to go forth as judges, doctors at law, teachers, and otherwise propogandists of the Moslem faith. 'l'his in a Christian college, founded in the name of a Christian martyr, through the contributions of Christian men and women, and under the administration of a Christian government!
In every government a difference may exist, and if so a distinction should be drawn, between the political policy and the political representative of the government. If the missionary in the Sudan must part company with the policy of Great Britain, as described above, he does not need to part company with Great Britain's political repre- DR. HALL'S CLINIC AT OMDURMAN C.1(. S. STATION
sentatives. Both the missiollaries of the Ohurch Missionary Society, aRd those of the American United Presbyterian Ohurch, testify to the courtesy, the kindness, the personal interest of Sir Reginald Wingate, Governor-General of the Sudan, and of his gracious wife. Loril Oromer himself was so kind as to embody in his annual report a gracious tribute to the work of the American mission on the Sobat. We quote the following: "I was greatly pleased with all I saw. The mission is manifestly conducted on those sound, practical, commonsense principles which indeed are strongly characteristic of American mission work in Egypt." Other British officers and govern men t officials have also shown repeated kindness to the missionaries of both societies, so that apart from the policy to which objection has beel! made, the relation which missionaries bear to the representatives of the Sudan government affords ground for satisfaction and abundant hope for the unhampered progress of missionary work.
The Protestant Missions in the Sudan 5. Missionary conditions -in relation to the rnissl:ons noUJ operating in the Sudan. '1'here are just three foreign missionary societies, with foreign agents, at work in the Sudan. Of these, two are Protestant and one is Roman Oatholic. The British and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Society also have native agents operating in and about Khartum.
The Roman Oatholic mission is simply the revival of missionary work which existed on even a more extensive seale prior to that Mahdi movement which doomed a number of Roman Catholic missionaries to martyrdom, and a still greater number to the horrors of a living death as prisoners in the Mahdi camp. The Roman Oatholics have established a mission station at LuI, just a few miles above Fashoda, and have given considerable attention to industrial, especially agricultural, work.
The Ohurch Missionary Society has been operating in Khartum. At Khartum a very efficient school for girls has been established. With the arrival of missionary reinforcements, medical work in Omdurman is to be resumed after a suspension of a couple of years, owing to the death of that devoted medical missionary, Dr. Hall.
Owing to its extensive missionary work in Egypt, the American Mission (United Presbyterian) has been irresistibly led to undertake missionary work in the Sudau. Members of the native Protestant Ohurch in Egypt have gone into the Sudan in government service.• and their presence at various centers has both compelled and been the opportunity for the establishment of missionary work at a number of places. A main ·station has been established at Khartu m, and schools have been opened. and regular services are held at Khartum, Omdurman, and Wadi Haifa. Another main station has been established five
1!JU5] MISSIONARY CONDITIONS IN THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN
hundred miles up the Nile, on the Sobat River, among the Shullas, or Shulluks, where an ordained missionary and a medical missionary, with their wives, are located.
To get some idea of the spiritual destitution of this part of Afrir,a, take your stand at that little outpost of the American Mission on the Sobat, and think of the nearest' adjacent mission stations. Five hundred miles to the north, are the Protestant missions at Khartull1. More than five hundred miles to the northeast, in the Abyssinian Moul1taine, is an outpost of a Swedish missionary society. To the east, you may go a thousand miles and more to the coast without finding a mis_ BOYS AT THE OMDURMAN MISSION SCHOOL sion station. '1'0 the southeast, it is a thousand miles to the coast, and there is no missionary work. 'fo the south, it is five hundred miles to the Uganda missions. Some seven hundred miles to the southwest, you come to the first of the Kongo missions. '1'0 the west, fifteen hundred miles of travel are needed to bring you to the mission stations in North Nigeria. To the northwest, five hundred miles of travel will bring you to the Sahara Desert, bu t to no mission station. Yet of old the prophecy was written concerning "t~e land of the rustling of wings which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," that "in that time shall a present be brought unto Jehovah of hosts of a people tall and smooth, and from a people terrible from the beginning onward: a nation that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, the Mount Zion."
THE JUBILEE OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The fifty years of mission work in Egypt and India, conducted by the United Presbyterians of America, had a memorable celebration at Pittsburg, Pa., from December 6th to 8th. We have been at many missionary conventions and anniversaries, and at more than one ecumenical gathering; bu t we have never seen this one surpassed in the average excellence of the addresses, the general spirituality of tone, and the sanctified common sense exhibited in administration. It was the one such convention where the program was not so overloadea that speakers were embarrassed for want of time. There was no impression of that driving haste which is the blemish upon our best modern type of social and even religious life. There was time for everything that was planned, and everything worked smoothly and harmoniously from beginning to end. Over six hundred accredited delegates were enrolled, nearly double the number at the general assemblies.
Throughout we heard not one address where the att.empt was obvious to make a rhetorical or oratorical display. There was eloquence, bnt it was that of a Etraightforward treatment of a theme, dignified and sometimes majestic, but always sober, spiritual, and self-forgetful. The audience-room was large, but not too large for the assemblies, and all the meetings were well attended, most of them thronged.
A huge map of the world hung behind the platform, and inspiring mottoes blazed from the walls and gallery front, with smaller maps of India and Egypt. The singing was especially uplifting, and in a word all the accessories befitted a grand occasion.
The addresses were, of course, the main feature. We would gladly reproduce them, everyone, had we space. Rev. C. S. Cleland, of Philadelphia, one of the mission secretaries, gave the "convention foreword." He referred to the work of the pioneers, the Gordons, McCagues, Dr. Barnett, etc., the difficulties of the field, and the contrasted conditions of fifty years ago and now. There is a present membership of 16,000; 132 missionaries have gone forth, $4,000,000 have been spent, and 26,000 souls redeemed. Robert E. Speer followed with a very thoughtful address on "'fhe Place of Missions in the Thought of God." The Father's plan was instinct with the mis· sionary idea; the Son was Himself a missionary and a martyr; the Bible is pervaded with a missionary message and spirit; and history can be interpreted only in the light of the missionary scheme. It was an original and forceful address.
Wednesday opened with Dr. Joseph Kyle's address on "The True Spirit of Missions." The New Testament is unquestionably a missionary document. Its leading human personality was Paul, a pioneer
THE JUBILEE OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS
mIssIOnary. Ever since, those who have been most in the apostolic succession have been moved by the same motive and passion, like Carey, Judson, Morrison, Livingstone, Martyn, Gordon. Christ was the mighty magnet whose force had linked, as in one chain, all missionary workers.
Rev. Charles R. Watson, another missionary secretary-a son of Egypt's noble missionary-carefully outlined the history of the fifty years in that land. It was a master production. He carefully divided up the half century, so that we could take in the great periods of development with the characteristic feature of each. The original conditions, the small beginnings, the barriers to be surmounted, the persecutions endured, the gradual growth of the native Church, the educational work, and the rapid progress of recent years.
Dr. Gilchrist gave a very helpful address on "The Reflex Infl uence of Foreign Missions on the Life of the Home Church," showing the unity of all true work for God, the larger conception of the Divine mission of the Church which a world-wide work fosters, the expansive influence on sympathy, liberality, and spirituality, and the deepening of faith and the widening of evangelistic work that result from the hearty acceptance of the responsibility of world-wide effort.
President M. G. Kyle, of the Mission Board, spoke on the" Early Foreign Mission Work," and Dr. Giffen on the" Indian Mission."
The foreign missionaries present were then asked to come to the platform, and two of the surviving pioneers-Miss Gordon, of India, and Dr. McCague, of Egypt-took their places beside the rest. Dr. McCague, teo feeble to attempt an address, asked the privilege of leading in prayer, and then, as if unconsciously, passed from praying to God to speaking to man, and it was difficult to tell where the one ended and the other began. The whole scene was full of pathos.
Dr. Giffen's account of the pioneers in the Sudan was thrillinghow, the first night, in the midst of nude savages, armed with spears and clubs, they lay down and slept peacefully-and proving to us all that heroes are not yet an extinct race.
J. Campbell White's speech on missions as the" greatest business in the world," was the ablest presentation we have heard of the financial aspects of the missionary problem, and is to be scattered in cheap tract form, as it deserves. It was delivered to a crowded assembly of men only. It bristled with' facts and figures. Statistics were arrayed and arranged in strategic platoons, and the ethical obligation of giving liberally to the Lord's work was driven home to conviction and conscience with the force of a battering-ram. It left no man, however liberal a giver, with an easy conscience. The largest gifts seemed small beside the true ideal of giving, and he concluded by presenting the several aspects of giving, such as worship, stewardship, proportion, and self-denial.
At the same hour a womttn's meeting packed the neighboring Methodist Church, where Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Barr, Mrs. White, and Miss Irvine spoke on woman's contribution to the work in the past and present, and gave the outlook for the larger work of the future. The' bloody rites of Kali's shrine, the teachings of the Koran, and the fruits of heathenism and Mohammedanism were contrasted with Christian worship, Bible teaching, converted natives, churches and reconstructed homes; and the steady advance of woman's work and gifts, with the Divine challenge to more self-denying service-these were the leading thoughts at this thronged service.
The last day came, and with it Dr. W. C. Williamson's talk on "The Truth about Love." Then Dr. J. K. McClurkin spoke for an hour on "Fifty Years in India." He d welt with vigorous eloquence on India's strange history, the shadow of death, and the bright future of prophecy. He found seven shadows, which together make up its Illidnight: Caste, Transmigration, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Poverty and Superstition, the conquerors of India, and the blight of Hinduism. He showed that only the Light of the World can illumine the 'darkness of Asia, and there must be promptness, for twenty die every minute. He beautifully referred to Carey, Martyn, Buchanan, and Judson as stars of first magnitude, and then, the audience rising and standing, he gave the roll-call of the dead!
Secretary Watson presented to Dr. Balph, the president of the convention, a beautiful gavel, the head of which was of wood from the study of the first mission house in Egypt, occupied by Dr. Hogg, and the handle from the first mission building in india. There were also in the handle two pieces of wood from two thousand miles up the Nile. The gavel itself was made by the children in the industrial school in Gujranwala, India.
In Dr. D. F. McGill's address on " Foreign Missions and the Pastor," he suggested that the pastor should teach his people to pray for missions, specifically; should keep the Sunday-school and young people interested; turn the weekly prayer-meeting into missionary channels once a month; make much of returned missionaries; and master good missionary books, and then give the substance, warm and condensed, in one or more sermons.
Addresses were also given at this session by Mrs. Annie R. Herron, President of the Women's Board, on "Foreign Missions and the Women's Missionary Society," and by Mr. O. V. Vickery, Secretary of the Young People's Missionary Movement, on "Foreign Missions in the Sabbath-school and Young People's Society." A conference followed, with one-minute speeches on problems connected with missions.
One beautiful incident was the singing of verses of the 23d'Psalm, first in Hindustani, by the India missionaries, then in Arabic, by the Egyptian missionaries, from opposite sides of the platform, and finally
in English by the whole assemblage. " All, from Dr. McOague at one end to 'Aunty' Gordon at the other. could sing 'The Lord's My Shepherd' in the mother tongue. It stirred every heart. God's children on earth-Hindu, Egyptian, Ohinese, American-can not always sing together yet, but in the Father's house all will know the tune and the words of the new song, the song of Moses and the Lamb! "
The closing evening address of the convention was given by the writer on "The Supernatural Factor in Missions." the largest audience of the convention being assembled, literally packing the .auditorium from platform to gallery. The most desperate assaults are being made upon the supernatural, to-day, that have been made in the history of the world. And yet if there be no supernatural in the Bible there is no inspiration. If none in Ohrist, there is no Savior. If none in nature, there is no God. The UJork of missions gives us the evidence of the supet·natural. The study of missions will suffice to make clear that greater spiritual miracles have been wrought in modern missions than the physical miracles wrought by Ohrist himself. The finest machinery will not accomplish the work without the Spirit of God. Let us find out God's plans a:(ld follow them. Let this fiftieth anniversary be signalized by a giving of every pastor and member in the Ohurch unreservedly to God and His service. and both at home and abroad lay hold of the supernatural power of God. Then we shall see results unsurpassed in all history. After the adoption of a series of resolutions regarding future advanced work and a few earnest words spoken by the pastor of the church, Dr. R. M. Russell, he led the great congregation, as they stood, to give themselves in solemn covenant to God, to pray and work and give for the evangelization of the world, and the convention came to a close.
It is notable that the United Presbyterians of America are the first body, as a whole, to adopt as their working basis the motto: "The Evangelization of the World in this Generation." . They have divided their portion of the world field with reference to reaching everyone of the population within thirty-three years, and are pressing on the churches the duty and privilege of furnishing the men and money needful· to put the plan into operation.
It is expected that the proceedings will be published in full. If so, we can safely assure all who are so happy as to possess a copy that they will find in the proceedings of these three jubilee days a Feast of 'rabernacles, fully justifying the great throngs which from all quarters came up to the holy festival, and a fitting record of these days will be a lasting legacy of blessing to the generation following. During the convention two cablegrams came from the foreign field containing simply t'Yo significant words: "EBENEZER "-" MACEDONIA," with a Spartanlike brevity expressing thanks for the past, and conveying the urgent need of the present and future.
THE PRESENT CRISIS IN CHINA BY REV. JOHN R. HYKES, D.D., SHANGHAI, CHINA General Agent of the American Bible Society in China China is passing through the supreme crisis in her history. The struggle has been a long one, and the end is not yet. It had its immediate beginning in the China-Japan war of 1894 and t.he political conditions which, directly and indirectly, resulted from it, and which culminated in the atrocious "Boxer Rising" of ] 900. This wellorganized and gigantic effort to stay the progress of civilization and reform, to eradicate the influence of modern education and Christianity, and once and for all to get rid of Western ideas and foreign political aggression by sweeping all foreigners into the sea, resulted, as we know, in disastrous failure.
Not only this, it was the beginning of a crisis which will determine China's destiny both politically and religiously. It ushered in one of those great world movements which, if taken advantage of by the Church, will make mightily for the progress of Christ's Kingdom in the Orient. Present events in the Far East are intimately connected with the greatest problem before the Christian Church to-day, and a consideration of them is necessary to an intelligent understanding of the marvelous opportunities for missionary work in China.
The events of 1900, and the conditions in China which followed, gave Russia her opportunity in Manchuria, which she was not slow to seize. When, in 1903, Russia failed to keep her reiterated promise to withdraw from Manchuria the troops which she had sent there to meet the crisis of three years before, the Chinese felt that the fate of the" Three Eastern Provinces" was sealed, and that the clause in the treaty that the Chinese-Manchurian Railway concession should not interfere with China's sovereignty over Manchuria, was a dead letter. Russia wanted an ice-free port on the Pacific. With tIns desire the world very properly sympathized. But to attain this laudable end it was not necessary that she should steal and annex 360,000 square miles of territory and extend her borders to the very gate of Peking. In Port Arthur she has an almost impregnable naval base and the key to China, for this fortress" commands, by land and sea, the only practicable approach to the capital of the Chinese Empire."
There can be no doubt that Russia would stay in Manchuria-if she could! Before the outbreak of hostilities with Japan she thought it was firmly in her grasp, and she was beginning to reach out toward Korea, the annexation of which is essential to the successful carrying out of her policy and program of expansion in Eastern Asia. Suppose this to be an accomplished fact (Manchuria and Korea under the undisputed sway of the Czar, Russia with an uninterrupted coast-line from the Arctic to the Great Wall of China), what then.'!!
THE PRESENT CRISIS IN CHINA
Russia is the great expansionist of modern times. The vastIless of her territory is appallillg. She represents the most marvelous centralization of power that the world has ever seen. In four centuries she has increased in area over fortyfold-from 200,000 to 8,670,000 square miles. The map of Asia is marked by her stately, tho quiet, stepping toward universal dominion in that continent in a way that is almost terrifying to those who fear the supremacy of the Slav. It is necessary to bear in mind that the incentives which have impelled her in her hitherto triumphal march across Asia have been both political and religious, and the latter have, if anything, been the stronger. There has undoubtedly been the lust of power, but it has been in pursuance of what she conceives to be her divine mission. In the eyes of her strongest men, to Russia has been committed by Almighty God the mission of saving the world. She extends the borders of her empire by Divine right, and in so doing is but fulfilling .her mission to humanity-a mission which can not be accomplished by any other people or power. The Strannik, a Russian religious periodical, in an article entitled" Our Struggle with Japan from a Biblical Point of View," says: Russia has a providential mission to extend the Orthodox faith over the whole world. If Manchuria were left iu the possession of the Chinese, the latter would not feel the necessity of accepting Christianity, and would remain forever in Japanese darkness. Hence the law of God forbids the restoration of Manchuria to China.
The same reasoning would not only justify Russia in annexing Ohina, but makes it her duty to do so.
China is essential to the realization of Russia's plans in Eastern Asia, but the civilized world must not permit her to absorb China. There are strong political, commercial, and humanitarian reasons why the Anglo-Saxon, ra.ther than the Slav, should dominate Eastern Asia, but we are not discussing these. The present Russo-Japanese war is not, as some would have us believe, a conflict between heathenism and Ohristianity. It is a grapple of civilizations. It is the twentieth celltury civilization meeting that of .the sixteenth to determine which shall have the right of way in Asia, and whether Russia shall be permitted to turn back the hand on the dial of the world's progress in the OrIent for fifteen centuries. Japan represents the civilization of this century, and stands for progress along the most modern lines. The future of the Mongolian depends largely upon the outcome of the present terrific struggle in Manchuria.
But the conflict undoubtedly has a religious bearing, and upon its issues will depend the type, not only of civilization but of religion, which shall prevail in the East and its reflex influence upon the West.
The extension of Russian rule in the East would not appear to be in the interests of the Kingdom of God in the world. Wherever the
power of Russia reaches, there missionary work is perilous and almost impossible. There is no religious liberty in Russia, as we understand such liberty. It is true that a Protestant Christian may, in the empire of the Czar, worship God according to the forms of his own Church, but he is not permitted to recommend his own particular faith to those of the Greek Church. Attempts to proselyte are punishable with penal servitude, and a missionary to Russia would constantly face the' possibility-the absolute certainty, as soon as his calling became known -of exile to Siberia. Withdrawal from the established Church is strictly forbidden, and renunciation of the Orthodox faith is punished with barbarous severity, not by the Church, but by the State. There are no missionaries in Russia, and they will not be tolerated in any country passing under her rule. Whenever Manchuria is recognized as Russian territory (which God forbid), missionary work there will be much hampered, or perhaps be at an end.
'1'here is perfect religious liberty in Japan-just as much as there is in Great Britain or the United States. Any man is free to teach his own religious belief in any part of the empire, and to persuade others to accept it. The acceptance of Christianity is no bar to preferment in any post under the government. Christians are to be found in the Supreme Court of the empire, among the highest officers in the army and the navy, and in both houses of the governmen:t. The same freedom in religious matters is permitted in Formosa, and would undoubtedly be granted to missionaries and people were Manchuria to pass under the rule of the Mikado.
The Greek Church is nominally Christian, but it is full of superstition and bigotry. It teaches the people to believe in the miraculous .power of ikons, to worship pictures, kiss the relics of dead priests, rely upon "signs," and to indulge in other superstitious practises which are relics of the Dark Ages. Ikons were sent, with superstitious reverence, to the generals at the front in Manchuria, in the belief that their worship would bring victory to their arms, and the Czar regarded the birth of a male heir as a sign that he would be successful in the war with Japan. Religion is more than forms and ceremonies, spectacular display and medieval superstitions. It is a life, a moral force, and a power which regenerates man, transforms his character, brings him into communion and fellowship with God, and always and everywhere makes for righteousness. This is Protestantism, and nothing but the best in Christianity is good enough for one-third of the human race.
The conversion of ChiRr. is of such vital concern to the whole civilized world that the Church can not but look with dismay npon anything which would tend to interrupt or stop the magnificent work which is being done in that land. The possibilities, the absolute certainties, of the conflict in the East will mean conditions and oppor-
1905J THE PRESENT CRISIS IN CHINA
tunities which, if taken advantage of by the Church, will make tremendously for the advancement of Christ's cause in that part of the world. I believe that one result, and it is a very important one, of the present war will be to stop Russian aggression in Eastern Asia, and guarantee the integrity of China proper, at least.
This raises another question. Would' the cause of Ohristianity be best served by maintaining the integrity of China under the present government, or uy her partition among the powers, as was so freely discussed prior to 1900? The government of China has for many years been apparently tottering to a fall. During the past half century she has passed through a number of crises, rebellions, court intrigues, and foreign wars, but a special Providence seemed to have watched over her, and she has been preserved as ~ nation. Were it possible for the nations interested to agree to the partition of China, I do not believe that such a course would be in the interests of missionary work in that land. The wide discussion of this question in the foreign press, both in China and .elsewhere, was largely responsible for the anti-foreign demonstration known as "the Boxer Rebellion," and was a hindrance to mission work. '1'he cause of Christianity will be best served in China by guaranteeing her integrity.
The British occupation of Lhassa will check Russian advance on Ohina from that direction, and further insure her integrity. Besides, it will open up Tibet, the last of the hermit kingdoms and a stronghold of Buddhism, to missionary effort. '1'his ought eventually to react in favor of China missions, providing some other power does not demand, as a quid pro quo, that another outlying possession of the Chinese empire come within her" sphere of influence."
The Present Opportunity of the Church Conditions in China were never so favorable for the prosecution of missionary work as at the present time. This is the Church's opportunity in that greatest of all heathen lands.
The" Boxer Rising" had among other objects the extermination of Christianity. Many missiilnaries feared that this outbreak of fanaticism would put back the cause, particularly in the North, where some of the troops of the allied army committed unmentionable outrages, for from ten to fifteen years. The fact is that missions in North China were never so firmly established, so well equipped, or so successful as since the atrocities of 1900. While China was taught a severe lesson, and at a fearful cost to her, she benefited to this extent: the dismemberment of the empire was certainly indefinitely postponed if it was not entirely prevented. There has ueen no talk of the partition of Ohina since then. '1'his desirable result was due largely to the position taken at that time by the United States, and to the wise foresight and masterly statesmanship of the Ohristian secretary of state,
John Hay. 'fhe fact that our government stood for the integrity of China is known to the officials of the empire, and has remover! much prejudice.
~ince the ratification of the treaty with the United States, which was signed October 8, 1903, miss onaries have, for the first time, had clearly defined and unquestioned treaty rights to procure property, to reside and prosecute their work in all parts of the empire of China. The ".right " to reside in the interior rested, prior to this time, upon a fraud, the clause supposed to grant it having been surreptitiously inserted into the French treaty. The Missionary article in the United States treaty (Art. XIV.)* not only gives the missionaries these privileges, but guarantees perfect religious freedom to Chinese subjects, and exempts native converts from paying" taxes levied and contributions for the support of religious customs and practises contrary to their religion." This clause does away with one of the most fruitful causes of persecution in the past. Thus it will be seen that the status of foreign missionaries and Chinese converts is alike eminently satisfactory, and for this we are indebted to the treaty negotiated as a part of the settlement of the" Boxer Rising."
Missionaries have never enjoyed so much freedom or safety in the prosecution of their work as at present. It is quite true that in some parts of Shantung there seems lately to have been a recrudescence of the" Boxer" troubles, but such local outbreaks by remnants of the "Boxer" bands of 1900, or of bandits taking their name, was to be expected. The only wonder is that there have not been more. A general anti-foreign demonstration, like that of 1900, is not to be feared. It could not be possible without conditions which could hardly reappear.
The attitude of the government is more favorable to the introduction of Western ideas, and this is favorable to Christianity. Railways are being extended throughout the empire, and their construction pushed with an energy never witnessed before. This rapid communication will facilitate missionary work in those sections. Very interesting questions on Western civilization and learning have been put to the students at most of the provincial examinations. Manchu princes are, for the first time, going abroad. One was sent as first commissioner of the Chinese exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and this, as well as the exhibit itself, is a sign of the times. A more friendly feeling upon the part of the officials toward the missionary is manifest in many places. Christian Scriptures are bought at an unprecedented rate-many of them by classes which, a few years ago, would not accept them as a gift. The officials at the provincial capitals have not only encouraged but facilitated the distribution of Christian literature at the triennial examinations. Formerly this was not allowed. Chow Fu, provincial treasurer of Chihli, began the * See M,SSIONARY REVIEW, January, 1904, p. 74.
THE PRESENT CRISIS IN CHINA
preparation, by the aid of a committee of scholars whom he summoned to his aid, of a "new translation" of the Bible-that is, putting it into the best possible literary dress-" in order," as he said, "to do away with the prejudice in the minds of officials and scholars against the Book." A literary chancellor in one of the provinces recently urged the students to study the Ohristians' sacred books as well as their own. The head of a Ohinese government school applied to the American Bible Society for a grant of English Bibles to be used as text-books, and this with the consent of the board of management. There has also been an increasing interest in education and in Western knowledge.
Since 1900 there has been a remarkable turning toward Ohristianity upon the part of the common people. This has not been confined to anyone .district or section, but has been universal throughout the empire. The chapels are thronged with attentive listeners. As an old missionary said to the writer: "Formerly the problem was how to get the people into the church; now the trouble is how to keep them out." In the formerly notoriously anti-foreign and anti-Ohristian provinces of Hunan the Reformed Ohurch in the United States has received an offer of $10,000 from four Ohinese at Ohingshi to pay for buildings for school and chapel purposes. This is not an isolated case. It can be duplicated in other parts of the empire. In some districts whole villages have become nominally Ohristian. That this movement is due solely to a desire for the Truth no one will claim. The motives are mixed, and doubtless in many cases they are unworthy. But the fact remains that multitudes have placed themselves under the influence of the Gospel, and still greater multitudes are willing to be instructed in the way of Life. The opportune time to teach is when the people want to be taught. These conditions will pass, and they may not return, or return only after a long interval.
The Bible is being studied more generally than ever before, and, in some cases, because of its well-known civilizing and enlightening influence. Ten years ago the American Bible Society sold an average of four hundred complete Bibles a year, and they went almost exclusively to the native Ohristians. Now the sales aggregate over ten thousand copies per annum, and the demand comes largely from non- Ohristians. It is wise to take full advantage of this increasing interest, from whatever motive, in God's Word.
The publications of the Tract Societies and the Society for the Diffusion of Ohristian and General Knowledge Among the Ohinese are being sold in greater numbers every year, and their influence is apparent everywhere.
The outcome of the war will doubtless create new conditions which the Ohurch must be ready to meet, and open yet wider the door for Ohina's speedy evangelization.
This is the Ohurch's opportunity. She should take advantage of
it now. Such opportunities cmne only once, and, if allowed to slip, they are gone forever. We should see to it that the thirst for knowledge-true knowledge-is gratified. Our educational work should be pushed with the greatest vigor. Existing institutions should be fully manned and generously equipped, and new and inviting fields should be entered. We can not afford to let the schools and colleges of Ohina pass out of the hands of Ohristia.n teachers. If we do not meet the demand for higher education under Ohristian influences, it will be supplied by unchristian men, and the result will be a harvest of skeptics and agnostics. Ohristian education is bound to be one of the great evangelizing forces in Ohina.
We should take advantage of the unprecedented demand for Ohristian Scriptures. The Bible Society is seriously handicapped in this work by lack of funds. There is no more enlightening force than God's Word. Give it to the Ohinese when they want it.
'['he missionary evangelists have more than they can do. The call is everywhere for more men-atul tlte best men-for this work. How will the Ohurches respond?
Ohina will come through this crisis, but she needs, above everything else, the principles of true Ohristianity to mold the thought and life of her people. Now is the time to bring the Kingdom of God to her, and sh€ is the greatest and destined to be incomparably the most influential, for good or for evil, of all the pagan nations of modern times.
REALITY AND ROMANCE ABOUT THE CHINESE SOME REMARKS ON THE " LETTERS FROM A CHINESE OFFICIAL" * BY W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D., LL.D., PEKING, CHINA President of Viceroy's University, Wu Chang; ex·President of Emperor's University, Peking This book is a clever satire on our Western civilization, but it was not written by a Ohinaman. The author, who shows a cast of thought wholly foreign to the Chinese mind, has donned the Ohinese costume as a stage artifice, to attract attention and to give emphasis to his own opllllOns. It is not a new trick, for Goldsmith resorted to it in his "Oitizen of the World," whose Lien Ohi Altongi, a Ohinese philosopher, is made to give his impressions of civilization in Europe. Our author's censures on Western life, tho not always just, are not a whit more severe than we ourselves are accustomed to indulge in; but, by way of contrast, he whitewashes the Ohinese, so as to make them whiter than the whites.
We shall confine our attention to this side of hi.s tableau, and in so doing we shall treat him as a Ohinaman; and tho one might make a * Published by McClure, Pbillips & Co., New York. Altho it is some time since these let· ters appeared, they were so widely read and Dr. Martin's remarks on them are so illuminating, that we devote unusual space to the notice. He says that he took up the book" as a sugar· plum. but soon found that, like t·he little book in the Apocalypse, it made the' belly bitter' I" See notice in .. Book Review Department."
REALITY AND ROMANCE ABOUT THE CHINESE
shrewd guess at his personality, we shall, to save his blushes, allow him to wear his mask to the end of the performance.
A few instances may serve to substantiate this charge. 1. A prime feature in his typical village is "cleanliness." If he had said filthiness, his statement would have been unimpeachable. 2. 'rhe leading mental characteristic of the Chinese is, he says, a readiness to sacrifice material for spiritual interests. Has he not, by a freak of the printer's devil, got the adjectives transposed?
3. In morals, he asserts, the Chinese are unselfish. Would it not be safer to omit ihe first syllable of the last word?
4. 'fheir social arrangements, he says, are such as to eliminate pauperism. Yet if he should come back to China he would find the streets thronged with beggars, many of them laying siege to shop- keepers, and yelling or hammering to extort their daily alms.
5. Their religion, he says, is Confucian from top to bottom. It is doubtful if this is true of anyone man, the au thor not excepted, while of the people nine-tenths are so illiterate that with them Confucian- ism forms only a thin veneering for all sorts of uncanonical creeds.
G. 'fhe aim of their education is, according to him, to make a man a " good husband and father." Does he mean the husband of a score of wives and the father of a hundred children, like their famous Wen Wang? The example of that ancient worthy is one which every mandarin strived to imitate in proportion to the length of his purse, a well-stocked harem being deemed essential to his dignity.
7. Their attempt, in 1900, to exterpate foreigners by an act of wholesale assasination was, according to the author, a desperate effort to preserve the purity of this precious civilization.
His pages bristle with similar passages, but these are sufficient to . show how he draws on imagination in describing the China of to-day.
His statements in regard to the China of the past are, if possible, still marc awry. His ignorance of ancient history may be pardoned, but his misrepresentation of modern events is inexcusable. As he harps incessantly on the stability of their institutions, the fondness of the Chinese for peace, their sweet reasonableness, and the wickedness of foreign aggression, allow me to append.a brief catechism for his benefit or for that of his readers.
A Brief Catechism Q. How many dynasties have there been in this ancient, ullchangc- able empire?
A. An unwary reader might be led to suppose that there had been only one since the dawn of history. The fact is that no fewer than twenty-two have occupied the throne, each coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb led to the slaughter. For in China dynastic revolutions have been far more frequent and far more bloody than in Grl:'at Britain or Rnss·ia.
Q. Is foreign aggression a new thing in China? A. Let the Great Wall answer. It was built to keep foreigners out, yet foreigners are now on the throne. Foreigners were on the throne in the days of Marco Polo, and they had su bjugated the north- ern provinces many times before the conqnest of Kublai Khan. These unwarlike Chinese were themselves foreigners at the dawn of history. Coming on from the northwest and following the course of the Yellow River, their policy was guided by a maxim still repeated by school- boys in their daily lessons: "Love and cherish the Chinese race, crush and subjugate the barbarians." The aborigines were, however, too , numerous to be exterminated; and in many provinces they absorbed the invader along with his civilization, much as the red men of South America did with their Spanish conquerors. Q. How did the Manchus come into power? A. It is significant that the word" Manchu" does not occur in the volume, but some notice of them appears to be called for by his reit- erated denunciation of foreign violence. When Li Tse-Ching, one of his pacific Chinese, captured Pekin in l644, and extinguished the Wing dynasty in a sea of blood, Wu San Kwei, a Chinese general, was on guard at the eastern extremity of the Great Wall. Hearing that his own family had been butchered, thirst- ing for revenge, and secretly aspiring to the throne, he invited the 'rartars to aid him in expelling the usurper. This done, they were requested to retire; but, as in the fable of the ass who asked a primi- tive man to help him in driving a stag from his pasture ground, they were in the saddle, and they refused to dismount. The Manchus, strange to say, have given China the best government she has ever had, but they secured the throne by force and fraud. Q. What was the motive for imposing restrictions on Western trade and intercourse? A. Being aliens, the Manchus were sllspicious lest other foreigners should be as unscrupulous as they had been and deprive them of their conqnest. Hence they confined foreign trade to a single seaport, and shut up all foreigners in a sort of Ghetto at Canton, where they were subjected to every sort of indignity, insomuch that they could not ride in a sedan without the risk of being dropped in the street-the police beating their bearers for daring to take a ," foreign devil" on the shoulders of a Chinese. Hence, too, native Christians were slaughtered, lest they should take sides with some future invader. Q. What was the cause of the" opium war"? A. It was not, as the anthor intimates, to force opium on China. In 1842, when China lay helpless at the feet of England, and when the conqueror dictated his own terms in the treaty of Nan king, not a single stipulation was inserted in favor of the opium traffic. The real cause of war was the unwananilable violence employed by Vioeroy
t905] REALITY AND ROMANCE ABOUT THE CHINESE
Lin to get possession of the drug. Instead of seizing the opium hulks by force of arms, he thought it safer to surround the Ghetto with a band of cutthroats, and threaten massacre without distinction of nationality or condition.
The drug was surrendered through a British official as the ransom of British lives. The war was made to exact indemnity for property sacrificed in the public service, and to punish a wanton outrage. The expansion of a mischieviolls traffic was the consequence, not the cause, of the war.
Q. In 1900, why did eight nationalities bury their feuds and unite in crushing the government of Peking? A. Simply because the Manchus, having learned nothing by the ex- perience of sixty years, repeated on a larger scale the brilliant exploit of 1839. In Shantung a Manchu governor had fomented the Boxer movement. Those bloodthirsty wretches were taken into the pay of the government, and two princes of the blood appointed to be their leaders. Placards were issued by these princes, setting a price on the heads of men, women, and chilurell. The German Minister was shot dead in the street, and all the other foreign Ministers, together with their fellow countrymen, were subjected to a siege of two months, with murderous attacks from day to day. Had our rescue been delayed a single day it is probable that such a holocaust would have ensued as the world never witnessed. Yet our psuedo-Ohinese has the impudence to prate of foreign violence and loot. It was Ohinese soldiers, under the British flag, who, after the siege, surpassed all others in lawless violence. So much for their patriotism! So much for their Oonfucian ethics!
Q. Will China, like Japan, have the magnanimity to grant, not tol- eration, but religioils freedom? A. Without that there is no hope of a new Ohina. A new Ohina, however, is the last thing our author desires to see. Not only does he say" the old is better," he closes his book with an absurd menace based on a false assumption. "In the name of Ohrist, you have sounded the call to arms. In the name of Oonfucius, we respond." If he means this to be taken literally, it is not true; if in a figurative sense, it can not be denied that the' welkin rings with the bugle call for a new crusade. In the name of Confucius, do the Ohinese respond?
A real Ohinese official once asked me, in the presence of several mandarins: "Why may we not send missionaries to' your country? " " Why don't you? " said 1. "They would be treated far better than you treat ours." This was thirty years ago, and I have yet to hear of the first Oonfucian mission setting foot on our shores, or on the shores of any other country. The fact is that Oonfucianism lacks the vitality to sustain a mission.
In China the people are allowed to think for themselves, but an
embargo is laid on their expression of thought. There are no news- papers to speak of, except under the shadow of the foreign flag. Polit- ical clubs are suppressed, and the advocates of reform hounded out of the empire. In thus fettering head and heart, the government acts not on the Oonfucian precept, to "renovate the people," but on a cyn- ical maxim of Laotse: " Fill their bellies and empty their minds, and they'll be easy to govern."
I conclude with a few lines from the late Oolonel Denby, for thirteen years United States Minister in Pekin. After dilating on the good qualities of the Ohinese, he adds: Let us look at the reverse picture. The Chinese are ignorant and superstitious. At an eclipse of the moon the whole population turns out, with gongs and tin pans, to drive away the yellow dog that is eating up that luminary. Many riots have originated from the absurd charge that missionaries secure the custody of children for the purpose of killing them and making medicine out of their eyes. When the diplomatic corps represented to the Tsung Ii Yamen (Board of Foreign Affairs) the ridiculousness of such an accusation, we were astonished that several members of that august body declared that they had always believed the charge was true! . The condition of women, which is a fair test of civilization, is bad! Until a woman becomes the mother of a male child she is taken no account of. Slavery exists all over China, and girls are sold by their parents. Polygamy also exists. Vealthy Chinamen always have three or four wives. The judicial system is oneof torture. The judges examine into a case before tr'ial, and when satisfiE.d, as they usually are, that the accused is guilty, they force him by torture to confess. He may then be sentenced to have his head cut off, or he may be suspended in the sun until he dies, or he may be torn asunder, or cut to pieces by the terrible slicing process. Corruption is universal. Li Hung Chang had a man employed at Pekin whose business 'it was to give money to thirty 'officials three times a year. Very small salaries are paid in China, and the pay of officials is eked out by robbing the state and oppressing the people.
Do not the riots of 1900 of themselves furnish a conclusive argument that China needs regeneration? In no other civilized country would it have been possible to raise an enormous force to attack and destroy ambassadors and their suites at the seat of government I There were 1,hree thousand Chinese [Christians) in the British Legation whose labor arid devotion saved the lives of the beleagured foreigners. Many of them died in defense of their benefactors. At the Roman Catholic Cathedral another wonderful exhibition of devotion to Christianity and its expounders was furnished. 'rheBoxers came in countless numbers. They threw letters into the enclosure, where thirty-two hun. dred converts were gathered, promising immunity to all who deserted the missionaries. During this terrible time, tho many were killed, not one Chinese proved false to his duty.
The labors of the missionaries have been of immense benefit to us, no less than to the Chinese. From their modest dwellings have emanated the light of modern civilization. Conscience, after all, rules the world. and its voice speaks through the missionaries in favor of justice and of right. When Sir Robert Hart was asked" What was the remedy for the riots in China?" he said, "It is either partition or the conversion of the people to Christianity. It is presumed that all Americans will favor the latter alternative."
1£J05] A MODERN APOSTLE IN BURMA
A MODERN APOSTLE IN SURMA A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF KO SAN YE BY MRS. H. ALLEN TUPPER, JR., NEW YORK There is a wonderful spiritual awakening in Burma. 'l'his is the land where for years Adoniram Judson labored and prayed in vain before his heart was made glad by the turning of one soul to Christ.
Among the hills of the Tongu district, about forty years ago, was born a heathen child who was destined to exert a great Feligious influence 0 vel' his fenow men. Ko San Ye, a Karen of the Swag branch of his race, at the ag"e of thirty lost his wife and only child" Over- come with grief and despair, longing for com fort, he then REV. S. R. VINTON, KO SAN YE, AND MY ZAN turned to religion for consolation. Failing to find solace for his overwhelming sorrow in the faith of his own people, he embraced Buddhism, retired to the mountains, and built for himself a two-story house in the top qf a tall tree, living in the first story and reserving the second for God, whom he claimed came down and talked to him. By his life of aceticism and meditation he became known as a man of great sanc- tity, and acquired quite a following. From Buddhism, which did not bring him the comfort he longed for, he drifted into a philosophy, taken from the spiritual conception of God of the purer Karen tradi- tions and the Buddhist moral code, claiming salvation by good works and called Mawlay. Tho faithfully followed, this philosophy did not bring joy into the life of Ko San Ye, and hearing of Christianity, through several missionaries, he sought to learn of its doctrines.
These filled his soul with peace, and he became convinced it was the one true religion for which he had sought so long, the religion which heals the wounds of the grief stricken, which exhorts to good works, which tells of a personal Savior in His Sou Jesus Christ.
In 1890 he applied for baptism. At first the missionaries were dou btful as to the sincerity of his conversion,but after a very careful examination by the older ministers of the Rangoon field, he and about one hundred and forty of his followers were baptized by Dr. Dench- field, of the American Baptist Missionary Union. Before his baptism he was known as Ko Paiksan (" Mr. Money"), possibly because of his
great ability to collect money from the people. At his baptism he said" Ko Paiksan is dead. There is a new man in Christ, Ko San Ye (Mr. Food and Water). Ko Paiksan was the devil's servant, and Ko San Ye must serve God equally well."
The year following his baptism the government granted him two thousand acres of waste land in the Pagu district. Here he built a village, call in g it Podoplaw, which now contains several hun- dred houses. This new village was his home, and for it he wanted to build a chapel. He was penniless and his following was not large, and to build a facsimile of tpe Ko Sha llyn Memorial Hall, which he had seen at Bassein and KO SAN YE'S STEAM·LAUNCH desired to reprodnce, required an outlay of nearly twenty-five thousand dollars. The village was far from the rail- way, and everything but the roughest lumber must be carted long dis- tances over very bad roads. Ko San Ye had an abounding faith, and to it he added earnest works. Going among the people preaching and asking for funds to build the chapel, he insisted that it could be done if God, to whom the money belonged, would put it into the hearts of the people to give. As fast as funds came in they were used, because, as he very wisely said, if the people do not see the work start as soon as they commence to give, they will fear" I am eating the money."
He lived at Padoplaw some time after the chapel was completed, and g~eat crowds made pilgrimages to hear him teach. In order to have a place where these pilgrims could be sheltered and fed, a long build- ing was erected next to the chapel, and a similar one was built at the nearest railway station. About four years later Ko San Ye com- menced going abont the country teaching the people. To enable him to reach larger numbers, and in order that the masses who came should be more comfortable, additional rest-houses were constructed.
At first these were temporary structures, sheds of bamboo, replaced by permanent buildings as more money came in, till now there are five of these houses almost completed, at a cost of $83,333. All but two of these are located in the country where most of the Karens live, and are easily reached by them. There are stated periods when Ko San Ye visits these places, and, of course, the crowds are much greater
A MODERN APOSTLE IN BURMA
then; but they are always open, and the people who come are furnished lodging and food by the special helpers left in charge.
Ko San Ye is a man of no book education; he can not even read. But having a fine memory, he has become well acquainted with the Bible. Naturally many of his followers believe he has supernatural powers, and some even insist that he is a God. Notwithstanding this hero-worship, amounting almost to idolatry, Ko San Ye remains quite unspoiled; he is very humble, always willing to listen to the council Photo by S. R. Vinton KO ~AN YEIS BUILDING AT OKKAN, BURMA This is one of the many he is erecting with funds contributed by the Karcns. It was begun in 190'2, and will cost 80,(0) rupees (ahout $27,iXX). It consists of a large, square, central rOOlll, with a large wing opening out from either side. The upper and lower stories are just the same in plan. The central room up·stairs is used for worship. The upper wing rooms are variously assigned to missionaries, native pastors, and government officials. Down-stairs the entire place is available for sleeping, and when large meetings are held the entire lower place is crowded with people sleeping on rude bamhoo mats. A church has been organ'ized at this place, which has invited the Baptist association to meet with it this year.
of his pastor and the missionaries. Tho neither he nor his immediate helpers are connected with the mission except as members of Karen churches, he gives his most cordial support to them in every way; his buildings are rallying-points for great crowds who are addressed by the missionaries, and he never encroaches in the least on their prerogatives. One missionary, in writing of him, says: "His object, as expressed to me, is to lead the heathen gradually to Ohrist. He seems to think the heathen Karens will be puzzled and frightened by being asked to accept the Gospel immediately. The Karens have largely departed from the monotheism of their ancestors, and Ko San Ye seeks, by use of the ancient Karen legends, to bring back his people to a purified form of that monotheism. He thinks, and experience proves that he rightly thinks, that this will be a comparativel:
easy step for them. He also thinks that when they have come to wor· ship God, and have forsaken Buddhism and the old Karen demon worship, they will be in a favorable position to receive the Gospel."
Feeling himself not prepared to preach the Gospel as he shonld, Ko San Ye uses all his powerful influence to bring the Karen's under the preaching of the missionaries and Karen pastors; and in all, over two thousand, who first heard of Jesus through his inflnence, have been converted to Christianity.
He has a remarkable gift for raising money, and large sums have been given him by the people, often without solicitation, to do with as he will, no account of its expenditure ever been required; yet there has never arisen a doubt of his absolute honesty. The money, he says, belClngs to the people under God, and 'he gives it back to them in buildings and schools for their use. A foolish story was circulated that Ko San Ye had a "magic bag," from which he could draw any wished-for amount of money. When asked, before a crowd, to show this wonderful bag, he turned toward the people smiling, and, stretching out his hands, said: "These are the only bag I know." For an uneducated man, Ko San Ye is very up to date in his methods. He ordered from America an automobile to use in his work, and also a steam-launch. The first did not prove available, but the launch is constantly in use; and when asked to lend it, he replies: "I have none; it is the Lord's, and you are welcome to use it in His work." His faith never fails; he prays constantly, and to him God is ever present.
Many of those who have come to Ko San Ye believe him to be the long-looked-for Karen Messiah, and, like the Jews of old, they expect him to become a temporal king. He has found it necessary to speak very plainly to them, and to avoid parables, which come so easily from his lips. Some have fallen away from him because of this, but the earnest seekers after truth remain. 'rhe missionaries have had a seri~ ous problem to solve ill deciding whether many of the converts asking for baptism do so because they wish to follow Ko San Ye, or whether they truly believe in Christ. They try to be most careful, and usually some months, often a year, elapses before the baptism of converts takes place, in order to learn if the candidate, by abandoning all heathen practises, is showing a clear understanding of Christianity and a true faith in Christ. In some instances almost entire villages have embra )ed Christianity; but they need to be trained and led OIl, step by step, to a higher appreciation of their faith.
One missionary writes that there are unheard-of opportunities for preaching the Gospel to heathen in utter darkness. Let llS ask God to help the workers in this field to see and do the right thing in the training of this great number of heathen now turning to Christ, and to raise up more workers in the fields already white to hal'Yest.
1905J THE NATIVE CHRISTIAN IN INDIA
THE NATIVE CHRISTIAN IN INDIA BY REV. JOHN H. WYCKOFF, D.D., ARCOT MISSION, INDIA Missionary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, 1875- What is the strength of the native Ohristian community in India? In dealing with such a question the missionary in India has an advantage over those found in most heathen lands, in that he is able to trace the growth of the Ohristian population from carefully prepared tables compiled by the census commissioner of We English government. What do these census tables show? TheJIreveal the fact that Ohristianity, in the direct conversion of the people, is spreading at a rate hitherto unsu pposed by the ordinary observer. Just before the census was taken, a Brahman, writing to Swami Vivekanada's paper, remarked: "If we take into account the success tw.at must have been achieved by all the missions during the decade, we may well be staggered. On the whole, it will not be surprising if, in the coming census, certain painful disclosures are made regarding the progress of Ohristianity in India and the continuous drain from the ranks of Hinduism. If the Hindus be in the future what they have been in the past th.eir degradation is a foregone conclusion." Our friend proved himself a good prophet, for the census shows that 630,000 people were added to the Ohristian community, over and above all losses from death or otherwise, during the last decade, an increase of 31 per cent., while the general population increased only 2t per cent. The census further shows that there are very nearly three millions of Ohristians in India, and that a million of these are Protestant Ohristians. The Protestants have increased tenfold in the last fifty years. Of this number over 400,000 are communicants. The communicants actually number as many as the whole Ohristian community did thirty years ago.
It is clear, then, that the native Ohristian is an element to be reckoned with in India. It can not longer be ignored. This community, in point of numbers, is ad vancing much faster, proportionately, than any other section of the population. But is the community making progress in other respects? Does it give promise of becoming a power in the land, of constituting a constructive force in the moral and social and intellectual elevation of India? By this standard alone it must be judged, and not by merely numerical increase.
I wish to present a few considerations which seem to me to make it certain that the native Ohristians are the coming people of India, that in them lies the hope of India's moral and national advancement.
1. In the first place, there is the physical development of the native Ohristian. Kipling has well styled the Hindus a "baby race." "I have seen," he says, "the. mothers of these men, and I say, 'God
pity them.''' Probably the greatest curse that Hinduism has brought upon India, that which more than anything else has retarded her growth as a nation, is the practise of early marriage. There is no need t.o dwell on this awful custom, but the fact is patent that the Hin,dus can never take their place among great peoples so long as so vicious a marriage system prevails. A well-known English lady physician, addressing a company of educated Hindus on this subject, said: "For centuries you have been children of children, and there is no surer way of becoming servants of servants. It is a retrogression from the early civilization of your race. . . . It is a stigma on your religion, a blot on your humanity, which, were it known, would disgrace you in the eyes of the whole civilized world. Stamp it out at whatever cost from vulgar prejudice, and blot out this stain upon your character as men of honor and manly virtue." I for some time belonged to a club in India made up chiefly of English educated Hindus. Most of them were Brahmans with superior minds, and yet close intercourse with them showed them sadly lacking in both physical and moral stamina. All their English education had not resulted in ridding them of the childish qualities which so mark the average Hindu, and which make a close acquaintance with him fail to win the respect of a European.
Not simply to early marriage is their physical degeneracy due, but along with this is the pernicious habit of the intermarriage of near relatives. 'fhis is but another evil of the caste system that hangs like a dead weight on the Hindu. A native professor in Madras, some time ago, in a pu blic address, said: "I am sure I am not guilty of exaggeration when I assert that the members of my caste r.esiding in Madras are divided into as many as fifty sections, no one of which can intermarry with any other. It is needless to expatiate on the evil, in a physiological and social point of view, of marriage being contracted between parties so closely related and of the choice of a husband or wife being confined within snch a narrow limit." Lament it as much as he may, the Hindu can not obtain release from this custom. All the attempts of the reformers have been practically fruitless. The only people who escape it are the native Christians, and in this growing COnllnll nity lies the hope of India's physical and political salvation. One of the first evils of heathenism that the Church condemns is the custom of early marriage, and it is the exception for Christian young men and women to enter the marriage state before they have reached a suitable age. The ad vantages of this are obvious, and the result is seen in the strong and sturdy physique of the native Christians. The intermingling and intermarriage of different castes, the union of Aryans and non-Aryans in the family relation, that is taking place among the native Christian population, are producing upon the soil of India a mixed race far superior in point of physical hardihood and courage to anything that India has yet seen. It is a notorious fact
THE NATIVE CHRISTIAN IN INDIA
that ill our collage at Vellore, where the Hindus are nearly ten times as numerous as the Christians, the Christian boys take the most of the prizes for athletics, and it was a common subject of remark at Tin- divanam that during the ten years of our residence there not a single Christian woman had died in childbirth, while such deaths were of frequent occurrence among the Hindus. I have touched npon this subject because it is one that is generally overlooked in treating of the native Church. We are familiar with the facts respecting the Chris- tians of the South Sea Islands, as well as of the Indians of our own land–how they appear to degenerate when they come in contact with Western civilization. But such is not the case with the Hindus. On the contrary, natives there who abandon the evil practises of heathen- ism and embrace Christianity enter upon a new era of social im- provement. It is true that there have been some sad cases of physical deterioration among nati ve Christians, notably among families of high caste, who, on accepting Christianity, have become denationalized, and have adopted too suddenly European habits of living. But this has been plainly due to the violation of physiological laws, and is the exception and not the general rule. As a body, our Christians are making a normal, healthy progress along social lines, and are gradually absorbing the best elements of Christian civilization.
2. Then consider the intellectual progress of the Christian community. This presents a remarkable showing when compared with the conditioJ.l of education among the Hindus and Mohammedans. For example (and we take our figures of the government census): Of every 1,000 males in the Madras Presidency, 26 are Christians; but of every .1,000 males who can read and write, 45 are Christians. Among Christians, 1 to 15 know English; among Hindus, 1 to 132; among Mohammedans, 1 to 15.. In other words, of every 100 men who can read and write English in the presidency, 20 are Christians. But the remarkable preeminence of Christians over other classes is especially seen in returns on female education. 'raking an average of 10,000 women in each community, the number who can read and write is: For the Hindus, 70; for Mohammedans, 80; but for Christians, 913. For every female who can read and write among Mohammedans and Hindus there are 16 males, but among Christians 2 males. The preeminence of female illiteracy of the Christian community is still further established when we turn to the figures relating to the knowledge of EngliHh. The bare returns speak volumes. Altogether in the presidency there are 20,3r4 females who read and write English. Of these the J ains furnish only 1; the Moslems, only 77; the Hindus, 117; but the Christians, 18,442. Making allowance for Europeans and Eurasians in the above, we can only infer that in the native Christian community a value is attached to female education almost wanting elsewhere. The Jfadras Jfail, the most influential English daily in
Southern India, in commenting on the above figures, says: "We doubt whether the census will have anything more noteworthy to reveal than this-viz., the growth in the midst of communities which with- hold education from their females, of a community which values it for' them almost as much as for their sons. This is not the place to examine the probable results of this unique attitude of female educa- tion, but they can not fail to make themselves felt in the future of India." It may be interesting for some of our readers to know that the Madras University reports no fewer than 418 Indian Christian graduates in the presidency. Last year alone, 27 took the Bachelor of Arts degree; 5, the Bachelor of Medicine; 9, Licentiate in Teaching; while the only 2 Indian ladies who have taken the Master of Arts degree are Christians. These are only facts from the southern presidency. That these educated native Christians are using their influence for the enlightenment of their fellow-countrymen will be evident when I tell of such journals as the 01tr£stian Patriot and the Indian Ladies' Magazine, both conducted by Christians, in English, and when I further state that more than 100 Christ.ian graduates, 250 First in Arts, aud 650 Matriculates-or, in all, 1,000 graduates and undergraduatesare engaged as workers in connection with the various missionary societies in the Madras Presidency only.
'fhe native Christians, then, in the matter of education are only surpassed by one class, the Brahmans, who, as the hereditary literary class, will naturally retain the lead for some time yet. But if we take the subject of female education only we find the Chr!stians not only far ahead of the Brahmans, but of every other class; and if it be true, as often stated, that no nation has risen higher than the position it has accorded to its women, then the native .Christian community has a bright future before it. It is worth noting that out of 23 native female graduates in Bengal 13 are Protestant Christians, and the only Indian lady who edits an English weekly newspaper in Calcutta is the daughter of an illustrious native Christian. The Victoria School, at Lahore, has for several years been under the direction of native Christian ladies, and has risen in nine years from 250 to 750 pupils. This school is a Hindu institution, but its managers employ Christian teachers, and this is only one of many like institutions where Christian teachers have exclUSIve charge of the instruction in Hindu schools. Remarking on the rapid advance of education among native Christian women, a Hindu journal of Calcutta said: "Lo, what marvelous progress these Ohristians have made! Verily, their Lord is with them." It speaks for the growing influence of the community that there is now an Indian Christian association organized in London and Edinburgh, with branches in British Guina and the Island of Trinidad. The Madras association has now six hundred members, besides branches in several district towns, which
have done much to unify the native Ohristians and develop among them a true esprU de corps.
3. But let us now inquire as to the qualit1j of these Indian Ohris- tians with respect to their Ohristian life. Are they a distinct advance on the heathen in point of moral and spiritual character? I am pre- pared to show that, judged by this standard also, they will stand the test.
That they have their weaknesses is to be expected, having emerged so recently from heathenism; but that many of them haye a simple faith in Ohrist and are earnestly striving, in the midst of their un- toward environment, to lead true Ohristian lives is a fact that can not be gainsaid. Among those who were born Ohristians, and who from childhood have been trained in the Scriptures, we have many examples of men and women who exhibit a character that would put to shame many Ohristians in our own land. Very pleasant is it to note the childlike faith and holy joy that characterize some of the Indian Ohristians. Were I asked to point to some of the holiest and happiest believers I have ever met, it would be to some 'of our native pastors and evangelists in the Arcot Mission, with whom I have had delight- ful Ohristian intercourse, conversing with them in their own language of the things of God, and praying together in the beautiful and copious Tamil, the language in which the Gospel was first preached to the Hindu, and which is spoken by the largest number of native Ohris- . tians. Listen to the following quaint description of the death of his pastor by an old disciple: "Mr. – – was called away, but the Lord sent us another shepherd in Mr. – – . He was young, but we loved him. One day, as we poor sheep were feeding around him in the wilderness, he stopped. This was not his custom. We looked at him, and he at us. He shook us by the hand, stooped, tied his sandals on his feet, took his staff in hand, and went across the Jordan into Oanaan, and left us poor sheep in the wilderness. We could not blame him, for his Lord stood ou the other side and beckoned him. . He called him away, but He has sent us another; He has sent you. If you are called away, He will again send others. If all earthly shepherds fail, the heavenly will never fail; He will never forsake His sheep." .
Bu t not only Ohristians among the lower orders; not a few from the higher castes are honoring Ohrist by consecrated Ohristian lives. Two of the sweetest Ohristian characters that I have ever seen are Brahman converts. Humbled by the power of the Gospel, their lives are fragrant with deeds of love. One is a member of the Supreme Legislative Oouncil of India, an eloquent speaker in English, who devotes his spare hours to preaching the Gospel to his Hindu friends. The other is a distinguished native pastor who has been honored by his mission with responsible positions. Henry Martyn said that if he could see one Brahman trnly converted to Ohrist, it would be some-
thing more nearly approaching the resurrection of a dead body than anything he had yet seen. Not only are there hundreds of Brahman converts, but among them have been scores of the most devoted Christian men that can anywhere be found. '1'he same deep piety is found among Brahman women. How we have all been helped and comforted by that well-known hymn of Miss Goreh, "In the secret of His presence," etc.! * Who has not heard of the wonderful story of Pandita Ramabai? She has dedicated herself to the work of redeem- ing her unfortunate Hindu sisters from their sad lot. Some of the hymns of the native Ohristians will help to show the spirit that ani- mates them. 'rhe one quoted above was written in English, and is the product of one who has been influenced by Western culture. The following are translations from two lyrics composed by Ohristians- one in 'ramil, the other in Telugn-chosen from many of the same kind: " Is any fruit or flower we meet, The honeycomb or sugar sweet, So sweet as thy beloved name, Oh, Jesus, thou of matchless fame?"
Also this one in Telugu : " Thy refuge would I seek, blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus. Th y mercy-loving feet would I clasp, blessed Jesus. My one hope art Thou. "Vilt Thou not hear me? For on Thee, Thee alone, do I call."
Do these Ohristians stand firm under persecution? They were put to the test during the mutiny of 1857, and nobly did they endure the trial. The history of the Indian Ohurch during the mutiny readR like a chapter from early Ohurch history. They were blown from guns; they were cut down by the sword; they died by starvation in their wanderings; yet when the missionaries carne to collect and com pare notes, they found that only two had consented 'to become Mohammedans. All the rest proved faithful. 1'he native Ohristians were the only Indians who, as a body, were loyal to the English. After the mutiny Sir John Lawrence, the Governor of the Punjab, in a minute to his government, said: "The native Ohristians, as a body, have, with rare exceptions, been overlooked in making government appointments. I know not Olle in the Punjab, to our disgrace be it said, in any employment under the government. A proposition to employ them six months ago would not have been complied with, but a change has come, and I believe there are few who will not eagerly employ those Ohristians who stood by us so loyally competent to fill appointments. I consider that I should be wanting in my duty in this crisis if I did not endeavor to secure a portion of the numerous appointments in the judicial departments for the native Ohristians."
* Miss Goreh's father waR born a Brahman. 31h;;s Goreh was born a Christian.-EDITORS.
CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG JAPANESE SOLDIERS
These native Christians deny themselves for their faith. In other words, their benevolence and offerings, considering the smallness of the income, far exceeds that of the average Christian in this land. I wish some of our friends might be present at one of our Harvest Festivals in India, and see how poor old women, and little children even, will bring their mite, perhaps in the shape of an egg or a small bundle of wood, not one of them coming empty handed when the offerings to the Lord are gathered. rn addition to supporting their pastors, our people are now carrying on a Gospel Extension, or Home Missionary Society, a whole county being assigned to them to evangelize, and in which they are snstaining several evangelists and colporteurs, the women also having their separate society. This, of course, is but a small portion of the great field to be covered, and for the rest we must, for some time, have the kind help of the Home Church.
CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG JAPANESE SOLDIERS BY REV. H. LOOMIS, YOKOHAMA, JAPA~ Agent of the American Bible Society Of all the work yet done in Japan, nothing has surpassed in interest and satisfaction that which is now being done for the sick and wounded soldiers. As one thinks of the horrors of the battle-field and the thousands of wounded and slain, and what is perhaps equally, if not more, to be lamented, the later suffering and sorrow, it is hard to think how all this can work for good. The one bright feature of it all is the opportunity thus afforded to spread the Gospel.
The great number who have been slain has brought death near to so many of these brave men, that there has come to their hearts, as never before, a longing for something that will bring an assurance that after this life there is an endless future of blessedness within the attainment of all. The presence of Christians among all classes, and especially among the nnrses, has made an impression that is a preparation for the easy reception of Christ. This has rendered the work unique and delightful.
Some time ago a request was made at the headquarters in 'rokyo to hold meetings for the comfort of the soldiers where the Gospels and other Christian literature could be distributed. Bnt the officers replied that there were so many sick and wounded soldiers coming from the front that the attendants were all occupied in the care of the patients, and there was no opportunity for anything beyond the ordinary routine. Later, however, permission was granted, and now Count Katsura, the Prime Minister, has expressed his hearty appreciation of the work that has been done for the Japanese soldiers and sailors. Both the army ar.d navy departments have been ready to receive Scriptures from the American Bible Society and distribute them to the men.
We have donated more than fifty thousand Testaments and Gospels to the Japanese soldiers, and the most of them have gone to the sick and wounded in the hospitals. It is reported that there are already forty-five thousand, and more are coming all the time.
We visited the main hospital in Tokyo last September, where formerly I had found that only a few of the soldiers were favorable to Christianity. It was, therefore, important at first to overcome prejudice, so that we might convince them that we were their friends, and that Christianity was adapted to meet their greatest need.
'rhe introduction of music secured for us a hearty welcome. The joy manifested in their faces was sufficient evidence that we had touched a sympathetic chord. Scriptures and tracts were offered to all, and none were refused. Then we decided to learn whether the men really desired the books, as we had no wish to impose upon them or to waste our ammunition. The question was therefore asked in each ward as to how many wished a portion of the Bible and a tract. Almost every hand was raised, and quite an eager desire was evident on many faces. We discovered that those whose hands were not lifted had failed to do so only because of inability on account of wounds. We visited twelve wards and supplied four hundred men.
The next day we went to one of the larget' hospitals, where there were some three thousand sick and wounded. The head surgeon was very cordial and evidently pleased to see us. Directions were at once given to have all the officers assembled to meet us, and as they came in one by one it was a most impressive sight. At the sound of music their dark and stern faces lighted up with satisfaction and joy. Soon a little nurse came tottering in, bringing on her back an officer much larger than she, but unable to walk. He had caught the sounds of the music, and was anxious to see and hear. After sonie songs and instrumental music, a colonel, who was suffering from a severe wound, stepped forward and said: "In behalf of my comrades, I wish to thank you for your visit and the great pleasure yon have given us. We appreciate very much the kindness and sympathy of the American people, and we wish to make this known. Such kindness is beyond our power to repay. My great desire is to recover as soon as possible, that I may return to the front and do all that is in my power to bring this war to a successful issue."
We went from ward to ward among the men, and as the strains of music reached their ears those who were able to move rushed forward with eager faces and listened with intense interest to all that was said. After the music, the purpose of our visit was explained, and Scriptures were promised to all who desired them. This was evidently a welcome announcement, and was followed, in some cases, by the Japanese cheer or a clapping of the hands.
CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG JAPANESE SOLDIERR
The chief of the medical department in Tokyo has since sent me word that such visits are much enjoyed by the men and are approved by the officials. As soon as the patients now comiug from the front can be provided for, a request is to be sent that this work be regularly continued. 'fhe head of one of the hospitals has requested that the service be of a distinctly Christian character.
Scriptures have also been supplied to other missionaries of various societies for a similar purpose, and with most gratifying results. One of the missionaries, in making an application', adds that soldiers are begging for them. Another writes that the soldiers are very ready, and in many cases eager, to be instructed.
Mr. McGinnis writes from Karuizowa that officers in charge gave every opportunity for reaching the men, and the men themselves seemed most anxious to hear about Christianity. The meetings were well attended, and on Sunday evening hundreds were unable to gain admission to the Union Hall. Already some have definitely decided to serve Christ, and many others are on the verge of decision. During the wet weather, when the men are unable to get out, the workers visit them in their houses, and usually receive a glad welcome from attentive listeners. The men seem eager to have the tracts and Scriptures, and by the questions they ask show that they have read them carefully.
An account of work by Mr. Cummings, at Nagoya, states that permission was given to distribute the Scriptures and conduct preaching services among all the troops in the 'garrison. Since then the hospitals have been visited, and this work can be continued regularly. Similar work has been carried on by Mr. Norman, at Oiwaka; Miss Bosanquet, at Hiroshima; Miss Zurfluh, at Sendi; Miss West, in Tokyo, and Mr. Fulton, with others, in Kanazawa. In every place there is found the same readiness to receive and hear the Gospel message.
Besides the work among the sick and wounded, there is a great opportunity to spread the Gospel at the frout. One of the Christian ladies in Tokyo is having thirty thousand "comfort-bags" made for the soldiers in the field, and into each one she puts one of the Gospels and a tract. In this way the truth of the Gospel will reach the men under the most favorable circumstances. Scriptures have also been supplied to the Russian prisoners of war. A friend writes in regard to this distribution, that they were gladly received by the Japanese officers and the captives.
Another Incident of the War Just after the opening of the war large bodies of troops, on their way to the front,' passed through Okayama, where all the trains stopped for a brief rest and refreshment. With that patriotic zeal which is so universal in Japan, the Christian ladies of the city organ-
ized themselves into a committee to meet the soldiers at the trains, and do whatever was possible to cheer and comfort them.
Among the members of the committee was Mrs. J. H. Pettee, of the American Board, who is a woman of great earnestness and sympathy. As she was talking, one day, to a group of men standing by the fire, she said: "Weare Christians, and we shall pray for you."
Soon after the men took their seats in the cars, and as she stood by to wave a farewell, one of them beckoned eagerly to her from the window. She went to learn what it was he wanted, and as she came near the soldier, he said: "Won't yon give me that American flag which you are wearing? I shall prize it more than I can tell!" She demurred a little, but he was so persistent that she pinned it on his breast as the train moved away.
A few days later Mrs. Pettee received a letter twelve feet in length, written by the same man, in an unusually scholarly style. This letter read: I am from Sendai, and all my life I have been a bitter opponent of the Christian religion. I have regarded it as only evil, and as a lover of my country felt it my duty to do all that was in my power to hinder its progress. I had the same feeling when I came to Okayama; but when I heard you speak so kindly to us soldiers, and say that you and other Christians were going to pray for us, it quite broke my heart, and I went into the corner of the waiting-room and wept. My heart is entirely changed. I no longer seek for death; and if I am spared to return, I shall come to you as soon as possible and ask you to teach me Christianity. My great desire now is to spread this religion; and as soon as I am able to do so, I shall do all in my power to persuade my parents and family to become followers of Christ.
Such an opportunity to spread the truth is a cause for gratitude to God, who is thus making even" the wrath of man to praise Him." From present appearances there is only one limitation, and that is the supply of funds to continue the work. The Lord has opened the door, and we rejoice that we have the privilege to contribute in any degree to the temporal and spiritual welfare of these men, whose bravery and endurance have won the admiration of the world.
A Letter from Mrs. F. S. Curtis, Kyoto. Japan There is wonderful work going on for the soldiers in the principal centers. As they pass through two or three of the large railway stations they get out to wash and eat. At Osaka they have about two hours to wait, so the missionaries take 'restaments, tracts, and often "comfort-bage," and go to the station to meet them. The officials notify the missionaries of the time at which the trains are expected, so that they can be on hand.
Hymns are printed on separate leaflets, and some of the workers teach them to groups of soldiers, and after explaining the meaning,
CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG .JAPANESE SOLDIERS
they give them the leaflets to keep. Many Japanese help in this work. In hot weather fans, towels, etc., were distributed.
The soldiers usually listen earnestly to the Gospel messages, but few of them really expect to return to Japan. A similar work is done for wounded men coming throngh on hospital trains, and still more is being accomplished in the hospitals in Osaka, Tokyo, and elsewhere. 'rile officers, doctors, and officials favor the work and give permits. Miss Garvin, of the Presbyterian mission, was at it all last summer. She worked in the wards freely, and gave magic-lantern talks outside for convalescents. The old exhibition grounds are filled with one-story buildings, connected rows of double wards, holding hundreds of mentwenty in each ward.
A few weeks ago we went into two wards carrying paper copies of John's Gospel. The men gathered around us, and we began to question them to learn if they had heard anything of Christianity. Only a few had heard, and they knew very little. We then told the leading facts of the G-?spel story, and gave them each a Gospel marked at John iii: 16. All listened eagerly, and seemed glad to possess the Gospels. They have nothing to occupy their minds during the days and weeks they are thus shut in, so we feel that this is a most wonderful time of seed-sowing, and all Christians should be especially earnest in prayer.
Work is being done also on the outskirts of the battIe-field. The Y. M. C. A. workers are there with big tents for meetings, and all the paraphernalia for helping and benefiting the soldiers. In some cases they are aided in their endeavors by the Japanese officers. Many in the army are Christians, some of them officers of high rank. It is doubtful if there is any Christian country where greater facilities are offered for Christian work in the army.
The association secretaries reached Ant-ung late in September and Yingkow the middle of November. From the first the work has been such a success that the aSHociation leaders have been embarrassed to meet the demand from the field for men and equipment. Each post is furnished with an outfit consisting of a tent capable of seating two hundred men; books, newspapers, and magazines; writing·paper, envelopes, postal cards, pens, and ink; graphaphones, games, and small musical instruments; Bibles, religious tracts, and hymn-books; bathtubs, soap, hair-clippers, tea outfit, bnttons for uniforms, needles, thread, and a thousand and one little things that add to the comfort of the soldiers. The practical nature of the work from the first so impressed the military commanders that at both Antllng and Yingkow they placed at the disposal of the association first-class buildings in the best of locations.
Work at the Front—From Letters by C. V. Hibbard. Antung We are working full capacity for Ollr present plant right along, seven days in the week. About two hundred men are all that we can convenientfy 11andle, and we hare upward of one hundred and fifty pretty nearly every day. '['here is scarcely a time between ten and fonr when there are not more writing letters than can get around the big table with four 8uzIlri boxes. I have seen a half dozen men on their knees in a row, writing on a bench because the tables were full.
Good tracts are inconstant demand. '1'he men do not .care mnch for the tame variety. They like the Gospels, or more dignifierl tracts and booklets, and, as a rule, the association pUblications. Magazines, even old ones, are very much prized.
Last night (October 26,1904) I was permitted to speak to about one hundred men. Many of them have Rever before listened to a presentation of the Gospel. All of them were prejudiced iu our favor because of what we had been able to do in their behalf. I have never seen men who listened more eagerly. It is not for appearance' sake. They are undoubtedly sincere. The conditions of our work make us intensely in earnest. '['here is no playing at things. We realize that time is the stuff that life is made of, and it is very evident to us whenever we talk to the men, especially in the hospitals, that" now is the accepted time."
Within a few days we have placed fifteen hundred Scriptures in the hands of men who really wanted them, and we could have easily used as many more. I wish all the friends at home conld see just what this work means, and realize our tremendous and practically unlimited opportunities. We are out here where our work is the only thing in behalf of the men, and it counts mightily with them. During the week preceding October 23 (1904) there were fifteen hundred visits to the rooms, and in one day ten buckets of tea were served, and two hundred and fifty letters and half as many postal cards were written.
We were invited to take part in the celebration of the emperor's birthday. When the pho~ograph began its grind the crowd started from everywhere. A Japanese gendarme ran a rope around our big tent and by a vigilant patrol we managed to keep the entrance open. Free sake (Japanese wine) in small portions had been distributed to the soldiers, and the proverbial sake thirst sent them straight across the parade ground for a cup of celebration tea at the Y. M. U. A. tent. Nine-tenths of the commissioned officers visited our tent, and it was impossible to estimate the number of soldiers. It was something to be the representative of the only religion that has followed the men here.
This is a crisis, not only for the Association Movement, but probably for the history of Ohristianity, in the East. The association workers in both Japan and I)hilla believe that united efforts to this
CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG JAPANESH SOLDIERS
extent will have a direct influence upon the work in China as well as by demonstrating the solidarity of the Association Movement, and by opening doors for future work.
Work that is Worth While The following story was told by Sergeant Matsubara, a Christian, who was wounded in the battle of Nanshan and is now in an army hospital: Some time ago a soldier by the name of Ishikawa was placed under my command. He was a most unruly young man, given to all kinds of dissipation, and would oppose my command intentionally very often.
just because of my being a Christian. Both he and I were ordered to go with the army to the Liaotung Peninsula. On the way we stayed some time in Hiroshima. During that time Rev. Mr. Murata, of the Epis- copal Church in that city, used to call on me at our lodging-house and preach to us from the Word of God, in spite of opposition and derision.
We tried to induce all the soldiers in the same lodging-house to hear the Gospel, and so held a tea-party where the venerable pastor'would preach.
But only one or two would stay to listen-the rest going out under vari- ous pretexts. In one of these meetings Ishikawa heard the Lord's teachings for the first time. Then a great change took place in his mind, and since that time he has been one of the most ardent listener's to God's ""Vord. I thanked God for what He had done for this sinner, and prayed more than ever for the salvation of his associates. As an evidence of the great change in the man, he threw away the pictures of bad girls which he had before carried and took a Bible instead.
On the eve of the memorable battle of Nanshan I opened the Book of Psalms and read to him: "Tho an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: tho war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquit'e in his temple." After reading I prayed. He prayed also, and his prayer was, to my surprise, mostly for the comrades whom he had most hated. He had learned to love his enemy!
The morning of the 26th of May began to dawn. The hour for action drew near: our officers and soldiers, all in high spirits, were waiting an order for attack, each one anxious to meet the enemy. The time came at last, and the battle began with all its fury. The fire of our cannon, more than one hundred in number, was responded to by stilllal'ger ones of the enemy. The earth seemed to shake with the noise. The enemy's guns were at last silenced, and our infantry made a dash to the fort. But they began to shell us with their machine guns so fiercely that great numbers of our officers and men fell. A bullet hit Ishikawa. I went to his help and recited almost unconsciously these words: "Tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." He responded instantly: "For which cause we faint not: but tho our outward man per- ish, yet the inwarq man is renewed day by day. For our lightaffiiction, . which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
Just as he finished these words, another bullet hit him and he seemed to be aware that his end had come. He grasped my hand and cried: "Chl'ist has accepted me !" and died. His end was all peace. Such a confession of faith would not be found in many of (lUI' lives, and I could not but wonder at such a marvelous work of God.
CHRISTIANITY AND CANNIBALISM IN MELANESIA * BY BISHOP CECIL WILSON At the southernmost end of the Diocese of Melanesia are three New Hebrides islands, Raga, Opa, and Maewo (Pentecost Island, Leper's Island, and Arorai), where the mission is in fairly strong possession.
There are more than one hun'dred village schools, and about five thou- sand persons-considerably more than half the population-attending them. The islands are quiet, and it is long since an outrage on white men has taken place. Oannibalism has died out, or become rare, in the last five years, and the mission's influence secures peace even for those who are still heathen.
'fhe next group of islands, the Banks', may be characterized as Christian, for almost all the people in these eight islands are mem bel's of the Ohurch. There are, however, a good many heathen left in Santa Maria. Among these, teachers from Motalava and Merelava are set- ting up schools, often in inaccessible bush villages, and with wonderful perseverance and enthusiasm are making war upon the" superstitions of the people, and are teaching the fear of God and the Gospel of Ohrist. There is still some fighting in the bush villages, and deaths are frequently brought about by witchcraft. In the other islands of this group fighting has long ago been given up; the people are Ohris- tians, and have built for themselves pretty little stone churches. Every year many people seek confirmation, and it is no uncommol.). sight to see over one hundred persons together at holy communion. We may fairly say that Ohristianity is in possession in the Banks' Islands, 'nearly foul'
thousand out of six thousand persons haYing been baptized, and almost all the people being in attendance at the schools.
Next come the Torres Islands, a small group of five, of which one is uninhabited, one heathen, two are Christian, and one rapidly becom- ing so. There has been no white missionary here for five years, but the little church has held bravely on under its native teachers. Hap- pily we are now able to spare a missionary and a lay assistant to this group. They will find the mission fairly well in possession, 8ix hun- dred out of the one thousand people attending the schools.
These three groups make up the southern archdeaconry of Mela- nesia, and out of fifteen thousand people abou t nine thousand are actu- ally attending the mission schools; the heathen are influenced by the Christians, and cannibalism and intertribal wars have practically ceased.
We began work last year at two islands lying between the Torres * The progress of evangelization in those Melanesian islands which lie to the northwest of the New Hebrides is but little known in the United States. The work is carried on by the Church of England, and is under the direction of a bishop, who devotes much time to visiting the islands in the missionary steamer, The Southern Cross. A large share of the financial snpport of the mission comes from New Zealand and Australia, and the monthly peri01lical of the Melanesian ~lission, The Southern Cms" Log, is published at Auckland, New Zealand. This survey of the work of the mission has been furnished us by the "Bureau of Missions," and is condensed from Bishop Wilson's report in The Southern Cross Log. .
CHRISTIANITY AND CANNIBALISM IN MELANESIA
group and Santa Oruz, but a good deal to the eastward. '1'he first is Tikopia, a little island inhabited by Polynesians of great size and very friendly. Two Motalava men, with their wives, made a beginning last year, and forty people, mostly young, attended the school. The second is Vanikoro, a large island entirely reef-encircled, with only three hundred or four hundred people. Here we have prepared the way. for a native teacher to begin work. Between Vanikoro and Santa Oruz lies Utupua, which we have yet to attack.
Among Cannibals and Head-hunters Santa Cruz is a large island, and has ten satelite reef islands lying near it, on one of which Bishop Patteson was mu rdered in 1871. Fifty miles beyond the Reef Islands lies the Duff group. Here we have one teacher, and in the Reef Islands there are three schools. At Santa Cruz itself there are but two schools, and we have sadly little to boast of in this group. There are but two hundred school people, and only one hundred and twenty-five of these have been baptized. In Santa Cruz we come to our very weakest spot. Here is a group with perhaps nine thousand people, and only two hundred are under direct Christian influence. Fighting goes on, except in our villages, and children are given up to be murdered after each tribal war in order to equalize the numbers slain on either side. In every village is a ghost house containing a few upright, pointed posts, brilliantly colored with blue and other pigments, representing ancestors. A white man in Santa Cruz has occasionally to throw himself between two hostile forces firing poisoned arrows at each other. More schools would be gladly accepted if we could supply teachers, but Santa Oruzians, tho physically powerful, are constitutionally weak, and do not stand well the climate of Norfolk Island, where the training-schools are, and they seldom become teachers. Natives from other islands rather shrink from settling among these noisy, passionate fighters, whose customs are so different from theirs, and whose language is almost impossible for a stranger to acquire. Yet our prospects are brightening, and we feel that we now have a better chance of succeeding than hitherto.
It is a two-hundred-mile voyage westwArd from Santa Oruz to the Solomon Islands, and here we have more to rejoice the heart than anywhere else. The islands are larger, averaging about one hundred miles each in length, and the chiefs are of greater importance, and more capable of resisting the new faith. It is these men who have always opposed Ohristianity; they think that the new religion will destroy their influence and impoverish them, and they know that it will rob them of all but one of their wives. Every sickness which visits the islands is attributed to the new religion, and the villages first evangelized are closely watched in expectancy that the people will die. The islanders are fiercer than those in the sou thern islands; cannibal-
ism and head-hunting are national customs in most of them. The languages spoken are innumerable.
The first island we corne to, traveling from Santa Cruz, is San Cristoval. Villages on the northern side lie far apart, for nearly all the natives live in the bush. Of those we pass, eight show, by their little schools or churches in course of erection, that they are Christian. The missionary has applications for teachers from fifteen villages besides. But these San Uristoval people do not make good teachers, and this is a mission field for other islanders more advanced in Christianity. On the south side of the island there are scarcely any villages at all to be seen. The people are all in the bush, or on the tops of the hills, to be out of danger's way, for this is, at presen t, one of the worst parts of the Solomon Islands. On a voyage down this coast last year we heard in every bay in which we anchored that the villagers in the neighborhood had either just raided somc other village and taken from ten to forty heads, or had been raided and lost as many. One school has been opened on this side of the island at Bia, and the people seem happy in having it. It is impossible to say how many people live in this island, for the bush hides them. There may be from ten thousand to twenty thousand. About three hundred and fifty are attending schools.
An attempt- is being made to open work on Santa Anna, a little island with a large population at the east end of San Cristoval, but the people are living the worst possible lives, and prefer to do so. Captain Svensen has a trading station there, and he very kindly gave us leave to build a schoolhouse on his land, which is outside the village; it is hoped that by beginning here we may some day be invited to build in the village itself. At Ugi, another small island off San Cristoval, the same difficulties were met with, but have now been overcome; out of the seven villages there, three now have schools, tho as yet there are only thirty-three people attending them.
Ulawa, thirty miles to the north of San Cristoval, is a great contrast to it in many ways. It is much smaller, having scarcely a dozen villages; the people live on the seashore, and about half of them are under Christian instruction. Fighting has ceased, and the Christians meet the heathen on friendly terms. One beautiful coral CHurch has been built, and another is building; there are eighty communicants, and there is much enthusiasm.
Mala, as the natives call it, or Malaita, as it is called by most white men, is twenty-seven miles from Ulawa. It is about one hundred I miles long, with a swarming population, computed at any figure between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand souls. They rank as the most daring men in the Solomon Islands, and in Queensland they make the best workers. There have been morc white men murdered on this coast than elsewhere. Among themselves life is very insecure;
CHRISTIANITY AND CANNIBALISlII IN lIIELANESIA
nearly every man carries a rifle, and is ready to use it. This is the only island which we know d ir.. ltTfllanesia to which it can be truly said tr.•: it is dangerous for a native who has been to Queensland to return. Of late years the mission has made good progress, aud the little native church of Mala numbers now about one thousand souls, with three hundred more under instruction. The people are being gathered in by the missionary at the south end near Saa, and the schools are being extended to villages along the coast on either side, while at the opposite end of the island, at Nore Fou, another missionary has made a station, and works his way in his boat down the coast as far as Fiu, almost effecting a junction with his brother missionary. An undenominational school on Mala, between Nore Fou and Fiu, holds its own under a man who has been a laborer in Australia. He has two hundred people attending his school. Any form of Christianity is bright sunshine compared with the darkness of heathen Mala, and we welcome the little schools which we find along the coast, formed by brave men who have become Christians in Fiji or in Queensland, and who now, instead of returning singly to their homes, to be swamped by heathenism, prefer to cling together on the land of one of them, and form a little Christian settlement there, looking to the mis-' sion to visit them, and give them, if possible, a good teacher. These are bright spots indeed on a dark coast, the only beacons that the Mala shores as yet know. Only one thousand three hundred attending school out of fifty thousand do not seem many, but those who know Mala are surprised that we have these.
Twenty miles westward of Mala lies Florida, which, ill traders' language, is spoken of as "missionary," for it has passed over to Christianity, only six hundred out of its five thousand people remaining heathen. It is ministered to by natives, and has one hundred teachers and seven hundred communicants. The Florida church has twenty native missionaries of its own now working in other islands, and raises from £80 to £100 a year for church expenses. It holds a congress annually, at which last year five hundred men were present. As in all the other islands, the people build their own churches without expense to the mission. Formerly one house served as school and church, but now pretty little bamboo churches, very carefully built, with cement floors and beautifully thatched roofs, are taking the place of the old school-churches. The people are musical, and the singing is excellent. The men who have been in Queensland teach their simple friends many queer things OIl their return, but they do not succeed in teaching them to disregard Sunday or to neglect church-going. In deference to the people's wishes, Captain S~ensen, the owner of the coaling station at Gavutu, has forbidden the coaling of ships, etc., at his station on Sundays. Here, then, in the center of the Solomons, is a Christian island.
In Guadalcanar, twenty miles from Florida, we find a different condition of things altogether. Dotted along the coast for sixty miles there are schools, but the coast·line is two hundred miles, so that much still remains heathen. Our school people number three hundred and forty, and tile population of the island is perhaps twenty thousand, mostly living far up in the bush. We had not even a foothold eight years ago. Three years ago we had but one small school, and a powerful chief had set a price on the heads of all the school people. When this opposition was broken, petty chiefs asked for the new teaching, and the Florida church provided teachers. Four new schools were formed last year, but they are, of course, very small. In some cases the scholars number only two or three, but the little schoolhouse marks a beginning. In one such village there was but one scholar, and yet the people readily gave up their ghost-stone idol, showing that they all had lost faith in it. In another village they made one last sacrifice to their idol, and then gave the sacred grove to the teacher for his garden. The chief and the teacher in one of these new school villages went together, a three days' march into the hills, to visit a tribe which had been their traditional enemy. They made terms of friendship with them, and the hill people asked for a teacher for themselves. Many Guadalcanar boys are now being trained at Norfolk Island, and we hope for the day when with these we shall be able to extend the Kingdom far into the bush as well as along the coast.
Savo is a small island off the north end of Guadalcanar, and its influence has been very great on its big neighbor. It has been energetic in warning the people of the deathly properties of the new teaching. The Ghosts' fep-lings, they say, will be hurt; every ORe who goes to school·will die; chiefs _will have to send away all their wives but one. We have had but little chance of success, the people being terribly afraid of us and unwilling to be taught. At last, however, these Savo people have asked us to give them teachers, two invitations reaching us from two different chiefs, and in our new ship last October we landed six men from Florida to su pply three different villages. These, by the grace of God, will convert this superstitious little island to faith in the true God in the course of a few years, and then Savo will be as helpful to Guadalcanar as it has hitherto been troublesome.
The farthest island on which we are working is Ysabel, of which Bugotu is the eastern end. It is fifty miles from Florida. Formerly the people were head-hunters, and head-hunted. Their houses were built high up in the trees until the days of rifles, when they foulld that being up a tree made them an easier prey to the enemy underneath. Accordingly they moved their houses to the hills, and until lately lived in hidden and inacc.essible places there. However, the headhunting raids from Rubiana have been checked by the government, and the sides of the hills and the coasts have become dotted with vil-
A MESSAGE FROM VOLUNTEERS IN CHINA
lages. There are fifteen hnndred people going to the different schools of Bugotu, and four hundred and eighty are communicants, Any attempt to estimate the population of an island can only be a guess, where almost everyone lives in the bush, as is" the case in every Solo- mon Island until peace follows in the mission's footsteps or government suppresses head-hunting raids. There may be twenty thousand people in Ysabel, or more or less. From Ysabel we look across to Choiseul, Russell, Rennell, Bellona, Lord Howe, and Sikiana, which no mission has yet occupied. And nearer still than some of these is the New Georgia group, made up of six islands, stretching westward, with a small population, among whom in the Rubiana Lagoon a Wesleyan mission from Australia has lately settled.
To sum up the position of the mission in the Solomon Islands, it has stations upon all the eastern islands, except a few small ones, which lie out of the way, but it has not reached the more western islands yet. It has attending its schools in eight islands nearly 8,000 natives, 6,465 of whom are Christians, 1,143 Communicants, 269 teachers, and 5 are ordained. The conclusion of the whole matter is that Melanesia is still a mission field, in which the Church is a small body of 13,000 souls, with nearly 5,000 morEl adherents, as yet unbaptized, in the midst of a heathen population of ] 30,000 who can only be won by increased effort. The mission staff (excluding natives) numbers 28 men (of whom 2 are are organizing secretaries and 2 are on sick leave) and 11 ladies (including wives), or 39 in all. There are, besides these, 8 native clergy and 549 teachers.
A MESSAGE FROM VOLUNTEERS IN CHINA * The missionaries of China, realizing that the present time affords an unprecedented opportunity for the spread of the Gospel among the Chinese, are appealing to their respective horne churches for great reinforcements in all departments of their work. We, the undersigned Student Volunteers in China, who are associated with other missionaries in these appeals, desire, in connection therewith, to send an additional message to our fellow students in the home lands. We hold, with Professor Warneck, that the missionary service demands men who are not only strong in faith, but who are also broad-minded, thoroughly trained, and of scholarly attainments, It is to the universities and colleges that we mainly look for such men, and herein is the reason for our message. We ask your attention, first, to the following considerations: 1. The remarkable um'ty of the Ohinese race.
* We have already summarized this message to the Students of all lands from 343 Student Volunteers working in China, but it is of sufficient historical value to quote in full.
It is one in government, literature, and religion, with a common history, a uniform civilization, and one language spoken by at least three-fourths of the people. A man's influence may thus be felt to the uttermost limits of the empire.
2. The immense possibilities of the Ohinese. Their innate capacity, as yet largely unrecognized, fits them for a place among the foremost nations of the earth. Ohinese literature and philosophy bear witness to the vigor of their intellectual life. In business capacity they are second to none. In Hongkong, Singapore, and Manila, and the treaty ports of Ohina, Ohinese merchants have held their own in the face of severe Western competition, and the wealth of these cities is largely in their hands. Their unquestioned genius for commerce is destined to make them a power in this commercial age. Physically, too, the Ohinese display an almost unparalleled vitality. By no means a dying race, but one whose day is still to come, they will, for good or evil, profoundly influence the history of the world. 3. The plasticity of the Ohinese people at the present moment. For practically the first time since the age of Oonfucius, Ohina has turned her face from the past. During two thousand years no place has been found for any learning outside of the Oonfucian classics. They alone have been taught in the schools, and have formed the basis for the examination of grad uates, while an intimate acquaintance with them has been the sole criterion of a scholar. 'ro-day the educational system is undergoing rapid changes. Western mathematics, science, and history have been included by the imperial government among the subjects for examination, thus creating among many students a real desire to study these subjects. The central government is attempting to establish schools based on Western models in every city of the empire, and colleges in all important centers. Missionary colleges are crowded. During the past year more than one thousand picked students have been sent to Japan to learn from a country Ohina has hitherto despised. Publications dealing with Western subjects are in eager demand, and have reached the very highest officials in the land. In 1900, when the emperor's rooms were entered by the foreign troops, a large collection of such books was discovered, including copies of the Ohristian Scriptures. Newspapers, at one time almost unknown, are now being rapidly multiplied, and are eagerly read throughout the empire. It is the circulation of such literature that has largely helped to create a widespread desire for reform, a desire which has shown itself so strongly that the most reactionary officials are unable to ignore it. The opening up of internal waterways to steam traffic and the construction of railways are also helping to break down the conservative spirit and to pave the way for still greater innovations. In every phase of the nation's life, and in every section of the country, the past
five years have brought unmiEstakable evidences of a changing attitude of mind.
Our Deliberate Convictions 1. The religious forces at 1vork in Ohina, apart from Ohristianity, have failed to save her.
During recent years students of the West have become familiar with the theoretical teaching of the three religions of China; but nothing, apart from personal observation, can show how utterly they have failed to save the nation from moral corruption and hopeless pessImIsm. 'rhe new educatiomil system promulgated by imperial edicts is as yet in most places merely the ideal. The lack of qualified and efficient teachers, and the insincerity of officials, have combined largely to neutralize the effect of these edicts. Above all, they fail to inculcate that personal and political righteousness which is inseparable from education in its truest sense. '1'he Reform Movement, again, which is obtaining such a strong hold on the younger generation of students, tho containing much t.hat is hopeful, is in danger of becoming, unless influenced by Christianity, purely materialistic. Lacking those moral and religious forces which have been at the root of every great reform, it will tend only to anarchy.
2. Ohristianity il5 proving its ability to meet everyone of China's needs.
We have seen the Gospel of Christ, in spite of all the disadvantages of its position as a "foreign religion," tonch cold hearts, purify corrupt lives, elevate supposedly immutable standards, and deliver the minds of both men and women from a bondage the like of which Europe has probably never known. The Kingdom of God is being established in China, and there are evidences on every hand that a new and living force is at work i~ the minds of the people. The Christian Church has thus far provided the only adequate educational institutions in China; not only is the education it gives efficient in training the intel1ect, but it also brings to bear those influences which lay hold of the whole man and set before him the highest ideals. Students passing from these schools must surely exercise a formative influence on the China of the future. Thus it is that Christianity is imparting to the Chinese that new hope, new power, and new purpose which must issue in the new civilization for which China waits.
3. The present favorable conditions for (fhristian leadership in Ohina may not last.
Leaders China will find, but to-day the Christian Church may lead her, if she will. The new education is largely in the hands of the missionary. Tbe former Literary Chancellor of Hupeh, tho himself in charge of government colleges, sends his son to a mission school, and the chief magistrate of Hankow has three sons in such an institution. These two instances are typical of what goes OD wherever
mission schools are established. The new forces at work in Ohina are at present uncrystallized, and as long as they remain so the Ohristian Ohurch is practically assured of retaining its vanguard position. How long this may last is, however, a question of grave moment.
4. The missionary work in Ohina affords full scope for every (Uversity of talent.
Educators may contribute to the establishment of a national system of education in a land where scholarship has always been ranked as the highest of human attainments. Those who possess literary ability may gain the attention of multitudes of scholars, as is shown by the fact that the names of some missionaries are- known to Ohinese students throughout the empire, and that their books are read almost as widely as the Ohinese classics themselves. We look, too, for scholars from the West who shall interpret more clearly than has yet been done the true meaning of Ohinese literature, philosophy, and history, showing the relation between these and the revelation of God in Ohrist.
To the Ohristian physician doors are ever open, and his work, as the expression of Ohristian love, does much to win the confidence of the people. The training of Ohinese medical students, as well as general hospital work, is also urgently needed.
To the educated women of the West, work among the women and girls of Ohina offers a wide field. Ohinese women are to a large extent untaught and neglected, and thus Ohina is deprived of what should be the most potent factor in her elevation and advancement.
The establishment and development of the Ohinese Ohurch, which involves the presentation of the Gospel to all classes of minds, the selection, training, and supervision of native workers, the adjustment of Ohurch regulations to native customs and beliefs, and the promotion of self-extension, self-government, and self-support, demand wide diversities of thoroughly trained and statesmanlike leadership.
We firmly believe that nowhere in the world can a Ohristian man of sound learning and humble spirit more easily discover his special bent, and having discovered it, whether as preacher, teacher, or author, physician, administrator, or philanthropist, find more ample scope for his activities than among the missions of the Ohristian Church in Ohina.
But in whatever direction we look the problem is primarily a spiritual one. We do not aim to produce mere intellectual adhesion to the truths of Ohristianity, nor admiration of its moral teaching, for these can not save the race. We seek to lead individuals and communities to such an experience of the power of Ohrist as shall rouse the heart and conscience, and transform the whole life. In order to accomplish this end the leaders of the Ohurch in Ohina should be men of mental culture, but the essential qualification is faith in God.
1905J EDITORIALS
EDITORIALS Christlike Activity demonstrated that settlement work even among the most difficult Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in classes-Jews and Roman Catholics tbeir synagogs, and preaching ~he gospel of -when conducted with this as the the kingdom, and healing all manner of sick- central aim, may win souls as well ness and all manner of disease among the as relieve bodily wants and intelpeople.-Matt. iv -23. lectual ignorance. Mission work which unduly emphasizes the tem- How tireless the activity of the poral and educational elements will the L07'd Jesus. His labors and fail of the highest ultimate success. sacrifices were incessant. He preached the Gospel of the King- Development of Young People's Work dom, going about from village to village, and from synagog to synagog. One very marked development of Every place where He could speak our times is the arousing of the to the multitudes became to Him young people to new activity. This an audience··chamber-whether the manifestly began in the Y. M. C. A. court of a house, a street corner, sixty years ago in London. Then the open field, or the seashore. His in the Young Women's Associapassion for souls was so great that tion, which followed; then in the it demanded vent perpetually. His Young People's Society of Christian was the labor prompted by love. Endeavor, and the Student Volun- teer Movement-four of the most His was absolutely unlimited conspicuous of all the developments power to grapple wi th all the wants, of history, and which together have all the woes, of humanity. "They brought out the young people into brought unto Him all sick people prominence as they never were that were taken with divers dis- before, and we thank God that all eases and torments, and those which these movements are essentially were possessed with devils, and religious and missionary in characthose which were lunatic, and ter. The latest is the growth of the those that had palsy; and He healed Young People's Missionary Movethem." ment, which links together, for the study of missions, the young people But His main business was of all the larger denominations. preaching the Gospel. Ministries to the body were only on the way The Pastor and Missions to service to the soul. He fed and healed the body that He might The pastor is the pivotal man in open the whole man to His teach- the world's evangelization. More ing, and exhibit and illustrate His than any other, he holds the key to power over the maladies of the the situation. The imperative spirit. In so-called institutional need of the cause of missions at the churches the ministry to the mind present hour is an awakened and and body sometimes becomes ab- enkindled pastorate. Make all the sorbing, and displaces the deeper pastors missionary in spirit, and the ministry to the immortal soul. A Church would instantly catch the young man engaged in settlement contagion. A missionary pastorwork, making a report in a public ate will give us a missionary people, meeting, was asked by one present and a missionary people will give how many converts he had made in an overflowing treasury, and nothhis five years, His reply was that ing else will. The pastor is reit was rather early to look for converts. But the very mission that the questioner represented had
quired not only by the true Church, Cross. He will illustrate his ser- but by the Lord of the Church, to mons with incidents from the lives take the collection for missions, of Duff and Paton and Judson and to see that it fairly represents and Taylor and Livingstone and the ability of his congregation. !.iorrison. He will make these There are pastors who regard the names household names with his handling of finances of any kind as people. He will burn into their beneath a true minister's dignity. consciousness the story of their They have forgotten that Jesus heroism and their achievements, once" stood over against the treas- until his people will catch the con- ury," that He immediately honored tagion of these lofty spirits and be that man with a visit who told Him filled with their enthusiasm for the that he gave the half of his goods world's redemption. to feed the poor. The Church has its rich men. They are numerous, Oh, for a missio"nary pastorate and would be more generous in worthy to wear the mantle of their support of missions if they its missionary Lord-a pastorate had the inspiration of a missionary which shall create throughout the pastorate. earth a missionary Church, and fire it with a deathless purpose to bring They need this inspiration, for the world to Christ! large and generous giving would enrich these givers spiritually In4ustrial Missionaries more than they can ever enrich Bishop Ingham, in a recent paper, the Church. The missionary pas. vigorously advocates this form of tor is called of God not alone to missionary work. He defines his take the collection, but to make own terms, however. He does not missionaries, and to creab on mean by industrial missions the the earth a missionary Church. establishment of big mission trad- His commission reads, "Go teach ing factories, like some on the gold all nations." If every church is coast, which are open to the charge not a missionary church it is be- of secularism and unspirituality. cause the minister has not properly He asks that men and women go used his teaching office. He may out, qualified and enabled to show have such a church if he will pa- in practical ways how the faith tiently and persistently urge upon they preach should operate, so that his people- converts may learn to do their duty in that state of life unto which God First, the imperative obligation pleases to call them. He thinks of heart growth along missionary that even the most theological lines. Such heart growth requires teachers may be practically equipwholesome food. It must feed and ped like Paul. feast on missionary information. In West Central Africa he finds Every pastor can give this mission- great need of such missions. There ary information to his people. is a condition of tyranny and bond- age which can not longer find mar- Second, the cultivation of the kets in other lands. The success wider vision. One must fall in love of the evangelist and teacher is hi'S with the world to be possessed with greatest difficulty. Here are peothe missionary spirit. Christ's pIps who have been bullied into dream was of universal empire, hard labor from time immemorial. and should our vision be less extended? They have counted it a virtue to hide from task-masters. To come And, further, the pastor will to them with a book and a cloth is urge upon his people acquaintance with the great missionaries of the
19051 EDITORIALS
to foster the notion that honest :d working in this direction.
toil is menial and degrading, which Many missions in India, Malaysia, is helped by their superstitions. and Australasia are working along Here is a country with no real in- similar lines.
dustries, the people naturally dis- trustful and lazy. To put among The Boon Itt Memorial such people a mission equipped Brown Memorial Presbyterian with Bibles and other books, and Church, Baltimore, and many of periodical boxes of clothes from the other churches have been much home lands, does harm. Boys and interested in the work carried on girls thus taught and clad foster a by Mr: Boon Itt in Bangkok, Siam; discontent with their surroundings, but few knew personally his power and try to ape foreign customs, and and ability, or realized fully the un- be "readers" and well clad. usual characteristics of this most Chiefs learn to fear missions that remarkable young man of mixed alienate their subjects from the life Chinese and Siamese blood. From of their own land. To see the the field, from the board, from his Alake of Aberkuta buying plows fellow missionaries and fellow at an agricultural show gave the students, from those who knew Bishop much encouragement. Mer- and loved him as a boy in America, _ chants deprecate mission-work that letters have come expressing not ruins the labor market, and sensi- only deep personal grief, but the ble observers think mission feeling of the almost irreparable methods a ludicrous failure that loss to Siam. He is spoken of by produce a too one-sided develop- Dr. Brown as "one of the most ment. Missionaries should be pre- remarkable men he met in all pared to train converts to meet Asia." Socially, intellectually, the actual needs of their communi- spiritually-by his tact, gentleness, ties. intolerance of sin, as well as by his The Bishop of Mombasa likewise knowledge of the intricacies of praises the works carried on by the Siamese customs and etiquette, and Basel German Mission as creating his ability to speak the high Siam- something better than mere" nee ese as well as any native-he was Christians." In India industrial unique in his fitness for the work missions are taking a rank un- he had self-sacrificingly under- known before-both fitting con- taken. Dr. Dunlap and the mis- verts for definite work and finding sionaries on the field, realizing that such work for them. From China such a life must always live in the comes a cry for aid in enabling con- lives it has influenced, are most verts to do carpentry or other anxious that all that is possible may work, so that he need not compro- be done to perpetuate this influ- mise himself with idolatrous cus- ence. In referring to the field of toms in seeking a livelihood. Bangkok, Dr. Brown speaks of the Of such missions the following need of Christian influences "for are strikingly successful examples the intelligent, well-to-do classes, in Africa: who are becoming eagerly inter- The Scotch Church's at Lovedale; ested in foreign ideas, and for the the Universities Mission to Central thousands of bright young men Africa, the Industrial Missions in who flock into the metropolis. In Nyassaland and Blantyre; Bishop the main part of the city are scores Tugwell's Mission on the Niger; of young men and women who Bishop Peel in East Africa, and were educated in the mission Bishop Ingham at Sierra Leone are boarding-schools. Many of them
are Christians. Properly led, they sand desired. Numerous pleas and commendations have come to us might become a power for Christ." through the intelligent young men of Bangkok as to the importance of Among these young people Mr. this work.* Boon Itt lived in Bangkok, and for The Crescent and the Cross in India them the missionaries proposed at The recent article by Mr. Fred. Austin Ogg, in the Open Court, on his death" the erection of a suit- the conflict between Christianity and Mohammedanism in India, able building for the work which brings to our mind afresh the con- ditions of the mighty struggle in was on his heart when he died, as that land between the Crescent and the Cross. The writer counts a memorial to him for the highest on the ultimate triumph of Chris- tianity, but thinks it will take cengood of his people, . . . a building turies yet and a change of method. He says that the Moslem must be for Christian work among young defeated on his own ground, and that the result will be an Oriental, people, wi thin which there would be not Occidental, Christianity.
a library, reading-room, chapel, Reckoning the native population at about 300,000,000, less than one etc., something after the style of per cent. is now Christian, while the Crescent controls twenty per Y. M. C. A. rooms at home. This cent., and its sway is increasing, and, as Mr. Ogg thinks, growing was also Boon Itt's plan." more coherent as a system, so that the followers of the False Prophet Mr. Boon Itt was a dear friend from the Nile and Nigel' to the Ganges may come into conscious and seminary mate of pastor Stone, unity of aim. Proselytism is going on rapidly, Islam's gains in India of Baltimore, and amemberof the counterbalancing losses elsewhere. The causes of the present conditions Waterford (N. Y.) Presbyterian and the reasons for his conclusions the writer calmly and thoughtfully Church, where the editor-in-chief presents. Those specially inter- ested in the outlook in India would was for six years pastor. "The do well to examine MI'. Ogg's paper. cost of maintenance after erection Donations Acknowledged will come out of the general fund of No. 305. Ramabai …………………. $5.00 the mission board." No. 306. Berea College……………… 9.15 No. 307. Ind. Evang. Mission……….. 7.50 There was a committee meeting * The committee to receive contributions is held at Auburn in November to as follows: Rev. J. F. Fitschen, Jr., chairman, consult about this memorial, and Ithaca, N. Y.; Rev. John Timothy Stone, Bal· timore, Maryland; Rev. William S. Carter, we quote from their appeal: Rochester, N. Y.; Rev. Robert Clements, Cortland, N. Y.; Prof. Harry Lathrop Reed, The young men of Siam are Auburn, N. Y.; Miss Emily A. Darling, Aupractically without any special burn, N. Y.: Miss Caroline A. Bush, Troy, definite work carried on directly N. Y.; nIr. Howard Kennedy, Jr., treasurer, for them. This great need touched Bee Building, Omaha, Neb. the heart of Boon Itt, who gave himself without reserve to the work in the city of Bangkok, but his plans werp, interrupteo by his sudden death. The Foreign Mission Board of the Presbyterian Church, valuing him and his work, through the advice of the Rev. Dr. Eugene P. Dunlap and others, appointed a committee to raise funds for the erection of a building in the city of Bangkok suitable to the needs of a successful Christian work among the young men of that city. A committee was also appointed from among the young men of Siam. They have already made progress toward the equivalent of ten thousand dollars, and a proper site will be purchased and preliminary arrangements perfected. The committee on this side has been at work zealously, but has only succeeded so far in raising about five thousand dollars of the ten thou-
BOOKS FOR THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
BOOKS FOR THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY MISSIONS AND MODERN H,STORY. By Robert 2. The Responsibility and Duty E. Speer. 2 vols. 8vo, $4.00. F. H. of the Civilized and Christian Peo- Revell Co. 1904. ples of the West.
These are two unusually valuable 3. The True Character, Policy, volumes on a department of the and Need of Christian Missions. subject of missions which has had comparatively little adequate treat- 4. The Relation of Christianity ment. A glance at the contents to Civilization as Indispensable to will show the scope of Mr. Speer's its PUrity and Permanence. work. In thirteen chapters,~ he carefully considers such topics as 5. The Unfair Charges Made the Taiping rebellion and Boxer against Missions and Missionaries. uprising in China, the Tong-Hak insurrection in Korea, the Indian 6. The Final Issue of the Missionmutiny, and the Armenian massa- ary Movement. cres. The more general themes are: "The Religion of the Bab," Mr. Speer regards a Christian the" Going of the Spaniard," and civilization as a trust received the "Coming of the Slav," the from God by favored peoples, and "Reform Movements in Hindu- to be held in the spirit of stewa,rdism," the " Transformation of ship. His book illumines whatever Japan," the "Development of it touches, and leaves very little of Africa," and the "Emancipation his subject untouched. The Presof Latin America." There is no byterian Church is to be congratularge part of the world, and scarce- lated on having such a man for one ly any important phase of its po- of its mission secretaries. We lidcal and religious life, which does commend this book for a wide not receive consideration, and the reading. discussions are scholarly, painstaking, accurate, and original. Mr. PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT SOUTH. By Edgar Speer regards the Taiping rebel- Gardner Murphy. 12mo, 288 pp. $1.50, lion as one of the greatest events net. Macmillan Co., N. Y. 1904. of history, and as having promised at one time to be the means of This discussion of the industrial, China's evangelization. He, with educational, and political problems not a few others, thinks that the of the South is a valuable contribuinterference of other nations, and tion to the literature of an imporparticularly the British in the per- tant subject. The author does not son of General Gordon, prevented pretend to present a dogmatic soluwhat would have been a great step tion of the problems with which his toward China's Christianization. book i:.eals; but realizing that the This will give some idea of the vir- questions, especially bearing on ile manner in which Mr. Speer Southern life, are subject to aphandles his topics. proximate adjustments, he gives a calm and intelligent discussion of In the last chapter on missions what he terms "The Old in the and the world movement he sums New," "The Schools of the People," up the substance of both volumes, "A Constructive Statesmanship," and gives us some of his conclu- "The Industrial Revival and Child sions as to Labor," "The South and the Ne- gro," "A Narrative of Coopera- 1. The Immobility of Oriental tion and Culture and Democracy." Ci vilization. While the work touches upon other matters of interest to the South and nation, it is largely a treatment of "Our Brother in Black." In recognizing the obligation to the
negro, Mr. Murphy agrees with Dr. of voting age can not read and J. L. M. Curry in the statement write, and the educated and culti- that "unless the white people, the vated white citizens owe a debt to superior, the cultivated race, liftup their white as well as to their black the lower, both will be inevitably brethren who are illiterate. The dragged down"; and he forcefully author thinks that the problem be- urges the importance of keeping in fore him is illumined by recent mind the double fact of the negro's events, and the negro promise is need and promise. This, the author illustrated somewhat in the fact mainta.ins, is readily realized by the that the illiteracy of the negro intelligent citizens of the Southern males of voting age has been re- States, but urges that the nation duced in the Southern States from mu::;t be considerate of the South 88 per cent. in 1870 to 52 per cent. and the South must be patient with in 1900, and since the opening of herself. It is declared that the the century most gratifying educawhite mitn, North as well as South, tional results have been attained. feels that the social barrier should One of the most suggestive and enremain; and so long as it remains couraging chapters in Mr. Murphy's it shuts out not only the negro from book is entitled "A Narrative of the white man, but the white man Cooperation," and here he sets from the negro. The question is forth the excellent service rendered asked, 'Vhat is the social status of by the Southern Education Board the negro family whose home is in and the General Education Board. Boston, or Philadelphia, or New Through these agencies there is be- York? Is it essentially different ing brought about a better underfrom its status at the South? standing between the North and South, and intelligent men in both Among the races of the world the sections of the country are striving negro must claim its own name and to do away with mutual ignorance, its own life, and this, it is held, is which is often the basis of mutual the only real, the only permanent, suspicion. security of race integrity for the negro. Its assumption is not deg- THE PENETRATION OF ARABIA: A Record of radation, but opportunity. Mr. the Development of Western Knowledge Murphy contends that the best Concerning the Arabian Peninsula. By Southern people not only do not David George Hogarth, M.A., F.R.G.S., hate the negro, but come nearer to F.S.A. Illustrated. London, 1904. Price, having affection for him than any 78.6d. other people, and are in It far better position to appreciate and intelli- No other country has so large an gently act upon the grave questions area still unexplored as has Arabia. involved than are those who live at All who are interested in this dark a distance from the field of action. land will welcome the sumptuous The educated opinion of the Houth volume on the rediscovery and ex- "has no war with the progress of ploration of inland Arabia. The the negro," and is willing that he, author is not among those who within his own social world, shall have penetrated the Arabianpeninmake the most of himself. 1'0 this sula, but his qualifications for end, the South stands ready to give writing the book are sy~pathy a helping hand to the extent of her with the subject and wide reading. ability. This responsibility rests The result is a most fascinating, upon the few; for in the Southern accurate, and lively description of States there are 210 counties in the romantic discovery of the negwhich 20 per cent. of the white men lected peninsula-a book that will bring Arabia closer to all who read it. Fifty-three photographic illus-
BOOKS FOR THE. MISSIONARY LIBRARY
trations and rare maps illuminate phies of geography. To read a the text. book like this is a challenge to faith as well as a rebuke for neglect and The first part of the book treats, apathy and love of ease. Arabia in 7 chapters, of the pioneers- must be evangelized; not only Niebuhr, Ali Bey, Seetzen, Burck- penetrated by the traveler, but ochardt, Sadlier, Arnaud, Wellsted, cupied by the missionary. God's Von Wrede. Wallin. 1'he second providence is even now opening and larger part tells of their suc- the way. cessors, who are better known, but did not endure more for the cause KING LEOPOLD'S RULE IN AFRICA. By E. D. of science-Burton, Halevy, Hur- Morel. IlIust·ated. 8vo, 466 pp. $3.75. gronje, Glaser, Hirsch, Bent, Pal- Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York. 1904. grave, Pelly, the Blunts, Huber, Euting, Nolde, and the prince of Mr. Morel's indictment of King them all-Doughty. The last chap- Leopold's government of the Kongo tel' is about unknown Arabia. natives seems to us unanswered and unanswerable. The condition of The book has two important les- things in the" Independent State," sons for the missionary. Firf't, he as described by missionaries, travmust contemplate the price that elers, statesmen, government offiscience paid to penetrate the penin- cials, soldiers, and natives, is such as sula, and it should move him to a to call for interference from civilgodly envy to endure like crosses ized governments. The witnesses for a higher service. Niebuhr are of unimpeachable integrity, and alone of all his party returned to have no unworthy motive in testitell of Yemen; the rest died of fying to the dark deeds that are fever and exposure. Huber was committed in Leopold's name. It . murdered by Bedouins and his seems undeniable that the governjournal published after his death. ment is condu(·ted for revenue only, Seetzen was murdered neal' Taiz and that the natives are treated in and Manzoni shot with his own rifle a way that wonld call for remonby a treacherous companion. Bent strance, even if they were onlyanidied from the effects of the Handm- mals without souls. Of course, maut climate, and Von vVrede, many of the accusations are denied after suffering everything to reach by Leopold and his friends and emthe Ahkaf, returned to Europe to ployees-some of whom are in be scoffed at and his story labeled America-but they offer contradica romance! Doughty was turned tion without disproof. The king out of Nejd sick and penniless to has prejudiced his case by refusing trudge on foot with a caravan and to permit an international court of to be betrayed near Mecca, escap- inquiry. ing by the skin of his teeth. Mr. Morel, after taking up briefly Secondly, there is much to learn the historical facts in regard to the from these heroes of geography, Kongo State, shows the present altho none of them penetrated conditions, quoting largely from Arabia in the spirit of Livingstone. consular reports, from missiona- A keen discernment of the Arab's ries, merchants, and others. He character, a fluent, accurateknowl- shows clearly that the present sysedge of his speech, a lively interest tem of government is exterminatin his desoct joys, a heart of sym- ing the natives with cruelty and pathy, amI a dogged, undaunted oppression, and is impoverishing perserverance-such were the the country by bleeding it to death. stepping-stones to success in the In spite of some material improvepenetration of Arabia fOT the tro- ments made in the way of railroads,
etc., Leopold's rule is for the natives and his self-sacrifice is noble and the darkest of dark ages. They insplrmg. So shut off is he from are not educated or encouraged by friends at home that, altho his litthe State, and the only help they tle daughter died in August, 1903, receive is from the missionories, he did not learn of his loss until over a year later. The illustrations of Mr. Morel's book tell of a "reign of terror," and Mr. Peck's diaries and corresponthe facts presented-many of which dence have furnished the material are familiar to our readers (see for this narrative of difficult serv- August REVIEw)-rouse us to in- ice faithfully rendered, hardships dignation. If the people of America cheerfully borne, and difficulties and England read this volume they patiently overcome. He describes will demand that these abuses minutely the Eskimos and their cease. habits, their homes and their char- acteristics. He tells of long jour- STORY OF THl< BIBLE SOCIETY. By W. Canton. neys over Arctic snows, of winter Ilinstrated. 362 pp. 6.. John Murray, nights in comparative solitude, of London; E. P. Dutton, New York. 1904. the church eaten by ravenous dogs, of the joy of receiving the first con- This book is to be esteemed a verts, and of many other unique popular edition of the four-volume experiences. It is a volume Forth edition of the history of the British reading. and Foreign Bible Aociety, whose centenary was celebrated last year, AMONG THE INDIANS OF THE PARAGUAYAN and for the average reader is suffi- CHACO. By W. Barbrooke Grubb. Edited ciently copious. In a most inter- by Gertrude Wilson. Map and illustraesting way it tells of the numerous tions. 8vo, 176 pp. 38. South Ameriobstacles met with in earry years, can Missionary Society, London. 1904. of the rapid increase of income and auxiliaries in Great Britain and In this story of missionary work upon the Continent, as well as of in South America, Mr. Grubb and the hundreds of translations of the his associates in the Chaco Mission Scriptures made, printed, and cir- tell an interesting tale of the Inculated by colporteurs and Bible- dians and their fifteen years of women to the very ends of the work in northwestern Paraguay. earth. Not a few of the facts The account is clearly and geonarrated are stranger than fiction. graphically written. The literary quality is not high, and parts of LITTLE HANDS AND GOD'S BOOK. By William the story somewhat too detailed, Canton. Illustrated. 16mo, 123 pp. I•. but the information is accurate Bible Society, London. 1904. and the experiences interesting. The Indians were persuaded to be- This brief illustrated sketch of lieve that Mr. Grubb came from the British and Foreign Bible So- the north, as he said, only when ciety contains many valuable facts they saw his compass-" the little and well-told incidents. connected devil" whose hand only could be with the history and work of the seen, but always pointing to the society. home land. These Chaco Indians, tho nominally Roman Catholics, THE LIFE 0" E. J. PECK AMONG THE ESKIMUS. are ignorant and weak, and Mr. 1to/. By Arthur Lewis. Illustrated. 8vo, 349 Grubb has suffered persecution, in- ~~ ~1~~~. Armstrong & Sons, cluding an attempted murder. In place of medicines and proper care Mr. Peck, wlwse work on Black- of the sick, they invoke the Virgin lead Island was described in the and the saints, or use charms. In- REVIEW for July, 1903, is one of stead of righteousness, they depend the pioneer missionary heroes of the North. Hisexperiences in the Arctic regions have been unique,
BOOKS FOR THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
on masses, penance, and worship of thrill and inspire them. Chalmers relics. Some interesting chapters was a hero, every inch of him, are devoted to Indian superstitions among his boyhood friends, with and customs. The work is encour- the pirates of the South Seas, the aging, but much remains to be savages of New Guinea, and the done. men of letters like Robert Louis Stevenson. His life is full of ad- AMONG THE BURMANS. By H. P. Cochrane. venture and of noble deeds. No Illustrated. 12mo, 281 pp. $1.25, net. book-shelf to which boys have ac- Fleming H. Revell Co. 1904. cess will hold this volume long in idleness. This is a vivid account of 15 years of missionary work among the Bur- MISSION STUDIES FOR THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. mans. The author has the faculty First Series. By George H. Trull. 12mo, of telling what Christians at home 64 pp. 15c. Foreign Missions Library, want to knolV about what he has New York.. 1904. seen and done. His impressions and experiences are entertainingly This is a missionary text-book told, and the story of the work is for Sunday-schools. The studies worth telling. Mr. Cochrane gives include "The Mountaineers of the some excellent stories of native South," "Foreigners in the United Christian heroes and heroines, States," "William,)arey," "David which are well worth repeating in Livingstone," "John G. Paton," sermons and missionary meetings and "John Kennith McKenzie." at home. This stands foremost They are brief, interesting, and among the recent missionary books suggestive. Each chapter is followon Burma. ed by a series of questions and a list of good books on the subject. They Il'TOXICANTS AND OPIUM IN ALL LANDS AND form the basis of a fascinating series TIMES. By Dr. and Mrs. W. F. Crafts and of studies, and would be useful for Misses Leitch. 12mo, 288 pp. Illustrated. brief talks to young people on Cloth. 75 cents; paper, 35 cents. Inter- missions. national Reform Bureau, Washington, D.C. Sixth edition, revised. 1904. LETTERS FROM A CHINESE OFFICIAL. 16mo, 75 pp. 50c. McClure, Phillips & Co, New The opium curse can not be real- York. 1903. ized by those who have not seen its effects. The curse of strong drink We criticize elsewhere the eulogy may be more widespread, but it is by this so-called " Chinese official" not as destroying to soul and body of the "Flowery Kingdom." The as is opium. The International writer has donned a queue and Reform Bureau are doing excellent gown to hit at some American instiwork in fighting this traffic, espe- tutions and failings. The unjust cia.lly as it affects primitive peoples. comparisons should not blind us This revised edition of their vol- to our faults or the need to remedy ume is full of facts and testimonies, them. which make an unanswerable case for all who hold the interests of THE PROSPll:CTOR. By Ralph Connor 12mo, men higher than those of Mammon, 401 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. Revell Co. 1904.
TAMATE: The Life Story of James Chalmers. Ralph Connor knows how to tell By Richard Lovett. Illustrated. 12mo, a good tale, and one that stirs noble 320 pp. $1.25, net. Fleming H. Revell ambitions and purposes. His heroes Co. 1904. are fine specimens of Christian manhood, his dramatic ann. tragic We have already commended the scenes are vivid but not overdrawn, autobiography of this great mis- and even his love stories have elesionary. This smaller volume for ments of strength. This story is young people surpasses Robinson much like his other books, and will Crusoe in its interest. Tamate find a wide circle of friends. was a favorite with the boys, and his adventures will never cease to
DOCTOR LUKE OF THE LABRADOR. By Nor- MOHONK CONFERENCE REPORT. 1904. man Duncan. 12mo,327 pp. $1.50. Flem- ing H. Revell Co. 1904. These papers and address given This novpl has a mission in de- at the Indian Conferenceare by ex- scribing in choice diction, and with many artistic touches full of humor perts, and should be widely read and pathos, the forlorn condition of the fisher folk of the barren land and quoted. of The Labrador. Th{)se who know of Dr. Grenfell's work among Missionary Campaign Libraries them will be especially interested in these scenes with which he has The Young People's Missionary made them familiar. The author Movement, 156 Fifth Avenue, New is not as successful with a novel as York, is to be congratulated on the with magazine articles. noble work which is being accom- plished through its agency. The A MANUAL FOR STEWARDS. Paper. 12mo, training of leaders, the institution f:g!£;n.lsI904~hurch Missionary Society, of study classes, and the circulat- ing of missionary libraries, are the This is an exceedingly useful vol- means used, and the results are alume of hints for the successful col- ready seen and are growing. Two lection and conduct of missionary ., campaign libraries" have alexhibits. Various "courts" are ready been issued, consisting of 20 described, with their contents, with volumes each, and sold at $10.00, advice for stewards and exhibitors. or less than half their list price. It gives much information about An excellent library of nine books heathen lands and peoples, and is a on Japan is also published at $5.00 valuable handbook for missionary pel' set. Those wishing to secure societies. such books for public or private libraries can not do better than CHINA'S PAST AND FUTURE, AND BRITAIN1S SIN write to the secretary, C. V. Vick- rey, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. ANI) FOLLY. By Chester Holcombe and B. Broomhall. Paper. 8vo. Illustrated. NEW BOOKS 320 pp. Is., net. Morgan & Scott, London. 1904. HEROES OF THE CROSS IN AMERICA. By Don O. Shelton. 12mo, 304 pp. Cloth, 50c.; Mr. Holcombe, who was for many paper, S5c. Young People's Missionary years connected with the United Movement, New York. 1904. States legation at Peking, gives here some illuminating chapters on a MISSION STUDIES FOR THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. reprint of China's internal conditions and international relations. First Series. By George H. Trull. 12mo, He is a friend of Christian missions 64 pp. 15c. Foreign Missions Library, and of the Chinese, and therefore New York. 1904. an enemy to British opium and A MANUAL FOR STEWARDS. Paper. 12mo, foreign greed in every form. 150 pp. Is. Church Missionary Society, London. 1904. THINGS AS THEY ARE. By Amy Carmichael Wilson Cheaper edition. Illustrated. INTOXICANTS AND OPIUM IN ALL LANDS AND 8vo. Cloth, 28. tid., net; paper, Is. 6d.,net. Morgan & Scott, London. 1904. TIMES. By Dr. and Mrs. W. F. Crafts and Misses Leitch. 12mo, 288 pp. Illustrated. We welcome this cheaper edition Cloth, 75c.; paper, 35c. International of what we consider one of the Reform Bureau, Washington, D. C. Sixth greatest books ever written on In- edition, revised. 1904. dia. It shows the dark side of DAI NIPPON. A Study in National Evolution. Hindu life, but only to awaken a By Henry Dyer. 8vo, 450 pp. $3 50, net. desire to make it bright. The Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 1904~ reading of this book makes us ap- HANDS AT REST. (lUrs. A. M. Deennan in preciate the blessings of Christian- Japan.) By Mrs. J. H. Morton. 16mo, ity, and has already stimulated 165 pp. Cumberland Presbyterian Pubmany missionary fires. lishing House, Nashville, Tenn. 1n04. My CHINESE NO'rEBOOK. By Lady Susan Townley. Illustrated. 8vo. 338 pp. $3.00, net E. P. Dutton & Co., New York 1904 CHINA'S PAST AND FUTURE, AND BRITAIN'S SIN AND FOLLY. By Chester Holcombe and B. Broomhall. Paper. 8vo. Illustrated. 320 pp. 18., net. Morgan & Scott, Lon- don. 1904. THINGS AS THEY ARE. By Amy Carmichael Wilson. Cheaper edition. Illustrated. 8vo. Cloth, 28. 6d., net; paper, Is. 6d., net. Morgan & Scott, London. 1904. THE WHITE MAN IN NIGFJRIA. By G. D. Haz- zledine. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. 1904. AMONG THE INDIANS OF THE PARAGUAYAN CHACO. By W. Barbrooke Grubb. Map. illustrations. 8vo. 176 pp. 3s. South American Missionary_ Society, London, England. 1904.
1905J GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE 'AMERICA and Crtmbridge in February, for the student conference to be held India Bringing The somewhat re- in Germany in April, and for that Wisdom to markable announce- in Holland in May, and for the America! ment is made that work among students in all lands. the theological sem- Federation of On Novembsr 29 inaries of Hartford and Princeton Presbyterian and 30, and Dehave invited Professor Samuel Sat- and Reformed cember 1, 1904, thianadhan, G. A.,LL.D., to deliver a course of five lectures on "Indian Churches there assembled ill Philosophic Systems as Related to the First United Christianity," and also that the next course of lectures on "Compar- Presbyterian Church at Pittsative Religion," instituted on the burg, Pa., the committees of Barrows-Haskell foundation in con- seven Presbyterian and Reforrued nection with the University of Chi- Churches of the U. S. A. for the cago, will probably be delivered by purpose of considering the subject the Hon. Kal. Charan Banerji, of of the closer relations of these Calcutta. These men are the prod- Churches. Dr. William H. Roberts ucts of Christian colleges, alld are was requested to publish the plan powerful factors in the intellectual of federation submitted for conand moral life of India. So that it sideration. is to come to pass that we shall see "a Hindu Chri~ tian lecturing to The Churches represented were his American fellow religionists on the following: the philosophy of Hindu; and another Hindu Christian lecturing to 1. Reformed P l' e s b y tel' ian his Asiatic fellow countrymen (for Church, General Synod. the Barrows lectureship embraces Japan also) on the preeminence of 2. Reformed Church in America. Christianity as a social, moral, and 3. Presbyterian Church in the spiritual force." U.S. A. 4. Presbyterian Church in the Day of Prayer The General Com- U. S. (South). for Students mit tee 0 f the 5. United Presbyterian Church. 6. Cumberland Presbyterian ,Vorld's Student Church. Christian Federation have appoint- 7. Reformed Church in the U. S. ed February 12, 1905, as the Uni- The Plan of Federation specifies: versal D;'y of Prayer for Stu- (1) That every Church entering dents. For nearly 10 years the into this Federation retains its dissecond Sunday of February has tinct individuality in creed, govbeen 'observed in this way by all ernment, and worship. the national and international (2) For work that can be better Christian student movements of done in union than separately an Europe,America,Australasia, Asia, Eeclesiastical Council is estaband Africa. These movements now lished, known as "The Federal embrace over 1,700 separate Chris- Council of the Reformed Churches tian student societies with a total in the United States of Americrt membership of 100,000 students and holding the Presbyterian System." professors. Friends are asked to (3) The Federal Council shall conpray especially for the student sist of at least four r~presentatives meetings to be conducted in Oxford frum each of the Churches, for each 100,000 communicants or fraction thereof up to 300,000, and then 4
for each additional 200,000 c9m- staff of secretaries, much educamunicants or fraction. tional work of a general character has been done. Experience has (+) The Federal COllllcil shall pro- shown that an increasing number mote the cooperation of the Feder- of people within the Church are ated Churches in their foreign mis- willing to give some time each year sionary work, and also in their to the careful study of missions, if general work in the United States their work can be properly planned of America, in connection with and directed. It is believed that horne missions, work among the the result will ahundantly justify colored people, church erection, the wisdom and far-sightedness of Sabbath-schools, publication and the Board of Missions in adopting education, and may initiate move- this policy of more careful and sysments having this cooperation in tematic educational work. – The view, subject to the approval of the Ch1.l.rchrnan. Churches concerned. A New York The New YOl'k He}'- . (5) The Federal Council shall have Idol Factory ald of December power to deal with differences which may arise between the Fed- Hth, contains an ilerated Churches, in regard to mat- lustrated article on an idol factory teI'S within the jurisdiction of the in East 96th Street, where all the Council, which the constituted skill of designer, molder, and metal agencies of the Churches concerned worker unite to copy and reduplihave been unable to settle, cate the idols of India, China, and Japan, and to invent idols of visage How the The Salvation terrifying enough to satisfy the tt Army" Seeks Army in Chicago is African taste. The largest part of the output of this factory is said to the Lost organizing a novel go to India, there to be devoutly method to care for worshiped. The average shipment of idols to various countries is from the victims of -strong drink who 300 to 900 per month. The justififall upon the streets of the city at cation for snch a fadory is that night. Equipped with stretchers, somebody must make idols for idolthe squads of officers constituting aters, and that this is an age of the "drunkards' rescuers" will commercialism ra ther than of idealmake the rounds of the squalid dis- ism. True; and it was to one who tricts at night, pick up those who believed in rating as highest in appear to he completely overcome value the opportunities of commerwith liquor, and carry them to one cialism that Jesus Ohrist said: "It of the 7 hotels maintained by the were well for him if a millstone Army in Chicago, and in which were hanged about his neck and he more than' 250,000 guests were ac- were thrown into the sea rather commodated last year. than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble." t An Educational A new departure Secretary for was made w hen the An Injunction The m iss ion a r y against Missions cause has had many Episcopal Board of Missions Missions of the Protestant obstacles to fight, but never stranger foes than those Episcopal Church that have arisen in the congregaon December 13 elected the Rev. tion of "Disciples," or Christians, Everett P. Smith, of Pocatello, of Newbern, in Dyer County, Ten7 Idaho, as Educational Secretary. nessee, a minority of whom, ac- This action is another evidence of the progressive spirit of the present board. During the last fi ve years, under the leadership of the present
1905J GENERAl. MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
cording to the Charlotte (N. C.) Ob- tional institutions. The colleges server, are about to appeal to Chan- furnishing more than 2 missiona- cellor Cooper of the Ninth Chancery ries each were Wesleyan Univers- Division, asking him to issue an ity, Ohio Wesleyan University, and injunction against the elders and a Northwestern University. The majority of their congregation, on States furnishing the most were as the ground thal1 they have depart- follows: Pennsylvania, 10; Ohio, 9; ed from the faith of their Church, New York, 6; Indiana, 6; Iowa, 5; "in that they have participated in Kansas, 5; California, 5; Illinois, missionary societies, and have used 4. The new missionaries who went an organ to aid in song and wor- to the field during the previous ship." It is nearly a year since year numbered 61. they instituted this action. Later they amended their complaint and Work for Whileitistruethat filed a supplementary bill, making Italian floods and floods of the Tennessee Christian Missionary Convention a party defendant. Immigrants " undesirable" for- The case was to be heard at the eigners are pouring Chancery Court of Dyersburgearly in January, and if organs and mis- upon our shores, the Italians promsionary societies are indeed found inent among them, we must not to be contrary to the constitution forget how rapidly they are also of the Disciples, it is said that the being transformed into good Amerprotestants intend to take steps to icans. Take this illustration: Deapply the decision to every church in cember§th an ecclesiastical council the connection.-The Churchman. recognized the Italian Congrega- tional Church of Waterbury, The Callanan In our December Conn., and in the evening, before a Legacy: (1904) issue the leg- large audience of Italians, }:ublic exercises of recognition were held. A Correction acy of $100,000 from Mr. Callanan, of This Italian mission was begun last February as a union effort, Des Moines, was erroneously stated under the care of Mr. Vincenzo to have been given to Tuskegee In- Esperti, of the Bible Society. It stitute. It was in reality given to was taken in charge by the Mission- Talladega College, Alabama-the ary Society, with Mr. Codella as institution started by the American missionary, at the beginning of Missionary Association in 1867, and March. His success has been rewhich is doing such excellent work markable, and the class of. Italians for the SOll'thern negroes. who are interested in this work is much lIlore hopeful than those or- Sixty New Sixty new mission- dinarily met with in New England. Methodist aries have sailed to Seventy-five names are enrolled as Missionaries foreign m iss ion charter members of the church. This makes the fifth Congrega- fields sin c e the tional Italian church in Connectimeeting of the General Missionary cut, and at least 15 points in Con- Committee was held in Omaha last necticut are reached with Gospel year. Of these 29 were men; 28 influe!1l~es, beside what is being were wives, and 3 were single done by other denominations. women; 29 were college graduates, 23 of these being from Method'ist Great Gathering T!Ie Spirit of Miscolleges; 6 were theological graduates, 1 a graduate nurse. Forty of of Christian sions for January the 60, or two out of three. were from Methodist Episcopal educa- Sioux has a stirring ac- count of a recent gathering of Indians in Dakota for
a week of worship. The writer intoxicants of any kind or quality." Imagine the apprehension, theresays: fore, of the Indians and their friends when the Hamilton bill, Climbing a hill, we looked down proposing statehood to the two 11..0 feet in to a natural amphi theater, territories and acted upon favorin which were 525 tents, making a ably by the lower House, and now circle three miles in circumference. pending action in the Senate, is Within the circle was a great booth found to ignore absolutely this provided for the services should sacred pledge of a great government the weather prevent meeting in the to a dependent people. The Indiopen air. One end of the booth ans appeal to all friends in the was boarded in to protect the altar Eastern States to espouse their and chancel. The booth was never cause and petition by personal let· large enough to hold the congre- tel'S each of their Senators and the gations which thronged the place Representative in Congress from for every service. Outside the their district, asking these men not circle were tethered the many .to vote for any bill for statehood horses of the great caravans which for Indian Territory which does had brought the people and their not contain provision for prohibitbelongings. Early in the day I ing the sale of intoxicating liquors, made the ronnd of the circle, looking into the various tepees of all MethodistWork There are 200,000 sizes and constructions, receiving for the Indians Indians in the a gracious "How," the Dakota salutation, from the head of the United States; 21 family, a pleasant smile from the Methodist Episcopal missionaries, women, a startled and inquiring and 22 local preachers are reaching look from the little children, and about 12,000 of these. At present loud barks from the innumerahle there are 33 Indian missions within dogs, with which every tepee seem- the bounds of 13 Conferences, of ed overgenerously supplied. At whic}l missions 17 are in Michigan, every service there were present a 5 in New York State, 9 on the Pavery large proportion of the 2,500 cific Coast, I in Minnesota, and 1 in Indians, who had come distances 'Visconsin. Among the tribes of 65 to 300 miles to attend the con- reached are these: Ukiah, Ononvocation. It was a noble gather- daga, Oneida, Chippewa, Seneca, ing-inspiring, uplifting, and en- Tonawanda, Ottawa, Washoe, couraging. A large delegation of Blackfeet. St. Regis, Klamath, and the Santees came a journey which Nooksack. took them two weeks to make; they would, of course, be the same length Good Work The Colorado Pres- Df time returning to their homes. by a Small bytery of the Re- Presbytery formed Presbyteri- The Crisis in For seventy-two an Ch urch has Indian Territory years the Indian inaugurated a forward movement on its own account. Tho compos~d tribal government of only six congregations, and in- cluding in all about 300 members, has maintained strict laws against they recently decided that they should undertake something defithe sale of intoxicating liquors nite for foreign missions. A home missionary, Dr. Kate McBurney, within their boundaries. Experi- was selected as their representa- tive, and is now in Tak Hing Chou ence has shown these laws to be nec- essary and salutary. 'Vhen, there- fore, the federal government ap- proached the Five Civilized Tribes with the proposition that they should become absorbed in the gen- eral government, the Indians made as one of the conditions the follow- ing clear stipUlation: "The United States agrees to maintain strict laws in the.territory of said nation against the introduction, sale, bar- ter, or giving away of liquors and
GENERAL MISSiONARY INTELLIGENCE
with her sister. More than double scattered over the face of the conthe amount necessary for her sup- tinent. port has been subscribed, tho two of the six congregations were with- MethodistWork The Japanese popout pastors, only two are self- for Japanese ulation of the snpporting, and two have been in America United States is organized less than a year. The rapidly increasing, banner church of 94 members gave $553 to the foreign work. so that there are many more than the 80,000 who were tabulated in T. H. ACHESON. the censu s of 1900. Methodist Epis- copal work has grown to such an An Anti- One of the most extent that it has been necessary to Mormon Part)" hopeful ~igns of organize the Pacific Japanese Mis- sion Conference, of two districts- in Utah recent history in one covering the work in Hawaii Utah is the awaken- and one the work on the Pacific Coast. There are 14 stations, with ing and lprising of the people 18 missionaries, 6 local preachers, themselves against the dominion and a membership of 1,100. Inof the Mormon Church. This is cluded in the work at Hawaii is a indicated by the formation of a new mission recently begun to Korean political party, called" The Ameri- immigrants. can Party," to be free from Mormon dominion. This party has EUROPE twoplanks: "Freedom from Church domination in politics, and the The C. M. S. The medical miswrestling of the public schools from as a Minister to sions of the Church Mormon control." It is the spon- Men's Bodies Missionary Society taneous uprising of the people who have long been disgusted with rank high among Church domination in everything the most prominent and the best, it could lay its hands on. being found at no less than62 points in 20 countries or regions of Asia Cooperation in The South Ameri- and Africa (of course, largely in In- South America can MissionaryCon- dia and China, where the bulk of humanity is massed). The number vent-ion, held in of physicians employed is 77, and London on November 15th and 16th, of nurses is 39. In the 62 hospitals had for its chief subject of discus- or dispensaries 1,995 beds are found, sion whether anything could be and 17,692 sick and suffering ones done to promote more unity of ac- were cared for last year as intion, more cooperat'ion between patients, while visits were made to those working for the extension of 848,578 out-patients. Mercy and the Redeemer's Kingdom in South Trnth, which represents this America. Amalgamation and fed- Christlike work, has no equal eration between the societies were among medical magazines. little more than mentioned, but an idea that found some favor was the The London A novel and useful formation of a committee of repre- University experiment was sentatives from the societies and Missionary tried last summer bands of workers, to prevent over- Caravan by members of the lapping and needless intrusion, and London branch of to map out the fields of work to better advantage. A strong desire the British College Christian was expressed that more evangel- Union. They formed a missionary istic efforts should be made among caravan to travel among country the many tribes of heathen Indians churches and present the mission-
ary cause in the more out-of-the- River Jhelulll, nearing the winway towns which delegations from ning-post, at which stands the missionary societies fail to reach. Maharajah an interested spectator? 'Vi!! not an animated picture of The tour was arranged to work the surging throng at the Diwali in country districts of Kent, Sus- Market, with opfm-air preaching sex, and Surrey. Several days were being carried on before their eyes, spent in each town, and every eve- bring home to the.audience, as no ning meetings were held, and a speaker or artist can, things as large amount of literature was sold they really are? We believe that or given away. The audiences God will graciously use these picvaried in size from 10 to 500, but tures-the generous gift of an their interest was unfailing. It anonymous friend-to emphasize was pioneer work, and there were the call for service and substance. financial problems which some- -C. M. Gleaner. times threatened to stop the mission, but much good was accom- Hope for This cheering state· plished and invaluable lessons were the United ment appears in the learned. Some audiences listened Free Church British Wee k l y; as if they had never befor'e heard of India, or China, or Africa, still less " It is authori taof the millions who perish without tively announced that the governa knowledge of the Christ who ment will appoint a Royal Commisdied to save them.* sion to deal with the Scottish Church crISIS. Meanwhile, Sir T. H. ROBINSON. John Cheyne, K.C., has been ap- pointed to make a temporary Moving Pictures Lantern slides arrangement which will settle all disputes, and the observance of for Missionary have done much which will be binding on both churches till the Royal Commission Meetings to educate both report has been framed and Parlia- mentary action taken thereon." adults and chil- This Commission has already dren in missionary matters; they been appointed.
have illustrated the customs of Teaching The Leipsic Mis- Through the sionary Society disheathen lands, and they have Postal Card plays both good shown us the missionary at work. sense and enter'- prise by preparing and publishing But the animated picture is a great two series of beautiful postal cards, each containing twelve, with a advance on the stationary scene. colored picture on the back, relat- ing to something connected with The Church Missionary Society is missions either in India or Soutlr Africa, like human figures, buildnow using the cinematograph to ings, or bits of scenery. A large amount of instruction is thus imgive a much more realistic idea of parted through the eye, and the various conditions of missionary what is going on abroad. For in- life are depicted in a way not to be forgotten. The MISSIO~ARY REstance, what could be more fasci- VIEW also supplies Missionary Pic- ture Postals at a very low figure. nating than to witness the moving throng of out-patients ascending the hill to Dr. Neve's dispensary at Srinagar Hospital; or the merry rush of girls from a city mission school at the close of lessons; or Mr. Tyndale-Biscoe's boys at dumb- bell drill, or in a boat-race on the * This excellent work is entirely undenominational. Oontributions may be sent to E. W. Squire. St. Mary's HORpital, Paddington, W., or T. H. Robinson, B A., Regent's Park Oollege, N. W., in order that the work next year mcy be carried on with even greater efficiency. .
1905J GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Work among After' the Arme- trict. .Many of these died by t.heir Armenians nian massacres in own hand, and some by starvation in Bulgaria 1895-96 many Ar- menians took ref- and exposure. The situation both uge in Bulgaria, which has now an I1t Bitlis and Van is deemed critical, ArmeTlian population of not less than 20,000. Seven men have de- not so much for our missionaries voted themselves to the evangeliza- tion of these people. One of them, as for the people in the outlying Pastor Avetanarian, is a converted Mohammedan. These 7 Chrj"tian villages. The revolutionists are as workers held their first conference in Sofia last summer, ·and among much dread.ed by the better class of other important decisions reached Armenians as they are by the were the following: Turks. Help is needed by these 1. When means cau be secured a Christian worker should be station- people in all these districts, that ed in every town in Bulgaria and Rumania where there are Armeni- they may have food and clothing ans and Mohammedans. during the winter.-The iWi.s.sion- a1'y Herald. 2. In every city where there are Armenians or Turks of the Prot- A Polyglot Rev. George C. estant faith, a Protestant school should be opened. Day-school Doolittle, of the 3. The grade of the school in in Syria Presbyterian mis- Philippopolis should be raised to sion, writes thus to I1fford a higher education for Armenian youth. one of the horne papers of the Babel One of these pastors hl1s already in which he finds himself: settled in Sofia, where there is a goodly Armenian community. Among the effects of emigration upon the people of Syria may be M. N. POPOFF. noted the acquisition of various languages. In the examination of ASIA the boys' day-school at Muallekeh to-day I might have used 6 differ- Conditions It is difficult to ob- ent languages to suit the knowledge in Armenia tain reliable infor- of the various pupils-French, Italian, Greek. Turkish, Arabic, mation as to the and English. Two of the boys were extent of the troubles in Eastern born in 'Visconsin, and understand Turkey, but Consul Norton, of English better than Arabic. Others Harpoot, has visited several diB- spen t their early years in Tenn('s,ee, tricts, including Sassolln, Moush, while a third family has recently Bitlis, I1nd Van, l111d gives a sad returned from Australia. Two story of the poverty of the people other boys were born in Smyrna. I1nd the sll1ughter of great numbers Their father is Italian and their of villa,ger.s in the mountains I1bout mother of English extraction. Sassonn. Many Armenian revo- They speak Fl'ench, Italian, and lutionist.s from across the Russian Greek fluently, and are rapidly border, with a number of natives picking up the Ambic. of the district, have sOllght to incite insurrection, and the Tnrkish Work among According to the authorities determined to wipe out Jews in Palestine English .Tewish these offenders. The result has been, according to Dr. Norton's and Syria Year-book, 1904, estimate, that 5,000 persons have 78,000 Jews li'c met t.heir death in the Sassoun dis- in Palestine in a total popUlation of 650,000, or 12 per cent. Jerusa- lem contains 41,000 Jews (687:) per cent.); Safed, la,OOO (;;2 per cent.); Jaffa, 10,000 (25 per cent.); and Haifa, 1,800 (nearly 14 per cent.).
A II missionary societies engaged in work in Palestine and Syria pay some attention to the .Tews, and all of them report some success. For instance, the British Syrinn ?II is-
sion (Mrs. Bowen-Thompson) re- of the Gospel Mission to the Jews, ports in 1904 an average of 20 Jewish women in the Jewish Class at work in Jerusalem and Haifa. He Beirut, and 11 Jewish scholars in other schools, while the Syrian is connected with MI'. Barnett, of Protestant College at Beirut has an enrolment of 70 Jews (10 per the London Gospel Mission to the cent. (If total attendance). Jews, and is supported chiefly by The work of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (New York), English friends. Simon Bauer, who which consists of general work at Jerusalem and Hebron, and of a has been preaching Christ to the school for girls at Jaffa, is not distinctively Jewish, tho it is the in- Jews in Jerusalem and Safed since tention of the Alliance to become very active in the Jewish field. 1898, is opening an industrial mis- The London Jews Society com- sion (cake-bakery) in connection menced work in Palestine in 1820, and has to-day well-organized and with Ammiel Colonization Society well-equipped stations at Jerusalem, Jaffa, Safed, and Damascus. of Dusseldorf. Haifa may become The United Free Church of Scotland employs 28 Christian agents the center of this work. M. at Tiberias, Safed, and Hebron, and reports 477 Jewish children enrolled Cholera and RE'v. I. M. Yonan during the year in the 4 schools at Tiberias and Safed. The Church Poverty in Persia writes from Uruof Scotland occupies Beirut and reports 94 Jewish boys (out of an mia: enrolment of 274), and 117 Jewish girls (out of an enrolment of 135) in From the reports which ha ye attendance. The work here suffel'- come to us, it seems that this SUIlled severely through the death of mel' cholera has visited all of the the head-master of Boys' School, big cities of Persia, and most of its MI'. Staiger. who in 1862 began towns and villages. In Sheraz, a work among the Jews in Abyssinia, city of about 40,000 inhabitants, it and was one of the missionaries de- has been most awful. The number livered from long bondage by Lord of deaths was so numerous that Napier. The Presbyterian Church they could not manage to bury of England has a flourishing work them. In Teheran, the capital, the among the 15,000 Jews at Aleppo, death-rate went up to 800 a day, while the Presbyterian Church of having a total of from 40,000 to 60,- Ireland has a well-established work 000 during three months' time-alat Damascus, which, however, just most half of its inhabitants. It is now is crippled on account of lack reported that hundreds of houses of ordained laborers. The Jerusa- in Teheran have been left vacant, lem and the East Mission Fund has and the government has sealed the three stations-namely, Jerusalem, doors until some near relative mav Beirut, and Haifa. D. C. Joseph, appeal' to claim the property. who four years ago surrendered his There have been some 6,000 deaths mission at Haifa to the London in Kermanshah, about 4,000 in Jews Society, has returned to Pal- Hamadan, and so on. estinE', and opened, under thE' name It .is not only cholera that has brought destruction to Persia this year, but most of the fruit crop and vineyard crop is destroyed by tree worms and heavy, untimely rains.
A Crowded Bot h the men's Hospital wards in the hos- in Persia pital at Kerman have been constant- ly full this year-indeed, so full that "there has often been a patient on the floor between the beds." Dr. G. E. Dodson, who is in charge, writes: Overcrowding can not be won- dered at when we trv to realize that the little hospital "has no other to the north, south, or east of it in Persia, the nearest being the C. M. S. hospital at Yezd, 220 miles to the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
west, and a twelve days' caravan Ganges, adorned with all his dis- journey too. Between us and the tinctive marks, wearing the sacred Persian Gulf, over 200 miles distant, Brahminical thread and carrying there is none; no hospital stands at in his hand a brass" lotah," full of Meshed, in Northeast Persia, to Ganges water. He advanced to the succor any who reach the sacred chancel steps and there offered up city ill after their long pilgrimage his devotions. Some days after- from any part of Persia, or more ,yard I again met him in the morn- distant country, and IlIany such ing, "lotah" in hand, near the thel'e must be. To the east the church, and asked him whether he nearest hospital is the C. l'1. S. sta- ran no risk in giving so divided an tion at Quetta. beyond the Indian attention to his own gods. ,Vith border, over 700 miles distant, some the greatest good humor he replied 50 days' steady going for the trav- that it was well to be on good eler. Many, many villages, tho terms with all the gods, whether of few large towns, lie in this radins one's own or of some other religion; oS 200 miles around us. For the after all, the displeasure of his own first half of the year we have had particular gods was of no great over 160 in-patients, including the moment for him, for it was the women's ward with its 6 or 8 beds, same Narayan that was worshiped, which is also chronically over-full. whether in the Christian church or Nearly all of these have had surgi- in the Hindu temple." cal treatment, and we find that most before they leave are not only The Growth Dr. John Mc- convinced once and for all of the One Man Laurin, of Coonoor, superiority of ,Vestern medical Has Seen India, in a letter to science, but are at least more ready the Nor'thu'est Bapto hear the reason which has bronght us to Persia to treat them, tist, of recent date, reviewing his -C. j}I, S. Glealle1', past 35 years' experience in the Telugu Mission, says: "This scribe Protestant Ve find that the has seen Baptist Telugu Christians increase from 600 to 60,000 mem- Statistics statistics for Prot- bers, missionaries from 3 to 102, and stations from 3 to 53. The dis- for India estant missions in tance between the 2 most distant stations was at that time about 80 India qu'oted in miles; it is now at least 600 miles along the coast of the Bay of Benour November nunlber are erro- gal. The station farthest from the coast was not over 10 miles then, neous in several respects. The fig- now the farthest is at least 200 miles, and yet there is much land to be ures for Anglicans, Baptists, and traversed. "
Congregationalists in Madras were First Convert The Chin people in badly mixed in the original tables. in the Haka, Burma, are Th'l totals for native Christians in Chin Hills among the wil0.est India should read: Anglicans, 225,- of the mountain 619; Presbyterians, 57,065; Bap- tribes of Burma, and they have tists, 335,758; Methodists, 133,446;' been very difficult to reach. ,Vhen Congregationalists, 107,978; Lu- the missionaries of American Bap- therans, 108,217. Total, 825,466. tist Missionary Union approached " On Good A member of the them, they seemed to have scarcely Terms With Society for the Pro- any idea of Deity; but now there All the Gods" pagation of the Gospel writes from Cawnpore: "In the church I wit- nessed an instance of that peculiar attitude of mind which enables a Hindu to enter1lain at the same time beliefs which, even if they are not contradictory, differ widely from each other. The church was open, and in walked a Hmdu on his way home from a bathe in the
appears" bright light in the cloud. Foreign Office, saying that he has From Rev. E. H. East, M.D., comes "always highly esteemed the good the good tidings that at Koset, one work which has been done in aid of of the preaching.stations, an influ- progress and I'eforms " by the" unential chief by the name of Paung selfish and earnest" missionaries. Shwin has been converted, and – lYoman's lVork. through his earnest preaching other souls have been brought out What Boys A young Chinaman of darkness into the light of Life. are Taught has written for the Is the Reform of According to the in China 1l£ission DaY8p1'ing Islam Possible? Arya Patrika (In- an intere5ting de- dia), which quotes scription of the books used by from a Mohammedan source, ad- schoolboys in China. He says the vanced Moslems are agitating the little fellow of five or six years has idea of separation from their more to learn, first of all, about 1,000 conservative brethren. The salient Chinese characters. The teacher points upon which the educated writes each of these on a small, Mohammedans agree among them- square; red paper. Next corne a selves are: few small books, one of which is " Fidelity to Parents," and then the That Islam enjoins monogamy. small student is given the books of That it does not enjoin pU1·dah. Mencius, one of Confucius's dis- That it allows the taking of com- ciples, which treat of politics. mercial interest. That it forbids slavery. Beyond Confucius it is difficult to go. The schoolboy sees the picture There areseveral other points upon of the old philosopher on the wall which they agree, but in which the of the schoolroom and bows before majority of their coreligionists are it until his head knocks the floor. not with them. One of these is that He is taught to look backward, and the Koran shall be read and prayers to' believe that all wisdom is emsaid in a language familial' to the bodied in t~e teachings of this man. worshiper, but the two great "Confucius, Confucius, great is points upon which the educated or Confucius," is a Chinese refrain. advanced Mohammedan will stand will be the observance of monog- A Chinese The Bible Society amy and the break up of pU1·dah. Governor has sent a grant of A Testimony Siam Mission sent from the a letter of congrat- Asking for 200 'Yenli New Tes- King of Siam ulation to his ma- Bibles taments to His Ex- jesty, the King of cellency Chou Fn, Siam, on his recent birthday. The letter recounted important benefits the Governor of Shantung Provof the king's "long' and progressive reign," such as the establish- ince, China, who rules over 39,000.- lllent of an educational system, founding of hospitals, prison re- 000 people. This important official, form, public works," and expressed "gratification that it is the evi- who is also a scholar of high repute, dent intention of your majesty's government to discourage and re- has expressed lL strong desire for a press gambling throughout the state." The king returned his bettel' understanding between the thanks to the mission, through the missionaries and the Chinese au- thorities; and among other means to this end, he requested Dr. Tim- othy Richard, the eminent mis- sionary in China, tn procure for him copies of the Christian Scrip- tures, which he might give to his subordinates in office for tllPm to study, becanse he was persuaded
GENERAL i'.!ISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE 15t>
that if they knew more of the A Layman's Over 100 Chinese Christian religion the anti-Christian feeling would soon die away. Forward laymen from all Movement in parts of the district Dr. John's Dr. Griffith John, China of Shanghai recent- Golden Jubilee the famous Wel;;h ly attended a con- missionary, has now only two or three seniors in ference at St. John's College, for the whole missionary body in China. Born in 1831, he went to the purpose of discussing various China in 1855, so that he is now in the fiftiet,h year of his missionary questions having to do with the life. His first years were spent in Shanghai, where he was the col- welfare of the Chinese congregaleague of Dr. Medhurst, who was the colleague of Dr. Morrison. tions and the Christian work gen- The opening of Hankow, Tientsin, Chefoo, and other ports in 1861, erally. The Chinese themselves led to some of these missionaries dispersing. Dr. John, with a proposed the conference some younger colleague, was appointed to Hankow by the London months ago, on the ground that, so Missionary Society to commence work in that city. He is now much good having resulted from engaged in completing a translation of the whole Biblp in Wen-Ii the gathering together of the memand Mandarin. The opening of Hunan province to foreign resi- bers of the district branch of the dence and missionary enterprise was, humanly speaking, largely due Woman's Auxiliary, it was to be to Dr. John's persistent· effort. The London lVIissionaty Society expected that a similar gathering and the Centr'al China Tract Society are both purposing to erect of men would have corresponding some permanent memorial in Hankow of the great services rendered advantages. A celebration of the by this veteran missionary. Holy Communion was followed hy an address by Dr. Pott and the conference discussions, under- the chairmanship of Archdeacon Thomson. Reports of the condi- tion of the different congregations were made by members chosen from them. A committee of Chi- nese gentlemen was appointed to consider the advisability of start- ing some men's work in the differ- ent parishes along the line of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. The idea seemed to meet with general acceptance.-Spi1'it of lI-l'iss'imts.
What a A Boxer cama to Surrender of Aft e r e I eve n Port Arthur months of fighting, Boxer Could Dr. S. S. McFar- Japan at last cap- Not Understand lane, of the London tured Port Arthur on January 1, 1905. The loss of men on both Missionary Society, sides is said to have reached over 100,000. And yet some complain of and said: the sacrifice of life in missiollary work! May the Russo-Japan Var I have been present at many an soon cease, but may the war of the execution and I want to ask you Lord continue with increased vigor until the world is won for Christ. two questions. (1) Vhat did .the Christians mean, when kneelmg, A Missionary The American Building Tract Society has and knowing their fate was c?me, for Seoul received from Dr. they said: "We are n?t afraid t~ Horace G. Under- die because we are gomg home? wood, of Korea, it report concern- What home? (2) How do you ac- . count for the fact .that they pra~ed for the very people who were gomg to execute them? A religion that has a grit like that must have some- thing in it. Tell me your secret.
ing propositions and plans for a ing, for hearts softening, for doors Tract Society building in that opening. for converts openly Korean capitol, costing $12,000. preaching and teaching Christ up Dr. Underwood says that the pro- and down the land. Let the brethposed building is to be large enough ren know that the time is ripe and for use by the British and Foreign the harvest is coming soon, so keep and the American Bible societies, on believing. I find that Torl'ey is and the Christian publishing cen- right, Preach for results and you ter for the whole of Korea. A fund get them."-C. M. S. Intelligencer. was started a year ago by Rev. John B. Devins, D.D., of the New How the The British govern- York ObSC1'Vel', and a total of $300 Gospel Enters ment has been slow was soon received. More recently the missionaries in Seoul have the Sudan to permit anything raised about $3,000 for this pur'pose. in the nature of 'L'hey have asked the Secretary of the American Tract Society, Rev. Christian missions in the Moham- George L. Shearer. D.D., to act as medan Sudan. It fears a stirring financial agent of the project in up of fanaticism. But the Lord this country. Jesus Christ does not ask even the Christian governments of the world Japanese A recent issue of where His Kingdom shall be estab- Presbyterians the Gospel News, lished. Christians belonging to the United Presbyterian churches in a Japanese paper, Egypt are moving into the Sudan gives some interesting statistics re- for business reasons, are taking garding the meeting on October 6th their Christianity with them, and of the Synod of the Presbyterian are now arranging to have pastors Church in Japan. Connected with and preachers. This the British this body are 75 churches and 109 government can not refuse. So the mission churches, 174 ministers and Gospel is to be preached in the Suevangelists, and 7,500 communicant dan. (See article on page 85.) members. Last year there were 1,500 baptisms. Contributions to Moroccfl Sixty-nine missionall causes amounted to over $45,000. Almost aries are at present AFRICA Untouched engaged in evangel- Even Moslems At Cairo the C. M. are Touched S. missionaries are izing the 60,000,000 experiencing many inhabitants of Morocco. Twentyencouraging opportunities for speaking and preaching to Mos- five of these, working in 5 cities, lems, and even to students of the Al Azhar. The Rev. D. M. Thorn- belong to the North Africa Mission, ton has recently addressed men from Fulah Town, Sierra Leone; whiie 4± belong to other societies Timbuctoo; Shangit, near Tirat; Yemen; Fez; and Turkey. The or work independently. Bible, bought at the mission depot, is possessed by a number of stu- Government Word was received dents, and is even read openly by Opposition from Tangier on some of them within the walls of in Morocco December 24th that the Al Azhar itself. Mr. Thornton writes: "Praise for blessing com- the British minister has instructed the British consul and all British subjects to leave Fez. It is feared that all the other foreigners will also be told to leave. If true, this will hinder the work of the North African .Mission and the Gospel Union lIission in Fez.
By the terms of the treaty be- tween France and England, France
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
has been given the control of Progress A private letter Morocco. The news comes from Among the from our beloved Paris that the policy of France will Garenganze correspondent, be to employ only the most bene- Fred. S. Arnot, ficent means to improve Morocco says: and to advance and educate its people. It is declared that France It is impoRsible to gather up in expects to conquer the people by a few words all that God has civilizing, not by killing. A teacher and physician will be sent to wrought in this country since I was each Moroccan village. France last here. Then we seemed to be plans to expend large sums of money to build hospitals, school- picking away with wooden picks at houses, bridges and roads, and will a mass of concrete-one of the nahelp the sultan in his efforts to rule tives, since converted, said, the his people well. Recent reports, however, indicate that all is not other day, that" then our preachsmooth sailing for French projects. ing seemed like voices heard in What a Card It is recorded with dreams." lV01V, within a radius of, with a Text Did gratification by the say, 15 miles of the two stations of Ochilanda and Owhalando there British and Foreign Bible Society that a native trader are over 200 professing Christians, from Timbuctu visiting Bathurst most of them being evidently real took home a card with a text writ- cases, as this work is far from beten in Arabic, and on returning to ing popular. The Portuguese trad- Bathurst the fonowing year pur- ers plot and plan to overthrow the chased an Arabic Bible. So great converts, and at the present mohad been the interest excited among his fellow countrymen by hearing ment they have had a professing the contents of the book that re- Christian put in prison on what we cently, on a third visit, he bought believe is a false charge. Then the 18 copies of the Arabic Bible. relatives have treated some of the young converts in the most cruel way. It is beautiful, too, to see among them a natural and earnest desire to carry the Gospel to the tribes around, and this week we have called all the Christians to- gether for a "Missionary Confer- ence." Some of the young men have the desire to go forth on a two or three months' journey, and we hope to see the whole church united in sending them forth.
Converts Seven of the 11 con- Progress in The Ngoni or An- Ngoniland goni tribes inhabiton the verts recently bap- ing the territory Kongo tized by Rev. Mr. west of Lake Nyasa, in the British Central Africa Protectorate, used Clark, at Ikoko, on to be the terror of all surrounding regions. In 1875 the Northern the Kongo, were girls who had been Ngoni tribes, elYpecially lived by war and for war upon everybody scholars in the school there. A whose property they had strength to seize. Dr. Stewart (" Dawn in number of other women presented the Dark Con tinen t," p. 233) says: " On a ten days' jonrney down the themselves for baptism, but were west side of the lake in 1877 I found the people living in triple advised to wait a little for further stockaded villa g3S, and the country was a land of alarms and attacks, instruction. It was explained to of perpetual terror and of miserable life." They were constantly raided one elderly woman that she had by the Ngoni, with none to protect.
been rejected only on account of lack of knowledge, and she was urged to come often to the station that the mission~ry and his wife might talk with her. She smiled and said: "Tho rejected by the church, I can still go on with Jesus."
The ruling elements of the Ngoni commissioner and his wife and his tribes are of Bantu stock, hardly differing in language-or in cruelty assistant, attended by the Scottish -from the Zulus of the olden time. Then the mission of the Free missionaries, but without one sin- Church of Scotland came to Lake Nyasa and began to try to influence gle armed soldier as body-guard. these wild robbers for peace. A native preacher from Kaffraria, He could trust that host as they named Villiam Koki, was brought to Nyasaland to help the mission- trusted him. Altho the majority aries, and he soon won great influence. Under Providence he of the tribesmen present were paprepared a way in the Angoni wilderness for the Gospel. Num- gans, Christianity is the solvent bers of leading men among the Ngoni began to refuse to join the which brought all together in what parties which went out by tribes to rob. Such men had learned enough President Roosevelt might call a to see that peace is better; before the teaching of the Gospel of Peace "peace of justice." t the Ngoni 'Yar'spirit began to vanish away. The British administra- ISLANDS OF THE SEA tion found matters at this stage when it established itself in Nyasa- New In response to an land; in fact, the Ngoni had so far become tamed by the Gospel that Mission Work appeal from the in 1896 the British commissioner was able to treat with their chiefs in Hawaii Hawaiian Evangelas responsible parties, promising to recognize their authority in the ical Association, tribes so long as they kept order. the Congregational Home Mission- The London Times of December 2d publishes a letter f!'Om Dr. Don- ary Society has appropriated the ald Fraser, giving a new chapter in the interesting story of the evolu- sum of $3,000 to enable that assotion of a nation from these savage tribes. On September 2, 1904, a ciation to maintain and enlarge great council of the Northern Ngoni chiefs formally made an the work among the English-speakagreement with ~e British commissioner for a British official to ing and native races of the islands. administer their country, with the aid of certain of their own chiefs as This is in the effort to conserve acouncil. The whole tribe rejoiced over the agreement, a!'ld the tre- the fruits of the many years of mendous transformation that thirty years have wrought among work of the American Board. The those tribes received the climax of emphasis through the fact that in American Missionary Association, the m'dst of that great circle of thousands of Ngoni armed with in response to the appeal of the spears and shields sat the British Hawaiian Evangelical Association, has made an appropriation of $6,000 to enable that association to establish and carryon work among the Asiatic races, the Chinese and Japanese, who are becoming resi- dents of the islands.
Rapid Progress The Anglican :Mis- in New Guinea s ion i n N e w Guinea has made remarkable progress during the last five years. It has now 53 workers, 12 mission stations, 40 preaching places, 300 baptized na- tives, 100 communicants, and more than 1,000 scholars in its schools. As to the results, listen to the Gov- ernor of New Guinea: "A man must go with it gun in those parts of the island where there are no missions. An umbrella suffices in the districts under missionary in- fluence. "
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Our Task in The blood of all Work for Jews All the different the Philippines mankind flows in in Australasia Australasian soci- the Philippine Is- eties for the evan- lands. There is the most interest- gelization of the Jews have now ing place on earth in which to study been united into one interdenomi- the mingling of races. Black, national "Australasian Mission to brown, red, yellow, and white are the Jews." The new society has all there, pure 61' mixed in binary, its headquarters in Melbourne, and tenary, and quaternary combina- is closely connected with the Prayer tions. In the islands the United Union for Israel. Its report is pub- States has conquered and annexed lished in The Friend of Israel more souls than the 'Vestern Hemi- (Australian edition). The mission- sphere contained at their discovery. ary in charge, Mr. Gewnerz, reports The following table gives their dis- many opportunities for preaching tribution: the Gospel to the Jews and encour· aging signs of blessings. There Luzon and neighboring islands …… 3,600,000 are, according to latest advices, Mindoro and vicinity…….p'. •••••••• 225,000 16,840, Jews in Australasia, 5,500 of Visayas Archipelago …………….. 2,400,000 whom live in Melbourne, 6,000 in lIIindanao . … . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 600,000 Sydney, and 1,611 in New Zealand. Calamianes and Palawan………… 7'2,000 Sulu Islands and Basilan. .. . . . .. .. . . . 104,000 M.
Total. ……………………… 7,001,000 MISCELLANEOUS Its total area is 300,000 square How Native Dr. Judson Smith, miles, and the densest population Agents are of the American is in Mindanao, 62 to the square Increasing Boat'd, reports to mile; the smallest in Palauan, 5 to the square mile; while that of what a gratifying Luzon is 33 to the square mile. extent the work of this society is in native hands. During the last Then and Now The first mission to twenty years the force of native in Tahiti the South Sea Is- preachers has been doubled, and lands was the re- this is true also of other helpers. And at the same time there has sult of Captain Cook's visit. It been as great gain in the quality was commenced by the London and efficiency of the native work- Missionary Society in 1796, when ers. They are now almost wholly the Duff sailed from England with men who have been educated in the 29 missionaries for the Island of colleges of the missions. The 2,000 Tahiti. This mission was continued teachers in the schools of the misfor a number of years. The dawn sions, or in mission fields, have also broke in 1811, and with the swift- received their training largely in ness of the tropical day the sun mission colleges. rese and filled the whole region with a marvelous light! The first OBITUARY converts became pioneer missionaries. The force of their character, J. Murray The death of J. that martial spirit which has led Mitchell Murray MItchell, them to be perpetually fighting their neighbors, was turned to good LL.D., recalls his account, and the story of the hero- faithful service in India, and his ism of those early pioneers, the na- able contributions to the literature tive evangelists of the South Seas, of missiops. He was born at Aberis one of the most thrilling of mod- deen, Scotland, and ordained as an ern missionary enterprise. Indian missionary in 1838, and be- came associated with Dr. John REV. R. WARDLAW THOMPSON. Wilson, of Bombay. He labored
in India for many years-a part of heart, until her great aim was to the period at Poona, but chiefly in give herself to care for the suffer- Bombay, and at a later period he ing children of London, and live was one or two years in Calcutta. among them. In lS06, at 40 years He was an able scholar, and a man of age, returning from a visit to of noble Christian spirit-gentle America, the thought of Canada as and attractive. He was beloved a home for the little English waifs, by his fellow missionaries and by began to take shape, and led to a the natives, and he brought not a scheme of emigration. She c'rossed few of the latter into the fold of the ocean more than a score of Christ. Mrs. Mitchell, who sur- times to plant these orphans in vives him, after more than sixty Christian homes, and many whom years of married life, was an ardent she thus placed have becollle good fellow laborer, carrying on work citizens, and some of them influen- among the girls. tial and even prominent as such, In later years Dr. Mitchell took in the home of their adoption. Her charge of the Free Church of Scot- funeral drew together a host of land Mission at Nice, and was great- friends, for few women had, or de- ly esteemed by the English com- served to have, more warm and en- munity there, and by the French thusiastic admirers. A. T. P.
pastors and people. His volumes, entitled: "Letters to Indian Frances H. The passing away, Youth," .. In 'Vestern India," and Willard. at the Presbyterian "Hinduism, Past and Present." of Alaska Hospital in Sitka, have been widely used. of this beloved na- tive Alaskan missionary marks the Annie Macpherson. Mis sAn n i e close of a remarkable life. Frances of London Mac p hers 0 n H. 'Villard, gifted, cultured, con- died at Howe, secrated, was easily the foremost Brighton, England, November woman of her race. Rescued from 27th, in her eightieth year. Her heathenism by the first missionary work, already set before our readers sent to Alaska, who sheltered the (page 169, March, 1903), ranks very little ten-year-old girl in the Pres- high among the forms of benevo- byterian Missionary Home at Fort lent activity. She was her father's 'Vrangel; coming East a few years secretary when he superintended later for foul' years of study and the Ockham Industrial Schools; preparation in it private school in after his death for seven years at Elizabeth, New Jersey, winning work among the men employed in many friends by her brightness and the digging of coprolites in a Cam- intelligence, and proving herself bridgeshire village, distributing the equal in attainments of her tracts, reading to them at meal- fellow pupils from more favored times, then conducting an evening homes; returning to "her people,"
school and mission hall. The life as she loved to call those of her race; of Muller led to new ventures of taking up the work' of interpreter, faith and prayer, and the influence teacher, missionary; purified as by of Mrs. Pennyfather, of Mildmay fire; patient in suffering and Park, Lady Rowley, then at work triumphant in death, Frances H.
among the London poor, and Miss 'Villard has left behind her an ex- Clara Lowe, who drew out her ~mple that will be to Alaska~s and heart to the match-box makers, fed to all who knew her a stimulus and a the fire already kindled in her blessing.-Home Mission Monthly.
The Missionary Review of the World — April 1900
A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION IN
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
Old Series. t APRIL. { New Series. VOL. XXIII. No.4. f VOL. XIII. No.4.
MISSIONARY QUICKENINGS OF THE CENTURY.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-eHIKF.
The most conspicuous seal of God upon the mission work of the century is found in the spiritual quiclcenings which have, at some time, visited with the power of God every field of labor which has been occupied by the Church with any energy of effort. and persistence of prayer. We have called these" quickenings" rather than" revivals,"
for revival really means a restoration of life-vigor after a season of lapse into indifference and inaction, and properly applies to the Olmrch.
We treat now of quickenings out of a state of absolute spiritual death; and again we point to these as the most indisputable and unanswer- able sanction and seal of God on modern missions. The following are among the most memorable of the century, arranged for convenience, in the order of time.
1815-1816. Tahiti, under the labors of Nott, Hayward, etc. 1818-1823. Sierra Leone, under William A. B. Johnson. 1819-1839. South Seas, under labors of John Williams. 1822-1826. Hawaiian Islands, under Bingham, Thurston, etc. 1831-1835. New Zealand, under Samuel Marsden, ~i;e. 1832-1839. Burma and Karens, under Judson, Boardman, etc. 1835-1839. Hilo and P1tna, under Titus Coan. 1835-1837. lffadagascar, under Griffiths, Johns, Baker, etc. 1842-1867. Germany, under J. Gerhard Oncken and others. 1844–1850. Fiji Islands, under Hunt and Calvert, etc. 1848-1872. Aneityum, under John Geddie, and others. 1845-1895. Old Calabar, under J. J. Fuller, etc. 1845-1847. Persia, under Fidelia Fiske, etc. 1856-1863. North American Indians, under William Duncan. 1859-1861. English Universities, under D. L. Moody, and others. 1863-1870. Egypt and Nile Valley, under Drs. Lansing, Hogg, etc. 1863-1888. China, generally, especially Hankow, etc. 1864–1867. 1867-1869. Euphrates District, under Crosby I!. Wheeler, etc. 1872-1875. 1872-1880. Aniwa, under John G. Paton, etc. 1877-1878. Japan, under J. H. Ballagh, Verbeck:'Tfepburn, etc. 1877-1885. Paris, France, under Robert W. McAll.'''' Telngus, under Lyr'an Jewitt and Dr. Clough. Formosa, under George L. Mackay.
1883—1890. Banza Manteke, under Henry Richards. 1893-1898. Uganda, under Pilkington, Roscoe, etc.
Others might be added, but we have selected these twenty-five instances, as sufficient to illustrate the fact that throughout the wide domain of Christian effort, God has signally bestowed blessing. The instances we have italicized were marked by peculiar swift and sudden outpourings of spiritual power, and it will be seen that these form about half of the entire number, shewing that God works in two very di verse ways, in some cases rewarding toil by rapid and sudden visitations of the Spirit, and in quite as many other by slower but equally sure growth and development.
It is also very noticeable that in almost everyone of these marked outpourings some peculiar principle or law of God's bestowment of blessing is exhibited and exemplified.
For example, the work at Tahiti followed a long night of toil, and was the crown of peculiar persistence in the face of most stubborn resistance. At Sierra Leone, Johnston found about as hopeless a mass of humanity as ever was rescued from slave-ships, and he himself was an uneducated man and at first unordained, a layman.
John Williams won his victories in the South Seas by the power of a simple proclamation of the Gospel, as an itinerant; and then first came into full view the power of native converts as evangelists. In the Hawaiian group and particularly in Hilo and Puna, it was the oral preaching to the multitudes that brought blessing-Titus Coan holding a three years' camp-meeting.
In New Zealand, Marsden had first to lay foundations, patiently and prayerfully, and showed great faith in the Gospel. Judson and Boardman, in Burma, found among the Karens a people whom God had mysteriously prepared, tho a subject and virtually enslaved race.
In Madagascar the grand lesson centers about the power of the Word of God to win the love of the people and hold them fast through a' quarter century of Neronian persecution. Oncken and his companions in Germany exemplify what seven men who met in a shoemaker's shop to organize a New Testament church can do by personal labor to regenerate a community. In the Fiji group, God has shown how the worst and fiercest cannibals can be transformed into a loving and loyal Christian brotherhood. Aneityum stands for evermore for the extermination of heathenism, in tho memorable tablet reared to John Geddie, recording the fact that when he came he "found no Christians," and when he departed he "left no heathens."
Old Calabar was the scene of triumph over deep-rooted customs and age-long superstitions; in Persia, the blessing came upon an educational work attempted single-handed among women and girls. Wm. Duncan in his Metlakahtla reared a model state out of Indians hitherto so fierce and hostile that he dared not assemble hostile tribes in one meeting, The revival in the English universities is especially memorable as the real birth-time of the Cambridge Mission Band and the Student Volunteer Movement, which crystallized fully twentyfive years later. In Egypt the transformation was gradual, dependent on teaching as much as preaching, but it has made the Nile Valley one of the marvels of missionary triumph. In China the most marked features were the influence of medical missions and the raising up of a body of unpaid lay-evangelists, who itinerated through their own home territory. On the Euphrates the conspicuous feature was the organization of a large number of self-supporting churches on the tithe system-sometimes starting with only ten members-with native pastors. At Aniwa three and a half years saw an ut,ter subversion of the whole social fabric of idolatry. In, Japau the signal success was found in the planting of the foundations of a native church, and the remarkable spirit of prayer outpoured on native converts. In France, McAll made a new experiment, opening salles for workingmen, and actually winning converts out of the terrible Commune, until his halls became the most effective police stations; and all his w~rk was as unclerical as possible, at the very antipodes to all priestcraft methods. As to the Lone Star Mission among the 'felugus, it was the power of persistence in prayer, after twenty-five years of seemingly vain endeavor, that God made most conspicuous, and the blessing was in connection with a widespread famine. In Formosa, Mackay won his victories by training a band of young men as evangelists, who with him went out to plant new missions. At Banza Manteke, Richards came to a crisis, and ventured literally to obey the New Testament injunctions in the Sermon on the Mountfor example, "give to him that asketh thee." In Uganda it was the new self-surrender and anointing of the missionaries, and reading of the Scriptures by the unconverted natives, on which God so singularly smiled. Pilkington said in London that he had never known three converts who had not been Bible readers.
Thus, as we take the whole experience of the century together, we find the following emphatic lessons taught us: 1. God has set special honor upon His own Gospel. Where it hat! been most simply and purely preached the largest fruits have ultimately followed.
2. The translation, publication, and public and private reading of the Scriptures have been particularly owned by the Spirit.
3. Schools, distinctively Christian, and consecrated to the purposes of education of a thoroughly Christian type, have been schools of the Spirit of God.
4. The organization of native churches, on a self-supporting basis with native pastors, and sending out their own members as lay evangelists, has been sealed with blessing.
5. The crisis has always been turned by prayer. At the most disheartening periods, when all seemed hopeless, patient waiting on God in faith has brought sudden and abundant floods of blessing.
6. The more complete self-surrender of missionaries themselves and their new equipment by the Holy Spirit, has often been the open~ ing of a new era to the native Church and the whole work. . These 'are lessons worth learning, a;nd they may be our guides as we enter upon a new century of missions. The secrets of success are no different from what they were in apostolic days.
Our God is the same God, and His methods do not essentially change. He has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the good tidings to the whole creation; and the promise, "Lo, I am with you alway," is inseparable from obedience. In connection with this Gospel message He has given us certain prominent aids, which are by no means to be reckoned as belonging to a realm of minor importance, and among them Christian teaching, Bible searching, fervent prayer, and Holy Spirit power outrank all other conditions of successful service. The survey of the century is like reading new chapters in the Acts; no true believer can attempt it carefully without finding a new Book of God in the history of this hundreq years. Any man or woman who will take the score or more of marked quickenings we have outlined, and give a solid month to their consecutive study, will find all doubts dissipated that the living God has been at work, and that no field, however hard and stony and hopelessly barren, can ultimately resist culture on New Testament lines. A book exclusively devoted to the story of these mission triumphs in China and Formosa, India and Japan, Turkey and Egypt, Africa and France, the red men of America and the wild men of Burma, Polynesia, and Persia, would be of fascinating interest and incalculable value. We hope that in the great Ecumenical Conference, of 1900 there will be a place on the program for the united testimony from all lands to the great power of God. In nothing do we need a new and clarified vision more than in the clear perception and conviction that the days of the supernatural are not passed. Here is the school where these lessons are taught. Ten centuries of merely natural forces at work would never have wrought what ten years have accomplished, with every human condition forbidding snccess. A feeble band of missionaries in the midst of a vast host of the heathen have been compelled to master a foreign tongue, and often reduce it for the first time to written form, translate the Word of God, set up schools, win converts, and train them into consistent members and competent evangelists; remove mountains of ancestral superstitions and uproot sycamine trees of pagan customs; esta.blish medical missions, Christian colleges, create a Christian literature, model society on a new basis; and they have done all this within the lifetime of a generation, and sometimes within a decade of years! Even Pharaoh's magicians would have been compelled to confess, " This is the finger of God!"
THE PERSONNEL OF THE ECUMENICAL QONFERENCE
THE PERSONNEL OF THE ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE.
BY REV. JUDSON S)fITH, D.D., BOSTON, }fASS. Chairman of the General Committee of the Ecumenical Conference.
As the time draws near for the assembling of the Ecumenical Con- ference on Foreign Missions in :New York next April, and as the pro- gram is practically completed, we are able to form some definite conceptions as to its character and promise. The world of Protestant missions is to be more fully represented than in any gathering ever yet held, both the countries that maintain and man and direct these vast operations, and also the continents, peoples, and islands in every hemisphere, and beneath every sky that are visited by this great enterprise. Here is to be ex- hibited on a grand scale, and in a convincing way, the unity of the race, and the simplicity and power of the forces that are drawing the nations together and lifting them all to a higher plane of life and de- velopment. The unwasting vitality of the Christian faith will receive palpable demonstration; the com- petency of that faith for every religious and social problem of man in all ages, nations, and con- ditions, will shine forth with a clearness that none can gainsay or resist. Better than all treatises on apologetics will be the living HON. BENJAMIN HAR.RISON.
evidence of this stupendous and Former President of the United States. supremely successful enterprise. Honorary President of the Conference.
It may not be amiss to glance at the personnel of this great confer- ence, and gather from that source some sense of its meaning and power. It should be understood, however, that this is no attempt to describe all who are to have part in the program, or even to describe fully anyone. It is rather a bird's-eye view, to suggest the dignity and unwonted character of the delegation, and to quicken the wish and purpose of all to have some part in so striking an event.
Hon. Benjamin Harrison, former President of the United States, has consented to serve as the honorary president of the conference, and his presence, even in the few sessions which he will be able to attend, will be of greatest value and interest. Having filled the high- est position in the gift of the people of this country, and sustaining an honored place in the great Presbyterian Church, he fitly represents
in himself the close connection between the civil and religious life of the ti.mes. Among the vice-presidents and other gentle- men who are expected to preside at one or more sessions of the conference, we may name such men as Messrs. William E. Dodge, D. Willis James, Morris K. Jessup, and President Seth Low of New York, Mr. Samuel B. Oapen of Boston, Dr. J. M. L. Ourry of Washington, ex-Mayor Shiel'en of Brooklyn, Bishop Potter of the EUGENE STOCK. ESQ. Episcopal Ohurch, and ' Bishop Andrews of the M. :E. Church. Secretary of the CllUrcb Mfssfonnry Society. Assurance>; are given that the missionary societies of Great Bri tain will be generally represented in the conference, some of them by large numbers. These men will con- stitute a very important part of the conference, representing the oldest and the greatest Protestant missionary societies of the times.
Let me name some of the men from these societies who will bear a leading part in thc discussions of the occa;;ion.
Mr. Eugene Stock, cditorial sccretary of the Ohurch Missionary Society, is to be present, aud to present a }Japer upon the "Re- view of the Oentury." For this Mr. Stock has preeminen t quali- fications. He is 'the gifted and ycrsatile editor of the Ohurch il1issionary I ntelligencer and the many other publications of his society, and the products of his pen constantly enrich these pages and give them an almost un- rivaled eminence among the peri- odical missionary literature of the day:. Mr. Stock has just com- pleted the monumental history of the first hundred years of the Ohnrch Missionary Society, which, i.n three octavo volumes, is a thesaurus of information con- cerning the origin and work of REV. J. HUDSON T,<YLOR. that society, and a lively review Founder of the China Inland Mission.
THE PERSONNEL OF THE ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE
of contemporaneous events during the same period. A writer of unusual clearness and power, representing a society which receives an aL.!lual income of $1,900,000, and himself long time in official con- nection with that society, Mr. Stock will be one of the striking figures of the occasion, and his contribution to the conference one of the highest order.
From the London Missionary Society, organized in 179fi, and car- rying on a wonderfully successful work in the Pacific islands, in Africa including Madagascar, in India, and in China, there will be present Hev. Halph Wardlaw Thompson, the foreign secretary. Mr.
Thompson is a noticeable man in any assembly; rather above the average in height and size, with a capacious forehead, a clear, deep eye, and the alertness of youthful vigor. In public address he is weighty, direct, forcible, and attractive. Very few missionary officials of our day have traveled so widely through mission fields, or are so well ac- quainted with the different phases of missionary work, as it is seen on the ground where it is carried on, as Mr. Thompson; and his paper, which bears upon the ques- tion of the relation of mission- ary boards to the missions which they establish, will be of peculiar value for the range of facts which REV. 'Jt. WARDLAW THOMPSON. he has at command, and for the Secretary of the London Missionary Society.
practical suggestions which he is so eminently fitted to offer.
The Free Church of Spotlall(l will be represented by one of its greatest missionaries, Robert Laws, M.D., D.D., of South Africa. The chairman of the foreign missionary committee, the Rev. Prof. T. M.
Lindsay, D.D., of Glasgow University, was to have been present but has been obliged to decline on account of illness.
The China Inland Mission, an undenominational missionary society, will be represented by its director and principal missionary, the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor. Short of stature, rather stout, with clear voice, simple in utterance, and direct in style, full of earnestness and nnction, ~1r. 'raylor awakens attention from the first when he speaks, and his words are listened to with sustained interest to the end. The great work in China, which has grown up under the effective leader- ship of this remarkable man, has made his name familiar in all places
where missionary work is done; and while an address from him upon any subject would command closest attention, a paper such as he is to present in the conference, upon" The Source of Power in Missionary Work," will be sure to give elevation and high spiritual quality to the opening discussions of that occasion.
No one can speak upon the extent and value of literary work in the mission field, with more point or with more striking illustrations at command, than the Rev. Timothy Richard, of Shanghai, who has for many years represented and honored the English Baptist Missionary Society in its work in China. Dr. Richard is now the secretary and animating spirit of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge in China, with headquarters at Shanghai. He has worked in a special field and along unusual lines in order to bring the best literature of the Western world to the leading minds among the Chinese, and his labors have been remarkably effective. Dr. Richard is generally believed to have had a very close connection with the Reform Movement at Peking, led by the emperor of China, which so took the world by surprise during the summer months of 1898. Anything from Dr. Richard will surely be of lasting value as well as of great popular interest.
A paper from Canon Edmonds, whosc voice was heard with great delight in the conference at Exeter Hall in 1888, will be I; marked contribution to the interest and value of the discussions next April. Canon Edmonds, who holUs a high position in the Anglican Church, and represents the British and Foreign Bible society, can voice in a peculiarly happy way the Christian sentiments of the higher class of Englishmen, as he exemplifies personally many of the nobler qualities of the English civilization. Treating of the importance and history of Bible translation and distribution, as connected with missionary work, Canon Edmonds will be perfectly at home, and will speak with a rare wealth of illustration and learning, and power of statement.
Rev. J. G. Watt is one of the younger secretaries of the British and Foreign Bible society, and brings to his post rare modesty, a happy style, and great learning. Youthful as he is he is already a recognized authority in many questions connected with the translation and distribution of the Bible. The subject of his paper at the conference is, "The Enthronement of the Missionary Idea in the Home Churches."
Rev. Robert Lovett represents the Religious Tract Society, one of the most effective auxiliaries to foreign missions in every land, with its wisely chosen and valuable literary products. Mr. Lovett is the author of the standard history of the London Missionary Society during its first century, a work in two octavo volumes, which has but recently appeared and which is an invaluable addition to the missionary knowledge of the times. It is hoped that Mr. Lovett will present at
the conference a paper upon the contribution" of book and tract societies to missionary work.
The missionary organizations of Australia will be represented by Mr. George A. King, of Vic- toria, and his paper upon the wider relations of missions as shown in discovery, geography, commerce, and diplomacy will touch upon most interesting fea- tures of missionary work and will be a positive addition to the variety and value of the discus- sions of the conference.
The time would fail to speak REV. A. MERENSKY, D.D' at length of the many other brethren from the missionary Berlin Missionary Society.
societies of Great Britain, whose presence will be welcomed and whose words will be heard with delight.
The German societies are to be represented by Rev. Dr. Schreiber, of the Rhenish Missionary Society, and Rev. A. Merensky, D.D., of the Berlin Missionary Society, both names of eminence in foreign missionary work. The German societies have chosen not to send individual representatives of each organization, but to designate the brethren named above as repre- sentatives of the whole group of societies, so that a peculiar in- terest will attach to the presence of these gentlemen and a peculiar weight be given to all their utter- ances. We shall expect to gain from them a much livelier im- pression than we now possess of the variety, snccess, and present state of the missionary work in the hands of these German socie- ties.* REV. WILLIAM ASHMORE, D. D., CHINA. *Dr. Schreiber has seen missionary servo ~lIsRlonary of American BaptiBt Missionary Union. ice in Sumatra, and Dr. Merensky labored from 186(H882 in the Transvaal. He was then connected with the home department of the .Berlin SOciety until 1891, when he led an expedition to Nyassaland and founded missions in Kondeland, etc. Dr. Merensky is now one of the editorial correspondents of this REVIEW.-EDITORS.
The ecumenical character of the conference will be signally illustrated by the presence of missionaries from well nigh all the mission fields of the world. These missionaries will represent many boards, European and American, and their contributions to the dis- cussions will be of the greatest value. They will speak as experts in regard to every phase of missionary work, and their testimony, being that of eye-witnesses as to what the Gospel has already achieved, will repeat in many forms the note of widespread and glorious victory.
Among the missionaries from China may be mentioned Dr. William Ashmore of Swatow, Dr. R. C. Beebe, of Nanking, Dr. Timothy Richard of Shanghai, and Dr. D. Z. Sheffield of Tungcho, representing respectively the evangelistic, the literary, the medical, and the educational work of that empire. Dr. Jacob Chamber- lain, Bishop Thoburn, Dr. E.
W. Parker, Dr. Van Allen, Dr. J. E. Clough, and a host of others from the missions in India, will enrich the discus- .sions of the conference and add to our practicaL knowledge of missionary work in that continental peninsula. Bishop J. O. Hartzell, Dr. Hobert Laws of Livingstonia, and Rev.
Andrew Murray, are among the missionaries from Africa whose voices will be heard and REV. JOHN G. PATON, D.D. whose testimony will add to Presbyterian Missionary to the New Hebrides Islands. the variety and volume of those deliberations. Dr. H. O.
Dwight, Rev. Edward Riggs, Rev. O. S. Sanders, Rev. E. B. Haskell, will speak for their associates throughont the Turkish empire of the present state and prospects of missionary work in that historic land.
Among those we shall welcome from Japan are Dr. M. L. Gordon, Dr. J. C. Hepburn, Dr. I. H. Oorrell, and Dr. J. O. Spencer. Dr.
John G. Paton, the veteran missionary to the New Hebrides, is also expected to be present.
The great mission fields will be surveyed in many sectional meet- ings, and here will be gathered in varied and striking form the experiences and observations of the missionaries of all lands and names, a testimony to the wisdom and power and success of missions, clear, wide in sweep, convincing, and persuasive, which none can gainsay or resist. As men hear and gather the meaning and feel the
1900.J TlIE PERSONNEL OF TlIE ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE
power of it aU they will be ready to say: "Like a mighty army moves the Church of God."
For obvious reasons the American societies will be more largely represented than the societies from across the sea. The American names that appear include a goodly number of those who are officially connected with the foreign missionary organizations of the land, many leading pastors, men in charge of colleges and seminaries, and specialists in missionary organizations and literature. These are so well known in our country that scarcely more is needful than the mention of a few of many names that might be given. Dr. Alexander Sutherland of the Canadian Methodist Board will sum up the dis- cussion upon mIssIOnary comity and the division of fields; Rev. R. P. Mackay of the Canadian Presbyterian Board wi11 speak upon the support of missions by the home churches; Rev. S. H.
Chester, D.D., of the South- ern Presbyterian Board, will discuss the development of native leaders in mission churches; Hev. W. R. Lam- buth of the Southern Meth- odist Board, will prBsent a paper on the present state of self-support in mISSIOn churches; Rev. Geof6e Scholl, D.D., of the Evan- REV. JACOB CHAMBERLAIN, MD., b.D., INDIA. gelical Lutheran Board, will treat of the utility of mis- )!iss!onary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church of America.
sionary boards and societies; Mr. Robert E. Speer, of the Presbyterian Board, will speak on the supreme and determining aim of foreign missions.
Among presidents and professors of colleges and seminaries we shall hear Dr. James B. Angell of Michigan University, on new prob- lems in the relation;; between missions and governments; Dr. John Henry Barrows of Oberlin College, on the right attitude of Chris- tianity toward the non-Christian faiths; Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall of Union Theological Seminary, on the relation of students and other young people to foreign missions; Dr. C. D. Hartranft of Hartford Theological Seminary, on the relation of foreign missions to social progress and the peace of the world; Dr. A. H. Strong of Rochester Theological Seminary, on the authority and purpose of foreign missions.
Among the pastors who have parts are Dr. Behrends of Brooklyn, who is to speak of the effect on the churches of supporting foreign mis- sions; Dr. David H. Greer of New York, on the reflex influence of foreign missions on other benevolent enterprises; Dr. Geo. F. Pentecost of Yonkers, on the possible power of the pastors; Dr. King of Providence, on the spirit and limitation of mis- sionary comity; Dr. Maltbie B.
Babcock of New York, on the present situation, its claims and opportunities; Dr. Geo. T. Purves BISHOP J. M. THOBURN, D.O. of New York, on the apologetic 1Iiss!onary ~~;~~Jf:~~(:N,~;'I~~~f;.opal Church value of missions. Dr. James S.
Dennis, author of "Ohristian Mis- sions and Social Progress," will present a summary of the statistics of the century, ail. invaluable paper. Dr. J. M. Buckley, the distin· guished editor of the New York Christian Advocate, will speak on "The Relation of Missionary Societies to the Ohurches at Home."
Rev. A. T. Pierson, D D., of the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, will speak of the superintending providence of God in foreign missions.
Extended as this list seems to be, it is but a partial representation of the names that are mentioned in the program of the conference or of the papers and discussions which will be presented there. Even tho the program may seem to many crowded with subjects and men, it must be borne in mind that the great theme with which the occasion deals is but partially brought to sight therein; it is but an intro- ductory glimpse which, even through these eleven days of sessions, will be given of this most majestic en- terprise. The character of the program would not be rightly ap- prehended by anyone who should overlook the fact that the sessions of each day are opened with a devotional meeting of half an hour. REV. EDWARD RIGGS, TURKEY, These meetings are regarded as of :Missionary of the American Board.
FOREIGN MISSIONS AT THE JUNCTION OF TWO CENTURIES
prime importance by those who have made preparation for this gathering. Their aim and hope has been to call renewed and deeper attention to the spiritual forces that give life and character to the whole enterprise, and it is believed that in these morning gatherings for prayer the right tone to the sessions of the day will be given and the happiest outcome to its discussions be best secured.
'1'he occasion is exceptional in the history of the religious life of the times, its discussions will be unique among the contributions to the Christian literature of the day, and its results we can not but hope will be seen not merely in the noble volumes which will give permanent form to its principal discussions, but much more in the deepened devotion and renewed energy of the whole host of God to press this great and glorious work on to final victory.
PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS AT THE JUNO'l'ION OF 'rwo OENTURIES: 1800-1900.* BY PROFESSOR GUSTAVUS WARNECK, D.D., HALLE, GERMANY. Editor of the Allgemeine Missions ZeitschriJt.
The year 1900 brings to its close a century which must ·be viewed as one of the most eventful in the world's history. With the turningpoint of the last century there was a development, affecting politics, science, culture, and social relations, the result of which is the modern world. In view of this fact our entrance upon the year 1900 will be sure to open the flood-gates to a current of meditations on the now ending century, well-digested retrospects as well as sonorous rhetorical phrases.
For the historian of missions it would be mere unthankful negligence, if he, at the close of a century which justly bears the name of a missionary century, should shut himself off from such retrospects as to its course. The Protestantt missions of the present, which, in the extent of their sphere, the number of their workers, the organization of their activity, and the amount of their outlays, surpass eyery missionary period of the past, are so intimately interwoven with the mighty events which mark the century now closing, that without these they would not have been what they are.
True, there were Protestant missions even before this century, but only with this century did there dawn a Protestant missionary age.
• At the risk of some repetition we publish this paper by Dr. Warneck, as it gives us the view point of a man who stands among the foremost missionary writers of the day.-EDIToRs.
t Dr. Warneck has commonly used evangelische where we have translated" Protestant," since in English" evangelical" is contrasted, not with _. Catholic," but with '" Rationalistic" or H Unitarian." In some cases, however, where there seemed little danger of misunderstanding, we have translated evangelische by " evangelical."
That which had previously been accomplished on the part of the Dutch colonial government, of the English colonists in America, of Egede and his successors in Greenland, and especially on the part of the Danish-Halle missionaries in India, and of the Unitas Fratrum (Moravians) in three continents, has only such significance for the present world-wide missions, as the Reformers before the Ref.ormation have for the Reformation; they opened the way for the great missionary movement, and ushered it in-a movement which has now laid hold of universal Protestantism, and whose surgings roll over almost the whole earth.
THE FULNESS OF TIME.
That this missionary century could come in at all, and that it could have developed with such force, intensively and extensively, is grounded in the fact, that with the nineteenth century a fulness of time was come, which created conditions needed for the diffusion of Christianity, and gave stimulus and impulses the like of which had either not been found before at all, or only in limited measure. In connection with a religious awakening, the God who holds the reins of universal government in His hands has flung wide open doors into the world abroad, so that the King of glory may enter in. He has done this by the great geographical discoveries, which began even in the last third of the eighteenth century, and which in the nineteenth took on ever-growing dimensions; by the inventions, made subsequently to them, and then contemporaneously with them, and opening up entirely new means of communication and production; by the universal intercourse, which these discoveries and inventions have rendered more and more gigantic; by the ever-enlarging occupation of the world on the part of the European, especially the Protestant powers. 'rhus the opening of the world, extending ever wider since the beginning of the nineteenth century, has more and more grown into a history of mankind. It has opened the way for missions, and has also become a signal for them, ringing in as it were with all the chimes, a Christendom which has been newly awakened to the new Bible faith. It has again procured a hearing and obedience for the almost forgotten missionary command: Go and make disciples of all nations.
It is true that, at the ending of the last century it did not look-at least to human eyes-as if a missionary age was approaching. Even independent of the wars and turmults which were then bringing distress over half Europe and scarcely allowed the taking of measures for the conversion of distant heathen, Christendom, as it then was, lacked the inner missionary motives, which are supplied only by faith working through love. The free thought, which held almost all Christendom under the influence of a commonplace rationalism, was S() far removed from all understanding of missions and from any missionary impulse, that
FOREIGN MISSIONS AT THE JUNCTION OF TWO CENTURIES
indeed it settled down as a mildew upon the scanty missionary life then existing. It undermined the roots of the Danish-Halle mission, and, as shown by the well-known proceedings in the Scottish General Assembly of 1796, it voted down every missionary proposal. Only the Unitas Fra,trum kept its missions above water, but even in this there was a time of stagnation. The prevailing undervaluation of Scriptural faith, despoiled as this was of its mysteries, the indifference toward the claim of Christianity to be in possession of the absolute truth, and the tolerance, which was for having everybody, Christian or not, "go to heaven after his own method," caused missions to appear equally superfluous and futile. The eminent jurist Blackstone, who went from church to church in London, to hear all the noted preachers of his day, bears witness: "I heard not a single sermon thai had more Christianity in it than the writings of Cicero, and I could not possibly discover whether the preacher was an adherent of Confucius, Mohammed, or Christ." And from the majority of the continental Rationalists we would hardly have heard much more that was specifically Christian. In England, it is true, matters were at a particularly evil pass. "Most clergymen," says Bishop Ryle, "followed the hounds, shot, farmed, gambled, drank, but seldom preached, and when they did gave such wretched sermons that it was a blessing that they talked to empty pews." Moreover, the corruption of morals, especially in the upper classes, was extreme. In Germany, rationalism was usually more earnest thall in England, nor did it stand religiously at so Iowa point as in England, where it was the order of the day to be a mocker at religion. But there was not in German rationalism any indwelling missionary energy, and when the missionary movement began rationalism was its sharpest opponent.
THE RELIGIOUS AND }IISSIONARY REVIVAL.
But a change was already coming about. The great revival had already begun which has brought about the resnrrection of Christianity out of this religious degradation. This is one of the most comforting events in Christian church history. In view of it faith ought not to lose heart, even tho snch declensions should again and again ensue. The God who raised Jesus from the dead had begun, in the days of Wesley and Whitefield, to rouse the dead bones to life, and at the end of the eighteenth century there was already in the field a second generation of awakened clergymen and laymen, proving that the revival had been deep and enduring. It is tme they only constituted a small minority, to which all manner of scornful nicknames were applied, and the bishops held it for one of their main duties to rid their dioceses of "this pest of Methodism." Yet the power of God was in these small circles, and that too in such living power, that one Christian undertaking after another came forth from them, and
especially did the missionary movement receive from them its first impulse.
This birth of modern missions, not from the halls of kings, nor from the companies of merchant princes, but from the cottages of "the quiet in the land," gave to missions, it is true, the servant's form, but such a servant's form as bore the impress of the Holy Night in Bethlehem and enabled them from the very first to follow apostolic paths. The worst thing was that the ministry of the Ohurch refused to help; nay, joined itself to the opponents of missions. But this stress of circumstance gave birth to froe assoc7'aNon within the Ohurch, an institution which has since approved itself better fitted for the furtherance of missions than missionary boards of established churches, but has also enriched the churches themselves with new corporate formations. These have turned out a blessing to them, and especially have they developed for the subsequent prosecution of home missions the most suitable organizations.
THE FIRST MODERN PROTESTANT MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
The practical precipitate of this missionary movement was the foundation of the first three modern Protestant missionary societies, which came to pass in the last decade of the eighteenth century: The Baptist in 1792, the London in 1795, the Ohurch Society in 1799, and 1800 on German ground of the first missionary training-school, that of Janicke at Berlin. Apart from the few missionary organizations which were already extant in 1792, among which that of the Moravians was, strictly speaking, the only one that was really acting, this was the beginning of the missionary age. It was, in truth, a small beginning, whether we look at the modest means which then stood at the command of these few organs of missions, or at the fields of labor on which they stationed their few agents; but there was a beginning-this was the important thing. The stone was set in motion, the mustardseed was laid in the ground, the spring had dawned. The end of the eighteenth century coincided with the most significant crisis of the history of modern missions.
The great chronological divisions which separate the course of time into centuries, do not always exactly synchronize with the great periods into which the course of the world's history articulates itself. Whether the passage from the nineteenth to the twentieth century also involves a juncture in missionary history is something which we are not yet in a situation to predict. At all events the twentieth century introduces missions into a time of ripening harvests, which imposes on them new and grave problems, especially of Ohurch organization. There will now come into clear view the second missionary stadium, completing Ohristianization through missionaries by Ohristianization through assimilation. Moreover, the mighty era of colonial policy,
FOREIGN MISSIONS AT THE JlJNCTION OF TWO CENTURIES
which has broken way for itself during the last decades, and which is far from having yet reached the term of its development, will also intervene, mnch more energetically tha,n hitherto, in the progress of missions, if not in the manner of carrying them on. This is a coinci- dence of which we can not say a priori whether it will turn out more to the furtherance or to the injury of the work. At all events it involves temptations against which evangelical missions must fortify them- selves. And unless all signs are to fail, besides extension in Africa, the coming century will lay on evangelical missions, as a chief burden, the contest with the great Asiatic boole-religions, importing such a comparison of religions as will call for the efforts of the highest powers. Perhaps we shall find our supply of the heroes in this great conflict in the Students' Missionary Movement, which for more than a decade has done such effective recruiting service among the academic youth of North America and England, and which now begins also to influence the European continent. Perhaps this may turn out the chief providential end of its origin.
SOME FACTS OF MISSIONARY PROGRESS.
But let us give over forecasting the future. Even if the present dividing-line of the two centuries should not be found to have an exactly epochal significance for Christian missions, it is at all events a landmarle in thcir history, which we ought not to pass by without seeking for historical orientation. Not only what is written is written f0r our learning, but also what has befallen has befallen for our learning. We re~erve for distinct consideration the development of Protestant missions in the course of the nineteenth century, but even the bare facts,. which the state of missions at the end of this century brings to our view, hold instructive discourse. And it is only these facts which we wish now to establish. A part of them may be expressed in figures, and these we present first. I take them from the introduction to the Missionary Report of the Free Church of Scotland, May, 1899. It is true, they are only approximately correct. Two rubrics are not usable at all.* 'rhe author, apparently Dr. George Smith, of the Free Church * At all events the author has used Provost Vahl's statistics as a basis. Had he known my criticism of his last work, he would have avoided a series of manifest inaccuracies. This criticism has been recognized as warranted by the late Provost Vahl. The work criticized is entitled: "Missious to the Heathen in 1895 and 1896. A Statistical Review." (Cf. A. M. Z., 1898, p. 188 fI') I wrote then: "I fear that especially in England and America, Vahl's summing-up will be reprinted without being tested, and that thus false numbers will gain currency." This in fact has happened. It appears plainly in two rubrics: (1) In that of the scholars, into which the Scottish author has introduced an additional confusion by giving the heading: "Scholars or Catechumens." Vahl had computed for 1895 742,426, and for 1896 447,145 scholars. An impossible decrease of some 300,000 in one year. I reexamined and found an error of addition; for 1896 there then appeared 938,343. But our Scottish author has given tile mistaken total without testing it This is the more surprising as he has expressly remarked in the text that Vahl's numbers for 1895 are too low. (2 The statements concerning missionary organizations are inexact. What is missionary organization? We look in vain for a clear definition. If we mean an independent society, the numbers are much too high. And it is confusing to see
Missionary Society, distinguishes the missions of the nineteenth century into two main periods, which he divides by the year 1859. In this year, after the great mutiny, India passed from the dominion of the East India Company to that of the British crown, and Livingstone, after his first epochal journeys, first revisited Europe.
FIRST PERIOD.-SOWING-TIME (1799-1859).
1799. 1820. 1830. 1845. 11859.
Receipts in Pounds Sterling…………………….. 10.000 121,756 226,440 632.000 918,000 Missionaries (Men)……………………………… (1) 50 421 734 1,319. 2,032 Female Missionaries (Unmarried)……………….. 1 31 72 76 Ordained Native Pastors…………………….. …. 7 10 Other Native Helpers…………………………… 158 169 80 166 850 3,152 5,785 Communicants …………………………………. (?)7,OOO 21,787 51,322 159,000 227,000 Scholars or Catechumens (1) (1 Unusable)………… 5,000 15,728 102,275 165,000 252,000 Missionary Organizations, resp. Societies………… 6 20 25 65 98 SECOND PERIOD.-GRoWTH (1859-1897).
–~.——~—-~——- 1859. 1889. 1895. 1897.
– – —– ——·1—— ~f~s~~t:~i~~ ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 918,000 2,130,000 2,865,000 2,902,794 Female Missionaries …………………………… . 2,032 4,135 6,369 6,576 1,689 3,982 76 3,327 3,390 4,185 Native Pastors ………………………………… . 169 41,756 4,017 67,754 Other Native Helpers …………………………. .. 5,785 61,124 Communicants ……. ………………………….. . 227,000 850,000 1,057.000 1,448,861 Scholars (1 Unusable) ………………………….. . 252,000 650,000 864,000 447,145 Missionary Organizations (2 Unusable) ………….. . 98 262 365 365 If we first cast a glance at Home, from which missions proceed, we stand in presence of one of those facts of Christian church history which strengthen faith the most. A Christendom sunk in the sleep of rationalism, to which the missionary command was foolishness, has been so well awakened, that to-day, in all its divisions, it feels breathing through it a mighty missionary spirit. Nineteen hundred years after its first u'tterance the missionary command has again become so living, that it has brought forth a movement that has laid hold on the whole Christian and non-Christian world. This word of Jesus was, as it were, almost buried, but it is risen from the dead. We do not say that the now extant Ohristendom fully discharges its missionary duty; on the contrary, it comes short of what it should accomplish, and can accomplish. It is still far short of it. Yet the consciousness has penetrated Ohristians generally, that the diffusion of Christianity in the non-Christian world is one of the chief duties of Ohristendom. This is so deep a persuasion now that missions, once so despised, to which the established churches refused their aid, has, from the conventicle, entered into -the cathedral, that the chief ministers of the Church have become the main representatives and nursing fathers of missionary life at home, nay, that the project has again and again auxiliary societies put under this rubric, above all when the selection-as with Vahl-is rather arbitrary. I am afraid that in the other rubrics also the numbers are open to criticism, and therefore can hardly lay claim to absolute trustworthiness.-G. W.
FOREIGN MISSIONS AT THE JUNCTION OF TWO CENTURIES
been ventilated of ecclesiasticizing the free missionary associations. But of Stx Protestant missionary organizations in the year 1800 have grown some 150 independent bodies, of which a quarter are of undis- puted importance. This is a home machinery which is almost a superfluity, and instead of increase calls for condensation.
From their beginning modern Protestant missions were dependent for their outlays upon free Christian liberality. They did not possess wealthy orders, like the Catholic, and it is only later on that they have received government subsidies for their schools, and these comparatively restricted. We can not precisely compute how large the collective gifts for missions were in 1800. Probably not over 300,000 marks. To-day they amount to 55,000,000, a sum to which Germany with Switzerland contributes 4,500,000. Nothing has so trained Protestant Christendom to giving as foreign missions. And with their increasing gifts for these provision for home necessities has not only not suffered, but has first been rightly awakened. In 1800, of the noble forms of work which we comprehend under the collective name Inner Mission and Home Missions, there was as good as nothing; today they stretch almost beyond sight, and the voluntary gifts coming in yearly for them exceed those for foreign missions perhaps tenfold, in Germany doubtless yet more.* By the work for the heathen God has blessed the home church, having thus taught how to labor, to pray, and to give, even for all domestic needs. Christendom, sending to the heathen, has received back more profit than she has spent sacrifices upon them.
INCREASE OF MISSIONARY FORCE.
Very small at the end of the last century was the number of the m£ssionaries, amounting at most to 120, of whom the greater part belonged to the Unitas Fratrum. 'l'heologians, after the dying out of the Danish-Halle Mission, there were none at all. It was needful, as once Jesus found it, to call into service "unlearned and ignorant men," (lit. unlearned persons and laymen). It cannot be said that all these persons proved equal to their vocation, but nevertheless the roll is by no means brief of those of them who have done eminent work, e. g., Zeisberger, Rhenius, Carey, Riedel, Pfander, Gobat, Kolle, Christaller, Hebich, Dieterle, Ramseyer, H. Hahn, E. Faber, Nommensen, Schlegel, Behrens, Kropf, Merensky, Calvert, Moffat, Livingstone, Williams, Horden, Mackay, G. Taylor, Grenfell, Bentley, Paton, etc. With time the missionary training-schools have become more and more thorough institutes of culture, and the percentage of regular theologians has been considerable in the Anglo-Saxon world, especially for the last twenty-five years, and in Germany too has increased somewhat. At any rate there is no longer, as in 1800, a * Statistics of the Inner Mission of the German Evangelical Church. Digested and pub- lished by the Central Committee for the Inner Mission of the German Evangelical Church.
small and divided cohort of heralds of Christ, standing scattered and inexperienced in various parts of the heathen world. In 1900 this has grown into a stately army, numbering over 6,000 men, and stationed over almost the whole accessible world. What these men have also accomplished for the mallY different branches of science, as well as for the civilization of mankind, has procured them respect even in such circles as have little concern for their distinctly religious vocation. Moreover they are supported by a helping force of 4,000 unmarried women. These are mainly occupied as teachers among the degenerate and enslaved women of the heathen world. And still another force of 680 medically trained physicians, male and female, carrying out an ever-extending and ever more appreciated Samaritan's work among the sick, so neglected or bunglingly treated. We may say without any vaunting, that ill these thousands of bearers of the Gospel, Protestant Christendom sustains a genuine Salvation Army in the non-Christian world, which, because it is a salt and a light therein, offers to this world a service more pregnant of blessing than the traffic and politics of the world taken together.
THE HARVEST OF MISSIONS.
One hundred years ago lIlissl:onary results, so far as statistically capable of statement, amounted, on a large estimate, to 70,000 Christian converts. To-day the number exceeds 4,000,000, of whom about 1,500,000 are full communicants. And this number is augmenting from decade to dccade, like a capital under compound interest. The number of heathen now baptized in a single year is as large again as the whole number of Christi.ans in 1800. It is true, in view of the gigantic number of 1,000,000,000 of non-Christians the missionary achievements thus far made seem small; but what is thus far done is essentially foundation work, and foundation work goes slow. Our missionaries come as strangers into a strange world, and not until they are at home in this strange world, until they not only speak the strange tongues as their mother tongues, but have become in feeling a part of the whole strange view of the world-literally" have lived themselves into it "–':"and of the strange usages, does their message have full effect. Real results go far beyond all statistics. The exemplary lives of the thousands of missionaries, together with the overflowing works of mercy which they perform, and the 20,000 mission schools of every grade, attended by a million scholars of both sexes, besides the almost infinite native literature, especially the, at least, 340 missionary versions of the Bible, with the wealth of culture, moral eleva~ion, and Christian knowledge which they diffuse, all this implies an intellectual, ethical, and religious power far and wide among the nations, under whose preparatory influences, almost unconsciously, even those circles come among which the direct proclama-
HOW SOME THINGS GO IN KOREA
tion of the Word has as yet had no noticeable results. Enlig-htenment, reform of morals and of social relations, breaking down of heathen superstition, and the gradual development of nn atmosphere surcharged with Ohristian apprehensions, have, in the elder missionary districts, spread far beyond the Ohristian communities. Besides, the growing company of native helpers-over 4,000 ordained pastors and more than 60,000 other helpers, altho at present by far the most do subaltern service-is a Christianizing power which :s working as effectively for the implantation of Christianity in the foreign soil as for the raising of the general national life.
In brief, everywhere the work is broadening out of the defile into the plain. A century of missionary foundations lies behind us; a century of building up and building out will follow. The nineteenth century has been the apprenticeship of evangelical missions, and we have made many mistak€.3; but we are now in possession of a missionary experience which will be our schoolmistress for the twentieth century. The work done yet is the seed of coming harvests. Missionary results are not to be reckonerl by years, but by centuries. As Jesus once promised the first missionaries, in view of the visible result of their labor, "Ye shall do greater works than I," so will it also be said of the missionaries of the twentieth century: They have dOlle greater works than those of the nineteenth. "That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together."
HOW SOME 'l'IIINGS GO IN KORBJA.
REV. H. G. APPENZELLER. Paichai College, Seoul, Methodist Episcopal Mission.
Korea has swung back to anti-bellum days, and, unless there are checks not visible now, it looks as tho her last stage is destined to become worse than the first. Politically she is drifting badly with Japan and Russia trying to board the craft and secure the helm. Just at present education as supplied by Western nations is not sought for. The head master of the English school failed to renew his contract, and has gone into the hotel business. The missionary sticks to his distinctive work and finds good" raw heathen" material to work upon, and longs for a mighty baptism of power, a mighty baptism of conviction of sin to come upon his hearers and adherents. There are no end of adherents, probationers, catechumens, and even members, but they do not seem to have any knowledge of that horror of sin one would like to see and ought to see. The sinner here acts very much like the sinner at horne.
A few years ago a plain man came up from the country to Seoul and found empluyment as herdsman. He was in trouble, and tho in
humble circumstances, he determined to pray his way out of his troubles. He fasted, and that with great severity; he limited himself to one meal, and a scant one at that, a day. Some of us thought his zeal outstripped his sense. He was persistent in his efforts to get out of his difficulties. These were, that he was put out of his house by his father-in-law, who refused to have anything to do with him on account of his religious" notions." His wife was in subjection to her father.
Several months passed by, and the man essayed to return to his home to see the result of his praying and fasting. He found a great change had come over his family. They received him, allowed him to pray, and did not resent being talked to on the subject of religion. He not only talked the "new doctrine" to his family but to his neighbors as well.
He visited me here in the city, and reported the interest in his village. The Korean. helper was asked to visit the place, and he returned with a favorable report and some names on probation. He went a second time, and another brother, an exhorter, likewise went there. During the past summer I had hoped to be able to visit the place but could not. Last week one of the villagers who professed interest and who was a probationer in the church came and inquired when I could come to the village. I told him I would come down in two days. A few days later I and another brother of the mission started off on our bicycles for the village of the Water-jar Rock, twenty-five miles northeast of Seoul. The weather was bracing, the roads good, and tho not "scorchers" we made the distance in four hours. We went to the house of the man who asked us to come. He received us with dignified reserve. He is a well-to-do farmer. His lands yield him a living and with this he is content. He has not sufficient wealth to tempt the avarice of the officials, and yet enough to live comfortably as the word is understood by the Korean farmer and countryman.
It did us good to catechise the probationers. They had studied the catechism and knew it. We spent the evening in this way and in preaching. The next day after preaching it was my privilege to baptize six men and two women, one of the women being the wife of the man who a few years ago was driven from his home because he was a believer in Jesus, and who by his prayer and fasting fought his way through his difficulties and won his villagers to the new faith.
After the baptisms were concluded the man and his wife stood up together and formally and publicly gave th~ir little boy to the Lord in baptism. This is the beginning of an interesting work. It began by a man being driven out of his home and neighborhood. Truly God works and one does not know by what means the Word may be advanced.
INDIA AS A MISSION FIELD
WORSHIPING AN IDOL IN INDIA.
INDIA AS A MISSION FIELD.
BY REV. EDWAHD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND. Formerly Missionary of the London Missionary Society.
India is isolated from the remainder of Asia by two oceans, and the highest and broadest mountain ranges on the earth.
Within these spacious, well-defined limits, lies an empire rich, fertile, and varied, with almost all the gifts of nature, having an area and population equal to that of all Europe, Russia excepted. Its extent is equal to nearly two-thirds of the United States, while its population is almost five times as great. It is the dwelling-place of about one-fifth of the human race, or more than twice the population of the Roman Empire in its palmiest days (according to Gibbon).
I3ritish rule is direct and absolute over more than two-thirds of this vast population, and supreme and unchallenged over the 650 semi-independent and feudatory states of the remaining third.
The origin of these millions of people, with their diversities of race, language, religion, and civilization, can only be glanced at, aild indeed for the most part these lie outside the limits of definite history.
When the ancestors of the l.Iindu race began to migrate into India from Oentral Asia, more than 3,000 years ago, they found there many tribes differing from themselves in origin, race, and language. These two peoples probably continued to live there together for some centuries, but Aryan coherence and strength gradually triumphed, forcing the aboriginal tribes to be the permanent lower strata of their commonwealth, or to keep a precarious refuge in the hills and forests.
Of the second great migration and conquest we have clearer information. Mohammedan interconrse with Western India began early in the seventh century, but the first attempts at conquest were made by Mahm'oud of Ghuzin in twelve expeditions extending from 1001 to 1026; but Mohammedan supremacy was not firmly established until the Mogul Empire was consolidated under Akbar in the middle of the sixteenth century. During this long interval, in ever.growing numbers, these streamed into India from Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, the states of Central Asia, and even 'rartary, a vast number of emigrant adventurers, zealous for the propagation of Islam, and by no means scrupulous in their methods of proselytism.
RELIGIONS OF INDIA.
Other forms of religion are thus summarized in the government census returns of 1891: Religion. Population.
Brahmanic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 207,731,727 Animistic….. ……….. . …. ……………. . . …… 9,280,467 Sikh….. …. ………………………………….. 1,907,833 Jain ………….. '" ………………….. , …. …… 1,416,638 Goroustrian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89,904 Bllddhist (mostly in Burma) _…………………… 7,131,361 Jew…………………………………………… 17,194 Christian …. , . . .. . . .. . . .. . . … .. .. . . .. . . . . . . .. .. .. . . .. 2,284,380 Mohammedan………………………………….. 57,321,164 Unreturned ……………… ' ., '. . . …… .. …….. .. 42,578 Total. ………………………… , ……… 287,223,266 A large number of the Brahmanic or Hindu population ar() not of Aryan, bu t of aboriginal descent, as their physical characteristics, languages, superstitions, and usages prove.
Animism defined as a belief in the power of spirits, who acquire supernatural influence, and are worshiped for the evil and good they may do, is largely the dominant superstition of vast numbers of the most ignorant of those classified as Brahmanists and Mohammedans, as well as the nine millions defined by that name.
Probably more than one-half of the Mohammedans are of Aryan and aboriginal descent, who retain many of the superstitions, beliefs, and usages of their ancestors.
The Christian population is thus distributed: Syrian and Armenian …………………………… . 201,684 Roman Catholic …………………………………. . 1,315,263 Native Christians, Protestants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,559,661 European* …………………. _…………………. . 168,000 Various …………………………………………. . 39,772 • Since the British branch of the'army numbers 72,112, it follows that the entire European civil population is less than 100,000.
INDIA AS A MISSION FIELD
Thus there are in India.. directly and indirectly under British rule, more polytheists than there are Protestants in the whole world, and more than one-fourth of its entire Mohammedan population. These numbers are probably now exceeded, for, owing to the peace and prosperity secured by British rule, the population is rapidly increasing, and is thought to. exceed three hundred millions.
THE PROSPECT OF WINNING INDIA FOR CHRIST.
Of course, in so vast aR empire, where the Hindus are separated into twelve or fourteen great nationalities, almost as distinct in language and physical and intellectual characteristics as the nations of Europe, with hundreds· of barbarian tribes and a Mohammedan population in many respects equally diverse, their attitude toward a race still more intrusive, aggressive, aud diverse, might be expected to vary, tho generally suspicious and unsympathetic, and the propagators of the new religion belonging to a foreign, conquering, and dominant race might be assumed to prejudice their cause.
Hinduism combines the widest possible extremes of speculative belief, from transcendental monotheism to the most debasing fetishism, with the laxest morality and the most rigid and exclnsive of all social despotisms. Any form of vice and any latitude of opinion is permissible, but to become a Christian is the one act which means social boycott and ruin to every Hindu of good caste.
The uncompromising attitude of Islam to Christianity is everywhere intense, but in India iL has become curiously modified. Its earliest adventurers and settlers found the Hindus so numerous and wedded to their own religious usages that they found it politic to abate their usual intolerance, and the numerous converts they made were received on easy terms and retained many of their old supersti.- tions and usages. British supremacy came so slowly and unexpectedly, and has been so wise, beneficent, and tolerant, that it has never roused any formidable hostility. The mutiny of 1857 was a purely military revolt, brought about by English over-indulgence and confidence in the native army. But it gave expression to no grievances and wrongs, and the Mohammedans of India are more loyal, liberalminded, and contented than their coreligionists anywhere throughout Asia and Africa. Nevertheless the intolerance and love of political power inherent in the system, and the remembrance of its dominance under the Mogul emperors, yet lives as a latent force in Indian Mohammedanism.
The aborigines are most ignorant and degraded, but they and their descendants, who have entered the outer circles of Hinduism and Mohammedanism, are most open to Christian evangelization, and it is from these that the largest number of converts have beeu drawn.
Neither they nor the Hindus have ever had, or apparently understood, that love of country and delight in freedom which distinguishes Western races. Despotism has been the invariable note and adjunct of power. Their history has been a monotonons record of states and tribes, dreading oppression or enforcing it invariably when possessed. They are most submissive to superior power, but lack magnanimity when it passes into their hands. The caste idea also induces a gloomy, suspicious, unsympathetic state of mind without any rational basis, either moral, intellectual, or physical, which no European can understand, but which engenders in those who have it a strange dread and aversion toward all who are without caste.
INDIA, A LAND OF PARADOXES.
But India is a land of paradoxes, the people are patient, unworldly, submissive to authority as no Western races are. Power and destiny are the two supreme forces recognized in their imaginations, religious and daily lives, and as the British Raj is the visible yet mysterious embodiment of these, to their ignorant yet devout and imaginative minds, it is accepted implicitly as are the laws of nature. British rule tho neither loved or admired, has been scrupulously just and humane in its policy and in non-interference with the caste and assumed r.eligious susceptibilities of the people. These qualities, despite many difficulties and some defects, have come more into exercise with every decade of the century. Great abuses exist and will until the morality of the New Testament becomes that of the people; but the policy of the government is just, beneficent, and humane. But under British rule the rich are not oppressed and the poor are protected.* Roads, railways, and canals are constructed; education and commerce are encouraged; crime is repressed, and lives and property are secure. Freedom of conscience and worship is guaranteed as far as the government can do so. The government has its limitations and defects, largely because it must legislate for an empire where oppression and deceit excite no moral indignation and in which 95 per cent. of its su bjects are the most exclusive, suspicious, and sensitive of all religionists. The peace and prosperity of India to-day stands in strong contrast with the feuds, inhumanity, and oppression of the past.
Our belief in a personal and perfect ruler of the universe; in divine moral laws, alike rational, just, and gracious; in a future life alike sure, solemn; the justice, humanity, and beneficence of the British have greatly softened popular prejudice, and have won not only submission but respect from the people of India as a whole. They are intelligent, observant, and meditative, and have been drawn to think of the religion which underlies England's greatness, to send their * Taxation is less than five shillings ($1.25) a year per head.
– INDIA AS A MISSION FIELD
children to British schools to read Christian books. This does not always come from a desire to know or to embrace the truth, but it has great advantages, for such investigation makes them dissatisfied with the old Puranic superstitions and makes them more favorably inclined toward Christian truths.
Thus British rule has been in many respects a powerful tho unconscious factor in "making ready the way of the Lord." The Christian missionary may live and work where he pleases and adopt all just and rational means to propagate the Christian faith. In no other non- Christian or Roman Catholic country is there equal freedom for missionary propagandism.
Happily the Christian Church is growing more conscious of her A srREEr PREACHING SCENE IN NORrH INDIA.
responsibility toward this magnificent empire. There are now about nine hundred foreign ordained Protestant missionaries in India. with nearly as many native ordained ministers, and fonr thousand unordained native preachers. The Gospel is preached daily in the streets and bazaars of the great cities and in the numerous villages of many districts. There are also about eighty educational missionaries with over eight hundred ladies and four thousand native women engaged in education, zenana visitation, literary, medical, industrial, and humanitarian work. There are also excellent versions of the whole 'Bible in the principal languages and dialects of the empire, while the New Testament or portions of it are printed in many more of India's 120 languages and dialects. Schoolbooks, treatises, and tracts in exposition
of Ohristian truth are printed and circulated extensively by the Bible and tract societies.
The results are encouraging and hopeful, especially if we accurately gauge the difficulty of concerting any typical Hindu or Mohammedan, the intense immutability of all Oriental beliefs and usages, and the difficulty of changing the religions of three hundred million people. Praise God, the success is far greater than the inadequacy of our efforts would have led us to expect. .
SOME RESULTS OF )IISSIONS IN INDIA.
The most obvious of the direct results are the 800,000 Protestant converts, 200,000 of whom are communicants; 5,000 churches or congregations, with some 4,500 native preachers; 300,000 scholars in schools distinctly Ohristian, and more than 720 foreign and Eurasian female agents. 'rhere has been a marked increase on all the lines of progress during the past half century. 'rhe native Christian community has increased twenty-four fold in forty years, and the native ministry forty fold. So has there been analogous advance in the ~ntelligence, social position, and self-reliance of the native church.
But the progress of Ohristianity is not to be estimated exclusively by counting heads. Other agencies have been operating indirectly through education, commerce, and material progress, and have obviously been ordained of God to transform India. Hinduism is morally the most defective of all religious systems, the most indefinite and vague, but socially the strongest through its weird caste despotism. It is not too much to affirm that the Ohurch of Christ has never had a more stupendous and difficult undertaking than the conversion of this great, gifted race, spread over an immense empire, enthralled, fascinated, intellectually, religiously, and socially, by a dogma unique in the history of religions. It might be expected that for a long time individual conversions would be few, while the final dissolution of the intricate, stupendous system would be preceded by gradual decay. Eastern races are intensely immobile, and detest change.
Hinduism is most indulgent to its adherents, but an implacable foe to those who forsake it. The people are easily satisfied, slaves to public opinion and usage, timid, gregarious, find little difficulty or feel shame in holding opinions they never express or put into practise. They are adepts in sitting on the fence waiting to jump to the safe side. A long disintegrating process, therefore, in the two-fold direction of reforming great evils, and in changing popular opinion on all great social, moral, and religious questions, must precede the conversion of India, unless the spirit of the living God should give life and light to these millions, as He can, and as He may. This process of sapping and mining is going on. Even when the government
INDIA AS A MISSION FIELD
of the East India Company passed away in 1859, "It had ceased to be lawful, it has become penal even in the name of religion, 1. To murder parents by suttee, by exposure on the banks of rivers, or by burial alive.
2. To murder children by dedication to the Ganges, to be devoured by crocodiles, or daughters by the Rajput modes of infanticide.
3. To offer up human sacrifices in a temple, or to propitiate the earth goddess.
4. To encourage suicide under the wheels of idol cars, or in wells, or otherwise.
5. To promote voluntary torment by hook swinging, etc.
6. Involuntary torture by mutilation, trampling to death, ordeals, and barbarous executions. Slavery and slave trade have been made illegal. Caste is not supported by law, nor recognized in appointments to office. All government connection with idolatry has ceased. A long step has been taken by legislative acts to protect the civil rights of converts, and to leave Hindu widows free to marry." * We remember the reluctance of the East India Company for modern missionary propagandism; justice demands that we must not overlook its civilizing and humane policy.
The policy of the imperial governments is equally humane and more progressive, and the indirect influence of Christian propagandism in gradually changing the opinions and usages of the people in a small district in Central India, in charge of a solitary missionary, is iIIustrati ve of what is going on over the grell,ter part of the empire.
Those people, through the agency that has been working there for three years, have begun to understand something-to understand there is a God different and above those hobgoblins they have been accustomed to worship; that there is a God different from the tigers and the leopards, and the bears and snakes, and the scorpions around them, which they worship because they are afraid of them, and in four of the villages next to the place where I lived for the last two years, the annual sacrifice has ceased. They are not Christians, but they are coming round, and they will come round I have no doubt. t Oscillation, check, and even reverse may be expected in an enterprise so stupendous, and carried on in the face of every form of opposition, but even now the time is not far distant when there will be here and there in India a more widespread abandonment of heathenism and acceptance of Christianity by masses of the people, than the world has ever witnessed.
* "The Conversion of India," by Dr. George Smith.
t" History of the London Missionary Society," by Rev. Richard Lovett. Vol. II, p.217.
PUERTO RICO UNDER THE UNITED STATES.
BY REV. J. M. MCELHINNEY, ROCHESTER, N. Y.
Our new possession, Puerto Rico, is attracting public attention, and will probably do so for some time to come. Steamboat lines are not able to supply transportation to the numerous applicants for passage to the" gem of the Antilles."
On leaving New York, October 11, 1899, we pointed the nose of our boat toward Puerto Rico, a little east of south, and kept it there for nearly seven days, until we all but bumped into San Juan (Saint John), the capital of Puerto Rico. The distance is 1,400 miles. A shower of rain on our arrival veiled the city in a wreath of gray, only to bring it out into greater conspicuity with the passing of the cloud and the returning glory of a tropical sun. The cocoanut palms on the right of the harbor waved a welcome with their high and graceful arms, while on the left the buglers wafted sweet music on the fresh morning air as the" Stars and Stripes" ascended the flagstaff and spread their graceful folds to our glad eyes.
Part of the ancient wall, which originally enclosed the city, is still standing. The foundation of the first house in Puerto Rico, built by Ponce de Leon about 15~0, bears up a modern superstructure known as casa blanco (white house), and can be seen from Abonita, fifty miles distant. Our boat had hardly reached the dock when the flies and white-clad Puerto Ricans assailed us in about equal numbers, for it should be remembered that we had reached the land of perpetual summer, where the thermometer, according to the late Governor Henry, never goes below seventy degrees Fahrenheit.
The mature Puerto Rican stands as erect as an Indian, slight in frame, thin in flesh, with large feet and small head. Being the product of the negro and the Spanish races, he has eliminated the coarseness of the oue and the weakness of the ·other, and has retained the straight nose, mild, black eye, and rich olive skin. The young men are agile and the young women well shapen and attractive.
The inhabitants, numbering about 975,000, are usually divided into two classes: the Puerto Ricans and Spanish. The distinction is made on a basis of education and property. They are practically of one blood, and yet the cultivated Spaniard would be loath to admit the cOllsangunity. He entertains a sort of poetic fancy that a trained mind and an inflated purse purify the blood. Eighty-seven per cent. of the people are unable to read or write; sixty-fi ve per cent. are said to be of illegitimate birth. It ought to be noted in this connection that the illegitimacy is largel.V illegality. The people have not been legally or ecclesiastically married, and, in consequence, the children are stamped as illegitimate. In perhaps half the cases in question the parents are faithful and the issue acknowledged. Girls at twelve
PUERTO RICO UNDER THE UNITED STATES
A STREET IN SAN JUAN~ PUERTO RICO.
and thirteen years of age are generally wives and mothers. 'fhe little children of the poor seldom wear clothing of any sort. Their food, after they are weaned, is the same as that given to mature persons. Excessive use of bananas by children under five is seen in the distended abdomen, arising from lack of proper nourishment and producing what is called the" banana stomach."
The children have a short and cheerless childhood. Gambling with coffee grains or pennies is their standard amusement, tho kiteflying has its season and cock-fighting its attractions. The kite-flying in Puerto Rico has this novel feature, that the tail of the kite is sometimes equipped with a knife blade for the purpose of cutting the string of some ambitious kite wl1ich has reached "higher than Guilderoy's." It is noticed that the children seldom sing. In fact, it is a land "vithout songs. The birds, as is common in the tropics, do little more than chirp.
Under the administration of the United States government six hundred and twenty schools have been opened, at an expense, last year, of $330,000. This provides accommodation for one in fifteen of the children of school age, whereas ten in fifteen would attend if the accommodations were adequate. The children and people generally are eager to learn the English language. Arithmetic is taught in in all the public schools in English. It is also taught in Spanish, except in the two English schools San Juan and Ponce. Elementary
chart exercises are given in English in every school. An English teacher is given supervision of forty schools, and holds a session with their Puerto Rican teachers every Saturday, at which time the native teachers are taught English. Children five or six years old will learn to read English in six months, and have a fair understanding of elementary sentences. After visiting one of the country schools on the famous military road, where a test was made of their knowledge of English, the writer expressed the hope that they would become good American citizens, and was about taking his leave, when from a chorns of forty-two voices these words rang out with childish enthusiasm, "Beso su mano" (I kiss your hand), a customary Spanish salutation, which, being interpreted by the circumstances which prompted its utterance, means, "We hope to meet your fondest expectation."
THE WOMEN OF PUERTO RICO.
Next in importance to the children are the women. The educated and refined are considered very exclusive, and yet they manage to be seen by the American soldiers and other attractive young men. Sunday nights are given up to parades of beautiful women on the plazas before their admirers. Attractive gowns are donned, the hair is displayed with the precision of a fashion plate, the skin is "lacquered" with cosmetics, and with a pride that knows no weariness the so-called exclusive young ladies walk hour after hour in the glare of electric or other light before the assembled multitudes, for the express purpose of attracting attention, winning compliments, and extending the list of their gentlemen acquaintances. What is done Snnday nights by the few is indulged in by the multitudes throughout the week. Nothing is more conspicuous on the streets of Puerto Rico than women. The house has but few attractions for them. The few primitive articles of household furniture are either reeking with filth or creeping with insects. The air is polluted with smoke of charcoal, which, having no chimney as an avenue of escape, takes its time in getting out through the hundred chinks in the roof. There are no books or papers in the home. They could not be read if tqey were there. The mind gets its means of sn bsistence in conversation with neighbors at the" rumshacks," at the streams washing clothes, at the coffee plantations-somewhere in the open. The house is a place of last resort, a place to sleep in, where sense is dead to surroundings. About the only time these ignorant women get a bath is when they are caught out in the rain. Their clothes are sometimes wound about their bodies in Oriental fashion, unchanged and unwashed, until they are worn out. In most cases, however, the garments fare better than the person. Washing of garments is not nncommon. The streams are frequently lined with washerwomen, who use stones for wash-
PUERTO RICO UNDER THE UNITED STATES
boards, against which the garment is now rubbed, now rolled, and now pounded.
'I.'he men of Puerto Rico largely belong to the laboring class, tho they are not. fond of hard work. Well-fed men will do a good day's work under the direction of an employer. The men of the docks of San Juan will carry bags of beans weighing two hundred and twenty pounds on their heads with as much apparent ease as a man will wear a silk hat, and they will continue this for ten or twelve consecutive hours. Men make use of small ponies in transporting their produce from the interior to the seaports aud to the markets. A pony loaded with two heavy baskets of fruit or vegetables almost invariably car- SELLING FRESH MILK IN PONCE, PUER1'O RICO.
ries a man besides, who, with a rope halter, guides it, and with whip in hand hastens the journey. One rarely sees a woman or a boy on a pony. The man of the family sells the produce, if it be but ten cents' worth, and involves a journey of twenty miles.
This male prerogative of handling the funds imposes a little labor in connection with milking the cows, which would doubt18ss be committed to the women were it not for a grotesque requirement in connection with the delivery of the milk. The cow must be milked in the presence of the purchaser. This necessitates the leading the cow from house to house where milk is wanted. Drinking glasses, one or two, according to order, are brought out and filled directly from the cow. The calf is muzzled and brought along to induce the cow tQ
give her milk, which she, on being moved from place to place, would not do were the calf not present.
In a journey across the island comparatively few men are seen working in the fields. The plows in use are of the sixteenth century pattern. A plowed field resembles one that hogs have rooted into heaps and holes.
The coffee plantations represent a more substantial class of husbandry, requiring both skill and patience. '1'he coffee-plants of a few weeks' growth are put in well-prepared ground, six feet apa<rt, with a banana plant beside each coffee plant, in such a way as to protect it from the sun's rays. The plant yields coffee in the fourth year, and continues to bear until it is about twenty years old. Coffee, sugar, and cattle are the three profitable industries of the island. Such fruits as bananas, cocoanuts, and oranges grow in great abundance, tho there has never been but one man who made a business of shipping fruit from the island of Puerto Rico. lIe lives in Mayaguez, on the western shore. Thousands of acres will soon be in fruit cultivation, and within the next decade doubtless many will have made a business of exporting the fruit.
THE VEGETATION 0]<' PUERTO RICO.
One of the amazing things about the country is the little resemblance its vegetation bears to that of our own land. The grass, fruit trees, nut trees, and forest trees are all different. 'l'he grass is mostly of the guinea and foxtail varieties, and not suitable for pasturage until it has reached a height of three or four feet. In 'the absence of fences all animals are tethered in the pastures with ropes to stakes, which confine them to a radius of twenty or thirty feet for horses and cows, and less for goats and pigs, and still less for chickens, for even these are sometimes staked out. The fruit trees most common are the orange, lime, breadfruit, and fig. Of the nut trees the cocoanut-palm is most abundant, with some almond trees scattered about. The forest trees are the royal palm, coffee tree, lignum-vitro, mahogany, and ebony. The specific gravity of most of these trees is greater than water. To float a mahogany log it is necessary to pin it to two orange or other light logs. Sugarcane, pineapples, bananas, and tobacco are grown extensively. The country is one of excessive production. It probably has never yielded more than two per cent. of its capacity. It is almost impossible to keep things from growing if they are adapted to the soil and climate. I saw a small forest tree growing on a tile roof. The terrible hurricane of August 8th scarcely killed a tree. Trees broken off within three feet of the ground will put out branches and take a new start.
The need of religious instruction is one of thl3 most urgent of their
PUERTO RICO UNDER THE UNITED STATES
many needs. The people, in common with all mankind, have intui- tive conceptions of right and wrong, but the wrong has been so long practised that habits of vice seem to be wrought into the very fiber of their being. Theft is so commonly practised that this land of jails fails to provide for the gross offeuders, while myriads of petty thieves are allowed their liberty, with the tacit understanding that so long as their offenses are of diminutive grade and furtively committed they will be unmolested.
If you were a property holder in this land you would understand why the people called Spaniards, and these only, should so soon become supporters of the government, while those to whom a change of sovereignty was supposed to be a relief from an unbearable tyranny, are fast becoming antagonistic to the government. Possessors of property look to the government for protection of property, while those without property persuade themselves that a new order of affairs will bring them something better than they now have. Our soldiers are now more friendly with the Spaniards than with the Puerto Ricans.
The seventh commandment is even more flagrantly violated than the eighth. The father of the family, who is supposed to be the guardian of the virtue of his wife and daughter, is very often the medium of its barter for a price. Our soldiers could tell more than one would wish to put into print upon this subjcct. The prevalence of social evil is made painfully evident by the decaying and loathsome bodies brought in the last extremity to hospitals. One would think that the wrecks of human lives, with which the highways are strewn, would command obedience to the laws of purity, but all this seems to have no perceptible effect. Their present state of distress is a plea more eloquent than words for the Gospel.
Perhaps in no other field in recent times has there been such ready response to the Macedonian cry as from Puerto Rico. The Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Disciples have established among them one or more mission stations with services both in English and Spanish. Many of the missionaries have obtained a knowledge of Spanish in Mexico or South America, and are prepared to enter at once upon their labors. The usual plan is to have a morning service in English for Americans and Englishspeaking people from St. Thomas and St. Kitts, a Sunday-school in Spanish and English for all children, and a service in Spanish in the evening. The natives in the cities are employed till noon on Sunday, but have the evenings free, and are at liberty to go to church, tho but few of them are piously inclined. However, the missionaries are much encouraged with the prospect of a great work in Puerto Rico.
MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION.-II.
BY REV. ARTHUR J. BROWN, D.D., NEW YORK CITY.
Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
Suffer me to suggest some considerations which illustrate the difficulty of conducting a great board so as to avoid debt. For one thing, the operations of the board, being conducted on so large a scale, and over so vast a territory, can not be hurriedly adjusted to financial changes in the United States. Our work has been gradually developed through a long series of years, and must from its very nature be stable. It can not end its work with the year and begin the next year on a different basis. 'I'he board operates in distant lands, some so remote that four to six months are required for the mere interchange of letters. Plans and pledges must therefore be made far in advance. For example, most of our missions make out their estimates in October for the fiscal year which begins the following May, the intervening time being required for the estimates to make the long journey from the ends of the earth to New York, be studied and passed upon by the board, and make the journey back to the field. In these circumstances, who but an inspired prophet could accurately forecast the future? Who knows to-day what the situation will be a year hence? Yet we must know, or try to.
Moreover, missionaries are sent out for a life service. They can not be discharged as a merchant discharges a clerk. True, the board reserves the right of recall, but it justly feels that it should not exercise it save for serious cause in the missionary himself. Nor are foreign missionaries situated like home missionaries, among people of their own race, with partially self-supporting congregations behind them, and with large and sympathetic churches within easy reach in case the board fails them. The foreign missionaries are thousands of miles away, among different and often hostile races, and with absolutely no local resource. In such circumstances, the board simply can not abandon them. It must pay their salaries, and pay them promptly-and we do it. We have retrenched in many other ways, but every foreign missionary under the care of our board has received his full salary, and that, too, the very day it was due. And we believe that the church will sustain us in that policy, that it does not want us to send a forlorn hope into Asia and Africa, and then desert it. But while this is only just to the missionaries, it involves risk to the board.
Another difficulty is the uncertainty of income. The average church makes no pledges, and has no adequate system of raising money. Our expectation of man must often be that along toward the end of the year the pastor and session will be enough interested in the cause to have the plates passed some Sabbath morning, and we must
MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION
do the best we can with whatever is thus given. Rev. Dr. Cleland McAfee found that in the synod of Missouri only forty per cent. of the membership was present at an average Sunday-morning service. As that solitary collection represents the only attention paid to the subject, the absentees lose their only opportunity for a whole year to fulfil Ohrist's most solemn and imperative command. So the tide of beneficence ebbs and flows in the most startling and unexpected ways. The board has to carryon a certain work with no certain human dependence, and of course it is often in debt. The wonder is that the debts are not larger. On the first day of March last, within sixty days of the close of the fiscal year, we lacked $452,000 of the sum needed to meet our pledges for the work, ten months having brought us only about half of the amount needed for the year!
A FAITH WORK.
We protest against the assumption that the work of a church board is not a faith work. At the beginning of each fiscal year, we make appropriations of nearly a million dollars, not one of which is in our treasury. We make those appropriations-aye, and we guarantee them to the missionaries-solely on the faith that the Holy Spirit will guide us and direct the church in securing the necessary money. But piety is consistent with common sense. Since God has ordained that this work shall be supported by the gifts of His people. there is no valid reason why He should not move them to give through the agency which they have been led by his Spirit to form for that purpose, nor is there valid reason for supposing that in the administration of those gifts He has exempted us from the necessity for ordinary prudence and wisdom. Are we to assume that the Holy Spirit is with the people of God when they act as individuals, but that He forsakes them when they move unitedly and prayerfully for the accomplishment of the chief work which He Himself has laid upon them? Are we to assume that He will not bless a gift sent through the twenty-one godly men, who in obedience to His promptings, have been looked out among the brethren as "of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom," and appointed "over this business," and who manifest practical common sense in the administration of their sacred trust, but that He will bless a contribution sent to some self-constituted individual, who is serenely indifferent to the advice of his fellow-Ohristians, who neglects the simplest precautions to secure due care and equitable expenditure of funds as well as reasonable protection of devoted men and women on the field, whose very lives are in his hands and who, as a matter of fact, exercises an authority over missionaries far more arbitrary than that of any church board? Said the head of one independent agency: "It is a pleasure to know that God alone is aware of the financial status of this society." Well, God knows a good
many things which He does not approve. He who handles other people's money is responsible to them as well as to God, and he has no right to shield himself from that responsibility behind the sacred name of God. "Oh what the Lord can do with people who are simpleminded is marvelous!" cried a representative of another independent agency; "He can make ns as innocent as little children!" The church board is a responsible organization. Its books are open to inspection and he who will may know its" financial status."
The missionaries are selected with great care, and only after the most rigid and painstaking inquiry as to their physical, intellectual, and spiritual qualifications. It is a mistake to suppose that any nice, pious youth, can become a foreign missionary. During my Portland pastorate, a bright young man in my church offered to go to the foreign field. I supposed that the board would eagerly accept him. Did we not write that he was an excellent young man, and the son of one of our elders? But to my surprise the board entered upon an investigation which ran through several months, and before that inquiry ended the board's officers, 3,000 miles distant, had learned facts in that young man's record which I, who had been his pastor for six years, had never suspected-tho fortunately the discoveries were favorable. If anyone imagines that weaklings or milksops can be sent to the foreign field, I advise him to apply for appointment, and he will quickly learn to his discomfiture, if not to his satisfaction. Large churches in this country, after spending a year or more in deciding among scores of highly recommended ministers, sometimes give a unanimous can to an unworthy man. So the Foreign Board occasionally errs. But as a rule, the rigorous methods now employed quickly reject incompetent candidates, while the increasing missionary interest in colleges and seminaries gives us the choicest material to select from. We do not send the pale enthusiast or the romantic young lady to the foreign field, but the sturdy, practical, energetic, man of affairs, the woman of poise, and sense, and character. The fact iE, our foreign missionaries are fast becoming a picked class, above the average in intelligence, character, and devotion.
On the field, the missionaries within a given geographical area are organized into a mission, which, in turn, is subdivided into stations. Thus, all the missionaries in Syria constitute the Syria Mission, which has five stations and ninety-seven out-stations. While, as above noted, the individual missionary has a free personal correspondence with the secretary of the board, yet it is expected that requests from the field which involve the expenditure of money, or which concern the general interests of the work, shall have mission judgment thereon, before they are forwarded to New York. There is, therefore, another wise check at this point on hasty individual action. The particular missionary, like the naval officer at sea, is given large discretion in details,
1900.J MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION
but on fundamental lines which involve others and the success of the enterprise, he must work in conference with his brethren.
In our work as a board we rely more and more on the judgment of the missions. We emphasize their dignity and authority, and give them an liberty of action consistent with the prudent administration of the trust which the church has committed to the board, and for which the church holds the board, and not the missions, responsible. The presumption is always in favor of their requests. We trust them and love them. We have abandoned the plan of making numerous changes in the mission estimates, and with the exception of items which involve a mistaken policy, our custom now is to approve all the estimates, subject only to such a cut as their excess over our estimated income renders absolutely necessary, leaving each mission to distribute the cut for itself. This gives to the missions considerable freedom in determining how funds can be expended to the best advantage, tho, of course, within established lines of missionary policy, and the e:-;ti- mates which have been indorsed by the board. When the missionaries come to New York, we introduce them to the board, if the visit occurs on a day when it is ill session. Otherwise, they are given opportunity to meet a committee of the board if they have anything they wish to present, and by means of personal conferences as well as by correspondence, we seek in every practicable way to learn their VIews.
But, of course, the board reserves final authority, subject only to the General Assembly. It has been constituted, not simply as a commissary department to send bacon and beans to the army on the field, nor as a money-order office to receive and forward funds, but as the agent of the General Assembly, to "supervise and conduct the work of foreign missions." It is held to strict account for this supervision, while it assumes responsibilities for the maintenance of the missionaries and the payment of the appropriations which are inseparable from administrative control of funds. To urge that the missionaries know better than the board what ought to be done is to confuse ideas, for, as has been stated, it is the rule of the board to invite the judgment of the missionaries before it decides a question, and it attaches great weight to that judgment. But it should be remembered that the board is expected to foot the bills, that it, and not the missionary, is held responsible by the church if anything goes wrong, and that, moreover, the experience of the missionary, however extended and successful, IJas doubtless been confined to his own particular mission, and ma,y not have included any such project as he now enthusiastically urges, while the board is aided in forming a judgment by its intimate relations with all the other missions, by conferences with boards of other denominations, and by more than half a century's experience in dealing with missionary problems, in which it has prob-
ably considered that identical scheme, with all its pros and cons, a dozen times. As a matter of fact, most of the principles of mission policy, which are now generally recognized as vital to the true interests of the work, and whose practical application on the field is slowly but surely placing the mission enterprise on a sounder basis, were given form by the secretaries 01 the boards, and were adopted by the missions under pressure from the home office. The self-support of the native church is an example in point. While here and there an individual missionary, like Dr. Nevius, clearly saw and boldly expressed the need, yet the theory was not taken up by the missions and effectively applied as a working principle until the boards insisted upon it. Moreover, missionaries, living as they do in widely separated groups, and with no means of intercommunication, often differ radically in their judgment regarding a given question, so that not infrequently a decision of the board, which implies a refusal to one mission, is reany the expression of the majority of all the missions obtained by the board through its wide correspondence. The missionaries themselves are urging the board to increase rather than to diminish its authoritative functions. One of them has recently written as follows; and opinions of others to the same effect might be quoted: " In the nature of the case, perhaps there is no ci~cle in the world, except the family circle, in which its members need to guard one another's susceptibilities so carefully, as the foreign missionary circle. The fewness, the intimacy, the parity, the isolation, the conspicuousness, the indispensable harmony, all conspire to make this so. It follows that delicate subjects affecting personal and local interests are nowhere in the world so difficult to handle, as in the mission circle. And it is often necessary, in the interest of internal harmony, to neglect or postpone important measures. Hence, in dealing with such questions, the board must often need to take the initiative, and to follow it up if necessary, with no little pressure, to counteract the personal forces at work, and get beyond the compromises into which these are apt to lead, and into the region of the independent and impartial judgment of the mission as a whole."
In so vast and complex a w')rk, conducted in so many lands, and in such varying ways, and involving so many and widely separated individuals, occasional differences of opinion are inevitable. A board sometimes does an unintentional, but none the less real injustice to a mISSIOnary. On the other hand, the necessarily distant and comparatively isolated missionary can not be expected to see some questions in the same light as a board whose outlook is over the world, which is in constant communication with every part of it, which is in close touch with the home church,and which must bear the final responsibility for consequences. Standing between a church which demands conservative appropriations, and missionaries who demand liberal ones, between critics who think that we give the missionaries too
MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION
many privileges, and friends who think that we give them too few, the board is sometimes fired upon by both sides in a way that is rather trying. We sometimes receive a letter from a missionary insisting on the extension of some privilege, and by the same mail a letter from a home pastor declaring that if we do not restrict that privilege his congregation will diminish its gifts. But we do the best we can, and considering all the circumstances, the degree of harmony which pre- vails· is remarkable.
All the boards are giving increasing attention to the principles of an intelligent mission policy. They feel that the days of sentimen- talism in foreign missions have passed. They are not conducting a crusade, but a settled campaign, and they are planning it with such skill and prudence as they possess. They study the broad principles of missions, read the lessons which have been taught by a hundred years of missionary effort, abandon plans which have been found defective, and adopt new ones which promise better results. Every year the officers and representatives of the thirty or more foreign mission's boards of the United States and Canada, meet for conference as to the best methods for carrying on missionary operations, and an amount of care and thought is given to the whole subject which would surprise the average critic. We a:re earnestly trying to administer this great trust wisely, economically, and effectively, and on sound business and scientific, as well as religious, principles.
r do not deny that there is sometimes ground for just criticism, and for such criticism we are thankful. We realize that methods which are adapted to this country are not necessarily adapted to lands whose governments and religions and social customs are widely different. I admit for the Presbyterian Board that in distribut.ing nearly a million dollars a year among thousands of objects all over the world, we occasionally make a mistake. We concede that in deciding a myriad perplexing questions, many of them delicate and difficult, and on which good men differ, we sometimes decide the wrong way. We have to feel our way along, and learn by experience. We know that in such circumstances some errors of judgment are natural, and we are grateful to anyone who will point them out to us, and help us to correct them. When ex-secretary of state John W. Foster came to New York after his tour in heathen lands, we invited him to a conference and said to him, "You have kindly complimented us in public, and we appreciate your commendation. But this afternoon we want you to criticize us. Tell us what you saw that as a Presbyterian elder you would try to change if you were in our place. " We profited by that interview. And yet if anyone were to make a list of the real defects in our present methods, he would probably learn on inquiry that we already know those defects, and that we are earnestly striving to remedy them. But nine-tenths of the current criticisms are value-
less, because they are unintelligent or uncandid, based on rumors, misunderstandings, preconceived prejudices, or low conceptions of Ohristian duty.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION.
In closing, permit me to emphasize the principles which underlie all our plans and work: 1. Faith in the missionary enterprise. We believe it to be of Divine authority, that the Master meant what He said when lIe com- manded His Gospel to be preached to every creature, and that, how- ever encouraging may be the facts of the work itself, the main assur- ance of victory lies in the power of Jesus Ohrist, and His promise to be with His disciples alway.
2. Faith in the Holy Spirit as the administrator of this enterprise. We believe that He calls the men, assigns them to their spheres of labor, and that we, as officers and members of the board, lllUst con- stantly seek and solely depend upon His illumination and guidance. When I first entered the service of the board, I was profoundly impressed by the spiritual atmosphere of the mission rooms, and that impression has only deepened with the passing years. My colleagues in the executive council; and the members of the board, are men who walk with God. Prayer for Divine guidance begins not only every board meeting, but every council and committee conference, and the spirit of prayer pervades all deliberations. At 12: 45 P.M. we hold a daily prayer meeting, for which the officers of the board and their clerks leave their work, and with any friends or missionaries who – happen to be in the building at the time, unite in communion with God. In that little meeting we pray for the missionaries in turn by name, and in addition, each secretary reports any special cases of ill- ness or bereavement, success or disconragement, among the devoted workers abroad, whom we love so much, and whom we constantly carry upon our hearts. Every appeal to the churches is winged with prayer, and a very large majority of the public addresses of the secre- taries are based on the spiritual character and claims of the work. Over and over again, we tell pastors and congregations that foreign missionary zeal is indissolubly associated with the spiritual life, and that men are permanently and intelligently interested in the world's evangelization only as they catch the spirit of Ohrist, and are filled with the Holy Ghost.
3. Faith in our brethren, the Ohurch of the Iiving God, as the human supporter of this enterprise. Indifferent, the facts all too pain- fully show that lllany ministers and members are. But, on the other hand, we well know that there are thousands of pastors who faithfully preach and pray for this cause, multitudes of laymen who lovingly and generously cooperate, more than a hundred thousand women who
THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK IN JAPAN
bring their gifts and sympathies to the Master's feet, and a mighty host of young people who exult in keeping step with the onward march of the Kingdom of God. And we have reason to believe that the number of these faithful ones is steadily increasing. Almost every mail brings tidings of.additional pastors and communicants who have been led to consecrate themselves with new spiritual joy to this majestic enterprise. In the pulpits and in our great church gatherings, particularly at synods and general assemblies, the secretaries are welcomed with an enthusiasm which shows that foreign missi~ns lie close to the hearts of many of God's people, and the more we see of our brethren, the more we have confidence in them and the more we are encouraged to hope that the Church is about to enter upon a new era of foreign missionary activity. And may God hasten the day!
THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK IN JAPAN.
REV. J. H. DE FOREST, D.D., SENDAI. Missionary of the American Board.
Since the opening of Japan there has been no year when religious questions have occupied so large and serious a share of public attention as the one just ended. There never has been a time when public confessions of the failure of the old religions to meet the needs of new civilization have been so unqualified. I shall not go into details, but will merely give a general view of a wonderfully interesting situation.
Recent religious movements are easily divided into these three, the withdrawal of Shintoism from the sphere of religion, the attempts of Buddhism to become the state religion, and the attitude of the government toward religion. And Christianity has much to do with each of these movements.
There is, first, the open declination of the most powerful section of Shintoism to be called any longer a religion. The authorities at the central shrine of Ise have renounced all claim to be a religion, and have been incorporated as an a.ssociation to perpetuate the memory of Japan's single line of emperors, and to foster the principles of Japanese patriotism. Many other Shinto sects retain their claim to be a religion, but this central association discourages them in every possible way, and it is not improbable that all Shintoism will eventually be absorbed into the Ise movement, and every Japanese will be a Shintoist in the sense that he is profoundly loyal and patriotic.
The significance of this movement seems to be that Shintoism, as a religion, has no future. It can not ·hope to compete with the theistic thought that is gradually entering into the whole nation. Its only salvation was in adjusting itself to the times as a patriotic body whose main purpose is to guard the historic treasures and sentiments
so vital to the nation's progress. But a glaring inconsistency remains. It still retains prayers and acts that seem to us as worship. So there may be a clash yet with Christian faith, tho I do not believe it will be very serious. My impression is that the prayers will be gradually modified to some patriotic sentiments, and the acts of worship will be the reverential honor that all peoples gladly render to their truly noble men.
A large section of Buddhism, on the contrary, has been exerting its utmost strength to secure recognition as the national religion. It has gloried in the fact that its long history and the benefits it has conferred on Japan entitle it to this preeminence. It has decried Christianity as an alien religion, a danger to society and especially to the throne, and has boldly appealed to the fact that the government has never recognized it in any way. The Buddhists say that the statistics of Christianity have never appeared in the annual reports of the government, that the Christian churches have been taxed as common buildings, and that their pastors are treated as common people, subject to draft in the army, and therefore Christianity has no standing whatever and no right to exist in Japan.
If the government should accept this extreme Buddhist view of the right of Christianity to exist in Japan, it would lead at once to serious international complications. But the government, as a whole, . stands for religious liberty. Buddhism has no chance of becoming the state religion. And Christianity is being officially recognized as fast as possible. As soon as foreigners came under Japanese law by the operation of the equal treaties, the government issued regulations requiring all missionaries to register as such, giving their creeds and methods of work and places of preaching. Thus we were officially recognized as Christian missionaries, and the last cry that Christianity has no rights in Japan has been heard.
But a more significant movement is now attracting wide attention. The government has laid before the Diet a religious bill that is the dismay of the Buddhist sections spoken of above. It puts all religions on a level, all equally entitled to protection, their teachers exempt from military duty, and their buildings free from taxation. This bill of 53 articles will probably become a law, tho many Buddhists have organized a strong opposition to it. While, on general principles, it is somewhat distasteful to Americans, it is not difficult to see that it may have great advantages for a nation like Japan. It will modify existing opposition, it will give the new religion a kind of social standing, it will make it easier for the churches. Representative Christians have met and consulted about the bill, and while there are some points that they would like to change, so far as I have heard, there is a very favorable inclination to the general trend of the proposed regUlations.
The action, however, of one section of the government-the educational department-has greatly disappointed the best friends of Japan, especially in America. Its regulations, absolutely forbidding any religious instruction in all schools that have government recognition are a severe blow to the large and prosperous Christian schools, such as the Doshisha, the Aoyamo Gakuin, the Meiji Gakko, and others. Yet, it is well known that the educational department is not a unit in this radically conservative step, and public opinion is markedly against it. Prominent Christians, both Japanese and foreigners, have repeatedly interviewed the authorities to persuade them to make concessions or to explain away the severity of the new rules, but they have so far failed to gain anything substantial. It is the general opinion, however, that the rules will be virtually inoperative before long, as they are not laws, having the sanction neither of the Diet, nor of the imperial seal. They are merely regulations which a new cabinet may modify at any time or ignore. So long as they are operative a great injustice is done to the students of Christian schools in that they are denied entrance to all the government colleges and universities. This renders it necessary that Christian education should be carried out clear to the end, by having at least one thoroughly equipped Christian university in Japan. This is now one of the large questions under consideration. If all the missionary boards could unite in some such movement the existing Christian schools might be saved to their full usefulness. Thus it is apparent that religious questions have occupied the public attention as never before. And Christianity is gaining in public favor without a doubt. While the gains numerically are not great, the churches, I think, are growing in the consciousness that they have a mission of deepest importance, and the faith of believers in Christ as their divine and supreme Lord is growing stronger than ever. Every missionary knows of quiet and prolonged sacrifices for Christ that are indisputable proofs of the power of the Gospel. The old style of theater-preaching is being taken up again, and in Osaka an immense audience of 3,500 listened for hours with respect to the leading preachers of different churches, and an audience of 1,700 in this city of Sendai gave generous applause to the exposition of the fatherhood of God. Nor is it an insignificant sign of the times that enthusiastic Christian lectures have been given right in government colleges and Christian clubs formed in government middle schools. Christian officials are found in high places, Christian men of good rank are in the army, a Christian chaplain commands the largest battleship of Japan's navy, Christian educators are in almost every large government school, Christian writers hold prominent places on newspapers, and Christian reformers are at work on social problems. There is a growing feeling that, whatever becomes of the old religions, the unwavering moral standards of Christianity are more and more a necessity.
MISSIONS BY GOVERNMENT.
J. T. GRACEY, D. D.
"New Problems in the Relation of Missions to Governments" is among the topics for discussion at the Ecumenical Conference. There are very old principles, however, which enter into the direction of some of these relations of missions to governments. One of these problems, where old principles govern, is found in the late concession of political powers to missionaries by the Chinese government. If our readers will turn to the REVIEW for September, Hl99, p. 714, and read a paragraph by Rev. A. H. Smith, of North China, on the recent decree of the Chinese Government authorizing certain prelates of the Roman Catholic Church to communicate directly with Chinese officials, whom hitherto they must approach through their respective consuls, and then will read on page 63 of the January number, 1900, the text of that decree, they will be prepared to apprehend to what principle we refer.
That decree conferred on Roman Catholic priests a political statns placing them on a level of dignity with mandarins. Of course, this was a triumph of French diplomacy, in the interest of the Roman Church, which is established in every province in the empire. But by the established usage of the "most favored nation" clause, it lifted all Protestant missionaries as well into ~he political arena, and thrust on them the policy of prosecution of "Missions by Government." There seems little doubt that the Chinese government distinctly desires that Protestant missionaries shall accept this status, since it has been well-nigh compelled by "squeezing" to grant it to Roman Catholics. In many particulars it seems desirable that they should accept the new alliance, for the sake of Protestant Chinese Christians.
It will afford Roman Catholics opportunity to protect their Chinese converts from prosecution far more readily, and to guard their civil rights. Protestant missionaries will have like power and privilege; and if they decline to accept the proffered political eJevation, while the Romanists accentuate it, the prestige of the Catholics will be correspondingly advanced and the Protestant, Chinese Christians be put, so to speak, "out of court." Acceptance of the privilege would, doubtless, make a "short cut" to the redressing of many wrongs of Protestant Chinese Christians. But a little considerl.',- tion will give us pause in accepting the proffered grace of becoming, in a way, a part of the Chinese magistracy.
The Roman Catholic Church does not have occasion to do other than congratulate itself on the political triumph it has gained. It has al ways coveted political power. As" ruler of the Church" it has always claimed even to set up and pull down kings. But the Protestantism of the churches of the Reformation distinctly adopts the principle of the separation of Church and State, and Mr. Arnold Foster, writing in the North Ohina Daily News, challenges the attention of the entire Protestant missionary world to the peril of abandoning this principle in this crisis in China. He thinks it a question of the gravest importance to the future of China as a nation, and also to the future of Christian missions, and declares that there would be great "danger to the peace and well-being of the Chinese people, danger to the interests of all foreigners living in China, and last, but not least,
GOD'S JEWELS AND HOW HE ()ARES FOR THEM
danger to the very life of the Christian Church as a religious society existing only for spiritual and non-political ends."
Mr. Foster says Protestantism of the non-State churches is at the very antipodes of Rome in regard to this whole question; and that we owe it to ourselves at this critical time to show the courage of our convictions, and to believe that whatever the apparent loss of worldly prestige and" influence" may be for the present, in the end the moral superiority of our ecclesiastical policy to the ecclesiastical policy of Rome will be recognized.
Mr. Foster quotes from Sir Rutherford Alcock's article in the Lon- don Times, Sept. 13, 1886, on "France, China, and the Vatican," in which the former British minister denounces the whole system of priestly interference in the political affairs of China and the adminis- tration of its laws, to which interference Sir Rutherford attributes, in China, the" perennial hostility toward Christianity and its teachers in every form which now (1886) pervades the whole nation, rulers and people, from the highest to the lowest." He says this hostility is not to the Christian religion, but to the interference with civil jurisdiction on the part of the Church. Whatever force may be conceded, the emphasis Sir Rutherford puts on the antagonism of Chinese to mis- sions, of course applies to "foreigners" beyond mission circles who push to the wall Chinese political usage. But it is a very grave ques- tion which the Ecumenical Conference in New York might prayer- fully consider, what policy should the Protestant missions, as a whole, unite on, concerning this new political proffer of the Chinese Gov- ernment. .
GOD'S JEWELS AND HOW HE CARES FOR THEM.
BY HEV. HICHARD BURGES, CALCUTTA, INDIA.
One day at noon in the hot weather of 1898, a fearful fire raged in Hatnapur, Bengal. The flames leaped like a mad tiger from one thatch to another. 'fwo thougand Bengalies had their homes and all . in that village, where the Christians, Mohammedans, and Hindus were equal in numbers, and dwelt in separate sections. The abodes of the non-Christians were already afire, and the wind drove the flames toward the section inhabited by the Christians, and men, women, and children were frantic. The flames had leaped over a river a hundred yards wide, from the Mohammedan quarters to that of the Hindus. Suddenly the fierce wind veered around before the fire had touched the thatch of a Christian's hut. Ratnapur means the Place of the Jewels. Surely God took care of His own jewels.
Rev. E. T. Butler, of the C. M. S. Mission at Ratnapur, February 13, 1899, in reply to an inquiry as to whether this deliverance was in answer to prayer, writes as follows: "Some of the men, describing the incident to me, related how the villagers were praying most earnestly at the time. The padri (native pastor) with the leading church committee members, stood in the border line, between the Hindu and Christian villages, looking up toward heaven, and striving most earnestly in prayer the whole time. They said that the consciousness that God would check the flames in some way or other was shared by all Christians who witnessed their progress."
SELECTED ARTICLE& THE PROBLEM OF HINDUISM.* BY REV. ROBERT P. WILDER, M.A., CALCUTTA, INDIA.
Secretary of the International Committee of the Y. M. C. A.
What is Hinduism? A Brahman attempted to give me a aefinition, but before he completed his statement another Brahman contradicted him. It is easier to state what Hinduism is not than what it is. It is the residuum left after eliminating Sikhism, J ainism, Islalllism, and all the other religions of India. Its main characteristics are the recognition of caste and the authority of the Brahman priesthood. It includes a quasi monotheism, pantheism, polytheism, polydemonism, and atheism. An authority on India, Sir Alfred Lyall, has said, "The Hindu religion is a religion chaos. It is like a troubled sea, without chore or visible horizon, driven to and fro by the winds of boundless credulity and grotesque invention."
I. Its Antiquity. Two thousand years ago India had a civilization of a high order. The Rig Veda is said to date from near the time of Moses. Hinduism has grown through thousands of years into the habits and customs of the people; and in India, custom is king.
II. Its Elasticity. A Hindu may believe anything or nothing, provided he conforms to the rules of caste and respects the Brahmans. "Jathay Bhavah thathay devah." (Where your faith is there is God.) Like a rubber ball, Hinduism receives all impressions and soon reverts to its former shape. Compromise is its cry, and it compromises by including all rivals within itself. It would absorb Christianity, if Christians would consent to form a subcaste by themselves and pay homage to the Brahmans.
III. Its Solidity. Five hundred years before Christ, a mighty upheaval occurred in the silent waters of Hinduism, and the island of Buddhism was the result. For centuries the religion of Sakya Muni was powerful in India. Political prestige and a popular ethical code were on its side. But steadily Hinduism undermined it, until Buddhism crumbled away and disappeared from India. Where it once towered aloft we see nothing but the stagnant waters of Hinduism. There are only 300,000 Buddhists in all India. Later Mohammedans overran India, but Hinduism has checked it "by the sheer force of inertia." The Goliath of Hinduism has successfully defied both Buddhism and Mohammedanismtwo of the greatest missionary religions in the world. To-day it defies the armies of the living God.
IV. Its Intellectual Fruits. Is not Hinduism unreasonable since it includes within it pantheism, polytheism, and atheism? Pantheism denies the personality of God and the responsibility of man. The doctrine of Maya deprives human thought of all validity. "We can neither know that Absolute One while compassed with mind, nor seek after it." The Vedanta says of the Absolute: "From whom words turn back together with the mind not reaching him." Polytheism is unreasonable. How can a thinking man believe that the world is governed by many gods, presiding over different parts of nature and fighting against each other? How can he place confidence in a religion which ha,s a pantheon * Condensed from White Already to Harvest, India.
THE PROBLEM OF HINDUISM
consisting of 330,000,000 idols and idol symbols? Daily he hears bells rung to arouse the deity from its slumbers, and he sees the inanimate god bathed and fed. He also sees the worship of animate things, such as serpents, monkeys, cows, and elephants. "Should we believe or think?" said a Brahman to me. The question was pertinent in view of the unreasonableness of Hinduism. Have the masses been immersed in ignorance in order that they may blindly believe, and not think? What is the mental condition of India's millions? Only one in mneteen can read or write. Of the 140,500,000 women, only 543,495 are classed as literate. Even the language of India feels the effects of Hinduism. The Hindi, one of the leading vernaculars, has no word for" person," no one word for chastity, as applied to men; and no adequate term for "con- science."
V. The Physical Fruits of Hinduism. The poverty of the people is due largely to astrological superstition. The declaration of certain days as unlucky, largely interferes with business enterprise. Such effects of Hinduism as human sacrifice, infanticide, and Suttee, are no longer allowed by the British Government, but we should not forget that within a period of four months in the year 1824, one hundred and fifteen widows were burned alive in the neighborhood of Calcutta. Previous to 1837, about 150 human sacrifices were annually offered at Goomsur. Villages 'near the city of my birth were scoured by emissaries of the Hindu queen to seize girls to be offered on the altars of the goddess Kali. To-day we see the sad effects of this system as we study the condition of the 22,657,429 widows-13,878 of whom are said to be under four years of age. Over one-fourth of the children die before they reach the age of one year. Caste feeling leads the people to protest against sanitary measures and segregation hospitals. Rajah Sir Madhav Rao has well said: "There is no community on the face of the earth which suffers less from political evils and more from self-inflicted, or self-accepted, or self-created, and therefore avoidable evils than the Hindu community."
VI. The Moral Effects of Hinduism. "A religion which does not inspire its followers with a love of justice and devotion to truth is even worse than no religion; and, therefore, purification of religion is necessary." These are the words of a prominent Brahman in Western India. Krishna is the most popular of the Hindu gods. His lying, thieving, and immoralities are admitted by the masses. " Y atha deva, thatha bhaktah" (As is the God, so is the worshipper) is a saying commonly uttered in India, Its truth is proved by the immoralities practised in Hindu temples. The dancing girls of Orissa memorialized the lieutenant- Governor of Bengal "that their existence is so related to the Hindu religion that its ceremonies can not be fully performed without them." These poor women are monuments to the moral depravity of Hinduism. The Indian Penal Code of the British Government states that any public exhibition of obscenity is liable to fine and imprisonment with the following exception: "This section does not extend to any representation on or in any temple, or on any car used for the conveyance of idols or any religious purpose." So, according to Hinduism, that is religiously right which is morally wrong. The Hindu religion permits within its temples that which the government can not allow in its streets.
VII. Its Spiritual Fruits. A Hindu says: "A sublime inactive philosophy too long has had the sway over us, and we have seen the
result. Any effort to renovate India through its sole agency is doomed to certain failure." What has that philosophy accomplished~ It has led men to doubt God's personality, and to deny their own responsibility. Bin in India is ceremonial defilement, not moral or spiritual defilement. "God must be both good and evil," said a Brahman to me. Salvation means passing through a cycle of existences, until one's identity is lost in deity. A woman"s goal in life is to lITe so well that in the next life she may be born a man. A man's ambition is to make so much merit, that he may be born into a higher caste. A religion with defective ethics can have no spiritual uplift.
VIII. Its Numbers. How many are to-day feeling the intellectual, physical, moral, and spiritual effects of Hinduism? Bombay Presidency has the population of Spain, Holland, and Norway. The entire population of Brazil can be accommodated in the Central Provinces. Madras Presidency and its native states have within them more people than there are in Great Britain and Ireland. The inhabitants of Sindh and the Punjab equal those of Austria. The population of the German Empire can be placed in the North 'Vest Provinces and Oudh; and Bengal has within it as many people as there are in the United States. In India we find one-fifth of the inhabitants of the world. Seventy-two per cent., or 208,000,000 of these teeming multitudes are Hindus, and are moral and spiritual wrecks on the shores of Hinduism.
IX. Its Ove1"throUJ. "And the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country." Let us examine these two little flocks: (1.) The Protestant missionaries number about 1,600. (2.) The Protestant Indian Christians number about 800,000. But while the population has been increasing 13 per cent., the Christians have been increasing 22 per cent. A Hindu writes thus: .. Have they (the missionaries) not raised the Mahars (depressed classes) into men from brutes, whom we, with all our talk of universal brotherhood and universal sympathy, and transcendental Advaitism, allowed or forced to dive deeper and deeper into the mire of degradation for twenty centuries?" But the triumphs of Christianity are not confined to the low castes. The first Indian lady graduates in arts, medicine, and law were Christians. In the Madras Presidency, where Christians are Olle in forty of the population, one out of twelve college graduates is a Christian. It is estimated that out of every six converts in India, one comes from a higher caste. These results can only be explained by the power of God, when we consider the paucity of Christian workers and the might of Hinduism, which holds the higher classes and the masses in the iron grip of caste and custom. But mere numbers can not measure the triumphs of Christianity. God's truth has penetrated beyond this numerical horizon into the thought-life of thousands of Hindus.
X.-PUJo Solutions. (1.) Christlike Intolerance. If we wish to have these prohlems solved, we must have Christlike intolerance. Christianity is not a religion, it is the religion. Jesus Christ is not a Savior; He is the only Savior. He said about Himself, .. I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one cometh unto the Father but by Me." It was this Christianlike intolerance which enabled Christian missionaries in the first two centuries to conquer the Roman Empire. It 'was the lack of this intolerance that negatived all the efforts and self-sacrifice of the I Nestorians in Asia. The Hindu is willing to praise Christianity, if we will commend Hinduism. A student once said to me: .. Why should I
TAKING A CHURCH ROUND THE WORLD
leave Hinduism at so great a sacrifice, when Christian America is commending so much in Hinduism?" He was on the point of confessing Christ. The Hinduism he knew by personal experience from childhood repelled him, but the expurgated Hinduism of the West attracted him. It is hard for us workers in India to find that the foe is employing against us weapons forged in Christian countries. If lovingly and loyally, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we insist upon the atonement and divinity of Christ, and the utter inadequacy of Hinduism to save, these problems will soon be solved.
(2.) Christlike Compassion. Only those who have lived in India, know how distressed and scattered these people are, how mangled by sickness, how torn by sin. He, the Great Shepherd, tells us to pray that under shepherds may be provided to pity.and to protect these sheep. For 200 miles by 100 miles to the southeast of J alna, there is a district teeming with people, and no Christian shepherd. The Kankar State has none. In the Kalahandi State there never has been one. In the North Nellore and South Kistna district, scarcely one-tenth of the population has been reached. Yet these places are in the best-worked presidency in India. Of the sixteen counties in Khandesh, only five are occupied. When we turn to Gujerat, we find hundreds of villages of aboriginal races with little or no religion to destroy. "In a few years these will have become Brahmanized, and then work among them will be like knocking our head against a stone wall." A government official beseeches us to send men there. promising every assistance in his power; and we can not move. A missionary writes from Rajpore: "If we had a hundred missionaries, there would be room for more." Chanda, with an area of 10,749 square miles, 2,700 villages, and a population of 690,000, has no missionary. Kaffristan, some time ago, asked for teachers, but none have gone. In the whole province of Baltistan, there is only one worker. Word has come from Peshawar, that there is no mission between that point and Rawl Pindi, one hundred miles away. In Behar there are 24,000,000, and six missionaries. One of the missionaries has written: "Quite half of this province is as much heathen as any other part of the world, having never yet even heard the sound of the Gospel. The need' of the workers is tremendous, and the darkness is awful." "Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?" " Lovest thou Me? Feed these My sheep."
TAKING A CHURCH ROUND THE WORLD. * BY REV. WILLARD K. SPENCER, D. D., ALMA, MICH.
Here is how one Christian Endeavor Society studied missions. The society began with three advantages: a live missionary committee, a pastor with a missionary library, and a church that could not be easily startled. The problem to be solved was two-fold-how to set the Endeavorers to studying missions, and how to interest the whole church in the monthly meeting. So pastor and committee put their heads together with the following result. One Sunday morning a notice like this was read from the pUlpit: This congregation is invited to join an Endeavor trip around the world. Special trains and steamers have been provided for ourexc1usive CODdeDsed from The Christian Endeavor World.
use. Expenses will be light. Kodaks and bicycles can be taken. The excursion will leave the chapel Thursday, January 21, 1894, at 7 P. M. sharp. Be sure to get on board when the bell rings.
Naturally there was considerable wondering what the notice meant; and as a consequence, "when the bell rang" on Thursday night, one hundred and fifty people came to find out, instead of the usual seventyfive prayer-meeting goers. Two ushers were at the door, with little American flags pinned on their coats and mimeograph programs in their hands. Each program had a flag thrust through one side. The ushers seated the people in the chapel transformed with festooned bunting and draped flags. By this time the astonished audience were ready to look at the program, which read something as follows: ENDE..;.VOR TRIP AROUND THE WORLD.
First Nigkt.-From Michigan to California. Prayer by the Pastor.
Singing.-" Faith Giveth the Victory." Topic.-Home Missions Among l1ichigan Pines and Indiana Corn-Stalks. Topic.-What Christ is Doing in Chicago. Singing.-" Throw Out the Life-Line." Topic.-Snap-Shots from a Car-Window between Chicago and the Coast. Topic.-Howa Home Missionary Saved the Great Northwest. Singing.-" A.merica. n Benediction. NOTEl This excursion stops at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, until the steamer sails for Hawaii.
The four topics on the program were treated in five-minute talks or papers by Endeavorers. Reading from missionary magazines, books, or newspapers was strictly barred. What was presented must be the result of personal study. Oonsequently it was bright, fresh, and now and then startlingly naIve. Everybody sung. Everybody enjoyed the decorations. Everybody voted the first night of the excursion a success.
Space does not permit speaking of all the programs in detail. The missionary committee sought to make the titles as attractive as possible, and mingled lighter and more descriptive themes' with solid missionary information. At times the Juniors told of the children in the lands which the excursion visited. Sometimes the stereopticon was' used. Sometimes Endeavorers appeared dressed in the costumes of peoples studied. Every night the decorations were different.
For two years this missionary excursion was in progress, with unflagging interest from first to last. The society became so enthusiastic that it engineered a missionary-extension lecture course, securing such men as Dr. Paton, of Polynesia, Dr. McKean, of Laos, Rev. Gilbert Reid, of Ohina, and Rev. Lewis Esselstyn, of Persia. The society adopted a missionary as its own, thus joining the Macedonian Phalanx before it ever was organized. Its missionary offering leaped from $25 to $125a year. A missionary reading-club was successfully maintained one winter. And the effect on the church was that Endeavor night was the most largely attended midweek meeting of the month.
What this society did can be repeated as often as desired, provided that the fire of enthusiasm is lighted and kept alive by prayer, provided that the pastor or some other leader can help the Endeavorers find the treasures of romance and achievement so abundantly hidden away in missionary literature, and provided that the missionary committee is wise enough to develop the latent energies of its society.
GOSPEL TRIUMPHS IN MANCHURIA
GOSPEL TRIUMPHS IN MANCHURIA.* BY DUNCAN MCLAREN, ESQ., EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
Chairman of the United Presbyterian Church Foreign Mission Board.
The United Presbyterian Church of Scotland began mission work in China in the year 1862. Mr. John Ross, who arrived in 1872, found several societies laboring in the province of Shantung, while across the Yellow Sea, in the vast country of Manchuria, there were no Protestant mIsSIOnaries. Five years earlier, the Rev. William Burns, after many years' arduous laborin China, had landed at the port of Newchwang with the intention of evangelizing Manchuria, but was permitted only to take possession of the land for a burial-place. On his death-bed he said, "God will carryon the good work; I have no fears for that." Two missionaries from the Presbyterian Church of Ireland followed, but for reasons of health they did not remain long.
Manchuria, the cradle of the dynasty that now sits on the Dragon throne, was originally inhabited by Manchus, a warlike race, numbers of whom have been drafted into China to garrison the cities. On the other hand, numbers of Chinese have gone north to Manchuria, where they have settled as agriculturists. There are three provinces-Fung-tien in the south, Kirin in the centre, and Hehlung-chiang in the north. In Fung-tien there are now as many Chinese as Manchus. These, likemost colonists, are more accessible 'to new ideas than those who remain in the home of their ancestors. During his first year in the country Mr. Ross traveled over the greI,Lter part of the southern province, and opened some out-stations. Before the second year was cOll(!luded, the infant church of Manchuria was born, thirteen members having been baptized and four evangelists appointed. John MacIntyre joined Mr. Ross in 1875, and from this time forward distinct advance was made.
Mukden, the capital of Manchuria, is a large and imposing city, with a population greater than that of Edinburgh and Leith combined. It is surrounded by double walls, those encompassing the inner city being built of brick, and those round the suburban city being formed of mud. The missionaries felt it was of the utmost importance to gain an entrance for the Gospel here, as it was not only the governmental but also the intellectual capital, being the home of the literati. Two evangelists, Wang and Tang, were sent to prepare the way. Strong opposition was ma'iifested; no landlord dared to let his house to the foreigners, and in their repeated visits to the city they had to endure the discomforts of an inferior and uninviting inn. Obstacles continued to be thrown in their path, and personal indignities were shown to both missionaries and evangelists. Their sufferings were, however, forgotten when, within a year, they had the joy of baptizing five converts, who, like their teachers, were called on to endure hardness.
After a time they succeeded in obtaining a small building in one of the leading thoroughfares, which they used as a preaching chapel. These preaching chapels in Manchuria have been most fruitful in blessing. They correspond somewhat to our mission halls at home, only in a main street in place of a back lane. They are quite distinct from the members' churches, where Christians meet for worship, and which are usually ina more retired position. The church in Mukden is an exception, being ina *Condensed from Free Ohurch 0/ Scotland Monthly.
conspicuous place, and is a large, handsome building, holding nine hundred persons, Work was next begun in Haichung, then in Liao-yang, afterward in Kai-yuen, and other centers. In every case the experience was the same. Evangelists were sent first, so as not needlessly to alarm the inhabitants by th~ presence of foreigners. Difficulty was always expe- rienced in obtaining a preaching chapel. When it was obtained, crowds came, but mostly for the purpose of doing mischief. The evangelists were reviled and threatened, forms were broken, pictures and books were destroyed, and fellows of the baser sort were hired to create a disturb- ance and prevent the teacher being heard. Patient continuance in well- doing, unwavering determination to preach the Gospel, and readiness to suffer for its sake, astonished the people, and in the end vanquished the opposition. Many of those who came to scoff remained to pray, and in the inquirers' room sought for light.
The most encouraging feature in the Manchuri/l· Mission is the readi- ness-rather, the eagerness-of the converts to carry the glad tidings to others. This is the more remarkable when we remember the character of the Chinese. They are naturally stolid, slow to change, pleased with themselves, indifferent to others, and averse to foreign ideas. But the converted Chinese or Manchu no sooner learns "the doctrine" and receives baptism than he tells his neighbors of his new-found joy, and . when he journeys to distant places he speaks to those whom he meets in the inns, and among the inhabitants of remote valleys and hillsides he testifies to what the Lord has done for his soul. In this way many thousands hear the Gospel who have never seen a Scotch or an Irish mis- sionary, and when these'go on their itinerating tours, in villages never before visited, they find a people made ready, prepared for the Lord.
The converts are ready to give of their substance; in many places the members' church is provided at their expense, without help from the mission funds. They have also shown themselves ready to suffer for conscience sake, many by joining the Christian church being deprived of their means of living, others being beaten and persecuted by their own relatives. During the war with Japan, when all the missionaries were ordered to leave the interior and go to the port, the flocks were left shep- herdless, and exposed to the reproaches and ill-usage of the heathen around. Not one convert, however, recanted his faith, or sought to con- ceal that he was a follower of the "Jesus religion." When the Rev. Jamlls A. Wylie, our martyred missionary, was attacked by soldiers and mortally wounded in the streets of Liao-yang, Deacon Liu, who accompanied him, sought to save Mr, Wylie by exposinghimself to the ruffianly blows.
The foundations of our mission in Manchuria have been wisely planned and firmly laid. The missionaries have studied the character of the people, and have never needlessly offended their prejudices. They have not stood up for treaty rights, or insisted on all they might claim, but have willingly borne contumely and injury. In return, they have gained the confidence and respect of the people, who are satisfied they have no selfish ends. They have ever considered what was best suited for Manchuria, and not sought to transplant foreign ideas to that soil. Their desire has been to found not a branch of a Scottish church, but an independent Manchuria church, adapted to the genius and character of the members. The missionaries have accordingly let the native members of
presbytery take the chief part in discussing and settling all questions, not caring always even to vote, but simply seeking to guide their native brethren.
Women in China occupy a somewhat higher position than in many heathen lands, tho even there they are treated as of little account, espe- cially in their early days. Education is highly prized, but schools are for boys only; few girls are taught to read a single character of their lan- guage. Nothing is done to make their lives bright and happy, and they grow up to be patient household drudges. Age, however, is always treated in China with great honor, and when women become" venerable grandmothers" their rule over their sons' wives and children is absolute, and great deference is paid to them. They are usually opposed to all new ideas, and strongly prejudiced against foreigners. Our missionaries soon saw that these women could only be influenced through the agency of women, and an appeal was made to send out women missionaries. The first arrived in 1881, and settled in Mukden. A boarding-school for the daughters of Christian parents was opened, and classes for the instruc- tion of women were begun. In 1892 a training-home for Bible-women and a small hospital were erected in Liao-yang, and a few years later a woman's hospital was built in Mukden. Four women missionaries, two of whom were medical graduates, went out at the close of the Japanese war, and every year since then others have been added to our staff.
The first native pastor, Liu-Chuen-Yao, was ordained as pastor of Mukden Church in June, 1896. Two years later the important step was taken of arranging a scheme for the training of pastors. A college has been opened in Mukden, with two professors, Dr. Ross, of our church, and Mr. Fulton, of the Irish Presbyterian. A college committee has been appointed, who have power to nominate additional lecturers from time to time. The students are drawn from two classes; graduates of high schools who have been engaged in mission work for two years under a missionary's supervision, and evangelists who have passed the four years' course for junior evangelists. The curriculum extends over four sessions of six months each. Four have already completed their course, and· were licensed by the presbytery last May. The junior theological students number 126, and during their four years' course, under the guidance of a missionary or a senior evangelist, they preach the Gospel daily, and conduct worship in the chapels. The missionaries aim at having these chapels planted at distances not more than thirty li (or ten miles) apart all over the country.
The triumphs achieved by the Gospel in Manchuria are marvelous. Twenty-five years ago there was not a single Protestant church among the 25,000,000 inhabitants; ten years ago our converts numbered 950, and those of the Irish Mission about 500. We have not received the figures for the past year, but at the close of 1898 the members of the united mission numbered 15,490, an increase of tenfold in ten years. The elders numbered 37, the deacons 414, the students 133, and the churches 246. The candidates waiting for baptism were 8,875, and the offerings contributed by the members amounted to the goodly snm of £1,345. We can only exclaim, "What hath God wrought!" "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes! "
THTI STORY OF A CONVERTED JEW."
On the 7th of April, in the year 1807, during the disastrous war of Prussia with Napoleon, there was born a little boy in a small town of the present province of Posen, near to Thorn. The French were lying before the town, all the neighbors had fled, and the father, a Jew, named Herschel. was away on a journey. Those were heavy days for the mother. Once a cannonball penetrated the house, even reaching the chamber where the cradle stood. But nothing was suffered to harm the little Jewish baby; God was purposing to make something out of him.
When the child was somewhat grown, he was seen to be bright, but self-willed. He delighted much in learning, and took it into his head to study the law and become a rabbi. His parents were not well inclined to this, so he made short work and simply ran away. The eleven-year-old boy had thereupon all sorts of experiences. Once he fell into the hands of a robber-band, but managed slily to slip away from them, and came among fellow-Jews, where he could study. Indeed, he even then had the tutoring of two children. Withal he was a pious child, to whom the worship of his people was supremely important. On one day of Atone- ment he was deeply afflicted, even to tears, at the thought that his people had no longer any priests, any sacrifices, and therefore had no longer any forgiveness of sins. He read the books of the Jewish scribes, the Talmud, and learned large parts of the Old Testament by heart, and also prayed much. But for all this, he was not happy. He fell sick and had to go home to his parents, but Israel's forsaken state still weighed on him, and in many sleepless nights he sought to quiet his heart with prayer. A Polish rabbi heard of the poor young man and counseled him not to torment himself so in vain. Accordingly he went to Berlin. In the great city he made acquaintance with all manner of unbelieving Jews and Christians, and this shook his own faith. But he had not a thought of turning Ohristian. When he heard of the passing over of an acquaintance he was thoroughly enraged. He fled the dangers of Berlin in '1825. On the way to Hamburg a gentleman asked him up into his carriage, and was so much pleased with the youth of eighteen, that he gave him letters of introduction to London. However, he did n{)t stay long in London, but traveled here and there in Germany and France. Finally he settled in Paris, where he led an irregular life.
Then his mother died. He was greatly broken up at this, and could not come to peace again. He gave alms, he prayed; it availed not. Then it chanced that one evening he came into a shop to make a pur- chase. He happened to look at the wrapping-paper, and found the words: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," etc. The words impressed the sorrowing son, especially "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." He did not know where the leaf came from, but he thought he would like to have the book which contained such beautiful words. A few days after, at a friend's house, he saw aNew Testament. He turned it over and came upon Matthew V. He borrowed it of his friend and read eagerly in it, but was displeased at the name of Jesus. Yet it had inwardly laid hold of him, and stirred him up again to read the Old Testament. He read again with pleasure the book of his youthful studies, and found to his astonishment that * Translated and condensed from the Missionsblatt /Ilr Kinder.
STORY OF A CONVHRTED JEW
essentially the same spirit prevailed in it as in his friend's Jesus-book, and that therefore Jesus might very possibly be the promised Messiah. Now came days of seeking and inquiring. But at last the inner conflict ended; he prayed in Jesus' name and his soul found rest.
Now, however, came outward trials. Even earlier he had once desired Christian instruction, and had applied for it to the Archbishop of Paris, and then to a Jesuit, but had found with neither what he wanted. On the other hand, his relatives had heard of this meditated apostasy, and had forthwith withdrawn all support from him. Thus the youth of twenty years had fallen into sore straits, alone in the great foreign city. He found a letter of his London host to a Christian lady in Paris. He looked her up, was kindly received, and moreover was strengthened by her in the persuasion that the Christian faith was the right help for him. She gave him fifty dollars so that he could go to London and enter a house of the London Jewish Mission. There, guided by a baptized countryman, he made his way through to settled faith. It is true, he had dangerous attacks- to undergo from several Jews, of whom one even endeavored to murder him. But this did not deter him, and on the 14th of April, 1830, a week after his twenty-third birthday, he was baptized. After his godfather, an English clergyman, Mr. Ridley, he took Ridley for a Christian name.
Thenceforth he devoted his life to the service of the Gospel, especially as toward his brethren. He founded an asylum for Jews desirous of Christian instruction. In eighteen months 100 Jews were admitted. He also went over repeatedly to the Continent. His wife had written a conciliatory letter to his kindred, which he followed up with a visit, and in the course of a few years fi ve of his brothers, besides other kinsmen, were gained over for Jesus. He then labored again in England in various positions. For some years he had to support himself laboriously by giving Hebrew and German lessons, He also held meetings for laboring men and women. Afterward we find him in a small village on the Thames, where he was the helper of the necessitous and neglected of all sorts; then in a fishing town, where, at leaving, he received a Bible and prayer-book, bought by a penny collection of 700 fishermen. He always continued, besides, to preach, collect, write letters, etc., for his Jewish brethren. Jews were sent to him from a long distance for his helpful patronage. In 1845,60 converted Jews, as a token of their thankfulness, presented him with a Bible in eight languages.
The last twenty years of his life Herschel was a preacher in a chapel of his own in London. He had been given money to buy the site of a large livery-stable. There, in 1845, the corner-stone of Trinity Chapel was laid. By the side of the chapel he built an asylum for Jews. He also set up a Sunday-school and all manner of beneficent institutions. In the intervals of these labors he undertook extended journeys. Once he went as far as Palestine, where he established a model farm for converted Jews. May 14, 1864, he died. His coffin was followed by an innumerable throng of mourners, among them 300 policemen, for whom he had every week held a Bible class.
A son, who was born to him in 1837, studied lawatLondon and Bonn, then became a member of Parliament, and in 1886, Lord High Chancellor of England. This is the Lord Herschel who died last year at Washington, while sitting on the High Commission.
EDITORIALS.
Hindrances to Immediate World-Wide gracious Father is a vital and in- Evangelization. fluential fact to our faith, prayer The whole question of the hin- becomes natural, as a supernatural drances to the immediate evangeli- approach of God to us and of us zation of the entire race of man, is worthy of far more consideration to God. Then obed·ience becomes than it has yet received. The sub- habitual and delightful. The voice ject should be studied de novo, in of God is heard, and the will of God the light of the Acts of the Apostles, the great manual of missions. is our will. Because the pietists That book shows the secrets of a and mystics emphasized these ,,;itnessing Church, and they are truths, they became the springs of seven: continental missions in the very 1. A church that knows how to keep pray- midst of the intellectual apostasy ing. of Germany and France. And to 2. A church that knows the Divine enduement. their influence 'Vesley owed his 3. A church that is united in love and labor. own enlightenment and the vast 4. A church that makes obedience to Christ its law. spiritual forces generated in early 5. A chu rch that as a body witnesses to Christ. Methodism. vVhen a supernatural 6 A church that knows separation from the world. God becomes a practical reality, 7. A church that works on spiritual lines. prayer, obedience, surrender all be- Every missionary era of history come factors in a supernatural exhas been such only so far as the Church has borne these seven fea- perience, and supernatural results tures, anyone of which being are as sure to follow as that God lacking all the rest are in peril. himself lives. * And, on the contrary, it is easy to see when and how a church loses all An Example of City Evangelization.
power in evangelism. There are The movement for the evangeli- zation of the city of Glasgow, which seven features of a declining and began early in October, 1899, is one of the most conspicuously earnest, decaying church: resolute, and effective ever yet at- tempted in our day. It is now 1. The skepticism that doubts the authority more than six months since the of the Word of God. preparat.ions for it were system- atically begun. The whole city 2. The dethronement of Jesus Christ from was districted, and meetings pro- His proper deity. vided for in each district. There is a central Sunday evening rally in 3. The selfishness that ignores the debt to a St. Andrew's great hall, which is lost world. crowded a half hour before the time of opening, and from which 4. The worldliness that practically unseats hundreds are always turned away the Holy Spirit from His place as overseer. unable to get admission. There are meetings of all sorts and for all 5. The caste spirit that destroys sympathy sorts of people. The children's with man as man. meetings have been very large and successful, and the lantern has been 6. The preaching that snbstitutes popular utilized to aid in getting and keeplectures for Gospel themes. ing attention. One very excellent feature of the whole effort is the nine 7. The spirIt that changes churches into o'clock meeting in the evening to select religious clubs. reach working people on their way Let anyone compare the two por- traits and ask which the modern church most resembles. All pow- erful evangelism at home and abroad will be found based upon a revival of the power of neglected truths, the greatest of which is GOD. When H is existence becomes a reality, and His character as a
EDITORIALS
from the shops and places of busi- Madras, India. It is a wonder it ness. Many who can not get fo could discuss the topic without meetings held in the day time can illustrating extelldedly the ludi- thus be preached to aft~r the work crousness of the over-literal trans- of the day is closed. From 15,000 lations. But to our way of think- upward are actually reached in the ing, the fundamental mistake has aggregate in the different sections been in attempting translation in- of the city. John MacNeil is at stead of reproduction, and even the head of the work, indefatigable reproduction is not so good as pro- as usual, and always awake and duction. Outside the Bible and interesting and scriptural. But a strictly technical text-books, there score of pastors and evangelists is no reason why the contents of a from all parts of the United King- foreign book should not be stated dom are at work aiding in the in the spirit of the vernacular and movement. Men who have had recast in order of thought with success in children's meetings and local illustration. 'Vhen one thinks inquiry rooms, who have tact and of the vast amount of literature skill, and evangelistic gifts, are that ought to be sown thick as secured from all sources. The ambrosia leaves, and the fact that members of the Bible institute are the whole literary channels of Asia especially active, organizing and are being reversed, affording phe- directing the work. House visita- nomenal facilities to put Christian- tion, tract distribution, multiplied ity on the tidal wave, there ought daily services in multipiied locali- to be no hampering byover-literal- ties and at hours suited to every- ness in representing Christianized body's convenience, inquiry meet- thought. The following extract ings, personal hand to hand contact, will suffice to show the argument short sermons, good singing- as set forth in The Harvest Field: everything helpful to such work is Most of our Christian literature characteristic of it. Remarkable is translation-our Bible, our comharmony has prevailed, and altho mentaries, our prayers, and even months have passed since the work our hymns; these last translated to was inaugurated, there are no signs the very meter, whethar long or of declining earnestness, prayerful- peculiar. This has probably been ness, or persistency. Glasgow is inevitable, but the question is-has setting us all an example of city not translation been fundamentally evangelization. The whole effort misunderstood? For the Bible was founded in prayer, and there is a certain foregone standard thorough unsectarian cooperation. of translation which has been made Every day witnesses scores of con- to assert itself imperiously and disversions, and the city is being per- astrously through all the rest of vaded as never before by the simple our work. I regard the Bible work message of the Gospel of Christ. " of those who have gone before us with great reverence and thankful- Is Literal Translation True ness. The more I look into the Translation ? Kanarese version, the one I com- monly use, the more do I feel what A question of no small import conscientious and unstinting pains and of widely ramifying interest must have been bestowed upon it. through mission fields, is discussed But when this has been said, the in The Harve.~t Field, a missionary question still remains whether the periodical of high order of thought, reproduction of the original text, published by the Wesleyans in idiom for idiom and almost word for word, even to the particles. is true translation. The book remains essentially a foreign book-out of which those who labor at it as students will ex.tract much good;
but for common Christians it is a and instituted each its own "cou- riers." stumbling block, and to non-Chris- The Ottoman Government has tians it simply makes no appeal. tried on several occasions to get this postal service suppressed. In 1884 The letter has been retained, but the attempt was made, on the alleged ground that" many foreign for the most part the spirit has for- post-offices in the capital, as well as in the interior of the Ottoman Emever fled. It is like fire photo- pire serve, doubtless involuntarily, as a channel for the introduction of graphed instead of fire transferred; papers and publications designed to propagate in the country un· the warmth and cheer are gone out wholesome and subversive ideas." The Turkish Government has tried of it. The true idea of translation in various ways and at sundry times to forcibly interfere with this aris not the substitution of a set of rangement, even instituting a secret police to inspect the contents of words in one language for a similar foreign mail bags. The London, Vienna, and Paris post-office directset of words in another. It rather ors stated that the mail bags were tampered with in transit, and they means the conveyance to readers of suggested that mail matter be sent in sealed cars, accompanied by Euthe very idea, without addition or ropean agents as watchmen.
subtraction or change of emphasis, It is not likely that the reqlest for the suppression of this service, that was conveyed to those into said to have been made last N ovem- ber, will be granted, but we choose whose hands the original was put. hereby to put those interested on their guard against any with- Carried out to its legitimate issues, this definition would involve the utmost freedom in regard to words and idioms, and might even compel sometimes a change of figures used.
It would imply an amount of labor in comparison with which the other method of translation is almost child's play. And it would further necessitate this-that the hands of the tran8lators should be continu- ally on that literature which most widely influences the people and out of which their thought and language has been formed. But tho the trouble implied is beyond expression, the result of translation on such principles would be to make the people feel that the Bible is one of their own books-power- ful, att.ractive, one that can n o*t *b e ignored, The Turkish Government and Consular drawal of this privilege. A hint to Mail. the wise is sufficient. A censorship of the press and the schools is quite It is not necessary to explain to enough without a censorship of the missionaries abroad the bearing of private mail of merchants, mission- the renewed attempt of the Turk- aries, and diplomats. ** ish Government to do away with the foreign post-office system with- The Boers and Missions. in the sultan's dominions. Others of our readers may be helped by A letter in the London Christian, our reminding them briefly of the Jan. 18, written in a very kindly history of this service. spirit, and expressing deep sym- The Austrian Government was pathy with the present sufferings the first to obtain the right to pro- of the Boers, nevertheless empha- vide a special postal service of her sizes the fact that the Boer Gov- own between her embassy at Con- E-rnment has never been favorable stantinople and her nationals to the to missionaries; that the instinct of frontier of the Ottoman Empire. isolation peculiar to that people Austrian merchants availed them- causes them to repel the foreign selves of this arrangement. Other element, and to make life hard not powers soon claimed the same right for natives only, but for the mis-
1900.J EDITORIALS
sionaries who seek to uplift the proposed also, to make this exhibit native population. The laws and edicts issued by the Boer Gov- permanent, and for this end a cor- ernment are cited as proving this position. The writer (Josephine E. poration is forming. It is hoped Butler) acknowledges Britain's sins andneedofchastisement, butmain- some building may be secured in tains that the treatment of the oppressed Africans and the messen- which a missionary museum may gers of Christ among them, constitutes a graver challenge for divine be gathered and permanently judgment. Christian Z u Ius in Natal ask to be saved from Boer located. We also hope that private dominion, and fear the loss of British protection, as do also the Chris- collections may find their way into tians of Basutoland. Good King Khama, who visited Windsor to this public exhibit and become a ask Victoria to take his country under her imperial wings, fears part of the lasting material for lest in this struggle the Boers should win the day. This is an aspect of popular information and education the question which should have its proper weight in all our considera- in missions. * tion of the grave issues which are to be decided by this awful and The Ohinese Ambassador in Bristol. desperate struggle. It seems to be more the clash of two opposing The Chinese Ambassador visited civilizations than of two hostile armies. Is it to prove another of the Muller orphanages at Bristol, the decisive battles of history? * England, in February, and Mr. A Permanent Missionary Exhibit. James Wright took opportunity to There is one feature of the Ecumenical conference on missions, present him with a Chinese (Wimwhich we have already and repeatedly urged in this REVIEW, and li) Bible, with morocco binding, which we are glad to see is taking shape with promise of conspicuous bearing his initials on the cover, results for good. We refer to the proposed e,:chibit of missions. together with a copy of the author- Whatever will illustrate to the eye the surroundings of heathenism ized family memoir of the founder and the work of missionaries, with the obstacles they have to contend of the orphanage. He accepted with, and the results of their efforts to uplift, and transform pagan en- both with the usual profusion of vironments into Christian influences, will find room in this oriental expressions of gratitude, museum. Books, magazines, Bible translations, maps, charts, pictures, and added the assurance that he medals, statues, idol gods, curios of all sorts, fetishes, charms, etc., would" read them carefully." The will be presented to the eye. It is honorable gentleman from the celestial kingdom speaks the Eng- lish tongue with fluency, and on leaving made a neat little speech.
He expressed his sense of the drift of the age toward materialism and utilitarianism, and paid a tribute to the institutions founded by Mr.
Muller as tending to lift men out of these ruts. He wound up by say- ing, "You have converted me from materialism to faith "-a remark which gave Mr. Wright occasion to say how much he rejoiced in the light God had granted him, and to assure him of prayer for his leading into the fulness of light through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This ambassador is not the first man who has found in a careful study of the work of George Muller a corrective' to the tendency to blank materialism. If there is any conclusive witness to a prayer hearing God, it is found in such in- stitutions as that reared on As*hley Down, Bristol.
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS.
TWELVE PIONEER MISSIONARIES. Dr. George contact with those strong lives Smith, C. I. E. Illustrated. 8vo, 304 pp. that have impressed themselves 7s. Gd. Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh. upon their chosen peoples."
This is the latest product of the In compact and convenient form we have here admirable sketches learned and graceful pen of the of six missionary heroes: Hans Egede, Greenland's Viking Pioneer; foremost missionary biographer of Captain Allen Gardiner, R. N., Pioneer to the Most Abandoned our day. It is a volume worthy Heathen; Titus Coan, the St. Peter of Hawaii; James Gilmour, Brave to emanate from such an accom- Missionary to the Mongols; Miss Eliza Agnew, Ceylon's Mother of a plished author. The range and Thousand Daughters, and The Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, Pioneer scope of it may be seen from the in Arabia. The sketches are drawn by such experts as Dr. Augustus names that stand at the extreme C. Thompson, Bishop W. Paken- ham Walsh, Dr. S. J. Humphrey, limits covered by the book-Ray- Rev. Harlan P. Beach, Miss Abbie B. Child, and Arthur T. Piermond Lull (1235-1315) and Nilak- son. A . bibliography and analy- tical index add to the value of the antha Shastu Goreh (1825-1895), the book for reference and study. *** first Brahman apostle to Brahmans and outcasts.
Dr. Smith's aim is to show not only the agency of these pioneers in developing the work of world- wide evangelism, but preeminently to show that God is behind these movements, thrusting forth pre- pared workmen into selected fields.
The book is a demonstration of the superintending providence of God in missions. God has a definite plan, and upon its carrying out IN WESTERN INDIA. J.1I1urray Mitchell, LL D. 8vo, 406 pp. 58. David Douglas, Edin· depend the spiritual issues of the burgh.
ages. These men and women were simply the channels and instru- Dr. Mitchell is one of our best ments of His purpose. The book known correspondents and con- will accomplish, wherever it has a tributors. We have never yet seen proper reading, three great results: a product of his pen that was not 1. It will greatly enlarge informa- worthy of praise. This book traces tion as to the broad field of mis- the religious thought and feeling of sions and its great leading workers. "Vestern India, and from the point 2. It will kindle a sacred enthusi- of view furnished by years of per- asm for missions as a Divine enter- sonal experience in India as a mis- prise. 3. It will quicken the spirit sionary of the Free Church. Dr.
of prayer that the Lord of the Mitchell went out to India sixty- Harvest would thrust forth His two years ago, and returned in chosen workers. * 1863. His quarter of a century in MODERN ApOSTLES OF MISSIONARY BYWAYS. "Vestern India qualifies him to Portraits. 12mo, 108 pp. Cloth, 40c.; speak authoritatively, and his book paper,25c. Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, New York. will be found scholarly, instruct- The purpose of this book is well ive, wholesome reading, with stated i.n the preface; "To give to many side lights on matters of in- the study classes of the Volunteer terest outside of Hindustan, and Movement an opportunity to be- all adorned by a fine literary style, come acquainted with fields, terri- and enriched by vigorous thinktorially small, and also to come into ing. *
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS
A HISTORY OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN JAPAN Euphrates. He proceeded on the Pastor H Ritter, Ph.D. Translated by Bible principle of the tithe, and as Rev. Geo E. Albrecht. Revised by D. C. Greene, D.D. Hvo, 446 pp. Illustrated. ten tenths make a unit, he con- The Methodist Publishing House, Tokyo. tended that ten disciples, each giv- This is a valuable addition to mission history. It seems to be a ing his tenth, can supply an income careful, accurate, and well written narrative, and has a good index. sufficient for a native pastor, who vVe have found in it not a dull page. It is full of a fascinating will live on the average level of his interest, and sets forth facts in a very attractive garb, avoiding repe- people. This book is a furtherexpantition, and giving prominence to what deserves it with no undue te- sian of the smaller volume, which dious array of details and statistics. It treats the history under three fascinated so many readers when it divisions: first told this remarkable story of 1. The Period of Preparation, 1859-1873. apostolic labor and success thirty 2. The Period of Laying Founda- years ago. * tion, 1873-1883. AN AMERICAN CRUISER IN THE EAST. John 3. The Period of General Exten- D. Ford. Second Edition. Illustrated. sion, 1883-1896. 8vo, 537 pp. $2.50. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. Dr. D. C. Greene and Pastor Max Christlieb have revised, edited, The" Far East" is become wonand brought down to 1898, the ma- derfully near of late, and almost teria1 gathered by Dr. Ritter, and any book written by a careful 01,- every complete missionary library server who has traveled in those will need this book. lands once so remote, is sure of a reading. These" studies" have to A JUNIOR'S EXPERIENCE IN MISSlONARY do with the Aleutian Islands, East- LANDS. Mrs. B. B. Comegys, Jr. Illus- ern Siberia, Japan, Korea, China, trated. 12mo, 121 pp. 50 cents. Flem· Formosa, and the Philippine Is- ing H. Revell Co.. New York, Toronto, lands. They are written in an en- and Uhicago. tertaining style, and contain much information as to the sights, cus- Books calculated to interest boys toms, and events which are of interand girls in missions are on the in- est in the countries visited. The crease. This is an important step in illustrations are numerous, and advance and one which has already give an excellent idea of life in begun to show good results in Eng- these lands across the Pacific. land and America. Here is the story of Jack Ralston's' visit to Mr. Ford has scarcely referred to Syria, Persia, India, Siam, China, the work of missionaries, but he Korea, and Japan. It is a mis- has at least been wise enough to sionary tour and is described in his say nothing of that which he had letters to boy friends at home. not personally investigated. Juniors will read it with delight and profit. NINITO j A STORY OF THE BIBLE IN MEXICO. Anna Maria Barnes. Illustrated. 16rno, SELF-SUPPORTING CHURCHES AND How TO 214 pp. 90 cents. Presbyterian Commit- PLANT THEM. Illustrated from the life tee of Publication, Richmond, Va. and teachings of Rev. Crosby H. Wheeler, D.D. W. H. Wheeler. 12mo, 400 pp. Here is.a very brief and well told $1.00. "Better Way" Co , Grinnell, Ia. tale of the early days of the intro- duction of the Word of God into Dr. Wheeler was for forty years Mexico. The author claims th'l,t, in Turkey, and he is qualified to dis- altho fictitious in form, it is true cuss the theme, for he discussed it to fact, not the least overdrawn; in action-actually planting such and that every incident narrated churches along the banks of the has its counterpart in actual his- tory. Those who know of the work of Benito Juarez and Miss Rankin, will find the historical events set
forth in a charming way. We ('an manifested toward those who are fallen. These are two principles specially commend this volume to which direct the efforts of city mis- sionaries, and they should be more those who select books for Sunday- extensively applied. school libraries, for it is one of the Much progress has beeu made best recent publications for that during the past one hundred years, as is seen by the comparative inpurpose. * frequency of crime, the greater safl'ty of travel, etc., the large DIRECTORY OF MISSIONARIES IN CHINA. Com- proportion of detections and appre- piled by Edward Evans. 50 cents. Pres- hensions, the prison reforms in- byterian Mission Press, Shanghai, China. augurated, the smaller degree of pauperism, the reformatories estab- It has been a great help to those lished, Bibles placed in cells, rescue work carried on, greater degree of interested in missions that the 'justice in courts and penalties administered, the abolition of workers in China, as well as the In- penal colonies, torture, etc., and the general increase in the estimate dia missionaries, have issued a bio- of the value of a man as man.
graphical index, or "directory," of all missionaries who have been on those fields. These have been amended from time to time. Mr. Edward Evans is an excellent man and competent compiler. He has brought the China record down to September, 1899. This same pub- lishing house has issued ($1.90, post- paid) the "Records of the West THE KING OF THE WORLD, OR CHRISTIAN China Conference," held at Chung- IMPERIALISM. James Stewart, D.D. king, January, 1899. This volume Pamphlet. Andrew Elliot, Edinburgh.
contains the papers of that impor- Inaugural address of the moder- . ator of the General Assembly of tant union gathering, and has two the Free Church of Scotland last May. Dr. Stewart has labored long instructive maps. *** at Lovedale, South Africa, as a medical missionary, and his words PENOLOGICAL AND PREVENTIVE PRINCIPLES. come as from the forefront of the battle. He shows what Christian William Tallack. 8vo, 480 pp. 8 shillings. mISSIOns have accomplished in Wertheimer, Lea & Co., London. South Africa, and makes strong plea for fuller consecration and This is a second and enlarged greater earnestness. edition of a standard work by the secretary of the Howard Associa- THE M,SSIONARY KALENDAR, 1900. 2•. 6d., tion, London. It has special refer- post free. Elliot Stock, London. ence to England and America, but deals also with penological ques- This illustrated record of the tions of other countries. The book deals thoughtfully and suggestively pioneers of the 19th century, has with crime and pauperism and their prevention; prisons and their sub- been designed and compiled by stitutes, habitual offenders, conditional liberation, sentences, Frances S. Hallowes. Each page, capital punishment, intemperance, prostitution, neglected youth, edu- besides the almanac for the month, cation, and the police. gives on each day a short record of Mr. Tallack shows that there are crimes against criminals of which some missionary event, drawn from the public is guilty. He forcibly advocates that more attention be the incidents of missionary history given to the prevention of criminals by attention to their religious edu- during the present century. The cation, and that more Christlike sympathy and desire to help be pages are surrounded by original designs, embracing seventy-two portraits of distinguished mission- aries of all denominations, and twelve views from different parts of the world. *
1)00.] GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
AMERICA. cent. of the inhabitants are wholly without religion of any sort. She The Friends as The Friends in the maintains that the pagan popula- Evangelizers. United States num- tion numbers 1,300,000, exceeding by 100,000 that of Tokio, Japan. ber93,250, and their She also claims that the Gospel " ministers" 1,219. Their mission- alone is the remedy for anarchy as aries of both sexes number 108; well as atheism and practical godthe stations and out-stations, 284; lessness, and that the vice-breeding and the members of their mission. tenements are hopeless barriers in churches, 4,747, of whom 550 are the way of any lasting betterment. in Mexico and 550 among our Not more than nineteen per cent. Indians. of the city population can claim American parentage, and this per A Forward The first male mis- cent. is decreasing. Surely here is Movement. sionary appointed a field for effort not surpassed any- where. Does not God show us in nine years by the with increasing clearness that the American Board for service in Church of Christ needs a new and Japan, recently received his com- mighty baptism of evangelistic mission. He is Mr. John M. Trout, power? a member of the present senior class at Hartford Seminary, who Afro-American These b ret h r en ranks exceptionally high in scholarship. It will be good news to the Baptists. m u s t e r 1,800,000 overworked force in Japan that such an efficient aid is soon to be church meinbers, given them. During these nine years the number of workers has and report from their missionary been depleted by illness and furloughs until the staff is quiteinade- headquarters in Louisville, Ky., quate for the duties confronting them. as representatives in the field, 19 The Deadly The Lutheran ordained ministers, 35 churches, 15 African Fever. Church, General out-stations, 27 Bible schools, 14 Synod, has again been sorely smitten in the death of day-schools, 3 industrial schools, two missionaries only a few days after their arrival in Liberia-Mrs. 25 native helpers, and about 2,050 Emma S. Bicle and Mrs. Jonas D. Simon. Coming so soon after the members in Africa, and 9 African lamented demise of Dr. Day, the blow is all the more crushing. At students in schools in America. what cost must Africa be redeemedl Work is done in West and South The City as a Miss Helen Clark, Africa, and plans are forming for Mission Field. director of the Mott an early entrance into Cuba. Street Evangelical Band, New York City, has been, by •• Missions Means Me " is the sugvoice and pen, giving to the people some facts as to that city as a mis- gestive name of a monthly bulletin sion field. She claims that 65 per published by the city missionary committee of the Cincinnati Young People's Union. The following acrostic is clipped from it: ISSIONS MEANS THE IND, THE OTIVE, THE IGHT OF THE ASTER . ULTIPLIED BY HIE! . _._. E~SENGER~,
Mormonism Arrangements for of missions, the missionary obliganot Decadent. the largest coloni- tion as taught in Scripture and the present religious condition of zation scheme ever heathen lands, as well as the apoloproposed in the West have been getic value of missionary achieveconsummated. The Big Horn ments, will be set forth; the history Basin in northern Wyoming is of different periods and of special about to be settled by Mormons. lands will be reviewed; the methods Arrangements have been made of various Christian bodies will be with the Wyoming authorities compared and tested; the different whereby the Mormons have the forms of missionary activity will privilege of selecting 200,000 acres be fully described; the religious of land in that wonderfully fertile condition of the heathen and Mobasin, and a committee of promi- hammedan world will be examined, nent Mormons is now engaged in and particular attention will be fixing the locations. Many fami- given to non-Christian religions; lies in Utah are selling their prop- practical topics, such as the miserty and packing up their house- sionary's health, and peculiar probhold goods in preparation for the lems, such as self-support, will be removal, which at its beginning discussed; some definite instruction will consist of at least 30,000 people. and training in pedagogy will also be given. It is further planned to Baptist The first move in furnish opportunity for the study of various missionary languages. Students' another organiza- This course is open to regular and Missionary tion to advance the special students. There is a mis- sionary library of 6,000 volumes Campaign. cause of foreign and an interesting and valuable missionary museum. The Seminary missions am 0 n g proposes greatly to augment -the instruction in foreign missions with Baptists, was made February 24th, the opening of the next academic year. It will be designed to meet at the Baptist Theological Semin- the needs of regular students of its own graduates, of the graduates of ary, in Rochester, where delegates other seminaries, and of appointees of mission boards. Ten per cent. of from five Baptist seminaries met the graduates of Hartford Semin- ary have found their work in in conference. The day was spent foreign lands.
in completing plans of organization. Lo, the Poor It is hard lines in- Red Indian. deed when self- The design is to conduct a vigorous supporting Indians, campaign for foreign missions who have been successful cultiva- tors of the soil for a half century at among the churches, seminaries, least, should be forced into dis- tressing poverty and dependence and other institutions, beginning by having the water which irri- gated their lands virtually stolen in the spring and reaching its full from them. Such is the case of the Pima Indians of Arizona, among force in the summer. The move- whom there are to-day some 800 ment has the approval and en- couragement of the American Bap- tist Missionary Union.
Mission Study The faculty and at Hartford trustees of Hart- Seminary. for d Theological Seminary have pro- vided a course of instruction in foreign missions which they an- nounce as "a new thing in theo- logical instruction in this country."
The course will include numerous lectures by experts-missionaries, secretaries, and others. The theory
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Presbyterian church members. tinued the work. In July, 1896, These Indians have never had their with 7 members of his church, Mr. self-reliance vitiated by the ration Hayes went. on flOm Lemhi to the system. Must they be forced now Bannocks, a wild tribe at Ross to resort to this aid or starve? This Fork, in southeastern Idaho. They past year nearly three-fourths of were not well received that year, these Indians raised little or no but for about two weeks held Goscrops. From 1,500 to 2,000 Papa- pel meetings. The next summer goes, who are hired by the Pimas about 25 members of the First to assist in harvesting, and who Church at Kamiah went with their depend upon their portion of the pastor. It required three weeks to wheat, will also suffer. The gov- make the journey on horseback. ernment is moving in the matter Once on the trip they rode 70 miles in response to the importunity of across a desert without water. To the missionaries and other friends do this the company started at 4 of these Indians-but is moving o'clock A. M. and rode till about 8 slowly. Meantime incoming Mor- in the evening, without stopping mons and other settlers have di- to feed.-Assembly Herald. verted the water from the river, and the land of the Indians is fast Blessing in These glad tidings reverting to arid wastes.-Home Far Alaska. come from Ju- Mission lJ'Ionthly. neau: "Last Sun- The Nez Missionary work day fully 200 natives were packed into the church. All could not Perces as was begun among be accommodated who came. Eight- een joined, making 25 adults re- Missionaries. the Nez Perces In- ceived from September to Decem- ber, and. 63 have been added to the dians in 1837 by church during the year. There have been 100 baptisms. Crowds Rev. Henry H. Spalding and his of natives are seen going to a.r;td from the services of the church." wife. Since then, with some in- The Indians 0 f the 1,538,000 terruptions, the work has been of Guatemala. inhabitants of carried on by Presbyterians al- this country 517,- 000 are Indians, among whom no most entirely. There are now less than 12 distinct dialects are spoken, of which the following are something over 500 members in the principal ones: (a) El Quiche, spoken by 280,000, living in 7 dethe 5 churches. These churches partments; (b) El Capchiquel, spok- en by 130,000, living in 3 departare all served by Indian ministers, ments; (c) El Quekchi, spoken by 87,000, living in 6 departments; (d) who were educated and trained by El Ponchi, spoken by 20,000, living in 2 departments. All these are Miss Sue McBeth, now gone to her nominal Catholics, their ancient paganism and idolatry have only reward, and her sister, Miss Kate, been Romanized, while there are 2,256 Protestants, composed of who still labors at Lapwai, Idaho. state and European elements that hold Protestant views. These ministers do not confine their efforts entirely to their own churches. Much work has been done by them among the Spokanes, Umatillas, Shoshones, Bannocks, Crows, and other neighboring tribes. For many years Rev.
Robert Williams, the first Nez Perces minister, led a company of Nez Perces Christians every sum- mer on a mission to Lemhi, Idaho.
After his death, his successor, Rev.
James Hayes, the present pastor of the First Church of Kamiah, con-
The Coolies The Con g l' e g a- in return for our invasion of the Sudan. And now, for the sake of of Guiana. tional Union of German non-interference in South Africa, comes the sacrifice of Sa- British Guiana moa, which, like Madagascar, has been made worth occupation by having agreed to undertake mission missionary zeal and labor. Fifty years ago a similar experience was work among East Indian natives gone through in Tahiti. In each case the Romish Church is the within their borders, the directors gainer; in each case the same Soci- ety made the places worth the havof the London Missionary Society ing; and in each case British rule would have been preferred to any have agreed to assist the Union by other. The ways of statesmen are remarkable !-London Christian. selecting a suitable evangelist from What Some A number of chil- North India to take up the work, Children did dren who recently (or Missions. gave their little also to bear the cost of his passage offerings to the from India to British Guiana. Centenary Fund of the Church Missionary Society, were asked to EUROPE. put down on paper, anonymously, the means by which the money had Fifty Millions A correspondent of been obtained. The list contains for Religion. the Detroit Free much original spelling, but also reveals genuine self-denial, and Press, speaking of often ingenuity also. Here are a the determination of the English few of the quainter specimens: Wesleyans to raise a Twentieth "Earned by goin an harrant, Ud."; Century Fund of at least 1,000,000 " Burying a rat. Id."; "For fagging guineas, says: "This scheme to for brother during month, 3d." push the work begun by John Wes- (this from a little girl, and the ley as it never has been pushed be- money was probably well earned) ; fore-in fact, to make it, if possi- " Deniance of sugar, 3Ud."; "Selfble, the new, but unofficial Church denile. By doing mangleing, 3d."; of England-has aroused surpris- "For being a good girl, Is. 2d."; ing activity in religious circles " For being a good boy, 7d." (period everywhere, and its example is said over which the goodness extended to have inspired American Method- not stated in either case); "Fines ists to start even a greater fund, for elbows on the table, Is. 9d."; just as it has been the means of in- "Earn it out of me wages, IUd." citing the British Baptists and Con- Quite a number saved their little gregationalists to begin vast inde- gifts by "doing without sweets." pendent Twentieth Century funds, besides furnishing a bright precedent for other important and growing religious funds all over the world, the total being estimated roughly at fully $50,000,000."
Politics vs. The cession of the Missions. Samoan Islands to Germany is another hard blow dealt by the government at the work of the London Mission- ary Society. After years of toil and sacrifice in Madagascar, where The Salvation General Booth re- English rule was eagerly desired by Army's Work ports that the the people, the Society had to en- (or Social "army" now has dure the pain and mortification of Redemption. 158 shelters and seeing that island occupied by the food depots, 121 French, treaty rights trampled slum posts with "slum sisters," 37 upon, and a reign of persecution labor bureaus, 60 labor factories for inaugurated. This was a "deal" the unemployed, 11 land colonies,
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
91 rescue homes for women, 11 labor established, while for a year already homes for ex-criminals, and several a medical prayer union has been other sorts of institutions calculated making daily united supplication to lift up the fallen. The total num- for a Divine benediction upon hosber of institutions is 545, employing . pital and dispensary work. 2,000 trained officers who labor in 45 countries. He affirms that over Europe's In Pearson's Magathe gates of everyone of these institutions there might be written with Army Bill. zine Mr. Penn has truth: "No man or woman need starve, or beg, or pauperize, or recently published steal, or commit suicide. If willing to work, apply within. Here there some statistics relating to the cost is hope for all." of the land forces of six great powers of Europe. He estimates the whole amount annually expended to be, in round numbers, $650,000,000.
This vast amount does not include Student In connection with the great expense of their navies.
Volunteer the Bristol Union, The amount is divided as follows: Missionary a new method has Russia, $154,500,000; Germany, 135,- Lectures. been adopted for 000,000; France, $130,000,000; Great awakening interest Britain, $90,000,000; Austria, $86,- in the evangelization of the 500,000; Italy, $5.'3,450,000. Russia is world. A course of twelve weekly said to have an active army of about lectures on missionary subjects has 2,000,000 men. Besides these her been arranged, a fee of 5 shillings territorial reserve consists of some being charged for the course, and 2,000,000 men; and the militia, 1 shilling for a single lecture. A which could be called out in case of syllabus and bihliography have emergency, of 1,200,000, making in been issued to enable members all 5,200,000 men.
of the course to study the subjects The McAII Mission's twenty- seventh annual report shows that further. there are more tb,an 40 mission halls in Paris regularly occupied by the Thus far the result has been most preachers of this mission, and more than forty other cities and towns encouraging. Over 200 course tick- throughout France are also reached.
ets have been sold, besides more than 100 single tickets for the first three lectures.
The lecture course for 1900 was as follows; The Paris Missionary Society dur- ing last year sent out 54 mission- Rev. H. Arnold Thomas, M.A.-" First aries, of whom 18 went to Mada- Principles of Missionary Work." gascar and 18 to the Zambesi. The income, which in 1896 was less than C. F. Harford Battersby, Esq., M.A., M.D. 500,000 francs, has risen to more -HThe World-a brief survey." than 1,000,000. The report states that no suitable candidate has ever Rev. William Pierce.-"God's Hand in been kept back for want of funds. Human History." The society enters on the new year with a balance in hand of 120,000 Rev. Robert Bruce, D.D.-" The Rise and francs. Principles of Islam."
Rev. O. T. Wilson.-H The Relation of Islam to Ohristianity." Eugene Stock, Esq.-" Missionary History in the First Eighteen Oenturies."
Go, Heal Such marked de- the Sick. velopment has come to the medical side of the work of the Church Mission- French Priests In its issue for De- ary Society, that an assistant sec- Abjuring cember 30, Le Chre- retary to the medical committee Rome. iien Fran~ais, the has been appointed. A medical organ of the new training home for women is to be evangelical movement in France,
computes that during the past two employ the services of 3,270 sisters years as many as 125 French priests for the work of charity and love. have definitely given up their 'posi- The leading institution of the kind tions in the Roman Church from in this country is the Mary J. Drexconscientious conviction. The edi- el Home in Philadelphia, with 76 tor, M. Andre Bourrier, affirms that sisters. In addition the Lutherans these evades include a remarkable have homes also at Milwaukee, number of men holding high posi- Omaha, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Mintions in their church, and he prints neapolis, and Chicago; and other in extenso their letters of resigna- denominations, too, have done tion. some good work in this direction. Of the 18 children of Fliedner a Deaconess All Protestant Ger- number are still engaged in the work, but the best known is Pastor Centennial. many, and with it Fritz Fliedner, for a generation a leading Protestant missionary in the Lutheran and Spain.-Independent.
other churches in America that keep in close touch with the church of the Fatherland, have just cele- Dr. Guinness Within the mem- brated with marked unanimity and in Berlin. ory of many of its enthusiasm the one hundredth an- inhabitants Berlin niversary of the birth of Theodore has grown from a city of less than Fliedner, the founder of the great 250,000 to nearly 2,000,000; that is deaconess institution with head- to say has increased eightfold, and quarters at Kaiserswerth, on the from the capital of Prussia has be- Rhine. Young Fliedner, partly in- come the magnificent metropolis fluenced by a visit to the deaconess of the German empire, the politi- home of the Mennonites in Hol- cal, commercial, and social center land, in 1836, inaugurated the re- of the most central and influential vival of the apostolic order of the country on the Continent of Eu- deaconesses in the midst of his little rope, with 50,ODO,DOC inhabitants.
congregation in Kaiserswerth with Accompanied by Dr. Baedeker, one deaconess, Gertrude Reichardt, who has evangelized so extensively the daughter of a physician, and on the Continent and in Siberia, Dr.
with a sick servant girl as the ·first H. Grattan Guinness held a 10 patient. He proved to be an excel- days' mission in Berlin in the clos- lent organizer and agitator, and his ing month of 1899, giving 19 ad- charity propaganda spread wonder- dresses to audiences which gener- fully throughout Germany and into ally crowded the buildings occupied.
France, England, and America, and hung on the message delivered which countries Fliedner himself with marked interest, and often visited. In 1849 he came to Amer- deep emotion.
ica, bringing with him 4 deacon- esses, to enter the new home found- Roman Catho- The following ex- ed by Rev. Dr. Passavant, of the lie Nations traordinary confes- Lutheran church in Pittsburg. Decadent. sion has been made There is now sc;:trcely a country or by the Civita Cat- a clime in which the sisters are not tolica, the Italian J esuit organ, in a actively engaged in good work. At recent number: "Wealthand po.wer present there are 80 mother houses, no longer belong to the Catholic with 13,309 deaconesses, laboring in nations; they have become the ap- 4,754 fields of operation. Of these panage of peoples who have separ- laborers 4,754 sisters are in 1,092 ated from the Roman Church.
hospitals, and 1,974 congregations Spain and Italy, France, and a large
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
part of Austria, if compared with has become a noted place since the Germany, England, and the United athletic team which has gone forth States, are feebler in the military from it gained highest honors in the department, more troubled in their recent national contests at Turin politics, more menaced in social and at Rome. The Association's affairs, and more embarrassed in prominence at these con t est s finance. The Papacy has had no- brought its endeavors for the imthing to do with the conquest of provement of Italian young men to one-half of the globe, of Asia and the personal notice of King Hum- Africa; that has fallen to the arms bert, who has since manifested his of the heirs of Plotins, of Luther, deep interest in all its branches. of Henry VIII. All the vast colonial possessions of Spain are pass- ASIA. ing into the hands of the Republic of Washington, France yields the Babel in The diversity of sovereignty of the Nile to Great Britain, Italy, conquered in Abys- Jerusalem. tongues is one of sinia, maintains with difficulty her the difficulties of maritime influence by following in the wake of England. Here have the work of the hospital in Jerusawe, in fact, all the Catholic countries reduced to submit to heretic lem supported by the London Sopowers, and to follow in their tracks like so many satellites. The latter ciety for Promoting Christianity speak and act, and the former are silent or murmur impotently. This among the Jews. Dr. Wheeler is how affairs stand at the end of the nineteenth century, and it is writes: " To be able to administer to impossible to deny the evidence of it. Politically speaking, Catholi- these people we have to speak cism is in decadence." three languages: Arabic, J udea- Spanish, and Judea-German. But we often have a Jew from Persia, or Bokhara, who is unable to speak any of these three languages, so we press aJewinto our service who can converse in one of these three languages and in the language of the patient."
The Y. M. C. About six years ago The Dreadful Indian Famine.- A. in Rome. the Rome Young The government Gazette of India for January 6 shows the steady in- Men's Christian As- crease, week by week, in the numsociation began its work in rented ber of persons placed on relief rooms. These soon became inade- works and receiving gratuitous requate to its growing needs, and lief, throughout December. Dethree years later, rather than see the cember 9, total 1,960,307; 16th, 2,- work hindered and the field restrict- 199,521; 23d, 2,450,224; 30th, 2,746,- ed, the institution, tho still young, 407. Send help now. was compelled to secure an entire building of its own. This building Ramabai and In a recent letter stands in the center of the city, the Famine. Ramabai writes as close to the principal thoroughfares and to the royal palace. It follows: "The has been adapted to the many and plague is increasing in Bombay, varied requirements ofYoung Men's last week's death returns being Christian Association work. A 1,350; and this dreadful foe of manspacious gymnasium has been con- kind may again make its way to structed, with hydraulic appliances Poona. There is no peace, no cerfor shower-baths and other im- tainty; and we are t.hankful to God provements, and this gymnasium for giving us a place of shelter dur- ing this time of famine and scarcity
of water. The fruit trees look very tians, in 1,000 villages, with only bad and dry. The garden does not 244 workers. Another has 12,000 produce vegetables. Our animals Christians and only 158 workers. are looking almost like skeletons. Another district has 13,500 Chris- Fodder is very dear. Starving tians, living in 1,300 villages, with people, the old and infirm, widows, 461 workers. In another 15,000 deserted wives and orphans, the Christians, widely scattered, have lame, the blind, and lepers flock only 318 workers." around our establishment, in hopes of getting food. We can not eat The Growth of a Decade.-The our full measure while so many are Canadian Baptist Missionary Sociebeing starved to death. So most ty can report: "Our Telugu mission, of us, including little girls under in the last ten years, has doubled nine and ten years of age, have re- its staff of missionaries. The native solved to give up some of our meals helpers have increased from 92 to for the hungry poor. I have stop- 182, the churches from 17 to 33, the ped the building work, and am put- church members from about 2,000 ting all the money I can spare into to over 4,000, and the contributions deepening the old wells, and dig- from converts from 2,300 to 3,766 ging a new well on the Sharada rupees." Sadan farm. To save the girls and animals from water famine, seems A Medical Dr. MacNicol writes to be the first duty now. The Lord bless all the donors for sending this Missionary's to the Free Church money at this time of great need!" * Methods. Monthly from Kol- na, Bengal : " I reached here in the beginning of Probation Rev. Rockwell Clan- March, 1899, and my dispensary Before cy, of the Methodist was opened. Even at the start we Baptism. North Indian Mis- had plenty to do, having over 1,000 sion, writes: " We patients in April; but these were are learning that we must not bap- merely the beginnings of things.
tize people, who are willing to be- Our method is as follows: There are come Christians, unless we can two waiting-rooms-one for the provide them pastors and teachers. men and one for the women; and a In 1898, we baptized several thou- Bible woman preaches to the latter, sands less than in 1897, largely be- while one of our very best preach- cause we could not care for them. ers takes the men. After the rooms Our staff of workers is already far are full of waiting patients the too small to properly care for the preaching begins, and then half an present Christian community. In hour or so later the medical work one district we have 8,500 Chris- is started. The women are seen first, passing in tens and twenties to * The American Ramabai Committee call the consulting-room, and thence to attention to the necessity .of an assured the dispensary. This first detachannual income for the support and education of these famine-rescued girls, until they can ment usually numbers 100 women support themselves. The desired result would be more speedily and effectively ac- and children, and then the men, complished if every friend of Ramabai would interest himself or herself in the formation of about as many, are taken. When new circles, with fees from $1 upward, in increasing the membership of old circles, and these have all been dealt with, in securing annual scholarships of $100 for Shiiradft Sadan and $45 for Mukti. For further another rtudience is admitted and information send to Mrs_ J. W. Andrews, Chairman of the Executive Committee, 36 similarly dealt with; and by the Rutland Square, Boston. time the last has been seen to it is frequently sunset-the day has gone, and we have been so busy that we hardly know how. On special
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
days there have been 500 or more fellow with felt shoes, baggy cases treated. Yesterday we had trousers, loose tunic, fez cap, and 629. When friends who accompany swishing queue, who represents the sick are included, the crowds such swarming myriads that the can, perhaps, hardly be imagined mind is confused in the attempt to by those who do not know how comprehend the enormous numthickly Bengal is populated." ber. The canny Scotchman and the shrewd Yankee are alike dis- Number of Missionaries in China – comfited by the Chinese. If you The Chinese Recorder states that do not believe it, ask the American the Presbyterian Mission Press of and European traders who were Shanghai has just issued a revised crowded out of Saigon, Shanghai, list of Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Singapore, Batavia, and China. The total is 2,818, of whom Manila. ARTHUR J. BROWN. 566 are ordained ministers and 858 are unmarried women. The Hunan For some time the The Chinese Americans h a v e Troubles. Roman Catholics in a People not done justice to Yochou, Hunan of Brains. the Chinese charac- Province, have been in !1 state of ter. We must not constant feud with the people.
judge from the Chinese whom we Scores of petitions have been pour- see in this country, for they are, ing into the yamen from the gen- with comparatively few excep- try and people, complaining of their tions, from the lower class of a doings. Last November the city single province-Cantonese coolies. was full of students, attending the The Chinese might as fairly form district examinations. From the their, opinion of Americans from first there has been a great deal of our day-laborers. But there are friction between the students and able men in the celestial empire. the Roman Catholic converts. But Bishop Andrews returned from they did not come to blows till one China to characterize the Chinese day four students were seized by as "a people of brains." When some converts, taken to the Roman Viceroy Li Hung Chang visited Catholic establishment, and beaten.
this country, all who met him un- The gentry and students resolved hesitatingly pronounced him a to have their revenge, and some great man. After General Grant's thousands of them attacked the tour around the world he told Roman Catholic establishment and Senator Stewart that the most smashed the doors, windows, furni- astonishing thing which he had ture, and everything else they could seen was that wherever the Chinese lay their hands on. They were pre- had come into competition with vented from demolishing the build- the Jew, the Chinese had driven ing itself by the sudden appearance out the Jew. We all know the of the authorities. The students, persistence of the Jew. We know however, refused to disperse, and that he has held his own against the officials were compelled to every other people. And yet this spend the whole night on the prem- race, which has so abundantly ises in order to prevent further demonstrated its ability to cope mischief. The scholars and gentry with the Greek, the Slav, and the were boiling over with rage, and Teuton, finds itself outreached in for days the place was covered cunning, outworn in persistence, with placards threatening the ex- and overmatched in strength by an termination of the R. C. Church in olive-complexioned, almond-eyed those parts. The officials were in a
state of great alarm, not knowing and Hongkong and other cities of what to do. Lo, the foreign father similar character, as such come in charge, was there at the time of into being, are to go forth the inthe riot, but, fortunately, managed fluences to mold the new China. In to make his escape by a back door. Shanghai also are 3 of the most in- fluential educational institutions -GRIFFETH JOHN. in the empire-2 under Christian auspices, the other a government Chinese Colquhoun quotes institution, but having for its president the vice-president of our Strength and Richthofen as say- national committee.
Weakness. ing that " among F. S. BROCKMAN.
the various races of mankind, the Chinese is the only one which in all climates, the hottest and the coldest, is capable Canton, an Few places offer of great and lasting activity." And Educational such inducements he states as his own opinion: "She Center. to an enthusiastic has all the elements to build up a educationalist as great living force. One thing alone Canton. It is the great mart of is wanted: the will, the directing South China, the most interesting power. That supplied, there are to spot in the vast empire to the be found in abundance in China student of history, a populous city the capacity to carry out, the of 2,000,000 of souls. Canton stands brains to plan, the hands to work." upon the great southern waterway New York is not of China, the Hsi-kiang, a river Strategic navigable for 800 miles inland to Value of more the gateway the west of the city. It is a strat- Shanghai. to America than egic point, commanding the most Shanghai to China. enterprising portion of China, the In its harbor lie the boats of every people of which, owing to their commercial nation in the world. thrift, are called by their fellow Passengers or cargo destined for countrymen "Foreigners," and by Peking in the north, Foochow or other nations " Eastern Yankees."
Amoy in the south, or a month's Any influence emanating from journey inland go through here. Canton will quickly reach all parts Its handsome buildings, foreign of K wangtung province. This stores, excellent streets, and the province, about the size of Kansas, number of Europeans on every contains 30,000,000 of people, more hand make one feel at first that he than one-third the population of is in a foreign city; but the wheel- the United States. Its people de- barrows, jinrikishas, and swarms sire education; this desire is ex- upon swarms of Chinese remind pressed every year by the appear- you that you are still in China. ance in Canton of 15,000 literary You will be impressed in your first graduates applying for the second glance at these crowds at the large of the Chinese collegiate degrees.
proportion of young men. Here The people desire bread and are flock the young men from the receiving stones.
Anglo-Chinese colleges over the empire, who have learned enough Getting It is frightful to see a English to do business with the Angry as a woman deliberately foreigner; here are the wealthy Fine Art. "nourishing wrath,"
who, fleeing the rapacious man- as the Chinese ex- darins, have come for safety; and press it. It was once my un- finally the reform politicians, who fortunate experience to see my come for liberty. From Shanghai nursemaid" nourish" or "kindle"
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
wrath. One day after having a name and spirit of the Great Phy- quarrel with the washerwoman, sician 140,000 patients.-Assembly she sat down, in spite of my Herald. remonstrances, and deliberately gave way to her evil passions. She Methodists in The Gospel in All drew her breath in with great violence, at long and regular inter- Foochow. Lands for February vals, until she became wholly un- conscious of her surroundings. In states, concerning this state, which lasted about forty hours, she threw herself about the Foochow conference: "Among violently, and talked deliriously, especially after I had applied the the items reported by the statistical mustard plasters which I had heard were effective in such cases. Altho secretary are 4,349 members, 4,301 I lean toward homeopathic treat- ment, on this occasion I made two probationers, 236 native preachers, plasters thick and strong, one foot broad by two feet long, and applied (both ordained and unordained), them on her chest and down her back. While I was preparing the 682 adults and 283 children baptized, plasters my cook told me that the Chinese would call one in this 102 Epworth Leagues with 2,419 woman's condition "possessed of demons." I am glad to state that, members, 158 Sunday-schools with by the aid of those mustard plasters, I expelled tbe demons, 264 teachers, 5,441 scholars, 247 dayand, better yet, that they have never dared to return to that schools for boys with 5,229 pupils, woman.-Presbyterian Record. who paid $5,006 toward the support Presbyterian The Presbyterian Work in China. Board bas d mis- of their schools. There was col- sions in the Chinese lected for the Missionary Society, Empire, namely, Canton, Hainan, Central China, East and West Shan- $204 (increase $56.50); for self-suptung and Peking missions, and has recently authorized the opening of a port, $2,771; for church building new work in the Hunan Province. We are maintaining 188 foreign and repairing, $1,505; for general missionaries and 571 native helpers, a total force of 759. Already there conference expenses, $57 ; for are 86 organized churches under our care, with 9,757 communicants, bishops, $67; for other purposes, while the accessions on confession of faith during the last year were $717. The total contributed during 1,545-a growth of nearly 16 per cent. "Ve have 223 schools, enroll- the eleven months was $8,902.47ing 4,000 pupils; 3 printing presses issued last year 45,915,343 pages of equal to about half that amount in Christian literature and of the Word of God, while 15 hospitals gold." and 15 dispensaries treated in the Protestants The London cor- Beware! respondent of the Manchester Guard- ian draws attention to a serious hindrance to missionary work in China. Nearly a generation ago Sir Rutherford Alcock told Pope Pius IX. that Christianity was then greatly hindered by the claims of the Jesuits to consider their con- verts under the protection of their respective governments as regards native officials. The French Am- bassador at Pekin has now obtained from the dowager empress an official status for the Roman Catho- lic ministers. An offer is being made to accord equal privileges to Protestant missionaries of all de- nominations. Whether this offer will be accepted depends on the point of view taken by the official heads of the various missionary societies here and in America. The
probability is that it will be de- married. I was called on to attend clined, as bringing missionary effort the funeral of a Ohristian sixty into dangerous relations with civil years old, and learned that "his life, with the consequent danger of friction. " My Kingdom is not of wife" had a different name. She, this world," is a word that seems to too, is a Ohristian. On inquiring apply to the present situation.- into the matter, I found they were The Christian, London. so related to their respective houses, Sociology Missionaries a I' e that they could not easily be legally married, and so had only taken the in Japan. obliged to become first step-ceremonial marriage. sociologists. They I recently asked a young man, a member of the church, if he had often are a long while before com- had his wife registered as his, and ing to understand customs of the he replied with regrets that, tho he had tried again and again, he could not get his relative, who was head of the house, to consent. "* society with which they deal, be- cause they are so far unlike those AFRIOA.
to which the missionary has been A Restraint President McKinley used. An illustration of this of upon the has forwarded to more than passing interest is fur- Rum Traffic. the Senate the text niflhed by Rev. J. H. De Forest, of of a con v e n t ion Sandai, Japan, in the Japan Evan- signed at Brussels on June 8 by the gelist of November, 1899. The en- representatives of Germany, Bel- tire article is worthy of reproduc- gium, Spain, the Kongo, France, tion, but we have room only for Great Britain, Italy, the Nether- one of these sharp distinctions. lands, Portugal, Russia" Sweden Dr. De Forest says: and Norway, and Turkey, for the Marriage "takes effect upon its regulation of the importation of notification to the registrar by the spirituous liquors into Oentral parties concerned and two witnesses." The wording of this law Africa. The first article of the suggests that there are marriages that don't take effect. This is just treaty provides that "the import the difference between a Japanese duty on spirituous liquors, as that marriage and one in the West. Here the ceremonial marriage takes duty is regulated by the general act of Brussels, shall be raised place with no reference whatever to its legality. The families con- throughout the zone where there does not exist the system of prohicerned celebrate the occasion openly and the young couple live to- bition provided by Article XOI of gether as man and wife until it is the said general act, to the rate of convenient to have it "take effect," 70 francs the hectoliter (about 52 and then the public office is notified that such and such persons are cents a United States gallon), at 50 husband and wife, which notifica- degrees centigrade, for a period of tion constitutes the legal marriage. six years. The President trans- We foreigners are always deceiving ourselves by thinking that if the mits the treaty for the consent of ceremony is open and society the Senate to the adhesion of the recognizes' the pair as married, it United States to the agreement. A must be legal. There are large numbers in every considerable notice is inclosed from the Belgian Minister saying: town who pass as husband and wife yet have no legal status what- The examination ef the docu- ments inclosed will enable your ever as such. Excellency to understand the im- Even among the Christians and portance of the decision of the con- ference. The duties constitute a also among evangelists are some remarkable increase over the tariff who are in this dokyu (living to- now in force, the minimum import duty fixed by the general act of gether) condition, and it never 1890 having been raised in the new occurs to the uninitiated foreign missionary that such are not truly
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
agreement to more than four times the greatest day in the history of the previous rate. This result can the church at Luebo. Twenty-five not fail to be welcomed with deep were baptized, the largest number satisfaction by all who are interest- ever received at anyone time." ed in the great cause of the regen- No one of our missions has ever been eration and preservation of the subjected to so many difficulties and native peoples of Africa.
Barbarism A strange state of trials in its temporal environments on the affairs is reported as the mission on the Kongo, but the Upper Kongo. from the K 0 n go wonderful spiritual blessing that Free State to the has attended the work there has been more than a compensation for Southern Presbyterian Board of all these. Missions. Letters from Revs. L. O.
Yaas and H. R. Hawkins, mission- A Basuto Just at the time of aries at Luebo, give accounts of the Synod. the outbreak of the burning of 14 villages and the killing Transvaal war, a of 00 or more natives by native state synod of the French Protestant troops known as Zappo Zaps. They Ohurch among the Basuto was held report that some of the victims at Thaba Bossiou. It was a joint were eaten by cannibals, and that conference of the missionaries and the bodies of all who were slain the native pastors, and was a first were mutilated, their heads having experiment in giving the latter a been cut off. It is said the raid larger participation in the direction was ordered because the people of the church. These native pas-.
could not pay the exorbitant taxes tors showed great intelligence in demanded by the State, The mis- the discussion of the various sub- sionaries say they reported the jects of the conference, and their matter to the proper authorities collaboration was felt by the mis- and demanded the withdrawal of sionaries to be of inestimable value.
the troops. The missionaries fur- " It is through them and by them,"
ther say the Zappo Za,ps are a tribe writes M. Sacottet, "that we shall kept by the State for its protection. eventually realize the ideal which They are sent out to collect rubber, we have always had before us of a ivory, slaves, and goats as tribute black church governing herself and from the people, and can then living by her own self. The synod plunder, burn, and kill for their marks an important date in the his- own amusement and gain. Mr. tory of the mission."-.Tournal des Yaas says: "The whole country is Missions Evangeliques.
plagued. and not a village left The French Mission on the Zamstanding. The people are in the besi is now cut off from all relations bush. To-night, in a radius of with the civilized world, through about 75 miles', there are possibly the blocking of the railway by the over 50,000 people sleeping in the South African war. It is unable bush unsheltered, and we are in the even to revictual itself, and is midst of a rainy season." threatened, if the situation is pro- The Brighter A letter from Rev. longed, with failure of the most Side: Luebo. H. R. Hawkins, necessary supplies for the life of dated September Europeans.
28th, reported that more than 50 Marriage in According to a nar- -had been added to the church at Nyassaland. rative sent home to Luebo during the year, and a letter the Universities'
from Rev. W. M. Morrison, of Oct. Mission, the course of love does not 8, stated: "This has been, perhaps, always run smooth even in East
Africa. For:" You have heard of live; if the Boers win, then we may my boy Julius so often that you as well die, for we shall be no more will be interested to know that he looked upon as men, but as cattle; is happily engaged to be married. so we shall all go home and pray to It is quite a business-like arrange- God to make the arms of the Eng- ment-no moonlight, no poetry, no lish strong.' And this is really the fine frenzies are necessary-a suffi- question of the day in South Af- ciency of cloth works the oracle. rica: Are we to have all men-Brit- He wanted to marry this woman ish, Boer, and aboriginal-dwelling some time ago, but there were diffi- together with equal rights as men culties. Poor Julius' heart did not under the British flag, or are we to break-he made shortly after a bid have the domination of a Boer oli- for another lady, a more expensive garchy over British and Blacks one still, in a somewhat similar sit- alike? uation. That did not come off, but when he returned up this way the "In the Transvaal a black man course of true love had begun to is not a human being-he is a lower run smoothly. Mrs. Mother-in-law link between man and the ape, cre- paid Julius' people a fowl to make ated for the serv;ce of the white up for the reviling, and negotia- man. This doctrine, originating tions were re-opened. After a few with the Boer, has infected the Uit- hitches the girl's relations accepted lander, not slow to adopt a view so • the cloth Julius tendered, and now convenient to his selfishness, and the engagement is an accomplished reacts back upon the older colonies, fact. After it was settled the lady where it finds a congenial soil. It paid J ulius a visitand he made her a is only the Imperial connection and present of a garment. To-day she the moral influence of what is called was baptized under the name of , Exeter Hall, 'by the colonists, that Monica, and she brought Julius a prevents a recrudescence of slavery present of food, so that you see deli- in South Africa." cate attentions are in full swing. Before he can be married he must, South African The following cata- of course, build a house (it must be close to his mother's or her's) and Missions. logue of South Afri- furnish it. It will cost him, at least, Is. to get the house built, and can m iss ion s is I don't think he can possibly furnish it under another Is. 6d. His mar- taken from the Neukirchener Mis- riage won't involve his leaving me. – His wife will live at their house and sions- und Heidenbote, through the her mother (or his) will look after her, keep her company, and see that Baselllfagazine: she doesn't get into mischief." IN NATAL AND ZULULAND. The Boers Rev. J. S. Moffat, (1) The American Board, since 1841. 9 staand the writing from Cape tions, 19 out-stations, 10 missionaries, 16 or· ganized churches, 1,500 members. Blacks. Town, 11th Novem- (2) Wesleyans, 1845. 17 stations, 5,000 mem- ber, 1899, says that bers. the war is watched hy the Bechu- (3) Lntherans, Norwegians. 3 stations, ana natives with intense concern. 3,000 baptized. (4) Berlin (1.), since 1847. 6 stations, 11 out- "As one of them put it to me the stations, 21 preaching places, 8 missionaries, other day: 'If the English win, 1 female teacher, 2,388 baptized.
then we black men can breathe and (5) Anglicans_ ) stations, 12 clergymen, 3,000 baptized.
(6) Hermannburgers, since 1854. 20 sta· tions, 33 out-stations, 23 missionaries, 4,500 members.
(7") Free Church of Scotland, since 1867. 4 stations, 53 out-stations, 4 missionaries, 41 native helpers, 2,911 baptized, 1,559 scholars.
(8) Swedish Church. 5 stations, 3 out-sta- tions, 4 missionaries.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
(9) Free Quaker Mission. (5) Holland Reformed Church. (10) General South African Mission. 4 sta· (6) G. S. A. M. 10 workers in Johannes- tions, 7 missionaries. burg.
BASUTOLAND. ORANGE FREE S'l'ATE.
(1) Paris Mission. since 1833. 17 stations. (1) Wesleyans, since 1833. Several stations 152 outposts, 17 missionaries, 7 ordained na- and colored preachers. tive clergy. (2) Berlin (I.), since 1834. 8 stations, 14 out- (2) Anglicans (S. P. G.), since 1874. 4 sta- posts, 48 preaching places, 12 missionaries, 2 tions, 4 missionaries, about 500 communicants. female teachers, 5,570 baptized.
KAFFRARIA AND PONDOLAND. (3) Anglican bishopric of Bloemfontein. 900 baptized. (1) Congregational Union (S. A.). 11 congregations. (4) Primitive Methodists. (5) Holland Reformed Church. 4,000 bap- (2) Free Church of Scotland. 10 stations, tized natives. lOS outposts, 10 missionaries, 4 native pastors, 160 helpers. 6,219 communicants, 6,418 scho- MISCELLANEOUS. lars. Judson's At the time when (3) Scottish United Presbyterians, since Voice. Mr. Judson went to 1857. 9 stations, 9 missionaries, 31 native England to seek the helpers, 2,487 communicants, 2,000 scholars. cooperation of the London Mis- (4) Wesleyans. since 1820. Independent sionary Society, he met with a very Church. 67 congregations, 111 clergymen flattering reception, for his per- (48 native). 1,473 native helpers, 79,453 bap- sonal appearance was much in his tized, 17,000 scholars. favor. He was small and delicate, but hi& voice, like that of Wesley, (5) Unitas Fratrum, since 1828. 7 stations, was much more powerful than his 23 missionaries and wives, 5,314 adherents. audience expected to hear, and con- sequently took them by surprise. (6) Berlin (1.), since 1837. 5 stations, 5 out- On one occasion he sat in the pulposts, 6 preaching places, 5 missionaries, 1 pit with Rowland Hill, and, at the female teacher, 909 baptized, 457 communi- close of the sermon, was requested cants and wives, 438 scholars. to read a hymu. When he had finished, this clerical oddity arose (7) Anglican~. 25 stations, about 10,000 and introduced him to the congrebaptized. gation as a young man going out to the East to seek the conversion (8) Primitive Methodists, since 1871. 1 sta- of the heathen, adding: "And if tion, about 700 members. his faith is proportioned to his voice, he will drive the devil from (9) General South African Mission. 3 sta- all India."-The Story of Baptist tions, 7 laborers. MissionlJ.
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA (Westward and A Good Word Over against such Northwestward of the Two Republics). for Foreign o b j e c t ion s one Missionaries. answer is sufficient, (1) Wesleyan, since 1871. (2) London Society, since 1876. and it is such an (3) Holland Reformed Church. answer as is contained in a remark (4) General South African Mission. made to me by a very eminent (5) S. P. G. (6) Hermannsburgers. United States official in Japan. (7) Berlin (1.) Several stations (among "When I came to Japan," said this them Kimberley and Douglas). gentleman, "a few years ago, it (8) American Board. was with a conscious prejudice against Christian missions, but CAPE COLONY. after some years of residence I have come to the conviction that Chris- (1) London; (2) Wesleyan; (3) Primitive tian missions and Christian mis- Methodists; (4) Berlin I. (5) S. P. G.; (6) Free sionaries have had mor~ to do with Church; (7) u. P.; (8) Moravians; (9) G. S. A.
M. (Capetown);· (10) Rhenish; some others.
TRANSVAAL.
(1) Hermannsburgers, since 1857. 26 sta· tions, 62 outposts. 29 missionaries, 319 native helpers, 40,000 adherents, about 19,000 communicants, 5,000 scholars.
(2) Berlin C1.), since 1859. 25 stations, 95 outposts, 132 preaching places, 31 ordained, 3 unordained missionaries, 18,500 adherents, 9,000 communicants.
(3) Wesleyans, since 1875. 25 stations, 3 missionaries, 5 native pastors, 24 helpers, 3,000 members.
(4) Anglican bishopric of Pretoria, with 300 baptized natives.
the advance of Japan in the last Celestial. Who is superintendent? quarter of a century than all other The Boards of Home and Foreign causes put together."-Rev. Ed- Missions of Sabbath-school ~ork ward Abbott. and of Freedmen. Who sees to rolling stock wherein people may Mission It is always well to sit on their heavenly journey? The Board of Church Erection. Converts. treat figures in a Who attends to the technical in- struction of conductors and motor- comparative way; neers? The Board of Education? Who provides sanitariums for the for instance, to say that there are worn-out and pensions for the honorably retired? The J;loard of to-day between 1,500,000 and 2,000,- Ministerial Relief. Is that all? 0, no; what about power plants? 000 convert!'! connected with the "Our schools and colleges," says Dr. Radcliffe, "are the depositaries various missions of the world means of power for the Ohurch;" and the high commission of seeing that they something, but the statement are built, equipped, maintained, is given to this Board of Aid for carries more weight if you add in Colleges and Academies. The Holy Spirit is the power. Bringing that the same breath that at the end of power into the mind, heart, and life of youth is true education. the second century there were The power-house gathers electricity out of the atmosphere; our schools probably no more Ohristians in all and colleges bring the Holy Spirit to their students through three the world than this body of ad- agencies-the Word, the Workers, and the Work.-Rev. E. C. RAY, herents now actually connected in The Spirit of Missions.
with native churches, to say noth- ing of the 200,000 or more who have died in the faith within the cen- tury. Or state the number of Japanese Ohristians as about 41,000 and say that they are a few more than the members of Oongrega- tional churches in the State of Ohio to-day. The total evangelizing force in the foreign field to-day, including both the missionaries and the native helpers, aggregates in the neighborhood of 50,000, or perhaps a little short of half the number of' ordained Protestant OBITUARY.
ministers in the United States. Rev. Dr. John vVith no little sor- McDougall, of row have we learned Such a comparison gives an idea of Florence, Italy. ofl the death by the relative scarcity of workers compared with the tremendous pneumonia of our magnitude of the field.-Congre- persomiJ friend and editorial corre- spondent, Dr. McDougall, of Florgationalist.
Our Gospel Dr. Radcliffe said ence, so long at the very front in Power Houses. of our colleges and Italian evangelization. He had in academies, in his charge the Scotch church in Florsermon as retiring moderator of the ence, and was one of the most last General Assembly: "They are the depositaries of power for the courteous of Christian gentlemen. Ohurch." What was his idea? The Church, a great syndicate building For years he has indefatigably and operating trolley lines in this worked to evangelize Italy and and other lands to carry people from the City of Destruction to the City establish Ohristian and Protestant schools, and we know of no man, except Cav. Matteo Prochet, who has done more for Italy's spiritual uplifting. *
The Missionary Review of the World — April 1897
THE BPlBITUAL KOVElUilliTB' 011' THE CENTURY
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
xx. Vot.. No. 4.-0ld Se'I'ies.- APRIL. -VOL. X. No. 4.-New 8eJri68.
THE SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE CENTURY-"THE FAITH-WORK."
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Johannes Evangelista Gossner, born at Hausen, near Augsburg, in 1773, and dying in Berlin in 1858, at the age of 85, has been called "the father of faith-missions." This is a very imperfect term to describe a movement which needs some descriptive, definitive title, as one of the conspicuous developments of the century. With the name of Gossner we must associate the names of August Hermann Franke, of Halle, George Miiller, of Bristol, J. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, and many others who have, in a peculiar sense, gone into 'York with God under the inspiration of their faith and prayer and with peculiar dependence upon Him.
To some people it seems invidious to talk of "Faith Missions," as though other missions were not carried on upon the principle of faith. Yet, if we are to learn God's lessons from history, we must not be jealous concerning words and names, nor must we be too proud, selfwilled, or sensitive, to admit our errors or our deficiencies. Obviously there are two classes of activities which we find among disciples. In one class the so-called "business" methods and principles lie at the basis. The church, local or general, takes up an enterprise, calls to its aid its strongest and wisest counselors, and forms a Board; then goes about its proposed work on the basis of worldly prudence-it will cost so much to carry it on, and so much must be raised by contribution. Accordingly, the most vigorous appeals are mad(:l for money and for men-the main dependence is upon thorough organization and wise administration. If the funds fail, there must be new appeal. No forward step must be taken without a sufficient guaranty, better * This periodical adopts the Orthography of the following Rnle, recommended by the joint action * of the American Philological Association and the Philological Society of England :–Cbange d or ed 1lnal to when so pronounced, except when the e affects a preceding sound.-l'uBLIsBBll8. still, without the supply of material in advance to assure success. God's blessing is sought, of course, by all true disciples, and no fault can be found with those who carry into the Lord's work the principles that are practically found to assure to worldly enterprises the greatest prosperity and progress. Why, then, it is askt, are not all such church activities scriptural and apostolic? And is it not Pharisaic and pre- tentious to describe other enterprises of disciples as Faith Work, as tho nobody else had any faith.
Let us be humble, and let us be candid. It is possible to do work for God, and yet give undue emphasis to its human side; or rather , give too little emp7tasis to the divine side. We may do really Christian work in the energy of the flesh rather than in the energy of the Spirit; we may practically trust more to human wisdom than to divine direction; we may put prayer behind our activity rather than before it, thus reversing the true order which puts prayer always first, and may depend more on appeals to men than on appeals to God. And if we read God's lesson rightly, here is precisely the providential meaning of these faith movements. They are designed by God to make more vivid and prominent to our faith the Presence and PO?oer of a Prayer-Hearing God-to make more real the actual providential administration of the Lord Jesus in the affairs of His Kingdom, and the actual gracious administration of the Holy Spirit in applying the truth to human souls and enlisting believers in a true cooperation with God and each other. It is a great help to us to get a view of missions, for example, as The Enterprise of God, for which He is supremely responsible; to feel that He alone can select and separate and send forth His chosen laborers; that He alone can open wide and ,effectual doors, and meet and drive back the many adversaries; that :He alone can move the people to give themselves, their sons and daughters, or their money; that He alone can lift them to the high level of prevailing prayer, and stir them to loving, passionate sympathy with lost souls; and that consequently it is of first consequence to keep in living, loving contact with God, that our prayers be not hindered; to nse only scriptural and spiritual methods in appealing to men, or in raising funds; and that there are times and matters in which we may safely, trusting in His leadership, take bold steps in advance, where, at the time, no human guaranty is furnisht for success; as when, at Jesus' command, twelve disciples undertook to feed with five loaves and two fishes five thousand men, beside women and children. Faith counts on God as the Invisible Administrator, who can do things impossible with men, can open doors with a word or a will, thrust forth laborers, put the right man in the right field, supply all the money needful at the moment of need, and, in a word, do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. Faith sees that God is honored by being trusted, that believing is not presuming, that the audacity of faith is sometimes really the humility of dependence and the courage of obedience. , We thank God for the Faith Work, which is one of the great inspi.
rations of our day in service to God and man. We thank Him even for the rebuke it has often administered to our hesitating unbelief, our secular methods, our unscriptural appeals, our dependence on man, our resorts to worldly methods for raising money, our despair in great straits. We thank Him for showing us, by so many examples, that He is more jealous and zealous for His work than any of His work- men; that He holds the keys of the situation, and that the govern- ment is upon His shoulder.
The actual character of the Faith movements of our day can best be understood by examining the men and the methods themselves, and again letting philosophy teach us by examples. No miracles in apos- tolic days were more real as manifestations of the power of a present God than some of these modern triumphs of faith which furnish a supplement to the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The name and form of George Muller always come to the front whenever we refer to faith work. The fifty-seventh report of the New Orphan Houses and his kindred enterprises is now before us, reaching to May 26th, 1896. And it is still a record of blessing received in answer to prayer. Mr. Muller started over sixty years ago, to demon- strate how much might be accomplisht by believing prayer, that the weak faith of disciples might be strengthened. This, as he constantly reiterates~ was his own great desire and design. And what is the result? The various schools, from the beginning, have had over 121,000 pupils, with constant conversions, sometimes over 100 in one school in one year. But only believers are allowed to teach, and only believers who are known as having power in prayer. It is computed that at least 10,000 of these pupils have been led to Christ. During this same period there have been circulated in various parts of the world nearly 2,000,000 copies of the Bible, or portions thereof, and over 108,000,000 of books, pamphlets, and tracts. Missionary oper- ations have been carried on or aided in twenty-five different lands and countries, and hundreds of missionaries aided in their work, through whom tens of thousands of souls have been brought to Christ, and from the one church organized by Mr. Muller in Bristol, sixty brethren and sisters, forty of whom are yet engaged in labor, have gone forth.
All this is beside the orphan work, of which it is recorded that during the thirty years past over 3,000 orphans have been converted while in the institution, beside hundreds who have found Christ after they had left its walls. And the total amount of money disburst for all purposes during these sixty-three years is now upwards of seven millions of dollars. Here is an annual present expenditure for the [April orphan houses alone of £22,000, or about $110,000. And all this money comes, with all other supplies, directly in answer to believing prayer. Beyond the annual report, no statement of the financial con- dition of the institutions is ever made to the public, and even the Report never appeals directly for any aid. For sixty-three years Mr. Muller has never, even in the greatest straits, askt one penny of any human donor, or resorted to any method whatever of obtaining money or other supplies, except believing prayer. Even the helpers, who meet daily for united supplication, are cautioned not to mention, outside, the wants of the orphans, lest it should even seem that they were looking to other aid than the Divine. And yet supplies have never once failed in over sixty years. The first donation Mr. Muller ever received for the orphan work was a shilling. Last year 23,500 pounds! and yet he says he can ask God as confidently for twenty thousand pounds as when he began, for a shilling.
If anyone would like to find the principles of faith work expounded by Mr. MUller himself, let him read those remarkable volumes known as "The Lord's Dealings with George MUller." There he gives six reasons why a new institution was founded by himself and Mr. Craik, instead of working through institutions already founded. Let this faith-worker define his own position. These are briefly his grounds, as he states them, only that we condense them for economy of space.
1. The end which these religious societies propose to themselves, and which is constantly put before their members, is that the whole world will gradually become better, and at last be converted; whereas Scripture teaching is that in the present dispensation, things will not become spiritually better, but rather worse, and that it is not the whole world that will be converted, but only a people gathered out from among the Gentiles for the Lord. As it is unscriptural to expect the conversion of the whole world, we could not propose to ourselves such an end in the service of our Lord.
2. That which is worse, is the connection of those religious societies with the world, which is completely contrary to the Word of God. In temporal things, the children of God need, whilst they remain on earth, to make use of this world; but when the work to be done requires that those who attend to it should be possest of spiritual life, the children of God are bound, by their loyalty to their Lord, entirely to refrain from association with the unregenerate.
3. The means made use of in these religious societies to obtain money for the work of the Lord are also, in other respects, unscriptural; for it is a most common case to ask the unconverted for money, which even Abraham would not have done.
4. It is not a rare thing for even committee members (the individuals who manage the affairs of the societies) to be manifestly unconverted persons, if not open enemies, of the truth; and this is suffered because they are rich or have influence.
5. It is a common thing to endeavor to obtain for patrons or presidents of these societies, and for chairmen at public meetings, persons of rank and wealth to attract the. public. Never once have I known a case of a poor, but very devoted, wise, and experienced servant of Christ being invited to fill the chair at such public meetings.
6. Almost all of these societies contract debts, so that it is a com,. paratively rare case to read a report of any of them without finding that they have expended more than they have received, which is contrary both to the spirit and letter of the New Testament.
7. Mr. Muller, in expounding the principles on which his own work is carried on, emphasizes more fully another law which is not expressly stated hitherto, that God only is acknowledged as the patron of the work, and all appeals for help are to be addrest to Him in believing prayer-that success is to be guaged, not by the amount of money given, etc., but by the Lord's blessing; and that while desirous to avoid needless singularity, the one aim will be to go on simply according to Scripture, without compromising truth.* To one who would study these faith movements, we can safely commend Mr. MUller's own story, which is presented with a minuteness of detail which leaves no particular feature wanting to give insight into both method and motive.
Gossner, the humble pastor of the little Bethlehem church in Berlin, had no thought of being a leader in a new movement, or, above all, a "missionary founder." He simply'walkt, a step at a time, after the Divine leader, venturing to put faith in the words of God, and not discount his promises by unbelief, or by limiting them to the apostolic period, or some remoter time. The story is fascinating in its successive steps, showing how marvelously God leads a willing soul who is courageous enough to follow. Three or four artizans sought him for advice, when they felt the burning fire shut up in their bones, and were weary with forbearing; they felt that they must preach the Gospel in the regions beyond. But when he would not give them aid or approval, they begged, at least, what he could not withhold-a partnership in prayer that God would guide them. He consented, but it was perilous for unbelief, for he found himself praying sympathetically and, at last, fervently, until the symphony of prayer became a sympathy of service. Then he went another step, and began to give them positive help. They came to him when their day's work was over, and Gossner became to them an educator, training them in such. knowledge of the Word of God, and the truth according to godliness, as he found lacking. He had suddenly and unconsciously establisht a training-school.
The Lord's Dealings with George Milller. I. 107-112. Now comes the next step. To encourage men to go forth to the world-field without first running the round' of the regular curriculum of classical and theological.training, was an ecclesiastical heresy which subjected Gossner to a fire of criticism. Yet he was so sure that he had followed, tho at first reluctantly, the leading of God, that the assaults of his accusers only confirmed him in his course. He shut himself in with God for prolonged prayer, and he found the shield of faith still able to quench the fiery darts hurled at him as an innovator, iutroducing customs not lawful for his brethren to receive neither to observe-being Germans. But he could not act independently of the approval of his brethren, without also cutting loose from their pecumary aid. And so Gossner thrust his self-trained workmen forth in sole and simple dependence on God for aU needful 8upplies. We emphasize this, for it was the distinctive characteristic of the Gossner Mission, and it was this which God ordained should be an example to others who should afterward dare to trust God after the. same sort. Gossner remembered our Lord'lI solitary injunction when he showed his disciples the fields that were white for the sickle: "PRAY YE, therefore, the LORD of the Harvest that HE will thrust forth laborers into His harvest," and he remembered the singular illustration of the working of this principle in the Antiochan Church, when the Holy Ghost called by name and sent forth Barnabas and Saul.* This pre- cept and practise were to him sufficient warrant for both looking directly to the Lord for such laborers and for asking for such money, as were needed.
Gossner was already sixty-three years old when he broke off connection with the Berlin Missionary Society, and began to work on independent lines. At that age, when the ninth heptade is complete, few men ever think of becoming pioneers, and rather begin to withdraw from active labors. Yet Gossner was permitted to put into the fold two hundred men and women, and for the outfit and support of this mission band he was simply in partnership with God. And so sacred did he consider this divine partnership, that he regarded it an act of unbelief to ask of men any longer, since he was permitted and authorized to ask of God in faith nothing wavering. Faith made him bold, and as he quaintly phrased it, he counted it his business to be employed in "ringing the prayer-bell rather than the beggar's door-bell." Did God honor the partnership of faith? Let the sufficient witness be the words spoken over Gossner's open grave: "he prayed mission stations into being, and missionaries into faith; he prayed open the hearts of the rich, and gold from the most distant lands"
As Dr. A. J. Gordon says, " Gossner believed in the Holy Ghost, whom he regarded as the administrator of missions. Therefore he .. Acts xiii, 1-5. relied on prayer more than on organization." Having done all in his power, he would sit in his little room and commit the distant work to this Divine Executor, and" beg Him to direct it all and order it after His own will." Instead of an elaborate manual of instructions, this was the simple and stirring commission which he put into the hands of his missionaries: "Believe, hope, love, pray, burn, waken the dead I Hold fast by prayer,. wrestle like JacobI Up, up, my brethrenl Tlte Lord is coming, and to everyone he will say, 'where hast thou left the souls of these heathens'! With the devil.'i" 0, swiftly seek these souls, and enter not w£thout them into the presence of the Lord." * It would be a long chapter that should trace the apostolic succession from this missionary founder and trainer. Louis Harms is one example-in Hermansburgh, daring to undertake missions on a scale unparalleled in history, Think of this pastor, who now almost fifty years ago (1849), inaugurated in his own church-a church of poor farmers, artizans, peasants, and mechanics-a missionary society, which came to have shortly not only its missions and missionaries, but its own ship, its own magazine, its own training college, its own complete equipment'. At the end of thirty one years, Louis Harms had put into the field and kept there, over 350 missionaries, and in ten years more, could praise God for 13,000 converts in the mission churches, while the church at home had grown to unprecedented proportions, and was the largest in the world. Let us look into his simple diary. "I prayed to the Lord Jesus that He would provide the needed sum of –." " Last year, 1857, I needed 1,500 crowns, and the Lord gave me sixty over. This year I needed double, and He has given me double, and one hundred and forty over."
There are other, and more recent enterprises, founded and conducted on the same essential basis as Franke's, Muller's, Gossner's, Harms'-but they must have, if at all, separate treatment. Their one essential principle is that they treat the work as God's, and Him as the responsible founder and administrator, and they lay great stress on two subordinate laws of conduct: First that, as the Scriptures are the express revelation of His will, no methods or measures should be admitted or permitted in His work that are not according to His word; and secondly, that as the throne of grace is the eternal storehouse of supplies, all appeal for help is to be primarily to God; and that all dependence on man for aid, and especially on direct appeal to man, is practically a departure from the simple divinely ordained channel of supplies. Such principles as these, vindicated by such marvellous practical illustrations, demand, and will receive, further expansion in these pages, hereafter.
* " The Holy Spirit in Missions," by Dr. A. J. Gordon, 68, 69.
IDNDUISM AS IT IS
HINDUISM AS IT IS.
BY REV. JACOB CHAMBERLAIN, M. D., D.D., MADANAPALLE, UrDU.
Modern Hinduism, the Hinduism held and practised by the people of India for the last two thousand years, is not at all the religion of the Vedas. That was essentially a pure monotheism.
The Vedas, dating back from near the time of Moses, before all Noachian tradition had vanisht from among men, contain in the main true ideas of God and man, and sin, and sacrifice. They teach of one Supreme Being, the creator, preserver, and governor of all; that he is pure and holy; that man is in a state of sin, not at peace with holy God; that sinful man can have no union with sinless God until and unless sin is in some way expiated. But they fail to show how this expiation is to be accomplisht, and leave the devotee groping in uncertainty and dread.
The Aryans brought these monotheistic Vedas with them when they migrated into North India. But there soon arose another series of religious books, the Upanishads, commentaries on the Vedas, ritu- als, all these books known to the Hindus as "The Shastras." These are theoretically held to be of only secondary authority to the Vedas; but, in reality, it is they, with the still later books, "The Puranas," that teach the religion, and control the lives of the Hindus of the present age. With them first came in the idea of the Hindu Triad, and the host of minor gods; of Nirvana, or final absorption; of caste distinctions and caste observances. Modern polytheism and idolatry; pilgrimages to holy places; desert wanderings and asceticism; phys- ical tortures; infant marriages; virgin widowhood; suttee, or the burning of a widow on the funeral pyre of her departed lord, all crept in under the shadow of these sM,stras and puranas.
Hinduism, since before the time of Christ, holds to the T'l'imu'l'ti, that is, the Hindu Triad-Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.' Brahma being the creator; Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer. Brahmli, their book tells us, committed incest; was guilty of such lustful con- duct that he was curst to the effect that no temple should ever be built in his honor, and no knee should ever bow to him in worship, and to this day, altho India is filled with Hindu temples, there is nowhere one erected to Brahmli, and he has no worshipers.
The Hindus are nearly equally divided between the worshipers of Vishnu, or Vaishnavites, and the worshipers of Siva, or Saivites. One , party, with the trident on their foreheads, painted in two nearly per- pendicular lines of white, converging toward the bridge of the nose, wiph a perpendicular line of red between them, range themselves under Vishnu as the Supreme God. The others, with three horizontal lines of sandal-wood ashes smeared on their foreheads, worship Siva as the Supreme. There is a cordial animosity between these two sects, break~ ing out often into abuse and quarrels.
The wife of Vishnu is Lakshmi, the goddess of beauty and fortune, and their son is Kama, the India Oupid, the god of love. The monkey is sacred to Vishnu. His temples swarm with them, and they are cared for, and bountifully fed as the descendants and present 'representatives of Hanuman, the monkey-god, who assisted Rama, one of Vishnu's incarnations, in recovering his captured wife, Siti, from Ravana, giant king of Oeylon, who had stolen her. All these are devoutly worshipt by theVaishnuvites, or followers of Vishnu.
The wife of Siva is Parvati, and their two sons are Vighneswara or Ganesa, the remover of obstacles, or the god of all new undertakings, and Subhramania, the god of war.
The son Ganesa, is, practically, far more worshipt than the father and mother. He is represented with the head and trunk of an elephant, and pot-bellied. He must be worshipt on the beginuing of any and every new undertaking, and for the removal of all obstacles. His hideous image, chiseled in stone, carved in wood and in ivory, cast in copper or brass, is found everywhere; granite ones by the roadside for convenience, and in temples; wood and metal ones in every Saivite's house.
Inferior to these are multitudes .of deities who are supposed to attend to specific affairs of family life and business undertakings of every kind, as birth, betrothal, marriage, sickness, death, and hosts more of still inferior gods and goddesses, which must be worshipt and propitiated, if the worshiper is to have a quiet and happy life. Indeed, their books teach that there are three hundred and thirty millions of gods, male and female, named and unnamed. Of these the Hindus stand in continual fear, and they must be continually propitiated, by libations, offerings, and sacrifices. The temples, the roadside shrines, the groves, the highways and byways, the market places and bazaars, and the houses, family rooms, bedrooms and kitchens, swarm with idols representing these gods, great and small, reminding them of the acts of worship they must perform.
The character of these multitudinous gods of the Hindus, from Brahml1 down, will not bear inspection. The morals of a people are never higher than those of the gods they worship. This accounts for the lax morality so sadly in evidence among the people of India.
Polygamy is recognized in their system, and practist more or less among all classes of the Hindus. There are no "old bachelors" among them. They believe that their after condition depends somewhat on their having male offspring to perform their Obsequies and subsequent ceremonies. They have a proverb which says, "Get a good wife if you can; if not, get a bad one; marry you must."
If after marriage they have no children, or if they have only girls, it is, according to their teachings, incumbent on them to marry another wife. I have known a Hindu who, with four wives, had only daughters. He married a fifth in hope of having sons.
Hindus often look upon plurality of wives, however, in a somewhat different light. A Hindu gentleman of high position, who had been a patient of mine, came in from his distant home to express his thanks to me for his restored health, and to make me ~ friendly visit. After talking on various matters of interest, he askt me how many wives I had. " Only one, most assuredly," was my reply.
"What, sir," said he, "can a benevolent gentleman like yourself, so continually doing good to all around you, rest satisfied with throw- ing your protecting mantle over only one poor unprotected female?
How can you regard that as doing your full duty towards the weaker sex? "
Boys are regarded by them as a blessing, and girls as a curse.
If a. boy is born they think the deity is pleased and confers ~ favor; if a girl, it is a sign of the divine displeasure. If a birth is announced in a friend's house, ere they send any messages, they must ascertain whether it is a case calling for congratulations, a boy, or for condol- ence, a girl. When our sixth son was born, and we had no daughter, a Hindu Rajah, whose dominions lay not far from my station, an old patient of mine, came in to congratulate me over the birth of "six sons, without a daughter to spoil it all." .
I told him that both his mother and myself were much disap- pointed that it was not a daughter He lookt and spoke as though he considered me daft for having such a wish.
"But, your highness," said I, "where would you and I be were it not for our mothers?"
" Ah, sir," said he, "there are sinners enough in the world so that there will be no lack of women. There is no necessity for the right- eous to have daughters."
The Hindu caste system is nowhere indicated in the Vedas. It arose after the migration of the Aryans into India. Yet there is not a part of their religion which, for these past twenty centuries, has held such an iron grip upon the people. For it is a religious, not a social, distinction. The progenitors of each caste they hold to have been a separate creation on the part of BrahmA; the Brahmans being created from his head; the Kshatriyas, warriors, from his shoulders; the Vai- syas, merchants and artizans, from his loins; the Sudras, farmers, from his thighs, and laborers from his feet. There are subdivisions of these castes covering every trade and profession.
A man is born into a caste; he never can ascend. A merchant's son must be a merchant. The son of one of the blacksmith caste, a blacksmith. It stunts progress. It prevents true brotherly feeling.
Under it a Brahman may rightly say, "stand by thyself, I am holier than thou." Its provisions are cast-iron, and on observing them one's future depends. I have known of a Brahman who died in sight of food placed there for his sustenance, because, forsooth, that food had been cookt by one of lower caste. "Better die," said he, "and gain heaven, than eat that food and live, and lose caste, and lose heaven."
It is one of our greatest obstacles in missionary work. The Brah- mans would rather see a son die than become a Ohristian and disgrace their caste. .
Transmigration of souls is also a doctrine of modern Hinduism nowhere indicated in the Vedas. It teaches that when one dies, his soul will simply enter another body, superior or inferior to his former condition according as to whether merit or demerit has preponderated in this life. Each one hopes that his soul may, in the next birth, be born a Brahman. Each one fears that it may be born in one of lower caste, or as an animal or reptile. They hold that this transmigration will go on until finally they shall, in some way, have acquired so much merit that the soul may be absorbed into that of the Deity, and their individual existence cease. This is the Nirvana, or final absorption, which is the highest state of future bliss to which Hindu- ism points its most zealous devotees.
The stolid indifference with which most Hindus meet death, is explained by this belief, that at death they a!e simply passing one milestone in their almost endless series of existences, and that there is as good a chance in the next birth as in that which they are leaving.
Those who posed as representatives of Hinduism at the "Parlia- ment of Religions," portrayed a kind of ancient Vedic Hinduism, revised to suit their own ideas, and make it palatable to persons of Western culture. Oulling its choicest, and giving a Ohristian coloring to many of its conceptions, they evolved and held up to the admira- tion of their credulous auditors as Hinduism a system as different, nay, far more different from the real Hinduism of India's people since the days of Malachi, than Ohristianity is from Mormonism.
The native newspapers of India sneer at the ntterances of the Ohicago representatives of Hinduism, as ntterly nntrue pictures of Hinduism as it exists. Indeed The Hindu Nation, an orthodox lead- ing Hindu newspaper says: "The pure and undefiled Hinduism which Swami Vivekanana.
preacht has no existence to-day; has had no existence for centuries,'
and The Reis and Rayyet, another representative Hindu paper adds, "In fact abomination worship is the main ingredient of modern Hinduism."
And yet the mass of the Hindus suppose that the Hinduism of to-day has come down to them from the Vedas, for not one man in ten thousand in India really knows what the Vedas teach; most of
'252 ROW THE GOSPEL SPREADS IN BURMA
them are simply satisfied to take their religion as it comes to them from their immediate fathers.
In spite, however, of the trammels of their superstition and the blind teachings of their shastras, many Hindus do have a sense of the burden of sin, and a desire for its expiation, and a longing for conformity to, and communion with, a personal God and Father, and do have an undefined hope of a future world of bliss. This we see indi- -cated in the writings of their sages and poets of all the ages. This we find now and then in the thoughtful Hindus of the present day. This gives us an invaluable leverage in gaining access to their hearts and presenting Jesus Christ as the all-sufficient Savior from sin, its pollution, its penalty; as the one who can lift us up to become Sons of God.
HOW THE GOSPEL SPREADS IN BURMA.
BY REV. DAVID GILMORE, RANGOON, BURMA.
How does the Gospel 'effect its entrance into a heathen community ? How does a Ohristian church come to be establisht in a heathen -village, where, from the foundation of the world, there has been no Christian church? By suggesting to me the subject which stands at the head of this article, the editor has led me to suppose that an answer to the above questions will not be devoid of interest to all of ihis readers•.
The first step is generally the visitation of the village by a missionary or a native evangelist. Missionaries spend a great part of their time traveling about in their districts, proclaiming the Gospel from village to village. When the missionary with his native helpers enters a village, he is soon surrounded by a little group of villagers, eager to know whence he comes, and on what errand. The satisfaction of their curiosity on this latter point leads naturally to talk about the 'Christian religion; talk provokes discussion; and as the discussion ,grows more animated, the missionary's congregation increases. It -often happens that the missionary and his native companions spend iSeveral hours continuously in preaching and argument about Ohristianity. After spending as much time as seems profitable, the mis- >sionary passes on to the next village. The apparent result of his visit .is, very probably, n£l. But he has left behiud him a few well selected tracts, to deepen and render more enduring any impressions which may have been made by his words; and if he has been heard with 'any attention and interest, his visit is likely to be repeated next year.
After this has gone on for several years, word may reach the missionary that there are those in the village who have decided to embrace Christianity. He is not likely to lose any time in visiting such a village. Inquirers are pointed to Christ; and candidates for church membership are examined and (if the missionary is satisfied of their conversion) baptized. If the number of converts is sufficiently great, they may be organized into a church at once. If not, the organization of a church, and the settlement of a pastor, will follow as soon'as practicable. When the church is once establisht, the responsibility for the further spread of the Gospel in that vicinity is understood to devolve mainly upon it; tho the missionary still stands ready to visit it whenever it needs counselor encouragement.
This is one way in which the Gospel spreads in Burma-perhaps the way in which it oftenest spreads. But there is infinite variety. Inquirers may appear in a village which has never been visited by a. missionary, or even by a native evangelist, but where some native layman has gone to reside, and has been faithful in witnessing for Christ. Or some heathen man who has heard the Gospel elsewhere may have been so interested as to induce some of his friends to go with him to seek the way to Zion's gate.
In working among the Karens, we find events taking a course somewhat different from that outlined above. When the people of a. Karen village have heard of Christianity, and been favorably imprest by what they have heard, they do not at first ask to be received into the Church, as a rule. They generally ask the missionary to send them a school-teacher. The reason why the Karens do this, and the Burmans do not, is because the heathen Burmans have schools 9f a. sort already, the heathen Karens have none.
When a Karen village asks for a school-teacher, the missionary aims to send a consecrated young man there as soon as he can. The people of the village provide a place to hold school in, and do what ' they can toward the support of the teacher. The mission does the rest. The teacher teaches the four R's-reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic,. and religion-to his pupils. But this is not all he does. As he has opportunity, he makes known the truths of the Gospel to the people of the village, and tries to bring them to Christ. In due time it becomes necessary for an ordained minister to visit that village and administer baptism. Scores of Karen churches have had their origin in just such a way as this. The establishment of a Christian school in a heatheu Karen village means the organization of a church later on. In many places, the school is the only way in which a Christian worker could secure a foothold.
An illustration of the usefulness of the school as an evangelistic agency is found in the work of a young Karen man in the Maulmain district. The young man had no unusual ability or education; but he had a. desire to lead souls to Christ. With this end in view, he entered a heathen village and set up a primary school. With this as a. base of operations he labored pn, patiently and quietly, until the vil- lage came over to Christianity. He then left it, to repeat the same work in a second, and subsequently ill a third village.
Besides these small village schools, the large schools of more advanced grade, such as are found in most mission stations, have no small share in the work of spreading the Gospel. All of these schools contain heathen pupils, and every year many of these pupils are led to Christ through the influences brought to bear upon them in the school. The efficiency of the mission-school as a means of evangelization may be seen from the opinion exprest in a letter from a young Karen man. This young man, who had himself been converted in a mission school, was spending a vacation preaching in heathen villages. ,He wrote me that wherever he went he was making great efforts to induce heathen parents to send their children down to the missionschool in his tOWIl. He exprest an opinion that "the best way was to get the children to come down to the school to be converted." This is another method by which the Gospel makes its way into heathen communities. , The work of the medical missionary is second to none as a means of preparing the way of the Gospel. Lovers of missions generally understand how the Gospel is proclaimed in the dispensary and during the professional visit. But at Maulmain there has recently been an interesting development of medical missionary work, under the care of Miss E. E. Mitchell, M.D. Dr. Mitchell secures the houses of grate:(ul heathen patients for the holding of Sunday-schools. Then the young people from the church and school, under the lead of their teachers, go out to these houses on Sunday, gather together the heathen children, and teach them about Jesus and the Bible.
Of late years, much has been done in Burma in the line of holding Sunday-schools for heathen children in private houses, or even in the open air. There have been Sunday-schools in Burma for many years, and there have been heathen children in the Sunday-schools; but during the past three years much more attention has been paid to Sunday-schools for heathen children as distinguisht from those held in connection with churches and mission-schools. This is largely due to the visits which the late Dr. J. L. Phillips paid to Burma as secretary of the India Sunday-school Union.
The distribution of tracts and Scripture portions has always been, in Burma, a favorite way of spreading the Gospel, and a way whose usefulness has been demonstrated again aud again. A fragment of a tract, pickt up by the wayside, was the beginning of a considerable ingathering in one of the snburbs of Rangoon. The man who pickt it up had his curiosity excited by its very incompleteness, and went to the nearest mission-school to learn more about it. Man as he was, he ,sat as an humble disciple at the feet of· Ma Mee, the Burmese head mistress, to learn more of the religion taught by that tract. He was converted himself, and was the means of-leading several of his neigh- bors to Christ. Cases have occurred where men have been baptized whose conversion was due under God to tracts received years before.
One way of spreading the Gospel, which I suppose to be peculiar to Burma, is at what are known as funeral meetings. The Burmese Christians have a custom, borrowed from the Buddhists, of holding meetings for religious discussion at any of their houses where there has recently been a funeral. Heathen neighbors are generally willing to attend such meetings, and can not take umbrage if (in a Christian . house) Christianity comes to the front in the discussion. Through these funeral meetings it is often possible to reach people who would not be willing to attend the services at the meeting-house.
There is one way in which the Gospel has of late years been spread- ing more than was formerly .the case, and in which many of us expect to see great developments in the near future. I refer to the evangeli- zation of heathen Burmans by Christian Karens. The Karen Chris- tians have always shown a praiseworthy zeal in laboring for the uncon- verted of their own race; but until recently they have not felt that they could do much for the Burmans, by whom they were once bitterly· persecuted, and by whom they are sti1llooked down upon. But as the Karens, increasing in education and wealth, are coming to command the respect of the Burmans, they begin to feel a responsibility for the evangelization of the Burmans. This sense of responsibility shows a tendency to grow. Not long ago a Burmese church was organized in a village near Henzada, as a result of the labors of the Karen church in a contiguous village. One by one the Burmans were led to Christ, and baptized into the fellowship of the Karen church, tho they could not understand a word that was said in the meetings of that church. When they were sufficiently numerous, they were dismist to organize a church where they could worship in their own language. Truly not in vain is it written: "By men of strange lips and with another tongue will He speak to this people."
Of course, some of the ways by which the Gospel spreads in Burma are more or less like the ways by which it spreads in America. There, as here, Christian parents try to bring their children up "in the nur- ture and admonition of the Lord," and generally see them come into the membership of the church in due time. In this connection, the influence of the Sunday-school is very powerful. And it will readily be understood that a church once planted in any community consti- tutes a center from which the Gospel spreads. Methods of church- work there are not, and can not be, the same as here. For instance, it is only to a limited extent that the regular church services can be made an evangelistic agency, since the heathen are more averse than the unconverted in America tOllntering a church edifice. Still, in their
PROGRESS IN OEYLON
own way, the churches do grow. Hundreds of converts, some from the heathen, and some from the families of Christians,· are every year received by the native churches, without the intervention of any missionary or of anyone in mission employ.
Mention ought to be made of the large number of native evangelists commissioned and supported by organizations of native Christians. Our native Christians in Burma have societies for the prosecution of both home and foreign missions, and through these societies many native preachers are kept at work. And in the last analysis, the converted native is the best means for spreading the Gospel; and the efficiency of any missionary society will depend largely on the use it makes of this instrumentality. Our American Baptist mission in Burma has always made great use of the native laborer. But we are not content with employing as many native helpers as our meaRS will allow. ' We consider it more important to induce the native churches to support as many native workers as their means will allow, and most important of all, to induce the membership of our churches to do what they can, personally and individually, to make known the Gospel to those that have it not.
PROGRESS IN CEYLON.
BY MARY AND MARGARET W. LEITCH.
Ceylon, the "Pearl on the brow of India," occupies a strategic position both from a political and a missionary point of view. The first missionaries to Ceylon chose it as a point from which to evangelize India. They realized that, if the people on this island could be won, they in turn wonld take a share in the work of winning India for Christ. Their expectations are beginning to be realized, for already scores of the brightest Christian young men of Ceylon can be found in many parts of India, as well as in Burma, Singapore, Penang, the Straits Settlement, and Borneo, doing noble work for Christ. They are employed as helpers by twelve leading missionary societies. Not a few have turned away from government service with its offer of a large salary, prospect of promotion, and retiring pension, and have chosen Christian work with barely a living salary. They have learned that tthere is something better worth living for than merely ma.king money.
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.-Ceylon is a unique educational center. When the first missionaries went to Ceylon, early in this century, they found the great mass of the people sunk in ignorance and superstition. The Buddhist and Hindu priests and a few others could read, but the majority of the people were entirely uneducated. It is probable that there was not then one educated native woman on the island.
When the missionaries began to open schools, the people willingly allowed the boys to attend, but they ridiculed the idea of giving an education to girls, saying, "What would be the use of sending a girl to school? A girl could never learn to read any more than a sheep." On one occasion a missiouary was urging a native gentleman to allow his daughter to attend school. The native pointing at a horse by the roadside, said, "Sir, could that horse learn to read?" The missionary replied in the negative " Well," rejoined the native, "if an intelligent animal like a horse could not learn to read, how do you think a woman could learn?"
This was the low ideal which Hinduism had given of the capacity of women. In a Hindu home a woman is never, as a rule, allowed to eat with her husband. He and the sons eat first, the mother and daughters eat afterwards. The term which even a small boy uses in addressing his mother is a term used for an inferior.
The missionaries labored earnestly for two years before they were able to induce ~ven one girl to attend school. The first who came committed to memory the 240 letters of the Tamil alphabet and began to read. When the people saw that a girl could learn, they were surprised, even pleased. At present, in connection with the five Protestant Missionary Societies at work on the island, there are nearly 50,000 children in mission schools, about one-third of whom are girls. There are not only primary and middle schools in the villages, but Girls' Boarding Schools at the Mission Stations, also Normal Training and Industrial Schools, Colleges, and Theological Schools, for young men. Fully 5,000 young men and women are receiving a higher education under mission auspices. Many of the brightest of these are becoming teachers, evangelists, and Christian workers in Ceylon and India.
SELF-SUPPORT.-The expense of the educational work to the Mission Board is very slight. For example, in the American Board's Mission, only 4 per cent. comes from the home Board, 96 per cent. being secured through fees from pupils, the income from various endowments, and liberal grants from the government, Ceylon being a British Crown Colony.
There are nearly 12,000 Christian communicants in the Protestant churches in Ceylon, and more than twice that number of inquirers and adherents. The majority of the churches are self-supporting, and have native pastors ordained over them; the others are aiming at selfsupport. In the American Board's Mission, only 10 per cent. of the whole expense for church work is met by the home Board, 90 per cent. being raised in Ceylon.
PROPORTIONATE GIVING.-The native Christians also contribute very liberally to the native Bible and Tract Societies, and to their own native missionary societies, in connection with which they are supporting a considerable number of native workers.
In Ceylon~ as in most heathen lands, the majority of the people are poor. The ordinary day-wage of a workingma.n is equal to eight American cents. On this sum a man must support his wife and children, and sometimes one or two aged relatives. The average income of the working people per man, woman, and child, is not more than a cent a day I The majority of these do not have more than one meal of solid food a day, and their expense for luxuries does not exceed per individual more than three-quarters of a cent a month.
Nevertheless the poverty of these poor people abounds to the riches of their liberality. It is a rule among the native Ohristians to give a tenth of their income to Ohrist's work. Those who are in receipt of salaries, give a tenth of their salaries, those who are farmers, give a tenth of their crops, and those who have fruit trees, give the fruit of each tenth tree. 'l'hey have found by experience that nine-tenths with God's blessing goes as far as ten-tenths used to go. The Ohristians are not impoverisht by this giving. The Ohristian commmunity is the most prosperous, the most educated, the most respected community on the island, and presElnts a striking contrast to the heathen com· munity. Altho the native Ohristians begin by giving a tenth, they do not always stop there. That is a standard below which they do not intend to fall. Many of them, especially those who are prosperous, give more than the tenth.
SELF-SACRIFICE.-The principal food of the country is rice and curry. Each morning when a Ohristian woman measures out the rice for the family for the day, so many handfuls for her husband, for each child, and for herself, she takes one handful or more and puts it into a box marked" The Lord's Box," thus diminishing by a little the amount the family would have eaten. This custom is almost universal among the Ohristians. :From time to time, the church treasurer of each church visits all the Ohristian homes, collects the rice from these boxes, sells it, and sends the money to the native missionary society.
A WORTHY EXAMPLE.-The native Ohristians in Oeylon can not enjoy many luxuries. They have no stained-glass windows in their churches, no paid choirs, and no church debts, but they enjoy one magnificent luxury. Many churches, numbering not more than a hundred members, not only support their own native pastor, but support as well, each their own native missionary in some outlying district in which there is no resident foreign missionary. If the weak struggling churches in Oeylon can do this, could not the strong wealthy churches in America each enjoy the luxury of supporting its own foreign missionary, through the channels of its own denominational Board? WORK FOR THE MASsEs.-Not only do the Ohristians of Oeylon give money, they give themselves to Ohrist's work. In connection with most of the churches large Sunday-schools are held on Sunday morn- • ing, when the children of the outlying village-schools are brought together. Nearly all of the church members may be found teaching in these Sunday-schools, after which comes the morning service, when the native pastor gives to his people good plain Gospel food. Then, instead of attending a second service, and getting spiritual dyspepsia by eating too much Gospel food and doing too little Christian work, the native Christians are accustomed to go out into the villages in groups for work among their heathen neighbors.
Early in the afternoon one may see bands of Christian women and girls starting out in different directions, to hold cottage meetings among the women, and Christian men and boys going to villages one or two miles distant to hold village Sunday-schools, or open air preach- ing services. In this way the Gospel is being widely disseminated.
If Christians in America would pursue a similar plan, giving up their Sabbath afternoons or evenings to work among the uuevangelized, one would not much longer hear the old cry, " There are so many heathen at home."
AN EFFECTIVE AGENCY.-A hopeful feature of the work in Ceylon is the medical work. Two medical missions have recently been estab- lisht in the Northern Province,oue for men, the other for women and children. The general medical mission for men is under the care of two fully qualified doctors, Rev. T. B. Scott, M.D., and Mrs. Scott, M.D.
Last year they treated in their hospital and dispensary over 4,800 patients, and the people so fully appreciated this work, that $850 were secnred locally toward its support.
While other missionaries are obliged to seek an audience the medi- cal missionary has this advantage, that his audience comes to him morning by morning. An Evangelistic service is held daily with the dispensary patients and their friends, and in the quiet of the hospital the doctors and their attendants have an unequaled opportunity for personal work.
Eye diseases are common in the country, and as Dr. Scott is a skilled oculist, and has by operations for cataract been successful in restoring sight to persons who had been blind for years, his fame has spread far and wide, and patients have come 200 miles to him for treatment.
Mrs. Scott through her knowledge of medicine, has been able to .
secure an entrance among the Mohammedan women who up to this time have been inaccessible to missionary ladies.
Two medical ladies (Mary H. Irwin, M.D., C.M., and Isabella H.
Curr; L.R.C.S., & P.), have recently gone to Ceylon to take charge of the medical mission for women. The new buildings-a hospital with 40 beds. dispensary, nurse's training home, and mission house, are completed and ready for use. The medical missionaries by their skill- ful and sympathetic treatment will present a striking contrast to the
•• OASTE" IN lNDU
devil dancers and ignorant heathen doctors, of whom there are more than 700 in this province. Another woman's hospital has recently been establisht in Colombo, the capital of the island. The valne of European medical treatment, and the advantage to the native women of the services of a lady doctor, are now so much appreciated by the natives that the entire amount required for the erection of the buildings in Colombo ($15,000) was subscribed in the island; the larger part being given by natives.
A GENERAL Y. M. O. A. SECRETARY.-A new feature of the work in Oeylon is the arrival of a general Y. M. C. A. secretary, Louis Rieb, B.A., (with Mrs. Hieb), under appointment by the International Com- mittee, for the developing of Y. M. C. A. work, and for aggressive evangelistic, temperance, anti-opium, and purity work. Ris first series of meetings was held in the Northern Province, and the following very encouraging letter to the home secretary has just been received.
JAFFNA, Ceylon, Dec. 9, 1896.
My DEAR MR. MORSE:-While awaiting the steamer to take us to Colombo, I thought you would like to learn the result of my visit among the J affna associa- tions. Visited in all nine associations. Establisht two Bible Training Classes and prepared the way for others where they did not exist. At J affna College pre- pared for an organization of a Volunteer Band for Home Missions. The most signal approval of God upon our work was at the Tillipally Training School, where after our general student's meeting, the leader of the Hindu opposition among the students, regarded by the missionary, Rev. T. S. Smith, as an almost hopeless case, came out clearly for Christ. At a special meeting the same evening nine other students took a similar stand. All but one of these came from Sivite homes.
Mr. Smith told me later that four others have also decided for Christ. At Jaffna Col- lege I took the Saturday and Sunday services closing a week of prayer, postponed from November. Saturday morning the very remarkable conversion of a Hindu student occurred, through the efforts made earlier in the week by the students.
On Sunday four other students accepted Christ as their Savior.
Remember me kindly to the brethren at the office, and urge their continuing in prayer for the work here. With very kindest regards, Very sincerely yours, (Signed) LOUIS HIED.
" OASTE" IN INDIA.
:BY W. J. WANLESS, M. D., MIRAJ, INDIA.
Originally caste in India was a social and trades-protection society, to-day it is a synonym for religion (Hinduism) among the vast millions of the Hindu population. Adherence to caste principles is inseparably connected with idolatry. The caste rules are as absurd as the idolatry is revolting; yet these rules form the religion of the vast masses of India. A Hindu may commit the vilest sin, the most atrocious crime, and still retain his caste (or social) position, but let him deign to accept a cup of water from a man of lower caste than himself, and immediately he is ostracized and excommunicated for thus daring to pollute himself. One of the Hindu Pundits who spoke so glibly of Hinduism,- its liberality, etc.,- at "The World's Parliament of Religions," was, on returning to India, made to submit to the disgusting ceremony of swallowing the five products of the cow, and to pay the priest a large sum of money in order that he might be reinstated into caste.
The vast majority of India's millions know next to nothing of philosophical or Vedantic Hinduism. The~r religion is caste. Oaste is their master, and it has bound them in fetters of iron. It is the hideous monster that still holds them within its awful coil. This is "the god of this world" that has blinded their eyes with a desperate and indiscernible blindness. So faithfully do the people accept its teaching and obey its laws, that millions of them would rather lose a hand, an eye, or even life than to break caste and suffer the consequences. It is "the most inexorable system of social tyranny ever inflicted upon the human race," and the Brahmin priesthood are the mainstay of everything that is wicked and tyrannical in it. With its thirty thousand caste sects and intersects its ramifications extend into every phase of Hindu life, and even Mohammedanism is largely contaminated and trammeled by it. There are even castes of scavengers who would not eat each others' food, or reeeive water from each other, lest they be polluted.
Oaste in India is "a huge monster born of the dusk, darkening and polluting every life upon which it falls. It is a gross caricature of the spiritual brotherhood of those who are Ohrist's." Pernicious in principle, and malicious in practise, not only does it prevent the spread of the Gospel, and obstruct every form of educational progress, but it hinders even the exhibition of true charity. Oaste beggars repeatedly refuse cookt food from Ohristians, or castes lower than themselves. Sick people refuse our liquid medicines because of the water added by Ohristian hands, and caste lepers in the government asylums, with sores and rotting limbs, are constantly fearful lest their food and water be inadvertently polluted by the touch of other castes than their own. Food pollution is religious pollution, since it is only by uncontaminated food and external cleansing that the soul is freed from sin. How different the teaching of Jesus! I once sat down upon a large covered box containing the lunches of a number of my workmen. Subsequently the foreman came running after me, and declared that my contact with the box in which their lunches had been placed had polluted them, and that day they cast their food to the dogs, and went without their midday meal.
Caste is the factor that missionaries in India must reckon with more than any other social or religious influences. To be baptized is to break caste. There are thousands who would openly confess Christ, were it not for the fear of the persecution which such an act would bring upon them. Among the educated classes there are hundreds who have lost faith in their own systems, who have forsaken idolatry, and who believe Jesus to be the only Savior of the world, but who fear to confess Him openly. Thank God the fetters are breaking. Many have already suffered the loss of all things for Christ, and bear about on their body the marks of the Lord Jesus; they rejoice that they are counted worthy to suffer for His sake. Over all the land we see indioations of the falling fetters. In the large cities and railway towns, the railways, public drinking-fountains, hospitals, schools, and scores of other agencies are being used of God to break down caste prejudice and to open wide the door for the witness for Christ. Multitudes throng the street-cars, railways, hospitals, and schools, where a few years ago l;igid adherence to caste rules made this change in public sentiments'seeming impossibility. Now among all classes we see those, once manacled by caste and enslaved by ignorance and superstition, now professing their freedom in Christ Jesus and pressing their way out of religious bondage, tho their change of faith often involves the bitterest persecution and the severest ostracism from' all that on earth they hold dear. Hundreds more would doubtless confess Christ if they could be sufficiently taught, but where are the workers to teach them? While we withhold the truth which alone can free them, satan, through the 24,000 post-offices and letter-boxes of the land is pouring into the country all manner of literary filth. The writings of Voltaire, Paine, and other infidels, cheap French novels and other vile literature, are not only freely scattered abroad in the great cities, but are translated into the vernaculars of the country to poison the mind and enslave the souls of thousands of those who have heard only enough of Christian truth to create a thirst for the freedom which that truth alone can give them. They have only heard of the truth that will make them free, they do not yet" know" it, and that because we do not send workers to impart the knowledge. Young and aggressive India is cutting loose from her ancient moorings only to drift out into an unknown sea of agnosticism, infidelity, scepticism, and theosophy. Modern science is displacing caste, modern unbelief is replacing it. Oh for ten thousand Christian ministers in our wealthy towns and cities over all this continent, who realized that they were ministers not merely for the living their profession secures, and for the other social emoluments of their office, but, "men whose hearts God had toucht with the prayer passion." Men who believed that " The field is the world, and the world the field," just as much for themselves as for the missionary who goes to the ends of the earth, men who made" their flock their force, not their field," and who realized that the supreme business of the church is the evangelization of
POLYGAMOUS APPLICANTS
the world; then the history of the Church would be changed; these manacled millions would hear fully the preaching of the Gospel and soon shake off their fetters of caste, superstition, and ignorance, and, coming forth into the full light of the Gospel, would believe the truth and the truth would make them free.
POLYGAMOUS APPLICANTS.-III.
WHAT MISSIONARIES THINK SHOULD BE DONE WITH THEM.
BY REV. DANIEL L. GIFFOR!>, SEOUL, KOREA.
REPLIES RECOMMENDING ADMISSION OR FAVORING LENIENCY.
China.-Rev. S. F. Woodin (American Board), Foochow, thus expresses himself in regard to the reception to the church of those who give good evidence of conversion in all other things: (1.) My idea is that he ought not to always be kept outside the church as only a catechumen. (2.) I think that some of those with plural.wives may be admitted to the church. I should think it best to have a longer time of probation as inquirer than required of others who were like them in other religious experiences and evidences. but who had only one wife. (3.) It seems to me that it may be allowed to receive to church membership, after a sufficient probation, those having more than one wife, where the wives were married with the regular marriage rites of full wives, and where they wish to continue as his wives. If those be8ides the first· ife are entirely willing to leave the man, and it is a lawful thing by the laws of the land to so leave the husband, then that would seem a right thing to do. Unless the first wife of her own free will should determine and insist upon leaving the husband, 8he should always be kept as his wife. Where both wives have children, or where the first wife has none and the second wife has children, I do not think that the man should be required to put the second wife away before he can be received to the church. In regard to the man who has a wife, and also has C()nc'UlJi1U8 not taken with the ceremonies of full marriage, I think the wife should always be kept, and the question should be considered whether he should also keep the concubines or not. If they are young and have no children, often they could be put away without difficulty, and the question is whether such should not always be put away. If they have children or are ad'vanced in life it may be best that the husband retain them and still be received to the church. It would need to be decided whether or not he should then take the concubine and with appropriate ceremonies acknowledge her as a wife.
n any wives or concubines are put away by the husband, whether divorced or not, I think he is bound to support them until they remarry, as far as they are not able to support themselves. The children of such would naturally remain with the father, certainly also be supported by him. (4.) In regard to the female applicant for admission to the church who is a second wife or concubine, but whose husband is not willing to put her away, if otherwise worthy of church membership, I think she may well be received to the church. She is in China, and probably in Korea, under the law and control of her husband almost as much 8B a slave is under hiS master. It seems to lme that no fixt rule should be establisht 8B unalterable, but each case should be decided on its own merits according to its own peculiar conditions, and the law and custom of the place and country must always be taken into account.
Rev. H. (J. DeBose (S. Presbyterian), Soochow.
I wish the circular had come to one who knew more about it. That a line must be drawn somewhere is clear, or else the baptism of an African chief with his house (i. e., a dozen wives and their children). would be doing business by the wholesale. . . . The only case in our mission was of a teacher in Hangchow. The brethren put the very easy cross before him of putting away one of his wives. The second one was sold to a widower for $136; the deed was written in the S. P. M. chapel, and the minister was middleman, and received a fee (i. e., it was supposed so). I suppose the candidate for baptism thought the other man was able to pay and he might as well get the money.* . . . I recently baptized a man with theoretically two wives, but thirteen years ago, when he took the second, the first left him, and she has lived in another city with her mother. It can hardly be conceived that in a country where were the descendants of Abraham, Jacob, and David, that there were not polygamists among the 3,000 at Pente· cost. t . . . My own view is that wives with children should not be divorced.
A parental relation has been formed by both parties. But most old Chinese women without children would be willing to be retired on a comfortable pension.
• There are many practical ,ways in each individual case that may be opened. It is well to wait for one, two, or three years, and see how the case turns out. The Lord often gives special light in special cases, It is well to wait on him. . • . The O. T. saints were polygamists. It can hardly be put down as a maZum per 8e as long II.'! we Presbyterians put so much stress on O. T. teachings." In regard to I. Tim. 3 :2, I hardly agree with Dr_ Hodge.t There were covetous, high-tempered men, and moderate drinkers in the early church; but they were not to be preachers; i. e., examples to the flock. If there were no polygamists in the church, why use the words?
Rev. D. E. Hosle (Ohina Inland), Hungtung.
Let me say, first, that, so far as I understand, there are in the Bible two different standards of practise as to marriage, the Old Testament and the New Testament standards. In Exodus 21: 10 we find bigamy recognized (not approved), and regulations are given about it. The wives of Abraham, Jacob, David, and others were lawful, and their children were legitimate; nor do we ever find any reference to them in the New Testament as being otherwise. Now if a plurality of wives was permitted under the Mosaic law, then much more is it lawful in the case of heathen, who have far less light than the people of Israel in Old Testament times. Hence marriages made when the parties were without Gospel light, are legal and binding, and the fact of the parties (one or both) subsequently becoming Christians, does not alter this legality. Of course, in tMfuture, their practise in marrying must be regulated by Christian standards. In Matt. 5 : 31, 32, our Lord quotes from Deut. 24 : 1, and then proceeds to give a different standard; but surely He does not by this mean that all who had before acted *Rev. J. L. Stuart, referring to the same case, says, that the woman had previously been an applicant for baptism; but after her remarriage, "gave U,? all interest in the Gospel." t For the existence of polygamy among the Jews, in the days of the apostles, see Josephus' "Antiquities," p. 524, where in alluding to Herod's plurality of wives, he declares that such was the existing custom.
Vol. III, p. 388. according to Deut. 24 :1, were adulterers and their marriages void? Hence. I reply that a convert must understand, of course, that in future he can not marry again during the life·time of any of his present wives; nor can he hold office as long as he has more than one wife. Receive her, the wife. . . . My opinion on this subject is confined to China and countries where marriage is a bona fide social relation. In Africa, where, practically, the sexual relation is promiscuous, I should think the whole question must be handled differently.
Rev. Stanley P. Smith (Ohina Inland), Lu An.
I am not aware that the C. I. M. has any authoritative rule or practise with reference to plurality of wives. I therefore can only give my opinion. • . . (1.) I do not think a man with plural wives should be kept outside the church as a ,. perpetual catechumen." (2.) I think he should be permitted to put away or divorce no 8ingle one of his wives. (8.) Putting away any wives to my mind is equivalent to adultery, and I would expel a member from my church for so doing; for in doing so he makes the woman (or tantamount to it) commit adultery. (4.) With the female applicant, if fully satisfied with her conversion, I should not hesitate to receive her into church fellowship. These unavoidable evils would only last a generation, for after e.terin~ the Church there could henceforth be no more.
Rev. Wm. Ashmore, Jr., also presenting the views of Rev. Wm. Ashmore, D.D. (American Baptist), Swatow: Such cases as you speak of have not been common with us, and yet they have occurred. I remember hearing my father say of the first one that occurred in connection with this mission, that they compelled the man to put away his second wife, but that he had since felt that it was a mistake. The rejected woman afterwards came to the missionaries saying piteously "What am I to do? He is my husband and the father of my children. What right have you to take him away from me ?" It was a very difficult question to answer. When I came to Swatow, fifteen years ago, there were in the church a man and his wife (second wife, the first wife being still alive). Both man and wife were faithful members, the former till his death, and the woman still. I believe that their case fairly represents the present attitude of this mission on this subject. When the relation has existed before the parties had heard the Gospel, we have not thought that the teaching of the Scripture would require that it be sundered. In fact, it has seemed to us that I Tim. 8: 20 and Tit. 1: 6 strongly indicate that there were such cases in the early church, and that while Paul recognizes such persons as eligible to churchmembership, and already in the church, in some cases, he intends to teach that they are not eligible to the offices of the church. It goos without saying that if a man who is already a member of the church takes a second wife. he thereby subjects himself to church discipline and exclusion.
Rev. H. D. Porter, M.D., D.D. (also stating the view of the late Rev. J. L. Nevius, D.D.) (American Board), P'ang Ohuang.
In our own station we have had one case which settled itself, and another case now on hand which we are dealing with. . . . Let me give first the experience of good Dr. Nevius, whom we all loved and venerated so much. In 1887, Mr. Smith and I visited his field with him. One Saturday we spent part of the day with an old man, who had been a member for some years. He had two wives, both of whom Dr. Nevius had received to the church some years before. Each wife had one or two sons, and these also were church members. It was the judgment of Dr. Nevius that it was wise and best thus to receive them and develop, if possible, a true Christian life in the families. We had communion together. While my mind had been tending in that direction, I was glad to find that so experienced a worker saw the conditions so clearly, and had no hesitancy in receiving the man and his wives. The case in our church was received before we knew that he had two wives. We did not think fit to do other than allow the old status to remain. In the spring of this year a man of considerable means was received on probation. We found that he had two wives, and three sons by each of them, all likely lads under twelve. We shall, no doubt, receive him to membership when the right period of probation has passed. (1.) It does not appear to us best that such a candidate should be kept upon perpetual probation. (2.) There appears to be no just reason why such a candidate, if his faith and knowledge of Christian truth are such as to warrant it, should not be received. The conditions assigned might be made to vary. But I should prefer not to add conditions, considering that the marriages were entered upon without a knowledge of Christian morality. (3.) In case a man had but two wives, our practise would be not to have either put away; were there more than two wives, the problem would take another form. (a) It would seem reasonable and most desirable that the mother of the children should not be put away. (b) In case of putting away one or more, it would be in accord with the same line of reasoning that the man should support the wife or wives sent away. The problem of the children would not come into account if dealt with as our practise illustrates. The father should, under all circumstances, be responsible for all his children. (4.) In the case of a woman, whose husband did not wish to part with her, although I have not known such a case, our practise would be to interfere as little as possible. An attempt to relieve the woman from her claims would be misinterpreted. There would seem to be a natural human law, guiding to a definite practise in such an instance. . . . I understand that the experience of missionaries in India and elsewhere is that it is much the wisest to accept each man and woman, as the Apostle says, " In the calling wherein he was called." If married then, let him abide, even if married to two or more. Death will solve the question more readily than we can. The church, of course, will readily correct any tendency to the repetition of such moral mistakes. The quarrels, which so often arise in families so constituted, show the wisdom, even to the natives, of the single marriage relation.
The position of the late Rev. A. P. Happer, D.D., al~o of Rev. B.
O. Henry, D.D. (N. Presbyterian), Canton, is expressed in a letter from Rev. H. Y. Noyes. "I recollect one case where Dr. Happer received a man with two wives. Dr. Happer advocated strongly the view that these cases might be received. He was the only one of our Mission who did so, since I came to China, till recently, I believe, Dr.
Henry has, to some extent, advocated the same."
Rev. Art1tur H. Smith (American Board), Tientsin, writes that their missiori has never had a definite policy. At a recent mission meeting a committee was appointed, who reported, and their report was adopted and entered on the minutes. The report is, in part, as follows; The marriage relation was contracted while the parties were ignorant of the Gospel and its requirements. In many cases children have been born, and these must be cared for. To require the wives to be put away would cause more or less distress, and frequently be the direct cause of sin, as wen as suffering-remedying the one evil would be productive of greater evils. Your committee believes the ideal course would be for the man to live with the first wife and support the
RESULTS OF mSSION WORK IN INDIA
others in separate quarters. But difficulties will arise in requiring this as the invariable rule, in cases where the first wife has no children, and the other wife or wives have, especially if it be the favorite wife. While, therefore, this appears to be the desirable course to take whenever practicable or possible, and is the one which your committee recommend, we feel that the conditions and circumstances controlling each case must receive careful considerati'ln, and somewhat modify :final action. Your committe therefore recommend that the principle above stated be adhered to as far as possible, and that in special cases, candidates-husbands or wives-may receive baptism in accordance with the spirit of Christian love and wisdom.
Committee-Messrs. Stanley, Renent. and Chapin.
RESULTS OF MISSION WORK IN INDIA.* BY REV. J. H. WYCKOFF.
In estimating the results of mission work in India, it is only fair to take into account other forces than the missionary which are working for good among the people. Chief among these is the British Government, which, in the Providence of God, is establisht in this land. Much as we may regret the apathy and indifference of individual officials to mission work, it is a pleasure to be able to testify that the general influence of the Government of India is on the side of righteousness. My experience among natives of all classes leads me unhesitatingly to affirm that the rulers of India stand, in the eyes of the people, as the embodiment of integrity, justice, and truth. Nor could it be otherwise, when we remember that the Government of India is, to a large extent, the expression and the reflection of the people of England.
Now, here is an essential factor to be noted in measuring the progress of Christianity in India. The higher moral standard that has been adopted by many Hindus, their greater regard for the truth, the increast spirit of manliness and self-respect, their kindlier treatment of women-are not necessarily the result of mission work, but are largely due to the influence, unconscious tho it may be, of the Englishman in India, in whom these characteristics are peculiarly exhibited.
But, important and valuable as these manly virtues are, they do not, by any means, constitute all of our religion, which, along with righteousness, justice, and truth, inculcates love, mercy, and self-sacrifice; and it is of these virtues that the missionary is the chief exponent. As Christ came to help the poor, the unfortunate, and the opprest, SQ the missionary, moved by the example of his Master, comes .. An address delivered at the Kodaikanal Missionary Conference, May 21st,1896. CoudellSt trolll the revort in Tile Cllrutian Pa~rwt (India). . to bring comfort, joy, and hope to the weak and the distrest. No one who contemplates the social syetem of the Hindus, with its awful effects on the people, will deny that there is a crying need for snch philanthropy in India. A system that brands one-fifth of the popula- tion as social outcasts, with all the degradation that the term implies; that condemns thousands of innocent widows to a life of desolation and despair; that practically forbids education to women; that marries children in infancy-surely, the man must be either biast or blind who contends that the Christian missionary has no place in India. Hard, indeed, must be the heart that can see these millions of helpless victims suffer without coming to their relief.
The first result of mission work in India that I shall mention is the amelioration of the condition of these unfortunate classes. Who can witness the splendid educational work done by the missionary, especially for Hindu and Mohammedan women, the large number of orphanages and schools establisht for the poor, the increasing number of women taught in their homes, the medical, industrial, and other work done among the deprest classes, without acknowledging that a new social system is being introduced among the Hindus which is gradually emancipating them from the cruel customs that have so long bound them? One could preseut a long array of statistics to prove this, but instead of dry facts, I wish to give two testimonies from native sources. The first is from the Commissioner of the Census of 1891 for the State of Travancore, Mr. Nagam lyeI', a Brahman gentleman, who, in his report, says: .
"By the unceasing efforts and self-denying labors of the learned body of the Christian missionaries in the country, the large community of native Christians are rapidly advancing in their moral, intellectual, and material condition. They have nearly doubled the number of their literates since 1875. But for them, these humble orders of society will for ever remain unraised. Their material condition, I dare say, will have improved from the increast wages, improved labor market and better laws, but to the Christian miSSIOnary belongs the credit of having gone to their humble dwellings and awakened them to the sense of a better earthly existence. This action of the missionaries was not a mere improvement upon ancient history, a kind of refining and polishing of an existing model, but an entirely origiu!!l idea, conceived and carried out with commendable zeal, and ofttimes in the teeth of opposition and persecution. The heroism of raising the low from the slough of degradation and debasement is an element of civilization unknown to ancient India. The Brahman community of Southern India is not doing to the lower cla!'lles what the casteless Britisher is doing for them. The credit of this philanthropy, of going to the homes of the low, the distrest, and the dirty-putting the shoulder to the wheel of depraved humanity, belongs to the Englishman. I do not think the Brahmans, or even the high-caste non-Brahmans can claim the credit. It is a glory reserved to this century of human pro- gress-the epoch of the happy commingling of the civilization of the West with that of the East." This is from a Brllhman, in a State paper, not submitted, please note, to the English Government, but to a native prince.
The other testimony is with regard to educational work for women, from the correspondent of Hindu, Madura. He says:- "It is now becoming the fashion among our educated people to cry down the work of Christian missionaries, and even to vilify them. But an ounce of solid work is worth a pound of windy oratory. Judged by this principle the Christian missionary must be esteemed to be one of the greatest benefactors of our country. While the educated Indian has not yet got beyond the talking stage in the matter of female education, the Christian missionary has honey-combed the country with girls' schools. He has also recently begun to establish institutions to train women teachers to man-'woman,' should we not say?-these girls' schools. In Madura, for instance, there are half a dozen mission girls' schools, with a training school for school mistresses. But what has the Hindu community to show in return? There is not even a single Hindu girls' school in the whole towu I Would you believe it? Some years ago there was a Hindu girls' school here. But the managers of the institution went up to Government with an abject confession of their inability to keep the school going, and an humiliating prayer to take it under their own management. And what was once the Hindu girls' school is now known as the Government girls' school. What a commentary, this, on our vociferous demands for greater political privileges! "
But, humanitarian and philanthropic efforts are not the chief work of the missionary. We believe that the evils under which India is groaning have their root in wrong belief, and that, if any thorough reform is to be effected, the religious thought of the people must be changed. For not only are Hinduism and Christianity separated as widely as the poles, but Hinduism contradicts the very fundamental laws of natural religion, such as the personality of God, the existence of God separate from his creatures, the freedom of the human will, the trustworthiness of consciousness as to our own personality and the reality of the external world. And the result of such false think- ing is seen in the sad moral and religious condition of the people.
The licentious character of the Hindu gods; the gross idolatry and superstition of the masses; the perverted moral sense of the average Hindu; these are simply the natural outcome of the 'pantheistic thought that lies at the basis of the Hindu religion. God forbid that we should abuse the Hindus, whom we love as our own brothers.
Many of them are better than their religion. Their love for their homes and their friends; their patience and meekness under trial; their courtesy and respect to superiors and strangers; their high intellectual endowments ;-these are in them qualities to be admired; but their religion is their destruction, and until this is changed, there is no hope for the Hindu. Hence we missionaries are here to propa- gate a higher and holier religion, which, as it has done so much for our own land, can do the same for India. And what has been the result of the Rteady preaching of the truth? (Why, a moral and religious revolution is taking place in the thought of the people; the Hindus are awakening from the sleep of ages; caste is relaxing; superstitious customs that have been more powerful than law are disappearing. Ohristian ideas on all subjects are spreading, the native mind is being formed on a new model. Compare the Hinduism that was preacht at the Parliament of Religions and that is being confidently paraded in India to-day, with the Hinduism of one hundred years ago, and note the difference between the two. The fact is, that most of the educated Hindus to-day are not pantheists but theists, believing both in a personal God and in the moral responsibility of the soul to God. This change, "from the mazes of pantheism and polytheism to the love and worship of God as a personal Being, and from the crushing out of the moral instinct to the recognition of it as a sacred faculty to be developt," is an immense step, but it has been taken by many a Hindu. To a superficial observer this may mean little, but to those, who look for Christianity to change the religious thought of the people, it means much. Why, it makes all the difference in the world whether I believe in God as a being with no attributes, and my soul as absolutely helpless in the power of the deeds of a former life; or whether I believe in a personal living Being, with whom my soul can have communion, and to whom I am responsible for all my acts, for this belief must sooner or later tell on my life. No phrases are more in the mouths of Hindus to-day than the "Fatherhood of God" and the "Brotherhood of Man," but where did these conceptions come from but Christianity?
Indeed, the efforts of the Hindu revivalists are more an attempt to read Christ into their sacred books than to gi,e an exposition of the teaching of those books themselves. Even the doctrine of Karma, which the Hindu finds it the hardest to give up, is very different as taught to-day from the fatalistic doctrine of the Puranas.
Aud then see how Christ is extollea. It is true, his Divinity may not be acknowleged, but there has been a wonderful change in the sentiment of the Hindus regarding Him. Listen to two statements from Hindus, the first from a distinguisht professor in Bengal. He says: " Since the time of Chundersen, the feeling towards Christ has entirely changed in Bengal. Formerly people would curse His name, but now tlwre was scarcely a high-class family in Bengal that had not a picture of Christ in their homes. Hindus could not but receive Christ and His Spirit, and that spirit is changing Hinduism. Christian ideas and sentiments pervading the thought of the country."
The other is from an orthodox Hindu paper, and would not have been allowed a few years ago in an organ conducted by Hindus:- " As a Hindu and a Brahman who is deeply imprest with the extraordinary spiritual progress made by the ancient Hindus, I would pay my humble tribute to the helpful, simple, and deeply touching nature of the teaching of the loving and ever lovable Jesus, beautifully illustrated in His crucified life. His short existence on the earth looks like the most condenst epitome of universal love, purity and sacri- fice. To an unbigotted and pious Hindu, the picture of Jesus on the Cross, His drooping head, His parcht lips, His gaping wounds, His uplifted eyes, His serene expression of complete resignation, forgive- ness and love, presents thesublimest and most thrilling object lesson ever o1fered to sinful and su1fering humanity."
But I must pass on to notice the result of mission work in the mat- ter of actual conversions. Fortunately we have a Government Oensus Report, and need not accept the testimony of missionaries on this point. Although the progress of Christianity can not be measured by numbers, yet we have no cause to shrink from comparison of actual results in India with that of any other age. What does the census of If)91 reveal? I give the figures for South India only. The census shows that 865,528 persons were returned as Ohristians, against 699,680 in 1881. (Of these, 565,159 are entered as Roman Oatholics, 300,369 as Protestants.) While the total popUlation increast by 15.28 per cent., the Ohristian popUlation increast by 23.70 per cent. If we take the Protestant community alone, the increase was 34.86 per cent. There was an actual addition of 165,840 Christians during the decade, and if the rate of increase had been the same as that of the total population, we would have had only 109,010. There was, therefore, an increase of 56,838 over and above the normal increase of popUlation. Whence this 56,838? There can be only one reply, viz.: that it is due to con- / versions, and I may remark that it under-states rather than over-states the truth. The past decade was singularly free from any great fam- ines, so that we are not justified in inferring that the larger addition to the Ohristian population consists of famine or rice Ohristians. We may safely take it for granted, therefore, that the Ohristian community is having an addition of 50,000 souls by conversions each ten years. We believe the present decade will show a larger· number. There are more Ohristians to-day in South India alone, than there were in the v Roman Empire at the end of the first century. Two hundred and seventy years after the death of Christ, heathenism was so strong in the Roman Empire as to carryon a bitter persecution under the Em- peror Diocletian. If it took 300 years for the Ohristianity of the early Church to overcome the waning paganism of Europe, are we to be dis- couraged because, in a much less time, a greater paganism than Greece and Rome ever saw, has not been entirely overthrown?
And now I know what will be said to ell this, viz., that most of these converts are from the lowest strata of Hindu society, and their adop- tion of Ohristianity does not count for much. This would be true did they continue the same after conversion as before, but the manner in which low-caste communities in India are being raised by the power of the Gospel is one of the marvels of the times. Glance for a. moment at a few figures from the census. Of the whole popUlation of Hindus, 1 in 57 only are under instruction; of Mohammedans, 1 in 26; but of native Christians, 1 in 15. This applies to all Christians, Catholics as well as Protestants. Did we take the figures for Protestants only, the result would be even more favorable, but we prefer not to separate the two. Out of a total of 2,169 graduates on the rolls of the university, 180 are native Christians. This gives a proportion of 1 to 12, while the proportion of Christians to the whole population is 1 to 40. Out of 49 Masters of Arts, 7 are native Christians. Of 351 Bachelors of Laws, 14 are native Christians,l in 25, and of 79 who have taken the medical degree, 10 are native Christians, 1 in 8. Remarking on the progress of the community in higher education, the late Director of Public Instruction, the lamented Mr. Grigg, said:- "The rapid advance of the native Christians in higher education e., is evidenced by the fact that in four years the proportion under instruction in colleges has risen from 1 in 351 to 1 in 215, i. by 61 per cent."
In his report to Government in 1890, the same officer said: " I have frequently drawn attention to the educational progress of the native Christian community. There can be no question, if this community pursues with steadiness the present policy of its teachers, that, with the immense advan'tages it possesses in the way of educational institutions, in the course of a generation it will have secured a preponderating position in all the great professions, and possibly, too, in the industrial enterprise of the country; in the latter, because no section of the community has entered on the new departure in education with greater earnestness than the native Christians."
The community of native Christians, then, in the matter of educa- tion, is surpast by only one class-the Brahmans-who, as the here- ditary literary class, will naturally retain the lead for some time yet.
But, if we take the subject of female education only, here we find the Christians not only far ahead of the Brahmans, but of every other class, and, if it be true, as is so often stated, that no nation has risen higher than the position it has accorded its women, then the native Christian community has a bright future before it. It will be interesting to hear what the Hind~t, the leading native organ of the Madras Presidency, has to say on this very point. Some time ago the editor said: "The community of n!l,tive Christians has not only secured a conspicuous place in the field of higher education, but in the education of their women, and in availing themselves of the existing means for practical education, they are far ahead of the Brahmans. The native Christians are a very poor community, and it does great credit to them that they so largely take to industrial education. The p,rogress of education among the girls of the native Christian commumty, and the absence of caste restrictions among them, will eventually give them an advantage which no amount of intellectual precocity can compensate the Brahmans for. We recently approved of the statement of a Bombay writer that the social eminence that the Parsees so eminently enjoy at the present moment was due to these two causes, viz.: their women are well educated, and they are bound by no restrictions of caste. These two advantages slowly make themselves felt among our native Ohristian brethren, and it is possible they will soon be the Parsees of Southern India, and that they will furnish the most distinguisht public servants, barristers, merchants, and citizens among the various classes of the native community."
It is worth something in showing the growing iufluence of the com- munity that there is now an Indian Ohristian Association, organized in London and Edinburgh, with vigorous branches in British Guiana and the Island of Trinidad.
But, after all, the great hope of the native Ohristian community is in its spiritual progress. The Ohurch of the Living God has been establisht among its people, and His Spirit is moving in their hearts.
Who can witness the growing membership of this Ohurch, with a native ministry, now numbering 900 in Southern India alone, its advance in Ohristian unity and spiritual power, without feeling that here lie the best and most fruitful results of missionary effort? And as the same Spirit, who has been with the Ohurch down the ages, has promist to be with us in the future, we go on our way full of joy and strength, not doubting that in His own time India shall be given to Ohrist.
FEMALE MISSIONS IN INDIA.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
In the closing decade of last century we find native Hinduism in its normal condition; society was hardly toucht by the influence of Western civilization, British rule, or missionary proselytism. Female infanticide was very common. Here and there were schools for boys, and for them education was highly valued, but nowhere in native society was there a school for girls. Ohild marriage was customary. Perpetual widowhood was enforced, and all widows were regarded as accurst by destiny, a dishonor to their family, and therefore liable to be treated with lifelong insult and repression.*' In some parts, especially in Bengal, the immolation of widows was encouraged as honorable and meritorious, conferring on the widow great honor in this life, and in a future state bliss for thousands of years. t Women everywhere were * Of the 140,500,000 femaJes of India, 22,600,000 were widows, according to the Government Census Report of 1890. Of these widows, 13,878 were under four years of age. The girls between the ages of ten and fourteen were upward of 12,000,000, and of these more than 6,000,000 were married, and 174,500 were widows.
t Suttee seems to have been common in some parts of India from remote times, but It was not until the early part of this century that reliable Information of its extent was collected. It seems to have been more practised in the great districts around Calcutta than anywhere else. In 1815 there were 253 sutteei, in 1816 there were 289, in 1817, 442, i~ 1818, 544, giving an average of more than one a day for these four years. held to be inferior and subordinate to men, intellectually and morally. They were considered to be too weak to be left to themselves. " A woman," declares the great law-giver Menu, "is never fit for indepen- dence." Freedom of action and thought were never willingly accorded to them. To walk abroad or to be seen and converse with men, even in her own house, was considered neither respectable or decorous; and education, even in reading and writing, was considered not only unnecessary, but dangerous, liable to make them vain, and increasing their power for intrigue and acquaintance with bad books.
Such was the status of women all over India when missionaries entered upon their arduous enterprise. The difficulties were enhanced by reason of the fact that the most naturally devout and interesting part of the population was placed beyond their reach. When the missionaries preacht, the men resented the presence of women. If a school was establisht, it was a wonder if half-a-dozen girls, always young and of inferior rank, could be induced to attend; if they prepared books, probably not one woman in 20,000 could read them. Those who could read were mostly courtezans, for public sentiment held that education was only suitable for such.
To overthrow Hinduism, and to change the social customs relating to women, has been the uniform aim of all missionary endeavors. Some forms of effort, now most popular and effective, were not then practicable. Native suspicion of women, and distrust of European motivee, the inveteracy of custom, and the assumed inviolability of Zenana life, were an effectual barrier against all forms of zenana work. There were not even missionary ladies specially sent out, for there were no spheres for their activity. But the missionaries were active in the spheres open to them; they were doing pioneer work, protesting against the evils they could not eradicate,' and ever prepared to ad vance. All that then could be done the missionories' wives and daughters did. They stand first, if not highest, as the benefactors of Indian women, and the pioneers of their emancipation. They sowed in tears the seed, the fruitage of which their sisters now reap the joy.
The first missionaries in South India and in Bengal saw at once the importance of education as a missionary agency, and so they establisht schools. These at first were very elementary and differed from purely native schools, especially in being open to girls and in teaching Christian truth. These early schools labored under great disadvantages. They were attended only by children of the lowest castes, very few girls came, and these attended very irregularly, and left altogether at a very early age.
Subsequently schools for girls only were formed, but it is difficult for persons familiar only with western sentiments and usages, to understand the difficulties confronting the workers, even beyond the middle of this century. The prejudice against female education was intense, tho strongest in the higher castes, who ruled opinion. Schools for boys were everywhere welcomed. Even if they were only vernacular and elementary. Provided they were efficient, an attendance of 50 or 100 scholars was easily obtained, even tho they were on an avowedly Christian basis. On the other hand it was difficult anywhere to establish and maintain a girls' school. To secure an attendance of 25 girls was a great thing; these were usually of low caste, and a woman had to be paid to bring them to school and to take them home; the scholars were usually paid small sums; the merest trifles prevented their attendance, or caused it to cease altogether; and at the age of ten or eleven the child was supposed to be too big to go to school, or was taken away to be married; possibly it was feared that a life of infamy might begin, for which education was supposed to be a preparation.
The crude and imperfect nature of these early schools could lead only to inadequate results, and to bring girls more entirely under Christian and educational influences, boarding schools were establisht for orphans and the children of native Christian parents, as resident, or day scholars.* These schools or asylums offered a wide field for exercise of benevolence, and opportunities for the Christian training of children rescued from heathen surroundings. Christian girls attended as day scholars, or if their parents lived at a distance, as boarders. Formerly in South India, Orissa, and the North West Provinces, large schools were chiefly filled with children of the former class, but gradually, as the number of Christians has greatly increast, the supply of scholars is far more from the latter class. The influence of such schools has not been as great as was anticipated. They have, indeed. aided in making native Christian women the best educated of all the women of India, excepting those of the very small Parsee community; but on the other hand, it is a slow and expensive way of propagating the Gospel; it is apt to encourage native Christians in the idea that everything is to be done for them, and in not a few instances the style of education and of living was too high for the classes to which the children generally belonged, and failed therefore to fit them for future life. Independence of character, energy of will, high moral principle, and capacity for usefulness, have not generally been markt features in the men and women thus brought up.
In the course of time the schools grew in number and influence, and, before the middle of the century, great interest in all the vital questions affecting the position of women began to be freely discust. In the literary and debating societies, in pamphlets, essays, and newspapers, these were questions most considered, and tho the practical … The terrible famines which swept over va.rious parts of India. during the latter half of Ja.st century and the first of this, gave ample opportunity for gathering orphan children under the care of the missionaries with government aid. results were disappointing, they prepared native society to allow if not to welcome practical effort.* The first school for upper-class girls was founded by the zeal and liberality of the Hon. Drinkwater Bethune, in 1849. His high position in the government of India, and his popularity with natives of rank, enabled him to overcome many difficulties, but even he, at much expense, and with every desire to consult native prejudice relating to caste, privacy, and the exclusion of all Christian teaching, could never obtain a large school, or make it really efficient. Nevertheless it gave instruction to about 80 young ladies belonging to some of the most influential families in Calcutta, and prepared the way for analogous movements elsewhere. The best known of these, and the most avowedly Christian, was the High Caste School for girls, establisht in Calcutta by Dr. Duff, about 1857.
The question of family, or zenana, instr1~ction had engaged the attention of a small number of advanced natives and Europeans, but the first definite presentation of the question was made by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Smith, now of Edinburgh, in the Calcutta Missionary Observer for March, 1840. He suggested a practicable and reasonable method of procedure, and sustained it by so many facts and arguments, that a powerful impression was made on all interested in the question. Nevertheless, no well concerted, united action followed for some years. Here and there a native gentleman privately, almost secretly, had his wife instructed, but the great mass of the people were timid, indifferent, or hostile. Missionaries, however zealous, were powerless to act. For them to enter zenanas was out of the question. Nor could their wives without the permission of the elders of the family, who, always being the most ignorant and prejudiced, dreaded Christianity, disliked innovation, and thought female education both unnecessary and dangerous. It was in 1855 that the idea of zenana visitation took practical and permanent form. Rev. John Fordyce adopted the idea of Dr. Smith, and with his aid and that of others, obtained the necessary funds, the services of two or three lady visitors, and access to the families of a small number of native gentlemen. The idea, when once realized, seemed so reasonable that it was soon after adopted by others, firstly, Mrs. Mullens, of the L. M. S., and Mrs. Sale of the B. M. S.; then on a larger and more systematic scale by Miss Briton, from America.
But custom, prejudice, and distrust are so inveterate, that only slowly and cautiously were zenanas opened. But during the past quarter of a century there has been a greater advance' in this direction than in any other, great and varied as moral, social, and religious • Mrs. Wilson, who did more to further education in Bengal than any other person, stated in 1840 that she knew of only about 500 girls under instruction. The popUlation of the Pro-' vince at that time was more than 40,000,000. progress has been in the chief centers of Indian life. For instance, the Protestant Missionary Statistical Tables for all India, first prepared in 1851, make no mention of Zenana visiting. If there was any, it was too restricted to be tabulated. It appears for the first time in the Tables for 1871, when 1,300 houses are stated to be visited, in which were 1,997 pupils, whilst in 1890 the houses had risen to 40,513. This, among a people intensely conservative, and especially distrustful of all change in family life, is clear evidence of the new spirit that has begun to live and move in India.
Zenana visitation has broadened out in many ways. Formerly there was no class of zenana visitors. The missionary's wife, who desired to enter a zenana, was a suppliant, usually an unsuccessful one, or was only allowed to enter under conditions that were often humiliating. Payment for instruction was seldom given. Whatever material was required had to be supplied by the visitor. Ohristian instruction was objected to or reluctantly allowed, and not a few women refused to learn to read, influenced by the widespread superstition that the husband of a wife so taught was likely to die. Now these conditions are reverst. Zenana ladies are in great request. Men wish their families to be instructed. Women are eager to learn. Ohristianity is taught; fees are often paid. And since usually in respectable families there are several ladies, tho monogamy is the rule, there is more than one to be taught, and often many to listen, There has also been a wide extension of work among women outside this most interesting and important field. This will be seen from the following tables, which include all Protestant missionary spheres: 1871 1881 1896 Foreign and European Female Teachers_ _____ 390 479 711 Native Teachers ___ " ___ – ____________ ____ ____ 837 1924 3661 Day Schools___ _____ ____ ____ __ ______ ___ _ ___ 664 1120 1507 Scholars ____________________________________ 24,078 40,897 62,414 It is to the honor of Protestant missionaries that from the beginning they have been the ardent advocates of female education, and their influence in recent years has begun slowly to awaken others to efforts in the same direction. The desire of the government to spread education has not been confined to one sect, tho native prejudice and custom for a long time practically limited it to one; but in 1850 it issued a statement of great importance, requesting the Oouncil of Edncation "henceforward to consider its functions as comprising the superintendence of native female education, and that wherever any disposition was shown by the natives to establish female schools, it was its duty to give them every possible encouragement." This not only gave a great impetus to purely native effort, but was the beginning of much official practical effort; and gradually it has come to have girl's schools of its own under official supervision; to subsidize schools under missionary and purely native control, and to open the highest university degrees to native female students. Its influence has also stirred into activity some who have been slow to move, and, indeed, never moved before in this direction. Not a few native gentlemen now not only have the ladies of their families educated, but are zealous in encour- aging female education in many directions, and among those may be numbered some of the great feudatories of the Empire.
Allusion must here be made to medical uork among women. The conditions under which they live, are reported to be the cause of more delicacy of constitution, ill health, and a higher death-rate than prevails among any Western people. This has given rise to the training of nurses, midwives, and doctors, and to the employment of lady medical missionaries. Their skill is greatly needed and much appreciated. Those who itinerate, are visited by great numbers of the afflicted, and gain an entrance into many zenanas shut against all other foreigners. The great lack of medical skill in native society, led the Oountess of Dufl'erin to inaugurate in 1886 the important fund, which bears her name, "For supplying female medical aid to the women of India." It was greatly needed, has been productive of .great good, and has in its constitution and aims the elements of permanent and widespread usefulness. Intrinsically her design was worthy of all the aid it obtained at once from natives of the highest rank and greatest wealth, which candor compels us to add it would not have obtained, had not the patroness been the wife of the Governor-General.
A development of work of much importance has recently taken place, which is evangelistic rather than educational. India is an empire of villages, not of towns. In the last census returns, 717,549 places are included, but only 2,035 of these are clast as towns, and only 227 of these have a popUlation of 20,000 and upwards. In England, 53 per cent. of the whole population live in towns, but in India, only 4.34 per cent. The missionaries reside generally in the large towns, and tho some of them take preaching journeys thru extensive districts, they come little into contact with the women of the country. Those having any claim to respectability are debarred from hearing a missionary whose services are usually held in the open air. Others are kept at a distance by diffidence or fear, for if any venture near the outside of a crowd, or listen half concealed behind a house, they may be told that being only women, their presence is not welcome. Until recently women have had but the rarest opportunities to become acquainted with Christian truth, and probably not one in ten of all outside the Ohristian fold, have ever had the Gospel adequately put before them. To reach these women, rural missions have been formed both in the north and south, and have met with encouragement and success. The usual plan is for two or more ladies, assisted by native Christian helpers, to reside where the rural population is dense and accessible. Schools are establisht, medical aid is freely given to all comers; intercourse with native women is encouraged, and an object lesson illustrative of Christian life is daily seen. Visits are paid to all the villages around, where in the open space or the native house, by singing hymns, reading, addresses, and conversation, the grand purposes of Christianity are made known.
No work is more Christlike. It requires good health, zeal, courage, tact, patience, love. But with these, it is far more promising than at first might be supposed. Hindus are seldom lacking in courtesy, and to ladies of Western race they are invariably respectful. Usually they accept as a distinction the visits of such to the ladies of their families. To the latter such visits are welcome for diverse reasons. They gratify their curiosity; relieve the monotony of their terribly dull uninteresting lives; gives them some idea of the wonderful, mysterious people of whom they hear so much and know so little. They hear expressions of love, sympathy, and respect, and it may be, gain relief from pain, and hope in sickness. They hear of a God of love and a Savior from sin, and a glorious life after death; and from innate disposition and unfavorable surroundings, probably no women in the world are so prepared to welcome the 'glad tidings of great joy as they.
Thus woman's work for woman has grown. On account of European influence and example, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras have been foremost alike in receiving Western ideas as to the position of woman, and in their willingness to give them practical effect. But there is no important mission station in India that is not an active center for work in behalf of women, as far as circumstances will allow.
But varied and interesting as is the work being done, and remarkable as its extension has been in recent years, it is important to bear in mind that but the mere fringe of this vast sphere has yet been toucht. The popUlation of India, coming under the government census returns for 1891, gives the following result: Total. Males. Females. Learning___________________ 3,191,220 2,997,558 197,662 Literate ____________________ 12,097,530 11,554,035 543,495 IlIiterate ___________________ 246,546,176 118,819,408 127,726,768 TotaL ___ . ____________ 261,838,926 133,371,001 128,467,925 Thus of the whole population dealt with, only 58 persons in every thousand can read and write, or are learning to do so; and of these 58, 53 are males and 5 females; whilst of the latter sex, only 1 in 173 is able to read, or learning to do so. Of the 197,662 females under instruction, 104,157, or more than half, are taught by the missionary societies.
MEDICAL SCHOOL FOR CHRISTIAN WOMEN IN INDIA
MEDICAL SCHOOL FOR CHRISTIA.N WOMEN IN INDIA.
BY M. ROSE GREENFIELD, LUDHIANA, PUNJAB, INDIA.
The institution of which we write seems to be an instance of God's gracious forethought and provision. Its sphere is North India, embracing a vast territory, including the Punjab, North West Provinces, Bengal, Sind, Rajputana, and many native States. Without any concerted plan on the part of the various missionary societies working in North India, there has been during the last ten or fifteen years a marvellous and rapid development of Zenana Medical Missions, resulting in the opening of a large number of hospitals and dispensaries.
The admission of women to university degrees, the growth of medical schools for women in America, Great Britain, and Europe, together with the remarkable stirring up of students to volunteer for Christ's cause, both in America and Great Britain, have resulted in the sending forth of many fully trained and fully consecrated women to work for the Master among the suffering women of India, China, and Japan. These have found in many places a beginning already made by those, less favored, indeed, in the matter of medical education, but stirred by the terrible suffering around them, to do their best to meet the need, and only too glad to welcome more skilful hands to take up the ministry of healing.
Among other medical stations, we have under the auspices of the C. E. Z. M. Guetta and-Peshawur, on the northern frontier, both occupied by graduates from the London School of Medicine; Batala, Ajnalii, and Deia Ismail Khiin, for all of which the Society is asking for fully qualified women; Narowal, Taran Taran, Sutkin, Hyderabad, and several other places with dispensaries. to some of which small hospitals are attacht. The S. P. F. E. has a doctor in Multan, besides the work in connection with its Zenana mission in Ludhiana. The 1. F. N. S., with its fine hospitals in Benares and Lucknow, and the B. G. M., with its work in Bluivani under Dr. Farrar, and dispensaries in Delhi and Palwal; the S. P. G. with work in DeIhl and Kamal; the American Presbyterian Board, with new hospitals in Allahabad and Ferozepur (the latter built and presented to the Board by Mrs. F. T. Newton) and preparations for building immediately at Amb8.la and Taxrawan ; the Ladies' Board of the Church of Scotland (tho they have but recently broken ground in the Panjab), already with two doctors in the neld ; the American Presbyterians just opening the Good Samaritan Hospital, at Ghelmor, under Dr. Johnson, in addition to the one at Sialkot, under Dr. Platter; the Scotch U. P. Mission to the fore with a doctor at Ajinere. and another lent for a year to help forward the North India Medical School-all these societies, and others that mi~ht be mentioned, pressing forward on similar lines to reach the women of India WIth timely aid in their hour of need, and so bring home to them in a practical way the sympathy of the loving Savior.
When lL is remembered that everyone of these new dispensaries and hospitals needs a staff of from two to a dozen helpers of all grades, nurses, compounders, house-surgeons, etc., it needs no great degree of sagacity or extraordinary forethought to perceive that an institution where such helpers might be trained after a godly manner was an almost imperative necessity; a necessity felt first and most strongly by those on whom fell heavily the responsibilIty of the entire charge of the patients who thronged them.
When, in December, 1893, the first meeting was called by Dr. Edith Brown, of the B. Z. M., to consider the scheme, the members of the Initiatory Committee included, as far as possible, the lady doctors of all the societies working in the Punjab and Northwest Provinces, seven societies being represented; and the committee then appointed to carry the plan into execution comprised members of no less than six differ- ent societies, with power to add to their number. The controlling body, therefore, is essentially catholic and unsectarian, and composed of those who know just the kind of help they need. The constitution provides that any society contributing £50 a year to the general fund of the school shall have a right to a representative on the committee, and becomes, as a matter of fact, a partner in the concern, sharing in the control. Two societies, the Baptist Zenana Mission and the Scotch U. P. Mission, have contributed and have representatives on the committee, and all societies who have any considerable amount of medical work in hand should secure similar representation. The scope of the school is another peculiar feature. The classes are so graded as to cover as far as possible all the varied kinds of helps needed in mission hospitals and dispensaries. The trained mid- wife, the surgical nurse, the compounder, hospital assistant, and we trust, ere long, the assistant surgeon, will all be provided for in the curriculum; and go out at the end of a course of instruction of from two to five years, ready to take up their respective posts. Let it be remembered that thIS is preeminently a missionary insti- tution-that theji1'st aim of its founders is to train those who desire to do Ohristian work, and that the teaching of the word of God occu- pies a place in the front rank of all that is taught within its walls.
This is also a Ohristian Institution, where the children of Ohristian parents, or converts from heathenism, may prepare themselves for – future service unexposed to the contaminating influences of heathen professors, or the corrupting society of heathen fellow-students; free, too, from the subtle skepticism, too often fostered by the religious neu- trality of government institutions, casting a slur on the most precious and vital truths of the Gospel. It is an aggressive Ohristianity that is here represented, and which it is our aim to foster in all the students, so that they may become in truth healers in Ohrist's name of both body and soul. .
Progress has been made during the first eighteen months of the school's existence, which warrants high hopes for the future. The rapidly increasing number of students makes the committee urgently appeal for another permanent member of the staff, besides asking some societies to lend their doctors, for the first year of their residence in the country, so that while learning the language themselves they may give some of the English lectures.
Out of the nineteen or twenty students, five are of European parentage, and six or seven are the daughters of men occupying responsible positions in civil or mission employ. Out of these four are supported by their own parents or friends, and six are on scholarships given either by missions who pledge the holders to serve in the missions after their training, or by the school pledging them to work in some Protestant mission when their training is complete. Four who are in training as nurses are earning their own living by working in the hospital while getting their lectures in the school.
Progress for the future is hoped for on the follwing lines: 1. A large staff of permanent teachers, so that the instruction given both in English and Hindi may be very thorough, that our students may be able to hold their own in competition with those of any existing school.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF INDIA
2. Increased hospital accommodation. A.lready there are about 70 beds available in the mission and civil hospitals, but the University of Lahore, required that that number should be increast to 100 before the school can be affiliated to the university. and its students admitted to the government examinations. There is plenty of room to build at once another wing to the present school building. to be occupied temporarily as a hospital and eventually ~o be used as additional students' quarters.
S. Higher standards of preliminary education. The standard of the education of Ohristian girls is being rapidly raised Many take the entrance examination of the Lahore or Calcutta Universities, and some have gone on to the F. A..- This last mentioned degree will hereafter be insisted upon for those taking the five years course for assistant surgeon; and the broader the basis of general education that can be secured the firmer, we are assured, will be the super·structure of that special scientific training that the medical school proposes to give.
Above all, both for teachers and taught, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that one and all may iucrease with the increase of God, and that this institution may be fruitful to His praise.* FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF INDIA.
BY REV. H. GRAlTON ~UINESS.
1. The nearness of Indir;. From Lond?n to. Bombay, by Brindisi, seems a marvelously short Journey, occupymg lIttle more than a fortnight, broken up into four sections. London to Brindisi, Brindisi to the Suez Oanal, thence to Aden, and thence to Bombay. There is something fresh to be seen every day as far as Aden, and on reaching Bombay you wonder that you have arrived so easily and speedily.
2. Its strangeness. In Asia you seem to enter a new world. The tropical strength of the sun, the dark skins and foreign dress of the people, their languages, shops, trades, houses, and ways, all impress you as utterly different from anything in Europe or America.
3. Its vastness. India is 1900 miles in length, and also in its greatest breadth. It is itself a continent. England, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, put together, would scarce make so large a country.
4. Its populousness. There is an overwhelming impression of almost countless multitudes, with needs and destinies as important as our own. One is stirred to compassion, for they are still as sheep without a shepherd. India contains one-fifth of humanity, and the bulk are still utterly unevangelized.
5. Similarity of race. Unlike many others, the people of India belong to the same race as those of England, America, and Europe. Their languages and featnres prove them to belong to the Aryan race. This fact gives a feeling of kinship with the people.
6. Intelligence. 'rhis is true of the people generally, and the Brahmans, who form, the upper class, and the Parsees, are particularly so. No audiences of stndfmts in England and America seem to me brighter or quicker in apprehension than the Hindus I have spoken to here.
7. Gentleness. Hindus exhibit an amount of suavity, docility, and submissiveness never seen in the natives of England and America, with a remarkable absence of strong, self-reliant assertiveness. Their gentleness attracts and awakens sympathy, for it is largely due to pro- longed oppression.
* An American Auxilliary Committee Is much need~d to help in this very useful branch of the Master's work. There are already committees in London and Edinburgh. U anydeelreto ,communicate with Dr. Greenfield we shall be pleased to hear from them. 8. Affection jo'l' children. This is certainly manifest in fathers, and especially mothers, and parental affection is returned. Deep and touching exhibitions of filial love are met with.
9. Oppression of women. They are treated as. beasts of burden. They pass by thousands carrying fuel, fruits. manure, and loads of grass, or other vegetable produce, on their heads. They are mostly short, thin, worn looking, lightly clothed, with bare arms and legs, brown as a berry, walking with short, quick steps, and upright car- riage. In the home the wife is a servant, and little better often than a slave. The treatment of widows is infamous. Woman is crusht here, and knows not how to raise herself out 0f ignorance, oppression, and degradation.
10• .Absence of home l~fe. For the bulk of people the houses and shops are all open to the street. The rooms are rude in construction, often of unpainted boards, without ornament, with scarce any furni- ture, mere eating and sleeping places. The people sit in the streets. Privacy can hardly be said to exist, except in the dwellings of the rich. The effect of this on family life must be tremendous. The inmates swarm like bees in a hive, or ants in an ant-hill. Virtue and morality are thus loosened at their foundations, and independence and self-respect must suffer in proportion.
11. Defective drainage. The sanitation of the towns seems deplorable. The plague, at present desolating Bombay, has its cause in this. It is no easy thing to get three hundred millions of people. who have lived without proper drains, to mend their ways. The country is hot and dry, or the results would be much worse. Still, under Enghsh rule, a better state of things is being brought about.
12. Signs of progress. Magnificent buildings. good shops, railways, post-offices, telegraph-stations, hospitals, libraries, schools, col- leges, abound as evidences of immense progress. English rule in India is rapidly transforming social habits and civilization. The people breathe a free air, live under just laws, are protected from civil wars and cruel massacres, education is spreading, and a new nation is being born. 13. Presence of idolatry. This vast people is wholly given to idol- atry. Temples, small, dark, dirty, ugly, and repulsive stand open everywhere. Vile images of men, monkeys, bulls, and elephants are adored. The mind and conscience of the people are in abject slavery to the vilest superstitions. The darkness of India can be felt. It is a world of moral night. Religion has become animalism. The immoral priest washes his senseless idol, and worships it before your face. The Brahman stands there to argue in his defense. The fakir sits naked in the sun, smeared with ashes, with wild, uncombed locks, like a beast from the woods, and deems himself the most religious of mankind. India worships three hundred millions of divinities. To her,God is everything, and everything is God, and, therefore, everything may be adored.
Snakes and monsters are her special divinities. Her pan-deism is a r pandemonium. The things she sacrifices to idols she sacrifices to devils. 0 for light! light Millions grope at noon, and stumble into perdition without a warning voice. They know not the true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. And we in England and America are content to preach and press the Gospel, time after time, with measureless labor and expense on our home thousands, and leave these mil- lions untaught, unwarned, unshepherded! How is this? Our mis- sionary societies send them a few missionaries, but what are our
TBE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN MADAGASCAR
churches doing? What right have the churches to delegate this tremendous work: of raising up the entire heathen world to a few overburdened societies? Let every church arise and do its share directly for the salvation of mankind, and the problem of the world's evangeli- zation will soon be solved. Let every pastor, every elder, every deacon, every church member, every Sunday-school teacher, every individual Ohristian be taught to feel this 1(Jol'k is mine. I am personally responsible to give the Gospel to some part of this unevangelized world. I have my share to attend to in this sacred business. No other can do my work, or answer for me before the judgment seat of God. Let me do my personal part in the work of saving mankind, or renounce the name of Ohristian.
14. Wide open doors. No door is shut in India. The cities are open, the towns, the villages, the streets, the shops, the zenanas, the halls, the market-places, the whole country and population. You may go where you will, and say what you will, none daring to make you afraid. '1'he people sit by the wayside waiting for you. They wait, with their meek eyes looking out for the advent of the messenger of saving truth. A change has come over their thoughts. They have begun to scorn their priests and suspect their idols. They are willing to hear God's word when it is brought to them. But there are few to bring it. Scarce one Ohristian in a thousand has the heart to help them. Mammon is too mighty for our pity and piety. Our small home interests hide from us the immeasurable interests of a perishing world. The millions of the heathen to most of us are as tho they had no existence whatever. Who shall roll away the dark reproach? Let each one roll it from his own door. Our responsibility is individual. As individuals, let us meet it in all its magnitude.
THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN MADAGASOAR.
BY THE REV. H. E. COUSINS, W. A. ANTANANARIVO.
The last Sunday in September, 1895, was memorable in the annals of Madagascar, as the day on which General Duchesne was gradually closing in on the capital. On the following day his victory was complete. The last Sunday in September, 1896, has also been markt by an event of vast importance, influencing the status and prospects of thousands of the inhabitants-viz., the abolition of slavery throughout the land. If September, 1895, heard the death knell of the independence of the Hova government, September, 1896, has heard the JOYous peal of the bells of freedom from the odious system of slavery.
The proclamation was not altogether unexpected. The Resident General, M. Laroche, was known to be strongly in favor of immediate abolition, and the proclamation bears his signature. An instruction from Queen Ranavalomanjaka III. is appended to it, calling upon the people to obey the law.
All sale of slaves and attempts to remove them to a distance with a view to future sales into unsettled parts of the country, are forbidden under severe penalties. Slaves may remain with their present owners, if they choose to do so, but there must be no compulsion. They may retain property acquired by purchase or inheritance, but anything given by their owners will revert to the latter. In cases where the Government shall consider it well to do so, compensation, in the shape. of concessions of land, will be made to owners who have been dispossest of their slaves.
Thus by a stroke of the pen have tens of thousands of Malagasy been at once raised from slavery to the status of free citizens. As a slave woman said to the writer, " All are alike now." France has thus shown how unfair certain suspicions have been. Many said that slav- ery would be allowed to drag on a miserable existence for years under the French flag, and that the Government of the Republic took but a languid interest in the question. It has now been conclusively shown that slavery is intolerable to a liberty-loving people, and that under French laws the distinction between slave and freeman cannot exist.
The British government has not acted in as thorough-going a fashion in the smaller island of Zanzibar, as France has done in this great African island. It was, however, through an Englishman, Sir Robert Farquhar, Governor of Mauritius, that the horrible slave-trade was brought to an end in the reign of King Radama 1. (1820), and the representations of the British government, in 1877, also induced Queen Ranavalomanjaka II. to emancipate all imported African slaves. According to recent official estimates of the population of Antana- narivo, about thirty thousand out of a population of less than forty- five thousand, were slaves. The proportion, however, gradually decreases as we get away from this center of population, and the bulk of the people in the more remote country districts are free. The entire slave population of the island can not be much less than a million.
Slavery is an old institution in Madagascar, reduction to slavery having been in ancient times a common punishment for certain offenses; but the slave popUlation was greatly increast during the long reign of Queen Ranavalona I. (1828-1861), as military expeditions were sent out almost every dry season, and thousands of captives were brought back as booty. On the whole the slaves have not been harshly treated; many of them, indeed, have been almost regarded as members of the family. But cases of cruel treatment were occasion- ally heard of, and even the lives of slaves were at times taken with impunity by their owners.
The acceptance of Christianity has done much in later years to prepare the ways for abolition. The Church recognized no distinction between slaves, and free children and slave children being taught in the same schools. A slave might even become a pastor, or preacher, or deacon, in the church of which his owner was a member. There have been, however, no signs on the part of the Christians of any willingness, or even to consider any method by which slavery mi~ht be gradually extinguisht. Only three or four years ago a miSSIOnary belonging to the Society of Friends was hist in a public meeting of representatives of the churches, because he suggested that Christian people should carefully study the Scriptures and try to ascertain what was taught therein about slavery. Not through any action of the Church of Ohrist then, but from the new political rulers of Madagascar has this decree of emancipation come; and Ohristian people everywhere, and all lovers of freedom, will doubtless hail with gladness this important action on the part of the French Government, and will hope that it may be an indication of the righteous spirit in which France intends to govern her new acquisi- tion in the Indian Ocean.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GBACEY, D.D.
The Famine in India. population, 50 per cent. greater than that of the United States, which is al- A good deal of criticism is exprest in ways in a state of semi-starvation, hav- Great Britain against the Viceroy of ing but one meal a day, and forty India for giving out that the. govern- millions of whom always go to bed ment was able to cope with the famine hungry. Dearth under these conditions in that country, at the same time when means death. The viceroy of India missionaries were writing home appeals telegrapht to London that seventy-two for thousands on thousands of starving millions must die, because the price of people, absolutely unrelieved from any maintenance had gone up from one source. And the government of In- cent to three cents a day per capita, dia meanwhile even refused to open a unless gigantic relief measures could fund for contributions for their relief speedily be organized. from outside of India. These criticisms came with better grace from British Ninety per cent. of the people of subjects than if they had originated India are connected with agriculture, elsewhere. It is charged that there has and any limitation there means starvabeen a cruel dereliction of duty some- tion and death. The India government where, and great indignation is exprest instituted measures for artificial water that the cries of distress from India supply that are simply gigantic. It were mufiled by optimistic telegraphic spent fifteen million dollars to condispatches in the daily papers; and this, struct irrigating canals from the Ganges when the death-rate in one district had to distribute water over twelve millions risen for 30 per thousand to 109 per of acres, or one-third of the Northwest thousand, and 90,000 died of starva- provinces and Oudh. It provided watertion in one year. When the pangs of ways for artificial irrigation of more hunger drive people in silent procession, than one-fourth of the twenty millions living skeletons, to find food, dying by cultivated acres of the Punjab. On the way the stronger getting a few other waterways it has spent twenty grains, the feebler perishing, and chil- million dollars to convey water to dren, an intolerable burden, are sold at twenty million other acres in Central from ten to thirty cents a piece, and India and Bengal. A hundred thouwhen at best a heritage of orphaned sand tanks in Southern India, one forty children of tens of thousands must miles in circumference, witness to the remain to the country-this is not" im- precautions against failure of rainfall, pending" famine, – it is grim, gaunt, and the distribution of the precipitaawful famine itself. tion to agriculturists. When the famine was "imminent" and actual, an enor- That the India government has done mous system of public works was proa vast deal is conceded; and it must be jected, and a million people set to work, borne in mind that the viceroy has to at diminisht wages, possibly enough to govern one·fifth of the human family keep most of them alive, but leaving now on the globe, and find time for their families unprovided for, and the breakfast; this, too, in a paternal gov- weaker men to starve. ernment, where the responsibility is unshared and far heavier than in a fully The world can scarcely furnish civilizoo land. another example of such magnificent plans for feeding so many millions of It is the very vastness of the problem people by any despotic government. that paralyzes. At best India has a Besides, it constructeEl a great network of railroads, to carry relief to these dis- The Territory of Magellan.
tricts in the event of famine. REV. J. 111. ALLIS, D.D., SANTIAGO, And yet-and yet, this mighty human CillLE.
providence has been unequal to an emergency covering a far more exten- Some time ago the Chilean govern- sive area than haa ever before been ment erected the Territory of Magellan, blasted with want. The government and put it under territorial jurisdiction.
felt its inadequacy to add to existing A commission was sent several months efforts the organization of a national ago to study the condition of the abo- scheme of benevolent distribution of rigines of that far away region, to ex- help, which would give any promise of amine into the charges that the Indians security from waste and robbery, and were enslaved, and were badly treated.
ultimate pauperization of millions of This commission has lately made its people. report, and the following items have There was but one agency that could been selected by the writer as of general come to its aid, and that but partially- interest: the missionaries. They have proved The Territory of Magellan extends themselves great organizers of relief from Cape "Three Mountains," on the corps, in all past famines, where they peninsula of Taitao, to Cape Horn.
were in any considerable force. They This is the west line. The north line might have saved tens of thousands of reaches the limits of the Argentine Re- lives, had the Lord Mayor's Mansion public, or western Patagonia. The House Fund been opened earlier, and eastern line extends south, and takes in they called to the government aid. a greater part of Terra del Fuego, the Voluntary effort has been a necessity. archipelago of Madre de Dios and of Missionaries have felt the pressure of Cape Horn. This territory covers about famine prices on their own limited 80,000,000 acres. Of this region, one- stipends and appropriations for their fifth is suitable for sheep raising, and regular work. But they have every· . two-fifths for cattle grazing. The reo where courageously wrought to relieve mainder is either mountainous or desert.
those about them. The presence of In this vast region there are only about these gaunt skeletons, the pitiful wail 8,000 civilized inhabitants, and from for bread, the moans of the dying, the 8,000 to 4,000 Indians. These latter helpless children tendered them whom are nomads, having no nxt home.
they dared not accept-all this makes They are divided into four families or a terribly depressing atmosphere in tribes, differing in physical aspect, lan- which to keep life in themselves, and guage, customs, and in grade of civili- yet they have askt-not to be relieved zation.
-but for a few extra dollars to allow These four tribes are called the Pata- them to take a few hundred more gonians, or Tehuelches, Yahagans, orphans by famine. American Chris- Alikulufs, and the Onas. The Pata- tians can not organize relief on a gonians roam over the region called large. scale for the general mass of Chilean Patagonia. There is in this starving people, but they. can send region a reservation of some extent, contributions directly to American mis- designed to induce the Indians [to give sionaries, who will wisely administer up their wandering life, and come to their contributions. There is an open understand and love the idea of owner- road. Any missionary society's treas- ship of property.
urer will forward the money. A draft The Tehuelches live on the shores of on London got at any bank, a postal the many canals to the south of the money order got at our own post- Straits of Magellan, and in their light offices on India, will be available in canoes look for nsh and mollusks, which India.-J. T. G. form their principal food. The Alakalufes are really nomads of qUalities which facilitate their educa- the sea, and pass their life on the straits tion. They seem to be of gentle and and canals, in the region of Smyth's teachable character, and certainly they Chouol and the western part of the have well developt powers of sight Straits of Magellan. and hearing, as is natural to a race which lives by hunting. The Ouas occupy the northern and western coasts of the Island of Terra This is plainly seen at Punta Arenas del Fuego. (Sandy Point), where children of the Onas, from eight to fourteen years of Although the origin of these peoples age, have been placed in families, and is not known, it is supposed that they they have quickly learned the language came from Northern Patagonia, from of the family. They also became very which region they were driven out in soon attacht to the people, and serve as remote times by stronger and more nu- children in the household. merous peoples. Mr. Darwin visited this region with the famous navigator, The same thing has been found true Fitz Roy, in 1830-34. His observations in the Island of Dawson, where the led him to consider these Indians as the " Fathers" of the Order of Saliciauas very lowest in the scale of humanity. have founded and maintain an exten- These Indians seem not to have any sive mission for the instruction of the community ideas, and have made no children of the various tribes mentioned. IWvancement in any knowledge other Among these pupils are many youths than that needed to supply the first ne- from the Oua tribe. l!essity of existence, their food. They bave nothing they ('.an call property Such, in brief, is something of the beyond the skins of the guanaco, with ethnological characteristics of these which they half cover their bodies. tribes, whose very existence has been They do not cultivate the soil. They threatened by the events which have have no interest in the possession of given occasion for the governmental land. They roam over the island hunt- commission of investigation. ing food, and leave no trace of their momentary residence other than the These events have to do with the ocslight excavations in the earth, which cupation of the island of Terra del they made when overtaken by night or Fuego by civilized peoples. A few by some storm. In these places they words on the history of this Island Inay remain a few days looking for food, be in order. and then hastening to other points, according to trails of the guanaco, or di- Since the discovery of the Straits of rected by the mere caprice of the chief Magellan, Terra del Fuego has been left of the tribe. outside of any project for colonization. It was supposed to be a desert, and Naturally their customs are very sim- wholly unfit for any kind of agriculturple; nothing is yet known as to whether allabor. It was wholly unknown that thvy have religious ideas or traditions along its shores, and in the beds of its or not, for their unknown language, not rivers, was to be found that coveted yet mastered by missionaries who have metal which led to the journeys of the attempted to civilize them, presents first conquerors of South America. Beserious difficulties to any investigation. sides, this ignorance of gold deposits, Notwithstanding this hindrance, there and this supposed desert condition, its has lately appeared a basis of hope that climate is harsh and repellant, and its this country-Chilc-InaY do something far away location, at the very ends of fOl' this despised race, and transform the earth, resisted settlement, and inthem into useful citizens. spired a profound aversion of its inhos- pitable interior to those who past its It has been noticed that the children forbidding shores. of the Onas have fair abilities, and have For 300 years the region has been totally untoucht, unless we except the attempt at t:tploration, in 1767, which the evangelization of the Indians. They wholly failed. were provided with abundant material to carryon the work. Nothing has been known of this land during these centuries, except the suf- Unhappily, when they flattered themfering and misery it has contributed to selves that the work was going on well, those brave and hardy navigators, who, there came a new and painful experiduring this period, for various motives, ence to dissipate these illusions. In past through the straits, and have made 1859, when one of the missionaries this remarkable channel a safe and visited the small port of W oollyn, for short passage between the Atlantic and the purpose of holding religious se:– the Pacific Oceans. vices, the missionary, his companions, and the sailors were all killed by the The first attempt to -enter this region natives, without even a hint as to the was made by the distinguisht English reason of the attack. The assassinaphilanthropist, Mr. Allen Gardener, tion only became known by questionwho, taking pity on the miserable con- ing the Indians who came from that dition of the inhabitants, proposed to region. bring to them the benefits of civilization, and teach them the knowledge of This tragic experience was very dis- God, and of Jesus Christ, the Savior cOUl'aging to the remaining missionaries, of all men. He secured, by great effort, and for many years nothing further was the cooperation of Christian people in attempted for the civilization of the in- England, and obtained the means need- habitants of Terra del Fuego. ed to establish an evangelical mission on the Island of Picton, which is on the Finally, in 1872, the Bishop of the east side of Beagle Channel, by which Falkland Islands, whose real diocese is it is separated from Terra del Fuego. all South America, Rev. Dr. Sterling, resolved to renew the work of the la- The plan of Mr. Gardener was to mented Gardener. He establisht a establish missions, in order to evangel- small mission-station on the Island of ize the natives, and also to show them Novarino. Some of the Yahlgan tribe the advantages of civilization. But he responded to the efforts of the missionwas compelled to give up the attempt on aries. that island because of the hostile attitude of the natives. The Indians op- There was establisht another station posed his plans in a thousand ways, on the north shore of Beagle Channel, until he abandoned the place and past at Ushua, where now there is an Arover the channel to the Island of Terra gentine village. del Fuego. There he wandered about several months, until all his supplies The faithfulness and perseverance of were exhausted, and until, by disease the missionaries, particularly of Mr. and hunger, the entire company perisht, Bridges, who was the head of the Ushua as was afterwards made known by the mission, together with eM abundant discovery of the diary of Mr. Gardener supply of needed material granted by by sailors of a ship sent from Monte- the London Missionary Society, made video to assist him. some progress in modifying the charac- ter, and in civilizing the natives living This sad experience made a profound on the shore of Beagle Channel. impression in England, and moved the Evangelical Societies to renew the noble These influences have not, as yet, efforts of Mr. Allen Gardener, who had reacht the Dna tribe, which persistently left in his diary a most fervent prayer holds itself aloof from contact with for the conversion of the Terra del civilization. Fuegans. Apart from all these efforts. civiliza- Missionaries were sent to the Island tion has lately made an entrance from of Malvinas, charged to attempt anew the north, by way of the Straits of Ma- gellan.
In 1883, the Chilian Government, convinced of the advantages of civiliz· adults, thus sent, willingly or unwilling the vast Territory of Magellan, and ingly, to t.heir island, and whose vagain view of the excellent results produced bond habits and previous life make the in Chillan Patagonia, in cattle raising, task of reclaiming them exceedingly invited citizens of Punta Arenas to try difficult. the same experiment in Terra del Fuego. The government conceded to This Roman Catholic establishment the firm of Wehrhahn & Co. the right on Dawson Island was inaugurated for of a vast extension of land, for a long the purpose of instructing the children period, on the condition that they of various tribes of the Territory of should establish stock farms and other 1l'Iagellan. Its founders are willing to improvements, which, after the contract extend its advantages to any Indians should expire, should become the prop- who may be sent to them by the stockerty of the State. men, or by the government.
The government made three other These" Fathers" have erected suitconcessions to other parties. The ex- able buildings for schools, and small tensive nature of the enterprise will ap- cottages for the homes of the children. pear, when it is known that to one com- The cottage homes are under the care pany the government gave 320,000 of the sisters of the order called "Maria acres; to another, 720,000, and to a Auxilladora," or "Mary the Helper." third, 5,000,000 acres. These firms Dawson Island is admirably situated have already begun stock-raising on a for this humanitarian work, and will large scale, and the signs indicate speedy serve to unite and protect what is left and extensive returns for the invest- of the large tribe, which in times long ment. Conditions have been found to gone by occupied this part of South be very favorable to the various depart- America. The situation is midway bements of the business. tween the two great oceans, and just opposite Punta Arenas, the most south- The Indians find that mutton is bet- erly city of the globe. ter than clams, and that sheep skins, with the wool on, make better covering The island contains about 50,000 than they had before, so they are be- acres, and has plains and wooded land, ginning to make reprisals on the flocks. and is suited to the various industries those who live there can carryon. This has bef,'11n a series of conflicts between the stockmen and the Indians. The island has many indentations, or The condition of affairs gave the new- bays, among which is Port Harris, on comers much trouble and expense in whose shores the Roman Catholic miswire fences, and in an increast service sion buildings have been erected. The for protection. climate is quite as favorable as that of Punta Arenas. There have been various accusations against tIle stock·men, as to the way The commission had the opportunity they treated the Indians who have fallen to hear various opinions as to the best into their power, even to the extent of methods of solving the Indian question killing some with refined cruelty. It of this Southern Territory, and how to is to be hoped that the Chilean Govern- save these primitive tribes from the ment will find out the facts. total annihilation which threatens them from contact with civilized people. To The stock-men have seized several handle this matter did not fall within groups of Indians, and have deported the duties of this commission, which them from Terra del Fuego to Dawson was sent merely to make inquiries. It Island, and have put them in charge of falls to the province of the Chilean the SalicCRna "Fathers," who have a Government to adopt, as soon as posmission-station on that Island. sible, methods for the protection and improvement of the native populations The "Fathers" have accepted, with of this new Chilean Territory. pleasure, the serious task of ruling these The Duty and Privilege of Self-support. * ceived; it is necessary for us to show the world that we are capable of doing BY REV. J. M. EUROZA. something for ourselves; that we can sanctify our work with the poverty and The question implied in the subject misery of our brothers and fellow- which has been assigned to me for countrymen, and this is the object that treatment before you, hardly requires is fulfilled by self-support. any prolonged study; but it is always desirable to speak a few words on so This being the object of self· support, important a matter. we can not hesitate to recognize its im- portance. The importance of self-sup- I. Self-support. port can not be too highly appreciated, This term is applied to the provision as it involves the importance of our which our respective churches make, church, whatever it may be. The imof the necessary resources for the pre- portance of self-support will weigh in servation and encouragement of the the Protestant communion in proportion work of evangelization. to the love that it bears to its church. Amongst the resources I refer to, we If we love our church there is no doubt should not only count the cash supplied, that we will desire it to live and to but also everything that directly con- march at the head of every forward tributes to keep the work in full vigor. movement and of every thing meritori- Amongst these we must give first place ous. and we can never satisfy these to a building for the holding of worship, legitimate and holy aspirations of our for the dwelling of pastors, means for hearts, except to the benign influence covering traveling expenses of the of our own work. With very rare exworkers, and also the many different ceptions, everything great and praiseservices that directly favor the evangel- worthy that has been done up to the ical cause. present, is due to the support given to 1. This being self-support, we at once us by our brothers, who constitute the come to the question of its object. different missionary societies. I do not Up to the present day we have been say that what has been done by these receiving the resources necessary for the noble spirits is all that could have been foundation, support, and development done; but I say that it is everything of our respective churches, from those that they could do to assist us in the missionary societies that display such a evangelization of Mexico. The increas- Christian love for the people of all na- ing growth of our churches demands tions, of all races, and of all languages. larger sums for the support of the work This love has not only been shown by as it ought to be carried on; but when the forwarding of funds, but also by the the societies I have mentioned can not valuable help of their lives, activity and do any more it is then that we discover faith as found in their representatives, the importance of self-support. whom we receive as Christian teachers, and who are generally called" Mission- 2. The necessity of establishing it in aries." our churches on a good foundation But it is also necessary for us to show demands our thoughts. a proper understanding of the supreme object of the zeal and sacrifices of our We Mexicans have certain traits that brothers from the United States; it is distinguish us from other men almost necessary that we should demonstrate entirely. Amongst them is that apathy our ability to utililize the object-lesson, with which we view the most important which for so many years we have re- subjects, whether of a moral, social, political, or religious character. Hence * Paper read at the General.Assembly of it is that things which we ought to do with zeal and at once, are done in a Christian Workers, Mexico City, January 28, slow way, and with the least trouble, 1897. Translated from the Spanish for this without abandoning our customary REVIEW. apathy even for the most interesting the desired end; I refer to the provision questions, those things which we ought of the resources necessary for the.mainto do with the greatest solicitude, are tenance and progress of the Bame exactly those which we leave for the churches, with a strictly national charcoming generation, and we thus shut acter. But it is necessary that this ourselves up within a small space, not should be done in a thorough and for want of a horizon, or for want of in- lasting manner, and that when it is telligence, but for want of will and of commenced, it should be carried forinterest. ward, even tho the initiators should die, and until the end of all time. Unfortunately our apathy is not our only defect, and we have another char- Weare agreed as to the necessity of acteristic which is peculiar to ourselves. supporting our churches by indigenous A question arisespf some undertaking; resources, and without appealing to the it does not matter if it is beyond our missionary societies; we are agreed that strength, difficulties never deter us, and we must stimulate our people, so that we commence the undertaking with a together we may freely exercise our zeal that can only be equaled to that will and give everything in our power of giants, but, how Boon does our en- for the support of the church; and thusiasm die out! How quickly does from this moment we express our united that enthusiasm with which we com- opinion, and our individual and colmence to work disappear! How soon lective experience with respect to are we discouraged, and abandon the the absolute absence of any coertion greatest interests to fall into ruin and over ourselves, either direct or indirect. shameful neglect. How many men On the contrary, we enjoy the most have gone down into the Valley of perfect liberty to follow the ideal which Death, without having done anything we may have formed in the fulfillment more than start an enterprise which of our duties, either as members of the they afterwards abandoned! church, school-masters, ministers, or pastors. Hence it is necessary for us to Let us put on one side our IDany dif- reach this conclusion:- ferent characteristics. We :find ourselves face to face with the mistaken II. Our churches are in duty bound impressions that have been formed to provide for their own self-support. throughout the country with respect to the wealth of the evangelical churches, 1. For the sake of their own existand however painful itmay appear, we ence. must, for the sake of truth and justice, con£ess that, even amongst our own God has blest ns in furnishing us the workers (only a few) certain counsels means that our missionary societies are whispered with respect to the fabu- have diSinterestedly supplied with the lous riches of the Protestant missions, object of initiating our countrymen and the result of which must inevitably be ourselves in the knowledge of the lifethe same as that obtained up to the giving doctrine of the Savior; but present, the indifference of the people everything that has been done up to to self-support. The time has arrived, the present, consists in teaching us what not only to raise our voices with the ob- can be realized by the exercise of the ject of putting things where they be- will in the evangelization of the world; long, of reaching a better understand- that which has been effected by the ing, of giving due tribute to the piety poor Christians who are inspired with and devotion of the Christian peoplewho the pure flame of charity and Christian support and help us in implanting true faith and that which we ourselves may Christianity in our country; it is now commence to do on the day when we time for our churches to adopt the feel It love for our church, for >ur methods that will certainly lead us to neighbor, and for our country.
If we can get to love our church as we ought, we will then furnish the means necessary for its existence with- of labor, for that purpose collecting its out any further dependence on the resources which are forwarded to us by own funds; and not only this, but also Christians of all the world. This is far from being pride or a distrust of the power to administer its own matters the well-proved goodness of those Christians, but rather is a proof of the re- without the intervention of any other spect and consideration that we have for our church, for its missionary corporation whatever. The church societies, and for the consideration that we deserve from all honorable people. will then know the state of her assets 2., Besides this, self-support is not and liabilities when treating subjects only necessary for the existence of the church, but also for its better develop- of great interest, and it will come to a ment. decision, not as required by the circum- The area covered by the work of evangelization is growing day by day. stances, but as permitted by the funds. One hundred years ago the missionary movement was hardly commenced, its 4. When we have got this far, when interesting labors were reduced to an almost imperceptible area, but to.day the Mexican church is free and indethere are not sufficient resources to give it the attention it deserves. pendent, 1.t will then receive another Day by day the work has been divine blesb;ng. Being self-sustained, spreading at such a. rate that it will be it will contribute to its own dignity. difficult for our friends from abroad to do more than that which has already At present we have to suffer through been commenced, and hence we have certain errors of our co·workers, the to face the natural logical consequence, representatives of our missionary socithat what we have up to this day reo eties, as regards the selection of the ceived, will probably be the maximum candidates to the ministry; some of of the grants to be received from foreign them, altho late, will find themselves sources, obliged to confess that their trust was abused by men who never ought to If the missionary funds are insuffi- have stept on the honorable platform cient to effect the development of our of the evangelical ministry; but when field of action, it is only fair that we the Mexican church. properly 110 called, should supply from our poverty what· becomes mistress of its own destiny, it ever we can, for the purpose of advanc- will have a pastoral body which would ing the Protestant cause in Mexico. be an' honor to it.self-which will give We should give our assistance to the it grandeur and place it high above all cause of diminishing the ignorance, human affairs. Then the nonentities superstition, and fanaticism which have will continue in their proper places, been and will continue to be the ruin and will have to give way to the men and disgrace of our countrymen and of whose piety, sincerity. learning. talent, our nation. and virtue will constitute the glory of their own church. 3. But in forming our ideas of selfsupport, we must not only look to the III. In treating of this question,I have development of the church, we must spoken of self.support as a "DUTY" also look towards a more elevated end, for the church, but we will now conwhich is the obtaining of its independ- sider it from the point .of view of a ence. privilege, or an opportunity which is furnisht for doing an act, which will be This means to say, giving our church an honor to the church and raise its a life of its own ; an increase in its field standard of piety; and for this we say, that our church has the privilege of contributing to self-support, and hence we can say with certainty that: 1. It contributes to a sacred cause on its own territory.
For a Christian church it is a great and divine privilege to be allowed to do f'omething for the salvation of souls. This salvation is not in the hands of the church to give to anybody it wishes, but the church announces it to men and encourages them to accept it. This is the most sacred cause that can be found in this world. How joyful will that day be when we can carry the news of salvation to our countrymen with our own resources, with a life of our own and with forces that shall be essentially Mexican. 2. Besides this, in those new horizons answer is, yes, they certainly have; that we can see at a distance, we find both the science and the art of music this other privilege: have had a fair share of attention, and commendable progress has been made The Mexican church, being self-sup- in the study from the earlier ages of porting, it will, directly or indirectly, Hindu civilization on down to the contribute to the progress of the mis- present time; treatises on the subject sionary cause throughout the world. have been written, and much time and attention have been given to the study The reason for this is clear. It would and practise of both vocal and instrunaturally receive no more funds from mental music. its prescnt sources. because it already woulll have a life of its own It would And it may be well to state that this is require nothing more from the mission- the one accomplishment upon which the ary funds, and those sums would, there- Hindu prides himself as surpassing his fore, be diverted to carry the blessed seed of the Gospel to other lands, where Western brothers, viz., his knowledge the lIame of God or of Christ has never and practice of music. Of course, we of even yet been pronounced. the Occident are at liberty to have our 3. I see still another privilege that own opinion on the subject, and we would be enjoyed by the church of know very well what the decision of an God in Mexico in the following fact: American, English, French, German, or Italian jury would be, if the music of It would contribute to the elevation the East were put upon its trial with of our country. that of the West. And yet it is not In doing so it would never enter into many years since an orthodox Bindu, any politieal combination, as this is not Sir Mohendeo Tagore, was given the the /!round occupied by the Christian church; the character of politicians degree of Doctor of Music by the Unihas never been one of those assumed versity of London, in recognition of his by the regenerating principles of Chris- great attainments in Hindu music, its tianity. Anybody who has tried to study and practise. More than a censcale the ramparts of power by means tury ago that wonderful scholar, Sir of political intrigues, and by party Tom Jones, took much interest in the combinations in the name of religion, is subject and wrote extensively and apnot a Christian; he is a murper and a preciatively concerning it. calumniator of the Divine Martyr of Calvary. I believe in a free church The system of musical notation in nse within a free State. I believe that both among the Bindus. is claimed to be are, and ought to be, perfectly inde- very old, in fact one of their writers penpent, however that may go against the opinions of others. Nevertheless, I gives its date as "anterior to the combelieve that both ought to contribute to mencement of authentic history," and the elevation of the nation; the govern- produces in proof of its antiquity a facment by means of wise laws and liberal simile of a printed form of notation institutions; the church by instructing originally written in the oldest Sanskrit the popular masses in the knowledge of character, probably antedating the science, and forming the national char- Christian era. A printed copy of this acter in accordance with the purest fac-simile is in possession of the present principles of Christianity. writer.
When the church is self-sustaining it In the original Sanskrit notation Inwill look for its pastors and school- dian music was represented by means of masters amongst the Mexican people; one line, with certain signs and , ymboIs, it will then select those who comply and the initials of the seven notes. with its ideals and satisfy its aspira- Now three lines are used, an innovation tions; then, and only then, will it contri- on the older system, that the three ocbute to the aggrandizement of Mexico. taves may be better represented. It will be remembered that the Greeks Musio and Musioians of India. represented their three octaves by three different letters. While Western na- BY REV. J. W. WAUGH, D.D., tions use a staff of five lines and four spaces, with numerous leger lines, when LUCKNOW, INDIA. needed, the Hindu insists that the The question is often askt, "Have Indian notation, so far as it goes, is all the Hindus-the people of India-lny that is required, pleases its advocates, scientific or practical knowledge of music? Have they made a study of "is simple, convenient, and sufficient music vocal or instrumental?" The for all practical purposes." Their notes, seven in number, answering to our do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, and to our letters c, d, e, f, g, a, b, are the Sanskrit, Devanagri, or Brujali letters ma, la, ga, attackt and sustained with remarkable ya, ra, sa, ni, and these are repeated accuracy and distinctness. I have for the different octaves. The Hindus never heard purely native musicians understand and use the diatonic Bcale, play or sing part-songs, or pieces in and also the chromatic, in fact, their ga- harmony, only the melody was given, mut is very chromatic, they use not half tho singing in unison is sometimes tones only, but quarter tones/ these are by heard. Both Hindus and Moham- Bome authorities called srooties,' others medans of certain castes or classes pay do not accept this as a proper definition, attention to music, sing, play, etc., tho and we will leave the doctors and pro- an orthodox lIlussulman is supposed to fessors to wrangle over their srooties despise music, as a weak, low, and and 1'ayas, unlese some reader wishes to unworthy accomplishment, just as take a hand in the discus"ion, and set painting and sculpture are deemed; all these Orientals right. Certainly in sing- these vanities fall under the ban of the ing and instrumentation they take these iconoclastic teaching of the Koran.
half tones and quarter tones with what Nevertheless many followers of Moham- always seemed to me marvelous exact- med run the risk, and both practise ness. In playing upon the st'far (an and enjoy the delights of music.
instrument answering to our guitar, but The songs of India's millions are not larger and having the strings all wire), of a high order, or have not been, until I have seen the performer hastily move the recent introduction of Christian the frets forward or backward, up or hymns and songs, which are of a more down, in order to get the exact tone- elevated character. Many of the Hindu half-tone or quarter-tone – desired. songs are sung in honor of, or in wor- (These frets are made movable by hav- shiping, their gods. :Many of these ing a belt of catgut or wire run quite gods are of doubtful character, morally, round the stem of the instrument). The and the songs partake of the same sitar was originally made with three nature. Other songs are sung to mark strings or wires, as the name implies, the seasons, the coming of the rains, and is the most popular and widely-used the presence of bird and butterfly, the stringed instrument in India. Unlike sowing of crops, and gathering of har- our guitar, only one of the strings is fin- vest; but as in other lando. Eastern and gered upon the frets, the others are used Western, love songs get the largest as sounders, being swept by the mizrab share of attention, occupy the thoughts or music thimble, as is done in playing and tune the voice to melody. One of the mandolin. Teachers of the sitar the most popular throughout all north- may be found in all the cities aud large ern India is an importation from poetic towns of India, who give lessons at Persia, and known as "Tiiza ba Tiiza, very cheap rates, say from 8 to 10cents now ba now," being the clo.~ing words a lesson of one or two hours each, or 30 of the refrain, "Ever and ever fresh to 40 cents a week. Many play well on and gay," fresh and sweet (speaking of this instrument, and the music. of In- love, of friends, and, I am sorry to say, dian or Persian origin, is interesting, of wine). Here is a translation of a few tho not so emotional or elevating as our lines.
own. The sitar is played either alone Singer, begin your sweetest lay, for instrumental music, or as an ac- Ever and ever fresh and gay companiment to the voice ; it is rather Bring me the joy inspiring wine brassy, or metallic for the ear of one Ever and ever fresh and fine. accustomed to the softer tones of the guitar. Lost in my heart, oh lady fair, Indian singers usually pitch their Lost in your jet black locks of hair, tunes very high, both men and women Heavy with perfume, as is meet, singing almost wholly from the head register, rarely from the lower throat, Ever and ever new and sweet.
and never in my hearing from the Listen, oh breezes! as you move chest regisfer. The singing is often Close by the dwelling of my love, quite artistic from a native standpoint, Softly my words and song repeat, tho the tones are rarely soft and sweet, but shrill, rather than full, round, and Ever and ever new and sweet.
mellow. The highest notes I have The air is a flowing melody, and ever heard taken were by a Hindu when well sung, in the East or in the dancing girl at a religious fair, and her West, accompanied by the sitar or the notes were full and well sustained, the guitar, or mandolin, is not to be de- half-tones and quarter-tones being spised for its Oriental origin.
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
India,* Burma,t Oeylon,t IDnduism,§ Woman's Work for Woman. 'If BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
FAMINE AND PLAGUE IN INDIA. the Christians at home can not afford to support these laborers I " All eyes, and many hearts have been turned toward India by the horror of the India comprises a territory equal to the spectacle presented by hundreds dying whole of Europe, Russia excepted, or daily from famine and pestilence. And about half the era of the United States. yet, what but this has been going on The inhabitants, including Hindus, for thousands of years, and but a hand- Moslems, Parsees, and Christians, numful of Christian people have heard and ber nearly 300,000,000 ; joining hands, heeded their cry. Two thousand die they would stretch three times round daily, inIndia, stricken with the deadly the globe, and are equal in number to plague of sin, which kills the soul as the letters of seventy of our English well as the body, and famishing for Bibles. Christians number about a want of the Bread of Life, which alone million, or the number of letters in the can bring satisfaction and length of single Book of Isaiah. The masses of days. Forty millions lie down hungry people are poor and degraded. The for want of material food every night, average wage of a laborer is not over but two hundred and eighty millions are seven cents a day, and they are impoverhungering for the Heavenly Manna, and isht still more by the demands of their thirsting for the Water of Life. We religious customs and leaders. Twenty have bread enough and to spare, while million widows and forty million zethey perish wi~h hunger, and only a nana prisoners live in India. Few men, handful of weakly.supported mission- and almost no women, are educated. aries are there to distribute to their ne- Only one man in 42 can read and write, cessity; and still we hear the cry" Re- and only one woman in 858. All the trench, close up the schools, send back hospitals and dispensaries do not touch to their heathen homes the Hindu chil- five per cent. of the people, and there is dren, decrease the number of mission- only one physician to three million inaries, and cut down their means of habitants. Their religious system prowork and livelihood-because, forsooth, fessedly teaches salvation by good works, but practically it is damnation • See also pp. 44, 45 (JanUllryl; 143 (Febru- by evil works. They sacrifice to devils, ary); 212 (March); 267, 278, 282, 286, 294 (present. not to God, and sacrifice, too, after the issue). NewBooks: "In the Tiger Jungle," manner of devils. Their gods are Jacob Chamberlain; "Life and Work in monsters of iniquity; their priests teach- India," Robert Stewart; "In India," Wm. ers of licentiousness, and their temples Marchant; "Daily Life in Bengal," Z. F, hot-beds of vice. Many portions of Grlftin. their sacred books are so vile as to be absolutely untranslatable, and their Recent Articles: "The Indian Famine." sacred images and pictures put to shame Miuiona,ry Herald (Jan.); "The Plague in the worst relics of Pompeii and Rome. Indla," Nineteenth Oentury (Feb.) "The devils worshipt by the peo- t See also pp. 46 (JanUllry); 252 (present ple in their heathen state, unlike the indolent deities of Brahminical mytho- *Issue). logy, are supposed to be ever ' g~ing to See p. 256 (present issue). and fro in the earth, and wandermg up I See p. 248, 260 (present issue). and down in it,' seeking for opporturu- Recent Articles: "Reformed Hinduism," ties of inflicting evil. In every under- Homiletic Review (January). taking, in all the changes of life, and "[ See p. 278, 280 (present issue). . New Books: "Women in Missions," E. M. Wherry; "Heroines of the Mission Field," in every season and place, the anger of for this and other crimes. Guilty devils is believed to be impending. castes have been watched and reasoned Every bodily ailment which does not with and punisht, but with little avail. immediately yield to medicine is sup- A change of marriage customs and of posed to be a possession of the devil. caste laws as to intermarriage will alone The fever produced by the bite of a rat effectually prevent female infanticide in is found difficult to cure, and the native the highest castes of Hindus. The doctor tells the names of the five devils Hindus must themselves be the effectthat resist the force of his art. An in- ual reformers. fant cries all night, and a devil is said to be in it. An ill-built house falls Already the influence of Christianity down, and the devil receives the blame. Bullocks take fright at night, and a is being strongly felt. Multitudes are devil is said to have scared them. These instances, which are only a specimen of thronging to God and millions are what constantly occurs, will serve to show how the people are all their life seeking eagerly for escape from the subject to the bondage of superstitious fear. In one hamlet containing only penalty and powers of the sin of which nine houses, thirteen devils are wor- they are fully conscious, and yet they shipt." know of no better way than by fasting, Among other evils which cry out for penance, and bodily torture. What are reform in India are the two great vices -opium traffic and child marriage. Christians in America and England The first evil fostered by a Christian nation, and forced upon a heathen doing to teach them the only Way of nation, is now girdling the world with a band of sorrow. The British govern- Life and Peace? ment provides the land, lends the money to the cultivator, receives and stores In India there is one ordained mis· the whole amount, auctions it off at periodical sales, and puts the profits in sionary for every 300,000 inhabitants; its own treasury. The cultivation of the poppy is so profitable that not suffi- in America there are 500 to the sallle cient cereals are planted to supply food when drought or flood damage the number. But in spite of the paucity of crops. The opium traffic is therefore very largely responsible for the present men and means to carryon this great and awful state of famine in India. growing work, much has been accom- There is no bright side to the picture of the child marriage. The child is plisht. There are now about 300,000 named when about twelve days old, and after the ceremony comes the be- Protestant Christian communicants, trothal. If a child is not betrotht before she is eight, the family is con- and over 1,000,000 adherents. The sidered disgraced. A husband's legal right begins at the time of betrothal, number is increasing daily, but, besides and should he die a few hours after, she is one of the child widows, and this, numerous reforms have been insti· _ belongs to the husband's family. She is a slave, without hope of freedom or tuted, education has been advanced, protection from cruelty. Imagine a child of ten married to a man of sixty and that masterly device of satan to or seventy, whose very presence is loathsome to herI This husband may prevent the spread of Christianity-the be a madman, a leper, or an idiot. caste system-shows signs of decay.
Whenever he chooses to claim the There is a tide in the affairs of India, child-wife there is no eye to pity or law to protect. Is there any form of slavery and the indications are that now is the on the earth equal to it? time to take it at its flood. Either Infanticide is one of the unnatural crimes sanctioned by the Hindu social Christianity or infidelity seems bound system, and against which the British government lias ineffectually waged to win the day. Satan and his emmiscontinual war. The caste and marriage saries never sleep, but Christians often customs of the Hindus are responsible do. Floods of infidel literature are pouring in on the land. The so-called Reformed Sects of Hinduism teach nothing higher than ethical culture- not always ethical,-agnosticism, or in- fidelity. The trumpets of the Lord have been blown seven times around these walls of heathenism-they are tot· tering-if the hosts of the Lord are not there to possess the land, the hosts of satan will be. What an awakening there would be if Christians were only as susceptible to the crying, spiritual needs of their fellow men as they are to their appeals for physical relief.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The March of Events. pened to have just got control of some llew method of wholesale murder, brave The most colossal event deserving a armies might be annihilated before a foe chronicle is the signing of the treaty pro- not only smaller in numerical force, but viding for general arbitration between mean and contemptible. And about the' United States and Great Britain, the only advantage we can see in much The two men most closely connected of the modern inventions in the way of with this triumph of diplomacy are their annihilating fatality is that they Secretary of State, Olney, and British are making war too perilous for nations Ambassador, Sir Julian Pauncefote. to undertake it. The further consideration of this sub- ject we naturally postpone until it is A new method of arousing and culti- ratified with or without amendments, vating missionary enthusiasm has been by the 'Congress of the United States. undertaken by Rev. Wm. H. Waggoner, But, in advance, we candidly and con- a recent graduate of Yale. Since Jan. 1, fidently put on record our judgment 1896, he has been lecturing on missions. that no event of the century will, While in Yale he studied carefully this if it shall thus emerge from the pre- great world-wide theme, with the help sent controversy concerning its for- of that splendid library of 3,000 vol- 'mal acceptance, with the cordial and umes, which Dr. Geo. E. Day is col- unanimous action of the ratifying lecting on the subject of missions. Mr. bodies, stand out more conspicuously Waggoner is a map-maker, and uses his as a sign' of the ethical and religious art in getting access by eyegate as well advance of the race. No one can esti- as eargate. One of his maps is of mate the possible blessings and benefits India, and covers a surface of 144 of such a compact of peace between the square feet, and is in fifteen colors, two leading Protestant nations of the showing the work of 65 societies in world. Such a step is a stride toward uni- seven departments. The map of China versal peace, and its effect on missions is in 25 colors, and shows the work of may be incalculable. We can not but 2,000 foreign missionaries, The map think that the United States Senate will of the world is 12 feet by 20, and is in not disappoint the expectations of the 15 colors. It shows population, relig- Christian public by failing to give such ious condition, and the location of a treaty its solemn sanction. And when 11,000 missionary workers, and the this is done, it will be next to impossible number of native converts, etc. We for other nations to stand outside of the can safely commend this brother-per- embrace of a compact so eminently wise sonally known to us-to the confidence and philanthropic. War is, in fact, of the churches. He is an enthusiast becoming well-nigh impracticable, if on the great theme of world-wide mis- not impossible, by the very destructive- sions. He may be addrest at Eureka, ness of the new machinery made avail- Ill. able. It is no longer a question of numbers, wealth, valor, or endurance, Others, besides the editor of this as to what party shall win in martial REVIEW, seem to regard the present strife; but a matter of the possession of crisis in missions as quite alarming. A the latest, most effective, and most de- paper lies before us on the "Waterloo structive weapons. To·day, if the fore- in mission work," in which the :Misses most people of the world-foremost Leitch, of Ceylon, plead for the marshal- from every moral and intellectual point ling of every available force into the of view-were to engage with a power field. These earnest workers urge that otherwise insignificant, but which hap- each missionary write to dearest per- Bonal friends at home, moving them to condition of the Hindus. He has occuaccept some definite act or sacrifice, pied a room 14 by 8 feet, with a veranda whereby, a~ least, one hundred others on which his cooking was done. In may be led to feel new interest and food and dress he also sought to get as pledge new gifts. For example, sup- near the people as possible. He meant pose that 500 missionaries of the Amer- the self-abasement to be a means to the ican Board should thus, out of their end of the more successful winning of total groups of home friends, enlist one- the people to Christ. He tried the extenth of them in a new and vigorous periment in three different places, fairly effort in favor of missions, it would be and fully. He now abandons it, assertpractically increasing the number of ing that the ordinary way of missionary active cooperators and givers, and so living is far more successful in winning not only lift present financial burdens, men to Christ. At present many who but prove a permanent increase of both are willing that the missionaries should intelligent interest and self-sacrificing make sacrifices rather than themselves, gifts. The Misses Leitch also press tlle are demanding that they live as the writing of a quarterly letter home, to natives do. Over and over again has keep the home clientele in touch with this been attempted, and owing to the the work, and advocate larger use of inability of Westerners to live in Orienthe printed page Another suggestion tal style, health has given way, or it made is the division of the field, sothat has resulted, as with Mr. Forman, in a each section may be linkt with a group downright failure to achieve the end of of contributors, thus assurin~ with that missions. field a special bond of intellIgent sympathy. The paper is too long for insertion here, but it contains so many practical suggestions that it will undoubtedly be put into a permanent and widely distributed form.
A very manly and cordial letter from M. Pobiedonoszefl' on the Jewish a minister in the South repels the inti- Question. mation that the "caste and race spirit " in the South was adequately exprest by In the Neue Freie Presse, Herr Friedthe "Sheats law," referred to in a recent editorial article. He claims that rich Schiltz publishes an account of ail the feeling generally prevailing toward the colored r~ce is far more generous interview he had with the famous Presand magnanimous and forbearing than Bome have· conceded; and deprecates ident of the Holy Synod in Russia. any intimation to the contrary as calculated to fan the fires of sectional feeling. During the interview, lL Pobiedonos- Weare glad to have so encouraging an estimate of the prevailing sentiment of zeff made the following remarks rethe South tuward the once enslaved blacks and pray for its continuance and specting the Jewish Question :- increase. "When the Jewish Question came to Rev. S. :rtf. Zwemer, of the Arabian the fore among us, I received letters Mission, writes from the Persian gulf, from all parts of the world-from Ger- Island of Bahrein, that the first printed many, France, England, America, and Arabic tract on Arabian soil has been even Australia. l'Iy correspondents issued from their own little hand press, threatened and insulted me. One man, the pioneer Christian press of the pen- giving his name and address, wrote that insula. I should be killed if I did not put a stop to my lust for persecution. I de- The Rev. J. N. Forman, of. the Amer- clare to you now I am not responsible ican Presbyterian Mission in India, has for what has taken place against the been trying to live down to the social Jews in Russia. I have friends among the Jews, and there are many among them who know me intimately, and who are aware of what I tell you. It does not enter my mind to persecute the followers of any religion. What religi- ous and truly believing man could do this? The Jewish Question in Russia is one of the most complicated in the world. It has no religious, but a social and political character. We have taken over the Jewish Question from the Poles as a bad inheritance, as a species of inventory. The Poles not being in of Rev. A. W. Halsey, of the Spring a position to create a civic body, allowed Street Presbyterian Church, New York, the Jews to take their place, but the and Rev. Halsey B. Stevenson, of Wol- aristocracy and the Jews exercised "an cott, N. Y., spoke upon the "Problem unfavorable influence, with tile result of the Country Church." Rev. John that a type of Jews arose which can not R. Davies, D D., of the Fourth Avenue be compared with the Jews in other Presbyterian Church, New York, spoke progressive lands. This led to regret- on "The Biblical Basis of Foreign Mis- able abuses in the country, and in the sions." And the last address, by Rev. towns, to the participation of Jewish George B. Stewart, D.D., of Market students in most disgraceful revolution- Square Presbyterian Church, of Harrisary movements. 1'he State was com- burg, Pa., was on "The Need of Men pelled to take action. What it wisht to in the Home Field." do, namely, to ensure the observance of the law-was similar to that which was During the conference opportunity put into force in free America against was given for questions and discussion, the Chinese. No more. Indeed, still and thus many interesting and importless. A war against a race was far from ant matters were brought out into our wishes. The most respectable and clearer light. The aim of the confer- ence was to touch upon as many as posthe most cultured Jews do well among sible of the great problems in the us, and will always prosper. When the world's evangelization, all of which measures already referred to were taken must be of vital interest to those preagainst the Jews, the late Baron Hirsch paring for the ministry. The results wrote to me: 'I offer Russia fifty mil- were so abundantly satisfactory t.hat it lions for the construction of railways if is hoped similar conferences will be it will abandon its plan for the persecu- held elsewhere. tion of the Jews.' I referred him to the Government, and laid before him Perhaps the Lord will use the followmy idea of the question. I could not have shaken him off, for he continued ing letters to stir up some of his servants the correspondence for a considerable time. One day he declared that he to take up this work. A student in the wisht to give a million for a philanthropic object. I advised him to place University of Maryland addrest a letter that amount at the disposal of the Holy Synod, so that this body might establish to the Foreign Missionary Board of his own church, in behalf of a people in whom he had become much intereeted, schools with the money. This he did. and received the enclosed reply from You see Hirsch was a Jew, who in the one of the secretaries, !ltating that the course of time learnt to know me straitened financial condition of their better, and he certainly did not share exchequer precludes the possibility of the universal prejudice against me in their taking up any new work; and he which there are embodied so many lies now desires to know if there is not and calumnies, so many conscious and some other missionary society with unconscious errors."
A missionary conference was held which he may communicate, with the January 27, 28, by the students of the Theological Seminary at Auburn, N.Y. prospect of succeeding in having some The attendance was large, including many alumni and visiting pastors and one sent to supply this destitution. The friends from the vicinity; and the spirit of thoughtful interest, rising often to circumstances are set forth in the folenthusiasm, will long influence the life lowing personal letter, received by the of the seminary. The keynote was sounded in the Editor: opening address by Dr. Wilton 11erle "Being deeply interested in mission Smith, of New York, who spoke on work in the neglected continent-a field in which I hope some day to labor, I "A Surrendered Life." Rev. William wrote to Dr. Horace M. Lane, at Sao R. Taylor, D.D., of the Brick Church, Paulo, Brazil, last November, and in Rochester, followed upon the "Biblical his reply Dr. Lane mentions that on the Conception of the Christian Church," very day on which he received my letand Rev. C. S. Richardson, D.D" of ter he had been visited by an Indian the First Presbyterian Church, Little chief from the tribe of the Cherentes, who had come to ask for missionaries, Falls, N. Y.,spokeupon "TheMission- teachers, and agricultural implements. ary Pastor." Dr. Lane exprest a wish that I might see my way clear to come and labor .. City Evangelization" was the theme among these people. This I can no~ do, as I have three more years of study America on his heart, and who would (I am attending the University of Mary- go if he were sent. I heard him speak land, Medical Department) before I can once or twice very effectively at misgraduate; but my interest being aroused, sionary meetings, and Rev. Addison Smith, D.D., of the Aisquith Street I lookt up the map and found that this Presbyterian Church, tells me that he Indian chief, in order to get to Sao frequently fills the pulpits of various Paulo, must have traveled a little over churches, and is well spoken of every- one thousand miles, and I rightly con- where. strued that as an evidence of intense earnestness on the part of these people. "My pwn acquaintance with the In order to learn something about their young doctor is but slight, but I am tribal relationship, la.ngua~e, etc., I deeply imprest with the needs of this consulted the Johns Hopkms Univer- people, and hope that you may be able to lIity Library, and finally succeeded in suggest a way by which someone might finding some interesting facts about the be sent to them. people in a report by a British engineer, named Wells, found in the records of " , Shall we who know the blessed truth the Royal Geographical Society for 1876 To them the Bread of Life deny? (Vol. 46). Mr. Wells had a Cherentes And knowing of their piteous state, Indian as a guide, and states that in Still turn a deaf ear to their cry?' 1848 an Italian Jesuit (Fre Rafael) went to live among these people, and "Yours very truly, GEO. R. WITTE, succeeded in getting them to settle down 611 Aisquith Street, Baltimore." at a place now known as Pedro Affon- 80, on the Tocatius River, where they The case being made known to the formed a fiourishing settlement. The Portuguese, hearing of this village, Foreign MiSSionary Board by Mr. Witte, made a descent on them, killed as many as they could, enslaved those who were the following answer was received: unable to fiee, and took possession of the cultivated lands, houses, and cattle. "My Dear Mr. Witte:-Correspond- The Indians, enraged Ilt this conduct of ence with candidates belongs to my the so-called Christian people, mur· department. This is really scarcely dered their priest, and went back into a question of a candidate, but rather their woods and a savage state. the opening of a new mission. I thank you for the pains you have taken to " So far Wells' report, which is all I ascertain the facts, and place them so have been able to find about the people. clearly before us. Were our Board in position to enter new territory, or to "Now, nearly fifty years after, these enlarge its present mission in Brazil, people once more turn towards the light, my judgment is that the claims of the and having found Catholicism wanting, people to whom you refer ought to be send their chief 1,000 miles to a Pro- most carefully considered. As this is testant missionary center. This may not the case, however, I regret to say seem incredible, but in my researches that it will be impossible for the Board about the Indian nations in South to act on your suggestion and carry the America I have found a similar in- Bread of Life to those poor, perishing stance,recorded by no less eminent a per- multitudes. Weare in great straits sonage than the oft'mentioned Sir Robert financially, being unable to carry the Schomburgh (of Venezuelan boundary work in hand because of the great fallfame) who cites an instance of his com· ing off in our receipts. Weare aping to an Indian settlement, where they proaching the close of the present fiscal had erected a school house and dwell- year with the prospect of a very heavy ing for a missionary, in anticipation, debt, which must mean serious curtailand on a rather vague promise that the ment of present work during the next fiscal year: While s:ympathizing with London Missionary Society would send you deeply in your mterest in the in- viting field in Brazil, and regretting them a teacher. that I can not write you more encoura- " Surely God then workt among those gingly, I am, yours sincerely, savages of the primeval forests, as He "JOHN GILLESPIE."
evidently does now among the Che· No one who knows this deToted scc· rentes. retary will doubt the pangs it cost him "Can WE afford to let their request go to write such a letter. And this is but unheeded? As already stated, I am personally not yet able to respond to one example of the critical state of the the call, but I know of a very spiritualminded young Scotch-Presbyterian at foreign missionary work, when such another Baltimore college, who will an opening can not be entered simply graduate next April, and who has South for lack of funds; and when not only of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, a promising field must be left uncared forcibly interpreted the addresses of the for, but from the same lack of funds two last-named speakers. the present work, already in operation, must be curtailed and narrowed down. On Friday morning the Rev. P. R. How must God look upon the position Zavaleta, Presbyterian, presiding, the of His church in these days, stauding "Character of Publications Needed" before a world-wide field, and actually was discust by the Rev. Arcadio surrendering vantage ground already Morales. The chief address of the secured because His people are not suf- morning was by John W. Butler, D.D., ficiently self-sacrificing and loyal to Him to occupy the openings He sets on "Denominational Comity." * before them. To our minds the present crisis is the most alarming that the cen- This paper, which met with general tury has shown. Who will venture to assent, was one of great power, and undertake this new work in the Master's specially adapted to the need of the name? hour. Another paper, on the same subject, by the Rev. Luis G. Prieto, of In the Independent of Feb. 18, is a the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, record of the second general assembly followed; and an animated discussion, of Evangelical workers in !Iexico, was continuing an hour and a half, ensued. held in Trinity M. E. Church, Mexico Two of the most able speeches were City, Jan. 27-31, 1897; 55 missionaries made by the Rev. Pablo Rodriguez, and 150 native workers being present Baptist, and the Rev. Mr. Sein, Friend. and representing 12 missionary societies This eloquent speaker is a grand-nephew and 5 Bible colporteurs. of the Bishop of San Luis Potosi, and, altho a Quaker, is one of the best and Dr_ S. L. Baldwin conveyed the salu- happiest singers in the assembly. tations of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, congratu- There can be no question as to the lating the Assembly that such a gather- earnestness of these workers on this subing was possible in a building which ject. They evidently do not mean to had been occupied by the friars of the get into each others way, but do intend Roman Catholic Church, and that it to recognize each other as workers for was in the hearts of evangelical workers the one Master, and so to plan as to of so many denominations to come to- secure the greatest possible progress for gether, and unitedly plan for the pro- the common cause. gress of Christ's kingdom. He emphasized self-support, and adduced A resolution was adopted unaniexamples from the work in China to mously, on the recommendation of a encourage the workers in this field. committee, consisting of a Congrega- tionalist, a Presbyterian, and a Baptist, Bishop Fitzgerald delivered an able that the missions on the field and the address, expressing his intense satisfac- Boards in the United States be urged tion with this harmonious assembly of to adopt the suggestions contained in Christian workers, declaring his belief Dr. Butler's paper.t in denominationalism, and saying that if he could make this whole body The excellent article on " Taking Methodists by turning his hand, he Strongholds," which appeared in our would not turn it. True unity was March number, should, of course, have best exemplified, in his view, by just been credited to Rev. H. A. Schauffer, such a gathering as this, in which the Superintendent of the work for Slavonic different divisions of the army of Christ popUlations under the Congregational come together for consultation and Home Missionary Society. This was active cooperation. Dr. J. W. Butler, properly accredited in the table of con- tents, but at the head of the article credit was given to Dr. A. F. Schauffer.
*We print this in our next Issue.
t We print in this issse also a paper read on Self-support. See page 286. We have before referred to "My The necrology of the past few months Life and Times." by Cyrus Hamlin. pUblisht by the Congregational Sunday- has important additions. school and Publishing House, Boston and Chicago. We intend in due time Dr. Wm. Kincaid, Secretary of the to give it ample space in these columns. Home Missions (Cong.), died February It bristles with interest. Dr. Hamlin 12th. He was English by birth, but was born in 1811, and went to Constan- American by training, and after a numtinople in 1839. Consequently his life- ber of well-filled pastorates, was Secretime synchronizes with almost the en- taryof the A. B. C. F. M., and aftertire period of organized missions, and ward held the position of Secretary of his sojourn abroad began when the the Home Work. In all positions he world-field was just opening to the acquitted himself as one of God's noblemessenger of the cross. It is not too men. much to say that Dr. Hamlin has been one of the most conspicuous of the Dr. John N. Murdock was well workmen, not only in the Turkish known as Secretary of the A B. M. Empire, but in the world-field. He U., and died the same month at Clifton who reads this book will find in it a Springs. He was 7'7 years old, and for partial history of the whole times in about 30 years was secretarial head of which this man of such positive per- the Baptist Union's foreign work. He sonality and striking peculiarity has was a man of a judicial turn of mind, figured. It is a book of fascinating singularly wise, and prudent. He "reinterest and of foremost importance signed his office six years ago on ac- count of advancing years. He had too, as well. Scotch blood in his veins, and was Methodist by training. He studied law, E. Marlborough & Co., 51 Old Bail- but soon after entering the bar, exey. E. C., London, publish the little changed it for the pUlpit. He became book " Victory "-Reminiscences of a baptist in 1842, and after pastorates Monan M. Apperson (Phillips) of the in Waterville and Albion, N. Y., and Hartford, Conn.. and Boston, Mass., Church of England Zenana Society, in 1863 became Foreign Secretary. His who sailed for China Oct. 16, 1889, and positions on vext and difficult questions, died Nov. 17, 1894, but whose five tho not always approved at the time, years in that field left a lasting impres- commonly found acceptance after the sion on all who knew her. This memoir heat of debate or the crisis of affairs is a sweet, refreshing book-a sort of was past. He was very tenacious of glass revealing her beautiful, medita- his opinions, but calm and deliberate in tive, and holy habits of mind. Aside forming them. Dr. A. J Gordon, long from its miSSionary interest, it is worth associated with him, thought him a its price as a book of suggestions on man of uncommon sagacity and capaholy living. It is seldom one gets hold city for his office, the round peg in the of any volume so full of original, bright round hole. We hope that a fuller flashes of spiritual knowledge and com- memorial of him may appear in these munion with the Lord. We add one pages hereafter. example (p. 149): "A fourth revelation of God in the Bible. A Spirit (John A.cross the sea, the leading Welsh iv 24). Light (1 John i. 5). Love (1 preacher, Dr. Evan Herber Evans, has John iv. 8), and a consuming FIRE lately died. Born in 1836, he was only (Heb. xii. 29). And we dwell with 61 years old. Before he was fairly everlasting burnings (Isa. xxxiii. 14, through with preparatory studies, he 15). If we let the fire consume, that was called to the Tabernacle, Morriston, fire can and will consume. Fire ie the one of the largest fields in Wales. He only means of getting rid of anything, was called to Caruarvonshire in 1865, and here we glory in it, and pitch into and for 28 years was pastor of ~alem of the fire our rubbish, and it is no more Church. Carnarvon; then Principal of seen, but wherever else we put it, it is N. Wales College. Bangor. At the sure to turn up again at the wrong great Cymanfa gatherings, he preacht time. So we can cast the sin, habits, or to the gathered thousands with thrilling encumbrances into the FIRE. and halle- effect. His last great speech in London lujah! 'He shall thoroughly purge.' was at the anniversary of the Colonial burn with unquenchable fire (Matt. iii. J't'lissionary Society. He was in all 12) all thus committed." The short things a mighty man. His large frame narrative delineates a beautiful char- was the fitting tabernacle of a great acter, and shows how courageous a true mind and a great heart. His name wall child of God is among even persecuting a synonym for missionary zeal, and all good teaching and work. and riotous Chinese mobs.
G:mnRAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign leader of men. He was essentially a Periodicals. devout man, whose humility was un- questioned and recognized by all. His BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, self-effacement was such that little was known of him beyond the circle· in MASS. which he moved. The Indian Specta- tor, a non-Christian paper, says of INDIA. him: -It is remarkt in the Harvest Field " Mr. Goreh was very little talkt of that while the lower castes are more during the past decade; nor did he easily won than the higher, they, on care that his good works should be the other hand, " revert to type" known to man. Brahman or Christian, more easily, while in the higher castes he seems to have realized the value of these apostacies are largely barred by self-surrender at a time when the asser- the severe penalties of breaking caste, tion and aggrandizement of self so and the greater difficulty of reinstate- largely occupy the world."-Harvest ment. FWld.
-The learned clergyman, Nehemiah -Rev. Dr. Hooper, in the O. M. In· Wilakantha Sastri Goreh, has lately telligencer, speaking of the late Rev. died, aged 70. He was a Brahman of Nehemiah Goreh, who was formerly the Brahmans, and deeply learned in connected with the C. M. S., but after- the Vedantic philosophy. Having, wards joined an A.nglican Brotherhood, Inllny years ago, begun to study the remarks: "I need not dwell on that Bible, with a view of refuting it, he feature in our departed brother's char- found himself '" apprehended of J eaus acter which endeared him most, and for Christ," and profest his faith at a time which he was most celebrated among . when this, for a Brahman, meant much his Indian fellow-Christians throughout more o! dishonor and loss than it does (at least) North and West India, name- now, tho even yet it is by no means easy. ly, his lwly, 8elf-denYing pie.!y. He was Having thereupon been appointed as essentially a Christian bhakta. What- companion to the Maharajah of Lahore, ever unworthy suspicions and sad re- who was then a Christian, Wilakantha criminations our native brethren may Sastri accompanied him to England, have, from time to time, indulged in and was presented to the Queen and her towards each other, Nehemiah was husband. On his return, in 1864, being never, I believe, the object of any of then over forty, he was ordained by the them. By common cons~nthe stood so Bishop of Calcutta. He subsequently high above the rest of them that, as if joined the Cowley Fathers, and workt he were a visitant from some celestial in various cities. At all these places sphere, no one ever dreamed of attack- his life and work have borne continual ing, or insinuating anything against testimony of his unswerving loyalty to him. Whether he were High or Low his Master. At one time it. was antici- Church, what his particular views were pated that Nehemiah Goreh would on particular points-all this counted have been a leader in the Christian for nothing with his Christian brethren Church in India, but his bent of of his own kith and kin. They saw thought did not qualify him to be a
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
plainly enough CHRIST was in him, and recognized, even here in India, as the with that they were content." one perfect Man. The educated gener- ally claim that they have no contention -The educated young Hindus of with Christ, but only with Christian- Madras have been passing resolutions ity as a system of religion, and with against the lUxury and idleness of the professing Christians. The following, religious houses of that Presidency. from a professedly orthodox paper, They seem to be very much like the would not· have been allowed a few wealthy Benedictine abbeys of the de- years ago in any organ conducted by clining Middle Ages. Their resources Hindus. It provokt but little discusare noticed by the Hindu as enormous, sion, and that only because Christians but this journal thinks they greatly need took notice of it, c.:.i welcomed the diversion into some more beneficent statement:- channel. This complaint is akin to the still more grievous complaints of misap· '" As a Hindu and a Brahman, who propriated temple-funds in South India. is deeply imprest with the extraor- dinary spiritual progress made by the -Sir Charles Elliott, the retiring ancient Hindus and the almost super- Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, has natural wisdom and foresight of our received an address from the mission- Rishis, I would pay my humble tribute aries, testifying to the unequivocally to the helpful, simple, and deeply touch- Christian attitude which he has always ing nature of the loving and ever humble assumed towards Christian interests in Jesus, beautifully illustrated in his India, in which, they signify, he has crucified life. His short existence on been amply sustained by Lady Elliott. the earth looks like a condenst epitome of universal love, purity, and sacrifice. -The report of the American Mara- To us, unbigoted and pious Hindu, the thi Mission (A. B. C. F. M.) gives some picture of Jesus on the cross-his droopdeeply interesting glimpses into the ing head, His parcht lips, His gaping workings of the Gospel in India. Mr. wounds, His up-lifted eyes, His severe E. S. Humewrites: "Forthreemonths expression of complete resignation, for· in the monsoon, during the absence of giveness, and love-presents the sub- Mr. Abbott, the editing of our mission limest and most thrilling object lesson paper, the Dnyananaya, fell to me. At ever offered to sinful and suffering that time I took pains to read the native humanity.''' papers, in order to understand as well as possible the present attitude of the -Mr. Harding says: "I was struck Hindus towards Christianity. I was by the confession of an intelligent Hindu pleased to note the improved tone of who came, with others, one day to our these papers, and the general inter- tent for conversation. I was speaking est in religious matters which the edu- of the great God, whose power and cated men of this country are taking. wisdom and goodness were seen in all They are feeling the influence of our His works about us, and the folly of aggressive and foreign religion on all worshiping the lifeless idols, which sides. The majority still prefers to de- their own hands had made, and he respise Christianity. At the same time plied with much solemnity: 'Sir, we they find it necessary to frequently know these things as well as you do. prove its weaknesses. Each case of But what can we do? Our families are baptism of a prominent person leads to against us, village life is against us, and much discussion, and warnings against our hands are tied I ' " parents allowing their children to fall uJ,lder the influence of the missionaries -Mr. E. Fairbank says: "While at are found in all the papers. Jesus Mahableswar some conversations there Christ is more and more comi~g to be were full of interest to me. One, especially, I should like to report. I
GENEl!.AL mSSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
askt a Brahman, who seemed to be the heathen. And how significant the fact most sincere Hindu I had ever seen, that the heathen Hindus themselves are 'Do you have any real satisfaction in making a new translation of the Bible your religion, i. e., any true peace that with Hindu notes appended, and St. possesses your life ? ' The frankness of Matthew is already publisht 1"-0. M. his reply surprised me. He said: 'No, S. Letter". there is never any such a thing as peace in our religion. I think,' he said, 'that AFRICA. your religion has this excellence above ours that you do have peace, and it's a Mr. H. DIETERLEN, of the Basuto wonderful thing, but we have not got Mission, intimates in the Journal des it.' 'But,' I replied, 'the fact that there Missions, that one of his brethren has is no peace in your religion, and that counted somewhat too low the part there is in Christianity, throws doubt on which conscience, and. somewhat too your religion, does it not? Why don't high the part which dreams have in you become a Christian?' , No,' he Basuto conversions. Says he: "It is answered, 'I long for that peace, but undoubtedly very often dreams which how can I get it? I was born in my are the occasion of these conversions j religion. My religion is for me. You but these dreams, themselves. are were born in your religion. Your reli· neither more nor less than the offspring gion is for you. My ancestors gave me of a conscience troubled by the sense this religion,and how can I change?' of sin. They turn in general on these He was a well educated Brahman." subjects: the view of the sins which one has committed; the gate of heaven -The rapid increase of the Christian shut against man on account of his population of South India, remarks the guilt; the reproaches addrest by God IJanslc Mi8sions B&ad, has compelled a to the impenitent or unforgiven sinner; somewhat forced increase in the number the last judgment, and the condemnaof native pastors. From 50, in 1855, it tion of the wicked. This is enough to has risen to 900 in 1895. The native indicate that a certain feeling of sin has pastors largely feel as if their equality preceded and engendered these dreams, of office was not cordially recognized and is the cause of the conversion of by the missionaries. Others think that which the dream is but the accidental this feeling is by no means so strong as occasion. In fact, without the sense of is sometimes represented. With the sin is there any possibility of a real con· gradual growth of the native church in version, of repentance, of the desire of character, intelligence, and means, these pardon, and of the acceptance of salva.- frictions, of course, will gradually sub· tion by Jesus Christ." side. Danes, Germans, and Americans are less open to such complaints than In mentioning the Trappist establish- Englishmen, whose good qualities, as ment in South Africa, these Trappists none allow more frankly than them- are sometimes described as an "Orde~ selves, are a good deal alloyed with un· of Jesuits." This is impossible. There graciousness of manner. is but one order of Jesuits. There are, indeed, one or two orders, such as the -" Two Brahmans were in a railway Redemptorists, that are greatly infiucarriage, and one of them refused a enced by the Jesuits. But even in this gospel offered by a native preacher. vague sense we do not understand that He 'could not think of buying a Chris· the Trappists can be called "a sort of tian book.' The other exclaimed, 'It's Jesuits." On the other hand, they are a very good book; it's the life of Jesus a reformation, in the direction of rigor, Christ: it is to me as my daily food. of the ancient Benedictine Order. When I miss a day in reading it I count Therefore, they alone (with Bome casual that day as lost.' And that man was a exceptions in other orders), of all the orders founded since 1200, give to the but they are bearable, or surmountable superiors of their houses the ancient in time, or may be mitigated in pasname of Abbot, altho, in their hu· sage. There are those who suffer very mility, we believe that they have no little, and one may hope to fall within mitred abbots. Being, as we under- that category." stand, entirely separate in administration from the Benedictines proper, we Fiendishness, 1. e. active enmity to do not know whether or not they have God, is as yet an exception in mankind. derived from these a tacit opposition to :Most men are carried along by their dethe Jesuits, but they certainly have no sires, of various kinds, without having special connection with the Jesuits. as yet distinctly opposed themselves to God. There are some fearful excep- It appears from what is said in Med- tions, however, such as the Black Mass, ical Mi88ion8 by A. SIMS, M.B., C.M., in Paris, and the Mass of the Red Lamp, that fever on the Kongo, rightly treated, in Geneva, lately described in t.he REis not so much to be dreaded as is com- VIEW. There is a similar direct wormonly supposed. Mr. Sims says: ship of evil, in antagonism to missions, ., Simple intermittent fever is the com- in Kamerun. Guinea, described in the monest on the Kongo, the easiest to Oalwer Monaisbliitter. This consists in treat, and the least harmful in after-ef- the worship of Gin. The worshipers fects. One may have, perhaps, a hun- form an actual church. Candidates are dred in three years and yet do one's obliged to prove that they are of notowork, or fiuish a definite term of ser- riously evil life, and are gin drinkers. vice. No one is exempt from it, and Thereupon they are baptized by immermost new residents have one a month sion. As soon as the neophyte comes on their first residence on the Kongo. out of the water, he receives a glass of It need not in any way be feared, of it- gin, and thenceforward gin is his god. self it is rarely or never fatal, it is dis- He must pledge himself to the drinking agreeable to have, and distresses the of gin, and to a scandalous life. On system, but in a day or two all effects the Sundays they hold meetings, at are gone and work is resumed, some- which they mutually recount their vile times even on day of cure; it must, deeds, and concert new. This associahowever, be carefully treated, in order tion owes its origin on the one hand to to get rid of it immediately, and to the bad example of so many Europeans, avoid its changing its character and and on the other to the circumstance passing into a worse form of fever, and, that some heathens in Edie once took above all, to avoid 8. reduced system part in a Catholic procession, when and shattered health, necessitating a they were afterwards regaled with gin. voyage home. Many have to return These two occasions suggested to some from the tropics merely from neglect- negroes the thought: There are in Euing their fevers, from badly treating rope many and manifold churches; they them, and particularly from bad habits already knew the " Baslers," the" Bapin manner of dressing, sleeping, eating, tists," the" Catholics;" moreover they working, and living. There is not the saw the evil walk of so many Euroshadow of a doubt that with prudence, peans, and therefore said to themselves, knowledge, and the frank acceptance that in Europe there seemed to be a of good advice one may escape much church, whose members, more or less, fever, be encouraged by a fairly pleas- have their belly for their god. Such a· ant first residence in Africa, and look church, they thought, they must have forward to comparative immunity from ill Kamerun also, and accordingly esthis form of fever during a second term. tablisht this diabolical association, to Inconvenience and some suffering are which they give the euphonious name incident and unavoidable on the Kongo, of the" Almeler."
ENGLISH NOTES
English NOWS. tp.e welcome news tbat the Directors have decided to reopen the Kachhwa BY REY. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A. Miaaion, and to send back Dr. R. J. Ashton as its missionary. This will be THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. another effort to rouse the people of the district from their indifference. News from the Lower Kongo River.- The work at Mbanza Makuta has suf- China.-The mission at Tienstinis fered lately through the death of the flourishing under the administration of chief of the town. This man, during Dr. G. Smith. "One after another," bis last illness, urged the people not to writes the doctor, "seem to really betolerate the Gospel any longer, declar- lieve in Jesus as their Savior, and to ing that he was bewitcht by one of the make up their mind to follow Him." Christians. Villages under water.-The floods in Accordingly, the people, to a large North China are causing great distress, degree, took fright, and would have no having totally destroyed one of the service in their town. The new chief- finest harvests ever known, and covered tain told the Christians they must either many villages with thick mud up to the give up Christ, or leave the village. eaves of the houses. Many families have campt on the roofs of their dwel- Help came, in answer to prayer, from lings. Where they will find refuge in a quarter where it was not expected. the winter it is impossible to say. Dire The state officer took the matter up, distress reigns thruout the entire Yungand extended protection to the mission, ting-ho district, and the missionary and it is hoped that matters will, before working in this district, Rev. J. Stonelong, be righted. house, will be very glad to receive con- tributions in aid of the poor sufferers. Tidingsfromlndia.-Four girls from the boarding-school at Barisal, have South Sea I8lands.-The Island of lately put on the Lord Jesus Christ in Tauhunu, of the Hervey group, has baptism. One of them only ten years sustained a sad loss in the death of old. Abela, the native teacher. Just before he died, he was heard singing .. Safe in The Annual Bengali Conference, held the arms of Jesue," in his own lanthis year at Kathirn, was more evident- guage. His death is a great loss to the ly filled with the Spirit of God than mission, and his place a hard one to fill. ever has been the case before. The program was made up of prayer- The LoniWn Young Women's Mi88ionmeetings, addresses for Sunday-school art! Band celebrated its first anniversary teachers and workers, Christian fellow- on November 20th, 1896. The meeting ship and revival meetings, and Chris- was markt by enthusiasm throughout. tian Endeavor meetings. All the meetings were well attended, and all who PRESBYTERIAN MISSION IN BWATOW• were present must feel the better for such a season of inspiration. "By means of the work in the hos- pital and otherwise, a public opinion is. .Agra.-The Rev. J. G. Potter has slowly, almost imperceptibly, spreading recently had the pleasure of baptizing among the people that the religion we twelve lepers from the leper asylum, teach is a good and true religion. each giving a confession of faith in Jesus before baptism. Three of the "In one of our congregations, Noi candidates who thus faithfully followed hue ti, a rather serious defection to the their Master had to be conveyed to the Roman Catholics has taken place. One spot, the disease having wrought such or two of the brethren there lookt for ravages, that it was impossible for them a 'backing' from the preacher in a disto walk. pute with a heathen neighbor; a belp which the pastpr very properly refused THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
The Foreign Secretary sends hoine
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
to give. The Roman Catholics are, in mission was born of prayer, nourisht such cases, ready to interfere. Probably by prayer, and still supported, from some six families have joined the Ro- month to month, on:y in answer to man Catholics." earnest prayer."
Dr. Cousland writes concerning the " In some way or other large congregations and small buildings The Lord does provide." in which they assemble. In many places the churches and halls are densely WU1i Ohau: .A prosperOU8 corner of packt, and in two or three towns new the 'lJineyard. – Miss K. B. Stayner has enlarged buildings are being erected. much to encourage her in her work in Many more buildings are needed, for this corner. She writes: "We had nine there are many to hear the glad tidings. baptisms here yesterday, Sept. 14th, five being from Yung.ko·azie, the dis- THE NORTH AFRICAN MISSION. trict for which there was special prayer. Three of the number had only hesrd Since this mission was started in 1881 the Gospel within the last year, and by Mr. George Pearse, it has grown two of these had been opium smokers, and spread through all the States and but were so very clear about the doc- Egypt. It has over eighty workers in trine, and their behavior, by all acthe field, and an income of over £7,000 counts, had been so good since they a year. Several other missions have believed, that we could not but accept also started, and agents and colporteurs them, altho the probation for memberof the Bible Society are actively em- ship is usually longer. ployed. Scriptures have been widely distributed, and some fresh translations " Another of the candidates was an made. Prejudices are, in a measure, giv- old man of seventy-seven, and yet aning way through medical missions and other, an old blind woman, who evinced the general kindness of missionaries, wonderful clearness in her answers. and Moslems have been, in several We thank God for these, and pray that places, soundly converted. Many diffi- they may be much used of Him for His culties are still experienced, but there glory." is an increasing readiness to hear the message of salvation. Over seventy countie,~, south of the Hoang-Ho River, have, as yet, no resi- FREE CHURCH MISSION. dent native or foreign evangelist. An earnest appeal is made for help in this "The largest of F. C. Mission entar- quarter. prlses is that of Madras, to which Dr. William Miller has given 34 years of Great blessing is resting on the work his life. College and school occupy a in Olleh-Kiang. "The number of bapmagnificent range of buildings, forming tisms," says Mr. Rudland, "bids fair three sides of a square. On the fourth to go beyond anything we have yet side, separated by a street, is the board- seen." As many as 365 persons were ing-house for Christian students,and be- baptized during last spring in the T'aihind it, also separated by a street, is the Chau district of Cheh-Kiang, and from boarding-house for Brahmin students. present reports it seems likely that there will be a very large number again in Towards the construction of these autumn. buildings, which form the Christian center of Madras and South India, Dr. Only lately T'ai Chau's first convert :&liller has, himself, contributed no less past away at a ripe age. Mr. Rudland, than £20,000. who misses him sorely, tells that" dur- ing his last illness some of his uncon- Ohina'8 Millions.-The Rev. J. Hud- verted relatives came to condole with son Taylor writes: "The very existence him. This he felt too much for him, of the C. I. M. is a standing testimony, and raising himself up in bed, said to more forcible than words, to God's them: faithfulness in answer to prayer. The " •You came to condole and try and sent, because it has been proved in precomfort me; what have you to give me vious famines they would not touch it, that will comfort me now? The Lord so great would be, their fear of losing Jesus died for me, and I'm now going caste through eating what has been to be for ever with Him. But you are tainted by unholy fingers. left in a wicked world still in your sins, and unless you repent, and believe in -The world is growing smaller. the Lord Jesus, you will die in your With the completion of the Trans Sisins. I have no fear of death; it will berian Railway in 1900, the tour of the only relieve me from pain, and take me world in 30 days will become an accomto eternal happiness.'" Such a testi- plisht fact. The entire fare is calcumony as this they had never seen or lated to be from $250 to $400. Yes, met with, and to some of them he and a recent cable dispatch came from seemed to be wandering, but his sons Burma to the Foreign Secretary of the knew better. Not a doubt seemed to Missionary Union in two hour8. This trouble his last hours. His end was is the quickest service on record bepeace. tween Rangoon and Boston, Less than fifty years ago the quickest communi- THE KINGDOM. cation between missionaries in Burma and their friends in America required -Asia accused Him, Africa bore His four months, &nd often when missioncross, Europe crucified Him, while the aries sailed, it was more than a year Isles of the Sea lookt in awe upon His before news came of their safe arrival. dying agonies.-Rev. J. R. lJavies. Then are our eyes deceiving us when we read that in Kusaie, one of the far- -Count Zinzendorf chose as his mot- off islands of Micronesia, the stations to II That land is henceforth my coun- are connected by telephone '! try which most needs the Gospel." And ever since the Moravian Church, in the -Time was when French was the same spirit, has deliberately chosen the diplomatic language. Now the Chinesemost discouraging fields, the tribes Japanese treaty is in 3 texts, and the whose case was most forlorn and hope- English copy is the official one. less. -In the wars of the present century -It is both interesting and full of alone 30,000,000 of men have been encouragement to notice at how many killed. How small, by comparison, is points the non·Christian religions are in the number of those who fall in the direct opposition to some of the might- ranks of the Great Captain of Salvaiest secular forces at work in the mod- tion, fighting in the noblest of noble ern world. Thus the demand is be- causes 1-Regions Beyond. coming more and more imperative each year that the Moslem pilgrimages to -Did you ever notice how, in that Mecca be prohibited since they so spread wonderful ninety-ninth Psalm, David, contagious diseases and become thus a in the midst of a torrent of praise, menace to Europe. Then in Bombay makes the practical suggestion that they an attempt was made to isolate the bring an offering as they come into His known cases of plague in a hospital, courts? How can we come into His but caste prejudices and the senseless presence, knowing the need of His suspicions of the more ignorant natives world, and withhold what we might prevented this. Still further, in the give 1-Helping Hand. famine districts of India cows are to be had almost for the asking, yet thous- -The Standard has actually heard of ands are starving to death rather than a Chicago Baptist, the head of a great eat this forbidden food. Corn, so mercantile establishment, who began a abundant in this country, can not be month beforehand to plan his business 80 as to be able to attend a conference on systematic beneficence. / or a daughter to Africa, India, China, or Japan. If, in addition, the support of -All things considered, this must be its child can be guaranteed by the considered the most notable benefaction church, it has put itself in the most ever -made. Let other millionaires give vital and helpful relations to foreign good heed. Alfred Nobel, of Stock· mISSIOns. We believe such a connecholm, has willed to the world $10,000,- tion of many individual churches with 000, which vast sum is to be converted individual foreign missionaries would into safe securities and the interest used do much toward imparting concretefor prizes to be annually given to those ness and enthusiasm to the work of who have done most during the yearto discipling the nations.-The Oongregaadvance science or promote the welfare tionalist. of the race, as follows: "One·fifth for the most important discovery in the -It appears that at least in some natural sciences. One-fifth for the cases retrenchment may be a blessing most important discovery or improve- in disguise. For the Baptist Missionary ment in chemistry. One-fifth for the Magazine has this to say: "A number of most important discovery in physiology the missionaries have written, expressor medicine. One-fifth for the most ing their thankfulness that their approexcellent work in literature, and the priations for work have been cut down, remaining fifth part to that person who and that they have been compelled to has labored most effectively for the tell the native Christians that they had uniting of humanity, the disarmament, no funds from America to provide for partial or complete, of standing armies, the support of their churches. There and for the organization and promotion has been brought to light in this most of peace congresses." The prizes are unexpected way a reserve of manliness, to be awarded by the Swedish aca- self-reliance and ability of self-support demies and the Norwegian legislatures, which has surprised the missionaries and are to be given without regard to themselves. In response to appeals to nationality. Every man and woman in provide for that which could not longer the human race may strive for a prize. be supported by American funds, the native Ohristians have in many cases -President Finney tells of a man, a risen nobly to the emergencies of the professing Christian, who on being askt situation. Scores of native churches if he felt that his property and business have voluntarily assumed the supbelonged to God, he being only the port of their pastors and all their manager, replied: "Oh, no, I haven't religious worship, and have developt got so far as that yet." It seemed to unexpected strength in the midst of him almost absurd that such a question the poverty in which most of them should be askt. His thought was that live. The ideal in the establishment of a recognition of the Divine ownership Christianity in any land is self-support – of oneself and one's estate was an ex- and self-reliance; and through the trials perience belonging to a far-advanced which have come upon the Ohristians religious experience to which in the by the financial distress of the Missiondistant future it might or might not be ary Union, this grace of liberality and given him to attain. self-dependence has been developt in many places like shafts of sunlight -What better way of promoting an piercing the heavy clouds of financial interest in foreign missions can be distress." found by an individual church than to contribute one of its members to the -In the annual list of appropriations foreign field? In these days, when so from every mission may be found such many nearer causes side-track the items as these: "Boat-house and boats, foreign missionary movement, there is Ratburee, 120 ticala " (about $43); "Jinnothing so sure to bring it back to its rightful prominence as the gift of a son "kiaM for Bible women's work, Alla- -The Methodists have 51 deaconess habad, 180 rupees" ($54); "Oxen, Main- homes, with nearly 600 deaconesses, of purie, 120 rupees" ($36); "Mule·part whom 100 are trained nurses. During and two horses, Guatemala, 750 pes08" the last four years, over $600,000 have (about $350); "Horses and saddles, been raised for this purpose. These Guerrero, 600 Mexican" (about $360); women serve without salary, and made "Running the Nassau, Africa, $500." over 250, 000 calls, held several thousand – Woman', Workfor Woman. meetings, and cared for over 6,000 sick people. WOMAN'S WORK. -The Methodist Woman'liI Foreign -A remarkable missionary collector, Missionary Society raised $285,770 last Mrs. Mary Amos, died recently in Eng- year. Among the women sustained are land. Of her the London Methodist Re- 22 medical missionaries, who in 14 hos- C()rdi!'1' says: "For nearly forty years pitals and dispensaries ministered to she devoted herself to this wor1,>:, with more than 60,000 of their sex. the result that no less a sum than .£10,- 000 reacht the Wesleyan Missionary -The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society's exchequer. It was made up Society of the Methodist Episcopal very largely of small sums; in fact, it Church, South, received last year $121,- is said that half-a-crown was about the 157. Appropriations were made at the height of her ambition, and she never last annual meeting of $37,960 for refused a copper, were it only a half- China, $14,225 for Brazil, $37,965 for penny. She solicited aid from anyone, Mexico, and $6,150 for the Indian Terirrespective of creed or position, if she ritory. Including the contingent and considered they were able to give a con- other miscellaneous appropriations, the tribution, either large or small. She total amonnt was $93,300. became quite a character in the villages and towns of the North, regularly mak- -Mary Pierson Eddy, who is in Syria ing her appearance for the gifts, and as an American: Presbyterian missionnot only collected from, but dieted ary, has written to friends denying that with. the numerous kind friends whose the Sultan has forbidden women physiinterest she aroused, and whose good cians to attend his subjects. Miss Eddy will she secured in her extensive field is a physician, and says that since she of labor." received from the Imperial Council of Medicine in Constantinople a diploma -Accounts of the present work of authorizing her to practise in all parts Miss Jessie Ackerman, read like a stray of the Turkish Empire she has met no leaf from the history of the Woman's interference. She has 2 Syrian assist- Crusade. Accepting the assistant pas- ants, and says that she has treated many torate of the Fourth Baptist church in cases among the Bedouins. CWcago, she has entered upon her work as an evangelist with that zeal and re- -A woman who knows byexperisolution wWch characterized her labors ence sets forth this in the February sa round the world missionary of the Woman'8 Work for Woman about itiner- W. C. T. U. She has adopted as her ating in Mexico: "We often think that plan of work Saturday night visitation all the Christian graces mentioned by of saloons and dives, and the conduct- Paul, and more too, are needed; but ing of a short service largely of a gospel patience is of special importance. Patemperance nature· in each place were tience, when one gets lost the first day not refused, after which she invites each on the road and instead of 11 A.M. ar- . listener to a service in the church. She rives at 6 P.M., having pickt Ws way is accompanied in these visits by one or down a slippery, rocky hill at a burro's more assistants. snail pace, in a drenching rain storm. Patience to stop first for one thing and then another on the road-to give inllk charge that great corporations are soul- to baby, to re·saddle horses, to rest ani- less is furnisht by the fact that Amer- mals, to re-arrange packs. Patience, can railroad corporations contribute when after traveling all the hot ~orning every year $181,000 to the work of the one inquires at noon for dinner, only to Railroad Young Men's Christian Asso- hear the refrain, No hay nada, NQ hay ciation along the lines of their roads. conque (there is nothing, nothing but tortillas). Patience-when after nu- -The (JlJiri8tian Enrka'1JO'l' New8 re· merous failures, one succeeds in per- ports that the pledges of business men suading a·woman to cook a dinner and in San Francisco toward the expenses then waits one, two, three hours for the of the International Convention to be chicken to be run down, killed, pickt, held there this year exceed anything the COrn ground for tortillas, the wood known in the annals of such convenhunted to make the fire, and finally, for tions, amounting to $17,500, while the dinner to be cookt. Patience – after Golden Gate Union and the Alameda an early start and an all day's travel, to County Union have increast the hold service in the evening when it is amount to $25,000. almost impossible not to fall asleep in the middle of the sermon and then to -The King's Daughters held their •• please play another hymn" after we 11th anniversary not long since, and are done. Endurance must not be lack- were able to report a membership of ing; on rough roads, hard climbs and 400,000 in all parts of the world. as difficult decents, hot dusty roads, muddy and slippery roads, and bridle -The Congregational Chinese Enpaths half closed by overhanging deavorers, of San Francisco, have conthickets. One must be able to put up tributed $17.00 toward the International with any thing: with hard beds or no Convention fund, $80.00 to the Ameribeds; fieas and-worse; sometimes to can Board, and support 6 missionaries sleep out of doors, again in a vacant in China. house, which is quite agreeable if it i8 really vacant; to occupy the same room -The present foreign tour of the with pigs and feel them scratching their president of the United Society of backs on the underside of one's bed in Christian Endeavor will bear fruit in the night, without alarm. many ways at the San Francisco con- vention. Dr. Clark writes that he has YOUNG PEOPLE. secured for use as a gavel at the con- vention the shoemaker's hammer that -The International Committee of the was used by William Carey before he Y. M. C. A. has celebrated its 80th an- went as a missionary to India. Another niversary, and gives this survey of the convention gavel is now being made work accomplisht. The number of as- for him by a Hindu society. sociations has grown to 1,448, and the membership to 268,298. The Associa- -The" tenth legion" was famous in tion owns 815 buildings, valued at $16,- history, but now it is the name of those 759,800, and the annual expenses for Endeavorers who propose to give onelocal work reacht last year $2,296,441. tenth of their income for Christ and the The religious work is well to the front, church. It is a happy title. It will and in 1,070 of the associations there lead young pepple to keep accounts are religious meetings, while in 762 and to set apart a certain portion of there are Bible training classes; 4S their means for beneficence. We may associations are for the Indians, 61 for not believe that a tenth is the only or colored men, 108 for railroad men, and the best rule of giving. but it is vastly 480 for college students. better than impulsive and intermittent generosity. One union in New York -An illustration of the falsity of the has 1,000 members. The only thing required is to be .. willing to avow yourself one whose rule is to give God was taken for the suffering Armenians, the tithe." and great enthusiasm was manifested.
-A well informed writer in Australia -A society in Cleveland, 0., of 83 counts the progress of the Christian members, all having small incomes. Endeavor movement in that Island- fulfilled a pledge to raise by free wlll Continent .. one of the most remark- offerings $500 for foreign missions last able developments in current religious year, without lessening gifts to their life," and believes that ,. there is no own church. They also made more part of the world where it has taken a than 700 visits to the sick and needy, stronger hold, stands on a firmer basis, distributing more than 5,000 pieces of or has better prospects of success." literature, and started a missionary alid The Endeavorers of Australia number reference library of 100 volumes. Two between 50,000 and 60,000, tho the first of the number have gone as missionsociety was formed only seven years aries to Africa. ago, and Australia, tho territorially about as large as the United States. -According to the Hodd, there are does not contain many more people than now in Japan 197 kindergartens, with New York. 390 lady teachers. In the city of Osaka alone there are 41 of these schools. -The Junior socIety in Chihuahua celebrated Christmas by bringing gifts UNITED STATES. to be given to other children poorer than themselves. As all the members -Mr. Pierpont Morgan's gift of of the society are poor, it was touching $1,000,000 to the New York Lying-in. to see the eagerness with which they Hospital, taken together with the nubrought apples, nuts, candies, and even merous gifts to other charities in recent clothing, to be given away. Two very years, amounting altogether to about as poor children brought, untouched, the much more, entitles him to rank among bags of candy that had been given to the most generous of modern philan· them at the Christmas tree. The next thropists. This is another of the bene· morning a number of poor children ficent deeds by which men of wealth were brought to the church, and there prove that the faculties devoted to great received the gifts, and at the same time acquisitions do not necessarily fail to an invitation to the services. serve also the needs of humanity.
-One of the chief obstacles to Chris· -T. J. Morgan, once Indian Comtian Endeavor in India is the separation missioner, and now active in home mis· of the two sexes. There are very, very sions, is of the opinion that the divorce few of even mission schools where boys between religion and morality. tho so and girls study together. Nowhere do painfully common, is no more prevalent they play together, sit together, or among the freedmen than among white walk together. It is most difficult to people of a similar grade of culture. have a society in which males and females cooperate. -One of the newest of American missionary societies is the African In- -At the annual convention of the land MIssion, which. within two years, Endeavor societies connected with the have dispatcht 16 men and women to Foochow Mission, a membership was East Africa, and opened 4 stations, sev· reported of 1,377, as compared, with eral hundred miles towards the interior 7 societies and 291 members, reported from Mombas. The income, so far, at the first annual convention in Shang. has been about $6,000. hai, less than two and a half years ago. At the consecration service 122 persons -Who will not join heartily in con· took part by prayer and testimony in gratulations to our Baptist brethren who have for months been facing the M minutee. A generous collection possibility of being compelled to abandon one or more of their misssions-the lodgings received over $190,000 from Kongo region had been named-but those sheltered; the City Colony, with are now rejoicing in the offer of Mr. its many branches, returned $470,000 Rockefeller to pay $250,000 towards re- toward an expense of $493,000, and the moving the huge debt from both the Farm Colony, in spite of very many home and foreign boards, provided only difficulties, came within $25,000 of that before July 1 the churches contri- meeting its expenditures of $250,000.
bute $230,000. -Dr. Bamado cabled from London -In 1896 it cost the Presbyterian to the British ambassador at Constanti· Missionary Board five per cent. to ad- nople, offering to receive gratuitously minister $777,063. and at once into his houses 1,000 desti- -The Missionary (presbyterian, tute Armenian orphans, and represented South), for February, whether for value to the foreign office his ability to care or variety of contents, illustrations, or for more than that number, if necestypographical excellence. is one of the sary. Some who have been accepted very best that has come to hand. previously were on their way to rural homes in England. -Jan. 14, a council met at Bethany Church, San Francisco, and ordained -The English Church Missionary Mr. Joe Jet, who has been connected Society, whose income is nearly as large with the Chinese work for about 20 as that of all the other Church societies years.' He goes to take charge of the combined, publishes 4 magazines, whose mission work in Southern China, carried combined circulation in 1895, had on by the Christian Chinese of Califor- reacht 2,208,350. The receipts from nia. He is the second Chinese ordained these exceed the cost by nearly $1,000.
by a Congregational council, and Rev. The Friend says: "English Friends Jee Gam, the first, gave the right hand have now active missions in Syria and of fellowship in excellent English. China, as well as in India and Mada- -At the recent twenty-fourth anni- gascar, also in Constantinople, Bulgaversary of the Jerry McAuley Mission, ria, France, Ceylon, and South Africa. in New York, it was reported that the American Friends have missions in attendance during the year was about Palestine, Japan, Alaska, Jamaica, 40,000, and that over 2,000 have been China, and India. A beginning has converted. R. Fulton Cutting present- been made, but the field is the world…
ed the treasurer's report. showing that The Continent.-The position of the the expenses for the year were $5,087, Paris Missionary Society is a very (liffiand that the receipts, mainly gifts and cult one. They recognize very clearly collections, were $5,996. the duty incumbent upon them to do EUROPE. all in their power to conserve and to strengthen mission work in Madagas- Great Britain.-The report of the car. Under the influence of this feel- "Darkest England" scheme for the ing they are sending out French Pro- Salvation Army for the last year shows testant teachers to labor in our Normal that 3,231,917 meals were supplied and School and in the Friends' High 1,339,246 nights' lodging; 2,501 men Schools. They will also send out before were received into the factories, 411 10,ng other educational workers, whose into the first prison home, 11.899 pro- qualifications will enable them to take vided with employment, temporary or a leading placc in the development of the permanent, and 1,535 women and girls educational work. They are, however, received into rescue homes. Altho there a very small body, and the mission'
is no pretense of making the work self- work they already have in hand in Ba- supporting, the shelters for food and sutoland, the Kongo, Senegal, and Tahiti makes very heavy demands upon in which he had appoi~tments to detheir limited means. Consequently they liver his lectures on .. Comparative regard with dismay the responsibilities Religion." In Calcutta, Bombay, and which seem to await them in Madagas- Madras he will deliver 6 lectures on the car.-R. Wardlaw Thompson. following themes: "The World-wide Aspects of Christianity;" .. The.World- -The friends of foreign missions wide Effects of Christianity;" " The among the 80,000 Lutherans in France, Christian Doctrine of God as the Basis who, heretofore, have sent in their con- of a Universal Religion;" "The Un!' tributions to the Paris Missionary So- versal Book;" "The Universal Man ciety, have resolved henceforth to ren- and Savior;" "The Historical Characder pecuniary aid to the missionaries of ter of Christianity as Confirming its the Norwegian Church in Madagascar. Claims to World-wide Authority." In other cities he will give from 1 to 3 -Rev. R. Bahnsen, inspector (direct- lectures. Those who thought of his or) of the Schleswig-Holstein Mission- coming with deep solicitude lest he ary Society, left Brecklum in October should speak too flatteringly of Hindufor India Dn a tour of inspection of his ism, are wholly satisfied with his treat-' fields of labor. The 10 Brecklum mis- ment of the themes he has selected. sionaries are working among the Telugu and Jeypore people on II chief-sta- -Taken all in all, the Lutheran tions, and 11 out-stations, assisted by Church in India embraces 8 to 11 mis- 25 native helpers. sion fields, cultivated by 170 American and European missionaries, 50 native -The Danish Lutheran Missionary pastors, and nearly 1,200 native help- Society, which has its fields of labor in ers and teachers. The fruit of their India and China, has recently had 4 faithful labor consists in more than new missionaries ordained in the 100,000 confirmed members of the cathedral at Ripen, by the venerable Church and more than 7,000 children bishop Dr. Goettsche. The bishop's in the mission schools. own son, who had been an officer in the army before he studied for the ministIy, -It is almost impossible to make was one of the 4. He is going to India, Hindu converts understand that money the other 3 are on their way to China. they receive from the missionaries as a loan must be repaid. For example, a -Fifteen German missionaries soci- large number of native farmers recently eties are taking active part in the work abandoned their village for a place of spreading the Gospel among the some miles distant, and said that they heathen They are supporting about were doing it because the mission- 700 thoroughly trained men, who, as aries had taken their lands away ordained ministers, are preaching the from them. The fact of the case was Word to 300,000 native Christians. that in a time of great distress the The annual expenses amount to $1,250,- missionaries had advanced money to 000. Of these 15 societies, 6 are these farmers, receiving their land as strictly Lutheran, viz., the Leipsic security; and when the farmers became Society, the Berlin, the Gossner, the able to repay the loan they had refused Hermannsberg, the Brecklum, and the to do it, whereupon the missionaries Neudettelsau Society. had simply asserted their rights in a court of law. ASIA. -Rev. J. N. Forman says: You India.-Rev. J. H. Barrows, who is must take the people just as you find now villiting India for the purpose of them, and you will certainly never find delivering lectures on the Haskell Foun- them alike two days in succession! dation, reacht Bombay December 15, One day there are crowds, and the next and we have before u.s a list of 21 cities day you may have "two boys and a 15,467,752, or six per cent. of the caste dog;" one day there is close attention population; second, Kshatriyas, 29,- to the preaching, and the next day 984,282, or twelve per cent.; third, Vasome man has come carrying a new isyas, 12,270,973, or five per cent.; pair of shoes, or a couple of cauliflow· fourth, Sudras, 121,550,368, or fifty per ers, and to the preacher's dismay he cent.; and, fifth, Out-castes, 65,700,758, finds a discussion started as to whether or twenty-seven per cent. So strong the shoes were cheap at eleven annas, or has the caste feeling become amongst the cauliflowers dear at two for a pice; the out-castes of Madras, that they reor perhaps one day the people are quiet sent the opprobrious name of Pariah. but hopelessly stupid, and the next day Out of respect to that feeling, the Masome young upstart persists in asking dras Government has recently past an foolish questions, just when you think order that in all State documents they you have at last made some impressio. be referred to as Panchama, which liton your audience. erally means the fifth caste.-H. F. La- flamme. -During conference a very unique and significant reception was given to China.-There are now upwards of Bishop Thoburn and the members of 1,000 schools of various descriptions for the conference. A. rich and well-known natives in China under foreign instruc- Hindu merchant, Mr. Venkatatchellum, tion or direction. They range from the having become deeply interested in the village day-school up to high-schools work carried on by Methodists among and colleges. Many of these schools the deprest classes in India, has not have been in operation from ten to only helpt the work very liberally in twenty years, so that the number of Madras during the year, but also very youthful Chinese who have been generously gave a banquet in honor brought up under foreign educational of Bishop Thoburn as a token of appre- influence of a Christian character Inay ciation of the work in which he has safely be estimated at considerably over been pre-eminently a leader. A. large 250,000. number of guests were present by invitation, and some excellent addresses -In the day-schools at Chefoo the delivered.-Indian Witne88. number of scholars suddenly increast at the Chinese New Year from 30 to -By a process of degradation, the 4 120, all due to the growing friendliness original castes have been subdivided of the Chinese to the missionary instiand multiplied, so that now, in all In- tutions, and the increasing desire for dia, there must be about 100,000 caste prhnary education. This larger attenddivisions. Revolts against Brahmanic ance is the more remarkable, as aid authority are frequent, and attract dif- hitherto given in books and stationery ferent castes. If they involve nothing has been discontinued. A. prominent but dogma or academic principles, caste Chinese official at Chefoo, secretary to is not affected; if, however, social or- the local governor for over twenty thodoxy is impugned, the adherents years, has recently proposed to furnish have to retire from the fold and form a a house and school-room at $1,000 a new 'community. By a process of (Mexican), to provide for the teaching filtration, the caste feeling has permeat- of 4 pupils. ed even the despised outcaste classes and hill tribes, and a large section of -The increasing demands on the the Mussulman community, until at Presbyterian Mission Press at Shanghai least· 245,000,000 of the 290,000,000 of are one index of an awakening interest India have fallen into caste thraldom. among the Chinese in western litcrature This large number may be roughly di- of a high order. Here is a single invided as follows :-First, Brahmins, stance: One man from the anti-foreIgn and exclusive province of Hunan visited Shanghai during the past year, and as a visible monument of the establish. subscribed for 120 copies of the Re- ment of Christianity. A Presbytery, view of the Times in Chinese. The whose proceedings are conducted in issues from this great press establish- Chinese, whose members are native ment are given in the report just re- elders elected by the congregations ceived as 500,000 copies, and over 46,- composed of groups of members 000,000 of pages for the year under throughout the provinces, and where review. Nearly 30 different Bible the missionaries sit only provisionally as societies and missionary organizations assessoI'f, stands as a formal witness to look to this press for assistance in fur- a living native Church, with a memthering their far-reaching operations. bership already reckoned by thousands. Such are the constantly growing de- A theological class of well-nigh 100 mands upon it as to the quality and members, carrying on studies alongside quantity of its work, that it is under the of evangelistic work in their several necessity of frequently adding the latest districts, and assembling at stated peand best of press appliances from Eu- riods for a short course of lectures and rope, and of increasing its working spiritual conference, stands as the proforce.-Ohurch at Home and Abroad. phecy of an early native pastorate.- Missionary Record. -It is reported, and it is believed by our missionaries in the Province of AFRICA. Shansi, that an American has secured a contract for a railrlJad from the coast -The Kongo railway, which is soon to Tai-yuen-fu, the provincial capital. to sp!.n, with its iron limbs, the cata- The isolation of our missionaries in that ract region of 230 miles, has involved province will be understood by the fact not only an enormous outlay in money, stated by Mr. Atwater, that neither he but a hetacomb of human livgs. No nor Dr. Atwood, tho it is fifteen years one will ever know how many graves years since the latter went to Shansi, has have been necessitated by that stuseen a foreigner at their homes since pendous work, and yet these obstacles they left Tientsin, except their fellow- have never for a moment been deemed missionaries.-Misswnary Herald. insurmountable in face of the end in view. The rocks must be blasted; the -Last summer, when Mrs. lap, the mountains scaled, the valleys exalted, wife of our most highly esteemed Amoy and the ravines bridged over, to make pastor, died, so genuine and widespread the way of civilization plain. Whatwas the appreciation of that exception- ever was involved in the way of sufferally noble woman's character, that sev- ing or of death was not to be taken into eral articles of a most discriminating C()nsideration ; and even if the sum excharacter appeared in the Amoy Church pended were more than a million ster- Montllly, and on the day of her burial ling, this, too, should be gladly subin the lone cemetery on the hillside in scribed for the work in hand. Gigantic the Sio·khe Valley, 30 women, many of outlay is considered advisable for the them with bound feet, and upwards of facilitation of trade and civilization. 200 men, many of whom had walkt Shall it not be equally reasonable when from neighboring villages 8 and 12 expended on the spiritual elevation and miles away, followed in quiet, mourn- eternal salvation of nations which sit ful procession to the place where they in darkness? Are not the souls of men laid her away.–J. G. Fag!]. worth more than the rubber of the forest, or the ivory of the elephant? -In Mukden, the capital of Manchu- Belgian, French, English, and Porturia, a handsome church, with its pagoda- guese traders do not flinch from enlike steeple, the center of a congregation countering the dangers of the Kongo of 800 communicants, with a native climate for the sake of worldly ad· pastor supported by themselves, stands vancement. It w.ere a thousand shames Zambesi did not prove a barrier, and were we to lag behind."-Regions Be- only 15,000 cattle were left out of 200,- yond. 000 in Rhodesia. In Khama's country -J. S. Mills writes from the West 800,000 were destroyed. "So terrible Coast: The number of missionary so- a visitation, extending over so wide an cieties operating in this part of Africa area, is almost unknown in the annals makes it necessary in the near future to of Africa. The grievous murrain that agree upon what places each shall oc- smote the herds of Pharaoh was but B cupy. Itis possible that a meeting for parochial epidemic compared with this this purpose will be held at Freetown. continental disaster." This necessity is so apparent that all our missionaries deem it very desirable that -The 4 principal diamond mines of the gropnd be more extensively ex- Kimberley employ 8,000 persons, of plored, 'so that we might act to the best whom6,5oo are black. From2,000,000 to advantage in the proposed division of 8,000,000 carats of diamonds are turned territory. For this work it was agreed out of the De Beers mines in a single to start from Rotufunk, and travel year, even under restriction to prevent eastward. That the trip might also be overstocking the market. Stones evangelistic, an organ and a magic weighing over an ounce (151.5 carats) lantern, with pictures of the life of are not infrequent in Kimberley. The Christ, were taken along. We started largest found so far in that mine promptly, and marcht beyond Pan- weighed 428~ carats in the rough, and guma, and returned by another route, 228~ after being cut. The largest making a journey of over 400 miles in known diamond, weighing 970 carats, 24 days. This would not be far on a found in the Jagersfontein mine, is now being cut at Amsterdam.
railway, but when measured by foot- -Not long ago the chief Lerotholi, steps it is a long distance. in the Lessouto mission, exprest the -The Presbyterian Church has ac- wish that his tribe should possess ancepted the offer of Miss Margaret Mac- other industrial school, the one which lean, of Glasgow to support a mission to our mission founded at Leloaleng being tpe dwarf peoples of Africa. With Ga- too far from the center of the country boon and Corsico as centers, the Ameri- to supply all needs. It was impossible canPresbyterian missionaries have taken for our society to establish this new the Gospel to the dwarfs among the school; and the time had come when Mabeya tribes. They are planning an the progress of the tribe and its growadvance, and for that purpose have ing appreciation of the benefits of civili- askt for additional workers. This zation demanded that it should make curious fragment of humanity, whom • sacrmces which would not have been Stanley met in his travels, have for askt of it formerly. The chief Lerasome years been laid upon Miss Mac- tholi understood this. He levied a tax lean's heart; she has now given £1,500 on the whole country. In the middle to establish a mission among them, and of last June its produce amounted to promises £500 a year in support of the 75,000 francs. After this he sought work. advice both from the administration -The Review of Reviews mentions and the missionaries, and askt their the rinderpest as one of the strange interest in his enterprise. The final results of Italy's attempt to conquer result, in which we greatly rejoice, Abyssinia. Introduced by plague- was that the direction of the school was stricken cattle, sent to supply the offered to our society, without any Italian army with food, it has steadily share in the expense.-Journal del moved southward, destroying nine- Missions &angeliques.
tenths of the herds of Africa.. The -The circular houses of the Bakwina
April
(Beckuana), built of mud and thatched hand for their churcheB.~he childl'en with grass, are crowded together, each are now taught in Malagasy in tens of one surrounded with a low mud wall thousands by Christian men and women.
or fence. No privacy is possible, and To close these schools and to lay these so the "mahoko," or news of the family, teachers idle is to inaugurate confusion.
easily becomes the property of the com- Besides this, arrangements have been munity. Outside is unspeakable filth, made to send French Protestant teach- squalor, and wretchedness. The" dith- ers as far as the services of such work- otobodu," or dust heaps (sic), represent ers can be obtained. The haste to the accumulated refuse of thirty years make a change seems to be more owing or more. When I go up to church I to Roman Catholic intrigue than to have to climb over two of these "moun- political considerations.
tainous" heaps, and if to the chief's, -The "French Society f9r the three. This last one overtops the sur- Propagation of the French Langiiage in rounding huts. Let the reader imagine the French Colonies," has given $30,000 what this means after a steady rain, to the Jesuits in Madagascar, altho the followed by the heat of a tropical sun. English and Norwegian Protestant No wonder that the mortality among Missionaries had made known their the people to-day, combined as it is willingness to teach French in their with other causes, is so appalling.- schools. The French Lutheran Aid Rev. H01JJard Williams. Society for the Norwegian missions in -The Leipsic Missionary Society is Madagascar,has sent Monsieur Pochard, making an appeal to its friends and of Paris, to Stavanger, to teach French supporters for a special contribution of to the students in the mission college, $7,500 for the establishment of a new and to accompany them later on to mission station on the Meri mountains, Madagascar.
three days' journey west of the KiIi- -A missionary letter describes the manjaro mountains, among the Wara wedding of a native pastor in Ne, tribe, where 6 missionaries are occupy- Guinea. A wreath of artificial flowers ing the stations Mamba, Moshi, and adorned the head of the bride, which Madjame, and are doing pioneer work was further wrapt ardund with yards full of promise for a rich harvest in the upon yards of ribbon of all colors. future. She and her friends were greatly dis- ISLANDS OF THE SEA. turbed because they could not get a piece of mosquito netting for a veil.
-The new policy of "thorough" in Their presents were in cloth, no pres- Madagascar, is being more and more . ent under 8 yards, and for purposes of insisted on. One great reform has, display the cloth was all tied together however, been proclaimed in the abo- at the corners. It amounted to more lition of slavery. Heavy fines and im- than 100 yards and seizing this, the prisonment are to be inflicted on those friends of the couple danced around who violate this law. Freed slaves are the village. Then the bride and groom to keep all the goods they have bought were seated in a garden, wrapt around out of their savings. No war tax is to with these hundred yards of print, and be levied. On the other hand, Mada- six shirts placed on the knees of the gascar has been proclaimed French soil, bridegroom. A hat was placed on the the French language made the obli- ground, and money gifts were next in gatory basis of all school instruction, order. The separate gifts rose as high and the" Romish cult" is especially to as $10, and, as each gift was thrown be insisted on. Protestant missionaries into the hat, a man standing near gave will be more than ever hampered in an unearthly yell and shouted out twice their work, and a time of trial seems I!ot its value.
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1895
CHA.RLES HADDOX SPL'ROEON. JAMES ARCHER SPL'RGEOX
THJll REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D., of Boston, one of our editorial statI, died February 2d, at 12.5 A.M. Fuller notice of this great loss must be reserved for the next issue.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVill. No. S.-Old Serie8.-MAROH.-VoL. VIII. No. S.-NetO &riel•.
THE WORLD-WIDE MINISTRY AND MISSION OF CHARLES H. SPURGEON.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-OHIEF.
Some great events, like vast mountains which seem to defy the ordinary law of perspective, scarcely diminish in importance as they recede into. the distance; they still loom up, in grand proportions, when years have passed.
The death of Charles Haddon Spurgeon is one of those momentous losses to the Church and the world which appear rather the. more deplorable after the lapse of years. In fact, it took time to get the true measure of the meaning of this disaster. Like the giant redwoods of Cali10rnia, which are seen to best advantage after they have fallen and lie in colossal grandeur upon the ground, Spurgeon was best measured after he fell ; and thus far the loss is, humanly speaking, absolutely uncompensated by any adequate results of good wrought through it, and the disaster seems, to our limited vision; wholly irreparable.
That God, being both wise and good, wisely meant this unto good, is to a true believer beyond dispute ; but the goodness of this particular dealing and discipline is not yet apparent. In common with many others, we have asked ourselves, again and again, whether there be a single beneficial outcome which can be traced to this strange providence; but we can only fall back blindly upon the assurance that" all things work together for good," and remember our Lord's mysterious words, " What I do thou knowest ~ot now, but thou shalt know hereafter."
Meanwhile, it may be well to look backward and scan this man's service to his generation, and learn under what a debt one consecrated life may lay the whole world.
I. As a preacher of the Gospel, Charles H. Spurgeon had a world-wide mission and ministry.
It would seem as though the pulpit of our day could ill spare him. Among all the modern preachers he stood, facile princeps, without superior, if not without rival, in the apostolic simplicity and unadulterated purity of the Gospel he preached. He felt that somehow and manyhow the message
Tlm WORLD-WIDE KINISTRY 01' CHARLES H. SPURGEOlf. , [¥arch
of salvation had come to be corrupted with so much of man's invention that the chaff was hopelessly mixed with the wheat. Practically, his whole ministry was a sieve, by which he sought to separate man's traditions and fashions from God's teachings and practices. In this respect he seems to us to have had no competitor for tlie peculiar crown that must ever rest on his brow. For forty years he preached, on an average, probably more sermons, without repetition, than any other man of his generation; his published sermons already reach more than two thousand, and yet it would be difficult to find one that does not contain, somewhere or in some form, the essential, vital seed of the saving message. In fact, he early formed the deliberate purpose that such should be the law of his ministry.
He was, in the pulpit, a preacher rather more conspicuously than a teacher-that is, he magnified his double office as herald and witness rather than the quite different province of expositor and instructor. The Divine Master preached" with authority, and not as the scribes," who systematically expounded the Scriptures, but made no direct, authoritative appeals. Spurgeon had a lofty conception of his office as an ambassador, who, while he acts within the limits of his instructions, carries all the authority of the Royal Master whom he re'presents.
He was a born preacher. He had the genius homiletical, if ever a man had it. Such crystallization of thought into striking and radiant analytic forms; 'such piercing insight into spiritual truth; such facility and felicity, both of diction and of illustration ; snch homely thrusts at practical errors and needs; such natural action and effective gesticulation; such memory, imagination, logic and love, an on fire with passion for souls I-has there been any like combination since the days of Wesley and Whitefield? and did he not largely unite in himself much of the power of both these two men?
Spurgeon had the genius of soul-saving, which outranks all mere homiletical faculty. He was withal so sound in the faith, such an apostolic believer, holding. by a grasp so firm and sure all the facts and truths of redemption, that, like a great steamer, he swept smaller craft in his wake. Serenely calm in his conviction, he soared into the lofty realms of unclouded assurance, like an eagle, resting on sublime wing in high altitudes, while the storm of " higher criticism" and scientific irreverence was waging far below. You heard him and you said, "That man believes something." Like Goethe, men feel the need of convictions; as for doubts, they have enough already. Spurgeon gave utterance not to negations, or even mere opinions, but to unalterable positions and convictions; and there was something marvellously refreshing in the experimental vigor and vitality of his preaching. It was a testimony: the whole man was behind it, aitd in the man, as in Burke, there was something finer than he ever said; his very manner bore conviction to the hearer, who felt himself to be in the presence of one who knew God face to face as a. friend, I The preacher at the Metropolitan Tabernacle had no doubt of the fact or of the guilt of sin. Human depravity was to him no inversion of brain cells, or abnormality of nerve ganglia, no mere misfortune or "fall for- ward." To him man represented a revolted pr-ovince with all its functionaries involved in the ruin j as Robert Vaughan suggests in his " Hours with the Mystics," reason, conscience, imagination, will, understanding, desire, all at the service of a usurper, sin: the ermine of the judge, the verdict of the court, the song of the poet, the books of the student, the vessels of the merchant, the sceptre of the will, all perverted to the purposes of Satan. Spurgeon saw the awful arm of treason lifted against God, with the very weapons He had forged turned against His rule j and to him the preacher'S office was to lead back to allegiance, so that the decisions of the court of conscience should be in accord with the Divine common and statute law, so that the understanding should burn its magic books and renounce its magic arts, and the imagination become the aid to faith, the aspiration fix its gaze on the future, and the will use its golden sceptre as God's viceregent! This generation has not known, in any other pulpit, forty years of such plain dealing with sin and salvation, such undeviating, unfaltering testimony to the truth. What shall we do without him!
II. Spurgeon had a world-wide witness as to simplicity of worship. The service which he rendered was in this respect also an invaluable one. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians represent permanent sects in the Church of God j the ritualists, the rationalists, and the secularists we have always with us j and, of them all, the ritualists are not least to be feared. Formalism substitutes rites for righteousness and ceremony for sanctity. It is a suggestive historic fact that, whenever the glory of the Shekinah gets dim, the wax tapers of formalism begin to make the darkness visible, and a multitude of outward symbols and ceremonies becomes the substitute for spirituality and devoutness. It was but a few years since that an aged and venerable clergyman of the old school, whose deep attachment to evangelical truth revolted against the encroachments of a Romanist ritual in the Jnglican body, was importuned by his son, who had joined the extreme wing of the ritualists, to preach in his " chapel of ease." He did so after much urging, but caused no little consternation when he announced his text, " Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic /" and then proceeded to show the utter, hopeless lunacy of modern ritualism and ceremonialism. The Metropolitan Tabernacle, with its simple, apostolic worship, is, after forty years, the standing monument to apostolic practice. There is nothing to interfere with the pure worship of God and the impression of gospel truth. No attempt at art, even in the architecture j everything severely but not repulsively plain j no choir nor organ, not even responsive reading j no pictures nor statues, nor even startling colors in furniture or garniture, to draw off the mind through the eye. God alone is exalted there. This is another form of missionary service which the departed pastor of the Tabernacle rendered to the whole Church. It is a witness that the largest church auditorium in the world may be kept full during forty years, without any meretricious secular or questionable aids, aecessories or attractions, by simply holding up Christ as the· Saviour of sinners, and worshipping God in the spirit.
Who does not bless God, in these degenerate days of decaying faith in the perfect trustworthiness of the,Word of God, and in the supernatural working of God by His providence and Spirit in human affairs, for one man whose faith in a fully inspired Bible and a miracle-working Spirit never once flagged, and who thus dared to trust himself to a simple inspired message and a plain spiritual worship! When he fell, it wAs not only as when a standard-bearer falls, and another'strong, brave arm is needful to carry the flag onward, but as when a vessel loses her anchorage, and all anxiously look as the anchor drags to see whether there be some other secure holding for the fluke lest the ship dash against the rocks! How few had, like him, so firm and immovable a basis of conviction and confidence, that from it others might swing, assured of something certain, in days of general doubt and denial ! With what a trumpet-tongue he. echoed what " God hath spoken," as one who, like Elijah, stood before his Master and received His message from His mouth! He was a modern seer, and' in him the spirit of prophecy revived and the days of the open vision returned. He was also, like Elijah, a reformer of abuses, by vehement protest and unsparing ridicule shaming Baal-worship, and repairing the altar of the Lord which had fallen down.
III. Spurgeon fulfilled a world-wide mini,~try by the product8 of hi8 pen.
Thus he indefinitely widened his pulpit and enlarged his audience. That pen was a sword of the Lord and of Gideon, so mighty, keen-edged, sharp-pointed. Thus, while, from the pulpit and platform in Britain during forty years he is believed to have reached by his voice an aggregate of twenty million hearers, by his pen he addressed ten times that number. It became a sort of omnipresent and immortal preacher, for it went into all lands and told to every creature the story of the cross, and its voice is still heard in thirty languages and dialects from the sunrise to sunset. Being dead he yet speaketh. His printed sermons, commentaries, books, and tracts command the most cosmopolitan congregation in the world, numbering millions. The master work of his authorial career is "The Treasury of David," which is to-day instructing hundreds of thousands in their study of the Psalms. How it was possible for a man who was so constantly preaching as he was, and preaching new sermons, to be making books without end, and books of such quality as well as quantity, is still a mystery even to those who know the achievements possible to the genius of Industry. His book notices and reviews in the" Sword and Trowel" were, in the writer's judgment, the most briefly comprehensive, acute and accurate~ witty and wise, judicious and telling, that this generation has afforded. They revealed a capacity and a sagacity that in thiS line haVE)
PASTORS'
(Founded by C. II. Spurgeon, 1856.) PULPIT OF METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, ON OCCASION OF THE FUNERAL OF C. H. SPURGEON. CASKET OF OLIVE-WOOD.
(From Phooograph. Copyright in Great Britain by G. M. Miller. 13 Cambridge Terrace. Belgravia. London. England.)
THE WORLD-WIDE MINISTRY OP CHABLEB H. SPURGEON
no rival It was no wonder that they became to thousands an authoritative oracle.
IV. This world-wide mission of Spurgeon is seen also in the benevolent institutions which he founded and fostered.
Probably the most conspicuous contribution to missions at home and abroad, of any man of this generation, unless it be George Miiller, is to be seen in the general work of this" Kelvedon lad." He was the originator and inspiration of the Pastor's Oollege, which has sent forth nearly one thousand students, one hundred of whom have gone to their reward, while seven hundred and thirty are still actively busy in God's work, six hundred and fifty of them being Baptist pastors, evangelists, or missionariefJ., who for the past quarter century have instrumentally added to the Church over one hundred and eighty thousand souls! The Stockwell Orphanage has five hundred boys and girls in training for Christian lives of service, and has been sending out thousands whom it has prepared for society j and the Almshous68 provide homes for the old and needy, while missionary enterprises at home and abroad, whose name is legion, attest the broad sympathies of the aggressive man of God, who, as Macaulay said of Goldsmith, left nothing untouched and adorned whatever he touched.
Nowhere did Charles H. Spurgeon prove a failure. AB is promised to the man who is planted by the river of God, and takes into the very roots of his being the Word of God, whatsoever he did, prospered. His success in every sphere was so marked that he seemed specially fitted for everything he undertook. He was evidently in league with God.
How long and how vigorously his work will survive him is yet a problem. As to the Orphanage, it seems established on permanent foundations j it is always full, and has thus far always been supplied with needed funds from its strong hold upon popular confidence and sympathy.. It is painful to see it stated that the Pastor's College has had to reduce its number of students by three eighths, and that the Sunday offerings applied to its support are not nearly iIp to the former standard. It is to be hoped that this, if true, is but a temporary decline. After enjoying weekly contact with the students in that Institution, for two college years, and lecturing to them every Friday,' the writer can bear witness that, for average ability, soundness of doctrine, and aggressive spirit, he has never known any equal number of young men in any other theological seminary. They do not wait to grad. uate before they engage in work j they are a power for God even during their period of training, and Britain, not to say the church everywhere, owes to them a debt that is incalculable, for their persistent advocacy of sound doctrine and apostolic church life.
Mr. Spurgeon found necessary, in the multitude of his arduous labors, to commit in part, to other hands, much of the administrative duties con. nected with these institutions. A quarter of a century ago he called to his aid his only brother, James Archer Sp:rrgeon, who, until the very death of Charles, largely relieved him of these cares; and with characteristic generosity Charles, both in conversation and correspondence, always did ample justice to his brother's administration. In fact, one of his best friends thinks that he so unduly magnified the services and influence of others that he minimized his own. Certainly he remarked to the writer more than once, that his brother JaLles had sacrificed himself to his usefulness, and that the public did not know how largely he had thns been laid under obligation, both by his brother's capacity and sagacity. Without attempting to recall his exact words, he left upon me the impression' that many of the plans and measures of which he was the public exponent and expression were really due to the careful thought of that younger brother, hinting, half playfully perhaps, that there was more than one case in history where" Aaron" had acted as the spokesman and mouthpiece of " Moses," and got credit which was due to him. But, when all allowance is made for James Spurgeon's efficient help, it is transparently plain to all who were intimately linked with Charles Spurgeon and his work, that his own "mind" was behind his own" mouth" in all that implies actual origination of benevolent work. He was not a man who could ever be servilely dependent upon any other person for guidance or control. He bore the popular title of the " governor," and he earned it. He was by nature an autocrat, bnt in no offensive sense, and shaped the policy of the institutions which he founded. If, like Pharaoh with Joseph, he made any other, ruler, he still remained on the throne, and greater than all his helpers, always chief, never subordinate.
Such was the man whose death at Mentone, three years ago, January 31st, 1892, set millions mourning. Great as he was, he was at the same time so genuine, simple, humble, childlike, unpretending, gracious, urbane, sympathetic, that we know not which most to admire, his public ministry or his personal manhood. How few have been in the home so winningly good who have been in th~ world so influentially great! combining such an imperial sceptre of influence with such private and domestic virtue! He showed what one man can do to make the whole world better; and no arithmetic can do justice to the colossal dimensions of his actual achievement. The children trained in the Orphanage, and the preachers trained in the College, have been widely scattered seed which has greatly multiplied the harvest of his sowing; and the evangelistic and colportage work, whose inspiring source he was, added indefinitely to the sphere which belongs to his life and work. Nor must we forget, in estimating his immense service, that book fund, jointly administered by himself and his wife, which dis· tributed so many thousands of volumes among needy clergymen and other readers.
In heaven, says Swedenborg, "instruction is committed not to memo ory, but to life. " Here we have an example of such a principle without waiting for the heavenly sphere. We look from this man to the timid apologists for Christianity, the half.hearted servitors of a secular religious. ness, the sensational pulpit declaimers of the day, and we wonder whether,
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIA'l'ION
like Lucius in the "Golden Ass," they have not got hold of the wrong witch-salve. When Fotis gave him the mistaken unguent he extended his arms, swayed to_and fro, expecting to be metamorphosed into a bird and soar aloft j but, instead, he found his hands and feet growing horny. hairs shooting from his thickening skin, and the suspiciously long ears appearing, which betray the ass. Have modern preachers got hold of the devil's magic ointment instead of the Spirit's" eye salve" and Divine chrism 1 Are they looking for a metamorphosis which will never come, because they have mistaken human learning, oratorical graces, worldly popularity, for the true anointing which is from above? and are they really moving on a terrestriallevel, like four-footed beasts and creeping things, while professing to discourse of celestial things like soaring and singing larks?
Who shall enable us to learn the lesson that every man may be a missionary, if he knows the missionary Spirit as his indwelling guide 1 Whether in the heart of China or Africa or India, or in the pulpit of a great city of Christendom, or in the humblest workshop of a tradesman, every God-sent man does the God-appointed work. :FrolU the outset every such man is, like his Master, about his Father's business, and 'can say at the end, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do." The Church and the world need missionaries, and the need is imperative and immediate j but no need so great exists as that of men and women who in the calling wherein they are found therein abide with God, and whose life is, like John the Baptist, a perpetual voice of witness, a living epistle of the power and grace of God, read and known of all men.
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
The American Missionary Association has for nearly a half century been engaged in evangelistic and educational work among the negroes and poor whites of the South and the Indians and Chinese of the West. This Association has 42 common schools and 36 graded aiJ.d normal schools in the South. In New England the illiterate population over ten years of age is less than 6 per cent j in the South it is 27 per cent. The illiterate element of the colored population is 60 per cent, and over one third of the population of the South is of colored blood. The industrial, intellectual, and spiritual training of the negro is the hope of the race which is waiting to prove either a terrible curse or a great blessing to the land in which we live.
The number of Indians in the United States (exclusive of Alaska) is now only about 225,000. The red man is coming to appreciate and desire the benefits that flow from Christianity. In spite of the bright outlook, the Association has been compelled, by lack of funds, to cut down by one half their work among these, the "nation's wards." Two new churches have been established among the Indians during the past year, and Christian Endeavor work is especially successful. Chinese converts returning to China are preaching the Gospel largely under the auspices of the " Chinese Missionary Society" of the Pacific coast. There are 21 schools on the Pacific coast, carried on by the American Missionary Association, in' which schools 34 teachers have taught 1201 Chinese pupils, leading 197 of these pupils to tUi'll from the worship of idols, and 173 of them to profess faith in Christ. THE GROWTH OF THE LEADING AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
BY ROBERT E. SPEER.
The last few years have witnessed a large advance in the comprehensive, comparative, and exact study of missionary administration, both at home and abroad. Questions which were deemed suborrlinate at first are assigned now a more prominent place. In the desire to establish as soon as possible a native church in each land, there is no longer among wise missionaries the inclination to sacrifice the independence and virility of the people by the use of methods which will secure the desired result at the expense of this sacrifice; while at home by closer correspondence and annual conference those charged with the administration of the missionary organizations are comparing experience, studying and classifying facts, and endeavoring to settle at least some general lines of definite policy, which shall secure the more spei)dily in each mission field the establishment of a self-supporting, self-propagating native church. The hope is entertained by some that the settlement of such general lines of policy or of principle would set free time, men, and means for a wider and more purposeful attempt to evangelize the great populations as yet untouched.
The difficulty in such a study as that suggested, the necessity for which is obvious, is that the material for it has been inaccessible. Each missionary society has published reports, but they have been designed to give general information and to arouse interest rather than to throw light on more or less technical questions. Moreover, the modern missionary enterprise is still young, and it lIas required some years to develop its problems. Besides, the missionary work is to so large an extent simply the influence of individuals upou individuals, that the existence of the wider questions of method amI policy has been often naturally overlooked. The conferences of the missionaries of China, at Shanghai, in 1877 and 1890, and of India, at Bombay, in 1892-93, and elsewhere at less striking meetings, have helped and are helping to settle some general principles upon the field, while the meetings in New York, the last two winters, of representatives of the missionary societies at home have both encouraged the study of the relation of the control of the appropriations to the determination of policy and method, and furnished some material for the stud; of this and other questions.
At one of these conferences it was desired to present a summary of the growth of the leading missionary organizations of America, showing by decades the development of the work of each organization. It was not possible to gather the material in time, and it has not been possible to secure complete accuracy at all. What it has been possible to secure is of sufficient value to present to the readers of the REVIEW, as giving the most complete available statement of the growth of our missionary work. The tables, at the end of this article, are made out for eight of the ten missionary organizations of our country which have annual incomes of over $100,000. They have been furnished by the societies themselves, with additions in some cases from tlie printed reports. These statistics are probably less trustworthy, as they are less complete, than those obtainable regarding the home churches. Especially in the early years the figures are not to be too confidently relied upon. For the sake of comparison, however, they can probably be trusted. Aside from the picture of prog- ress presented in these tables, they are valuable as throwing light on scores of subordinate questions.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was for- mally constituted September 5th, 1810, at Farmington, Conn., and was incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts on June 20th, 1812. Its original plan probably contemplated association only with the New Eng. land Congregational Churches, but in 1812 eight commissioners were added from the Presbyterian Church, in 1814 one from the Associate Reformed Church, in 1816 one from the Reformed (Dutch) Church, and subse- quently one from the Reformed German Church. In 1838 the "Old School" Presbyterians withdrew; in ] 857 the Reformed Church withdrew, taking the Amoy and Arcot missions, and in 1870 the" New School" Presbyterians withdrew, with whom the Persia, Syria, Gaboon and several Indian missions were handed over to the Presbyterian Church. These facts must be borne in mind in studying the accompanying tables. (See Table I. at end of article.)- The decrease in the number of missions and stations not already ac_ counted for, between 1852-72, was due to the transfer or cessation of missions to the Indians, and the removal of the Sandwich Islands from the category of foreign missions in 1871. From 1872 to 1882 the number of ministers in the Congregational Church increased nearly 20 per cent, while the number of ordained foreign missionaries ~ncreased about 14 per cent. From 1882 to 1892 the number of ministers increased nearly 33t per cent, while the number of ordained foreign missionaries increased only about 14 per cent. During the last two decades the numbers of women missionaries have increased, respectively, 33i per cent and 25 per cent; ordained native helpers, over 50 per cent and 33t per cent; other native helpers, 125 per cent and more than 33t per cent j schools, 116 per cent and 24 per cent; scholars, 120 per cent and less than 50 per cent; contributions from home Church, 8 per cent and 77 per cent; while the communicants increased at home 23 per cent and 65 per cent, and the communicants abroad 120 per cent and 105 per cent. The large number of women native helpers is most striking. The present missions of the American Board are in Africa, Turkey, India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Micronesia, Mexico, Spain, and Austria. The report for 1892 includes a medical man and his wife and ten theological students in the Sandwich Islands. The missionary work of the Methodist Episcopal Church grew out of the efforts in 1816 of John Stewart, a negro, among the Wyandotte Indians. The Missionary Society was organized April 5th, 1819, "to diffuse more generally the blessings of education and Christianity, and to support and promote missionary schools and Christian missions throughout the United States and territories, and also in foreign countries." In 1844 the Methodist Episcopal Church (South) separated from the Church North, and established its own missionary society. Dr. Baldwin says of the tabular statement that it does not include the work of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, though the missionaries of that society are included in the column headed " Women." "Stations" are not reported in the same way as by other societies. The number given is Dr. Baldwin's estimate. The home and foreign missionary operations of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) are not separated, but the table gives only the foreign work. No small part of this work, however, is in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Italy. Accordingly a line has been added giving the statistics for the foreign work with European countries excluded. (See Table II.) One is impressed at once with the large number of native helpers reported here, 4325 in all, or 2919, excluding Europe, an increase of over 300 per cent since 1882, while the figures of 1882 are an increase of nearly 250 per cent over those for 1872. Of these helpers 1391, or nearly one half of those from non-European fields, are reported from North India. Schools show an increase of 130 per cent from 1882 to 1892, and of 166 per cent from 1872 to 1882. Scholars increased about 190 per cent from 1882 to 1892, and about 150 per cent during the preceding decade. Of the 35,616 scholars in non-European fields in 1892, 19,571, more than one half, in 697 schools-6 of them high schools-were reported from North India. The Sabbath-school reports are the most complete presented by any society, and show a steady and remarkable increase. It is interesting, again, to note that of the 59,748 scholars, 32,133 are in North India. Under communicants are reported both members and probationers. In the fields outside of Europe 23,753 members were reported in 1892, 8820 in North India, where there were also 16,203 probationers. In this column the increase has been over 300 per cent from 1862 to 1872, about 150 per cent from 1872 to 1882, and less than 133 per cent from 1882 to 1892. Another striking feature of this table is the large amount reported in 1892 as contributed by the native church, $339,318 or *157,159 excluding Europe. This is reported as collected for benevolent and missionary societies, self-support, building, repairing, and local purposes; *62,680 of this amount having been given by the non-European fields for self-support, $23,642 by South America, $6429 by Mexico, and *31,363 by North and South India.
The missionary work of the Presbyterian Church began in 1741, with the appointment of Azariah Horton, a member of the Presbytery of New York, to work among the Indians on Long Island. David Brainerd was the second missionary. In 1763 the Synod of New York assumed the responsibility for the Indian work, and in 1800 the General Assembly took up the work systematically and carried it on till 1818, when the United Foreign Missionary Society was formed, consisting of the Presbyterian, Reformed Dutch, and Associate Reformed churches, "to spread the Gospel among the Indians of North America, the inhabitants of Mexico and South America, and other portions of the heathen and anti-Christian world. " In 1826 all this work was transferred to the American Board. In 1831 the Western Foreign Missionary Society was formed by the Synod of Pittsburgh, which surrendered its work to the Board of Foreign Missions established by the General Assembly in 1837. From 1838 to 1870 the Old School churches worked through this Board, and the New School churches through the A. B. C. F. M. The Southern Presbyterian Church withdrew from the Old School in 1861 and began at once its own missions. (See Table III.) It is interesting to note that in 1852 one Presbyterian minister out of 28 was a missionary; in 1862, one out of 36 jin 1872, one out of 37 ; in 1882, one out of 35 ; in 1892, one out of 28. One Presbyterian out of 1512 went to the field in 1852 ; one out of 1779 in 1872 j one out of 1314 in 1892. The number of medical missionaries is much larger and of more steady and rapid growth than that of any other society. The last two decades native helpers have increased 80 per cent and 87 per cent. The small number of schools in comparison with the reports of the other larger societies is significant. The earlier statistics of Sabbath-school scholars are unreliable, as are also the reports of native contributions. Communicants have increased during the five decades since 1842, 900 per cent, 55 per cent, 500 per cent, 300 per cent, 75 per cent. Between 1882 and 1892 a number of missions among the Indians was transferred to the Board of Home Missions. It. will be noticed how far short the annual expenditure upon mission work has come of keeping pace in its increase with the amount expended by the Church upon herself and at home. These figures, telling the growth of the work of the Presbyterian Board, can be better appreciated by noticing that its missions are located in the main in the most difficult and unresponsive fields, and that its report is not helped by anyone field of phenomenal fruitfulness.
On May 18th, 1814, in consequence largely of the missionary cam~ paign of Luther Rice, Judson's companion on the voyage to India, a convention of 26 clergymen and seven laymen, representing the Baptists of 11 different States and the District of Columbia, met in Philadelphia. This meeting resulted in the formation of a Triennial Convention. Mrs. Judson's visit to the home land in 1823 gave this movement its greatest impulse. In 1845 the Baptists of. the Southern States withdrew in consequence of the reply made to the demand of the Alabama Baptists, by the Acting Board, "that if anyone should offer himself as a missionary, having slaves, and should insist upon retaining them as his property, the Bo~rd could not appoint him." As a result of this separation the Baptists of the Northern States formed, in 1846, the American Baptist Missionary Union. (See Table IV.) Mr. Merriam, Editorial Secretary, in sending this table, states that " the statistics of the society in former years were not gathered in such a manner as to allow of all the columns being filled out. " The figures giving the number of communicants and the amount of native offerings, and the Sabbath-school scholars, include the European fields of the Union, as the published report for 1892 gives the members of the churches in the non-European fields as 83,597, the contributions of the native churches as $59,921. 82, and the Sabbath-school scholars as 15,347 in 615 schools. The missions of the Union are in Burma, Assam, among the Telegus in India, in China, Japan, and Africa. The success among the Burmans and Telegus has been wonderful, and the report can be understood only in the light of the facts regarding those two missions. All but $4602.45 of the amount given by native churches was given by the Burman churches, which numbered 30,253 members. In these churches were more than one half of all the scholars reported as in schools. 47,458 members were reported from the Telegu Mission, with 7190 pupils in schools, but only $2468.28 in contributions; 21,329 communicants were reported from Ongole alone, while of the 10,971 baptisms in 1891, nearly half, 5379, were reported from Ongole and Cumbum, two Telegu stations. The Assam, Chinese, Japanese, and African missions reported in 1892, 182 foreign missionaries, 5886 communicants, 1130 additions during the year, and native contributions amounting to $2134.27. $197,371.15 was expended on these missions, and $276,159.05 on the Burman and Telegu fields.
The Methodist Episcopal Church (South) organized a home and foreign missionary society in 1846 at its first General Conference. In 1866 the home work was separated from the foreign and given to a separate board. In 1870 the two were again united, but separated in 1874. At present, however, they are united. There are five missions-one in China, two in Mexico, one in Japan, and one in Brazil. In 1870 the colored members of the Church were organized into an independent Church. In the following table the returns for 1862 are the samA as those for 1860, as the work was interrupted during the Civil War. (See Table V.) The small number of ordained missionaries in proportion to the large home ministry will be noticed at once, one out of every 242. In the past ten years ordained natives have increased 600 per cent, and women helpers even more; communicants over 200 per cent; Sabbath-school scholars over 400 per cent; pupils in day-schools about 200 per cent, while the gifts of the home Church have more than doubled. From the report for 1892 it would seem that about one fourth of the amount stated as given by the Church for the cause was expended in home missions.
The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church was formed in 1820, and in 1835 was reorganized so as to " comprehend all persons who are members of this Church." There are now five missions-China, Japan, Haiti, Africa, and Greece. In the table the figures for 1882 alone contain the statistics of the work in Mexico. (See Table VI.) The first most striking fact is the slow increase of ordained missionaries. The number was in 1872 the same as in 1842, and increased only 25 per cent the last decade. Native helpers and schools show a steady increase; schools a larger proportionate increase than scholars. The increase of missionary offerings has not equalled the increase of expenditures upon the Church at home.
The Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church was the product of the combination of the Boards of Foreign Missions of the Associate and Associate Reformed churches, which were united in 1858. The Board was formally incorporated in 1866. For a number of years it had missions in Trinidad, Syria, and China, as well as in Egypt and India. These last two are its only missions now. (See Table VII.) It will be noticed at once how greatly the growth of the last decade has exceeded the growth of the two preceding decades. Missionaries have increased 100 per cent, native helpers 300 per cent, Sabbath-school scholars nearly 300 per cent, communicants 600 per cent, native contributions only 34 per cent. Two facts stand out with special clearness : one the concentration of work of this Board; the other the emphasis upon schools, which increased 233t per cent the last decade, scholars increasing 130 per cent. More schools are reported than those of the two preceding societies combined j but there are also as many communicants and 50 per cent more native contributions, while the annual expenditure is less than half that of either of the others.
From 1818 to 1826, as has been already intimated, the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America was associated with the Presbyterian Church in the United Foreign Missionary Society. In 1832 the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church was chosen by the General Synod, but it operated through the A. B. C. F. M. until 1857, when the Arcot and Amoy missions were transferred to it and it began its independent work. The Japan Mission was established in 1859. These three are the only missions of the Board. (See Table VIII.) One minister out of 22 is a foreign missionary in the Dutch Reformed Church. Communicants have doubled during each of the reported decades. Native contributions show a proportionate increase.
It is to be regretted that because of sickness or lack of needed help the officers of the Southern Baptist Convention and of the Executive Committee of the Southern Presbyterian Church were unable to have table'.! prepared of their work. In 1891 their receipts were respectively $113,522 and $112,951 ; missionaries, 97 and 100; native laborers, 66 and 50; communic3Ilts, 2377 and 2072 ; native contributions, $2157 and $2850. The origin of the separate work of these two bodies has been already indi- cated.
The comments offered upon these tables are merely suggestive. The statistics are not accurate enough for purposes of close argument or inference. They are important as paving the way for more reliahle reports by showing their value, and they are of utility for comparative study, their inaccuracy being of such a general character as not to disqualify them for this use. It is needless to say that they are not a statement of missionary success or failure. Obedience and obligation cannot be stated in terms of mathematics. The tables do, however, suggest some interesting consider- ations.
1. Schools are not inconsistent with evangelistic results. Whether as partial cause or as effect, the missions from which the largest numbers of communicants and baptisms are reported report also most schools. Of the 1188 schools reported by the A. B. M. U., 491 are among the Burmans and 533 among the Telegus. In Northern India where the Methodists report one third of' their members, excluding Europe, there are more than one half of their schools. The United Presbyterian missions show from 1882 to 1892 the largest increase of schools, and much the largest pro- portionate increase of communicants. There is a large number of mis- sions, however, where a large increase of communicants has not accom- panied a strong educational emphasis.
2. There has evidently been great absence of uniformity and agreement in pushing self-support. The altogether inadequate statistics given by some, and the small amounts often where the reports are accurate, indi- cate the need of a thorough study of this subject and a more vigorous policy at home and abroad. Great harm has been done by wrong begin- nings. Is it certain that in the many new missions right beginnings are making now ¥ It is striking that the United Presbyterian missions report nearly as large native contributions as all the missions of the Presbyterian Church (North). The American Board and the Methodi!>t Church have apparently adhered most closely to wise policy and attained the best gen- eral results. The Karen Bassein Mission of the Baptists, with 116 self- supporting churches and only 2 non-self-supporting, needs to be held up before all other missions.
3. Taking the figures as given in these tables for 1892, in the Congre- gational Church one member.in 1183 was a foreign missionary; in the Presbyterian, one in 1314; in the Reformed Church, one in 1426; in the United Presbyterian, one in 1843 ; in the Baptist, one in 2190 ; in the Methodist (North), one in 4614 ; in the Protestant Episcopal, one in 8970 j in the Methodist (South), one in 13,477. One minister out of 22 was a foreign missionary in the Dutch Reformed Church; one out of 26t in the United Presbyterian; one out of 27 in the Congregational j one out of 28 in the Presbyterian; one out of 55 in the Baptist (North) ; one out of '11 in the Methodist (North) ; one out of 176 in the Protestant . Episcopal; one out of 242 in the Methodist (South). Upon all these figures the action of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1866 is a startling commentary. The General Assembly " beli~ves that no good reason can be shown for so unequal a division of the ministerial force as exists at present, 2484 ministers remaining here among a population of only five or six millions, nearly all whom already know what they should do to be saved, while we give 83 ministers, 17 of whom are natives, to the many hundreds of millions who have never yet heard of Jesus and His salvation. The Assembly therefore recommends to all its young ministers, as well as candidates for the ministry, to give a new hearing to the calls which are coming in for laborers for this wide- spread harvest-field." The amount expended at home in 1892 by the Baptists and the South- ern Methodists is not given, but of the other churches the United Presbyterians gave one dollar to the work abroad for each ten dollars spent at home ; the Dutch Reformed, one for each eleven dollars; the Presbyterians, one for each fourteen dollars ; the Congregationalists, one for each sixteen dollars; the Methodists (North), one for each twenty-one dollars; the Episcopalians, one for each forty-eight dollars.
The average gift per member of each Church was as follows: Congregationalist, $l.27 ; Dutch Reformed, $l.19 ; Presbyterian, $l.13; Baptist, $0.67; Protestant Episcopal, $0.50; Methodist (North), $0.28; Methodist (South), $0.22.
In 1891 the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) gave $263,660.69. This should be added to the $622,912 given by the Misbionary Society of the Church. On this basis, the average gift of each member was $0.39, and the Chnrch gave one dollar to the work abroad for each fifteen dollars expended at home. The figures for the Baptist Church (North) are on the basis of a membership of 850,- 000, given as the constituency of the A. B. M. U.
4. It will be observed that no women medical missionaries are reported prior to 1882. In 1892 the A. B. M. U. reports men and women together. The other boards report 30 women. 123 medical missionaries in all were reported, nearly two fifths of them by the Presbyterian Board. 2172 missionaries are reported, excluding medical and ~uropean Methodist missionaries, 841 of whom are men and 1331 women. In the last decade medical missionaries increased in number 200 per cent; in the preceding decade 100 per cent. Missionaries of all classes have increased in the last four decades 75 per cent, 54 per cent, 34 per cent, and 29 per cent. In 1852 they had decreased 14 per cent as compared with 1842. In 1862 there were 352 women to 376 men. In 1892 there were 1331 women to 841 men. Which of the twain loves most ~ It is desired that the purpose of setting forth these statistics should not he misunderstood. They arc not intended to show missionary results for the purpose of vindicating the work of the missionary agencies. No such statement can be properly or adequately made in this form. They are not meant to stimulate the passion for results statable arithmetically-a passion already responsible for no little detriment to the real interests of the work. "If we were to attack missionary bodies," says the London Spectator, "it would be for their attention to results, for their sordid counting of converts, and for their consequent disposition to attack perishing races like the Polynesians, and their reluctance to concentrate effort on a race like the Arab, which might furnish us with teachers acceptable throughout the whole continent of Africa." The tables are offered for the consideration of the intelligent friends and students of missions.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. ~ ~ :j
~l ~i~r~ c~~~- ~~~~':s. SCHOOLS. SCHOLARS. J i~ ~~ —- — ~,,' g tl t)j ._~s~.=::~ i i ~'&! __ I J_! I ~ ! ~, nJq ]} ~ J l~ JJ .a '0 .; -rn !~ :8::1'a3 . '3l .. BOARDING. D.I.~. .~&::I :§;j~] ~.a …. 00.<:1 li ~~ i 1842.. …. ~ .. …. 26 85 166 179 151,i …….· 4[ 30 61S1 738 386 ~ !………. ………….. 21,26111 …….. $318.396 $27,548 1852.. …. . ….. 26 111 184 2111 43 202 27 783 485 484 22,595 …… …….. 22,061…………….. 301,727 35,386 :~;;; ~~;.;;:'~ ~~:: :1:::: :: : :1 ::::: ~ ::::::: ~::I:::::: :::::1 :::~ ::: 1882.. 3,713 881,697 20 82 155 261 8 2 148 488 1,OM 104 8069821 2,210 1,688 ~ …… ……. 19'7551 …….. $4,024,720 454,Oil 34,961 1892.. 4.886 625,97520 95 *183 329 18 4 200. 624 1,380 141 4,259 2,832 35,715 12,020 …… 5O,805, 40,338 $104,566 8,445,000 794,R75, 55.981 • Of whom 11 are medical men.
THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (NORTH.) 1842. . 4,186 1,C68,525 1 1 23 4'1" …. …. …….. 1 ………………….:..:.:,…… 1 20 731 1,257 …….. ………. $27,755' ….. ..
1852.. 4..';13 728.700 4 18 29 20 1……. 26 … 1 18….. …… 517 …. 3;753'" ………….. 1~:~ :::::::: :dI62. e,655 ~42,906 7… 63 60 2 …….. 152 20 2 31…… 987266 31 544 16,127 …. , … ……… 373,825 …… .
1872.. 10,242 1,458,441 12 … ' 2(J'{ –"- 39.979 $182,997 ………. 327.327 ….. ..
~ 1882.. 11,028 1,710,204 15 .. 103 5,329 9,125 339,318 13,146.975 622,912 about5% 49,395 157,159.. ……. .. ………. .. . m =: .: ~:: :~.9~~ ~,~:~~ ~Il~ 1201 II. .. 810 …. ~12.'9i3 . 4 180 …… …… 426 18,971 1,151 54,097 112 2 5 504 291 .. 498 ;,:,,:,:,,:,_.._• ~~ ~Ig 3,~~ ~~~ !~ t~.~ ~:~~~ I ~:~ l~k~ BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
1842.. …. .. …. 10 12 31 80 1 . . . . 9 …. 5 13 174 27 475 2 …… 44 ……….. …, $58,185 $11.291 >-3 1852.. 2,0l~ 210,199 19 80 71 64 4 .. 2 25: 1 17 33 348 211 2,067 69 …… 80 487 S350 1,108,277 144,923 14,178 ~ 595 1.600.733 176,911 16.801/ ~ 1862.. 2.807 302,706 21 58 77 65 7 .. 2 821…. 18 82 327 192 4,025 248 …… 486 681 1872.. 4.341 466,14728 64 116 136 10 33 409 7 12 81 258 447 8,750 1,221 …… 965 4.208 2,575 9,738,5611457.21,2 81,542 • 1882.. 5,022 585.29128 91 142 238 16 2 84 683 52 47 224 636 1,247 12.743 5,438 …… 4,834 16.484 6,199 8,782,535 576.798 24.836 .~ -=189=2.;..;……:6"',04:.:l)~.,–'81)!,258 27 11~2'~"-_350='–'34'-"-..::1=2:…::165::::..-=1!;c.234=..::1=29::.:……:..70"'-~686=-=-..::1:c::.826=..;1:..c,8:::2::.6……:1::,:7:;:.82'7::.:..:_=S,!.:.109;:::.::.:,•:.:..;.:,•:.:.J'–=26=,393=~80~,=479~-.:::;38~,73=1c..:l~3.'.:,4::.;73,zO~I::..7~98~1!::.~::::92::……:::56::!.:::305~ …
BAPTIST MISSIONARY
., MBDI- ~ ., CAL MIS- Z .c IONA· RIllS. '0 1>,- —- — ] i i~trl ~…. 1jE ~ ~ FORBIGN NATIVE SCHOOLS. SCHOLARS. .]ooS:=o~~.c' ,00:= .~~ MISSION- HELPERS. ._0 ~.ll~ ARIES. ai '0 b §~ oai Oil +>0:= .0c . § ~~ llo il'~ .8.d 'C 0 -<~ .$~".~,..,ocg=, ''i"0Ei:=i g "<ll ~:8 Sli! 8j ,.~£,.~=c ai ai a 'tl oj: BOARDING. DAY. '§ ,., >l 0:= ~ :§0);1 .c a — — – – – – – – -~- ~ – – – -~ -1- – – – ._—- a — — — — – – – – ~o§."~ .S ';j gQ3 +>0:= '0' ~ .S a ~ .c ~~ 8 ~ ~ '0"" !Xl ~ ~ .!l ~ "'OIl r;; ~ ~ 0 1;;.-q li! !! ~ ~ A 0 .~ ;":' ~~ -I<I ~ <ll <ll 0 0 <ll ~ _. !Xl C!l 0 – _ _1_- 1842.. . ……•..••… …. ………
1852 . . . . . • . . . • • . . • . . . . . • —-'- ~~I:::: .::., ::::I···~95 ::::::1··· ..~:1~~·····1:::::::: :::::. :::::::. 1862.. .•…. ….•••..• 6 18 38566 30,129 $5,000 ..•••..••. 885,192 $14,052 216,000 38,785 1872.. ..•… .•…..•.. 9 21 46 57,512 ….••• 1…….. .. 30,235 1882……………… 6 33 73 94,879 .•.•…..••••••… 30'~,584 108 •.•• 91 421 …. 190 473……. •.•.••••••.•••..•…. •.• …….. …… ….. ..
I …..A-. .-….J.- …….. .••••• 78,187 163,881 244,360 $6,518,388 569,173 49,125 1892.. 8,000 850,000 7 73 144 229 15'" 243 1,023 180 1,188 …•.. 22,284 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (SOUTH.) t~~:: 6:800 .. oili:ssi "i .. OJ "'2 :::::: :::: :::: :::: …..j :::: :: .. ·····2 :::::" :::::" ······37 ······ii '0 "1 ……4;; …. •..2 :::::::: :.:::::::: :::::::: "$2,652 1il62.. 8,137 U9,068 1 1 5……. … …. …. 1…. …. …… … .. ….. .. . .. . .. . .. … . a. 1872.. 8,366 645,793 1 2 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 323 1 21 8 1 20 11 …….. ………. … …. 2,266 9 2 40 79 ….. .. .. .. . … $8,010. 11,538 1882.. 9,914 867.385 3 18 18 6 2 1 9 42 3 8 84 128 105 528 388 43 1,288 1,856 $911 .. ……. 129,754 7,132 1892 .. 11.849 1,293,866 6 111 49 43 2 2 59 81 34 20 1'9 846 355 1,721 974 225 6,561 6,709 12,123 $2,286,791 289,869 20,811 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
-1842 .. 1,107 ………. 6 10 11 14 …. …. a 5 …… …………. ……………. …… …….. 26 …….. ………. $29,279 $8,476 "3 1852.. 1,605 67,200 3 5 10 ~ 11 …. …. 9 21 52 -'- …….. ……. …….. $330,533 41,048 3,462 1862•• 2,079 ……… 5 10 13 102 r;; 15 13 5,364 1872.• 2,952 224,995 5 52 11 11 1 …….. 4 34 17 -'-"- -"- 421 ……. 22,015 ~ 1882.. 3,496 842,590 6 149 19 12 …. 14 184 65 4 8 150 405 13.060 ~ 1892 •. 4,229 556,140 5 223 24 260 75 ……, 285 50,576 19.613 1,240 940 724 ……. 5,544,574 110,7a~ 26 3 …. 44 11 29 80 2,129 :::::: 572 2,551 1.756 33 4 1 57 26 44 4,082 2,297 $5,212 11,749,043 173.848 33 80 836 3,567 8,496 13,218.919 275,600
OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN
FMOlR~~E~IGNN- ~M:R~DiI~C~A-L NAT1VR SCHOLARS. '" … .; 1>1.l; '~ . Il HELPJ:RS., SCHOOLS. ~ +gai.al Q;I Q) 0 5 -~"O. . o"'-C,,S~ .~.0r_5. ~§ -.,… rdca _ -.5~~ t~l ~ • -~ ,.fl,," -8~ ) " :.530~ 1 –1– aa ~.<:IQ,);:::fQ,)::r ~lO<lj ",.<:I .~~~ oi!l. —- —- B~~:~. S ~z'O:::::l o&o!::,.1a1·l s~….~;~ "<:l d ro.,,a~1.~. ~ DAY. .sttl 1l0P d i ~ :s"o '~§ " ":g 'E il l ~:_E I ~oS .a<5:I ~o ~o ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (3~)i1~ £ l ~ __ ]!"'" l~'" 0:1 : _ iEL187:.l.. :~~~ ::~~:5i~:~ :::6 ::i~ ::.::~ :::: :::::: :::~ :::: :::: :::: :::::~ .:.::.:T1:':":::0:0 :::::: :::::: :::: :::::: :::::: :::::::: ::~~~:~~~ :ii~:~i~~i~i~~:: 72,896 4 12 7 2 8~…… 18 789:.:: 494 $2,123 789,436 51,694 i% 584 19 2 …… ooT' 75 • 1,464 2,214 1882. 719 84,573 1 2 77 15 13 . . 00 00 00 00 8 189 00 00 3,42611,351…. 2,555 1,565 23,272 852,253 77,872 2% 1892.. 796 109,0181 2 207 30 26 2 24, 494 253 •••. ",., •. 7,8221 3,061i 241 9,751 10,445 30,511 1,171,652 114,636 2% BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE REFORMED (DUTCH) CHURCH.
MISSIONS IN THE WEST INDI.!
MISSIONS IN THE WEST H:DIES.
BY REV. W. J. MORNAN, JAMAICA.
THE FIELD.
The term West Indies is used to designate the several groups of islands scattered over the Caribbean Sea between North and South America. The largest islands are Cuba, with an area of 43,000 square miles, and about 2,000,000 inhabitants; Haiti, or San Domingo, with a population of 1,500,000, and somewhat smalIer in size than Cuba; Jamaica, having an area of 4300 square miles, and a population of 600,000. Then come Puerto Rico and a multitude of small islands and cays, making up about 100,000 square miles of area and about 5,900,000 inhabitants. At the time of their discovery, in 1492, most of these islands, and particularly the larger ones, were densely peopled by the Carib Indians. They were soon, however, exterminated by the fearful cruelties inflicted on them by the bloodthirsty Spaniards. The horrible details of this wholesale butchery are recorded in the works of the famous Las Casas and other contemporary writers. By the end of the eighteenth century, chiefly as the result of the different wars between England, France, and Spain, the latter had lost all her West Indian possessions except Cuba and Puerto Rico. The island of San Domingo had become independent, one part forming the Spanish-speaking republic of San Domingo, and the other the Frenchspeaking republic of Haiti. The rest of the islands now belong to various European governments, England having the lion's share. She possesses Jarp.aica, Barbadoes, Trinidad, St. Lucia, the Bahamas, etc. The extermination of the aborigines in the way already mentioned led to the necessity for bringing other laborers into these islands. Hence, the origin of the horrible slave trade between the West Coast of Africa and these fair isles of the sea. As one traces the history of that bloody and accursed system, he feels devoutly thankful that so far at .least as this part of the world is concerned, it is a thing of the past. The population of these islands now consists chiefly of black and colored people, the descendants of the African slaves, with a fair proportion of whites, both creole and European. In the year 1838 slavery was abolished in all the dominions of the English Crown, but still existed in the Spanish colonies until about twenty years ago. The glorious act of 1838 was, however, the direct result of ~issionary operations, and thus leads us to consider very briefly THE HISTORY OF MISSION WORK.
The first direct mission work attempted in the West Indies was by the Moravians, who in 1732 began work in the Danish islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix. Their work extended in a short time to Barbadoes and other islands. In 1754 Jamaica was reached. '.!.'he first efforts of this liociity were rendered almost fruitless, from the bct that they settled their stations on the slave-owning estates and fens, and thus they were really under the power of the cruel planter. This society has, however, made great progress and done really useful work in later years, and nowhere is it prospering more than in Jamaica. The next work attempted was by the Wesleyans. Dr. Coke began work in Kingston in the year 1792, where a chapel was opened, but after a short time was closed until the year 1815. Since that time if progress has been slow, it has been sure. Some of their mission workers stood boldly by the side of brethren of other denominations as the champions of negro liberty. This society is to-day doing a blessed work. Its churches and chapels are found all over the island. The same is true of its schools. They are also doing good work in the Bahamas, Turk's Island, Haiti, Trinidad, St. Vincent, etc. The Baptist Missionary Society commenced work in Jamaica in 1814, and has stations in San Domingo, the Bahamas, Turk's Island, and Trinidad. The missionaries found the people in slavery, and from the first took the side of the oppressed. The battle of freedom was stern and cruel, but it was fearlessly fought out and won. We can do no more than mention in this connection such names as Knibb, Burchell, and Phillips, who when they failed in the fight in Jamaica returned to England, and by voice and pen helped to rouse the English people until the House of Commons passed the Act of Emancipation. From that day to this the Baptist churches have passed through many struggles, but they are to-day among the foremost leaders in all that tends to the true, moral, and social advancement of the people. The principles for which the missionaries contended are now being recognized by the government, the press, and the people generally as wise and right. In the year 1842 the Baptist churches in Jamaica became independent of the English society, and have since then supported their own pastors and founded a missionary society of their own, the object of which is to preach the Gospel in needy parts of Jamaica, in Haiti, Cuba, Central America, besides helping the parent society to some small extent in its work in Africa. The Baptists took the lead in the work of raising up a native ministry, and for the last fifty years their Calabar College has been educating their ministers and teachers. Nearly every other society is now following their example. The London Missionary Society also has a few stations in Jamaica, but they have never developed nor extended their work. The United Presbyterian Church of Scotland is also laboring in the West Indies, its missions being confined to Jamaica, Trinidad and Grand Cayman. All these different denominations have an interesting history of their own in the West Indies, but this brief notice must suffice. We now pass to consider PRESENT MISSIONARY EFFORT.
The unevangelized fields in the West Indies are Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. The first and last are Spanish colonies, and the second consists of two republics, one French and the other Spanish. The prevailing religion is Roman Catholic, but there are, especially in Haiti, many forms of Mrican superstition, while many among the more educated classes have embraced atheistIc views. As the direct result of Romish influence the people are corrupt and demoralized. Sin can be paid for, and the hope of heaven purchased for a gold piece. The writer knows whereof he affirms when he declares it as his solemn conviction-a conviction forced upon his mind by an intimate knowledge of the people, both in Cuba and Haiti, that the people in these lands have " no hope" and are " without God in the world." The population of Cuba and Haiti is about 3,500,000, who are for the most part slaves to a cruel, avaricious, and immoral priesthood. Several missionary societies are at work in these islands. In Haiti the Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society has stations at Jacmel, Cape Haiti, Port de Pais, St. Mar-c, Port Liberti, besides some out-stations. The church at St. Marc is now self-supporting, and therefore independent of the missionary society. There is also an independent Baptist church at Port au Prince, under the care of Rev. Lucius Hippolyte, M.A., who is a graduate of Colgate University. The work has been carried on for many years under great difficulties and with very little apparent success. Still the brethren have labored on, and there are many hopeful signs which give promise of the future reaping of a good harvest. The Baptist brethren in the island have lately met and formed a Haitian Baptist Union, and it is hoped that the union will prove useful in strengthening the Lord's work. The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society has several flourishing stations on the island. At J acmel, Port au Prince, and Cape Haiti they have labored with zeal and success for many years. It seems a pity that the work should now be at a standstill by the home society gradually withdrawing help from the West India Conference. The English Baptists have a station at Puerto Plata, in the Republic of San Domingo, the Mrican Methodist Episcopal Church has some stations, and work is also being done by the Episcopal Church of the United States j but with regard to these last-named missions the writer has no information as to their present position and prospects.
The people of Haiti are warm-hearted, kind, and hospitable, passionately fond of liberty, and very jealous of their free, republican institutions. They are, however, deep down in the mire of superstition and sin. Political and religious liberty do not exist in anything but in name. The mass of the people are grossly ignorant, and are thus easily imposed upon by the few who are to some extent educated. The present ruler of Haiti has many qualities which might have made him a wise and liberal ruler, but the strong opposition of the Romish Church, and the many plots against his government, have so acted on him as to make him suspicious, stern, and cruel to a terrible degree. With all his faults, however, he favors Protestant missions, and though himself a Roman Catholic, sees in the spread of our principles the only hope of his country's political and social regeneration. In the neglected country places the people are devotees of Vaudoism, fetichism, and other heathenish beliefs and practices. Cuba, the largest of the West India Islands, was up to a few years ago entirely without the Gospel, and a large part of it is stilI unevangelized. The people are crushed and oppressed by the Church and government, and are thus dissatisfied and anxious to throw off the Spanish yoke, yet have neither the unity, courage, nor resolution to do so. The Church is supported by the State, and until about the year 1875-a remarkable year in the history of missions-was the only creed allowed to be preached in the country. In that year religious toleration was proclaimed, and since that time various societies have done work in Cuba. At first there seemed very little hope of success. The interesting story of the conversion and subsequent call of Rev. A. J. Diaz to labor in his native land has already been told in the pages of this REVIEW. He and his staff of workers are doing a noble work in Hava.na and other cities and towns in the north of Cuba, and the work is making rapid progress under the fostering care of the Southern Baptist Convention. Several churches have been formed, with which are connected large and flourishing day and Sunday-scho:>ls. The Episcopal Church also has stations at Matanzas and in Havana, and their work has been attended by much of the Divine blessing.
About four years a.go the Southern Presbyterians began work in Havana, but after a time removed to Santa Clara, an inland town of 15,000 inhabitants. Here a congregation has been gathered under the Rev. E. P. Collazo, and good work is being done in the day and Sundayschools. The Methodist Episcopal Church, also about four years ago, began work in Havana, but the writer does not know what amount of success has attended their efforts. In the year 1886 work was commenced by the Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society at Cienfuegos, on the south side of the island, but after several years' work the mission has been temporarily abandoned. The society, however, has the satisfaction of knowing that its agents have preached the Gospel to large numbers in Cienfuegos, and numbers of Bibles and Testaments as well as Gospel tracts have been distributed. At the last meeting of the General Committee of the Society, in February, 1894, the following resolution was unanimously passed: "That it be an instruction to the Managing Committee to seek to secure a. suitable agent for work in Cuba, and if such an agent can be secured and the funds of the society permit, to resume missionary work in that island during this year." For lack of funds nothing has been done. There are stilI many large cities and towns in Cuba without a single Protestant missionary, and if Cuba is to be evangelized to any great extent, the number of workers must be multiplied fully fifty times.
A WORD ABOUT THE DIFFICULTIES.
The difficulties of the work are many and great. Haiti is a much more ready and inviting field than Cuba. The chief difficulty in Haiti is the frequent OCCUI'l'el!Y6 of bloody wars, which, while they continue, throw everything out of order, and if Cuba were to become independent in her present moral and intellectual state, the same bitter strife and bloodshed would be snre to prevail. In Haiti the people are more liberal in their ideas and institutions. They are kind and hospitable, and the stranger is readily welcomed. This is not the case in Cuba. The men are easily reached in the restaurants, cates, and clubs, where they idle away much of their time, b~t foreigners especially find it hard to get into the homes of the people. Their own priests are not allowed to visit them, except when dying to administer the last ordinance of the Church, and the foreign missionary is not expected to visit either. If he is a single man, it will be impossible for him to do much of this work. He stands a better chance if he is married.
The expense of mission work is very great, both in Cuba and in Haiti. Living is expensive, and rent is very high. To do effective work a chapel of some kind must be provided. The people with the ideas about worship which they have been taught do not believe in going to the parlor of a private house to hear the Gospel. It must be in some consecrated building. Then burial of the dead is another difficulty. All the cemeteries are in the hands of the Church, which will allow no heretic to be buried in consecrated ground. The law provides for the erection of public cemeteries in connection with every town, but as most of the town councils are controlled by the Church, they find various means of evading the law. In Haiti this difficulty does not exist, as all the cemeteries are public.
The missionary has also to contend with the enormous power of the Church of Rome. She is rich and crafty, and does not fail to employ all the powers at her command to prevent the spread of the Gospel. The priest, although despised, is feared, and has very much more power than would at first sight appear.
The greatest difficulty, however, is indifference. We have often heard it said that people in these islands are crying out for the Gospel. This is not the case. The people have no appetite for a spiritual religion which demands a" repentance toward God" and" faith which worketh by love." The great majority are perfectly satisfied with Romanism, which panders to their depraved nature and carnal appetites. They flock to mass on the Sabbath morning, to the cockpit or bull-ring in the afternoon, and to the theatre at night. These difficulties are no plea or excuse for neglecting these mission fields. The Divine command is not, " Go where it is easy," or " Go where the people want you and where converts can be easily won," but" Go ye"-oh ! that the Church would hear it-" into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." This is our business with regard to Cuba and Haiti, as well as anywhere else, and we earnestly pray that it may be speedily done.
THE CENTENARY OF A GREAT MISSIONARY SOCIETY
THE CENTENARY OF A GREAT MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
One hundred years ago there were but two missionary societies in England: the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, founded in 1701, and the Baptist Missionary Society, in 1792; but the missionary spirit had been slowly awaking, and this led to the desire for the formation of a society on a basis sufficiently broad to include earnest men of all denominations holding the principles usually called evangelical.
A small group of such persons had, in 1793, established the Evangelical Magazine, and in the number for September, 1794, there apPelJ,red a long and able letter, written by Dr. Bogne, a Presbyterian minister at Gosport, calling attention to the subject. It produced a profound impression and led to various private conferences, and on November 4th the first concerted meeting, with a view to the formation of a society, took place in the city of London. Eight ministers were present, and at that gathering the Society really had its birth, though at a later period it was formally inaugurated. It Was resolved to issue in the following month an appeal inviting practical co-operation and aid.
Among other statements it said: "That something may be done with effect, it is hoped that not only evangelical Dissenters and Methodists will be disposed to unite in instituting a society, but that members of the Established Church will also favor us with their kind c-:l-operation."
This circular discovered the affectionate willingness of a considerable number to stand forth in this work, "and after various meetings of a deliberative character a letter was issued, signcd by ten leading ministers, calling a series of meetings to found the Society. The preparatory meeting was held on September 21st, 1795, at the Castle and Falcon, Aldersgate Street, when there appeared a very numerous and respectable assembly of ministers and others whose aspect indicated seriousness, ardor, and harmony worthy of so great an occasion." 'it " On the three following days six sermons were preached in some of the largest chapels in London, followed by several business meetings, and a general meeting on Friday the 25th, at which the Society was definitely inaugurated by the election of a treasurer, two secretaries, and 32 directors, and the 'plan' of it adopted. Of this it is only necessary to say that it was called simply the Missionary Society, and its sole object defined to be ' to spread the knowledge of Christ among heathen and other unenlightened nations.'" CongregatlOnalists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and members of the Countess of Huntingdon's connection united in this movement. The leaders were influential and eminent in the churches to • .. An Introductory Memorial Respecting the Formation of the Missionary Society ;" .leo, .. A Blatory of the London Missionary Society." By the Rev. W. Ellis. Vol. I. This hlatory. unfortu. utely. Wile never completed. which they belonged; great harmony prevailed in all their deliberations, the meetings were crowded, and the impression produced extended far and wide.
The sphere for the first mission had previously been considered, and " it was unanimously resolved that the first attempt of this Society shall be to send missionaries to Otaheite or some other islands of the South Sea; and also that missions may be as early as possible attempted to the Coast of Africa, or to Tartary, or to Surat, on the Malabar Coast of India, or to Bengal, or the Coromandel Coast of India, or to the Island of Sumatra, or to the Pelew Islands."
The first mission was soon commenced. On July 27th, 1796, thirty missionaries-four ordained ministers, the others artisans-were designated for this work, in the presence of a large congregation, ten ministers of different denominations engaging in the service. The missionaries sailed for Tahiti in the ship .Duff on August 10th, and reached their destination on March 6th, 1797, the first evangelists ever sent to any of the numerous islands of Polynesia.
The Society had many influential, united, zealous friends, and as these passed away, others like-minded were found to carry on the work so well begun. This will be seen from the foIIowing statement of the missions it successively established. In 1797 missionaries were sent to the Foulahs near Sierra Leone; in 1798 to Bengal and to the Cape of Good Hope; in the following year to Newfoundland; in 1804 to Surat, on the West Coast of India, to the South and East coasts, and to Ceylon; in 1808 to British Guiana and the West Indies, and the first Protestant missionary 1.0 China in 1811 ; in 1813 to Java and the Mauritius; in 1815 to Malacca, and in 1816 to one of the Greek islands; to Madagascar in 1818 and Siberia in 1819. New Guinea was occupied in 1871, and Lake Tanganyika, in Central Africa, in 1877.
Some of these misbions were small and isolated, and for one reason or another were in time abandoned, but the foIIowing great spheres are now occupied by the Society, and have in every instance expanded from single stations to groups, usually of extended influence.
After more than fourteen years of toil and alternate hope, disappointment and danger, the Gospel triumphed in TAHITI AND THE ADJOINING ISLANDS, and after a few years of quiet, successful toil, a great extension of the missions was caused by the splendid zeal of John Williams, who between 1822 and 1839, when he met a martyr's death on Erromanga, placed missionaries and native evangelists on a number of islands, some of them far separated from each other. The Society now occupies the Harvey, Samoan, and Loyalty groups of islands, and a number of isolated ones, like Nine or Savage Island. Most of these are so entirely Christian that no remains of idolatry are to be seen, save. as memorials of a dark and barbarous past; but the influence of the Society has extended far beyond its own spheres. Its romantic and remarkable successes drew attention to the Pacific, and led to the occupation of many islands by other societies, and with such marked results as are seen in Fiji, the Sandwich, and other islands.
One most satisfactory issue of the Polynesian mission was the com. mencement of the NEW GUINEA MISSION in 1871.
Christianity had so triumphed in many islands, and converts had approved themselves such reliable pastors and evangelists, that two experienced missionaries and a number of native volunteers were appointed to begin a new mission, or rather a series of missions on the southeast coast of New Guinea, the largest island in the world with the exception of Australia. The climate is unhealthy and the people are degraded and treacherous, and a large number of the Polynesian evangelists have been invalided, died of disease, or been slain, but volunteers have been found to occupy even positions of peril, and now one hundred and eleven native agents, with seven European missionaries, are spreading light and truth from many stations and with marked success.
The four or five small stations in INDIA at the beginning of the century have grown into twenty-five, with a yet larger number of out-stations.
Nearly two thousand miles intervene between Almora, in the Himalaya, and Travancore, near Cape Comorin. In the latter little kingdom is the most flourishing of the Society's Indian missions, with its fifty-three thousand converts, a number found only in four other parts of India within the same area.
In CHINA, as in India, it has been hitherto a time of sowing rather than of reaping.
The evangelization of by far the two greatest empires in the world, each dominated by intricate and specious systems of superstition, the outgrowth of remarkable race idiosyncrasies, and therefore congenial to the genius and character of the people, is inevitably a slow and stupendous task. Nor have Christian people yet grasped the conception of what the conversion of a vast empire means, either in its arduousness. duration. or splendor. The London Missionary Society, in both these supremely important fields, alike through education, literature, and preaching, has all through the century borne a most conspicuous part. It has missions in some of the most important cities of China, as Canton, Shanghai, Amoy, Hankow, Tientsin, and Peking; and it has had an exceptionally large number of eminent and learned missionaries, but with all other societies it has to regret the small number of converts and of reliable native helpers.
In MADAGASCAR the Society has had its greatest trials and triumphs, if fidelity in suffering even unto death and the number of its converts alone be considered. The mission began with disaster. * Then followed some eleven years of steady work; then years of repression and persecution, * Mr. Be'f8n and Mr. Jones were the pioneer missionaries. Within a few weeks the former, With hill wife and child, and lIlrs. Jones and her child, died. even unto death, and then a glorious outburst of Christian fruitfulness and of freedom to worship God. The Society has now more than 346,000 converts there who form 1200 Christian congregations, and are ministered to by 1061 native ordained ministers and a yet more numerous company of preachers; but great as these results seem, the wonder is justified that after such zeal and propagandism, as the long years of persecution revealed, the results have not been greater.
In AFRICA the early promise has not been realized. The missions have had such men as Vanderkemp, Phillips, Moffat, and Livingstone, and at one time were more numerous in South Africa than now. The Society set ~ fine example by sending some of its missionaries far into the interior, but the churches, the communities, and the native ministry have not grown in strength and number as much as might have been expected. CENTRAL AFRICA has cost some precious lives, and many difficulties have occurred in the prosecution of the mission, as indeed has been the case with all the missions in that vast region; but the worst apparently has been surmounted and the signs of coming blessing seem clear.
In the WEST INDIES during the middle half of the century the Society had several important stations throughout Demerara, Berbice, and Jamaica. Some years since these were supposed to be qualified for self-support and were left with but partial aid, so that now only one missionary represents the Society in the West Indies.
The only missionary in MONGOLIA belongs to this Society. It has been prosecuted with singular devotion for twenty-five years by one missionary chiefly, with but partial results, and now has but two.
Gertainfeaturelof the Society's history and of its present position, as indicated in the table with which this paper closes, are noteworthy.
The first event of importance in its history was the conversion of King Pomara and a considerable number of his subjects in Tahiti and one or two neighboring islands. For some years the missionaries saw no fruit to their labors ; opposition threatened; some of the missionaries withdrew from the islands ; the directors at home became discouraged ; the abandonment of the mission was suggested. This led to a time of special prayer. There came tidings of great joy, of victory for the Christian party and of many conversions. It was a great crisis in the Society's history, and the issues were very remarkable in the increase of enthusiasm at home and the extension of missions in Polynesia and elsewhere.
The visits of John Williams to England from 1834 to 1838, after eighteen years' splendid service in Polynesia, and of Robert Moffat, from 1839 to the close of 1842, after twenty-three years of African romance, did more to kindle missionary enthusiasm than the visits of any two men have ever done. Both were remarkable men in pCl'Sonality, power of speech, and resourcefulness. Their lives abroad had been romantic, perilous, enterprising, and successful. They had thrilling stories to tell, and told them well. Heroes they were without knowing it, for they were simple and humble, but inspired by missionary enthusiasm, and they inspired others. Wherever they went there were crowded audiences, and the impressions they produced were profound and enduring. From that time the position and reputation of the Society were distinctly raised.
Another marked event was the resumption of the Madagascar Mission. After ten years of successful seed-sowing the protecting King Radama died. His queen succeeded him. Then for nearly thirty years, more systematic and severe methods were used to extinguish Christianity than has been seen anywhere else during this century. For more than twenty years the missionaries were exiled; but when the queen died it was seen that the five or six score Christians there were at the beginning of her reign had grown to many thousands! The Society which had begun the work and watched over it all through the dark days sent at once a large band of missionaries, and has ever since made Madagascar one of its principal fields. The story of that long persecution through fine, imprisonment, slavery, and death in its most terrible forms, endured with wonderful fortitude and ending so gloriously, ranks as the greatest triumph of this Society.
It was a marked advance in its policy when in 1871 it commenced the New Guinea Mission, and in 1877 the one in Central Africa. It is sufficient here to point out that both were pioneer missions on a large scale, among races far removed from all Christian influences, in most unhealthy regions, and entailing a permanent heavy annual expenditure. Since both these movements were undertaken in obedience to public desire, it was expected that they would elicit a corresponding enthusiasm and liberality; these, though considerable, have not equalled expectations, and this has caused some of the most important missions in India and China to be inadequately sustained for some time.
It was in some degree a consciousness of this neglect which led three years ago to the initiation of what has been well called theforward movement. It was resolved to increase the European staff of agents by one hundred before the centenary was complete.
This meant an increase of one third in agency and about one fourth in annual outlay. Almost one half the missionaries have been sent out, and some advance in the income has been made, but not to the extent hoped for and needed. To the deep disappointment, therefore, of many this movement is suspended, not without hope that it will be resumed and completed before the close of next year.
The Society has been fortunate in its foreign secretaries. Only one can here be referred to, though Dr. Mullens, as missionary, author, and secretary, is worthy of high honor, but Dr. Tidman was in the latter position for twenty-seven years. He was called" the prince of secretaries," nor was he unworthy of the name. In bearing he was a courtly gentleman. His power to influence others was great. He had large administrative ability and insight. His reports and speeches were ~models of explicitness, force, and persuasive eloquence, and his devotion to the Society undoubted.
The general features and policy of the Society are worthy of notice. It has remained faithful to its original principle of undenominationalism.
In the course of time Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and others have drawn off from it, not through strife or controversy-for of these there has been singularly little throughout its history-but from a belief that organizations on a denominational basis would gain a largcr amount of sympathy and support. The Congregationalists have not had such a desire, and remaining loyal to the Society, it has largely come into their hands. It is to their honor that they have never desired to make it exclusively their own, or to call it by some new name. Hence it is that, being wishful to maintain the undenominational, and, as they jndge, nobler feature of the Society, they have been at pains to associate Presbyterians and others with themselves in the management of its affairs, and never decline to send a non-Congregationalist into the mission field if he is judged to be suitably qualified. Such there now are and always have been.
It has been honored by the services of an unusually large number of eminent missionaries. It has sent out more than one thousand agents, and an unmmal number of them have been men of more than average ability as scholars, evangelists, and organizers, and not a few have attained to the first rank in the missionary band of worthies.
It will be admitted by almost all acquainted with th~ history of missions during this century that Vanderkemp, Morrison, Phillips, Williams, Moffat, Ellis, Mullens were eminent missionaries, and that few societies can present an equal number of men so distinguished.
And it may be claimed for the Society that it has faithfully and efficiently carried out the purposes for which it was formed.
It has had its difficulties. The missionary cause is nowhere so popular as it should be. Christian people for the most part give it but a lukewarm support. Affairs are keenly watched and unkindly criticised continually, questions of extreme delicacy and difficulty have to be dealt with.
The directors at home and the missionaries abroad are not invariably wise or good-natured or companionable. Disaster comes, success does not. To sustain missionaries in unhealthy countries and among savage and unfriendly men, decade after decade, is no light task. Popularity is desirable, but its demands are not always reasonable, and societies, like individuals, are tempted to enter on courses that promise much, but end in embarrassment, perhaps disaster.
This Society has passed through these various experiences, and it speaks well for its leaders, and suggests that it has been guided by God, that its course has been so free from disaster, and so generally distinguished by able management, nobility of policy, and aim and great success. To prosecute the missionary enterprise in countries so wide apart as the West and East Indies, China and Africa, Polynesia, New Guinea, and Madagascar, and among races differing widely from one another and from ourselves, for periods extending over twenty years almost to one hundred, without any great breach or mistake or failure at home or abroad-not without struggles and discouragement, indeed, but with a history marked at each decade by progress upward and onward-is ample evidence of the administrative powers of the secretaries generally, the sagacity and high character of the directorate, the ability, consideration, and zeal of the missionaries, and, above all, the presence and blessing of God. The following summary will show the high position of success and efficiency it has attained, though it leaves unrecorded much that has been accomplished. There are, for instance, several churches and congregations in the West Indies and South Africa which were planted and mustered by the Society, and then-too hastily-left to themselves. So, too, there are many more in Polynesia, Madagascar, India, and China, related to it, but receiving no aid, or if they do, giving in return as much or more than they receive.
The total income for the year 1893-94 was £141,369, but of this amount £26,903 was raised at the mission stations. It will be seen that while the foreign missionary number 258, the ordained native ministers are 1476, and the other native preachers 6758. Is there any other society that derives so large a proportion of its income from its own mission stations, or has so large a number of native agents, in comparison with the number of its European missionaries 1 GENERAL SUMMARY FOR THE YEARS 1893-94.
DAY SCHOOLS.
s§ STATIONS~.~a).a "'- ~ iii~'5alz!'" ",,,,m '" ~"~,f"- SUNDAY I Boys. GIRLS. LOCAL ~.~ '~fl SCHOOLS. CONTRI- AND OUT-:=~ 'Es ~~'~" :rs."""", Z":'"§ STATIONS. ~ .; .;, BUTIONB. ~.2 o.~ ~~ -< '0 ~ ~.~ '0'" ~~ j~ .0g 0 – – – – – – – – – – No. Schol- '0 ." .'0g – – – ars. w. – ." w" . w. — — w" . – — — I £ s. d.
1. China …… 45 21 8 9; 5,017 3,370 11 605 57 1,691 28 1,225 3.116 19 8 2. North India 20 17 9 39 701 2,381 36 1,661 58 4,279 50 2,442 1,620 3 0 3. South India 34 15 15 121 2,036 15,822 1,858 161 6,501 37 3,061 577 12 2 4. Travancore. 11 3 22 28:1 6,730 53,147 …6.2 374 13,000 38 4,552 1,942 19 4 1,061 5,879 63,020 283,738 119 16;368 441 36,931 7,3;l6 12 8 23 1,211 227 7 1…. …. …. …. … … ………………. n 5. MadagaScar 326…. …. '37,497 o 2 …. 6. Africa ….. 25 . … •. W~""'… , …..•.. 2,421 4.291 3 230 ~j34'045 8. Polynesia… 22 4 361 266 14,267 42,046 280 13,323 302 8,156 221 5,438 4,246 1 0 Totals… 190 -;- 1,476 6,758 94,192 404,795 1,416 71,769 37554,215119,067-;-; Local Contributions * …………………………………………. £19,067 8 5 School Fees. …… ……………. …….. …….. …….. ……….. 7,635 12 9 Totalraised at Mission Stations ………………….. ,…………. … £26,903 1 2 – – – – N.H.-These statistics are necessarily incomplete owing to insnfficient returns, … ).IIultipl;r b;r jive to jUlcertain approximately the n1ll11ber of dollara,
A. MODEL WORKING CHURCH IN THE WORLD'S C.A.PITAL
A MODEL WORKING CHURCH IN THE WORLD'S CAPITAL.
BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A.., BRIXTON, LONDON, ENGLAND.
The recent celebration of Pastor A. G. Brown's fiftieth birthday is a seasonable occasion to put in brief form a record of his East End labors j and, if possible, supply a graphic sketch not only of the man, but of the church over which he presides, and which we have ventured to designate a model working church in the world's capital. It is given to few men to do such a work as the East End Tabernacle monuments, and to do it in face of conditions which tax to the utmost not only the frailness of the flesh, but the willingness of the spirit. No man can be insensible to his environment j and when the environment lacks lustre, when year in and year out it is one unvarying round of monotony and of care, when the scene does not change and there is no poetic gleam to relieve the dull prose of prevailing existence, when the tide of poverty and distress seems rather to rise than to sink despite the inflow of liberality and the increase of social schemes, it is no wonder if at times the hrave worker grows weary, and the temptation to faint be well-nigh insupportable. With such an environment as this, which we have only sketched with a light hand, Pastor A. G. Brown has for twenty-eight years labored for God. During that period he has known many a juniper-tree, and though a man of strong physique has more than once all but touched breaking point. His fiftieth year, however, finds him strong, sanguine, and jubilant. "Never," said he to us, "have I had so much to encourage me in my work as now. My wife's health causes me constant anxiety, but the work flourishes, and our meetings were never so fruitful as of late. The jubilee year is the best that has yet been. "
With the exception of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Mr. Brown's church has a larger membership than any in London. But it is not the size of this work, great though it be, which most impresses us, as the manifestly live description of it. Drawn mainly from the dreary work.a-day world -the pleasure grounds of the" sweater"-and from strata more deeply sunken still, the church which meets in the East End Tabernacle exhibits all the features of a corporate body. This church is cohesive. It is a unit. There is the charm, the felt presence of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. These people have come in their multitude for worship, fellowship, and testimony as partakers together of the same grace and heirs of the same glory. They are not there because magnetized by some sensation or befooled by some flaming poster. Mr. Brown abhors the arts of sensationalism, and has held on his way, employing no means to reach the masses save those which the simplicity there is in Christ and sworn fidelity to the Gospel justify. And not only has he reached them in a way which sensationalists might envy, but he has held them when reached, and raised vast numbers of them, throuih the operation of the Spirit, into newness of life, so that the church itself is become a hive of Christian activity-a model working church in the world's capital.
One of the assumptions of the times is that the power to draw is the be-all and end·aIl of ministry. This power certainly may, on the best of grounds, be made the subject of definite petition and endeavor; but if it stands alone-and the case is by no means hypothetical-it only serves the more to mirror forth the poverty that is there. In such a case the pulpit is only another form and expression of the performer's art. The show of numbers is but a show, and only in a complimentary sense may the aggregate be reckoned a church. Strictly construed, no church exists which is worthy of the name where there are no uniting bonds of the Spirit, no mystic tie of love, no oneness of soul, no responsibility mutually shared, and making all hearts pulsate with a common aim. But Mr. Brown's success is not of a nominal description. It is not a mere instance of drawing ability, but of edifying force, and of the cumulative effect that is ever the mark of the Spirit's infused grace and life. How much greater than mere attraction is assimilation; and how much superior to the art of massing diverse units is the sacred science which, by the magnetism of Christ's cross, supersedes the nominal in Christianity and makes the living oneness of professed believers to be declared !
In many respects Mr. Brown reminds us of the late C. H. Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, by whom he was baptized on June 21st, 1861, and in whose college he was subsequently trained for the Gospel ministry. The affection uniting these two eminent servants of Christ was one of the closest description-a point to which we have made feeling reference elsewhere. Like Mr. Spurgeon, Mr. Brown has the faculty of incisive utterance. He can be and is aphoristic. There is not with him, indeed, the same varied flow and many-sidedness of touch, for he is not, to the same extent, an all-round man; but there is quite as quick sympathy; there is the like readiness to see a good point and state it with as keen a relish; there is as strong passion and noble-minded scorn, the same play of genial humor when the fit is on, and that wondrous power so effectual in crushing souls into the depths of concern-we refer to the power which some preachers have in solemnizing the conscience, as if the last trump were being sounded in the ear. The likeness between the two men is all the more patent to those who have known both intimately, in that it is founded on individuality. It would be ,absurd to speak of Mr. Brown-and, indeed, we have never heard the allegation made-as an imitator of Spurgeon. A lover of him he was. As he observed to the writer of this sketch on the great funeral week: "The world can never be the same to us again, now that he is gone-never quite." But imitation of any man has never been Mr. Brown's role, any more than it ever was Spurgeon's. 'The individuality, in this case, is far too strong, and clearly cut, and impetuous to admit of any form of imitation's falsification. Like the illustrious departed, Mr. Brown is large.souled; and having the blend of the lion and the eagle, combined with a warm human heart, touched with Christ's compassions, he needed scope. In the populous East End of London, which we can hardly think of without a shudder, he has found it; and there in the fulness of his powers he labors still, the hand of the Lord being with him, and only the marks on head and feature to tell of the deep fellowship with Christ's sufferings he has had.
Within the limits of the British Isles we know of no man who has had such success, we will not say in winning souls, although that, perchat;tce, is true, but in that more arduous and difficult work still, their unification in church life and action. He certainly has obtained the gift of wisdom, so as to compact the converts won into a fellowship and make them coherent in spirit and service. 'What are his methods ~ With what lever is this result attained ~ The inquiry may be answered in one word, PRAYER. His Saturday evening prayer-meeting is not the least of London sights, and is one of the most instructive of them all. Into this weekly gathering of over a thousand on an average, the pastor throws himself heart and soul; and like pastor, like people. Together they meet to pray as if it were (which, indeed, it is to them) the most serious and influential business of life. Hence, were the leader questioned as to the secret of the blessing given, he would doubtless reply: "Prayer is the secret of it–prayer as embodied in a praying church. There is no getting on without prayer. I cannot myself get on without it; and how can I preside over a living church unless I can get them to feel the vital need of prayer. It is useless preaching, unless such Christians as I have around me hold up my hands in prayer. And so with all our machinery. What is machinery but dead incumbrance unless impelled by Holy Ghost power ~ Far better throw up our many works of service and attempt nothing at all, if we are not minded, from a sense of utter incapacity, to pray every agency in the field in'to instruments of power."
" Restraining prayer we cease to fight, Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright; And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees."
Such an answer, however, always implies more than lies on the snrface. The prayer of power never stands alone, and is seldom found in company with the invertebrate in doctrine, or the dim in spiritnal insight. In considering the work achieved in this case, we have to remember that the flock are fed with the strong meat of doctrine-Calvinistic dogma some would call it-and that thc utmost care is exercised to increase their stamina for walk and service. Doctrinally Mr. Brown stands where C. H. Spurgeon stood, combining with a solicitude to save that never wavers a recognition of the elective purpose of the Father that never falters. He cedes nothing to modern thought, and is a vigilant censor and unsparing opponent of downgradism in every form. A few sentences may here be cited from this year's letter to his many helpers within and without his immediate fold: "Darkness and sin abound, and a grievous apostasy from the truth is spreading over the land. The Word of God is being assailed from every quarter, and the Holy Writings that Jesus loved and believed are being degraded to a mere human literature. We want no one to help us under any false impression, and therefore we think it only honest to avow that to us the Bible is the Word of God from beginning to end. Jesus Christ is to us the highest of all critics. He has stamped the Old Testament Scriptures as true, and declared them to be all they claim to be. If He was mistaken, a13 some tell us, we elect to be mistaken with Him. The very supposition is blasphemous. Within sight of where we sit is the window of the room in which dear Spurgeon breathed his last. He has gone, but his witness against the ' down grade' still lives. In all parts there are faithful souls that sigh and cry, as he did, because of the apostasy of the age. Pray God that they may be multiplied, and that England may once again honor the Bible, that has been the secret of her prosperity in the past."
The principal, as it is certainly the most difficult part of the work attempted by this church, concerns the systematic effort made to reach and win over the masses of lapsed population lying at their doors. It is quite certain that the spirit of hearing, in London generally, is not what it was a· generation or two ago. Supineness, indifference, and positive aversion have more than kept step with the aggressive tactics of late years. But there is an importunity in practice, as in prayer, that is not to be denied ; and it is by unweariedness in well-doing this church has sought, and still seeks, to compass her ends. In addition to nine missionaries, who do curates' work under their leader, and systematically visit all the houses of the adjoining streets within a given area, there are many volunteers, who contribute in similar ways, so that no one, even though he be, to use Whitefield's expression, "a devil's castaway," need remain in the dark or perish from lack of knowledge. We subjoin the figures as regards one street, which may be taken as a specimen of many more: Number of houses …..••••………… … 27 " " families…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 " "adults ……………………. 412728} 600 " " children .•••.•……………….
Six hunared persons in twenty-seven small houses, and out of this number twelve make profession of Christ. The only comment made in connection with this enumeration is that the street in question" is decidedly better than many in the neighborhood."
All the year round this visitation work goes on, and is regarded by pastor and people as the very framework of their life. During 1893, 18,587 visits were paid, each visit being made a business of, a distinct form of Christian enileayor, colloquially known as "button-holeing." Relief, which is largely called for, is strictly based on the knowledge that accrues from a visitation that is in daily process and that searches into the darkest corners. The verdict of experience is that promiscuous relief " results only in good things being squandered, and lying and vice being rewarded." In other words, it is " a curse rather than a blessing." The Benevolent Account, under the head of "Mission Fund Expenditure for 1893," amounted in all to £2301 Os. lId. The varied items constitute a miscellaneous and lengthy assortment. Let it suffice to state that in addition to what is required for homes (Sea-side and Girls'), mission chapels, and mission halls, salaries of missionaries, boarding out children in country, medical attendance, and midwifery, etc., there were given in relief during the past year 3908 garments of various kinds, comprising all sorts of male and female apparel and baby clothes j 7432 loaves of bread j 3390 Ibs. of meat j 34 cwt. of rice j 157! Ibs. of tea j 2096 tickets for groceries j and 25,755 free tickets for soup and puddings.
As a specimen of the rich return that is sometimes given in recompense for a little help to one of the least of these-His brethrim-we may cite Mr. Brown's story of a half-crown bedstead: "One chair, one low box for table, two little stools, two large pieces of sacking laid on the floor for beds. No mattress, no pillow, no blanket. Nothing.
" The place, however, was beautifully clean. There were husband, wife, four children, and another daily expected. The husband was formerly in business for himself, and once a member of a Congregational Church. For twelve years, however, he had not been inside any place of worship. He said, • I got out of communion, and I've never been in since.' A little help has done wonders. We began with the half-crown bedstead, purchased at this nominal price from a friend. Some one gave a mattress, another gave some chairs. The last gift was a table, a great treasure. They have also been helped with clothes and in other ways. The husband now has work, and in company with his wife attends regu. larly at the Tabernacle. The half-crown bedstead was a blessed invest· ment. "
Of a more pathetic character is the incident inscribed ., Two Little Coffins: " It was November 9th that, hearing ofthe trouble of Mr. Ilond Mrs. D., I ran in. What a contrast to the festivities going on in the city! (Lord Mayor'S Day.) The youngest, aged one year, was just laid out, and another child of four was dying. Father was out of work, mother bewildered, and four other children in the room. The child of four died almost directly, and two little coffins were placed side by side. On the day of the funeral I went in. There stood the father, and the two little eoffins were before him on the table. He remarked, 'I feel stupefied, six children already in llford Oemetery, and these two will make eight. Five still left, one a soldier in foreign parts j I'm crumpled up.' I took up my Bible and read from 2 Sam. 12 : 16-23, reminding him that God had made it gloriously possible for him to see his children again. We knelt by the side of the two little coffins, and poured out our souls in prayer. The mother has since been ill, but finds comfort in the Lord. They now attend the sanctuary and are happy in God."
What "Darkest England" is like is not unknown to this church, whose aim is to bear the torch of Gospel light into the interior of the heathenism at her own doors. The following extract from the diary of one of the female missionaries speaks for itself : " Are you a Christian ~" Mrs. E.: "Oh, yes, Miss j I hope so." " Then you mean that when you die you know you will be safe ~" " Oh, no, Miss j I wouldn't like to say that j I ain't fit for heaven." " How do you hope to get fit ~" " I am sure I don't know." " Are you a sinner ~" " Oh, yes, we are all sinners j at least not all, I should say that three out offour was a sinner. " Richard Baxter confessed that as he grew older his views of what constituted the Christian's chief duty underwent a change, and that the call to rejoice in the Lord, to live in the Divine sunshine, and to reflect. it, became the foremost requirement of all. We trace much to the influence of Divine sunshine in this East End work. Without an abounding flow of spirits, through the realized grace of God, it would be impossible for pastor or people to hold on, hemmed in, as they are, by life's struggle in its bitterest form, and saddened by sights to which there is no getting used. But the grace of joy, like Atlas, can bear earth's pillars up. What is done by this church is done cheerily. Little is attempted in the minor key. The major key of assurance is struck. Public houses are stormed, loafers importuned to come to the house of God, the sinfnl and despondent reanimated by those who have ceased to tremble for personal safety or to ask with quavering voice: "Am I His? or, am I not ?" This feature of gladsomeness is not without its effect on the sad and wretched world around. The spiritually starved get the impression that a feast awaits them. It is the language of the heart that can best persuade j and when joy prompts the utterance, chords long dead vibrate once more. Prayer must be lived as well as spoken j and to the degree that faith inspires it, will it prove aggressive in action. The work in the East End Tabernacle is a present-day witness to this fact. It is by no means a question altogether of the preacher's drawing power. There are many co-operant units whose object it is to help into the sanctuary those who, apart from tho persuasive zeal of the loving-hearted, would never find the way. Thus every Sunday evening a large contingent is withdrawn from the gin palaces and the street corners to hear the Gospel's joyful sound, and from this class numbers are taken to sample forth afresh the greatness of redeeming love. We close this sketch with a brief reference to the pastor's jubilee, which was held on his fiftieth birthday, July 18th, 1894, and took the form of an open-air festival in the spacious grounds of Harley House, Bow Road. Some sixteen hundred had tea in the open air, the day being everything that could be desired. Among the crowd were many men of note whose service in the Gospel has obtained for them a place in the line of apostolical succession. America was represented by Dr. Chase, of Philadelphia, and Dr. Lorimer, of Boston, and England, by Christian workers in various fields of enterprise. Mr. Thomas Spurgeon was the first speaker, who, having to leave early, anticipated, in a few words of hearty greeting, the meeting that was timed to begin at 6.30 P.M. Mr. John Marnham, of Boxmoor, having been voted to the chair, alluded to the special tie which bound himself and family to the brother whose jubilee they had met to celebrate. Many years ago Mr. Brown had come unknown and unexpectedly as a guest into his family, and as a result of his visit four of his children had been brought to make an open confession of Christ. It was no wonder, then, that no name was more honored and welcomed in his household than that of Archibald G. Brown. Haying called for three hearty cheers for the pastor, the chairman then asked him to speak. Mr. Brown's words were full of references touching and quaint. All day long letters and telegrams of congratulation had been pouring in upon him. His two daughters, missionaries in China, Mrs. Woodward and Miss Gracie Brown, of Shanghai, had not forgotten their father. Of these, one sent word that she would have liked to have sent a telegram, " only it would look so unlike a poor missionary." (We may mention here that Mr. Brown's third daughter, Miss Lucie, is destined for China also, being engaged to Dr. James Bennett, missionary-elect of the L. M. S.) Mrs. Spurgeon did not fail to send her best greetings by telegram from 'Westwood, while a deacon had shown his leanings in the wish, " May your translation to the golden city be delayed as long as possible." The letter, however, which had touched him most was from the first he had ever baptized, when, but nineteen years of age, he began his work at Bromley, in Kent. Since then it had been his joy to baptize between five and six thousand. Mr. Brown's address concluded in these words: " I cannot tell you how much I joy and rejoice over all the goodness of God. All day long it has been my one thought, what a glorious God I have, what a marvellous Master, what a splendid Saviour! Oh, the mysteryof love that He has let me stay so long in His service!" Many took part in the subsequent proceedings, including the Rev. J. T. Wigner, the Rev. E. H. Brown (the pastor's brother), Mr. Pinney, who represented the church, and told of the harmony that prevailed and the friendship binding the deacons and the pastor-a tangible expression of affection being shown in the gift of £250, the acceptance of which by the pastor was now asked-the Rev. Henry Bone, of Hackney, a Wesleyan minister, and Dr. John C. Lorimer, of Tremont Temple, Boston. The evening
MEXICO AS A MISSION FIELD
shadows were lengthening ere the meeting closed, but the gathering was slow to break up, for it was a day of days, an Ebenezer which bore this inscription : " Grace all the work shall crown Through everlasting days, It lays in heaven the topmost stone, And well deserves the praise."
MEXICO AS A MISSION FIELD.
BY REV. SAMUEL P. CRA.VER, D.D., PUEBLA, MEXICO.
It happens not unfrequentIy that we become so interested in distant affairs that we quite overlook those that are near at hand. This seems to be especially true in the work of missions. Undoubtedly the Church at large, in the United States, knows vastly more about the great mission fields of Asia and of the South Sea Islands than about Mexico, the nearest foreign field. Indeed, with a large element in the Protestant churches of to-day, who see nothing but bigotry and fanaticism in those who labor for the overthrow of Romanism, there is a question as to the need, or the right, of establishing Christian missions in a country that for centuries has professed the Roman Catholic religion. Scarcely ever does one hear Mexico, South America, or Italy named in the pnblic prayers for foreign missions, except it be at missionary concerts, when these countries furnish the theme. The reason for this manifestly consists in the fact that the Church does not fully realize the appalling need of Roman Catholic lands.
For the purpose of throwing a few rays of light on the claims of Mexico as a mission field, let us observe some of the salient features of the case.
1. The religious condition of the people. As is well known, the Roman Catholic religion had an absolute and undisturbed hold upon the Mexicans from the time of the conquest in the sixteenth century till the middle of the present one. It was imposed upon the people largely by force, partly by fraud, and in part through the earnest efforts of zealous missionaries; but by whatever means introduced it gained a powerful hold upon the hearts of the people, and for three centuries they were moulded by the priesthood with all the pliability of the clay upon the potter's wheel. No other country better represents the fruits of Romanism. But the Romanism of Mexico differs quite widely in its external manifestations from that seen in the United States. This is not because the Mexican article is a counterfeit or a corruption, but because the American type has been changed and largely Protestantized outwardly. With all the Pope's increasing interest in the United States as' his" favorite country," he addresses the members of the Mexican Church as his" predilect children. " They are true Roman Catholics.
However, the influence of Protestant thought, and especially of scepti- cism, began to make inroads into this country some fifty years ago. The Bible, without note or comment, was introduced in the wake of the American Army in 1846-48. As a consequence of various influences a strong reaction against sacerdotal tyranny set in, affecting favorably the political life of the nation and resulting in religious toleration, but not directly favorable to an improved moral state. On the contrary, it is quite possible that the general moral condition of Mexico is even worse than it was under the complete domination of the clergy, though there has been great advancement in the intellectual life.
But the masses of the people are still in a lamentable state of ignorance. In the cities and larger towns probably from 30 to 50 per cent can read and write, but in the rural districts and small villages the proportion of readers is exceedingly small. In some parts of the country there are large villages where only one or two persons in the whole population can read 'and write.
Of course such a condition of intellectual stagnation affords a splendid field for the growth of superstition. Rome has maintained this condition, and has pandered to the appetite for the marvellous and silpernatural, until a wonderful mass of childish superstitions exist among the people. One of the most recent manifestations of this is seen in the frequent appari- tions U) of the Virgin Mary. Within the last eighteen months there have been several such in different parts of the country, some of them on the broad, thick leaves of the maguey plant, from which the national beverage, pulque, is extracted. Presumably the Virgin has made these apparitions in the interest of the liquor traffic, thus consecrating this drink.
Naturally enough a people so steeped in superstition would also be idolatrous, not merely in the sense of a refined and elevated form of saintworship, but also in a gross and sensuous devotion to material idols. Certainly it would be difficult to find a country not semi-barbarous where idol-worship is more common than in Mexico. Intelligent Catholics confess that the masses worship the material image.
The writer once had a conversation with a well-educated young priest on this subject, and in answer to the question if it were not true that the people worshipped images, he said: "Oh, of course they do. I have the proof of that right here in my church. We had an ugly, dirty, black, old Christ [referring to the image]; and I had it replaced by a new one, white, handsome, and well-painted; but the old women are not satisfied. They want the dirty, black, old Christ they have always had. Oh, certainly they worship the material image." When asked if he did not know that that was idolatry, he said: "Most certainly it is." "Then," said I, "why do you not labor to destroy it, for you know that idolatry is wrong ~" "Oh," he replied, " I am doing all I can to break it up. I say mass in the morning with the new, white Christ, and in the afte~ noon we have the rosary with the old, black Christ. I do this so that the people may not think either of the white or the black, but only of Christ / /" This is a practical illustration of the kind of efforts generally made by the priests to destroy error-a multiplication of the evil in question, both by precept and example.
In this city, one of the most pious in the country, I recently witnessed an exhibition of the trust in images that was new to me, -and was certainly quite novel. A fire broke out in the corner grocery just across the street from our mission property, near midnight. The professors and students from our school joined actively with the neighbors and the fire department to extinguish the blaze. Before much had been accomplished, however, and while the flames in all their fury were bursting out of the doors, I saw a man run up several times and throw some little objects in the fire. My first thought was that they were little bombs or firecrackers that he was playing with, though they made no report. What was my surprise to learn that they were fragments of a family saint, which the wife of the shopkeeper was breaking in pieces and having thrown into the flames in order to extinguish the fire / / This blind devotion to images has filled the churches and the houses of the people with objects of worship of every variety, from the six-cent, horribly printed wood-cut, to the chaste and beautiful, life-size sculpture, clad in silk and velvet, with diamonds and precious stones to the value of a million dollars.
While the Laws of Reform vigorously forbid all forms of public worship outside of places dedicated to that purpose, where the authorities are not vigilant, images are carried about the streets in procession, and are taken from house to house to receive special homage, or to lend their aid in soliciting funds for the Church.
Among many of the ignorant people there is found the strange belief that they can oblige the saints to grant their prayers by inflicting punishment upon them. This is practised in numerous ways, such as locking the image up in a box, turning its face to the wall, or hanging it, head downward, in a jar of water.
But, perhaps, the idolatrous character of the religion of Mexico is not its-worst feature. The exaltation of the priesthood seems to me to be even worse. While image-worship simply places an inoffensive block of wood in the place of the Creator, this elevates a wicked, corrupt man, often a black-hearted criminal, to the position that only God should occupy. Indeed, it goes to the extreme of making the priest superior to God, inasmuch as he commands, in the celebration of the Eucharist, and God is obliged to obey. This doctrine is clearly and unequivocally set forth by Liguori in his instructions to the priesthood. Furthermore, the priest is supposed to have power, not only to pardon and save in this life, but his authority extends to the world of spirits, so that he can obtain release for souls in the flames of purgatory. To be sure he cannot accom- plish this last feat without being paid for it. There are many ways of obtaining the necessary funds for this purpose, one of the most novel that I have seen being that of a "raffle for souls." In this city one can fre- quently see on the church doors large posters announcing the result of the last raffle for souls, giving the names of the lucky ones who drew prizes in the spiritual lottery. The plan is simple. Tickets are sold for twentyfive cents each by number. People buy the tickets, specifying at the time the name of the deceased for whom it is purchased. The drawing takes place, and the souls holding the winning numbers receive the benefit of the masses for the dead during a specified period.
The religion of Rome so sets the priest between the soul and God, that, in the general belief of the people, the salvation of the sinner is completely in the priest's hands. No matter how wicked and corrupt he may be as a man, his sacerdotal acts are holy and efficacious. His bless- .ing and absolution open the door of heaven; his curse and excommunication turn even earth into a hell. The blind confidence in the power of the priest is shown in a thousand ways. One instance will serve to illustrate. A young man, given to the usual vices of such in this country, was shot down in the street. Before the priest could reach him to hear his confession, the dying youth had lost the power of speech, but his friends found great comfort in the fact that at the last moment he had pressed the priest's hand. To such people, of course, the Bible is an unknown book, and even when told that God's Word prohibits certain acts, they will answer by saying, " But the curate says they are right," and to the devout Romanist the curate's word has greater weight than God's. The expression " priest-ridden" has a terrible significance as applied to Mexico, and one that no American Protestant can fully comprehend unless he has lived in a papal country.
2. The moral state of Mexico. The moral condition of a people holding and practising such a religion may be imagined; to be known in its fulness one must live for years among the people. There is a varnish of politeness that is very attractive, there are traits of character and some customs that are very beautiful; indeed, there is much to admire in the Mexican people, even under the full influence of Rome. But beneath all the attractiveness, affability, politeness, and other excellent qualities that many have, there is found a lack of moral principle, a rottenness in the moral conceptions, and generally a looseness in practice, that must be personally known to be appreciated. Between the strict Roman Catholicism that makes marriage a sacrament and yet declares concubinage a preferable state for the priest, condoning it in all ranks of the clergy, and the loose ideas of the family tie, engendered by the modern French scepticism which abounds among the educated classes, the pz:actice of the sterner virtues is exceedingly rare. A corrupt and vicious priesthood sets the example of uncleanness, and the people, unrestrained by their religious convictions and living under a southern sky, follow madly the unholy example of their spiritual leaders.
Indecency in the ordinary habits of life and vileness in speech and manner are general characteristics of the masses. The sanctity of the Christian Sabbath is utterly unknown. The Lord's Day is observed as a "feast day," in which the ordinary labors of the farm and shop are largely suspended, though very many work on without regard to it. But the markets, groceries, saloons, and in many places dry good stores, do their most thriving business on that day; while every form of amusement, such as theatres, circuses, bull-fights, cock-fights, balls, etc., find it frequently better than all the rest of the week combined. Indeed, buH-fights seldom occur except on Sunday.
Liquor-drinking is almost universal, and there is an alarming amount of drunkenness. The Church is utterly powerless to restrain this vice, since very many of the priests are sadly addicted to it. Sundays and religious feast-days are specially notorious as times for drunken carousals. There exists no public sentiment in favor of temperance, except such as is the outgrowth of Protestantism.
This brief outline of the religious and moral state of the Mexican people will suffice to show their great need of the Gospel in its purity and with its purifying effects. Surely no unprejudiced observer could doubt the necessity of giving such a people a different religion from the one they have had for centuries, inasmuch as it has completely failed of accomplishing the great object for which true religion exists. Truth mixed with error is often more damaging than error pure and simple; and Romanism, though holding in her possession all essential truth, has so buried it beneath error and superstition, that she doubtless constitutes a greater barrier to the evangelization of Mexico than would pure paganism. She has demonstrated her utter inability to lift the people to a higher moral plane than that they occupied in the days of their old pagan religion. Indeed, it is doubtful if they are as moral now as they were at the time of the conquest, if we may trust the Catholic historians of that period.
Mexico, then, has claims as a mission field on the purely humanitarian principle that would lead to the evangelization of any other country, because of the social and moral benefits that result from the introduction of the Gospel. This claim is reinforced by the fact that, though very religious, her people do not possess the true religion of Christ, and are confiding in rites and ceremonies that cannot save. Furthermore, in the midst of her millions of superstitious souls, there are multitudes who yearn for a purer faith and a more consoling religion than that which leads through purgatorial fires. These waiting, thirsting souls stretch out their hands to receive the water of life by our help.
More than any other field Mcxico has claims upon the Christians of the United States; because of proximity of territory, similarity of governmental forms, the practical import of the Monroe Doctrine, and the absence of organized effort on the part of English and European Chpistians in behalf of Mexico's evangelization. The missionary societies of the Old W orId give all their attention to the mission fields on that side of the globe, while Mexico and the other Spanish-speaking countries on this continent are left to be evangelized by Americans alone. Surely this noteworthy fact shoulu appeal urgently to the Church in the United States, since, in the Providence of God, this seems to be a field peculiarly and exclusively our own.
lNTERNATtoNAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GBACE~ D.D.
The Barrows :Leotureship in Oaloutta. influence" of the Chicago University, and to secure "the promotion of the [J. T. G.] highest interests of humanity, " and "the enlargement of the kingdom of Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell has present- truth and love on earth." ed to the University of Chicago the sum of $20,0:)0 for the founding of a "Lec- We have endeavored to make the ex- tureship on the Relations of Christianity actest summary of the benevolent intent and the Other Religions." The pro- of the generous donor, setting down posal is that six or more of these lectures naught that might color or mar the be delivered in Calcutta, India, and, if purpose or the benevolence. The exe- deemed best, in Bombay, Madras, or cution of the plan is guarded with a some other of the chief cities of Hin. suggestion that correspondence be first . dustan where large numbers of educat. had with the leaders of thought in India, ed Hindus are familiar with the English to secure "helpful suggestions" in its language. These lectures are to be de- scope and conduct. livered annually or biennially by leading Christian scholars of Europe, Asia, The Ad'/Jance says this lectureship will and America, "in a friendly, temperate, demand consummate fitness and ability conciliatory way." The management in the lecturer among a generation of of the lectureship is to be in the hands non-Christian educated men as familiar of Drs. Harper, John Henry Barrows. with the English language and literature and George S. Goodspeed and their suc. as with their own, but thinks the previous cessors in official relation in the Chicago experiences of President Seelye, Joseph University. She names Archdeacon Cook, and Dr. Pentecost show what Farrar, Dr. Fairbairn, Professors Henry kind of hearing will be accorded to such Drummond, A. B. Bruce, George P. lecturers. It says the editor of the Fisher, Francis G. Peabody, Bishop Potter, and Dr. Lyman Abbott as the ]J}vangelwal Review, for thirty years a. type of lecturers it would be desirable to secure. She intimates, without typi- missionary, has thanked Mrs. Haskell cal names, that representatives of other for her noble gift, and that a leading religions might be selected in Asia, be- Christian lawyer of Calcutta writes that cause "Europe and America wish to he believes such a course of lectures hear and ponder the best that Asia can will be highly appreciated in India. give them." As she acknowledges the earnest wish" expressed by Mr. P. C. On the other hand, Rev. James H. Mozoomdar" that a lectureship similar Messmore, D.D., editor of the Indian to the one Mrs. Haskell founded in the Witness, doubts if any good will come Chicago University should be founded of it. Dr. Messmore is noted for his in Calcutta had more or less influence disregard of conventionalisms which in inducing her to found this lecture- cannot stand the test of the seve~est ship in Calcutta, named in honor of Dr. common sense. He has a wide ac- John Henry Barrows, presumably it quaintance with all shades of Oriental would be that class of Asiatic lecturers thought, language, and literature ; his that might be selected. Her hope is sympathies and mental grasp are alike that thus " a new golden bond between broad. He has had more than a third the East and the West" may be estab- of a century's experience in every phase lished, and ., the extension of the benign of missionary labor in widely separat- ed parts of India, among the most learn- ed and the most illiterate, the richest and the poorest, and with people of all castes and of no caste. Dr. Messmore recognizes the noble cial and appreciative, and we quote the generosity which impelled the founder of this lectureship to this proposal, but whole article: hopes she may be induced to withdraw the gift and turn the money into « SIR: Mrs. Haskell's gift is certainanother channel. He expresses fear lest IV a very generous one, and as such is unwise lecturers be sent, who will do worthy of all praise. But I am inclined mischief. He dreads any attempt to to think that her generosity might have repeat on a small scale the Parliament been better directed. The object of the of Religions, and affirms that the mis· lectures is to present the great questions sionaries of Bengal" are almost unani- of the truths of Christianity, its harmomous in declaring that the Parliament nies with the truths of other religions, did great harm," and says he has seen its rightful claims and the best methods on the pages of almost every religious of setting them forth. The presentation paper in India within a year some refer· of the truths of Christianity and its ence to the injury it has done and is rightful claims is just whatIndia needs. likely to do in India to thc cause of The people of India are perishing for Christ. His suspicions of the possible lack of knowledge of these things. And tenor of the lectureship are based on its the discussion, at fitting opportunities, being an outgrowth of that Parliament. of the best methods of setting these He gives several reasons why such a truths and claims forth is very instruc· lectureship must fail of success as a tive ; but it seems to me the fitting opcourse of apologetics. An attempt to portunity will hardly be found when magnify the good in the heathen relig- the lecturer stands before a large body ions would be made in the presence of of educated Hindus. The discussion of their debasing and demoralizing rites, the best methods is rather a subject for and of the vices which these engender; lecturers and preachers than for such an while an attempt to set a heathen relig- audience. ion in its true light before a heathen audience would inevitably antagonize " But Mrs. Haskell seems to lay spe· the hearers. Missionaries, he says, have cial stress on the harmonies between not found it wise to do either. Besides, Christianity and other systems of religafter being asked to meet Hindus and ion, as the third paragraph of her let- Mohammedans in a friendly way to as· ter indicates ; and I presume that the certain what they and we have in com- lecturer also would' in a friendly, temmon, he wants to know what we are to perate, and conciliatory way' lay much do with that portion of Christian doc- stress upon these harmomes. As the trine which is essentially antagonistic Hindu religion prevails in this country, to all other faiths. Shall we say the the lecturer for India would attempt differences are small and unimportant? chiefly to set forth the harmony between All honest attempt at comparison be· Christianity and Hinduism. It may be tween Christianity and other religions, that I am slow in perceiving analogies, he declares, only serves to bring out the or that I need more study, thought, snd essential antagonism between Christian- experience, but during thirteen years ofity and all other faiths. close contact with Hindu thought I have failed to find many striking resem· As editor of the Indian Witness, Dr. blances between these two religions. I Messmore invites an expression of the have found a few superficial resemviews of any of the older and more ex- blances; but when a system has several perienced missionaries in India in his philosophies to start with, and has such columns, that they may be forwarded to flexibility, plasticity, and power of ab- Dr. Barrows. sorption that it is able to borrow some- thing from every religion with which it Rev. J. Parson, of Lucknow, makes comes in contact, and able to incorthe first contribution. The tone is judi. porate with itself the worship of every kind of god, idol, hero and demon, and every form of superstition, it would be strange indeed if in such an ' encyclo- predia of religions' some superficial re- semblances to Christianity were not found. But, while its teachin&, with regard to God, man, responslbility, duty, sin, righteousness and the way of salvation differs in almost every part from Christian teaching, the real har- monies must be very few. And the more philosophic the form of Hinduism, the fewer the harmonies seem to be.
Yet this would be, I suppose, the form ~ in which lecturers to the educated by means of which this end is to be classes would seek for harmonies. I secured. The agency is twofold, a scarcely think that much good will be committee consisting of the president done by lectures which chiefly set forth or principal of the Chicago (Baptist) the harmonies between Christianity and University, and its two Professors of Hinduism. The effect would be to Comparative Religion. The duty of magnify the superficial resemblances this committee will be to administer the and to confirm the Hindus in their con- funds and to appoint the lecturers, Who viction of the truth of their own relig. constitute the second part of the agency. ion. If they dealt with the many "These lecturers are described as sharp contrasts between the two sys- 'leading Christian scholars of Europe, tems as well as the few slight harmo- Asia, and America.' 'Such Christian nies, and demonstrated the superiority scholars as Archdeacon Farrar, Dr.
of Christianity, more might be accom- Fairbairn, Professor Henry Drummond, plished ; but this would lead to contro- Professor A. B. Bruce, Professor Fisher versy, which is generally to be depre- of Yale, Professor Peabody of Harvard, cated. The Christian lecturer or preach- Bishop Potter, and Dr. Lyman Abbott er, as a part of his equipment for his of New York.' Of these eight, the first work, needs to study and understand four are men in good ecclesiastical the doctrines and practices of Hindu- standing in British churches, and all ism, not in order that he may in his pub- four are able evangelical Christians, poslic work compare the two systems and sessed of popular gifts. 0 f the remain- point out the few slight similarities and ing four I cannot write with the author- the many great differences, but that he ity of personal knowledge or indeed to better understand the Hindu mind and any great extent of their work or of mode of thought and know what truths their reputation.
to emphasize. I believe that the less he " I have no doubt the professors of compares the two systems publicly the Congregational Yale and undenominamore successful his work is likely to tional Harvard are good and able men. be. 'rhe prospect of these lectures does Professor Fisher has done yeoman sernot awaken in me much enthusiasm." vice in the defence of Christianity ; and I have read only what is good of the Rev. K. S. Macdonald, the editor of labors of Bishop Potter and Dr. Lyman the lffDangelica~ Review, to whom the Abbott. What we want are men of Advance refers, held a very much more ability, who know their Bibles and who will make an honest, diligent effort to favorable opinion of " The Parliament study the other religions, and who will of Religions" than did Dr. lIIIessmore. faithfully represent in their lectures He contributed, in response to the call their mutual relations' in a friendly, for expert opinions, an article which temperate, conciliatory way,' and in a , fraternal spirit,' so as to win the hearwe quote in part, the omissions having ers to a favorable interest in spiritual no necessary rele vancy to the imme- truth. diate issue. Dr. Macdonald said: " I believe these men and men of their " SIR: I am asked to supply 'sug- stamp will do all this. I therefore gestions with regard to the importance of this effort to bring about a better heartily welcome the scheme, and say God-speed to it. I also express my urtderstanding between our Western hearty thanks to Mrs. Haskell for her Christian civilization on the one side, splendid gift to the young men of India. I like the scheme specially for the promiand the representatives of the various nence it gives to religion, and more esfaiths of India on the other.' pecially to tke Christian religion; the " 'The effort' here referred to has beginning, middle, and end of it is taken the form, in the words of the Christianity-the interests of Christian- donor, of ' $20,000 for the founding of ity advanced in connection with the a lectureship on the rdations of Ohris· study of the science of c.>mparative retiamty and the otfter re~igions.' This is ligion.
to be the subject-matter of the lec*ures. " Science, true science, must always , The object is equally clear-' So pre· be the handmaid of true religion. senting Ohristianity to others as to win Neither the Bible nor Christians are their faTJorabw interest in its truths.' afraid of the study of any science, still Here we have the means and the end so less of the study of comparative relig- described that there ought to be no mis· ion.
understanding as to either. "However vile the superstition or " There is a third point of undoubted idolatry may be, we need not hesitate importance in the scheme which must to take any truth of God, wherever not be forgotten. That is the agency found, and use it in God's service and for the extension of His kingdom, as ed to most thorough, scholarly pres- Paul did the words of a heathen poet (used in a hymn to Jupiter) or the in- entation of this entire field. Missionascription of a heathen used on an idola- ries have forged the very weapons trous shrine. which these lecturers must wield, and " I hope and fondly believe that Mrs. they have not neglected to test the util- IIaskell's very liberal gift to India may ity of this entire line of approach. Sir be greatly blessed in bringing about the William Muir's" Testimony Borne by ends and objects she has in view. His the Quran to the Christian Scriptures" own Brahmo co-religionists have not very great faith in Mr. P. C. Mozoom- is but a single illustration of attempts dar, but he is infinitely superior, I be- to reach the people from the standpoint lieve, to Prophet Balaam; and as God of similarities, and in that case, even greatly blessed the vaticinations of the from that of obligation imposed by their latter, I have no doubt He may greatly bless that uttered wish of the former to own Scriptures. Dr. Ballantyne was which Mrs. Haskell refers. I am told principal of the Government College at with some emphasis that Dr. John Benares when he published his" Chris- Henry Barrows was greatly taken in tianity Contrasted with Hindu Philosoby both Mr. Mozoomdar and Viveka- nanda, who told his audience that he phy," bilingual (Sanskrit and English), honored the Hindu Rishls as • perfected with plactical suggestions to missionabeings,' and that some of,the very best ries, in which he advises them to do of them were women I I Does he dare just what is now hinted at-" cast about tell us what the Vedas say of these!
"I cannot say that I am very sorry for points of agreement, with a view to conciliation." Yet he himself did not that Dr. Barrows believed the delegates confine himself to the correspondencies. from Bengal. It proved Dr. Barrows but in a masterly way deals with the has something of the love of which the apostle writes-the love that' believeth all things and hopeth all things.' " contrasts" in his" Exposition," ., Evi- " I shall cordially welcome Dr. John dences," "Natural theology," "Myste- rious points in Christianity," and in the Henry Barrows as the first of the Bar- " Analogy of religion to the constitution rows lecturers, and I hope the missionaries of Bengal will join in that welcome."
It is not certain that either of these and course of nature." He held, withal, writers have apprehended the scope of that no man was fit to make the con- these lectures, nor Is it clear that the ciliatory approach who was not thor- founder or Dr. Barrows have themselves oughly furnished for the ai1tagonisms any definite concept of what they would of controversy.
realize. It may be time enough to dis- When Mr. Banerjea was professor in cuss it when the proposal can give an Bishop's College, Calcutta, he published account of itself. If it were intended his" Hindu Philosophy," with a view simply to found a department or chair to suggest such modes of dealing with of Comparative Religion In the Calcutta it "as may prove most effective to the University, similar to that in the colleges Hindu mind." Has that book been at home, the proposition would not con- equalled, not to say surpassed, by any cern us. But it is apparently designed modern treatise or Jecture from that to be an auxiliary missionary agency, standpoint? .Tohn Brande Morris pub.
and that brings it within our purview. lished as long ago as 1843 a volume to There is underlying the proposal the which the University of Oxford award- idea that something new is to be tried. ed the prize offered by the Lord Bishop But Banerjea in Calcutta, Dr. Ballantyne of Calcutta, treating of the best mode in Benares, Dr. Wilson in Bombay, and and best arguments with which to deal Dr. Mitchell all over India, have not with" learned and philosophical Hin- left the people inexpert in these com- dus." This author omitted the evi- parisons, to say nothing of the Bengal dences of Christianity, or H how far it Asiatic Society's Journal, the Calcutta might accommodate itself in the re- Review, the Friend of India, and other moulding existing heathen rites," be- abJe periodical literature largely devot- cause there would be" want of delicacy in treating them before heathen." Is However delicate the task, we venthat not conciliatory enough? ture to say that there is incongruity be- tween the task set the lecturers and the Where can one learn so much of what typical names mentioned. Dr. Ballanthere Is to compare or to contrast be- tyne was right when he said that no tween Christianity and Hinduism as in man was furnished for making advances Nilakantha Sastri Gore's" Exposition in the way of conciliation but he who of the Hindu Philosophical Systems," understands both the errors of oppowritten in the same broad, frank spirit? nents and the means of confuting them; It can scarcely be said that the results " for," as Bacon says, "there is no use of magnifying harmonies have been en- of confutations when we differ about tirely satisfactory. principles and notions themselves, and even about the forms of proof." Hindu- India affords the greatest museum of ism may not always call for confutation, religions on the globe. Its people are while conciliation is essentially based experts at discriminating variations, on knowledge of contrasts and the ave· similarities or contrasts of religious nues to harmony. It seems that therethought. Brahmoism, which Mr. Mo· fore a class of lecturers might be selected zoomdar represents, is itself the result who had given large attention and proof an attempt to formulate the Absolute found study to the subject. Dr. Hoopin religion by compounding the good er, of Allahabad; Dr. Miller, of Madfound in the several faiths of mankind. ras; Dr. Kellogg, of the Punjab; But India has gone about as far in that Monier Williams, George Smith, or John line as it cares to go. and a modification Muir would symbolize the class of able has set in, as is seen in the differentia- scholars who would know how to contions of the various Samajas. Where ciliate Brahmans; and Dr. Washburn, Rammohun Roy and Mr. Chunder Sen of Constantinople; Dr. Jessup, of Sycould not lead Hindus in a revolt against ria; or Dr. Wherry, of Chicago, might Hinduism, Dr. Barrows is sure to fail. at least" know what they were talking about," to Moslems. He who dreams of making converts to Christianity by pointing out similari- But what about the Asiatic lecturers ties and harmonies reckons without his hinted at, who are to give us what '. Euhost, whether among literate or illiterate rope and America wish to hear and ponpeoples. Buddhists of Japan have der," and from whom we are to readopted almost all forms of Christian ceive "the best that Asia can give" 1 usages, such as Young Men's Christian .Mr. Mozoomdar would not be admitted Associations and Christian marriage to represent Brahmanism, but Absolutservice-ring and all. A native gentle- ism like that of Theodore Parker; and man has just contributed some hundreds we have little to add to our facilities of dollars to erect a "Young Men's Buddhist Association Hall" in Madras. for evolving that. The best that Mr. A sort of neo·theosophic :Buddhism in Ceylon has established a Buddhist Vivekananda would have to give would .. Christmas," with early morning be barred out by Brahmans, who decarols, in the evening carrying trans- clare him an impostor, and whose moral parencies lettered " Glory to Buddha in character is openly assailed in the press the highest, on earth peace and good of India. The genuine Jain Buddhist, will toward men." They have a Bud- Virchand A. Gandhi, has already given dhiat catechism, Buddhist Sunday- the" best" he has. The writer listened schools, and, in one centre, Buddhist to him in a church on a Sunday evenclasB meetings! The fact is, that these ing "preach" (save the mark I) to an communities will take any amount of audience which fortunately knew little correspondencies and make a metemp- or nothing of the esoteric meaning of sychosis of heathenism, but not Chris- the words he used any more than they tianity, nor any respectable substitute did of the prayer ill which he said he for Christianity. did not want anything, and had no petition whatever to make, having nothing such a course would synchronize with to do but meditate on the Divine. That the Winter-mission movement in Great was consistent Buddhist philosophy, Britain, which provides for sending lec- based on the belief that the only way to turers and evangelists to work during reach Nirvana was by training one's the cold weather of India among the self to believe that personality was English-speaking natives, Christian and Maya, never to be got quit of but by non-Christian. Mr. McNeal is now in quenching every desire. India, reaching audiences similar to those It is not merely esoteric philosophy, which greeted Dr. Pentecost. There is however, that should be comprised in a large field for learned lecturers in uni- these comparative studies; we would versity and other cities, and for skilled need to know their sacred Scriptures. evangelists of renown, among the ever- But when Dr. Ballantyne commenced increasing English-speaking communi- this line of comparative study there ties of India. A strong Christian lec- were no Vedas in the hands of Brah- tureship pronouncedly expository and mans, nor are there to·day, except in the apologetic of Christianity, conducted by translations of Western Orientalists. It able men like Dr. Barrows and other is difficult to suggest what department eminent divines of the class whom Mrs.
of the" best" they have that is not ac- Haskell names" in a friendly, temper- cessible to us far and away beyond what ate, conciliatory way," would command we could acquire from any Orientallec- the utmost attention and respect of all turer in any series of lectures. Will classes in India, and exert a powerful anybody name a solitary contribution to influence for the "promotion of the the thought or literature of Brahmanism higbest interests of humanity and the not well known and understood before enlargement of the kingdom of truth by scholars, or by any who choose to and love."
seek the knowledge in anyone of the hundreds of libraries in the land, that The Need of a Medical Missionary is to be found in the ponderous volumes Oollege. of the Parliament of Religions? As the source of contribution to our stock BY REV. A. P. HAPPER, M.D., D.D.* of knowledge of Oriental faiths, com- All persons praying and laboring for mend us to the vast stores of literatures the conversion of the world to Christ already extant, rather than to the ex· have rejoiced in the great increase in the pedient of a necessarily limited com- number of missionaries who have gone pass of a few lectures, even by the apos- to non-Christian countries during the tles of those faiths of whatever renown, last twenty-nve years. The most mark- delivered on the other side of the globe. ed increase has been in the number of If the generous founder of this lec. medical missionaries who have gone out tureship and those who administer it in connection with the leading mission- could, on the other hand, see their way ary societies of the various churches.
clear to provide for the strongest possi- This increase is made manifest in vari- ble, straight-out course of apologetic ous ways. In 1849 there were 39 medi- lectures, avowedly intended to present cal missionaries in all lands, of whom Christianity as the ultimate truth, then not one was a lady physician. In 1894 they have named ideal lecturers, and the number of medical missionaries is there is no room for doubt about the stated to be 400, of whom 80 ale lady generous reception they will receive, pbysicians. At the Volunteer Conven- and the influence they may exert. Then tion at Cleveland, 0., in 1891 the num- they will be on the platform occupied, * A melancholy interest attaches to this paper, when in India, by Dr. Joseph Cook, Professor Seelye, and. others of the class as it was the subject of correspondence with Dr. alluded to by thfl Advance. Be~ides, Happer and ourselves only a few days before his death.-J. T. G. ber present who were studying medi- Some $400,000 were subscribed toward cine preparatory to going as medical the funds of the association, largely by missionaries was 25. At the Volunteer the princes and men of wealth in India.
Convention at Detroit in 1894 the num- As the lady physicians connected with ber of volunteers who are studying this association cannot teach the Gospel medicine for missionary service was 72, of Christ to their patients, they can- which is nearly a threefold increase in not meet the spiritual needs of the suf- three years. Beside these, 100 dele- fering multitudes. In Africa and the gates at the Conference, still in their isles of the sea the need of the people collegiate course, expressed their pur- for relief .from bodily ailments is the pose to study medicine in order to be same, or even greater, than in China medical missionaries. During 1893, 160 and India.
persons, young men and women, applied 2. The second reason is that now all to Dr. Dowkontt, medical director of the missionary societies are willing to the International Medical Missionary employ medical missionaries, whereas Institute of New York, for information but a few years ago only a few societies and aid to obtain medical knowledge wished to employ them. Those who for mission service. Only 16 of the have gone from the International Med- number could be received into the insti- ical Missionary Institute have gone out tute for lack of pecuniary means. in connection with some fourteen differ- In the continued enlargement of mis- ent societies. During the last ten years sion work in non·Christian countries, 78 of those who have been with the the number of those who will study Institute for a longer or shorter period medicine with the view of mission ser- have gone to the foreign field. Of vice will rapidly increase with each suc- these 20 have gone out in connection cessive year. The reasons for this in- with the Presbyterian Board of Foreign crease are these : Missions, 14 in connection with Baptist 1. The need for medical missionaries societies, 13 in connection with Congre- is much better understood now than gational societies, 10 in connection with ever before. The character of the medi- Methodist societies, 5 in connection with cal practice in non·Christian lands and Presbyterian societies in Canada, and the consequent sufferings of women the other 16 in connection with the and children are now widely known Episcopal, the Reformed, the Southern among Christian people. In China Presbyterian, the China Inland, and there is only one missionary physician other missionary societies. A few years to each 2,500,000 of the population. In ago the medical missionaries were near- the United States there is one physician lyall from Great Britain and the United to every 600 people. In China there are States. Now they are of many nationali- 100 missionary physicians to 300,000,000 ties. Those who have gone out from of the population; and in the United the Medical Missionary Institute were States 118,453 physicians to 65,000,000 born in twenty different countries.
of people. But the strong reason for the belief In India the readiness with which the that there will be a still greater increase women came to the lady missionary of medical missionaries In the near fu- physicians for medical treatment led to ture is this: There is a growing convic- the organization in 1886 of the National tion among the special promoter.10f for- Association by Countess Dufferin, wife eign missions that, in order to secure of the then Viceroy of India, for supply- the best results of efforts to spread the ing medical aid to the women of India. Gospel, it is necessary to follow more The association is composed of the high- carefully the example and commands of est dignitaries of Church and State in our Lord and Saviour. Our Lord went Great Britain and India, with Her Maj- everywhere healing the sick. And His esty the Queen Empress as patron. command, when He sent forth the twelve apostles and the sennty diseiplee, was: senice can pursue medical studies at a " As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom moderate pecuniary expense. Most of of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, those purposing to study medicine for cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast this service are possessed of small out devils: freely ye have received, means. In the performance of missionfreely give" (Matt. 10 : 7, 8). It is ob- ary duties they will receive simply a vious that in order to heal the sick the support. This fact precludes any of missionaries must study medicine. It them from borrowing money to meet is, in connection with this subject, a the expenses of their medical education, most important fact that it is only in expecting to refund it from subsequent Christian lands that a rational and bene- income. There is not a single medical ficial treatment for the diseases of the missionary college in the United States human system is known. In all non- where missionary students can pursue Christian countries the treatment of the medical studies and obtain a diploma. sick and suffering, and especially of There are many medical colleges in this women and Infants, is useless and bar- country, but the fees for lectures and barous. tuition are very high. They vary from $100 to $200 in different institutions for In order to carry out the command of each year of the four years' course for our Lord more efficiently, ~nd to com- each student. In the best colleges they municate the blessings of salvation and are $200 a year, which makes $800 for a of healing to the 1,000,000,000 of the course of four ye,ars. This sum is pronon·Christian nations, missionary socie- ldbitory to many young men and womties need to increase their medical mis- en who are desirous to obtain a medical slonariesfou1fold. This increase is not education for missionary service in forimpracticable. The number of medical eign lands. missionaries has been increased during the last forty.five years te1lfold without The facilities provided for those wishany special effort. With the increased ing to engage in medical missionary interest in the cause, and when men and work to obtain the requisite preparation tDOIM1l. physicians are both so greatly are in strange contrast with the facilineeded, the present number can by spe- ties which are provided for those precial effort be increased jivefold. The paring for other kinds of Christian need of this increase of medical mis- work. Every Christian denomination sionaries was expressed in 1890 by the has theological seminaries in which Shanghai General Missionary Confer- ministers are trained for their life work ence, composed of 432 missionaries in without any expense for tuition, and China. as follows: where facilities are provided forlodging and boarding at moderate expense. .. On behalf of these destitute masses, Similar facilities Bre provided for young therefore, we earnestly plead with the men and women who are preparing for men of wealth in the home churches, Christian work in connection with that they will c:msider the claims of Young Men's and Young Women's these suffering ones, and will largely Christian Associations. There are quite aid the reinforcement of the noble staff a number of mission institutes for trainof medical missionaries already in the ing young men and women for evanfield" (Records of the Shanghai Confer- gelistic work in home and foreign lands; ence, page 54). in Bome of them tuition is without charge, and in some a nominal sum is It is a most obvious and important in- charged, and in all of them facilities for quiry, How can the churches best facili- lodging and boarding are provided at tate this increase of medical missiona- reduced charges. Thus for all classes riel! ? This increase can be most easily of Christian workers ample provision effected by the endowment of a medical has been made for their instruction and missionary college. at which those who desire to study medicine for missionary training without tuition fees. and with cal college. As the money is to be colfacilities :for lodging and boarding, eJJ- lected from all churches, it will not come cepe for those preparing for medical mis- heavily upon anyone denomination. sionary service. These same facilities And this is not a great sum for the are provided for a large number of stu- whole Christian community of America dents in many colleges and academies to raise for so necessary and important without regard to the question whether a purpose. It can be made clear to all they are preparing for Christian work who will give the subject a few minor not. utes' consideration, that the money saved in the education of the young The query naturally arises, Why and men and women who will attend the how is it that no provision has been college will, in the course of a few years, made for assisting medical missionary amount to more than the whole sum of students to get the necessary education? $500,000. It is so simply because the need for such provision has been but recently From the facts stated above and other felt. and because the attention of the indications it is a most probable surmise Christian community has not been es- that, if there was a medical missionary pecially called to this need. This urgent college endowed and fully equipped to need, arising out of the increasing num- give first· class instruction to missionary ber of medical missionary students, has students, the number of students who only be~n felt within the last few years. would attend its classes would be from The need is jivefold greater now than it .two hundred and fifty to three hunwas fi ve years ago; and it will be dred. greater every successive year. We conclude with the words of the There is a purpose now to provide Shanghai General Missionary Conferfor this urgent need by raising money ence, already quoted. They say: "We to endow a medical missionary college, earnestly plead with the men of wealth and thus secure a charter of incorpora- in the home churches that they will tion from the State of New York which consider the claims of these suffering will enable the trustees of the college masses, and la1'Uely aid the reinforceto hold property for the college, pro- ment of the noble staff of medical misvide the necessary lecture-rooms, labora- sionaries already on the field." tories. and dissecting-rooms; to engage professors, build dormitories, and secure The World's Woman's Ohristian Temall the facilities and appliances neces- perance Union, sary to afford a first-class four years' course of instruction to the students for Mrs. E. W. Greenwood, the superinmedical mission service at the smallest tendent of this organization, has issued expense compatible with a proper re- a circular to which Miss Frances E. gard to health and efficiency. It is the Willard asks us to call special attention, purpose of those that are laboring to announcing the third biennial conveneffect it that the college shall be inter- tion of the World's Christian Temperdenominational and decidedly evangeli- ance Union, to be held in connection cal and evangelistic. The trustees are with the annual meeting of the British to be composeil of men chosen from Woman's Temperance Union in Londifferent denominations. As the doors don, June 14th-21st. May 18th and of the institution will be open to the 19th are specially set apart as days of students of all evangelical denomina- praise and prayer for this work. As tions, application will be made to the this movement has a distinctly missionmembcrs of all these denominations for ary feature in heathen lands, we cheercontributions to provide the $500,000 fully make this mention. Perhaps we endowment. This is the sum necessary can make no comment so good in any to secure the incorporation of a mediother way as by quoting the following search.light of this noble army of wom: from the address of welcome to Lady en! We, who are more directly en- Henry Somerset by Mrs. Joseph Cook gaged in the education and evangelizaat the meeting of the Woman's Board tion of the non-Christian races, know of Missions in January in Boston. what it is to have our work hindered by just the vices which our sisters of .. It is often said that the English- the Woman's Christian Temperance speaking race has become the missIon- Union are fighting to overthrow." ary army of the world: but while, in some small measure, we have carried We are grateful to Rev. Henry D. the Gospel to non-Christian lands, we Porter, M.D., Pang Chuang, North have also carried other gifts, for which China, for the "Records of the First the native races owe us anything but Shantung Missionary Conference at gratitude. Ching-Chow Fu, 1893" (Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai, 1894). The .. Commerce has gone with Christian- photographs of the pe1"BOnnel of the ity, sometimes in advance, and has Conference quite surprises us with the taught nations of practical total abstain- number of missionaries in Chinese dress. ers the Anglo·Saxon vice of strong This Conference grew out of the recomdrink, and, for purposes of gain, has mendation of the Committee on Union pushed the opium traffic, with an in- appointed by the General Conference at difference to the bodily and spiritual Shanghai, 1890, urging missionaries to ruin of their victims which seems posi- unite in local conference or as!lociatively fiendish. tions. The object was to secure a better comprehension of the several methods .. In view of these facts, it is not sur- of work and mutual encouragement. prising that rum-cursed Africa and Forty-one delegates, representing nine opium·cursed India and China, not dis- missionary enterprises in Shantung and criminating between Christianity and one in Honan, were present. They commerce, for both are represented by were Presbyterians, Baptists, Methowhite men wearing European dress, dists, and China Inland folk from Great should in the bitterness of their souls Britain, Canada, and the United States, cry out to us, , Is this your Jesus way? representing a Chinese membership of Then we want none of it ! ' 8354, with 184 clerical and medical mis- sionaries, men and women. Thirty "You know what two of our brave pages are given to the" Causes of Pov- American women did in India in un- erty in China;" eighteen pages are veiling the secret haunts of vice in con· given to an essay by Dr. Porter on nection with the British army. Lord "Physical Healing as a Means of General Roberts, Commander-in-chief Grace." of Her Majesty's forces, claimed to be ignorant of this defiance of British law; CHINA. but these American women, under the auspices of the World's Union of Chris- The Rev. John Ross publishes in tian Women, and proceeding with the the Chinese Recorder a very interesting skill of practised detectives brought communication of the chief Taoist priest forward abundant proof of the exist- of Mantchuria. The priest is intimateence of legalized vice in the army, and ly acquainted with the Christian Scrip- Lord General Roberts, who had doubt- tures, and is, therefore, qualified to ed their word, was obliged to make bring out points of doctrinal coinci· them a public apology! dence. As Victor von Strauss has shown, Taoism, sadly degenerate as it .. Thank God that we have lived to is in practice, is in doctrine, unlike Consee the day when the world is so open fucianism, strongly theistic. and Christian women are so alert that it can now be said that there is no closet so remote that the skeleton of any wom· an's wrongs can be hidden from the
J!'lELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Mexioo,* Oentral Amerioa,t West Indies,t Oity Missions.§ BY D. L. PIEliSON.
MISSIONS IN MEXICO. distribution at Brownsville, Tex. In 1866 she opened a school at Monterey, The republic of Mexico has an area of and finally, in 1869, Rev. Henry Riley 767,000 square miles and a population of opened a mission in the City of Mexico about twelve millions, of whom about itself. It was in 1872 and 1873 that the 19 per cent are pure white, 38 per cent missionary societies of the Presbyterian, are Indians, and 43 per cent are of mixed Methodist, and Congregational churches blood. Of the two latter classes only a finally entered the field.
small percentage can be called civilized. The States of Tabasco, with a popu- The country is divided into twenty· lation of 104,747, and Camp@che, with seven States, two territories, and one 94,000, and the territories of Lower federal district. The republic was California and Tepic, with populations founded in 1857, but was not in full of 31,167 anrl131,019 respectively, have power, and religious freedom was not as yet no Protestant missionaries sta- enjoyed until 1867. The Bible was first tioned among them. Presbyterians introduced into Mexico in the wake of alone are stationed in Yucatan, Guerre- the army of General Scott in the war of ro, and Chiapas ; in Queretaro,Tlaxcala, 1845, but it was not until fifteen years and Oaxaca only the Northern Meth- later that any persistent attempt was odists; in Sonora and Sinalao only the made to carry the pure Gospel to our American Board; and in Coleina only next-door neighbors, enshrouded in the the Southern Methodists. The other darkness of a corrupt Romanism which States are occupied by two or more so- was practically paganism. Miss Melinda cieties.
Rankin began a work for the Mexicans The statistics of the work in Mexico in 1854, establishing a centre for Bible are as follows: i'" J]gI~_! -. -~- ~ . I"'l~ .; 1 .. j'~ !~ ~ ,,- m ~ .5l11 ","'<1 .~ 0> 'E:: ';3 <:l ..0… .~ ~ 1! "0 " -C~5 "8 §.~ Z 8- .0…. !:i SOCIETIES. ;j.; al~ ::;;: . ai .~ 0 <1. ..>t:0I ='0.a<1:~I' o S ~It.! ~'ij .~~…"~. rd ~ <:l 0 .t:I. ~~ '~; -tE =~= ~.: ..2:!J:r"n ~~ e§ll ~ ~:a ~ § , "<'1".>''"' .Eo> ~!l -e".t:I o § ..;s::>!-0! ~ s<1.> ~o 0 .~= !eln.!le<n1.> OE-<O 0 ~ "".t:I 0 <",<:1l."> ~o en 8 ——- A. B. C. F. 111.. …….. 1872 5 21 7 .. 7 7 1 9 i413 578 108 415 …2.5 168 $843 Baptists (South) …….. 1880 11 39 10 .• 9 6 5 .. 1487 1,163 277 375 182 2,600 Church of Jesus (lnde· l?endent EpiBcopal)… 1873 4 29 1 3 …….. 4 6 …. BOO …….. ………… -'- . ….. 3 •. …. 4 61413 ., 465 Frlends ………•. ,., … 1871 2 26 ….189 350 M . E. (North) ………. 1873 9 32 10 2 10 1015 26 72 28 2,430 349 1,648 120 2,725 9,012 M. E. (South)……….. 187314 115 18 1 12 7181 .• 2087 8,808 277 3,25415 1,327 4,7(y{ 3,495 Presbyterian (North)…. 187211 44 10 .• -'- ~ –'"- 1,168 12 30 150 85 4,512 271 ……
P resbyterian (South) … …. 1 51 2 .. 1 … 3 8 .• S ., 450 …. . 250 2 •• 2 79 146 1 1 •• 1 2 •••• ….. PrQsbyterian (Cumber.). 24 …4..1.8 .. .6.8.5 Reformed Synod…….. …. 2 11 2 .. 1 1 2 .• 2 6 226 32 159 . … 27 106 * Literature: "Mexico," by H. H. Bandelier; "Moravian MI8Iions," Andrew Thompson, D.D . "Mexico iu Transition," William Butler, D.O.; .. The 'Native Religions of Mexico and Peru," :j: .. Story of.Diaz, the Apostle of Cuba," George W. Lasher, D.D. See also p. 179 (present issue). Albert Reville; "Twenty Years Among the Mexicans," Miss Melinda Rankin. See also p. § '" Encyclopredia of 'Missions," L, 294; ~ Municipal Reform Movements," W. 11. Tol- 198 (present issue). man. See alBo p. 191 (present laBue). t .. Central America," H. H. Bancroft; We do not give the totals under this ized Indians. There"are at present fears table because of the incompleteness of of a war between this republic and the record. There are, however, at Mexico, owing to a disputed boundary.
present 10 Protestant societies laboring It is hoped, however, that the question in 87 8epamte stations in Mexico, besides will be settled by arbitration, and thus which there are colporteurs of the Ameri- prevent bloodshed and the interruption can Bible Society. The number of for- to the work of God which would eign missionaries is 184 and of native necessarily accompany the war.
workers, 542 : churches number 388 and Honduras is controlled by Roman ~ongregations, 489: there are 16,860 Catholics, and only a few of the Mos- communicants and over 50,000 adherents kito Indians on the eastern coast are 10,668 Sunday-school scholars, and 7455 reached by the Moravian missionaries.
pupils in day schools; 12 Christian In British Honduras the Wesleyan papers are published in the Spauish Methodists have 6 stations, 24 chapels, language. 6 missionaries, 240 native agents, and Missionary work in Mexico is carried 2040 communicants. The American on in the face of many and great diffi- Bible Society also has agents here.
culties, among which are the ignorance, Salvador tolerates all religions; but indifference and immorality of the there are at present no Protestant mi8- people, the opposition of the Romish sionaries laboring there. The popUla- priests, and the spread of infidelity. tion is composed of aboriginal Indians Much has been accomplished, however, and those of mixed Spanish and Indian besides the actual conversion of souls blood.
to God. (1) Congregations have been Nicaragua is also untouched by mis- established where the Gospel is preached sionary effort except by the Moravians, weekly to over twenty-five thousand who labor among the Moskito Indians people; (2) nearly two hundred schools on the eastern coast, where they have have been established where pupils are 15 foreign ordained missionaries, 4 or- enlightened in things temporal and spir- dained and 66 other native helpers, and itual, and men and women are given a 5573 members (of whom 900 are com- theological and normal training ; (3) a municants), at 12 stations. There is large amount of evangelical literature also a church at Greytown, south of the in the form of papers, tracts. Bibles, Moskito Reserve. The work of the Mo- and books are scattered throughout the ravians has also lately extended into land. Nicaragua proper, where religious free- CENTRAL AMERICA. dom has been declared. The work has, however, been greatly hindered by the The statistics of the countries of Cen- political complications between Nicatral America are" as follows: ragua and the Moskito Reserve. The Area. Population. Nicaraguans, contrary to treaty, still Guatemala…. " •••46,800 sq. m. 1,460,017 occupy the Reserve, and the Moskito HonduraS ••••.•.••.46,400 .. 431,917 Indians look to England for protection. British Honduras•• 7,562 81,471 The presence of the soldiers at Blue- Salvador. . . . ••• . •. 7,225 777,895 fields causes unrest and disorder. Many Nicaragua •••••.•. .49,500 282,845 of the Christians have left, and some Costa Rica ……..37,000 245,780 In Guatemala the Presbyterian Board churches are on the verge of ruin.
(North) is the only society at work, and Lamplight services have been aban- has in Guatemala City two ordained mis- doned, as no decent woman cares to sionaries and their wives, one native walk the streets after dark. All this in teacher, one church with 49 communi- what was lately the most orderly and cants, and one school with 45 pupils Christian community in Central Amer- (boys). Nearly half of the population ica.
of this republic is composed of uncivil- In Costa Rica Rev. J. H. Lobez, of the Jamaica Baptist lIIissionary Union, cemetery has been pnrchased, a girls'
is doing a good work at Port Limon, high-school established, and a free hos- where he has gathered 80 communi- pital started. There are now 24 mis- cants. The Central American Mission- sionaries, Gchurches and stations, 2582 ary Society of Dallas, Tex:., has 2 mis· members, 7 Sunday-schools, 1000 schol- sionaries with their wives and 1 unmar- ars. Persecutions innumerable have ried lady missionary in this republic, followed Diaz all the way, but last year and the American Bible Society has 2 there were 150 baptisms. This work is agents at work. in connection with the Baptist Church In all there are in Central America 6 (South). The Jamaica Baptists,and the societies at work in 22 stations manned American Bible Society also carryon by 28 ordained missionaries, with over work in this island.
7f5 native helpers and over 3000 com- In the republic of Hayti* there is an municants. estimated population of 800,000, mostly negroes. The moral and intellectual THE WEST INDIES. condition is low in the extreme. Work is being carried on in Hayti and San These islands were first visited by Domingo by the Jamaica Baptists, the missionaries in 1734, when two Mora- English Baptists, the Consolidated vians landed in St. Thomas to preach American Baptists, the Protestant Epis- Jesus to the wretched slaves. Accord- copal, the African !!ethodlst Episcopal, ing to the latest reports, these heroic and and the Wesleyan Methodists 01 Eng- indefatigable evangelizers are repre- land. These societies have gathered sented by 50 European toilers of both about 2400 converts.
sexes, and have now in their churches Puerto Rico, a Spanish colony with 17,336 communicants and over 40,000 an area of 3550 square miles and 806,- adherents, with about 16,000 children in 708 negroes and mulattoes, is largely the schools. In British West Indies, dominated by Roman Catholics, but the with over 1,000,000 inhabitants, 248,000 Colonial and Continental Church S0- are regular attendants at Protestant ciety has one clergyman laboring there.
worship, about 85,000 are communi- One is wont to think of Jamaica as a cants, and 78,600 children are receiving thoroughly Christian country, at least In instruction in 1123 day schools. the ordinary sense of the word. But it Cuba, the largest of the West India is not so.t The island has about 650,000 Islands, is 790 miles long, 28 to 127 miles wide. Of its 2009 miles of sea-coast, only * War against Hayti II now threatened by one third is accessible. Snow is never Spain, owing to the removal of funda by tbe seen, but it rains every month,so that the President from a bank In which Spanlah capitalheat is never extreme. Rivers run ists are interested. across the island. north and south. In the six provinces is a population of t Pastor Warneck Bays, on the other hand, in 1,631,687. The Spaniards hold all the theAllgemdns1&aloM Zdtachrift, that "Jaoffices, the Creoles are planters, and the maica, with its 610,579 negroes and mnlattoes, negroes are the laborers. Over 10,000 maybe termed a trnly Protestant Island, although foreigners live there. The work in Cuba there are st!1l200,OOO uot converted. The Church of England has 116,224 adherents, the Baptists 115,000, the l[ethodlats about 70,000, the Presby- teri8IlS about 30,000, the Moravians 17,300, and under Rev. A. J. Diaz has grown to other denominations, together, about IlO,OOO to wondrous proportions. In two years 60,000. All the evangelical miBSions are seeking after the organization of the first church to traiu an educated native ministry, and to make 1100 were baptized. In a single year the congregations, as far as possible, financially independent. The people are making steady they contributed $4610. In 1889 a advance In Christian knowledge and life. handsome theatre was bought and U In the Bahama Islands, the 47,500 inhabitants turned into a church, and the lower parts rented for stores and offices. A may be regarded as all connected with the Evan- gelist Protestant Church. Some are Anglica.nll, lIome Baptillts, and IOlae WeileY&nil. Thouah "" all I t j ~i ~ ~§il•l…~9.l8'l ui g I !.; '0 0 03 11 1 1l~ ..8 o:ll«.!: r~'L"l .;.lugi~ .g i ~ ai3 rLl~ SOOIlilTIlilS. .; 'E·g ~ 0; Fields Occupied. ~o:l$:;:l'g'; ~ ,;;'i.0e; ~ 0 Ill, $rLl o:l" 2a1 ~ en 0 ~ 3g~ d 0 w A 0 – – – – – – – – —– …….. …. .. –"- …….. Jamaica, Barbadoes, S.P.G…………. 28 85 oo. …. 4,715 Triuidad, etc.
Consolidated Ameri· …. …. . …….. C8U Baptist…….. …. Af r i c a n M . E . . . . . . . . 1 '6 '5 1 …. ….. …….. Haiti. 7 4 5 149 131 190 Haiti sud SlID Domin· go. Protestant Episcopal 23 1 .0 •••• 13 34 11 405 150 218 Haiti. Presbyterian (Can' …. … ada) ………….. 5 6 •• 4 2 48 …. 573 23 4,324, Trinidad. BaptistM. S …….. 99 3 3 …. 116 5,168 3,920 loo'Trinidad, San Domin· go, Bahamas, Ja· maica. west!:ian Methodist. …. 1015 .. …….. ;.2 512 3,130 80 Bahamas. 10 :: "iii 29 3,432 2,176 Jamaica. Uni Methodist.. ' 9 10 ioo 26 3,470 9,083 … 9;i99 Jamaica, Trinidad. Scotch LT. Poo ……. 69 11,647 )(oravians ………. 55 59 .. "" 34 789 53 17,540 14,924 16,731 J amalea, TrInidad, . J St. Thomas, etc. ……. . ft:D1alca Baptist Un· …. …. – '.0. 441 …. 177 39,005 …….. …….. Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, lon …… Costa Rica.
inhabitants, of whom 650,000 are col- of England, the English Baptists, Wes· ored people. There are also some 12,000 ,leyan Methodists, United Presbyterians, or 18,000 coolies and Chinese. But and Moravians. Roman Catholics num- the total baptized membership of all the ber 12,500.
Christian churches, including the Catho- Of the total popUlation of 5,500,000 lics, falls under 150,000. Where are in the West Indies, there are about 600,- the remaining 400,000 souls, and what 000 Protestant adherents.
are they? They belong to no church Other societies laboring in the West and own no minister. They are sunk Indies are the Religious Tract Society, in vice and dirt, in ignorance and super. the S. P. C. K., Ladies' Negro Educa- stition. They stand little higher in the tional Society, Jamaica Church Ladies'
mental and moral scale than their ances- Association, besides 13 "home mil:sion- tors in darkest Africa. Truly here is a ary" societies in the islands themselves.
mission field in the fullest sense of the word. There is a Jamaica Baptist CITY :MISSIONS, Union, with 177 churches, 39,065 mem- One third of our ;population dwells bers, and 21,709 children in the schools. in our cities. They are the peril and The other denominations are the Church hope of our country, for in them an- poor, they In great part maintain their own archy, riot, and corruption breed, and in c1lUrches ; the Baptists do so entirely. them also our religious, intellectual, and .. The little Antilles are also in great part Chris· political life and work find their centres of operation. tianlzed. In the Danish Islands of St. Thomas, at. Jan, and St. Croix, with a population, to· In New York are nearly 400 philangether, of 32,700, there are 18,000 Protestants and 12,000 Roman Catholics, the former belong- thropic societies (besides churches), ing chiedy to the Church of England and the including five distinctive missionary Moravian brethren. The northern part of the societies, employing 100 missionaries. little Antilles-Antigua, Guadaloupe, Martinique, etc.-has about 100,000, aud the eastern part-St. In London there are over 100,000 Lucia, Barbadoes, Tobago, etc,-about 215,000 paupers, 38,000 homeless adults, 80,000 Protestant Christians. and in Trinidad there are wandering children, and 80,000 faIlen 10,000. In Tobago there has been instituted,ln women. Over 1000 benevolent institurecent years, by the Roman Catholics, a bitter tions are at work, including 39 missionopposItion mission to that of the Moravian ary societies. brethren."
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The Maroh of Events. hundred cars remained for two weeks tied up in a city of a million people. THE TROLLEY STRIKE IN BROOKLYN. Brooklyn is not alone in the risks run. which began on January 14th. and was scarcely" broken" for two weeks, was It is reported that the President of Peru, interesting and alarming, not in itself General Caceres, planned to use dyna- mite cartridges instead of powder, and, only, but most ot all as the indication had not the scheme been disclosed in and type of that deep-seated, widespread time, a fearful panic would have resultpopular unrest and readiness for riotous ed among the revolutionary forces. outbreak, which is one of the most start- The revolutionary committee test all ling signs of the times. Without any their munitions before use, as a necesdisposition now to discuss, or, above all, to decide the merits of the case, there sary safeguard. But what has science is a TENDENCY TOWARD ANARCHY done in making possible such uses of which demands prompt repression, and giant explosives I which must receive from all statesmen Ilnd philanthropists, all Christian lead- We think well to add a description of ers and patriotic citizens, the most conditions in Paris, as furnished by the earnest and patient and humane con- correspondents of the New York Times: sideration. When multitudes of men not only paralyze the commerce of a " People who saw the vast crowd gathnation by refusing to work its locomo- ered in the early morning to be near tive system, but forcibly resist any the walled·off scene of the Dreyfus attempt to get others to work it, and degradation, say with a shiver that they deliberately proceed to destroy the very never comprehended before what a means of locomotion, to break up cars Paris mob in the Reign of Terror must and cut motor wires; when both police have been like. Last year's new press and soldiers are called out, and clubs laws seem onl, to have aggravated the and rifles are brought into requisition abuses at whlCh they were aimed. It almost in vain, it is time to consider is impossible for the courts to take cogwhither we are tending. nizance of a hundredth part of the in- suIts and libels, daily hurled at the Presi- Last autumn the republic narrowly dent, the Premier, and everybody else escaped a civil outbreak which threat- in authority. The old era of denuncia· ened to become a revolution, in the com- tion is in full swing again. When the plications of the Pullman car employes Chamber decides that a certain ignorant with the public interests. And we have blackguard, who is in prison for abuse just been, again, in the tbroes of another of the President, and who has been electdisturbance – thus far local- which ed a deputy meanwhile by the Gobelins might have involved a much wider terri- district of Paris merely as a contemptutory. General Master Workman Sov- ous affront to the Chamber, shall not ereign, of the Knights of Labor, sent be released, this fellow is allowed to out word to the strikers: " Stay out till write and send out from prison a violent victory comes," and had only to say attack on the Government, and the the word to merge the local strike into papers are permitted to say that the maa sympathetic movement of all allied jority in the Chamber voted as they did, labor organizations. under ministerial threats to prosecute them for blackmail and embezzlement. No little complaint was made, and Unhappily, every fresh step of the justly, because the Brooklyn Board of prosecutors breaks into some new sewer Aldermen virtually joined the strikers of political or journalistic corruption, so by attempting to hinder the companies that these wholesale denunciations seem in engaging new employes, and so fifteen to the masses to be true enough, and the turbulent wing of socialism goes on doubling and trebling its hold on the Parisian proletariat."
At the same time, in Italy, where political parties were' preparing for a general election, the socialists boldly selected as candidates a number of those who as rioters in Sicily had been scn- arm ammunition, 16,957 koku of rice, tenced to imprisonment. specie and coin to the amount of 1,000,- 000 yen, 3326 tents, 18 sailing ships and THE JAPANESE-CHINESE WAR still steamers, and a quautity of other things, continues, and attracts universal atten- the value of the whole, including the tion and interest. fortresses and dockyard, being about 80,000,000 yen." In January, Japanese newspapers reported the King of Corea assassinated, As TO MADAGASCAR, a despatch from while others asserted that he had been Port Louis, Mauritius, January 11th, prostrated with epilepsy. A despatch reported the French bombardment of from Yokohama said that the new Co- Fort Farafatra, four miles inland from rean administration failed to raise an internal loan, the native capitalists re- Tamatave, on December 28th. The fusing to take part in the movement. Hovas defended the fort, replying to the French fire with well-directed shots The N()'/)oe Vremya, of St. Petersburg, says, in a leader on the Eastern from the seven guns comprising the war: "If the friendly and peaceful armament of the fort. But they were representations of Russia's 'diplomacy eventually defeated, and retired with be not considered she will be compelled heavy loss. to support her claims on Corea with force of arms. " SLAVE TRADE IN TRlPOLI.-TheBrit- ish and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society The Japanese movement on Wei-haiwei is said to have caused a panic in has received intelligence that under Tientsin and Pekin, and the Chinese Turkish rule the buying and selling of peace envoys were ordered to expedite young boys and girls-chiefly the latter the negotiations with the Japanese Gov- -is still regularly but secretly carried on, ernment. the Turkish officers of the Army of Oc- cupation being involved in it with the Simultaneously with the departure of the Oharl68ton, January 21st, from Na- wealthier Arabs. gasaki for Chemulpo, the flagship Baltimore lett for Chifu to support the ABYSSINIAN WAR. -General Baratieri YorktO'l/Jn, which has become the asy- has telegraphed that on Sunday, Jannlum for all the American missionaries ary 13th, he made an attack upon the on account of the Japanese bombardment of Teng Chow Eu and theoccupa- Abyssinians under Ras !langascia, and tion of the Shantung promontory. after severe fighting, the Italian troops were victorious. A large number of The capture of Wei-hai-wei would destroy the last refuge of the Chinese Abyssinians were killed and many taken fleet, and in all probability the fleet it- prisoners. The prisoners attribute the self, and the last chance of China again acting on the offensive. The United victory of the Italians to their use of Press correspondent at Tokyo wrote, the explosive, ballistite. January 8th: There were 10,000 Abyssinians en- "In addition to two first-class for- gaged in the fight, while the Italians, tresses and a dockyard with all appli- with their native allies, numbered only ances, as well as a great tract of terri- 4000. Ras MQngascia, who had expecttory, China has lost in the present war ed his dervish allies to make a simulflghting ships aggregating 13,346 tons, taneous attack, crossed the river Belesa and valued at 11,000,000 yen ($5,500,- in the face of the Italians at eight o'clock 000 in gold). in the morning. Under the fire of the Italian machine guns, the Abyssinians "Of these vessels three were cap- suffered heavily, and soon retired. T~ey tured by the Japanese; the rest sunk or renewed the attack later, concentratmg burned. Among other spoils taken by their efforts on the Italian .tiank. At the Japanese are 607 cannon, 7400 stand this juncture the Italians were joined of rifles, 2,601,741 rounds of cannon by 3800 men under General Arimonde, ammunition, 77,458,785 rounds of small- who had made a forced march of fifteen mileR. The Abyssinians then tIed in disorder. Two days later General Bara- tieri telegraphed to the War Office from Massowah that the necessity for the fm-
'1895·1 2Hl
mediate reinforcement of the Italian tions of the sins of !ydney society, and troops in Africa is most urgent. It was that the voice of this nineteenth-century decided to despatch several battalions of prophet has been heard thundering troops to Africa without delay. against selfishness, snobbery, swindling, swilling, slandering, sensuality, Sad- REPORTS FROM SUM.-News came duceeism, sweepstakes and other sports from Bangkok, Siam, January 10th, that ruin the soul; and that, along with that a meeting of nobles took place at these thrilling diatribes, there haS been the palace the night previous, when:a the fullest presentation of Jesus as the petition was signed requesting the king Saviour and helper of men." to appoint a crown prince. It was rumored that the son of the second queen Next he appears in Calcutta, where would be appointed, he bein~ the eldest special services were arranged in Febof the blood royal. He is now in Eng- ruary, beginning with the 6th of that land, receiving his education. month, and to continue for three weeks. The plan was to have a large tent on As TO THE ARMENIAN MASSACRES, the maidan, in which the services will on January 11th, the Speaker of the be held. The pastors of the English House of Commons published in Lon- churches in the city invited him. It don a letter from a correspondent in will be a rich treat to missionaries and others to hear the original and q uicken- ing expositions and illustrations of this Scottish Spurgeon.
Constantinople, who claims to have seen CHINA. -The presentation of the copy the reports from the consuls in Vau, _of the New Testament to the Empress Erzeroum, Sivas, and Diarkebir, and Dowager by the Christian women of they confirm the most horrible accounts the empire has been followed by an already received. He adds: order from the Emperor for a copy of "Concurrent reports came from both the Old and New Testaments. The Catholic and Protestant missionaries Bible has at least gained an entrance into in the Sassoun district. The troops the palace; may this not be the means called out against the Armenians have of the Word of God gaining an entrance returned from the scenes of conflict to into the heart of the heathen emperor? permanent quarters. They boast of their deeds publicly. Their statements A personal note from a friend in have been forwarded to Constantinople. Shanghai says the Society for the Diffu- One soldier declared that with his own sion of Christian and General Knowlhand lie ripped up twenty married edge among the Chinese is beginning to women. Another boasted that he took make an impression on the upper classes part in a massacre in a church, and that of China. A few weeks ago the Vicethe blood flowed in a large stream from roy of Oentral China, Chang Chih Tung, the door. The soldiers believe that the sent a donation of 1000 taels to help in Sultan ordered the massacre, and ap- this work, which equals about 1500 proves of it." Mexican dollars.
Meanwhile it is rumored that the Porte THE TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL is considering administrative reforms to MEETING of the Woman's Board of be introduced in all the provinces con- Missions was held in Boston, January cerned in the recent massacre; among 16th, and the programme was brilliant them, the recruiting of the gendarmerie with talent. Miss A.bbie B. Child prefrom the Christian as well as the Mus- sented the report of the Home Departsulman population, the appointment of a Mussulman governor for the first three-year term and Christian governors for all subsequent terms, which would be five years each.
JOHN McNEIL, THE EVANGELIST, ment; Miss Ellen Caruth, the report of the treasury; Mrs. E. E. Strong, the has been in Sydney, New South Wales. survey of missions in European, Cen- tral, and Eastern Turkey, and the Of his visit, a correspondent in the Syd- Marathi Mission, India; Mrs. John O. Means, the missions in Western Turney P1'tUloyte1'ian says: key, Mexico, Austria, and the Madura Mission in India; Miss Lucy M. Fay, " It is a matter of profound thankfulness that Mr. McNeill has been able to attract audiences of such dimensions to listen to the most scathing denuncia-
EDIT.oRIAL DEPARTMENT
the missions in Africa, Micronesia, and ' required. The grandest of these·is the Ceylon; and Mrs. Joseph Cook, the Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church, missions in China, Japan, and Spain. costing 2,340,000 marks, .of whiCh sum In addition to this fourfold survey, Miss the royal family had contributed 23,000, Blakely, .of Marash, in Central Turkey, and the Emperor has recently again and Miss Noyes, of Madura, and Mrs. added 30,000.
Logan, of Micronesia, and Mrs. De For- THE BIBLE IN UGANDA.-In Uganda, est, of Japan, made missionary addresses, a cOUl).try where nothing was known of and Lady Henry Somerset also added Ohristianity twenty years ago, the work the attraction of her presence and a spe- of the missionaries has produced the cial addr.ess. The morning and after- most pleasing results. The demand for noon were thus profitably occupied Bibles and New Testaments is most exwith a variety of exercises which made traordinary. According to the Presbyweariness impossible. This women's or- terianer, Chicago, 10,000 copies .of the ganization has probably accomplished Gospels have been sold there within five as much to promote missions, by prayer, months, besides 25,000 .other books percirculation of cheap literature, system- taining to Christian literature. Curiousatic giving in small amounts, and gen- ly enough, the Catholics evince the same eral cultivation .of a holy enthusiasm, desire to read the Bible as the Protesas any missionary .organization in the tants. Bishop Hirsh, the chief of the world. May God give it a new year of Catholic mission at Uganda, writes: increased prosperity and efficiency I " I am compelled to acknowledge that DR. CYRUS HAMLIN corrects, in the we will be forced to print a translation of the New Testament, which is being interest.of history, the statements attri- spread by the Protestants all .over the country. We cannot prevent .our peo· buted to Dr. Jessup in .our December pIe from reading it, for everyone, with the exception of the women and issue, page 942 : aged people, wishes to learn how to read before being baptized. We are " The first evangelical church in Syria therefore busy with an edition of the was not the first in the Turkish Empire. New Testament, with commentaries by The setting up of the first printing- the Fathers of the Church." presses in the Turkish Empire is incorrect by more than a century. If the first WHAT A CONTRAST, it has been said, missionary presses are meant, it is again between 1792 and 1892 I-a contrast incorrect. The first were at Smyrna. which proves the splendid progress of The founding of the first day and board- the missionary enterprise, and which ing-schools, and the first college in the should inspire all its friends with elation Turkish Empire, should read simply in and confidence. In 1792 not 190 mis- Syria. The mission in Syria is limited si.onaries-4 .only in all Africa, 12 only in by the Arabic language, and has no con- India, but not one in China, or Japan, or nection with other parts of the empire. Burma, or all Central and Western Asia; In all the above particulars, as well as in m.ost others, they labored for themselves alone, and Syria should take the place of the Turkish Empire, in which, entirely unknown to them, various institutions had come into existence. "
THE BERLIN CHURCH BUILDING S.o- with not 50,000 reliable converts around CIETY, .organized five years ago to pro- them, or 50 of these converts to give vide places of worship for the churchless them efficient aid. Now there are 3000 thousands of the German capital, start· ordained missionaries, with 2500 lay and ing out with 20,000 marks, has expend- lady coadjutors, with no fewer than ed 10,000,000 marks in the erection of 30,000 native evangelists, one sixth .of churches. Thirty new churches have them .ordained, and for the most part been erected by the German Protestants well tried and trained. Around them in the city of Berlin during the past five have been gathered a native Christian years. It is estimated that fully 50 are population of 3,000,000, far in advance of their heathen neighbors in intelli· ly in West Africa. His death is a severe gence, morals, and enterprise. blow to African missions. He was less REv. WILLIAM CAREY, grandson of than forty years old, and married about the historic leader of the same name, twelve years ago the daughter of the wrote to the editor a very gratifying Rev. Peter Walker, formerly of the letter. He says: "I have watched Gaboon, West Africa. The workmen with great interest and the deepest ap- fall. .We believe that the Lord carries preciation your splendid advocacy of on His work.
the claims of foreign missions, and I We learn also that Mrs. George Mul- have long coveted that best of maga- ler is dead. The particulars we have zines, the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE not learned, but it must be a very heavy WORLD." blow to her venerable husband.
Mr. Carey expresses a desire to pos- THE tenth anniversary of the Young sess the back volumes, and hints that, Men's Institute of the Y. M. C. A. of like his illustrious grandsire, he is" mis- New York City was held January erably poor," and so keeps up the apos- 15th. William M. Kingsley, Esq., pretolic succession. The editor is glad to sided. Cleveland H. Dodge, Esq., Presiadd that the publishers felt, that if any dent New York City Y. M. C. A., and. man should have a free grant, it is Wil- William Dulles, Jr., Esq., Treasurer of liam Carey's grandson and namesake, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Misand accordingly the request was grant~ sions, made short remarks, and the aded, and the bound volumes furnished. dress of the evening was delivered by JAPAN.-A recent letter in the OlvriB- Edward M. Shepard, Esq.
tian InteUigencer, describing the three The annual report made by the Sec- religions-Buddhism, Shintoism, and retary, Dr. D. E. Yarnell, showed that Confucianism-says it is reported that the Institute work had made consider- there are about 72,000 Buddhist temples able progress during the past year, the and 56,000 priests and monks who, in membership, enrolment in classes, etc., spite of dissensions among them and being larger than ever before.
exposures of their immorality by news- The following are part of the statistics papers, they still hold the confidence of contained in the report, which may in- the people. Shintoism is of native terest many readers: origin, and its chief doctrine is that the 1893. 1894'
gods made Japan, and that the emperors Membership, December 31st… 656 662 are their lineal descendants, all of whom Average Attendance at Rooms. 180 183 are therefore objects of Divine rever- No. Volumes in Library…… 1,701 1,790 Membership In Gymnasium …. 327 345 ence ; it urges, with great emphasis. Average Attendance, Bible loyalty and patriotism as the foremost Class…………………… 17 28 duties of the Japanese. There arei9i,- Average Attendance, Prayer ao 000 Shinto shrines, with 14,500 officiat- Meeting .. _.. .. .. .. .. .. …. . 26 Average Attendance, Men's ing Shinkano. Meeting.. .. •.. .. … .. .. .. … 80 78 PRESIDENT WARREN, of Boston Uni- Depositors' Savings Fund….. 189 181 versity, has proposed the foundation in his city of a museum of all religions. Amount Deposited.•••……..$8,185.95 $7,418.90 Di1Ierent Men in Evening Clas.e8. ……………….. 425 463 In it would be collected religious books, Total Enrolment………….. 617 665 examples of the furnishings of altars Current Expenses ………..,11,827.45 811.779.79 .'lind shrines, religious relics, em blems, IT is a new proof of the expediency idols, and other objects illustrating the and desirability of every man becoming character or history of the different re- the administrator of his own gifts by ligions of the world. bestowing money in his own lifetime, THE REv. A. C. GOOD has died recent- that so many legacies are ultimately perverted from their original purpose. the waste places of the earth; and it is What are known as the Gifford Lec- suggested that in connection with such tures, as provided for by the will of a a season of prayer there be previous Scotch judge, were to be upon the sub- instruction, especially as to the nature ject of Natural Religion; but the lec- of prayer, its privilege, its necessity, ture course has been so perverted as and the place which it holus in God's to antagonize Revealed Religion. For plans for world-wide blessing. We example, the last incumbent of the lec- believe that the one great dependence tureship, Dr. Pfliederer, of Berlin, a of the Church of God for all success in well-known theologian of the rational- our missionary work is an increased istic school, assailed the orthodox beliefs spirit of united prayer. of the Scottish people, and repudiated as .. pale negations" the modified state- AMONG BOOKS to which we desire to ments of modern Scotch professors. call attention are the following: Men of all shades of opinions have, like Dr. Rainey, raised the question, whether "James Gilmour and His Boys," by the university at Edinburgh, in accept- Richard Lovett, published by the F. ing the administration of the lecture- H. Revell Company. The book is ship, anticipated that the deed would partly biographical, partly a series of prove susceptible of such interpreta- adventures, and partly a story of toils tion. Dr. Charteris, of the Established and trials endured for Christ. It con Church, objects to the university giv- tains Mr. Gilmour's charming letters to ing the lecturer a chance to attack the his boys, James a!'d Willie, respectively Bible, and even the liberal Dr. Dods nine years old and seven years old. It comes forward to attack the rational- is sufficient to say that it is as fascinatism of the lecturer. It is to be regret- ing a book as might be expected from ted that a like perversion has even its lamented author. characterized the Bampton Lectures, which for 110 many years have been an Another book, "Kin-Da-Shon's Wife," invaluable series of apologetics. an Alaskan story, by Mrs. Eugene S. Willard, also published by F. H. Revell, HAYTI.-It is probably unknown to is a presentation of the condition of most people that in that island horrible society and missionary effort in Alaska, cannibalism still prevails. Spenser St. surrounding practical facts with the ro- John in his book, "Hayti; or, the Black mantic drapery of fiction. Republic," published in 1884, says that families actually celebrate family feasts, Dr. Henry C. Mabie's record of Eastat which they devour some of their own ern travel, under the name of "In Brightoffspring or the members of the family est Asia," has already reached l!o sixth circle. edition, and it is not surprising. The home secretary of the American Baptist WE have long been suspicious that Missionary Union is a man of winning the week of united prayer observed in manners and great intellectual force, January hall not only been perverted as well as an observing eye. It was a from its original purpose-namely, for- blessing to missions to have such a man eign missions-but has declined in spir- visit Oriental stations; and this book, itual power and effectiveness even as to of less than two hundred pages, fully the church life at home; and we have and beautifully illustrated, is the familmany intimations, through correspond- iar but fascinating story of Dr. Mabie's ence with brethren, that there is a desire, tour. No one will read it, without feelsuch as was expressed at the late De- ing a deeper interest in the mission work cennial Conference in Bombay, for a of God throughout the world; and it season of united prayer specifically for will be found as interesting as a work the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon of fiction.
Miss Annie W. Marston has written a plea for Thibet, under the name of •• The Great Closed Land." It is published superstitions, and religious condition.
by S. W. Partridge, of London, and is Probably no other European was so strikingly like Dr. Mabie's book, though well fitted to write this book as the au- not so large. It is indispensable t;) those thor, and it is the result of first·hand who wish to obtain an accurate account knowledge and observation.
of that hermit nation which seems just " Among the l'[aoris," by Jesse Page, is also from the press of:F. H. Revell, emerging from long seclusion.
" Woman in Missions" is a book pub- and tells of the daybreak in New Zea- lished by the American Tract Society, land, with the labors of Marsden, Sel- containing the papers and addresses wynn, and others. Revell is publish- presented at the Woman's Congress of ing a Missionary Library of small books Missions in Chicago, 1893. Dr. E. M. which present in a brief and very at- Wherry has lovingly compiled and edit- tractive form thc great subject of mis- ed it. It contains seventeen papers or sions.
addresses on various forms and phases "A Dispensational History of Re- of woman's condition and work. It is demption," by Dr. E. P. Marvin, of one of the few valuable contributions Lockport, who appears to be both au- to the subject of woman's mission and thor and publisher, is a new and tren- ministry for Christ, a subject that yet . chant exhibition of biblical teachings as dcmands a much larger and nobler treat- to the true relations of the Church and ment than it has ever yet received. the world. Though not professedly a Akin to this is "The New Woman- missionary treatise, it indirectly teaches hood," by James C. Fernald, published much truth with regard to the way and by l!'unk & Wagnall.3, which, though not spirit in which missions must be car- specifically upon the subject of mis- ried forward, especially in that portion sions, is another helpful discussion of which treats of the Christian dispensa- woman's condition, and adaptation to tion, which has already extended over service in the kingdom of God. nineteen hundred years.
"Our Work," by C. B. Ward, for PALESTINE.-It is difficult to get at eighteen years a Methodist missionary in India, published by E. J. Decker the exact truth, as to the state of the Company,Chicago, outlines fifteen years of devoted service among the Hindus, Holy Land. One who ought to know in dependence upon God both for grace and for material support. It will quick- assured us lately that the incoming of en the faith of any reader. Jews to the country is now strictly pro· We are glad to see that the Revell Company have issued an illustrated edi- hibited, and yet here is what the Lontion of Dr. Davis's" Biography of the Rev. Joseph Hardy Neesima." Hav- don Spectator recently published: ing already called attention to the life of this remarkable pioneer in Japanese " The Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, education, it only remains to say that in a letter to Friday's Times, gives some this American edition is a great im- facts which show that the Jews are provement in every respect upon the pouring into Palestine. About one hunprevious edition, and another of the dred thousand Jews have entered the indispensable books in a complete mis- Holy Land during the last few rears, sionary library. and' the arrival of a vaster host is Immi- nent. ' 'Noone,' he goes on, ' can pos- "Among the Matabele," by David sibly forecast the next seven years of Carnegie, published by the London Re- Jewish immigration.' If the bishop's ligious Tract Society, gives a brief but view of what is going on is correct, we very satisfactory account of the Mata- are face to face with a fact that may bel, tribe, their arts, crafts, weapons, revolutionize the politics of Mediter- ranean Asia. Already the railways are opening up the countr.v between the coast and Jerusalem and Damascus, and if a Jewish immigration onalargesca1e is added to this, Syria may become once more one of the most important places in the East. The idea of the Jews again possessing a country is a very curious one."
GENERAL MISSIONARY lNTEI,LIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign ing of the systems for which they are Periodicals. content to abjure Christianity. For in- stance, in the neighborhood of the mis- BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, sion station at Cotta. Colonel Olcott suc- ceeded in stirring up the Buddhist priests MASS. to such hostility that for awhile the at· tendance at the Christian schools was INDIA. sensibly diminished. In the village of Udumulla, under this influence the -The Ohurch Mi8sionary InteUigencer priests opened a rival school, and proremarks: "Miss Gordon Cumming ex- nounced a very singular form of expresses surprise at the curious craze"in communication against all who should favor of Buddhism which has broken persist in sending their children to the out of late years in Europe, and criti- mission schools. Such offenders were cises the attractive pictures drawn by to be fined a rupee and a half, and were !esthetic dreamers in their English or ,further admonished that "the dhobie German studies of the realities of Bud- shall not wash their clothes; the native dhist life and worship. She remarks doctors shall not attend any of them in in one chapter : sickness; the devil dancer8 8hall not per- form demon ceremonies for them (l), and " 'There is, unfortunately, no doubt the astrologer8 shall not con8ult the planet8 that Buddhism has received a real im- for them on the birth of their c7tildren, or petus from the example of certain fool- concerning marriages andother important ish Europeans, who (most assuredly events I"~ lacking any personal knowledge of THE MASTER whom they so dishonor) have " 'We need scarcely wonder that thrown in their lot with the teachers of those who have escaped from this deso-called theosophy and esoteric Bud- based system are proof against a.ll argudhism; systems which those who un- ments of the theosophists. Colonel Olderstand them best classify as " Bedlam- cott did his utmost to persuade a Budite balderdash," "blatant humbug," dhist priest who had become a Chrisand" impudent imposture." tian to resume the yellow robe. When he had exhausted his arguments, the " , I would shrink from quoting such ex-priest replied, with more force than expressions regarding any phase of true polish, "I am not a dog, that I should theosophy or " Divine knowledge," but return to my vomit. Pray spare your the leaders of this society in Ceylon pity. If you can believe that there is (well aware that there could be no fel- no right, no wrong, no soul, no conlowship between seekers after knowl- science, no responsibility, no God, no edge of God and the atheistic system of judgment, you need for yourself all the Buddhism, which does not acknowledge pity you possess, and more." any God) were wise in their generation, and adopted as their title the Parama- " 'Yet it is to this system that so wignanartha, or Supreme Knowledge great an impetus has been given even in Society. Consequently it embraces Europe and America by the agency of whatever may be the individual ideal so beautiful a writer as Sir Edwin Arof highest good, whether it be how nold, who, in his passionate admiration best to enjoy this world and how to get for the good and noble, depicts things on in it and get wealth, or how best to not as they really are, but as he would attain to Nirvana and the extinction of have them to be; for truly what he calls all desire. the "Light of Asia" has most practi- " , I think the European disciples of these schools would be rather startled were they to realize the practical work-
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
cally proved to be only bewildering (long missionary of the Basel Society in darkness. South India) has gone home has deeply " , Surely such an ovation as was ac- moved the hearts of those to whom he corded to him by the Buddhists when had become dear in India, and ours he visited Ceylon in 1886 was doubtful among them. What a rich and fruitful honor for a Christian. At one Buddhist tree! How far abroad this tree extend- college near Colombo well-nigh three ed the refreshing shadows of its boughs, thousand assembled to testify their laden with fruit! A tree planted by gratitude to the poet who has painted the water brooks of everlasting life I their leader in colors all borrowed from Deeply as he is missed, keen as is the the life and teaching of Him who is the pain felt at his loss, yet both are miti- true LIGHT OF THE WORLD. The hon- gated by the remembrance of a life so ored guest was placed on a raised plat- full and rich; indeed, in view of the form beneath an honorific canopy, while eternity into which he has passed over Buddhist ecclesiastics robed in yellow in blessed slumber, the joyful conscious- satin chanted chorals, litanies, and an- ness that this full, rich life is not con- thems in Pali and Singhalese, Sir Edwin cluded, but has entered upon the stage replying in Sanskrit. of glorious perfection, disposes us rather " , One of those best acquainted with to a sense of thankfulness. God be practical Buddhism in Ceylon describes praised for all that he, in Christ, was it as " the most cunningly devised sys- permitted to offer and to be to so tem of atheism and negation, of idol many !"-Oalwe·r jUissionsbZatt.
worship, tree and serpent worship, and -" Hinduism no longer has a really pessimism which has ever held the sure hold on many, as it is easy to dishuman mind in bondage;" a system cover from repeated expressions of the exactly answering to the awful scrip- people to us, and I believe that, in stilltural summary" having no hope, and ness, God is preparing a transition of without God in the world." the masses into Christianity. "-Mission- ary CHRISTIAN SCHLESCH, in Dansk Mis- " , Can anything more pitiful be con- aiona-Btad. ceived than that human beings born within the pale of the Christian Church can deliberately sacrifice the privilege – " If God taught the Old Testa- of individual personal communication ment mi5sionary compassion, by calling with the ever-present Almighty Friend, to his attention that in ' Nineveh, that who cares for each one of us, in ex- great city.' there were' more than six· change for an utterly irrespongive nega- score thOl:sand persons that cannot dis- tion-a theory of perfection only to cern between their right hand and their be attained through self·conquest, at left hand,' what thoughts mnst the which poor weak human beings are ad- census of India inspire, which shows vised to aim through ages of lonely us living within its range almost as lifelong struggles extending over many many children under five years of age transmigrations, without one prayerful (45,000,000) as there are men, women, look to the Divine Helper who alone and children in the whole German Em- can keep our wayward wills from wan- pire!
dering after all manner of evil? And " This vast population of 287,000,000, all this in order to gain the cessation of among which the British power is so their individual life.' " firmly established as to be able to take -" The Moravian Mission in Leh, a census that offends so many deeply Tibet, has borne its first fruits in the rooted prejudices, is not held in obedibaptism of a young man last Good Fri- ence by numbers. In all India there day. "-Ohurch Missionary Intelligenccr. are only 247,790 Europeans and Eura- sians. The whole army amounts only – " The news that dear Papa Gundert to 218,230 men; the police to 143,524.
GlllNEKAL MISSIONAl'tT INTELLIGENCE
" India is not a land of cities, but of independently of thtit there is a Chris· villages. Only 27,200,000 dwell in tian profession which, in spite of much cities. shortcoming and of our miserable di- visions, does lay hold of the heart and " The late census of India gives the mind of England, and the red cross in number of Animists as 9,000,000. This our banner which we still hold is not is simply the worship of spirits, con- merely a symbol, but a great and ceived as localized or ubiquitous, a re- blessed reality. But if this is true of ligion mainly of superstitious terror. the society we call the nation, how The religious condition of the lower much more is it true of the society we castes of Brahmanism or Hinduism dif- call the Church, which is humanity fers but slightly from this. Grouping centred in God in the Lord Jesus the two classes together, we have an Christ lOur Church can never be sat- aggregate of about 50,000,000. This isfied with enjoying God's blessings at mass, relatively inert, will become the home, and diffusing them over human- prey of the Brahmanist revival or of ity here, unless we take hold of the Islam, unless the Christian mission lays blessed opportunities which God has hold of these elements. It ought to do given us, and diffuse them all over the this, without neglecting any of the world, which is a coudition of the other elements of Hindu society; but strength and vitality of the Church at alas 1 how little the Christian Church home.-Bishop BARRY, in Olmrcl. Misyet comprehends the grandeur of the sionary Intelli,qerwer. task which Jesus has confided to her as her true reason of being l"-Professor MISCELLANEOUS. F. HERlIIAN KRUGER, in Journal des Mi88ions. -" A.lmost all French writers have exalted the Renaissance at the expense -A. Christian preacher having lately of the Reformation, maintaining that discovered a cobra nearly paralyzed by the former was broader in its views a flood in which it had been caught, than the latter, and that it brought to asked leave to kill it, but the people mankind a completer liberty. The facts would not consent. The Bombay Guar- do not sustain this view, The nations dian suggests that the cobra will do which embraced the Reformation are well to guard itself against possible evidently in advance of those which redangers in the future from intrusive mained satisfied with the Renaissance. Christians by taking out a government This is because the Reformation inlicense to poison people. In that case volved a moral force which was lacking the interests of the revenue will secure to the Renaissance. And moral force it not only against being attacked, but united with education is the enduring even against being spoken of dispar- foundation of national prosperity. Thc agingly. Reformation was a return to the Gos- pel, and the Gospel, being superior to THL UNITED KINGDOM. the traditions of classic antiquity, can- not fail to bring forth better fruit."- -" I say that England is truly a EMILE LAVELEYE, quoted in El AbQgado Christian nation, independently alto- Cristiano Ilustrado (Mexico). gether of the national profession of Christianity, which is embodied in the -" The Allgemeine Missions·Zeitconnection of the national Church with schrijt for September contains an inthe State-of which I hope it is not ir- teresting and very learned article on relevant to ask you-it has been bound the attitude of the Lutheran Church in up with some of the most glorious Germany toward missions to the hea- . things in the life of England in the past then in the seventeenth century. It ap· -to ask you to pray that the bond pears that in the first half of that cenwhich God has so blest may not be broken in our time. I say that quite
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
tury it was seriously maintained by viewed as SOUls destined for immortal- German divines that the command to ity and needing the illumination of go into all the world was only given to faith, but as so many strong arms to be the apostles, and that the diffusion of trained to work, not for themselves, but the Gospel among all nations was no es- for their German masters, and princi- sential aim of the Christian Church. pally through the mediation of the mis- This naturally exposed the Lutheran sionaries. The negroes or other natives Church to sharp attacks from the side are to be virtually, though not for- of the Church of Rome, which was then mally, slaves, and the missionaries are beginning her career of missionary required to serve as the chief slaveactivity. It is interesting to learn that drivers. Of course there is no objecan Englishman, John Drury, was the tion to their throwing in a little religion first to endeavor to awaken the mission- by way of amusement at odd times. ary zeal of Germany in the year 1650. Indeed, this is allowed to be necessary, He was followed in 1663 by the great in order to give them a hold upon the German advocate of missions, the Baron people. Justinian von Welz. Welz was treated So far as we have observed, the Geras a dreamer and a fanatic by the ortho- man missionary societies have set themdox divines of his day, and during the selves firmly against all these claims of rest of the century a sharp struggle exaggerated Germanism; but Superinwent on between the advocates and the tendent Merensky appears to be rather enemies of missions, ending at last in carried away with them. Of course he the victory of the missionary idea. The abhors all slave-holding proposals, and whole story is an additional proof how would have the spiritual good of the indifference to foreign missions belongs people uuhesitatingly put first; but he to an order of things which must pass seems to insist that German missionaries away when a church or an individual shall bend themselves to promote among awakes to full consciousness of the their converts German ways, in society supremacy of Christ. "-The Ohronicle. and in religion, and apparently in every- thing else. The appeal which he makes -The Moravian Church, with its to our Lord's action in Israel ought, as usual mild wisdom, raises a firm pro- the Moravian brethren remark, to show test against Superintendent Merensky's him the contrary. Christ confined Himstrange position, that missions ought self personally, for obvious reasons, more and more to put off their inter- within Israel; but under the Jewish national and put on a strictly national envelope this Gospel is addressed to aspect, and that only when this change universal man. The Missionsblatt well is thoroughly accomplished will mis- remarks that Herr Merensky has nothsiims be perfect I A more absolute re- ing to say of His death for the world, versal of the hands upon the dial of nor of His last command. Christ mentime, a completer contradiction of the tions the nations, thereby implying that advancing history of mankind, and His messengers are to respect their above all of the kingdom of God, it peculiarities, but not that they are stubseems as if it would be difficult to find. bornly to adhere to their own. If the The truth is, that the Germans seem as missionaries cannot, for this end, lay yet to be fairly intoxicated with their aside much of What is very dear to, new colonial ambitions. Every German them, they seem to have forgotten what abroad, traveller, scientist, or mission- their Master laid aside when IIe came ary, is clamorously required to make on earth. himself an instrument for the propaga- As the Blatt remarks, to impose on a tion of Germanism; that first, Chris· newly converted people, of a race widetianity and everything else apparently ly removed from that of the missionaafter that. The natives are not to be ries, the peculiarities of a long national
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELJ.IGENCE
and religious development, largely un· youths cheer the missionaries by their intelligible to them and often incongru- constancy.
ous, seems a strange way of settiqg home the Gospel of all nations. Let -A visit has been paid to the Sesse this be carried out, and soon the mis- Islands by Mr. G. L. Pilkington and sionaries of each nation would become the Rev. E. Millar, who left Mengo in incapable of working outside of the July last for that purpose. On 14 of dominions of their own country. How the 27 islands there arc churches;' one then about China and Japan and other each on 10, two on three, and three on one-19 churches altogether, The popugreat independent governments'! The Brethren remark that their own lation on these islands is estimated as Church has never denied her German 75,000, of Whom 5450 afe returned as origin and her prevailingly German readers, 76 as baptized, and 161 as cate· character. The remembrances of the· chumens. There are 21 native teachers lands of Luther and Huss are dear to working on these islands, sel'.t by the her, and she conveys them into the vari- Church Council.
ous lands into which she has spread. -About the same time that Messrs. But this is spontaneously, and only so Pilkington and Millar went southward far as is consistent with the national to the Sesse Islands, Mr. R. H. Leakey character and remembrances of converts went northward to the province of and members. Whatever German flavor Bulemezi, and after spending six weeks may adhere to the Gospel which she there, he writes of having visited nine preaches she is not ashamed of, but it places in that province where there is the Gospel and not the particular local were churches, and he knew of several flavor of it which she has at heart, and others. which she thinks that all Christian mis- sionaries ought to have at heart. She -At Namukozi, in Tingo, 22 adult does not go forth to convert men to Mo- converts have been baptized. The Rev.
ravianism or Germanism, but to con- H. R. Sugden says: "The Church was vert them to God. full" and there were great rejoicings.
In matters concerning missionary -The success in Kikabya, a district principle we might do worse than to in Kyagwe, is most marked. This distake Herrnhut for our Oathedra Petri. trict is under a Christian chicf named Tomasi. The Rev. G. K. Baskerville British Notes. found at the chief's country place 32 candidates for baptism whom the chief J'lY JAMES DOUGLAS. himself had instructed. The district under this chief is about 50 miles long. Olturch Mi8sionary Society. – The Mr. Baskerville spent 34 days in the news concerning Eastern Equatorial disl,rict visiting the towns, which were Africa is particularly full. The re- " all gardens," walking 80 miles, and motest station at Nassa, on Speke Gulf, each day delivering two addresses. At is a very isolated one, being 600 miles Namiliti 10 persons professed to yield from Mpwapwa, with no mission sta- their hearts to the Saviour. There is tion between, and about 280 miles from every prospect of a glorious reaping Uganda, on the opposite coast of the time in this region. Victoria lake. Two missionaries, the Rev. E. H. Hubbard and Mr. J. P. Nickis- Society for the Propagation of the Gos- son, labor in this dark region, and see on pd.-We have not hitherto noticed the all sides trust in charms, thc practice of work of the Society for the Propaga- witchcraft, cases of robbery and even tion of the Gospel, which, in addition murder. A congregation of over 200 to the Church Missionary Society, is sus· has been gathered, and several native tained by the Churc. of England. A
BRITISH NOTES
brief notice of the work of the Society puzzling out. In particular the pres- for the Propagation of the Gospel in ence or absence of the article was very Ramnad, South India, may serve to hard to understand, but some forty- sample the doings of this society. For three rules clear it all up.
the purposes of administration the mis- -The work on the Upper Congo is sion is divided into six pastorates or dis· making .strides, but chiefly thus far tricts, all of which are under the charge among the women and children. There of native pastors. These districts are: are now six dialects reduced to writing Ramnad, Keelakarai. Pamban, Raja· by the missionaries on the field belongsingamangalam, KiJanjani, and Parama· ing to our various societies. gudy. In the Ramnad district the Chris- tians are mostly members of the Valyar -The Baptist Union of Backergunge caste, a tribe of hunters who live to a and Furidpore, Eastern Bengal, have great extent in the jungle, earning their just celebrated their fifteenth annual Iivelihuod by hunting, fishing in streams, gathering. The proceedings were of an and cutting down firewood. The Keela· enthusiastic description, and large and kal"ai district is the largest in the mis- representative audiences heard the Gos- sion, containing 1500 Christians aDd pel forcibly preached for three evenings catechumens. In Rajasingamangalam with unabated interest.
there are 448 Christians and 81 catechu- -At Turki, the Rev. Robert Spurmens. Of these the majority came geon, of Barisal, reports the baptism of from the Roman Church, which has two men, the first·fruits of the Gospel in been at work in this district from the that place. One was eighty years of sixteenth century with only nominal re- age, a Boigaree, and, therefore, a begsults. It is found that the most unsatis· gar. He came to beg, but found the factory of all Christians are those who pearl of great price, and discontinued have joined the Society for the Propa- his old life. Often he spends the night gation of the Gospel mission from the saying over the texts or hymns he has Roman communion, and that it is.better learned, and is much in prayer. to reap directly from heathenism than from Rome's half·way houile. The Wealeyan Mi88ionaru Society.-At Kilanjani district numbers 940 baptized Yemkapalli, near Kundi, some earnest Christians and 200 catechumens. TheEe Christians were baptized some- months are made up of Idaiyars and Maravas. ago. They have let their light shine, The Idaiyars follow the calling of shep- and have sought the evangelization of herds. but the Maravas, until changed the villagers. As the result the mis- by grace, are robbers and thieves and sionary and a party of workers visited given up to devil-worship. In the mis- the village to enroll those who had re- sion district of Paramagudy there is but solved to become Christians. The peo- little success save among the pariahs in ple quickly gathered, and clamored for the villages. The systematic working permission to attend the meeting. The of this entire mission dates from Mr. Rev. A. S. Dharmiah preached, setting Billings's arrival in 1873, who, under forth the way of salvation through a God, has done grand work. System, crucified and incarnate Saviour, and faith, perseverance, and achievement showing the uselessness of bathing in are conspicuous features of the last sacred rivers for the remission of sins.
twenty years' labor. At the close, 11 persons of the Mala community came forward as candidates Bapti8t Misaionaru Society.-On the for baptism, and boldly gave their testi- Lower Congo the Rev. W. Bentley re- mony before the people. One said he ports that he has just completed the ap- had prayed to Siva, but got no answer pendix to the Congo grammar and syn· to his prayers. He was glad that he tax, a work which has required much had found Jesus had died to save him.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTEJ.LIGENCE
Another, a man of sixiy years, said he power to get wealth." Let us pay God had worshipped Siva according to the His due. traditions of his fathers, but the visits of the preachers had enlightened him. -There.is no better proof, says the After hearing these and other testimo- Journal of Education, of the essential nies, 1.1 persons were received into the barbarism of even the most civilized Ohurch of Ohrist by the rite of baptism. nations of the world than is afforded by a comparison of the money they expend The Ohristian Literature Society for for the maintenance of physical sulndia.-Tbe report of this society, of premacy as against the expenditme for which the Rev. James Johnston is the mental improvement. In some tables enthusiastic secretary, shows much recently compiled, the amount per capprogress in the diffusion of Ohristian ita expended by various governments books and tracts throughout the great for military and educational purposes is peninsula. "India is now the best set down as follows: educated of the non-Christian countries of the world." Among its 300,000,000 Military. Education. there 14,000,000 or 16,000,000 of readers France…………………. $4 00 taught in most modern methods of Eu- England……………….. 372 S 70 rope, with all the impulses which mod- Holland ……………….. 358 ern science and literature are fitted to Germany ………………. 2 30 62 impart to the mind. In the interests of Russia ………………… 204 64 this class, 1,133,115 volumes were print- Denmark ………………. 1 76 42 c;j ed last year. The Rev. G. H. Rouse, Italy…………………… 152 03 of Caicutta, cites an interesting case of Belgium……………….. 1 38 94 conversion through one of the tracts Austria …………. ~ …… 1 36 36 published in Bengali by this society and Switzerland……… …….. 82 4 written by himself. United States…. ……….. 30 32 46 THE KINGDOM. 185 -" Millions come from the millions." The millionaires are few in number. and II milliQn dollars from a million people is better than a million from one man.
-The total wealth of the richest -The Rev. F. B. Meyer, of London, family in the world, the Rothschilds, tells of one whose income is $10,000 per is said to amount to more than $2,000,- annum, who lives on $1000 and gives 000,000. This great mass of property the remaining $9000 to the cause of fordoubles itself every fifteen years. eign missions. Another, whose income is $10,000, Who lives on $1200, and -Let us call things by their right gives away the remainder. A governnames, especially when they relate to ess who earns $500 gives $250. An. the kingdom of God. Therefore, well other, who has a comfo·table compedoes Rev. J. B. Donaldson suggest: tence, remains in business, all the profits " Weare accustomed to talk of giving of which he gives. to the Lord's work. That is a great mistake. The giving is from the other -Says the Nashville Ohri8tian Adparty. The silver and gold are the '!locate: " A woman in Florida, recent- Lord's. We only dig it up. Thecattle ly deceased, bequeathed the Board of upon a thousand hills are His. We only Missions a ten-acre orange grove, twelve herd thcm. The wheat does not germi- acres of rich hummock land, and two nate by our power. The sun does not town lots. Two women give $800 towshine at our bidding. The rains do not ard building a church in Osaka, Japan. fall at our word. The soil is not fertile A local preacher sends us $200 for misthrough our wisdom. Our opportuni- sions, and a little child ten cents. A ties and faculties to make money are all missionary returns $250 to the treasury, gifts from God. He giveth thee the proposing to meet her own expenses… -The Bishop of Carlisle, speaking at -Our missionaries perform a double the farewell meeting of three mission· service, since they not only introduce ary bishops in Exeter Hall, referring to Christianity, but also compel false faiths the death of Bishop Hill and so many of to decency and the performance of good his party, said: " Are we tempted to works. Therefore Mr. Ford, of the say of lives laid down like this, To what Syria Mission, spoke wisely when he purpose is this waste? Let us not take once said that he was going up the up words from the mouth of Judas.'·- mountain to open two schools at a cer- The Gleane1'. tain point. "How is that f" .. I shall -The superintendent of the Life Sav- open one, and the priest will open aning Service reports that in the last year other."
380 vessels in distress were aided; on. -For some reason the missionary board. these vessels were 4054 persons, periodicals for January are especially of whom 3933 were saved and only 61 full of interesting matter. Among them lost: 658 persons were succored at the is the Ohronicle of the London Missionstations, and 83 persons were saved who ary Society, which gives an account of had fallen from wharves and piers. a tour through some of the Samoan Islands. and of the jubilee of the Malua -" There is no near and no far, but Institution for Training Teachers. The just one r<Jund world of lost and perish- Presbyterian Assembly Herald must also ing souls to be rescued and saved be mentioned, which is a paper rather through the world's Christ." than a magazine, published by Rev.
-In ref"rence to the missionaryen- R. S. Green. at Syracuse, N. Y., at a terprise, there are at least three kinds price merely nominal; is only in the of Christians-those who are merely midst of its first year, and each month parochial in their sympathies, those who serves up a large amount of excellent are narrowly patriotic, and those who reading relating to the work both abroad are really recumenical. The parochially and at home.
minded limit their regards to what they -According to the newspapers, there can actually see around them. For is a proposition on foot in Chicago to them even England has no existence make use of the phonograph in familreligiously. Only a little less limited in iarizing candidates for the missionary view are those patriotically minded souls field with foreign languages. The idea to whom all foreign work is " outland· is to do away with the necessity obligish." God wants us recumenically mind- ing young missionaries to spend three ed, and as English Christians belonging years in learning the language of the to a world-wide empire it is specially people among whom they are to work. our duty so to be.-The Oltlroniele. Foreigners will talk into the phono- -True heroism was displayed by the graph, and then students will use it to soldiers at Hong Kong at the time of become familiar with the sound and ac· the recent plague. They voluntarily cent of the strange tongue. The first assisted the authorities in disinfecting machines will be placed in the Young the houses of the people who had per- Men's Christian Association building, ished, with the result that one officer and others will be distributed among and one man fell victims to the disease. prominent churches.
They died to save men's lives.- U. P. -Says the Independent: "It is an In- Magazine. teresting fact that the wife of Field- -On the corner-stone of the London Marshal Oyama, Japanese Secretary of Temperance Hospital, laid by Sir Wil. War and Commander of the Second frid Lawson, is this inscription: "In Army in China, is that lovely and Chris- humble dependence on Almighty God tian lady known lnber girlhood in New for cure in the treatment of disease." Haven, where she was a member of the family of the late Dr. Leonard Bacon, and but at the beginning of her term of and at Vassar College, where she was service, she was left a widow. Since president of her class, as Miss Stemats 1858 she has been stationed at Thongze Yamakawa. We can testify from our as a quasi pastor of the church and own remembrance of her that she was superintendent of cvangelistic labors in an extremely lovely girl." all the region around, with divers col- porteurs, Bible women, teachers, etc., WOMAN'S WORK. looking to her for counsel.
-Life and Light has been examining -Though woman's work in connecthe records of the American Board, and tion with the London Missionary Sofinds that women began to organize for ciety began a full century since, and missionary giving as early as 1812 ; finds was carried on by such as Mrs. Moffat, also that during the first ten years about Mrs. Ellis, Mrs. Mullens, 11rs. Mault, Mrs. one tenth of the receipts are acknowl- Kennedy, Mrs. Smith, and Mrs. Wardedged as from women. A.mong the vari- law, it was not organized and pushed ous items are such as these: "The Fe- until since 1875, and even ten years later male of Color, $5 ; the Indigent Fe- only 27 had been sent out. But now male, $3; the Aged Widow, $5; the the number in the field is 72, and no less Pious Lady, $10; the Unknown Fe- than 103 have borne a part. Says the male, $1; Lucy, $1; the Little Girl, Quarterly New8: " Our present actual .06; the Poor Woman, .50; the Elder- band of workers is distributed over the ly Lady, .75; the Pious Females, $2 ; ficld, which is the world, in the followthe Two Children and Hired Girl, $3 ; ingproportions: 35inindia(17inNorth the Servant Girl, .40; the Two Widows, India, 15 in South India, and 3 in Tra- $1.25, and many other ' Female Friends vancore), 22 in China, 6 in Madagascar, of l'Yfissions,' whose names are written 2 in South Africa, and 4 in the South in heaven. We have a glimpse of sac- Sea Islands. There has been a propor- Tifice~ in the gift of a gold watch, in the tionate increase in the number of our avails of gold beads, a bracelet, a neck- nati'OO female agents during the past ten lace, and other jewelry, of a chaise, years. Our girls' schools now number and of 10 cents, a premium obtained in 375, with some 56,753 scholars." Sunday-school. " -In a recent Pacijic Advocate Mrs. -Mrs. Capron's history illustrates Sue H. Cousland gives a graphic dehow a foreign missionary is made by scription of "our mission compound" home missionary prayers. Her father, in Swatow, China, ineluding the schools, Dr. Hooker, a saintly man, said to his the hospitals, and the printing estabdaughter, about to be married to Mr. lishment. We can almost see and hear Capron, to go with him to India: what is going on in that busy hive. " How came you ever to think of going abroad as a foreign missionary~" feel- YOUNG PEOPLE. ing the bitterness of the separation. " Why, father," she replied, "I do not -The Y. M. C. A. has 42 organizacount it strange. I have heard you tions among colored young men, of pray for missions all my life, and now which 26 are in colleges. 1 am going to answer your prayers."- Life and Light. -Says the Young Men'lI Bra: "Dr. Charles A. Eastman, the Indian secre- -A recent Helping Hand contains an tary of the International Committee, inspiring account of "one woman's was born in Minnesota, in 1858, of threework" in Burma, relating to the forty- quarter Indian blood, of a notable famfour years' heroic endurance and most ily of the Sioux tribe. At the time of fruitful endeavor of Mrs. Murilla B. In- the Minnesota massacre (1862) he was galls. While scarcely out of youth, carried off by an uncle and grandmother into Manitoba. Until sixteen he lived zeal rises higher and they have had a wild life, and never saw the inside of more experience they will do far better.
a house. Then he attended Indian mis- -The last year closed with 37,002 sion schools for three years, later sev- societies of Christian Endeavor, of eral preparatory schools, finally entering which 30,662 are in the United States, Dartmouth College in 1883, and gradu- 2347 are in Canada, and 3993 in foreign ating in 1887. In the same year he en- lands. During the last quarter 1293 tered the Boston University School of had been forme4. The members aglIedicine, from which he graduated in gregate 2,223,800. 1890, and was immediately appointed government physician at Pine Ridge -On Christmas Day everyone of the Agency, South Dakota, and remained 1200 convicts in the Kentucky penitenthere until his resignation in 1893 to tiary recei ved a letter from the Christian enter upon the practice of medicine in Endeavor societies of Louisville. 'l'hese St. Paul, Minn." letters were of a religious nature, quite long, very interesting, and no two were -A. Young Men's Hindu Association worded alike. Many of the prisoners has been started in Madras to rival the have signified their intention of answer- Y. M. C. A.., and one of the local rajahs ing the letters. is said to have proIl}ised 5000 rupees for a building. -The Young People's societies in the German Baptist churches of the East- -The students of Knox College, To- ern States organized a Union last Sep- ronto, have a missionary society which tember at Buffalo, which now contains sent out 29 of their number last summer 1405 members. They raised $1818 for to do pioneer work in various sections current expenses last year, and $1013 for of the Dominion, and raised $2115 of benevolence.
the $5935 require.1. -Rev. A.. A. Fulton (Presbyterian) -A. Methodist Christian Eudeavor writes from Canton, Ohina: "Four Society in Oshkosh, Wis., has issued a Christian Endeavor_ societies in three programme for the current year, with years, by use of two cents per week these as the topics of missionary meet- plan, have reached 27,000 patients and ings: preached to more than 100,000 persons January-New Year's Day in Heathen in 1114 villages. If every society in Lands. our Church used this plan, we should February-An India Social. have $250,000 per year."
March- Thank-offering Service. UNITED STATES. April-Our Pioneer Missionaries.
1tlay-A China Social. -According to Dr. Dorchester: June-Young People, or Light-Bear- " The growth of New England during ers in Mission Lands. the last fifty years has been largely by July-A. Journey to Korea. the foreign immigration. The Roman August-A. Japan Social. Catholic population amounts to 1,004,- September-Korea and Missions. 605. The actual membership in all non- October-Missionary Heroes. Catholic bodies is 764,722. To find the November-Social. population of the Protestant bodies, he December-A Conversation: Mission- multiplies the membership by three and ary Heroines. a half, which giTeS 2,676,527 as the -Though the Epworth Leagues fell non-Catholic adherents. The Protestant far IIhort of the large sum called for in and Catholic populations make 4,943,- their Thanksgiving offering for mis- 527 in a total population of 4,700,745.
sions, the total is yet something more -A.s the year was closing the J!Jvan- than $30,000. When their evangelizing geli8t gave a long article to the public charities of New York City, including at Martin's Creek, near the spot where the Out-Door-Poor Department, the stood the cabin built by him, and occu- various hospitals, the idiot asylum, pied two years from 1774. It was here almshouses, workhouse, morgue, etc. that much of his memorable journal Last year the Commissioners of Chari- was written.
ties and Corrections were allowed -In California there are 4 Japanese $2,295,675, and ask $3,397,551 for this churches, with 316 members. Thirtyyear. But besides, $888,519 were grant- four were added during last year. ed to 98 other institutions of a private There are 822 pupils in school and 544 or sectarian character. in the Sunday-school. The contribu- -In connection with Hospital Sun- tions were $3323. The church and the day it was stated that this same city Young Men's Christian Association contained about 10,000 hospital beds for have contributed $500, the church payall kinds of bodily ills, about one half ing the regular assessment to the Synod of them supported by public funds, and and the General Assembly's Fund, supso rapidly have these institutions mul- porting in part an evangelist, and givtiplied within ten years that the annual ing aid in charitable work in this councost has risen from $274,035 to $840,831 try and in Japan. The Christian Assolast year. ciation numbers about 100 members, and it gave $100 to furnish accommo- -The Children's Aid Society main- dations for a branch mission of their tains 21 industrial schools; 7 night countrymen near Chinatown. schools; 1 farm school; 7 lodging- houses; 4 summer charities; a laun- -The American Board has 36 physi- dry; iii dress-making, sewing-machine, cians in the field, of whom 15 are or- and type-writing school; a boys' print- dained and 8 are women. In all, from ing s~op; free reading-rooms at all the the first 89 have been sent out, and 34 lodging-houses, and at 219 Sullivan were graduates in theology as well as Street and 247 East Forty-fourth Street. in medicine.
the total number of children under the -The Disciples (Christians) have decharge of the society during 1894 was cided to extend their foreign missionary 38,811, and the receipts were $402,234. work by establishing a mission in some In all, from the beginning nearly 100,- part of Africa. 000 have been supplied with homes in the country. -The Presbyterian Church has 1622 -This notice and exhortation is taken communicants in Africa; 6476 in China; from the Sailor's Magazine: "New 1795 in India; 4826 in Japan; 141 in York Christian! Do you want to at- Korea ; 4512 in Mexico; 2697 in Pertend earnest religious meetings? Go sia; 1907 in Siam; 1972 in Syria; 4109 to the Sailors' Home, 190 Cherry Street, in South America; 553 in Canada, and on Saturday night; to the Mariners' 49 in Guatemala. Over 31,000 mem- Church, 46 Catharine Street, on Sun- bers abroad makes this quite a cosmoday night; or, not to mention others, to politan body. Library Hall, Cob Dock, Brooklyn Navy Yard, on Thursday night, at half past -In December last the United Brethseven o'clock. The secretary was glad ren sent forth 6 missionaries to help on to see about 200 naval seamen present the work of evangelization and educa- tion upon the West Coast of Africa.
at the Navy Yard meeting on Novem- -The Presbyterians have two homes ber 8th." for the children of missionaries in -December 5th a monument to David Wooster, 0., the Livingstone, with 19 Brainerd was dedicated by the Y. M. rooms, and the Westminster, with 23.
C. A. of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. The chilrlren of 5 families were found in them last year, and already 8 chil- -The society last named is fortunate dren have made application to entel' above most in having an editorial secre- during 1895. tary possessed of the rare and royal gift EUROPE. of speaking the solemn truth, of a sort which is disagreeable to not a few, with Great Britain.-The Rev. W. all courage and plainness, but always Hughes, Colwyn Bay, North Wales, in love and tenderness' (suaviter in modo, is director of the Congo Training Insti- fortiter in re). As, for example, in the tute, whose object is " to give religious December InteUigenCf!r to the laggard and industrial education to the most givers who would have the society repromising of the African converts in the trench.
, United Kingdom, and to establish sim- -The East London Institute, since ilar institutions as branches in Africa." its founding in 1872, has trained and Of the latter 5 are already founded. sent out 821 men and women, who are For this work £5000 are required. now toiling in 40 different countries.
-The Aged Pilgrims' Friend Society The number of departures last year was in London is something quite unique. 60, divided among a half score of mis- Founded in 1807, it aims to give pen- sionary societies.
sions of 5, 7, and 10 guineas each to the -The members of the Salvation Army needy of both sexes who are not under do not wear their ~niform in foreign sixty years of age. Several homes are fields; they enter into the life of the provided for these veterans. Some 6000 people, wear their clothes, eat their in all have been ministered to, and 1315 food, live in such houses as those innames are now on the books. The an- habit whom they would reach, and in nual cost is about £10,000, and the ag- all possible ways renounce their old gregate of expenditures is upwad of national identity and assume that of £240,000. natives of the land in which they work.
-The China Inland Mission has -In the January Central Africa (Uni- " urgent need for 100 consecrated men. versities' Mission) Rev. W. H. Wood- Existing stations are calling for rein- ard has a paper of admirable tone forcements, and God is opening new npon " Associate Missions and Family doors which there are no workers to Life." As is known to most, the soenter." ciety which he represents appoints only celibates to service, and all " stand so- -Eugene Stock, editorial secretary cially on the same level, receive the of the Church Missionary Society, has same allowances, live in the same house, been giving in two carefully prepared eat at the same table." Having no famarticles in the InteUigenCfJr some of the ily ties to fetter, all may move at once results of his research into the sources " at the bidding of the bishop." "The of missionary income. He finds that, climate alone, perhaps, might make in England at least, it is not poverty married life almost impossible." Therewhich hinders giving, nor is it affluence fore" it was not economy alone which which prompts to the exercise of this determined the system. " However, grace. Instead, it is well·nigh the rule though the ad vantages are so great. he that the most able bestow the least, does not claim that this is the only while the least able make large offer- legitimate or excellent way of carrying ings. He concludes that in almost on evan¥elizing work. every case it is not wealth but work which tells, vigorous, persistent effort on the part of clergymen or laymen, or -The Children's Fresh-air Fortnight both in co-operation, and supplies fig- scheme, directed by Mr. MacKeith, of ures in abundance to SUbstantiate his Glasgow, has received a second gift of conclusion .. £2000 to purchase and furnish a home for scrofulous children. Although not measures, the Turkish Government is distinctly evangelistic, the scheme is in- the greatest Mrs. Partington on record. "
cluded in the operations of the Glasgow -" Converts" from the Oriental United Evangelistic Association, and churches must needs be examined most sprung out of the work for the children carefully as to motive and aim before carried on in the Tent Hall on Sunday being received. For not a few are afternoons. prompted to become Protestants from merely selfish impulses, or to spite some· ASIA.
Islam.-Last year was for Robert body. Thus Rev. W. S. Nelson, of College" one of the most trying through 'l'ripoli, Syria, tells, in the Independent, which it has ever passed, through the of a man who was eager to turn Presby- prevalence of cholera, the great earth- terian, though grossly given to strong quake with its destruction of life and drink, and ready to withstand the property, and the serious political Maronite Church with" guns and pis- troubles in Asia Minor. Nevertheless, tols."
the work was in many respects more -Dr. Jessup is able to make a de· satisfactory than ever before. The total lightful setting forth of the Christian number of students was 200, represent- comity which prevails, whereby the ing 10 nationalities, among them 68 Presbyterians are left to themselves in Armenians, 65 Greeks, and 44 Bulga- Syria, and the Church Missionary Sorians. Improvements have been made ciety has exclusive possession in Pales· in all departments, and the preparatory tine, and neither will receive disaffected department has been entirely reorgan- members belonging to the other. ized. Funds are needed for a separate building for the latter. India.-Miss Phillips, of Balasore, Orissa, says: ., I am sure you will think -Tbemission press in Turkeyis kept I have abundant reason for making a in constant embarrassment by the ab- thank offering when I tell you the Lord surd fears of the government. "All has permitted us as a family to give the manuscripts must be submitted to 166 years of service to India. This in- examination at Constantinople before cludes the time given by father, mother, being printed. Some are rejected or brother, and 5 sisters, and when added returned in a mutilated condition, while to the time of 2 brothers-in·law and 1 those accepted are kept a long time and sister·in-law makes a total of 206 the printing delayed. Books that have years."
received the sanction of the government -A.n interesting sign of changing may be seized and destroyed at any time times in India was furnished in a Mo· upon a foolish pretence, as the coloring hammedan educational and social conof a map in a geography. Two men ference, held at Ahmedabad in OctOber. were imprisoned and their books con- The fact was brought home that if they fiscated, not for selling their geogra- are even to hold their own in the fuphies, but for procuring them for the ture, the education of their children governors at their request." must go beyond the mere learning of -The petition of 300,000 Christian the Koran by heart. A result of their women has brought to light a new ex· present defective education is that, out ample of Turkish justice. A Mr. Mah- of 1000 subordinate clerks in the collecdissian has been banished for life to an torate of Ahmedabad, only 2 are Mooasis in the desert of Sahara for trans. hammedans. A. notable feature of the lating into Turkish a portion of Scrip· conference was that Mullahs and Moulture referring to the coming of the king- vies advocated female education.
dom of Christ. " In attempting to stem -Anna Thompson writes to the the tide of Christianity by such petty Ohri8tian Advocate: "The Maharajah of Baroda has issued a notification to than 500 villages and mohallas, with 6 the effect that within his territories no Conference members and probationers, new liquor shops shall henceforth be 4 local elders and deacons, 14 local opened without the sanction of the min- preachers, and 60 exhorters; with 8 ister. .Ai3 for the existing shops, if five churches and chapels, 4 boarding- sixths of the house-owners and inhab- schools, 3 training-schools, 3 mission itants of any village or town would homes, 1 deaconness home, 1 hospital represent to the minister their wishes and dispensary, book shops, reading- that the liquor shops be closed, the min- rooms, prayer-rooms, and almost every ister, if he sees no objection, will give form of mission work in constant prog- the necessary sanction. " This same ress. There is a Christian community Hindu ruler" has schools for the low of nearly 4000, a membership of 2752; castes as well as high, and for zenana nearly 4000 are in Sunday-schools, and women and widows. Board, clothing, 1400 in the day schools.
books, etc., are furnished the low castes -Mr. Goodwin writes from the Gond free of charge. Industries of all sorts Itinerancy of the confirmation of 6 men and farming are taught to the boys. and 3 women, the latter being the first Sewing, fancy work, and cooking are of their sex to join the Church. One taught to the girls and women. He of them walked 45 miles to be present, also has fine libraries for his people. " another 60, and the third 63 miles, while -Near Calcutta there is a school some of the men travelled even further.
which is taught by a Brahman, and -The Darjeeling Newareports 78 bapthough neither teacher nor scholars are tisms at that station (Church of Scotoutwardly Christians, a Christian visitor land) last year, and a roll of 706 baphad an address presented to him by the ized persons, and in Kampilong 1243 school, in which" Our dear Lord .Tesus native Christians, of whom 113 were Christ" was spoken of. The school has baptized in 1894. a banner for use on festival days, bearing the device "The Brahmanical -At a recent conference in Calcutta Hehool, ' •and bearing beneath thc words, one of the members pointed out the ex- "Looking unto Jesus." The teacher pensiveness of wine; and that in native has invited one of the Calcutta missiona- congregations either cow's milk or the ries to come and address the pupils milk of the cocoanut should be used at every Sunday, on which day this Brah- the Lord's Supper. We know of the man patsltula is turned into a veritable celebration of this sacrament not long Sunday-school. ago where a fresh cocoanut was broken and the liquid used, and it was a season -The Jntelligence,,·(C. M. S.) has this of refreshing, where the presence of God appreciative word: "We are sincerely was manifest. The point is certainly rejoiced to notice the evidence of bless- well made that we should not teach our ing which has lately attended the work native church expensive habits in con- of higher education in India of the Free nection with worship. It must be taught Church of Scotland. We thank God to support itself; and we should not especially that the work of Dr. Miller burden ourselves in our efforts to force and his colleagues at the Madras Chris- it up to that goal.-Indian Witne88.
tian College has been fruitful in two im- -Another Hindu temple has been portant baptisms, Mr. Chethar, an M.D. " captured" by the Salvation Army at and B. L., and a Vakil in the High Court, Cape Comorin. The people of Checkad, and the other in Bombay, Mr. Narayen after removing their idols. handed over G. Velinkar, M.A., LL.B., one of the the building to be converted into a barprofessors in the college." racks. This makes the fourteenth -The Methodist Agra district has 8 which has been given up in like man- large circuits, with Christians in more ner -Can it be that our ever-staid and ful field for mission work?" He said: decorous brethren of the Canada Pres- "The most hopeful of all, I think. byterian and (Dutch) Reformed churches There are no caste prejudices, none of are actually stealing the thunder of the secret hostility which is so formid- General Booth? For we read in their able a barrier to Christian progress in papers of a "Christian mela" at Rut- India. The Chinaman is an open lam, Central India, where "we had a enemy or an open friend. He does not band composed largely of native instru- belong, like the Hindu, to a subject ments, besides a bass drum, cymbals, race, obliged to cringe to the conqueror, concertinas, etc. ; we also had banners While all the time he nurses a hidden inscribed with mottoes in Hindi, mount- enmity. The Chinese hates all foreigned on bullock carts in which also were ers, and is not afraid to say so. When our Christian boys. Thus equipped we he is gained to Christianity, he makes a marched through the streets, stopping stanch and loyal convert. The rate of at each street corner to proclaim the progress in China within the last twenty Gospel message that Jesus died to save." years has been amazing." Also in the Arcot mission, "the musical processions, station by station as -Surely missionaries in Mongolia are they arrived, were very grand with not carried to the skies on flowery beds banners and ribbons, and in vain did of ease. Thus 1I'lrs. Parker writes in they attempt to excel each other in sing- Ohina'8 Millions of a journey: .. We ing ; to an unprejudiced ear they were left Chao-Yang for a visit to Lan-Pei all equally rnstched and well sustained Tze-Fu, where we had reason to hope throughout. Each station was con- that there might be an opening for misspicuous by its own flags, the big greet- sion work. Our party consisted of the ing banner indicating the name of the old preacher, two boys, my husband, station. The prettiest flag was carried and myself. We had two carts, and by the members of the Immanuel's Mr. Parker rode his horse. No little Bajanai of Palmaner. " Well, if the preparation is required for such a jour- Name shall be honored thereby, and ney, and on the backs of the carts were souls shall be saved, who shall "for- strapped our provision box, medicines, bid" them? books for sale, magic lantern and slides and a tin of oil, a box containing kitch- China.-Rev. Henry Blodgett, re- en utensils, a small earthenware cookcently returned from Peking, says of Li ing stove and a quantity of charcoal; Hung Chang: "He believes in the While the insides of the carts were Western world civilization without the packed with onr boxes of clothes, the Christian religion, and, had he had his provender for the mules, a bag of cash, way, the Chinese would have been edu- a basket, teapot, etc., and over all these cated in the arts of modern warfare. our bedding. I was stowed away in The defeat of China, he says, came one cart packed in with pillows and from a supercilious disregard of the bedding, while the old preacher followed advance of the world in warfare. Rev. in the second, and the boys and drivers Charles Fenney, an American mission- occupied the shafts," etc. ary, teaches the English branches to the children of Li Hung Chang, who be- -The case of blind Ch'ang, of Manlieves that in the arts and sciences the churia, is the subject of an interesting rest of the world long ago passed article by C. F. Gordon-Cumming. China." Mr. Webster, of Moukden, says of this man's itinerary labors: " Blind Ch'ang. -The Rev. T. G. Selby, who has with little knowledge, but with a heart spent twelve years as a missionary in thrilled to the core with the truth which China, was asked: "From your ex" he knew, had in three months done perience, do you consider China a hope- more and better work: for the kingdom of heaven than half a dozen foreign from the infant Church who are go~g missionaries would have done in as out as evangelists support themselves many years. And this is only one of in part by their own earnings, and it is the many proofs that China must be expected that by next year one or more evangelized by the Chinese." young men will be supported in this -Miss F. M. Williams, of the China form of service by the Church, which Inland Mission, writes of " three Christ- is not a year old. Some members give mas days," beginning with 1891, and nearly one fourth of their earnings, behow, with but 8 souls redeemed at first, sides doing something for their parents the number rose to 38, and finally to 86. and friends."
-Mr. Currie, of the West Afri- AFRICA. can Mission of the American Board, -There are 3743 members and proba- writes: "About a week ago a man tioners in the Methodist Episcopal was brought here by night in a mis- Church in Africa. In Liberia there are erable state. He told a story of hav- 3260. In Bishop Taylor's missions there ing been poisoned with a glass of rum are 483, of which 86 are in Angola, 14 given him at the ombala of Kepoko, on the Congo, and 383 in Liberia. The and there was abudant reason to believe 383 are distributed as follows: Beaboo, his story true. Another trader has 22; Barraka, 29; Brooks, 29; Garra- begun to build within three hours' jour. way, 28 ; Grand Sess, 75; Sass Town, ney from here. He plans to put up a still, we hear, and that will make the 200. fourth place within a radius of four -The report comes that erelong the hours' journey from this place where Congo Free State is to become in full rum is distilled. What the harvest of form, what from the first it has been in all this civilization (1) will be God only fact, a colony of Belgium. That is, the knows."
little kingdom of 11,400 square miles and -From henceforth, it appears from something over· 6,000,000 inhabitants is late intelligence, British South Africa, to rule and undertake to civilize the with Cecil Rhodes as the ruling spirit, Congo Basin, containing 1,000,noo is to include the entire vast region exsquare miles and a population, say, of tending from the states already estab- 25,000,000. Though the right to do lished in the south northward across this may be hard to define, yet the re- . the Zambesi, and including Nyassala.nd suIt is almost certain to be for the bene- and the west shores of Lake Tanfit of mankind. ganyika, or from about 25" south lati- -Mr. Dorsey Mohun, United States tude almost to the equator. Fort Salis- commercial agent to the Congo Free bury, nearly in the centre, will be the State, who has recently returned to ca.pital of this empire, and British Cen- Washington after two years in Africa, tral Africa will disappear from the map.
declares that 20,000,000 people in that -M. Coillard, the veteran missionary region are eaters of human flesh. He of the Paris Society on the Zambesi, retells a horrible story about surprising a fuses to take the furlough which has village one day when a big cannibal been earnestly pressed upon him by the feast was in progress, and also describes directors. " Your invitation, " he writes, how he saw 14 persons buried alive in " did not cause me a moment's hesitaa grave with the dead body of a great tion, so clearly did I see the path of chief. duty. Thanks to God, I have enjoyed -The Baptist Miaaiona1'1J Magazirw excellent health since my last illness.
says: "Some young Christians in our In a few days I shall complete my six- West African Mission are examples in tieth year. To return to Europe would the matter of benevolence. The two be to close my career finally, and it is natural that I should feel the need of on his shoulder, a miscellaneous assortavoiding this contingency. And then ment fastened to either end of it-viz., let me tell you that when I look on our a lantern, saucepan, frying-pan, and small band and the needs of our work; small kettle, a galvanized pail, to serve when I think of all our losses and all the double pUrpose of water-can and our rebuffs, of the little we have done, wash-hand basin, and a picnic basket, and of all there is yet to do ; of the im- containing two plates, cup and saucer, mensity of our field of work, which we knife, fork, and spoon, and a small ourselves scarcely know as yet, I feel quantity of pepper, salt, tea, sugar, that to leave would have been a deser- butter, bread, and cake. The third tion, and I would willingly have an- luggage ·carrier had a tin box on his swered the committee in the words of head, containing' school prizes; for, the the hero of Ugands: 'You call me annual examinations being recently conback to Europe! Send us first ten cluded, I was going to give the prizes workers, and then I will come to help to the boys and girls of eight schools." you to find ten others.'" -JournaZ des ~Vi88ionB Jl}vangeZiques. -The Australasian Methodist Mis- sionary Society has fallen fortunate -In Uganda, a field entered only a heir to the English Wesleyan work in few years since, so rapid and widespread Fiji and Samoa, and besides has carried is the enlargement of the work that al- the Gospel to New Guinea, New Britready 100 native laborers are in the ain, and to the Chinese in Victoria and field, all supported by natif!/J contribu- New South Wales. The last report tells tions. And the plan is to secure as of 974 churches (buildings) and 568 many more, and then let each company other preaching places; 26 missionaalternate between three months of evan- ries ;76 native ministers; 80'catechists ; gelizing work and three months of 10,095 local preachers, teachers, class stlldy. leaders, etc.; 33,376 native members and 6205 on trial; 2018 schools, with -In keeping with the experiment 40,875 pupils: and 118,817 attendants mentioned above is the fact that Mr. on public worship. JQhnston, the British Commissioner for Central Africa. looks for the salvation -The Malua Institution, Samoa, held of that .region by the introduction of its jubilee last September, and the Lonfarmers and traders from India. His don ahri.~tian sums up thus the etory conviction is due to the success of a of fifty years: "Here is a school which colony established on the Shire River. did not cost the missionary society a Again, Indian soldiers are better fitted penny to build, which has supplied by nature and environment for the labor nearly every village in Samoa with a of keeping order than are either pure teacher who has had a careful training Europeans or pure Africans themselves. for four years, so that he can either Thirdly, in minor official posts they preach or teach. Some 1200 students will work for less wages and will stand have been trained for pastors and schoolthe climate far better than the whites. masters, and some 700 women have been trained by the missionaries' wives. ISLANDS OF THE SEA. Moreover, many of these went as mis- sionaries to the New Hebrides and the -According to Miss Bliss, a mission- Loyalty Islands, and some died a marary, modes of travel in the interior of tyr's death. To the northwest of Madagascar are still in a primitive state. Samoa there are 11,000 people who She says: "Six bearers were carrying have been won from heathenism by me in my palanquin, and three people Samoan teachers. The jubilee is to be followed with my luggage: u woman marked by the building of a hall to aewith my stretcher and box of bedding commooate 1000 persons." on her head, and a man with a bamboo
The Missionary Review of the World — August 1894
THE REAL AND THE ROMANTIC IN MISSIONS. [A.ugust
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No. S.-Old Series.-AUGUS'r.-VoL. VII. No. S.-New &ries.
THE REAL AND THE ROMANTIC IN MISSIONS. * BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
,Ve all, who love the truth, want first of all to know the truth. Aristotle profoundly says that" Truth is what a thing is in itself, what it is in its relations, and what it is in the medium through which. it is viewed." To know the truth, therefore, we need, first of all, to get at the real facts, then to get those facts adjusted in their relations, and then to get a clear eye wherewith to see them, unclouded by prejudice or partiality"neither exaggerating nor "extenuating," nor" setting down aught in malice." Many a man who would not falsify, fails to verify. His imagination is more lively than his memory is retentive, or his reason logical, or his analysis exhaustive, or his discrimination accurate; and consequently, without meaning to do so, he gives a false coloring even to facts.
A book has recently appeared which cannot fail to make-has already made-a sensation in the religious world, and especially among advocates of missions. Its author has sought, as he affirms, to obtain" absolutely correct information concerning that portion of the Dark Oontinent which was the field of his investigation," and then to present "that knowledge with rigid adherence to the truth." t Any man setting out with such a purpose is to be honored; and, whatever be the results of a candid investigation, he is to be respected, if not admired, for a candid and intrepid testimony_ ,Ve accord to the author of "Reality versus Romance" all this h=or at the outset. We accept his own statement of his honest aim, and shall at no point call that in question. And, yet, his views are so revolutionary, his conclusions so upsetting, that some do not hesitate to say that" he lies"-a harsh judgment, as it would seem. ",Ve prefer, if we cannot accept his statements, to find some other solution for any difference of opinion or variance of conclusion.
* .. Reality V_t'sus Romance in South Central Africa;' by James Johnston, M.D. Published by F. H. Revell Company, New York.
t pp. 5, 236. After a careful and unnsually minute examination of this book, which is certainly gotten up without regard to cost, and profusely illustrated, our conclusion is that Dr. Johnston's medium of observation has not been entirely free from color; as an astronomer would say, his" lenses have not been achromatic," and the deficiency of a clear medium has communicated a false hue to the objects seen. This conviction is a growing one as we read these pages; and, in obedience to the same desire which he claims, to free the great subject from all false lights and get at realities and verities, we purpose now to review candidly and carefully some of his positions ; our only regret being that we have but a few pages to treat what a volume might well discuss.
One conclusion which, at an early stage in his work, Dr. Johnston o;tates, is that" self-supporting missions" are, in Africa, " a grand mis- ·,ake." * It will thus be seen that the author does not hesitate to use toler- ':Ibly emphatic terms. He pronounces such missions an " absolute failure." "Bishop Taylor's and all the rest of them are swept away in one grand flood Qf condemnation. Dr. Johnston thinks it is infinitely more difficult for a white man to earn his living in Africa than in any European country, unless he abandons mission work ; and that the training of native children for future missionary work only makes idle dudes of the boys, and of the girls desirable wives for aristocratic heathen.t This language is so sweeping that it betrays a mind that is not umpirical, not judicial but rather prejudicial ; th~t leaps to a hasty conclusion. That difficulties beset self-supporting missions is true; and, perhaps, they are as yet experimental, and their utility is now being tested. But to denounce as a failure what has not yet survived the experimental period, or been proven a success, would be fatal to all improvement. Invention and discovery reach their highest results through just such apparent failure and waste of resources and energy. The practical application of any theory requires quite as much wisdom in working as the theory does in devising. To say that, thus far, snch missions have not demonstrated their snccess is one thing ; to affirm that they are a proven failure, and brush them all away like chaff from a summer threshing fioor, is certainly a bold if not a rash proceeding, and hints over-confidence in the infallibilj~y of the author's judgment.
In a similar fashion, with unstinted condemnation, Dr. J ohnstim sweeps down on Mr. Booth, who went out to Africa to undertake a self-supporting mission, leaving behind Ilis lucrative trade to attempt Africa's evangelization and" keep" ]Iimself. Our author regards him as following a mad theory, risking the life of a motherless daughter, etc.! He considers him as courting a martyr's death, and expecting, like a Zulu warrior or Hindu devotee, compensation in the life to come for his sacrifice of life here. Thus it will be seen that he not only condemns Mr. Booth's course of con- *P.26. t Pp. 26, 27. :1= Pp. 297. 298. duct, but even ventures to interpret his motive. Having met Mr. Booth, and having been very much moved to admiration of his singleness of aim and absolute self.surrender to his mission, we cannot accept Dr. Johnston's judgment of him or his work. And, knowing the man in this instance, and being entirely out of accord with the hasty decision rendered in his case, We cannot avoid the conviction that if, in other cas~s, we knew the parties criticised, we might be compelled to a stilI more emphatic dissent from the positions to which our author seems to come with so little hesitation.
Our truth-seeking friend is such an iconoclast that perhaps he uses his axe a little too freely in breaking down the carved work of the sanctuary.
He reminds us of Talus with his iron flail. For example, he slashes away at the principle of presenting in the Christian family home life an object lesson to the natives, whom he thinks ineapable of anything beyond a " curiosity similar to that of the country bumpkin's first introduction to a menagerie." * The delineation of native character in this book is not calculated to arouse any frenzy of interest in African missions; as, for instance, where one young missionary had his enthusiasm suddenly cooled by a demand for "five days' pay" from certain interested native inquirers who had been coming every day to listen, but indignantly remonstrated against " listening for nothing. 17 That native character does not, at the outset, present many featnres calculated to provoke admiration is nothing strange to o~e who believes that man is by nature" dead in trespasses and sins," and, as dead, incapa- ble of motion. sensation, enjoyment, or reception of spiritual things, and utterly destitute of restorative power, until touched and quickened by the Spirit of God. But this, instead of a reason against missions, is the grand argument for them. " The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost." And if we find men absolutely lost, it is what we might expect. And yet among just such tribes the grandest haryests have been already reaped. Henry Richards at Banza Manteke found savages who did not hesitate to turn even his Scripture teaching to the gratification of their own greed, and yet out of this same material God constructed one of the most prosperous missions in the world field. Seven, fourteen, twenty.one years have sometimes passed before one convert has rewarded toil. But when the quickening Spirit has begun to work, life has developed even out of death. .
Dr. Johnston's mastery of epithets-especially depreciatory ones-may be seen in his description of certain tribes : a " people exhibiting the most despicable traits of character ever heard of. "t The whole v0cabulary of denunciation seems to be at our author's disposal. But mature judgment and growing charity uniformly prune away the liberal use of such terms as excessive-as, in fact, an excrescence even upon literary style. As * P. 388. tP.II2. D'Israeli said, in his address to Sir Charles Wood, his old adversary, in 1852, "Insolence is not invective, nor abuse argument." This now famous parliamentary sentence is really only an echo of what Hume said to Palmerston twenty-six years before: "Abuse is not argument." And any man whose style abounds in such language as we find in " Reality versus Romance" gives evidence of careless, if not reckless, use of the weapons of verbal antagonism.
Dr. Johnston frankly confesses Africa" a disappointing country," and says that everything else, like the fruit, is a " delusion." * Perhaps, like his oxen, when, on one occasion, they sought to quench their maddening thirst in a lake and found it a " salt pan," he has not got out of his mouth the taste of the brine of his disappointment, t or it is barely possible that the terribly unsanitary conditions t amid which he found himself, affected his liver so that it " overflowed with black bile and beclouded his judgment." Dr. Johnston everywhere displays a genius for criticism-not a desir- able form of genius, though not uncommon. It is always possible to magnify, if not to create defects, by a critical temper. Sodernini, the Florentine dude, condemned the nose of Michael Angelo's" David" as too long for symmetry. The great sculptor laid his ladder against the statue and pretended to reduce the dimensions of the nasal organ, letting drop a little marble dust to make more complete the illusion, and Sodernini then pronounced it "precisely right." The fact is, that not a chip had been chiselled from the marble! Imagination makes fools even of the senses.
Some further exam;:>les of the critic's severity, as shown in this book, may be seen from the following : At Utalama he found the graves of Morris and Gall, and concludes that the circumstances reflect " anything but credit on those who had charge of the party," and he accuses them of " sheer mismanagement." § He characterizes the Kwanjululu mission as having" a plethora of missiona- ries," and "still they come." II At Kundundu he records that as yet " nowhere" had he " seen a native man or woman giving evidence of having anything like a true conception of the Christian's God ;'" and again, that he has seen" no native women as house servants in missionary homes ;"
that they will not" submit to a domestic training." ** Even in the Barotse Valley, delighted as he was with M. Coillard's work, he found" few if any" who had" manifested even interest in, far less ability to grasp, the most elementary truths of the Gospel," after years of toil. tt He thinks that wherever these petty chiefs have sway their hostility makes all acceptance and confession of Christ quite impossible ; tt and that Lobengula's clinched fist is a menace to his people, which renders the results of long years of mission work" almost nil." §§ At Mandala he found a congregation of two hundred native boys and • P. 210. t P. 224. :j: P. 230. § Pp. 46, 47. IP.69. "1 P. S3. •• P. 94. tt P. 15:l :j::j: P. 20'2• §§ P. 238. girls under instruction, who were also boarded on the mission. The form of service, nominally that of the Established Church of Scotland, he found en- cumbered with an elaborate ritual-surpliced clergyman, white-robed proces- sional choir, intoned prayers, bowings to the East, creed recitation, altar tapers, etc. * This is almost as bad as his picture of the Universities'
Mission, with its native choir, surpliced in white and cassocked in purple, with their large brass cross carried at their head, and the priests bowing and crossing themselves; and the native women squatting on the floor, with the cross and fetich ornaments together hung around their necks. t Some statements of Dr. Johnston demand such an investigation as will bring either a refutation or a further exposure-as, for example, what he says about a leaflet, addressed to children in the Free Chnrch of Scotland, in form of a letter from a missionary at the north end of Lake Nyassa, about" –'s three hundred slave children," representing all the little W akonde scholars . . . as naked and helpless, rescued from the slaver! Whereas, Dr. Johnston says they never were slaves, and are provided by their own parents with both food and lodging! He fnrther affirms that twelve hundred pounds were wrung out of Scotchmen by this appeal, with which money" nothing has been done because the object for which it was given existed only on paper !" t Dr. Johnston finds in " How I Crossed Africa" a gross misrepresenta- tion from first to last, "which," he says broadly, is " only on a par with the rest of this two-volumed book;" and adds that there is no country under heaven the" subject of more romancing and misrepresentation than Africa." § In much of this there is an absence of judicial calmness and fairness, which makes it all look like an ex parte statement. As to such conclusions -drawn by a man who makes a journey of eighteen months across the continent, and for the first time-they remind us of Isaac's question, when Jacob brought so promptly his savory dish of mock venison: "How hast thou found it so quickly, my son~" It is barely possible that the dish, after all, is not venison, and was found without any real hunting, in an enclosure of foregone conclusions!
As he says that, from the time Bihe, on the west coast, was left behind, until he arrived at Blantyre, on the east, he found but "one missionary laboring among the natives," II we can be pardoned for questioning his full capacity to judge of African missions as a whole. But nothing strikes the reader as a harder blow than Dr. Johnston's criticism of Fred Stanley Arnot's work at Kwanjululu. Such words as " a huge farce," "hoodwinked supporters;" such statements as that the influence of this station ,. as a Christian mission is almost nil," that " few natives attend the meetings," that " next to no evangelistic work is being 'done," and that for three successive Sundays not a " solitary hearer came • P •. 295. tP.322. ~ pp. 313, 314• sP. 190. oP. 326. from outside the compollnd," '* will surprise Mr. Arnot"'s thousands of friends, who regard him as one of the most simple-hearted, genuine, and heroic pioneers of modern times. But for Dr. Johnston's exceptie>nallove of truth we should suspect him of at least unfairness. In fact, there seems to be almost a tinge of malice in his severe sarcasm as to Arnot's work.
Apropos of this apparent exposure of fraud, we clip the following from the London Christian as to Dr. Johnston and Mr. Arnot: " In the Record for February 9th, reference was made to Dr. J ohnston's allegations in depreciation of the Garanganze Mission, and it was hinted that Mr. F. S. Arnot should answer the accusations. In last week's Record Mr. Arnot writes: 'In reference to Dr. Johnston's quoting from the letters of our two brethren, S – – and F–, who were the only laborers in the Garanganze for the three years previous to Dr. Johnston's visit to Bihe, let me ask, With what degree of fairness can anyone frame an indictment against missionaries from their own humble estimate of their own labors ~ So far at least were they from being occupied with " personally conducting the transit of supplies from Kwanjululu," that during that long time they only received two or three communications of any sort whatever from the outside world. Mr. S – – alone, besides the b'Jilding and gardening Dr. Johnston speaks of, prepared during that time-in the Luba language, which he had not before learned-a vocabulary, grammar, notes, and part of John's Gospel, as well as several hymns and other portions, and carried on broadcast sowing of the Gospel seed. Mr. F–'s share in the work was the care, at first, of an African orphan home of some eight little children. A serious illness, however, laid him aside for the greater part of two years.
" , Seeing Dr. Johnston owed his very presence in Central Africa to the" huge farce" he has since sought to expose, as I carried him and his men to BiM, bag and baggage, by sending our own porters from BiM to meet him, it has seemed altogether too absurd that the Christian public should expect replies in detail to the gross and personal charges brought against me in his book.' "
We should expect Dr. Johnston to favor medical mIssions, and he does. But even here his hypercriticism shows itself. He advises that a fully qualified physician accompany every party of white missionaries. But he adds that here lies the chief necessity for the qualified medical man j and then proceeds to say that, thongh we are inclined to sneer at native doc- tors, some of them effect cures by means of herbs to us unknown j t and then he proceeds to instance cases of cure that had baffled fully educated physicians, and so serious that blood-poisoning and pyremia threatened death speedily. Here again Dr. Johnston's conclusions seem to us altogether unsafe from their reckless one-sidedness. It may readily be admitted that, as among the mo~t barbarous tribes, her~ and there a natural remedy may be known to these heathen medicine men, the simple application of which requires no skill for its successful use. But it would take more than the experience of eighteen months in rapidly crossing Africa to satisfy most readers • P. 56. t P. 336• that the African native doctors conld be trusted with the general treatment of disease. Monteiro found them proposing to administer the casca poison to a hydraulic press at Ambriz, to test whether it were a witch or not; and finding no stomach or intestines to try it upon, they administered the dose to a female slave instead!
After patient reading of "Reality versus Romance," our eonclusion is that in Dr. Johnston's eyes most missionaries are visionarie8.* He affirms that (, there is not an authenticated instance on record of a savage genuinely turning to God or renouncing his superstitions and fetich WOl'- ship" until he has been many months, and too often years, under instruction. This statement, taken literally, is not to be found fault with, and when examined closely might be construed into an encouragement. For any missionary might have written it with very slight change, thus: "There are many authenticated instances on record of savages genuinely turning to God, renouncing their superstitions and fetich worship, though only after they have been under instruction many months, and too often years." These two sentences do not essentially differ, as Dr. JO~lllston's form of statement is negative, but does not exclude the positive. Yet one who reads his sentence, by implication and inference comes to the unconscious impression that mission work does not pay in Africa; that the native mind and heart are too unimpressible ; that missionary toil yields so slow and slim a harvest that labor is virtually thrown away. Such impressions we know to have been gathered by intelligent readers of this book.
Amid so much that is critical and condemnatory, it is refreshing to find something which our friend Dr. Johnston considers praiseworthy. He finds the labors of McKenzie and Hepburn among the Mangwato have" not been in vain j for, besides the chief, there are a large Dumber of natives whose eonsistent and exemplary lives prove that their profession of Christianity is something more than the mere observance of outward formalities." t The" one .mission" which, in Dr. Johnston's mind, " deserves the full sympathy and hearty support of Christians at home more than another" is that of Franeis Coillard.! This is unstinted praise j and there are a few other instances,§ but they are very rare. He did find at least one example of what Christianity can do for Africa, in Khama, whom both friends and foes aeknowledge to be a « straightforward, honest, and upright man." II Let us be grateful for even one example. Perhaps further candid research in Africa's mission fields might have revealed others.
The editor of this REVIEW and writer of this article, though he has not spent even eighteen months in a transit of the Dark Continent, has spent twice eighteen years int-he careful study of missions, and has found the consenting testimony of missionaries, from John Williams to John Paton, wonderful in its unanimity as to the glorious harvests of mission toil even among the most degraded tribes. When one has such witnesses as Lindley • P. 154. t P. 237. ~ P. 182. § pp. 206.219,287. I P. 234. and Scott, among the Zulus j Moffat, among the Bechuanas j Bushnell, at the Gaboon ; Mackay, in Uganda; Hogg and Lansing, in the Nile Valley j Richards, on the banks of the Congo j Johnson, in Sierra Leone; George Thompson, at the Mendi Mission; so long as we have the story of Madagascar, Lovedale, Hogbrook, vVellington, Blantyre, Impolwene, we shall be reluctant to believe that any other field of labor has more abundantly borne fruit under Gospel tillage than this same Dark Continent.
With many positions of Dr. Johnston we are in the heartiest agreement, especially with his inveighings against the demand for interesting and encouraging " reports" to be read at quarterly and annual meetings at home, and which tempt not only to a false standard of estimating results, but to a false way of stating them. * The outcry and clamor for visible results is born of unbelief. "He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. " There is in all mission work a period of breaking up fallow ground and of seed sowing, and even the harvcst time is often succeeded by times of drought and barrenness. All honor to those who, like the" lonely and sorely tried workers" in the Matabele country and the Barotse Valley, are" foundation workers, toiling deep down in superstition and gross darkness," like the " toilers in mud and stone, " who laid the massive masonry that holds up the Forth Bridge. t In the day when God's structure stands complete they shall be recognized and rewarden.. He quotes certain statements from M. C. Fenwick, of Corea, which ,were addressed to Dr. Brookes and meant as a private communication, but published by him in The Truth, concerning which Mr. Fenwick sends the editor a communication which will be found in the Editorial Department. Mr. Fenwick adopted hasty conclusions, which he now cordially withdraws, as perhaps Dr. Johnston, in his love of truth, may by and by be compelled to do also. But when Dr. Johnston or anyone else states that a certain missionary has falsified facts deliberately, we stop and dcmand more evidence before we give credence.
We can sympathize with all Dr. Johnston's invectives against misleading reports and statistics, as where a station is marked as though occupied, where somebody simply" wants to go j" t yet even here there may be only a mistake. In preparing a map of a mission territory it is common to select points for occupation, and it might be inferred by some one examining such map that these projected stations are all actual. Let us not needlessly attribute intent to deceive when another interpretation will suffice.
He deals without delicacy with the British South African Company and its pretensions to "British protectorate ;" its securing of a commercial monopoly, and appropriation of valuable presents meant for the queen! He thinks that, instead of opening up an entrance to the heart of Africa for the Gospel, it will take more than one generation to eradicate the bitter hate and deep-seated dread felt by the natives to the white man. § The * P. 156. t P. 160. t P. 163. § Pp. 145, 146, 260, 261. . practical effect of so-called" British rule" is thus set forth in no very ~om plimentary or hopeful terms. * For Dr. Johnston's unc?mpromising opposition to the rum traffic, and his pictures of the ruin which strong drink is bringing to African natives, we are thankful. He depicts the awful orgies of intemperance at Kolom- bambi; t and yet he seems ready (,nough himself to have given drink to Kananene, if he had had any spirits with him t-an inconsistency which we cannot explain.
This book, finely gotten up as it is, has in it, likll most journals, plenty of comparatively useless matter. It abounds in minor matters and triviali- ties, which become wearisome. To the ordinary reader it matters little what a traveller eats for breakfast; on which side of a stream he pitches his tent; just how many new carriers he engages, and what is their age and com- plexion, and at just what hour of the day he takes his cup of tea; or exactly what is contained in every present a chief may send him. § ,Ve would not wish to follow our author in his disposition to hypercriticism; but a very minute examination of his book convinces us that it might have been re- duced in bulk fully one third, if not one half, by avoiding needless repeti- tion of details. One chapter-on the conditions of pioneer life, diet, car- rying of goods, modes of tenting, sleeping, crossing plains and deserts, fording rivers, etc. -might have sufficed for the whole book. A diary is a convenient method of daily record; but, after the details are thus gath- ered and recorded as each day's experience makes possible, it would seem wiser and better to classify and rearrange. Because the individual facts were thus collected day by day, it does not follow that their presentation to the reader must pursue the same process. We learn to spell words let- ter by letter, but we do not introduce our spelling exercise into essays.
Valuable contributions are made incidentally by Dr. Johnston to the literature of missions, by his vivid description of the country and its in- habitants and their customs, as well as by his researches into the fauna and flora. His illustrations, furnished by his own camera, are superb.
The advice given in this book, touching all matters of physical regimen, dietetics, and medicine, should be carefully weighed. II He gives sound counsel as to building sites, food, habits, etc. His general conclusions may be found in the close of this somewhat voluminous work.'- To imitate Dr. Johnston's candor and avoid his sweeping denunciation, we confess that, amid many attractive features, we have found his book " a disappointing country" to travel in. Weare glad it is a somewhat costly book, for it will not be so likely to fall into the hands of miscel- laneous people, who will hastily draw conclusions adverse to missions.
Read by the young and enthusiastic, the romance is perhaps too rapidly dispelled. The" facts" are too bald and bare and repulsively barren; we believe unnecessarily so. Such a book, jf read at all, should be read side by side with Moffat's life, or Henry Richard's " Story of the Pente- cost on the Congo," or Josiah Tyler's" Forty Years Among the Zulus."
We mean no unfriendliness to Dr. Johnston when we record our im- pression that, with all the good qualities of his superb book, it is as a whole a mistake ; and that the general impression left on the mind of the reader is not a true one. We feel confident that the conclusions here reached are not based upon sufficiently abnndant particulars or a broad enough in- duction; and that those who would get at the complete truth as to African missions, must listen to the testimony of other witnesses beside the a'.lthor of Reality VB. Romance.
* Pp. 291, 2115. tP.73. ~ P. so. § Pp. 82, 88. H P.320. ,. P. 826 et aeg.
TIME AS A FACTOH IN CHRISTIAN MISSIO!;S
'l'IME AS A FACTOR IN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.
BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, SHAN'l'UNG, CHINA.
1.
The main assumptions on which Christian mlSSlOns proceed are to be found in a single text from the Gospel of Luke: "The Son of man carne to seek and to save that which was lost." This involves a theory of the condition of humanity. It involves the most important fact in the history of the race. It involves a benevolent purpose, which we are abundantly assured will be accomplished. Upon this point there must be no doubt or wavering, for to the believer in the inspiration of the Scripture the future is as certain as the past.
We live in an age in which there has been great expansion in all directions, and among others in the prosecution of Christian missions. Probably more persons are to-day interested in the conversion of the world to Christ than at any previous time. While the work of missions has not been undertaken upon any adequate scale, there is a steady progress both iu the amount and in the quality of effort put forth. It is therefore more and more important that those who are brought face to face with this mighty problem should have clear and correct ideas of its nature. Owing to the greatness of the subject and the complexity of the considerati<'':- involved in it, it is by no means so easy to corne to correct conclusions as many persons seem to suppose. No one has a right to assume that the convictions at which he has arrived are the final truth, but everyone who has had experience may be able to contribute something, however slight, for the edification of his brethren. The following observations upon the "time element in Christian missions" may be taken, as in some sense, the outcome of more than twenty years' practical acquaintance with one of the great mission fields of the world.
1. It is a principle of wide application that great changes take place slowly. The story of the physical universe has not yet been fully told, but enough is known to make it sure that the vast distances of most of the heavenly bodies are matched by the inconceivably great periods of time in which they have been slowly assuming their present condition. Physical geographers have to some extent been able to decipher the " story of the planet," which is always and everywhere one of gradual and progressive change. Catastrophes in great numbers have occurred, but their effects have been distributed and perpetuated only by the lapse of time. The lava thrown out from the bowels of the earth cools, disintegrates, and becomes at length a fertile soil. Mountains are washed down by torrents from the clouds, and little by little the vast alluvial plains come into being.
The law of gradual development is illustrated in all those races of mankind which have been destined to play the largest part in history. An amplification of this proposition would be of itself a treatise. It took more than a millenninm and a half from the call of Abraham till the time when, in the providence of God, the Jew was sent out on his mission unto all nations, and even then his education was far from satisfactory or com- plete.
The Roman race was slowly compacted by eight centuries of discipline ere it was fitted to take the rule of all the '3arth. A still longer period elapsed while that mightiest of empires was slowly crumbling away, the disintegrating elements forming the germs of modern Europe.
The Anglo-Saxon race, to which we are proud to belong, is itself the product of events which have been distributed over a period of thirteen centuries and a half. For ages there seemed to be a mere chaotic conflict of Saxon and Dane. It was eight centuries ago that the Normans moved into Britain and " edited the English language." It is less than three centuries since England began to figure as a world· wide power. and only within the present century has the manifest destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race become plain; not to themselves merely, but to other peoples as well.
In one of the letters of the late A. W. Mackay occurs a passage which suggests much more than might appear upon a careless roading: "It is from the naked savages of Albion and Gormania that have sprung such names as Newton and Shakespeare, Handel and Goethe. A moderu meeting of the committee of a missionary society, deliberating about the extension of the work abroad, is but the Christian development of those palavers which were held by skin-clad Britons on the grassy banks of the Thames, where, with battle-axe in hand, they debated plans for a raid on a neighboring tribe. The problem to be solved and the conditions of the case were pretty much the same in Europe once as they are now in Africa. "
The great historian of civilization, M. Guizot, in the introduction to his monumental work, speaking of the forces involved in human progress, analyzes them into social progress and moral progress, and then proceeds to observe, " One or the other of these facts may predominate, may shine forth with greater splendor for a season, and impress upon the movement its own particular character. At times it may not be till after the lapse of a long interval, after a thousand transformations, a thousand obstacles, that the second shows itself, and comes, as it were, to complete the civilization which the first had begun; but when we look closely, we easily recognize the link by which they are connected. The movements of Providence are not restricted to narrow bounds; it is not anxious to deduce to-day the consequence of the premises it laid down yesterday. It may defer this for ages, till the fulness of time shall come. Its logic will not be less conclusive for reasoning slowly. Providence moves through time, as the gods of Homer through space-it makes a step, and ages have rolled away I How long a time, how many circumstances intervened before the . regeneration of the moral powers of man by Christianity exercised its great, its legitimate influence upon his social condition q Yet who can doubt or mistake its power ~" It is in harmony with these generalizations that the Book, in which God has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind, was not communicated at once, nor under one set of conditions, but " at sundry times and in divers manners," .. durmg a period of certainly more than a thousand years, and by the pens of many writers." What a vast" progress of doctrine" from the simple anthropomorphism of the old patriarchs, with their sacrifices and oblations, yet. with no specific command to prayer, and no cIear teach- ing of a future life, to the instruction imparted by Christ concerning Rim who is a spirit, and is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth! Yet, as the writer just quoted (Dr. R. S. Storrs) goes on to remark, "There is really not a single portion, from the first sentence, 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,' to the last, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,' which has not some radical connection with what anticipates or what follows." The law of gradual development is illustrated in what has been styled the" evolution of Christianity," from the very beginning under the teach- ings of the Master till the present time. "His language in innumerable places," says the late Mr. Brace, in his valuable work, "Gesta Christi," " showed that He believed that these principles which He taught would only be successful after long periods of time and gradual development. Most of His figures and analogies with regard to tIle' kingdom of God' rest upon the idea of slow and progressive growth or change." That Christianity could have been introduced in no other way is indeed evident from the spiritual history of those whom lIe called to be His disciples. The conception of a Messiah who should not" at this time redeem Israel," but whose rule should be in the hearts of men and of a spiritual nature, was wholly beyond them. They could not believe what the Master dis- tinctly and repeatedly told them as to His sufferings and death, and they evidently had no anticipation of His resurrection from the dead, and could with difficulty be persuaded that Christ's promise had bflen made good. The biography of all the apostles, until after Christ's resurrection, might be condensed into His own expressive word, "Fools and slow of heart." That a mighty change came over these men at the Day of Pentecost is a fact of incalculable importance and promise to the Church. Yet, notwithstanding this impetus, the character of the apostles was not suddenly perfected, nor was the Church established by a swift and irresistible miracle. Agencies were set in motion which tended gradually to accomplish the desired results, and those agencies are in operation to-day. Without pausing to amplify these thoughts, which would require a survey of the history of the Church universal, it may be remarked that the gradual evolution of ideas is not a peculiarity of the religious progress of mankind, but is common to all mental progress. The history of the concept of liberty, for which the world had long to wait, and of its slow development, is in some respects analogous to that of Christianity itself. The same may be said of the idea of toleration, which is still far from being acclimated even in Christian lands. Forces, such as are represented by these words, have in the world a mighty, but not an immediate effect. "Sudden effects in history," says John Stuart Mill, " arc generally superficial; causes which go down deep into the future events produce the most serious parts of their effects only slowly, and must have time to become a part of the familiar order of things. ,) Sir William Hamilton points out that one of the strongest intellectual instincts of man is to unify knowledge. This instinct tends both to credulity and scepticism. Every great discovery has to fight its way to recog- nition. The philosopher just named mentions the fact that not aphysician in Europe above forty years of age is believed to have admitted Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood. The wider the truth the more difficult its acceptance. It is not only Lamas, such as the one whom Mr. George Kennan interviewed, who are at this late day in doubt in regard to some of the elementary truths of astronomy. A recent number of the .Am.erican Missionary tells of a white preacher in Tennessee, who publicly stated that he was prepared to demonstrate the proposition that the sun revolves around the earth. Doubtless such scepticism seems to most of us imaginary, but it is, on the contrary, to some minds very real.
Before the acceptance of a new truth there must intervene a period of painful doubt, or of such a degree of " hospitality to truth" as to accept either of two contradictory propositions, according to circumstances. The race of teachers who are prepared to "teach round or fiat, according as parents prefer," is not extinct.
That sentiment is one of the strongest forces in human affairs is as well known as any,truth in physics. Consider the hIstory of the theory and practice of vaccination. Why is it that in certain parts of Canada there is almost as fierce an opposition to this valuable preventive of a deadly disease, as if the method was by baptism with oil of vitriol ~ The objection does not rest upon reasoning, and cannot be overcome by reasoning. It is sentimental. It is in part sentiment which makes the introdnction of the practice of cremation so slow and difficult. Earth burial can be shown, as it has often been shown, to be full of peril to the living, but for all that, how many of us want to be incinerated ~ Why does the metric system have such uphill work in getting itself into use in a country where the currency has always been based upon decimals ~ Why can we not introduce spelling reforms into literature or good ventilation into public buildings ~ If it is true that the greater a truth, the slower it makes its way, this proposition must also hold true of the widest generalization of all-the existence of only one God. An idea of God so comprehens~ve, so farreaching, and so revolutionary as that taught by Christ, is not likely to obt.ain an easy or an undisputed entrance into the human understanding, much less to become an integral part of the thought and life of the community or of an individual man.
II. If it is important for us to remember that great changes take place slowly, it is not less so to recollect that great changes are often followed by great reactions.
In the evolution of the globe this truth is illustrated in that remarkable phenomenon called the Glacial Epoch. In the history of the Jewish Church it is illustrated by the repeated relapses into idolatry, both in the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah. Ve read the story of their perpetual retrogradations with incredulity and indignation, forgetting that it is the history of mankind in miniature. In the development of the Christian Church this truth is exhibited in the Dark Ages, when the heavenly lamp seemed to have almost gone out. It is exemplified in the history of whole areas over which Christianity once had dominion. Where are the " seven churches of Asia" ~ What became of the churches in Northern Africa ~ Some of the early missions of the Christian Church perished altogether from the face of the earth, and no traces of them have been found, although for a time they seemed to be highly successful. Theirs was the way of the cagle in the air, the way of the serpent upon a rock, the way of the ship in the midst of the sea. The first Christian church in Roman Britain had been quite forgotten, as Green reminds us, before the reintroduction of that faith in the seventeenth century under Theodore. In the fierce struggle which then ensued, there were great reactions from the first enthusiasm for the new faith, and while nominally accepting it, its adherents" retained their old superstitions side by side with the new worship. Plague or mishap drove them back to a reliance on their heathen charms or amulets, and if trouble befell the Christian teachers who came settling among them, they took it .as a proof of the wrath of the older gods. When some log-rafts, which were floating down the Tyne for the construction of an abbey at its mouth, drifted with the monks who w"re at work on them out to sea, the rustic bystanders shouted: 'Let nobody pray for them; let nobody pity these men who have taken away from us our old worship; and how their new-fangled customs are to be kept, nobody knows.' "
Dr. Geikie quotes an old writer, who calls attention to the analogy between the character of Balaam, who joined the worship of Jehovah with heathen superstitions, and that of some of our English kings. " He was an ambidexter in religion, like Redwald, king of the East Saxons, the first who was baptized; who, as Camden relates, had in the same church one chapel for the Christian religion and another for sacrificing to devils. A loaf of the same leaven was our resolute Rufus, who painted God on one side of his shield and the devil on the other, with the desperate inscription, , I am ready for either.' "
This behavior of our semi-Christian, semi-pagan ancestors is very significant Itnd instructive, and it is worth whilc to pause a moment to consider its bearing on our theme.
In his" Forms of ,Yater," 1'rofes80r Tyndall gives an interesting account of certain experiments made with ice. In 1850 Faraday discovered that when two pieces of ice are placed together they freeze together at the point of contact. Two plates of ice laid one upon the other over night are sometimes so firmly united that they will break anywhere else than along the junctiou. Two pieces of icc will freeze under water, and even in warm water, touching, freezing, melting, and coming together to repeat the process. To this phenomenon Professor Tyndall gives the name of " regelation," and it appears to be an almost perfect analogue to a phenomenon in the religious development of man. There are two different facts to be connoted. The first is the tendency of the mind to escape from a state of oscillation to a state of equilibrium. Heathenism is equilibrium. The introduction of Christianity, with its numerous and imperative demands, brings about a painful and inconvenient oscillation. ,Yhen this becomes insupportable, there ensues a voluntary return to equilibrium, not improbably with the co-operation of "seven other spirits, worse than the first. "
The other fact of which careful note must be taken is the tendency to degeneration. It is exhibited in those seeds which, taken from a land in which they have developed and planted in another soil, either fail to germinate at all, or else produce plants which run to stalks and therefore cannot propagate after their kind.
'On the other hand, there arc many plants which within a certain climate are not only useful, but highly ornamental, but which, when transferred to other zones or climate, develop in such a way as to become a serious and sometimes an insurmountable nuisance. It is not enough to have introduced Christianity into a new place, since, under certain conditions, regelation is certain to ensue. It is not enough merely to plant seeds, as many of them will make a fair show outwardly, but will yield no others to continue the stock, and sometimes there will be such a degeneration as to destroy every appearance of identity with the original. This latter case was amply illustrated by the T'ai-p'ing rebels in China, whose blasphemous adaptations of Scripture phrases shocked all Christendom, and probably did not a little to prejudice the introduction of a pure faith into that empire.
In a recent paper by Admiral Seymour upon the present condition of the Panama Canal, it appears that the work already done (about a fifth of the whole) is rapidly falling to pieces. An inch of rain sometimes falls in an hour, and the average rainfall is five times as great as that of London. Vegetation springS' up so quickly that the whole of the works will soon be buried out of sight. W~ich is easier, to evangelize a race or to dig a ditch 1 ,Yhich would be the harder task, to alter the" religious bias" of the most numerous race upon the earth, or to introduce European roads and bridges ~ It is ten years since the imperial commission was secured for a line of railway in China, not a foot of which has yet been begun, because the opposition was so strong that the scheme was strangled in its cradle j but no one doubts that railways will eventually be built all over the empire, although it would not be strange if a century should elapse before this comes to pass.
·Which is the easier, to teach a heathen to sing a tune correctly, or to lead him to walk in the way which leads to heaven ~ The psalmody of the Chinese, at least, must depend mainly for its melody upon the rising generation and not upon adults. To bring in a new system Jf music, and to teach those who use it to bc governed by its laws, is in China a hope- less task, unless the pupils, like Dr. Johnson's Scotchman, are "caught young." .
How long does any reader, who has a sufficient acquaintance with China to form an intelligent opinion, think it would require in that empire to bring about such a change of practice that every man, woman, and child should take a bath at least once a week and put on a clean undergarment ~ As yet most of them take no baths at all, and underclothing is unknown. Yet which is easier, to cause such an alteration of customs as this would imply, or to upset all the religious assumptions slowly accumulated by the wisdom of ages ~ Of the phenomenon of regelation we have already spoken. It is an important one, not easy to be understood.
Antecedent to experience, our theory of the propagation of Christianity would undoubtedly be that while it might be a slow process, it would be a sure one. The sacred fire once kindled will not go out. While indi- vidual apostasies might be looked for, we should not expect to see whole communities abandon the faith which they have come in some measure to know. Yet experience shows that the most· depressing feature of mis- sionarywork is the fact that there are many little Christian communities carefully and patiently instructed, which seem for a time to be the germs out of which large churches are to come. Yet later on internal dissen- sions, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of poverty, or other causes not foreseen or preventible, have proved a worm at the root of these bright hopes. "-e could name a city in one of the suburbs of which there was an interesting opening for the introduction of Christianity, and in which one or two preachers were stationed with almost no interruption for about two years. The inquirers numbered fifteen, among whom were scholars, merchants, artisans, and day laborers. The Sunday services were largely attended, and there was a sort of Bible class every evening, at which in- struction enough seemed to have been imparted to give every inquirer a clear and connected idea of what Christianity is and what its duties are.
Several persons wholly ignorant learnt to read, and large numbers of all grades of Christian books were sold to ready purchasers. Nothing occurred to give the growing work a check, as the. opposition of the literati was gradually overcome, and there never was any external hindrance from any other quarter. Yet after two years of this work carefully followed up by all known means, it was ascertained that not a single one of .the fifteen held out in his quest for truth. Some were too busy, some were too poor, and all were bound by the invisible fetters of ancient customs diametrically opposed to the spirit and to the practice of Christianity. Not one of these persons would not cheerfully admit that Christianity is a good thing-much better, indeed, than anything which China has or can have to occupy its place j but it is too costly, too exacting-" W!l cannot afford it," and that is the end of the matter.
We could name a mission station within a few miles of which are fifteen different villages, in each of which there was at one time a regular reiigious service, and in each of which this service had eventually to be given up, from causes which are as various as the situation of the hamlets, but all alike having their root in the fact that the introduction of Christianity is a more difficult task than some of its missionaries supposed. Every missionary is able from his own experience to duplicate these instances, and he will often tell you that in specific cases the failure was directly traceable to some fatal mistake of his own, the possible consequences of which he had not duly considered.
What are we to say to such occurrences as these ~ Has the Gospel lost its power? Is there some new and unforeseen combination of circumstances which renders impossible in one place that which is quite feasible in another?
On the contrary, there is nothing whatever about it either new or surpnsmg. " Some fell by the wayside." "Some fell among thorns." "Some fell on stony ground, and because it had no depth of earth, it withered away." The only question is that of the relative number of the seeds which may be expected to fall by the wayside, among thorns, or upon the.~rocks, and in regard to that point Ch"ist gives us no information. lYe only know that some brings forth thirty, sixty, or an hundred-fold.
The plain truth is that as yet the Christian Church at home has no adequate conception of wlwt is m€ant by the evangelization of a heathen nation or tribe, and this despite the experience of an hundred years of modern mISSIOns. The nature of the work to be done is indeed understood, for it is clearly pointed out in the New Testament, but the true character of the obstructions can only be known by those who meet them face to face. Whatever the field, it is to be premised that the whole intellectual and moral energies of those addressed by Christianity will rise np against it. In the strong language of Professor Phelps-albeit none too strong for the facts-" The most severe and intricate labor ever undertaken by the mind of man is that of projecting a Divine revelation into the mental and moral history of a race of beings who are filled with moral antipathies to itll spirit, and doing this mainly by the art of oral speech."
(To be concluded.)
CHAMBERI EVANGELICAL MISSION, MADRID, SPAIN
CHAMBERI EVANGELICAL MISSION, MADRID, SPAIN.
BY MRS. A. R. FENN, MADRID, SPAIN.
During the past year the work has been carried on in Madrid with uncontracted operations. The six schools, with 500 to 550 children. have been supported during the past ten months, as the other branches, by dona- tions and a few subscriptions from Christians, mostly of Great Britain, but two or three also of the United States.
The notice to leave the premises does not expire for another year, but the prospects of a new building outwardly are not bright, there not being yet sufficient in hand for the land, though more than one suitable plot can be obtained at from £1200 to £1500. A number of well-known gentlemen in London have offered to become trustees, also honorary secretary and treasurer for the building fund, whose addresses will be given, and the whole thing is daily brought before the Lord of the vineyard that He may dispose those of His servants and stewards whom He will to help as they are able in this work.
Mr. Fenn and I returned from England to Spain in May last, and found the schools and the various kinds of Gospel work going on well, the schools being increasingly well attended-in fact, with as many children as the teaching power would admit in some, and as the premises would hold in others; and that, notwithstanding the school fees have been slightly raised, the obligation to pay the increased fee being only laid on new scholars. The general conduct of the children is good, their advance in ordinary studies satisfactory, in some cases highly so, and their knowledge of Scripture, including history and doctrine, intelligent and clear. The amount of Scripture they have committed to memory is astonishing, and would serve them well should their Bibles ever be taken from them (which God grant may never be the case I), and which memorized Scripture we constantly pray the Spirit may bring to their remembrance and make effective in their hearts and lives.
From time to time there have always been manifest conversions, and two or three of the elder girls and boys, it is believed, have decided for Christ during the past year; and with much joy the mission church has lately received into her fellowship two of the former scholars.
We must work while it is day. ·While there are always parents who wish to entrust their children to our care, while there are earnest Christian Spanish teachers to teach them, notwithstanding the continued and ever-varying opposition of priests and ladies of the Church of Rome, shall we withdraw ~ While the people come to hear the Word of God preached in spite of Rome's anathemas, some believing and some believing not, and while the law protects us in our buildings, which it calls templos (temples), shall we close the work because our landlord will no longer have us as tenants and there is no other suitable building in the neighborhood 1 ,Ve think not, but go on continually laying the circumstances before the Lord. As opportunity has occurred we have also laid them before His people in more favored lands, that they may have the opportunity of helping forward the Gospel in this large and thickly populated northern district of Madrid, containing more than 60,000 inhabitants, as well as in its extension, and also that we may have the fellowship of their prayer for much more abundant spiritual blessing, especially in the conversion of the young. We often pray that the seed sown may multiply by the word passing from mouth to mouth. I will conclude this paper by giving one instance of answer to this prayer.
Some eight years ago a small mission was opened in a large village about twenty-seven miles from Madrid, and visited from time to time by ourselves, fellow-workers, or Spanish Christian men, and several conversions took place. An old man from another province annually spent some weeks in the place in pressing olives. He never was able to attend a meeting on account of having to work all the week, Sundays included; but he read the tracts given him, purchased a Bible, and took opportunities for conversation with Christians. lie laid hold of the truth and returned to his village, more than one hundred miles off, year by year with a little new light, which was seen by his life, and consequently his words were listened to by his neighbors. This year he entreated that his village might be visited with the Gospel, and Mr. Nisbet, a missionary who joined the work last year, promised to go as soon as he could. He went in May, and spent ten days in continually speaking to individuals, to the few who assembled in daylight and to the many who congregated in the evenings in the old man's house. Many became deeply interested in the things they heard, and he thought two or three at least believed with the heart. The interest awakened among the people quickly aroused the opposition of the priests, fourteen of whom, from as many places around, assembled to consider what could be done. They at last got the mayor to order Mr. Nisbet to leave the place, though he could not legally compel him; but Mr. Nisbet had already stayed longer than he had intended, and the seed was sown. May it be watered from above, and the ground prepared for a future visit!
A poor sick woman, who had heard the old man speak and had read much of his Bible, longed for the visit of the Protestant pastor, saying, " Oh, when will he come ~ Will it be before I die~" She died six weeks before the visit, a true believer in the Lord Jesus, the old man said.
[Donations may be sent to the editor, Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., or to either of the following gentlemen in England: Arthur Boake, Esq., Hon. Treasurer for Land and Building Fund, Southwood Lawn, Highgate, London, N.; Arthur Pomroy, Esq., Hon. Secretary for Land and Building Fund, 2 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall Street, London, E. C.; W. Charles W. Vincent, Esq., 163 Upper Asbaldeston Road, N. (London Corre-
THE PLACE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN MISSIONARY WORK
spondent); James Kingsmill, Esq., 31 Buckingham Place, Brighton (Provincial Correspondent), stating object: (1) schools and general work, (2) building, (3) personal expenses of director and fellow-missionaries.] THE PLACE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN MISSIONARY WORK. * BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
There is perhaps no one question connected with the great missionary enterprise more complex than this, or involving so many and often conflicting considerations which it is necessary to weigh. The circumstances and conditions of work differ, not only in different lands, but also in dif. ferent periods. Some of the expectations which were entertained a century ago have been disappointed; others have met with only modified fulfilment. It was understood that inveterate systems would need to be overcome, and much rubbish be removed before the superstructure of Christianity and Christian civilization could be reared; but the Church was not quite prepared for all the changes which have, in fact, occurred. Very generally it was supposed to be the wise course to begin with the young, and rise from primary to higher grades of education, encouraged by the fact that so much had been accomplished by general education in our own land.
But perhaps it was not duly considered that this general education had in our case been a slow growth, and that its sudden introduction among peoples enthralled by old heathen customs and steeped in false philosophies might develop results somewhat different from those which had been expected. The task undertaken in India and in the Turkish Empire, for example, involved the impact of a full-grown civilization upon othe: civ. ilizations which were also fully developed, though on different lines. This implied not merely persuasion, but gradual revolution. Where so great changes are liable to occur, it is impossible to foresee all the results of education, and especially higher education, upon a non-Christian race. And we ought not to b£ surprised if, as a result of our progress and in proportion to our progress, even greater antagonisms should yet rise up against our missionary work.
One result of higher education in the countries named, taken together with the opening of increased commercial relations with other lands, has been the awakening of an ambition to seek especially an English or a French education as a means of business thrift. The spirit developed has been disappointing to the missionaries, who had hop~d for consecrated lives enlisted in winning men to the Cross, but who have found instead of this • Read before the Conference of officers of Mission Bpards and 80cieties in New York, January 17, 1894, an all-absorbing desire to secure advantageous positions in governmental or commercial employments. Moreover, it has been found very generally that the education of young men, iu the great seaport cities where they were subjected to a coutrolling cosmopolitan influence, has been attended with more or less denationalization. :Many young men from Mt. Lebanon, trained in Beirut, or Armenians from Central Turkey, educated at Constantinople, have been quick to catch the foreign spirit, to assume foreign airs, and to develop from their education a positive unfitness for the humble walks of missionary life among their countrymen in the rural districts. A later outcome of the same general influence has been the creation of a desire to visit Europe or America to obtain a still higher education, generally with a professed purpose to return to a greater usefulness at home, but sooner or later disclosing an ambition to be placed upon the footing and the salary of a foreign missiouary. This has been and now is one of the gravest difficulties connected with higher education in certain prominent mission fields.
And its influence has not been confined to those who had been selected as candidates for the ministry or for teaching, but has extended to hundreds of others in various ranks of life. Colonies of Armenians, Syrians, Bulgarians, Persians are now fonnd in our American cities, and the whole movement in its far-reaching influence seems to promise a serious depletion of the ranks of intelligent youth, who ought to be trained at home as Christian laborers.
Another unexpected reRnlt of foreign education, particularly English education, has been the rehabilitation of the old false systems which it was our purpose to supersede. In India the educated young men of the present generation have, through Western influence, been made familiar as never before with their own faiths and philosophies. This has not all been accomplished by missiouary institutions, but more largely by those under the auspices of Government j yet to some extent our English education has led on to the same results. While we have greatly extended the English language as a medium of enlightenment, there has been a revival of Sanscrit learning, with extensive expurgated translations of Sanscrit literature into English, so that hundreds have been made acquainted with their own systems through our language learned in the mission schools.
Our agnostic speculations also have found their way to India and Japan. As a result of the investigations of a society formed in Calcutta for the diffusion of a wholesome literature, it was found that Western infidelity in various forms was making quite as large a use of the English language, in the diffusion of infidel and immoral books and pamphlets, as that of all missionary boards and societies taken together. And such literature has this advantage, that wealthy Rajahs and others more or less hostile to Christian propagandism are ready to contribute largely for the circulation of the writings of Bradlaugh and Ingersoll, while n~ such help is found in the dissemination of Chris~ian books. Then, as to the litera. ture of vice, French novels of the worst type, translated into cheap English forms, were found to be extensively imported as business ventures by cor. rupt and nnscrupulous men. The extent of this evil has been found to be appalling.
A similar condition of things has appeared in Siam, where my late colleague, Dr. Mitchell, when on a visit three or four years ago, was informed that the high officials of the government were recediug from their favorable attitude toward female educatiou, for the reasou that the Siamese women and girls who had learned to read were being corrupted by the vile literature which was thrown upon the market at Bangkok.
Such discouragements as these should not be allowed too great weight, but it is well to recognize the fact that tares are sown abundautly with the wheat, and that if the true husbandmen are not alert, the tares may exceed the harvest.
Another consideration which has raised some question as to the policy of missionary education, is the alleged fact that in proportion to the great expenditure made by certain societies especially engaged in the higher training, the number of conversions has seemed small as compared with the results gained by other societies devoted mainly to e,'angelistic work. A spirit of discontent with these results has sometimes manifested itself in some of the churches, and has been made a matter of criticism by the secular press, with invidious comparisons as to the relative" cost of a convert. "
Now a thoroughly enlightened estimate would, of course, make little account of these criticisms, and would place greater value upon the broader scope of future results. Still these complaiuts have not been easy to meet; and, more or less iu response to a popular feeliug, certain societies have beeu organized with the paramount aim of direct evangelization, and their undenominational work based upon that policy has won a large degree of sympathy and support. "Institutionalism," as it is sometimes rather slightingly called, has been held at a discount, and men have plead for the direct work of preaching the Gospel as a message to the adults of this generation. In answer to the argument of the "seed· sowers," it has been said that the fifty or sixty years of seed-sowing that have been spent in some fields ought by this time to bring forth plentiful harvests; that the great work demanded by the present generation of dying men cannot be longer saerificed to the work of teaching a limited number from whom results are to be expected in the distant years to come.
D nder the influence of these various disappointments and difficulties, it is not strange that the whole question of missionary education should have come up for re-examination, and that a feeling in favor of placing greater emphasis upon the direct work of preaching the Gospel to men and women, as it was proclaimed in the days of the apostles, should have come to demand a greater emphasis. I think I am safe in saying that in most of the missionary organizations represented in this conference, and in others which have been held, not by Americans only, but by representatives of European societies, there has been an inereasing conviction that the place of emphasis in mission work should possibly be somewhat changed, and that the prayers of all friends of missions should be emboldened to ask for abundant harvests now or soon in the fields in which for so long a time institntional work of all kinds has been carried on, and where as yet the results are proportionately small.
But, on the other hand, let us fairly weigh some considerations which urge the maintenance and the advance of higher education. Those who have read the reports of the late Parliament of Religions at Chicago must have reached the conclusion that the Church, in her conquest of the non- Christian races, mnst expect to cope with men of a high order of intellect j men well trained in the principles of their own faiths and philosophies j men who have been stimulated and emboldened by the fellowship and encouragement of every form of infidelity from our own land j men who have been made familiar with all the weaknesses and blemishes found in the history of the Christian Church j men who are stung with indignation at the outrages which almost universally, in the East and in the Islands of the Sea, are visited upon weaker races by representatives of Christian nations.
First, it is evident that some at least of our missionaries must be able defenders of the truth against manifold error. At a summer school attended by about four hundred young native ministers and teachers in Japan four or five years ago, a summary of conclusions was reached, one of which was in substance this: " We do not deem it necessary that many more missionaries shall be sent us from America to preach the Gospel to the masses of our people. The ordinary work of preaching can be done yuite as well by educated men of our own race j but if our friends across the ocean can send us men capable of becoming leaders, able to teach us how we may grapple with rival systems of religion or philosophy, and all the burning questions which confront us, then the more they send, the better. "
Now such a demand means not only a high grade of training for our missionaries, or some of them, but also for leading minds in the native church, for they especially will encounter the well-trained opposers. I know how cheap and easy it is to answer all this by the taking plea that " what our missionaries need is a knowledge of Christ, and Him crucified." But Paul also knew something about Christ, and Him crucified j and yet in planting young Titus as a missionary among the cavilling and besotted inhabitants of Crete, he enjoined upon him that careful preparation which should enable him "to convince the gainsayers," the vain talkers and deceivers, " whose months must be stopped." And these were not mere babes in knowledge, bnt were trained and skilful cavillers belonging to " the circumcision," and their mouths were to be stopped, not with sanctimonious platitudes nor sweeping denunciation, but with sound argument. FOIl" the last five years the Japan Mail has published a monthly resume of the utterances of all religious and anti-religious systems. It has main- tained in reality a continuous Parliament of Religions along the same lines as that at Chic.ago in 1893. Some of the educated Japanese, hostile to the Christian faith, have shown surprising familiarity with our faith and our Church history, especially its alleged blemishes; and Mr. Hirai, on the floor of the Chicago Parliament, hurled back the dark and blighting record of the unjust diplomacy of Christian nations in a way which only a thoroughly informed missionary could answer.
I cite these facts in order to show that not only missionaries, but at least some of our native preachers and teachers, must be fitted to defend the Christian faith against powerful opponents, and to show the difference between the attitude of the Christian Church of the West and the nations of the West.
One of the greatest necessities of our age is that we shall have here at home educational facilities which shall enable chosen men by lifelong study to speak with authority on all the great issues by which the Christian faith is confronted; and the same need will be felt-nay, is being felt, on some of our foreign fields.. In educated circles in Japan there is, I think, greater attention given to religious thought than among us. However we may account for the fact, the Japanese are philosophers by a sort of instinct. The people of India are, perhaps, thc most religious and the most metaphysical of any nation on the globe. Their literatures show that in remote ages profound philosophies were elaborated, evincing the deepest penetration into the mysteries of life and the nature and tcndencies of the human soul. Here we have been busy with material things; there religious speculation has long held the larger place. The Vedic Magazine, published in Hindi and in English at Lahore, presents some very caustic criticisms upon the habits and the characteristics of the average Anglo- Saxon. It characterizes him as a beef-eating and beer-drinking type of man, whose luxurious life renders him incapable of spiritual contemplation. His civilization is one of material forces only, and his only real worship is that of outward display or hoarded pelf. The same magazine quoted a year or two ago some of President Andrew D. White's startling revelations of the corrnptions of American m~nicipal government, and held them up to thoughtful Orientals as a specimen of the results of Western civilization.
This generation needs a new apologetic. It is no longer the old battle with Gnostics and Manichreans, nor the later controversies with English Deists or French Encyclopedists ; there are special issues that concern us now. And as the battle-ground will be not here alone, but on some of our great mission fields, shall we not prepare some of our native preachers and teachers to act well their part! If so, we must pay some attention to the highest missionary education.
I have already alluded to the fact that young men in India and Japan are well furnished with all the stock arguments against the Christian faith, and they know how to use them. A young Hindu, seventeen years of age, said to his Bible-class teacher, " Do you say that God made the world for His own glory 1" "Yes. " "Did it increase His glory 1" " Yes." " If, then, He had something which He'did not possess before, how could He have been infinite in the beginning 1" Another said, " Do you tell us that God is everywhere present and pervades all things 1" " Yes." " Is He in every visible object, and even within us 1" " Yes." "Then He is in that idol yonder, and that is what we have always held. " It is evidently a mistake to suppose that we have simply and only to tell the story of the Cross. That there is a very important place for that simple and direct work I hope to show farther on j and although there are paid pundits employed for the purpose of interrupting the bazaar preacher with perplexing questions, it is a wise rule to avoid discussions, if possible.
But the idea that either the missionary or the native preacher needs only to be taught the principles of our Christian religion, and that they can always meet the oppositions of heathen systems by ignoring them, is preposterous. If it should turn out in any of the great battle-fields of religious thought that Christianity, with all its claims to intellectual superi. ority, had shown itself unable to defend its doctrines or its history against the assailments of skilful Orientals supposed to be ignorant " heathen," it would be a day of disaster to the cause of truth. Christianity would come to be looked upon with contempt .by those whom we have professed to enlighten, and this discomfiture on the mission fields would soon cast its reflex influence upon the whole position of the Church at home. It is to be borne in mind that the world is one at last, and that with respect to religious thought the boundaries of nationality are forever lost. The Parliament of Religions has come to stay. It began long before the Chicago Committee had thought of it. Truth must everywhere be equipped for her final victory over error.
Again, not merely in religious thought and in speculative philosophy, inclu(1ing a study of all sacred books, but in science and in history, Christiallity mnst l1ave a hand on all the greater mission fields. A warped and diRtorted science taking possession of leading minds, and more or less affecting every claRs, would constitute one of the worst barriers to the inculcation of Christiau truth. For example, the wide prevalence of materialistic evolution, claiming to cut up by the ruots all the religious cosmogonies of the world-that of Genesis as well as that of the Brahmana!! 01' Manu-will, if left unchallenged in India or Japan, throw contempt upon our Christian Bible and largely upon the whole teaching of the Christian Church. I And there is a like demand in the sphere of ethics. That an entirely secular education left in the hands of governments, ana dealing chiefly with schools of philosophy and of science, would in time overthrow the religious teaching of Hinduism, or the Buddhist and Shinto faiths of Japan, goes without saying. If, then, advanced Christian instruction should be withheld, what basis of ethics would be left q And this difficulty is already being recognized and seriously felt in some Eastern lands. The disciples of Huxley and Herbert Spencer in Japan have been trying to devise' an ethical basis which would meet the wants of the people without recourse to the ethics of the New Testament. And if a race like the Hindus are by their education divested of their own religious faith, and left wIth no substitnte, by what ethical restraints or promptings will that race be influenced q I am told that certain administrators of the Indian Government, after a long experiment of mere secular training, which has left the minds of thousands of educated youth stranded on the dreary wastes of agnosticism and without the fear of God or man, are convinced that this policy is fatal, and the most thoughtful minds are turning to Christian missions with increasing favor as the only thing that can supply the deficiency and save the nation from becoming morally bankrnpt. The question has been raised, and I refer to it in this close connection, whether it might not be better for missionary societifls to dispense with governmental stipends, which are given toward the support of their educational institutions in India. Vv~ere the restrictions as stringent as those imposed by the Emperor of Austria upon all Protestant missionary operations, there might be reason for rejecting such aid j but such is not the case in India j and surely if the government is looking to missions for their moral influence in the great issues which have arisen, we should not be slow to enter into that alliance so far as the demands of other forms of work shall permit.
But in all that I have said I would not be understood as maintaining that any large proportion of our missionary expenditure should be given to what is called university education in a country like India or Japan. I notice that in the reports of missionary conferences held in India, and in published articles written on the field, one solution has generally been proposed for all the difficulties which have been named-namely this, " Increase your force, man your institutions more thoroughly, and thus make this higher education a power." But from the standpoint of the home treasuries the difficulties are less easily settled. What if every year a missionary board is compelled to choose between one desirable form of work and another q Can we, in good conscience, spend $25,000 or $50,000 in the plant or the professorships of a college for general education, when that means a retention of eight or ten missionary evangelists who otherwise might be sent, or when it must necessitate the dismissal, or at least the failure to employ, forty or fifty native preachers who might go among the people publishing the simple Gospel q While considering the needs of the higher and more intellectual classes, we must not forget the millions of the utterly benighted who will pass away in the few years of this generation. A few weeks since Mr. P. C. Mozoomdar, after speaking of the different schools of Indian philosophy, said in my IlCal'ing, that of the nearly three hundred millions of India, at least two hundred and twenty-five millions were of the simplest and most ignorant classes, who know nothing of abstruse systems or of sacred books, but are deluded by the most degrading superstitions. Surely here is a waiting vineyard for a class of laborers who can make little claim to scholarship.
I have spoken of the necessity of sending out some thoroughly quali~ fied missionaries who shall b~ able to grapple with every form of error, and I would have every man so thoroughly qualified as to understand the customs and beliefs of the people among whom he is to labor; but I wish it to be distinctly understood that I would gladly see the great majority of our missionaries giving themselves to the direct proclamation of the truth, or to the training of native preachers by short, practical courses in which the spiritual element should preponderate. They should then lead them forth as helpers to an organized work in the country villages, where they would be less liable to disturbance from the paid agents of the Aryas, who are employed to thwart their efforts by their shrewd questionings. I most earnestly advocate a great preponderance on the side of evangelistic work. If it is true that in Japan there is a native ministry who can now best do the work of preaching to the masses, that condition certainly does not obtain in the country districts of India or among the millions of China, or in Siam and Laos, least of all among the interior tribes of Africa. If we were concerned with plans for this generation only, and were not laying foundations for an extended future, I am not sure but it would be the part of wisdom to concentrate all our force and all our possible expenditure upon the direct work of preaching the Gospel to the neglected millions of to-day ; but we cannot thus neglect the foundations for the future. While, on the one hand, we ought to labor for the men of to-day as if Christ were soon to come and this generation were to be the last; on the other hand, we ought to lay plans as broadly and deeply as if assured that many generations are yet to follow.
In deciding thoughtfully and wisely where we shall place the emphasis, I think we should not wander too far from the New Testament plan. There is, of course, an important differential. This is far more an age of books and of schools than was the apostolic age. The late Christopher Robert, while speaking of the College in Constantinople and similar enterprises, once said to me that" perhaps if Paul had established a Christian college at Antioch, the Seven Churches of Asia would have had a better history." That was one view of the question before us ; but if Paul, on the other hand, had spent his life as a professor of science and philosophy at Antioch, would the Christian Church have made equal advances into Macedonia and the Roman Empire 1 Would subsequent ages have received an equivalent for that theological and spiritual teaching which we now find in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles q It might have been claimed by the Church at Antioch that scholarly work was an important seed-sowing j but what was Paul's great and world-wide mission work but a seed-sowing that has blessed many nations and made Christianity a power for all time ~ An impression seems to have prevailed with many since the great Parliament of Religions that learned Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucianists have become too wise in our day to afford any warrant for further missionary effort on our part j and in Japan something like intolerance is beginning to be shown toward the propagandists of our faith. But this is nothing new in the world. There never has been a time when there were not other needy fields farther on. Our Saviour's command in such cases was to simply move on till there was found a better welcome j and when Israel turned a deaf ear, the Gospel was borne to the Gentiles. Now, also, there is no lack of needy millions who wiII receive the truth. The late Dr. Duff once remarked that possibly the system of caste in India would yet be regarded as one of the most important and helpful factors in the great work of missions, his idea being that those despised classes who have least to hope for from their own system, who have less self-complacency and less Aryan pride, may be the first to receive with readiness and delight the Gospel which respects their manhood and proclaims the love of that God" who hath made of one blood all nations" and all castes of mankind. The village work of the American Methodist Mission in Northern India, and that of the Baptist missions in Southern India, would seem to indicate that whole villages and even hundreds and thousands of villages of low-caste people may yet be won to the Cross of Christ. God grant that such may be the future realization of the mission work in India! God grant that III our own generation we may witness an upheaval of this subsoil of degraded Hinduism that shall overthrow all the superstructures that the pride of caste has reared above it.
Already there are found among these low-caste people bright and responsive minds which, under the influence of the truth, develop a Christian manhood quite unlooked for. With a widespread evangelization and with the fair play of the British rule, who shall say that a new India may not arise from the lower ranks ~ There are many things which occur to me in connection with this broad subject, but there is time but for one further thought. We have considered the need of higher education. We have also recognized the supreme importance of reaching in the most direct way the masses that are perishing in our own generation, and here we have placed the emphasis. Now bQtween these two lines of work there is a wide sphere of effort whose importance cannot be overestimated. Obviously this wide propagandism which I have indicated must require a large force of preachers and teachers, and those of all grades. I would say, then, that the most important of all departments of education on the mission field is that of schools in which men shall be fitted for the middle grades of work, and the staple of instruction should be given in the vernacular. Call them colleges or training
UNOCCUPIED MISSION FIELDS OF THE WORLD
schools, or by whatever name, they constitute o~r chief hope for both the present and the future. Short normal courses for men already employed are sometimes valuable. A friend who had visited India said to me that of all the higher institutions that he had seen, and he had visited many, that one belonging to the Methodist Mission at Bareilly seemed to him best adapted to meet the widespread wants of a mission of any that he had seen. The curriculum was not so extended as in some other institutions, but it was more distinctively a school for the training of preachers and teachers. General education was subordinate to this, so far as he could discover. Those who were selected or admitted to the institution were by preference young men who gave good promise of becoming Christian workers. And my impression is that the Doshisha of the American Board in Japan, established and for some years directed by the lamented Neesima, has attained its high success and proved its eminent usefulness just in proportion to the emphasis which it put upon the training of preachers and teachers for the direct service of the mission. Years ago the sainted Calhoun established a missionary institution at Abeih in Syria. The curriculum was fairly extended and comprehensive, but the great idea which prevailed in his selection of men and in the whole course of study was that of fitting laborers who should preach the Gospel, in the pulpit or in the school-room. Probably there has never been an institution for higher education in which so large a per cent of graduates was fouud available for direct and valuable Christian service as in that school at Abeih. In my opinion, the higher education which any missionary society or board is abie to carryon should be devoted chiefly to this specific work of training laborers, holding secular education in subordination to this end, at the same time, if possible, maintaining either alone err conjointly with other boards and societies one or more institutions in which the very highest training can be given. Above all, let the emphasis of our missionary work in these closing years of the nineteenth century be put upon direct and widespread evangelization.
UNOCCUPIED MISSION FIELDS OF THE WORLD.-III.
BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, LONDON, ENGLAND.
II. Leaving the great Continent of Asia and the numerous unoccupied fields which it contains, we enter what has been called the Dark Continent of Africa, but which, despite its darkness, constitutes no mean portion of the classic ground of modern Christian missions. What illustrious names are strewn over Darkest Africa, great search-lights in their day, and which death, so far from quenching, has but made to shine with the more vivid brilliancy ! We think of Moffat, Livingstone, Sakir, Gordon, Comber, the Coilliards, Mackay, Hannington, Wilmot Brooke, and othersl men who knew their God and did exploits, and whose memory lives as an inspiration and legacy to the Church for all time to come. Bitterly as we regret the human blood spilt that the highway of commerce and of military conquest might be prepared, we praise God for the men and women of faith who have poured out their lives as a libation in the endeavor to heal Africa's grievous sore. How open that wound still is, and how pleadingly it calls for Gilead's balm, we can but faintly appreciate! The rule of the strong hand, according to the law of brute ferocity, is general in Africa, save where fear counsels moderation j the native religions are as demons let loose to torture or slay, as caprice may dictate j and so all-pervasive is the spirit of cruelty, that the very sports of the people are spiced by its excesses. Thus Dr. William Junker, in his travels in Africa, 1882-86, tells of a savage custom .of the Soudanese men, which he himself witnessed on the occasion of the celebration of a marriage-namely, the challenge to a duel ,vith the rhiuoceros-hide whip. "Each has to take the same number of blows from his opponent as he gives. Sometimes one man will challenge three or four, to whom he deals in turn savage blows, which are returned afterward by them all in succession." "The pain," says Dr. Junker, "must have been excessive, but I did not see the men move a muscle. " To do justice to the horrors of the situation, we have to remember the growing increment of the Arab's sway, and the spread of Islamism over the central regions. The religion of the false prophet has neithG pity in its heart nor balm in its hand, and serves but to exacerbate the sore that already exists. How true it is, if we would only believe it and show our faith by our works, that" none but Jesus can do helpless sinners good" !
On the whole, however, it is somewhat doubtful whether Africa is now the darkest continent in the world. In many parts the reign of cruelty is checked and superstition's dark night invaded. "Forty societies are at work with over seven thousand ordained missionaries," the addition of converts last year being over twenty thousand. Certainly Africa, if still the darkest, is not the most neglected continent in the world; nor is it to be reckoned, save where Mohammedanism prevails, as the stoniest of fields. Bravely has the missionary striven to keep in the vanguard of exploration, and to vie with the merchant and politician in opening the sealed land. The result is that Gospel light has been carried far into the interior; the Congo studded by a chain of missions reaching to the equator; Uganda occupied, and Central Africa made accessible to even where not pierced by Gospel agency. Thus far the evangelization effe.cted, bright with promise though it be, only samples the need which on a vast scale remains unbroken. The present partitionment of Africa is too artificial and foreign to furnish any consistent view of what fields are or are not occupied. It would require an analysis according to tribes to supply this, and that is beyond our present knowledge; but one thing is clear, that the work of evangelizing Africa is extending, both by the bold stride of the pioneer and the patient la-bor of those who follow after. The work takes hold like roots which extend deeper and farther into the soil; "he varied societies are lengthening their cords and strengthening their stakes; new languages are being acquired as new commumties are being reached, while to the eye of faith the results achieved are only a faint glimmering of the light and blessing that are surely and soon to break forth.
Soudan.-The chief territory in Africa clearly defined as unoccupied is the multiform region of the Soudan, with the thinl'y peopled Sahara on the north and Abyssinia on the east. This immense tract of country lies north of the Congo Basin, and has a reach from the west eastward considerably exceeding the span from San Francisco to New York. The average breadth is from 500 to 250 miles. The Soudan is a land of varied races and of a multitude of tongues, but is broadly dvisible into three regions -a western, an eastern, and a central. The eastern region is in a state of social solution, and for years violence has filled the whole land. Since the fall of Khartoum and the evacuation of the equatorial province, there has been no let to Arab aggression and domination, with the result that native blood has flowed like water, and the remnants of native population are terrorized and enslaved. It is as if a fair and prosperous kosmo8 had been by mighty convulsions turned to chaos. Yet had Gordon been supported, what different things we should have seen to-day! But England in her short-sighted rulers did not discern God's gift in that man, nor the magnificent opportunity which, in the providence of God, came with him. And now there is "no man to make up the hedge and fill the gap before the Lord;" neither is there space for repentance. Meanwhile, pandemonium is let loose, slavery is rampant, and if there are not now native races enough to lash, the Arab hunter, grown emboldened by success, has only to go farther afield.
As, however, in the sky there is always light somewhere, either reflected by the distant stars or cast up from the buried sun, so even in regard to Eastern Soudan it is given us to see some gleam in the midst of densest obscuration. Bishop Tucker, while thinking that the door into Eastern Soudan is not to be opened from the north, is sanguine that it shall yet be set open from the south. Uganda, in his judgment, is to be the Gibraltar rock upon which the Arab's power is to be broken, the base of operations whereby slavery is to receive its death-wound, and the most miserable regions on the face of the earth, social recovery and Gospel light. Be that as it may, of this we are assured, that in some way or other for Eastern Soudan, as for other unoccupied fields, t.he Lord will provide.
Turning our attention to the western section of the Soudan, which is related to the" lordly Niger," there is some cause for uneasiness at the spread of the Fulani colonies, which own as their head the Sultan of Segu on the Upper Niger, and under the pretence of waging "Jihads," or holy wars, " attack and subjugate the pagans wherever they can." The Fulahs are" fanatical Muslims" of "bronzed complexion," born fighters and skilled in strategy, who never fail, when they meet with European travellers, "to claim brotherhood and kinship with the white strangers." Both their appearance and language are somewhat of an enigma. Distinct from the negro in type, their tongue is also distinct, and seems to have no " definite position among the linguistic families of Africa." Indeed, if what is said of its two grammatical genders be true, that it has " NOT the masculine and the feminine, as in most idioms, but the human and the non-human," the Fulah tongue has a right to be placed in a category by itself among the tongues of the earth as the most unique curiosity to which the confusion at Babel has given birth. The Fulahs have all the marks of a superior race, and while keen in their scent for conquest, have thus far kept free from complicity in the slave trade_ The Central Soudan 'is a most populous region, embracing the dominions of the great Sultan of the negro kingdom of Sokoto, Bornu, a popu- IouI' Mohammedan State, and the Sultanate of Wadai, which is the most powerful of the Central Soudan States_ It is believed that in these kingdoms alone there are 60,000,000 without a missionary. The great Ransa nation, in the kingdom of Sokoto, is reckoned at 15,000,000, and is described by the late Mr. Wilmot Brooke as "a fine, brown-skinned race that has recently adopted Mohammedanism, and with it the art of reading and writing their own language in the Arabic character." According to Mr. Brooke, of lamented memory, entering the Muslim kingdoms of the Soudan is like entering a new world. " The petty jealousies and squabbles of the heatheu towns are left behind now; the busy hum of commercial life is heard throughout the dominions of the great Sultan of Sokoto. From vast walled cities of 50,000, 80,000, even 100,000 inhabitants, caravans are forever streaming out, to the south to raid for slaves, to the North Mrican States, across the Sahara, to sell them. Veavers, dyers, and shoemakers work hard in the streets of these great cities, manufacturing the ample clothing that the people wear, and exhibit this remarkable spectacle of African civilization."
Such, in orief, is Africa's great unoccupied field, the emporium of the continent, the throbbing heart and busy brain of what may now be called earth's vastest island. As regards the entire central region-in dealing, that is to say, with some 60,000,000 of the 80,000,000 included in the whole Soudan-the missionary would find no such social gulf as would meet him elsewhere. These Soudanese are not barbarians, living in squalid villages, affecting a barbaric etiquette, and grovelling in the sty of superstition. They dwell iu walled cities, in well-built houses of sun-dried brick, are monotheists, and eat such food as any European could live on. The climate, too, is mostly dry and invigorating, and not to be confounded with that of the deadly gold coast or the malarial climate of the Congo. The main hindrance to the missionary is Moslem fanaticism ; and that hindrance is as a wall raised up high as the firmament. No one may enter this land to evangelize who counts his life dear unto himself, for by the Moslem law, which prevails everywhere, "both the convert and the missionary who has preached to him are liable to death."
This is not the day, however, when the missionary vanguard is at all disposed to pause in view 0: contingencies. Like Thibet, the Asian stronghold, the African fortress of the Soudan has already been prospected with a view to occupation, cost what it may. For the moment the operations of the Church Missionary Society are checked by the recent decease of Bishop and Mrs. Hill, who had in view the extension of their work from Oyo to Ilorin, a Mohammedan town in the interior; and then from Lokoja, taking another route, the bishop purposed to pass into the Bassa country. He also intended to establish a training institution for natives and a hospital at Onitsha. In addition, Bishop Hill contemplated placing a mission steamer on the Niger. God honored him to prepare, but has reserved for others to come the carrying out of these plans. Meanwhile, the Central Soudan Mission is advancing to the assault. As we write, Mr. Hermann G. Harris, B.A., the director of the mission, a man versed in Arabic and Haussa (the commercial language of the people), is on his way, by the overland route, accompanied by Mr. Dick, across the Desert of Sahara, to Kano in the kingdom of Sokoto ; while it is expected that Mr. Holt and others will soon leave England for Central Soudan by way of the Niger, the journey on reaching Africa being from Lagos through lbadan, Oyo, Ilorin, and Rabba. The Central Soudan Mission, like its Thibetan compeer, with which it has many features in common, " makes no appeal to the public or to individuals for money, but looks directly to God for the supply of all its need;" moreover, the missionaries are quite prepared to support themselves, if possible, among the people to whom they go by laboring with their own hands.
The immense region of the Sahara, which is contiguous with the Soudan and has a scant population of some 3,000,000 Berbers, is likewise totally unevangelized. The like is true of Abyssinia, which at present has no Protestant missions, and is estimated to contain frow 4,000,000 to 5,000,000. The kingdoms of Shoa and of the Mijertain and Abbia Somalis are similarly situated. Encompassing the Sondan, therefore, and including it, stretching from Senegambia on the west to Cape Guardafui on the east, a distance of nearly 5000 miles, and from Tripoli and Egypt on the north to the Congo and Uganda on the south, is a vast compact mass of unlifted darkness where no Gospel witness has, so far as is known, Abyssinia excepted, ever been borne. There is also a large unoccupied field lying south of the Congo and comprehending the greater part of the Free Congo State.
III. South America.-A few words must suffice to tell the tale of South America, which has, with justice, been termed the most neglected continent in the world; for though, as a whole, South America" is almost untouched by aggressive Protestant missionary effort, ., there are but few countries within its borders which have not now some direct Gospel agency. Venezuela, with a population of over 2,000,000, has but one Protestant missionary. Ecuador, a land of chronic revolution, about the size of England and Scotland combined, has no Protestant missionary at all, and may be regarded as wholly unevallgelized. Colombia, with an area of 504,773 square miles and a population of 4,000,000, has three missionary stations of the American Presbyterian Church. Peru, with an area equal to the whole of the United Kingdom, France, and the Spanish Peninsula, is all but unoccupied. Gospel testimony, however, is borne by Dr. Thomas B. Wood, Protestant pastor, and there are little Protest.ant churches at Lima and Callao set as lights amid the surrounding darkness; in addition, " itinerant native agents of the American Bible Society are helping to spread the Scriptures." Brazil, which numbers 14,000,000, is unevangelized to the extent of nine tenths of its population. It is the sphere, however, of earnest evangelistic labor; and, despite the throes of revolution, the Gospel prospects of this great country never were so bright as now. BoZ'ivia, considerably larger in area than Thibet, ranks with Ecuador as a field totally unoccupied. No Protestant missionary has ever made it the field of Gospel endeavor, but one 9r two passing visits have been paid by the colporteurs of the American Bible Society. Ohili has two American missions, representing some twenty or thirty workers, but such an open door and, physically considered, protracted need might well woo many an additional score. Similar obserratiom; apply to the Argentine and Patagonia, now reckoned one republic, also to Paraguay and Uruguay. In them all there are laborers thrust forth, but few in comparison with the population to be reached and the vast area to be occupied. Throughout the South American republics Popery is everywhere a waning quantity; its palmy days are over, its spell is broken. Liberalism is rising, and the peoples prefer the spiced cup of democratic aspiration to Rome's chalice; but the true Christian knows well that neither flows from the 1'eal Vine, and that whatever may be the temporary value of liberalism as a means, it is absolutely valueless as an end j hence the need of wise discernment of the times. The South American republics are fields whitening to harvest, for the Nile of opportnnity is daily risiug, and the Gospel sower has abundant promise of bread. But the Lne is short. As with giving, so with action, Bis dat qui cito dat (" What needs doing should be done now"). The hope of a millennium, by the confederated action of unrenewed men and nations, is a worse delnsion than Popery at its worst estate. Liberalism, un ballasted by grace, will erelong eventuate in lawlessness; and out of the seething mass of unsanctified impulse will emerge the lawless one. Now is the pregnant pause, now Satan is about to stake his trump card, now there is but a brief hour for service ere the Master appear. Oh, for the true union in the essentiah; of the faith and the oneuess of the Spirit, and for 1he cry from the one Church as from the heart of one man, in view of the vast Gospel destitution that still remains, " Here am I, Lord, send me "
PRACTICAL CONl<'UCIANIBM AND PHACTICAL CHlUBTIANITYIN KOREA
PRACTICAL CONFUCIANISM AND PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY IN KORgA.
BY REV. SAMUEL A. MOFFETT, PYENG YANG.
On a recent trip to this, the second city of Korea, I rested on the Lord's day in a small village, where I witnessed what gave me an insight into the utter heartlessness of heathenism. Soon after breakfast my boy came in saying that there was a poor fellow dying out on the roadside. Going out, I found a man somewhat past sixty years of age lying on a rough litter. He was covered with frost, having lain there all night, and was very weak, though able to talk. Upon inquiry I learned that he had been taken sick on the road five days before, and that, according to the custom which now prevails, he had been placed upon this litter by the men of the nearest village, and by them carried to the next village, where he was dropped at the side of the road. The people of this village, in turn fearing lest he should die on their hands and his spirit remain to haunt them and work them mischief, hurried him on. Thus the poor man had been carried from village to village, left to lie all night in the rain or frost without covering, without food, or medicine, or any attention beyond that of being roughly carried on and dropped again. For five days he had been so treated, and his strength was almost gone. I suggested that some one give him food ; but no, not one was so minded; so buying a table of food I fed hi.m with some rice-water. After eating a little the old man looked up gratefully, saying, "Now I shall live," and then he pleaded to be taken care of for two or three days, until he should haye strength to go on. I urged the people to give me a room where he might be made comfortable, promising to pay for his food and fuel. They flatly refused, and were preparing to carry him on. Turning from them I spoke to him of Christ, of forgiveness of sin, and relief from pain. He seemed to understand, and brightened up a little. After praying with him I turned again to the people and said some pretty plain things about their murdering the man. This seemed to arouse their consciences a little, and the spokesman of the village began to talk of finding a room. Asking me about his food, he named an exorbitant sum as necessary in order to keep him a few days. I agreed to furnish the amount, and told them to prepare the room while I went to get the money.
Entering my room at the inn several followed, saying that it was very kind in me to thus care for the man, but that the people did not want to take him in. Again I urged and offered more money, but while talking others came in to say that they had already carried the man off. They had gone but a few miles when the poor fellow died, and there they buried him.
Talking to those people, I felt like a prophet of old as I told them of a judgment to come, and called upon them to repent ere they were called before God to answer for the deed of that day. However, pity rather than indignation fills my mind as I think of this poor, degraded people, even their sense of humanity blunted under the system of misgovernment and oppression and the teachings of those who are professed Confucianists.
Not long after this I passed along the main street of this city of Pyeng Yang and witnessed another incident revealing the degradation of this people. Before me were a lot of boys tugging away at ropes attached to a straw mat, in which was the body of a man who had just died on the street. The boys were shouting aud laughing and making gay sport as they dragged this corpse along. This took place on the main street of the capital of the province, the boys being the errand boys of the merchants, who sat among their wares laughing at the frolic the boys were having.
Upon returning to my rooms I spoke of what I had seen, and was told by my boy that the night before he had seen an old man lying in front of one of the main public buildings on this street. The old man had just been thrust out of an inn and left to die on the streets on that bitterly cold night. It may have been this body that I saw thus dragged through the streets, but I am told that such cases are not so infrequent but that there may have been two in one day.
Is this practical Confucianism which professes to pay the greatest respect to the aged -and to the dead? This is not an exceptional case, such as might occur in the slums of a large city, but it took place in the sight of all on the main street in the city, where dwells the governor, who in his zeal for Confucianism has recently established anew a Confucian schoo!.
Christianity has not as yet very many adherents in Korea, but already these few show a greatly different spirit from the above. Last January, in this probably the most wicked city in Korea, it was my privilege to baptize eight men, giving us a church of ten members. They had been instructed in the Gospel for several months, had endured abuse and insult with courage and with a truly Christ-like spirit, and they soon showed that they had been imbued with the practical spirit of Christianity.. Before they had been in the church a month they came to me with the proposition that the first use of the little money they had contributed should be for the care of a little orphan child dying of starvation. I gladly accepted the proposition, eager to encourage them in their Christ-like spirit. Thus practical Christianity is manifesting itself in Korea. Theoretical Confucianism contrasted with Christianity in a Parliament of Religions at Ohicago is one thing j practical Confucianism illustrated in Korea is quite another.
MISSIONARY WORK IN NORTHERN BULGARIA
MISSlONARY WORK IN NORTHERN BULGARIA.
BY REV. L. "'. GUILD.
The Bulgar is intensely patriotic. His five hundred years of Turkish rule have only strengthened his love of liberty. When King Milan of Servia led his army into Bulgaria aud Prince Alexauder hastily recruited an army and marched against him, the peasants in multitudes loaded grain and provisions on their wagons and started after the army. Peasants met by a gentleman were asked, "Who buys your grain ?" "No one." " Where are you taking it ?" "To the army." "What do you get for it?" "I get freedom. "
This intense patriotism is an obstacle to us. He knows that the priests are revellers, licentious, idle; but he knows that through the long night of Turkish oppression "the church" was the means of preserving the Bulgarian people separate, and the Bulgar does not propose to lightly forsake his ancestral religion, and looks with suspicion on a form of religion which is introduced by foreigners and supported by foreign gold, though he is not insensible to the superior morality of Protestantism over the "orthodox" faith.
The Turk's status is peculiar. He is no longer the proud lord, but the hated and tolerated hewer of wood and drawer of water. The government seeks to conciliate the Turks and retain them, fearing that their withdrawal would cripple the productive factors of the nation to the injury of all. The old narrow Turkish streets in the cities are being widened unaer supervision of the government. In one city the authorities drew their plans with a view to destroying as many mosques as possible. The government, noticing that many would be destroyed, instructed the mayor that new plans must be made, sparing as many as possible. Toward the Protestant the Turk is quite friendly. He says: "It is against your religion to worship images and to drink wine ; in that much we are alike." Not infrequently they are found in our assemblages, interested listeners.
While the policy of Bulgaria seems tyrannical in many things to an American, it is remarkably enlightened when viewed considering the five hundred years of bondage. Compulsory education prevails, and the expenditure for public schools is enormous. From these schools the Bible has been banished by request of the "synod," which does not seem to realize that the educated Bulgarian, despising the superstition of the "orthodox" church, is fast becoming an infidel. Modern scepticism is quite popular among the elite, while socialism with a free.love tinge is making its appearance. It is doubtful if the latter will make much headway, not at least till the former has prepared its way, for the Bulgarian people are remarkably virtuous.
The Roman Catholics are also here with a strongly organized and energeti-c mission, hated by the" orthodox," but possibly secretly patronized by Prince Ferdinand, who is a devout Catholic. Oh, that American Christians might realize the need of impregnating this rising nltion, now in its formative state, with the leaven of Protestantism! This only can furnish a safe antidote to infidelity, Romanism, free-Iovism, and orthodox superstition, and furnish a proper fibre for national life.
South of the Balkans is the Congregational Mission, of which we cannot now write intelligently. In our field we llave a number of stations manned by native Bulgarians_ We have three church edifices, but in most places our worship must be in private houses. '1Ve experience difficulty in building, and our progress must be slow till we get more church edifices. When means are provided for this we look to great hal'vests, for wherever we have public houses of worship they are filled with people even at mid-week service. In connection with these workers we have Biblewomen and colporteurs, and our press turns out various publications and a monthly paper.
We have two schools, one for boys at Sistof, and one for girls at Loftcha. Both are well patronized, and the latter is most especially useful. In it at present is the daughter of a village priest, who sends her here in preference to the public schools, which are under control of his own faith. There is also here the daughter of a " procuror", or prosecuting judge of quite a city where there is located a public school of as high grade as ours. These things are hopeful, indicating that the walls of prejudice are melting. In Plevna the" procuror" publicly asked the head priest, " Who best keeps the teachings of the Scriptures 1" and his eminence answered, " The Protestants."
But there is opposition, and among the native Christians the true spirit of sacrifice. A young married man was converted and joined our church. His wife's brothers came and took her and her little babe to their home. He sought her return, and was referred to the village priest, who said : " Forsake the Protestants and you can have them," This he would not do. Three months later (a few weeks ago) he was notified: "If you do not at once forsake the Protestants, we shall divorce your wife and marry her to another," for the divorce laws are in the hand of the church j and this they did. Truly he forsook all for Christ. I might multiply instances touching in the extreme. Are not such a people worth sacrificing for! Recently a Bulgar not a member of any Protestant church donated $3000 to our work. The field may be sterile and hard, but the Gospel will shortly win glorious triumphs in Bulgaria.
The changes now working in the Catholic Church are among the encouraging signs of the times in France. Where that great organization had once impressed upon the mind its immutability, all are now struck by its power of transformation. The college of the Sorbonne, which once burned Protestants, now has a Protestant at its head, The people are thinking about religious questions, thousands are looking toward Protestantism with expectation, and the outlook for a religious revival is very bright indeed.
1894.' 'rl'lE MoALL MISSION
THE McALL ~nSSION.
BY LOUISE SEYMOFR HOUG!lTO~r.
• It is not necessary to review the story or the founding of the McAli Mission. All who study the progress of missionary events know that it was in a very true sense the direct outgrowth of the French Commune. Mr. McAll carried the Gospel to France because he saw that the centre of the tribulations of France was the popular ignorance of the religion of the Gospel. He of all men saw that the Christian Church held in its grasp precisely what the French nation needed in its hour of dire confusion and calamity. So in January, ] 872, a few months after the downfall of the Commune, Mr. and Mrs. McAll quietly began their work among the laboring men of Paris. A small, low-studded, brick-paved shop in a narrow, crooked street, in an obscure suburb of the great capital was the scene of their first efforts. }'orty people were seated on the rush-bottomed chairs; at the harmonium Mrs. McAll with her well-trained fingers and her silvery voice; on the low platform Mr. MeAl! with his broken French, and one or two earnest French Protestant pastors. The hall, the street, the quarter, all were obscure, and yet at that time the quarter Belleville was notorious as the quarter of Communists, and in a yard barely a stone's throw from the little hall the wall was yet red with the blood of martyred priests-shot down by infuriated Communists, without mercy and with no reason except that they were priests. The people came to hear, first curiously, then eagerly. It is many years since that single hall with its forty chairs has increased to a hundred and twenty halls, with seventeen thousand sittings and more than a million auditors and worshippers in every year. There are thirty-nine of these halls in Paris and its suburbs, the others are in the provinces from Brittany to the Mediterranean, in Corsica, and in Algiers. There would be many more stations than these but for one feature in the policy by which this mission is managed, which makes it more widely and more fundamentally useful than it could possibly be made by any growth within itself. This feature grows out of the general policy, which is co-operation carried to its widest extent. The non· sectarian character of the mission makes this co-operation possible to a degree unknown in any other religious work. Volunteers come from all countries and from all denominations to work in the halls. Speakers come to address the meetings from every church in France. The four great evangelizing societies of the Reformed, Free, and Baptist chuches of France, and the Society of Evangelization of Geneva co-operate in the work of fully one sixth of the stations. Country pastors of all denominations desiring to work in outlying hamlets, and city pastors wishing to carryon suburban missions, find that they can best do so under the auspices of the McAll Mission; and thus not infrequently a mission begun as a McAIl station has grown so strong and has come into such close affiliation with the church of the missionary pastor, that it has in the end been adopted by that church as its own, and is no longer numbered among McAll stations. By the marvellous economy of God's providence, the little mission hall has awakened missionary zeal in the members of the pastor's church, who up to that time had thought they had all they could do to live and hold their own. Thus as the light of the McAll torch has kindled these French churches, one by one, a station here and there has left the mission and become an integral part of this or that church. The number of stations now or at any time do not, therefore, represent the number of living and active children of the mother mission; and thus, though the mission founds no churches, churches are here and there founded, while existing churches everywhere within its reach are built up by converts from the McAll Mission.
Though the mission was originally intended for the working people, and always will be their own especial mission, it is in the nature of things that the remedy which Dr. McAll saw to be adapted to the needs of France should be accepted by others than the working men. From time to time men and women of education, refinement, and social position have been reached by the Gospel proclaimed in the mission halls. Some of the best workers to-day-ministers, ministers' wives, and others-are converts of the mission. A constantly increasing number of people of the better class are coming under its influence.
Within the past few years it has shown itself especially adapted to meet the great spiritual unrest which has laid hold of the young men of France, the youth of the universities, and the young men of the army. The soldiers' reading-rooms have proved to be a wonderful power for good, and the one small hall especially opened to reach the university men has proved so beneficent' in its results, that a special appeal is now made for funds to enlarge this work. The Sunday and Thursday schools also have a marvellous hold upon the younger boys and girls. Many of the efficient teachers were converts of the Sunday-schools. The effort is now being made to put the Sunday-school work on a permanent basis. A plan has been elaborated by which each Sunday-school in the mIssion may be brought into direct touch with our Sunday-schools in America. An annual appropriation of $25 from an American Sunday-school will provide the colored pictures, lesson papers, and other necessary material, and the school making the appropriation will be brought into correspondence with a MeAll school, and wilJ be able to follow its history year by year.
Deeply to be lamented as is the death of Dr. MeAll, sorely as the workers miss the inspiration of his wisdom, love, cheerfulness, and energy, the work has suffered no check. Long years before his death he had put the government of the mission into the hands of a board composed of representative Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Americans, and before his death he even withdrew from the presidency of the board, that no shock or hindrance might be felt when he should be called away. The present president of the board is M. Louis Saulter, an eminent French banker; the executive head is the Rev. Charles E. Greig, who for years labored at Dr. MeAll's right hand. Mr. Greig has lately visited the American McAIl Auxiliaries, and everywhere has awakened thorough confidence in his ability and consecration to the work.
There is no limit to the progress of this remarkable mission but the limit of funds supplied by Christians outside of France. The French people are doing nobly. Poor as are the Protestants of France, they are contributing generously, not only in money, but in labor. Five hundred out of the six hundred workers are French, and their work is most valuable; but in money they can do little. Americans have a deep interest in France. Christians, remember that there is seemingly no limit to the progress of the Gospel in France through the McAll Mission except the limit of the contributions of Christians.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
International Missionary Union. Palestine; 1886, Miss G. S. Bigelow, Japan; – – Rev. F. G. Bingley. The eleventh annual meeting of the South America; 1879, Rev. W. B. International Missionary Union was Boggs, D.D., India; 1868, Rev. L. held at Clifton Springs, N. Y., June Bond and Mrs. L. Bond, Turkey; 1886- 13-20. One hundred and forty. one 87, Rev. G. A. Bond, Strait's Sett.le- missionaries were in attendance from ment; 1885, Miss Charlotte H. Brown, many countries: From Liberia. the Syria; 1853-83, Mrs. A. Bushnell, Af· Gaboon and Cape Colony, in Africa, 5 ; rica; 1886, Rev. H. Olin Cady-1894, Australia, 1; Assam, 3; Bulgaria, 5 ; Mrs. H. Olin Cady, China; 1890–92, Burma, 3; North, South, Central and Rev. W. A. Carrington, Brazil; 1881- extreme West China, 23; Guatemala, 86, Miss L. S. Cathcart, Micronesia; 1 ; Hawaii, 1 ; various parts of India. 1884, Miss M. Christiancy, M.D., India; 33; Italy, 1; Japan, 20; Korea, 2; 1877, Rev. T. D. Christie, D.D., Tur· Mexico, 2 ; Micronesia, 6 ; North Ameri- key; 1886, Miss T. Crosby, Micronecan Indians, 2; Jerusalem, 3; Persia, sia ; 1881-85, S. Cross, Siam; 1871-80, 2; Siam and Laos, 6 ; Brazil, Chile, 2 ; Rev. E. Cunningham and Mrs. E. Cun- Spain, 2; Malaysia, 1 ; Syria, 3; Euro- ningham, India; 1878-79. Rev. C. W. pean and Asiatic Turkey, 13. Cushing, D.D., Italy; 1894, 'Miss K. Darmstadt, India; 1869-70, Rev.•J. A. By society and denominational classi- Davis and Mrs. J. A. Davis. China; fication they were as f(1jllows: Ameri- 1868-93, Miss A. J. Dean, Persia; 1874, can Board, 38; Methodist Episcopal and Rev. J. H. DeForest, D.D., and Mrs. Canada Methodist, 37; Presbyterian, J. H. DeForest, Japan; 1886, Rev. North and South, and United Pres- W. C. Dodd-1887, JIrs. W. C. Dodd, bytery, 33; Moravian, 1; Protestant Laos; 1880, Rev. G. F. Draper and Episcopal, 1; Reformed Episcopal, 1 ; Mrs. G. F. Draper-1889, Mrs. G. Italian Bible, 1; Honorary and Inde- Draper••Tapan; 1872, Miss H. N. Eastpendent, 11; Reformed Church of man, Burma; 1887-89, Rev. W. P. F. America, 4. As this REVIEW has Ferguson, Mexico; 1873-94, Miss A. P. hitherto published the names of those Ferguson, Africa; 1887-92, Miss M. E. present, to preserve the history the list Files, Burma; 1884, Rev. F. W. Foote is herewith given alphabetically, with and Mrs. F. W. Foote, India; 1890, their years of service: Mrs. R. C. Forbes, Micronesia; 1880, Rev. G. A. Ford, Syria; 1853-58, Mrs. 1886-88. Rev. Ray Allen, India; O. M. Ford, Africa; 1888, Rev. J. M. 1876-92, Rev. J. L. Amerman, D.D., Foster and Mrs. J. M. Foster, China; and Mrs. J. L. Amerman, Japan; 1880, Miss E. M. Garretson, China; 1881, Miss E. D. Anderson, India; 1861-68, Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., and 1888-92, Miss E. Babbitt, India; 1889, Mrs. J. T. Gracey, India; 1874, Rev. Mrs. E. M. Bacon, India; 1859-80, A. T. Graybill, Mexico; 1877, Mrs. Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D., China; 1885, A. C. Good, Africa; 1882-90, Rev. Rev. J. L. Barton and Mrs. J. L. Bar- C. W. Green, Japan; 1872-83, Rev. ton, Turkey; 1869-72, Miss M. C. T. L. Gulick and Mrs. T. L. Gulick, Beach, Bulgaria; 1888-93, A. W. Beall, Spain; 1888, Miss L, G. Hale, China; Japan; 1879-81, Rev. W. H. Belden 1837-77, Rev. C. Hamlin, D.D., TUrand lIrs. W_ H. Belden, Bulgaria; key; 1864-73, Rev. A. Hartmann, Aus- – – Rev. E. A. Bell and Mrs. E. A. tralia-1874, Canadian Indians; 1884, Bell, India; 1848, Rev. A.. Ben-Oliel- ,1870, Mrs. A. and Miss F. E. Ben·Oliel, Miss E. L. Harvey, India; 1882, Rev. J. E. Wayte, India; 1845-64, Rev. E. W. M. Hares and Mrs. W. M. Hayes, Webb and Mrs. E. Webb, India; 1880- China; 1885, N. tl. Hopkins, M.D., 91, Mrs. W. White, China; 1887, Miss and Mrs. N. S. Hopkins, China; 1872, N. J. Wilson, Japan; 1838-86, Rev. Rev. J. H. House, D.D., Bulgaria; 1877, G. W. Wood, D.D.-l871-86, lIrs. Mrs. C. 11. Hyde, Hawaii; 1891, J. G. W. Wood, 'J'nrkey; 1886, Rev. J.JIly and Mrs. J. Jolly, India; 1855- W. S. Wordon, M.D., Japan; 1868-77, 58, Rev. J. S. Joralmon, China; 1872- Rev. R R. Young, D.D., and Mrs. 76, Miss M. Kipp, Syria; 1885, Miss E. R. Young, Indians of Hudson's Bay. T. J. Kyle, India; 1885, H. M. Lane, M.D., Brazil; 1888, Rev. J. M Leonard The Recognition Meoting on Wednes· and Mrs. J. M. Leonard, Japan; 1894, day evening, in which each missionary Rev. W. J. Leverett, China; 1888, Miss introduces himself or herself, stating A. C. Little, Micronesia; 1880-90, Mrs. name, field, years and society, was spe- C. S. Long, Japan; 1874, Rev. M. C. cially interesting. The whole session Mason-1885, Mrs. M. C. Mason, As· of Thuro'day forenoon was devoted to sam: 1858, Rev. D. McGilvary, D.D., the study of the work and promise and Laos; 1885, Rev. C. Merritt, M.D., and power of the Holy Ghost, and was led Mrs. C. Merritt, China; 1861. Mrs. S. E. by Rev. A T. Pierson, D.D., editor- Newton, India; 1872–89, Rev. A. B. in·chief of this REVIEW, and was a sea- Norton -1872-90, Mrs. A. B. Norton, son of great spiritual power; on Thurs- India; 1870. Rev. F. Ohlinger-1876, day afternoon Rev. J. Henry House, Mrs. F. Ohlinger, China, Korea; 1877- D.D., spoke on What Can be Done 81, Rev. W. B. Osborne, India; 1875- within the Greek Church for its Refor- 81, Mrs. W. B. Osborne, India; 1883-89, rnation? Rev. F. G. Bingley, of Chile, Miss A. E. Ottaway, Guatemala; 1877, on Bishop Taylor's Work in South Rev. E. M. Pease, M.D., and Mrs. E.l'I. America; Rev. A. Hartmann, on Re- Pease, Micronesia; 1877-83, Rt. Rev. ligious and Educatiolllll Work among C. C. Penick, Africa; 1855, Rev. 1. 1<'. North American Indians; Rev. C. W. Pettibone, D.D., Turkey; 1882, F. D. Cushing, D.D., on Italy; Rev. A. T. Phinney, Burma; 1870-!)1, Rev. I. Pier· Graybill, D.D., on Mexico; Rev. E. R. son, China; 1888, Miss E. A. Preston, Young, on the Indians of the Far North- Japan; 1878-80, Miss Mary A. Priest, land. In the evening Dr. McGilvary, Japan; 1869, Rev. G. C. Raynolds, the apostle to the Laos, spoke of Work M.D., Eastern Turkey; 1882, Rev. G. in Northern Siam; Bishop Thoburn, on Reid, Ohina ; 1847-69. Miss M. S. Rice, the Great Religious Movement in South· Persia; 1888, Miss C. E. Righter, eastern Asia, follow~ng which short ad· China; 1894, Miss A. J. Rood, Assam; dresses were made by Rev. H. C. Velte 1884, Miss L. A. Schenck, Bulgaria; and Dr. Boggs, of India, and M. C. 1887, Miss J. Schuff. India; 1886, 11iss Mason, of Assam. L. Smith, Japan; 1889-93, Rev. F. J. Stanley and Mrs. F. J. Stanley, Japan; On Friday morning the devotional 1881-90, Rev. M. L. Stimson and Mrs. hour was led by Bishop Thoburn. Spe. M. L. Stimson, China; 1854-64, Rev. cial prayers were asked for missionaries R. Telford, Siam, China; 1857, Rev. and native Christians in Korea and for R. Thackwell-1869, Mrs. R. Thack· others exposed to the plague, the" blaok well, India; 1868-73, C. C. Thayer, death" in Canton. Rev. E. Webb read :U.D., and Mrs. C. C. Thayer, Turkey; a paper on Hindustani Music; Rev. 1859, Bishop J. 11. Thoburn. India; W. M. Hayes spoke on the Need of 1886, J. B. Thompson, M.D., Siam; Higher Education in Mission Fields, 1868, Miss C. O. Van Duzee, Turkey, and over twenty missionaries took part Pelsia; 1882, Rev. H. C. Velte-1887, in the discussion of the subject. The Mrs. H. C. Velte, India; 1884, Miss afternoon meeting was devoted specifi- cally to woman's work, and was conduct- ed entirely by ladies. some twerty mis· sionary women taking part. The even· bers deceased during' the year: Rev: ing meeting was addressed by Drs. Bar- J. Y. Leonard, D.D., of Asia Minor; ton and Raynolds, of Turkey; Dr. Mrs. Lingle, China; ~:lrs. R. Telford, Gulick, of Hawaii j Rev. E. ~I. Pease, Siam; Rev. J. Le Nevius, D.D., China j M.D., of Micronesia; Miss Little. of Rev. A. Dowsley, Chin3 j Mrs. F. D.
Kusaic ; Rev. G. A. Ford, of Syria. Phinney, Burma; Mrs. Samuel Cross, On Saturday forenoon the discussion Siam; MiS!! Lund, Japan; Rev. George was on thc Native Christians. Dr. Douglas, D.D., West Indies; Mrs.
Graybill led on the duty of the native Samuel R. House, Siam; Rev. J. E.
church to carry thc Gospel over their Chandler, India.
own lands without foreign aid, and Following this a discussion was had seven others spoke on different phases on "Is medical work by women mis- of the native Church. How Shall Poor sionaries in India considered as neces- Christian Women in India become Selt- sary as formerly?" and five speakers Supporting? six speakers gave infor- spoke at length in the affirmative. The mation on this topic. How Shall we general subject of Medical Missions was Treat Native Christians, as Superiors, taken up, and fourteen representatives Equals or Inferiors? was discussed by of different countries spoke, H. M.
speakers from several countries. The Lane, M.D., of Brazil, and several afternoon was given up to a children's other medical missionaries being of the meeting and to a reception on the lawn,' number.
in which missionaries were presented to The afternoon session was gi ven to friends. especially to Dr. and Mrs. Fos- Japan, and W. S. Worden, M.D., gave ter. In the evening a composite stere- personal experiences in the earthquake opticon lecture was delivered by several in Japan j Rev. J. H. DeForest spoke missionaries from several lands. on the Political Situation j Dr. Amer- On Sunday morning a" consecration man, on Denominational Unity in that service" was held, and a unique, pow· land, and Miss Bigelow on Woman's erful sermon was delivered by Drs. Work in Japan. A season of question.
Ford. Leonard, Boggs, Barton and Am· ing of the speakers followed, the an· erman in a logically lelated order of swers throwing much additional light thought-closn, compact and impressive on the subjects under consideration.
-on the Great Missionary Command of Dr. Cyrus Hamlin read a paper on Christ, the Scripture Exposition, the Russia's Endeavor to Blot out Protest· Need and Adaptation, the Motive, antism from Turkey. Mr. Phinney ex- Unity in Obedience, the Consumma- plained and illustrated the process of tion, being spoken of in the order of photo-engraving of the Karen Bible, the names mentioned. At three o'clock now being conducted by the Baptist So- Rev. Ben·Oliel, of Jerusalem, spoke on ciety under his supervision, Miss East- Prophecies Concerning the Jews now man reading the proof.
being Fulfilled. In the evening Dr. The evening was devoted to China Raynolds spoke ou Work in Eastern and Korea, Rev. C. Merritt, M.D., pre· Turkey; Dr. G. W. Wood, on Educa- siding, and the speakers being Rev. F.
tional Work in Constantinople; Dr. Ohlinger, of Korea. Mrs. C. Merritt, J. L. Barton, on Work in Central Tur- Rev. I. Pierson, N. S. Hopkins, M.D., key; Dr. Christie. on Educational Work Rev. H. O. Cady, Miss Garretson, Rev.
in Tareus ; Miss A. Ferguson, on Edu- Gilbert Reid, Mrs. W. J. White, Rev.
cational Work in Cape Colony; and W. M. Hayes. Mrs. Ohlinger sang the Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick, D.D., Bishop of national air of Korea.
Liberia (Protestant Episcopal), spoke Tuesday the devotional hour was in on Work in Liberia. charge of Rev. J. A. Davis. the special On Monday, during the de~otional topic of prayer being the sanitarium at hour, brief memoirs were read of m3m- Clifton Springs, its founder and its pa· tients, and the International Missionary Bishop Thoburn's Address. Union. A resolution was adopted that " Whether at home or abroad, at work The field which I represent is one or at rest, on the land or on the sea, we of immense area and population. India remember at the twilight hour the sani- has 1,500,000 square miles and 284,000,- tarium and its work, our International 000 inhabitants. Malaysia includes the Missionary Union, and the missions of Jialay Peninsula and the islands on the world" in prayer. which Malay people live-an immense area, with enough population to bring Mrs. Newton conducted a question- the total in my field up to 325,000,000 box; Mrs. Ford read a paper on Im- -nearly three times that of the Roman proved Conditions of Living in Africa. empire in the days of Paul. Our mis- Rev. J. H. House spoke on Bulgaria, sionaries are preaching in 16 different the storm-centre of Europe; and Dr. languages. There is much of interest Hamlin read a paper on the Strife be- in every part of the field; but I shall tween Sir Stratford Canning, the Eng- only have time to speak of one feature of lish ambassador at Constantinople for our work, the rapid advance among the many years, and the Czar Nicholas. lower castes. This movement extends Dr. Barton spoke on the Restrictions of through all our land, the Northwest Mission Work in Turkey. provinces and into parts of the Punjab, Rajputana and the Central provinces, The afternoon session was given to thus covering a territory inhabited by the consideration of the opportunities of 60,000,000 or 70,000,000. The movethe missionary at home, and how to ment is confined to the very lowest bring the individual church-member classes socially, but not to the poorest. into helpful touch with the work, and The majority of the converts are sweep· how to get pastors at home more deeply ers or scavengers by caste affiliations, interested. The evening was given to but very many of these are cultivators the missionaries who anticipated return- and live in comparative comfort. The ing to their fields this year: 8 going to same is true of the Chumars, or leather India, 12 to China and Korea, 4 to Siam, dressers, who rank very low, but large 4 to Japan, 3 to Palestine, 2 to Syria, 3 numbers of whom never touch leather, to Turkey, 1 to Persia, 1 to Assam, 3 to but work as day laborers or cultivators. Bulgaria, 1 to Mexico, 1 to Africa, and Other low castes are represented among others to Micronesia and other fields- the converts, the standing of each vary- 46 in all. Rev. Dr. George W. Wood ing in different parts of the country. addressed the compauy on behalf of the Union. About five years ago a movement toward Christianity began to be noticed The meeting closed with a " nugget" among these people, and it has been session on Wednesday morning. steadily maintained ever since. For some time the converts have averaged, The following officers were elected of all years, about 50 a day. Upto date for the ensuing year: President, J. T. there seems no signs of abatement to the Gracey, D.D., Rochester, N. Y. ; Vice- work. If we are able to provide for it Presidents, Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., S. L. there is every prospect of its progress Baldwin, D.D., W. B. Boggs, D.D., and wide extension. The latest letter J. L. Amerman, D. D., Rev. A. T. from a native brother reported 200 bap- Graybill. Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick; Sec- tisms in a week and 2000 candidates for retary. Rev. W. H. Belden; Associate baptism. Another has reported over and Recording Secretary, Mrs. C. C. 3000. If I could get $2000 a year for Thayer; Treasurer and Librarian, Rev. five years I would undertake to open a C. C. Thayer, M.D. ; Executive Com- new mission field, and have 5000 conmittee, Rev. J. A. Davis, Mr. F. D. verts in it within five years. Phinney, C. W. Cushing, D.D., Rev. J. L. Barton, James Mudge, D.D., Mrs. W. H. Belden, Mrs. W. J. White. This movement has the following shall accomplish that which I please; points in its favor: First, the people do . . . it shall prosper whereto I sent not ask for money, employment, or any it. " Let us all look and pray for temporal reward. They are anxious to greater victories.
have their children educated, but ask The special work for English-speak- for nothing besides. Second, they ing young men-chiefly students in mis- make satisfactory progress after be- sionary and government colleges -has coming Christians. The children of been very cheering of late. Our broth- those who became Christians thirty er, Robert P. Wilder, of the Student's years ago have grown up before our Volunteer Movement, has been render- eyes. Some are ordained ministers, ing important aid in this line in several some teachers in high schools, and now of our great cities, particularly in Cal- some are successfully learning stenog- cutta. Quite a number of young men raphy and typewriting. Third. the have recently come out boldly for Christ, low-caste men of to-day will be the and are bravely facing petty persecu- leaders of society before the close of the tion for His sake. I am looking for a next century. The social stain is rapid- broader and more general movement 1y removed after they become Chris- toward Christianity among students.
tians. Fourth, from a missionary point The position of principal or professor of view, the value of the work is en- in these colleges is one of grave respon- hanced by the fact that workers are sibility in these days. We need men of raised upon the field. During the past Alexander Duff's spirit to meet these five years I have ordained 200 men, young scholars, and to illustrate by life while not less than 100 workers of lower and lips the purity and power of our grade are thrust out every year. We holy faith. I believe we have men in have now a total of nearly 1000 native our missionary colleges whose lives and preachers, and, including teachers, Bible labors are telling for the truth, and I readers and other helpers, we have a look for large results.
total working force of 2400 men and The Young Men's Christian Associa- women. tion is coming to be an agency of recog- nized power in this country. The ear- The Outlook in India. nest work of Mr. David McConaughy at Madras for four years past has yield- BY REV. J. L. PHILLIPS. M.D., SECRE- ed cheering results. He was general 'l'ARY SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, INDIA. secretary at Philadelphia. and brought The Bible was never in such demand his American methods with him, and in India as now. I hear South India his singular fidelity and strong faith called "the benighted presidency" have been richly rewarded. Mr. Rob- sometimes; but there is more Bible ert McCann, of Ireland, has just com- there to the square inch than in any pleted three years of faithful effort at other part of India. The Secretary of Bombay and retired home, I regret to the Madras Auxiliary Bible Society, and say, for that city needs a strong man to others in like employment, testify to the stay and give his whole time to the increasing call for our sacred Scriptures work. At Calcutta we have recently in English and in the leading vernacu- welcomed Mr. J. C. White from Ameri- lars of the land. I believe that there ca, who is beginning his difficult duty are thousands reading this Book daily with good courage. I believe there is a 'of whom we know nothing as yet, but bright future before the Y. M. C. A: in who will be heard from by and by. India, particularly in our large towns Those three clauses of seven words each and among young men of all classes, in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah are native and foreign.
coming to mind often in these days: ., It The abundant blessing of our cove- shall not return unto me void; . . . it nant God contir.ues to rest upon our efforts for the little ones of this broad and improvement and extension of Sundaybeautiful field. Distinctly do I recall schools will prove a great blessing to the time when we were seeking them, our native Church, while it carries blessand not with much success, but now ing to the' heathen around. As never they are seeking us, and we are finding before we missionaries must devote it not so easy to provide teachers for strength to training native workers for this growing multitude. Two admir· this great field. It is vastly better to able Sunday-school conventions have set twenty men to work than to do been held recently-one for the whole twenty men's work. The great and Punjab at Lahore, and the other for the growing harvest in India calls for train Central Provinces at Jabalpur. These ed hands, loving hearts and consecrated meetings are strengthening inter-de- lives. While Africa and China call for nominational fellowship and bringing so many toilers, we hope that India's Christian workers of all churches into claim may not be overlooked. The very hearty co-operation. Our Sunday- watchmen begin to see" eye to eye," schools are increasing rapidly all over and "the morning cometh." India, and, what is of more importance, they are growing better. Our teachers The Politioal Oomplioations in Korea. are better trained, and their work is being done more satisfactorily. Best of BY REV. F. OHLINGER. all, our pupils, in Hindu schools as well as Christian, are coming to Christ and r am not sure that the political combeginning to bring their friends to Him. plications have anything to do with Temperance reform is getting a firm- our missionary troubles. We had trouer foothold in India. All American ble before at Pyeng-yang-in fact, we missionaries, and many of the European have had trouble tp.ere ever since we societiel!, are total abstainers. Strong bought property, nearly two years ago. drink is rarely seen on Christian tables, Dr. Hall has since that time rarely made the quill.driving glObe-trotters to the a visit to the place without meeting contrary notwithstanding. Bands of with some kind of abuse Hope for children are heing organized in connection with churches and Sun- At the attempted opening of a posday – schools. In many places large tal system in Korea in 1884, and durnumbers of native gentlemen have been ing the banquet given in the celeenrolled in temperance organizations. bration of that event, a conflict took There is need of all this, for intemper- place between certain rival parties led ance is undoubtedly spreading in the by Min Yong Ik and Kim Ok Kyun re- Hindu and Mohammedan communities. spectively. These were both reformers But the Church of Christ is liIting up and liberals, or "openers to the modhel' voice and hand against this grow- ern" as opposed to the" preservers of ing vice. the ancient" or conservatives, yet in that emeute they stood on opposite Such are some of the cheering tokens sides. Min (or, as our Japanese friends in the general outlook here now. Per- say, Bin) was seriously-it was feared haps the very brightest of all, however, fatally-wounded, and his recovery is the rising zeal of the native Church under treatment of Dr. Allen opened of India for bringing her countrymen the way for us missionaries more fully. to Christ. I am noticing this particu- Kim was allowed to escape to Japan. larly in connection with my own line of where hefound friends. He made the effort. It is very gratifying to see acquaintance of some missionaries, but these disciples engaging in voluntary I am not aware that he ever identified service for their own people and for the himself with the Church. He spoke a little ones who now come so eagerly to little English, but was evidently glad our Sunday-schools, I believe that the to meet some one to speak to him in Korean at the time I visited him two servative party, and yet the strong peryears ago. sonal friend of the recently assassinated Kim Ok Kyun. Min, after his recovery, was ostensibly sent on a mission to European 2. The king, son of the above, appowers, but never went farther than parentlya well-meaning, humane ruler, Hong Kong. His stay there is gener- between and in the midst of numberless ally viewed as an exile on grounds of cross fires. expediency. Some four or five months ago the Government asked him to re- 3. The queen, head of the Min famturn to Korea, and soon after Kim was ily, and of the progressive party, the lured from his hiding in Japan over to enemy of the old regent and of Kim, the Shanghai by a man who had been in assassinated reformer. She 8eemB to Europe and who had evidently become rule the country, is devoted to Budwell acquainted in higher social circles dhism, and anti-Chinese. There is serithere. He had letters from Pere Hya- ous strife between leading factions of cinthe and other dignitaries in his pos- her family. session. He treacherously and brutally assassinated Kim, claiming that he did 4. Min Yong Ik, cousin of the queen, it from patriotic motives. On his per· a radical leader and personal rival of son were found documents that showed Kim, since the emeute practically exiled that he acted for a faction calling itself to Hong Kong. the Government. Both he and the body of his victim were at once taken to 5. Kim Ok Kyun, head of a power- Korea on a Chinese gun-boat. A proc- ful family, another leader of the reform lamation was issued rewarding him for party, a personal friend of the old rehis deed, and condemning the corpse of gent (conservative), a rival of Min Yong Kim to the customary treatment of Ik, who, as we have said, was assassitraitors. On the very heel of this proc- nated a few months ago in Shanghai. lamation came the demand for an ex· planation from Japan, and the urgent 6. The Tong Hak (Eastern sect) arose appeal from all the consuls in Shanghai a little over a year ago in the province that the body be not mutilated and that of Chyella, in Southern Korea_ Not the assassin be punished. The king had openly, and yet evidently allied with one received the congratulations of the Min of the above parties or leaders. Motto: family (the family of the queen), and a " Stand fOl' Korea; away with Japanese banquet had been given. The old regent and across-the-ocean men" (" Western- -the Tai Won Kun-knownas the per- ers"); suppressed two years ago. They secutor of Roman Catholic Christians are probably "the rebels" referred to twenty-eight years ago, the leader of the in the telegrams. conservative party, and the deadly encmy of the queen's family, "wept like Yet we do not know; the" rebels" a child, and worshipped all night before of to- day may be the" government" tothe tablets of Kim's ancestors." It is morrow. 'rhe" ins" are the governall a perfect jumble of politic8, family ment, and the "outs," whene'Der they feuda, and personal grievances fof ambi- become re8ti'D8, are the" rebels." They tions. may change places and names over- night. No one can tell here What a To recapitUlate ar.d to show JOu that telegram that the" rebels have been dethis analysis does not analyze, and that feated" means. These items are not the usual wording of telegrams tells us worth the paper on which they are nothing as to the party rea11yin power, printed until we know the names, leadwe have: ers, and prineiple8 of the contending par- ties. We may assume, however, that 1. The Tai Won Kun, the king's fa- the Koreans still .. eat Li rice"-i.e., ther, pro-Ohinese, and leader of the con- that the dynasty which has stood five hundred and three years still stands, and that the humane, intelligent, and fairly progressive king still reigns. Still the complications are serious and fore- and definite testimony as to what had boding. been wrought in their souls. There were several cases of bitter penitence, Revival Influences, Foochow, China, which, I think, is rare among the Chi- nese. With some the struggle lasted A gracious outpouring of God's Spirit only a little time, when peace and joy is reported in North China, and it is would fill the heart; with others it lastwith gratitude we learn of special Di- ed several days, with sleepless nights, vine blessing at Foochow. Rev. J. H. but at last the clouds would burst and Worley, of the Methodist Episcopal Mis· the sunlight of God's redeeming love sion, tells of it in a letter at hand, which would flood the wsiting soul. we quote without editing. He says: .. That the work was thorough is more "We have had a most gracious reo and more evident as the days pass by. vival which lasted eighteen nights, and In my daily intercourse with the theostill goes on in the hearts of the people logical students, and the exceeding joythough the meetings have closed. The fulness with which they tell the good first three nights it rained hard, and the news to others, it is easy to see a great attendance was small, only the theo- change has taken place in many of their logical students, a few from the college, hearts. But no greater work was acand two or three missionaries being pres· complished than among the students of ent. The meetings were enthusiastic the Anglo-Chinese College, some of from the first, considerable preparatory whom were among our brightest Chris· work having been done among thetheo- tians before. Since the meetings closed logical students. The Holy Spirit was the older students have special services present, and all felt His power and were for the instruction of new students in willing to take any part or perform any Christian doctrine. Sunday afternoons task laid upon them. The first night they havc Sunday·schools for heathen everyone in the church except two children in the various churches and came to the altar to consecrate himself day·school buildings. They also do to God's service; and thus it continued considerable preaching in the villages; from night to night till the weather and, in order to be better prepared for cleared, and the attendance was large, these services, they have invited Mr. when there was not room for all who Miner, one of the professors in the coldesired to kneel at the altar. Several lege, to gi ve them special instruction in nights as many as fifty WeIe seeking the preparation and delivery of sermons. either pardon or purity; so when the altar and surrounding space were filled, "It will doubtless be a surprise to others kneeled at their seats. Prayers many to know that most of these perof confession and earnest pleading for sons were members of the Church and mercy were heard in all parts of the recognized as among our best Chrisroom, several praying at once. tians ; and, ~ore surprising still, that not a few were theological students. "When opportunity was given for Some professed to be reclaimed, having testimony no time was lost. Sometimes grown cold and lost the evidence of parfive or six would rise together, and I don; but the majority testified they had had to indicate who should speak first. never been forgiven and were ignorant The last night was a jubilee service, at of the joys of salvation. I must confess which ninety-two persons spoke in it was a surprise to me, and yet I was thirty-five minutes; besides, there was somewhat prepared, since in similar considerable singing interspersed. meetings last conference several preach- ers found great joy such as they had "One hundred and seven persons never experienced before. were revived or pardoned, and the evidences of genuineness were as great as "I fear a great many church·memcould be desired-a joyous, happy face, bers in Chin!!. have only renounced idolatry to accept Christianity as a system. nme new preaching-places. In order It has been a change of head and not of to meet the demands of these providenheart; having failed to realize it as a tial openings I have had to send out new life and power in the soul. We from the theological school eight stuoften hear it said the Chinese do not dents as pastor-teachers, and during the have such sorrow for sin and joy in sal; summer vacation several more will be vation as appear In Christian lands, and appointed. The day is past when we the explanation usually given is that in have to fight our way into the villages. the absence of truth they ignorantly If we can furnish the men and means worship idols, and when they accept to enter all the open doors, we shall be the Gospel they do it as little children, thankful. and hence are not conscious of being great sinners in the sight of God. In so " Ting Kan, a large literary and COlllfar as we have neglected to show them mercial centre, we tried in vain to enter they are rebels against God, needing re- for over thirty years. Last year unexpentance and pardon through Jesus pectedly the barriers gave way, and we Christ, our work has been a failure. have taken possession in the name of What many of our members need is just the King. Already we have a large such preaching and exhortation as:nomi- property for church, schools, and resinal Christians and sinr:ers need in the dence for native pastor; also two girls' home landa. There is a great work to and one boys';school, and a night school, be done in the Church as well as out. and several of the most influential fami- lies have become Christians. I visit the "There are signs of awakening on place often and tind the people anxious every hand. Hardly a week passes but to learn the doctrine. On a recent visit I receive an invitation from some new five hundred people listened long and village or neighborhood to go and attelltively to the native pastor and mypreach or open a Ohristian school. Sev- self preach. When we proposed to diseral months alSO a nati ve physician saun- cuss informally, they asked that we sing tered into our chapel at Hok Chiang, and pray again as we did at the openand at once his attention was arrested ing, so they could learn more about our by the strange but joyous message. He mode of worship. went away without speaking to the prcacher or making known the fact that " Guoh Tah is another important point his heart was moved. The more he opened recently. Here for a time we pondered, the more he was convinced of met considerable opposition from the its truth. When he reached home he village elders and literati; but when began telling the strange story to hls the pastor moved into the town these friends and neighbors, many or whom men, to our great surprise, called on received the Word gladly. He repeat- him and made presents according to etied the story in several viEages with the quette, and the next night the pastor same results. Desiring to know more invited them to a feast, and the pipe of of the doctrine, representatives from fif- peace was smoked, and all has moved teen families-among them a woman smoothly since. We have a boys' school over seventy years old-walked several numbering tiny and several probationmiles to the chapel and related how ers. At the last quarterly meeting the they first heard the truth. Each Sab- chapel was crowded, and mallY stood bath since the number of those travel- at the doors and windows eagerly catchling this long distance to attend church ing every word that was spoken. Once has increased. A building will soon be a week Miss :Masters, J'rl.D., holds ready for chapel and a helper sent to in- elinics, and the pastor and I preach to struct them further in the doctrine. the patients and others who come. A silversmith (not Demetrius) and his "Within the past five months on the whole family have been gloriously Foochcw district alone we have opened saved. A few days ago he Came t(} my house carrying two great baskets 1890 it amounted to $20,OOO,000! Of on a pole across his shoulder, as the this $17,000,000 was with California custom is in China. The baskets were filled with ido18, ancestral tablets, pray- alone. er·books, and other objects used in WOf- We have no snakes nor any deadly ship. Mrs. Worley asked him if he did not feel sad at parting with them, and animals in the islands. We ha ve no he said emphatically, 'No.' Many peo· pIe are turning from idolatry to the true cholera, nor yellow fever, nor other and living God. 1l1agues of the tropics there. We have ·,he highest mountains of any islands, II Thus the work moves on with increasing success in so many places I and are ten degrees cooler than any cannot tell you aIL Let the~e few ex· other country of our latitude. Five amples suffice to give you an idea of what God is doing and the prospects sevenths of the private property of the which gladden our hearts daily." islands has been created and is owned Address of Rev. Thomas L. Gulick, D.D., by Americans and their descendants. at the International Missionary Union. The 4th of July, Decoration Day, and When the first missionaries went to Thanksgiving Day are celebrated with Hawaii in 1820 the Hawaiians were naked savages, given to infanticide, as much regularity and enthusiasm as drunkenness, gambling, and theft. They were constantly engaged in bloody wars here. We have no beggars and no among themselves; they offered hun- Tammany Hall. We have the largest dreds of human sacrifices upon their and most accessible active volcano in altars. They had a terrible system of tabus; they had no written language, the world, which is a safety-valve, savand the common people were the slaves of the kings and chiefs. ing us from frequent and dangerous earthquakes such as they have in Cali- Now all are free men, and for many fornia and Japan. A good carriage years have had the right to vote. All know how to read and write. The road takes you from beautiful Hilo land is dotted with churches and school- thirty miles through tropic forests to a houses built by themselves. Life and property are safer than in the United fine hotcl on the very brink of the States. There is a smaller percentage of illiterates among those born in these crater, where you can luxuriously lie Hawaiian Islands than among those in hed and look down on the glowing, born in any State of the United States. boiling fires of Pele ; or you can take While Europe, America, Africa, and a Turkish bath in the steam from Pele's other islands of the sea have been del- laboratory conveyed by pipes into the uged in bloody wars, the Hawaiian Islands have had no war for seventy- bath·room..from the Rteaming crevasses five years. They claim to be the most around the hotel. Tourists call our industrious and commercial nation of the earth. land the Paradise of the Pacific and the inferno of the world. We are on the The market value of our annual cross-roads from ·Washington, Oregon, product is $116 per capita. With our population of less than 100,000, our and California, and New Zealand and foreign commerce for the year 1860 amounted to $2,000,000. For the year Australia; between Nicaragua and Japsn and China. We have the only coaling stations, the only harbors, the only watering.places, the only source of supplies, the only naval stations, the only place of refuge, repair, or defence for thousands of miles in every direc- tion. The English papers call Hawaii the Malta and Gibraltar of the North Pacific. The London Times says, " It is easy to understand the advnntages which will accrue to the United States Navy from the possession of a naval station so advantageously placed." Honolulu is practically nearer to Washington than Buffalo was in the days of Adams and Jefferson. Passen- gers go through from Honolulu to Washington In from twelve to fourteen days; messages in six or seven days. When the Pacific cable is laid news and messa~es from Washiugton will be published III Honolulu three hours ear- lier than they were Fent. Westward the star of empire takes its way. In the drama of the world's great future the scene of its most important and cul- minating acts will be on the shores and islands of the Pacific Ocean.
FIELD OF ~IONTHLY SURVEY
IlI.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Missions in Spain and Austria.
BY REV. II. A. SCHAUFl<'LER, D.D., CJ,EVELAND, O.
Spain.-Though Spain, in her zeal 2. The Evangelical Continental So- ciety. of England, which, under Mr. for Christianity as she understood it, Gulick's superintendence, maintains the expelled both Moors and Jews, she important work in Bilbao with 4 preachstands in as great need of missiona- ing stations, and carries on a mission in ries who shall proclaim the pure Gos- Camunas, province of Toledo. 3. English " Christians," also known pel to her children IS any country in Europe. The intellectual, moral and as" Plymouth Brethren," have churches and schools in La Coruna, Marin, San material ruin wrought by Rome wher- Tome, Vigo, Figueras, Barcelona, Mad- ever she has ruled, must be seen to be rid, besides a number of other preach- ing stations and schools. appreciated. Those who maintain that Protestant missionary work for Roman 4. The American Baptist Missionary Union maintains work in Barcelona and Catholics is superfluous, because they 5sevperreaalcphreersa,chaincghustracthioens,s, and reports have the Gospel and many of them ale 100 church- good Christians, and those who refuse members scattered over 17 towns and villages. It publishes a paper-The to aid such work as being hopeless, are Bco. In some places the meetings have equally wide of the truth, which is, been attended by from 300 to 600 peo- that Roman Catholics have been de- ple, and on special occasions from 700 to 1500. The field is vast and needy. prived of the Word of God, led astray 5. The Committee of Lausanne, by Rome's errors, demoralized by the Switzerland, has a church and schools teaching and example of her priesthood, in Barcelona and preaching stations in and enslaved by her ghostly authority, the province. enforced by the terrors of purgatory, 6. The Committee of Geneva has a and that they can be reached by the church and schools in Reus in the prov- ince of Tarragona, and a church and a saving truth of the Gospel and trans- school in Pontevedra, and a preaching formed into joyful, faithful, zealous station in Tarragona. and witnessing disciples of Christ. 7. The English Wesleyan Methodists have a church and schools in Barcelona, That is what is being done in Spain by several preaching stations in the district, more than a dozen Protestant missionary and 3 churches and several schools and preaching stations in the Balearic societies. The following list of missionary so- Islands. 8. The Scotch United Presbyterian cieties at work in Spain and summary Church has churches and schools in of their work is abridged from a state- Madrid, Jerez de la Frontera, Andalu- sia, and in Fernando, near Cadiz. ment kindly furnished by Rev. Will- 9. The Spanish and Portuguese Aid iam H. Gulick, missionary of the Ameri- Society (English and Irish Episcopalican Board at San Sebastian, and laRt an) have formed two churches with year's reports of his and the American schools in Madrid, and a church with one or more schools in ValladoJid, Sala- Baptist Union's missions. The writer manca, Villaesctisa, Monistrol, San Vihas not been fortunate enough to secure cente and Malaga, and two churches in any further reports of societies. Seville.
10. The German Lutherans, Pastor 1. The American Board has a church Fritz FJiedner, missionary, have a and day schools at Santander. San Se- church and schools in MadrId. bastian, Logrofio, Pradejon, Fauste and 11. The Irish Presbyterian Church Zaragoza, and a dozen other preaching has a church and schools in Cordova stations, of which the chief are Pam- and Puerto Santa Maria, and a theologi- plona and Roa. At San Sebastian it has cal school at the latter place.
an International Institute for Girls, with 12. The Spanish Evangelization So- 40 boarding pupils. ciety (Edinburgh) has a church and schools in Seville, Cadiz, Huelva and former associates, is seen coming and Granada, besides minor stations in Vil- goiug with the Protestants. gives up lafranca, Puerto Real, El Carpio, Mon- his worldly and vicious ways, 'joins the tori, Tharsis and Niebla. Church' in public confession of his faith, bringing with him his wife and 13. The Dutch (Presbyterians) have family, and bflcomes an active member founded a church and schools in Mala- in all its good work, such a case tells as ga, Almeria and Cartagena. it could not in the city. And especially does it tell when for weeks and months 14. A Swedish mission in Valencia, the man becomes the mark for the with 1 missionary and 2 groups of con- priest, who, failing to recover him to verts in a province with 270 villages his flock by entreaties and blandishand 730,000 inhabitants. ments, resorts to persecution such as only a village priest can devisE}, to Mr. Gulick thus summarizEs the harass and injure an old-time parish- ioner. These men and women are the Protestant missionary work being done salt of the Church, and a credit to Prot- estantism throughout the districts where in Spain: they are known.
Houses or rooms used for chapels and " The presence in the land of these schools, 122 ; foreign missionaries, male, Protestants, of the city and of the coun- 20; female, 29; Spanish pastors, 41; try, few and simple and poor as they evangelists. 37; attendants on public may be ; the persistent life and growth worship, 9000; communicants, 3600; of their churches and schools; their schoolteachers, men, 79; women, 83; dignified and reasonable demand for pupils, 5000 ; Sunday·schools, 85 ; Sun- recognition and protection under the day·school teachers, 195; Sunllay-school government that they loyally help to scholars, 3600; Spanish Christian peri- support, and the example of a truly odicals, 5. Christian conduct that cannot be gain- said by their Roman Catholic neighbors, In a communication from Mr. Gulick, have wrought a radical change in pub- lic sentiment toward Protestantism. published in the Independent for March The Protestant community is now a recognized element in the body politic, 26th, 1891, he makes the following the rights of which cannot be evaded by the rulers, and which generally restatements, which in a recent letter he ceives from the authorities such protec- tion as is needed. refers to as still holding good : "If enemies declare that nearly all "The number of congregations in the knowledge of evangelical Christian- ity to-day in Spain is the direct fruit of Spain is now larger than ever before; foreign funds and of foreign teaching, we answer, How could it be otherwise? and though 'there are no congregations The secds of Evangelical truth were de- stroyed by the Inquisition in fire and as large as several that were found fif- blood. No element of Protestantism survived in Spain, as in France and in teen years ago in Madrid, and in Seville Italy, from which historical root there might, in the nineteenth century, spring and in some other places, the sum total the vigorous branch of Evangelical re- ligion producing the sweet flowers and of persons in regular attendance and the fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
total of the active membership are as A very interesting and hopeful fea- large if not larger than ever before. To- day the chief strength of Protestantism is not perhaps :lound in the organized churches with their pastors and schools in the large cities, but in the many groups of Christians, some with pastors and some without pastors, that are scat- tered far and wide throughout the country. It is in these places that the indi- vidual life of the Protestant Christian becomcs the object of special notice, and where the teachings of the Gospel and its results are brQught into open and unavoidable contact with the teachings and fruits of Roman Catholicism.
"When a man in a country village, who has been wasteful, and quarrelsome, and profane, and a gambler, be- gins to frequent the chapel, leaves his ture of the work of the American Board missions have encountered more serious in Spain, and one which is of value to and determined opposition than in any a~l other Protestant missionary opera- other country of Europe excepting Rus· tions, is the training school for girls at sia. Even in Turkey there is more re- San Sebastian, incorporated in Massa- ligious liberty than in Austria, where to chusetts under the name .. The Inter- this day no Protestant denominations national Institute for Girls in Spain." are recognized as having any legal At its head is Mrs. Gulick, a,sisted by status or rights except the Lutheran, three American lady teachers. The the Helvetic Reformed and the Herrn- course of study is thorough and com- hut (Moravian) churches. No other prehensive, including, besides lan- Protestant church has any right to hold guages, history, geometry, trigonome· public Divine serl'ice ; Austrian children try, zoology, geology, chemistry, phys- of school age, even Protestants, are not ics, and philosophy. In order to ob· allowed to attend the Sunday-schools or tain a Government degree and diploma. other services of non-recognized church- pupils of this school matriculate in the es, to whose private religious gatherings Government institute or high school, only invited guests may be admitted.
and go up yearly to be examined by the The giving away and even lending of Government Board of Examiners. The tracts is a punishable offence (the writer result of the first public examination of of tbis once paid a fine of over $20 for these pupils was highly gratifying to lending tracts to children in his own their teachers and friends, and equally dwelling), and colporteurs are forbid- depressing to bigoted Catholics, one of den selling the Scriptures; they may whom exclaimed, "It does seem that only secure subscribers, to whom the the Evil One himself helps them!" books have to be sent by mail, thus One of the immediate results of the largely increasing the expense and the notable success under the Government difficulty of circulating the Word of examiners was the official invitation to God. Though almost all educated take part in an "Exhibition of Arts Catholic laymen in Austria have lost and Sciences," where the American their faith in the Catholic Church, yet, school was assigned one of the best the Catholic religion being that of the places, with the word" Evangelico" or royal family and aristocracy, and really Protestant prominently displayed over of the State, at least in Cis-Leithania it, and attracted much favorable atten- (all Austria west of a line drawn north- tion from priests as well as laymen and east and southwest, and nearly touching public prints. The school richly de- Pressburg), it is for the interest of Gov- serves a permanent and fitting building. eIllment officials to enforce the out- Spain needs nothing more than she does rageously oppressive laws dictated by intelligent Christian women. The suc- the papal hierarchy. Were it not that cess of the school in the face of great the emperor, though a strict Catholic, difficulties is a most cheering omen for is also a lover of all his subjects and of the future of the country to which so justice, even the recognized Protestant much attention has been directed in con- churches would be in danger of losing nection with the celebration of Colum- the restrieted rights now conceded to bus's discovery of the New World. The them, and tho unrecognized Protestants network of Protestant mission stations would be persecuted out of the realm.
and the results achieved give promise of But notwithstanding the determined 'great spiritual blessings for Spain when and powerful opposition of the papal its medireval twilight shall be dispelled forces, backed by Austrian law and Aus- by the full shining of the sun of right- trian officials, mi~sionary work for eousness. Catholics has been rewarded with re- Austria.-Passing from Spain to Aus markable success, and that, though the tria, we find a land in which Protestant army of different Protestant missionary bodies laboring in Austria is very small the whole story of missionary work for compared with the number found work· Catholic population in Bohemia and ing in Spain. Moravia, a story full of touching inci- When in 1872 the writer, with Rev. dents of souls awakened to seek and Drs. E. A. Adams (now at the head of find a peace in believing in Christ which the large mission among Bohemians of their church, with its religion of forms the Chicago Congregational City Mis- and fear of purgatory, could never give sionary Society) and A. W. Clark (at -a story full of stirring tales of bitter the head of the American Board's Mis· wrongs patiently endured; of unequal sion in Bohemia), reached Prague, they conflicts heroically carried on; of won- found two other bodies at work for derful successes achieved by single- Catholic population in Bohemia-the hearted faith, steady allegiance to the IIerrnhuters (called the Moravian truth, and self.sacrificing labors for its Church in this country), who had reo spread. But our limits prevent, and we cently commenced work in Eastern and must confine ourselves to giving the re- Northern Bohemia, where they have sults of the work of one mission, the two flourishing churches with preach- largest in Austria-that of the Ameri- ing stations and an orphanage, and the can Board-which has, extended from Evangelical Continental Society of Lon· Prague as a centre to the eastern and don, supported largely by Congrega· western and southern boundaries of Bo- tionalists, and doing its work through hemia.
several pious pastors of the Reformed The last year's report of this mission Church of Bohemia, who established is full of encouragement. In spite of a number of preacbing stations in the never·ceasing opposition of a gov- Raudnitz and Leitmeritz and other ernment whose right to rule is based on places in the northern half of Bohemia, a constitution that "guarantees full and superintended the work of native liberty of faith and conscience to every evangelists and colporteurs. The mis· one," in spite of the harassing efforts of sions of the Scotch Free Church in police, priests, editors, landlords and Prague and in Bnda·Pesth (Hungary), bigots of all kinds to exterminate and of the Irish Presbyterians in Vienna, " heresy," the triumphs of Gospel were for the Jews. A small Baptist truth are more marked than ever. The church in Vienna was cared for by the police search dwellings and confiscate agent of the British and Foreign Bible hymn·books and Bibles; priests order Society: Now the American Baptist employtrs to dismiss Bible – reading Missionary Union reports a missionary workmen; even children suffer per- stationed there whose efforts have been secution in the public schools, and so blessed that baptisms have repeatedly some parents disown their children who taken place, and the place of worship join the mission churches. And yet has become too small. Some years ago the influence of the mission is not only a small split from the American Board's spreading into the hitherto most bigot- mission church in Prague joined the ed parts of Bohemia, which rejected Baptists,and is doing zealous work, seek- the Gospel even in the glorious Refor· ing to enter the doors which in increas· mation times that followed the martyr· ing numbers are opening in different dom of John Huss, but is winning its parts of Bohemia. A German Method- way among the educated classes.
ist mission in Vienna was also started, The Y. 111. C. A. has proved even a and suffered much opposition from the more useful adjunct of the Church's authorities. The writer once addressed work than in lands where there is more their meeting, when no singing or pray- liberty. Incorporated under the laws ing was allowed. Think of :lHethodists governing associations, which a church put under such restraints I cannot be, it claims the protection of It would be very interesting to tell law, owns buildings, holds public meetings, and reaches those whom the mis- reason that I affirm that in the sterling sion church, unreeognized by law and Christian piety and zeal which charac- hampered by legal restrictions, cannot terizes them as a whole lies the hope of attract. The Prague Y. M. C. A. 's ex· revi ving in Bohemia the ancient faitil hibit, at a recent national Bohemian ex- of their forefathers and of eyangelizing hibition, received honorable mention the country. It is the mission of these and a beautiful diploma presented by converts to leaven the masses of indif- the city of Prague and signed by its ferent, unbelieving, superstitious and highest officials. That is vastly more hypocritical adherents of Rome with significant in Austria than in a Prot- the pure Gospel of Christ. This is what estant country. by God's gmce they are doing. The The most remarkable proof of prog- noble and courageous witnessing for ress is found in Pilsen, the chief city of Christ and the general influence of this Western Bohemia, which refused en- little band of Christian con,er ts, the de- trance to the reformers in Bohemia's spised and legally non·recognized ' In- golden age. In II recent number of the dependents,' has a very great effect Missionary Herald Dr. A. W. Clark upon the legally recognized Protestant reports a delightful visit to that churches, leavening them with the stronghold of Romanism. On Satur- Gospel spirit and stimulating them to a day evening he addressed a large audi- more consistent and spiritual life." A ence. On Sunday he preached to 120 very significant fact in connection with hearers, 60 of them members of the the work of the mission in the almost mission church, the rest Roman Catho- wholly Roman Catholic southern part lics, and then followed a communion of Bohemia is the purchase and fitting season of such tender interest and spir- up as a place of worship a building in itual power as is seldom witnessed where the garden of the very house in which the Church is not suffering for the truth. the great Bohemian reformer, John A Y. M. C. A. has been formed here, Huss, was born. It is related that, and has gained legal standing. From when in prison in Constance before his Pilsen Gospel truth is spreading into the being burned at the stake as a heretic region round about, containing 1,000,- in 1514, John Huss dreamed that the 000 souls. Pope effaced the image of Jesus Christ This mission reported in 1893 1 cen- from his prison walls; but the next day tral station (Prague) and 40 out-stations, a great number of painters restored with 2 ordained American missionaries that image in greater beauty, which and their wives; 14 Bohemian work- greatly encouraged him to believe that, ers, of whom 4 were ordained: aver- after Rome had done her utmost, Christ's age weekly congregation of 1479; 10 image would be restored in the hearts churches, with 676 members, of whom of his countrymen; whereat he (Huss), 165 had been received in the year just awaking from the dead and rising ended. A house of refuge for fallen from the dead, would " thrill with great girls-nowhere more n;;eded than in a joy." The last part of that dream is Catholic couutry, where the open im- having blessed fulfilment in our day.
morality of the priests makes ha voc with the morals of their people-has Statistical Notes. won the respect and friendliness of the lIuthorities. In the weighty case of Protestantism Of the Christian character of the con- Ve1'SU8 Catholicism, what is the situa- verts, almost all Roman Catholics, Rev. tion and prospect after nearly four hun- L. F. Miskovsky, himself born in Bo- dred years of stubborn conflict of truth hemia but educated in this country, and against pernicious error? The figures who spent a number of months last year which follow will furnish the substance in Bohemia, writes: "It is not without for a reply to that question by no means wholly unsatisfactory or without en- the Reformation rested upon little Engcouragement. The Protestants number land and little Holland; or the times of about 150,000,000 and Roman Catholics Louis XIV. and his dragonades/ Let about 225,000,000. Of these 375,000,000 the Spanish Armada, the massacre of Europe holds the large majority, or St. Bartholomew, the revocation ("f the some 88.000,000 of the former and 162,- Edict of Nantes, the desolations of the 000,000 of the latter. This table will Thirty Years' War, the bloody Inquisi- show at a glance what European COUD- tion, the power and activity of the tries are strongholds for the ideas and Jesuits stand for what PJ'otestants were convictions which were quickened by compelled to endure for three full cen- the Reformation, and also where the turies. And how rapidly and seriously papacy is still supreme. Rome is losing her grip upon the na- Protestants. R. Catholics. tions is seen in the faet that within this Great Britain. . .. .,. 32,726,000 5,412,000 century, and for the most part within Germany…………. 31,027,000 17,075,000 the limits of this generatioD, religious England and Wale".. 27,903,000 1,500,000 freedom under the law has taken the Russia. . .. .. ……. 6,000,000 8,rOO,000 place of rigid intolerance in almost 1000 every Catholic State I As illustrations, Swaden ._ ….. _…. 4,807,000 Austria. .. . . . . . . . . .. .. 3,864,000 32,254,000 take the tremendous change that came to Mexico when .Maximilian and the Scotland…. …. ….. 3,698,COO 305,000 Catholic reaction were utterly over· 1,600,000 thrown in 1867, and to Italy in 1870, Netherlanus……… 2,630,000 3,700 when His Holiness found an irresistible Denmark….. …… 2,181,000 1,000 civil master I 1.225,000 Norway…… ……. 2,000,000 3,547,000 The ontlook for the future of the two 37,593,000 rival forms of Christianity may be gained Switzerland.. …… 1,775,000 80,400,000 by taking France as a representative of 17,000,000 Ireland…. . . 1,125,000 6,18:5,000 the one and Great Britain of the other. 4,800,000 The date is not so very distant when the France. . .. . . .. . . . .. .. '750,000 former was manifestly superior nearly Italy… …………. 62,O~0 everywhere; lmt almost in an hour all Spain……………. 10,000 Belgium.. .. ……… 10,000 Portueal. . .. . . . . . . . . . 1,000 Iu the Old World, Rome is spiritual her vast possessions fell into the hnnds of ruler over some 170,000,000, and over her rival across the Straits of Dover, about 55,000,000 in me New; while of whose supremacy has ever since been the adherents of the Reformed Church, maintained, both on land and sea. 90,000,000 inhabit the Eastern Hemi- France is larger Ilnd is better situafed sphere and 60,000,000 the Western, geographically. Her soil is more fertile. Tbe Spanish-American ftates are pra.c- In 1789 her income w!.s nearly twice as tically unanimous in looking to the large as that of England, and her popu· Tiber for law and gospel, since, with a lation was 26,000,000 against only 9,000,- popUlation of over 45,000,000, less than 000; but to·day, While Frenchmennum- 1,000,000 are Protestants, The Domin- bel' less than 40,000,000, of Englishion of Canada has about 2,000,000 Cath· men there are more than 100,000,000. olics in a total population of 5,000,000. Anglo-Saxon intelligence and energy But in the United States, with 63,000,- and enterprise are clearly destined to 000 inhabitants. not more than 7,000,· carryall the world over Anglo-Saxon 000 adherents of the papacy can be mus· speech, and ideas, and institutions, and teredo religious faith as well.
Protestantism is, then, numerically When we are inclined to fear for the strongest in the United States, 56,000,- future of our own land, it is well to re- 000; Great Britain, 33,000,000; Ger- call the fact that though the papacy is many, 31,000,000 ; and the threc Scan· strong, haughty, determined, skilful, dinavian countries, 9,000,000. And and unscrupUlous, nnd can count a fol· Rome sways most minds and con- lowing of about 7,000,000, her losses sciences in France, with 37,000,000; through lapse into indifference and Austria, with 32,000,000; Italy, with open apostaRY are great, and go far to 30,000,000; and Spain, with 17,000,000. neutralize all her gains, which are main· About two thirds of alllhe Protestants ly from immigration. Free institutions, of the world belong to the great Anglo· publie schools, and the Whole atmos- Saxon race-that is. 100,000,000 of the phere of the New World are overwhelm- total of 150,O(l0.000-and are found ingly against her superstitions and bel'
massed, more than half in the United despotism. With a non·Catholic popu· States and the re&t in Great Britain and lation of 56,000,000, surely no fatal barm l1er colonies. can be done to our Christianity by 7,000,- How changed is the situation since 000 who in outward profession, and ac· the dreadful days of Chal'lps V. and cording to the census tables, are non- Pbilip II., when under God all hope for Protestant.
lS!14.] • EDITOHIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The Iutarnational Missionary Union. partment will be largely given upto the details of this great gathering, and This was every way a unique gather. hence we need not either anticipate or ing. After desiring for years to be prcs- duplicate this account. But another ent at the annual feast of these represen· unique feature of this Uaion is that tatives of the world's missions, this year only missionaries are heard from its found the yearning granted, and the at- platform. It is not a place for ad captractions of the gathering exceeded the tandum speeches on missions, for theoexpectation, which is saying a good deal. l'etical argument and appeal, but for Dr. Gracey was in his element presid· witness borne by the actual workers_ ing over this assembly; with his quick And it was observable that not one needperception of the eternal fitness of less speech was made in the course of things, his wide acquaintance with the the eight days ; nor was there any atmission work and field, his ready wit tempt at literary effects; no labored and imperturbable good humor, his introductions or eloquent perorations, happy way of managing everybody no flights of rhetoric or poetry. no and turning everything to account- plunges into the depths of abstruse phieven an apparent blunder-nothing losophy. A hundred short speeches, could be asked beyond his singular giving simple testimony to facts and adaptation to the post he not only occu· needs and the workings of God; a score pied, but filled. of carefully prepared papers on vital as- . Perhaps the unique features of this pects of mission work; a lively and gathering are to be found, first in the warm discussion in five-minute speeches union of the transient and permanent of such snbjects as educational missions, elements in its compo~ition. The union and a beautiful spirit of prayer and fel· is composed of missionaries of all de· lowship pervading all. If the meetings nominations and nations, who sign its of the American Board and other great simple constitution; but actually it is missionary societies could take the meetcomposed, at any particular meeting, of ings of the Union for a model, they those missionaries who are returned from would double and treble their power their fields permanently or temporarily, over the people. and who are thus enabled to meet for eight days at the rallying centre, Clif· The Union opened its proper sessions ton Springs. with a prayer service of two hours, at which the one subject absorbing all atten- This was the eleventh annual meet· tion was the Holy Spirit as the Personing. At first it was a movable feast, al Presence and Power presiding in all held at Wesley Park, Niagara Falls, assemblies of believers. And if He ever and at the Thousand Islands, Bingham. administered any such assembly, it ton, etc. ; but that universal benefactor" was surely this. From the opening hymn Dr. Henry Foster, invited the Union to every exercise was spontaneous. There' meet at Clifton Springs, at whose sani- was no hymn announced, no person tarium so many of God's chosen ones designated to pray or speak. Brief pas· have found a sort of heavenly rest for a !Sages were read from the Gospel accordseason; and now for years past here has ing to John, in order to show Christ's been the "tabernacle" for the Union. testimony concerning the paraclete ; and This year about one hundred and fifty then from the Acts of the Apostles, were eiltcrtained without charge for a to exhibit His praetical and actual week, while the affairs of the kingdom working in the early Church. Then were under discussion. there was, for example, a continuous prayer, lasting perhaps for twenty min- The columns of the International Deutes, 'in which various persons, men and the North American Indians exceeded women, representing perhaps forty for dramatic power and fascination alfields, poured out in brief sentences most anything we have heard; Dr. their hearts' yearnings. Every moment was occupied, amI we all felt that the Henry Foster's venerable and apostolic Spirit was leading. The influence first felt in this devutional service pervaded form and presence, and the new version the remaining sessions to the close. The meeting of Tuesday night was givcn up of the story of Ling Ching Ting, the entirely to some thirty.seven persons who expect to go to their respective converted Chinese opium-smoker. fields in course of. the year; and the closing meeting of Wednesday morning A proposal was made, at this meeting was a gathering up in minute speeches of nuggets found in these mines during that Clifton Springs be a sort of home the week-and rich gleanings they were. for the Missionary Union, and that here The whole tone of these meetings was hopeful. There was not a discourag- there be established !I school for the ing word. Even in the midst of tribulations these brethren and sisters were childlen of missionaries and a training exceeding joyful, and gloried in God. They testified with unanimity to the school for intending missionaries, where promise as fulfilled, .' Lo, I am with you alway;" and not one was there the services of tbose who are resting for who would not esteem it a self·denial to be kept out of the field. If anybody awhile might be utilized in securing commiserates missionaries he should have been here to find out that they re- higher fitness for their work:. We came gard those who are compelled to abide at home as the people to be pitied. away persuaded that God has higher The twilight hour each day is hence- and targer purposes for this Internaforth the chosen hour whcn, wherever the members of the Union may be, they tional Missionary Union, and that it has !l'e to unite in prayer for the objects dear to all true missionaries. And so but entered upon its true career. Not there will be continuous prayer following the sun in his circuit; before the one discordant note was struck to mar sunset hour has ceased in the far· off lands of the Orient, the new round of the heavenly harmony. It was a place sunsets will have begun to travel westward, to tarry, and the universal reluctance In such. a gathering it would be in- to, separate proved how intensely the vidious to mention individual names. But who will ever forget Dr. McGil- presence of the Lord was felt by all. vary, the apostle to the Laos people; Dr. Cyrus Hamlin :md Dr. Wood, so In the editorial article which begins long identified with the Sublime Porte; Secretary Belden and Mrs. Wellington this August issue, reference is made to a White, both so marvellously saved from death; Mrs. Bacon, who at her own quotation from a letter of M. C. Fencharges went to India after she was wick, which was published in The fifty years old; Rev. Edgerton R. Truth. Concerning this letter, Mr. Young, whose thrilliug addresses on Fenwick writes to the editor of this REVIEW as follows: " A letter which I addressed to Rev. Dr. J. H. Brookes, and not intended for publication, appeared in The Truth, and is, I find, partially republished in Dr. Johnston's book on • Reality 'V8. Romance.' "
For sbme time the words" who art thou that judgest another man's ser- vant?" have been so laid upon my heart that I am deeply sorry I ever penned the above letter, more especially since truth forbids its withdrawal. The let- ter was penned under conviction that the Church of Christ in America was given to exacting glowing reports from missionaries to bolster up their dishon- orin?; methods of raising money, and in this way hold those contributors who have no part nor lot in the Lord's work. It was also penned under the convic- tion that the Church is ever seeking for something of this nature to sustain the delusion inherited from Constantine that th'! world is growing hetter, and the greater delusion begotten by this- Oh, how blessed to know that the last that the carnal hearts so faithfully por· commission of our blessed Lord tarries trayed in the first chapter of Romans not for the statistician's glowing report, are stretching forth their hands for the but is borne on the wings of "the Gospel in advance of the G08pel. Their Heavenly Dove," transforming unwill- hearts hate the blood, but are weary, ing hearts, making His desire their glad sad, longing human hearts neverlhe· choice!
less; and only Jesus can rest them, and The American Presbyterian Board' only the Holy Ghost can change their (North) has now a splendid staff in hate into love. Corea, and I think I know the majority The Corean who. related to me the of them sufficiently well to say no one manner of his baptism was brought so need fear a repetition of the sad methblessedly under conviction of sin by the ods employed by their older member.
Holy Spirit that he cried out in agony Yours, of soul, " I believe in God ; every Co- M. C. FENWICX, rean believes in God; but who ill this Of Oorean Itinerant Mi8sion. Jesus? I don't want to believe in Him, neither can I pray honestly that I may have such a desire." He not only hat· We have received a remarkable letter, ed but despised the meek and lowly One; but before the Holy Spirit got which should be published, as follows: through with him he was very glad to TENGCHOWFU, CmN.A-, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, April 15, 1894. and was saved. This conviction came long after he was baptized, and he reo Rev. A. T. Pie1'80n, D.D.
lated the manner of his baptism after DEAR Sm: In a recent igsue of THE he confessed Jesus his Lord and realized the" more excellent way. " If my good MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD I friend Dr. Brookes refers to my letter, noticed a request for donations to your he will find it was written for hjs pri· fund for giving that paper to poor stu- vate information, with permission to use dents who are unable to pay for it. if he saw fit, throwing the responsi. Remembering how much the REVIEW bility, if published, on his judgment, has helped me during my years of colnot mine. Of course it settles all question as to lege life, I wish to give my mite to send the truthfulness of my letter when the it to others. Enclosed you will find a man who did the baptizing confesses United States greenback for $5-the himself a pre·millenarian, though an only one I have left of those I started out and out "poet," and denies the whole story, and is backed by his wife, with from the home land last Septem- his father·in·law in Chicago, a commit· ber. tee in. Toronto that has since given Tell the Christian medical students up tne work entirely, and" an angry, ilillr man" who" should be recalled." and doctors at home that they cannot D:. Vinton, writing to the MISSION· afford to stay there while there is so ARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, gives cor- much work to be done here. rect statistics; but statistics are one thing, the manner of creating them may I feel like thanking God daily that be quite another. Mr. Gale, of the He has brought me to this needy land, same mission, writing to the same maga· even though nearly half of the first six zine in the same issue. speaking of months of my life here has been spent " Euiju," where the greater portion of on a bed of sickness with typhoid fever. the reported 127 converts were baptized by the missionary whose methods are May the Lord richly bless you in deplorably sad, quotes another mission- your labors. ary of the same mission who has lived Yours truly, in Eluiju longer than all other mission- W. F. SEYMOUR, M.D. aries in Corea combined, as reporting some half.dozen converts. I heard this Let our readers reflect what good has missionary deny to Mr. Gale that he ever been done to this young man by read_ reported anything of the kind, and he added, .. -IVhat I did say was that there ing this REVIEW, and how that good is were some five or six evidently interest· exhibited in this letter. How his self· ed, and I had great hopes that they would yet be converted." Statistics, denial in sending $5 rebukes the apathy and selfishness of those at home, who you see, even when as modest as Mr. Gale's. are not always to be relied upon. are unwilling to deny themselves to contribute to this same needy fund for the lar.ing his hand on the Bip!e, which supply of the REVIEW to needy stu- still bore marks of the rough usage it dents for the ministry and the mission had received before it escaped the sea. field! Let some who read these lines , All my classics went to the bottom; ask themsel ves if they cannot by a gift . to this fund help to raise up and send but, when the Bible was thus rescued forth to the field missionaries of like consecration. This fund to-day needs aud brought back to my hands, I seem- at least $500 to make up arrears. We are constantly appealed to to furnish ed almost to hear a VOIce from heaven the REVIEW at less than cost to needy saying to me, "Greek and Latin au- young men and women, who are look- ing forward to service in the foreign thors are not needed to convert the na· field. One application recently granted, tivE's of India; the Bible alone, with has contained forty-two add1'esses. Will God's Spirit, is sufficient, for it is the sword of the Spirit, and mighty through God to the pulling down of Satan's strongholds.'" Yes, the Bible, with Divine help, is sufficient to convert India, to convert the world to Christ. Be it ours to send it forth on its Divine mission."
not some who sympathize with our de- The Board of Foreign Missions of the sire to furnish such parties with the RE- Presbyterian Church in the United VIEW at nominal rates belp us by send- States of America issues a statement .ing to the editor, at East Northfield, worthy of preservation. Eight hun- Mass., sums to be so applied? dred and fifty-six millions of heathen An able article on the recent Y. M. sit in darkness, while we have light. C. A. Jubilee, held in London, will ap- The Master is watching His stewards. pear in our next issue. Your gifts help support the following work: Ordained missionaries (165 na- Dr. Duff, the well-known Indian mis- tive), 375; lay missionaries (339 fesionary, when acting as Professor of male), 384 ; churcheR, 391; communi- Evangelistic Theology in the New Col- cants, 30,479; added 1891-92, 3430; lege, Edinburgh, was wont to invite his contributions on field, $38,731.28; students to his house. The pleasant schools, 771; scholars, 29,011; scholevenings were closed with family wor- ars in Sunday-schools, 26,388 ; students ship. The Qua1'terly RetXYrd of the Na- for ministry, 167; printing establishtional Bible Society of Scotland recaEs ments, 12; pages issued in 21 lana touching feature in connection with guages, 110,000,000; hospitals and dist.hose gatherings: pensaries, 43; patients treated, 100,000.
"When the doctor opened his big The McAll Mission, in Paris and Bible on these occasions, he used to France, is vigorously working. Thirtypause, and, turning to the lads, relate five halls in and around Paris are open a well·known incident in the history and largely attended. The preaching of the Book before him. A lover of is steadily conducted on the evangelical the classics, when he first went out lines on which it was started, and is as to India as a missionary he had fitted effective as it was in former days. Dr. up in his cabin a little library of the McAll has departed, but Mr. Greig and choicest Greek and Latin authors, in other men have taken up the work whose company he passed many a hap- which he began and so long conducted, py hour. But the vessel was wrecked, and are carrying it forward with earand nearly everything on board was nestness and success. General religious lost, the passengers and crew being glad interest is manifest Itt the stations of the to reach the shore without loss of life mission throughout France, and there or limb. They had gathered round a have been some remarkable conversions hastily kindled fire When a sailor, who during the past winter, as at Lyons and had been down on the beach watching Marseilles. the wreck, was seen approaching with something in his hand. 'See what I have picked up on the shore I ' he cried. • And the sailor handed me,' Dr. Duff would say, 'II book, this very book,' Volumes of incidents worthy of rec- the provisions.~f the reform inauguratord might be written in connection with the work. This touching story is told ed against the Catholic Church, by in connection with one of the Paris which all kinds of religious proces- sions and demonstrations in the open air are prohibited."
branches: "An aged woman who had learned by heart many of the hymnB We gladly give space to an appeal in sung there, and seemed to find all her behalf of the Industrial Department of delight in them, came to the meeting the Collegiate and 'rheological Institute leaning on a crutch, and evidently very in Samokov, Bulgaria, and of a hospital feeble. The subject of discourse that for the relief of the poor in the same night was' Dress '-the robe of right- city. Mr. Kingsbury is well known to eousness, the wedding garment. At many readerH, and his appeal has the the close she said to the preacher: 'I hearty support of snch men as Presibelieve this is my last visit to the hall ; dent R. S. Storrs, D.D., and Secretary if I can never come again, you will N. G. Clark,D.D., of theA. B. C. F.M., know where I have gone. My infirmi- and R. Wardlaw Thompson, Secretary ties increase rapidly.' 'I will come to of the L. M. S. Any gifts may be sent see you,' said the preacher; • but if God to Mr. Kingsbury at 23 Long Lane, called you meanwhile, have you any London, E. C., Eng. fear of appearing before Him?' 'Oh, "There is. in connection with the no,' she replied, ' I am too well dressed for that-too well dressed to dread the Collegiate and Theological Institute in Samokov, Bulgaria, an Industrial Dejudgment. He hath clothed me with partment, whose object is to help in- the garments of salvation; He hath digent but worthy young men to work, by means of which they can earn a part covered me with the robe of righteous- or the whole of their expenses, while ness.' " securing a Christian education. Dur- ing the seven years of the history of The following report comes from the this enterprise more than $1000 have been paid to students who must other- City of Mexico: wise have been obliged to have left the " Tile Salvation Army of the United institute. Within a short distance of States and England has large coloniza- the building now occupied is a fine wa- tion schemes brewing for Mexico. A ter power-not less than 20 horse pow- syndicate of capitalists in terested in the er; which may be secured shortly by work of the Salvation Army has con- purchase. There is already a mill in cluded the purchase from the Mexican operation on the place. Contiguous to GDvernment of 200,000 acres of land in this mill, and belonging to the same the State of Chiapas. A member of the proprietor, stands a house and lot, '1d- syndicate, C. H. Durst, this week sailed mirably adapted fur a hospital. The for England, where he is to meet Gen- whole can be bought at present for eral Booth. It is expected plans will $1500 standing. The InduRtrial De- now be 'speedily perfected by which partment in b;)th its divisions of print- 5000 families will be put on the great ing and carpentery is in sore need of tract LH' col')iliz<ltion purposes. oper- assistance in securing the necessary ating under the direction of the officers tools for carrying on the work, and for of the army. Chiapas is on the ex- the permanent support of the persons treme southern border of Mexico, on in charge, and for purchasing supplies the Pacific Coast, and is a State of of type, paper, machines, and other es- much promise iu the way of agricul- sentials. We would earnestly appeal tnral products. This is but another to the benevolently inclined to assist step forward in the realization of the us. Our immediate and pressing needs plans for practical help which General are for $1500 for the purchase of a cyl- Booth and his associates have long had inder printing machine, $1500 for the in mind for the world's poor, and espe- purchase of the water power and mill cially the submerged classes of the great adjoining, and furnish from time to cities of England and America. It is time various things for the mainte- supposed that the bulk of the colonists nance of the work.
will come from England. 'J'he Salva- " We believe that unless Bulgaria in tion Army is forbidden by the Constitu- her rapid ad vance be impressed with tion of Mexico to carryon its street the truths of the Gosptl, and moulded work in the way of meetings, under in a measure by the influence of men of sterlin~ Integrity and honesty, that she secured sufficient to maintain but six will faIl to make herself what she seems beds, then permission can be secured destined to be. 'l'his institution is almost from the authorities to dispense medithe o~ly one in the land where the Bible cine to the poor. Let this cry of a is the recognized rule of faith and prac· struggling people come up before God's tice. Under the impulse of the Indus- people, and we believe that the neces· trial Department the number of stu- sary funds will not be denied. dents rose from less than thirty to more .. FREDERICK L. KINGSBURY."
than seventy; but that number is con- stantly diminishing. With a wellequipped printing office ten thousand The Open or Institutional Ohuroh streams of elevating influence would League.
flow to every part of the land. A crisis At their recent conference, held in the Madison Avenue Presbyterian is now upon the people of Bulgaria. Infinite social, political, educational, and literary advantages are held out to Church in this city, the friends of insti- an eager and expectant nation. The tutional church work formed a League and adopted the following platform as forces of evil are rife; vice and intem- the statement of their conviction: perance are rapidly on the gain. In the one city of Samokov, with a diminished population, the arrests are sevenfold The open or institutional church de- more than they were ten years since. pends upon the development of a cer- Before the people of God we plead our tain spirit rather than upon the aggre- cause. You appreeiate the value of gation of special appliances and meth· good government-help us to secure ods. It is an organism evolved from a that public spirit in Bulgaria that will germinal principle rather than an or- be satisfied with nothing short of right· ganization.
eous and well-executed laws. You a_po It believes that only as this spirit is preciate the value of a good literature developed in the Church universal will -help us to attain to something better the purpose of the kingdom of God than the vile translations that are now among men be realized, and it confi- being sold throughout the country. dently looks forward to the time when The worst sort of socialism and infidel- the Church will be understood to stand ity are organizing themselves, and their for the larger view here presented.
literary productions are hawked about As the body of the Christ the open or in the streets of our cities and sold at constitutional church aims to provide marvellously cheap prices. You be- the material environment through lieve in men of stanch integrity and which His Spirit may be practically ex- firmness of character that give tone to pressed. As His representative in the public morals and support the best in· world it seeks to represent Him pbysi.
stitutions. Help us to give work to cally, intellectually, socially, and spiro these needy and worthy young men, by itually to the age in which it exists.
means of which they may elevate their Inasmuch as the Christ came not to people, and through whose efforts the be ministered unto but to minister, the highest good may be maintained. With open or institutional church, filled and slight expense the institute could give moved by His Spirit of ministrating accommodation to one hundred and fifty love, seeks to become the centre and young men. Scores are ready and anx· source of all beneficent and philan- ious to work their way through an edu- thropic effort, and to take the leading cation by means of which to fit them- part in every movement which has for selves for the highest usefulness. Can its end the alleviation of human suffer- anything be nobler than helping such ing, the elevation of man, and the bet- youths to help themselves? terment of the world.
"The need of a hospital is great; Thus the open or institutional church nearly a thousand families are debarred aims to save all men and all of the man from any medical aid or assistance. It by all means, abolishing so far as possihas been my painful experience a~ a ble the distinction between the religious doctor to see scores of persons die with· and the secular, and sanctifying all out any medicine being procurable or days and means to the great end of sav· without the possibility of such aid. ing the world fo<r Christ.
Hundreds of persons are constantly ill While the open or institutional church in that city who might be aided, but is known by its spirit of ministration who cannot be for lack of means to pur- rather tban by any specific methods of chase medicine. The law of Bulgaria expressing that spirit, it stands for open forbids any person dispensing the small· church doors every day and all day, est quantity of medicine unless he has free seats, It plurality of Christian work- a hospital. If the building above re- ers, the personal activity of all church- ferred to can be purchased, and money members, a ministry to all the com· munity through educational, reforma- of Hu-Nan. Kiang-Si, Fuh-Kien. Kutory, and philanthropic chauuels. to the ang-Si. Kuang-Tong-with Formosa end that men may be won to Christ and and Hainan. His service, that the Church may be brought back to the simplicity and 16th Day. Inland China-Provinces comprehensiveness of its primitive life, of Kan-SUh. Shen-Si, Sz-Chuen, Kweiuntil it can be said of every community Chau Yun-Nan-wHh Thibet. the kingdom of heaven is within you and Christ is all and in all. 17th Day. Japan and Corea. 18th Day. The East Indies-Philip- The League agreed to hold annually pine Islands, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, a convention, the first to occur on the New Guinea, et.c. Fourth Tuesday of October next. 19th Day. Australia. Tasmanh, and New Zealand-noting the Maories and The officers elected are: other aborigines. 20th D~y. The South Sea Islands. REV. C. A. DICKINSON, D.D., Pre8. 218tDay. North Africa-The Barbary States, Egypt, Abyssinia, Soudan. REV. C. L. THOMPSON, D. D., Vice-Pres. 22d Day. West Africa…..:Sene!!ambia. Sierra Leone, Upper and Lower Guinea, REV. F. M. NORTH, Sec. and Treas. the Congo Free State. 23d Day. East Africa-the lake dis- The Student Volunteer Missionary tricts and the coast. 24th Day. South Africa (south of the Union has issued a "prayer cycle for Zambesi) native territories-BechuaDR- land, Matabeleland, etc.-Dutch 'and every month," with this motto: English colonies. 25th Da,y. Madagascar and Mauritius. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the 26th Day. Dominion of Canada and Polar lands-noting Indians and Eskiharvest that He send forth laborers into mos. 27th DaN. Tbe United States, with His harvest" (Matt. !) : 38). Alaska-noting Indians, colored races, etc. It is urged that in praying for each 28th Day. Mexico, Central America, field mention be made of missionaries and the West Indies. with whom we are acquainted; and 29th Day. South America-Roman native pastors and teachers, converts, Catholics and heathen. and the heathen should not be forgotten. 30th Day. The Jews in all lands. 318t Day. Unoccupied lands-Thibet, 1st Day. The British Isles. the Sahara, Soudan, Central South 2d Day. Protestant countries-as Ger- America, Nepaul, Bhutan. many, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden " Evening, morning, and at noon will and Norway, Denmark and Iceland. I pray" (Ps. 55 : 17). 3d Day. Roman Catholic countriesas France, Belgium, Spain and Portu· WEEKLY. gal, Italy, Austria and Hungary. 4th Day. Greek Church countries- Sunday. For the Church of Christas Greece, the Balkan States, Russia for a great revival of spiritual power. and Siberia. 5th Day. Turkey (in Europe and in J.fonday. For missionary societies, Asia)-noting the Armenian Christians. with officials and committees. 6th Day. Syria-noting Palestineand Arabia. Tuesday. For all missionaries in the 7th Day. Persia, Turkestan, Afghan- field, and all who are preparing for foristan, Beloochistan. eign work. 8th Day. Northwest India-Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh, Rajpootana. Wednesday. Fur universities, colleges, 9th Day. North India – Bengal, and medical schools. Northwest Provinces. Assam. etc. 10th Day. Central India-Bombay, Thursday. For Young Men's Chri.~ Indore Agency, Central Provinces, and tian .Associations, Young Women's Haidarabad. 11th Day. South India-Madras, My- Christian Associations, and young peosore, Travancore. Cochin, Ceylon. ple generally. 12th Day, Further India-Burma, Siam and Malay Peninsula, Tongking, Friday. For the Student Volunteer Cochin China. Missionary Union-executive, general 13th Day. North China-Province of secretary, local committees, and secre- Chih-Ii, Shan-Tung, Shan·si-withMan- taries. churia and Mongolia. 14th Day. Mid-China-Provinces of &tttrday. For the travelling secre- Ho·Nan, Kiang-su, Hu-Peh, Gan-Hwui, Cheh-Kiang. tary. 15th Day. South China–Provinces "Brethren, pray for us. that the word of the Lord may run and be glori- fied" (2 Thess, 3 ; 1).
GENERAL ~USSIONARY I~TELLIGENCE. [A.ugu&t
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONABD.
Extracts and Tra.nslations from Foreign seem to have been a Protestant, but rather a devout theist. His name was Periodicals. Cajetan Rippoll. 'rhe Inquisition, on the verge of extinction, seems to have BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, declined greatly from the fierce sincer- ity of Torquemada's days. It proposed MASS. to RippoIl to abjure his errors in pub- lic and rctain them in private, but he MISCELLANEOUS. indignantly refused, saying, "I do not lie in the presence of God." He -The Waldcnses say thllt many was sentenced to be hanged and theu Catholic parents send their children to burned. The fanatical crowd was greatthem becanse, being both sincere Chris- ly disappointed that his face did not tians and good Italians, they find that show the usual convulsions as he swung in the public schools religion is under on the gallows, and seems to have had· the ban, and in the priests' schools pa- a misgiving that he had gone to Paratriotism. In the Waldensian schools dise after all. they find religion and patriotism reconciled. The Waldenses don't seem to -The Mission to Deep Sea Fisherthink that attachment to church schools men, which has wrought such blessed is a sin, provided they are truly national results for soul, mind, and body of the in tone. North Sea English fishermen, has de- termined, to the great joy of the Mora- King Humbert's late visit to the Wal- vian brethren, to establish a summer densian valleys, and his declaration that station among the hundreds of Newhe had always held the Waldenses foundland vessels in the Labrador dear, but that now, it possible, he held waters. The direct and indirect rethem dearer, reminds us of his remark, sults of this on the Eskimo Christians when crown prince, to Dr. Nevin, of also, and the white or half-blood set- Rome, that Italy needed a very simple tlers, arc likely to be inestimable. Inreligion. Rhe had been overdosed with deed. a close intimacy of intercourse needless aIUl unedifying elaborations. and labor is already growing up ; and As a corre~pondent of the Catholic Re- Mr. Grenfell, the head of the Fishers' view remarks, in Southern Europe ., the Mission, has to sct home to the Newinstrumentalities of religion" Beem to foundland authorities the blameworthihave largely choked their own end. ness of their previous indifference to the Rites that at some remote time may state of Labrador, that they are taking have really had an edifyiug value have measures for protecting and caring for been continued until they have become the natives iu a degree more answering mere dead husks. The vigorous effort to their responsibility as the governors which the papacy in the sixteenth cen- of the country_ tury made, in the reformed breviary, to simplify ritual observance, came to noth- -The Allgemeine Missions-Zeitscltrijt, ing because it lacked its two essential which has beeu publishing a very exsupports-popular schools and a ver- haustive account of the Free Church of nacular Bible. It is curious, but the Scotland, remarks that itS to the amount indignant protest of the reformed bre- of la,bor laid out by it. India is plainly viary against the darkening multitude its favored missionary field. Of 56 orof ceremonies now stands in the preface dained missionaries. 32 labor in India; of the English Prayer-book. of 52 European helpers, 11 ; of 34 fe- -It appears that the last person who suffered for heresy in Spain was put to death at Valencia in 1812. He does not
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
male helpers (not including wives of " And yet to-day we know that this missionaries), 24. In education also In- Gospel, opposed as is nothing else in dia is the favored field. Of the 6 col- the world, contemned by those without leges, 4 are in India; of the 153 inter- and those within, by Greeks and barmediate schools, 59 ; of the 20,000 schol- barians, has nevertheless always pressed ars, about 14,000. forward over every hindrance, and is winning victories year by year. There- On the other hand, South Africa fore it is no wonder if we to·day see a stands decidedly first in the number of greater company before our eyes than congregations and converts, having could have been presaged fifty years more than 5000 communicants out of ago, when our division of the universa1 7000, and of the baptized some 9000 out Church assumed its place in the miliof 15,000. This is the more noteworthy, tant army of Christ. "-BISHOP HEUCK, as the Caffres are peculiarly a hard peo- of Norway, at the Jubilee of tlte Norse ple to work among. Missionary Society (Dansie Mi8siona- Btad). As yet the Free Church has not had the happiness to see anywhere, under NETHERLANDS INDIA. the labors of its missionaries, a general movement of a population toward the -Some of the Europeans in the Dutch Gospel. Its special work has thus far East Indies favor missions as advanbeen chiefly the permeation of heathen tageous to European influence-few of society with the elements of Christian them for any higher reason. Some still culture rather than the immediate gath- oppose them, especially because, as they ering in of heathen souls. say, "Give these natives more knowl- edge, and they will begin to have a -" Under the banner of the cross, higher conception of their rights." The victory appears impossible; under the Dutch sway in the East is, and always cross, victory is certain. No kingdom has been, abominably cold blooded, selseems so easy to crush as Christ's king- fish, and oppressive. dom, and, nevertheless. this kingdom is invincible. The promise is to this -In lS92 there were in Netherlands elIect, and history confirms the prom- India 23 hulppredikers ani 95 missionaise. Think on the day when Christ ries. The former are mlssiqnaries aphung upon the cross. If anyone, on pointed and controlled by thll Governthat day, when the Roman eagle was ment. Of the 95 missionaries, 51 were seen everywhere, had said that one day from Holland, 44 from Germany and the cross should be victorious over the elsewhere. As the 7/Ulpprediker8' pareagle, that one day only scholars would ishes average about 10,000 native Chrisremember the names of the emperors, tians, they are much too large, as Dr. while the name of the malefactor hang- Warneck remarks. ing there before their eyes should be on the lips of all and should be adored by -In Java, which, out of a population millions-had anyone then said this, of 20,000,000, has at most only some he would have been accounted mad. 20,000 native Christians and 30 missiona- But has it not come to pass? The ut- ries, Dr. Warneck remarks that the latmost rage of denial cannot deny this. ter act very much as if they themselves could do nothing. They very common- H Or think on the day when Christ ly gather congregations of Europeans said: 'Go into all the world and make and Eurasians, and take the charge of all nations My disciples; , who, at that these, as if vaguely hoping that these in time, could have imagined a command turn would do something for the naapparently more chimerical? To whom tives. It is true, as one of the Dutch was it given? To eleven men who had missionaries has said, that the Dutch less intellectual cultivation than is now are so oppressive and covetous that the gained in any missionary training school.
62~, GENERAl. MISSIONAR,Y INTELLIG;:EN.CE. [Au~~~
Javl;tn{lse.hate the very name of ~ white livering a very kind and reasonable ad- dress on this . topic. Mr. Baron's ad~ man:. which drives. tho missionaries to indire~t rathe~ than direct ways of· dress this morning. seemed, so far as t w~~k.i~ upon them. could judge, to raise :no spirit of resent~ . , '77" How foolish it is to imagine the ment. rhe. way he put it was very he8.t~en as living in a happy state of effective. 'All Christiall nations,' he natnr!,/,as many a one is s~ill inclined to said, 'have, now abolished slavery exdo, ~, proveil, once for all, by this Batta cept '-and, after a pause-he added, in p~ople of. !,lp:p.atra. Here we have a a kind of stage whisper, and with both s~ilful, keen-witted people, having their hands to his mouth-' except y~u in Mai' own written ·character, and also a he- agascar.' He then went on t6' say he r~dit~~yuI:,wri~ten law, very expert had no wish to make an attack upon at;working ,in both wood and iron, them, as he well knew the many pracready and happy in .speech, intelligent tical difficulties of this question. 'But inth9ught. and,yet leading a crippled, bEl assured,' he said. 'that even if you pitiable life. No one is sure of his do not see that slavery must be abolgoods or his life; warfaTe, quarrelling, iShed, those who come after you wilL It must disappear before the progre~s plundering, &fe their delight and daily of Christ's kingdom.' The mainbusiempl~ymellt; sad is the • position of ness before the U uion this time was to woman; to a wretched lot are the thou- consider how to carry out the deCision sands' of 'slaves; with their families, arrived at at the last meeting~ to send out ten additional missionaries. Much given" over; without legal right or interest was shown, and many addi- tional contributions were promised."- defence 'as they are, arid moreover, as here 'in 'Samosir, for iristance, standing upon'iifea'rfuIly 1()'Yplan~ of human- ity., Witho,ut ideals, without hopes 'of T he Chronicle.
the' life to come, ne'ver liftirig them- -" Just prior t~ the late Franco-Mala- selves 'Jb9~ethe life of to-day, each one gasy War all evidence showed that, as seeks his own at the cost of the, other. Admiral Gore-Jones wrote, the Hova The moral state is, especially here in were' in that condition that they were Toba, fearfully corrupt,. marriage not ready to burst into perfect civilization.'
far removed· from the free love of the A frost, almost .a chilling frost of for- social democratic state .of the future. eign aggression has come, and, as Brit- Truthfulness and honesty are unknown ish philanthropists foreshadowed in vir*ues/'-JOHN 'WAR-NECK, Rhenish 1882, all progress has been' nipped in missionary"in AltlJemeine His8iofUJ- the bud. And for the destruction of Zeit8chrift· the hopes of commercial enterprise, for MADAGASCAR. the stagnation of this vast and resource- ' ful island continent, of this inteiligElnt, -" Well-attended and enthusialOtic kindly, and hospitable people, possessed meetings of our Congregational Union of a natural predilection'to progression, ha{.e jti~t. been held. The chairman France and Great Britain are to blame, (the! Rev: It Baron) followed up his and not the formerly rapidly progressive former iJ.ddress, on the Person and Work Malagasy Government. "-Madagascar of Christ, by another on'the Works of New8.
Christ;dwel1ing on the many moral and WIIAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? social changes that are to be ascribed to the prescqt action of J,esus Christ In the -Pharisees! with what have you to consde~ces lind lives of men. Particu- reproach Jesus ? .
lai-li' irit~resting was .the manner in "He eateth with publicans and sin- which his reference to sla.very was re- ners."
ce'(~ea~ In: the year 1876 Mr. J. S. Is this all ?
Sewell. l,'ats~d a~ al~ry' storm by de- It Yes."
189~·1 ENGLISH N{)TEB
And yo1,l, Caiaphas, what say you IIllIny respects, the most enoolil.raging of Him? yet issued. Ninety-three ,candidates'
, " He is guilty; He is a blasphemer, have been accepted in the past year, because He said, 'Hereafter shall ye being an increase of 12 on ,the pre- see the Son, of Man sitting on the right ceding year. The increase is in the hand (If power and coming in the number of men sent out. The total ex-.
clouds (l£ heaven. " penditure to! the year amounted to Pilate, what is your opinion? £265,836: while the receipts were £253,- " I find no fault in this man." 226, leaving a deficit of £12;610; but And you, Judas, who have sold your when this became known, a friend; on Master for silver; have you some fear- April 19th, offered £1000 if the whole ful charge to hurl against Him? sum were raised by May' 1st, an offer "I have sinned in that I have be- which resulted in more than the entire tmyed the innocent blood." amonnt being received by the date And you, centurion and soldiers who named. Twenty.four picked men have led Him to the cross, what have you to been ordained during the past year- say against Him ? African, Syrian, Bengali, Tamil, Maori, " Truly this was the Son of God." Red Indian. The boarding-schools con~ And you, demons ? stitute another branch of the work upo~ " He is the Son of God." which much attention is bestowed, ap,d John Baptist, what think you of which is full of promise. "At CaJcut- Christ f . ta, Taljhari, Batala, Cottayam, Kandy, " Behold the Lamb of God." Fuh-chow, Osaka, and elsewhere, briglit And you, John? young lives. are being happily fnJi!- " He is the bright and morning star." enced, and being dedicated to the ser- Peter, what say you of your ~Iaster ? vice of the Lord;" and to the girls'
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the schools at Sierra Leone, Lagos, Jerusa- living, God. " lem, Calcutta, Palamcotta, Amritsar, And you, Thomas? Osaka, similar remarks apply. " My Lord and my God." The results we can only sample.Th~ Paul, you have persecuted Him; what change wrought among the Red Indi@ testify you of Him? population of Manitoba is pronounceg.
"I count all things but loss for the Of one district Archdeacon Phair says., .
excellency of the knowledge of Christ "There is 'not a conjurer, not 3 polyg- Jesus my Lord." amist, not a medicine man in the whole Angels of heaven, what think ye of place. Twelve miles of a beautitul Jesus? river, with houses on either side, gar- " Until you is born a Saviour, which dens cultivated, churches and schools is Christ the Lord." along its banks, and the Sabbath ob- And Thou, Father in heaven, who served in a way that might .well be an knowest all things ? example to white people in older lands.
" T~is is My beloved· Son, in whom I The men who, with painted faces am well plllased." and plaited hair, spent their days and Beloved reader, What think you of nights in yelling and beating the druUl, Christ ?~La LuI?, (Madrill), quoted in El are now found clothed and in their right Abogado Cristiano llustrado (Mea;ico). mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus."
The results in Uganda are even more conspicuous. Then there has been '3 English Notes. great and blessed ingathering from among the Ainu aborigines. Assome BY JAMES DOUGLAS. scientists were mote than half disposed to look on this people 'as the missing'· a Annual Report of the hurch MisaWn- arySociety, 1893-94.-This report is, in link, nothing could lliOre sigtlally be·
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
speak than this fact does the all·reach- people mostly the sum of £11,677 18. ing potency of the Gospel of Christ. has been contributed, leaving £5368 In the first seven months of 1893, 171 16s. still to be raised. It is still Ainus were baptized; and Mr. Batche- hoped that the young fri.ends may pro. lor writes that in the old Ainu capital, vide the remainder of the cost. The Piratori, every woman has accepted steamer meets a great want, as no sail- Christ as her Saviour. Of adult bap- ing ship could cope with the need in its tisms during the year there has been present developed form. 596 in Tinnevelly, 621 in Travancore, about 500 in the rest of India, 438 in Since July, 1891, when the Forward Uganda, 79 in other parts of East Afri- l!lovement was started, 67 missionaries ca, 158 in qeylon, 545 in China, and 459 have been added to the roll, and the in Japan. working strength of the society greatly increased. As the result of the For- China's Millions.. Tiding8 f1'om the ward Mov-ement at home there has been Provinces.-I11r. Howell, of Ning·Kwoh corresponding movement abroad. The Fu, tells of good impressions made centre being quickened, the. circumferthrough a wall tract, and enlarges OIl. ence has been stirred-a result which the opportunities afforded in China for has tended to increase the expenditure individual dealing. Mr. Edward Pearse, considerably. To meet the enlarged writing from the same district, men- demand, an increase of £:30,000 is reo tions an out-station at Hu.tswen, among quired on last year's income. It is then the hills, recently acquired through the hoped that the 67 new missi~naries conversion of a gentleman named Wu, planted by the Forward Movement will a strict vegetarian, who carries on Sun- be supplemented by 33, thus bringing day services in a building the site of up the total to 100, as originally dewhich was his own gift. Dr. Danth· signed. waite, of Chefoo, has just received from a Chinaman $100 for his hospital Statistics up to date are as follows: work, which is the first large sum thus Church-members, China, 4832; North obtained. Mr. A. H. Huntley tells of en- India, 739 ; South India, 5554; Travancouraging fruit in two new out-stations core, 6466; Madagascar, 63,359; Afri- -Si-hiang and San·yuen-p'u-where ca, 2815; West Indies, 482; Polynesia, Miss Harrison and Miss Coleman have 11,871 ; making a total of 96,118. Of been for some time laboring. In Shan-Si, native preachers there are 6446, and of according to Miss L. M. Forth, nine native ordained ministers, 1734. homes out of ten are estimated as having opium slaves. "The light in which The Wesleyan Missiona1'y Society.- the Christians look upon opium is rather Like other leading societies this year, strange-namely, as God's punishment the Wesleyan has to face a serious defor the idolatry and sin of the nation." ficit, the balance on current account Miss Mary Williamson, writing from against the society being £28,828. This Fung-hwa, in Cheh-Kiang, reports grat- deficiency is less than one fourth of the ifying progress. In Fung-hwa 4 have year's ordinary income; and it is confibeen baptized: Si-tin, 3 " at Tin-tai, 31 ; dently hoped that the leeway may be and at Ning-hai, 10. more than made up. With the excep- tion of two or three districts, there is an London Missionary Bociety.-The de- increase of membership all along the ficit on the year's accounts is very serio line. The Transvaal and Swaziland ous, amounting to £33,2151s. 2d., which, district heads the list with an increase however, in response to a special ap· of 467, in addition to 1699 on trial. The peal, has been reduced to £28,902 17s. Gold Coast comes next, the increase The new steamship John Williams has being 342, with 707 on probation. In cost in all £17,055 188. By the young India the iucI'ease is 297; in Ceylon, 89; in the Wuchang district, 28; and in the Bahamas, 42. The German mis- nent features of the work was the ex- sion has a gain of 54 and the Rome dis- tent to which a self-supporting, self- trict a gain of 48. The total member- governing church was being established.
ship in connection with the Indian mis- Twelve pastors were now supported by sions is now 4492; while the entire their own flocks; and there were now community under pastoral care in these three local presbyteries in which the missions is estimated at 15,600. business was conducted in Chinese.
The Rev. J. A. Vanes, of India, spoke 'rhe Rev. Donald MacIver, M.A., of strongly at the anniversary meeting in the Hak-Ka Mission, having told how.
Exeter Hall, in favor of the higher edu- in answer to prayer, the building was cation, gronnding his argument on its obtained which is now the centre of value as an evangelizing agency. ., I am their work in Hak-Kaland, said that not disturbed," he says, .. when I read "from this central station a district that I am not a preacher of the Gospel, had been worked about the size of Scot- and that I have not been a preacher of land. Twenty little congregations were the Gospel. But I wonder what I was in full working order, ministered to by doing as a Methodist preacher day by Chinese evangelists who had been train- day for five days in the week, when I ed as well as possible." The central was spending from seven to eight station, Wu-king-phu, has three mis- o'clock every morning in unfolding sionary residences, a missionary hos- the Scriptures to young Hindus." Mr. pital, schools for boys and girls and Vanes's point is this: that he is as also for women, and a training school much an evangelist in his morning work for native evangelists.
in the school as when, in the evening, he stands up to preach in the bazaars. THE KINGDOM.
Another speaker of much interest was -The last annual report of the Engthe Rev. Isaac Shimmin, of Mashona- lish Church Missionary Society takes land. After over fifty years of oppres- Heb. 10 : 12, 13 as a text: "This man sion, the Mashonas were now for the . . . sat down on the right hand of first time free. "At Balisbury they had God, from henceforth expecting." . . • built a native church and had seen con- And the last phrase gave the keynote versions. At Epworth they had opened to the great meeting in Exeter Hall. another church, and had had it crowd- where the report was read. Christ exed. Within two years of the arrival of pecting I Expecting what? Expectthe native teachers thousands of men, ing His disciples to do what He gave women, and chi:dren had been brought them to do, and waiting nntil it is done. into contact with Christian influence And the searching question was asked, and love, and soon there would, he be- When the expecting Lord looks at me, lieved, be a great ingathering of souls is He disappointed? for the Saviour."
-The editor of one of our leading re- The Presbyterian Ohurch of England ligious papers suggests the propriety -Exeter Ball Meeting, May 11th, 1894. of questioning candidates for church- -We summarize a few of the more membership as to their views and feel- notable points. During the last seven- ings concerning missions; what atti- teen years the native congregations had tude they propo~e to take; what meas- advanced from 17 to 45; native evan- ure of sympathy and co-operation can gelists from 49 to 110 ; European agents, be expected from them. To apply such from 15 to 56 ; and the hospitals, from a searching test might be exceedingly 2 to 10. God has devolved upon the awkward for some of the officers of the Presbyterian Church of England the churches and for a large part of the larger part of South China as their spe- membership, but an application like this cial work; and one of the most promi- of the Lord's last command would sure-
MISSIONARY
ly make for spiritual health to all con· lor: "We need persons who win con· cerned. secrate their lives to foreign mission -Dr. Dale, recently addressing a mis· service at home. It is for some to con· sionary meeting in Birmingham, made secrate their lives, their thougbts, their the pertinent suggestion that though the Gospel has wrought such marvels prayers to just this service. r believe of transformation within the realm of Anglo·Saxon character and life, it would that some of the best missionary work: not be safe to assume that yet greater that is done to·day is done by invalids wonders will not appear wheu its work who never leave their bedrooms, or by has been fully achieved upon the China· old people, or by those who are very Illf>n, the Hindu, the African, the mod· poor and have not much to give; but ern Hebrew, etc. Since some of these they give the Lord what is most precious -a true, yearnIng heart, a constant' re. membrance, a constant prayer."
races possess elements of religiousness -Yes, there are still alive genuine diffcer~nt from and far surpassing those saints and heroes. And they are of of the Anglo-Saxon, he thinks we would every complexion. For example, when, be justified in expecting that Christian. the other day, Rev. Mr. Sheppard was ity will take firmer root in such soil, about to return to his work on the Up· and perhaps produce a better crop than per Congo, a colored woman, Maria has Yet been seen. Fairing; of Alabama, put in an urgent ,~Dr. Dnff once told an Edinburgh request to be also sent to the Dark Con· • audience that if the ladies. or that city , tinent, saying that all her )ife it had would give him the cost only of that heen her ambition to carry the Gospel portion of their silk dresses which swept to her people. And when informl)d the streets as they walked, he would that the Presbyterian Board lacked the support all his mission schools in India. money required to pay her passage ~Piety also begins at home. We are ($400), she sold her little home in Tal· to beware of a zeal which belongs to the ladega and went at her own cost. Borrioboola·Gha type. "Many people . pr3y so foolish. Why, I prayed for -Bishop Thoburn tells of a Method· twelve years, 0 Father, make me a for· ist church in Montclair, N. J., "whose eign misbener ; I want to go to foreign membership is not large, and contains lands .und preach. One day I prayed no wealthy men, which yet during the that, und 'Father says, Sophie, stop! year ending April 1st contributed $4200 Where were you borned? In Germany, for the home and foreign work; while, F~$er. Where are you now? In including the amount collected by the ,4-Pleticll, Father. Well, ain't you a Woman's Missionary Society, the total foreign mishener already? When I see sum exceeded $5000. This church has that, Father says to me, Who lives on adopted the policy of supporting a man the floor above you? A family of and wife in Burma; the Sunday·school Swedes. Und who on the floor above supports three pastor·teachers in India; them? Why, some Switzers. Und in one of the members supports a native the rear house? Italians, und' a block presiding elder in India, while another away some Chinese. Now, you never brother has just pledged the support of a second presiding elder."
said a word to these people about My -The Epworth League names a man Son. Do you think I will send you in old Massachusetts who has just about thousands of miles away to the foreigner attained unto perfection in the art of und heathen when you got them all Christiaugiving. For when he gave around, und you never care enough $10,000 to build a deaconness's home, 'about them to speak with them about and a cordial resolution of thanks was their soul ?"-]JIrom Sophie'88ermon. passed, this Was his response: " Thank -AcMrding td Rev'. i. Hudson Tay· me! . Why, I ought to thank 'l/ou. I
189'4.] Gt>:NElRAt. MISSIONARY INTELLtGll::N'cE
am glad we have an organization to oc· on at the rate ot 200 Ii ady,l500' :tiVeEik, cupy such a home. I do thank you for the chance to give to help w grand a 6000 a month, 75,000 a' yilar, 1;000,000 cause." in thirteen years, or nearly 3,OOO;OO(nn a generation. "
-A wealthy New England manufac· -Kim Jang Sik is a Kor~n who has turer lives in summer in the town where his factory is, but has been accus- been for five years in tlul eJ,llIlloy, of tomed to spend the winter with his fam- ily in a fashionable Boston hotel. One Rev. F. Ohlinger. I:j:e was ®.h.onest falI, before leaving for the city, he was man before he became a Christian. He converted. Then he did not want to says, "I used to get very angJ,'y wpen leave the church, which he and all the people treated me like other meu. and family had joined. He titted up his intimated that I could not be ,tr,nllted. house for a winter residence, and the whole church has wonderfully increased When I began to read the J'l:ew Testa- in activlty by his example; of 26 addi- tions, 22 were by profession, Jargely ment I soon felt that I was not very due. to his influence. He had beel). a good, and as I read f3.rtherI got a pain smoker since he was twelve years old, in my chest-a 8e'1J81'C pain I" b~t he gave up the habit, .. so I can help the boys, ',' be says. ….,.D1,'. Grenfell, of the DElep Sea Fish- eries Mission; has been on a .tripto Lab- -Appleton's Annua.l Encyclopredia rador to minister to. the 25,000, Bfi.tish for 1893 has a department recording fishermen who are· without a physidan. gifts and bequests for public purposes Returning, he declared his faith: in, the of $5000 and upward during the preced- value of medical missions. Ue believed ing twelvemonth. That some concep- that " God blessed that means of prll~h tion of the duty of the wealthy to the ing the Gospel and heaIillg the sick ; public has taken root may reasonably and for his own part, he knew, he had be inferred from the fact that the total beep. able to reach a man~sheart oy of last year's beneficence is $29,000,000. pulling his teeth. Yes, and Pr.Mac. kay, who had had 13,000 con:v:erts -Seventy years ago the Rev. An· among Chinese and others in. FqrmQsa, drew Murray, having given himself to told him he had, in the course of. his work among the Boers in the then al· 'Work. drawn 32,000 teeth. If that was most unknown Cape COlony, left his not the way down to a man's heart, he Aberdeenshire home on his way to Plym- did not know what was." oUth. "While he and his brother waited for the coach to pass, they knelt by the -Nachravali is a form of Bind,llben- roadside, prayed, and sang, ere they ediction only bestowed 'by 'Women and parted, the hymn " 0 God of Bethel." priests. It is performed by, clasping The work then entered on is now being both hands over the person's hEl/l.d.and cardell on by Andrew Murray's five waving over him a piece .of SilYel1 or . sons, four sons·in-Iaw, and more than a other valuable which is' beetowed; in dozep. grandsons in the ministry of the charity. The Tamil pepp,e simil.rly Dutch Reformed Church. Three grand- wave a fowl or sheep's head arpund a , sons have just been ordained for mis- sick man. This is a very ancient/;/lre- sion work. They have all studied at mony. His also a Mohammedan rite. the theological seminary at Stellenbosch. WOMA.N'S WORK;..' -" My word shall not return unto Me void" is the promise, and here is -The best example of self.dlmying the fulfilment ilL part. The additions liberality in the Bible is recorded of . 'ti)"iriission churches are goingsteadHy woman. The best example of 'loving ~ervice in the Bible is l'ecorded of'wom· an. The best example()foonqlleting prayer in the Bible is reco.rded bf wbm- an. Thegrftwas a widoW's 'fulte '; the service was the anointing of Jesus with when I called them into the parlor and a box of ointment; the prayer was a closed the door. What they feared I mother's prayer for a daughter pos- cannot tell, but they were soon flying sessed with a devil. Jesus never let home again." fall such words of royal commendation as concerning these three women. Of -The Congregational women of San the poor widow he said, .. She has cast Francisco have recently opened a mis- in more than they all." Of Mary He sionary library and reading·room, with said, " She hath done what she could. " about 30 volumes for a beginning, and And to the Canaanitish mother he said, several magazines, with plans too, for H 0 woman, great is thy faith; be it the addition of maps and qther helps. unto thee even as thou wilt."-Dr. Her- And why should not the women of all rick JoltnlJon. denominations in every city and large village join to maintain such an institu- -The Zenana Missionary Herald, the tion? organ of the English Baptist women, . for June, quotes Dr. Somerville, who, -Life and Ligld for June is a tem· in speaking of prayer for missions, uses perance number, and contains original these words: "I hope I may not offend articles from such prominent temper- any if I venture to recommend the use ance workers as Lady Henry Somerset of a prayer-book which I have found of and Miss Frances E. Willard, with por- service, and which can be had from the traits of these two women. The one shelves of Messrs. Keith & Johnston; I writes of the great" polyglot petition," mean a pocket atlas, which should be which, with its 3,000,000 signatures, spread, like Hezekiah's letter, before is presently to be borne around the globe the Lord, and be gone over carefully in a vessel chartered lor the purpose, from day to day." Then follows a and the other of the hililtory of the sketch of mission centres in India held World's Women's Christian Temper- by that society, like Calcutta, Benares, ance Union. Delhi, Cuttack, Madras, etc. -Miss Fannie Meyer, the first seIf- -A missionary in Lodiana writes supporting Methodist missionary to be thus of her Zenana girls: "I have been sent out under the auspices of the Wom- teaching in some of the wealthier houses an's Foreign Missionary Society, ex- where a bride would have 30 or 40 pects to sail for China this fall. Miss changes of raiment and almost her Meyer received her training and her im- weight in ear-rings. nose-rings, bangles, petus toward special missionary work and so on. As to their personal char- in the Chicago training school. She acteristics, I have found my class of will be accompanied by Miss Helen Gal- Hindu girls as loving and as lovable, as loway, whose entire expenses wioll be blight and as troublesome as any class borne by a young lady at home, who I ever had at home. The school In sends her as a substitute. which lam teaching was a new one last fall, and the girls were very wild and -The Woman's Executive Commit- exceedingly suspicious, and they are tee of Home Missions of the Presbyte- shy still. I invited them to come to see rian Church reports 123 mission schools me, and one afternoon I beheld a flock on the various fields under the care of of girls in red and yellow clothes flying the Board; nearly 400 teachers commis- past our house like so many frightened sioned, and more than 9000 children in geese. I had told my man to watch for training for useful citizens. More than them and call them in, and, hearing 100,000 Presbyterian women are organ- his voice, they fled like wild animals. ized for this specific educational work, I brought them back, but they looked and during the year just ended have suspiciously at everything, especially raised $335,660 for its prosecution. The blessing is diffused among Mormons, Mexicans, Indians, freedmen, and moun- -" Nazareth, once the home of the tain whites. Carpenter, consisting of some 7000 or 8000 inhabitants, mostly nominal Chri~ -The women of the United Brethren tians, now possesses a Y. M. C. A. As Church raised $14,753 last year for work there are some 30 or more drinking in Africa, China, and among the Chi- shops in the town, which olier many nese in this country, with a constitu- inducements to evIr, it wnt be seen that ency of 43 branch societies, 461 locals, the formation of an association was very and 7228 members. The force in the much needed." field numbers 15, of whom 8 are ordained and 3 are medical missionaries. -Though a much younger and sman· In the 6 churches are 1864 members and er body, let not the Young Women's seekers, and in the 8 schools are 368 Christian Association by any means be pupils. forgotten. It dates only from 1886, but has already attained to a membership of OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. upward of 20,000, with 52 city and 255 college organizations and 16 state bodies. -What hath God wrought t June 6th, 1844, George Williams, a young -It means for the future of the Gosclerk, organized a prayer-meeting and a pel, both in Christian and pagan lands, Christian club in his bedroom. Now far more than the boldest faith can im- 5000 associations send 2000 delegates to agine, that almost within a decade London, half of them from this coun- more than 3,000,000 children and youth try. They own buildin!!;s worth $30,- have been banded together under a sol- 000,000. London appropriated £1000 emn pledge to loving and devoted serto entertain them. What an illustrious vice. Among them are the 2,000,000 harvest has already been gathered from Endeavorers and the 800,000 Leaguers. that little seed I We must include If all these are wisely drilled for woramong the fruit the Christian Commis- ship and work, if they are carefully sion, the Student Volunteer Movement, trained to earn, and save, and give for Mr. Moody's work, so diversified and the kingdom of heaven, what shining of such unspeakable value, and much victories wllI soon be won I more. Fifty years ago what was more unlikely to occur than the bestowal of -The Grand Avenue, St. Louis, the honor of knighthood upon that clerk, Presbyterian Endeavor Society has done and the opening of Westminster Abbey a good work for others this year. to celebrate his deed t . Since last April it has given $10 for the Congo River boat; $25 for a native -The tabulated returns for the Y. M. girl's schooling in Japan; $25 as a spe- C. A. in"India show 75 organizations in cial gift to foreign missions, and $20.36 Assam, Bengal, Bombay, Madras, the more raised on the pledge plan; $23.96 Northwest Provinces, and the Punjab. for home missions; and $3.65 to a strug- Three paid secretaries are ilJ. the field- gling sister society. This makes a total viz., Mr. McCann at Bombay, Mr. of $107.97. McConaughy at Madras, and Mr. White at Calcutta. Bombay, with its branches, -Some months ago the Presbyterian takes the lead in number of members, Board, South, issued a call to the chilhaving 502; Madras comes next with dren for $10,000 that a boat might be 393; Pasumalai College has 188, and put upon the Upper Congo for mission- Calcutta stands fourth, with 150 names. ary uses. And now the pleasant intel- The Trivandrum Association is the old- ligence is communicated that the amount est, having been organized in 1870; is secured and the steamer will be or- Lahore, organized in 1875, takes the dered built. How easily a great work next place. is accomplished when the many heartily lend a hand t UNITED STATES. at the Adams Street, Chicago, Evan- gelical Church on May 22d, when a -The Oh.ristian Way is a neat, well- farewell reception was given to Rev. packed, eight-paged monthly published C. F. Rife, M.D., and his young, Wife, .in Northfield, Minn., for the furtherance who, though members of the German of both foreign and home missions. Evangelical Association, have been cor- dially entrusted to the American Board, ~The MissionafY Herald for June is and are now. under appointment to "very glad to be able to report that Micronesia. there has been within the last two years a decrease in the amount of distilled -Though the receipts' of the Baptist liquors sent from the port of Boston to Missionary Union were $510,118 last Africa. In the year ending June 30th, year, the expenditures were $713,714, 1891, the amount was 1,025,226 gallons, and s@ April 1st found an indebtedness but the next yein the amount was de- of $203,596. But on the side of work creased to 711,338 gallons, while in the accomplished in the field was fulness of year ending June 30th, 1893, the amount ('heer. These figures indicate some was still further reduced to 561,365 gal- what the growth: New missionaries, lons. The cost of this last exportation 20; native preachers, 68; churches, in dollars is put down in the custom 81; members added, 15,499; scholars house reports as $679,357, but who can in Sunday-schools, 5312; in m~Bion estimate the cost in souls and in char- schools, 1526. In papal and nominally acter?" Christian lands the Union has 1,115 preachers, 851 churches, and .89,119 -Last March Rev. A. Lambert, a members. In heathen lands it has 993 Belgian priest of the Redemptorist or- preachers, 761 churches, and 96,109 der; who took his vows in 1878, and for church-members. five years has been active in mission work in this country, found himself –These goodly sums have the Meth- unable any longer to continue honestly odist Episcopal Church appropriated in his office, and so took his departure for the redemption of the countries not only from the priesthood, but also named during the last ten years: India, from the 'Catholic Church. The sub- $1,147,597; China, $1,078,602; Japan, stance of his reasons for taking the de- $564,135; Mexico, $517,923; South ci~ivestep is contained in these words: America, $476,091; Utah, $202,538; .. I cannot any longer force my mind besides other smaller amounts for divers into submission to the Vatican, nor can other lands and peoples, 'llmounting in I any longer admit the claim of the Ro- all to $10,552,039. Nor does this in· man Catholic Church and clergy to elude what the Methodis.t women have ,rule, not only in religious questions, (lone. but also in purely scientific, social, and even political matters. The intolerance -The late Robert A. Barnes left by and duplicity which,. almost from the will to the Methodist Church, South, day of my ordination to the priesthood, $l,100,00!) for the establishment of a I found and met in the Roman Catholic hospital in that city_ Church, have become utterly unbear- able to me. And having come to the -The Presbyterian Churchcontribut- 'conclusion that there is only one High ed'for foreign missions $843,412, aDd the Priest, the God Man, Jesus Christ, and expenditures were $995,922, leaving a one Sacrifice, not to be repeated, and, deficit of $102,.597. Of the income in consequence, doubting my position $324,003 came from the women's as a priest, I could not act otherwise boards, $295,016 from church collec- than I do now… tions, . $72,802 from legacies, $35,092 from Sunday-schools, and $17,791 from -It was an excellent and fitting illllS- societies of Christian Endeavor.. The tration of comity which was witnessed contributions of the native churches -The Reformed (DutCh) Church has amounted to $86,764. This Board has missions in China, India, and Ja~n, under its care 108 principal stations, 592 and now adds an Arabian mission, which out-stations, 208 ordained American a few years since was· started by the missionaries, 36 male physicians, 18 Rev. Messrs. Zwemer and Caritine ·uPQn female physicians, 15 men variously the Tigris. Notwithstanding the seemployed, and 358 women, including vere financial pressure, the Board re- Wives, making the total of American ceived $106,571, an average of $1.05 laborers 635. Of native laborers, 165 per member. It has 16 stations, 209 ordained ministers, 239 licentiates 1335 out-stations, 26 missionaries, men, 25 teachers and helpers, making a total of married women missionaries and 17 un- 1741 native laborers; 436 churches, married, 38 native ordained ministel!s, 30,453 communicants, 3141 of whom ,376 other native helpers, 6226 communiwere added last year; .76 students for cants, of whom 508 were received in the ministry, and about 29,000 boys and 1893, 19,970 patients treated in .ita hosgirls in the schools. pitals, etc.
-The Presbyterian Church expended EUROPE. $192,322 for work among the freedmen last year, employing 172 ministers, of Great Britain.-According to the whom only 9 are white, and 261 teach- Bureau Vetitas of French Lloyds, ers. The schools .number 91, with Great Britain owns more than one third 11,424 pupils; and in the churches are of· the actual shipping of the world- 16,015 communicants, of whom 1919 14,971 out of 42,257 vessels. Six ont oC joined last year. 12 of the largest steam and sailing com- panies in the world are British, and of -The Cumberland Presbyterian the 14 vessels of over SOOO tons em- Church sustains missions in Japan, ployed in the world's commerce, British Mexico, and among the aborigines of ship-owners claim 9. The estimated Indian Territory. The force in the field value of the merchants' fleet of Great consist~ of 8 missionaries, 6 wives, 8 un- Britain is $1,100,000,000. The United married women, 1 native pastor, 6 evan- States comes second in the list with 3794 gelists,and 5 Bible women. The num- vessels owned by us. Norway comes ber of communicants is 617. The in- next with 3768 ships, and is followed coine was $20,038 last year. by Germany and Italy with 2165 and 212~ respectively.-New Yor~ Post. '–The Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanters) is engaged in Syria and -A few weeks since the corner-stone Southern Asia Minor, and has a work- was laid at Dartford, England, for a Ing force of 4 ministers, 2 medical mis- Livingstone memorial hospital, and sionaries, 7 women, and 37 native H. M. Stanley gave all eloquent ahd preachers and teachers. most appropriate address upon the char- acter and achievements of the great -The United Presbyterian Church physioian.missionaryexplorer. has work in Egypt and India .which is carried on by 26 ministers, 25 married —:The report presented at the recent women, and 19 .unmarried; 3 physi- ninety-fifth anniversary of the Religious cians, .24. ordained nati ves, 22 licentiates Tract Society showed that the society and 9 theological students; with other has already published in 209 languages, native helpers enough to make a total dialects, and characters. During the or537. The communicants are 11,055, year 583 new publications (151 of.them a Ilet iQ.crease of 415 during last year. tracts) were issued, the total <)lrim1ation there are 13,514 in the schools. For all from the hom,e depot (inCluding books, ; :r.rl.rl?oses the uative Christians raised tracts, periodicals, and cards) being "'$41,849 47,590,600. From foreign depots'about 20,000,000 publications were issued. -" The total of the missionary reve- The grants made during the year in aid nue raised by the Free Church of Scotof mission work amounted in the aggre- land was never so high" as for last gate to £28,654. The society's exhibit 'year, reaching $623,715. The staff in at the World's Fair, which gained a the foreign field numbers 115 men and bronze medal, was handed over to Mr. 45 women, not including wives. Of Moody for the library of the Chicago these, 26 are medical missionaries. To Bible Institute. the churches 1115 were received last year; 1008 children were baptized, and -The Christian Literature Society more than 3000 candidates for baptism for India produced 1,133,115 copies of are under instruction. In the schools pUblications last year. These included sustained in India and Africa 26,717 educational works, books for women, are enrolled. students at colleges, and general litera· ture. The school work in the villages The Continent.-It is the fashion in of Bengal has been carried on with in· France for the Government to parcel creasing interest and success. The out the public funds for the support of number of scholars is upward of 8000. public worship. From $8,000,000 to In the training institution at Ahmedna· $10,000,000 are annually given the gar 73 students were admitted during Catholics; the Protestants receive about the year. All were professing Chris- $350,000, the Jews about $40,000, and tiilns when they entered except 11, who the Mohammedans about $50,000. were Hindus; of these, 4 became Chris' tians before they left. All the outgoing -Protestantism in Spain in the face students were at once employed by the of tremendous difficulties is forging its missionaries. way slowly but steadily onward. In 1890 there were 120 chapels or other -Though the Society of Friends is places of worship, nearly 100 pastors, numerically quite an inconsiderable one third of whom were native Spanbody, in recent years it has manifested iards, about as many native evangelists, a most praiseworthy activity in mission· and 40 colporteurs employed by the ary work. Thus $63,832 were expend- Bible and tract societies. The number ed last year in China and Madagascar, of communicants was 3500, and of Saband 70 members represent the body in bath-school children, 3250. The numheathen lands. ber of day schools under Protestant supervision was 112, with 6000 pupils. -At the recent meeting of the Scotch There were 3 orphanages, 2 hospitals, United Presbyterian Synod the report and 6 church papcrs. These figures on foreign missions contained much mat. represent the work of 6 or 7 denominater for congratulation, the leading fea- tions. tures of the past year's work having been the large number of converts (1046) and -Query: 'Are we still dwelling in the numerous offers for missionary ser· the gloom of the Dark Ages? Seldom vice. There were altogether 838 educat- has anything more touching been seen ed agents, of whom 71 were ordained in these hurrying, money·making times European missionaries. The field was in than the departure of a hundred Rus- Jamaica, Trinidad, Old Calabar, Kaffra- sian Baptists, Stundists, from one of the ria, Rajputana, Manchuria, and Japan. Baltic ports for America. A Daily The income of the ordinary fund was Ohronicle telegram says: "As the ship $166,000, a decrease of $11,000, but there steamed away from the quay they raised was an increase of $5000 in the congre- a well·known psalm tune, a great favorgational contributions. In Manchuria. ite among the Russian Baptists, and it where the work is largely in the hands is stated that th'e tones of the sacred of natives, the results have been mar· melody were heard for a long time after vellous", the vessel had left the harbor, and greatly affected the crowds remaining perhaps grease and lard, perhaps soups on the quay. and broths of doubtful composition. In ASIA. India the touch of egg and lard and fish would be almost as contaminating as India.-Mr. Meenatchi Iyer, Secre- beef itself. Vegetarianism simply means tary to the JlIaharaja of Mysore, now on butter. milk, sugar, flour, ilce, pulse, a visit to Australia, deli vered himself as and herbs. Everyone has not the follows to a press representative there means to buy all this, so the food that regarding British rule in India: ,. The is generally eaten is some unleavened development under it has been some- white bread and stewed pulse, or some thing tremendous. Even our worst rice with curried vegetables. In Benradicals, though they complain in the gal (I do not know under what precstreets, admit, when fairly faced with edents) the people generally eat fish; the question, that they would not wish but in the upper provinces, or in Bomto see the British out of India. We will bay and Madras, where Hinduism is abuse them, they say. but we want more strict, fish is quite as forbidden as them to stop here. In fact, India has meat. During the day the Hindu gen· got so used to peaceful, just. impartial erally takes an hour's siesta. He gets rule, that it terrifies the people to think up at four o'clock in the morning, and of any other control. The military tax goes to bed from nine to ten o'clock. is severe, but it must fall either upon He works all the time that he is awake, us or the British taxpayer, and it is, works on week days and on Sundays, after all, money well spent. There wcek in and week out. He has no Sabcan only be one change in India-the bath. And as a rest from his incessant triumph of a greater power than Eng- labor he enjoys an hour's rest during the land; and if that came in my day, I hottest part of the day.-Mozoomdar.
should, with many others, go to Eng- -Bishop Thoburn reports that the land and settle there." salaries of Methodist native pr6achers -According to the decennial report vary, according to gifts and station, on the material and moral progress of from $30 to $100, and he sends out a India in every department of the Gov- stirring appeal for $10,000, so that 100 ernment, there is a tendency to incor- more may be at once set to work.
porate the native element more largely -The Bishop of Lahore calls his and upon more liberal terms. At the the Mohammedan diocese of India, and close of 1891 there were in India proper in his opinion, though the Moham- 765 civil charges held by the "Ser· medan problem is formidable, it is far vices," including 73 Indians. Apart from hopeless. Of the 18 native clergyfrom this controlling service, the gen- men in the diocese, no fewer than eral administration comprised 2588 offi- 8 are converts from Mohammedanism. cers, all of whom were natives except As many converts are gathered from 139, and of these only 35 were Euro- among Mohammedans as from the Hinpeans not domiciled in India. Out of dus and Sikhs. In addition, as he judges, 114,150 civil appointments carrying an it is in India that the conflict with Moannual salary of 1000 rupees and over, hammedanism must take place. The 97 per cent are held by natives. Church seeks there" no favor," but it has-what cannot be had in Persia and -The Hindu meal is a simple affair. other lands-" a fair field." Every high·caste Hindu is a vegetarian.
Your vegetarians here include so many -For a long time the Christians of animal substances that our people stand India have been waiting and hoping for aghast when they are mentioned. Your entrance into Afghanistan, which has vegetarians eat eggs, oftentimes fish, been fully as sharply closed as Thibet has been. The Church Missionary So- story : " , I want to ,send home, among ciety has held its station at Peshawur other curios, some idols that have bellD.
for many years, and has recently estab· actually used in worship,' said a travel.
lished a medical mission at Bunnu, and ler we lately met in China. 'Can you put it under the care of Dr. T. L. Pen· help me in the matter?' 'Hardly, I nell. The 'pecuIlar advantage of this fear,' was the reply. 'I never heard ot mission is that the place is rcgularly priests or people selling such articles:'
visited by merchants and bill men of But next day, wcnding our way through the border tribes. among whom the the streets of the native city of 8hang; greater part of the work is carried on. hal to our mission church, w~ bcthought The number of patients is vf"ry large, us to'make iIlquiry; on our friend's be~, and there has, also been gathered a half, at a shop where we had offen'
promising school attended by 250 boys. stopped to survey the hideous deities By .the new.treaty just concluded with, of wood and plaster arrayed In the open the Ameer, the tribe most easily reached window front, and to watch the manu· trom Bunnu will be under British pro- facture of such images going on within. '
tection. The Scriptures and othe{ Chris· To our surprise, a good supply of sec', tian books have been translated, and ,it ond·hand images was produced for ou'r seems as, if the time is approaching inspectitJIl.· How do you get these ? • when Il,n entrance into that country will we asked.' The people, whell they are be effected. ' in want of food, bring them here to pawn;' "
-A Baptist association in Burma is -The very general notion that ~he named after the place where Dr. Jud· Chillese Ilre a stolid, unemotional race, son suffered his cruel imprisonment, and hence we should not expect to find from which he nearly died. The place a joyous, fervid type of piety ,among is Oungpenla, or, as it is now spelled, them, is a mistake, writes Rev. N. W. Ai.J.ngbinle. The site of the death Brewster, in Gospel in All LanlIB. priSOn is now, occupied by a Baptist When the Chinaman becomes filled mission school. with the Spirit he has as mllch joy and -The Basseln Christian Karens of manifests it in much the same way as Burma are rnnning a sawmill and mak· other people; ing a profit out of it. Last year they -In an article in the Advance Rev. added $4000 to the endowment of their normal and industrill,l institute. Henry Kingman, of Tientsin, among the " closed doors," I1ames the fact that China.-A writer in the North China almost all of the officials of the empire Herald describes the process of manu· and the bulk of the better classes, if facture of the mock money which is they have heard of it at,all, fear alld hate oflere-d to the spirits instead of the sham the Gospel, and because of their misap- paper money formerly used. They now preheIUlious cOllcerning its character; manufacture mock donars, which are feel toward it, say, as respectable peo· put up in boxcs of 100 cach, the box being pIe in this count,rydo toward Mormon, sold for about three and a half cents. ism, with its abominatiol1S.
The dollars are made of cardboard cov· -At least ill some parts of China the .. ered with tin ,beaten very thin, and stamped with a punching machine. truth has beell fairly well planted. For Immense quantities of this mock money are sold, and the spirits are supposed to a missiouary affirms: "1. could wlllk be cheated into believing that it is good money. from Oanton to ShaIlghai. over 800 miles, not walking more than ~O milCll ' a day, and could sleep ev~yuight in ~" village or town' that has a little Chris- -A missiollary tells the following tiall community." ' ". .": ,l.'· -The Methodists in Peking appear T~o .or three rainy days in,. !luj)?es~ip~ to be appropriating heathen. temples by the wholesale. Three have already leaves them wholly wlthOu.t.if;lOd•. passed into their hands, and their eager These are not beggars, but belong to eyes are now fixed upon a fourth, which the working ciasses. As for clothing, will be laid hold of the hour the cashis their condition is equally terrible. Out forthcoming from America. of 520 families only 30 ha ve a futon . (wadded. quilt used for a bed), thin,and -From the North Chiua Mission of made of rags. patched, together to cover the American Board come glad tidings the whole family of four Of. fi'Vemeruof an extensive and thorough revival bers. Presumably ·the rest have nothwhich by the score and hundred is won· ing. What these people long for is a drously transforming the heaIts and war, a fire, a pestilence, or a famine. lives especially of the pupils in the A fire will give them work, Of they ruay schools. glean something from the ruins. A famine, cholera. and the like means -The statistics of the Irish Presbyte- large schemes of out-door relief,. in rian Mission in Manchuria show that in which they may.be included." addition to the 5 principal stations there are 11 out-stations occupied by native -It is gratifying to note that the agents, and street chapels at two others. Japanese Christians are sending preach. The number of baptized members at the ers to labor among their .own peoplllin' beginnfIlg of the year was 522, and at the Sandwich Islands.. The Japanese tM elidaf the year is 855, ·of whom 325 pastor of the Church in Honolulu lias are communicants.. There are also 130 secured the services of 5, native minisapplicants for baptism. Thirty-three tem, who· will be supported by their natite Christian ngents are employed own countrymen. Rev. O. H. Gulick in addition to the native assistants who and wife are in .thll islands to aid in the work under the medical missionaries. good work of carrying the Gospel to the toilers .on tle sugar plantati.ons. Fourteen 'of these aie evangelists, 2 are AFRICA. teachers, and 9 are colporteurs.
-In 1842 the Amoy mission of the -The greatwork of partitioning out Reformed (Dutch) Church was faund· this vast land space still goes ~errily ed ; in 1848 a house of womhip was on among the statesmen of Europe.. built-the first one in China; in 1856 a The latest phase of the matt.er is fouQ.d church was·· organized; by 1862 the in the Anglo-Belgian treaty, wp.erel)y worl: had. developed into a presbytery; the party of the first part enlarges tern-. and in 1894irito aaynod consisting of porarily the. limits of the Congo Free 19 churches, with 2141 members. And State on the east until they touch the certairili this is an excellent record for Upper Nile; and in return for the favor, fifty years: the party of the second part cedes to Britain a long strip of territory upon Japan;-Po'V'erty is largely a mattE''" the west shore of Lake Tanganyika, all of definition, and this is What it means with the elegant result that now and· in the Land .of the RisingSun, according· from henceforth British lines of railroad to the statement of a philanthropic na- and telegraph can run on B~itish soil tive who has been investigating: "He all the long way from the Cape to the found ~any families. within a small Mediterranean! area who are about as near destitution as it is possible to g~t. Suc~ persons ~Some time since Cape Town was count themselves fortunate if they can joined by the telegraph wlrewith F~:t scrape· together .each a pittance· of 1.3 Salisbury, far up toward theZambesl, Ben (about 7 mills) to· buy two .meals and now 400 miles more are to be put under construction, extending commu- 'ai 'aila i to umalina sinabwana.' 'Do nication past Blantyre and Lake Nyas- not speak the truth. To speak the sa. The poles are to be of iron. truth is very bad.' For months we -A. pathetic touch is given to the used the expression, ' Goseda i to 'umaclose of the career of Lobengula, the lina' in the Lord's prayer for' Him the vanquished King of Matabeleland, by evil one,' when it really means 'our a recent English writer, who states that friend the evil one.' I had often heard when Lobengula saw that war would this wOl'd goseda, and from interpreters certainly come, he sent a message to all and others learned that it was used like the white people living in his country, our pronouns he and him. I tried it including women and children, inform- often, and it was always' goseda.' But ing them that in the event of war he one day I caught the word 'gosiagu' could not protect them, advising them and found out that it meant' my friend,' to leave the country, and promising an whereupon Iasked for' our fl'iend' and escort beyond his boundaries. A.s the ether forms, and I then ascertained that result, not one was harmed, and nothing I had been calling the evil one • QUI' belonging to them was lost or damaged. friend,' because this term is in constant use in the place of the name of any -The Moravians have now 5 mis· one."
sionaries at their stations to the north -Rev. H. A.. Robertson, one of the of Lake Nyassa, only 1 of them with a missionaries of the Presbyterian Church wife. A. day's journey off is the Berlin in Canada, writing from Eromanga, mission, and not very far away is Liv- New Hebrides, says, "We dispensed i'ngstonia, the Scottish Free Church field. the Lord's Supper in July last at Dil- lon's Bay to 200 people, and on that ISLA.NDS OF THE SEA.. day Narie Tangkow, the eldest son of -What wonders to civilization and the murderer of John Williams, was Christianity have been wrought under baptized in the presence of 700 people, the Southern Cross within a generation and took his place at the communion or two' For even A.ustralia, and New table. A. great sight it was, and would Zealand, and" Van Diemen's" Land are have rejoiced anyone with a heart in now missionary centres, and are sending him to have seen it. We have 50 teach· out consecrated men and women by the els and 250 communicants."
score to evangelize their still benighted -A. clear sign that some of the islands neighbors. A. few weeks since 5 mis- of the Gilbert group are coming out of sionaries sailed from Sydney to rein- their heathenism is that the King of force the Wesleyan mission in New Butaritari recently refused to have any Guinea. of his people go to San Francisco for -Let the heralds of the cross, before the purpose of giving an exhibition of they have thoroughly mastered tbe lan- heathen manners and customs. '1'his guage of the people to whom they arc king, so recently enlightened, shows a sent, beware, lest in their ignorance keener sense of propriety and less greed they preach deadly heresy. Rev. W. E. of gain than do a host of people in Bromilow has this to confess concerning ci vilized lands.
himself in the early days of his work -In Malaysia is a population of 60,- in New Guinea: "I remember that 000,000, mostly Mohammedan Mulays.
through the peculiar affirmatives and The British and Foreign Bible Society negatives I misunderstood a n~tive has several European colporteurs at who was helping me in the preparation work and twenty-five who .are natives.
of an address, and I said with all ear- At Singapore alone Bibles are fur- nestness, ' Geabo ua ona 'ai 'aila. Ona nished in forty-five different languages.
The Missionary Review of the World — September 1893
MEDICAL MISSIONS IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVI. No. 9.-0ld Serie8.–SEPTEMBER –VOL. VI. No. 9.-New Series.
MEDICAL MISSIONS IN SYlUA AND PALESTINE.
BY GEORGE E. POST, M.D., BEIRlh, SYRIA.
Twenty.nine years ago Rev. David Metheny, M.D., of the United Presbyterian Church, went to Lattakia. Fourteen years before him, Rev. Samuel Lyde, an accomplished scholar and a refined Christian, had gone to labor among the Nusairiyeh, the only proper heathen in Syria. He had received many indignities and much evil treatment, which broke his health and discouraged him so much that he was obliged to leave after five years of fruitless toil. He was succeeded by Rev. R. J. Dodds and Rev. Joseph Beattie, two lovely and accomplished men, both well known to the writer. They labored for nine years to secure an opening among these heathen people, and among the nominal Christians of Lattakia. Mr. Dodds was an able Arabic scholar, a true Irish wit in conversation, affable and gracious-in fact, in every way as a man adapted to win his way among strangers and maintain his influence when once secured; Mr. Beattie, though less gifted as a conversationalist, was a man of uncommon sweetness of temper, and every way adapted to please those who value sterling worth and a kindly spirit. But although they had preached and talked and taught school, there was almost no visible result, and their long service seemed well-nigh lost. As soon as Dr. Metheny arrived in Lattakia a change came over the spirit of their dream. They took turns in interpreting for him at his clinics, and acting as intermediaries between him and the people, and visiting with him at the houses while he was engaged in the study of the Arabic language. At once those who had been cool before became their warm friends. They were welcomed among the bigoted, and had free access to poor and rich alike, to the people and the officers of the Government. They could now travel safely among the turbulent mountaineers. The fact that they belonged to the Hakim, and the Hakim to them, was a safeguard to them and a recommendation to their persons and their work. As for the doctor himself, he carried a charmed life. An incident in his own language will illustrate this: "Once, while travelling at night, when my horse was out of sight down a little ravine, and my attendant, dressed like a Turkish officer, WitS ahead of me, a compa~y of robbers watching the road accosted him with their secret password: , Where are you going ~' vVell knowing that they would fire on him, I called out immediately: 'What is it to you where he goes ~' They replied, 'Oh ! is that you, doctor ~ 'We have been waiting all the evening for you. The sheikh of the village has killed a sheep for you, and invites you to spend the evening with him.' Of course this was made up offhand. I politely asked to be excused on account of pressing business, hoping to avail myself of his hospitality at some other time. Although I knew that, near by us, a Turkish officer, recently killed there, was hidden in a well, we were allowed to go on our way unhurt." Since Dr. Metheny's arrival, the mission at Lattakia has prospered. On an imposing campus, on the highest ground in the town, is the mission compound, with its group of buildings, consisting of schools. dispensary, and dwellings for tp.e missionaries, mostly, I believe, erected at Dr. Metheny's expense, out of t!Ie fruits of his practice. A most encouraging work is carried on among tho Nusairiyeh and the native Christians, and an era of prosperity has succeed. ed one of discouragement, and barrenness. Dr. Metheny has gone to Mersine, where he has organized a most promising work on the same lines at} that in Lattakia. Dr. Balph has taken up the medical work in Lattakia.
Eighty miles south of Lattakia, at Tripoli, is the centre of the extensin medical missionary work of Dr. Ira Harris. The doctor is one of the mos~ modest and unassuming of men, but an able physician and surgeon, and a devoted worker for Christ. His name is a power throughout all the regior. occupied by the Tripoli station, and, in fact, over the who:e field of the Syria Mission. He has a dispensary and hospit=:.l :n Tripoli, ",here thou. sands of the poor are treated every year, and all Syria is fJ.:Il of the fam~ of his skilful opcrations and his kindly, helpful sympathy. This work alone would be quite enough for oneillan ; hut Dr. Harris frequently makes the tour of his own station, and sometimes of other stations, ger..- erally in company with one or mors of !.hose who labor in word and doctrine. One of his clerical brethr(':Il 'Writes me : ." Missionaries reached a village near evening. It was at the I;)nd of summer. and water was scarcs. The servant was sent to seCllrl'. water for the animals and food for the party, with instructions to pay for everything. He returned to report that no one would furnish anything. Soon, however, it was learned that there was a doctor in the party, and tne people vied with each other who should be the first to bring water, and speedily a sumptuous meal 1Vas prepared and sent from the sheikh'~ house to the honored visitors." The same missionary gives au account of how Dr. IIanis proved the means of cnabling thc missionaries to enter Ehedin. Many years before the elder Mr. Bird and his family were treated with indignity and driven from Ehedin, as were also Messrs. Wilson and Lyons, of Tripoli. In 1886 Dr. Harris was invited to sumlller in Ehedin, owing to services rendered to the wife of the sheikh; and 'in 1882 he and his colleagues were welcomed in Hadeth, a most bigoted centre of Maronitc fanaticism. Thus darkest Syria was opened to the light by the skilled touches of a scalpel and the gentle ministries of a loving heart.
Damascus is the typical Oriental city of Syria. Its large and bigoted population of Mohammedans is practically inaccessible to clerical and educational work. Dr. Mackinnon, an able physician and surgeon of the Scotch Church, and his recently arrived associate, Dr. Smith, have found a way to the confidence and affection of the hundred and twenty thousand Moslems of Damascus, and perhaps an equal number of those belonging to the tributary villages and towns. The hand that has made the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and snatched the dying from the grave, pomts steadily to Christ.
On a spur of Lebanon, about 2500 feet above the sea, overshadowed by a grove of fragrant pine trees, is the hospital of the Society of Friends. The physician in charge of this institution, Dr. Besharah Manasseh, a native of Syria, is a graduate of the Syrian Protestant College, at Beirftt, and is a fine specimen of a Christian gentleman as well as a skilful physi- CIan. He is assisted by a devoted corps of English nurses. In this wellappointed hospital thousands of Druscs, Sunnite Moslems, Mutawfl.Iies, Greeks, Maronites, and Protestants are treated annually, either gratuitously or for a nominal charge. The dispenser, who compounds the medicines, is also a native of Syria, and was a pupil in the Syrian Protestant College. This medical charity has done much to soften prejudice and win the hearts of the people of this part of Lebanon, and add to the influence of the industrial school for boys and the school for girls, which are conducted by the same society.
At Shweir, a few miles higher up on the same spur of Lebanon, Dr. Carslaw, also of the Scotch Church, has another medical mission. He is assisted by Dr. IIammam, also a graduate of the Syrian Protestant College. His medical work is a strong buttress to his evangelistic labors and his flourishing schools.
A number of ladies of independent means and devoted piety have established at Ba'aqlin a very picturesque village near the seat of the Lebanon Government, at Beit· ed-Din, a mission in which medical aid is a large feature. Here, as in so many other places in Syria and Egypt, a graduate of the Syrian Protestant College is the physician. Dr.' Ali'Alam-ed-Din gained his aptitude for the work he is now doing in connection with these excellent ladies in the Moslem school of Miss Taylor, of Beirut, where, for the last two years of hi.;; undergraduate course, he gave his gratuitous and able services to the crowds of sick poor who came there to be relieved. It is very interesting to see a Druze, who is still numbered among his own people, co-operating so cheerfully and efficiently with those who are engaged in the work of Christian evangelization.
Six hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, on the tor-. rid shores of the Sea of Tiberias, is the hospital of Dr. Torrance. Here, in the very region where Christ wrought so many miracles of healing, the bigoted Jews, the ignorant Bedawin, and the lapsed Christians arc approached and won by the same manifestation of love which was given there eighteen hundred and sixty years ago. I am happy to say that a graduate of the Syrian Protestant College has a share in this work also.
The region east of the Jordan has always been a peculiarly hard part of the Syrian field. The jealousy of the authorities is so great that even scientific expeditions are hampered and driven out, lest they should in some way injure the influence of the government in that turbulent district. A few years ago one of the English missionaries was expelled from this region and even from Syria. The schools all through Gilead and Hauran Ilre interfered with and often closer!. In es.Salt, however, there is a medical mission, and through its softening influence on the minds of the people anr! the rulers, this station is comparatively unmolested and its work is prosperous. It was very refreshing to me, at the time of my visit to this town in 1886, to find a graduate of the Beirut College in charge of a work which had done so much to make any evangelistic labors possible in that destitute and benighted region.
Three days south of es-Salt, on the mountains overlooking the Dead Sea, is the turbulent, half rebellious city of Kerak, where Tristram, Grey Hill, and others have been imprisoned and only released on payment of very large ransoms.. A few years ago Mr. Lethaby, an uneducated and poor layman, went there. He was abused, threatened, and would have been killed long ago but for his heroic wife, who, although not having a medical education, had knowledge enough to treat simple diseases, and has so ingratiated herself with the people that they protect her and her husband, where no foreigner, nor even an official of the Turkish Government would be safe. And there she lived and labored for body and soul together, cut off from the world, but in direct communication with heaven.
Not far from the reputed house of Simon the Tanner is a stately stone building, one of the finest in Jaffa. It is the hospital for which the late Miss Mangan gave her energies while living. In the effort to overcome the opposition of the authorities to this most benevolent work, she gave herself untiringly, and died a martyr to her zeal. But the seed she sowed so diligently has germinated, and this fine institution remainr.; a monument to her faith. Dr. Qaiser Ghuraiyib, also a graduate of the Syrian Protestant College, has been from the commencement the physician in charge.
I cannot, in the brief space allotted to this article, do more than allude to the numerous other medical missionary institutions in Palestine under the auspices of Protestant societies. In Gaza, at the extreme southern border of the Philistine plain, is a flourishing work, conducted by the Church Missionary Society. Three thousand patients were treated here during the past year. For a considerable time a graduate of the Beirut College was the assistant, and we are now looking for a suitable candidate from the !!ame to take his place. In Ram-Allah, near Bethel, the Society of Friends have a medical mission, conducted by Dr. Saleeby, who pursued his studies in the Syrian Protestant College. Nearly four thousand patients were treated here last year.
It would require a long article to do justice to the medical work in Jerusalem alone, for the benefit of Jews, Mohammedans, and the nati'e Christian sects. Foremost among these is the hospital and dispensary of the London Jews' Society, which treated 800 patients in the hospital and 40,000 in the dispensary last year. There is also Dr. Sandreckzki's hospital for children, with an aggregate of nearly six hundred of the little ones, whom he has taken in his arms in the name of Christ during the past year. There is also the establishment of the German Deaconesses, under the medical charge of Dr. Hoffmann, with its roll of 8000. The poor lepers are not forgotten. The Moravians, ever ready for the most selfdenying of all Christian labors, have a hospital for these outcasts, in which 22 unfortunates have found that the spirit of the Saviour still survives in his followers. All honor to Dr. Einsley and brave Mr. and Mrs. Schubert for their noble and patient devotion.
At Nazareth, Dr. Vartan conducts the work of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Association. Over sixteen thousand five hundred patients were treated here last year.
At Bethlehem, Miss Preston Taylor, M.D., is practising in the name of Christ. At Hebron the Mildmay Mission conducts a medical work. When I was there last year I was gratified to find one of our graduates in charge of the Medical Department, aided by four nurses, who visit the houses, and take charge of the sick as occasion demands.
Within a fow years the usefulness of nurses and their peculiar access to the sick has attracted the attention of a number of consecrated women of means. Mrs. Meredith's far-reaching vision has looked across a continent and an ocean, and she has met a long-felt want by establishing a Nurse's Institution in Jerusalem, from which she proposes to supply at- ~ndants for the poor gratuitously, and for those able to pay, at very moderate rates. Miss Bouchart, of Damascus, a lady of fortune and largehearted benevolence, personally conducts a most useful work of this kind in Damascus. She has under her direction a native physician, a graduate of the Beirdt College, to treat those cases not otherwise supplied with medical care, and Miss Athill, a thoroughly trained nurse, to attend to this department of the work.
The effect of Christian work is to be tested not only by its direct fruits, but by its influence in stirring up the zeal of others, and especially those who are in any sense opposed in doctrine and practice. The energy and devotion shown by Protestant societies in the line of medical missions has brought out and developed a similar work on a large scale among the other religions of Syria, as well as among the non-Protestant denomina- tion~. DuriJlg the Christmas holidays of 1893 I was called to Semarin, one of the Jewish colonies of Baron Rothschild, of Paris, to see the head of the colony, who was ill. I there became acquainted with the worthy physician of the colony, and with the important medical work carried on in the colonies of Semarin, Safed, and Jaffa, which, although not conducted in the name of Christ, is animated by his spirit and imitates his charity. In each of these colonies there is a well-educated medical man, a hospital, a dispensary, and all sects and nationalities are treated free of cost. Let us thank God that even they who follow not ns or ours ara laboring for the benefit of the poor bodies which are so closely knit to souls.
An incident in connection with this work illustrates the sacredness of the person of the medical missionary in this land. nr. Scheid, the fiscal agent of Baron Rothschild for these colonies, was in Semarin during the time of my stay. Dr. Blyden, one of the physicians of the Safed colony, was also there. The doctor accompanied M. Scheid on a visit to Safed. A few hours out of Haifa the cavalcade was attacked, every person in it except the doctor, not even excepting M. Scheid (himself a Frenchman), was either stoned or beaten, the chest of M. Scheid was broken open, 30,000 francs and all his papers were stolen, and he was glad to escape with his bruise.s and the various injuries of his followers and attendants. Neither the doctor nor anything belonging to him were touched. These lawless freebooters or some of their friends had tasted his kindness, and his person and property were safe.
I am happy to say that there is a Christian medical mission in Safed vying in a friendly spirit with that of the Jews in its efforts to reach and mitigate the sufferings of the people. The medical attendants for many years past have been graduates of the Syrian Protestant College.
In most of the cities of Syria and Palestine the Government supports more or less clinical work for the poor. In Beirut there is such a clinic held by the municipal physician, and a pharmacy has recently been established, in which medicines are dispensed gratuitously to the poor. A hospital for certain female diseases has also been opened at the expense of the city government.
The orthodox Greeks of Beirut have established a hospital and dispensary in this city, and vast amount of good is accomplished by its means. Several of the graduates of the Beirut College have been or are now on the staff of this institution. The Greek Catholics, Maronites, and Moslems have also their organizations for the systematic visitation of the sick, and for the supply of some of their most urgent wants.
The Lazarists, Sisters of Charity, and the Jesuits have clinics, dispensaries, and hospitals, and a comprehensive system of house visitation among the poor. Incited by the example of the American Mission, the Jesuits have established a strong medical college, which is subsidized by the French Government. Did my space allow, I would gladly give a detailed account of these institutions, and of the many medical charities conducted by other than Protestants in all the chief centres of this land. I cannot close, however, without a few words in regard to the institution so frequently mentioned in this paper.
The Medical Department of the Syrian Protestant College is a medical mission of the most prodnctive kind. It works directly and indirectly for the body and the soul. Its direct work is chiefly in connection with the noble hospital of the Klligllts of St. John in Beirut. These knights con- sist of the cream of the German nobility, and their order snpports 43 hos- pitals, of which that at Beirut is the only one ont of the fatherland. When it became known to the Turkish Government that the order wished to establish a hospital in Beirut, the authorities gave them a fine plot of ground, about four acres, on which the hospital now stands. The munici- pality of Beirut alRo pays a considerable sum annually for the support of poor patients, principally Moslems, in the hospital. The Government also gave the order the large property in Jerusalem, where ruins of the medial- val hospice of the old order of St. John still stand. The Johanniter Hospital, at Beirut, consists of a central building, with 63 beds, an outside building for contagions diseases, a polyclinic, where from 10,000 to 15,000 free consultations are given every year, and various accessory buildings, all surrounded by a beautifully arranged garden, and having a grand outlook over sea and land., About 500 patients are treated annually in the wards of the hospital, of which number more than a third are of non-Christian sectR. An open Bible, Scripture readings, personal conversations, and Sabbath services remind all these people whence their blessings flow, and invite them to trust in Christ for the salvation of their souls. The people who thus hear the Gospel are for the most part those who would not otherwise be accessible to missionary teaching. The Sisters of Kaiserswerth (Protestant Deaconesses) are the nurses of this institution, and the professors of the Medical Department of the Syrian Protestant College its medical attendants and evangelists. Each of them has a direct influence of his own as great as his strength and zeal.
But it is the indirect work of the college which gives it its chief importance. It is training the young to carry outward, in ever-widening circles of beneficence the work of the professors. It was impossible to give an account of the medical mH;sionary work in this land without frequent mention of the graduates of this institution. It is difficult to give an idea by statistics of the good done even by those of our graduates who have not become connected with missionary iflRtitut.ions. I believe that it would be a small eRtimate of the service rendered to the poor by our men if we put it at the figure of a hundred thousand free consultations a year, quite outside of all establishments. If we add to these fifty thousand a year in connection with the various agencies mentioned, some conception may be formed of the scope of our work in relieving human misery. It is by no means illegitimate to add to these large figures the much larger number of those who are ahle and willing to pay in whole or in part for
KAMI-No-MICm-sHIN'fO
the benefits received, bnt which never could have been rendered had not this institution been found.
An incident will illustrate the aim of our training, the contagious power of a good example, and the personal devotion of one of our graduates. The young man to whom I allude was educated in the college under the auspices of the Sidon and Tripoli stations of the mission, on condition that he should teach for two ycars after graduation, at a salary of $10 a month. It so happened that at the time he graduated Dr. Harris was in need of an assistant, and he chose this young man for this office instead of that of teaching. He is a man of earnest Christian character, of pleasing address, and has a special gift at presenting the Scriptures in an attractive and striking manner suited to the comprehension of the simple folk who come to our clinics. He has preached Christ to many thousands, the majority of whom are of the non-Christian sects.
As the time drew near for the contract to expire, he informed the doctor that he had received several letters from his brother in Alexandria, urging him to accept a situation in the custom-house of that city at a salary of $28 a month, with the promi.se of an increase at the beginning of the new year, and promotion from time to time, as his experience and ability increased. He said, however, that he did not wish to go, and was ready to stay on in connection with the work, with the moderate addition of $2 a month to his salary, which would then only amount to $12 a month in all.
Not long after this he received a much more enticing offer, as follows: A man of considerable wealth wished to take a large amonnt of Syrian goods to America and open a shop in New York or Chicago. IIe offered to give him a salary of $5 a day for a year, half the amount to be paid down in advance, and the remaining half to be deposited with the doctor or anyone elsc the young man might name. His reply was: "I am not working for money, I am working for Christ. I love to be with you, and I know we are doing much good. " And there he remains, a living example of the Gospel whieh he preaches.
KAMI-NO-MICHI-SHINTO .
. BY A. H. MCKINNEY, PH.D., NEW YORK.
Westerners are often amazed when they read of the number of adherents to some of the religions of the Orient. This is particularly true of Buddhism, with its alleged five hundred millions of devotees. Investigation, however, reveals the fact that there are Buddhists and Buddhists. The Buddhism of many is analogous to the Christianity of the boy who, having been asked how he knew that he was a Christian, indignantly replied: "I hain't a Jew, am I!" It is popularly supposed that in Japan there are thirty millions of Buddhists. The fact is, that in the Mikado's 'empire there is a triad of religions, the rites and ceremonies of which are so intermingled that millions of people may be counted as belonging to all three. These religions are Shinto, Buddhism, and Sorto, which is the Japanese term for Confucianism. We propose to take a survey of the first named, which as the old national religion was called Kami-no-Michi * (or Mad-~u), and is now generally known as Shinto.
There are many ways of spelling this word Shinto, which is simply the rendering in Chinese characters of the words Kami-no-Michi, meaning ." the way of the gods" (shin = god, to = way), and is equivalent to'
the Greek ()eo, },,0Y0G" The Chinese explain the word as follows: shin= spirit, to = the doctrine, and they deelare that Shintc is a form of spirit worship.
So dense is the darkness that enshrouds the early history of Japan that it is impossible with any degree of certainty to tracc the genesis and early development of that which afterward became the national religion of the empire. The drift of scholarship, aside from the Japanese, is settling toward the theory that at least the germs of Shinto were brought from the mainland of Asia. When we know more of the religion of the Ainu, perhaps we may be able to speak more decisively concerning Shinto.
Not only is the origin of Shinto a matter of great perplexity to investigators, but the religion itself has been so modified by its contact with other systems that no superficial observer can tell just what Shinto is. Japanese scholars themselves are divided into hostile camps when this subject is upon the tapis. Foreigners who have investigated the system with the most disinterested motives do not agree in their conclusions, and many of the most candid are the least dogmatic in their statements.
A returned missionary, for a long time resident in Japan, on being asked for some information as to what Shinto really is, replied: "I would like to learn something about Shinto myself." One scholar t de- elares: "Shinto is an engine for reducing the people to a condition of mental slavery." Another t says: "There is good evidence that Shinto resembles very closely the ancient religion of the Chinese." A third § holds that " the leading idea of Shinto is a reverential feeling toward the dead. " "In its higher forms Shinto is simply a cultured and intellectual atheism. In its lower forms it is a blind obedience to governmental and priestly dictates." This is the verdict of Dr. Griffis,1I whose long residence in Japan, and scholarly, unprejudiced investigations combine to give it weight. In fact, it is only since 1870 that we really know anything about Shinto, as writers prior to that time told us of Buddhism, and not of Shinto.
* Japane.oe scholars:nse the term Kami-no-Michi, and not Shinto.
t Ernest Satow. ~ J. A. von Brandt. § Arinori Mori.
~ See" The Mikado's Empire." by W. E. Griffis. He characterizes Shinto as "a Robinson Crnsoe among religions." ~ An examination of the sacred books of Shinto will show us at least the Ht:trting-point from which what may be called the doctrines of the system were developed. Then a glance at the rites and ceremonies of those who claim to be exponents of the system will enable us to ju~e how far those doctrines affect the lives of the people.
1. THE SACRED BOOKS. The literature of Shinto, like that of so mauy ethnic faiths, is a development of the early fables and folk-lore which were handed down from generation to generation by the minstrels. These recall to mind the bards of the Druids, the rhapsodists of the Greeks, the priests of the Zoroastrians, and the early reciters of the Vedas, to whom, respectively, we are indebted for much of what we know of these peoples.
Although some Shintoists are positive in their assertions that there was an early divine alphabet called Shindayi, or God-letters, no traces of it can be found. About A.D. 284, or the fifteenth year of the Mikado Ojin, it is supposed that Chinese characters were introduced into Japan. Soon after this there must have been the beginnings of a printed sacred literature, but investigators have found nothing that belongs to this early date. There is a tradition that the sacred books that are now known to us were preceded by two similar works compiled in 620 and 681 A.D_, but there are not remains of these to substantiate the tradition.
The earliest sacred books that are now available are : 1. The Kojiki, or "Records of Antiquity."* This is a collection of oral traditions which was reduced to writing in 721 A.D_, and now form the Japanese Scriptures. It is also the oldest Japanese history. It consists of narratives without dogma, ethical code, or rituaL The work is in three volumes, the first of which deals with the mythology of Japan, and the second and third contain narratives of the doings of the mikados for about thirteen hundred years (B. C. 660 to A. D. 630) . Japanese historians declare that the compiler was a female of the peasant class, whose memory waR so extraordinary that she could repeat everything that she had ever heard. This declaration is certainly a great tribute to the memory of the female, but it does not tend to increase our reverence for the trustworthiness of the narrative.
2. The Nihongi, or "Chronicles of Japan." This was compiled in 720 A.D., and contains records of the mythological period. It continues the history of the Mikado down to 699 A.D. These two works are written in the ancient language, and can be read only by those who have specially studied the archaic forms of the language.
3. The Engishiki, or "Book of Ceremonial Law." This dates from 729 A.D., and contains many prayers and chants.
In addition to these there is a collection of ancient myths, entitled Koshi Seibun, and a great mass of commentaries on the sacred books. None of these writings can be relied upon for historical accuracy.
*A translation of this work may be found in the supplement of Vol. X. of " The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan." II. DOCTRINES OF SHINTO. There arc many that claim that Shinto is not a religion at all. It. is certain that there is no attempt at any systematic statement of belief, and there is little to help the most careful student of the system in formulating what might be justly called a statement of the doctrines of Shinto. There is not e'en a moral code. The following may be considered a fair expression of what the Christian would call the doc- trines of Shinto : 1. Creation. There is no real creation, only development. Here is a . summary of the Shinto doctrine. In some unexplained way the universe was evolved from a germ which had remained hidden somewhere in chaos. Then came the Kami, or gods. These developed in pairs, very imperfect at first, but approaching perfection until the perfection of the creative prin- ciple was reached in Izanagi and Izanami, who were male and female reo spectively. Using his jewelled spear with which to stir the sea as he stood in heaven, Izanagi collected on its point some drops, which, as they fell, consolidated awl formed an island, to which he and Izanami descend- ed, and which they used as the base of operation in fonning other islands.
Then came the separation of sun and earth. The daughter of the first pair, Amaterasu, l-ecame the ruler in the sun. Meanwhile, disturbances began on the earth, and anarchy prevailed until the sun-goddess sent her grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, to restore order. This required a long series of violent strnggles between the heavenly and the earthly powers, and resulted in Nmigi-no-Mikoto becoming the first Mikado of Japan.
2. God. According to the foregoing account of creation, it seems that the universe came into existence before the gods. It is held by many, on the other hand, that Shinto teaches that one supreme God, from whom all others sprung, had existed from eternity, and that he apparently came forth from between the heaven and the earth when they separated. A second and a third god followed. From these sprung Izanami and Izanagi, who were the progenitors of all beings. 11ms it is evident that whether God is considered as eternally existent or as evolved from less perfect beings, the doctrines of creation and of God are intimately connected. Many scholars hold that both doctrines are evolution pure and simple.
It is true that the conceplion of a supreme, personal God is well-nig~ lost. Many foreigners who have mingled with the people assert that Shinto is practically hero and ancestor· worship. While the sun-goddess is reverenced above all others, other gods and objects of nature are also worshipped. As the representative of this goddess, the Mikado practically occupies the chief place in the system. He exercises both temporal and spiritual power over the people. He is at once emperor and pope.
3. Prayer. There is a vague conception of a god of some kind who is interested in man's affairs. The prayer in the heart is heard. The Mikado prays daily for his subjects. Pray«:>rs are for temporal blessings. The dead as well as the liviug are prayed for. The following, quoted by Dr. Griffis, indicates that together with the belief in many gods there is a recognition of a personal, providential ruler of the universe. "Oh God, that dwellest in the high plain of heaven, who art divine in substance and in intellect, and able to give protection from guilt and its penalties, to banish impurities and to cleanse us from uncleanness-hosts of gods, give ear and listen to our petitions I" Forces of nature and many local gods, such ·as those of the mountains, seas, rivers, wells, and roads, are ad- dreslOIed in prayer.
4. Death. Like the Zoroastrians, the Shintoists will have as little to do with a corpse as possible, because they consider that death is polluting. In both systems the effects of sun-worship are seen in the treatment of the dead, and in abhorrence of all forms of uncleanness. Further on it will be noted how the Shinto priests lost their influence, because of their unwillingness to come near a corpse.
5. Immortality. There is no developed doctrine of the immortality of the soul j but as the Japanese all believe that they are descended from the immortal gods, the inference is that they consider themselves immortal j but there is no dogmatic teaching on the subject. One reason why Buddhism made such an easy conquest oftheJapanese may be found in the fact that its doctrine of Nirvana gave the people something to which they could look forward, while Shinto was silent as to the great beyond. To the ordinary Oriental life is drudgery and weariness, and he has no wish to prolong it. A Japanese proverb runs: "If you hate a man, let him live. " Hence the idea of Nirvana, with its consciousless existence, was acceptable. On the other hand, how can we account for the fact that cows, horses, etc., were formerly buried with the dead, except on the hypothesis that preparations were made for a life beyond ~ Another curious practice that needs explanation in this connection is the prayers which the Shintoists offer for the dead. Sir Edwin Arnold declares that" one point in which Japanese women are above and beyond all their Christian teach~ ers is the tender regard that they pay to their dead, and in the ceremonies, full of a strong and sublime faith in the future life, which they make at their graves. " This faith has its roots in Shinto rather than in Buddhism.
The five commands of Shinto relate to : (1) Preservation of the pure fire as an emblem of purity and Il means of purification. (2) Purity of the soul, of the heart, and of the body. (3) Observances of festivals. (4) Pilgrimages. (5) Worship of the Kami in the temples and at home. The three cardinal tenets promulgated by command of the Mikado in 1872 show how little of religion ther~ is in the system. They are as follows: (1) Thou shalt honor the gods and love thy country. (2) Thou shalt clearly understand the principles of heaven and the duty of man. (3) Thou shalt revere the Mikado as thy sovereign, and obey the will of the court.
III. RITES AND CEREMONIES. Most interesting are the religious ceremonies of the Japanese. From these we learn, if not the doctrines of the primitive cult, at least the popular beliefs of the present time. Here we have to do only with those practices which belong peculiarly to Shinto. We must, however, keep in mind the fact that Buddhism has leavened everything in Japan, and it will not be surprising to find under the name of Shinto some things that should be labelled Buddhist.
1. Purification. As sin is regarded as pollution, the chief rite of Shinto is purification. At first the Mikado ordered public ablutions. Afterward paper figures rcpresenting men were cast into the water. Later still the high priest at Kioto threw into the water an iron figure the size of the Mikado. 'Phis rite represented the cleansing of the whole people. Now the festival of general purification is held twice a year. Besides this there are frequent washings for purification, which, with the ceremonies connected therewith, are similar to thosc of the Brahmins of India.
2. Festivals. As has been noted, the sun-goddess is the supreme object of worship. The hierarchy consists of the Mikado, two ecclesiastical judges, and numbers of priests and monks. In the springtime festivals are held in honor of the goddess, at which these dignities playa most important part. The Mikado is the representative of the goddess. The priests make offerings of fish, rice, etc. Ceremonies in imitation of planting and sowing are held.
3. Pilgrimages. Each district now has its own deity and its own temple j but there is a most sacred temple (or several of them) in the Province of Ise. This was built in honor of the sun-goddess, and to it all Shintoists make at least one pilgrimage during their lifetime. The more pilgrimages that can be made the better. The Shintoists believe that the gods of Ise have more than once saved Japan from destruction. When Perry anchored his fleet in the Bay of Yeddo, "orders were sent by the imperial court to the Shinto priest at Ise to offer up prayers for the sweeping away of the barbarians."* 4. Marriage. The marriage rites and relations are held to be under the direct patronage of Izanagi and Izanami. It is deemed most unlucky for a Buddhist priest to officiate at a wedding. A Japanese has but one lawful wife, but he may have as many concubines as the size of his purse will allow. While in ancient times polygamy was common, now the great majority of the people are monogamists.
5. Hero-worship. By decree of the government, semi-diville honors are conferred on the dead. Statues of poets, orators, and famous meu are placed in the temples and regarded with reverence.
Idols are now worshipped, but this is due to the influence of Buddhism. Keeping in mind the fact that the first Mikado was a god, and * Griftls. quoting a native annalist. that his successors are regarded as descendants of the gods, it is not strange that reverence is paid to them. Add to these the large number who have been deified, and one can imagine what an intricate and complex system of hero worship has been developed.
IV. MYTHS. Of these there is no laek. The most interesting of them is that of the sun-goddess. As this myth lies at the basis of Shinto, we give a condensed statement of it. Izanagi and Izanami produced a most beautiful daughter, resplendent and glorious. While she was embroidering beautiful textures her mischievous and wicked younger brother spoiled her work by covering it with defilement. The maiden, displeased, withdrew into a dark cave and left the world in darkness. After long deliberationsamong the eight hundred thousand gods, three stratagems were resorted to for the purpose of drawing the goddess from her place of concealment. First, another beautiful goddess was sent to dance almost naked before the cave, so as to' arouse her jealousy. Then a large number of cocks were placed near by, so that their crowing might excite her curiosity. Finally, as an appeal to her vanity, a mirror was placed before her cave. These efforts proved successful. Hearing the gods laugh, the goddess opened the door of her place of concealment j as she did so she beheld her reflection in the mirror, and stepped outside to get a closer view of her loveliness. At this the" God of Invincible Might," who had remained hidden near by, caught the goddeOls, pulled her forth, and shut to the door in the rock. The gods then returned her to her proper place in the sky. The meaning of this parable is given by the rationalistic writers of Japan. The maiden is the sun, the defilement is the evil of the world, the withdrawal into the cave is an eclipse, and the retul'll to her original place is the separation of light from darkness subsequent to the eclipse.
The scene representing the rival naked goddess dancing at the mouth of the cave has been dramatized, and has produced a corrupting effect on the morals of the people. After marriage purity is emphasized j but among the unmarried laxity in morals exists to an alarming degree. Much of this immorality is directly traceable to the worship of the sun-goddess, and more especially to the representations of such scenes as the one narrated above. Much of what the Anglo-Saxon considers immorality may be excused by keeping in mind the differences in the moral standpoint of the two races. The sweeping assertion that most Japanese women are impure is unworthy of notice, as it is the offspring of ignorance. On the other hand, it must be admitted that Shinto has lowered the moral tone of its devotees.
V. THE TRIAD OF REUGIONS. Japan, as we have noted, is blessed or cursed with a triplicity of religions, so interwoven, not only into one another, but also into the whole social fabric that it is extremely difficult to determine where one begins and another ends, or how much of an individual belongs to one or to the others. Our study of Shinto cannot be completed without at least a hasty glance at the other two religions. In 552 A.D. the Buddhist priests entered Japan along with a company of learned Coreans, who had come to I'eside at the court of the Mikado. Everything was favorable to the propagandism of the imported faith, and it soon manifested its power in all parts of the empire. Its priests soon acquired an extraordinary influence over the people. A peculiarity of the Shinto faith helped them greatly. That was the teaching that death is polluting. The Shinto priests, refusing to have anything to do with a corpse, would not attend funerals. The Buddhist priests, having no scruples on this score, officiated at the funerals, and by this means gaining tbe ears, and very often the hearts of the people in times of sorrow, were very naturally able to exert great influence over them. The two systems gradually mingled, and for over a thousand years each had such a hold on the people that a very large majority of them belonged to both at the same time.
In the beginning of the ninth century, Kobo (774-835), a scholar in Sanscrit, Pali, and Chinese, a master of the Shinto scriptures, who has been called the Japanese Philo, claimed that he had received a divine revelation from the goddess Toyo. According to this revelation, all the gods of Shinto were declared to be manifestations of Buddha.· Hence Shinto was but a daughter of Buddhism. Furthermore, all the traditions and rites of Shinto were explained according to Buddhist ideas. So flexible is Buddhism that it had no difficulty in stretching itself so as to cover the smallest detail of Shinto belief and practice, and its complete ascendency was assured. The Mikado named this new system "Riobu-Shinto," or ," The twofold doctrine of the gods." There are now from fifteen to twenty daughters as the result of this union. They are really corrupt sects of Shinto.
Meanwhile, the educated classes, rejecting the superstitions of both Shinto and Buddhism, looked around for something to take the place of religion. This was readily found in the cold materialism of Confucianism, whose highly elaborated ethical system appealed to the cultivated mind. This system was adopted by many, and of course promulgated. Its moral code supplied a serious defect in Shinto, but it did not offer to the common people what their hearts longed for. Shinto was in the field to stay. Buddhism appealed to the popular longing for show and ex~itement, and Confucianism tended to elevate the secular life of all.
Thus we have the combination which forms that wonderfully eclectic system, whose inconsistencies and intricacies render it so difficult for the missionary or the student to discover just what the ordinary Japanese believe.
An attempt has been made at separation. A hundred years of preparatory polemic ·literature in favor of the old national faith and the absolute supremacy of the Mikado, the work of trained Shinto writers, prepared the way for the legal divorce of Shinto and Buddhism, which took place in 1868, when the Mikado ordered a general separation and purifica-
n:Al£I-NO-~IICHI-BmNTo. [Septembel'
tion. This, as might be expected, was a formal and not an actual separation between the two faiths. While the form of Buddhism is found in all religious life and thought, the spirit of Shinto abides in the temples, in the sacred books, and in the minds of a class of Japanese scholars who use it as the basis for polemic literature. Shinto, in the opinion of many, presents a stronger bulwark against the incoming of Christianity than does Buddhism, for it is the basis of the patriotism of the Japanese, and will not readily yield to any for:)e from the outside. At the same time, while the influence of Buddhism may be on the wane, she has strlHJk her roots so deeply that an official edict has not driven her from Japanese soil.
It is admitted that there is a wide difference of opinion among investigators, as to the influence of Shinto. Says Griffis: "Left to itself, Shinto might have developed codes of ethics, systems of dogma, and even a body of criminal and civil law, had not the more perfect materialistic ethics of Confucius and the more sensuous ritual of Buddhism, by their overwhelming superiority, paralyzed all further growth of the original cultus." Shinto has had, and in a measure has preserved, the idea of one supreme God. On the other hand, its many inferior gods, its adoption of the rites of Buddhism, and the sun myth with the immoralities connected with the worship of the sun-goddess, have done much to lower the moral tone of the Japanese, so that while they may not go to the excess of immoralities indulged in by ot.her peoples, they have not much positive morality. As a counterbalance to the demoralizing effect of the sun myth, Shinto preaches discourse eloquently and learnedly, on ethical subjects, but little moral power results from their teachings. Buddhism has done more than Shinto in the way of education, civilization, and gcneral advanccment. The latter, however, has one redeeming feature. That is the honor that it has shown to womanhood. The Japanese woman occupies a far higher position than do her sisters of other Eastern countries. Nine of the sovereigns of Japan have been women. To-day, women, as a rule, are respected and cared for. How far this is due to the exalted position occupied by the sun goddess is a subject worthy of investigation.
To the student of comparative religion, for a long time one of the most interesting and perplexing phases of the study of Shinto was that there seemed to be no means of connecting it with the primitve cult or with any contemporary faith. Even such widely separated systems as Druidism and Zoroastrianism have so many points in common that the unprejudiced investigator declares that either they must have in some way come into contact with each other, or that they both retain element.s of the primitive faith. For a long while there seemed to be no link by which primitive Shinto could be connected with any other early cultus. Now, however, there are many scholars whose opinions on the subject are worthy of consideration, who hold that Shinto is closely allied to the religion that held sway in China prior to the time of Confucius. This conclusion is based on the similarity of legends and traditions.
KAMI-No·lIHcm-SIIINTO
What of the future 1 That Shinto will never have any influence on the world at large no one questions. That the political agitations in Japan are sounding the death-knell of the system many believe. The Mikado occupies his position by divine right. The present generation may not question that right in so many words, but it is doing much hard thinking. The seeds sown in the minds of Japanese while attending European and American universities will not be long in bearing fruitage. Japan is experiencing the throes preceding a new birth. Deliverance will come. If the Mikado continues to reign, it will be by the will of the people instead of by the will of the gods. Then Shinto will be a thing of the past, as interesting to the Japanese student as is the mythology of Greece to the American scholar, but exerting no more power over his thought and actions. Until this political revolution takes place, Shinto will retain its hold on the people. This is what one * who has felt the throbbing heart of Shinto declares: "Shinto extends a welcome to Western science, but remains the irresistible opponent of Western religion, and the foreign zealots who would strive against it are astounded to find the power that foils their uttermost efforts indefinable as magnetism and invulnerable as air. The reality of Shinto lives not in books, nor in rites, nor in commandments, but in the national heart, of which 1t is the highest emotional religious expression, immortal and ever young. For underlying all the sllrface crop of quaint superstitious and artless myths and fantastic magic there thrills a mighty spiritual force, the whole soul of a race, with all its impulses and powers and intuitions."
What of Christianity in Japan ~ Shall the Sun of Righteousness displace the sun-goddess ~ Humanly speaking, that will depend on Christendom itself. Japan is watching Europe and America. She has already accepted their arts and sciences, because she has learned their superiority over her own. If Christians can show that the religion of Jesus is better for mankind than that of the Mikado, of Buddha, and of Confucius, that religion will be accepted. One of the greatest obstacles to the spread of Christianity in Japan arises from the reports that are being brought home by the Japanese travellers concerning the unbelief of the intellectual classes of America. If those reports continue, the progress of Christianity in Japan will be impeded. Oh, that the Christians of this fair land would realize that the eyes of Japan are upon them! Oh, that they would show the Japanese what real Christianity is !
As this article is being penned it is reported in the daily papers that Toshi Hoti, the precocious eldest son of the Japanese Mikado, is on his way to visit the World's Fair. The future of Japan may be largely dependent on what he and his companions sec and hear while in this country. Ought we not to be ashamed of ourselves as a nation if this young prince can truthfully tell his people that Christian America has nothing to offer Japan in the way of a faith better, purer, holier than her own 1 * Lafadio Hearn.
KOREA-ITS PRESENT CONDITION
KOREA-ITS PRESENT CONDITION.
* BY REV. JAMES S. GALE, WONSON, KOREA.
This small peninsula presents to those interested in missions perhaps the most startling field of this missionary century. Till within the last decade it was closed and barred against everyone. Even the Chinese, who received, and still receive in Peking, the yearly ambassador with Korea's tribute, know as little as others of the inner life of this people. Since the distant past Korea has remained entirely alone, and has endeavored to work out its way as a nation independent of others. The result has been that she has built up systems suitable for her life as a hermit, which are being subjected to violent agitations now that she has entered the company of treaty-making nations.
At no point in her history of a thousand years has there been such overwhelming force brought to bear upon her cherished customs as at this present time. A war with Japan some four hundred and fifty years ago cost a great deal of life and almost her individuality; but when the enemy withdrew she revived. One hundred years later a Manchurian swoop down upon the capital had even less effect, and with the promise of subjection, Korea went on just as she had for centuries before. But the opening of the ports has rung a knell to ancient Chosen (Korea). The influence that enters through these gates is an enemy that knows of no retreat, so that Korea's standing in her antiquity is only a matter of time.
The present period threatens not only to destroy the established means of livelihood, but also their social systems, leaving nothing behind but the. slavish religion and susperstitions of their fathers.
It is well known to everyone acquainted with Korea that the ordinary native dress is white cotton. It is the most extravagant, and, withal, useless garb that one could imagine for a land subject to extremes as this peninsula is, but it is a dress that carries in every fold of it ancestral associations, and they have learned to think it the most dignified and becoming outfit in the world. Cotton, therefore, is in demand here as woollen goods are at home, and the weaving of this being the most important calling in Korea, has ever given employment to a large percentage of the people. The ports are opened, and in come bales of foreign cotton cheaper than the natives can manufacture, and native cotton-weaving is compelled to give way, purchasers from north to south finding it more to their taste and pocket to dress in 'Vestern goods.
·Work in metal is growing less as well, quantities being shipped in from Japan for the manufacture of pipes, articles as common here as teaspoons at home. Castor beans, that were grown to supply oil for lamps, have disappeared, and a cheap kind of kerosene from Philadelphia does the lighting for Korea. The use of empty kerosene cans has all but anni.hilated the water-bucket and crock-maker's trades. Dye stuffs and dyeing, in .. There seems to be almost as many ways of spelling Korean names as there are writers on the 8ubject. We hope a system oC orthography will soon be established which will come Into general nse. Wonson is sometimes spelled Onesan, Gensan or Wensan. which Korean women excel, are being crowded out by the introduction of cheaper and more attractive qualities from Japan. Axes, kuives, nails, and, in fact, all kinds of hardware are imported and sold cheaper than the native manufacture. Telegraph lines to the four points of the peninsula, while appreciated and prized by the foreigner, are cursed by the native broker and travelling merchant, whose profits have been cut off by this constant communication with the capital. Money has become more and more useless. Rice has gone up to five times its cash value since the open- ing of the ports, and most of the articles in daily use have quadrupled themselves in the same time.
For this reason the native ships his beans and fish away in autumn in order to raise a little money, and thus he endangers the lives of those depending on him during the long winter to follow.
In this destruction of native mealls of livelihood no new calling seems to have arisen by which he can help to clothe and feed his nation. Nothing has been supplied to fill up the vacancy, hence the land is swarming with idlers and petty merchants, who make a doubtful living in handling these foreign goods. The poverty of Korea is extreme j the manner of life and habits of the people such as to confirm one in the belief that they have reached the very lowest possible condition in every way. We look for a change, which must of necessity be one for the better.
There can be no doubt in the minds of any that the resources of the country are great j but as they remain undeveloped, they afford no consolation in existing circumstances. Those who have lived in their huts with them, and have seen their life and surroundings from day to day, have only one picture, that deepens with the increase of foreign trade-a picture of idlene8s and poverty.
Some four years ago, on landing in Seoul, like all other Westerners, I was hcrrrified at the filth, apparent laziness, and poverty everywhere, and surprised at the lack of a single sign of visible prosperity with it all. I was told, in consolation, that the country was the place to see the real life of Korea, and that I would have proof there of the wealth I had heard spoken of. So I resolved for a time to make the country my home, and started for Whang Hai. Before being permitted to proceed to the end of my journey, I was obliged to spend a few days in the governor's buildings at IIai-choo, the capital of that province. Not that the governor knew me, or was in any way interested in my calling, but because I carried a passport from the Foreign Office j and as it is second nature for a Korean to be ,formally polite and hospitable, he had me call on him, and showed me over the government house and official quarters. Certainly I have never seen a more impoverished, tumble-down set of buildings than the liiame governor's compound. Since that time I have been obliged to enter many others in all parts of the peninsula, and they are of a kind, buildings, some of them that were once pretentious, but are now falling to ruins. I found the middle classes, too, in just as sorrowful a condition as their superiors. Living with one land-owner in Whang lIai for three months that year, I had ample proof that there was nothing in that part of the country that corresponded to the prosperity I had heard of.
Then I turned for a year to the far south, making Fusan my home, and visited when I could the cities of that district, where the population is dense, and where I expected to find something on which to hang Korea's national pride; but it was ignorance, poverty, idleness, I think even worse than that found in the north. Kyeng Choo, the ancient capital of Silla, one of Korea's ancestral kingdoms, was in its rack and ruin, but the ghost of what had once lived and flourished. Since then, along with Mr. Moffett, I have seen the far north and east; and if anything, it has been an increasing picture of filth, idleness, and poverty, the entrance of foreign life and trade tending, as we see, only to the increase of the latter.
While China has continued in the main uninfluenced by Western life because of its prosperity and absence of national decline, Korea's financially helpless condition tells how powerfully she is to be influenced by this opening of the ports. The average Korean is proud as any man living, and yet he is willing to adopt almost any substitute that will offer a change and prove an exit from his present condition of misery.
A host of political offices have been created within the last ten years, in order to provide for the new responsibility of entertaining and treating with the representatives of foreign countries. All these mean an increased de. mand for funds on the working classes. The nobility of the capital, whose names, justly or unjustly, have an ill savor in the country, are already, through this foreign influence, fallen into extravagances that the farming and tax-paying classes complain of bitterly. It is the proper thing now, especially with younger officials, to buy all that is possible of the Western world, from steamships, electric lights, and gatling guns, to watches, clocks, and drawing-room ornaments. This may seem a small matter, and yet it tells heavily on a people so poor and sorely taxed as the country natives are. Until ten years ago there was nothing new under their sun on which even unscrupulous nobility could squander the nation's money; now the doors are open, and no one knows the limit to the possibility of purchase. These latter-day extravagances, along with the death of trade and manufacture, have brought the Korean subject to a desperately ominous point in the history of his race and nation.
It has been said by some careless observers that Korea is without a religious system. Statements to this eiIcct have appeared so often in American papers, that there ought to be some reason for the misunderstanding. Perhaps it is because Korea has no religion ap!l.rt from her national life, her whole existence from king to coolie being one complicated system of ancestral worship, that one may easily fail to notice, seeing it enters so subtly into every detail of life.
·While writing this to-night (February 16th)–Kore:m new year's evethere is t.o be found in every loyal household a spread of ancestral food.
KOUEA-ITS PUF:SEN'f CONDITION
Even the poorest puts forih his greatest effort to make a luxuriant display in the presence of the spirits of his fathers. Fruit, rice, meats, distilled drinks, incense, candles, are some of the items on the list for ancestral worship. The natives put off their greasy garments, and, dressed immaculately, sit out the night. When the first cock crows the candles are lighted before the tablet (two walnut slabs fastened together, with an opening between, where the spirit iSlilaid to reside). The worshippers bow, offer drink, and call on the shades to accept their sacrifice. Then when each in turn has made his salutation, they retire from the room and lock the door, in order that the spirits may inhale (as they say) the offering unembarrassed by the presence of the living. Again they circle about and bow repeatedly until the end, when they set to and feast on what the spirit leaves -a dinner that is supposed to bring them earthly prosperity, but which, to all appearances, leaves them disordered in stomach and poor in pocket for many days to come.
New Year's is the sacrificial season, but it by no means includes all. For three years after the death of parents, night and morning 'the children offer food, meat, and tobacco before the tablet in the room where the dead once lived, making, besides, numerous offerings at the grave. From the palace to the lowest mud hut the three years of mourning and daily sacrifice are observed with the utmost strictness. During such time the royal household is occupied entirely with the spirits of the dead, believing that the prosperity of their dynasty hangs on such worship. In the case of the poor people they bring their food, and staff in hand, with lond lameniations (usually purely mechanical), spread it out before their father's ghost. For three long years this endless ceremony goes on, after which period they limit the direct sacrifices to about six important days in the year-the four national jete days and anniversaries of birth and death. A native absent from his aucestral home will walk from the farthest end of the peninsula, if necessary, to be at the grave on the appointed day. Such devoutness in religious service I have never seen even among the strictest Romanists, nor have I read of anything surpassing it among Mohammedans or Hindus.
As far as its being universal is con~erned, I have never heard of any failing to sacrifice except the handful of Buddhists and a few professing Christians. To neglect this is to make one's self an outlaw and an alien to the land of his fathers, "beasts and dogs that ought not to live 1" Last month a Kim went, according to custom, to pay his respects to an elder relative. The first question was, "Have you failed of late to sacrifice~" "Yes," says Kim, "I cannot sacrifice again." "Then away with you; you are no relative of mine-a villain that would mix with dogs and forget his fathers 1" It is quite as much as a man's life is worth to neglect this sacred custom, The time between sacrificial ceremonies is taken up with searching the hills for a propitiolls site for burial. The hills themselves become dragons, spirits, ghosts, and what not, to gain whose favor and fint! a suitable resting-place for the dead is the burden of every heart, for through that alone can they hope for earthly prosperity. Hence praying to the mountain spirits, and worshipping at every hilltop is the outgrowth of ancestral reverence. Shrines or spirit trees are at every mountain pass where travellers bow or make some trivial offering.
In the choice of a grave site there are many points to be taken into consideration. So complicated and mixed are the methods of arriving at a proper conclusion, that a large number of people make a special study of it, and gain tlwir living as experts in geomancy. A grave is chosen on a mountain front, if possible, IJaving two armlike ridges on either hand, one called the dragon side and one the tiger. A translation of a song from one of their ancient books gives perhaps as clear an outline of what is re- 'luired for a propitious site as is necessary : " If men are happy, 'tis because They keep the old ancestral laws. Look to your homes, alld to the dead, And let this ancient law be read !- The tiger and the dragon side Meet at the top, and then divide; No hill behind to topple o'er, The streams meet and flow down before 'i'hree terraced sides to correspond, And sloping front on either hand: Away beyond if there could be Three thousand miles unbroken sea, The favor that such burial brings Would rear the proudest race of kings."
After burial, the native watches as a matter of the most vital moment to see that no one encroaches on or interferes with his ancestral graves. If it becomes a choice between feeding or clothing the living and making some outlay for this resting-place of the dead, they will decide in a breath in favor of the latter. Should a household meet with repeated disaster, up come their ancestor's bones, and are buried elsewhere, thinking thus to conciliate the spirits. From the idea of certain localities being possessed, has grown the belief that there are 'spirits in every mound, rock, and tree. Also from the years of sacrifice in the home comes the idea of a guardian spirit, which is worshipped by food, prayer, and characters posted on the walls. A species of venomous snake so commonly makes its home in the tiles, and is seen winding in and about the roofs of Korean huts, that they have associated him with this guardianship, and one of the commonest kinds of worship is prayer and offering to the serpent. To this has been added a host of other spirits, the guardian dragon, which they worship by dropping food into the well, his supposed retreat. In this guardianship they include weasels, pigs, and nnclean animals of eVflry kind, dividing off to each so many days in the year, making a constant round of religious ceremony. Besides this there are prayers to the spirits at the opening of each Geason for specia: blessing, as well as other superstitions connected with every walk of life. To illustrate: I left on January 9th for Seoul, the capital, which is about one hundred. and seventy-five miles from this port. I took two natives with me-one a gentleman, and thoroughly educated from a Korean point of view; the other a rougil, honest-looking coolie. On the way, one evening this coolie, when drying his straw rope shoes, happened to leave them near the opening of the fireplace. In the dark next morning the cook pushed his shoes, along with the brnshwood, into the fim, and they were hnmed. The coolie announced the fact with a mournful countenance, and the gentleman gave a start and said: "There's trouble ahead for yon." I then asked why, and he told me that to have one's shoes bnrned by mistake is a woeful omen. I said: "But you do not believe in it, do you?" " Believe or not, it comes true for all that, " was the reply. We reached Seoul, and had ouly been there a day or two when my coolie took sick with what the foreign doctor pronounced typhus fever. The old teacher nodded, and said ~e was warned of that the morning the shoes were burned. Such superstitions, confirmed by occasional fulfilment of their fears, along with all the host of ancestral ceremonies, have become the very life and breath of the nation.
Some interested in Korea have thought that there are two religions, one cultured and refined, understood as direct ancestral worship; the other, heathenish throughout, inclnding superstitions and the worship of unclean spirits. Koreans themselves, however, make no distinction; they call it all " kouisin worship," and "kouisin" is a word that is translated " demon" in the Chinese and Korean of the New Testament. They themselves claim that their worship is all of a kind, which agrees exactly with 1 Cor. 10 : 20 : " But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God."
The Manchnrians taking China at the close of the Ming dynasty, even though they adopted the conquered nation's religion, helped in a measnre to stem its tide. In Korea, on the other hand, there has been no hindering power, and it has gone on uninterrupted until at present spirit worship enters into the dress (sackcloth), the language (countless honorifics), and e'ery detail of the government and life of Korea.
The land is dotted over with little temples, reared in honor of those who have been faithful to their parents, more especially after death. In one, erected some hnndred and fifteen years ago near my present horne, there is a tablet with this inscription: "Kim Ik Pin, a faithful son, lost his father at ten years of age. He monrned so like a full-grown man that his flesh wasted away and only bones remained. At seventeen, when the season of sacrifice came round, and there was no fish to be taken because of the summer rains, in his agony he went out, and weeping, prayed by the seashore, when 10 ! n fish flashed from the water aud came falling at his feet. Again we sce his devotion, for fires had snrrounded the mountains and threalened to envelop his father's grave; in he rushed, at the risk cf life, praying the spirits to t'pare his father's resting-place, when down came the rainy season's floods and quenched the fires. Was he not a faithful son ?"
Books, too, that are used everywhere in the schools and taught the children, deal exclusively with the Rubjecll of ~ervice and sacrifice to king, parents, elder brothers, etc. I give here a translation of a story from the "Five Social Virtues," a book known to everyone in Korea who has passed his primer: "During the Haw dynasty there lived a man called Tong Yeng, a citizen of C'heng Seng district. His father died; and Yeng, having no means of giving him honorable burial, borrowed ten thousand cash, agreeing to pay the debt or give himself instead as bondslave. Returning from the funeral sacrifice, he was on his way to slavery, when suddenly there appeared before him a queenly lady, who requested him to take her for his wife. Yeng, amazed, answered, 'I, so poor that I am even now on my way to bond service, why do you ask to become my wife ?' The lady replied, 'I wish to be your wife j. that is enough; your poverty and humble station gives me no cause for shame. ' Thus urged, he took her with him, and the debt-master asked if she understood any kind of handiwork. 'I can weave,' she answered. ., Then,' he replied, 'if you will weave me three hundred bales of silk I'll give you both freedom.' Within a month the three hundred bales were finished; and the master, amazed (in superstitious fear at the quickness with which a whole life's work was done), sent them both away; and as they passed the spot again which had seen their first meeting, she said to Yeng, 'I must leave you now, for I am a woman come from the weaver's star. Heaven saw your filial piety, and being moved with love sent me to pay your debt.' Thus she spoke and ascended into heaven."
It is the teachin~'of Confucius interpreted and added to. The object of it all is earthly prosperity.. There has never been a time that so strongly proves it a failure in this regard as the present, and yet they carry it on with wonderful vigor. All their prayers and ceremony, and hither have they come! Poverty and depression in every kind of trade in answer for their devoutness, and yet spirit worship seems on the increase rather than losing its hold. ,Ve see that the opening of the ports has by no means been an unmixed blessing to Korea. It has meant, in some ways, the entrance of darkness of a deeper kind than they have e,'er known before. This land, destitute of spiritual life as she is of earthly prosperity, is unconsciously holding out her hands for help just now. The natives in their poverty would be willing to give up much of their ancient custom if they could be free as vYesterners are, would even lay aside their dress, which is their glory; would accept a ,Vestern form of government and a Western gospel, providing they could make more money out of it and sacrifice to demons as formelly ; but as a people they take no pleasure in the thought of dr0pping all their heathendom and destitution to accept a perfeet
PRESBYTERIAN MISSION WORK IN KOREA
Saviour. Koreans in this respect are just like people at home; they do not want a gospel that counts worldly greatness of no account and rests wholly on the service of the heart.
What I have wished to give in this paper is a picture of Korea as it stands out before us in the year 1893. It is losing its industry and life, leaving nothing behind but poverty, darkness, and superstition. If Christian lives of faith can be helpful to the perishing, Korea needs them now. The Master has seen the need even better than me, and has sent a companyof missionaries, who are here, as we believe, at a crisis in the political and spiritual history of the country. Besides the missionaries, we have a few praying nati'es, who give evidence of being truly made alive by the power of the Holy Ghost. In Euiju, where Mr. Moffett is, there are some six, he says. In 'Yhang Rai another missionary puts the number at perhaps as many. In 'Yonson and Fusan there are another 11alf dozen earnestly interested. In Seoul there are of course more, but the scriptural requirements of honest labor and giving up sacrifice to demons has thinned the number, at the same time helping, to call forth earnest workers. Some of these natives have given strong proof of their discipleship by hunger, insult, exile, and imprisonment for the name of the Lord Jesus.
It would seem that for no other land are the prayers of the Church so urgently needed as for Korea in its present condition. The foundations on which the ancient hermit sat are slowly but surely breaking up. Pray that there may be many sons of the hermit who will find perfect rest on the Church's one foundation.
PRESBYTERIAN MISSION WORK IN KOREA.
BY C. C. VINTON, M.D., SEOUL, KOREA.
Within a decade Korea has come to assnme a ,prominent position among missionary fields. The several descriptive works which have appeared from time to time have acquainted the public with her chief peculiarities, and the constant increase in the number of tourists that visit her shores is fast dispelling the mystery that for centuries has snrrounded her. The romance that attached to the first missionaries who settled in her capital has given way to a more practical realization of the problems before us, and the fanciful tale of thousands waiting only to be baptized is less frequently told to-day than the narrative of difficnlties patiently surmounted and hopes bright with faith.
The history of a nation's evangelization, we often hear, naturally falls into three periods. First, the missionaries must become established, the language be conquered, the Scriptures translated, a supplementary literature produced, the first converts gathered, evangelists and Bible-women trained, and the Church organized. During the second period the establishment and organizat ion of the Church are perfected under the gUIdance of the missionaries, seminaries are instituted for the education of a minis- try, and the Gospel is carried to every boundary of the land. The third is the period of independence, when foreign control is withdrawn and the native Church left to wage her own strife against the powers of evil.
It cannot be said that Korea has yet begun to emerge from the first of these stages. The tenure of the foreign missionary is still uncertain even in her capital, and the right of proselyting may not soon be conceded him. No one has so far surmounted the difficulties of this most elusive of languages as to attain its mastery. Bible translation is in its inception. Explanatory works have scarcely been thought of. We have few tracts. The native community of Christians is small and feeble, yet includes a dozen or more stanch men. Native workers there are and owned of the Spirit, but needing much more than they have received of doctrinal instruc- tion and acquaintance with the Bible, while the birth of a sturdy, vitalized, self-propagating church can hardly be said to have occurred in the land.
What is being done in these several dire~tions may be learned in part from a review of the annual meeting of the Presbyterian missionarics in Korea, held last January in Seoul. To this gathering were invited not only the representatives of the Preshyterian Board in the northern United States, whose official assembly it was, but also those of the corresponding society in the Southern States and of the Victorian Presbyterian Mission of Australia. In all, twenty-seven persons were enrolled as attending, and scven adults only failed to respond to the summons. Thus, including Dr. Underwood and his wife, who have since returned from furlough, the Presbyterian force in Korea numbers thirty-six workers, nearly all of whom, however, are young recruits less than two years on the field. The seeming largeness of this force appears to indicate, upon the part of our denomination, an appreciation of the strategic importance of Korea, and a resolve speedily to carry her for Christ and to train her captured guns upon the neighboring and more impregnable strongholds of Chma. And, sustained and consccrated by the all-prevailing volume of prayer that rises from these antipodal branches of adherents to one creed, we may surely have confidence that this company will not fail of leading a nation to its Saviour.
The programme of the meeting covered all the range of missionary effort, and included a discussion of many topics of absorbing interest to those present. In reviewing, we will select and expand those which may best convey a true impression of the field to the general reader.
Seoul, the capital. has been the seat of missionary work since Dr. Allen, 'the pioneer of Presbyterian, and indeed of Protestant labor here, made foreign medicine welcome in 1884. It is a city of three hundred thousand, magnificently set among the mountains on the banks of the Han River. Here are held throughout the year a series of quaggas, or government rank examinations, often several in a week, to each of which" resort from one to ten thousand of the literary class from all parts of the country. Here, too, the traffic ann the sight-seeing of the nation centres, so that one who preaches to the transient population of the capital reaches every hamlet in the Jand. Our missior I having reached a stage of development where some of its members have gotten enough of the language to undertake public preaching, and ha"ing grown bold in defiance of government prohibitions, is endeavoring to avail itself of this fact in instituting preaching places and dispensaries in favorable locations throughout the city. Hitherto its efforts have been perforce limited to the foreign quarter, where curiosity brought only a few, and which the mass shunned. Yet the Seoul reports show a steady gam and a steady building up in the faith, which is of utmost importance. Among the women especially has an increased number given el"idence of a clear understanding of the Gospel. What trials in petty persecution some of these suffer no one but themselves knows now.
In the technical view of the mission Seoul station includes also several towns and villages within forty miles, where Mr. Gifford and a native worker have been in the habit of spending a season each spring and fall. They deserve a special mention here beca~se of the gratifying report given of his work in some of them by Mr. Gifford at the annual meeting. Many conversions have resulted, the Holy Spirit has manifested His presence unmistakably, and one region seems to promise the nucleus of the first local church in Korea.
At Fusan, the extreme southern port of the peninsula, work is being carried on by Rev. W. M. Baird and Dr. H. M. Brown, with their wives, by all of whom reports were made. These related largely to housebuilding, for the station is young j but Mr. Baird had made a tour of exploration along the coast to the westward, and he tells us: "The country traversed seemed well tilled and well peopled. Several very large and fertile valleys covered with fields of half ripe grain and growing rice were crossed on the way." "I was impressed that a working centre might be chosen in almost anyone of these valleys as a point from which a considerable farming popnlation might be easily reached." "The leading towns and cities visited were Kimhai (estimated population 6000), Chang W un (5000), Masampoo (15,000 or 20,000), Chimhai (2000), Kosung (3000), Tong Yung (100,000), Yang San (3000), Tongnai (10,000), besides many smaller ones." "Tong Yung is the largest and most beautiful place I have seen in South Korea. Sea and land, hills, bays, peninsulas, and isJandR all seem to be placed in just such positions as to produce the best effect. The land, except when wooded, is cultivated to the very tops of the hills. It is a splendidly walled city, lying at the end of a long penin- sula, across the narrow neck of which runs a strong wall." t, The people are everywhere suspicious, taking us for Roman Catholics, and mostly refusing to read our books or take them as a gift. Though sometimes those who had refused came back and asked for books. Ve received 110 ill treatment of any kind j and at Tong Yung only were we refused a lodging. My heart was more than once touched by the wickedness, the disease, the misery, the stolidity, and the almost utter lack of moral earnestness among the people."
Wonson-or Gensan, as the Japanese call it-is a stilI younger station. Here Mr. and Mrs. Gale have been working for nearly a year. It is the key of all the great rich, populous, half-explored northeast region as far as the Ever White Mountains, and Vladiwostock, in Siberian territory. One passage of Mr. Gale's report will indicate the promise of his work: "Our great encouragement has been from a family of Kims living in a little town, Cheong Chyeng, some four miles distant. They are farmers whom Ko, the gateman, met when out at his father's grave. He told them about the Gospel, and they came into the meeting, and have continued to come since. They have some knowedge of Chinese characters, and although hard-working people, are considered gentlemen." " These Kims, especially the oldest and youngest, seemed from the first after some· thing that would give them rest; and Ko had told them that the' Son Yak' was God's book, and that that would tell them how to be forgiven. Shortly after they gave a proof of belief in a determination to follow it only and to discard even the dearest customs that did not conform to its teaching. For a time they had to endure the ridicule and contempt of even their wives when they knelt at prayer daily, and the commotion they created in their village has not yet quieted. Although they did not tell me, and I did not know of it until some weeks later, in October last, after attending the teaching and asking many questions for some two months, they gathered all their ancestral rags, tablets, and articles of keuisin worship and burned them in front of their house before the village, telling the people that these things meant devil worship, and that they were done with them forever. I had not urged or even hinted at such a line of conduct, so it came so much the better and so much the greater surprise. It cost them the friendship of their native village; but the Lord has blessed them for their sacrifice, and has opened their mouths to talk plainly to their fellow-countrymen-something so hard for Koreans to do."
Pyeng Yang is not yet a station, nor is Euiju. That the former will soon become so is our earnest hope, for it is the gate of all the northwest. It was the capital of an earlier and more illustrious dynasty, and its ruins and walled-in reaches of fields speak of a far larger population than now inhabits it, though it is even now the second city in the land. Its people, though reputed more exclusive, are not less friendly to us than those of any other region; but it is not comprised in the list of treaty ports, and every attempt by missionaries to obtain a lodgment there has hitherto proved futile. Eveu during the past month we have been forced to return the deeds of property recently purchased. But the medical work of Dr. Hall, of the Methodist Mission, has completely won the hearts of the people, and it cannot be long before the officials are forced to yield.
Euiju, near the mouth of the Yalu, on the border of Manchuria, is a famous town of departed glory. Its people have always been friendly, and a number have been baptized, of whom many have fallen away for lack of gospel teaching. 'Ve have held property there for more than a year, and the visits of missionaries are latterly more frequent. Northward again three hundred miles is a region whence has often come news of multitudes awaiting only the act of baptism. But figures proverbially deceive, and these thousands have dwindled under investigation till but a handful actually appear.
The educational work of the -mission was outlined in two reports presented by the superintendents respectively of the boys' and of the girls' school, and in that of the educational committee. These schools are both practically orphanages, although in some instances the parents of scholars contribute toward their support. The number of scholars under instruction is not large, but from among them have already graduated several young Christians of high promise, who in one way or another are doing good work for their Master. It is here the best hope lies for that generation of educated preachers and teachers and their wives, by whom the early Korean church must be erected.
The" Report of the Special Bible Committee" is that of two members elected annually to join two from the Methodist mission and one from the Canadian mission in forming the Permanent Bible Committee of Korea. This body has undertaken the translation of the Bible into the Enmoun, or vernacular Korean. No book has as yet been finally accepted by them, but the four Gospels, Acts, Galatians, and Ephesians are before them, and Genesis and John's Epistles are ready for their consideration. Their progress is necessarily very slow, the tongue perhaps the most difficult living language, and text-books and precedents are wanting; but our representatives report the status of the work as encouraging.
Perhaps the most encouraging presentation of work was in Mr. Gifford's report upon the Winter Theological Class. This class is formed of adult believers, baptized or applicants for baptism, and includes as well the evangelists in the employ of the mission as a selected number of those who are found most promising in the various out-stations. These latter come only on personal invitation from the missionary in charge of their field. To all food and lodging is supplied during the period of their stay.
Let us hear what the report says of their work: "Sixteen men from the country were in attendance upon the class, and two more eame in just before its close." "These helpers and picked men specially invited from Christian villages distributed from Euiju, on the northwestern frontier of Korea to the southern limits of the province we live in, gathered in Seoul the Monday after Thanksgiving, November 28th, and stayed with us till Christmas time. Mr. Moffett and I divided the instruction of the class between us. He had the class at ten o'clock in a course of theological Bible readings. At two o'clock he had a picked class at his home who studied the life of Christ. At the same time the rest of the class, in their room at the school, were reading Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." At 3.30 I had a class in a study of the Gospel of John, immediately following which a devotional meeting for prayer was held." "Mr. Moffett and I both feel very much pleased over the work done by the class. But instruction was a secondary aim with us. We planned and worked and prayed for a deepening in the religious life of the men in attendance upon the class. And in this respect we believe God blessed us beyond our very largest ex· pectation. 'We believe that men came there in whose heart was only the feeling that their religion was only something for them to sit down and enjoy, who have gone away at the close of the class burdened with their responsibility before God to work for the souls of others. "
It was a notable feature of the class that the men formed the habit from the outset of meeting not daily only, but many times a day, at dawn and at midnight, for prayer for themselves, their work, their teachers, their homes, and Korea. At the close of their allotted time nearly all went home with the expressed determination to bend zealous efforts toward en. lightening their neighbors with Gospel knowledge.
Eight years of mission work in Korea furnish the fullowing statistics: Ordained missionaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. … 8 Physicians (including 2 married ladies) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Married female missionaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Unmarried " " .. .. .. .. .. . …. …. .. .. 3 Lay missionary .•.•……… .' .. , …………… " 1 Applicants for baptism enrolled this year. . . . . . . . . . .. 58 Added to the church …. , . . . . . • • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Infant baptisms. . • . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Dropped from the roll. . . • . . . . . . . . . . .. ……… . . 6 Dismissed by letter. • • • . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Died……………….. …… …. …… …… 2 Native communicants in Seoul. .•.• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 " " i n all Korea. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. 127 Boys enrolled in school. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . 29 Girls" " . .• . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . .. 13 Pupils in Sunday-schools. . • . • • • • • • • . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 52 Shortly after the adjournment of the meetings the gentlemen who had been in attendance met and organized a council in imitation of that formed by the Presbyterian and Reformed missionaries in Japan. This council consists of all the male Presbyterian missionaries in Korea, and will act chiefly in matters of comity and in the organization of the denominational church. It will apportion territory so that no mission may overlap the work of another, and will advise every worker in matters which involve the common interest. It lays no compulsion upon anyone, and lllterferes in no way with the independence of the various bodies concerned.
The last day of the conference was occupied largely in the discnssion of points of general iutel'est in relatiou to the work. As an expression of the conclusions of those present on some of the questions considered, and as an outline of the policy for the ensuing year, the following series of propositions was adopted : 1. It is better to aim at the conversion of the working classes than at that ot the higher classes.
2. The conversion of women and the training up of Christian girls should be an especial aim, since mothers exercise so important an influence over future generations.
3. Much could be effected in Christian education by maintaining ele. mentary schools in country towns j therefore we should aim to qualify young men in our boys' school and to send them out as teachers.
4. Our hope for an educated native ministry lies in the same quarter, and should be constantly held in view.
5. The Word of God converts where man is without resources j therefore it is most important that we make every effort to place a clear translation of the Bible before the people as soon as possible.
6. In all literary work, a pure Korean, free from cynicisms, should be our aim.
7. An aggressive church must be a self-supporting church, and we must aim to diminish the proportion of dependents among our membership and to increase that of self-supporting, and therefore contributing individuals_ 8. The mass of Koreans must be led to Christ by their own fellowcountrymen j therefore we shall do well to thoroughly train a few as evangelists rather than to preach to a multitude ourselves.
9. The services of our physicians can be turned to best account when it is possible to keep the same patient long under treatment either in a hospital ward or in the patient's home, thus giving opportunity for instruction and example to sink deeply into the mind. Dispensary work is of comparatively little profit.
10. Patients from the country who have undergone a season of treatment ought to be followed up by visitation in their native villages, since their experience of compassionate dealing is likely to open a wide door for the evangelist.
The general impression left by this meeting upon those who attended it was that it marks an advance in missionary work in Korea j in comprehension of the problems"to be met, in methods of dealing with them, and above all a notable growth in the spirit of dependence upon divine help at every turn. The spiritual tone of the devotional meetings and the harmony prevailing in the face of many perplexities were frequently remarked. To the workers the outlook is very hopeful j the task is large, but the preliminary work is well beiun, and in due time the season of reaping will come.
THE LATE ARTHUR MITCHELL
THE LATE ARTHUR MITCHELL.
BY REV. F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
Fifteen years ago there were two men in the Presbyterian churches of the West who were everywhere recognized as champions of foreign missions. They held no official relation to the Presbyterian Board-they were pastors-and yet in their church_es not only, but in the cities where they resided, in their respective presbyteries and synods, and throughont the West, their eloquent appeals were heard, and the influence of theirfacile pens was felt by thousands. They were known in mission circles as the " two Arthurs."
Their advocacy of the great broad work of the world's evangelization was so suggestive as examples of what may be done for missions in the pa,torate, that I feel justified in presenting them togethet:, though one of the two is still living. Their interest did not flag when they changed their places of residence; of both the living and the dead it may be said that their missionary interest grew in strength and in far-reaching scope as the years advanced.
More than this I shall not now say of the two; but in speaking more particularly of the one who has received his heavenly crown, I shall only give emphasis to the lesson already indicated, namely, the important relation of the pastorate to the cause of world-wide evangelization. It has become evident as the work of missions has been enlarged and extended that the effort of the whole Church must be enlisted in it if it is to succeed.
The faith and consecration of a few missionary heroes were all-important in the early days as pioneers and exemplars, but now hundreds and thousands of laborers must ,be sent, if we would keep pace with the growing demands of the work. At home also it was supposed to be necessary to commission a few special agents or canvassers to collect the gifts of the churches for the advancement of the kingdom, but now the kingdom is seen to be too large for such methods. Secretaries of the right stamp are hard to find, and when found their time and strength are overtaxed by the present volume of administrative correspondence. The churches cannot afford to employ an adequate force of collectors ; and even if they could, a missionary spirit in the congregations cannot be developed from without. In one emphatic word, the pastor must be the missionary advocate, and every church must be a missionary society, with its own leader. It is not a sheepfold with a flock to be simply fed; it is a regiment of Christian soldiery enlisted for conquest, and the world, near and far, is its field. In this last decade of the nineteenth century the work of foreign missions has just reached this point. Just here is pivoted the question whether it is to advance as the opening fields demand, or whether it shall sink into.confessed inadequacy to accomplish what it has so conspicuously undertaken.
And we find the emphasis of the life and labor of the late Arthur Mitchell centred around this question. As a secretary of a missionary board he was unexcelled in his earnest and eloquent pleas before the churches, but he felt more and more the inadequacy of such official appeals. What could one man do tcward reaching seven thousand churches personally? And when in synods and assemblies he urged upon ministers and elders the responsible work which they alone could do, he knew from an experience of which his auditors were well aware that what he urged was not impracticable. He knew that any pastor whose own soul is enkindled with zeal for the evangelization of a lost world can enlighten the ignorance and overcome the apathy of any congregation, however ignorant or indifferent. Not necessarily can all accomplish the same degree of success that he realized, for not all are possessed of his superior and well-balanced gifts. But so much is attainable by all who are willing to try, that I am encouraged to gather up the elements of Dr. Mitchell's SUClcess, and present them as a conspicuous and valuable example to pastors.
The subject of my sketch, so widely honored and beloved, was born in August, 1835, and he died on April 24th, 1893, not having quite completed his fifty-eighth year. He had, to begin with, a goodly inheritance in his ancestry. His father, the late Matthew Mitchell, was of Quaker descent, and he well represented that gentle, charitable, and benevolent spirit by which the Quakers have been so generally characterized. The testimony of his son was that he did not remember ever to have heard from his father's lips an uncharitable remark in regard to any man. The son's early boyhood was passed at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., though he was yet a mere lad when he entered Williams College, from which he graduated before he had completed his eighteenth year. As a youth he bore a peculiarly frank and open countenance, full of the kindness and truthfulness of his nature, and sure to win at once the confidence and love of those about him. It was a case of perennial youth j for that winning and almost boyish face remained with him to the last. Although a father and a grandfather he knew neither wrinkles nor gray hairs. The dignity of years was not always accorded him by strangers on first meeting him, and ludicrous surprises were often experienced when it was learned that this dark-haired" young man" was the well-known Dr. Arthur Mitchell.
He had not always been a Christian, like those who " cannot remember when they did not love Christ." It was in college that the young student, who had been somewhat inclined to scepticism, was led to accept salvation through the sacrifice of the cross, and from that time to consecrate himself wholly to his divine Master. It was no halfway surrender. He gave his whole heart and life. He did not wait for professional preparation that he might serve God in maturer years. He rose up at once and said: "What wilt Thou have me to do 1" He saw that no better field could be desired than that of his own college circle, and although he was the youngest member of his class, of small stature and boyish-looking even for his years, he went to work immediately to win souls to Christ. lIe laid aside every weight; his sensitive conscience led him to give up his Greek letter society, lest its special relationships should limit his influence with others. One's character may sometimes be older than his years. There is a dignity in deep and honest conviction, be the years many or few; and it was so with young Mitchell. There is no other influence so great as that of personality, and here was his power. He was a successful preacher of righteousness from the start. His peculiar enthusiasm was contagious and magnetic then and forever afterward.
There could have been no better school of practical Christian life than was found in Williams College during the presidency of that distinguished man the late Mark Hopkins. On the spiritual side he was matched by his brother, Professor Albert Hopkins. And this man, who with affectionate familiarity was som~times known as " Brother Albert," was indefatigable in his efforts as well as in his prayers for the spiritual welfare of the students. Both of these great teachers, just sufficiently differentiated, labored not only to make of their students strong men but Christian men.
Many months ago I heard t.he remark, quoted from a college professor, that the chief religious influence in our colleges is no longer in thc hands of the instructors-it has passed to the Young Men's Christian Associations j students are the spiritual guides of students. This state of things was regarded as having its advantages, but also some serious disadvantages. Students get nearer to each other, no doubt, and probably there was never before so much of religious life in our colleges as now; but, on the other hand, there is a deficiency in the element of religious instruction. The chief factor in Association work is persuasion and the help of spiritual sympathy, and there is need of something more than this. It is an age of bold speculation, of uncertainty, and of more or less doubt in the minds of many educated youth. Science is now the fashion, and evolution usurps the throne. Never was there more need that college students should be able to feel the strong intellectual grasp and the steadying hand of Christian presidents and professors than now. At Williams, in Arthur Mitchell's time, there was no lack in this respect. The students felt that in President Hopkins they had as their champion an intelleetual giant, one who had been over all disputed ground, and whose Christian faith, enlight. ened and confirmed, was a tonic to their own. He inspired their love for all knowledge, and he led them over his own fields of intellectual and spiritual victory. Dr. Mitchell to the day of his death never ceased to regard Mark Hopkins as the man whose balanced intellectual and moral greatness had remained to him a grand inspiration He had given sinew and fibre to his convictions of religious truth and had made the kingdom of God seem real and triumphant.
Though having the ministry steadily in view, young Mitchell spent a year or two as a tutor in Lafayette College. He was young enough to wait, and the intellectual discipline of teaching was of permanent value. To this was added the further advantage of travel. With his intimate college fri.end, Charles A. Stoddard, now editor of the New Y:n-k Obterver, he made an extensive tour in the Levant, visiting not only the scenes of Bible history, but also the mission stations of Egypt and Syria. It is easy to see how this personal observation of practical missionary life and work found its uses in his subsequent career. He knew how to picture the moral desolation of non-Christian lands as only one can who has been an eye-witness.
At Union Theological Seminary, New York, where Mr. Mitchell sought his special preparation for the ministry, he combined study with Christian activity, as he had done in college. though in a different way. Sunday-school work, revival work, where opportunity offered, and all forms of aggreCliive usefulness enlisted his attention, and the influence which he exerted on his fellow-students was both attractive and spiritually helpful. One who was a fellow-student at that time has said of him: "His companionship was then, as ever after, stimulating ~nd uplifting. Through all these years my affection and admiration for him have continued. Without reservation, I say I have never known a more earnest and consecrated spirit than his." He was fond of singing, and while in the seminary he was at one time leader of the choir in the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church, then under the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Joel Parker. He has often spoken in later years of the deep impression made on him during his seminary course by the exemplary faith and piety of the venerable Professor Dr. Thomas H. Skinner. Here again, as at college, he was fortunate in receiving a type of instruction deeply characterized by spiritual stimulus. He had sat at the feet of some of the most eminent Christian teachers of the age, and he never ceased to feel the power of their personality.
Soon after graduating, in 1859, he was married to Miss Harriet E., daughter of the late Dr. Alfred Post, of New York, and about the same time he accepted a call to the pastorate of a Presbyterian church in Richmond, Va. He was still but twenty-four years old, but he soon won the full confidence of his congregation and of the community. One of his earliest discourses was what he was pleased to call his" filthy rag" sermon. Using for his text this homely simile, by which Paul sets forth the low value of human righteousness, he brought out the very pith and marrow of the Gospel with such clearness and forCE, that wherever he preached that sermon it was so commended by the best judges tA3t he became more and more convinced that ill selecting the great common truths of the Gospel he had struck the right vein-right in itself and right as a means to success. He believed that those discourses which bear directly upon personal faith and repentance and a godly life are what the people need and what they really desire. Without laying claim to remarkable talent in anyone direction, he yet became a powerful preacher by his rare combination of intellectual, with the highest moral elements. The conscientious study and preparation, the enthusiasm with which the truth filled his mind, the manifest sincerity and depth of his own convictions, the sympathetic voice and manner, the illuminated face, the loving, winning, pleading expression of the whole man-all this combined to make him a very effective preacher. And he was nowhere so effective as among his own people, who, knowing him as a pastor, credited his every word with the emphasis of his godly life. At Richmond the prosperity with which his ministry was attended was soon interrupted by the breaking out of the war. When Virginia decided to join in the Secession, Dr. Mitchell, like so many others, found himself under the necessity of deciding on which side of the breach to stand. Feeling that his true spbere was in the North, he first conveyed his family across the lines, reaelling the Union army just as it was entering Baltimore, on that famous April 19th, 1861, when its passage toward Washington was resisted by the citizens. Sending the family homeward, he returned to his people, but, as it proved, not for long. The issues of war were all absorbing and unrelenting. He was not the man to belie his convictions, and the public sentiment soon reached a point where all compromise was impossible, and the usefulness of the young Northern pastor was crippled. lIe succceded in getting through the lines, though not without considerable peril. The Confederate Government confiscated nearly all his household goods, b~t this did not prevent him from visiting his old flock at the elose of the war or from contributing for the wants of some former parishioners whom the war had impoverished.
In the Richmond congregation, perhaps the most marked improvement wrought by his influence was the great increase of missionary interest. He thoroughly organized'the missionary contributions of the congregation, increasing the total many fold. In his next charge, which was the Second Presbyterian Church of Morristown, N. J., the same result followed. There was no unwise disproportion in his preaching, though he doubtless felt that the world's complete redemption was broad enough and sublime enough to be safely made a hobby. He gave a hearty support to every other form of benevolence, and he aimed in his preaching to win the unconverted and to strengthen believers. As a pastor he was well-nigh a model. Sympathetic, affectionate, faithful, consistent, laboring in season and out of season, he won the love of his people, at the same time that he spurred them to ever higher degrees of self-denying effort for the perishing.
In 1868 he was called from Morristown to the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago. He was yet a young man for such a charge, but he soon rose to commanding influence both in his congregation and throughout the city. His preaching was characterized by great plainness and fidelity j sometimes it was too plain and searching for the worldly-minded to approve, yet all cherished toward him such profound respect for his sincere earnestness and his manifest love for his people that none refused to listen. His ideas of the cause of foreign missions were a surprise to many j the measure of duty which he laid on every man's conscience with respect to the far-off heathen seemed preposterous at first to not a few. There are in every community what are called "hard-headed business men, " who are too wise to invest their money in " castles in Spain," much less in Africa or the islands of the sea. By way of prlltext, they" believe in doing the missionary work that is nearer home," while in reality they do nothing of the sort. But when one, like this Chicago pastor, really girds up his loins for the task of convincing such a class of hearers, when he marshals great masses of facts, appeals to the Bible-Christ's own words; appeals to history-the history of our own once heathen ancestors; shows that all the best civilization is the result of missions; points out the stations which already dot the sea-coasts of the world; arrays the Christian denominations now engaged with one mind and heart in a common cause, and shows how many of every kindred and tribe and tongue have responded to the messages of the Gospel-when he does this not once a year, and perfunctorily, but often, and with all the fervor of his own heart, something very positive must follow. Reluctant hearers will either become convinced, and will recast their personal notions of duty, or they will find a place where conscience may slumber more peacefully. And a church under such leadership will either become a missionary church, or it will find a different pastor. Almost invariably the better alternative is chosen.
More than once when Dr. Mitchell preached on missions, whether in his own or another's pulpit, some man or woman came forward, and acknowledging a new and broader conversion, made amends for past neglect by a generous and sometimes a very large contribution to the cause.
An incident occurred at a later date which well illustrates the way in which his piquant and forcible way of putting things impressed business men. He was pleading for a particular mission in the East for which a missionary was ready to be sent, but was delayed for want of funds. He became so wrought up as he thought of the great wealth and luxurious e~uipages of some of his hearers, that, as a sort of climax, he said: "Why, some of you drive a missionary down-town every morning as you go to business." This startling view of the case had its effect; one interested capitalist leaned over to. another and said: "Let us unite in sending that missionary." And it was done.
But it must not be supposed that Dr. Mitchell's harp was an instrument of one string only. He saw also the moral desolations of Chicago, as well as those on another hemisphere. He loved to preach to the classes who were not attendants at any church, and he finally made arrangements for stated preaching to the neglected or, perhaps, I should say, the selfneglectful classes. He was also too much of a patriot not to be deeply interested in all departments of home missionary work on the frontiers. He understood the symmetry and proportion and the full and rounded integrity of that great commission of our Lord when He said: "Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. " If he placed special emphasis upon the " uttermost part," it was only because the vast majority of Christians give it no emphasis at all. He shared Paul's interest in "the regions be- yond" and for the same reason.
As a preacher Dr. Mitchell had peculiar power with worldly men, all the more that his honest fidelity was backed by a blameless and consecrated life. To those who were sincere, though perhaps struggling Christians, there was something refreshing and uplifting in getting away from the toil and care and ceaseless grind of their secular life and listening one day in the week to a devout and unworldly man who made God and heaven seem real and present. 'Vithin the sanctuary and within the sound of that earnest and sympathetic voice there was such a contrast to the wild, rushing, money-making Chicago that was without I In personal intercourse with him the effect was the same. One thoughtful parishioner said, after talking with him: "Arthur Mitchell is a saint." A friend who had known him both as a preacher and in some business matters recently said of him : " He was to me one of the most attractive and even fascinating saints of God that I have ever met. • . . Every clerk in my office knew from his business letters that he was one of God's gentlemen. He was much more, though, for he was an earnest, able, and magnetic preacher of Jesus Christ, and an efficient, broad-minded, and ex.ecutive man of affairs in all church work. "
Gentleness was a conspicuous element in Dr. Mitchell's character. The late Dr. Musgrave, in speaking of him in the General Assembly, which met in the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago in 1871, alluded to him as ., the gentle Prince Arthur." And yet there was another side of his character which was brought out in certain emergencies. When there was a great wrong to fight down he had the courage of a lion. Small and modest man that he was, his spirit rose when truth and humanity were at stake to the stature of Goliath. There was a time in Chicago when an election had been carried by the most unblushing frauds. Men hung their heads in shame for Chicago, but were helpless and hopeless. But with Dr. Mitchell it was enough that heaven had been insulted and that the justice of heaven was on his side. The wrong could not stand. The eternal fitness of things was against it, and therefore he was against it. He was not in politics, he was acting for no party, but he gave his whole strength to the cause of honest government. Fearing the manipulation of the votes which had been cast, he went at midnight to watch the precinct, and his testimony of what he saw led to a new election. Mr. Donald Fletcher, in a recent letter, while alluding to this incident, says: "Of all men whom I have ever known, he stood the embodiment of the Christ spirit. I shall never forget how, on my congratulating him years ago on having, singlehanded, overthrown an election that had been carried by fraud, a new one having been ordered by the authorities, he said he was ' glad to illustrate that a minister was not necessarily silly or helpless.' How grandly he combined the gentle and the courageous I"
In 1880 Dr. Mitchell removed from Chicago to Cleveland, where he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. His record there also was that of a faithful and earnest preacher and a pastor loving and beloved. There he won the same distinction as an advocate of foreign missions. It had long been felt throughout the Church that he was specially fitted for the sphere of secretary of the Foreign Board. He had indeed been offered the position as early as 1870, though he did not then see his way clear to accept it. The Interior had strongly advocated his election ere he left Chicago. And when, in 1885, he was again offered the position he ac- cepted, and thenceforth gave himself wholly to the cause whieh he so much loved. For nearly eight years was he permitted to stand between the field missionaries and the home churches, encouraging the one and pleading for the prayer and sympathy and support of the other. Three years before his death he visited the mission fields of the East, and brought back deep- ened impressions of the wants and woes of the nations that know not Christ. Unfortunately, also, he returned to his post with impaired health. He had never learned to measure aright his powers of endurance. To visit missions may become the most wearing of all services, and Dr. Mitchell, when filled with a high purpose, a very fire in his bones, knew not how to heed a warning. At Nanking, while preaching from a manuscript, he became blind j he could no longer read the pages before him. Neverthe- less, he kept on, and extemporized the remainder of his discourse. Soon after, at Bangkok, while discussing missionary matters with one of the brethren, he again became blind. Still he kept on, addressing an auditor whom he could no longer see, till finally he sank to the floor not only blind but speechless and with one side of his face paralyzed. Such was the indefatigable spirit of the man. It is not too much to say that he was even morbidly conscientious where a supposed duty demanded his self-sacrifice. On his return, still weak and unfit for service, he was granted a three months' leave of absence for rest, but his strength was never fully recovered. He felt even more strongly than he had often felt before that the position which he held was too hard for his powers of endurance, and yet, when opportunities came, as they had come before, to accept an easier sphere, he dared not turn aside from his great and beloved work. Sometimes he had reached the deliberate choice of a shorter course rather than live longer in some other work. In the spring of 1892 he took another respite of three months, but it soon became evident that fatal disease had fastened itself upon him. After leaving for Florida in the following November he failed rapidly, though scarcely himself realizing that his work was done. Up to the very time of his collapse, in November, he retained all his matchless eloquence in pleading for missions. Perhaps the very grandest effort that he ever put forth was made in a speech of over an hour before the Synod of New York, convened at Albany. Dr. John G. Paton, the hero of the New Hebrides, who happened to be present, spoke of it as the most remarkable missionary address that he had ever heard. It shook the Synod like a tempest; but alas! it shook also the frail body of the speaker. He wrote me afterward from Florida that he had " never been the same man after that night." It was a worthy farewell plea before the
A GREAT LIFE. -[September
Church and the Christian world to remember the nations that have waited so many centuries for the truth.
Much might be said of the relations which Dr. Mitchell bore to his colleagues as a secretary and to the Board. He enjoyed the perfect confidence and the love of all. Never was there a truer man, seldom a more faithful servant of Christ. In the Divine economy nothing is lost, and the world is permanently better for this life of Arthur Mitchell.
A GREAT LIFE.
BY REV. A. F. BEARD, D.D.
I have in my possession two volumes entitled" Discourses by Rev. Robert S. McAn, LL.D.," with a sketch of his life and character, by the Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, D.D. They were presented to me, on sundering my officia~ relations with the mission and the pastorate of the American Church in Paris, "with the affection and prayers of the author's only son, R. W. MeAn," adding, " These are my gifted father's few written sermons. He w~ an extempore preacher habitually. I was his amanuensis for years, though only sixteen when he died. These books are now quite out of print and rare. I have but three copies in all ; but it is a singular satisfaction to' ask my friend to accept one of these."
I mention this because no just estimate of the great life of Dr. MeAn can be made indepeQ.dent of his heredity and early training. Rev. Robert Stevens McAlI, the father, was the eldest son of Rev. Robert MeAn. Of Scotch ancestry, the three generations of Roberts were English. His mother was a direct descendant of Robert Bruce. His father, educated at the University of Edinburgh, died at the age of forty-six years, but not until he had greatly distinguished himself as a remarkably eloquent preacher-the silver-tongued McAIl-and as a man of high intellectual stature. His devout and prayerful spirituality of mind made his presence a positive and constant godly influence.
Such precious inheritances from father to son may properly introduce the story which I drew from Dr. McAll ten years ago; how, during his father's last sickness, the question of his consecration to the Gospel ministry was earnestly pressed upon him. Young Robert promised to give ~ost serious consideration to this last paternal request, and to listen to the voice of God to know if this might become his duty and privilege. After his father's death the son did not hear the call. His tastes were artistic, and his inclinations were to study architecture. Having begun his studies, he submitted his drawings to Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Parliament House at Westminster, and was selected among many eager candidates for a place in his office. He received notice of the coveted honor late in the week, and was to report himself there on the following Monday. On the Sunday preceding this Monday he attended church, expecting to hear a favorite preacher, but was disappointed to find a stranger" on exchange, " whose appearance and manner were exceedingly unpleasant to him. His sense of propriety alone prevented his departure to another church. It was in this service, however, that the still, small voice of God said to him : "Thou art the man." Greatly agitated, he sought the privacy of his room, and there the question of his father-now the question of Godconfronted him. His was a strong will and his plans were dear to him. He could not yield them. His ambition, long cherished and worked for, to-morrow was to be realized. With this happy introduction to his professional career, fortune and fame would be reasonably sure. That night was sleepless. But with the light he walked in the light, and on the morrow he informed Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the most costly building that has been erected in England for centuries, that all his purposes in life had changed, that he would surrender his privilege and prepare himself to preach the Gospel of Christ. Such was his call. Was not this providential ~ The college was entere« and the studies completed. There followed the devoted pastorates at Sunderland, Leicester, Manchester, Birmingham, and Hadleigh. He was fifty years of age, a pastor ministering to a large and influential church, entrenched in the confidence and affections of his people, when he heard anew the voice of God, as aforetime, breaking in upon his settled plans of life.
The story of his going to Paris, which has become familiar, may be omitted. But this he did: "He went out, not knowing whither he went." With no benevolent missionary society behind him, with no assurance of support other than that of his own small income, or of welcome from the class of poor people to whom he would give himself, and with no language which his hearers could understand, he went forth to his mission at fifty years of age. It would have been folly had not God called him and said : " Fear not; I will be with thee." It was not folly, it was faith.
'What did this consecrated man find in France ~ An interesting people with a brilliant history, even when it has not been good. Italy has been the grave of many peoples, but it could not make France stay buried. Sometimes it has come from the sepulchre like the maniac of Gadara, exceeding fierce, saying: "What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God?" and sometimes rising to ask for the light after the darkness; but the history has ever been hopeful in the fact that it has not ceased to be a life of struggle and discontent. The nation is one that would never be satisfied when it had no right to be contented.
This single-handed and single-hearted missionary found a people after its last historic and terrible struggle in which many things had perished, where th~ught and feeling were bristling with antagonisms and the very air was thick with questionings. As never before-not even in the time of the Reformation, when there were two thousand Protestant churches in France, and when it seemed as if it might be the leading Protestant nation -the minds of the people were open to the questions of life and truth. This good English pastor was a prophet. Seeing this state of things, he knew that it was the hour for God and man. It was God's time. He was lho man of God for the time.
Twenty-two years! How small was the beginning! A little shop in 108 Rue Julien Laoroix at Belleville, cheap chairs for forty people, and a preacher who could not use the language.
Twenty-two years, and included ill it the history of the most wonderful mission of Europe! Included in it, this providential leader, toiling with a consecration that transfigured severe work into delight, bearing pain as if it were pleasure, standing up like a soldier against hindrances within and without, making his hymns of faith and hope, and singing them as he moved persistently forward, never faltering, never losing heart or courage, never tiring j for the salvation of thousands of souls, the transformation of homes, the new courage and strength to churches. Who can tell what it does not include? "The kingdom of heaven is as a woman who hid leaven in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened." "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who sowed seed in a field and it sprang up day and night, and grew he knoweth not how."
A great object lesson this mission has been to France lnd to the world. "How to reach the masses" is no longer a question without an answer. How to get near them, to secure their thoughtful attention, how to Will them, how to unclinch their angry fists raised against man, and to persuade them to lift their hands in prayer to God; all this has been a revelation to France and to the Christian world.
Let me introduce you to this missionary as I knew him. A tall, spare man, with an expressive face, lighted with cordial sympathy and good will, unfailingly genial and loving, with a capacious warm heart, which, while it included multitudes, did not exclude persons, with a friendliness for every one like the common sunshine to the earth, and with precious friendships for those who worked with him, like the sunshine upon the good soil and the sweet fruits.
He would scarcely have been selected for a typical Englishman. Not having high physical vigor, he had yet a wiry, rapid, ready energy and nervous force, which is more of the American type. He was a cultivated student, particularly fond of nature and of the natural sciences that made the phenomenal executive ability which he developed, both as to largeness of view and grasp of details, the more singular. His keen penetration of character and a discriminating judgment easily gave him the leadership of leaders.
His fellowship was delightful. While the missionary spirit waseverywhere and in every place-controlling, and the great motive of his life dominated him so that he seldom followed his social inclinations, there were now and then occasions which revealed an endowment of hllmor that would not be expected, and which was to him an invaluable resource in the diHiculties and anxieties necessarily arising in the direction and propulsion of the plans which he cherished, and which his will was urging. I shall not soon forget an instance of thiR humor iu one of a few social gatherings which he allowed himself to attend. To amuse the children present a charade was proposed, in which the writer of this article was to complain to him as the Juge de Paix of the loss of his pocket-book, while the children should take supplementary and auxiliary parts. The younger people managed their French with dexterity; but the way in which the Juge de Paix led on the writer to make his statements in tortuous and tortured French, refusing to hear even an explanation by a word of English, became at last indescribably funny, until Mr. McAll, whose face had been t~itch ing for some time with suppressed sportiveness, and whose eyes had been twinkling with laughter, could no longer repress his humor, and abandoning the attempt, he was like a child among the children in his mirthfulness. On the morrow his consuming zeal and fervor were outworking the great life. It seemed to me, however, that he looked younger for the space of a week.
But few indeed were the resting places which he gave himself in his mission. It was his thought. It was his prayer. It was his life.
His great thought of life incarnated itself with undeviating devotion and fidelity. It is a record and a history which should not be forgotten. It should be a perpetual testimony to the grace of God and the faith of man for contemplation and imitation-a legacy of permanent influence. Inspired by convictions and sustained by prayer, in a world where selfishness is common, and where its dominion is strong, nothing is more instructive than such self-denying lives, which demonstrate the power of faith in God and the consequent divine life in man.
How strangely God prepared him! The dying request of the man of God who wished his son to take up the work from which the father had been early called; the providential sermon of an unsought and undesired minister, who uttered his message at a venture just one day before it was too late and one day before the plans of life had become fixed; the consecration of duty and the slaying of ambition; the training of twenty-three years of successful ministry among his own kindred, were all for preparedness. Then, again, the voice of God to his soul called the man to resign home, and friends, and church. It was a voice silent to others, but as strong to him as if a whirlwind had been syllabled in speech, and as emphatic to him as if the lightning had burned the commission upon his soul, giving him the recognition of power, and rousing him to a sense of what might be accomplished; begetting strength to his physical weakness and wisdom for the work as the calls repeated themselves more clearly until it was all an irresistible inspiration from God.
Compare this life with another life in France, which the world called a great life. In the narrow street of St. Charles, Ajaccio, stands the house from which came a family that put forth their hands and took the crowns from the majesties of Europe, with which they crowned themselves. Said the mother to the eldest brother, " Jerome, you are the eldest, but you must yield j Napoleon will always be first." In this way he came forward a worshipcr of self. vVhcn told that" God disposes," he replied, " I dispose." After his career of splendor and brilliant battles, in the obliteration of national boundaries, the formation of monarchies, at once the wonder and the scourge of Europe, he came to his tomb. It is one of the monuments of France. But while he yet lived, in one of his more pGllsive moments, he had occasion to pass judgment upon himself. Surveyir.g the future, he called attention to the gradually shrinking dimensions of his renown. ' , Now my achievements fill libraries; but as time passes they will be condensed into volumes, which farther on will shrink into a book. I shall be fortunate if they finally fill a page, and perhaps if there shall remain my name."
Near by the three-storied house in Corsica is the humble mission hall of the missiouary McAll. As I stood within it, speaking to the people congregated there, I could but recall him who had surrendered the thought of being the proud architect of his own fortune, to devote his mind and soul to the lives of others, but who had thus belted his life with the wisdom and power of Christ. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, " The memory of the wicked shall rot, but the righteous shall shine as the stars forever. "
The tomb of the great Emperor of France, the destroyer of his fellowmen, and the tomb of the missionary McAll in the cemetery of Passy are BOt widely separated by distance. The one is visited only to remind those who reflect how great powers were used in supreme selfishness, to end in supreme failure. One turns away with neither gratitude nor love. The tomb of Robert Whitaker McAll is humble. but it speaks of one whom God has exalted. Not so many strangers may visit it, but those who do so will reverently repeat the words of his Lord and Master: "He that saveth his life shall lose it, but he that loseth his life for My sake and the Gospel shall find it." "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." It was the missionary and not the emperor who lived a great life.
What remains for the people to whom Robert Whitaker McAll gave his twenty-three years of rare and devoted service, is known only to Him by whom are all things and for whom are all things. Whether this French Republic will follow the course of its predecessors, and lose what has been gained through mischoices and misdeeds, or whether it will hold its course with steadiness toward the light and the knowledge of permanent life and good, is a theme only for conjecture. But France needs the steadiness which comes from the Gospel. Whatever may be in the future, the people of this day have had no greater friend to bring life and good to them than he who learned in the beginning of his mission to say, "God loves you, and I love you," and who proved it in what he was and did.
Meanwhile, the" Mission McAll" is shedding its light in the darkness. It is the light of God. The outlook upon which it shines is one of vast hope, of vast responsibility, and of vast emergency. May the spirit of the providential man whom God called in a providential way to begin and develop this providential mission continue with those to whom falls the legacy of his goodness and his greatness.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY lIEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
"Self-Denial Week." In withholding its sanction, therefore, to the recommendlltion of the Commit- BY J. J. LUCAS, D.D., ALLAHABAD, INDIA. tee, the Assembly did not disapprove the observance of set times for special At a missionary convention held re- prayer and even for fasting, but only cently at Saratoga Springs. Mrs. Lucy M. the setting apart of a special week for Bainbridge, of the New York City Mis- the practice of self-denial. That this is sion, gave the origin of this week as fol- really what the Assembly was asked to lows; "Self-denial week was thought sanction is evident, as we already have of long before the Board took it up. a week set apart for prayer-viz., the It started with two women in a mission first week in January. Notwithstandland" (New York Evangelist of June ing the sanction of other churches, as 15th). The first call for the observance well as the practice of missionary socIof such a week, so far as we know, was eties in this country and England, we issued by General Booth, of the Salva- believe there are good reasons why a tion Army, and for some years this week call for the observance of such a week has been observed the world over by should not be issued. members of that organization_ It is now a recognized part of the Salvation 1. And, first, the observance of such Army discipline, and one of their most a week by the whole Church tends to fruitful methods of raising money. give a false conception of the Christian Other religious bodies and mi8sionary life. That life is one. It is a unit. It societies, with their headquarters in cannot be divided into sections by the England, have observed such a week. weeks of the year. It has no holidays. In this country the Southern Presbyte- The Christian cannot say to himself ; rian Church, at the request of its Board .. I must be very careful to deny myof Foreign Missions, observed the first self this or that pleasure this week; I week in October, 1892, and the North- must live a life of real self-denial the ern Presbyterian Church, at the request first week in March, but during the of its Board, observed the third week other weeks of the year I need not be in March of this year. The last-named so careful and so self-denying." Any Board, in its Report to the General As- observance which creates or cultivates sembly, recommended the observance of such a spirit, unconsciously though it such a week by the whole Church. and be, is not to be encouraged. Thomas the Committee of the Assembly to which Arnold, of Rugby, constantly taught was referred this Report recommended his pupils the danger of attempting to that the first week in March, 1894, be cut their lives int.o slices, and of saying set apart as a week of special prayer practically; "In this slice my actions and self-denial. The Assembly. how- are indifferent and I needn't trouble ever, refused to approve the recommen- myself about them, but in that slice I dation of the Board and of the Commit- must mind what I am about." By tee. Of course there could be no de- training the Church to be careful and sire on the part of the Assembly to re- self-denying in its eating and drinking, strain prayer or self-denial. It must be in its pleasures and expenditures during remembered that the Assembly has ap- the first week in March, do we not al80 proved the observance of the first week train to indifference in such things durin January for special prayer in behalf ing the other weeks in the year? This of foreign missionary work, and in many is not mere theory. What has been the churches for more than thirty years effect of such training in this direction, that week has been faithfully observed. let Church history bear witness. Millions of Christians deny themselves meat tinued year after year becanse it would on one day in the week. What is the be fulfilling the chief end of its institueffect of setting apart that one day of tion. Its very success in filling the the week for the practice of this self- treasury would ensure its permanency. denial? Is it conducive to healthy This success would in a few years make Christian life and growth? And yet it an indispensable agency in securing the day was set apart with the best of the funds necessary to carryon the motives. Moreover, it has the sacrifice work for which we had pledged our· unto death on the cross of our Lord on selves. It would give this week a that day of the week to recommend it place in our Church life and mission as a day of special self-denial. Millions machinery from which it would be of Christians deny themselves not only hard to dislodge it. If, as we have meat, but many other things during tried to show, the long-continued obforty days of the year. They do it at servance of a week of self-denial tends the call of the Church. These days, to create and foster a false view of the too, have much to recommend them as Christian life, ought we not to hesitate days and weeks of special self·denial, before approving it, espeoially when its bringing to mind the suffering of our observance is almost sure to become Lord. Thus a conscience in reference permanent because of its success in se· to the duty of self·denial on certain curing large additions year by year to days and weeks in the year has been the income of the Boards ; hence we created and fostered by the Church; are constrained to say, ., Resist the bebut has the observance of such days and ginnings. " weeks been conducive, on the whole, to healthy growth in spiritual life ? On the other hand, if, as is contended by those who advocate such a week, it To all this it is replied that the week is intended to observe it only for a few of self-denial we propose will never years and then give it up, why should fasten itself on the Church as a perma- we adopt a device for raising funds nent thing; but who can say that it which we proclaim beforehand to be will not? Has it not already become a only a temporary cxpedient, doomed to fixed week in the discipline of the Sal- failure as soon as its novelty has worn vation Army, and as years go by will it off? A device to secure self·denial and not become binding on every member incrcased giving, which its advocates of that organization, binding his con· openly promise to give up in a few science in time by reason of its observ- years, must have in it and back of it ance from childhood? very little to recommend it. Otherwise, why promise to give it up? Why To appreciate the danger of its taking should it not be permanent? The anits place in the permanent and recog- swers to these questions suggest argunized machinery of the Church, let us ments against such a week. Whether consider for a moment why it is pro· its observance prove a financial success posed to observe such a week. The or failure, it ought not to be approved. chief reason is to secure a larger income If a success, then self-denial week, as it to the Board as the result of the self- is already called, becomes a. permanent denial. If year by year a larger amount feature in our church life and mission should be reported as the result of the machinery. If a failure, then why beobservance of this week, would the gin a scheme on which we write failure treasurers and officers of our Boards, from the start, and, in fact, have to constantly burdened as they are with promise to give up in a few years in heavy financial responsibilities, see their order to obtain approval for it in the way to recommend a discontinuance of beginning? an observance to which they look forward as a deliverer from threatened II. The observance of such a week debt? and so the week would be con- tends to lower our Lord's standard of . self-denial. That standard is that we ought to be filled willi humiliation, deny ourselves daily, not one week in and turn to God with penitence and the year, not every Friday in the week. prayer and fasting. It is no reply to His call is to a life of self-denial, not to a this to read touching extracts from let- week of it. His call is the same to-day ters accompanying the gifts of this one as when He was on earth. •• If any week. This proves too much. It im- man would come after me, let him deny plies that the gifts during the other himself and take up his cross daily and weeks of the year were not the outcome follow me." The Church cannot of real self-denial. As one listens to change this standard, nor ought she to such extracts, offered a8 an argument in take any step which has a tendency to fawr of a aelf-deniaZ week, let him not lower it. Is it not a practical lowering forget that they have weight In this of the standard when she singles out discussion only on the assumption that and sets apart one week in the year for like statements could not be sent with the practice of that self-denial which the gifts of other weeks in the year_ everywhere in the New Testament is Thia is an unfounded assumption, and enjoined ns a constant, daily duty, as shows the fallacy of the reasoning well as a pri vilege? Let us not forget founded on It. Would it. not be wiser that the Church is Christ's representa- to press home to the heart of every dis- tive on earth. She speaks in His name. ciple of Christ the duty and privilege She acts for Him in His absence; hence of a life of self-denial, rather than to she has no right to issue a call wllich attempt once every year to arouse them He would not issue were He on eal'th to a week of it, with the usual reaction to-day. Would He single out a week and indifference following such spasms in the year, months and months hence, of Christian life?
and urge His disciples to practise dur- It may be !laid that the reasoning ing that week a self-denial greater than which forbids the setting apart of a on other weeks? Does not such a call week of self-denial would also forbid a imply that a life of self-denial is not so call for a day of prayer and fasting, or binding during the other weeks of the for a week of special prayer; but the year? It is true, we are to preach Sun- cases are not the same. For the observ- day after Sunday the duty and privilege ance of special seasons of prayer we of a life of self·denial, of daily self-de- have scriptural warrant and example.
nial, but then, most inconsistently, we There are special promises to united are to say: ' , Now we wish you to prac- prayer, and such prayer often requires tise this which we preach one week in the setting apart of a special time in the year, and that we may all practise order to secure union in it. For exam- together we will appoint the first week ple, the disciples were to unite in prayer in March, 1894. By that method also for the fulfilment of the promise of the we as a church may ascertain in dollars Father, and so for ten days they united and cents just the amount of our self- with one accord in special prayer. The denial. When, however, a church with church at Antioch united in prayer with eight hundred thousand communicants fasting, and with blessed results. ThuB observes such a week, and as a result re- we have a scriptural warrant for spe- ceives only about twenty thousand dol- cial, united prayer, even unto fasting; lars, we cannot join in the "grate- but where is the warrant in the New ful satisfaction," nor regard this as Testament for the Church setting apart a "truly Christian response from a week for the practice of self-denial, churches, Sabbath – schools, families and that week nearly a year in the fu- and individuals," etc. If this paltry ture?
sum represents the self-denial during III. We do well to ask the question, a week of one of the wealthiest church- How maya self-denying spirit, which es in the world, then we as a church shall lead to constant and enlarged giv. lng, be cultivated? Given such a spirit will prompt the necessary prayer to and the treasuries of all our Boards bring Him back again in power. Noth- would be full to overflowing. Will the ing short of His new outpouring will setting apart of a week for the exercise ever solve the missionary problems of of self-denial develop and maintain such our day.. " Considering the fearful a spirit? We think not. Such a de- consequences of it all, something like vice is too calculating and mechanical. criminal neglect has marked for years It has too much the click of machinery the attitude of the Church toward the about it. The spiritual life cannot be matchless power of prayer for the world.
so wound up that it shall give out its Shall it be so longer, or shall a change best fruits to order on a given week in come over the Church? It will not the year. Church after church has at- avail to pass resolutions and form prayer tempted to do this, and the result has alliances. For generations great calls been, in the end, hurtful to spiritual have been issued, leagues have been life and favorable to the growth of for- proposed, emotions have been aroused; malism. • . • prayer is an echo on men's lips What is needed to-day is not the set- rather than a passion from their hearts.
ting apart of days or weeks of self-de- But if fifty men of our generation will nial. Deep down and back of every enter the holy place of prayer, and be- other need is that of a 8pirit of con- come, henceforth, men whose hearts stant, importunate prayer and supplica- God has touched with the prayer-pas- tion. Given such a spirit throughout sion, the history of His Church will be the Church, and it will lead to frequent changed." This is a cry-a call with prayer unto fasting, and such consecra- the right ring in it-from the secretary tion of the whole life to Christ that of one of our largest foreign missionary nothing will be withheld. Parents will boards. The same cry comes from the gladly separate their children, and pour foreign field. At the closing session of in their gold and silver for His service. the last meeting of the Presbyterian Mr. Robert E. Speer, Secretary of the Synod of India (November, 1891), the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, following invitation was issued, not to in a little tract, " Prayer and Missions," the members of the Presbyterian has set forth this need of the Church in Church, but "to the members of words which we wish could be pon- Christ's body the world over."
dered long by every Christian-" The "We, the members of the Synod of evangelization of the world in this gen- India, met in Lodiana, unite, in the eration depends, first of all, upon a re- name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in ask- vival of prayer. Deeper than the need ing our brethren throughout the world for men ; deeper far than the need for to join with us in daily prayer that a money; ay, deep down at the bottom spirit of constant, importunate prayer of our spiritless life is the need for the and supplication may be given to every forgotten secret of prevailing, world- member of Christ's body the world wide prayer. Missions have progressed over. The members of the Synod slowly abroad, because piety and make this request with a deep sense of prayer have been shallow at home. their own need of such a spirit of im- • When I shall see Christians all over portunate prayer and supplication.
the world,' said John Foster, • resolved They make it in full reliance on the to prove what shall be the efficacy of Head of the Church as present with prayer for the conversion of the world, them, and they send it forth in His I shall begin to think that the millen- name to His people the world over."
nium is at the door.' The condition This is not a call to more prayer, but and consequence of such prayer as this it is a call to plead for that spirit of is a new outpouring of the Holy Ghost. prayer and supplication which is back Nothing short of His own suggestion of all prevailing prayer; which impels to unceasing, importunate, believing establish a station, and print books, and prayer; which moved our Master in tell them something of the Christian re- the days of His fiesh to offer up " pray- ligion and how it differs from theirs, ers and supplications with strong crying and quite another to go to them as and tears;" which moved the friend to Brainerd did to his poor Indians, as go at midnight to his friend and to ask those who are under the wrath of God, with such importunity that he arose who must aeeept of His mercy in Christ and gave him all that he needed; which or perish, and by the very agony of led the leaders of the church at Antioch prayer, and the earnestness of preach- to wait on the Lord with faeting_ When ing connected with it, to be the means such a spirit of prayer as this is given of such outpouring of the Holy Spirit in large measure, then will men like and of such manifest and surprising Paul and Barnabas be sent forth in conversions to God. Those Indians great numbers, and then will all the have probably had no agency in perfect.
money needed, and as it is needed, be ing society upon earth-their very tribes joyfully given. The greatest need to· have perished-but they now shine as day in the foreign field and at home is stars in the crown of their Redeemer; just such a spirit of prayer as is called and those conversions were worth more for by Mr. Speer and the Synod of than all the results of great meetings India. One of the most promising and speeches and munificent donations signs of missionary work is the unanim- from which the spirit of prayer and of ity with which missionaries in the God is absent, and which are not con- field and the secretaries and members nected with the salvation of the soul.
of great missionary societies are empha. There was connected with them more sizing the need of such prayer. Says true missionary labor. That wo have Dr. E. K. Alden, Secretary of the failed, and that this has been our great American Board of Foreign Missions: failure, of taking up this burden as we " Some things we have outgrown-we ought, there can be no doubt. Whether think we have-during our fourscore wrong principles have in any case been years. Have we lost our faith in pray- adopted in pursuing things incidental er, or have we not? Howfa;r does ear- too much, I cannot say, but they cer- nest intercession enter into our working tainly have been pursued too exclu- plans as a 'Vital, ejJicient force! • . . sively. There has been a withdrawing But the prayer is the main thing, and of the spirit from those higher regions will carry with it everything else. Let of spiritual sympathy and struggle, this mighty force be wielded as it may and communion with Christ in the fel- be by the Lord's united people, remem. lowship of His sufferings; and all the bering, as it has been tersely expressed, channels of that sympathy have been that' we are responsible not only for all left empty and dry ; and so while there we can do ourselves, but for all we can has been external activity, and some secure from God,' and there will be no good has been done; there has yet, lack of consecrated money and no lack around many of the missionary stations, of consecrated men." not been the greenness and verdure Dr. Alden, in his pamphlet, "The which we hoped to see. So has it been, Place Occupied in Missionary Work by so is it now. And unless this Board Prayer," from which we have taken the and its friends come together with the extract above, quotes from the address confession of their sin in this, and with of Rev. Dr. Mark Hopkins, and these a readiness to assume this burden more solemn words of Dr. Hopkins apply, in fully for the future, and to cast them- some degree, to nearly every missionary selves upon the Lord, that they may be field and society the world over: "It sustained in bearing it, then that which is one thing to give money, and print is reany the cause of missions will go reports, and go across thc ocean and backward, and we shall have perplexities and burdens come upon us as judg. of Nagasaki. Two thousand or three ments, and under them God will not thousand of them-men, women, and sustain us. " children-were seized and distributed in companies of fifties, eighties, or hun· Mi8sionary Glanoes at Japan. dredsto the various city prisons through. out the land. GOD'S HAND IN JAPANESE HISTORY. Sir Harry Parkes, the British Minis- BY REV. O. H. GULICK, D.D., JAPAN. ter, expostulated with the head officer of the Foreign Department, Prince Referring to a map, one will note the Iwakura, the uncle of the Emperor, and peculiar shape of Japan; its great said: "If the rulers of Japan persecute length and small width, and how won· these people because they are Christians, derfully furnished it i3 with harbors. the (Western) Christian nations cannot The Japanese are destined to become a regard Japan as a friendly nation." maritime commercial people. They Prince I wakura replied : " You Chris· are enterprising, fearless. mercurial, tians say that Jesus is the Son of God ; sentimental, and yet of gentle manners. we say the Mikado is the son of Heaven, the son of God; if there are two sons No people feared and hated Christian· of God in the land, they will quarrel, ity as the Japanese did a few years ago: there will be war in the land, and we and why? About three hundred years cannot have it." After a year or two ago the Portuguese came to the country of exile these Roman Catholic Chris- -the merchants for trade, and the Ro· tians were returned to their homes and man Catholic missionaries to convert their lands near Nagasaki. the people. These missionaries were kindly recei ved and made many pros- Twenty-two years ugo this month, elytes-perhaps forty thonsand or fifty when I hud been four months in Japan, thousand; and the famous missionary one midnight my associate knocked at Xavier visited Osaka and Kyoto. Then my window and informed me that my came the Dutch traders, who sought to language.teacher had been arrested by undermine and supplant the Portu· the police. The next morning we went guese. They told the rulers of Japan together to the teacher's house, found that the Pope of Rome would be the his box empty and some of his papers ruler of his followers, and that if the strewn upon the floor. people became Roman Catholics the na· tive rulers would lose their power. The We asked the governor what this rulers then turned against Christianity, meant, and he said that it was not his drove the priests out of the country, doing, but that the man was arrested and persecuted and put to death many by the secret police of the Imperial of the Christians. Dy the sufferings Government; he knew not whither that this brought the rulers and most they had taken the teacher and his of the people became bitter haters of wife. . Later he told one of us that if Christianity. the man had been baptized there was no hope of his life, but if not baptized Dr. Hamlin says, " When Christians he might at some future day be released are knocking, God is always opening from prison. doors." Now let us see how God has been opening this land of Japan to the We gained no trace of the poor man Gospel; see God's hand in the history or his wife until fourteen months later, of Japan. when the wife was released from the Kyoto prison, and we learned that my Twenty.two or twenty·three years teacher had just died in the Kyoto ago the rulers turned to persecute the prison. remnant of the descendants of the early ~~an Catholics living near the port He had not been baptized, but we trust that he was a believer. He was the last Christian martyr in Japan. When upon his arrest we failed to gain ca and Europe and assist in framing a any satisfaction from the Kobe gov- Constitution for Japan. In Germany ernor, we laid the case before Mr. De Count Ito met the old Kaiser William, Long, the American Minister to Japan, grandfather of tbe present Emperor, who laid the matter before Prince and Bismarck. He wrote home to his Iwakura. The prince said: "You government, and the Japanese newsforeigners need not trouble yourselves; papers published the fact that both we are the rulers of our people." Mr. these greatest men of Germany told De Long assured him that if the rulers him that what Japan needed was Chrispersecuted their people for aiding for- tianity ; this was what would raise up eigners or missionaries or for listening his people; and, further, they told him to Christian teaching, America could that personally he himself needed an not regard Japan as a friendly nation. interest in the Saviour.
Soon after this the Emperor sent Count Ito was the most prominent Prince Iwakura as head of an embassy agent in framing the Constitution of to America and Europe, to seek a re- Japan, which was proclaimed by tbe vision of the treaties. When he reacbed Emperor in 1889, the eighth article of Washington he met Mr. Hamilton Fish, which deelares that a man is free to Secretary. of State under President worship as he pleases, provided he does Grant, who at once spoke of the perse- not offend against the laws of the land. cution of Mr. Gulick's teacher, and This eighth article is the sheet-anchor said: "If you persecute your own peo- of religious freedom in Japan. ple who become Christians, America cannot regard Japan as a friendly na- Thus wonderfully did God open Jation. " pan to the Gospel.
The ambassador, Prince Iwakura, PRESENT; ASPECTS OF MISSION WORK was at last deeply impressed, and wrote home to his government advising that IN JAPAN. the edicts against Christianity, which decreed the death penalty to anyone BY REV. E. ROTHERAY MILLER, JAPAN. embracing the faith, and which were posted in all the cities, be at once re- In the present aspects of mission work moved. In accordance with this advice in Japan tbere are certain points made these edicts were at once all witbdrawn, prominent in the reports for the year quietly removed from the public notice- which should not be passed over. boards. From that day the Imperial Government ceased ~ll persecution of t. The Christian and philanthropic Christiana. efforts put forth after the great earth- Twenty.six or twenty-eight years ago quake in October, 1891, are bearing two young men from the Choshu Prov- fruit. Throughout that district, about ince landed almost penniless in London, Nagoya and Gifu, which is one of the seeking to solve the problem of Eng- strongholds of Buddhism, the preachland's power. These two men ,are to- ing of the Gospel is freer than it ever day Counts Ito and Inouye, the former has been. Prime-Minister of Japan, the latter a Cabinet minister. 2. There is a growing number of Christian men and women in Japan About twelve years ago, at a season who are wielding a wide influence of great national ferment, the Emperor through various forms of literature. promised his people that he would at In book and magazine, in pamphlet the end of ten years grant them a rep- and in story, in life and in poetry, in resentative assembly. translation or in adaptation, we find the desire for others' good, the desire to Eight or nine years ago he sent Count advance God's kingdom upon earth. Ito to study the Constitutions of Ameri- Through such men and women of deep literary knowledge and wide culture and abiding ability, multiplying as time part moral instruction only through the rolls on, will come the most advanced Imperial Rescript, the question of reo state of moral education and civilization ligion outside of the school·room is left possible in Japan; and through them to the individual taste of each teacher, rather than through the foreign preacher and no rule applying to it is issued by or teacher will Christian knowledge the Department. Likewise, the Minis· and spiritual privileges become the com- ter of State for Home Affairs replied to mon portion of the multitudes. the inquiries of representative Japanese S. There is an increasing interest and Christians, that he held most emphati.
prosperity of the training schools for cally that a local governor has no busi- Biblewomen. We are encouraged to ness to interfere with the religious con· observe a growing spiritual as well as victions .of the people of his district, mental life, especially among those and that an absolutely neutral and Im- students who bear the burden of the partial attitude must be maintained in evangelistic work connected with these all his procedure.
schools. The work of these Bible· 5. There is a subject to which the women is appreciated by the evangelis· eyes of those who are interested in tic missionary, and their location in the Japanese affairs have been turned with outstations is earnestly desired. much anxiety during the last six 4. There is another circumstance months. Rumors have come through which occurred during the year, which private letters and mission reports of is especially encouraging as showing friction existing between the mission· that the clause in the Oonstitution, aries and the Japanese ministers, and it granting liberty of conscience to every was hinted by some that the time for J9,panese, is not a dead letter. The missionaries to leave the country had governor of Kumamoto, which is a about come. Wishing to know the stronghold of conservatism in politics latest and most reliable accounts from and religion, at a meeting of the heads Japan, I took the trouble to go to New of various officials in his prefecture, York a week ago, and had a long con- advised the teachers of primary schools versation with Dr. Imbrie, who has just that they themselves should not become returned from Tokyo, alid the presen t bellevcrs in Christianity, also that cer· aspect seems to be this: tain scholars of a certain primary school I should here preface my remarks by should be dismissed on account of their saying that what follows refers to the study of the Bible. The unconstl· Kumiai and Kirisuto churches, with tutional attitude of tllis governor toward which the missionaries of the A. B. C.
the Christians in his prefecture gave F. M. and Presbyterian and Reformed occasion for a most spirited discussion churches co·operate; but it must be In all the periodicals in Japan. The also remembered that these two churches Christian journals especially protested embrace almost two thirds of the Prot· most persistently against this arbitrary estant Christians of Japan.
interference with liberty of conscience; There has been quite a good deal and a cheering fact brought into promi. of friction between some of the minis· nence by this incident is the liberal atti· ters in the Kumiai churches and the tude of the vernacular press toward missionaries of the A. B. C. F. M. In Christianity; and, in addition, the Min· the annual conference of the churches ister of Education made the statement an attack was made upon the mission- to the committee that waited on him, aries by some of the prominent Japan.
that whether teachers follow Christian- . ese ministers, and from the status of tty, Buddhism, or no religious faith at some of them I may say that orthodoxy all is of no consequence whatever to had nothing to do with the matter.
the Department. While U is the object The drift of the argument was that in of the Department of Education to im· missionary work there were three stages: First, where the missionary was GENERAL STATISTICS OF 18ge, JAPAN. everything, and carried on the work alone; secondly, where he did the work = (Contributions for all purposes In Japanese in co·operation with the Japanese: yen. 1 yen 70 cents.) and, thirdly, where the Japanese should Yen. carryon the work alone. Though Kumial Kyokwnl (with speaking highly of the work of the missionary in the first two stages, it was which the A. B. C. F. maintained that the time had come for M. co-operates)……. 1,162 10,760 25,707 the entire independence of the native Kirlsuto Kyokwai (with church. The extremists were for cut- which the Presbyterial ting away from the missionaries in missions co.operate) .• 889 11,190 16,740 everything. The more moderate Methodist MissIOns ••.•. 988 7,089 14,810 thought the church was not strong Episcopal Missions .••.• Il27 4,866 5,782 enough to do this at once. During the :: ~~E!~S~~r::~~.~·::::: 293 1,761 728 course of the debate some bitter things 72 868 125 were said of the missionaries, their mode of living, style of houses, etc., but a Protestant Bodics.•.•• 4,226 35,534 63,837 scathing rebuke was given by some of Increase over 1891 .••. 2,144 10;733 the men, both ministers and elders, Decrease, 1891 •••..•• from some of the country districts, and Greek Church (Russian) 052 20:325 7,676 the outcome of the whole has been that Roman Church (France) : there has been an ebullition of steam, Conversion of Heretics ………..••.• 45 and pressure has been removed and har- Baptism of Christian Parents. . .. . .. 1,837 mony of the relations of missionary and H " Heathen " 1,166 Japanese brethren restored. .. Adults 2,806 With reference to the Kirisuto Kyokwai, the church with which the Pres- Baptisms and Conversions.. •• •••• . . . . •. 5,354 byterian churches and the Reformed churches co·operate, it is true that there Adherents ………………………… 44,812 has been some friction between individual missionaries and the Japanese breth- Bunnms}[ AwAXE. ren, but this would have happened in any case. With the ch nrch or the body BY REV. R. E. M'ALPINE, JAPAN. of ministers there has been no trouble, though some feared that there might The priests are now thoroughly be, since the plan for the reconlltruction aroused, and are fighting with desperof the Boaru of Missions, as adopted by ate energy. In their own organization the Dai Kwai or General Assembly of they are adopting Christian methods as the Church, was not approved by the far as possible. The temples are now majority of the co-operating missions, often labelled "churches;" there are and so, as the funds were not forthcom- " Young Men's Buddhist Associations," ing for the carrying on of the work, the " Young People's Society of Buddhist plan could not be put into operation. Endeavor, " Sunday-schools for learning There was no ill-feeling on the part of Buddhism, all in active operation. the Japanese, though some misunder· Some priests even use the Christian standing on the side of the younger mis- marriage service, ring and all, substisionaries. tuting the name of Buddha for God. . Now I am happy to say that what· Every sect has one or more journals as ever cloud there may have been hang- official organs. By the printed page, ing over the prosperity of the Church by public lecture, and by private con· has been blown away, and everything versation their opposition is fierce and looks bright for the future. untiring. They appeal to the people on three of their tenderest points-viz., filial piety, loyalty, and patriotism.
"This foreign religion," they say, " forbids us to worship our forefathers. Jesus says His followers must hate their parents. This doctrine says our em- peror is not divine, and it dares to con- demn him as to his personal moral life. It destroys the ancient patriotic spirit for which our people are so celebrated; for, by teaching men that they are • pilgrims and strangers' journeying to a future life. it takes away a man's in- terest in the present life and the glory of his own country. No Japanese can be a true Christian and at the same time hibit of the crying needs of humanity a real old-time patriot, ready to die for in our times, the practieal suggestions his emperor and his country." With for bringing the good forces into con- such keen sophisms are they constantly tact with this glaring need, and the haranguing the people. In February philosophy which permeates the whole, last, a professor of the Imperial Uni- make it a clarion call to all thoughtful versity in Tokyo published an article persons to study the humanitarian, mor- on the above lines in seven leading jour- al, and spiritual pl'Oblems of our in- naIs- For a time it produced a flurry creasingly complex civilization, and of excitement in the Christian ranks, shed great light on statistical and other but has now been so successfully an- features of these problems. It will con- swered that the learned professor has tribute largely to make a missionary publicly asked for" quarter_" church in America. Rev. Joseph Cook Such attaeks have an evil effect, not well says, it is "timely, incisive, and only on the people at large, but also brilliant. "
on the native Christian Church byac- -Rev. Robert P. Wilde1'.-Everytbing centuating the spirit of nationalism. It pertaining to Mr_ Wiltler, the Hon of the makes the Christian anxious to prove to founder of this REVIEW, is of interest the Japanese public that they are true to our readers. 'We wish 1m!' 8pace adpatriots, and are not uuder the thumb mitted of our printing b,,,lily a report of the missionaries; this tends, in some of his first four months' work after his cases, to disturb the harmouy aud fel- return to India. Addressing the thirty lowship between the Japanese Chris- or forty student volunteers at the Detians and their foreign brethren_ It cennial Conference; the Y_ M. C. A., seems likely now, however, that God the American High School at Bombay; will make even this fall out unto the the Y_ M_ C. A. and High School in the furtherance of the Gospel, for it is deep- city of his birth, Kolhapur; the Engening the sense of responsibility of the lish Wesleyan Mission at Bangalore; native church and making them more the Y. ~1. C. A. and the students in really in earnest to evangelize their na- Madras Christian College, speakiug nine tive land. times in six and a half days; speaking -The New Era.-Dr_ Josiah I:ltrong's now in English and now in Marathi to book, ., Our Country," has been in such non-Christians, he has found large opdemand, that to date, the publishers re- portunity for and God's blessing on his port the issue of 160,000 copies. Not special mission. His permanent adone reader of that volume will be other dress is Kolhapur, S. ~L C_, India.
than eager to obtain his later volume – -That Bantu item of ours in June (Baker. Taylor & Co., New York), The REVIEW, based on authorities which New Era_ This REVIEW published the we named, comes in for the following first chapter of it, January, 1893, with criticism in private correspondence from an editorial notice of it from advance Mr. Hell Chatelaln: "That absolute sheets. Dr_ Strong's position as Secre- difference of Bantu and negro, and tary of the Evangelieal Alliance offers much-talked-of superiority of the Bantu a lofty vantage-ground for the study of over the negro, has been originated and the line of Christian philosophy and ap- expatiated on by men who had never plied Christianity which is pursued in had any African experience, or who this volume_ That it is a powerful and had lived only among the Bantu. It condensed presentation of the subject, is amazing how easily scientific myths and carries with it the personality of are conjured up and believed by the the writer, goes without the saying_ best Orientalists." We pass this cri.
The summary of the physical, social, tique on, but we wish to accentuate the and other changes of this marvellous last sentence_ That, we are competent nineteenth century, the masterly cx- to ju,lge of iu our own right.
189ft] DEPARTMEN'E OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR. 601S
I1I.-DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED BY PROFESSOR AMOS R. WELLS.
This year's International Convention Hindu Protestant clergyman, who comof Societies of Ohristian Endeavor was pared Romanism to the paganism with the first, of the twelve that have been which he is so familiar. The recepheld, to meet out of this country. The tion given the delegates by the better prophecies are many that erelong the class of Catholics, including the mayor, spread of the Society will compel the the aldermen, and the Cn,tholie press, trustees to assign the- Convention to a was amazingly cordial, and all that nation even farther away than Canada. could be wished. Not unlikely befOl'e the close of the century this great gathering will hold a The Convention was unique in the session in England; perhaps even in prominence given to Jnnior work, three Australia. important sessions being devoted to this subject; in the emphasis laid upon Considering the distance of Montreal evangelistic subjects and methods, the from the greatest number of Endeavor· famous evangelists, Dr. J. Wilbur ers, the rival attractions of the World's Chapman and Rev. B. Fay Mills, con- Fair, and the fact that the Western ducting some very powerful meetings; roads failed to give favorable terms to in the boldness with which t.he social excursions, the attendance of seventeen questions of the day, such as temperthousand may be considered an extraor- ance, social purity, pure literature, and dinary one. It probably means even good citizenship, were brought before more than the forty thousand that came the young folks; in the practical natogether last year in New York. ture of many of the sessions, especially of the" open parliaments" and the con- Several unique features rendered the ferences on committee work. In all Convention memorable. One was the these respects the Convention was return of Dr. Clark from his tour of the unique; but the readers of this magaworld in the interest of Christian En- zine will be chiefly interested in knowdeavor. This, with the widened view ing that in the matter of missions the it has given the Endeavorers of the Endeavorers present at Montreal showscope of their movement and of the ed an unprecedented and most delight. needs of the world, contributed not a ful zeal. little toward the marked missionary enthusiasm of the Convention. To be sure, that was not unexpected. Throughout the year, the tide of mis- Another unique feature was akin to sionary activity among the young peothis-the noteworthy international fla- ple of the~e societies has been manivor of the assembly. References to the festly rising. They have been building annexation question, to arbitration, to missionary churches, supporting misthe Queen and the marriage of her sionaries, circulating missionary peligrandson that took place during the odicals, founding missionary libraries, sessions of the Convention, to the com- establishing missionary lecture bureaus, mon political problems that both Canada and organizing missionary institutes for and the United States have to faee- the diffusion of missionary information. such international topics added piq- Best of all, they have been going, in uancy to the meetings, and widened the large numbers, to the mission fields outlook of the young people. themselves, if ready; or, if not ready, they have put themselves in training There is no need to do more than re- for that high caIling. fer to the disorder of the Montreal .. roughs." excited by an incidental, A clear evidence of this missionary uncomplimentary reference to Catholi- activity comes from the treasurers of cism made by Rev. Mr. Karmarkar, a the various missi()nary boards. It must $2100.20; the American Baptist Misbe l'emembered, in considering the sionary Union, $3122.16; the Woman's meaning of the figures given below, Presbyterian Board of Missions of the that much of the missionary giving of Northwest, $3676.37; the American Christian Endeavor societies is never Board of Foreign Missions, $13,579.93. recorded. It is given with the contri- This list is evidently incomplete, some butions of the church, and is not dis- of the most vigorous Christian Endeavtinguished as a Christian Endeavor of- or denominations, such as the Methodist fering. Not all the boards, either, keep Protestant, being entirely unrepresenta separate account of the gifts received ed, and a few of the largest boards not from these societies. Undoubtedly, having sent in their figures; and yet considering these facts, the figures here what a glorious list it is I These eighgiven would be within the truth if they teen boards received at least $63,000 were largely magnified. They are very from these consecrated young people. encouraging, however, as they are: 'This means that the generation that The Missionary Board of the Cum- next will carryon the work of the berland Presbyterians reports Endeavor Church is one trained, as no generation gifts of $719.70, an increase over last yet has been trained, to give for the year. The American Home Missionary spread of Christ's kingdom on earth. Society received $3317.86, expressly It was to be expected, then, that misstated to have come from Endeavor so- sionary enthusiasm would be shown at cieties. Endeavorers sent the Presby- Montreal, and indeed it was. Probably terian Board of Foreign Missions $16,- no more hopeful token for the welfare 446.57, against $9035.60 sent the pre- of Christ's Church could be imagined ceding year. The Woman's Executive than was indicated by the missionary Committee of Home lIissions of the " open parliament," conducted by Rev. same denomination received $5600.21, Gilbert Reid, a missionary fresh from an increase over last year of $3546. To China. Mr. Reid appeared in the full the American Missionary Association Chinese costume he wears in Chinacame $3472.45, an increase of $1354.85. queue and all-and set the young people Presbyterian Endeavorers of Canada that filled the immense hall to talking sent to their Missionary Board $446.14. about their missionary work-what Canadian Congregationalist Endeavor- they were doing and how they were ers contributed $i4.7.25. The General doing it. It was but a touch that loos· Christian Missionary Convention re- ened an avalanche_ Scores were on ceived $3430 for a home mission church, heir feet at once, trying to get the while the foreign missionary society of floor. .. We are supporting a thousandthe same Church, the Disciples of dollar missionary in China." " Our Christ, received $2180.40, the secretary society of twenty-six is supporting a stating, as do many more of these secre- native worker in India." "Our sotaries, that the young people undoubt- ciety has four student volunteers, and is edly gave much more, but their offer- supporting two more in their studies." ings were not kept separate from those .. Our society sends out twelve workers of their church. The New West Edu- every week to hold evangelistic sercation Commission received $494.13; vices among the Indians." "Our sothe Free Baptist Benevolent Societies, ciety has sent eleven men into the for- $458.16; the Evangelical Lutheran eign field (Toronto)." "We support Church (General Synod), $2156; the two missionaries in Japan." Such are American Christian Convention, $500, samples of the reports that came pouran increase of 50 per cent; the Board ing in, three or four speaking at once, of Domestic Missions of the Reformed the eager young people refusing to be Church in America, $1250; the Con- repressed. It really seemed as if the gregational Church Building Society, – reports could go on all day, and this thought was verified when Mr. Reid gationaJist, three Presbyterian, one . finally, in despair, asked all who during the year had been engaged in helping Brethren, one Church of England, five the cause of missions to rise, and the Methodist, one Bible Christian, one Unit- immense audience rose as one man I One eminent clergyman said that the ed Presbyterian, three in public insti- entire scene was an augury of a more immediate millennium than anything tutions. Indeed, Christian Endeavor in he had ever seen before; and he was right. England is interdenominational, just as Of course, this was only one exercise. it is in this country and everywhere. There was a great deal more. Mr. S. L. Mershon, the indefatigable worker who Herein lies one of the chief secrets of its has done more for practical missionary work among Endeavorers than any charm and its power. The times are other man, the originator of the Chris- tian Endeavor Missionary Institute that ripe for just such a manifestation of is spreading its influence all over the United States, spoke most inspiringly brotherly sympathy as Christian En- on missionary literature. Another suc- cessful worker, Miss MacLaurin, of deavor inspires, and for just such an Chicago, discussed the conduct of mis- sionary meetings. Dr. J. T. McCrory, exercise of brotherly co-operation as of Pittsburg. spoke of " The Reflex In- fluence of Missionary Effort." Rev. Christian Endeavor occasions. W. H. G. Temple, of Boston, gave an address on "Missionary Money: How Nearly half of the seven hundred Eng- to Raise it." Then there was a special c.)nference for workers on the mission- lish societies of Christian Endeavor ary committees, conducted by a special- ist in this line, Mr. W. Henry Grant, were formed this past year. That is an of Philadelphia, and a report from this meeting was presented to the Conven- indication of wonderful life and growth.
tion. At next year's convention, to be held Altoget1.er, it is certain that the in London, the number of societies will Christian Endeavor societies of the world are more thoroughly interested almost certainly be over one thousand. in missions than ever before, and are ready for a year's work that will far The latest Chinese society of Chris- eclipse the past. Let all pastors see in this new and zealous force II missionary tian Endeavor has been formed in Chi· power to be cultivated prayerfully and earnestly. In God's providence this cago. This is probably the first one east Christian Endeavor movement may be -who knows ?-the final, culminating of the Pacific coast. means by which the world is to be won Following close upon the organization for Christ I of the Australian United Society of There are now enrolled in England Christian Endeavor is a United Society over seven hundred societies of Christian of Christian Endeavor in China I A Endeavor. One of the lists most re- large and representative gatheIing of cently published shows thirty-four new missionaries in Shanghai was &eized societies, thus divided among the de- upon as a favorable opportunity, and nominations: ten Baptist, nine Congre- Endeavor workers from all over the kingdom are now banded together in a compact organization for the purpose of publishing literature and spreading the Christian Endeavor ideas. The columns of three Chinese missionary papers are open to the United Society, and secretaries for the great divisions of the kingdom will push the cause in their own localities.
Missionary committees of Christian Endeavor societies should always work in the closest co·operation and under the tullest direction of their church om.- cers and pastor. Especially should they gain the approval of the church authori- ties for all proposed plans of raising money for missions, and no society should appropriate money for missions until the proposeu object-no matter what it is-has been approved by the pastor or other church authority. It is best, too, for all Christian Endeavor contributions to missions to be sent to the denominational boards through the hands of the church treasurer, designat· ed, however, as Christian Endeavor contributions.
BDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
T1te f(fUr great wants of the opening soldiers, for them and their heirs. In missionary era are these : Open doors return they were to render active ser- where now the Gospel is excluded, vice to the lord of the castle of Kuma- abundant men and women to enter the moto in time of war, and in preventing open fields, abundant money to sustain approaches in time of peace. It is said and support the work, and the Holy of one of these villages that .. there is Spirit to accompany and follow all the not a man in it who is not a leper ex- missionary labor in pentecostal power. cept the stone idol." The reason is As to the open doors, we may say that generally supposed to be because of the God has almost universally given them somewhat forced inter-marriages. They to the Church. As to the second and cannot marry into the samurai class third requisites, they are to be supplied above them, nor will they into the peas- by a self-denyiug and obedient Church; ant class below them ; and as a conse- and as to the fourth, He alone can sup- quence come a multiplicity of inter- ply it, but He will give in answer to marriages and leprosy.
prayer. With the exception of Dr. Goto, of Tokyo, no wtIl·educated medical man The Lepers of Japan. in Japan has as yet made leprosy a spe- In response to the appeal which we cialty ; there has been no encourage- published on page 436 of our June issue, ment to do so. Those Japanese who the C. M. S. propose to establish a leper knt)wof the desire to help their afflicted hospital at Kumamoto, Kiushiu. There fellow-countrymen are greatly interest- is at present no charity in the whole ed. Medical men offer support and country for the relief of the 200,000 sympathy. Among the Christians, lepers, who suffer in this unmitigated more than one has said how much it dual tragedy of shame and despair, ex- may do for the Church of Cbrist in cept the Roman Catholic institution at Japan. One remarked, "My people Gotemba, near Tokyo, more than half can argue with your people as cleverly of the inmates of which have volunta- as they can, but they know nothing of rily, it is said, become followers of Him such love as tbis ; this will preach to who singled out lepers for His mercy. them wbere words would fail."
Leprosy is more prevalent in the pre- Tbe really best way of helping is a fecture of Kumamoto than in any other somewhat difficult question. A dis- part of Japan; no sphere of society can pensary is useless; the patients must be said to be absolutely free from it. be under recognized care and superin- Japanese leprosy is not regarded as in- tendence, therefore a hospital seems to fectious, only as hereditary; and a be a necessity to begin with, and if this prominent medical man, who has kindly could lie placed under a resident native offered to gratuitously become consult- Christian doctor, much good might be ing phYSician in the event of a hospital effected. About £600 ($3000) Is needed being established, gives it as his opin- to start this work. Subscriptions may ion that from 60 to 70 per cent could be sent to Mrs. Edward Nott, The Glen.
be relieved if they had good medical Walmer. Kent, England, or to Rev.
aid at first; 10 per cent could be cured, D. M. Lang, Osaka, Japan.
though it might appear in their descend- ants. English Notes. Scattered round Kumamoto are small BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS. villages, the popUlations of which are said to be almost entirely lepers. These COll'IJersion of MOBeS Levi of Ruuia.- villages are relics of the feudal times; The Mildmay Mission to the Jews has they were granted to a certain class of resting upon it many marks of the Di. vine favor. The following communica· received from you. This was a great tion, sent by Pastor Gurland, from the joy to me. I read it repeatedly. My province of Courland, to Mr. John Wil- eyes were opened. I saw a new world. kinson, the superintendent of the mis- I did not recognize myself. I began sion, deserves to be read with interest: now to see the true covenant God of "In the month of June, 1892, my col- Israel in Jesus Christ, the promised porteur was ill-treated by some fanatic Saviour, who died for our sins and rose Jews and robbed of fifty New Testa- again for our justification; and said to ments, which they took to the rabbi for Him, "My Lord and my God." 1 will him to destroy. pay fourfold the value of the books, and will confess publicly the Lord "The colporteur wished to prose- Jesus Christ before friend and foe." cute, but 1 ad vised him not, but to , Amen I' I responded, embracing the leave the mattcr in the Lord's hands. dear old man to my heart, 'Amen.' He was not satisfied, but still wished to This is of the Lord, and it is marvellous prosecute. 'Be perfectly quiet,' I said in our eyes." to him, ' the 1Vord of God needs no protection.' He agreed with me and let Medical Mis8ions.-Dr. Wheeler, of the matter rest. Six w;eeks elapsed, Jerusalem, writes: "Special prayer is when, one evening, two NicodemUl needed for this city. The darkneBB and sOlLis called upon me in the middle of deadness are terribly sad. . .. The the night-one a gray-haired man, the work is of great interest from a medical other a younger man. 'fhe old man point of view. My hospital is alway8 began thus: ' My name is Moses Levi ; full. . .. Two Jews, first impressed I am a business man, and president of in our hospital with the truth of Chris· the synagogue of B–. About six tianity, have since been baptized in our weeks ago, in my blind zeal, I beat your church. Prejudice and superstition are colporteur and robbed him of fifty New rapidly breaking down before the clear Testaments, thinking that I did a merito- light of the Gospel." rious act; but have been severely punished for it, and, on the other hand, Dr. Shepherd, writing from Udaipur, blessed by it. When I brought the Rajputana, says: "The medical work books to the rabbi, who, like myself, is ever increasing-53,OOO cases treated knew nothing of their contents, we re- last year. . .. The medical mission joiced together, and fixed the next day here has been the means of establishing for their destruction. We had a long mission work in this heathen strongtalk, and got angry over the missiona- hold. By God's blessing on our work ries and their misleading books. In the in fifteen years we have got a mission mean time it became dark. Leaving the house, a new hospital for fifty beds, rabbi's house, I stumbled and feU over and a church in which worships a thorthe parcel of New Testaments, and re- oughly organized Christian congregaceived such a blow that I could not lift tion. " myself up again. A doctor was sent for, who declared that I had broken my Dr. Sims, of Stanley Pool, writes, on leg, and I had to be carried home. The January 25th, 1893: "I have a small doctor was a dear Christian, and said : hospital of eight beds dlld a good phar- " My dear Moses, this is the finger of macy, in both of which daily aid is God. In tLe Book you intended to de- given to mallY sick who come or who stroy you will find the best medicine for are carried here. We have also a little body and soul." . . . His words church of nine active members, witnessreached my heart, and I had no rest. ing and working around. Weare just Next day I sent for the books, but they finishing a church building, and the had been destroyed. After awhile the principal ones who built it are already gaDd doctor brought me a copy he had members of its internal organization."
Speaking of the Congo women, Mrs. Walfridsson, of the medical mission, Bethel Santhal Misnon.-Pastor Hae- says: "These poor creatures Bre very gert reports progress. During the past much degraded, and, if possible, evell year about five thousand patients have more bound to their old habits than the been attended, and much suffering has men. Even after they have become been relieved. Some who vowed to fol- Christians it seems more difficult for low the Lord on their recovery have them than for the men to get out of gone back to their demon·worship ; but their old superstitious customs. We there have also been cases to encourage.
have seen, to our great joy:, much bless- A hundred and nineteen men and wom- ing in the work among the women, and en have been baptized since April last, we expect more to follow, although as on their profession of faith in Christ.
yet only a few have been baptized. The pastor was recently thrown from There are many who are not far from his horse and much bruised ; but as no the kingdom of God." bones were broken, .. the devil," he said, .. was downright grieved, and Steamship for the &uth Sea and :Ne1IJ walked away disappointed."
Guinea Mianontl. -The directors of the London Missionary Society have decid- The Pulayans.-The Rev. A. H. Lash, ed to construct a steamer for service in principal of the Buchanan Institution, the South Seas, and have issued an ap- Pallam, contributes to the Tra'Dancore peal to the young people to undertake Diocesan Record a graphic account of a the task of providing this new ship as recent visit paid to Tirnivella, the Rev.
their special share in the Forward Move. J. H. Bishop's station. Mr. Bishop's ment of the society. The estimated work is among the PUlayans chiefly, a cost is £16,000, and the addition to the class of out·castes who are subjected to annual expenditure involved in its disabilities exceptionally severe even in maintenance is £1500. India. Mr. Bishop has about four thou- sand converts under his care belonging The POW6'/" of Prayer.-In 80 far as to this people, and employs several prayer acts at all, its action is uncondi- Pulayan agents of whose ability he has tioned by time or space. According to a high opinion. To show the nature of Dr. Talmadge's beautiful definition, the disabilities referred to, Mr. Lash " Prayer is the slender nerve that moves tells of a Pulayan child who, seeing Mr.
the muscles of Omnipotence." The Bishop, came running forward. "He Rev. Jonathan Lees, of Tientsin, re- was," says Mr. Lash, " rather shy about ports: .. It is very significant that there coming on to the main road, but the is a growing disposition to link success offer of a bright.covered book proved here with prayer at home. It is known irresistible, and coming down to us he that at least one large gathering of poor took it, and at our request began to read women in England are praying constant- aloud. We stood listening to him for ly for their yet poorer sisters in Tien- two or three minutes, and then I looked tsin. Dr. Roberts connects the conver- up and down the road and found we sions in the hospital with special meet- had stopped the traffic on both sides.
ings for prayer on its behalf held among We beckoned the people to come on, Welsh colliers. And there seems reason but while the Pulayan boy stood in the to trace the revival in our Ku-Ioui·hsi road not one of them would pass; some chapel to the daily prayers of a friend caste women, who were evidently in a who, having been here, knows the hurry, climbed the bank on the side peculiar difficulties of the place, but farthest from the boy, and making a who is now far away. There is a soli- wide detour, joined the road higher up, darity in the work of the Church which and hurried on their way. We let the we too faintly recognize. • Oue in boy go, and the stream of passers·by Him.' " again began to flow."
TlIE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
Japan j* Korea jt Shintoism jt Medical Missions.§ A :SURVEY OF MISSIONARY WORK IN lofty summits and steep, lava·scarred JAPAN. sides of the promontory of Idzu and its mountain chains, now left rapidly be· BY WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, D.D., LL.D. hind, could occasionally be discovered."
The day on which we write rounds Not until late in the afternoon was the out the fortieth year since Commodore whole glorious vision of the beautiful Perry steamed into the Bay of Yedo land revealed. At sunset the summit and into Japanese history. On July of Fuji became a crown of glory. The 8th, 1853, the Suaquehanna, the first next day was one of sunny splendor.
steamer in Japanese waters, came to As on July 8th, 1853, so for years, her anchorage off Uragaat 5 P.M. The except in great outlines and salient fea· firing of two rockets from the forts on tures, Japan was the mysterious coun· the rocky heights, answered by the rat· try, the land of secrecy and spies, the tling of cables and the splash of four paradise of the informer, with the struc· anchors, announced the beginning of a ture of society and government hidden new era in .. Everlasting Great Japan." under a mist. For nearly seventeen Was it prophetic that of the four years after that historic day of haze and ships, three bore native American baffiing fog, the constant burden of names, Saratoga, Susquehanna, Missis- complaint in the diaries, letters, and sippi, and one that of Plymouth? At publications even of foreign residents on about the very time that the Pilgrim the soil was that of mystery. Little Fathers were crossing the Atlantic to could be learned with certainty as to found the American Commonwealth, rulers or ruled. How different the situ· Japan expelled the missionaries of the ation to-day I Vanished like the mist Roman phase of the faith, and become are Tycoon, feudalism, the old society the sealed country and her people the and ideals. Foreground and back· hermit nation which our fathers knew. ground now stand in sunUght, but the Whatever fancy the ships' names lecturer who to-day !!peaks from vivid might suggest or memories evoke, the memory and keen experience of things day was typical of subsequent move- seen and felt in the years 1870–71 is apt ments within the empire. In London to start suspicion and incredulity in the parlance, the weather was "dull but minds of Japanese hearers born since fine. " So hazy was the early morning, 1865. Yet the vanished things of Old that the castellated rocky coast of the Japan were not more wonderful than " Cliff Fortress Island" could with diffi- are the glories of "Shin Nippon" (New culty and only at intervals be descried. Japan), the most potent and striking of Even Fuji, the peerless mountain, was all being a true Christianity, not grafted for most of the day invisible, but" as merely, but planted and flourishing.
the day advanced," wrote Perry, "the Let us survey the past and present, sun came out with a brighter lustre, noting the conditions, needs, difficul- glistening upon the broad sails of the ties, and prospects of the Master's work junks within view, and dispelling the in this Oriental land of promise.
mist, through the openings of which the As to land and people, two striking facts confront us. The soil, once a • See also pp. 54 (Jannary). 255 (April), 374 feudal monopoly, is now practically in (May), 436 (June), 490 (July), 690, 6Ql and 698 the hands of those who cultivate it. Despite the fact that "nine tenths of (prelent Issue). the peoplc are hopelessly in debt," the national increase in wealth is remark· t See pp. 531 (July), 658 and 655 (pNl!ent issne). i See p. 648 (present ie8ue).
SSee pp. 641 and 7f1l (present II.ne). able. Two decades ago Japan was the amelioration of morals, the elevation reckoned by foreign merchants as of the eta or pariah to citizenship, the "hardly worth trading with;" now manifold measures of reform, charity. the volume of exports and imports and the activities that raise humanity in equals $162,428,832. Once the United the scale of being! In a word, the States was one of the smaller traders, Japanese are bound not only to take buying Japan's tea, but importing next their place among the nations. but to be to nothing. In 1893 our country leads found in the front rank. Nothing less all nations, imports reaching a figure will satisfy their ambition. exceeding 6,000,000, and the total trade $44,663,024. Yet willing and proud as all are, espe- cially the fellow· countrymen of Mat- Equally interesting is the fact that the thew Perry, to rejoice in the wonderful population of the empire has steadily progress of the Japanese, it is only fair increased since the opening of the coun- to state that the best tllings in New try. The exact census figures are ob- Japan are tlte creation8 of men Ij'om tainable since 1882. The comparison Ohristendom. It i~ not merely for the between 36,700,118 souls in 1882, and mosquito·net, sponge-cake, the knowl- 40,718,677, December 31st, 1891, speaks edge of anatomy and rational medicine. for itself. Japan has been enriched, with a hundred other things of the sixenlarged, and in a thousand ways bless· teenth century whose tell· tale names reed hi temporal things by her foreign veal their Western origin, that Japan is intercourse. indebted to Christians. The figure of .. the foreign employe" has always been To one who, like the writer, lived modestly in the background, but though under the feudal system, the R~ume secret as leaven, he has been largely the Statistique dJ3 t' Empire du Japon, pub· transforming power. NI1VY, army, lished by the Bureau of Statistics of the mint and coinage, educational system, Imperial Cabinet in Tokyo, for 1893, a codes of law aud systems of comts. copy of which is now before mc, is full steamship companies, lighthouses, rail· of hope and inspiration. Its pages, ways, telegraphs, reforms and improvewhich number as many as the Psalms, meuts in mineR, prisons, hygiene, mills, are preana of progress. Such a literary laboratories, water-works, harbors, cefunction issued forty years ago, copies ramics. dockyards, newspapers-what of which are also before us, tells of lit· would these be without the foreigner? tIe that was national, but much that Iu many iustances they would not 80 was fractional in nearly three hundred much as exist. In the nobler lines of principalities or petty feudalities. The endeavor, in the instilling of nobler bulk of what was then reckoned as as· ethical and humane ideas, in the intelsets is now bric·a·brac and curios. lectual and literary drilling and training Now, one government clearly di.tferen- of the men who now lead Japan, in the tiated into the three fnnctions-execu- education of thousands in parliamentary tive, legislative, judicial-with one na- procedure and the methods of self-govtional army and navy, an Imperial rep- ernment, the missionary has been teachresentative Diet or Parliament, and a er, leader, exemplar, counsellor, friend. written constitution, with modern ad- Take away the object.lessons of the ministrative systems, local suffrage and foreign settlements at the seaports, the legislatures. binds the country into uni- actual shirt-sleeve and hand-soiling ty. Yet, besides these politicalfeatures work done by the foreign employe which so impress the world at large, (yatoi), the instruction given in dispenhow wonderful seem the new things in sary, school, private dwelling, and Japan-free public schools, hospitals, church by the Christian missionaries, local option in dealing with the treat- in ten thousand forms, and Japan would ment of Japan's cancer-licensed pros- to-day be far behind Chins. titution-the improved status of woman, There are truths and facts which requisites for the making of the noble statistics cannot show. Tourist, hasty records now enjoyed by some elderly book-maker, art dilettante, and sensa- men and women still in the harness and tiollal corrcspondent dclight in talking sweetly bearing the burden and heat of of Japan's" phenomenal progress," as the day, content with the Master's though it wcre a fairy.tale, or even as " penny." though the Japanese mind had conceived or their right hand had executed this In selecting missionaries for the work thing. Truth must be told. The now in hand, it is best more than ever names of Perry. Harris, Parkes, How- before to consider quality rather than cll, Brinkley, Black, Wagener, Bous- quantity. Well-balanced men and quet, Le Gendre, Smith, Savatier, women are wanted who can teach, coun- Geerts, Van Mccrdervoort, Satow, As- sel, and direct ItS friends rather than ton, Chamberlain, and a host of others, rule as masters or even labor as preach- American, British, French, Dutch, Ger- ers or evangelists. Indeed, except for man, belong like foundation-stones in exceptionally gifted men, the preaching the structure of New Japan. They days of the foreigner are about over. were initiators, teachers, founders, lead- Why? Beause the native Japanese ing while the Japanese followed. Yet Christians can preach Christ so much none the less do those of Hepburn, Ver- better than the alien. The Japanese beck, Greene, Williams, Brown, themselves being beth witnesses and Thompson and others, consecrated ser- the best judges, rare is the foreigner vants of Jesus, whom the Japanese, un- who speaks fluently, accurately, acless monsters of ingratitude, cannot for- ceptably the vernacular to the people get. These men, of finest intellect and or in polished style to the educated nanatural gifts, have been servants of ser- tives. That some of our brethren sucvants of the J apanesll from their first ceed admirably and not a few measurlanding on the Boil in 1859 or later. ably does not invalidate the facts stated Teachers, translators, advisers, healers, above. It is not merely that the alien factotums-no statistics can tell the is unidiomatic in his diction; the radistory of their manifold and continuous cal differences in mental habits make service. even his correctly spoken. utterances un- intelligible or misleading. Now in the Here we touch upon a subject that domain of education these drawbacks statistics know nothing of, which not are minimized, Further, it is evident only the Christian at home in comfort that the Japanese have the gift of utterforgets, but which even the mercantile ance and the graces of preaching to a residents in the treaty ports, who are marked degree; hence, the policy of the missionaries' neighbors, do not sus- the llis&ion Boards should be the trainpect or appreciate. The trader's or ing of a native ministry. Direct evandiplomatist's business is at stat.ed hours, gelization should be through Japanese between sun and sun, with Suuday for pastors, while education and general rest and recreation. On the contrary, superintendence should be the work of the miesionary is literally never safe the missionaries. On this point the from distraction, from calls, inquiries, wisest missionaries and observers, and interviews from converts, hearers, mostly Japanese, unanimously agree. and natives of all sorts, who knew but little of the value of time or the endur- Dcspite the regular, almost periodic ance of human nerves. In a country (and, shall we say, indispensable ?) "relike that of " th" sunrise," cold-blooded actions," the religion of Jesus is no regularity, a routine of good habits, un- longer a mere exotic in Japan. It has sentimental consecration well tempered roots in the soil. It is profoundly afwith common sense, rather than im- fecting, at a thousand points, the na· petuosity or light-headed zeal are the tionallife. While some features in the dogmatic forms of Christianity, which their upholders consider necessary to it, 1889. For nearly, or even more than a find no congenial atmosphere in Japan, hemi-decade politico-religious preaching practical religion is most in demand. was in fashion. Now, it is the testi- One radical difference between the Teu- mony of our brethren at the front, practonic and the Japanese intellect is thc tical preaching is the rule. As the best eager craving of the former and the al- missionaries observe not clouds, but most complete indifference of the latter sow, mind not" reactions," but pray to abstract thinking. With no mind and work, so thc best of the native for metaphysical discussion, the native preachers heed less outward influences, believers insist on simplifying creeds, and preach and follow Christ more in and their progress in this direction is both word and work. The wise missometimes rather alarming to their sionary keeps him well supplied with a friends beyond the Pacific. Neverthe- lending library of modern books, where less, with their own religious news- with the native preacher and evangelist papers and reviews and ecclesiastical he can feed his own mind. The books gatherings of all sorts there are strong of medireval and past centuries, the evidences that they are willing to do rubbish lying unread in our own libraearnest thinking and to combine pa- ries are simply useless. Besides the tience with eagerness. The tendency Bible, the literature needed is what will is even stronger toward practical and explain it best. The freshest thinking visible fruits. about, exposition of, and commentary upon the Book are in demand. In In the preaching of the native pastors Japan, the Christian literature of the three distinct phases are noted. The first and the nineteenth century is most first pioneers borrowed their method helpful. This practical preaching is directly from their foreign teachers, bearing fruit richly. We note how which was expository and apologetic. generously our Japanese brethren have The benefits of Christianity to the indi- given for the support of the Gospel in vidual and the nation we….e largely their own churches, and its spread dwelt upon, and the ·examples of emi- throughout the whole empire. . To nent men of faith in Europe and Ameri- their own boards of home miseions, ca were cited. Following this came the Sunday-schools, temperance work, philosophical method. During the de- young men's associations, hospitals, cade from 1880 to 1890, the rage for the orphanages (now nineteen in number), study of philosophy among the think- training classes, various industrial vening classes in Japan became almost a tures, prompt relief of the distressed in craze. "The English school" of writ- time of floods, earthquakes, etc., they ers was especially popular, and the have during the year past added, with number of native youth who, to use a needed modifications, Young People's Japanese term, .. swallowed Darwin Societies of Christian Endeavor, and whole." was great-so great, indeed, as free night schools for parents who are to make those who woke from the spell so poor that they cannot afford to send ashamed of the largeness of the Japan- their children to the common day ese bump of imitativeness. The pulpit schools. In a word, despite the socould not escape both the infection and called reaction against Christianity, contagion that were in the air in every there seem indications both of its deeper large assembly, and so the philosophico- rooting and of more solid growth. religious sermon and address ruled Though the statistics for 1893* may among these Oriental Athenians. Then burst upon the nation the political tu- * Roman Catholics, 44,812 BoulB in 244 congremult. consequent upon the agitation for the Constitution and Parliament, the gations; Greek Catholics, 20,325 Bouls in 219 written instrument creating which was congregations; Protestants, 35,534 souls in 365 granted by the Emperor, February 11th, local churches. Thlrty-one Protestant organlzashow a gain far below the average for women who shall be servants of ser- several years past, and possibly loss un- vants for Jesus' sake. The strongest der several columns, yet the interior forces in all Japanese history are rever- forces of the religion of Jesus in Japan ence for the Mikado and patriotism, seem stronger than ever. It may be founded upon the national history and that the parable of the leaven rather traditions. One of the delicate tasks of than that of the mustard-seed is this our brethren in Japan is to show that year being illustrated. Never was Christianity knows no Asiatic or Euro- there a more deeply felt need of moral pean, has nothing to do with American, vigor among the thinking and govern- Englishman, German, Japanese assnch, ing men of .. Shin Nippon." As a but for man. Jesus Christ by the grace Japanese editor wrote two years ago, of God tasted death for the Japanese, .. We have imported a great political and He is the Saviour of all them that machine [the National Constitution and believe there as elsewhere. On the Diet], but we have not the moral oil to other hand, there is nothing in Chris- make it work." It is found that true tianity which, rightly interpreted and Christians are the mainstay of moral applied, conflicts with anything that is reform. Even the Buddhists, quick- morally beautiful in Japanese family or ened into marked activity and imitating national life. .. I came not to destroy, the Christians by organizing young but to fulfil," are the words of Christ, men's associations, orphanages, and even as applicable to the old moral order of a sort of salvation army, predict a re- Japan as to that of Israel.
vival of Christianity. In temple-build- : With faith, then, as leaven, if not, at ing, cutting off hair to make drag.ropes, this moment, as mustard-seed, we utter and purely outward and showy enter- our faith in the cheering hopefulness of prise, the Buddhists are zealous. In the missionary situation in Japan. Our generating moral stamina, they are wo- nands and hearts, prayers and gifts fully lacking. In this fact the logic of should be reconsecrated afresh on .. The their creed is manifest. A Japanese Land where the Day Begins," because: DOD·Christian student in one of our 1. Christ commands. 2. Shinto, the American colleges remarked a few old indigenous religion, is now little days ago, .. Buddhism, has no personal else than a political engine. It has no God, and therefore no element of life or food for the hungering spirit.
progress. There is no hope for J a- 3. Buddhism has no element of prog- pan in Buddhism. It is dead to us. ress. Its tap-root is cut, because it has We expect nothing in this direc- cut itself off from the Supreme Creator.
tion." 4. What is done for Japan is indirectly Next to a richer outpouring of the done for China. The Chinese will learn Holy Spirit upon our missionaries, our from the Japanese as they will from no brethren in Christ in Japan, and upon Western nation. Because both are ourselves at home, there is needed re- Eastern, the one will learn from the inforcement of the very best men and other with less sensitiveness and jeal- ousy_ 5. Because the signs are cheer- ing and the promise great.
tlons are represented, united fOT Christian work May "the rudder of Asia" turn the in twelve alliances. Of the 35,5l34 church-mem- continent aright as it moves into the bers, 33,390 belong in five allied ecclesiastical flood of the future. Christ is our steersbodies. Does not this illustrate Christian unity man. "Behold also the ships, whicb, rather than sectarian division? As many cop.- versions andbaptisms are reported from the body though they be so great, and are driven of independent native churches in 1892-93 as of fierce winds, yet are they turned from all the other Protestant churches. This about with a very small helm, whitherlooks as thongh the work were passing into the soever the governor listeth. " bands of the natives.
GBNEBAL JllI8IIIONABY IlfTELLIGEl'I'CB
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITlID :BY BEY. D. L. LEONABD.
Extracts and Translations frcJm Foreign his shoos. This was against the rule, Periodioalll. and the students afterward spoke of it.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, The teacher replied that all rules have MASS. their exceptions. 'Why,'saidhe, 'sup- JAPAN. pose His Majesty should come, would you expect him to leave his shoes out- – " Let me sum up the facts. An In· side?' That was enough. The teachvalid of one year, In a state of great de· er had spoken of the Emperor • as if he bility, with a tumor weighing fifty-five were a mere man,' and he also lost his pounds, and five or six doctors agreed place. In still another town there was that the patient would die from the a flourishing Sunday-school connected operation. This is the human side of with one of our churches. Suddenly the case. On the other hand, there was the seventy-five scholars dropped to a the promise of God that 'the prayer handful. What was the reason? The of faith shall save the sick;' two com- headmaster of the principal school in panies of Christians, taking God at His the place, a man who had once been word, prayed In faith t.hat He would friendly to Christianity, had called the direct the physicians, granting them parents of the children together and skill, and would bless the nursing and warned them of the danger of subjcctthe medicines used, and thus restore ing their children to the influence of the loved sister and worker in Christ to Christian teaching. The fundamental health again. This is the Divine side. principle of Christianity, he said, CRU- The results show a successful operation not be reconciled with loyalty or due and perfect cure. What are we to be- reverence for the Emperor. Nor are lieve? Our Christians here are simple such things possible only In the schools enough in their faith to hold that this throughout the country; the spirit that is an answer to their prayers, and that Inspires them has possession of the unithe promise of God has been verified. versity. The Imperial University is an In this view of the case they are happy institution upon which immense sums and tlatisfied, and in their interpretation of money have been expended. It has of the facts this writer agrees."-Rev. a large corps of Japanese and foreign Mr. TQwsoN. in Mi88ionary llepQrter professors; the instruction is highly (M. E. C. South).
-" There is now a constant endeavor specialized. By some it has been re- tQ antagonize Christianity and Japan as garded as pre-eminently a place for the represented in the Emperor. The state· calm consideration of questions in phi- ment at a public meeting the other day losophy and science, being a place free that Japan, too, may have her Con- from the traditionalism of the West.
stantine, immediately raised a tumult. But what has happened at the Uni"er- After the ceremony of bowing to the sity ? One of the professors nndertook picture of the Emperor, the teacher of a line of historical research. His re- a school in a large town said, 'You sults were thought to throw consider- may now put away His Majesty's pic- able doubt upon the Divine descent of ture. ' The ceremony was over, and the the Emperor; and the editor of the teacher meant 'precisely what he said- periodical in which his conclusions ap- nothing more ; but the remark was con· peared called upon the Shintoists for an strued into an expression of disrespect, answer. The answer soon came. Pro· and the teacher was dismissed. In an- fessor Kume was dismissed. Appar.
other town an official who visited the ently also the thing is not intended to school entered without first removing be something for a day. There is evi·
EXTRACTS AND
dently a set purpose to indoctrinate the seemed to be well known by many in minds of the children. Anything that the audience, and it was with difficulty can be construed as hostile to the old that Mr. Wigram's command • not to conception of the Emperor can find no express feeling' was obeyed. He left place in a text·book. for the school. Re· us with a sentence which will not readcently a work on geography was sub- ily be forgotten: • Medical missions are mitted for inspection. It contained a the picture language of the Church mili. statement to the effect that there are tant. The rudest and roughest, the good reasons f0r believing that the simplest and most uneducated can un- Japanese race is Mongolian and Malayan derstand the language of Christian love, in its origin. That statement could kindness, and charity.' Not only to not be admitted. It might be true, but medical students, to whom Dr. Pennell it suggested inferences that were not addressed himself, but to many more expedient. "-Rev. WILLIAM IMBRIE, would his concluding words come home D.D., Tokyo, in The Church at Home with power: •I have found that none of the work I have done in England is and Aln-oad. likely to suffer by my removal, for every part of it has been earnestly and -The Ohinese Recorder says of Mr. readily taken up by others.' "-C. M. Ishii and his orphanage: .. He had no Gleaner. resources but his own abounding faith and devoted spirit. A medical student himself on the last year of his course, -Medical Missions says: .. It is pleaswith every reason for encouragement if ant to think of a Christian mission firmhe devoted himself to his profession, he lyestablished in the ancient city whence was 80 impressed witll the Divine call Paul and Barnabas, separated to the to work for children that the following work by the Holy Spirit, went forth. winter, when witllin four months of Dr. Martin writes on February 8th: graduation, he' withdrew from the •This mission was commenced by me school, and refused to apply for a diplo.. as a new field in 1876, and by the blessma. He did this against tile advice of Ing of God has realized prosperity and all his friends, and solely tllat his Ileart good success. It is among the Arabicmigllt not be divided between Ilis pro. speak.ing people, especially Greek fesslon and his calling. He lnstinc· Church and Nusairiyeh (pagans). As ti vely felt tllat Ile would lean on his to ~Ioslems, almost the only access to diploma if Ile had one. He would not them has been through medical work. be a doctor in name, lest Ile should be I have received to full communion turned aside from the straight line of thirty·three persons, and this week I hislife's duty. am to receive five additional. The medical work has been at times very .. I know of no clearer case In modern helpful. As yet I am the only missiondays of • an eye single' to i1fe's one ary here, and I practise the two profeswork. Such sacrifices for principle and sions-ministeriaI and medical. For such sensitive balancings of 'duty are several years the Turkish Government too rare in actual life to pass unnoticed. has been very active in its opposition to They merit the careful thought of all Protestant mIssions. has put many ob· who desire the development of man's 8tacles and difficulties In our way, and spiritual nature. These are modern threatens us with others; but the Lord Pauls who are never disobedient to any has by wondrous works defended the heavenly vision (Acts 26: 19). They promotion of His Gospel and Word. are the seers of their day, the saviours of We praise His name, and in faith go their generation."
MEDICAL MISSIONS. forward.' "
-" Dr. Pennell was the chosen repre- -The fifty-fourth annual meeting of sentative of Medical Missions. He the Medical Missionary Society in China
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENOE
was held in Canton, at the house of ence and usefulness, and amid surround.
Messrs. Shewan & Co., January 25th, ings and environments which sometimes 1893. There were present: Hon. Charles threatened to batHe the purpose and ef- Seymour, U. S. Consul; Rev. R. H. forts of its founders and friends, While Graves, M.D., D.D.; T. Watters, Esq., the utmost care has been observed in H. B. M.'s Consul-General; G. D. Fea· its economical and prudent manage· son, Esq.; Professor E. P. Thwing, ment, this institution has been guarded M.D., D.D.; Dr. D. A. Beattie; Miss by a higher Power than any human re- M. W. Niles, M.D.; Miss S. L. Halver- source could supply; and in manifold son, M.D.; Rev. Messrs. C. A. Nelson, ways Divine favor has attended the A. Beattie, Thomas McCloy, C. Bone, instrumentalities that have been wisely H. J. Parker, C. W. Pruitt, Rev. B. C. directed and unselfishly employed for Henry, D.D., Dr. Wan Tiin Mo, Dr. the amelioration of human suffering U. Tu! Feng, and Dr. J. M. Swan. and the advancement of Christianity.
Consul Charles Seymour remarked as " The dissemination of valuable In.
follows: "In the absence of the emi- formation, in the form of hospital liter- nent President of the Medical Mission ature in the Chinese language, embody.
Society of Canton, Dr. John Kerr, who ing the best results of medical, surgical, has been at the head of its hospital, as and scientific achievements of Europe superintendent or president, since 1855, and America, with reference to the and is now in America for much·needed treatment of diseases and preservation rest, our esteemed friend, Dr. Graves, of health, is one of the useful features the vigilant Chairman of the Managing of this Society's wide range of opera- Committee, should, if he would, pre- tions. and in demonstrating the superi.
side at this fifty-fourth annual meeting; ority of Western science over Eastern but, as it seems to be thc desire of all empiricism. • present that this honor shall be con· " The education and training of Chi- ferred upon one whose humble endeav- nese students in the Western systems ors to promote the interests of the So- and methods of medical and surgical ciety may have been too much appre- knowledge and practice is another valu- ciated, I will endeavor to perform the able feature of this Society's work, and duties of Chairman during your delib- will result in preparing qualified native erations for the welfare of this benefi- doctors and surgeons for Chinese com- cent institution, which has since 1835 munities, and for the army and navy of dispensed healing mercies to over a the great Empire of China.
million of atHicted people in Southern " A careful inspection of the Treasu- China, under the direction of skilful rers' and Hospital Accounts, which have doctors and surgeons, whose salaries been audited by the Commissioner of and support have been maintained and Imperial Maritime CustOIDS, and a thor- defrayed by benevolent American Chris- ough examination of the reports of the tians, while the current expenses for Managing Committee and Hospital Su- hospital buildings. supplies, medicines, perintendent, to be submitted for your nurses, and attendants, have been stead- consideration and action, will clearly ily met by the contributions of gener- establish the fact that in the manage- ous residents and friends of various na- ment of the Society'S affairs for 1892 tionalities and denominations, whose there has been a strict regard for the friendly co-operation in behalf of hu· welfare, usefulness and perpetuity of manity is proof that they recognize, in this the oldest and most successful in- the nature and scope of this Society's stitution of the kind in the world; and humane operations, the best possible ex- will tend to confirm the confidence and pression and manifestation of practical strengthen the devotion of its support- and enlightened Christian benevolence. ers and friends. at home and abroad, ., Through all these years of its exist- under the able direction of the superin-
1898.J EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS. '709
tendents, Dr. Swan and Dr. Niles, with striven by Western culture and social their faithful and competent assistants and political reformers by rousing in medical and surgical service at the speeches to cure the Hindus of this sick- Canton Hospital, and its various ness of the soul.
branches and dispensaries." – China .. For a time it appeared as if Spirit- Mail. ism. which, under the proud title of INDIA. Theosophy. claimed naturalization in -" We pull one way, our elder rela- India, bid fair to Inflame the Hindus tives pull another way, and our ladies with new energy. They already began pull a third way; and amid these con- to dream of a return of the golden age trary forces the Indian home continues of the Rlshis; but this artificial fire to remain very much the same as it was seems now in its turn to be on the point before the Government established its of extinction. In one of tbe latest DUmcolleges and schools. Our educated bers of the Madras Theosopbist perlOt'lI. youth ventilates his reformed ideas in cal, the publisher raises a bitter and utthe debating club; but as soon as he re- terly despairing cry over Hindu faint· turns home, he pockets his ad vanced heartedness. This is the more noticeopinions and puts his neck under the able, as the chief organ of the cultiyoke of custom, as patiently as did his vated Hindus in Madras fully concurs grandfather before him. He belongs with it. He writes: • The great mass to the nineteenth century, while his of the Hindus are in no way interested home belongs to the first century ; and in the many efforts which arfil made for the long voyage between the two he is their good and that of their land. Inobliged to make every day, on his way deed, their indifference to ~eir own to and back from the Government col- good and that of their brethrlln has now lege. "-PERTAB CUANDER MOZUJO)AR, become almost proverbial. .AP, for poquoted in Ohurch MiBBionary InteUi- litical and social reforms. so for the Theosophist as a religious reformer they gencer. have only honeyed flatteries and empty -" Complaints of Hindu degeneracy demonstrations of applause, but no earare at present becoming louder and nest, unselfish deed. They have no louder. Isaiah's complaint over the conception of any obligation of a man idolatrous Jews, 'The whole heart is to make any sacrifice for his country ; faint,' is very especially true of the scarcely one is ready to toil or to suffer Hindus. In spite of all their rich men· for the cause of intellectual freedom. tal endowments and their advances in Their inborn selfishness keeps them English education, their faint·hearted. back.' ness comes ever more strikingly to ., To this the Hindu journal adds: view. These cultivated Hindus, it is 'That the Hindus have lost the spirit true, feel and lament the malformations of self·sacrifice which distinguished of their social state, which, indeed, are their lathers is the judgment of all the such as cry to Heaven, but petty self· foreigners who are laboring for their reseeking, lack of energy, of manly cour. generation.• "-J!}vangeti,ach·LutheriscllU age, and of self devoted enthusiasm, Mi88iomblatt (Leipsic). render them quite incapable of under- taking anything great and noble for -" At present all the police judges their people, or of striking into new of Madras (tribunal correctionel) dl"C pro- paths. Nowhere are they willing to fessed Christians. Of 2169 Hindu dip.
come personally forward, but they love lomas of Madras. 180 -one·twelfth-are best to conceal themselves behind the given to Christians, while the Christians multitude of their own caste, and this form but one fortieth 01 the popula- clings with iron tenacity to what is old. tion. "-Re'D'IUJ deB Miasi01lB Oonumpo- In vain is it that English educators have raines (Basel).
'l10 4111NBB.AL JlIIIIIONABY INTlIILLlGlIINOB. [Septemb.r
– " With hundreds of years of Chris- more valuable to the Church as a trophy tianity in their veins, it is not likely of grace and an instrument of usefulthat Christians in England should be neSll. able to conceive how low down we have to begin in dealing with our con- " ftualittJ, in fact, is of infinitely verts. Imagine Christians who have more importance than numbers in the an inherited tendency to idolatry and present position of Christianity in India. ritual as strong as the inherited craving In confining its attention to the rate of for drink which affiicts some poor creat- numerical increase, the Church at home ures in England; who have no sense is spending needless anxiety upon a secwhatever of the sanctity of marriage, ondary matter. There is no more occathe Sabbath, or anything else that we sion to be anxious about the numerical hold sacred: to whom obscenity in advance of Christianity in India than speech and act and thought is as com- about the spreading of light when dawn monplace as eating and drinking; who has appeared in the east. That Chris. scarcely seem capable of shame for any- tianity ia the coming religion in India thing that we reckon sin; whoseknowl- is obvious now, not only to the vision edge of the world does not extend be- of faith, but to the eye of ordinary inyond their own little group of huts, and telligence and foresight. What has the limits of their spiritual and mental been often seen before in the history of beings alike are shrivelled from disuse. our religion will be seen again in India : Imagine such Ohriatian8, I say, not it will run more risk from a too rapid heathens. Their claim to the name of than from a too slow-paced progress. Christians· consists in their willingness When once cla8s motIements to Chris· to believe, In such measure as they can tianity set in-and signs of the coming understand, what they are taught of of that day may even now be seen- Christ and His truth; and their claim then, while those who measure everyto membership in our societies is in thing by figures rejoice over' glorious their 'desire to flee from the wrath to accessions, , the wisest friends of our reo come,' and their readiness to walk, ligion will tremble. The powers of with such steps as they can, in the new evil that dwelt in the old paganisms of way. This is a picture of thousands the Roman Empire sought vengeance and myriads of those who form the on the Christianity that conquered them 'numerical increases' over which the by Infecting it with their superstitions churches at home rejoice : and the un- and errors; and so well did they suc· speakably important work which occu- ceed that three fourths of Christendom pies itself in the department of ' Care of is still sick of the disease. The seeds the Churches' consists in the patient of infection in Hinduism are more actraining of such people as these, until, tive, virulent, and contagious than those in understanding, character, behavior, that lingered in the dying paganism of and usefqlness they have reached or Rome; the population of India. is greatsurpassed the level of what we com- er and more massed and welded than monly understand by Christian man· were the populatious of that empire ; hood and womanhood. The gradual and the transformation from beathen to transformation does not show in our Christian will be effected in India in statistics. The unit that stood for a lellS than half the time that separated man just out of heathenism, and newly Christ from Coustantine. When the brought under the yoke of Christ, still rush and whelm of the mass accessions remains a mere unit when the gift of begin, what is to save the Indian Church spiritual understanding has been be· that is to be from such grievous corrupstowed, and the graces of Christian tion as still pollutes the Greek and Rocharacter developed; though the man man communions? has thereby become a thousand-fold "There are two agencies which may, under the blessing of God, be employed
1893.J '111
to avert this disaster. One is that leav- Christian Africa." If this way of put- ening of the more thoughtful and intlu· ting things is not according to the Gos- ential classes with Christian principles pel pattern, why not 1 and ideals which our higher educa- -This for substance was said reo tional work aims at, and at the other is cently by one of our great preachers, the careful training and instruction of and with what large elements of truth: the present small Christian Church. In " Certain I am that the one thing need· these combined agencies, neither of ful for the Christian Church is to get which produces effects measurable by hold of the truth that the gifts of love statistics, lies the main hopc for a pure cannot be 8~nt to the perishing. The Indian Christianity in the days when disciple must go 118 his MlI8ter went, and Hinduism is gone. Instesd of murmur· live with the people whom he wants to ing, therefore, that the Church in India save." That is, in some way there does not grow by' leaps and bounds,' must be bestowed the" healing touch." we have profound reason to be thankful that it is for the present small -Some one told the Rev. Mr. Grout, enough to be manageable, and that we one of the first missionaries to Africa, have time for the patient weeding out that he WII8 going out on II. wild·goose of the noxious growths of caste, formal- chase. After thirty years of work he ism, superstition, and impurity, and for could say, " Well, if I did go on II. wild- the careful nurture of Christian truths goose chase, I caught the goose. "
and virtues before the garden becomes -The Apostle Paul was one of the too wide for our husbandry."-Wu- .world's most eminent "visionaries."
kyan MiB8iona;rg NotiUl. In every emergency II. vision was sure THE WORLD AT LARGE. to dawn upon his eyes-e.g., at Damas- cus, and Troas, in Corinth, before the -" God's man, in God's place, doing shipwreck, etc., II. magnificent view of God's work, in God's way, and for duty and privilege; and how fortunate God's glory." Such is the definition for him and for us that no sooner had given in Miss Geraldine Guinness's he beheld than he was swift to obey I .. Story of the China Inland Mission" "I was not disobedient unto the heavof the workers needed in the mission enly vision. "
fields of to.day. Well is this said to be -In a late number of the Student .. the supreme necessity." Only realize Volunteer, J. Campbell White, speaking that high ideal, or fulfil those five con- of the specious plea by which many are ditions, and every child of God would held back from the foreign field, that be a hero and II. host. " our services are indispensable to this -A brilliant Oxford student was giv- country," cogently suggests that" Paul ing himself to the· Wesleyan Missionary was the most indispensable Christian Society for African service. His tutor worker in Palestine when he was called remonstrated. "You are going out to away to Macedonia. It was not bedie in II. year or two. It is madness." cause England had no work for Carey, The young man (who did die after being that he inaugurated the movement for on the field only a year) answered: "I India's redemption. Livingstone would think it is with African missions as have been a wonderful leader in any with the building of a great bridge. land, therefore the greater necessity of You know how many stones have to be his going where such ability was most buried in the earth, all unseen, to be II. profoundly needed. Judson declined a foundation. If Christ wants me to be call to' the largest church In Boston,' one of the unseen stones, lying in an in order to become the founder of the African grave, I am content; certain. greatest Baptist church in the world."
liS I am that the final result will be II. _:-Sha.ll we term it poetic justice, or
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the irony of fate, or a case of the Lord raised by the Methodist women, as do making the wrath of man to praise also several of the great English soci- Him, when we see the great East India eties; and the work of Bishop Taylor Company, so exceeding mad against is counted separate and distinct. and so , missions, fairly compelled to put Carey It is that not all figures tell the truth.
on its pay~list as teacher and translator, -Clearly our Bible societies may and keep him there for a long term of properly claim a place among organizayears at a large salary? Or when the tions for the furtherance of foreign missame corporation felt constrained to sions, for the American Bible Society publish, at its own cost ($75,000), Mor- expended last year for work abroad not rison's great dictionary of the Chinese less than $132,602, nor does this large language, and employ him as translator SlIm include the not small amount exon a salary of $6000 ? pended in this country in l?rinting the -Amen. Even so. The other day Scriptures in foreign languages for cir- Professor Swing had a glowing word for culation abroad. To the Levant went each one of a number of " institutions," $46,393; to South America, $39,093; like the school, the bome, the flag, and to China, $19,843 ; to Mexico, $19,509, the ballot-box. Nor did he stop here, etc. During the last ten years $1,479,- but proceeded as follows: .. And now 741 have been sent to foreign lands.
let us add one more symbol, long de- -More and more the Industrial Misspised, but really noble in the midst of sion is coming into favor and promi· a noble host. It is the contribution- nence as a most valuable auxiliary to box. Into the ballot-box goes the in- the spread of the Gospel. Indolence is telligence of the community; but into the curse of most savage people. They that worthy rival. the contribution-box, are too lazy to be in earnest and steadfast, goes the love of the benevolent. In- and are in deepest poverty, and hence deed, this glorified institution has, for they need to be urged and taught how the most part, preceded the ballot; for to work. Besides, it often happens the ship of the missionary and the teach- that he who confesses Christ becomes er sails first to make man fit to enjoy an outcast at once, and so must be the blessings of freedom. Charity pre- helped to earn a livelihood. Therefore cedes liberty. Beautiful indeed is tbe Lovedale, and the new East African picture when an humble man goes with Industrial Mission= and the various a mind full of intelligence and deposits training schools are not mere secular his vote; but a picture so striking finds concerns. its equal in that scene where the poor widow advaJlces, and, all aglow with -A second isslIe of Dean VaLl's most the light of benevolence, puts into the thorough and painstaking "Statistical contribution-box her two mites." Review of Missions to the Heathen" has recently come from the press. Missions -Judge not too harshly the errors of to the Jews as well as those to corrupt the statistician of missions, for his diffi- Christian churches are omitted. He culties are many and great. No two finds the number of communicants at societies have the same method of re- the close of 1891 to be 1,168,560, or porting facts, while too many have no about 4,000,000 adherents. The num- "method" at all. The Propagation ber of foreign agents is 7539, of whom Society includes work done for English- 5094 are men, and 2445 are unmarried men in the colonies, the American Bap- women; or, if wives are included, the tists and Methodists have missions in sum would be 10,539. Of native labor- Protestant countries of Europe, and the ers there are 40,438, of whom 3730 are Moravians include in receipts the profits ordained. The money contributions of mercantile operations. Then our amount to $13,046,600 (£2,749,340).
Methodist Society omits the large sums The number of societies included is 304. WOMAN'S WORK. a determined attempt to reach Lhassa, -Mary Rajanayakan, a converted the capital of Thibet, entering from the Tamil girl, is now a student in the China side.
Medical College at Madras, India, fit· -This is how the wives of mission- ting herself to work among her own aries keep themselves busy and make sisters. She is a graduate of the Gov- themselves useful, as stated by " one of ernment normal school at Madura, and them" : "They look after schools and has been a teacher in Miss Scudder's teach Biblewomen, and send them out girls' boarding-school, where she was and take their reports. They look after loved by all " for her beautiful Chris- the women of the churches-old folks, tian character." This may mean little young folks, well folks, feeble folks, to us, but how much it means in India 1 and all sorts of folks who need bits of -The late Madame Coillard may help, and odds and ends of good advice safely be ranked among the true hero- and wise suggestion. Besides that ines of missions. The Basuto Mission, which cometh upon them daily-the in South Central Africa, constituted the care of their little families-they have field of her toil and endurance, and to provide for all the strangers that these words of hers stand for the spirit come along. If there are any social which marked her career from begin- amenities to be observed, in order to be ning to end: ,. I have come to Africa in good standing in the community, the to do with you the Lord's work, what- wives have to see to them also, or they ever and wherever it may be; and re- won't be done. Ostensibly, the husband member that, when God calls you, you is here to do a little civilizing, as a sort will never find me standing in the way of secondary work, but his wife often of your duty." has to keep her eye on him to prevent his being barbarized while he is about -For the women of the Orient, so it. He would go round with sleeves sadly cramped and fettered and en- out at the elbows, and shoes careened slaved, no single enterprise is fuller of over on one side. He would get to tak- promise than the American College for ing his breakfast in the pantry or on his Girls at Constantinople (Scutari). It writing.desk. Every time he comes fairly ranks for excellence of literary back from the jungle his wife has to character with Robert College, standing put him through to make him present- on the same beautiful Bosphorus, able and a credit to those who sent him though across and a few miles farther out."
up. Last year saw 141 students en- -This is the report lately given to the rolled, and coming from 9 nationalities Dutch (Reformed) Church, referring to of the polyglot Turkish Empire. an appeal for an increase of gifts: The -Among the surprises of the present noble women of our auxiliaries did not time may be named the way women are stop at 10 or even 20 per cent, and the coming to fame, not only in moral re- hearts of "Mrs. President and man· forms and the various professions, but agers" swelled with a holy pride at the even in travel in uncivilized and savage anniversary as the treasurer's report lands, where the greatest physical en- was read-$29,636 against $20,855 last durance is required as well as facing ex- year-nearly 30 per cent increase.
treme perils. A year or two ago one of -The Countess Dufferin's Fund now the" weaker sex" plunged into Central amounts to £82,000 ($410,000), and by Africa on an expioring tour lasting for means of it 103 well.qualified women months. Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop and physicians are kept at work among the Miss Gordon Cumming have seen with women of India, and nearly 200 more their own eyes much of Central Asia; are studying medicine in India, and yet and Miss Taylor is the last one to make others in England. Some 460,000 aftlIcted women received treatment last with flowers and shrubs, while a minia- year. ture seashore has been constructed and THE UNITED STATES. filled with white sand for the children -It is commonly supposed that the to play and dig in. "
East is the great religious giver, while -It is estimated that in New York _n the main the West only receives; City are found about 8000 Chinese, of but not so, for last year next to Massa- whom some 300 are ChristilUls, and that chusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, not less than 3500 congregate from all which are in the advance guard of all directions to " Chinatown" every Sab- the States in their home missionary bath.
gifts per member, stands California, -The American Missionary Associawhich has contributed to the Congre- tion has a school for colored people in gational Home Missionary Society an McIntosh, Ga., where the pupils are alaverage of $1.18 per member. Three lowed to pay their tuition in eggs, rice, other home missionary States follow in fish, fruit, and vegetables. The teacher the lead of other Eastern and Middle says: "One morning, after devotional States. The contributions of 6 home exercises, one of the girls came from missionary States averaged last year 94 her school·room and, pulling out a live cents per member, while the average chicken from under her shawl, asked, home missionary gift in the 6 New Eng- 'Professor, do you take chickens for land States was but 99 cents. tuition?' Again and again a little fel- -Chicago has its Daily News Sani- low has come to me, bringing a little torium at Lincoln Park. Last year, be- collection of one and two-cent pieces, tween June 23d and October 1st, 48,641 asking if that would make up enough infants, mothers, and children were for his tuition." Some of the children cared for at a cost of $2575, or less than cheerfully walk eight miles from home 10 cents a day for each patient. This and back again every day.
number was nearly double the attend- -A society with the object of evanance for 1891. The beautiful thing gelizing Afghanistan was organized in about this Christly charity is that so a small front parlor in New York City many and so different persons lend a a few months ago. The officers and hand in it, from the 9 volunteer physi- members of the society are men who in cians to the Washington and the Lin- the providence of God were rescued coln Ice Companies furnishing ice free, from "great depths" in the Bowery while J_ M_ Barron supplied the miik. lodging-houses_ The president is a -The People's Palace, in Jersey tinker. who has laid away his budget City, undertakes to do somewhat to and is now a colporteur and missionary keep the multitudes from vicious and of the American Tract Society. The criminal ways, and so supplies "a vice-president was educated for a phy- large reading-room and library; an sician, but strong drink brought him to amusement·hall. for young men, open the level of a common tramp, and for afternoons and evenings; an 8$Cmbly- many years his only means of living hall for young women; a gymnasium, was selling penny song sheets. He is in which are weekly classes for young now in the employ of a religious society men, boys' gymnastic classes, a boys' of New York City. The others are brigade, a drum and fife corps; a bath- now in positions of honor and trust_ ing department, with separate provision -During the year ending March 31st for men, boys, and women; drawing the cash receipts of the American Sea- classes; sewing-SChools; a kitchen gar- men's Friend Society amounted to $43,- den; and a day-nursery_ In addition 242. Its chaplains and missionaries to the room in the house, the nursery labored in Norway, Denmark, and Swe- has a yard outside, graded and planted den; at Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Genoa, and Naples; in the Ma- precious stones, the gift of Canadian deira Islands; at Bombay and Karachi, women, and made from rings, brace- India; at Yokohama, Japan; Valpa- lets, necklets, earrings, etc., the gifts raiso, Chile; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; of devout souls. The devotees of the Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Ayres said saint have been pouring in since and Rosario, Argentine Republic; in 1874 in numbers steadily increasing. New York, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston, Savan- in That year there were 17,200 pilgrims to nah, Mobile; in Astoria, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma and Port Townsend. her shrine; 1879, some 87,000, in- The whole number of new libraries sent creased to 61,725 in 1884, to 100,951 in out is 9909, and the reshipments of the 1889, and last year to 180,000 I same 11,220, making in the aggregate, 21,129. The number of volumes in all EUROPE. these libraries, 511,420, has been accessible by first shipment and reshipment -The armies of Europe now number to 875,888 men. more than 22,000,000 men, and to sup· port them costs $4,000,000,000 (four bill· -The Methodist Church, South, has ions, mark it I). What a benefactor of made the following appropriations for his kind he would bc who should perthe current year: suade the monarchs to disband this de- structive force, and to pay that" amount, Brazil Conference……….. . $80,990 or a tithe of it, for the benefit of man· China Conference……….. . 87,888 kindl Japan Conference…..•••…. 87,450 Central Mexico Conference… . 86,185 Great Britain.-Four hundred and Mexican Border Conference .. . 19,179 eighty.five missionaries are on the staff Northwest Mexico Conference. 17,780 of the London City Mission. French, Indian Mission Conference…. 19,660 German, Spaniards, and other foreign· ers are employed to reach certain classes. In addition to the above amounts, The receipts were $252,985 last year. Brazil Conference receives a special During the same period 69,000 meetings sum of $5700, and the Indian Mission were held, and over 8,500,000 visits another of $1000. China also receives were made. an addition for 2 lady teachers. -The Church Society has 20 medical -Unfortunately this item is to be missions, some of them with branch "located," not in Africa, China, or the hospitals and dispensaries. Of these South Seas, but in the Christian Prov- 6 are in China, 5 in India, 5 in Africa, inceofQuebec. "LaBonneSte. Anne," and 1 each in Persia, Palestine, and be it known, is the reputed grandmother British Columbia. of our Lord, but is also a church with altars, unending masses, and the scene, -The Turkish Missions Aid Society year in and year out, of perpetual and is undenominational, and from the first astounding miracles, and devotees from has bestowed its funds mainly upon all parts of North America, affiicted American organizations. In 1854-62 with divers diseases, flock to her famous no less than $70,000 were so applied. shrine to entreat her favor and restoration to health. As to the astounding The Continent.-A missionary of cures wrought by faith in the benevo- the American Board writes from Bohe· lent nature and almighty power of .. La mia of the Free Reformed Church, with Bonne Ste. Anne," the immense pile of .. its life amid difficult surroundings. crutches, artistically arranged, is the Perhaps the fact that whereas 15 years standing evidence; also the colossal ago there were but 15 members, and statue of the great goddess, whose brow that now there are 10 churches, 80 is adorned with a crown of gold and stations, and 700 members, is of lessim· portance than the spiritual life of the Church. Among its members are only 8 or 4 who are not to be ranked among the uncultured and poor. And many single Jew. In all of these cities men- are very poor. Yet"theY:love their Sav- tioned there are and have been for many iour, the Lord Jesus, with all their years Jewish societies and missionaries heart; and I hope that I shall not at work. The colonies are private greatly err, if I say that every member property, and are beyond the reach of is a preacher and a missionary." direct missionary effort.
-A Moscow merchant has become -In Persia also there is suffering for the godfather of 400 Jews who have the Gospel's sake, and Mirza Ibrahim, been baptized to avoid persecution. He after lying for a year in prison because promised to remember in his will every he dared to transfer his allegiance from one who should be certified to have re- Mohammed to Christ. has finally died. ceived the sacrament once a year, and Though enduring untold suffering and only two have so far reported them- insult, he was steadfast to the last. selves. -Seventy-six persons are reported to ASIA. have died of cholera in Jeddah, on July 1st, and 440 in Mecca. The total mor- Mohammedan Realms.-The situa- tality among Mecca pilgrims since early tion is indeed .. strained" in Turkey as in June exceeds 5000. It costs some- touching Christian work, when two thing, then, to serve even the prophet professors of Anatolia College, who are of Arabia. innocent of any crime, can be arrested and condemned to death, and be res- INDIA. cued from their fate only upon the de- termined protest of Great Britain, and -The Maharaja of Bhownagga, an on condition of at once leaving the enlightened Indian potentate now in country. It looks much as though the London, is said to have dispensed thus Sultan were watching his opportunity far about $5,000,000 in charities. to drive from his dominions every missionary from Europe and America, and -Says Eugene Stock: "It is a fact restore Islam to undisputed control. worth remembering that in the Punjab more than half the native clergy are -Opposition to the work in Latakia converts from Islam. One of them is still continues. Not long since three the celebrated Dr. Imad-ud-din, once of the Ainsiriyeh Protestants were im- worshipped as a Moslem saint, and now prisoned on charges which had to be for a quarter of a century a faithful invented. They were accused of steal- minister of Christ, and a learned exposiing children to sell to the Americans to tor of Scripture and controversialist by send to the United States, and a list of voice and by pen-the first native of names had been prepared of pupils who India on whom the degree of D.D.itas had been in school years ago. They been conferred by the Archbishop of were able to tell where most of them Canterbury. were. They were confined in prison for a month, and because they dared -Mr. Hazen, of the Madura Mission, say they were Christians they were has charge of 3 stations-Tirupuvanam, kept in the inner dark dungeon. Melur, and Mana-madura-and he writes of the incessant calls which are made -Various colonies of Jews have been upon him. There are 12 Biblewomen established in Palestine by wealthy so- who visit httndreds of houses, 3 Hindu cieties and individuals. In the plain girls' schools, 1 large boys' day-school, of Sharon, near Jaffa, there are 6 or '7 and a boarding-school with 72 pupils. of these, and near Jericho, in the Jor- The outlook for the stations is most endan valley, 2 more, and 3 more near couraging. During the month of ~afed. It is a remarkable fact that in March, he says, .. we received a new (Nazareth and Bethlehem there is not a congregation of 69 souls near Mana-ma- dura. A few days later 27_ pers~ns joined us in the Tirupuvanam station since been carried on by means of funds from 1 village, and 5 families from contributed by friends in India, Eng- 3 other villages, while a whole village land, Scotland, and France. In 1875 near Melur proposes to join us if we there was not a single Christian in the can send them a teacher. Thus the district; now there are converts in 700 work brightens up on every hand. " villages. There are 24 churches, 7 schools, and an extensive medical work -The principal of the Ahmednagar is also carried on. high school writes as follows of two appalling difficulties which appear to be -Burmah is peculiarly a Baptist misdeep· rooted in the Hindu mind and sion field, though four other societies heart: •• The two questions that seem carryon work.-the Propagation Socito me to require a speedy settlement ety, the American Episcopalian, the are, first, how to get our Christian Wesleyan, and the Leipsic Lutheran So· pupils to take an interest in their Hindu ciety. Of the 61 missionaries in that and Mohammedan fellow-students; sec- country, the Baptists have 45; of the ond, how to encourage independence of women, 54 out of 62; of the native character and self-respect among these helpers, 132 out of 146; of the native Christian young men. As to the first Christians, 81,805 out of 89,1~2, and of these, it is impossible for anyone 30,646 communicants out of a total of who has not spent many years here to 33,037. conceive the utter want of sympathy that exists between the different classes. -France is playing the part of mis- People who live next door are utter for- chief-maker on a large scale in the realm eigners to each other. It is rare that a of missions. She likes not the English word is passed between them. Our speech, and to the Protestant faith is Christian community have accepted inclined to show the least possible fa- Christianity, but cannot forget the vor; and therefore we cannot but look treatment they used to receive from with solicitude toward Siam and French other classes. They are practically a designs in that quarter. It bodes no new caste added to India's already dis- good to the Gospel that French war cordant elements. We have all the or. ships have entered the' Menang and ganizations known at home, but they threaten to shell Bangkok. lag through this utter apathy to the interests of others. Selfishness is the China.-A missionary says that Chi· greatest of India's 330,000,000 gods, and nese converts" don't know any better the one to whom all pay reverence. than to go to prayer-meeting every With reference to the second, it is time." Then let no .. Christians" ever amazing how far dependence and servil- inform them of their .. mistake," for in ity can possess a human being. No this case ignorance is bliss. man thinks of doing anything for himself that he can get another to do for -Dr. C. W. Mateer estimates that in him. He would rather starve on a China the sum of $130,000,000 is spent penny that he has begged than live annually for the paper money burned comfortably oli a pound that he has in ancestral worship. earned. The most honored way of getting money is by using one's wits." -A missionary writes of .. counter- feit" foreigners, and says: .. It seems -The eighteenth annual report of that one or more enterprising Celestials the Bethel Santhal Mission, India, gives have gone into the work of dispensing some interesting facts. This mission is medicines, after the manner of the independent of any society, and was American physician. Usually two or founded in 1875 by Pastor A. Haegaert, three men go together. One of these by his own. efforts and 'money. It has dresses in fOl;eign costume and talk.s a gibberish which is not understood by the natives, and so passes for a foreign language. In imitation of American written language. His habit was to physicians, all medicine is given away; kneel on the ground and repeat the but. unlike that fraternity, the bogus prayer morning and evening, but neither representative of America is quite will- he nor his friends nor a priest to whom ing to receive contributions of grain to he showed the book had gathered from feed the animal which helps convey it that Jesus was the Saviour of men.
him from village to village. In conse- Afterward a friend who had learned the quence grain pours in upon him by the way more perfectly told him of it, and quantity. This is disposed of by a con- it was not hard for him to believe.
federate at the nearest fair, and then -Shanghai is a most important cen- Ah Sin departs for 'fresh fields and tre for Christian influence, since more pastures new.' .. than a dozen of the great missionary -A singular interruption occurred at societies are represented in the city by a wedding at Tai-ku, China, while Dr. churches, schools, hospitals, publishing Atwood was officiating at the first pub- houses, and other like instrumentalities. lic Christian marriage ceremony that From hence to all parts of the empire had occurred in that city. There were continually flow streams of good influ- 300 or 400 Chinese present, listening re- ence.
spectfully, When an old woman cried -This intelligence has a pleasant out: ., This is great doing; not to wor- BOund. The Synod of China has de- ship heaven and earth I" One of the cided to overture the presbyteries with native Christians immediately sprang reference to independence. If it car- to his feet, and addressing all present, ries, and other Presbyterian bodies showed how much better it was to wor- unite, China will presently have a Gen- ship God, who made heaven and earth. eral Assembly comprising about one Thus the marriage occasion was made third of the Christians in the empire.
an evangelistic service, and the wom- The Synod established a missionary so- an's objection to the omission of an ciety of its own to evangelize the inland idolatrous practice common at Chinese provinces. They have over 6000 mem- weddings led to a clear presentation of bers, and the net increase within five Gospel truth. years has been 60 per cent. Their con- -It was in this way most strange tributions amount to about $15,000 a that a soul was led to the Christian year. Already there are 27 native or~ faith. A Chinaman, applying for bap- dained ministers, and 27 licentiates. tism, on being asked if he prayed, repeated a peculiar form of the Lord's Japan.-The Rev. Naomi Tamura, Prayer. Inquiry showed that it came o~ Tokyo, Japan, author of "The Japfrom an edition of the Gospels printed anese Bride," is a pastor of one of the by the London Mission more than thirty largest Presbyterian churches in Japan. years before. His brother, who did It has over 500 members, is self-supbusiness on the coast, had received the porting, and has never received finanbook from a junk from Shanghai, and cial aid from the Presbyterian Foreign Mission Board.
80 it fell into his hands, and he, being -The number of men in the mem- a doctor, concluded on reading the Gos- bership of the Japanese churches is pels that Jesus was a doctor, and wished much greater than the number of wom- he had the power to perform similar en, some recently published statistics cures. When he came to the Lord's of mission work in Japan showing an Prayer he thought it was a very good overplus of more than 5000 men in the form with which to worship" heaven church-membership. A writer in the and earth," according to the Confucian Independent finds the reason for this, religion, and he committed it to memory not in a want of intelligence and zeal as he found it there in the classical or in the Christian women who are engaged in work there, but in the state of society fathers of the congregation of Cardinal and the prevailing public sentiment. Lavigerie. More than 100 priests and Pastoral work among women is diffi- novices, besides Sisters of Charity, have cult, and public sentiment prevents a recently entered, or soon will enter, that large attendance of women at evening country as missionaries.
gatherings, especially in large cities. -Twelve years ago the natives of -Rev. H. T. Graham, of Tokushima, the Upper Congo had never seen a tells of an aged disciple whose sight steamboat. Now there is a fieet of 20 was failing, and so he was afraid that steamers on the upper river.
he could not much longer read the Bi- -One of the curiosities of domestic ble, which is in fine print. In order to slavery in darkest Africa is that while avoid this calamity, he undertook the the native slave-owner can by custom herculean task of preparin,q a copy with compel his slaves to fight for him, and his own hand. Beginning three years possesses other extensive powers over ago, he has reached the Third Epistle them, he cannot "legally" compel his of John, and has filled 19 large vol- slaves to work for him. On the Congo umes. and its affiuents, native (not Moham- AFRICA. medan) slave·owners pay wages to their own slaves whenever the latter are reo -The northern half of Africa has the quired to transport ivory and produce characteristics of Arab civilization. to the coast. Even Tippoo Tib pays The people are pastoral and nomadic. his numerous slave soldiers under such They are restless, fierce, warlike and peaceful circumstances. The explanagrasping. They have all the virtues tion of this anomaly seems to be that and vices of the Moslems. Many of war is a far more ancient and primitive them have heard of Christ, but most institution than labor. have never felt their need of Him. The southern half has no real civilization. ~Bishop Tucker, of Uganda, says": The tribes differ much in the matter of "During the last few months nearly intelligence. The Zulus are very quick- 40,000 reading-sheets have been sold. witted. The children in the mission What does this teach us ? No one buys schools show great mental ability, write a reading-sheet without a very serious excellent compositions, take to music and settled purpose_ A reading-sheet wonderfully, have a knowledge of the is not of itself very amusing. There· Bible, and are honest and generous. A fore that this large number of reading. missionary in Uganda says that the sheets has been sold is most significant. quickness of a majority in the schools' It reveals a settled purpose in the mind has been a surprise to him. Few Eng- of the people. It means not that 40,000 people are learning to read, but that six lish people can learn so rapidly. times 40,000 are so learning. It is, I -The Belgium Roman Catholics are think, a fair calculation that " single pushing their work in the Congo Free reading-sheet will do the work of teach- State. One order has 5 stations occu- ing six people. Thus we are brought pied by a dozen priests, extending from face to face with the fact that in one the C9ast beyond the last Baptist sta- way or another something like a quar- tion. The Bishop of Ghent also has a ter of a million of people are under in- station at Matadi; and the Sisters of strnction in the matter of simply learn· Charity occupy 8 stations on the Low- ing to read." The bishop tells, too, of er Congo. A mission steamer of 7 his wonderful" cathedral," in which tons is being built for use upon the nearly 500 trees are used 8S pillars, some river. The Jesuits and Carthusian of them brought five and six days'jour.
friars are also entering the field; and ney, and needing several hundred men on the eastern coast are found the white to carry them. -Wednesday, March 15th, of this not yet Protestants, he holds them to year, was a red-letter day at Genaden- be an inferior race, refractory in civili- daL It was the opening day of the zation. The Hovas are really a fine large Jubilee Church seating 1400_ people, and in time to come will be the Toward the total cost of $17,190, this governing race of the island.
congregation of about 3000 Hottentots had already raised $7125. in three years, ISLANDS OF THE SEA. and they intend to meet the remaining debt of $1690. The collections at the -In this day of general and great opening services amounted to $360. movements of population, Babels Truly they have deserved the liberal abound. Thus, Singapore at the exhelp which has been sent them from all treme south and Penang at the north enparts of the world. trance of the Straits are the chief towns, and in them almost every race,creed, and -Ten years ago the Basutos in South language is represented. It is a strange Africa were threatened with ruin and sight for all new-comers. " First comes extinction through the ravages of strong an A.frican, who wishes to have the drink. At the earnest request of the Gospel in the Arabic tongue; next. a chiefs, the British Government prohib- Tamil man turns up, very lightly dress- ited the import of intoxicants. As a ed indeed, who asks for the same thing, result the Basutos have made remark- but in the language of the Coromandel able progress. The country is a centre Coast; later on we meet a sombre-lookof loyalty and order, and a source of ing Parsee, or what is the same, a firefood and labor supply to the neighbor- worshipper, who wants the book in the ing States. Last year the exports peculiar dialect of Zoroaster; or it may amounted to £250,000, and passes were be a timid Siamese, in the pretty garb issued to more than 50,000 natives, who of his nation, who tells how anxious he went to work in the mines of Kimberley has been for some time past that he and Johannisberg. might get the story of Christ in words -Pastor Rosacos, the Norwegian intelligible to him; or a Chinaman, with missionary in Madagascar, two years a cue reaching to his heels, that desires ago established a leper colony, which to obtain what is the only authoritative has now 40 houses, a church and a hos- statement of the' Jesus doctrine;' or pital. A. house is to be built for the a Bugis-one of the race known as children of leper parents; of these there 'the gypsies of the sea'-who wanders are 200, of whom 139 are baptized. In about sellin~ clothes, knives, and other this "town of mercy" a Norwegian articles; or a Tagalog, who expatiates deaconess, Sister Marie Foreide, is em- over the wrongs and the oppression ployed, and another is shortly expected. which the natives of the Philippines are made to bear; or a Javanese, a Cam- -Caussegne, of the Jesuits' Mission at bodian, a Bengali, a Sinhalese, or any Antananarivo, has returned to France ; other of the motley population dwelling and, after protesting against the ,base- together under the protection of the less political claims put forward in the Union flag."
Chamber of Deputies even by Ministers -The Neukirchen (German) Mission of State, goes on to say of the English reports as follows respecting its work and Norwegian missions at Antanana- in the Salatiga and Rembang districts rivo. that if their relations are not inti- of Central Java. The 4 missionaries mate with the Catholic Missions, they are aided by 13 native helpers, 6 teach- are civil. The English and Norwegians ers, and 4 elders. There are 619 bap- do not attack the Catholics. The open tized persons, 356 of whom are adults.
and violent enemies of the latt& are They have 161 children in the day- French. As to the Sakalavas, who are schools, and 69 Sunday-scholars.
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1893
THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. [July
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVI. No.7.-0ldSerieB.—JULY.—VOL. VI. No. 7.-NewSwiel.
THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA.
BY REY. SAMUEL MCFARLANE, LL.D, F.R.G.S., ETC., FOUNDER OF THE NEW GUINEA MISSION.
Early on a lovely morning in August, 1796, a vessel might have been seen gliding out of the docks of London, from which could be heard the sweet strains of music, so unlike that of the sailors at snch times that you would naturally pause to look and listen. There is nothing in the appearance of the vessel that differs much from the others, but the mnsic is strange and startling. You trace it to a gronp of ladies and gentlemen standing on the deck of the vessel, and as you look and listen the words come floating distinctly over the still water, "Jesus, at Thy command we launch into the deep." What vessel can it be ~ What sort of passengers Itre those ~ You look for the name of the ship, and find that it is called .Duff. You inquire, and find that the passengers are a band of missionari~s. You naturally ask, Where are they going? what is their object ~ and you are told that they are a few humble, faithful followers of the " Captain of our Salvation," who have volunteered to go to the most distant parts of the earth and attack heathenism in its darkest and most dangerous places, and there plant the standard of the cross.
What an army for such a mission ! and such a mission at such a time! It was like an angel of mercy rising amid the scenes of strife and blood and anarchy and crime which burst forth in appalling and destructive violence from the French Revolution, spreading horror and panic through surrounding nations. There were wars in America, ending in the independence of the United States. Wars in the East, leading to the establishment of the supremacy of England in India.
It was also a time of maritime discovery and scientific research. Men like Captain Cook returned from their voyages and gave stirring descriptions of the countries and tribes they discovered; hence the awakening of the Church to obey the last command of the gleat King and Saviour of men. "The revival of religion at home and the universal spread of the Gospel were regarded by many as events which might be expected to flow from existing calamities." To the Christians of that day" the prospects of the fnture triumph of the Church spread a mildness over existing gloom, and cheered them amid the miseries and wickedness which distressed the nations and distracted the world."
This little band were armed for their work with books, tools, medicines, printing apparatus, etc. Among the presents was one somewhat singular in its character. Two ladies presented a brass plate, on which was engraved the following inscription: "See that ye fall not out by the way" (Gen. 45 : 24); "Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God" (Isa. 41 : 10).
Ten ministeis of different denominations took part in the farewell service, showing the catholicity of the society that was sending them out. The missionaries were told plainly that" it was not Calvinism, nor Arminianism, but Christianity that they were to teach. It was not the hierarchy of the Church of England nor the principles of Protestant Dissenters, but the Church universal that they were to serve." They were to be " infinitely more concerned to make men Christians than to make them Church of England men, Dissenters, or Methodists. "
This being the pioneer mission in Polynesia, all subsequent missions have profited by its example, its errors, its failures, and its successes. Its history has effectually exploded the idea that civilization should precede Christianity in the evangelization of a heathen people. This, the greatest of all reforms, must begin within and work o?dwa1·dly.
There was a long dark night of toil in that first mission to the islands of the sea. Deaths, desertions, and martyrdoms reduced the ranks of that little army, but a faithful few held on, hoping, working, praying. The interest awakened in England at the outset had almost died away, and the question was seriously discussed of abandoning the enterprise. There were, however, a few friends of the mission who were determined to persevere and sustain the efforts of the missionaries, and, like all faithful builders of the spiritual kingdom, they had their reward.
Seventeen years after the landing of that brave little band a crowd of savages were assembled in one of the beautiful cocoanut groves of Tahiti. The blending of the feathery tops of the trees protected them from the sun, while the branchless stems allowed the refreshing trade wind to fan the group. Mr. Nott, the missionary, was reading to them a translation of the third chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. It was a strange congregation-a motley group. Tall, well-built, powerful savages, decked in feathers, flowers, and paint, leaning on their spears or squatting with their clubs' between their knees. Some are talking and laughing, others are declaring what is being read to be untrue ; but there is one man in the crowd who is looking earnestly at Mr. Nott, who, when the sixteenth verse is read, calls out in Tahitian, " Will you read that again~" What ~a thrill must have passed through Mr. Nott when that request was made, especially as he looked upon the anxious face of the well-known warrior who made it. Read it again ~ Yes, a hundred times if you like, and with a silent prayer, no doubt, that God would bless it to the poor man's soul. Amid unusual stillness, every eye turned to the missionary j he reads solemnly, emphatically, joyfully: "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
We can easily see what words would be emphasized in this verse- how the last two would echo through the cocoanut grove 1 and before the echoes had died away the savage earnestly asks another question, "Does that mean Tahiti~" Mr. Nott looked steadfastly at the man, and'stretch- ing out his arm, with his finger pointing at him, said, "It means YOU." That man became the first convert in the islands of the sea.
Those who count heads, money, and years in estimating the success of missions, might say, "One convert after all this expenditure of life, labor, and money for seventeen years 1" and then begin to reckon how long it would take to convert the world at this rate. The same might have been said when any of our great reformers and preachers were converted, although the conversion of such an one meant the 'conversion of half the world. Spiritual work cannot be measured by man. How can we measure a thing of which we can only see one end, the other stretching into eternity ~ and who can estimate the influence for good of that first convert of the South Sea Islands ~ He was a trained and noted warrior, who became a valiant soldier of the cross, ready to go anywhere, do and dare anything, and make any sacrifice for his newly found Saviour and King.
The South Sea Islands mission has been pre-eminently distinguished for its noble band of native pioneer evangelists. The European pioneers at Tahiti labored for seventeen years before a native embraced the Gospel j but where native pioneers have gone it has rarely been as many months, and they have gone from island to island and group to group, from Tahiti to New Guinea. The secret of their success is that they are, above all things, consecrated men. From their early days they have been trained as warriors, beginning their education with toy bows and arrows and spears. "'-hen they embrace the Gospel they carry their war-spirit with them. "We have been," as I have often heard them say, "the soldiers of the devil. Weare now the soldiers of Jesus Christ. Tell us what He would like us to do."
The writer has trained over a hundred of these native pastors and pioneer evangelists, and consequently knows them well, and greatly admires the beautiful simplicity of their Christian life and faith. Tell them that Christ would not like them to go to a place, and they say, "Then I won't go j" that He would not like to hear them using such language, and the reply is, " Then I won't say that any more j" that He would not like to see them doing so and so, "Then I won't do it," is the quick response. With consecrated, enthusiastic converts like these it is easy to understand the rapid progress of Christianity among the islands of the sell. How great would the progress of the Redeemer's kingdom be among our own countrymen if professing Christians made the will 0/ Ghrist the rule of their life! That first South Sea Island convert was a true missionary, as all con- verts ought to be. The new light led to a new life. His soul began to throb with new desires and ambitions. It was not enough for him that the Gospel was spreading in his own land, that the idols were being burned, and schools and chapels built; he longed to carry the good news to the regions beyond, and by means of his canoe he became the messenger of peace to the surrounding islands.
The arrival of the celebrated missionary apostle of the South Sea Islands, John Williams, gave a new impetus to the infant mission and to the missionary zeal of some of its converts. At that time the work required just such an ardent, enterprising, and adventurous missionary as the" Martyr of Erromanga. " "For my part," he wrote to the directors, " I cannot content myself within the narrow limits of a single reef, and if means are not afforded of getting to the regions beyond, a continent would be infinitely preferable to me ; for there, if you cannot ride, you can walk ; but to these isolated islands a ship m'H,st carry you." There being no ship at his command and no money to buy one, he set to work and built one. It was seventy or eighty tons burden and proved to be a very good sailer, and was called The Messenger of·Peace. By means of this vessel a noble band of enthusiastic converts, with Mr. Williams at their head, raised the standard of the cross on the Harvey and Samoan islands; and then by means of a larger vessel, supplied by the English people, carried the Gos: pel to the New Hebrides group, where the renowned and lamented leader lost his life, being clubbed to death by the savages of Erromanga, whom he was seeking to save.
The writer has a very vivid recollection of his first contact with real cannibals at Erromanga and Tanna thirty-four years ago, where he first met Mr. (now Dr.) Paton and Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, who were beginning their work on those islands. Dr. Paton had recently buried his wife and cliild, and Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, with whom we spent tl:tree days and nights on Erromanga, were murdered by the cannibals soon after our visit. The scene rises before me as I write. It was a lovely, quiet Sabbath evening. We were standing on the small veranda in front of the little welttherboarded house, situated on a hill that rises from the deep blue waters' of Dillon's Bay. The full, clear moon is coming forth" like. a fair shepherdess with her full flock of stars." The mountains, like silent fortresses, raise their heads, tier on tier, in solemn grandeur against the azure sky. All above is peaceful, glorious, godlike. We talk of " dark Erromanga." At the foot of those beautiful mountains are the habitat,ions of cruelty. " Do you see that winding path down the hill?" said Mr. Gordon. Yes, we could !lee it. "That is the path along which John Williams ran with the murderous natives after him, and just where the rays of the moon are dancing upon the rippling waters of the bay is the place where he was killed. " We gazed sadly and silently upon the scene, imagination filling in the boat containing Captain Morgan and crew, waiting for the missionaries; the crowd of yelling savages pursuing ,Williams and Harris; the latter murdered by the roadside, the for.mer rushing into the water toward the boat; the shouts, the confusiol)., the forest of uplifted clubs round Mr. Williams; then the yell of triumph. At that moment there arose from a cannibal village at the foot of the hill the screams of a woman, piercing the stillness of the night. Shriek after shriek rolled along the valleys snd echoed among the hills, sending a thrill of horror to our young hearts. It was a rude reminder that we were among the cannibals. These were the sort of people that we were to live among! Our appointed station was on the island of Lifu, about one hundred miles to the west of Erromanga, and among the first letters that we received in our new home was one informing us that Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were murdered.
We missionaries are often given credit for more than we deserve. The humble native evangelist is generally the man who does the real pioneer work; and the missionary is, as a rule, most successful who trains a good staff of these men, superintends them in their work, and translates Scriptures and prepares books for them.
The Tahitian converts not only carried the Gospel to the islands of their own group, but to the Harvey Islands, which have supplied such a splendid staff of native evangelists to Western Polynesia. One sample will show the character of these Christian soldiers. Lifu, near New Caledonia, was the sphere 'of labor where the writer spent the first twelve years of his missionary life; and the apostle of Lifu was .a native of Raratonga, who, like the first convert at Tahiti, had a burning desire to carry the Gospel to the regions beyond. To qualify himself for the work he was placed in the native seminary, where he had been only six months when the John Williams arrived on its way to the cannibal islands of Western Polynesia. Pao hastened to the mission house and asked to see the missionary on urgent business. Mr. Buzacott listened to the young enthusiast pleading to be allowed to go at once in the mission vessel to tell the cannibals the" good news. " "You have only been here six months," said Mr. Buzacott;'" wait till you have been with us four years, that you may learn more about the GospeL" Pao's reply was characteristic of the man. "Don't I know about the true God ~ Don't I know about Christ being the Saviour of the world? Don't I know about the future after death ~ Let me go and tell the heathen about these things. You can send other young men after me to teach them to read and write and other things that I don't know. Oh, let me go and tell them what I know f"
What missionary would take the responsibility of detaining such a man? He went; was landed at Mare, which is between forty and fifty miles from Lifu. Missionaries had recently settled there, and there being occasional intercourse between the two islands, it was determined that Pao should remain till the next visit of the mission vessel in the following year, and thus have the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the people and their language; but Pao was not the sort of man to spend a year in such quiet preparations almost within sight of the island to which he was appointed. Mixing freely with the people, he was soon able to converse with them, and finding a man who was acquainted with the language of Lifu, he persuaded him to accompany him thither in a canoe that he built for the purpose.
What must have been Pao's thoughts as he sat in the stern of his canoe, guiding it with his paddle as it sped over the waves! and when the tops of the cocoanut-trees of Lifu became visible, how eagerly he would watch them as they appeared to rise from the sea, I can conceive from my own feelings when we first sighted New Guinea. He knew the danger to which he was exposing himself, both from the sea and the savages; but he felt that he was engaged in God's service, and looked to Him for protection. As he neared the island he saw the savages assembling on the beach. They were wild cannibals, governed by a despotic chief whose word was law. Pao knew that if the chief regarded him as an enemy he would be clubbed, cooked, and eaten at once; but that if he received him as an enemu-friend-that fate would happen to any who dared to injure him. He prayed, and believed that God would dispose the mind of the chief to receive him as an enemu,. and believing this, he did not wait in his canoe till a message of welcome was brought from the chief, but dashed over the barrier reef and steered for the crowd on the beach.
Taking his Raratongan Bible and a present for the chief from a little box in the canoe, with a silent prayer for success, he jumped on to the beach among the crowd, requesting his Mare interpreter to say that he had a message from the Great King to the chief of Lifu. Some of the leading men led him at once to the chief's house, where he found the old warrior sitting on a mat waiting to receive him. He was pleased with Pao's present, and listened to his message. Regarding the Bible as the new god that Pao was introducing, and willing to test its power, the oJd chief declared that they would make war upon their enemies on tlie other side of the island; that Pao should accompany them with his god; and that if they were conquerors he should be treated as a friend, but if they were conquered, he should be regarded as an enemy. It was in vain that Pao declared that his was not a fighting god, but the God of peace and love and life. He was obliged to go with the warriors, and fortunately for him they were successful. He was proclaimed the chief's enemu, which not only assured his safety, but secured for him kindly treatment and a respectful hearing throughout the chief's dominions among five thousand people.
For a time all was hopeful. Wherever Pao went the natives crowded to listen. It appeared as though the Gospel would easily and speedily triumph ; but the powers of darkness are not so easily overcome. The native priests-the medicine men-soon perceived the danger to their craft, and rose in their might, leading to civil war and the flight of Pao to Mare for a time. He could not remain long, however, and was soon back in his canoe and visiting among his people. The priests tried to kill him by their incantations, and their failure only increased his power. Natives were sent to kill him, but they declared themselves powerless in his pres- ence to raise an arm against him. A number of braves undertook to throw him down' a cavern which he had to pass, but when he appeared and calmly asked them why they wished to kill him, and what evil he had done, and if he was not their best }riend, the would-be murderers hung their heads in confusion and shame, and instead of their killing him, he preached the Gospel to them.
Not satisfied with preaching among the subjects of the great chief, Bula, he marched intp the camp of their enemies, on the opposite side of the island, as the messenger of peace. Here he met with the most deter- mined opposition from the chiefs and leading people, who indignantly refused to receive the religion of their enemies; but the common people heard him gladly, which led the principal chief to depute one of his orators to follow Pao from village to village and charge the people not to receive the foreigner'S religion. A very remarkable thing now happened. The .orator's tongue became ulcerated, rendering him unable to speak. The effect upon the people was marvellous. They declared this to be the hand of God. This man, they said, has been using his tongue to oppose the spread of the Gospel, and God has silenced him. The result was that whole villages burned their idols and placed themselves under Christian tea.chers. The writer arrived about this time, and so mightily grew the Word of God, that in twelve years afterward the entire popUlation (between nine and ten thousand) had embraced the Gospel. Their language was reduced to writing-a school-book, catechism, hymn-book, and the New Testament and Psalms translatQd into it. Schools and churches were built in almost every village, and filled with eager scholars and congregations. A seminary had been established in which all the native pastors and teachers had been educated, and a missionary society had been formed as an auxiliary to the London Missionary Society, which had sent out native pioneer evangelists filled with Pao's spirit, and urged on by his example to New Caledonia and the New Hebrides j and it was with eight of these men that the writer set out in a chartered vessel in 1871 to establish the mission on the long-neglected yet largest island in the world-New Guinea.
The social and commercial progress of the people advanced side b} side with the religious. The natives built f(lr themselves better houses, made good roads, and surrounded themselves with many of the appliances and comforts of civilized life. The resources of the island were being rapidly developed. Half a dozen Europe8Jl stores had been established,
ELIOT, THE APOSTLE OF THE RED INDIANS
and trading velilsels were frequently visiting the island, so that another market was opened to English ltnd American produce.
While this remarkable and rapid change was going on at Lifu, the same sort of thing was taking place on many of the islands of the sea. In the Sandwich Islands, by the American missionaries; in the Fiji Islands, by the Wesleyans; in the New Hebrides, by the Presbyterians and Episeopalians; and in all these groups men like Pao, the Apostle of Lifu, were prominent as pioneers.
The South Sea Islands' mission has solved the problem as to how the world is to be won for Christ. It must be done chiefly by the converts of the different countries to which the Gospel is introduced by capable mililsionaries who are able to train and superintend these valuable agents.
JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE OF THE RED INDIANS.
~ BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Though he belongs before the century whose marvels we are witness- ing, no study of modern missions would be complete without a mention of John Eliot, that pioneer of pioueers. His period reaches from 1604 to 1690, aud hence nearly spans the seventeenth century. Southey well said of him that he was " one of the most extraordinary men of any country," and R. Baxter declared that there was no man whom he honored above him. The effect of his life and work upon David Brainerd, James Brainerd Taylor, Jonathan Edwards, and so upon William Carey and Adoniram Judson makes Eliot the father of the fathers and founders of modern mis- sions, and gives him a certain right of pedigree in this apostolic succession.
His godly parentage, his position as usher in Thomas Hooker's gram- mar school, where the godliness of Hooker's family was the means of his conversion, and his subsequent following of Hooker with sixty others to Boston, an exile for nonconformity, were the three great steps which prepared him for the one and only pastorate in Roxbury which he held for sixty years. He had been graduated at Cambridge in 1623, and young as he was, had there acquired a thorough knowledge of the original languages of Scripture, and evinced unusual aptitude as a grammarian and philologist.
As early as 1639, at the age of thirty-five, he was one of a committee ,appointed by the colonial leaders to prepare a new version of t~e Psalms, and this Psalter of 1640 was the first book printed in America, afterward known as the" Bay Psalm Book."
Early in his pastoral life Eliot became so interested in the Red men that through a young Pequot Indian he acquired a hold upon their language, and in 1646 preached in the wigwam of Waban, the chief, the first sermon ever preached in the native tongue on American soil. This service in the camp near Brighton lasted three hours, and aroused much inquiry. At another visit, two weeks later, an old warrior wept lest it should be too late for him to find God, and at a third visit, two weeks later, so deep was the interest exhibited that, notwithstanding the violent opposition of the Indian priests, 'Vaban himself at the camp-fire talked to his people of the wondrous story of redemption which he had heard from the pale-faced missionary.
Eliot was fired with a holy passion both to Christianize and civilize these Indians, and so undertook what William Duncan two hundred years later realized in his Metlakahtla. Nonantum, the Indian name for rejoicing, was the title of the model community five miles west of Boston, and the name of " praying" Indians has clung to these converts as tenaciously as "Roundheads" to Cromwell's soldiers. Here we have the rare instance of a settled pastor acting also as a missionary to a foreign tribe close at hand, and as the virtual organizer of a new State, with civil court and social and industrial improvements, as well as religious institutions.
But such a man could 'not be pent up within the five miles radius from Boston. Neponset, Concord, Pawtucket, Brookfield felt his power, and clamors for Christian teachers, new codes of laws, Bible institutions, poured in from all quarters. Chiefs and their sons become converts and leaders, and in one case, where 1 visit involved peril, the sachem himself with a score of warriors came to escort Eliot. He set out on horseback, and his privations and perils rival those of Paul. Not only did he risk death at the hands of hostile chiefs and treacherous sachems, but his own countrymen, not content to withhold aid and cheer, pelted him with the mud of aspersion, and shot at him with the arrows of jest and ridicule. He was actually charged-this unselfish, heroic man-with being prompted by greed and dealing in fables j but, as Eliot said, "God stepped in and helped." Before the'middle of the century Eliot's work had compelled recognition. In 1649 devout souls in England, stirred by the fame of what the nonconformist exile had done, formed the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, which thus antedates by over half a century even the S. P. G. This society sent £50 per annum to Eliot, and thus nearly doubled his Roxbury stipend (£60).
In 1650 this heroic missionary general and statesman gathered all his converts except one tribe into one settlement caUed Natick, on a tract of six thousand acres on the Charles River, eighteen miles from Boston. The town was laid out, a house-lot being assigned to each family, and a large building el'ected for church and school, 'and there the governor and other visitors heard praying Indians teach and preach.
This Roxbury pastor could not be content to be a missionary evangelist and statesman j he must also train a native ministry. Converts were formed into a church in 1660, and fourteen years later he had as the fruit of thirty-eight years' labor eleven hundred and ten converts under his immediate care, and scattered over a wider territory, in at least thirteen other settlements of praying Indians, were twenty-five hundred more j and before Eliot died he saw twenty-four converts preaching the Gospel.
THE JAPANESE RELIGIOUS PRESS
This Roxbury pastor was al:;;o a translator. In 1661 the New Testament and in 1663 the Old also was published, and Eliot's Indian Bible, that now has not one living reader, was the first printed west of the Atlantic, and is the pyramid which, no longer used, witnesses to the royalty of the man who against such odds became the Apostle of the Red Indians. Both as a monument of fine scholarship and evangelistic zeal, it deserves what Edward Ev'erett gracefully said of it, that the " history of the Christian Church contains no example of resolute, untiring labor superior" to it. Eliot likewise undertook to create a Christian literature for his praying Indians. He translated Baxter's Call and other practical books, prepared an Indian catechism, Psalter, primer, and Indian grammar, and one brief sentence, written at the end of the grammar, may furnish the key to his whole career and the motto for missions: "PRAYER AND PAINS Through Faith in Jesus Christ Will do anything."
Age and weakness made it no longer possible to go to the Indians as once he had done ; but even then he prevailed on several families to send to him once a week their negro servants that he might teach them the saving truth. The last words on his lips were, " Welcome joy /"
Note that all this life of sanctity and service, that inspired Edwards and Brainerd and Carey and Judson, owed its own great transformation to the power of one life. "When I came in~o this blessed family" (Rev. Thomas Hooker'S) "I saw, as never before, the power of godliness in its lively vigor and efficiency."
THE JAPANESE RELIGIOUS PRESS.
BY REV. JAMES I. SEDER, A.M., TOKYO, JAPAN.
The new religious life is making itself felt in Japan among all classes of people. Of this there is abundant testimony in the ably conducted religious press from month to month. Anyone acquainted with Japan fifteen or even but ten years ago would scarcely have believed a prophecy that to-day so many able editors would be wielding a religious pen.
Nearly every denomination has its organ, either alone or in conjunction with another church. Thus the Methodist Episcopal churches, North and South, and the Canadian Methodist together publish an Advocate. But churches having less than one hundred adherents have their papers; and that the Christian press is a giant of power in this land will not be denied. It is busily engaged in edifying the Church, and is skilfully and effectively refuting errors within and repulsing attacks from without. But that is not all. They are constantly sounding the key-note and carrying the banner of an aggressive Christianity, It living, conquering army into the ranks of the enemy. As these papers give us much valuable news concerning the general progress of mission work in Japan, between the lines we may also read how far real, true Christianity has taken hold of the hearts of these native leaders ; a~d it is gratifying to know that the work done here is, I feel safe to say, as genuine, deep, and thorough as anywhere in the world.
The Christian press reports many revivals from all over the country, and speaks in the most hopeful terms. They believe that the rationalistic wave, which for a time seemed to threaten disaster to the churches, has spent its force. They speak also of moderation of views among the hitheJ;to extreme conservatives, and hope, therefore, for a return of better days.
The Kiristolcyo Shimbun, one of the leaders among the religious papers in ability and variety, has just issued (February 24th) its" No. 500."
President Kozaki, of Doshisha University, Kyoto, in a letter of congratu- lation says the publication was begun ten years ago, when there were but ten thousand Christians in Japan. As the State policy regarding education was then undergoing a change, which gave preference to Con- fucianism over Western ideas, the opposition against Christianity was strong. It was a bold undertaking then, but on account of the spirit of intense union among Christians, without reference to sect, it was possible to successfully launch the paper.
Another writer thinks Christians are laboring diligently against intem- perance, prostitution, and the like, but all efforts should be concentrated upon the evangelization of Japan. The first and most important thing is to gather a strong church, and then reforms of various kinds can be under- taken with a better basis for success. The evangelistic spirit must pervade everything. .
The great question in Japan to-day is, "What means will be most successful in reforming Japanese society~" Unhesitatingly, Christianity; because it is the motive power of social reform. Western civilization is justly called "Christian," because it is the result of Christianity. Its points of superiority are chiefly progress of morality and knowledge, reform of the home, better relation of government and people, and of the people among themselves.
An editorial of another paper sharply criticises the imperfection and partiality of the Japanese Criminal Code concerning adultery. The law in question provides no punishment to the. husband who is guilty of this crime, if only his wife brings complaint; but if the husband of the guilty woman complain, then the adulterers will be punished. It alleges that Article 311 holds the man guiltless if he kill on the spot either his adultero~s wife or the guilty man. He goes free. But as there is no such pro- vision in the law for woman, although the grounds that justify the homi- cide in the one case should do the same in the other, there is strong com- plaint of unfairness.
Other papers are now also taking up this subject, and even Buddhists join in tl1e good work of airing this law. The effect of combined effort can only prove successful, and a satisfactory reform may be confidently looked for.
THE N.ATIVE BUDD~IST PRESS.
What we said with reference to the Christian press applies in a some- what different sense also to the non-Christian. The new religious life we mentioned there is also making itself felt in Buddhist circles; though while there is joy in the Christian camp over the fact, the harps are hang- ing on the willows in the temple yards. The new missionary enterprise to France, now under contemplation, is called upon to dry a few of the tears shed over the gloomy situation. Almost everyone exclaims: "We must do something else," but of the " something else" really accomplished for the good of the. nation, and in regard to any consequent jubilant feeling or hopefulness, all are profoundly silent.
Buddhists are seeking to enforce the claim that their religion has a most intimate historical relation to the country and its former civilization, and ought therefore to be officially recognized by the Government as the religion of the nation, though not the national religion. They further petition that priests may be excused from military duty, that the moral training of the youth of the land be entrusted to their care, and that the preservation of the temples be provided for by law.
Against this it is argued by those of a different religious persuasion that if Buddhism has not sufficient inherent str~ngth to sustain itself with- out in this manner leaning on the State, it cannot long survive, as it must finally still depend upon the people themselves, whom they hereby acknowledge to be disaffected toward the religion of old Japan.
The papers and leaders of the old religions seem driven by the very force of circumstances to constantly invent some plausible argument to hinder the spread of Christianity. But they also constantly acknowledge themselves behind the times, and unable to cope with the healthy, strong, aggressive Western religion. Then the defectiveness of the moral state is freely acknowledged on nearly all sides, and each professes it his duty to find a remedy.
In its antipathy to the " Jesus religion," one of the stronger Buddhist papers, discoursing on the question, "Have our citizens a right to believe Christianity?" delivers the following: "Christians will answer this question by quoting the 28th article of the Japanese Constitution, which guarantees them religious freedom. But if this doctrine conflicts with their duties as citizens, then they are not free to adhere to it. In the fourth year of Keiwo (1867), the Government put up a sign openly prohibiting Christianity, which was removed in the 2ixth year of Meiji. The Government said, the people being fully aware of this prohibition, it is unnecessary longer to keep up this public notification. And, as it was not taken down in consequence of the former law being rescinded, it is stilI in full force. And, al-though the Constitution was promulgated later, it did not abrogate the former decrees. People have, therefore, neither moral nor legal right to believe Christianity.
Buddhists are also rejoicing because they are about to send a Buddhist preacher to France. They say this is treating Christianity as Scipio did the Carthaginians when the army of Hannibal was pouring into Italy over the Alps, and the Roman ,general attacked Carthage. Christianity ha~ obtained its present stronghold in Japan because it came in upon us while we were unprepared and took advantage of our defenceless condition. We also learn that a Buddhist hospital is to be built in Tokyo and finished by spring.
An article which is calling forth much criticism from the Christian press is that by Professor Inouye, of the Imperial University, on the "Conflict of Religion and Education." Many Christians, he thinks, grow up under the care of foreigners, and thus lose their true patriotism in time. Christianity is in a numher of ways disadvantageous to Japan. Don't you see that great building on the top of Surugadai, Kanda, Tokyo ~ It is the Greek Church. In the Roman Catholic Church the Pope is the head, but in this Greek Church the Czar is the head. Thus if a Japanese becomes a member. of this church it is as though he became a Russian subject. If ten join, we lose ten of our citizens.
Of course as not all churches are like this, we cannot judge Christianity by this alone; but all the Christian sects together make up the religious system which prevails in the West. Therefore, if Japanese subjects believe this religion they will soon come to regard foreign countries as their real native land. Then, too, Christians believe in only one God, to whom there is no distinction of persons, no difference between emperor and eta, or persons of the lowest social position in Japan. Therefore often things are done which are disrespectful to our emperor.
Last year's papers contained notices, referred to by Dr. Inouye,~ saying that until recently only Buddhist priests had been permitted to officiate in the prisons of Hokkaido, but that they have now been supplanted by Christian teachers. Hitherto prisoners have always worshipped the emperor's picture on New Year's day, but this year it was stowed in the warehouse instead of being displayed for worship, all the result of Christian teaching. Such is the wail of the dying forms of religion in Japan.
The Shinto papers also complain. During the immediate past they have been lamenting that while Hokkaido is rich in mineral and agricultural, as well as marine products, and is destined to be the future granary of Japan, -the patriotism of the inhabitants is cold. They regret to know that many Christian preachers are laboring in Hokkaido, as also many Christian grammar-school teachers, bycause they are slaves of a foreign religion; but they have one comfort in' this, that Shinto is also sending forth some able preachers.
Thus, while the Christian press is jubilant and hopeful because of the
TWO mNDOO REFORMERS
progresS of the Lord's work in Japan, the Buddhist press also lends its convincing though unwilling testimony to the fact that the "Western religion" is marching grandly on to victory.. The Christian papers rejoice because of a new life and power, a mighty Saviour in the heart. The others weep, conscious of the utter absence of such life and power, and because of their consequent infinite disadvautage and hastening doom.
TWO HINDOO REFORMERS.
BY REV. JAMES MUDGE, D.D., CLINTON, MASS.
Notwithstanding the supposed changelessness of the East, there have been many chauges, and in spite of their assumed indifference to moral and religious reform there have been many reformers. Among the many, two, whose careers have influenced many millions of the people of India, and whose personal traits were very interesting, ought to be better known than they are to the students of the West. As it happens they were contemporaries, although in such different parts of the country that very likely neither knew of the existence of the other. They were also contemporaries of Luther, one being born two years after him, and the other dying seven years before him. Hence, while the great Reformation was going on in Europe, other reformations, if not of so much consequence to the world, yet of great intrinsic importance, were proceeding in Asia. It is time that they were more fully understood in America.
NANAK.
The Sikh nation, planted in the Punjab or country of five rivers, has played no insignificant part in the history of modern India. Culminating in power under Runjeet Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, who ruled from 1805 to 1839, it crossed swords for a time successfully with the best British armies, but was finally conquered in 1846, and then, in turn, when the Mutiny arose became the main strength of the empire. The Sikhs, who are still one of the most interesting people in India religiously, and number according to the recent census about two millions, were founded by N{mak, who was born in Sirhind, not far from Lahore. in the year 1469. His father, of the Kshatriya caste, was the village accountant, and considered his son a scapegrace, unlikely to make anything in life. When set to watch cattle he lost himself in meditation. Money given him to trade with lie distributed to mendicants.
After a while he married and had two sons, but he found it impossible to settle down into quiet village life. The preaching instinct was strong within him; he felt that he had a mission, and, against the remonstrances of all his relations, he cast off all family ties and set forth on his wanderings. They are said to have extended over all India, and also into Central Asia. A visit to Mecca is also ascribed to him.
Just what he preached it is not easy now with certainty to say. Some good stories are told of him. Going into a Mohammedan mosque, while all around knelt down, he stood up in silence. On being remonstrated with by the Nawab with whom he went, he said, "0 Nawab, you were not praying j your thoughts were wandering, and you were at Kandahar buying a horse." The Mohammedan, struck with awe, confessed that it was so. When the Emperor Baber, at a friendly interview, offered him bhang, he declined, stating that his bhang was to take the name of God, with the drinking of which he was always in a state of intoxication. He protested at all times against the untruth and folly of the age, and the hypocrisy and formalism of the Brahmans. He told these latter that all ritual observances were vain so long as the heart was not pure. When they stood up and looked toward the east and poured out water to their ancestors, he mockingly stood up and poured out water to the west. When they asked him his reason, he remarked that he was watering his field in the Punjab. When they urged that the water would not reach so far, he asked how, then, they expected that their water would reach to the other world. A thief met him, and the Guru (teacher) remonstrated with him on his way of living. He pleaded the necessity of supporting his family. " 'Vill they," said the Guru, "agree to share the penalty of your misdeeds in a future state~" They all declined, and assured the thief that he alone would be responsible, upon which he abandoned his dishonest profession, and became a disciple of the Guru. On one occasion he found himself with his disciples in a jungle, and they stumbled upon a corpse. " Whoever is my disciple," said the Guru, "let him eat of that body." All drew back in horror except Angad, who, lifting the sheet to obey the order, found only sweet provisions. Nanak blessed him, and told him that he should be his successor.
Nanak's character seems to have been without reproach. He was peaceful and benevolent. He had much piety and truth and common-sense. Beholding and pitying the miseries produced by fanaticism and religious strife, his object was to blend the Hindoo and Mohammedan faiths into one strifeless compound, making a harmonious brotherhood who should worship the one invisible Being. In this, of course, he failed, and it would seem that he could not have had any clear or deep conceptions of the irreconcilable differences between the two systems. He appears to have adopted in general the philosophical syst6m of his countrymen, and regarded bliss as the dwelling of the soul with God after its primitive transmigrations should have ceased. "Life," he said, "is as the shadow of the passing bird, but the soul of man is as the potter's wheel, ever circling on its pivot." He asserted no special divinity, declaring himself to be but the slave, the humble messenger of the Almighty, making use of universal truth as his sole instrument. He did not claim for his writings, replete as they were with wisdom and devotion, the merit of a direct transcription of the words of God; nor did he say that his own preaching required or would be sanctioned by miracles. He taught that asoetiClsm or abandonment of the world was unnecessary, the pious hflrmit and the devout householder being equal in the eyes of the Almighty. He disengaged his little society of worshippers from Hindoo idolatry and Mohammedan superstition, and placed them free on a broad basis of religious and moral purity.
At length, when old age had dimmed his eye and whitened his hair, N{mak settled down in the midst of his disciples at Kirtarpore, on the banks of the Ravee, as poor, as simple, and as benevolent as when, fifty years before, he had abandoned his home and the ordinary ways of men. To avoid the snare of a hereditary priesthood, he excluded his sons from the succession, and named as his successor Angad. He died peacefully at the age of seventy, in the midst of his followers.
CHAITANYA.
Shri Krishna Chaitanya, founder of the Vaishnavas of Bengal, a religious sect whose numbers are estimated at from ten to twelve millions, was born in the year 1485 in the village of Nadiya, on the banks of the Bhagirathi, seventy miles from Calcutta. In his childhood he was by no means a model of gentleness and modesty, but performed many wild, boisterous, and imprudent pranks.
After the death of his father he was married and commenced life as a schoolmaster, attracting many pupils by the fame of his learning. His wife soon dying, he was married a second time with great pomp. He made a pilgrimage to Gaya, a place of great sanctity in Behar, and read with deep attention the Purana called Shri Bhagavat. This more than any other book moulded his soul and tinctured his fancy. By incessant meditation on Krishna he acquired an unbounded affection for him, and repeated his name day and night with highly-wrought enthusiasm. He soon started out as a reformer to proclaim" the riches of Krishna's love" to the world. This was his one idea. He devoted all his powers and energies to the contemplation of this object, the furtherance of this thought. He boldly proclaimed the name of Hari or Krishna as the only deliverer of mankind. He easily gained over some of the respectable Brahmans of Nadiya, and the number of the disciples speedily grew. Devotional dances, ecstatic singing and vociferations, and sensational processions through the streets attracted great attention, stimulated the zeal of the faithful, and spread the excitement.
Chaitanya was now twenty-four years old. He resolved to become an ascetic. So, having been taught the formulas ct Vairagism by a holy sage in a neighboring village, he received his new name (Nimar was his youthful name), and amid the lamentation of his devoted followers set. out on his travels. He went first to Orissa to see the far-famed Jagannath. At the sight he was filled with ineffable delight, and so ardent were his emotions that he fell insensible to the ground. He made many proselytes, and divine honors were ascribed to him. He next went southward through the Deccan, repeating everywhere incessantly the name of Krishna, and calling on others to do so. He visited all the places celebrated in the Ramayan, and at length returned to Orissa. He became the chief leader of the celebrations there around the great idol. He propagated his doctrines vigorously, and proselytized multitudes. He spent four years in this way, and then returned to Bengal for a season. He visited Benares, Allahabad, Muthea, and the other sacred places of the north, but soon went back to Orissa. Twelve more years were spent in this vicinity, instructing his followers, receiving visits and adorations, and performing severe devotions. He soon fell into fits of insanity. His mind, early tinctured with no small degree of fanaticism, now showed unmistakable signs of imbecility. His day dreams and night visions were incessant and full of wild hallucinations. In one of his insane fits he threw himself into the sea, fancying it to be the sacred Jumna, and was drowned. He was then about forty-three years of age.
To the doctrines that he taught we can give but a brief space. The theology of the Vaishnavas is thoroughly pantheistic, like that of the other Hindoo sects. Krishna is the supreme object of adoration, and the earth with all it contains is but a modification of this divinity. The peculiarity of this Bengal sect is the identification of Krishna with the mendicant of Nadiya; and Chaitanya's most distinctive doctrine was that of bhakti, or faith. According to him the way of salvation was not by knowledge or by works, as others had taught, but by faith. Sinners have now only to believe in Krishna-that is, Chaitanya. But the faith inculcated is a blind one, discarding knowledge, without rational basis, and divorced from all practical religion. Anything whatever-a water-pot, a plant, a log of wood-believed by the devotee to be Krishna or Chaitanya becomes to him such, and insures to him happiness in the realm of Vaikantha. Faith is divided into five stages: Slinta, or quietism, a cold, merely intellectual belief; Dlisya, or servitude, the more active devotion of an attached slave; Slikhya, or friendship, the allegiance and intimacy of personal companionship; Blitsalya, or filial affection, the closer communion of true sonship; and Mlidhurya, or sweetness, the enthusiastic, passionate attach. ment of a lover. The similarity between this and some aspects of Christian faith is very striking; but in the hands of theVaishnavas, who are universally idolaters, the degradation of it to formalism and licentiousness is swift and sure.
The Gurus, or religious teachers, receive a reverence almost divine, no matter what moral turpitude they are guilty of, and have a power over their deluded votaries compared with which that of the worst priestcraft in the Church of Rome is mild and reasonable. The worship abounds in Kirtans and Sankirtans-that is, repeating the names of Krishna by a
A LETTER TO THE STUDENT VOLUNTEERS
rosary of beads, or singing and vociferating them aloud in company with instrumental music. There are also many 1Yahatsabs, or feasts of great joy, and gatherings to listen to the reading or repeating of the Bhagavat.
The system of Chaitanya is an interesting development of the religious consciousness of India, an important innovation on orthodox Hindooism, an index to some extent of the march of liberal ideas. It contains the germs of certain great truths. It is simple, it elevates faith, it lays great stress on the affections and sensibilities. It is in some respects a slight advance toward that Christian system which alone contains the full development of what was good in Chaitanya's doctrines, and which in time must supplant them.
A LETTER TO THE STUDENT VOLUNTEERS.
BY REV. WILLIAM JESSUP, SYRIA.
My DEAR FRIENDS: It has occurred to me that you who are still in America preparing yourselves for the work of foreign missions would like to hear from one of the first and original members of the great movement that has since affected you. The writer signed his name to the list when there were only about six members one Sunday afternoon in Mr. Wilder's parlor in Princeton. He has now been a little over two years on the field in Zahleh, Mt. Lebanon, Syria. In this mission, at the end of two years, the young missionary is supposed to have acquired enough Arabic to pass a final examination in grammar before the mission, and also to preach an Arabic sermon in Beirut church, beside mastering the difficulties of pronouncing the gutturals in regular conversation. Having weathered this part of the voyage, your fellow-volunteer now stands ready for the regular routine work of missionary life, and at last at the end of all examinations. You know what that means. Three years at least reckoned for preparing for college, four for the college course, three for theological seminary, and two for study of Arabic make up a round twelve years of preparation before a man stands ready for work. To those of you who are still in process of preparation, the writer offers a few hints that may be useful to you before the last step is taken on American soil.
Some of you may already be thinking about what to bring with you to your foreign home. If so, then be careful to ascertain accurately what can be obtained at your destination, and then take all the comfortable durable furniture not obtainable there that is consistent with your means. You have no idea how much you will have to depend upon the cheerfulness of your home in your outpost work to give you courage and power to work. If these comforts are not taken at the start, you are not apt to get them afterward. Few Oriental lands abound in things to furnish an American's home.
Do not be alarmed about " luxury in missions" that some people talk so much about. The man who has the small salary of a mIssIOnary is entitled to use it as he sees fit. If he also has property, the fact of his being a missionary should not hamper his use of it. Let your missionary home have every reasonable comfort within your reach.
Once on the field and engrossed in frontier work, you will find it diffi- cult to ascertain what are the best books for your library, should you have money to invest in them. Therefore one good plan would be to make an extended list of books that your taste would select, buy what you can, and preserve the list for future reference.
Upon arriving at your post resolve to live on terms of peace and har- mony with your fellow-workers at any cost to your personal feelings.
You cannot afford to let the Lord's work suffer for a difference of opinion.
Respect the experience and advice of your seniors in service.
Learn the language during the first two or three years if possible.
Postponing this is perilous. You will hear the cries of practical hard work every day calling you away from s~udy. You can heed but few of them at first, although everywhere you will feel that you must relieve your colleagues of some of their burden as soon as possible; but you must learn to speak the language first of all. There are plenty of things that must be done whether or no. One of them is making a habitable house for yourself in which to work. Either a native house must be made habitable or a new house built. In most countries you must fight a war of extermi- nation against vermin. The articles of food obtainable will be different from what you have known. Perhaps at first you can eat but few of them.
You must learn to eat some distatseful things, however, or you will fare poorly. It is expensive getting canned goods from America. Foreign countries also levy import duties.
Th.e currency in some places is very complex and the values of the different denominations apt to be variable. It will take you a long time to realize how much you are expending, unless you 'study your table of equivalents constantly.
You will find it requires humility for the college and seminary grad- uate, who comes to his field as a "leader and reformer," to sit down patiently at his ABC book and be condescendingly patronized by his neighbors because of that. .
The natural disposition does not love people who need foreign mission- aries. Children of the devil and followers of the False Prophet are WICKED through and through. They cheat, and so will cheat you. They lie, and will deceive you. You are as apt as anyone to be cursed by them. Be- cause they persecute you, you must not cease to work for their good.
These things are all signs that they need salvation. A mere sentiment of love for sinners in general does not make you love such people. Nothing but the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you will make you really LOVE linneTs.
Expect to meet the Jesuits. They follow the Protestant around the world trying to subvert and hinder his success. They seem to be inspired by the devil. As yet Americans have not realized what they are. In America they keep hidden. On the foreign mission field they bribe people unblushingly to misuse all the means available to oppose the reading of the Bible, the establishment of good schools, and the preaching of the Gospel. Very recently the French Jesuits have been taking up collections in Paris, from house to house, saying that they wanted the money to use in "extirpating Protestantism from Mt. Lebanon." They bribe Government officials to persecute Protestants, and when they gain any slight success, publish most enormous falsehoods about it in the French papers.
When my father came to Syria, more than thirty years ago, Dr. De Forest gave h~m a list of maxims concerning a young missionary's life in Syria. My father handed them down to me and I offer them to you, for although they are particularly applicable to a SYrian missionary, they are general enough to help all. They are these: " Don't ascend hill Difficulty till you get to it. "Don't build too many "ridges of sighs, expecting to cross deep waters on such fabri~s. Follow the Great Shepherd right through the floods. " Don't expect American-built air.castles to stand Syrian siroccos. Build solidly upon the Rock. Don't expect to find Lebanon all levelled to your hand on arriving. If you get fatigued in your work, don't get tired of it. " Don't count upon too much fragrance in bouquets of Sharon roses until the roses have had time to blossom. " Don't expect to convert a soul by talking a foreign language badly when you could not convert one by speaking English ever 80 glibly j but remember that abroad, as here, sufficiency is of God. " Let not the juvenile expect t,o be eloquent in Arabic in three months. Juveniles do not learn their English so quickly. Stammer, trip, blunder, but keep talking. " Don't expect natives to be aware of your superiority all in a day, and don't believe them if they profess to be. "Remember it is human, not merely American, to believe that one's own peculiar race is the best ever fashioned. " Remember that you go to win, not to browbeat or ridicule nor yet to fail, but to win sorrls. " Remember how many years passed before you could consent to love God. " Don't be more careful to keep fleas out of your house than to get Arabs in. " Don't condemn every building which is not of American shape, nor all costumes and cnstoms not fashionable in New York. " Prove ail things. Hold fast the good. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. " Remember that you dwell in houses of clay, and that it is an nnwise zeal that kills the missionar" l}efore he can save a single soul.
EVANGELIZATION OF THE ISLANDS
, , Walk in the way you point out to others. Tricks of ventriloquism, throwing Jour voice where you do not go, will not deceive those before whose eyes you are evidently standing still.
" Asiatics will detect your weak side sooner than recognize good and godly characteristics.
" Envy is one of the oldest inhabitants of Asia, but Master 'God's peace' is a stranger, and must not expect to be recognized.
" You will have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise.
" Remember in prayer those whom you expect to remember you." In closing, one word more. The general course of instruction now given in most of our colleges and theological seminaries does not give a man a complete practical mastery of his English Bible. He is expected to make the acquaintance of that friend in private. If you have not made a prayerful and systematic study of your English Bible already, so as to use it in leading souls to Christ, don't expect that transplanting you among heathen will superinduce it. Get Mr. Moody to show you how if you cau, The vital power of your Bible in your hands is more necessary to you than a college education when you get on the mission field.
With warmest regards to you all, I remain sincerely yours, WILLIAM JESSUP.
EVANGELIZATION OF THE ISLANDS. * BY REV. EUGENE DUNLAP, PETCHABURI, SIAM.
One of the most intensely interesting studies of our time is the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning the evangelizing of the islands.. These prophecies are very explicit, as, for example, Isa. 42 : 4, "And the isles shall wait for His law i" Isa. 51 : 5, "The isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust;" Isa. 60 : 9, "Surely the isles shall wait for Me i" Isa. 66 : 19, "To the islands afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory." The student of the progress of the Gospel in the islands cannot fail to see that these prophecies have been almost entirely fulfilled, largely in our own time. God seems to have chosen the people of very small islands in a great measure to carry out His purposes in evangelizing and civilizing the world. Undoubtedly man would have chosen people of a huge continent. But God, evidently to glorify Himself, for a large part of the work chose the people of the British Isles.
We too often forget that the people of these islands were once as in. tensely heathen as the people of the Pacific islands were one half century • An addre." given in the Sanitarinm Chapel, rlifton Springs, N. Y., Novemher 20th, 1892, and publlsh.,1 by request. ago. And too many of us so magnify the blots on English rule in the East -namely, the shameful liquor and opium traffic-that we lose sight of her beneficent work for the multitudes of India, and the isl~nds under her power.
Come with me into Hong Kong, a British city. Behold the asylum, the hospital, the home of the friendless, the chapels, the churches, and see as pure a municipal government as may be found in any city in our own coun- try. Christianity has stamped itself upon the public institutions of the city, for over the door of the post-office building we see carved in granite words from Holy Writ: "As cool water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." You will then be glad that Christian England has placed this model city, an object lesson to the 400,000,000 of that great empire, China.
Then come with me to that beautiful city, Singapore; First of all you notice the rooms of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which has brought the Word of God to that city in the thirty-two languages spoken by the people on its streets. You will hear earnest laymen, business men of the city, publishing the Gospel on the esplanades of the city. In yonder fort on the hill you will hear the British officers in charge pleading with the soldiers to sign the total abstinence pledge. Here, too, you will find as cleanly a city and as pure municipal government and as just courts as in any Christian land-a model city for the people not only of the Malay Peninsula, but of the entire Archipelago.
Not long since an Indian prince visited England and viewed with pleasure the great institutions of the country. When afterward privileged to an audience with the Queen, he expressed his gratification with all that he had seen, and inquired the cause of all this greatness. The Christian Queen, pointing to a Bible on the table, said: "That Book is the foundation of all our greatness." Wherever England places a diplomat or soldier, she there plants the Christian Church. All are familiar with her beneficent rule in India-abolishing the cruel, murderous rites of heathenism, and giving it the common schools and humane institutions. The vantage points of the East are in the hands of the people of the British Isles, and 67 per cent of the ships of the world fly the British flag.. Truly it was a wonderful Provideuce that chose these once heathen islands to be the centre from which to so great an extent the purposes of God concerning this world should be carried out.
Leaving these islands, let us go down through the seas to Madagascar. The early missionary of Madagascar was greeted by the French diplomat upon the island after this fashion: "You make the people of Madagascar Christians? Impossible! They are mere brutes, and have not as much sense as irrational cattle." The missionary was not chilled by this wel- comc U), but labored faithfully on until banished from the island by a cruel queen. His heart was sad over having to forsake the infant Church, but God did not forsake that little Church ; cruel persecutions came upon it, they were endured with faithfulness not surpassed by the Christians of apostolic times. These poor Christians were sold into slavery, banished to fever districts to die, were stoned, dashed over precipices, burned at the stake. More than 1600 died in persecutions, and yet when the missionanes were permitted to return to the island after long banishment, they found a stronger Church than when they left it. To-day the London Missionary Society alone has 1200 Christiau congregations in Madagascar, and in all, on the island, there are 1000 native pastors. The missionaries were the pioneers in educational work in Madagascar; they reduced the language of the people to writing, and now have 1300 schools, and lived to see the time when the Government requires every child between eight and sixteen years of age to learn to read and write. Through the influence of Christianity idol worship, polygamy, and other glaring forms of heathenism are prohibited by law. There are some interesting statements concerning the success of missions on this island from diplomats and soldiers. General J. W. Phelps says that" during the present century, Madagascar has passed from a state of pagan barbarism to one of Christian civilization." The prophecy concerning this island is fulfilled. She has taken her stand among the Christian nations of the world : "The ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord."
Leaving this island, let us cross the sea to Ceylon, the Mecca of the Buddhists, for here is a favorite shrine to which Buddhists from all parts of the world come to worship the supposed tooth of Buddha. The selfrighteousness of the Pharisees of Christ's time did not excel that of the Buddha priests of Ceylon. A leading priest was asked by a traveller: " Do you worship the gods 1" He replied: "No, the gods worship me." The progress of the Gospel iu this island has been encouraging; the work is marked by strong educational institutions. The Jafl'na Mission has nine self-supporting churches and 135 mission schools. Self-support is a marked feature of the native Church. A traveller, accompanying a missionary on his pastoral visits, noticed as they walked through the garden of the parishioner every now and then a cocoanut-tree marked" X." He inquired why these trees were thus marked. The native Christian humbly answered, " Because every X tree is devoted to the Lord." Noticing the wife as she cooked the noonday meal throw a handful of rice into the pot for each member of the family, and then two handfuls into a pot near by the fireplace, the traveller inquired, Why two handfuls into this pot 1 She said, " That is the Lord's rice pot, and I remember 'Him when cooking each meal." Surely we can learn some lessons from the Christians of that island.
Let us now go to Sumatra. You will notice a monument erected to the memory of the first missionaries to this island, who were cruelly murdered and devoured by the cannibals. You will be glad to learn that thr~)Ugh the power of Christianity cannibalism has been wholly abolished, and the Netherland missionaries rejoice over 12,000 Christians upon the island. We have ('ntered the Netherland India. Our next island of this group is Java. A gratifying change has taken place in the attitude of the Holland Government in these islands. Formerly she smiled upon Mohammedanism and frowned upon Christian missions. Recently her Minister for the Colonies recommended "the establishment of missions as a sure method of securing loyalty of subjects. " Well do I remember the day that I entered the beautiful city of Batavia. I learned with joy that there were two Americans in the city, and sought them at once. We had a pleasant talk regarding our native land; but when I inquired about the missionaries in this region of Java, one replied, "Why, they are not accomplishing anything; the natives don't take to them." I sought a venerable Hollander, forty years resident on the island, and deeply interested in all Christian work for the islanders. He at once invited me to accompany him to a Christian colony at Depok, ten miles from the city. It was his custom, although a busy banker in the city, to spend two hours in Christian work in this colony every morning before he went to business. It was a delight to witness the great contrast between these Christian homes and the homes of the heathen islanders. We visited a strong native church in the colony, ~ school having its 230 children. Above all, we were delighted with the theological seminary of the colony; for there we looked into the faces of ~O students earnestly at work in preparation for the ministry. These students are sons of the cruel head-hunters of Borneo, sons of the fierce islanders of Celebes, descendants of the cannibals of Sumatra, and 150ns of Java. All this we found within ten miles of the spot where the coffee merchant had said, " Missionaries are not accomplishing anything in" this part of Java; the natives don't take to them." He was looking for coffee plantations; I, for mission stations; each found just the thing he was looking for. In all Java there are 25 stations, 26 missionaries, and 12,000 converts. Let us not forget there are 23,000,000 of people upon that small island. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, send more workers into Java. Brahmanism, Buddhism, and now Mohammedanism have all been at work on the Javanese, but have not routed the worship of the aborigines. While the religion of the people is supposed to" be Mohammedanism, spirit, fetich, and devil worship prevail throughout the country.
We cross to Borneo, once called the " Nation of head-hunters," because skulls of enemies garnished their rude huts and were their fttvorite offerings to the gods. In some portions of the islands no one was allowed to marry who could not show a certain number of human heads which he had struck off. Imagine a father returning after a day's exploit, and his daughter running out to meet him with the inquiry, " Well, papa, how many heads did you cut off to-day~" It is a certain proof of the divinity of the Gospel that it can tame, yea, elevate such people. In the southern part of the island the Netherland Missionary Society has 4000 churchmembers, ll;nd among the various tribes may be found 3000 members in the English Church. A traveller, in speaking of the change wrought on this island by the Gospel, says: "We can no longer call them head-hunt- ers ; their deadly instruments, which could easily cut off a man's head at a single sweep, have become rusty heirlooms. Nowhere in the world, so far as I know, is life and property more secure than among the once fierce head-hunters of Borneo." "Surely the isles shall wait for Him."
And what as to Celebes, so near Borneo ~ Alfred Russell Wallace, in his book called" The Studies of Man and Nature in the Malay Archi- pelago," says : "The missionaries have much to be proud of in this country. They have aided the Government in changing a savage into a civilized community. Forty years ago the country was a wilderness, the people naked savages, garnishing their rude huts with human heads. Now it is a garden." There are 200 Christian congregations and 125 schools upon the island. "To the isles afar off that have not heard of My fame nor seen My glory, they shall declare My name."
As we leave Dutch India, let us not forget the 27,000,000 of people there, and only 79 missionaries working for them; in all Malaysia only one American missionary.
New Guinea has not yet yielded much fruit, but it is ready for the seed. Holland missionaries are in the northwest of the island, London missionaries in the southeast. The island has 1,500,000 people. There are some 70 stations on the mainland, and baptized converts number some 5000. One of the most interesting features of missionary work on this island is the devoted, self-sacrificing labors of the native missionaries. The converts from other islands sent there by the native church, the first native evangelists to reach New Guinea, were Polynesians, and they were massacred-12 in all. But did this chill the missionary spirit of the young native Church ~ No; for volunteers came from Loyalty, Samoan, and Savage islands. These Christians of these islands offered to go to the heathen in New Guinea until the missionaries decided by lot who should stay home. Fifteen were asked for-40 volunteered to go. Surely our missionary zeal has not surpassed theirs.
Before leaving this hemisphere, let us make our way up to Formosa, and as we do so we pass by the Philippine Islands with their 7,000,000 of people. Have you thought of these 7,000,000 ~ Has your heart ever yearned for their salvation ~ It is gratifying to know as we pass by that almost all so unjustly taken from the missionaries by the Spauish Government has been returned to them.
Reaching Formosa, we find the English Presbyterian missionaries very much encouraged in their work in the south of the island, and the Canadian Presbyterians hard at work in the north. There is a thrilling history concerning the introduction of Christianity in northern Formosa, and it centres largely in the life of one man, the devoted McKay. His first home was an abandoned stable, which, during a tour, was torn down and the stones scattered. Once while seeking to preach the Gospel in the marketplace, he was confronted by a native with a long drawn sword, intending to sweep off his head. He faced him, and the native's arm seemed to drop as if paralyzed. Afterward that very native presented him with the sword, saying, " Christ has subdued me." After patient labors we have the report that during a recent revival more than 500 people have cleared their homes of idols and converted their heathen temple into a house of worship for the true God.
Crossing over to Japan, our hearts are thrilled with the wonderful progress of Christianity on that island. The Japanese Christians may be making some mistakes, but there is much in the native Church that is commendable. It might be characterized by three terms: Self-governing, self-supporting, self-extending; these are essential to a live church. It has been asserted that there are more self-supporting churches, in proportion, in Japan, than in Kansas or Nebraska. The Church of Christ in Japan reports 50 ordained native ministers, 87 licentiates, 70 students of the ministry, 11,622 communicants. This has been rated as one third the force of the native Church.
Now let us glance at the other hemisphere. In New Zealand there have been wonderful strides in the work of missions. The missionaries of the church societies waited eleven years for their first convert, and five years longer for the second. We now read of 1197 churches and chapels in New Zealand, and 241 schoolhouses used for Sahbath services. One third of the population attend the churches. In the Presbyterian churches of the island there are 40,000 church-goers. Even Mr. Darwin, the scientist, was so impressed by what he saw of the influence of the Gospel upon this island that he said: "The lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. When I looked at the whole scene I thought it admirable. I took leave of the missionaries with thankfulness for their welcome and high respect for their upright and useful characters." He afterward made substantial contributions for the support of Christian work upon the island.
Our hearts are glad over the grand fulfilment of the prophecies concerning the islands, when we glance at Polynesia. Seventy years ago this great region was entirely heathen, its peoples most cruel. Now more than 300 of the islands are Christianized, so that we can say of them, not only that they shall wait for His law, but have received His law. On the New Hebrides islands there is a suggestive memorial slab over the grave of Rev. John Geddie: "When he came here in 1848 there were no Christians, and when he left in 1872 there were no heathen." If you would have your heart thrilled with the triumphs of the Gospel among such people as the cannibals of the New Hebrides, read the biography of that venerable miSSionary, John Paton. The people of these islands, once gloating over human flesh, have within a few years given $3500 for the printing of God's Word. The native Christians in Samoa have contributed $6000 annually to the London Missionary Society.
The man who first entered the Friendly Islands as a missionary told me that the people were so ignorant that they aidn't know of fire; they ate
INDIAN MISSIONS IN THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST
everything raw. Neither did they know that water would boil: "When I kindled a fire and boiled some water I could scarcely restrain them from worshipping me as a god. You can imagine how they marvelled when myself and wife reduced their language to writing, and printed the Word on our little printing-press." Although this venerable servant has gone up higher, he lived to see more than 30,000 church-members in the Friendly Islands.
The late Rev. James Calvert said: "When I arrived at the Fiji group, my first duty was to bury the hands, feet, and heads of eighty victims whose bodies had been roasted and eaten in a cannibal feast." Can the Gospel do anything for such people? Is it within the power of Christianity to tame and elevate them? Let the same missionary answer: "I lived to see those very cannibals who had taken part in that human feast gathered about the Lord's table, members of His Church." Cannibalism on these islands is wholly given up. Fifty years ago not a Christian in Fiji. Now, with only 9 white missionaries, we have 1468 native preachers, 1268 chapels, 1735 day and Sunday-schools, and 2526 native teachers. Surely, instead of the brier there has sprung up the myrtle-tree.
All are so familiar with the story of the Hawaiian Islands that I need hardly relate it. Within fifty years this people, saved from extinction, have entered the great family of Christian nations. Years ago their hearts went out to Japan, and they gave $1000 to aid in establishing the first Christian Church there. Besides supporting the work among themselves, they have carried on mission work in other islands. One of the most striking facts indicating the missionary spirit of the native Church is that" 30 per cent of the native ministry are foreign missionaries, and 22 per cent of the Christian giving in the islands goes to support mission work in other islands." Thus their missionary zeal and liberality in supporting foreign missionary work is not surpassed even by the Christian Church in America.
INDIAN MISSIONS IN THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST.
BY A. G. MCKITRICK, RIVER QUI BARRE, ALBERTA, CANADA.
The most of the Indians in this vast extent of country may be divided into four great nations : First, the Ojibways or 80tos (Saulteaux) of the east and northeast, around Lake Superior, Hudson's Bay, and Lake Vinnipeg, and the country between, together with some on the prairies in and west of Manitoba.
Second, the Crees, found all along both sides of the great Saskat9hewan River. Those eastward at Lake Winnipeg are called the Muskeg or Swampy Crees j those in the timbered region north of the Saskatchewan, Woody Crees j while those on the prairies south of it are called the Plain Crees. Third, the Blackfeet, who are found in Southern Alberta, east of the Rocky Mountains and north of Montana, in the United States. The Bloods, Peigans, and Sarcees are branches of this nation, speaking different dialects of the Blackfoot language.
Fourth, the Sioux or Dakota nation, of which many are found in Canada, although the bulk of them are in the United States. There are Sioux outlaws who escaped to Canada after the Custer and other massacres who have made themselves at home in Manitoba and Assiniboia. The Assiniboines, or Stony Sioux, are a numerous branch of the Sioux found in Assiniboia and Alberta, of whom the Mountain Stonies, living in the foot-hills of the Rockies, on the Bow River, compose the greater part.
The languages of the Crees and Ojibways have so many words similar and in common that they may be called sister languages ; but those of the Blackfeet and Sioux are very different.
Time fails us to speak also of the Beavers, Chippewayans, Esquimaux, and others of the far Northwest along the Mackenzie River basin. And the many tribes of British Columbia would make another subject, on which I hope some of the missionaries on that side of the Rockies will write to the REVIEW.
What has been done for all these tribes and nations 1 Four churches have undertaken mission work among them. Perhaps the first to go to them was the Roman Catholic, though the Church of England and the Methodists were not far behind, and later the Presbyterians came to the help of the Lord against the mighty pagan strongholds of ignorance and superstition.
Of the Roman Catholics we have nothing to say, except that while we have often admired their earnest self-denial in going back among the heathen where others had not gone, even into the very cold regions of the far north; still they have improved their Indians very little if any, simply giving them another form of idolatry and superstition, which is often only added to the old paganism. At the writer's home we can hear the heathen drum and dance going all night long, even by those who have just been to the Roman Catholic church for morning mass, and often the men go off to work or shoot as soon as they return from church. The Sabbath is just the same as other days except while they are in church, even after many years of mission work, or rather want of real true Christian work. This mission is no exception. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
The English Church has done some splendid work, for they have many earnest missionaries who have also gone into the very coldest regions of Canada, around Hudson's Bay, and in the Mackenzie River basin. They have also missions in Manitoba and among the savage Blackfeet and Bloods of Alberta. Among the latter they have made little progress, though they have many converts in the far Northwest and NorthQast.
The Methodists not only sent out a few missionaries direct from England via Hudson's Bay, along with those of the English Church, hut have also sent a few northward from Ontario to the Ojibways along the great lakes. Much success has accompanied them. Then the Canadian Pacific Railroad was being built north of Lake Superior a contractor employed Indians as well as whites, and when Sunday came he tried to induce them to work that day as other days. But although he could hire the whites, not one of the Indians could be either persuaded, hired, or forced to do so, but went to hear their missionary as usual. Methodist missionaries pushed on northward along Lake Winnipeg and westward to the Crees on both sides of the Saskatchewan and even to the Stonies at the foot of the Rockies. Here by their earnest devotion, attendance at religious services, and observance of the Sabbath, some of these Crees and Stonies would put to shame many far more highly favored church-members in Eastern churches, who perhaps look down on the poor Indians. The names of missionaries George McDougall, Henry Steinhaur, Rundle, and Woolsey will long be remembered as pioneers in this work among the Crees and Stonies, while to-day it is still carried on by Revs. German, Glass, J. McDougall, R. and E. Steinhaur, Nelson, Summerset, and Adamson.
Although the Presbyterians only began a few years ago to spend much on Indian missions, still their work is not without success. Missionaries Nisbet and John McKay have gone to their reward, leaving Revs. Fleet, Hugh McKay, Moore, and others still plodding on. Industrial boarding mission schools, partly supported by the Government, are being preferred to day schools by all these denominations, and the hope is principally in the children.
Very many of the Indians of the Northwest are still pagan, especially among such tribes as the Blackfeet, where the sun dance and other heathen dances and practices are scarcely surpassed for cruelty and dense darkness by any in Africa or India.
In the sun dance they build a circular tabernacle of poles covered with green branches and worship the sun, when the leaves are opening out in the spring. Here, in part of the worship, those who have made sacred vows to the Great Spirit during the year come forward to pay their vows in the presence of the assembled crowds. For instance, a man's child has been at death's door, and he promised the Kitche-manito that if He would restore the loved one to health he would give himself to be tortured at the next sun dance. The child recovers, and the Indian, with a faithfulness to his god that should make many of us Christians hang our heads in shame, comes forward and stretches himself on his back on the grassy floor of the large green worshipping place. Indians then come up with knives and make two cuts on each side of his breast, so as to leave a strip of flesh between. Through this wooden skivers are thrust. Then one end of a long rawhide thong is attached to each, and the other end is fastened to the top of the centre pole of the leafy tent. In olden times often this was not enough, but cuts were made in the arms near the shoulders and skivers put in these also, and by thelie a heavy gun was hung on each side. Others
1i10 HOME MISMONS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
were put in his back and buffalo heads attached to them. This done, the music of the drums and dance song grew loud and rapid, and the tears trickled down his cheeks as he danced and jerked till the flesh broke out at each skiver and he was at last free.
What terrible suffering! Which one of us Christians would do as much to pay our vows to our God ~ Surely we should be willing to go to the ends of the earth to carry the Gospel message for our Master when an ignorant, pagan Indian will do so much in his religion.
These sun dances are still carried on every year, though with less severe cruelty than in bygone days. The Government is discouraging them to some extent, but more stringent measures should be taken to put a stop to all this torture and cruelty.
When visiting a sick Indian one day, the writer stopped to see a" dog feast" dance. The drums were beating at a lively rate, and about half a dozen young men, almost naked, and with their skin painted in several colors and adorned with many eagle feathers, were dancing around a pot of meat, singing as they danced, " Hi-yi, hi-yi, hi-yi-yi," etc. The meat was that of a dog which they had killed. The skull was on top, with the teeth showing in anything but a pleasant fashion. The drums beat faster, the song grew louder and more earnest, until finally it ended with a short, quick yell. This was repeated over and over again for some time. Then a long, slender, carefully made stick was inserted in a small piece of the meat and this was waved around in a mysterious way over the eagle feathers several times, as if it were offering to the spirits before the feast. Then they dished out the meat and broth and ate it with a relish.. They offered the writer some, but of course he replied, " Nin kawin bakete" (I am not hungry). We might describe other dances and customs, but these will suffice to show that we have still heathen in America who should call forth on the part of those who have been favored by being born in Christian homes a desire to support missionaries and teachers in sufficient numbers to teach them the better way of serving and worshipping their Creatc;>r.
HOME MISSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
BY REV. A. SUTHERLAND, D.D., TORONTO, CANADA.
" Home missions" is a term of comprehensive import, and its meaning widens with each decade. Half a century ago home missions meant, in popular estimation, only those scattered frontier settlements where Christian ordinances were maintained by aid from wealthier communities. Today the term means that, of course, but it means much more. It includes all those forms of organized Christian effort whereby the Church seeks to carry the Gospel message to all who need it in our own land; to the lapsed masses in the great cities, and to the wandering Indian of the mountain or plain j to the votaries of false or perverted religions, and to those whose Christianity is but a lifeless form; to the adventurous miner and the hardy settler, those pioneers of civilization who on this continent have more than once laid the foundations of empire ; and last, but by no means feast, to the polyglot millions from beyond the seas who come to seek homes in a land where poverty is no bar to advancement, but who bring with them cus- toms, belief!!, and inherited tendencies which are not favorable to a healthy social or religious development, and may prove-indeed, have already proved-to be a standing menace to national freedom and stability. In a word, the object of home missions is to evangelize the heterogeneous peoples that compose the population of this continent, and to solve, by the application of Gospel principles, the difficult problems presented by diversi- ties of race, language, religion, and national life.
While treating this subject in relation to the Continent of America, it will be necessary to keep in view its two great political divisions, the United States and Canada; for although there are some religious problems common to both countries, each has some problems peculiar to itself. To these two nations is committed, in the providence of God, the destiny, social, educational, political, religious, of a vast continent, that in less than another century will contain a majority of the English-speaking people of the globe, and will exert a more potent influence upon the world's religious future than perhaps all other nations combined. In the accomplishment of a great providential mission by these two nations, home missions will be a powerful factor, and it is most important that the question should be understood in all its bearings. The object of this article is not to present an array of statistics showing what each denomination has accomplished by means of its home missions-that would require a volume-but rather to outline such facts and principles as will give a general view of the whole situation, and perhaps afford some hints as to lines of action in the future. With this object in view various departments of home mission work will be considered Reparately.
1. Oity .ilfissions.-The streams of humanity flow toward the centres. The cities are congested, the country parts are depleted. In large centres of popUlation the conditions of life change for the worse. Home life, in any healthy sense, becomes for all difficult, and for the poor impossible. The result is a state of society that is inimical to health, morals, and religious advancement. City populations have increased, are increasing, far more rapidly than are the necessary accommodations for home life. Out of this has grown the tenement system. To take a single instance, more than three fourths of the population of New York dwell in tenement houses, in an atmosphere that is for the most part physically, morally, and religiously unwholesome. Nor is this all. Many of the great cities of the United States are peopled largely by foreigners and their immediate descendants, and civic government has passed, in some instances, into hands least qualified for its wise and honest administration. In such great centres the problems presented are vast and complicated, while the appliances for solving them seem to be very inadequate. Nevertheless, there are some hopeful signs. City mission work has largely increased its scope in recent years, and methods and agencies for reaching the masses are now freely employed that were undreamed of a generation ago. Among the hopeful signs are: 1. The consecration of wealth, time, and social influence to the task of reaching and' uplifting the lapsed classes. 2. A thorough study of great social questions-labor, poverty, pauperism, crime -and a sustained effort to solve the problems they present by the application of Gospel principles. 3. Co-operation among churches and charitable organizations, whereby waste is prevented, imposture detected, and the deserving are promptly relieved. 4. The building of large and comfortable " people's churches," instead of small and dingy mission chapels, which latter only emphasize the contrast between the rich and poor. 5. The multiplication of agencies, so as to reach all cla€ses and conditions of people. And, 6, a more general recognition of the fact that " man shall not live by bread alone j" that he has needs on the spiritual as well as the temporal side, and that it becomes the Church to adapt her methods and agencies so as to meet these various needs. A glance at the religious organization and work of such cities as New York, Boston, and Toronto will be sufficient to show that city mission work is well to the front, and that resolute and sustained efforts are being made to solve the problems presented by the rapidly growing urban populations of this continent.
At the same time, it may not be out of place to aay that the Christian activities of our cities must further widen their scope and turn their efforts in some new directions before the desired results can be achieved. There is little profit in lopping off a few twigs and branches while the great roots of social and civic evils remain untouched. It is of little use that we attempt to check wickedness in low places as long as we tolerate it in high places. The Gospel so faithfully preached in the slums has a mcssage to the parks, and boulevards, and avenues. Christians who support Sunday street cars and patronize Sunday newspapers cannot protest, with a good grace, against other forms of Sabbath desecration j and they whose votes legalize and protect the saloon have little right to complain if wholesale drunkenness and prostitution neutralize their best efforts to reach and uplift the masses.
2. Missions among the Immigrants, etc.-There are two circumstances which render missions of this class highly important, namely, the enormous extent of territory open to those who come as immigrants from abroad' or who move westward from the older States and provinces j and the diversified character of these new settlers in regard to nationality, intelligence, religion, and knowledge of municipal and public affairs. Notwithstanding the vast numbers who have spread themselves over the States and Territories west of the Mississippi, there is room still for the population of an empire to be added j while in the Canadian northwest there is fertile territory larger in extent than the whole of Europe excepting Russia, and capable f'Jf sustaining a population equal to that of the United States. Into these two countries the bulk of Europe's surplus population will pour for many years to come. The Dark Continent may get a share, and Australia has still room for millions more i but the mighty Gulf Su-eam of immigration that has been flowing westward for three decades cannot easily be checked or turned aside. Once this great influx of strangers was hailed with joy by the people of the United States; to-day it is regarded by many as the gravest danger that threatens the cherished institutions of the rcpublic. In Canada the rush has not been felt to any great extent, but it is coming, and all the more because of repressive legislation by the American Congress, intended to prevent the introduction of undesirable immigrants into that country.
But whether these unevangelized millions find homes north or south of the international boundary, the problem will be the same, the dangers the same, the remedy the same. If Christian civilization is to survive on this continent, the incoming millions of Germans, Scandinavians, Russians, Jews, Italians, et hoc genus omne, with their Old-World ideas, socialistic tendencies, religious skepticism, and atrophied power of self-government, must in some way be fused at white heat and cast into the mould of a new national life. In this colossal undertaking minor forces will play their part -education, intercourse, commcrce, political discussion, and a hundred things beside-but no one of these, nor all of them combined, can save American civilization from ignominious failure or disastrous eclipse. There is but one factor that can completely solve the problem, and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But if even this is to succeed, the home mission work of the churches must be done with a zeal, a wisdom, a thoroughness, and on a l'!cale far exceeding the best work of the past. In the sudden rush of population into the Western States and Territories during the past few decades, it is scarcely to be wondered at that the churches were bewildered hy the rapid and enormous dcmands made upon their resources, and found it literally impossible to keep pace with the requirements of the work.
There is no use in shutting our eyes to the truth. America, including Canada, is not yet completely evangelized. Other forces than that of the Gospel hold sway. To-day Chicago is, for a time, the cynosure not only of " neighboring eyes," but of the eyes of all the world_ She stands before the nations in a fiercer light than that" which beats upon a throne," the representative of all that is best in American civilization j but to the shame of many, and to the bewilderment of more, she dishonors her white shield with the "bar sinister" of a continental Sunday, defies alike the national law and the national conscience, and proclaims as openly as if inscribed in characters of fire upon every dome and archway that the Christian's God is dead and buried and that Mammon reigns in His stead. The home mission work of the churches cannot be regan1ed as finished until tbe thought and conscience of the people is so aroused and the law of God so recognized as to make the repetition of this huge blunder an impol!lSibility.
To what extent have the churches kept pace with the growtk and needs of the population 1 Some will say they have kept fully abreast j and statistics, read in a certain way, seem to support the claim. Thus it has been shown that during the century the percentage increase of church members has been far greater than the percentage increase of population, the latter having increased fifteenfold (say 4,000,000 to 60,000,000), w!J.ile the former has increased over thirty-sevenfold (360,000 to 13,000,000). It is also claimed that there is, at the present time, in the United States, one evangelical minister for every 560 people, and 01l.e evangelical church organization for every 370, while the ratio of church membe~hip is one for every 4.70. Taken at their face value, these figures seem to prove that the aggregate results of Christian effort, through home missions and otherwise, have been all that could be desired. But when we place the figures of the census alongside the facts as revealed in the present state of society and the tendencies of the times, it becomes at once apparent that some important factors were not included in the census returns-indeed, they could not be-and that this has vitiated the result. To guard against misapprehension, the writer wishes it to be understood that he is by no means disposed to take a pessimistic view of the situation-quite the contrary. The work of the century has been a grand one, almost justifying the remark of a recent writer that "we are living to-day in the midst of an evangelical conquest without a precedent and without a parallel." But still there is need to emphasize the thought that, for the thorough evangelization of this continent, the churches must push their home mission work on broader lines, with greater energy, and in a spirit of co-operation beyond what the past has witnessed.
Taking the figures already quoted as correct-namely, that there are in the United States one evangelical minister to every 560 people, and yet remembering that there are vast numbers almost untouched by any evangelizing agency, the conviction comes that there must be a very unequal distribution of forces, and that this, in turn, has arisen from the endless divisions and consequent rivalries of our common Protestantism. That very many localities, towns and villages especially, are overstocked with feeble churches and underpaid ministers is a circumstance too notorious to require proof. Time and again has the writer found viIlages of from 400 to 1000 of a population with as many as three, four, five, and in one case eight, Protestant churches, where one was ample for the needs of the people, each struggling for an existence, and in many cases eking out its slender resources by drafts on the home mission fund of its denomination. In Canada this source of weakness has been eliminated to some extent by the various union movements. Previous to 1874 there were six branches of Methodism and four of Presbyterianism j now there is one Methodism and O1Ie Presbyterianism throughout the entire dominion. Suppose it were
THE HEART OF BUDDHISM AND THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY
and six Methodist churches were competing for a foothold among the spares communities of the Northwest, and the absurdity of the situation becomes at once apparent. I trust it may be said without offence that in the matter of consolidation and more equal distribution of forces, Canada has shown an example that the churches of the republic would do well to imitate. It is said there are in the United States some sixty-seven distinct denominations, not a few of these maintaining substantially the same doctrines and usages. While such a state of affairs continues we must expect, in regard to home missions, the maximum of expenditure and the minimum of results.
Other branches of home mission work will be considered in another article.
THE HEART OF BUDDHISM AND THE HEART OF CHRIS- ~IANITY.
BY REV. W. C. DODD, LAMPOON, LAOS MISSION, SIAM.
It is not going too far to say that the heart of Buddhism is selfishness, even as distinguished from self-interest. There is a Buddhist sacred book in this land called the thirty virtues or merits. And of the thirty, the one which puts its possessor nearest Nirvana is a state of supreme indifference to the fate of others. The teaching of the book is in the form of a parable, which- has a shadow of resemblance to the parable of the good Samaritan. A merchant fell into the hands of thieves, who killed him and robbed him of even his clothing. Ten fellow-merchants came upon this poor fellow in succession. One bathed his body j another set food and drink before him for his journey into the spirit world j another merely pitied him j another, seeing him lying dead, was afraid, and ran for his own life. This one exhibited the virtue of wisdom, according to the author of the parable. Each of the ten merchants showed one kind of virtue, but all ten of them together did not do half as much as did the good Samaritan. All that they did do had more reference to themselves than to their fellow-merchant. But the one of the ten who exhibited the highest form of virtue and received the highest praise was the one who looked on with the merest indifference, and whose only remark was, " Let his own merit determine for him." And why was this such high form of virtue? Because desire and emotion are the causes of all sorrow. Existence itself is an evil. The goal of the soul is the extinction of all that characterizes individual existence. This is Nippan. The road thither is the extinction, through discipline, of all emotions-pleasure as well as pain, joy equally with sorrow, pity and compassion as thoroughly as contempt and hatred. The true disciple must trample upon everything and everybody else. Why? In order to escape personal sorrow.
Centuries of such teaching have borne their legitimate fruit. The most otherwise ; suppose the old divisions remained, and that four Presbyterian common thought among the people here, and one as frequently heard as any other religious (1) sentiment, is this: "Every man for himself. "
People do everything of a ceremonial and religious nature only in order to make merit for themselves. Disinterested actions are foreign to their thought and experience. Hence they cannot understand them when they see them in Christians. No matter how great a kindness you show to a Buddhist, he does not usually consider it as occasion for gratitude. It is owing to merit on his part, aud to desire to make merit on your part. Even famine relief is so spoken of sometimes: "YO'l are making more merit than anybody else in the country," not" You are showing kindness or doing good."
The heart of Christianity is love. And the highest expression of love, according to Christ, is service-service even going to the point of laying down life for another. And the innermost core of service is foreign missions. Home missions and city evangelization may involve as much hard work, and they are as truly service. Not one word of "ven seeming rivalry, not a breath of disparagement of these or of the Salvation Army, or any and aU philanthropic or even humanitarian efforts! One needs only a short residence in a heathen lltnd in order to realize how barren of these and of common morality-even the kind that will not confess its Christian pedigree-is the land that is without Jesus Christ. No disparagement, but a comparison. Foreign missions is service, not only to other individuals, but to other peoples living in another land, speaking another language. Motives perfectly justifiable in the highest Christian ethical code are urging on home missions and city evangelization. Patriotism, selfdefence against vice and ignorance, commercial advantage, and the interests of civilization are all here. None of these is in missions to Siam. Siam has nothing to give America except what brought Christ down from heaven -souls lost in darkness and sin. All service to Siam is purely disinterested. It is the core of Christianity.
The heart of Buddhism and the heart of Christianity are as far apart as the poles. Does anyone suppose that the same soul may at different times heartily embrace and strikingly exhibit each 1 Not six months ago the author became acquainted with a lady nearly ninety years old. ,On his first visit she told how since her early youth she had been an earnest seeker after truth. So long as she was able to visit the temples she had been the leader in merit·making in her neighborhood. But she had become disgusted with the puerility and the self-contradictions of the Buddhist books and the universal immorality of the day. Having heard of Christianity. she began to hope that in it she might find the true religion of her lifelong search. Some of the workers in our training school had visited her, and she had listened with joy. At the next visit she told us she had not slept any the night following our visit-could not sleep for very joy. Soon after she received baptism in her own house.
But the infirmities of age soon began to prostrate her. It was as if
THE PRESENT ASPECT OF MISSIONS IN INDIA
God had preserved her in an nnusual degree of vigor of body and mind only until she should find Him. She is now failing fast.
At a recent visit she said: "My son, are you very busy every day!" " Yes, mother." After a long pause, "It sometimes seems to mother as if a primal mistake had been made." " Why ~" " Because there are so few of us." "You mean, mother, that if you were still a Buddhist, priesti and head-priests would be in here to see you every day; but I can't come ?" ,• Yes, that is it." Who can blame her ~ Who would not have felt the same in the circumstances ~ It was not wholly the old spirit of Buddhism that spoke in her. It was" the cry of the human;" but it was not yet the spirit of Christ. " But, mother, the priests are in every village of the land ; but there is only one minister of the Gospel in this province. Besides, the Holy Spirit is more to you than ten, or twenty, or one hundred priests. " "Y~s, yes." She was silenced, but did her heart give hearty assent?
The next Sabbath we went again to hold services at her house in the afternoon; spoke of the blessedness of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. After service this conversation occurred: "Mother, your son wishes to go away off to the south and hunt out other hungry souls who have not been filled as you have. I shall expect to be gone more than a month if I go, and may never see mother again in this world. What do you say?" In her reply it was as if the Spirit of Christ Himself spoke. Knowing that it might be our last meeting on earth, she replied quickly, " Go, go. Mother has not aword of objection. I am glad to have you go." Then she added a form of blessing as she held my hand in parting. With generations of Buddhist ancestry behind her, and after nearly ninety years of unusually hearty following of Buddhist teaching herself, she had within less than six months gotten at the very core of the Gospel-the heart of Christianity.
THE PRESENT ASPECT OF MISSIONS IN INDIA.-I.
lIY JAMES KENNEDY, HAMPSTEAD, LONDON, ENGLAND.
Scientists tell us that the great depths of ocean are unaffected by the severest storms, the agitation seldom extending beyond forty feet from the surface. To terrified voyagers the wild waves look as if the whole ocean was in turmoil, while in fact only a small part of it is moved. Frequently the great ocean of human life is regarded with similar illusion. We see only a little way into its depths, and we conclude that all below accords with all we see above. The result is a mistaken and misleading inference.
This tendency to illusion ought to be carefully guarded against when we look at India. The remark has been made about the late John Bright that he had fallen into many mistakes wheu discussing Indian questions, but that he had discovered two things-that there is no Indian country and no Indian nation-in other words, that India is a continent., not a country, and that its inhabitants are not a nation, but a congeries of nations and distinct races.
On the eve of Lord Dufferin's departure from India, in 1889, he deliv- ered a speech which in the strongest manner corroborates these great facts, which need to be again and again presented to the minds of God's people, if they would have any just conception of the work before them when gird- ing themselves for the evangelization of India. It is to be hoped the read- ers of this REVIEW have carefully read that speech as placed before them in substance in the April, 1889, number. When we consider this skilful array of well-attested facts, we are almost dismayed at the magnitude and difficulty of missionary work in India. If success depended on human energy and resources, it would be folly to advance. With the assurance that the work is God's, it would be folly, nay, it would be craven cowardice, to retire. As believers in Christ we are optimists, and our optimism is strong in proportion to our faith. This Christian optimism does not require us to confine our view to pleasing facts, to bright appearances. When we have facts before us of a promising nature, let us be thankful for them and cheered by them, but let us look full in the face, so far as we can, the real state of things, and try to have some just conception of the enormous difficulties that the Gospel in India must overcome in order to triumph. This resolute faithfulness to fact should strengthen us by leading us to cast ourselves more unreservedly on our Master's strength. When we are weak, then we are strong. In this spirit let us ponder facts presented to us in the India of to-day.
Few things will surprise many readers of Lord Dufferin's speech so much as the statements he makes about the illiteracy of India. Some time ago the following statement appeared in one of our most widely circulated Christian papers: "India waits a vast extension of colportage agency. All the men are educated more or less j so, now, are many of the women. Native colporteurs, male and female, mighL be ranging the land, entering zenanas, and casting seed into many a furrow at small cost to immense result. " Lord Dufferin, with full and accurate knowledge, makes a very different statement. Speaking of the peoples of India under the direct government of England, he says: "Of these two hundred millions not more than five or six per cent can read and write, while less than one per cent has any knowledge of English. Of the ten or twelve millions who have acquired an education, three fourths, or perhaps less, have not attained to more than the most elementary knowledge." A large number of the trading class can write business letters and keep accounts, but cannot read a page of a printed book. In the April, 1889, REVIEW it is stated that" of the forty-two millions of childreH. who ought to be at school, only three millions and a half are receiving auy education, and less than two hundred thousand of this numher are learning the truths of Christianity." For ages there have been educated classcs in India j our government has an educational department, officials are instructed to encourage educational effort, and now on the highest authority we learn that the vast majority are utterly illite~ate. Among certain classes there is a strong desire for the acquisition of our language, but apart from these educational progress is very slow. The Bengalese have been called, the Greeks of India. They have wandered far beyond their own country, and fill many responsible and lucrative offices. Many are excellent English scholars. Their great city, Calcutta, has been called " the centre of Western learning and culture in the East." Education ought wisely to bc advancing rapidly in Bengal, so populous, so wealthy, deemed so intelligent. The expectation is not fulfilled. We are startled to find from a review of the report published by the Director of Public Instruction for 1887 that the people generally have no desire for knowledge. "The pupils in secondary schools have increased slightly in numbers, but the numbers cannot but appear smallviz., one hundred and ninety thousand out of a population of sixty millions. It is significantly pointed out that these schools, which are to some extent aided by Government, are not supported by the people." "Primary education has reached a stationary stage. There is said to be no spontaneous tendency to the spread of elementary instruction beyond the classes which it at present reaches. As a matter of fact, less than one fourth of the school-going male popUlation is touched by the educational system, and this is said to be a sanguine estimate. Of this one fourt.h it appears that little more than one tenth passed the very elementary tests prescribed, and thus only about two per cent of the male popUlation of Lower Bengal are gaining any benefit from the wide-reaching system of state education." When we consider the illiteracy of the masses in India, the sad but certain fact ought to be frankly acknowledged, that the vast majority of the inhabitants scattered in millions over the vast spaces of that continent, away for the greater part from the cities, toiling for their daily food, are to the present day steeped in ignorance and superstition, worshipping the gods of their fathers, following their ancient customs, fast bound by caste fetters, and averse to change. Can we speak of these millions as ripe for the Gospel ~ We must sorrowfully confess that, so far as the vast major:ty are concerned, the work of the Christian Church has yet to begin.
Among the classes of society brought within the cognizance of Europeans there is more movement, we have every reason to believe, than at any previous period. The stagnancy of ages has been thoroughly disturbed. Questions affecting religion, morals, politics, and social life are keenly discussed in conversation, newspapers, periodicals, public meetings, and books. The press is free, and often uses its freedom to the extent of license. Residents in India have been for years watching this awakening with increasing interest. Visitors to India who stay a few days in its cities, and whose knowledge of the vast regions through which they travel does not extend beyond the look obtained from a railway carriage, are often delighted with what they see and hear. If of an inquiring mind, they come into contact with persons who speak English well, and 3re ready freely to express their views. These visitors see a new tide setting i.. with apparently irresistible force, and go away with the idea that the p,alilt in thought, feeling, habit, and act has no resisting power, and will be speedily swept away. Those who are cognizant of the real state of things know that the old, though greatly shaken, continlIeIil fearfully strong, and Pl"esents no appearance of immediate collapse.
Let us look for a little at some of the manifestations of old India. 'If a traveller from Europe had landed in Calcutta at the end of December, 1887, and proceeded at once to Allahabad, the capital of the Northwestern Provinces, he would have seen a sight which would have astounded and disgusted him. At that season there is an immense gathering from all parts of India to bathe in the sacred Ganges. The festival lasts fOf a month, but there are certain high days, when vast crowds assemble for WOfship, for traffic, and for amusement. At the festival of 188'7-88, on one of the principal days, four hundred naked ascetics walked in procession to the river, an English official on horseback going before them to keep order, with thousands of men and women on either side looking on with apparent approval-many, we suppose, with reverence. Among these, we Are told, there were not a few who were the alumni of our collegiate schools. What more striking proof could be furnished of the power of superstition in its most disgusting forms ~ At this very festival I have seen women bowing down to the ground before naked ascetics.
Another instance of the power of superstition was furnished some time ago by the excitement caused by the discovery that ghee-clarified butter, largely used by natives in their food and also in offerings to their godshad been adulterated by lard. The offence had been committed by Hindu traders. There was an outcry of horror at the discovery. Injury to health was not to be named beside the inj ury done to their caste purity and the insult to their gods, whose wrath might bring down on them fearful calamities. In the enlightened city of Calcutta the native newspapers called on the Government to enact a law by which this impious conduct might be declared penal.
The horrid shrine of Kalee, at Calcutta, continues to be frequented by all classes.
The contest between the Hindus and Mohammedans about the slaughter of kine never ceases, and at times it breaks out into furious fighting, to the disturbance of the public peace. Beef-eating Englishmen, to whom the Mohammedan butchers minister, come in for a large share of odium. Some time ago a cow preservation society was formed, and has received large and enthusiastic support. One native gentleman, well versed in our language, who has held office under our government for many years, has received signal benefits from it, and has been raised to the rank of Raja, proposed to his brethren at Benares to go to England, to fall down before the Queen with straw in his mouth, to implore her to forbid the slaughter of kine. The one condition he laid down was that his visit to England should not impair his caste position; but his caste people refused the condition. A Pundit addressed a crowded meeting in the town hall of Calcutta, and maintained that the killing of kine was as wasteful as it was wicked. One of the great feudatory princes of India, on his return from London after the Queen's jubilee, in order to restoration to caste, was obliged, along with the Maharanee and suite, to take the unutterably horrible penitential pill, the product of the cow, prescribed by the modest Hindu law. There was great rejoicing over the Raja's submission. Three thousand caste people were feasted on the occasion.
The facts we have mentioned-many similar ones down to the present day might be easily adduced-are in accordance with what may be seen all over India in the daily and occasional conduct of the vast body of the people in attendance at temples, in great religious gatherings-the people in thousands availing themselves of the facilities afforded by railway trains-in clinging to caste, in steady purpose to maintain at all cost their position of orthodox Hindus.
Notwithstanding the patent facts which seem to prove that Hinduism retains its ancient strength, and can defy every assault, there are facti equally patent which assure us that a breach has been made in its walls, and that the entire structure is undermined by influences which will bring it certainly, though not perhaps speedily, to the ground. Page after page might be given of statements made by Europeans and natives, by English officials who have seen much of the people and are deeply interested in their welfare, by missionaries of large experience, by natives of caste, rank, and intelligence, some of the number hailing a new order of things, others discarding it : to show that Hinduism is undermined.
Let us refer to native opinion. In the January, 1889, number of the Madras Ohristian Oollege Magazine there is an article by a graduat9 of the Calcutta University entitled" Are there Hindus Now~" The writer informs us that at a public meeting in Calcutta, composed of the elite of native society, a gentleman of the foremost rank in position, intelligence, and general esteem, himself still a member of the Hindu community, propounded the question, "Are there true Hindus to-day in Bengal~" He said: "In name they might be Hindus, but they had in almost every particular departed from the teachings. traditions, and customs of their forefathers, and drunk in deep draughts of foreign thought. " Those present were a little startled at first, but came, after a little searching of heart, to the conclusion that a right answer had been given. A Brahmin writer in a Madras paper says: "Hinduism It a corpse out of which the life has fled, and yet it is a living force. The moribund in expensive creed is still able to perform ceremonial functions." The cries of alarmed Hinduism attest its decadence. At Madras a Hindu tract society has been formed, and is prosecuting its work vigorously. In its first tract it says: "How many hundreds of thousands have these Padrees turned to Christianity, and keep on turning? How many hundrerlH of thousands of dear children have they swallowed up? Oh, over how many more havc thcy cast their nets ?" We may exclaim, when we read these words, " Would that the success achieved corroborated the statements drawn by Hindu fears !" The success falls far behind. The following words are very characteristic: " Is there no learned Pundit to be securfJd for money who will crush the Christians ?"
Many are the influences which tend to the disintcgrati(}n of Hinduism. Among these the spread of the English language and of Western knowledge deserves a prominent place. More than half a century has passed since a great impulse was given to the study by Duff, Lord Macaulay, and Sir Charles Trevelyan. Since that period every year has witnessed a large increase to the number of students, and during the last few years the zeal for the acquisition of our langnage has risen to fever heat. It is regarded as the direct road to mental culture and still more as the avenue to a place of honor. The rising, ambitious youth of our cities, and, indeed, of the higher class generally, are eager in the prosecution of this study. One result is that even in seminaries instituted for the purpose of cultivating Eastern along with Western languages and literature, Eng- 1ish and English literature are in such favor that the other department receives scant attention. It is not uncommon to find native gentlemen in middle life who cannot speak a sentence of our language whose sons speak it with ease and accuracy. Many pupils, however, have neither the application nor the leisure required. They attain to the merest smattering, which enables them to talk in a broken fashion, but is insufficient for the understanding of an ordinary book. These are often fond of appearing where an address or discourse in English is delivered, and English visitors are thus often misled as to the degree in which our language is known by the large audiences they see. Still it is certain that many natives know our language well. A striking proof has been furnished by its having been chiefly used at the sessions of what has been called the Indian National Congress, composed of persons of the different nationalities of the Indian continent. On a few occasions members spoke in Hindustanee, a language unknown to the greater number. English-taught persons are of all Indian religions, but the great majority are Hindus, and they come from government, missionary, and private institutions, in what proportion we cannot say.
What is the character of the educated class? To what extent are they intellectually and morally elevated? What is their bearing to their own and other religions? These are questions of the greatest importance, and most difficult to answer. In a class so large and brought up under such varied influences there must be marked differences, and any attempt to describe them under one generalization must be misleading.
One thing is obvious. The whole tone of the Western mind, of its religion, literature, and science is so antagonistic to the legends, superstition, and idolatry of the Hindus that English education cannot fail to have a disintegrating cffect. The Hindu stndent, as hc pursnes his studies in our higher seminarics, feels himsclf in a ncw atmosphere, breathing a purer and more invigorating air, with nobler views of man and nature, more worthy of God, and more accordant with truth t,han those which havc come down to him from his fathers. He may still practise the rites of his religion to please his family and maintain his place in society, he may follow the customs of his conntry, superstitions notions may linger in his mind, but he has ceased to believe in his ancestral religion. It is acknowledged on all hands that this is to a great cxtent the effect of English education. It must be so in normal minds, where contradictory views cannot dwell together. There are, however, in India abnormal minds which manage to reconcile what we deem irreconcilable.
A minority of highly educated persons, larger than is gen-!rally supposed, contend strongly for their hereditary religion, and cling tenaciously to it. I have before me a lecture in clear, manly English, in which a native professor of the government college, Benares, contends that modern Hinduism is the development of the great phIlosophic principles of the ancient Rishees in the form best adapted to the popular mind. He has a great regard for Christianity, but in its principles, philosophy, and working deems it far inferior to Hinduism. The Nineteenth Oentury for May, 1889, contains a brightly written article by the Countess of Jersey on " The Hindu at Home," in which she gives us the views of a highly educated native in words evidently supplied by himself. He tells us that the few natives of high caste who have become Christians have been deteriorated by the change, while the lower classes, Hindus and non-Hindus, are greatly benefited by it, are raised to a measure of civilization, and are freed from degrading habits. "Brahmins who know their own religion have in the Vedas and Upanishads such a profound philosophy and lofty religion that they can never embrace the Gospel." This gentleman acknowledges there is nothing in the Vedas for the millions outside the high-caste pale. They are to a large extent devil-worshippers, and there is a variety of hells where there is room for them all. The countess was so impressed with the proofs of the strength of Hindui&m, of the zeal and liberality of its adherents, that she gives no credit to the report of its decay, and thinks that personal observation in India would induce Canon Taylor to write still more strongly than he has done. This lady has an observant eye, but has no conception of India's need of the Gospel, has no faith in its Divine power, and is ignorant of or misrepresents the facts of Indian missions. Yet it is from articles of this kind that thousands of our people gather their views of what is being done in India to promote the cause of Christ. When we compare her impressions with those of a visitor like Dr. Jesse Blake, and of eminent officials who have spent a large part of their life in India, we see the contrast in the observation and estimate of facts between persons who come to them with entirely different sentiments.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTlDI:NT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND OONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GBAOEY, D.D.
The World's Oongress of Missions, sions. The committee having in charge RY REV. E. M. WHERRY, D.D., CORRE- the management of this congress is as SPONDING SECRETARY OF THE CON- follows: Rev. Walter Manning Bar- GRESS. rows, D.D., Chairman; William E. Blackstone, Vice-Chairman; Rev. AI- The opening ceremonies connected virus N. Hitchcock, Ph.D., Secretary; with the World's Columbian Exposition Rev. Eo M. Wherry, D.D., Correspond- presented a pageant of uori valled splen- ing Secretary; Rt. Rev. Samuel Fal- dor. The beautiful Park, the lake and lows, D.D., Rev. Frank M. Bristol, islands, the lagoons covered with elec- D.D., Rev. Theodore N. Morrison, tric boats and Italian gondolas, the pa- D.D., Rev. O. P. Gifford, D.D., Rev.
latial buildings adorned by beautiful J. J_ Keller, President William R. Har- works of art, the procession of great per, LL.D., Rev. A. J. Canfield, Rev.
men from this and other lands, and a Moses Smith, Rev. George E. Young- vast multitude of men and women in dahl, Rev. E. C. Ray, D.D., W_ B. Ja- holiday dress from every nation, pre- cobs, Esq., Peter Sinclair, Esq., Rev.
sented a scene of grandeur and beauty L. G. Abrahamson, Rev. R. Blomendal, never before witnessed in the New Rev. John Schneider, Rev. H. W. Roth, World, and rarely if ever surpassed D.D., Rev. William T. Meloy, D.D., in the Old. The touch of an electric Rev. W. F. Black, Rev. Charles M.
button at once signalling the close of Morton. .
the Presidential address and the unveil- This committee represents thirteen ing of the magnificent statue of Liberty, Protestant denominations. •• Every set in motion the great electric motor known Christian missionary society"
and the varied machinery of the Expo- has been invited to send representatives.
sition. Every spectator was filled with A number of these have already ap- wonder, and the delight of the assembly pointed delegates. It is expected that was voiced in the shouts of the vast missionaries and converts from various multitude. All were more than satis- mission fields will be present. It will fied. The scenes of this great day have comprehend the whole mission field, and been photographed, and already the will therefore include city, home, and eyes of myriads in every land have foreign missions. "No such mission- gazed upon them. ary assembly has ever before been pos- There are, however, other things In sible." The" address" sent to the va- store for those who can appreciate them, rious mission societies of the world, of no less interest and of far more lasting from which we have quoted above, influence than the material exhibit on goes on to say: "A broad and compre- the Exposition grounds. Connected hensive programme has been prepared; with the Columbian Exposition is the vital principles of missionary policy; World's Congress Auxiliary, which has burning questions of missionary'rela- sought for the first time in human his- tions, aims, and methods; the whole tory to gather up what is best in the field in the light of past successes and thought of the world, and so present disappointments; the limitless possi- through a series of congresses what is bilities and responsibilities of to-day- best in the spheres of science, philoso- these and similar themes will be pre- phy, and religion. sented by representative men and wom- Among these congresses there is none en from different denominations of of so much interest to the Christian Christians, as well as from diverse parts world as the World's Congress of Mis- of the world." The programme adopted by the com· 2. Problems and Methods, The Scat- mittee seems to fully justify the expec· tered Populations, etc.
tations created by this letter. From Co-operative Agencies: this programme we learn that the Con- 3. Bible Societies.
gress is to be held during the eight days 4. Tract and Book Societies.
beginning September 28th. Meetings 5. Sunday-schools.
will be held from 10 A.M. to 12 M., from 6. The Demand for a Larger Co-oper- 2 P.M. to 4 P.M., and in the evening ation. By the essential spirit of Chris- from 7.30 P.M. to 9.30 P.M. All meet- tianity; by the urgent needs of the ings will be held in the auditorium pre- field, etc.
pared for the auxiliary congresses in 7. Co-operation Applied, Practicable the new Art Palace on the lake front at Methods.
the foot of Adams Street. SEPT. 30TH, TilE UNEVANGELIZED NA- All sessions of the Congress will be TIONS.
introduced with devotional exercises. 1. A Geographical Survey, especially Besides the papers and addresses pre- the Totally Unreached Fields.
sented by those chosen to address the 2. Ethnic Religions: Hold on the Congress on the various topics. volun- People, Attitude of the Missionary, Re- tary addresses will be made by mem- sults upon Social and Moral Life.
bers of the Congress. "It is expected 3. Special Fields.
that the entire proceedings, including 4. Obstacles to Foreign Missionary stenographic reports of the addresses Success: Language, Customs, Perni- and discussions, will be publisbed by cious Influence of Nominal Christians, the Congress Auxiliary… etc.
"The Women's Congress of Missions 5. Environments of the Native Con- will be in session simultaneously in the vert: Caste, Polygamy, and other He- same building during Monday, Tues- reditary Customs.
day, and Wednesday, October 2d-4th, 6. The Inaccessible Fields of Islam: with two sessions each day. Other mis- How Shall we Reach Them?
sionary services, as many as may be de- 7. The Jews and their Land.
sired, may be held in the same building 8. The Jews and the Gospel.
during any of these days." SUNDAY, OCT. 1ST, WORLD'S MISSION- The subjects of the programme are ARY DAY.
8S follows: Morning.
SEPT. 28TH, CITY MISSIONS. Missionary services will be held 1. The City of To-day: Its Place, throughout the world. All churches and congregations are invited to unite. Perils, and Possibilities. 2. The City the Storm-centre of Law- 1. General Sul!ject: The World's Speedy Evangelization. lessness and Immorality. 3. City Missions-Past Progress; Les· .Afternoon.
sons. 2. The Century of Modern Missions 4. Denominational Comity and Co- a Prophecy of Final Triumph.
operation.
5. Independent Missions. Evening.
6. Woman's Work in City Evangeli- 3. Special Responsibility of Young zation, Bible Women; Nurse and Visit- People and their Societies. ing Deaconesses. 4. The Church's Responsibility for· 7. The Salvation Army and its Meth- the Speedy Evangelization of the ods. World. SEP'l'. 29TH, HOME MISSIONS. OCT. 2D, FOREIGN MISSIONARY AGEN- 1. The Field, The Unevangelized in CIES.
Christian Lands. 1. Missionary Societies: Their Place and Function in the Work of the fered and formally passed upon by the Church. Congress in relation to these subjects.) 2. Missionaries: The True Aim of OCT. 5TH, FORWARD TO VICTORY. their Work, Witness Bearing, Evangeli. zation, Development of Native Church· 1. Consecration of Property, Propores, National Reformation. tionate Giving.
3. Educational Agencies. 2. The Call for Laborers, Personal 4. Concessions to Native Customs and and Parental Responsibility. Ideas. 5. Medical Agencies and Relief Work: 3. Native Agencies the Chief Hope of Physicians, Hospitals, Dispensaries, etc. National Evangelization. 6. Denominational Comity and Co· operation on the Foreign Field. 4. Thy Kingdom Come. 5. Divine Assurances of the World's OCT. 3D, WHAT THE WORLD OWES TO Evangelization, Scriptural and Provi- dential. MISSIONS. 6. The Power of the Spirit. Among those who are expected to 1. Reflex Influence of Foreign Mis· speak on these subjects are the followsions upon Christendom: Commerce, ing distinguished persons: Rev. Alex- Science, Spiritual Life. ander Mackay-Smith, D.D., the Rev. Graham Taylor, D.D.,* the Rev. J. 2. Direct Influence upon Native Peo· Spurgeon.* of London. the Rev. Fredpies: Industrial, Social, :Moral, Spirit- erick Charington* (England), Miss ual. Frances Willard,* General llooth* (Sal- vation Army), Bishop Ethelbert Tal- 3. Beacon Lights from the World's bot,* the Rev. William C. Roberts, Mission Fields, Conspicuous Examples D.D.• the Rev. John Hall, D.D.,* the of the Gospel's Triumph, Aboriginal Rev. Dr. Hillis, the Rev. Eugene Americans. Stock,* Sir Monier Williams,* the Rev. H. C. Hayden, D.D., the Rev. Dennis 4. The Island World. Osborne* (India), Rev. Thomas P. 5. The Dark Continent. Hughes, B.D.,* Professor H. M. Scott, 6. Eastern Asia. D.D., the Rev. F. W. Clark, D.D.•* 7. The Ottoman Empire. Rev. A. B. Leonard, D.D.• Rev. George 8. India. Washburn, D.D. (Robert College. Con- stantinople), Rev. Dr. Miller* (India), OCT. 4TH, RESPONSIBILITY OF CHRIS- Rev. S. Slater* (Bangalore, India). Rev. Dr. Post (Beirut, Syria). Rev. George TIAN GOVERNMENTS. W. Knox. D.D. (Tokyo, Japan), Pro- fessor Henry Drummond* (Glasgow), 1. As to International and Treaty Rev. H. C. Mabie, D.D., Rev. Edgerton Rights of Unevangelized Peoples. R. Young,* Rev. Hudson Taylor, Rev. G. F. Pentecost, D.D.. Rev. W. Elliott 2. As to the Citizen Rights of Mis· Griffis, D.D., Sir Richard Temple. sionaries. G.C.S.I.* (London), Judge E. S. PheJps,* Bishop Charles H. Fowler, 3. Responsibility of Christian Govern- D.D.,* Rev. A. A. Miner, D.D., Rev.. ments as to Human Slavery. A. J. Gordon, D.D., Rev. H. Grattan Guinness (London), Rev. J. 1'. Gracey, 4. The Bearings of International Law D.D., Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D.,* on Religious Toleration. and Mr. D. L. Moody. * It is the confident expectations of the Evening. * The namel marked with a star have not y~t WORLD'S CONCERT OF PRAYER ]'OR lIlIS- signified their acceptance of invitation to apeak. eIONS.
All Christian churches and congregations throughout the world are invited to unite in prayer for missions in their mid-week services.
5. Christian Governments and the Opium Traffic.
6. Christian Governments aud the num Traffic. (Resolutions will be ofcommittee that the Congress of Missions welcome to them: and if, therefore, will not only prove a most interesting worth anything, they need only the assembly, affording instruction and form-skeleton-in which they come to profit to all who shall attend upon you. You can clothe them with flesh, these meetings, but also a source of per- blood, nerve, and make the dry bones manent influence for good to Christ's live. You speak of "Plans and Polikingdom on earth. Ministers and others cies. " How will some of these do ? able to do so should plan to visit Chicago during the sessions of this Con- 1. All mission boards in locating a gress. Mission societies which have field new to them should be careful to not sent representatives and yet purpose observe interdenominational comity. to do so should forward the names to This some have not always been carethe corresponding secretary. ful about.
Seats will be reserved for all repre- 2. In locating the workers on the field, sentatives of missionary societies. Ad- place them at least two and two. (1) If mittance to all the meetings will of there are cranky and incompatible peocourse be free. The prayers of all ple, who prefer to be alone, well-better Christians are earnestly desired that not send out cranky people. (2) If a this Congress may, under the Divine question of precedence is to be settled blessing, be made an era in mission his- at anyone station, the missions in epistory, and that a new impetus may be copal governments readily settle that given to missionary work throughout by their very constitution; and the the world. missions with independency or Pres- byterian equality can preserve ,those If Points" on Plans and Policies. principles in the per80nality and ojJice of the two (or more) associated workers, BY REV. ROBERT H. NASSAU, M.D., D.D. and yet by division of work give room for an (inevitable) precedence. [Some of the best things that come t() us come in private correspondence, S. Let the missionary workers be marwhich we do not feel at liberty to print. ried, for the sake of their personal com- We wanted a paper from Dr. Nassau, fort and also for the removal of unjust the oldest representative of medical mis- but still possible cause of scandal besions in West Africa-perhaps in all fore impure-minded heathen; but Africa-and incidentally in writing to him asked for some " Points on Plans 4. Let both men and women go to the and Policies" for our personal use. We field unmarried. If they can stand the received the following in reply, which climate let them return in two or three we esteemed too personal for us to ap- years for marriage, or better, marry on propriate, and" too good to keep" to the field. It is unwise to add the care ourselves. We solicited the privilege and strain of maternity immediately on of passing on to others, with proper ex- arrival on the field, at a time when all planations of their having been written the strength is needed for meeting and currente calamo, and he graciously con· adapting one's self to the many and sented.-J. T. G.] strange new environments of a new climate, etc. The (admitted) objection Yours of the 14th inst. was received that the married man or woman is hamon the 20th. In the pressure of my pered in their mission work by family closing weeks of furlough in this coun- and personal cares is counterbalanced try I am making no more engagements, by (1) advantage of marriage for perand can answer no more requests for sonal comfort, (2) immense advantage written articles. My last will be at the for an ohject lesson of the Christian International Missionary Union at Clif- family to the heathen, (S) the preventon Springs; but your jocular appeal tion of a growth of selfishness in the fOf a few "points" is too good to be man or woman who lives alone. put off. I will simply name some points that occur to me this morning. 5. Let missionary parents retain thei~ If they are worth anything, you are young children on the field with them, 14. Employ native aid on the field, until they need to send them, at about using it to the farthest extreme in all twelve years of age, home for educa- departments of the work.
tion. In some countries, like Syria and 15. Let missionaries on the field lift India, educate them themselves or in natives, by admitting them into their advanced mission schools. Do this (1) lives, even into social life-e.g.• inviting to save pain of parting. How many them to their tables and to their par- missionaries have given up their field lors; not "keeping them at arm's rather than take that pain! (2) Keep length," nor requiring them" to keep the child for the sake of the family ob· their place."
ject-Iesson. (3) All countries, even 16. Push all missions and Chriatian Africa, are now under improved mis- responsibility as rapidly as possible into sionary environments, safe for keeping native hands. Yes, I know they will infants there. (4) If they should die, so make mistakes and even prove unfaith- do infants die here; and that separation ful. So do ministers and bank cashiers by death is no harder than some separa- in this country. They will have to be· tions some missionaries have known, to gin some time; better begin at once.
see their children grow up, trained Even missionaries themselves make away from them, and even for the child egregious mistakes.
to forget them. 17. Encourage the formation of an 6. Make large use of iti'TUJrant work indigenous native church, free from the on the field. minute denominational divisions of 7. Make very large use of education America.
on industrial lines, to give natives safe means of self-support. The Zulu and his Language. * 8. Give a medical education to all mis- The study of the construction of lansionaries, male and female, if for the guages has a great fascination for the sake alone of putting them on their writer. The" crude base" of Sanskrit guard against disease. is more interesting than the plot of the most powerful novel. Grout's Revised 9. Let those who have the special Grammar of the Zulu Language held taste and adaptation take the medical us till we had gone clear through it. degree, and carryon the medical work of foreign misions, which is very im- 1. It illustrates the great indebtedness portant, and which should be developed of the world to missionaries for origall along the lines of the present grow- inal philological investigation. The au· ing interest on that subject. thor began to give his thoughts to this work even before he left this country 10. Control of mission plans should for his Zulu field in 1846. Reaching be in the hands of the workers on the the field of his labors, finding no book, field, but not. indeed, a single line of genuine vernacular in printed form, he saw at 11. Missionaries on home furlough once that if he would ever get a corshould not be permitted to make special rect knowledge of the Zulu language, appeals for their pet objects, except on he must begin by catching it 8S best he endorsement of their respective boards. could from living lips of the best speak· ers. In this way, and by repeatedly 12. Bring no natives for education to testing his attainments by referring this country, and give no aid or encour· agement to the native tramps who find their own way here, to appeal to foreign missionary interest for their own personal ends. * The" Islznlu," a reviled edition 01 a Gram- 13. Let the missionaries on the field mar of the Zulu language, by Rev. Lewis Grout use, as far as possible, native food and (339 pp., 8vo, solid), Irom the Yale University custom, and even a modification of dress Press. Published by the American Board. Bosto suit the climate. ton: Trlibuer & Co., London, 1898. them to the· people, and by putting the interesting characteristics of this them in daily use in his labors of teach· race. Wherever else the evolutionists ing, preaching, and translating, he may turn to find the data concerning gradua.1ly made himself familiar with primitive man, they must pass by these the idioms, forms, and principles of the Bantu races. The Bantu is not a language. Being soon asked by the " primitive" race.
American mission, and afterward by S. There is much interesting and in- the local (English) government of Natal, structive matter in this grammar aside to prepare a grammar of the language, from its linguistic design and worth.
he took every opportunity to enlarge We gather much about the mental his literary store of sentences, narra- capacity of the Zulu, as well as his tives, Zulu histor.y, native songs and religious and social nature and notions.
folk-lore, all as before from the living We learn much of him from his saws lips of the best speakers he could find and proverbs, such as the following: among the tribes, which the Zulu mon- (1) Of his mental method or philo- arch, Chaka, had subdued, unified, sophical way of putting things: .. If "welded" into one now great homo- we don't know, let us stop and be still."
geneous nation. .. Two kinds of money may look alike, 2. The grsmmar throws light on the while one is good and the other not intellectual character of the Bantu races. good. " "The child cannot be too "The author has found full play for ex- young to obey its mother." " Did actness and clearness in illustrating the you ever see a cloud of dust? our sins principles and rules of the remarkably are quite like it." "Each man has unique yet philosophic character of the some peculiarity in his mind as well as BAntu languages, so different from in his face." "Working does not help every other great family, and yet so us if we waste what we obtain." " The perfectly adapted to all the ends of lan- hands are the servants of the soul."
guage in expressing the thoughts and "Men bind the body only; the heart sentiments of men. The author not they cannot bind."
only traces the resemblance of the Zulu (2) Of his religious notions, practices, to other members of the Bantu family, and divinities: "I was restored to health but to the Aryan and other families as by a ghost of yours." " Let the pater- w"U. The Zulu, for instance, resembles nal shades eat and grant us great wealth, the Hebrew and Greek in the conjuga- so that our children may be saved with tions of the verb. From the root form us. " ., Let your cow bellow on and tanda, love, we get tandisa, cause to bring out the ev{l that is in me." The love; tandela, love for; tandana, love doctor (medical priest) says, " The pa- one another . tandeka, be lovable; zitan- ternal shades requires that particular da, love self. The great power of the cow." "Why is it that cattle are not Zulu language evidently centres in the still offered to me as usual? with me verb; its compass and facility for ex- how is it that I offer my cow-it is sald pressing the nicest shades of meaning, it is required by my paternal shade- in respect to the manner, state, and and yet I never recover 1"
timc of the acting, being, or suffering (3) Of his mode of life: "He who denoted by the essential verb are re- hates, hates himself. " •• Diligence is the markable. The author points out the mother of gain." "There is no profit resemblance of the Zulu to the Greek where there is no care." "If we are in some of these respects. The great industrious we shall never see famine. "
love which the Zulu has for euphony, " At the house of the industrious famine the "melody of ordered wordR," and casts a wistful look, passes on, and goes the rigid regard he pays to the physio- to that of the sluggard." .. Don't be logical laws of phonetics in the changes afraid of perspiration." " We help made to promote euphony, are among those who help themselves." " The women do the digging." "To err is time the Congregationalists had Bent the character of man." "The believers their contributions to foreign missions have begun to buy wagons." "Faith through the London Missionary Society has need of care." "He that does not and the American Board of Commisrise early shall say, Heigh.ho; and not sioners for Foreign Mi!80ns. It was overtake his work at night." "A per- felt that a more direct and personal conson who believes walks like a man walk- nection between the foreign field and ing in a thorny place, for a man walk- the churches at home would be muing among thorns looks carefully where tually beneficial. Africa, to which the he puts his feet." eyes of Christendom were turned, was chosen as the field of labor. The Ameri- 4. There is much in the introduction can Board had recently opened a misof this grammar which is of popular in- sion in West Central Africa; about eight terest, such as the theoretical views of hundred and sixty miles south of the able African philologists on the origin equator, and offered to share the field and import of the" prefix" in the Zulu with their brethren in Canada. In 1886 and other Bantu languages; and in the the Rev. W. T. Currie, B.A.• with his interesting statements of their general wife left for Africa. He had been there principles, as well as the inquiry as to but a few months when Mrs. Currie the origin and early migrations of the was laid to rest in an African grave. Bantu race. Henceforth Mr. Currie labored alone. Two years were spent in learning the 5. The book is rich in material for language and exploration; as a site had comparative uses, and thus well fitted to be found for the Canadian station, to be of great service to any who would Chisamba, where the chiefs were friendanalyze or learn any other member of ly, in the midst of a large population, the Bantu languages. This extends to a great many villages being within easy different members of the Aryan families, reach, was chosen. This station is and includes sample sketches of a dozen about two hundred miles from the of the leading Bantu languages. coast, and thirty·five miles from Kamon- dongo, the nearest mission station. Mr. 6. We feel particularly grateful tQ Currie spent a year at Chisamba. alone, the author for striking a blow, which laying the foundations for future work, we would might be a demolishing one, and gathered around him a number of at the absurd method of Romanizing boys, who are proving their attachment the Bantu languages which has till now to the cause of Christ amid a good deal obtained, in the capitalizing of root let- of persecution. In 1889 Mr. Lee went ters in the midst of words. There is no to Chisamba, but had to return for a. more reason for doing this in Bantu year to take charge of the station at the than in Arabic. There is no more coast. On the arriva.l of Mrs. Lee .he propriety in writing U·Ganda, than returned to Chisamba, where he remains there would be in writing muHaMmaD. in cha.rge of the mission. In 1890 Misa We are glad to be assured by Mr. Grout Clark left for Africa, and after remainthat a great many competent authors ing one year at Bailunda she went to discard this fanciful and bewildering, Chisamba. to open a school for girls, and as used, unexact method, using and do what she could for the women. only one capital in all these proper In 1892 Mr. Currie came home to renames, and putting that at the begin- cruit his health and report to the ning, as Uganda, Waganda. [J. T. G.] churches .. what great things the Lord had wrought through him. " The same THE CANADA CONGREGATIONALISTS year Mr. and Mrs. Reid left Canada, and IN FOREIGN FIELDs.-In June, 1881, a are now settled at Cbisamba. Two foreign missionary society was formed other missionaries are expected to leave in connection with the Congregational. churches in Canada. Previous to that this !lummer with Mr. Currie, who re- anywhere else is marching to the grave turns to resnme his labors with, we or to misery."
trust, still greater results. The mission This statement is unwarrantably has been thoroughly established. The strong and exclusive. Instead of re- influence of the missionaries is felt garding all that portion of Angola north throughout all the surrounding- coun- of the 140 south latitude as unflt for try. The people are realizing that the white colonists, I speak from six years missionaries are their friends, and con- of personal experience, when I confi- sult them in all the difficulties of life. dently affirm that the line might with A great many attend the Sunday ser- all safety be extended two degrees far- vices. A few, including some of the ther north-namely, to 12° south lati- old men, are anxious about their per- tude.
sonal salvation. The Christian lads- In making this recommendation, I wlll compare favorably in their Chris- have but one reason-namely, that the tian life with the most promising in our soil in the northern district is so much home churches, and are anxious to more productive for generalagricultnre teach their fellow-countrymen the way than in the south. Neither at Mossa- of life. One is about to leave the mis- medes (150 south latitude) nor at Ben- sion to go and make known to his own guella (120 30') are the immediate coast people the Gospel of salvation. Thus districts to be taken into consideration; the work goes steadily on. Our rela- these are notoriously unproductive and tions to the American Board have al- barren, having little or no rain all the ways been most cordial. They have al- year, and when it does rain. the region ways rendered and still render every becomes more or less unhealthy, for possible assistance. J. MCADIE. want of proper natural drainage. Be- ginning, however, say, twenty miles from the coast and thence eastward for Another Word About a Ohristian Oolony five hundred miles, there Is as choice in Afrioa. pasture and agricultural land as in any portion of the United States. That BY FRANK A. WALTER, UNIVERSITY whole plateau being at an altitude of PARK, COL. over five thousand feet above the Atlan- In THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF' THE tic renders the climate as bracing and WORLD for May, 1893, pp. 370 and 371, as exhilarating as is this famous climate in an article entitled " A Christian Col· of Colorado. Since the establishment ony in Africa," are noted some practi- of the West Central A1rican Mission of cal conditions of success by H~li Chate- the A. B. C. F. M., in 1881, at Bailunda lain, an old-time personal friend of and Bihi (east of Benguella), out of a ours, wI om my wife and I had the large force of missionaries of both sexes, privilege to entertain for some weeks in only three adults have died till the our home at Benguella, Africa. I de- present time; and neither of these sire for the sake of the success of any deaths is directly attributable to the cli- Ohri8tian colony who may go to the mate. No better general health report province of Angola to make a correction. can be shown by any similar mission in In the last half of the last paragraph Central Africa (east or west) than this occurs this statement: "As everything mission of the American Board in 12· depends on the climate, do not forget south latitude.
that nowhere north of 14° south latitude has the white man a chance in the strug- Union of PreBbyterian Missions in Korea. gle for life. In the district of Mossamedes (Angola) alone of all West BY REV. W. M. BAIRD, F'UBAN, KOREA.
Africa can sites be found which are There are three Presbyterian missions suited for white colonization. Going in Korea, the Northern, the Southern, and the Australian Presbyterians. press its judgment that it is best for us These churches began mission work to carryon all our native work with a here respectively in 1884, 1891, and view to the organization of but one na- 1892. The Northern Presbyterians tive Presbyterian church in Korea."
have the largest force, being represented Steps have now been taken by which by ten gentlemen and eleven ladies. the Presbyterian workers will be fairly The Southern Presbyterians have three distributed throughout all the prov- gentlemen and four ladies. The Aus· inces, though still in very insufficient tralians have one gentleman and four numbers. The call is especially em- lady workers. Besides these, there are phatic just now for some Christian phy- two gentlemen working on more or less sicians to 'consecrate themselves for independent lines, one being a member Korea. The Southern Presbyterians of the Canadian Presbyterian Church, have no physicians here yet, the Aus- the other belonging to the Southern tralians have none, and the Northern Presbyterian Church. Since the ar- Presbyterians have not nearly enough rival of the last comers there has been to thoroughly man the fields. Is it pos- a mutual feeling that our work is too sible that there are not men of God closely allied to admit our working among the Christian physicians of along on separate lines in the same ter- America who are willing to come to ritory, and thus helping to perpetuate Korea ?
differences which had their origin half- way around the world. A common de- sire for some sort of working union led Our Government and Protection ic. the the Northern Presbyterian mission New Hebrides.
(which held its sessions in Seoul, Jan- It is an interesting matter to know uary 16th, 1893) to issue 'a call for the meeting of a council which should have just what is the position of the United States Government in the case of the advisory powers on all mission SUbjects. proposed international treaty looking to The council held its first session in the effective prohibition of the sale of Seoul, January 28th, 1893. The fol- opium, intoxicants, and fire-arms in the lowing resolution constituting the coun- New Hebrides islands. A Washington cil was adopted: .. Re8olved, That we correspondent of the Philadelphia Evenhereby constitute ourselves the Presby- ing Telegraph wrote to that paper on terian Mission Council of Korea, said April 10th last, making the following council to consist of all male Presbyte- statements, which if correct relieves the rian missionaries in Korea, and said Government of any apparent hostility council to have advisory powers only." to the project: Besides the discussion of other ques- tions the council decided upon two im- " The subject of an international dec- laration for the protection of natives in portant measures. One of these re- the islands of the Pacific by prohibiting garded the location of the Southern the sale of fire-arms and liquors was brethren in Korea. They requested first broached to the Government in a the council to advise them which part note of August 11th, 1884. from Minis- ter West to Secretary Frelinghuysen. of Korea to select as their own individ- who responded on the 22d of the same ual field. It seemed unnecessary for month that 'this Government looks us all to distribute our workers side by with favor upon any humanitarian work, and would like more information side over each province. Consequently as to the scope and form of the prothey were advised to enter the two un- posed agreement. '
occupied southern provinces of Chylllla .. In a note of October 11th, 1892, to Do and Chyoong Chyung Do. Secretary Herbert. of the British Lega- tion. and then (,'harge d'Affairs, Secre- The other question relates to the na- tary Foster, referring to his predecestive church. It was adopted as fol- sor's statement, said: 'In this concur- lows: " Resolved, ,That the council ex- rence in principle I cheerfully acquiesce, and welcome with pleasure the oppor- but we forgot our weariness, and detunity now afforded to consider the for- voured it all before laying it down.
mulated plan, ' and announced the Presi- We have a number of copies. but they dent's assent to the general scope of the have all been "keeping lent," till we proposed convention, suggesting some have none at hand now that we wish to !ninor changes in the draft submitted wIite about it. They are "Six lecby Mr. Herbert. ' tures" which were delivered at the Re· " At about the same date a circular formed Theological Se!ninary, New note was forwarded from the Depart- Brunswick, N. J., in 1892, on the ment to the representatives of the Gov- "Graves" Lectureship. They deal ernment at the principal courts in Eu- with the Programme, Preparation, Adrope, inclosing a copy of the note to ministration, Fruits, Prophecies and Mr. Herbert for the purpose of setting Present Help of the Holy Ghost in Modthe United States right on the record, ern Missions. They read, as they ought there being a misunderstanding of the to, "like a romance." Ministers will find here suggestive material for many position of this Government. " Secretary Foster, in his note of Oc· a missionary address. Dr. A. J. Gor· tober 11th, stated to Mr. Herbert that don is the pastor of the Clarendon Street , this Government will be glad to be ad- Church, Boston, and since Bishop vised in due time of the views upon this Brooks's death the oldest pastor in Bos· project of other Governments, whose ton. He is resI;>0nsibly connected with adhesion to it has been solicited, and to the administratIOn of the Baptist Misgive attentive consideration to the exact sionary Union. The first chapter on form which it is eventually proposed to the Holy Ghost's Programme of Mishave it take,' but no further communi- sions will command the respect of even cation indicating progress or otherwise those who dissent from the author's in the consideration of the Convention view. The readers of this REVIEW are by the other Powers interested has been familiar with Dr. Gordon's style of ex- pression and his attractive and well·orreceived. " dered thought, and need not be told that this book is luminous, thought-pro· Rev. Caleb Frank Gates, of Mardin, voking, and inspiring. If twenty thou- Turkey, sends a line saying: "One sand copies were sold at once, it would problem in Turkey is this, Persecutions mean more than $20,000 to the missioncompelled the organization of Protes- ary exchequer. (Fleming H. Revell tant civil communities, thus adding one Company, Chicago and New York.) more to the Christian sects in Turkey. All Christian sects are more or less hos- -The Gospel of the Kingdom (Bakel', tile toward other Christian sects and Taylor Company, New York) is a popu- Jealous of them. Government relations lar exposition of the Gospel according mcrease this hostility. How, then, can to Matthew, by C. H. Spurgeon, late we ~et outside of the Protestant com· pastor of the Tabernacle in London. mumties and reach the other Christian Dr. Pierson writes an introduction to the American edition, calls this commen· communities? "I do not know, but am trying an taryon Matthew" the latest and ripest" experiment in the line of Christian so· of Mr. Spurgeon's life labors•• ciology. We have organized a Young Men's Society to do good in the name of Christ. The nei~hborhood in which -C. Hachiro Hajiwara. a Japanese he lives is the field III which each mem- student at Princeton, N. J., has preber ill to work. He is to report to the pared a reliable cyclopredic map of Society the poor, the sick. the erring Japan. It is a large. boldly printed ones in his neighborhood. The Society and colored wall-map. The popUlation is to investigate all cases and devise re- of cities, post-offices, roads, railroads, lief if possible. I t will also distribute Buddhist and Shinto temples, location Bibles and useful books, and try to do of organized churches, numerical all the good it can without regard to strength of Buddhist and Shinto priests denominational lines, only , in His and students; the comparative strength of Christian denominations in the whole name.'" Empire; the position of the coal·fields of the country; diagrams, tables, and a vast deal besides are shown on this reo markable map. It ought to be studied Book Mention, by all missionary workers, and might -We were very weary when we first well be placed iu every public library. chanced to take up Dr. Gordon's new It costs, elegantly mounted, $6; adbook, " The Holy Spirit in Missions," dress author. DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR. [July III.-DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED BY PROFESSOR AMOS R. WELLS.
The society of Christian Endeavor in and churches to be built, teachers to be Arabic is "Nedwat el Ijtehad Mes~ supported, colporteurs and Bible-women seahy." Dr. Clark found two of these to be adopted. mission stations to be societies in Syria. manned and strengthened, missionaries to be paid-something for every one and In Beirut Dr. Clark found a school every society." supported by the Presbyterian Christian Endeavor society of Rome, N. Y. He The Mexican mission paper, El l'e8- thus describes his visit: "In the room ti{/o, supports a regular Christian En- are about forty little girls from six to deavor department. sixteen years of age. They are attired in their best; and very pretty and at- Rev. W. 1. Chamberlain, the mission- tractive many of them are in their red ary of Chittoor, India, who is support- and blue dresses, their white clocked ed by the Christian Endeavorers of the stockings, and their wooden clogs, very Reformed churches, under the direction much, after all. like many little Ameri- of their denominational board, has been can girls that I have seen. They sing appointed Christian Endeavor superin- their Arabic songs, and repeat the ~fty tendent in that great empire, and he third chapter of Isaiah in English, and will look after the interests of the some other Scripture passages in Ara- Christian Endeavor movement until the bic. and go through with their pretty societies shall become numerous enough motion songs. Then two rows of them to hold a convention and choose their stand up facing each other, and one girl own officers. repeats a Bible prayer, and the girl op- posite to her responds with a promise Chester, England, has successfully that contains the answer to the prayer. carried out the first English united Gos- Then another prayer and another an- pel mission under Christian Endeavor swering promise, until all have recited. auspices. The meetings were continued This school, this teacher, these forty for ten days, and were held in Baptist, girls, all this instruction, all these good Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congrega· influences, all the streams of blessing tional churches. that flow out. from this school, are de- pendent, for the time, on a little elIort, The contributions of Reformed a little self-denial, a little uuselfish fore- Church Christian Endeavorers to their thought on the part of one Christian denominational mission boards were, Endeavor society in Rome, N. Y. Mul. during the single month 6f March this tiply this school by twenty-five thou- year, over five hundred dollars-half to saud, and you will know what the Chris· go for the support of their" Christian tian Endeavor movement throughout Endeavor missionary" and half toward the world might accomplish. Some the building of their second" Christian could do more; some must <10 less; but Endeavor church." By the way, a I am confident that, on the average, all worthy clergyman, who "had always our societies might do as much as this, had his suspicions of the Endeavor in addition to what they would natu- movement," seeing an item in this rally give in other directions. In all magazine similar to the above a few the mission lands that I have visited I months ago, jumped to the conclusion .have found all kinds of special work to that Christian Endeavorers had organbe done, costing from ten dollars to ten ized a new denomination that was buildhundred dollars. There are boys to be ing churches and ordaining and sending educated in schools, little schoolhouses out missionaries. Forthwith this watch- man on the walls of Zion rushes into print in a series of long articles setting forth the baleful elIects of Christian
189A.] DEPARTMENT OF CHRIS'I'IAN ENDEAVOR
Endeavor, which he had prophesied the past year." And so the noble list from the very first. Unfortunately for runs on, and similar records may be Utose articles, this" Christian Endeavor found in nearly all the denominational missionary" and these" Christian En- papers of the land. Truly Christian deavor churches" are the creations sim- Endeavor is a missionary movement. ply of the home and foreign missionary boards of the Reformed Church in In the last week in April the Christian America, who have chosen to apply in Endeavorers of Reformed churches these two directions Ute money received held in Dr. Burrell's church, New YOlk from their Endeavor societies. City, their first denominational mission- ary convention. It was a notable con- A recent writer finds a singular provi- vention, and addresses were made by dence in the fact of the simultaneous many missionaries-Rev. C. A. S. uprising of the Student Volunteer and Dwight (Turkey), Rev. P. W. Pitcher Christian Endeavor movements. "Thou- (China), Rev. E. R. Miller (Japan), and sands of young missionaries going into Dr. J. W. Scudder (India)-as well as all the world to preach the Gospel to by the missionary secretaries. every creature; and thousands of Christian Endeavor societies, in all parts of In Concepcion, Chile, a Spanish Chris- Ute world, with millions of members, tian Endeavor society has been formed ready to encourage, give, pray, and aid -the first Spanish society, probably, in in every way-what does it mean 1 Is South America. So far three Christian God at the same time raising up the Endeavor societies have been formed in commissioners for this chief work, and ChUe. Ohio Endeavorers are support· the constituency that is to send and sup- ing a missionary in Santiago. port them 1" Rev. James H. Pettee, of Okayama, The Hindoo Endeavorers of the girls' Japan, reports a decided growth of school at Madura, India, have organ- Christian Endeavor societies in Japan ized a little Sunday-school of their own, since Dr. Clark's visit to the Sunrise into which, every Sabbath. they gather Kingdom. In his own field are now some twenty or thirty little children. four wide-awake societies as against one when Dr. Clark was there. The same A Turkish Endeavorer of Harpoothas is true in many other places. In the lately started a new Christian Endeavor orphan asylum at Okayama is a Chrissociety, in which Protestants and Grego- tian Endeavor society of twenty-eight rians serve together on the committees. members, each pledged to give at least one tenth of their earnings to Christian Here are a few samples from a recent work, and many of them give more than column of Christian Endeavor items. that. What would have been thought of such items ten years ago? "The Delaware The Presbyterian societies of Phila- (N. J.) Endeavorers are supporting a delphia have set in operation a method native missionary at Ningpo, China.- of "missionary extension" somewhat The Spokane (Wash.) Union ia taking similar to the "missionary extension" steps toward the organization of a Chi- course of lectures inaugurated by the nese mission in thatcity.-The Fletcher Illinois union. There is a committee (Oat.) Presbyterian society will support of ten, divided into three sub-commit· a home miSSionary this summer.-The tees. The committee on organization is Courtland Street Congregational En- ready to organize missionary effort in deavorers of Chicago educate an Arme- any Presbyterian society that desires nian boy at Yozgat.-The Hennepin their assistance, or strengthen plans al- Avenue Methodist Endeavorers of Min- ready in operation. The committee on neapolis undertake the support of a for- information furnishes missionary ineign missionary.-The Lehigh Avenue formation, or directs societies to the Baptist Endeavorers of Philadelphia proper sources. One member will tell raised over eighty dollars for missions about the mission boards, their publication8, returned missionaries with whom midday meetings throughout the colo· appointments may be made. and the nies simultaneously with the final con- like. Another will answer questions secratiou meeting at the Montreal Con- about missionary periodicals and books, vention, July 10th.
and courses of missionary study. A Several new societies have sprung up third publishes announcements, mission· in China sInce Dr. Clark's visit.
ary letters, and so on, and suggests In one Junior society of Christian En- methods for creating an interest in mis· deavor that we know of, each cllild is sions. The committee on meetings assigned a missionary to think about, provides missionary lectures, and rents read about, and pray for. Not only a fine oxyhydrogen stereopticon or 9 fine would this be a good plan for all Junior oil lantern and sets of slides to societies societies, but why should not the older that wish to gain a knowledge of mis- Endeavorers adopt it ?
sionary lands in this pleasant way. On Only a few months ago delegations the whole, this is a very practical and from four German Christian Endeavor admirable plan, and has a.lready proved societies met in Detroit. By the last of itself very useful. April so many new societies had been Policemen are decidedly neglected by formed among the Germans in this Christian workers, and there are some country that it was thought necessary signs that Christian Endeavor may take to hold a second convention, which as- up this neglected work. At any rate, sembled in Chicago. Nineteen societies the first police society of Christian En- sent delegations, and a German Chris- deavor has been formed. It is in New tian Endeavor union was formed. This York City, and has a membership of union starts out with forty-nine socie- about twenty.five, about half of whom ties. Though these are chiefly found in are police officers. It is planned to or· the German Evangelical Synod of North ganize a Junior Police Christian En· America, some of them are from the deavor society, to be composed of po· German Presbyterian Church, the Ger· licemen's children. man Reformed Church, the Evangelical Dr. Farnham, of Shanghai, has pub. Association, and the Society of Friends.
llshed articles on Christian Endeavor This German union has its German methods of work in every number of Christian Endeavor organ, De'/" Nitar- the Chinese Illustrated News since Dr. beiter, which was established at the be- Clark's visit. ginning of the year.
The Presbyterian Board of Home In Clinton, Ia., the Presbyterian and Missions received during March from Congregational Endeavorers have en- Presbyterian societies of Christian En· tered into a home missionary combina- deavor nearly a thousand dollars. Under tion. They watch the police records, the guidance of the young people's and whenever they see that a woman secretary, Mr. Thornton B. Penfield, the has been arrested, they see her and plead societies are taking up special work in with her, trying, if possible, to get her Alaska, the Indian Territory, New Mex- to live a better life. Why could not all ico, Minnesota, Colorado, and Utah. Endeavor societies take up some such The Christian Endeavor society in work as this? Especially if it were done Allahabad, India, is a union society, with the advice and assistanee of older made up of Baptists, Presbyterians, and and experienced workers, it might be- Episcopalians. Catholics visit the meet· come a wonderfully blessed work.
ings, but do not join.
The Christian Endeavor society at Sir Monier WilliaIDS, in his work on Baraka, Libreville, Gaboon, Africa, has "Buddhism," says: "Christianity degrown to a membership of forty, and mands the suppression of selfishness. their meetings are exceedingly helpful. Buddha demands the suppression ot It is the plan in Australia to hold self. In the one the true self is ele· vated. In the other it is annihilated."
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The death of Dr. Arthur Mitchell and who but kp.ows Christ must love Him ; Dr. R. W. McAll, following close on he who loves Him must adore Him; that of Dr. Kendall, takes away two and he who adores Him understands more of the missionary generals. Each when He says, "I and the Father are of these three men was, in his way, one." , His little tract, 'Das Blut without a rival. Dr. Kendall was the Christi,' will show you how clear he is most marvellous organizer home mis- on the point of the atoning nature of sions ever had in America. He was the work of our blessed Lord Jesus. the Wellington of home missions, and I have not seen the article mentioned, in many things resembled the Iron but Dr. Schodde evidently does not Duke. In all the advocates of foreign know very much of Rabbi Lichtenstein missions I have known no man the or his teaching. He perhaps only saw equal of Dr. Mitchell for scope, fluency, his first one or two pamphlets, in which, graphic power, and pathos; and as to however, although Christ's divinity is Dr. McAll, no student of missions can not particularly dwelt on, it is not defail to see that his work was absolutely nied." unique. Twenty years ago he went to the worst quarter of Paris, and began in [The editors are not responsible for the simplest way to work among the the statements of their contributors, and Communists of Belleville. He was therefore gladly give place to any such God's man at God's set hour, and the correction.-A. T. P.] results are surpassingly grand. In due time we hope to have fuller papers in Bible Institute Workers in Foreign these pages, more fitly commemorating Lands. these two marvellous men. A large percentage of the ladies who A.T.P. have attended Mr. Moody's institute in Chicago have devoted their lives to Rabbi Lichtenstein. work in the foreign field. Twenty-five of the two hundred and twenty ladies Rev. David Baron, himself a convert- who have attended the Institute are now ed Jew, of Mildmay Mission to the in foreign lands; six more are under Jews, writes May 3d, 1893, to Rev. appointment, and still others are volun- John Wilkinson: "The statement of teers. No mission field of prominence Dr. Schodde in THE MISSIONARY RE. is without one of these workers. China, VIEW OF THE WORLD in reference to India, Japan, Africa, Persia, South Rabbi Lichtenstein is most erroneous America, and other lands have received and contrary to fact. At least two of most effective missionaries from those the Rabbi's addresses at the Central who have attended the Institute. Hall during the past month were devoted by him to the special purpose of My DEAR DR. PIERSON: In correctproving that Jesus is indeed the Christ, ing an error in the article of Dr. Nevius the Son of the living God; and in one (in your May issue) about the .J Volunaddress he spoke most touchingly on teers," I do so, not to criticise Dr. the Trinity of God, as being the essence Nevius's article, but to place my beof Old Testament teaching in relation loved seminary-McCormick, of Chicato the character of the God of Israel. go-in her true light. In my conversations with him he has more than once told me that he regards The article reads, "From Princeton Jesus as none other than the Jehovah there went out to the foreign field last of the Old Testament. In his J Juden. year three men-only about seven per thum is Christenthum' he says: 'He cent of the graduating class. Union and Chicago sent out about tTl£, same num· most useful of the series. In it we find ber, if I am rightly informed. while Au- given the pronunciation of geographi. burn, Allegheny. Lane, and Danville cal and proper names, money values, furnished none." The italics indicate weights and measures, distances, words the error. McCormick's class of '92, found in missionary literature, and samcontaining 46 men, has 10 men accept· ples of Bible texts given in the language ed, and all but two, who are making of the country. The book is carefully final preparation in Europe, now in the prepared, and all interested in missions foreign field. This is over 21 per cent will find it helpful. of the graduating class. Fourteen others of the class decided to offer themselves, The "Stories from Indian Wigbut some were rejected for worthy rca- wams," by our friend, Rev. Edgerton sons, some pray that they may yet go, Young, is one of the best, most fasciand I am sure aU are more earnest to" as nating, instructive, and stimulating of BUrne, emphasize, and reiterate that every modern books on missions. I have minister of the Gospel is by his being brought it to the attention of many sucb necessarily pledged to the cause of friends, several of whom have bought foreign mis.sions." it, and no one has been disappointed.- A.T.P. Sincerely, BURTON A. KONKLE. English Notes.
A declaration bas just reached us BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS. from Madras, signed by twenty-nine missionaries, representing sixteen soci- Exeter Hall Breakfast Meeting-Emeties, in which they state that, "re- phatic Protest.-It is evident that Chris· gretting the misapprehension occasion- tians in the home country are deeply ed by the action of the Decennial Mis- stirred by the action, or rather inacsionary Conference of 1892-93, in with- tion, of the Bombay Decennial Confer· drawing the resolution relating to legal. ence in respect of the social evils to the ized impurity, and desiring to allay support of which the Indian Govern· anxiety caused thereby in the minds of ment has been for 80 long committed. Christian people," they declare their The Exeter Hall Breakfast meetillg, c< abhorrence of any system which pro- held on March 21st, was large, repre· vides for or sanctions the practice of sentative, and entirely consentient ; and. vice. " A similar declaration from the while not to be interprcted as a protest lady missionaries of Madras will follow. against Indian missionaries, cmphasized all the more on that account the gen- Our heartfelt sympathy is extended eral grief felt at tlleir unfortunate sito Dr. Clough, of India, whose wife lence, or worse, when in conference as· was killed in a folding bed at Evans- sembled. The Rev. W. F. Moulton, ton, TIL, on May 19th. Mrs. Clough D.D., presided, aud introduced the was in America to superintend the edu- painful business in an address of studied cation of her children, and her husband moderation. The speaking took a much bad recently returned to bis field of warmer turn under tIle Rev. H. W. labor. . There will be much sorroW Webb.Peploe, who moved a. threefold everywhere at the news of this sad acci- resolution condemnatory (1) of thc dent, for Mrs. Clough was beloved by opium trade; (2) of the eucouragement all who knew her. given to the liquor traffic by the Indian Government for the sake of revenue; How They Say it in Mi88wnary Landa, and (3) the provision made for licentiousthe latest booklet from the hands of the ness. Dr. James L. Maxwell confined Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of himself to one point, which, like a nail. the Presbyterian Church, is one of the he drove home and clinched-the fact that ever since there had been a church sionary work had all passed: and they in China (for fifty years) the voice of that church had been absolutely unani- now knew the needs of the world anu n:ous in the condemnation of opium- smoking. Mr. George Gillett expound- how to lUeet those needs. ed the iniquity catered for in connection with the Indian military cantonments; Dr. E. E. Jenkins, speaking of the and the Rev. H. Price Hughes traversed the whole ground, and in a speech of prescience of Carey, remarked that it great fire and force showed that the questions dealt with were not disputable was no poetical exaggeration to say that among Christian men and could not be. , , 'Ve demand, then," said he, "that the main foundations of the enormous these three deadly evils shall curse our Indian Empire no more." structural work of missionary India to- The resolution, on being put to the day were laid by that man, who, one meeting, was enthusiastically and unani- mously carried. hundred years ago that day, was set Baptist lrJissionary Olosing Oentenary apart in the Baptist meeting in Leicester OelelirationB.-Northampton, " the Mec- ca," as Mr. Baynes observed, " of Bap- for the labors to which the Holy Spirit tist foreign missions," has recently been the scene of animated closing services had called him. • in connection with the celebration of the Baptist missionary centenary. The Great interest was taken in these fund in cash and promises has now reached the sum of £110,800. Of that meetings, which were varied in char- amount only about £13,000 in promises is outstanding. According to Mr. Rick- acter and fraught with stimulus ett, the treasurer, the aim of the com- , mittee is to reserve, if possible, £100,000 throughout. of the sum collected for aggressive work, and, further. to raise the annual income The Bahamas and Ouba.-According to the same level. to the Rev. George Lester, Nassau, Bahamas, there is a good sphere in the Dr. Swanson, a Presbyterian mission- Bahamas for some young, efficient local ary, described China as the greatest field preachers as lay evangelists. One ad- for Christian missions in the wurld. and vantage is that there are no difficulties as containing 380,000,000 people domi- of language to be struggled with; and nated by the same civilization which another is that even on new stations the existed before that of Assyria, or Per- people are sufficiently acquainted with sia, or Greece, or Rome had even begun. the order of Christian worship to be Dr. Swanson also alluded to the aggres- able at once to enter upon our public sive character of the Chinese. .. I have services. never been to a place where I have not met with a Chinaman and a Scotchman. Speaking of Cuba, which lies within You cannot say that of any other hea- two days' sail of the port of Nassau, then people." Mr. Lester observes: " As far back as 1839 the Bahamian missionaries looked Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson, who longingly toward Cuba, and desired to next spoke, pointed out that the work enter it with the message of a full, free, of missions by the lleginning of the and present salvation. But Cuba has new century had developed into a sys- been jealously closed for generations to tem. The experimental phases of mis· the Protestant preacher. Now, how- ever, it is open to him by reason of re- ligious toleration granted under the Spanish constitution." Who will be the first to carry into Cuba the banner of the Church of the :Reformation?
The Om'e of the Ohurcltes.-In Wes- leyan Missionary Notices for March, 1893, a thoughtful paper appears from the pen of the Rev. W. H. Findlay, M.A., on "Phases of Mission 'Work in South India." In this article the view is earnestly maintained that more im- portant than the number of accessions from heathenism is the growth in grace tion in many other fields of missionary of those who have been received. The effort. " unit that stands for a man just out of heathenism is one thing; that same State Regulation of Vice.-Much re- unit, invested with the gift of spiritual gret is expressed that, through an un- understanding, and in whom the graces fortunate error of management, the of the Christian character are developed, Bumbay Decennial Conference has put is another. Mr. Findlay holds that itself into a very false position as re- .. there is no more occasion to be anx- gards the State regulation of vice. ious about the numerical advance of Bishop Thoburn has done much to clear Christianity in India than about the away the bad and misleading impres- spreading of light when dawn has ap- sions created by the action taken. It peared in the east. " The main business would be a mistake to conclude either now is to see to the gradual transforma- that the missionaries present at the con- tion of the members and churches that ference did not know their own mind or are. The point is an important one. that they were callous on the subject. The evangelism that is insufficiently When presented, the motion was" pass- supported by pastoral oversight and ed by an :Jverwhelming vote, and amid spiritual nurture is certainly not in tumultuous applause." Its withdrawal keeping with the analogy of faith. was due, not to the merits of the case, but to the feeling of some that the reso- The Hill T1'ibeIJOf .A88am.-The Welsh lution in question exceeded the powers mission to the Khasi Hills, in Assam, is of a body constituted as theirs was. taking firm hold. Dr. Macphail, a The incident is none the less to be re- medical missionary who himself labors gretted that it is not so black as at first among the Santals, reports, concerning painted. the above mission, that .. the fields are white already to harvest." Tangible Japanese Women.-Madame Tel Sono, results have already accrued. .. Out of of Tokio, Japan, has been endeavoring, a population of 200,000 about 8000 are not without success, to interest British now Christians;" and the prospects are Christians in her projected training bright. The chapel at Shillong, which school for the educating and uplifting holds a thousand people with comfort, of Japanese women. Her. story is a is often well filled. strange one, as, indeed, so often hap- pens in the case of elect souls. In early A feature of great interest in this life there was the groping after God, if mission is that the Welsh missionaries haply one might find Him. Her . have brought with them their peculiar father must have been another such dim institution, the Wel8h Sundall- 8chool. seeker, for at the age of thirteen she "It is attended," says Dr. Macphail, was taught by him to worship the one "by the entire congregation, some living and true God. How true it is classes consisting of gray-headed men that there are the brooding influences and women. Two advantages are that of the Spirit before the sovereign word it affords a good field for voluntary mis- of command, "Let there be light, and sion workers, and of these there is no light was;" and in heathen lands this lack; and it insures that the great bulk period of incubation is often very pro- of the people, old as well as young, non- longed. But the light, when it does readers as well as readers, are thorough- arise, is all the more precious and wel- ly well drilled in the Scriptures." The come. Savinglyenlightened in Ameri· Oh1'istian, commenting on the above, ca, :M:adame Tel Sono is on ber home- observes: " We should not be sur- ward journey by way of England, and prised if the Welsh Sunday-school sys- hopes, on her retuI'D, to devote the re- tem became a favorite means of instruc- mainder of her days to a scheme fo.r the raising of the mental and spiritual Duta, who told him that the" English" status of Japanese women of the higher Europeans taught their people to read; social ranks. We are a little doubtful so Mika determined, on his return home, of the qualification •• higher social to seek out the" English" Europeans ranks," when we remember that" not with this object in view. Thus Mika many noble are called." Howbeit, we became a constant visitor to Mackay, by trust she may have much cause to bless whom he was baptized in 1884; and' God for the letter m. After all, not was chosen, some two years after, as many means 801ne, and the some would one of the" church elders" to carryon not appear were the mfrom ,. the many" the work of preaching the Word should crossed out. the Europeans be compelled to leave the country. Heathenism Renounced.-The Olt1'onide, organ of the London Missionary So- Recently (March 7th) a meeting was ciety, reports that two villages in the held at the Guildhall, Cambridge, for Madras Principality, within six miles of the purpose of hearing an account of Tripassur, have renounced heathenism the Church Missionary Society'S work and placed themselves under Christian in Uganda. The master of Trinity Colinstruction. These villages number 54 lege presided, and both Mr. Walker and families and contain 238 souls. The M.ika Sematimba spoke. The audience Rev. M. Phillips says that among these was large and appreciative. " Mr. people, who are pariah cultivators, Walker graphically enforced the diffithere seems to be a general mOM toward culties and the reality of the work, and Christianity. God grant that it may be the great need and importance of preso. The 'lTW'/)e in question has stirred paring native Christians for evangelup the rancor of the higher castes, istic labors. Mika, who met with an who are wroth because the villagers are enthusiastic reception, especially emembracing the religion of Christ. Mean- phasized the oneness of the Uganda and while a teacher has been d6puted to English Christians in the Lord, and the teach them; and the people themselves, deep thirst among his fellow-country. acting on Mr. Phillips's advice, have men for Christian instruction." built a mud-and-thatched school-room for divine service. Mi8sionaries for South America.-Dr. Grattan Guinness and those who labor Mika Sematimba, Ohillfin Uganda.- with him at the East London Institute The Rev. R. H. Walker, of the Church for Home and Foreign Missions have Missionary Society, has brought over felt a great concern for the unevangelwith him to England Mika Sematimba, ized masses of South America. The a Uganda chief. The chief is now badly neglected condition of Peru has twenty-eight years of age. He has been especially laid to heart. In the spent in that time an exceedingly event- September number of Regions Beyond, ful life, having been" in deaths oft," for 1891, the needs of Peru were set but the Lord, in presenting goodness, forth in one of the articles. Referring has safeguarded him, and, according to to this, Dr. Grattan Guinness remarks: His eternal purpose, brought him into "We are glad to say that some hearts the Good Shepherd's fold. Having have already been stirred by our article noted, in the first instance, how far on Peru to feel for its needs, and that superior the Europeans were to the several of our students have volunteered Arabs, Mika went to the Roman Catho- for missionary work in that country lic priests for instruction, and first heard and in the neighboring State of Bolivia." from them, by word of mouth, the The names of these students are R. facts of the Gospel. Later on, when Stark, F. Peters, J. Jarrett, T. Joyce, Mika was about fifteen years of age, he and T. Berkeley. May they each refell in, at Zanzibar, with Henry Wright ceive a full reward I
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
Islands of the Sea;* Greenland, Labrador, and Alaska; Amerioan Indians;t Ohinese in Amerioa;t Mormonism.§ CIRCIDoG'OLAR EVANGELIZATION, OR musty chronicles told. The Danish court had given countenance to his THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS IN GREEN· plans, and in 1721 three ships' compa· nies, colonists and soldiers, had set out. LAND, LABRADOR, AND ALASKA. Disappointed in his quest of Norsemen, Egede had begun to work for the na· BY REV. J. TAYLOR HAMILTON, D.D., tives, but had been baffled by a dread· ful visitation of small·pox. Just when SEC. S. P. G., BETHLEHEM, PA. he was thinking of returning to Europe, the Danish Government having with· GREENLAND. drawn from the project of colonization, assistance had come to him in the per· One hundred and forty.four years sons of three Moravian laymen from ago there met in the town of Bethle· Herrnhut in 1733, Matthew and Chris· hem, at the forks of the Delaware, in tian Stach, two cousins, and Christian Pennsylvania, founded less than a David, utterly ignorant of the condl· decade before, men who might have tions of life in Greenland, but enthusi· been regarded as a pledge of the future astic for Christ. Egede had welcomed of Protestant missions. They greeted them at Godhaab, the most northern of one another as brethren in Christ, the Danish colonies, and about a mile though some were negroes of the Dan· away they erected their modest sod ish West Indies, others Indians from hut, calling it New Herrnhut. Berbice in South America, others Mo· hicans or Delawares, and yet others, Awful hardships followed. Scurvy Greenlanders I and small·pox broke out, and within a year carried off about two thousand na· The last were three in number-two tives. Meantime the kind offices of the young men and a young woman, one of missionaries to the sick and dying and the former being a son of the first con· dead made no impression. Christian vert of the Moravians in Greenland, David returned to Europe in 1735, and Samuel Kajarnak, baptized in 1739. his place was taken by Frederick With a married Christian couple, Si· Boenisch and John Beck. The sup· mon Arbalik and wife, they had visit· plies failed to reach them from Europe. ed Europe in 1747 in the missionary ship Starvation was fought off only by hav· Irene, whose captain and crew had dedi· ing recourse to shellfish and seaweed. cated their pursuit of the sea to the Egede's wife having died, he returned service of Christ and of their church. in 1736. The missionaries' boat was The married people had succumbed to destroyed. An attempt was made to the climate of Europe, and the young murder them. It seemed as if the dull people were now returning home by natives had no capacity for the Gospel. way of the American colonies. Their language, with its gutturals re- sembling the growls of a polar bear and The story of the mission in Greenland the crunching of drift ice against a berg, is a story of patient self·denial and per· was a terrible barrier. But at last Ka· severing victorious faith. jarnak was touched by the story of the suffering Saviour, and in time was bap· Hans Egede, a Danish Lutheran pas· tized with all his family. In spite of tor, had been the pioneer, fascinated the angekoks (medicine·men) the good with a hope of finding the descendants work went on, and when the first church of Eric the Red and his Norsemen, of whose ventures centuries before the • See pp. 62 (Jannary), 188, 211 (March), 481, 50!, 5112 (present issne).
t See pp. 488, 507 (pre.ent issue).
1: See p. 443 (June). I See p. 266 (April). was built, having been framed in HoI- with the missionaries at Frederiksdal, land and brought thither in 1747, the and a number have been won for Christ. baptized numbered 147 souls, and native assistants began to be trained. A sec- On the whole, the outlook of. the ond station followed in 1758, Lichten- Greenlanders as a race does not seem fels, about ninety miles south of New bright. The introduction of European Herrnhut. A third, Lichtenau, was luxuries by the trading company {to its founded ·in 1774, in a comparatively credit be it said that the sale of intoxisheltered position, so that a little flock cants to natives is prohibited) and the of goats and a few cows could vary the gradual extinction of the natural food diet of fish In this inhospitable region, supply by the superior weapons of where for more than half the year the civilization are reducing the Eskimos to land is shrouded in ice and snow, and a dependent position. Terrible epiintense cold confining vegetation to a demics have been only too frequent_ few stunted eyergreens and birches Their only capital is their young manand willows, lowly Alpine plants, and hood. When one male is lost at seacoarse grass, the food of the natives and the frail skin boat easily proves his must be taken from the sea. From an coffin amid the tempests and the ice-a early day a very serious hindrance to whole family is deprived of its breadeffective evangelization has been the winner. Poor at best, the membership half nomadic life of the people in pur- find it impossible to bring the mission suit of the seals and other means of sub- to a condition of self-dependence. Yet sistence, a life fostered by the policy of the contrast of their lives with those of the Royal Danish Trading Company, a their kinsmen on the east coast strikingmonopoly which insisted and still insists ly shows that even for them the Gospel upon the scattering of the people in has been the power of God unto civilizasmall companies along the coast. Hence tion as well as salvation. As· far back continuous Christian influence cannot be as 1823, through the agency of the Britbrought to bear on the people. To coun- ish and Foreign Bible Society, the printteract this, steady endeavors have long ed New Testament was placed in their been made to train reliable native assist- hands. ants, and with measurable success, two training institutions being maintained. LABRADOR. In 1824 Frederiksdal, near Cape Farewell, was added to the list of the sta- In some respects the counterpart of tions. Umanak was begun forty miles that In the twin land across Davis' from New Herrnhut in 1861, and three Strait, the mission in Labrador has had years later Igdlorpait, south of Lich- distinctive features of its own. Its tenau. founder, John Christian Erhardt, had been converted while a sailor through Years have elapsed since there was a the agency of a Moravian missionary In single professed heathen family on the the Danish West Indies. Soon after west coast, and ever since 1843 repeated selecting the site of the first station in expeditions have been made to explore 1752, he and the captain of the ship the superlatively desolate east coast. that brought him from London and five In 1881 the missionary Brodbeck man- of tho crew were treacherously muraged to reach Narssak, where he dis- dered by the savages. But the project covered the ruins of a Norse house did not die with him. Jens Haven preabout lat. 60° 30' Lieutenants Holm pared himself by a two years' stay in and Garde, as a result of their explora- Greenland, where he learned the lantion from 1883-85, estimated the popula- guage, and in 1764 reaching the coast tion of the east coast at only from 500 via Newfoundland, by donning the to 600 souls, savage beathen. Since Eskimo costume and using the Eskimo tben some of these have come into touch speech won a welcome. It was not till 1771, after intermediate visits, that a missionary colony, among whom were of the system is that Intoxicants are ex- Haven and Lawrence Drachart, a former cluded. Lutheran and later Moravian mission· ary in Greenland, founded the first sta- The Eskimos of Labrador seem to tion, Nain (N.lat. 56° 55', W.long. 62°). possess more sturdy independence of From the first the Brethren's Society character than their kinsmen in Greenfor the Furtherance of the Gospel among land, even as in their heathen condition the Heathen, organized in 1741, with they were more fierce. Visitors speak headquarters in London, has taken spe- of their talent for music, both vocal and cial charge of this mission, and year instrumental. We read of the singing after year has sent its own ship with in the church at Hopedale as being acsupplies. During the whole period no companied by a cabinet organ, a clarioserious ac()ident ever befell this mission- net, five violins, and a violoncello, the ary ship, though navigating a long musicians being natives, and of the effecchartless Arctic coast, nor has the com- tive rendering of difficult anthems both munication between the missionaries there and at Nain. In the southern staand their brethren in Europe in a single tions there are some neat log houses, instance been completely interrupted. where one would not need to hesitate to The present bark, the Harmony, the sit down at table with Christian Eskifourth of that name, was built in 1861. mos, and where the old habit of taking the meat between the teeth and cutting The first Eskimo convert in Labrador it off near the lips bas been abandoned. was baptized at Nain in 1776, and in the same year a second station was com- ALASKA. menced at Okak, about 150 miles to the north_ The third, Hopedale, a similar In its inception the third circumpolar distance to the south, followed in 1782. mission of the Moravian Church, that The first decade of the present century in Alaska, illustrates strikingly the exwas marked by wonderful revivals of pansive element in Protestant evanreligion, promoted largely by letters gelization. One of its pioneers, and its from the native assistants in Greenland, most eminent missionary ever since, so that the membership was doubled. the Rev. John H. Kilbuck, a full-blood- Hebron, between Okakand Cape Chud- ed Indian, is a great-grandson of Geleleigh, commenced in 1830, and Zoar, lemend, who was baptized by one of between Nain and Hopedale, begun in the Moravian missionaries among the 1865, -and Ramah, the most northern, Delawares of Pennsylvania in the midundertaken in 1871, to reach the few re- dle of .last century. After receiving a maining semi·nomadic heathen Eskimos thorough classical and theological eduwho rove in the region of Cape Chud- cation and for a brief time serving leigh, complete the list of the stations. among his own countrymen in Canada, in 1885 he sailed to the mouth of the Aside from the terrible rigor of the Kuskoquim River, together with his climate and the natural depravity of the wife, and the Rev. William Weinland human heart, the chief difficulties of and wife, and Hans Torgersen, a practhe mission in Labrador are connected tical carpenter, who accompanied the with the trade carried on by the mission missionaries as a lay assistant. In the stores, In the absence of other avenues, previous year tbe second-named, tofor the disposal of the furs and fish and gether with the Rev. A. Hartman, a cod-liver oil procured by the natives. veteran Moravian missionary, formerly Though those who labor among them of Australia, then and now laboring in spiritual things are distinct from the among the Indians of Canada, had been managers of the trade, annoyance and sent on an exploratory tour by the Soperplexity are caused by the tendency ciety of the United Brethren for Propaof the natives to run up large debts in gating the Gospel among the Heathen, seasons of scarcity. The one advantage an organization at Bethlehem, Pa., dating back to 1787, in response to the in- In the very nature of the case these Esvitation of the Rev. Dr. Sheldon Jack- kimos are tending to extinction, their Bon, of Presbyterian missionary fame. food supply disappearing, and will be- As in the explorations which led to the come extinct unless saved by the propacommencement of Okak, in Labrador, gation of the domesticated reindeer two missionaries lost their lives by ship- which Dr. Jackson is seeking to have wreck, so also before Bethel, on the Kus- Congress systematically introduce from koquim, was begun, Hans Torgersen Siberia. Yet there is a value in miswas snatched from his companions, sionary work among these polar tribes. being drowned in the river. But the When successful among them, the young couples persevered, though ut- Church of Christ will not only convey terly umcquainted with carpenter to them an unspeakable boon, and have work, and erected their house, where- •• the blessing of Him that was ready to in to face the rigors of an Arctic win- perish come upon" her, but thereby ter, the thermometer once registering also testify to the Christless in civilized 50.6° below zero. Weinland's health lands, that there are higher motives in gave out, and he had to return in 1887. this world than those which well up A second station was meanwhile begun from the fountain of selfishness, and at Carmel, on the Nushegak River, by that there is an unquenchable and limitthe Rev. Frank Wolff in 1886. In Sep- less power in "the glorious Gospel of tember, 1888, eight souls were gathered the blessed God." in as the first-fruits of the work at Bethel. Schools have been established Ohinese, Japanese, and Indians in the at both places. Several of the missiona- United States. ries-who will number thirteen with the reinforcements now on the way- The census of 18110 gave the number have acquired fluency in the Eskimo of of Chinese in the United States as 107,- Alaska, a dialect decidedly different 475, of whom over 70 per cent are in from that of Greenland and Labrador. California. Congregations are being built up. A number of filial stations are connected The Japanese number 2039, of whom with Bethel. The power of the over one half are in California. shaInans, or witch doctors, has been stayed, is beginning to wane. Terrible The same census gives the number conflicts have, indeed, been experienced, of civilized Indians among the general and life has been in danger from more population and not under tribal relathan one cause; but God has preserved tions as 58,806. Of these over 19,000 His servants. Two most valuable and are residing in the Atlantic States. faithful native assistants have been for- The total Indian popUlation of the mally set apart for their office by Bishop United States exclusive of Alaska is BachInan during an official visitation. 249,273. Of these 66,289 are in Indian Family life is being introduced in Chris- Territory, 8278 in New Mexico, 5304 in tian fashion. Cleanliness is being pro- New York, and 2885 in North Caromoted. The women as well as the men lina. are being made acq~ainted with the amenities of life. It is being proven The population of Alaska is 31,795, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can and is classified as follows; Whites, reach and eventually remove even the 4303; mixed (Russian and native), lowest type of savagery. 1819; Indians, 23,274; Mongolians, 'None of these circumpolar missions 2287 ; and others, 112. possess special strategic significance like those among the higher races of heathen. (We hope to have an article from Dr. Sutherland on work among the Indians, Chinese, and Japanese in the United States, in our next number of the RE- VIEW.)
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED lIY BEV. D. L. LlIIOl(ABD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign of great value in their own way, might P eriodioals. as well have been delivered at the an- niversary of any other society. so little BY REV. c. c. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, had they to do directly with the cause of missions. Perhaps the first man- MASS. certainly one of the first men-to realize this fact was Canon Miller, Rector of THE UNITED KINGDOM. Greenwich. I well remember dear Samuel Hasell telling me. with intense -" The policy. recently adopted, of delight, that Canon MUler had asked to be put in possession of the most imgiving to the world before the anniver- portant incidents in the recent history of the Society, because he wished not sary the financial statement, robs the to make a great speech, but to impress on his audience facts which would annual meeting of what used at one stimulate missionary zeal. Perhaps to- day the danger is lest men should fortime to be an element of surprise. get that eloquence is a mighty power, and also lest some, at any rate, should Those who have attended the meetings look upon the platform as a pulpit. In a meeting which lasts from eleven to for many years will remember occa- two there is absolute need of variety, and in my humble opinion those to sions on which ringing cheers greeted whom God has given the gift of humor, though they must keep it well within the announcement that a dreaded deficit bounds, are doing good service to re- ligion when they allow its pleasant inhad given place to a handsome balance fluence to relieve the tension of mind which is the inevitable result of speeches in hands. Sometimes the reverse has that tax the mind, the memory, and the feelings. Of appeals to the eye, none, been the case. A soleIun, subdued, but perhaps, was more telling than that of the three chiefs from Uganda. I, for by no means unwholesome sensation one, have aways felt that I know more of the physical and mental characterishas passed through many hearts when tics of the Waganda, than I would ever have done had I not seen those fine, tall it has seemed as if the Lord's work men, beside whom most Englishmen looked small."-HENRY SUTTON, in must languish because the Lord's peo- Ohurch Mi88ionary IntelligencM".
ple had failed to give, or stir up others -" The triennial return compiled for the Society of Friends shows that the to give, what was needful to sustain membership of that body has appre- ciably increased in the London andand extend the work. But I for one Middlesex district, which is numerically the largest denominational district in. entirely approve the present plan. The the country."-Bombay Guardian.
Society's friends ought not to be kept in the dark a day longer than necessary as to its poSition in a p'ecuniary point of view. There have been speeches de- livered on the Church Missionary plat- form winhtieclhlefcotur ailmrpaansgsieo,neadn delowquheantcef~ wide still better, profound spiritual power, could not be surpassed. Hugh Mc- Neile, Hugh Stowell, and Francis Close were wont in their day to rouse their hearers to a. fever-heat of enthusiasm; but not always were such speeches cal- culated to inform the mind on the mat- ter in hand or to give practical direc- tion to missionary zeal. It is interest- ing to notice how gradually there grew a desire on the part of the audience to hear speeches which should keep well in view the special work of the Church ~Ilssionary Society rather than those which, able, interesting, and sometimes
EXTRACTS AND. T~ANSLATI.ONI!. li47
-" On November 19th, 1891, took call the scriptural admonitions as to the place the one hundred and fiftieth anni- deceitfulness I)f riches, the fragility of versary of the Society for the Further- power, the weakness of everything that ance of the Gospel. Since 1771 this is only human? And unless we are in- Society has dedicated itself exclu- curably frivolous and ~rjfiing, how can sively, infact, to the temporal Aupport we but look for some fixed poin~ in the of our Labrador Mission, which was general convulsion, and seek beneath then established. It has likewise de- these tossing waves for an immovable served the warmest thanks by securing ground in which to cast anchor?
the sale of the Eskimo products and the .. The will of God, which he that importation to them of the necessaries doeth endureth forever, when the judges of life. A business undertaking set on and princes of the earth are scattered foot by Christian people, whose pro- and dissipated like chaff, this is the ceeds have been and are entirely de- fixed point, this is the solid Rock I"
voted, without any by-ends of private' advantage, exclusively to the extension -" Grindelwald Conferences have of the Gospel, this Society, we may be- turned' out very much what was exlieve, is unique in the history of the pected. There have been delightful, kingdom of God. And as the Lord hllll and we believe profitable reunion8 j recognIzed and blessed its whole activ- but a reunion of the churches, in the ity, In the most palpable way, He will English sense of the word, has been doubtless also remember with a gracious plainly declared to be meanwhile prac· reward all those who, as members of tically impossible. Not the less is it a this Society, in all secluded stillness, hope which should govern their reciphave exercised this activity out of love rocal attitude and conduct. The dito Him. "-Jahre8hericht 01 the Unita8 visions of the Church are really a leg- acy from its self-centred, non-expansive Fratrum. periods; and the key to reunion is to THE CONTINENT. be found not at Grindelwllld, but on -The J(YI/,rnal d-e8 NiBsiona for De- the mission field. "-Minionary Record cember remarks: "The dolorous cir- (U. P.).
cumstances in the midst of which we -The admirable HerIDannsburg Mis- are bringing to a close the year 1892 sion, resting on so pronounced and po· have nothing to do with missions. Are lemic a basis of intense Lutheranism, there not, however, in the spectacle had from the beginning difficulty in which is unfolding before our eyes les- maintaining accord with the established sons by which we can profit? church of Hanover, although this is " A sort of earthquake has come to Lutheran. However, during the life pass in the world which surrounds us; of Louis Harms himself unity was col08sal enterprises, which have laid maintained. After his death his brother, under contribution the savings of a Theodore Harms, assumed the direction whole country, appear destined to a of the mission. The latter, in 1878, wretched I'.ollapse ; reputations hitherto with some other pastors seceded from intact are dissolving in an hour; men the Establishment, and formed the Free hitherto powerful are falling from the Church of Hanover. However, the Es· summit of power; and these shocks ap- tablishment continued to have a voice pear to forebode others, profounder still. in the .mission; but now the Free "How shall we not be shaken in Church has declared that so long as the view of such an overturning? How Hermannsburg missionaries shall con- can we but be struck with the vanity tinue in communion with the Establish· of all that which in the eyes of the ment, they shall be shut out from the world is brilliant, wealthy, powerful, altars and pulpits of the Free Church, well assured? Ifow can we fail to reo and the pupils of the Mission House
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
shall not be allowed to hold any meet- can tolerate, can listen while the claims ings in the Free Church places of wor- of Christ are presented, and, as our misship_ The grounds of dispute are cer- sionaries are able to tell us, in many tain formulas so subtle that Dr_ War- cases do more."- The Ohurch Month.ly. neck declares tJlat even a German theologian cannot understand what possible , –".It is significant of the violence of occasian they can give why a body con- the popular prejudice against the Jews, cerned with the conversion of Caffres which the anti-Semitic agitation has should divide into two hostile camps. succeeded in reviving, that Dr. Noel- deke, Professor of Semitic Languages TIlE JEWS. at the Strasburg University, has been called as a witness to state that neither -" Nowhere have we more reason the Talmud nor any Jewish law-book to expect great things than in Constan- contains a single passage capable of tinople. The ,Tew there is a different being construed into connection with man somewhat from what he is in many ritual murder, or of warranting the baseother parts of Europe. If kindness can less charge that Jews require the blood soften tbe human heart-and the Jew is of Christians for the practices of their human, although there are those who ritual."-Jewi8h Herald. seem to deny him that quality-and make it more susceptible of impression, -This charge against the Jews Is we shall expect the Jew of Constantino- singularly like the wild charges brought ple to be most susceptible. It is only against the Christian missionaries in to toleration we refer when we speak of China, especially against the Roman kindness; but to a hungry man even a Catholics. dry crust is acceptable. We question very much if the treatment to which he -The Jewi8h Herald, speaking of the has been SUbjected for centuries at the sufferings of the Russian Jews, says: hands of so-called Christian nations has " What evil thing have these people not done much to steel him against done to suffer such humanity? They Christian influence. We deplore the only refuse to enter the Greek Church. perversity of the Jew, when we ought The Christianity they are accustomed to deplore and repent of that spirit of to Is to see a rude, ignorant Russian intolerance which, to a great extent, has kneeling before a wooden cross on the made him what he is. But while in roadside and kissing an Image, and then Western Europe-alas! now in Eastern rising up to spit on the first Jew he Europe also-the Jew has had to experi- meets and to curse him. " ence the harshest Intolerance, in Turkey he has had liberty and toleration extend- -The Rev. Dr. Ellis, missionary of ed to him. When, four hundred years the London Society for the Conversion ago, some 160,000 Jews were driven of the Jews, has baptized in Warsaw, from Spain by Christian jealousy, and, within a few months, fourteen adult after years of wandering. found no Jews and Jewesses of good condition. place to rest in, the Sultan of Turkey extended to them his hospitality; we THE SAILORS.' use the word advisedly, for while the Greeks were termed yeshir (slaves), the -" The origin of the best-known sailhaughty Padisha condescended to treat ors' hymns is interesting, most of them the Jews as rTl()7UJaphir (visitors). From being produced after perilous experithat time till now they have dwelt se- ences at sea. Perhaps no hymn is more curely under the Crescent. The result sung on the water than Charles Wesof four hundred years of toleration upon ley's, beginning their minds is just what we might expect: those who have been tolerated " 'Jesus, lover of my soal.'
It was written in 1740,. shortly after Wesley's re1;urn from America to Eng- land, and during the first stormy scenes
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATrONS
of his itinerant preaching. Whether ter Christian and firmer believer for it the figures in the first stanza were sug- during the forty years following. The gested by the storms of the Atlantic, Christianity of most of us does not rate which the writer had but recentlyen- high enough to know how to dispense countered, or by the storms of human with occasional contact with a class of passion, we cannot say; but most of men whose vision of God, where they the sea hymns of Charles Wesley were do have it, seems almost like the vision but the unfolding of actual experiences. of Moses, " face to face."
.. Bishop Heber's matchless hymn be- -" Our Lord was sensitive to the roginning mance of the fisher!Dan's life. So, too, He felt deeply, as we do, the interest of … When through the tom sail the fisherman's character, that sim- The wild $empest I. streaming,' plicity, that sensitiveness to external impressions, that natural delicacy, that was written after similar experiences. spiritual touch which are what we to- The bishop took an affectionate interest day love in Him. Our Lord's heart in the humblest sailors during his voy- turned toward him with peculiar force. ages. 'Only to think,' said a grateful Here was the trnest and purest type of seaman, • of such a great man as the the man He wanted. Here He found bishop coming between decks to pray His special friends. Whether it was with such poor fellows as we.' "-Sail· Andrew with his straightforward modorB' Magaeine. The Magazine then re- esty, or Peter with his eager simplicity, fers to similar hymns of John Newton, or James with his rush of zeal, or John P. P. Bliss, and others. with his mystical passion, it was still in fishermen that He sought and won His -" The King of Sweden, incog., has four chief supporters, with whom He been visiting the Sailors' Home in trusted His whole secret. Something Stockholm. Besides inspecting the there was in the characteristics bred Home he dined with the sailors, and among boats and nets, in the companwon their hearts by his free and easy ionship of this mobile and exquisite converSation with them and by listen- water, which tuned them to the key in ing to their sailors' yams. Of course which the music of His voice spoke they had no less loyalty to the king home. These were the men who best when they subsequently discovered his felt and understood Him. These were identity. Why not drop in at the Sail- they who could bring Him the fairest ors' Home at 190 Cherry Street, or at harvest. "-Canon HOLLAND (S. M.). the Reading Room at 46 Catherine Street, or at 128 Charlton Street, or at -" Christian men and women going 31 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn"–{)r at to sea have an opportunity to make the corresponding sites in other cities- mention of the Name, which is often " why not, good men and good women, allowed to slip by unimproved. Plausl· and cheer them up? King Oscar went ble reasons can be given for the failure, away from his interview with them say- all of which are best answered by the ing that he had never spent a pleasanter example of those who embrace it and afternoon. Your experience will be are made a blessing. 'What God hath like his if you can unbend like him, and Wrought' is the title of a book de- • give and take' like him. By the scribing a mission tour made by Rev. way, he left a substantial reminder of G. C. Grubb M.A., and his companions, his visit, which doubtless helps to ac- whose experience is an answer to all count for his enjoyment of it."-Bail- who assume there is ' no use' in attempt-, ora' Magaeine. ing religious work among the motley body of passengers and crew that -The present writer" dropped in" throng our modern steamers. Mr. once to a prayer-meeting in Cherry Street, and he has been noticeably a bet-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Grubb and his friends had tact for pub· ing this high moral principle, our fiery lic address or private talk, were able to London contemporary sees only that sing, above all, were truly consecrated moral degradation which comes from and self-sacrificing regarding the hum- exercise of despotic power. He close~ blest service to anybody-a great busi· his criticism by saying that 'Nothing ness, for the proper doing of which they but ceaseless watchfulness and prayer had need of the immediate help of the can save an Englishman in India from Divine Spirit. With this equipment becoming an irrational tyrant.' There they had success with officers and crews again we have the conclusions of mere and with passengers from every rank of theorists raising themsel ves in helpless society, and the record of their converts opposition to incontrovertible facts. on every ship they sailed on is a mod- From viceroy and lieutenant governor ern postcript to the Acts of the Apos- down to the district magistrate, the tles."-S. M. Englishmen who rule over the millions of India manifest a degree of consider· -" Now when old Gloucester is cele- ation and patience and solicitude for brating its two hundred and fiftieth an- the welfare of the people, that is the niversary, it is fit time to note that even amazement of all who see it. The pe· a thing so fiat and dry as a salt cod has culiar helplessness of the people of India its romance. Its very alias, • Cape Cod so appeals to all the noble and generous turkey,' tells of a world of deprivation sentiments of the foreign rulers that, and struggle. It is the harvest of won- taken as a class, they exhibit more of derful fields. A potato patch may be the virtues and fewer of the vices of commonplace, a wheat-field monoto- power than are shown by any other nous, the ocean never. The beauty. ruling class in the world."-Indian mystery, pathos of the sea, fioat around Witnea, (Am. M. E., Feb. 4th). the Gloucester dory to-day rather than about the Venetian gondola. • •. Mrs. ,–" It has been said, 'Man may pos- Ward has been pre-eminently the poet sess the authority, but woman has the of Gloucester life, making her summer power;' and this is in a measure true home here for years, and entering in India as elsewhere. Religious sancdeeply by sympathy and service into its tion and social custom have combined fascinations, its: sorrows, its tempta- to make our Indian sister's nominal potions and tragedies, as her striking sition little better than that of slavery, stories and exquisite poems bear wit- and yet her influence is real and powerness."-Rev. C. M. SOUTHGATE, in ful. Uncrowned, she yet often rules, Oongregationaliat (S. M.). and is destined to play an important part in the fashioning of the future re- INDIA. ligious history of India."-The Oltrqni- -" The Methodist TifMB calls the ac- cleo tion of the Bengal Government on the jury question a bit of reactionary bar- -" The Maharajah of Travancore barism. If the writer knew hi!! ground called at Nagercoil on .his way back to better he would simply say that the his capital after visiting the Governor Bengal Government has had the moral of Mackas. It may be remembered courage to risk temporary unpopUlarity that in our September Ohronicle we for the sake of protecting the people gave an excellent portrait of His Highfrom injustice. Few men, and still less ness, with a biographical notice. ' }lao few governments, have nerve to ac· harajahs have sometiJn.es been in these knowledge their own mistakes. The parts when princes,' writes the Rev. J. Bengal Government frankly acknowl- Duthie, 'but for a very long time no edges that in granting trial by jury it reigning king had visited this town. made a mistake. Instead of recogniz- The royal visit was, therefore, an event of very great importance, and the preparations for the reception were on the Orient shall be redeemed to Christ the grandest scale. The Christian streets King!
were decorated after a fashion nevel' -Not only the London Timuj but seen before; and we had three thou· sand children on the spot from the va· the New York Trillune also, beglliil to rious schools of the Nagercoil district to have faith in Christian missions, and welcOme the Maharajah. Just before admiration for the heroes who push I left for my last furlough His High. them forward, as this good confe8i!ion ness requested me to purchase a clock will show: .. The Protestant evangel for the town, very kindly offering to on Lake Nyassa or the Catholic mispay the whole cost. The clock was ac· sionary on Victoria Nyanza takes his cordingly bought, and has been placed life in his hand and buries himself in in a beautiful tower, also provided by barbarous countries. He does not go the Maharajah. Advantage was taken to the Dark Continent in search of adof the Maharajah's visit to formally venture, nor does he return to write open the clock tower. His Highness, books and deliver lectures. Whether too, I must not omit to say, did the he dies of fever the first summer, or is mission the honor of calling upon us massacred at his station, or works year personally, as also subsequently did the after year among the natives. his heroprime.minister, who was in attendance; ism passes without observation_ It is and though the reception of an Oriental his mission to teach degraded races the prince and suite at a mission bungalow elements of civilization and Christiancould not be in any but a very humble ity. He suffers and grows strong. He style, yet much satisfaction was ex· communes with his own heart and is pressed at what we and our people had still. He does the work in a sublime done to show our loyalty on the occa· spirit of self-sacrifice, unclouded with sion. His HIghness received his Prot· premonitions of notoriety and publishestant Christian subjects in the kindest ers' bargains. That is moral heroism manner. What a contrast to the old of the finest fibre. The men of action days of darkness, when poor people of the Stanley campaign of adventure dared not have approached their king I have noble and commanding traits, but The elevating power of Christianity is they are not types of the highest qualicertainly evidenced in a remarkable way ties of heroism and self-sacrifice."
in our mission here. Thanks be to -What testimony to the value of God I' "-TIM Ohronicle. missions can be more trustworthy than that of Sir Bartle Frere, late governor THE WORLD AT LARGE. of Bombay, and he writes: .. I speak simplyas to matters of observation and -It is said that in the great Moham· not of opinion. and assure you that the medan mosque of Damascus, on the teaching of Christianity among 100,000,- lintel beam of an ancient portal, in 000 of civilized and industrious Hindus dimmed letters of Greek, is the inscrip. and Mohammedans is effecting changes, tion, "Thy kingdom, 0 Christ, is the moral, social, and polltical. which for kingdom of the ages, and Thy domin- extent and rapidity of effects are far ion is throughout all generations. " For more extraordinary' than anything you more than a thousand years the follow- or your fathers have witnessed In mod- ers of the false prophet have passed be· em Europe. Presented for the first neath that word, carved there when the time to most of the teeming Indian mosque was a Christian church; but, communities within the memory of men though even yet the glad day may be yet alive-preached only by a few score distant, who that has faith in the Gos· of Europeans-Christianity has never- pel fa not well assured that not only theless in the course of fifty years made Damascus and Jerusalem but the entire its way to every part of the vast mass of Indian civilized humanity, and is take the vacant place." In November now an active, operative, aggressive one of the party died; two more were power in everv branch of social and po- killed the following year; and in a very litical life on that continent." few years, of the eight who went out, Mackay, who lived unti11890, was the -There is hope for the enslaved even sale survivor. Yet there were plenty in Africa, for behold what God hath of volunteers for the posts of those who wrought within a period of only sixty had fallen. years. In 1833 the British Government paid $100,000,000 to liberate 1,000,000 Then further, Dr. Mabie, of the Bapbondmen; in 1844 in India 9,000,000 tist Missionary Union, has recently were set free; in 1846 the Bey of Tunis stated that .. notwithstanding the lIlorgave liberty to all who entered his ter- tality among our missionaries on the ritory ; in 1848 the French Republic Congo, yet three out of every four canforbade the further entrance of slaves; didates for the field express preference in 1861 the Czar emancipated 20,000,000 for Africa. " Surely the age of heroism serfs; in 1863 by the stroke of a pen has not gone, or if it hall, the era of a 6,000,000 in the South became free better heroism has dawned. men; and in 1889 Brazil wiped out the last vestige of slavery on the Western -There be honors and honors. When Continent. William Carey learned that his mission- ary son had accepted a diplomatic ap- -According to Dr. Josiah Strong we pointment in the British service, he said have not yet attained, and the Divine regretfully, " He has shrivelled up into call is clear and imperative to press on : an ambassador." And Mr. Spurgeon "Noble as has been the work of modern may have had that remark in mind missions, it must be regarded chiefly when he once affirmed that he didn't as one of preparation. The languages want anyone who could be a missionof savage peoples have been reduced to ary to drivel down into a king, nor one writing, the Bible and a Christian liter- who was:fit to be a missionary to die a ature have been translated into tongues millionaire. spoken by hundreds of millions. A foothold has been secured, a fulcrum -Not many years since the officers found, the Gospel lever put in place. of one of our societies were surprised . ., The world is about to enter on a by a visit from a man who brought his new era, for which the nineteenth cen- check for $1000 as his offering to misturY has been the John the Baptist." sions. When the question arose whether this was not a large gift for him, he .. -In spite of disgusted Brutus to the said, ., It is! It is one quarter of what contrary, "Rome" (that is, Christian- I own. I found that as I was prospered ity) has not "lost the breed of noble my money engrossed more and more of bloods. " Listen to Mackay of Uganda, my thought. I am not going to be a as he and his party took leave of the slave to the money God may give me, Church Missionary Society's committee and I am going to conquer the love of on April 25th, 1876 : "I want to remind money by giving it away." Some such the committee," he said, "that' within heroic course of treatment is required six months they will probably hear that in desperate cases. one of ns is dead. Yes; is it at all likely that eight Englishmen should Another man of wealth tells how start for Central Africa and all be alive the scales have fallen from his eyes in six months after? One of us, at least- these words: "I used to give as I felt it may be I, will surely fall before that. inclined; now I intend to give of that But what I want to say is this: When which God blesses. I have bank stocks, the news comes, do not be cast down, railroad stocks, United States bonds, but send some one else immediately to etc. These draw interest seven days in the week. But the :first day of the week is the Lord's day, and all that per- ply give the Bible and say, 'Read tains to it belongs to Him. So one sev· that.'" Bishop Thoburn, after years enth of my income from investments is of experience in India, takes the same saved to the Lord. Then I manage to view. secure an income during the six days of the week, and I will set apart to re- -In New York City are found over ligious purposes a certain part of that." 3000 physicians'to minister to 1,500,000 persons, while in the foreign field for -One of the teachers in the Doshisha 1,000,000,000 there are only about 350 considers it In many cases a disadvan- medical missionaries, or one to 3,000,000 tage for Japanese students to attend col- -that is, one to the combined popula· leges in England and America. He tion of New York, Brooklyn, and Jer· says it is quite a common remark among sey jity. missionaries, "Oh, he has come back spoiled." A brilliant graduate of one WOMAN'S WORK. of the great American universities made the remark on his return that "the -The first zenana teaching ever atmembers of a certain mission did not tempted in the East was in Siam in come from the best society In America. " 1851, as zenana work in India did not Another young man, who had spent begin until 1858. Twenty·one of the many years in this country and had 30 young wives of the king composed taken a course in theology, was offered the class. And the beginning in India a position in the Doshisha on his return, was on this wise : A certain missionbut refused because the salary was not ary's wife in Calcutta sat in her parlor high enough; and it often happens that embroidering a pair of slippers for her missionaries in other lands are pierced husband. A Brahman gentleman adthrough with the same sorrow. mired them. Mrs. Mullen asked him if he would not like to have his wife -The Chinese RermdfJr concludes taught to make them. He answered, that the popular theory which inspires yes. "That was a fatal word to those the call for large reinforcements in who wished to cling to idolatry. but a China and India is not wholly based in. joyous 'Ilea it has proved to be to them. reason. To attempt the evangelization As this lady was teaching the woman of the masses in the heathen world by of India to twine the gold and purple force of numbers would be a folly like into the slippers, she was twining into that of the Crusaders. Comparatively her heart the fibres of the sufferings few men and women of the right char· and love of our Lord and Saviour." acter, well sustained by the prayers and After one home was opened to the mispractical sympathy of the Church at sionary it was easy to gain access to home, would do more than thrice as others. many ill-supported, poorly equipped, though sincere and earnest missionary -In Mexico there are many saints to toilers. The true missionary policy be worshipped, from those who bring comes to us in this lesson of the past. rain to prevent famine to those who No country was ever yet evangelized keep food from burning while cooking. but by its own sons. Yes, a tug hard Woman', Work tells of a poor woman and long is before the disciples of Christ who was a cook in a family and who in the world-fight with ignorance, su- did not succeed well, although a devout perstition and sin, while wisdom and per- worshipper of the kitchen saint. One severance rank highest among the qual- day she appealed to God Himself, and ities required. one of her friends coming to visit her about that time taught her many of the -" I would never argue, if I were a secrets of the culiJlary art. so that her missionary," said a Brahman graduate path was much smoother. Her faith of MadraS University. "I would sim- in the saints was shaken, and she be- came a Protestant. -Helping Hand tells of Rebecca Cox, an's Executive Committee of the Pres- of Galway, N. Y., who has left to the byteriau Church, with 67 teachers. Baptist Woman's Missionary Society a The first one was opened in Salt Lake legacy of $800, earned by weaving rag- City in 1875, and others followed in carpets! And reading, who is not af- rapid succession along a line which fectingly reminded of Dorcas, and the stretches north and south from Idaho widow's two mites, and the alabaster almost to Arizona; and in the fierce box of precious ointment? Therefore struggle with the abominations set up is it not written in the Book of Life: in Utah no weapon has been found By faith, Rebecca Cox, etc.? more potent than these same Christian schools. -In the foreign field woman has had an ever-widening work ever since the -The Presbyterian women of the condition of her sisters in the seclusion Dominion of Canada are joined in a soof the harems and zenanas was made ciety which has 543 auxiliaries wilh known to the Christian world. She is 12,517 members, and 221 bands with not only a teacher of schools, guardian 5998 members. The cash income for of orphans, Bible reader, helping evan- the last year was $41,793, and this gelist, but by force of circumstances a after seventeen years from the beginfellow-minister with ordained mission- ning. Work is done in China, the New aries to bring the Gospel light to the Hebrides, Trinidad, and among the Indignorant. She has not been sent out as ians of British Columbia. The Letter ordained to this work, but as one has Leaflet has a circulation of 11,205, and said often foreordained to it. In not a last year paid expenses with $382 in few countries the women preach ; they addition. preach by the way-side, from the boat, in the home, on the street-everywhere, -The Baptist Zenana Society (Eng. indeed, but in the pulpit. To describe land) had an income in 1892 of $42,015, their work in medical and evangelistic if $3650 be included for work in China lines would be an endless story. not yet begun. Four missionaries were sent out last year and 3 others are un- -The Baptist women of the North der appointment for India, with others have 103 representatives at work in the to be dispatched to China as soon as arunevangelized world, and mainly in rangements can be made. Medical Burmah and China. work has a prominent place. Over 200 women are now in the field. -In 1871 the women of the Protestant Episcopal Church organized the UNITED STATES. Woman's Auxiliary to the Board of Missions, whose object was: to increase -Probably not all the readers of THill the funds; to circulate missionary publications: to educate missionaries; to MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD distribute clothing for the families of missionaries, and to educate the chil- know that humble, poverty-stricken dren of missionaries. At the close of Mrs. Phebe Brown, who in 1818 wrote the. twenty-first year, they lately re- the familiar hymn, "I love to steal ported for the year: Raised for home awhile away," has a double title to imand for foreign missions, in money, mortal fame, 'and because she was $154,323; in boxes for the missionaries, mother to the first American missionary $197,724. In the twenty-one Yflars they to Japan, tho Rev. Samuel R. Brown, have raised $3,623,505, an average of D.D. $172,548. -In the decease, May 12th, of General -There are 31 schools among' the S. C. Armstrong, Founder and Princi- Mormons under the care of the Wom- pal of Hampton Normal and Agricul. tural Institute, near Fortress Monroe, Va., the negro and the Indian have lost one of their truest and most valuable friends. He was of missionary birth in a native workers in the foreign field. the Hawaiian Islands, and of Massachusetts Scotch-Irish descent, a fine soldier Two of these ale young men under the in the War of the Rebellion, and at the direction of Dr. Hunter Corbett, of call of the Government one of the first Chefoo, China. The third is a native to undertake to look after the well being ordained minister of the Gospel in India. of the freedmen. In 1868 the school The support of the first two costs $30 was opened, and ten years later Indian each. The salary of the latter is $120. boys were also received. To the ordi- So for a total cost of $180 per year the nary studies technical and industrial Gospel is preached and taught by 3 eartraining was joined, and his burdens in- nest men in two of the largest mission cluded not only those of instruction and fields of the world. discipline, but the heavier one of secur· ing funds for current expenses, build· -Five services were held on one Sunings, and endowment. The institute day in a certain church in Albuquer. now has some 200 Indian and 560 negro que, N. M. In the morning the Presyouth in training for citizenship and byterian pastor preached in English; usefulness. at half-past two a Lutheran missionary preached in German; at four o'clock a -In New York City 4300 Jews, all Chinese service was held ; and in the men between the ages of eighteen and evening and between these two afterforty-five, have recently signified in noon services two other English services writing their determination to become occurred. Doubtless Spanish services members of .. Christ's Synagogue." also are held each week.
-It is a Hebrew merchant in the -The last page of the Bible in the same city, Mr. Nathan Straus, who last Gilbert Island tongue, upon which Rev. winter opened a coal-yard where the Hiram Bingham has been at work for poor could purchase fuel in small quan- thirty·four years, was read a few weeks tities at cost, or at about one third of since in the composing and press-rooms what they otherwise would have been of the American Bible Society in New compelled to pay. The value of this York. After the last verse of the last exquisite benefaction appears in this chapter of Revelation was set up In table. The total number of tiCkets sold type and a proof taken, Mr. Bingham was nearly 54,000, and divided as fol- read the words aloud, his voice trem· lows: bling with emotion. The superintend. ent of printing then led the way to the. 20,501 five-ceut tickets procuring 20 snd 25 lb•. press-room, the type was placed in the form, and the last page of the first Bible 18,933 ten.cent u " 4 0 H 50 u in the Gilbert Island language was com· pleted and the missionary's long task 7,799Arteen-cent " 60 " 75 " was ended. Mr. Bingham is the only man who has ever reduced a language i,93S twenty·cent " 80 "100 " to writing, completed a vocabulary, constructed a grammar, and translated 8,121 twenty-Ave-cent tickets 100" 125 " the entire Bible and then revised all the proofs. And be it further noted that, Hebrew though he be, this same Good Samari· -The American Tract Society during tan has secured permission to erect on its career of sixty-six years has issued one of the East River piers a building over 12,400 distinct pUblications in 150 where during the hot weather will be sold sterilized milk for sick children. languages. or these 30,000,000 vol· -The Student Volunteer for March urnes have been circulated, besides more and April contained an excellent article than 415,000,000 tracts and 220,000,000 from Robert E. Speer on" The Possi- copies of .periodicals. On an average ble Perils of the Volunteer Movement." 175 missionaries have been annually The same capital monthly states that a student in one of our Western theological seminaries is personally supporting employed, who have ma~e more than 386, and the church-members number 14,150,000 family visits, and circulated 2923. Besides there are 12.961 commuabout 15,700,000 volumes among the nicants in the Indian Territory. scattered and most needy spiritually of our population, including immigrants -The American Friends sustain misand Indians. sions in Mexico, Jamaica, Japan, China, Syria, and Alaska, and also assist in the -The Society for the Prevention of support of various others controlled by Cruelty to Children, in New York, dedi- other denominations-e.g., 4 women cated recently its new building, erected went out last year under the care of at a cost of $475,000. The structure is Bishop Thoburn. 50 X 100 feet, on Twenty.third Street and Fourth Avenue, and is 8 stories -The United Presbyterians are at high. The second story is taken up by work in India and Egypt, where they the offices of the society ; the third by have of foreign missionaries, 28 ; female the living rooms of the Superintendent missionaries, 51 ; medical, 3-total, 82. and his family ; the fourth by a play- Native ordained ministers, 24; licentiroom, a dining-room, and a reception- ates and theological students, 32; other room; the fifth by a girls' dormitory; native workers, 522-total, 580; total the sixth by a boys' dormitory; the foreign and native laborers, 662. Naseventh by kitchen, laundry, and ser- tive churches, 41; communicants, 10,- vants' rooms; and the eighth is an 641; increaSe during the yeaI', 929. open-air playground so arranged that Schools, 264; male scholars. 9472; feit can be enclosed in stormy weather. males, 2577-total, 12,049. Books dis- tributed: Scriptures, 12,747 copies; re- -Since it was opened by Dr. Muhlen- ligious books, 6482; educational, 19,226 berg, in 1858, St. Luke's Hospital has -total volumes, 38,455, or nearly 4 volreceived for treatment more than 36,000 umes for each communicant. Moneys patients, and contains 152 endowed raised : The total in the two missions beds. A new building is erelong to be for all purposes from the churches, constructed upon lots already secured. Sabbath-schools, and missionary sociconsisting of 10 semi-detached portions, eties, and for school salaries and buildand which will afford facilities scarcely ings and for books, $37,496, or an aver' second to those of any other similar in- age of over $3.50 for every churchstitution in the country. member.
-A marvel almost unheard of since EUROPE. the world began has really come to pass; for the famous Anti-Mission Great Britain.-One day in February (" Hard-Shell") Baptists-at least a sec- last Dr. Barnardoreceived 1413 separate tion of them-after fighting Sunday- letters containing gifts for his Homes, schools, missionary societies, et al., for the total amounting to $9750. On an- fifty years, and nearly dying out in con- other day, more recently, the 1651 gifts sequence thereof, have come to them- that came to hand reached the goodly selves at last, and for the future pro- sum of $12,500. But every day he pose to bestir themselves looking after needs $750 for food alone. their children and sending messengers to bear the glad tidings to the heathen. -It was a fine example of Christian fraternity when the other day the Soci- -The Southern Baptist Convention ety of Friends sent a check for $8930 . has representatives in Italy, Brazil, to the Salvation Army for use in its so- cial scheme. Mexico, China, Japan, and Africa; re- ceived last year $154,686, and sent out -The Zenana Bible and Medical Mis- 19 new men with their wives, and 6 sion publishes in The Zenana a table unmarried women. The baptisms were exhibiting its progress during the last ten years. Since 1882 the number of to What an alarming extent few are stations occupied has risen from 17 to aware. It seeIns the drinking places in 30, European missionaries and assistants that country have ikons-images-set from 40 to 78, native teachers, Bible- up in them. The rulers of thc Church women, and nurseS from 93 to 210, are not shocked at that incongruity.
schools from 31 to 68, pupils from 1862 What troubles them is that the men to 5000, dispensaries from 1 to 5, at- who frequent the saloons may not al· tendances at dispensaries from 2000 to ways take off their caps or hats in the 24,500. presence of the holy emblems. So an The Continent.-The King of Bel- ordinance is formulated which obliges gium has been foremost in efforts to do placards to be hung up enjoining the good in Africa, especially to bring the removal of the head coverings when the civilized nations to agree that no rum drinkers enter the holy places.
shall go from their ports to that conti. – The Bible Society has a colporteur ntmt. He was asked why he took such in Siberia, Golubeff by name, who sent an interest in Africa,. and replied: the following despatch from Irkootsk : "When my only son and heir died, " Returned to-day from my four weeks'
leaving me alone, I determined to do journeys. Circulated in December, for the orphan and friendless. God 2151 copies; in all, during this expedi- seemed to say, adopt Africa. Hence I tion, since February last, 11,120 copies.
have devoted my private revenue to the Mercury, 32t Reaumur (about 30° below interests of Africa, and when I die zero, Fahrenheit)_ Am suffering from Africa shall be my heir." All which is the cold; face frost-bitten; rheumatism kingly in the highest Sense. in the feet; more work to be done in -The London Ohronicle is authority Irkootsk terntory. Start for Baikal in for the statement that a certain priest, February. Eight thousand volume8 one Arnold Janssen, with the full con- have reached me here ; am forwarding sent of the Propaganda in Rome, has to Chita and Blagovetschemsk."
founded 3 institutions-1 in Holland, ASIA.
1 in Austria, and 1 in Silesia-which, Turkish Empire.-The Ohurch Mialike the great missionary school in sionary Gleaner alleges that the authori· Lyons, founded by the late Cardinal ties in Constantinople recently made a Lavigerie, have for their express object curious blunder. The Bible Depot is· the training of priests and others to sued a Turkish translation of St. Paul's work ,. in places where Protestant mis- Epistle to the Galatians. The authori· sions wist, and in order to destroy ties got hold of a copy, and thought the them!" Galatians were the people of Galata (a -Days of sorrow and suffering seem part of Constantinople), and conseto be in store for the Jews and Stundists quently imprisoned the colporteur, and of Russia, who must conform to the when the matter was explained said ideas and ways of the Holy Church, or they would only grant the man's reflee with the loss of all their goods, or lease on St. Paul's death certificate perish in Siberian exile. As an ex- being produced I change suggests in righteous indigna- -In the Church of Scotland's mission tion: "The' Orthodox' Church thinks at Smyrna 21 Russian Jews were bapit is verily doing God service in crush- tized not long since, of whom 12 were ing our eVangelical brethren, but such adults. .intolerance is one of the blackest her. esies above hell." -A native of Damascus has been trying to get permission to establish a -The Russian Church is well under- brewery in Jerusalem. But the Gov- stood to be nothing if not orthodox, but. ernor of Syria has thus far declined to grant permission-" in deference," visions of caste. It seems that there he says, "to the scruples of the Jewish are 1354 divisions of caste, tribe, and and Christian residents." race, specified by name, while there are 7109 similar divisions not so specified in -Pastor Faber, a German who is en- the printed lists, but noted in the manudeavoring to found a mission in the script returns. The census gives specific Kurdish district, has just recorded some names to 521 kinds of Brahmans who experiences which testify to the ad- are priests. The varieties of the cultivancing light. In his journey in Kur- vator caste, called Marathas or Kunabis distan he visited one of the most noted indifferently, number 957. The carpenof the Kurd sheiks. The sheik re- ter caste has 94 divisions; the blackceived him kindly. A sheep was slain smiths, 76; the goldsmiths, 86; and and prepared, and before beginning to the coppersmiths, 108. A single dieat he said, "We will remember your vision of the merchant caste, the Wani- Jesus, of whom I have read, that He al- as, has 411 subdivisions. Even the outways thanked God before eating… pastes have their classes, for the census And when the meal was over he took notes 244 kinds of Mahars and 154 kinds out of his pocket a well·worn Persian of Mangs. New Testament, and showed that he knew it better than many a Christian. -Formerly few high-caste people be- came Christians, but now it is other- India.-A wealthy Hindu has given wise. The Rev. A. Clifford, a missionfunds for a proposed "snake labora- ary of the English Church at Calcutta. tory" in Calcutta. The scientific inves- says that recent converts are of all tigation of the poison of different snakes, classes and of greater numbers than and the investigation of present reme· ever before. Of 31 recently baptized dies for snake bites, will be the labora- he says: "These included a Kulin tory's work. In such a country as Brahman, headmaster of an important India, where 20,000 die annually from Hindu school, with his wife and famsnake bites, such an institution ought to ily; a wealthy Hindu gentleman of pobe of great value. The wonder is it sition and culture, and an honorary was not established before. magist.rate, with hiB wife; a Bengail doctor, with wife and family; a young -In the India of to-day, to be able Inan, the son of the civil surgeon of a to add mediMl to missionary is like Mofussil station; a young educated placing a cipher after other figures-it Brahman; a Brahman lady of wealthy gives a tenfold value, says a writer in family; a Hindu fakir; a leper man the India Female }!}oangeli8t. and leper woman; a respectable young Mohammedan and others." -Bishop Thoburn thinks that the converts in India during the next eight Siam.-Probably the largest idol in years will outnumber those of the last the world is the "Sleeping Idol" in ninety-two years. Bangkok. It is at least 160 feet long, and is made of brick, and heavily gild- -The Indian Witneaa contains the ed. The feet are 5 feet long. and the statement that one missionary in North soles are beautifully inlaid with mother- India has raised up 170 preachers. of-pearl. This man has not been at any time in charge of an orphanage or theological -The success of the Laos mission is seminary, but during a ministry of seen in this urgent request for enlargesome twenty-six years he has sought ment:: "We ask for 3 ministers, 5 phyout and led into active work this large sicians, their wives and 2 young womnumber of assistants. en, in all 18 new laborers. We ask for the establishment of 3 new stations and -The census for 1891 reveals some the building of 5 residences, besides the astonishing facts in regard to the dienlargement of the boys' school build- most liberal contributor to the Methodist ing." The cost is set at $28,000. Episcopal Mission in Singapore is· & Chinese banker, Mr. Tan Jiakkim. He -The most common practice as a gave $1500, and collected from his Chipreventive of cholera is wearing a few nese friends nearly $5000 more. " strands of cotton yam about the neck or waist to keep off the evil spirits, -In 1890 there were in the Empire which bring disease. They also place 61 hospitals, 44 dispensaries, 100 medilittle rude straws containing offerings cal students; patients treated in one to the spirits, on the sides of the street, or year, 348,439. These figures represent float them down the stream. And the fol- the medical work as a whole. In 1891, lowing Siamese prescription for a snake in Shanghai alone, the number of pabite will show the great need for medi- tients treated by medical missionaries cal missionaries: "A portion of the was 56,1133. And Dr. John G. Kerr, of jaw of a wild hog; a portion of the the Presbyterian Board, in Canton, has jaw of a tame hog; a portion of the during his forty years of service personjaw of a goat; a portion of a goose- ally given over 1,000,000 of attendances bone; a portion of a peacock-bone; a to the sick and suffering; performed portion of the tail of a fish; a portion over 35,000 operationil, and trained 100 of the head of a snake." or more of the 'native Chinese in sur- gery and medicine. China:-" It is very strange," says a Chinese scholar who believes in Christ, -The Presbyterian Church, South, .. foreign ships came here; everybody has 6 missions, manned by 36 represaid they are better than ours. Foreign sentatives, and all are located in cities steamships came; all are glad to travel standing upon the line of the Grand in them. Fire-oil (kerosene) came; Canal. everybody said, • This light is better.' Foreign cotton came; people every- -The Chinese Christians in Canton where began to use it for clothing; not have joined in a book-lending associamuch market now for native white tion, and send out a staff of book·lendcloth. Foreign needles came; every- ers to distribute and gather good literbody agrees they surpass our own. But ature. the foreign doctrine came and nobody wants it. Very strange 1" Japan.-" J. H. P." writes to the Congregationali8t that "the Christia.ns -The Chinese have no term corre- of Japan are somewhat aroused just sponding to our amen. The translation now over the subject of church indeof their word means, " The heart wishes pendence. Some of the leaders are exactly so." stung by the taunt of Buddhists and others that Christianity tends to make -Says Morris, in his .. Winter in men disloyal. They long by some strik- China," "While the Chinese excel in ing act to convince these opponents of intellectual ability, patience, practica- the Western religion that the Church bility and cheerfulness, what they lack of Japan, like its government and its is character and conscience. And noth- schools, while borrowing ideas and ing less than the Gospel will meet methods from the outside world, is a China's need." Japanese institution thoroughly adapted to Oriental tastes and ambitions." And -Of the 1670 persons received into a missionary writes in a semi-discour- Christian fellowship in the Swatow aged strain to the ChriBtian Observer of Mission of the Baptist Missionary Union, the disposition manifest in all quarters nearly one half were baptized after they on the part of .Tapanese saints to were fifty years of age, and no less than take the management of things, creeds, .361 after they were sixty. and church order included, into their -Says the Chinese Recorder: "The own hands. In all of which not only Mendi and Sherbro Mission, on the West is there ground for grave fears, but also Coast, have discovered an immense de· for grandest bopes. posit of plumbago of the richest qual· tty, and an extraordinary deposit of AFRICA. quicksilver, and some pearl and shell fisheries. A London mining engineer -Dr. Field, of the New York Evan- has gone to report on these properties, gelist, writes from Africa: "But it is and if the statements should be corroupon the women that falls the extreme borated a syndicate will found a comof poverty and all that it brings. How· pany to work these mines. ever pretty they may be wben young, they have to carry burdens that soon ISLANDS OF THE SEA. break their backs and their spirits, till they fade and at last wither up into -That Fiji, a crown colony, has no the hags that we saw to.day, sitting by British troops, the only armed force the road and stretching out their hands being a bandful of native police, speaks in utter want and misery. Such is the volumes for the value of Christianity, curse of Islam upon manhood and which, sixty years ago, was not known womanhood and childhood." And he by name in the islands. closes his letter with these ominous words: "To-night, I must confess that -The Wesleyan returns from New Africa sits heavy on my soul. It is the Guinea are as follows: Churches, 8; Dark Continent, indeed. And is this missionaries, 4; lay missionary, 1 ; misall to which it has come in the thou- sionary sisters, 2; teachers, 26; local sands of years of its history-to be given preachers, 1; native members, 44; up to the most brutal despotisms that schools, 8; scholars, 240; attendants ever trampled upon human beings, and on public worship, 5790. to know even religion only in its lowest and most cruel forms, in fetichism and -It is impossible but that occasions witchcraft, in devil worship and human of stumbling should come; but woe sacrifices 1" unto him through whom they come! That is, even the weakest of converts -The Mission Record of the Church from heathenism must needs meet fierce of Scotland refers to the fact that Alex- temptations, but how dreadful beyond andria is rapidly becoming a great centre expression it is that their most deadly for miS!!ionary and educational effort. foes are transported from Cbristian .. The Italian College is well known. lands! As an illustration, Dr. Paton, The Greek schools are splendid build- in an address on .. Rum in the South ings, and there is soon to be added to Seas," said that the Christian natives them a new school for girls, at a cost of voluntarily gave up their native drinks, about £10,000. The mission to the pipes, and tobacco, and have nothing Jews has been developed in many direc- to do with the liquors brought to the tions. A neat new Episcopalian church islands. But traders in great numbers has recently risen in Ramleh. The came with liquors, and murders and Wesleyan pastor, Mr. Elliott, has a very suicides are the consequence. IImall congregation and no church, but he ministers to a large number of the -Recent disciples on Futuna, New soldiers of the army of occupation. Tbe Hebrides, were sacred men who proold-established American Mission finds fessed to be able to make rain, and by its work chiefly among the Copts. sorcery to bring diseaso and death. Evangelistic work is carried -on by other When they joined tbe class for Chrisagencies among Europeans of various tian instruction they willingly brought nationalities. " their sacred stones, held as dear as life itself, and burned them in the public -The missionaries attached to the square.
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1893
THIJ! DIVINE PATTERN OF MISSIONS
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL-XVI. No.6.-0ld&rie8. JUNE. —VOL. VI. No. 6.-New &ri&.
THE DIVINE PATTERN OF MISSIONS.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
" Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name." Herein is God's pattern for all true work for Him.
Human life and the history of the race is a problem without a solution until we find the key to its mystery in the Word of God. Bengel's motto is the law of all success in service: "A pply thyself wholly to the Scriptures, and apply the Scriptures wholly to thyself;" and Arthur Hallam gives in one sentence an epitome of Christian experience: "I believe the Bible to be God's book because it is man's book, fitting every turn and curve of man's heart." The more it is stlldied the more its worth is seen and its charm felt. Michael Angelo's devotion to the famous Torso of Belvidere Hercules in the Vatican, sketching it from every point of view, and in the blindness of old age seeking to enjoy, through his touch, the delight no longer possible through his sight, but feebly expresses the joy of the believer in his contact with the blessed Word, in which he sees and feels the marks of a Divine Artist. Even to Ollr Lord, His Father's "Vord was in temptation His sword, in trial His solace, in teaching His guide; His credential as Messiah, His directory as Servant; it was the balm in Gethsemane's anguish, His legacy in death, His theme from His resurrection to His ascension.
No problem presents greater perplexity than that of world-wide missions; and in the attempt to solve that problem well may we reverently approach this Word, perslladed that here again we shall find written, as over the pillars of Hercules on the old Spanish dollar, " Ne pIllS ultra."
A kind of " introductory chapter" to all missionary history is found in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, which is the Gospel of Christ, as set forth by the evangelists, applied actually and historically by the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Luke, in the gospel which he wrote, told what" Jesus began," and in the Acts tells what He " continued, both to do and teach," by the Spirit, through disciples, in building up the kingdom of God. The door of faith is here opened successively to Hebrew, Roman, and Greek believers as in the order of the Gospel narratives. Pentecost links Old Testament prophecy to New Testament history. This book is the book of witness, first of man to God and secondly of God to man. It is the sequel to the Gospels, the basis of the Epistles j the Acts, not so much of the apostles as of the Holy Spirit and of the risen Redeemer in the person of the promised Paraclete. The Holy Spirit first applies the truth and the blood to penitent believers, then anoints those believers for service, and sends them forth as messengers and witnesses to preach the kingdom, to make disciples and organize disciples into churches. And the fact is full of meaning that the period of time covered by this book is about thirty-four years, about the length of our Lord's human life, or the average lifetime of one generation j as though to teach us what can be done and ought to be done in every successive generation until the end of the age. This fact, often referred to in these pages, we once more emphasize by repetition, as it deserves to be written in letters of .gold on the very banners of all true missionary enterprise.
The introduction to this book refers to that forty days of communion between the Risen Lord and His disciples whose object and result was fourfold: 1. To put beyond doubt the fact of His resurrection. 2. To give them instruction as to the kingdom of God. 3. To prepare them for His unseen guidance in their work. 4. To inspire them with the true spirit of missions.
Then follow the outlines of early church history: 1. The witnessing Church in Jerusalem (1 : I3-vii.), including the ten days of prayer, Pentecost, and the enduement for service, persecution by Pharisees and Sadducees, and the dispersion of disciples, voluntary community of goods, division of labor and the institution of the diaconate, and the first marty~dom. All missions must begin at home, as a stream at its spring; but, like the stream, is not to stay at the source and fountain, but flow forth. 2. The witnessing Church in Judea and Samaria (viii.-ix.). A new PentecoRt in Samaria under Philip the Evangelist, the sin of simony, the conversion of the eunuch, representing Ethiopia, and of Saul of Tarsus, the chosen apostle to the Gentiles. 3. The witnessing Church moving toward the Regions Beyond (x.- xxviii.). A new Pentecost among Roman Gentiles at Cresarea and among Greeks all well at Antioch, the first centre of the Gentile Church, and the starting-point of foreign missions; and Paul's three missionary tours, the book closing with Paul at Rome, the third great centre of Christianity. In the latter part of the Acts Paul is more conspicuous than Peter,because Peter went to the dispersion or scattered tribes of Israel, and the main object of the book is to trace the beginnings of missions to the Gentiles (compare Gal. 2 : 9). The Acts of the Apostles thus constitutes the one great inspired book of missions, God's own commentary and encyclopredia for all the ages as to every question pertaining to a world's evangelization. In the main it is the account of the apostolic ministry of Peter and Paul. To the former it was given to hold the mystic key which unlocked, first to Jews and then to Gentiles, the door of faith. That door being opened, Peter naturally disappears from the record, while Paul, as the specially commissioned and typical missionary to the nations, comes to the front. This is no displace- ment of Peter, whose life mission was to Jews, not Gentiles.
We must bear in mind that Luke, the declared author both of the gos- pel bearing his name and of this book, treats the two books as parts of one continuous and complete narrative. What the author thus links together we must consider as a unit. The purpose of the inspired writer is to give, in these two brief sketches, a complete outline of Gospel history from its infancy in its humble Judean cradle to its mature development as a worldwide power, tracing the seed of the kingdom from its sowing in Syrian soil to its wider scattering beside all waters, borne by the various streams of civilization to the heart of the heathen world.
From first to last the combined narrative is the story of missions. In the Gospel according to Luke we have our Lord offering the good news to the Jews, and foreseeing their continued rejection of Him, commanding and commissioning His disciples to bear the message to all nations and to every creature. Then in the Acts we trace the actual carrying out of this commission, the preaching of the Gospel to the Jews by both Peter and Paul, and its repeated rejection by them, with its subsequent and consequent proclamation to mankind at large at great centres of popUlation.
The Gospel opens with the incarnation and closes with the resurrection and ascension, linking on to the after-narrative by the promise of the en· duement of power from on high" not many days hence." Just at this point the Acts of the Apostles forges its new links, and connects with the Gospel its chain of events, beginning with the birth of the Church of Christ on the natal day of Pentecost, and abruptly closing with Paul's unfinished career as a prisoner at Rome.
We have said Cl03inrl rather than ending, for the story is plainly inconiplete, reaching no proper conclusion. The two narratives, reckoning from Christ's entrance upon His public ministry to the very close of the Acts, cover only about the average history of a generation-and no generation ever reaches completeness; it is linked on to the next-nay, interwoven with the next by many threads; and its history passes gradually and insensibly into that of its successor, as to-day into to-morrow. And so above all is it the true work of missions. It is one work, and no man can tell where the mission of one witness for God ends and that of his successor begins. Paul's preaching and teaching has not yet ceased, nor will it while the ages continue.
But in a sublimer sense the Acts of the Apostles reaches no conclusion.
THE GOSPEL IN NORTH AFRICA
When the late Bishop of Ripon had read the story of that" Apostle of the South Seas," he said, "That is the twenty-ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles." He was partly right and partly wrong. To that oft-quoted and striking remark History herself suggests one criticism and correction. That was not the ftr8t new chapter added in post-apostolic days, for before the time of John Williams and his apostolic mission many such additions had been made to that unfinished book, and of not a few of those new chapters there is no human memorial. They are written only by God's recording angel in Ilis own Book of Remembrance, to be opened and read in the flaming splendor of the great white throne. But it was sublimely and divinely true that the triumphant advance of that Tottenham lad, who became the great witness to Christ in the Pacific Polynesia, added another new and glorious chapter to the annals of apostolic missions.
To this leading thought we shall from time to time return in these pages, and give it further amplification. Suffice it for the present to repeat that an inspired book which supplies the key to all the intricate, complicated problems of missions should be carefully, constantly, prayerfully studied by those who would find the secrets of success. And in such study, which has occupied the writer for some two years past, he has already discovered principles so fundamental that they furnish a solid basis for the prosecution of world·wide missions. More than this, the devout student of the Acts will find here not only the history of primitive and initial missionary work, but the philosophy of missions outlined as in a text-book, and the indirect prophecy of the progress of missionary triumphs until the consummation of the age. With earnest emphasis would we commend such study to all who love the coming of Christ's kingdom.
THE GOSPEL IN NORTH AFRICA.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFURD, B.D., ROTHE SAY, SCOTLAND.
North Africa is mentioned in several· places in the New Testament. Christian hearts can never forget that it was Simon,· a man of Cyrene, a well-known city in North Mrica, who was honored to assist the Lord Jesus Christ when His strength was so exhausted that He could not carry the cross to Calvary; "him they compelled to bear His cross."
In the Acts of the Apostles we read that Philip, the deacon and evangelist, was the instrument of guiding to the knowledge of the truth " a man of Ethiopia, a man of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians. " This African nobleman had come from a kingdom situated near to the modern Khartoum, where the gallant, Bible-loving General Gordon only a few years ago fell at the post of duty.
That preacher in the apostolic Church who is described as an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures, was a North African, Apollos of Alexandria. North Africa is mentioned again more than once in connection with st.
Paul's voyage to Rome. Such are some of the New Testament references to the Dark Continent.
The first translations of the New Testament were the Syriac and early Latin; both of them date from the second century. The early Latin version was made, not in Italy, as we would have expected, but by the Latinspeaking Christians in North Africa. Latin was their native tongue j and, taught by the Spirit, they instinctively felt that they must have the New Testament in their own lauguage. They felt as John Wycliffe did when he said that the ploughboy following the plough should have the Word of God in his own tongue. In these modern days of Bible societies and Bible distribution let it not be forgotten that the early Christians of North Africa took so noble a place among those who love and who read the Word of God.
North Africa is rich in names of great historical prominence in the early Christian Church. There is Origen, the famous preacher and writer of Alexandria j Tel'tullian, the Christian apologist and defender of the faith j Athanasius, whose life and work will be had in everlasting remembrance for the magnificent stand he was enabled to make against Arianism and in behalf of the glorious truth on which human salvation depends, of the true and eternal deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Athanasius, it is believed, was a Copt, a native of Egypt. Cyprian, who died a martyr, was Bishop of Carthage. And there is Augustine, Bishop of Hippo-now the town of Bone, in Algeria-the defender of the doctrines of grace against Pelagianism.
The early Christian Church in North Africa furnished many a name to the roll-call of the noble army of martyrs. Take as an example the wellknown story of the two female martyrs of Carthage, Perpetua and Felicitas. These martyrs were put to death in the year 202 A.D., during a violent persecution under the Emperor Septimius Severus. Perpetua was only two-andtwenty years old. Her aged father was a heathen, and he tenderly entreated her to renounce Christianity in order to save her life. When she was about to be tried before the magistrate her father hurried to the prison and said, "Dear daughter, have pity on my gray hairs. • .• Look at thy brothers, thy mother, and thy aunt j thy son, too"-an infant at the breast, whom to nourish in prison was her greatest solace-" who when thou diest cannot long survive. Lay aside that high spirit, and do not plunge us all in ruin." With these word$ the old man threw himself weeping at his daughter's feet. When she was brought before the judge, suddenly her father entered, carrying the infant in his arms, and looking at her imploringly, said, "Have pity on the child." The' judge, too, urged her in a similar manner, but in vain. Perpetua and her companions -three youths and Felicitas-were condemned to be thrown to the wild beaRts. Shortly before the public spectacle her father came again and made a last appeal to his daughter, threw himself on the ground and uttered " words which must move any creature. " Deeply affected and filled with pain, she nevertheless remained true to Christ. The sentence was accordingly carried out, and the martyrs were thrown to the wild beasts. When Perpetua had been wounded she called to her brother and to a Christian catechumen and said to them, "Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, and indulge in no feelings of animosity on account of our sufferings." Such i~ a sample of Christian martyrdom in North Africa.
In the time of the Valerian persecution there were again martyrs in Numidia. During a severe imprisonment, in which they endured much suffering from hunger and thirst, they wrote as follows: "The dark prison soon shone with the illumination of the Holy Spirit j we ascend to the place of punishment as if we were ascending to heaven. We cannot describe what days and nights we have spent there. Weare not afraid to describe the horrors of that place, for the greater the trial, much greater must be He who has overcome it in us. And, indeed, it is not our conflict, for by the help of the Lord we have gained the victory j for to be put to death is easy for the servants of God, and death is nothing, because the Lord has taken away its sting and power. He triumphed over it on the cross. " Such is the heroism of the North African Christians in those early days.
How, then, did it come about that North Africa, a series of countries in which the Gospel light shone so long and so brightly, presents now the spectacle that it does ~ How was Christianity banished from those shores on which it had taken so firm a hold ~ Two causes brought it about: (1) The love of the churches waxed cold j (2) God punished those churches by removing their candlestick out of its place by means of the Mohammedan invasions in the seventh century.
The churches forgot their early devotion to Christ, as well as the mutual love and good feeling which they had once so signally shown. Their attention became occupied with questions of ritual and of rivalry, and of the rights of episcopal ordination. And to such a length did this spirit of divi. sion and hatred proceed that there were actually to be seen Christians opposing one another on the field of battle-Christians with carnal weapons adjusting their theological differences at the point of the sword. When churches sink so low as this, we need not wonder that God sends judgment.
Divine retribution came-came in the shape of the scourge of Mohammedanism. In the year 622 A.D. there took place Mohammed's He~ira or flight from Mecca, the era from which Mohammedans date their years as the Christian era runs from the birth of Christ. Almost immediately after the death of Mohammed the conquering armies led by his successors ex· tended their conquests from Arabia through Egypt along the entire coast of the African continent as far as the modern kingdom of Morocco. Rome, republican and Imperial, had scarcely effected the conquest of those king. doms in some centuries j but Sidi Okba, the famous Mohammedan con· queror, in 679 A.D. and a few years following overthrew all the Christian kingdoms lying between Egypt and Tangiers. Arrived at the Atlantic Ocean, he spurred his horse into the sea, and declared that it was only the barrier of the ocean that prevented him from compelling every nation be- yond it that knew not God to worship Him or die. The Berber tribesfrom whom these North African countries afterward received the common designation of the Barbary States-made some brave but ineffectual at. tempts to resist the Mohammedan invaders; they were forced to submit, and their enfeebled Christianity was not proof against the stern compulsion with which the Arab warriors forced all whom they defeated to adopt the Mohammedan religion.
It is a most interesting fact, and one which forms a very loud eall to the Church of Christ to send the Gospel onee more to North Africa, that there exist to the present day among those Berber or Kabyle tribes various customs which have come down to them through twelve long centuries of Mohammedanism, and which speak of the time when they were a Christian people. For exam pIe, the Kabyle women refuse to wear the veil over. the face, a custom which is universal among the Arab women. It is also said that certain of these Kabyle tribes, although they are Mohammedans, never· theless observe their weekly Sabbath not on the Mohammedan Sabbath, on Friday, but on the Christian Sunday or Lord's Day. The mark of a cross is tattooed on the forehead of many of the boys and men at Biskra, as well as in other places. One such Mohammedan in the town of Setif, who spoke a little English, being asked what was the meaning of the cross on his forehead, answered in the one word" Jesus." Miss Seguin, in her most interesting book, " Walks in Algiers," asserts that the Kabyle women are in the habit of tattooing the form of the Christian cross on their fore. head. Sir Lambert Playfair, consul in Algiers for England, writes regarding the Kabyles of the Aures Mountains, which lie immediately to the n.orth of the Sahara : "Their language is full of Latin words, and in their daily life they retain customs undoubtedly derived from their Christian ancestors. They observe December 25th as a feast under the name of Moolid (the birth), and keep three days festival both at springtime and harvest. They use the solar instpad of the Mohammedan lunar year, and the names of the months are the same as our own."
These customs are relics of a time when the Christian religion permeated the life of the North African peoples. Surely a brighter day has at length begun to dawn, when the croSEl of Christ will not be written in ritualistic fashion on their foreheads, but shall become the inspiration of their hearts. How great will be the change from the miseries of Mohammedanism to the freedom and joy of Christ's salvation!
The history of the centuries which lie between the era of the Mohammedan conquest and the present time is one of stagnation so far as any advancement is concerned, and of continual cruelty and oppression exercised by the Turks upon all the unhappy people over whom they domineered. While the countries of Europe, on the northern shores of the Meditermnean, were advancing in liberty, in civilization, in education, in the knowl~ edge of science, and in the application of Christianity to life in all its phases, so that the Christian religion has virtually created our modern Protestant kingdoms with their world-wide influence during all those twelve hundred years from the seventh century to the present time, the countries lying to the south of the Mediterranean, though more favored by nature than the others, began and continued that downward and retrograde course which Islam invariably brings. Those who have seen the social working of Mohammedanism are compelled to testify that everywhere it has degraded woman and blighted the home. The testimony of Stanley Lane Poole, who often writes favorably of Mohammedanism, is: "As a social system Islam is a complete failure. By degrading woman it has degraded each successive generation of their children down an increasing scale of infamy and corruption, until it seems almost impossible to reach a lower level of vice." When this indictment can be brought and proved against any system, the sooner that system is swept out of existence the better for the world.
The state of religion in Algeria is quite unique. There are no fewer than four established or State-paid forms of worship-namely, the Roman Catholic, the Protestant, the Jewish, and the Mohammedan. Surely such a state of things stands self-condemned. The Gospel is not advanced by such methods-non tali auxilio, nee defensoribus isti8. The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ needs no such props. Its own inherent strength is the strength of God; and in that divine strength it pulls down all the strongholds of sin and ignorance, of wicked social customs and vice. It is mighty in itself, and needs no such State alliance as is found in Algiers.
In the museum in Algiers there is the plaster cast of an Arab named Geronimo, and his history is a very interesting one. In the year 1569 Geronimo, who had become a professing Christian, was taken prisoner along with some Spaniards; the whole party were carried to Algiers. Strong efforts were made to induce Geronimo to return to Mohammedanism, but in vain. He was accordingly condemned to death, and sentenced to be thrown alive into a mould in which a block of concrete was about to be made. After they had tied his feet and hands with cords they laid him, face downward, into the concrete, and covered up the living man with more of that material. The block was built into the wall of a fort then in course of erection. After the French took possession of Algiers, in 1830, many of the houses were pulled down, and among other buildings this fort was demolished. In course of the process of demolition the skeleton of Geronimo was found in one of the blocks of concrete. The bones were carefully removed and re-interred. Liquid plaster of Paris was run into the mould left by his body. In this way a perfect model of it was obtained, showing not only the general shape of the ,body, but even his features. His hands are seen tied behind his back; the cord which binds the hands is there too, and even the texture of his clothing may be made out. Popery in Algiers may be seen in many of its peculiar forms. For example, over a doorway in one of the public streets there is a sign-board with the following inscription in French: "0 Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." One of the churches is called N6tre Dame d' Afrique. It is situated on one of the spurs of the hill of Bourzarea, overlooking the sea. Above the altar is a statue of the Virgin Mary represented as a black woman, and there is this inscription, also in French: "Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Mussulmans." At Biskra, in the Sahara Desert, there is a large new establishment erected by Cardinal Lavigerie for his soldier monks, lea freres du delert. On the whitewashed walls there is the inscription that the building has been erected in honor of the immaculate Virgin. But it is not by these Romish pretensions that the weary and heavy-laden tribes of Africa will be won for Christ.
How strange is the way in which North Africa has been overlooked by the churches! So recently as 1880 there were only three missionaries at work between Egypt and the Atlantic. Why is it that North Africa has been thus overlooked by the churches of Britain and North America ~ No satisfactory reason can be given. Steamships carrying the commerce of the world sail in sight of those African shores en route for India and China and Australia. Missionaries going to and returning from their spheres of labor have passed along that coast for half a century, yet almost nothing was done, almost nothing was even attempted until some twelve years ago. There is not even the excuse that can be alleged in regard to Central Africa, that we did not know of the existence either of the country or of its inhabitants, for we possessed very accurate knowledge indeed regarding the Barbary States. The different countries of Europe and even the United States of America had made political treaties with the Deys of Algiers long before the coming of the French. In 1816 the British fleet under Lord Exmouth bombarded Algiers, and the Dey was forced to sign a treaty by which Christian slavery-i.e., the enslaving of the subjects of Christian countrieswas brought to an end. Even the thirty-two gun frigate George Washington, of the United States of America, was requisitioned by the Dey to carry his tribute to the Sultan at Constantinople! It was not because nothing was known of North Africa that it has been so strangely overlooked.
Even for many years after .the coming of the French in 1830 no attempt was made to bring the Gospel to the Arabs j but those times of great and culpable neglect are passing away. A beginning of gospel missions has been made. The providence of God has given a wide door of entrance. The country is everywhere open. Communication is cheap and easy. There are railways running both east and west from Algiers, as far west as the large city of Oran, in which there is no missionary to the natives, or as far east as Constantine and Tunis, and reaching even the Sahara Desert on the south. The railway system is being still further extended. The Atlas Mountains are being pierced with tunnels for the locomotive. A railway in the Sahara makes one think of Isaiah's words, and or a fulfilment of them that the prophet little thought of: "Make straight in the desert a highway for our God"-a highway along which no slave traffic shall be carried, a highway to bring salvation ana joy to the unhappy homes of the Moslems.
There is far more openness and readiness among the Arabs and Kabyles to receive the Gospel than is commonly supposed. There is not that hermetical sealing of the mind which may have existed once. The homes of the Arab women are freely opened to the visits of their English-speaking sisters; and the loving touch of a Christian woman and the kindly presentation of the Gospel are made welcome. Though the ignorance is great and the adversaries are many, yet God has set before us an open door, and not all the power of the adversaries of the truth is able to shut it. It is the duty and the privilege of Christians to enter in and to win Africa for Christ.
Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and the great unexplored Sahara, stretching from Egypt to the Atlantic, from the Mediterranean to the Niger and the Congo-these countries, with their many millions now under the sway of the false prophet, are gasping for the Gospel, and the promise of God is sure; for it is written, " All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee" (Isa. 60 : 7). The Scripture cannot be broken, and those wandering tribes, the descendants of Ishmael, shall certainly yield themselves unto Christ. Well may Christian hearts use Abraham's prayer as we cry to God for the salvation of the Arabs, " Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee!" Prayer an'd effort wiII win the day. The sore need of the sons and daughters of the Dark Continent, neglected as they have been for the last twelve hundred years and more, makes us think of the famous sermon by William Carey, with its two divisions: "Expect grcat things from God; Attempt great things for God."
Protestant mission work in Algiers is carried on by various agencies, and with them all it is still the day of small things, but not to be spoken of lightly. The British and Foreign Bible Society have had a depot in Algiers for eleven years, and in that period have sold over fifty thousand copies of the Bible in whole or in portions. The North Africa Mission has a receiving home at No. 72 Rue Rovigo, presided over by a devoted Christian lady, Mrs. Lambert, who acts a mother's part to the young ladies of the mission, who live with her during the one or two years of their residence in Algiers. They occupy their time chiefly in learning French and Arabic, and when they attain some proficiency in speaking these languages they are drafted off to the towns in the interior in which they are to be located.
Much good is heing done by the Algerian branch of the McAll Mission in its various departments. During the winter of 1891-92 a new salle was opened in which to conduct meetings for the French soldiers; it is situated in the Place de la PrMecture. The soldiers come willingly to the meetings, which are very enthusiastic. There are four Sunday-schools held in connection with the McAIl mission, and in these schools some two hundred Algerian children are under biblical instruction. Some of the Sunday-schools are held not on Sunday, but on Thursday, the afternoon on which the children attending the ordinary week-daJT schools have a half holiday. These Sunday-schools are held, one in the Rue Tanger, attended by Jewish children; one in Rue Michelet, attended by Protestants and Roman Catholics; one in the Bab-el.oued, attended by Spaniards and Jews; and the fourth in the Place de la Prefecture, in which the children are a strange medley-Arabs, Spaniards, Maltese, and Jews.
M. Gonzalez carries on mission work among the Spaniards, of whom there is quite a considerable number in Algiers. This work among the Algerian Spaniards is entirely supported by a lady in England, an example worthy to be imitated surely. Dr. Nystrom is a devotQd missionary from Sweden, and works among the Arabs and Kabyles in Algiers. Miss Trotter and the missionary ladies who live in her house carryon much interesting work among the Arab women, whom they visit in their own homes, thus doing work which can be accomplished in no other way, for no man is allowed to enter the houses of the Arab women.
It is said that not even one Arab woman in Algiers is able to read. Hence the Gospel must be spoken to them. Books and even Bibles are of no use at all. But the doors of those Arab houses are wide open for the entrance of Christian ladies, who thus find an unlimited field of usefulness. The leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, and there~ fore for the healing of the sad lives of the Arab women.
In June of last year, 1892, an attempt was made by the French Government to expel the missionaries of the North African mission from Algeria. M. Waddington's letter to Lord Salisbury ends in these terms: "We hope that the English missionary societies will themselves take the initiative in recalling their missionaries, and save us from the painful necessity in which we should otherwise be placed of having to order them to take their departure from our territory." It is believed that this was intended as a set-off or counter-movement to the position which the French Roman Catholic missionaries were then occupying in Uganda. The political troubles in which those missionaries had involved themselves in that part of Central Africa, and the opposition which they had uniformly shown to the work of Mackay and the other missionaries of the Church Missionary Society at Uganda, had so discredited them in England that the French Government seemed to think that, as the champions of the Roman Catholic mission, they would institute a policy of expelling all Protestant missionaries from French territory in North Africa. The absurd charges of supplying the natives with guns and ammunition and of teaching them to be disloyal to the French were fabricated against the missionaries of the Norlh Africa Mission, most of whom are ladies. There was not a word of trnth in these charges; but any stick is good enough to thrash a dog, and any charge, however untrue, would do to raise odium against those brave men and women who are doing Christ's work among the Arabs. The secretary of that mission wrote, in the end of June, " We do not yet know how things will go, but the outlook is dark. Still God is above all, and kings and governments are subservient to His mighty will." And the cloud passed away; after a month or two the French Government decided that it would permit the missionaries to remain if they would submit to the French laws, which of course they had always done.
During all that summer of perplexity the missionaries were greatly upheld and cheered by the manifest signs and tokens of God's presence and approval of their work-conversions and baptisms taking place just at the time when it was not known if they would be allowed to remain in Algeria for another day.
North Africa is not far from England. Morocco is only four or five days distant by sea. The journey from London through France occupies less than three days.
Many parts of North Africa are very beautiful. Much of the mountain scenery is exceedingly grand. Across the Bay of Algiers, but at the distance of some fifty miles, there rises the Djurdjura range of the Atlas. While Algiers is basking in the sunshine, and while orange and lemon trees are loaded with their ripe golden fruit, and the almond tree is strewing the paths with its pure white blo;;som, the peaks of Djurdjura, 7500 feet above the sea level, are gleaming white with the deep snow. Grand Kabylia lies around those rugged mountains.
Algeria, including the slopes of the "Atlas, has a fertile soil. It produces freely abundance of corn, while the vine, the orange, the fig, the olive, and the date palm flourish and afford a constant supply of wholesome food.
Morocco is still an independent State under a sultan of its own. The population is estimated at five to eight millions.
Algeria and Tunis belong to France. There are very good roads-the French really excel in road-making. The railways have already been mentioned. The population is perhaps six millions.
Tripoli is a province of the Turkish Empire. The people number, it is thought, about a million and a quarter.
The vast Sahara is practically unexplored; no herald of the cross has yet penetrated its recesses to tell the children of Ishmael, those wandering dwellers in tents, of God's great love to the world.
" Arabia's desert ranger To Him shall bow the knee ; The Ethiopian stranger His glory come to see."
Even so is it written in the Scriptures of truth. We can therefore come to the Throne of Grace in prayer for the Arabs; we can give the needful money-support to those who have entered on this most difficult work among the Mohammedans; we can pray the Lord of the harvest that He will thrust forth more laborers into His harvest.
RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES
THE PRESENT RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES.
BY REV. A. F. BEARD, D.D., CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE AMERICA}T MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
The present condition of the negro people is a part of their past nis· tory. To-day is the child of yesterday. The heirs of two hundred years of slavery, following uncounted centuries of African heathenism, were four millions in number twenty-seven years ago.
At the close of a desolating civil war they were suddenly freed from bondage. Unable to read, they were ignorant of the world in which they lived. As a class they had no intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures.. A few of the more highly favored in Christian families had by t.heir contact come into the possession of certain truths of Christianity, which nevertheless they held in darkened minds. For the most part, the truths which had been told them, ·and which in some degree they had received, were mingled with the grossest superstitions and held without regard to the verities of the Ten Commandments. The overwhelming majority' of the negro population, however, had no such privileges as these, They were in the rural districts as now. The few negroes who lived in cities and who could hope to get some worthy ideas of Christian truth were too few to be counted in the general condition.
The negro preachers-so called-were parrots. They repeated after a fashion what they thought they had heard as they had remembered it. Integrity and purity were not considered. Stealing, lying, and licentiousness were no hindrances to good and regular standing in their religious fellowship. Of chastity they did not know the meaning.
There was not enough of true Christianity to expel the African heathenism which those who were stolen from the jungle had brought with them. Transplanting did not change the tree, nor the mere succession of years its bitter fruit. Their whole life was pervaded by the belief in, and embittered by the terror of, sorcery. Voodooism and fetichism were common. Their intellectual faculties were obtuse and circumscribed beyond a few local associations ; their childish ideas werp rich soil for every variety of superstition.
Among the negroes it is true in towns and cities, and especially among house servants, there were exceptions, and of the more highly favored many were earnest and sincere, as well as fervent Christians. At the same time, speaking of the many and not of the few, practical heathenism was" on every plantation, in every hamlet, among the sands of the Atlantic coast, in the forests of the Carolinas; all through the black belt of Alabama and Mississippi, in swamps of Louisiana, and the bottoms of Arkansas and Tennessee." Slavery gave the African heathen a nominal Christianity, but it did not expel paganism. It did not add to faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge.
In the providence of God, twenty-seven years ago this lawful degradation of man came to an end. This is a short time in the history of a race. I have known people under most advantageous conditions to live twentyseven years without having accomplished much in life. Twenty-seven years are both swift and short for a people to emerge from the bogs of servitude, in low-down life, in absolute poverty of estate of body, mind,. and soul, to acquire true ideas of what Christianity really is, to get away from the inheritances of heathenism, to overcome habits of thought and conduct which had entrenched themselves so as to be ingrained and a part of their natures.
The four millions of people have now become more than seven millions. What has been accomplished?
It may be right first of all to observe what has not been accomplished. There is a great residuum of the race which has accomplished nothing. Millions still remain in darkness, whose common lot is poverty, whose intellectual and moral condition is but little if any better than it was in slavery. When left to himseI£ and his old-time surroundings the negro is not improving. The degradation and misery among those as yet unsaved are appalling. 'I'his is so evident that the superficial observer who forgets that the present is deeply rooted in history, and who speaks from a present impression made by seeing the multitudes of ragged, shiftless, thriftless, ' idJe negroes who crowd into towns and cities, will not hesitate to say that the former times were better than these, and that the negro of to-day has in many ways degenerated from the negro of slavery. In some part it is true that his progress is retrogression, and that his last state is worse than his first. In towns and cities saloons prosper through negro patronage. The evil is incalculable. In slavery days there was a law and a lash for black drinkers. Now a thousand dollars are spent by them in drinking and drunkenness where one was before emancipation. In the rural communities, also, in many places the degradation could scarcely have been worse in slavery days, and idleness, which was not then possible, is now so common as to become destructive to the negro and a public peril. Slavery never taught self-care nor promoted forethought, and a more thoughtless and improvident creature than the negro who has been left to himself lives nowhere short of absolute heathenism. The blacks who cannot read to-day are in excess of the original four millions when they were set free. Their churches-so called-which existed before the war can be but little better than they then were. The old-time negro religion, which one could hold without virtue or morality, has not ceased to be. That which so easily fitted in with the generations of slave life continues with the untaught generations. There are millions to-day in density of ignorance, in depths of superstition, poor, thoughtless, mentally and morally weak. It was immediately realized by those who felt called to tnis missionary work, that a Christian faith could make no real gain among this people by merely proclaiming to them that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, and that now God commanded them to repent. It is not possible to save a vacuum. People with vacant minds cannot honor Christ. Curses brood in the darkness. In ignorance virtue withers. Righteousness needs knowledge. Hence, first of all, missionary schools were established by Northern Christian churches of different communions. From these have gone teachers into elementary schools, until now two and a quarter millions of ignorant people have already learned to read and to write. Many thousands have taken a generous education. A few have risen, and are leaders to higher and larger life. There are now one hundred and fifty schools for the training of colored teachers. Sixteen thousand negro teachers are uplifting their people. Twenty-five thousand five hundred and thirty schools are to-day teaching a million and a quarter of pupils, and a large proportion of these are Christian schools. They are Christianizing agencies.
It has been missionary work from the beginning until now, and as necessarily educational in its forms as if it were in Africa. One illustra. tion may stand for many. A church was organized and a school by the side of it in Georgia, in an isolated rural community composed almost wholly of black people. The old-time negroes, untaught and untrained, were ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and in large numbers were received into the church. In the course of time the church was left for some months pastorless. During this period a wandering and crazed man, who imagined himself to be the Messiah in His second coming, came that way. Ready with the Scriptures and fluent in speech, his earnestness and assertion soon won to himself great numbers of these professing Christians among the negroes, whose emotions became inflamed and whose imaginations ran away with what sense they had. The most frantic performances took the plaee of their former worship. They acknowledged this crazy wanderer to be their Lord, and rendered him the most absolute worship and servile obedience. Their fields went to weeds and they to starvation until the county authorities arrested this state of things by arresting their supposed Messiah. None of those who had been in the schools fell into this great folly. It was again an evidence that those who will hear the Gospel truly must be able to think and understand.
Most of what has been accomplished has been chiefly organized and sustained by the Christianity of the North. The black churches number at the present time not less than fifteen thousand. The Baptist and Methodist communicants together are two and a third millions. Perhaps there are a thousand ministers who by training and character may be fitted for these fifteen thousand churches. What shall we say to the fourteen thousand churches which remain? A friend testifies, " I have witnessed scenes in the black churches of Baltimore that ought to have been possible only in the heart of Africa." Those who arc acquainted with the South know that this experience is rather the rule than the exception.
At the same time the influence of these Christian schools upon the religious condition of the negro people is immeasurable. The children are being taught what Christianity is. Purer churches are organized. Old. time churches are being leavened. Intelligent preachers are displacing the ignorant and boisterous and superstitious caricatures of ministers. The Gospel is being increasingly proclaimed by ministers whose minds have been somewhat enlarged by the discipline of the schools, expanded by a knowledge of the world's life and thought, and made capable of an intelli- gent apprehension of the significance of the ministry of Christ. Theologi- cal seminaries and Bible schools for the negro have been planted. The churches which refuse to tolerate a preaching that insiRts on purity and integrity as vital tests of piety are gradually but surely growing less in number. The churches which demand morality and will not accommodate themselves either to pagan practices or pagan superstitions are increasing yearly both in numbers and in strength. Their religious papers and maga- zines are worthy of great respect. Christian teachers and preachers are filling positi~ns of great responsibility.
It has been a hard battle in unsympathetic surroundings with long entrenched ignorance and evil inheritances j but after we have taken account of the forces of sin we may magnify our hopes.
The race as a race, above its heredity and hindrances, has been and is growing in self-hood, and there is a steady and an appreciable gain that is full of encouragement.
Twenty-seven years ago, for example, this people had no homes. There is all the difference in the world between a negro cabin in which the slaves herded without legal marriage, without any family name or family permanence, and a true Christian home.' Christianity has not many surer evidences of its divinity nor many better products of its power than the refined Christian home, with its saving and ennobling Christian influences.
The progress of a true Christian faith among the negroes may be seen in the wonderful evolution of worthy and refined Christian homes. They are not abodes of wealth, though some are j but it is simply wonderful to see what new homes with new meanings have been made in a quarter of a century by those who have been brought into the light.
In this consideration one thing is to be remembered. This degradation. and evil is not a question of race. Blindness and sin are not peculiar to the negro. All peoples who remain in darkness do the deeds of darkness. Under the shadows of the cathedrals of ancient Italy there cluster thousands of miserable people without hope in the world. Brilliant Paris has its city of low-down people within its city, and Paris was founded two thousand years ago. England has her " bitter cry" of tens of thousands who cannot read, and who live in degradation equal to that of the negro in the United States. The foremost peoples of the earth have with them great multitudes in pitiable life. The great residuum of negro ignorance, sin, and misery is but another illustration that unsaved souls everywhere need to be saved, and that only the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. The religious progress of the negro in twenty-seven years shows what can be done. The religious condition of millions shows what ought to be done.
THE RELATION OF MISSIONARIES TO THEtR GOVERNMENTS
THE RELATION OF MISSIONARIES, TEACHERS, AND COL- LEGE PROFESSORS IN FOREIGN LANDS TO THEIR GOV- ERNMENTS.
BY REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, D.D., LEXINGTON, MASS.
It has been a principle of action rather than of statute that the foreign missionary must take his chance, and must expect little aid when in diffi- cultyand danger from his government. This, however, is peculiarly an American view. No one of the great governments of Europe, Catholic or Protestant, ever asserts it or acts upon it.
It is an unsafe principle, and should be made un-American. Mis- sionaries are scattered all over the heathen and Mohammedan world, and whatever treatment from our Government is accorded to them will be reo garded as the measure of its protection to others. If the house of a mis- sionary is assaulted, his windows broken, or if he is personally assaulted, and no penalty.follows and no reparation is made, the safety and honor of other Americans, whether merchants or travellers, will not be promoted by it. The peoples of half-civilized lands are very quick to make inferences, ' and one act of injustice unrebuked will lead to many more of increasing gravity. , The writoc would urge the following reasons why government should protect missionaries and teachers against all violence, injustice, and abuse, as it would other citizens.
as All other civilized nations do it. France protects her Catholic mis- sionaries with jealous care throughout the world. Italy does the same, does Austria. Germany is more indifferent, but her missionaries, whether Catholic or Protestant, have never appealed to her in vain. Russia has sent out but few missionaries. Those in Japan and 'in Palestine enjoy all the power of her diplomacy and navy for their protection. Her jealousy in this regard was one of the causes that led on to the Crimean War.
But the course of England is more worthy of our approbation. Her principle is to protect every man who is an Englishman, high or low, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile. She has no special regard for Jews, but singu- larly enough, two cases, the most distinguished in the half century in which England has been concerned, have been Jews.
The first, Don Pacifico, was a Jew, but an English subject residing and having business in Athens. The Greek Government took possession of his little store and plot of ground and offered him so small a compensa- tion that ho3 appealed tv the English ambassador, who took up his case with Eome spirit, and demanded a very much larger compensation.
The Greek minister treated the claim with so little respect that the ambassador appealed to his Government at home. In consequence, a part of the Mediterranean squadron took possession of the Pirreus until the Greek Government paid Don Pacifico about five times his original demand and made an apology to the English ambassador. The English demand may have been excessive and unjust, but the object was not to reward Pacifico, but to let the world know that St. Paul's appeal, " I am a Roman citizen," put forth in the form" I am a British subject, " shall secure safety and respect in any part of the world.
The more remarkablc case is that of Rev. Mr. Stein, for some years an English missionary to the Jews in Constantinople. He went to Abyssinia while the Emperor Theodore was already at loggerheads with the British Government. He was seized, thrown into prison, tried, and condemned to death, but not executed. His two servants, or n~tive associates, were so cruelly beaten that they died. The Christian public of Great Britain were intensely excited about him and other prisoners. Theodore scouted all the measures of the English Government for their release, and at length an army of ten or twelve thousand men was sent from Bombay to secure their release. The army accomplished this, and also killed Theodore and destroyed his capit~l, Magdala.
Let it be remembered, this was not done to save Mr. Stein as a missionary. The British Government cared precious little for that; but £9,000,000, equal to '$45,000,000, were expended to protect the Englishman, whoever and wherever he might be.
England has another principle of action that is wise. When an indemnity has been decided upon, it has to be paid without delay. Governments of a cer-tain class are ready enough to promise compensations which they never intend to pay. Spain and Turkey have done this repeatedly to our Government, because they have learned they can do it with impunity. A promise is readily and cheerfully made, and is announced as a satisfactory settlement. The offending power is even complimented and praised, and is thus encouraged to gre~ter boldness in future outrages.
Treaties secure to missionaries rights which in many cases our Government will not enforce. All Roman Catholic nations, as well as England, protect their missionaries with jealous care. Our treaties secure to us all the privileges of the most favored nation. Nations have a certain solidarity of interests in half-civilized and anti-Christian nations. They are morally bound to support each other when Christianity is assailed. When the English ambassador, after the execution of two so-called "apostates," demanded of the Sultan the formal renunciation of the inhuman law, all the other embassies except Russia supported him in it. This principle should be acted upon in every case. No. government so unwise as to disregard legitim'ate claims for redress will persevere in it agaiitst a positive and deter!.llined pressure which will secure the approval, and, it may be, the co-operation, of other powers. Any power that refuses to acknowledge treaty obligations puts itself outside of the protection of international law.
But there is a higher principle of action. Christian nations are responsiblto f6r the Christian influence which they may exert upon the non- Christian nations. Christi::lllity lies at the foundation of their greatness and pre-eminence. They can confer no benefit upon the pagan and Mos- lem nations like that which has made them great. They cannot allow it to be treated with gross and cruel insults without loss of character and without the most serious injury to both parties. There is no occasion for the exercise of warlike force.' It is enough if the preparation for enforc- ing a just claim is made visible. Recently the Sultan sent in great haste to our minister to come directly to the palace. His majesty would settle satisfactorily the Marsovan affair, and there was no need to telegraph for war steamers. Our minister, with great simplicity, denied all intentions of that nature, and refused to go. He might at least have gone and ap- pealed to the Sultan's honor and sense of justice; but the poor man was new in his place, and afraid to move either to the right or left.
A great nation cannot afford to place itself or be placed in such positions. If the mere report of an ironclad can agitate the palace, the presence of one in Turkish waters would be a powerful protection. Such cases demana no v4>lence, but a preparation to enforce respect and secure justice is absolutely necessary in the present condition of the world. If the magistrate bears the sword in vain, or if he have no sword to bear, the rude, the barbarous, and the lawless will be without restraint. American missionaries have a right to expect in every land the protection and the immunities accorded to the missionaries from other lands. The Catholic missionaries from France and Italy are always treated with respect. No indignities are offered to them. Their schools are never interfered with. They are never mobbed or imprisoned. Their books are never destroyed or interdicted or absurdly defaced by the censor. So long as this treatment is accorded to other nations, we have a right to expect the same. Our treaties secure to us the treatment accorded to the most favored nations, and if our Government will not enfor~e its treaties it becomes a proper object of contempt. Its prestige, if it has any, departs, and its subjects will often be subjected to the caprice of bigots. American missionaries have never asked for special favors. They know their rights as citizens of the United States. All they claim is that protection which is secured by treaty and which belongs to them as Americans. It is a violation of all the principles upon which treaties are based that any power should confer special favors upon citizens of one nation and treat with manife'lt disfavor the citizens of another, when common treaty relations bind them all. The Christian public of the United States hopes and expects to see its government take those measures that will place its citizens in foreign lands on an equality with the citizens of any other nation of whatever race or religion. At present throughout the Turkish Empire American missionaries are insulted, mobbed, imprisoned, their dwellings and schools burned, their property seized, confiscated, and no reparation is made with the exception of Mr. Bartlett's house, and that was caused by the mere report that a steamer would be sent to protect American citizens,
CATHERIl"IE PENNEFATHER
CATHERINE PENNEFATHER.
BY JAMES E. MATHIESON, ESQ., LONDON, ENGLAND.
Three links have recently been severed which connected this generation with some remarkable movements of the present century. With the expiring year there passed away, in Glasgow (on December 30th, 1892), the venerable Andrew A. Bonar, in his eighty-third year, best known ontside of Scotland by his memoir of the saintly Murray MacCheyne, a new edition of which has just come from the press. One of three noble brothers, all of whom ha:d attained to fourscore years-John Bonar, minister of Greenock j Horatius Bonar, the Scottish psalmist. Andrew was the last survivor, and of his four hundred and fifty contemporaries who left the Established Church of Scotland in 1843, no one now remains so original as a thinker, so devout in life, or so universally beloved as he. I have before me a letter, written in clearest handwriting and in charming style, dated December 6th, concerning our Lord's premillennial return, which he closes thus: "Keep prayiug, and believe me your ' brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.'" .We look back pensively to that revival time in Scotland fifty years ago, when quickened spiritual life in the Church led the Bonars and so many more to give up their manses and stipends for the truth's sake and for the honor of Christ, the one Head of the Church j and we look around us to-day and we hear of two clergymen of the Church of England only who have resigned their positions because in faithfulness to our Lord they cannot remain in a communion where, by the recent Lincoln judgment, the fuJlblown symbolism of Roman ceremonies opens wide the door to Mariolatry and other abominations which were rejected at the Reformation.
On January 10th there was buricd at Beckenham, in Kent, a sweet old saint, Mrs. Soltau, aged eighty, who has given her three sons to the mission field -one in Tasmania, one in the Neilgherry Hills, in India, one in the McCall Mission, in Paris, and a daughter who ably superintends and trains the female candidates for the China Inland Mission. A happy mother was she with such children, walking in the truth. Her husband, whose books, "The Tabernacle and its Teachings" and" The Soul and its Difficulties," are much valued, was one of the band of devoted and intelligent men-chiefly gentlemen of Devonshire and the "Vcst of England-who originated that quest for more spiritual worship, more scriptural following of Christ, and greater recognition of all the varied gifts in. the Church, popularly known as the Plymouth Brethren, though they themselves disclaimed that appellation. Holding firmly as two of their tenets believers' baptism and the hope of Christ's premillennial appearing. they introduced an era of Bible reading among English-speaking people which probably has kept the Church from a more rapid corruption than that which has actnally sct in, and has 1,y its love of Scripture imparted to a multitude of Christians (many of them unconsciously influenced) a habit of habitual and reverent examination of the truth of God, and this in people throughout all the denominations. No true lover of his Bible will undervalue, and none ought to ignore, the blessing which has come to the Church in these days through the ofttimes despised and misunderstood Plymouth Brethren.
On January 12th, at Mildmay, in the north of. London, there entered into rest, in her seventy-fifth year, the beloved lady whose name I have placed at the head of this notice. 'Tis twenty years since her revered and honored and saint~y husband, William Pennefather, went in to see the King after a life of singular beauty and devotion unreservedly given to Christ, to His Church below, and to the poor and needy of this earth. His father was one of Her Majesty's judges in Ireland, and in that coun· try he commenced his ministry as a clergyman of the Established Church, but transferred his labors to three other spheres on English soil. What stands out prominently in his life as an originator was his conception, when at Barnet, in 1855, to gather together in a conference for worship and mutual edification brethren and sisters from various branches of the Church of Christ. With us to-day, when the idea has long been a fait accompli, it is difficult to conceive of the dissuasions and alarm with which the proposal was 'first entertained even among godly and earnest men. But the invited guests came j "the'number of names together were about one hundred and twenty" (as at the commencement of the Church, Acts 1 : 15) j a sweet Christian harmony pervaded all the meetings, and their repetition was eagerly hailed. Since then, first at Barnet and subsequently in the iron room transferred to London, and since 1870 in the noble Mildmay Conference Hall there have been held meetings full of interest, oftentimes full of power, wherein believers have been edified and multiplied, new' methods of Christian enterprise have been planned, many wearied workers and foreign missionaries have been refreshed and sent forth again to labor more assiduously among Jews and Gentiles.
Fit companion and true helper in all this labor of love was Catherine Pennefather, one of the noble women of our time, who sought no earthly fame or prominence, but could not be hid. On her mother's side she was granddaughter of a former archbishop of Dublin (Cleaver) j her father was the Hon. James King, son of the Earl of Kingston. He was an admiral in the English Navy and an intimate of William IV., who also was an English admiral j they were used to address each other familiarly as " King." The monarch sometimes gave it as his opinion that his successor, the Princess Victoria, would be the last sovereign of England. It was he too who, driving through the streets of London about the year 1830, and noticing placards headed "Reform Bill !" (probably the announcement of a public meeting), soliloquized thus: "Reform Bill, reform Bill; ah ! that means me, I suppose." Mrs. Pennefather was gifted with J. noble presence and with a clear and penetrating mind. A London specialist, called in by her usual medical attendant for consultation the week preceding her death, remarked on coming out of the sick-room, "What a head! Why, it's the head of a judge!" And so it was. Calmness and accuracy of judgment were probably her distinguishing characteristics j but there was none of that usual accompaniment of calmness, there was no coldness, there was deep warmth of love to her Saviour and to all who belonged to Him, and a very special love to those who came nearest to Him in holy living and blessed service ; and the attachment to her person which marked all those who were in any way associated with the varied labors of love in which she was an acknowledged leader and a trusted counsellor was probably unique. As President of the Association of Female Workers, numbering 1700 ladies in all parts of the world engaged in various forms of Christian work, I think I may say she stood pre-eminent, not only in their esteem but in their affections; and to one and all how readily and gladly she gave counsel and help and comfort as often as her ministrations were sought for in these directions! To the immediate circle of Mildmay workers-120 Protestant deaconesses and nearly 100 Christian nurses-she was felt to be a " mother in Israel" in her bestowal of sweet spiritual counsel, but to many of them she was as a mother indeed in her affectionate oversight and thoughtfulness for their needs. The love which radiated from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Pennefather was the love which " beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." An early incident illustrated this trend of mind and heart even in Mrs. Pennefather's childhood. A bee had stung her badly j she ran to her mother and exclaimed, "The bee has kissed me too hard!" She never thought of the bee as angry and hurtful j and this feeling pervaded her conceptions of men and women acting or speaking injuriously, while at the same time she maintained clear and decided views of truth and deplored error. Though hers was a maste'r mind, she sought not mastery, and had no sympathy with that headship of woman which not a few are seeking after in the preselilt day; and when busily occupied in devising and directing work for the redressing of the wrongs of woman by putting their happier sisters upon right lines of ministry on their behalf, she meddled not with any political nostrum for enforcing woman's rights. In truth, she seemed always to be guided into the more excellent way when a choice of paths was presented for selection, and this because she waited upon God and rested not in her own wisdom, For many of her later years her eyesight had failed, and she enjoyed, without the distraction which hinders many others, ample opportunity for frequent secret, silent prayer, and the great day alone'shall declare how much her intercessions, ascending to and through the Great Intercessor, have availed in ealling down more abundant blessings upon the Mildmay Deacones~ Missions, the medical missions and hospitals, the Jewish mission, the Gospel services, the conferences, as well as upon the individual workers in squalid London districts; upon the nurses watching by sick-beds, that
A VOICE FROM SOUTH AFRICA
they might use the precious opportunity of speaking a wonl in season for the Master j upon scattered workers on far distant mission fields j such intercessory help constituting the uniting bond of the whole association of female workers who are now bereaved of their honored and trusted president, whose place it seems so hard and impossible to fill. vVe way claim, without presumption and without disparagement of others, that Mrs. Pennefather was the choicest embodiment of high-toned spiritual life in combination with that culture which distinguishes delicately nurtured English women, while the woman's work under her guidance and fostering care, in an age remarkable for its development of woman's work in so many directions, has given to thc Church many examples of " daughters as corner-stones fashioned after the similitude of a palace," who had been st.imulated and sustained by the copy which her life set before them. Let a sympathetic cry ascend, dear reader, from your inmost soul that God would comfort with His own strong consolations the many weeping ones who are now realizing a great personal bereavement, and that He in tender mercy will raise up some one to fill the vacant place and maintain in the unity of the Spirit all represented in the Mildmay institutions-that is, reflecting Christ's image. Its motto is, " Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity j" and when we sec around us such falling away from gospel simplicity, those who ha'e loved and labored for Him in connection with Mildmay do very truly beseech Him to keep this centre as a stronghold for evangelical teaching, seeing He has permitted it to display for so many years past a banner for the trnth.
Amid many tokens of reverence and love Mrs. Pennefather's remains were borne away after the funeral service in St. Jude's, Mildmay Park, on Monday, January 16th, to their earthly resting-place, twelve miles off, at Ridge, a quiet resting-place indeed, in a typical English churchyard, where rests the dust of her like-minded husband until the glad day when the trump of God shall sound, "and the dead in Christ shall rise first, . . . and so shall we ever be with the Lord." "Even so, come, Lord Jesus !"
And we " comfort one another with these words."
* A VOICE FROM SOUTH AFRICA.
. BY MISS ABBY P. FERGUSON, WELLINGTON, SOUTH AFRICA.
In the June number of the MISSIONARY REVIEW for 1891, under" The Miracles of Missions," was given the story of the Huguenot Seminary at • For the appeal in behalf of the Lord's work in the diamond fields of South Africa, and for the response of Christian friends to that appeal, we retllrn thanks. The aid has come in our time of need, 8IIIl bas been most precious. Miss Anna E. Bliss. who came with me to Africa nineteen years ago, will be in America until November. Her ..ddre.s is West New Bri~hton,8tatenI"18nd. N.Y. Mi.s Bliss has had an important part in the work of the Huguenot !'emioary from it. beginning, and I. prepared to advance its interests in any way that she can riuring tbe y~..r thllt .be is in America. either by corre8pondence, by receiving contributions or by "peaking in its behalf.-A. P. F. Wellington. I will add somewhat as to what the Lord h,.s done for us since that article was written.
The branch seminary at the Paarl haf> grown, until now there are seventy boarders and over one hundred day scholars. Toward the close of 1891 there came requests for two more branch Reminaries : one at Bethlehem, in the Orange Free State, and one at Greytown, Natal. About the last of"
December it was decided to go forward, and our prayer was that the little seminary born at Bethlehem at Christmas time might indeed be the child of the Most High, and that the one at Greytown might also be owned of Him. The Bethlehem Reminary was opened February, 1892, under the care of Miss Catherine Murray, the daughter of Rev. Andrew Murray. The branch at Greytown was opened in July, 1892, under Miss Gates, one of our American teachers. Miss Gates writes of a precious work of grace among her girls, and that she has had the joy of seeing all but one con- verted. Thus God has set His seal upon the precious work. .J Our own work at the mother Huguenot Seminary at Wellington is growing, and we are feeling with the increased opportunities that it assumes new importance. Most of the teachers at our branch seminaries are our own graduates. We have sent out over, four hundred teachers during the nineteen years since our seminary was established. And now lihat Africa is opening so wonderfully, we cry unto God that we may be ready to enter every open door in the name of the Lord, and that these dear daughters of ours may be fully equipped in body, soul, and spirit for the service of the Lord. We number on our own staff of teachers gradu- ates of Mount Holyoke, of 'Wellesley, of Oberlin, besides other vahable teachers from America, Holland, and Germany. The number of our pupils has increased, and for these we are needing increased acco~modation.
With the help of the colonial Government we have been able to purchase a valuable property adjoining ours, and now we are anxious to put up a large building, giving us more room for pupils, and also a library and class- rooms. ,Ye are very anxious also to have a fund to help many girls who are eager for an education and would make good use of it, but have not the means to meet the expense. Our four Huguenot seminaries are for the white girls of South Africa, daughters of European settlers; and closely connected with this work of Christian education, a great mission work is opening. You have an account of the work at the diamond fields in the MISSIONARY RE'IIEW for July, 1892. The work here is not only for the thousands of heathen who come to work in the mines from all parts of South Africa, but a helping hand is stretched out also to the Cape natives, who are civilized in part, and the interest of our workers has been deeply stirred for the whole population gathered here from all parts of the world seeking wealth, and yet so many finding only sin and sorrow. There are eight lady workers here. Two mission houses have been bought; both are nearly paid for; but we are anxious to put up a small hall in connection with one of them for meetings and evening classes. This work is under the Woman s Missionary Union of South Africa. Most of the workers have been at the Huguenot Seminary, ·Wellington, where there is a special class for those desiring training for mission work.
Our Woman's Missionary Society has lady missionaries among the heathen in the Transvaal, and at one station in Bechuanaland. And now the call has come for us to enter new fields. At Johannesburg, the great centre of the gold-mining industries, tliey are asking us to open a work similar to that at the diamond fields, and the need is much the same. There are the thousands of whites who have gone down through poverty, drink, and sin; there are many Cape colored people, and there are tens of thousands of heathen from all parts of Sonth Africa, coming to work in the mines a few months and then returning to their own people. And for these we are confronted by the same question, Shall these men carry back to their tribes the vices of civilization or the Gospel of Christ ~ Another door that is open for us to enter is at Mvera, thirty miles to the southeast of Lake Nyassa, a station under the care of a nephew of Rev. Andrew Murray, and bearing the same name. We are asked to send two ladies to this station to begin work among the heathen women and children, and we are asking the Lord, who has opened this door, to show us whom He has called and prepared to enter upon this important service.
It has been for years my prayer that the Lord would make our work all that it is possible for it to become to His glory, and the advancement of His cause. He is answering wonderfully in ways beyond what we had asked or thought. lIe is showing us more and more that He has planted' us here to do a work for Him that shall be far-reaching in this great dark Africa, with its millions of precious souls waiting to. be told of the great redemption. The work is not ours, it is the Lord's, and it is in His name we lay it before you in all its departments.
I. We need your prayers and Christian sympathy. II. We need Christian teachers having a good collegiate education, who will be able to prepare our girls for the positions of responsibility waiting ":or them. For these we can offer passage-money and a fair salary. III. We should be glad of workers who could be wholly or partly selfsupporting for the various departments of mission work. IV. vVe need help in putting up suitable buildings for our Christian educational work. The Government of Cape Colony has given us to understand that it would help us to the extent of £5000 if we could raise the same amount from other sources. V. We need aid for our buildings at the different mission stations or centres of work. VI. We need help in the education of girls without means who are anxions to enter upon and would be useful in Christian work, and would be glad to receive the training necessary. YII. 'Ye need help in the support of our mission work. Our Woman's Missionary Union is accomplishing much, but without aid from other lands we cannot enter upon the work opening before us.
SAMUEL METHABATHE
SAMUEL METHABATHE, AN AFRICAN EVANGELIST.
BY REV. JOSIAH 'fYLER, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA.
Sixty years ago a society of Wesleyan Methodists sent Rev. James Alli- son and his wife as pioneer missionaries to the Amaswazi tribe, living on the southeastern coast of Africa, about eighty miles from Delagoa Bay. Not disheartened by hundreds of miles of rough travel in ox wagons, they settled among the wild heathen, and soon a large number came to them for instruction. Then an intertribal war disturbed' their labors. The Zulus, ancestral enemies of the Amaswazi, came and killed many of their people, and threatened them also. They were driven to Natal, accompanied by hundreds of the poor, homeless natives, and the station "Edendale" was founded, which 'is now the largest mission station in that part of Africa, numbering nearly one thousand members and adlterents.
Mr. and Mrs. Allison, unfitted by their age to superintend so large a station, went to Pietermaritzburg, the capital of Natal, to end their days in rest and quiet. But such true missionaries, seeing the Zulu servants loitering about the streets, especially on the Sabbath, invited them to their house for religious instruction, and established an evening school. Having thus won the natives by kind words and loving desire for their good, they soon had another large station to care for. Christian friends among the English colonists aided them, and a commodious chapel was erected which was well filled each Sabbath.
In 1869, while visiting Mr. Allison, I addressed his congregation, and was much attracted by a young man in the congregation who was smaller than the average Zulu, but had an earnest, expressive face and manner. I learned that his name was Methabathe, and he had come seven hundred miles, from the region of the Limpopo River, to earn money to buy a gun and ammunition, but, having found the Saviour, was soon to return to his people to preach Jesus Christ. "Will he hold out, so far away from Christian teachers and religious training~" I inquired of Mr. Allison. " He is a thorough Christian, inflamed with a passion to save souls," replied he. "I have known him for six years. After parting with him I sh~l probably never see him or hear from him again, but am sure he will prove a blessing to his countrymen."
A few months later Mr. Allison set apart this native Christian, and with tears prayed that God would go with him, keeping him humble, prayerful, and steadfast in the faith. Both Mr. Allison and his wife were called to their reward without hearing further of the man whom they had brought to Christ.
Nine years later Rev. Owen 'Watkins, Superintendent of the Wesleyan Methodist missions in the Transvaal, hearing of Samuel Mcthabathe, sent for him to come and tell his story. With three of his converts the evangelist travelled four hundred miles, and in his simple, g-raphic way gave his testimony. He had labored" unknown, unpaid, unvisited, unrecognized by any church, yet remaining steadfast and patiently witnessing for Christ in the midst of persecution and distress as bravely as any of the early Christians."
After leaving Mr. Allison, he had gone back to his country, reported himself to his chief, and asked permission to preach Jesus Christ to his people. This the chief would not allow, fearing that his subjects would rebel against him if told of the great" King of kings," and he threatened Samuel with death or banishment should he be found holding meetings to teach the new doctrine.
In sadness of heart Samuel left the chief, but after much thought and prayer resoh'ed to do what he could. For four years he went about from hut to hut, telling his relatives and friends about the great salvation, praying with them and urging them to believe in Christ. A chapel was built in which the people gathered on the Sabbath for worship, but the chief ordered it to be burned. After his death his wife assumed the reins of government, and proved more tolerant than he had been. Another church was huilt, a school established, and many natives professed Christianity.
As the work grew, educated men· were needed to take charge of the work upon the out-stations. The church selected two men to go to a training school kept by the French missionaries in Basutoland. After two years' study they returned, and the work of the Lord was greatly prospered.
The trial of their faith was not yet ended, however. Aroused by enemies of the Christian religion, this female chief caused the church to be burned, and ordered all Christians to leave the country with their families. With Samuel at their head, two hundred went into exile for Christ's sake. A portion of them settled on a farm which has since been bought by the Methodist Society for them, and which is named" Good Hope."
Soon after hearing Samuel's story, Mr. Watkins visited the tribe and. wrote as follows : " When I got to the foot of the hill on the top of which Samuel's village is now built, some of the people saw me, and at once set up a cry, 'It is ! it is ! the missionary ! our own missionary ! come at last!' There was a great commotion. Then a lot of guns were fired off by way of salute, and then the people rushed down the hill-side to greet me. I stood still at the spot where the first party met me, and waited until all the rest came down. Samuel was away in the bush cutting wood for a schoolhouse, but they sent runners to tell him the glad tidings and bid him hasten.
"I had to shake hands with every man, woman and child until my arms ached again. After that came words of welcome. Tears rolled down many faces as the teacher, Johannes (one who had beel! to Basutuland), told me how for a long time their prayers and cries had gone up to heaven for my eoming, and he concluded, ' Now at last, that we see your face, all the days of our mourning are ended.' I spoke to them very
4'&1 FINAL FACTS RESPECTING UGANDA
gently, for I knew their sorrows for Christ's sake had been very great, and told them God's people in England of the Wesleyan Church would not for- sake them. .
" The teacher thereupon in an ecstasy of joy raised the hymn' Jesus sought me when a stranger,' and we moved forward. In a little while Samnel arrived, and as it was an occasion to be spoken of in coming gen- .erations, he was saluted with three gnns. To see that man's face beami~g with joy as he saw me in the midst of his people, and to feel the grip of his hand in welcome, amply repaid me for all the hardships passed in com- ing to visit him. I cannot tell of the long meeting we held and the many matters we talked of, bnt it was a t.ime never to be forgotten. "
Thus through Divine blessing on the labors of Samuel Methabathe an African wilderness has become a fruitful garden. I still seem to see his intelligent countenance as I first saw him in the native chapel in Pieter- maritzburg, and recall with admiration the faith of the devoted missiona- ries who consecrated him so tenderly to the Lord's service. Eternity alone will reveal the good done in heathen lands of which Christian missionaries have been the unconscious instruments.
FINAL FACTS RESPECTING UGANDA BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK.
The Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift for January has an article touching these, on the basis of which it appears worth while to make some statements. We do not reproduce the paper or even condense it, but note some things which may now be accepted as certain.
1. The Protestant missionaries were in Uganda maay months before the Roman Catholic, so that if there has been any intrusion, it has n,ot been on the Protestant side.
2. The Anglican missionaries, though Evangelicals, have been of no malevolent or calumnious schools, but have steadily referred to the Catholics in terms of respect and friendliness. Exceptions to this rule are so slight as to be microscopic.
3. The thorough ventilation of all the facts of the late catastrophe shows Bishop Tucker and the other English missionaries to have had, neither proximately nor remotely, the slightest share in bringing it on. The passionate and exceedingly unhamlsome imputations of Bishop Hirth have dissolved into absolute emptiness.
4. There are more chiefs in the kingdom than places of honor. The religious differences have simply served as a bond of cohesion to the latent, parties. The chiefs on both side!? have fused intense personal ambition with a fiery religious zeal. The masses on both sides, a small percentage apart, have been moved simply bv a spirit of blinu feudal loyalty. The Protestant missionaries have brought this out into full light ; the French priests have thrown a religious halo over the whole of their side, although, being so much the more numerous, it is probably, if there is any difference, even less moved by religion than the other.
5. Bishop Hirth's report, written in the first heat of the collision, is passionate and exaggerated almost to insanity. For instance, he declarea that 50,000 Catholics have been sold as slaves. As the later Catholic accounts do not even allow that there are 25,000 Catholics in all, and as there are many thousands left, the bishop's arithmetic is somewhat delirious.
6. Bishop Hirth and his party-the royal party, moreover-were so far from being straitened or oppressed that the bishop, just before the outbreak of the conflict, expresses the belief that Uganda is about to become " Ii Catholic kingdom." The immediate prelude to the collision was that after the two parties had marched out jointly against the Mohammedans, the Catholics returned without cause. The spark that set the fire was the murder of a Protestant by Catholics, and the refusal of the king to deliver the murderers up.
7. The French missionaries have listened credulously and passionately to accusations of Protestant cruelty which are partly altogether false, partly enormously exaggerated. They have, moreover, thrown imputations of complicity in the actual cruelties on Protestantism because the English missionaries, no more than themselves, have been able to restrain a mass of heathen fighters, most of whom knew little more of Christianity than the name, from showing themselves the barbarians that they were. The Protestants patiently 'awaited Captain Lugard's orders before firing, and he withheld these until the Catholic assault became general. He distributed about one hundred and fifty muskets and rifles on that very morn: ing, but not earlier. He gave no Maxim gun to the Baganda. He urged the priests, as well as the clergymen, to come into the fort, and when there showed them all possible attention.
8. For the fierceness of a civil war, induced, moreover, by their own adherents, the losses of the White Fathers-not, as is often blunderingly written, the Jesuits-have been practically nothing. Most of their goods were in the fort or had been sent south. Most of the buildings had lost only their grass roofs. The" cathedral" was merely of reeds and grass. Had they remained and placed themselves under Captain Lugard's protection, he declares that they would have bcen spared even their partial losses.
Our Roman Catholic friends complain-and some of them optima fide -that the portion of land finally assigned them is out of all proportion smaller than their numbers require. Not knowing how large it is, I cannot undertake to deny that there may be some ground for the complaint. The wortliless Mwanga, having been altcrnately, after some sort of fashion, a heathen, a Catholic, a heathen Ilgain, a Mohammedan, a heathen
PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN nURMA
yet again, a Catholic once more, and for the present a Protestant, would not be his pdious self if he could not contrive to impart some element of injustice into any compact which he favored. Yet when a religious party or a political party under the name of religion stirs up a revolt against a superior authority under religious pretenses, and is defeated, it should not think it unreasonable that it suffers some inconvenient consequences from the attempt. The French priests know very well that England, as Dr. Warneck well says, is the most tolerant nation under the sun. Whether they were moved by national or by ecclesiastical dislike, or more probably by a curious mixture of the two, they must not think it strange if the new order of things sets them somewhat in the background. They are in no manner of danger of being persecuted if they do not foment another commotion; but it would not be strange if, in the distribution of honors and territories, they were a little "discouraged." When a Protestant missionary in French territory expresses dislike of France and regret that England could not have the country-and we know only one such case-we assume, as of course, that he expects his French denizenship to be brief, and is making ready to hand over his work to French Protestants. If our French friends cannot be contented under the English flag, doubtless Cardinal Vaughan or Archbishop Walsh could find them a relief.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN BURMA.
BY REV. L. W. CRONKHITE, BASSEIN, BURMA..
These were opened by the Baptists of America, who have been actively engaged in them for the past eighty years. Though they were preceded by a son of William Carey, who after a brief period of labor had retired from the country, permanent work began with the arrival of Rev. Adoniram Judson and wife at Rangoon in July, 1813. They had been led to this field by a series of providences as marked as were the sacrifices by which they subsequently sealed the country for Christ. In 1819 their hearts were gladdened by the baptism of the first convert, Moung Naw. This, however, was speedily followed by persecution. It is noteworthy that a part.icularly bitter persecution followed almost immediately upon the arrival of a reinforcement of fifteen missionaries in 1834. From the first all progress in the work for the BurmanlJ has been in the face of the most serious obstacles; but the determined hostility of the Burmese authorities to the Gospel has been met in the Divine plan by the transfer to the English, first of Southern Burma in 1826, then of Middle Burma in 1852, and of the remainder of the country in 1885. Judson's great translation of the Bible was finished in 1834. To this he subsequently added a dictionary and a grammar, which have never been superseded. The Burmese theological school begun by Rev. E. A. Stevens in 18~8 is Rtill continued at Hangoon, under the care of Rev. A. T. Rose, and important changes are proposed with a view to its enlarged usefulness. In so brief an outline as this one can only note the names of such heroes of the Burman mission as Hough, Comstock, Wade, Kincaid, Hennett, and Haswell, the latter of whom gave some attention also to the Talign race. Cephas Bennett and wifs were connected respectively fifty-six and sixty-one years with the mission. Though Buddhism and the native rulers have done so much to make the Burmese a people peculiarly hard to reach, some real progress has been made. Inplace of the single convert in 1819, there were, in 1847, 200; in 1869, 1000 ; in 1884, 1600 j while to-day the net number,of living Burman Christians is about 2100. The outlook is good for greatly accelerated progress in the near future.
Far more accessible than the Burmese have been the various Karen tribes of Burma, the society's work among whom forms one of the noblest chapters of missionary history. For this the way was prepared by their simpler forms of worship, and by the striking likeness between some of their traditions and the early chapters of Genesis. They had it, moreover, on ancient tradition, that some day their younger brother, a white man, would come by water from the West, bringing with him the lost word of their God. The work for the Karens was begun by George Dana Boardman, and the year 1828 saw the first Karen convert, Ko-tha-byu, afterward famous as the Karen apostle. The Ko-thabyu Memorial Hall at Bassein, given wholly 'by Karens, and the finest building in the Karen mission, was dedicated upon the fiftieth anniversary of his baptism. Francis Mason and others travelled widely through the Tenasserim provinces, and in 1833 Jonathan Wade reduced the Sgau Karen dialect to written form. The Pwo and other Karen dialects followed later. In 1836 the elder Vinton opened work in Rangoon, and was eagerly received everywhere, as was also Mr. Abbott a little later at Bassein. There, among others, a young chief of fine character received the Gospel. Prospective war with England compelled the missionaries to retire from Burmese territory, whereupon Mr. Abbott removed, in 1840, to Arracan. Thither such numbers of the Karens followed him, running the gauntlet of the Burmese, that the latter were compelled to promulgate an order permitting the Karens the worship of" their God." In five years more than three thousand were baptized in the Bassein district by Mr. Abbott and his Karen co-workers. It was in 1848 that the Sgau Karen pastors of the Bassein district decided at their annual meeting to undertake henceforth the entire support of the work in their own field, a promise which they have grandly fulfilled. Their ninety churches now number over nine thousand members. In addition to thcir central school, with its four hundred pupils, nearly one hundred lesser schools are scattered among their villages. During the past three years the contributions of the Bassein Pwo Karen Christians have equalled annually one tenth their incomes for the entire membership. The Rangoon Karen field passed from the hands of the elder Vinton to those of his son, Brainerd, and when both had gone to their reward a son-in-~aw and daughter of the latter were found ready to assist his widow in ministering to the people for whom the family had already done so much. The field is now prospering in their care, with about eighty churches and four thousand members, supporting fifty schools.
The close of the second Burmese war with England in 1853 witnessed the opening of several new stations among the Karens, among which were those at Henthada, Toungoo, and Shwegyin. At Shwegyin 577 were baptized in the first year, while in the first two years of the Toungoo mission 2000 converts were baptized by the earnest evangelist Sau Quala. Through much peril and schism in the native churches, the work at the latter sta.: tion has now extended to several Karen tribes, notably to the Bghais, the Pakus, and the Red Karens, the churches having a total membership of over 5000. Newer Karen stations are those at Maubin (Pwo), at Tharrawaddy (Sgau), and at Thatone, where also work is done among the Toungthoos. The total church-membership of the Baptist mission to the Karens was, in 1833, 292 ; in 1847, 6093 ; in 1869, 20,007 ; and in 1892, about 28,000. These have now the entire Bible in Sgau-since 1853-and in Pwo-siace 1883-together with portions in some other dialects. Dictionaries and grammars have been prepared in the Sgau, in which dialect also are published three papers. At Rangoon is located the Karen Baptist college. The flourishing theological seminary ~t Insein numbers over 100 students.
Work among the Shan tribes was opened at Toungoo by Rev. M. H. Bixby ill. 1860. The Shans are a trading people, industrious and intelligent. In religion they are bigoted Buddhists, and as l?uch have thus far proved largely inaccessible to the Gospel. It has, moreover, been necessary until recently to confine the society's work to the immigrant Shans in Burma proper, with stations at Toungoo, Rangoon, Moulmein, and Bhamo. Much pioneer work in the exploration of the Shan States had, however, been done by Rev. J. N. Cushing and others prior to the recent war between the Burmese and English; and when by this war thc Shan States were opened to foreign influence, the society at once took steps to enter. Rev. M. B. Kirkpatrick, M.D., began labor in the remote city of Thibau in· 1888, and is being greatly prospered in his work. The Saubwa, or native chief, has been strongly attracted by the Gospel, proving his sincerity both by his treatment of enemies and by his large contributions to the work among his people. A station has also been established at Mone, the head of another division of the Shan States. Mr. Cushing has translated the entire Bible into Shan, and has also prepared a Shan and English dictionary and a grammar.
The Ka Ohins occupy the mountains to the north and northeast of Burma, and are supposed to number 5,000,000 souls, grouped into numerous tribes and dialects. They are wicked and lawless in the extreme, while yet possessing a basis for noble and sturdy character when wrought upon by grace. Work was begun at Bhamo in 1877, and has been carried on largely by Sgau evangelists sent out and supported by the Bassein Karens of that tribe. In 1882 the writer had the privilege of witnessing the first Ka Chin baptism, and of assisting in the celebration of the Lord's Supper which followed. The work has been greatly hindered by sickness arnona!' the missionaries and by war, but the present outlook is excellent.
Among the Ohins regular work has been in progress for the past seven years. These people inhabit the western Yomas, being most numerous in Upper Burma. They are nominally Buddhists, but cling strongly to the practices of their ancient demon-worship. Some four hundred have already been baptized, chiefly in Arracan, and the future seems very full of promise.
At Rangoon, Moulmein, and Bassein work is being done among Eurasians and among the Chinese, Tamils, and Telugus, who are flocking to Burma in large numbers. Karen evangelists from Burma are laboring among the Karens of Northern Siam. Meantime, the mission presses at Rangoon, Bassein, and Toungoo are doing much to supply the peoples of Burma with a Christian literature.
To sum up, the American Baptist Mission has in Burma, by its last report, .22 central stations, to which will soon be added Mo-gaung in the extreme north. The work is committed to 139 missionaries and 610 native preachers. The 550 churches, nearly all of which are self-supporting, have a total membership of 30,000, while into the 500 schools are gathered 11,000 boys and girls, bright and teachable.
In 1859 the Society for the Propagation of the. Gospel (Church of England) sent out to Moulmein Rev. Augustus Shears to open missionary operations in Burma. One year later he was joined by J. E. Marks, who has since accomplished so much for the education of Burmese youth, and who has for many years been at the head of St. John's College in Rangoon. In 1869 he established work at Mandalay, then the capital of what was left of the kingdom of Burma. Two sons of the king were among his pupils. The troubles which followed the death of the king rendering the . continuance of the mission impossible, work at Mandalay was dropped in 1879, but was again taken up in 1886, upon the fall of King Thibau and the acquisition of Upper Burma by the English. In 1877 the Rt. Rev. John H. Titcomb was consecrated the first bishop of the Church of England in Burma. Including Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands, the society has now nine stations, chief among which are Rangoon and Toungoo. A schism in the Karen Baptist churches at the latter station resulted in the accession of many to the English society. At several stations work is being done among the Telugu and Tamil immigrants, notably at Rangoon, where 291 communicants of these races are reported. The latest returns of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for Burma give 12 European missionaries, 8 native pastors, and 83 readers and teachers. Of the 2214 communicants, about 1500 are Karens. The various schools afford instrnction to 2900 pupils, of whom 479 are girls.
AMONG THE LEPERS
American Methodists have recently established a mlSSlon in Burma under the supervision of Bishop Thoburn, with an excellent school for girls and an orphanage at Rangoon. The latest report gives 5 missionaries with 2 assistant missionaries, and in addition to the work among the English, 40 native church-members and 169 pupils in the schools. A Wesleyan mission has lately been opened in Mandalay, one feature of which is a home for lepers.
In con(llusion, there is every reason for an energetic forward movement for the evangelization of Burma. Lying as it does on the great highway between India and China, the country is destined to be of commanding importance as a commercial centre. Already railway projects, connecting it with both empires, are in the air. The country itself is rapidly being knitted together by a system of railways, telegraphs, and river steamers. As an example, it may be mentioned that whereas ten years ago Toungoo was reached from Rangoon by a boat journey consuming from two to three weeks, twelve hours by rail are now sufficient, the trains running both day and night. Even remote Thibau has just been connected with the world by telegraph. Preparatory work in the way of missionary exploration, translations of the Scriptures, and the making of dictionaries, grammars and school-books lies largely behind us. A great plant has been acquired in land and buildings scattered widely over the country. And lastly the complete overthrow of the Burmese civil power, accomplished by the recent war with England, while assuring to the entire country a quiet, enlightened, and humane rule, has also opened to the labors of Christians not only the multitudes of the Burmese, but also fields new and vast among the Ka Chins, Shans, Chins, and several lesser races.
WORK AMONG THE LEPERS.
THE LEPER HOME .AT JERUSALEM.
The woeful appearance of a leper touches every heart. Leprosy embitters the life of its victim j it incapacitates him for business and excludes him from the society of his nearest friends, and indeed of all persons, except lepers like himself. With all the triumphs of human science, leprosy is admittedly as incurable as it was in Old Testament times and in the days of our Lord's ministry upon earth.
At the end of the year 1892 there were 24 patients in the Home- 11 men and 13 women. In general the lepers are contented, cheerful, and affectionate, notwithstanding their sufferings and trials. Their attention is frequently engaged with simple games, and they have entered into these with childlike zest and grateful appreciation. With most, however, the dreadful disease has spread considerably, and at present the majority are suffering severely with open sores. Two have almost lost their eyesight, and a third has for a long time been lying very ill. One of the greatest trials of these poor creatures is their banishment from home. 'Who can know the dreary lot of a father who has been deprived of all connection with his family, or the grief and anxiety of a poor mother at the thought that she is estranged from her beloved ones, never to clasp them in her arms again? Yet these are some of the trials which our poor lepers experience every day. Budrus, one of the patients, says, "Were it not for the comfort that we derive from God's Holy Word, we should have died in despair long ago."
God's abundant blessing has rested on the efforts to minister these comforts to the afHicted inmates of our Home. They have daily practical proofs of the love of Jesus. They are constantly fed, cared for, and made as happy as possible in their physical condition. But there is a further and a higher aim. "Our grand object," says the evangelist, ,. is to win them to the Saviour, to bring them the strong comfort of the Gospel of Divine grace, and to give them in all their misery the message of present peace and an assured future of bliss and glory. In this respect the success has been very marked. Our patients have been wonderfully ready to hail and heed the message of mercy, and the Gospel of Christ has won its way and shed its radiancy into their hearts. Almost all the lepers profess Christ as their Saviour and lead godly and consistent fives. The Word of God is loved and respected by both Moslems and Christians."
Daily worship is conducted at the Home. The Arabic language is very full and rich, and the Arabic Bible uses many terms unknown to the ignorant and untaught Moslems, who are the majority of our patients. The Arab catechist comes on Sundays and Vednesdays to conduct worship in the little chapel of the Home, amI to visit the bedridden in their dormitories. The services in the chapel have been the means of soothing the suffering of the lepers, and of turning their sighs and sorrows into joy and gladness. After the service the lepers are allowed to ask or say anything, and their questions and remarks are sometimes touching and instructive. What hope haye these poor sufferers in this life? Ah! they know that they are the yictims of the most terrible disease incident to humanity, that they are outcasts and have lost everything, that they are dragging on through agony and distress to a weary and inevitable end. But they are fully assured that there can be none too miserable, too degraded, too repulsive for the Master. They will tell you that notwithstanding their terrible disease, they have found their all in Jesus. Some of them even praise God for their misery; they say it has led them to the Fountain open for all sin and uncleanness. "Leprosy is nothing to me," says Hussein, "as long as the Lord is on my side." "Surely," says Smikna, "it is better to be a leper, and have fellowship with Christ, than to be in good health and far away from God."
Three of the best inmates have been called away to their eternal rest during the past year. Their dying testimonies were all to the fulness of joy which they experienced. As one of them, Salieh, was dying, he was asked if there was peace. " Yes," he whispered, "there is peace, there is light, there is joy." Another, a young Greek priest, on whom were dependent for support a widowed mother and her children, said, as his spirit was leaving his wasted body, "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."
There is a Bible woman whose special duty it is to work among the poor lepers outside the asylum, and invite them to share its privileges. Strange to say, neither this invitation nor the Gospel itself has found much acceptance with these outcasts. Beggin~ by the roadside has become a second nature to them, and they cannot give it up, even for daily food or nursing and care. Lepers who are unable to walk any more will be carried out to the roadside on a donkey and lie there displaying their sores to attract the ,pitying gifts of passers-by. In summer they often remain ontof-doors all night with the ground for a bed, a stone for a pillow, and a cloak for a covering. Recently an old man met with a singular accident. He had lain down under a wall to sleep, and put his food on the wall. During the night a dog jumped up to get it and knocked down a large stone on the old man's head. He was terribly injnred, nevertheless he would not consent to be removed to our asylum.
Poor sufferers who are past begging are found in the government house for lepers at Siloam. These accept medicine and food, and permit their visitors to bind up their wounds. They also listen to the tidings of Jesus, the Good Physician. Sometimes those who have been absent begging, come in. Some of these are willing to have their wounds dressed, while others ask for the bandages, etc., saying that they will do it for themselves. But they would probably sell what was given them, and that is certainly not the purpose of those who visit them. Spiritual fruit of this good endeavor has not yet been apparent, but these true friends of the outcast lepers persevere in it, and ask for the support of intercession on their behalf.-Report/or 1892.
THE LEPERS OF JAPAN.
The Committee of the Mission to Lepers has just had an application from two ladies of the Church Missionary Society, at Kumamoto, Japan, asking them to aid in establishing a hospital there for the lepers. The following are a few extracts from the letter of one of these ladies : " I venture to entreat your aid for Japan. It is computed that there are over 200,000 known cases of leprosy. Among respectable people it is regarded as such a disgrace that the person affected is at once shut up in a little room which they never leave until death. Leprosy is more prevalent in this prefecture than in any other in Japan; but the principal garrison doctor here (who has offered his services gratuitously as a consulting physician if we can establish a hospital or aid of any kind) says that from 60 to 70 per cent could be relieved if they bad good medical advice at first. About two and a half miles from this city is a Buddhist temple, to which lepers from all parts of the country come when they have. spent their all, and there they drag out their miserable lives, existing Oil promiscuous charity of the most meagre kind, having no shelter at night, and scarcely any food by day. This island of Kiushiu is semi-tropical, but the winters are severe j a few mornings ago the thermometer registered 28° out-of-doors, and two days ago 26°. The sufferings of these heat-loving creatures must be intense, for in summer we have from 90° to 98° of heat. Very little pity is bestowed upon them, because the Japanese say they-the leperscannot be human beings ; that no human creature could have. such a mysterious and incurable disease-it is not a human ailment, etc. The name for them is Hinin, which means outside of humanity.
"My friend and I wrote home to our society-the Church Missionary Society-offering ourselves as workers among the lepers. Our letter has been very favorably considered, and meets with the heartiest approbation of our bishop here. Our idea is, if possible, to build a hospital by special subscription. Several hundreds would be necessary to build and furnish it. The few Japanese who know of our desire are full of approbation. One of our Christians said to me, ' It will do more for Christianity in Japan than anything that has been done; my people can argue as cleverly as your people about religion, but they know nothing of such love as this. ' The garrison doctor of whom I spoke, said, ' Only Christians would think of such a thing.' He showed us over one of the city hospitals and asked the surgeon-general of the garrison to meet us ; we afterward met others of the doctors j they all offer every encouragement."
RANGOON LEPERS.
Henry Charles Moore (late of Rangoon) writes as follows of the need in Burma: " Forty years of beneficent English rule have changed Rangoon from a collection of bamboo and mat huts, built over a malarial swamp, into a large and wealthy city. Pilgrims, as of yore, flock from all parts of the country, to kneel on the platform of the golden pagoda, and repeat the Pali sentences which they committed to memory while children in the Buddhist schools. They gaze in admiration at the wonders of the famous building-the tall gilded and jewelled spire glittering in the fierce sun with a brilliancy that is perfectly dazzling; the huge images of Gautaina Buddha ; the hideous dragons ; the horrible frescoes, and enormous bells. Truly the place is magnificent in its barbaric splendor; but there is one sight which fills. every visitor, be he pilgrim, tourist, or European exile, with pity. On the steps of the main staircase which leads to the pagoda platform sit, from morning till night, a number of poo( Burmese lepers, who hold up their maimed hands and beg with husky voices from the passers-by. The condition of the lepers there and in other parts of Rangoon is something terrible. Most of them have their faces disfigured by the fearful disease, many are blind, and some that I saw were so muti· lated about the hands and feet that they were compelled to crawl about on their elbows and knees. Unfortunately the number of lepers in Rangoon increases yearly and will continue to do so, for as the railways open up the country, the lepers will quit their native villages, where they are burdens to their friends, and go down to Rangoon to beg at the golden pagoda. The pilgrims as they hurry by respond generously to their affiicted country_ men's appeals; but, nevertheless, leprosy is a subject which a Burman will not readily discuss with anyone, for he dislikes the very mention of it, preferring to forget, if possible, that the fearful disease exists. If by chance he should talk about it, he declares that lepers are being punished for their sins in a previous existence, and that if they lead meritorious lives they will be born again and live free from the terrible taiut. It is quite certain, therefore, that while the Burmese remain Buddhists there is little probability of their ever establishing leper homes j but cannot we at home do something for the poor Rangoon lepers ~ The Mission to Lepers in India would gladly start a home in Rangoon j but their rapidly extending work and the increasing demands made upon them render it impossible for them to do so, unlesR they receive the· necessary funds. If they do open a home, it will do incalculable good, and once started, it wiII receive liberal support from the wealthy merchants, European and Asiatic, who reside in Rangoon. A proof of this has been already received, an English resident hearing of the proposed home having generously offered to give twenty acres of ground as a site for it. This offer, coming from a gentleman who resides in Rangoon, proves unmistakably that the great need which exists for such an institution is recognized in that city, and it will be a great pity if through want of funds no advantage can be taken of it. The home would be conducted on the same lines as the one which the Mission to Lepers in India support in Mandalay. That home was started by Rev. W. R. Winston, of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, who collected funds, and had the place built previous to his departure from the country on furlough. Upon his successor fell the duty of gathering in the first inmates, and this he did by going himself to their haunts and persuading them to enter the home. Now, knowing and thoroughly appreciating its advantages, they come in willingly, and at present there are over fifty inmates. A home at Rangoon would undoubtedly be as successful as the one at Mandalay. "
(Contributions for the above objects may be sent to Wellesley C. Bailey, Secretary and Superintendent of the Mission to Lepers in India, 17 Glengyle Terrace, Edinburgh, who will gladly give any information in his power.)
ANSWERED PRAYERS
ANSWERED PRAYERS.
BY MRS. MARIA J. BULLEN.
Rev. George Dana Boardman, who a year later became the first mission· ary to the Karens, in 1827 established himself among the Burmans of Moulmein, which had just previously come under English control. The Martaban River separated it from the province of Martaban, which was still Burman territory, and the resort of thieves and cnt-throats, from the opportunity it afforded of plying their infamous occupations. Armed companies of twenty or thirty would frequently go over to Moulmein and commit the most daring depredations, and even taking life when resisted, and destroying entire villages when found defenceless and unarmed. They had but to recross the river to be out of reach of the English.
Moulmein had been made the capital of British Burma, and Mr. and Mrs. Boardman were invited to make their home at headquarters, but they declined from a desire to have the freest intercourse with the Burmans. Mr. Boardman therefore built a frail dwelling on a spot which, however lovely, was very lonely, and to Jehovah he committed .himself and family for safe.keeping. In about a month they were visited at night by the dreaded robbers; but the Lord kept watch, and husband, wi£e ahd infant child were held in profound slumber. Not a hair of their head was touched, and no alarm of danger disturbed them, and so the danger passed.
George Dana Boardman, Jr., son of the missionary, at the age of six years was in a native rowboat on his way to the ship which was to bear him to the United States. He was in care of the missionaries Jones and Dcan; but the little company was attacked by brutal pirates bent on securing a box of letters stan.ding in the middle of the boat, which they supposed to contain treasures such as they were seeking. One of the boy's protectors was thrown overboard and the other, not so easily disposed of, received wounds with spear and cutlass. The poor child, hidden from sight behind a-bench, saw Mr. Dean reeling and bleeding on the bottom of the boat. Another blow from a fishing spear with barbed points penetrated the wrist, from which the heavy wooden handle was left hanging! A pale face appeared at the side of the boat, and Jones is dragged in, saved from the waves, but saved for what?
Was it a mother's prayers that made these fierce men stop their attack and by gestures explain their desires ~ The box was gladly given up to them, and the pirates left as suddenly as they came.
Great was the peril of Dr. Jacob Chamberlain, of the Arcot Mission, ,India, in a walled town in Hyderabad. The natives, in a rage at his telling of a different God from theirs, bade him leave at once. He replied that he had a message which he must first give; but they declared that if he should say another word he would be instantly killed. He saw them standing with a'rms filled with paving stones, and heard them say one to another, "You throw the first stone, and I will throw the next j" but he lifted his heart to Him who can subdue man's angry passions, and asked leave to "tell them a story," with the understanding that then, if they pleased, they might stone him.
It was the" old, old story" that he told them, beginning with the birth of Jesus. When he spoke of the cross, and explamed that the agony there suffered was for each one of them, they listened with wonder. Surely God was speaking through the words of the missionary. Their anger ceased j their hearts were touched j they threw down their paving stones. After telling of Jesus Christ's cry, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me~" of His resurrection and ascension to heaven, and of the glorious offer of ialvation for all, Dr. Chamberlain said he was done-now they might stone him. ~~ut he had nothing to fear, for those men, lately so infuriated, were weeping. They gathered around to buy his books, that they might read for themselves of these wonderful things.
Eugenio Kincaid, while descending the Irrawaddy, after an exploring tour in the northern part of Burma, found himself beset with dangers. Civil war prevailed, and bands of banditti were prowling about, robbing, burning villages, taking prisoners, and committing the most appalling deeds of violence. Kincaid, accompanied by four Burman boys who had been under h~s instruction, was in an open boat. At a certain village near the river he was told that his course would take him through a deep ravine where many robbers had their headquarters. He soon s~w a boat of armed men approaching, but the displaying of a musket which he carried, according to the order of the governor, sent the robbers back toward the ehore, and a second boatful was similarly repulsed. Soon, however, the ruffians returned, largely re-enforced j five or six boats came toward him at full speed, their armed occupants looking like fiends and uttering terrible yells. Mr. Kincaid's little crew was in abject terror, and surrender seemed his only course. When his assailants were within hailing distance, he spread out his hands, saying in Burmese, " Come and take all we have." "Sit down! sit down !" was shouted back, and thirty muskets were pointed at him. He answered that" he was a foreigner, and if they harmed him they would suffer for it, for he had been promised protection by the governor." His. words had no effect, and a shower of bullets fell about him. In a few moments these desperate fellows surrounded his boat. He was completely surrounded by steel points, and could not move without feeling the points of their spears. "But," he says, " God was with me. .• In these trying circumstances I lifted up my heart for protection."
Afterward his captors held a council to decide whether they would release him or take his life. At the close of the conference the youngest of the Burman boys came to him and told him the decision, that he was to be beheaded at sundown. As the hour approached the men fell into a dispute, and by their loud, excited talk Mr. Kincaid saw that they were not agreed as to his fate, to which he had resigned himself as the will of God. He took courage, however, and implored protection. The' robbers were on the point of fighting one another in their passion, but quieted down, and all of them, even to a man, departed to make a depredation on a neighboring village, and under the friendly cover of the night their prisoners, though weak and worn, escaped.
During Dr. Eugenio Kincaid's passage down the Irrawaddy he was again captured, and from the very outset treated in a brutal manner. He barely escaped being choked to death. His clothing was torn from him j but when his assailants began to tie his arms as he had seen Burman criminals tied, his brave spirit asserted itself, and he declared he would never be tied j he would resist it till death. The wretches grinned fiendishly, but let his arms remain free. Dragged to a certain spot upon the shore, he was told, if he valued his life, not to step outside a line which they drew around him in the sand. There for six days and nights he was left with no shelter from the hot sun or the night chill. One of his boys divided with him his waist-cloth, and occasionally Burman women passing to and from the river gave him a little food. His boatmen and three of his Burman boys contrived to escape, and the fourth was taken as a servant to a certain chief. Dr. Kincaid's distresses were heightened by the sight of the agonies borne by unoffending Burman women brought from plundered villages. During the sixth day he resolved to attempt an escape to the mountains, although the risk was very great, and discovery would bring instant death. He prevailed on one of the more humane robbers to restore to him his pair of breeches. Night came. His tormentors, after the excitement of the day, slept soundly. Their leader lay but twelve feet from him. Scarcely daring to breathe, Kincaid crept cautiously beyond the guards, and then made his way as fast as his enfeebled state would allow to the entrance of the jungle, and by noon had reached the mountains. He was two hundred miles from Ava. Stiff and weak, often burning with thirst and suffering the pangs of hunger, he was tempted to cease his efforts j but with a prayer to the Lord, he urged himself onward. On the fifth day he came across a man whom he had met before, and induced him to take him in his boat to Ava, where within a few weeks his Burman boys joined him, all feeling that their preservation was almost miraculous.
Bishop Culeridge Patteson was delivered many times from the h!mds of those who sought to take his life before he finally received his martyrcrown. For example, while on a tour, he landed on an island, and inquiring where the chief lived, the natives offered to conduct him thither. From their excited words, some of which he caught, and especially from their expressive gestures, he became convinced that they meant to take his life. He could do nothing in defence. God alone could protect him. Wishing to escape for a little from the burning sun, he entered a small hut. There, on bended knees, he pleaded for his life, adding, " Thy will be done." Knowing that his own soul was safe, he besought the Lord for the souls of these darkened ones. Then, rising, he calmly told the natives that he was ready.
God heard his prayer, granting him such peace and serenity of counte- nance as disarmed his foes. He heard them say, "He does not look like a murderer; he cannot have been a party tt') our brother's death, therefore we will not hurt him." And he received only kindness at their hands.
Nowhere has the offering of human sacrifices and the practice of can- nibalism been carried to such an extent as in Fiji, and consequently the attempt to evangelize its miserable natives was at great risk of life.
In 1839 Messrs. Hunt and Lyth, with their families, stationed them- selves on the island of Somosomo, one of the darkest spots in Fiji. It is hardly conceivable that a refined person could endure the horrid sights and sounds to which they were subjected. They soon passed through a terri- ble experience. During a time of great excitement, when many victims were slaughtered and prepared for their cannibal feasts in near proximity to t.heir abode, they were told that their turn would come. The savages became more and more insulting and defiant, and there seemed to be little reason to hope for escape from this dreadful fate. On a certain night it was felt that the end was near. How helpless they were unless the Al- mighty should interpose !
Mosquito curtains were hung around the room to hide the little band from brutal eyes that might peep through the reed walls, and they gave themselves up to prayer, determined that their enemies should find them on their knees. In continuous audible prayer hour after hour was passed, until wild cries from outside were heard, and " each voice was hushed and each head bowed lower. " But their prayers had been heard. These cries were a call to the savage women to join a dance. God's children again were spared by the interposition of Him who holds the hearts of all men in His hand.
In laboring among the Bechuanas of South Africa, Hobert Moffat at one time had nearly been the victim of their gross superstition. A terri- ble drought had continued so long that many cattle died, and human beings were forced to live on roots and reptiles. A renowned rain-maker was sent for, but his remedies had no effect. Then all, sorcerer and peo- ple alike, charged their troubles upon Moffat and his associate, Hamilton.
They said of these servants of God: "They bowed down their heads and talked to something bad in the ground. The clouds were afraid of their chapel bell, and when they did show themselves the missionaries looked at them and frightened them back."
At last a native council was held, and a chief and twelve of his men were sent to them. He met Moffat with his spear in his right hand, and declared that the missionaries should be tolerated no longer. "They might leave if they would, but if not, they should be put to death." .
Moffat, looking into the eyes of the savage, calmly said, " We are re- solved to abide by our post. . .. You may shed our blood or burn us out. . . . Then shall they who sent us know that we are persecuted in- deed." Mrs. Moffat stood by with her babe in her arms. Moffat threw open his waistcoat, and said, " Now, then, if you will, drive your spears to my heart." The Lord again heard prayer. The chief was confound- ed. He shook his head significantly, and said to his followers, "These men must have ten lives when they are so fearless of death. There must be something in immortality."
How many similar proofs of a Divine interposition might be gathered from the experiences of missionaries! Many and amazing as are the .re- corded answers to prayer, the unwritten history is far more wonderful.
IN'I'EItNA'I'IONAL DEPAR'I'MEN'I'
1I.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Status of our Anti-Ohinese Legis- commission to arrange II new treaty. . lation. This the United States did not agree to. The only existing treaty, it would seem, [J. T. G.] then, was that of 1880, shutting out the Chinese till 1890, as no other treaty had We have lived long enough to hear been made. No other was ever made, openly challenged the declaration that hence it would appear that in 1890 we "all men are born free and equal." relapsed to the conditions of the Bur- The Burlingame Treaty with China lingame Treaty. recognizes the "inherent and inalienable rights of man to change his home But further, the treaty of 1880 proand allegiance, and also the mutual ad. vided that the Chinese then resident in vantage of free migration and emigra- the United States should" be allowed tion/of their (the United States and to go and come of their own free will China) citizens and subj ects respecti ve- and accord." In the face of this then ly from one country to the other for the existing treaty Congress passed the purpose of curiosity, of trade, or as per- well-known Scott Bill, excluding all manent residents." Charles Sumner, Chinese who were at that hour tem- William H. Seward, Edward Everett, porarily out of this country, thus wrong- Caleb Cushing, and other great states- fully and cruelly without any warning men of the times accepted, that as the cutting off from their business, propfundamental principle of reciprocity be- erty, or other rights, 20,000 Chinesecititween these two countries. That, too, zens under the treaty. we have seen relegated to the limbo of impracticable politics. In 1892 the infamous Geary Bill was passed, imposing humiliating condi- In 1880 a new treaty was made to the tions on such Chinese as ha.d right of effect that while Americans might come residence after all previous crooked and go ad libitum, no Chinese could legislation. They must after May 5th, eome here for ten years thereafter. 1892, be tagged, ticketed, branded. This treaty was honorably enough se- Fifty thousand, or three times that cured, albeit, as we formulated the number, as the case may be, must com- "eternal fitness" of the first treaty, it ply with what must often prove imposmust have amused the older statesmen sible conditions or be imprisoned and of China to observe that the" inalien- deported. able rights" rule would work both ways only for thirteen years. In 1882 an- It appears that, so far as the internal other restriction bill was passed, shut- regulations of our country go, a law is ting the gates of the country against all of equal authority with a treaty, and Chinese laborers who were unable to whichever bears the later date must be prove a residence in this land dating recognized as controlling; the later prior to the passage of that act. In abrogates the earlier the same as if they 1888 Secretary Bayard and the Chinese were of the same kind. But the law is Minister then at Washington agreed on not unconditional. The Supreme Court another treaty by which the immigra- has decided that the law, in order to tion of Chinese to this country was to abrogate a treaty, must not be arbitrary be prohibited for twenty years there- and unjust. " Arbitrary power, enforcafter. That agreement between the two ing its edicts to the injury of the perministers, the Chinese authorities re- sons and property of its subjects, is not fused to ratify, but instead asked for a law, whether manifested as the decree of a personal monarch or an imperial multitude," is the language of our high. ing with the Chinese, nor even the mis..
est tribunal. The law that substitutes sionary interests involved that concerns a treaty must be within limits set for the usjustatthis moment. It is rather that law-making power; it must not contra- the eternal principles of equity mayob- vene the supreme law of the land; it tain, and specially at an hour when we must be " constitutional." have the nations as our guests. For This is just the quality of our Chinese this let all good men pray.
legislation which is now called in ques- tion. It is said that the" six Chinese companies" have subscribed a large sum The Ohinese Question and International of money to test this-that is, to let this country say for itself what its law is Law.* which they are expected to obey. They say, "Our attention has not been called RY REV. GILBERT REID, CHINAN-FU, CRINA. to. any law which makes it a crime for us to advise our fellow-subjects that The three treatises on international they have a right to disregard a law law by Wheaton, Woolsey, and Sliintwhich is in violation of the constitu- schle have all been translated into Chitions and treaties. " And yet, stl'angely nese for the Chinese Government by a enough, there are people who talk of learned American (Dr. W. A. P. Martin), this action as rebellious because the who is the President of the Imperial Uni- Chinese do not first comply with the- versity in Peking and Professor of Interlaw, the authority of which they wish national Law. The Burlingame Treaty to test. That must look to a Chinese is also especially conspicuous for its laundryman like" flat irony." clear enunciation of the foundation principles of true international rela- But the situation is too grave for tionship. Our modern legislation, at satire. The time for registration of least on the Chinese question, falls far Chinese laborers under the act is May short of what we have taught in other 5th~ Very few have complied with it days. Let us specify a few points. at the time of this writing. The reqoirement that each should be photo- 1. Woolsey, in his "International graphed has been waived by Secretary Law," says, ,. No nation through its Carlisle as necessary before registry. public documents or. by its official per- By request of the State Department, Bons can with right reflect on the instithe Department of Justice will, on May tutions or social characteristics of an- 5th, cause a Chinaman to be arrested other, or make invidious comparison to under the provision of the law and taken its disadvantage, orset forth in any way before the Federal Court. The case will an opinion of its inferiority." This be advanced to the Supreme Court with- principle, it seems to me, has been glarout delay, and a decision is expected ingly violated by this Bill of Chinese before the summer recess. No less a Exclusion and Registration, making cerlawyer than Joseph H. Choate, of New tain uncomplimentary regulations for York, will argue the case for the Chi- certain foreigners, (1) because they are nese Government. The principllilegal Chinese, and (2) because they are labor. ers. That venerable and distinguished statesman of Massachusetts, Senator contention, it is said, will be over the aHernati ve of registry or deportation. • For a fuller presentation of this subject, in The denial of habeas corpus to Chinese its legal, commerCial, national, and missionary bearings, we refer to a pamphlet about to be isattempting to land in this country, and sued by Rev. Gilbert Reid (Warsaw, N. Y.). Mr. the penalty of imprisonment at hard R has been ten years resident in China. He is labor for unlawfully remaining here, the anthor of 8 small volume, "Peeps into will also be challenged. China," which contains fresh and desirable in- formation and sprightly diBcussion concerning It is not 80 much the injury to oor things in that country. Fleming H. Revell Comcommercial interests and national stand- pany, New York, will furni8h It.-J. T. G. Hoar, has said: " These measures not sence of international law and the mak.
only violate our treaty engagement with ing of treaties. Hence it is that China a friendly nation, but they violate the was induced during the Burlingame era principles upon which the American reo of friendliness to begin the policy of public rests, striking not at crime, not sending ministers and consuls to for· even at pauperism, but striking at hu· eign governments, as well as receive man beings because of their race nnd at those from other countries. Hence it laboring men because they 'are labor. was that earlier in its history, but by ers." The Act as passed again and advice of foreigners, China formed a I again refers to " any Chinese person or new office to deal with and consult about persons of Chinese descent," making no foreign affairs. The right of conference distinction between those Chinese who on matters pertaining to more than one are Chinese subjects and those who by country is too axiomatic to meet any de· birth are the subjects of some other fence. And yet in 1888, when the For.
country, as of Great Britain on the eign Office at Peking asked for further island of Hong Kong, or even those discussion of the treaty made that year who by birth are now the citizens of the between the two countries, but not yet United States. That. man is a marked ratified, President Cleveland deemed it man who hilS Chinese blood in his best to refuse that request, but signed veins, no matter to what government he the Act of Congress which placed greater may now be subject. As an English restrictions on the Chinese than even journalist in China bas said: "It is ob. the new treaty under discussion had de..
vious that no European country would fined. It was independent action rather learn with equanimity of the passage of than the conference of two contracting a law singling out its nationals for penal parties. As to the Act of 1892, Wool· legislation. " sey's words may apply: "No State can 2. Sir Robert Fillimore has deduced exclude the properly documented sub- from the principle of equality the right jects of another friendly State, or send of a government to protect its subjects them away after they have been once ad· resident in o~her countries, and it may mitted without definite reasons, which be laid down that a State has cause of must be submitted to the foreign govern- complaint if its subjects in foreign ment concerned."
countries are denied ordinary justice. 5. It is a principle of international The large portion of the Chinese in the law that treaties are a part of the su- United States are still the subjects of preme law of the land, subject only to China, and China, therefore, has a right the provisions of the constitution, and to complain at the partiality of treat. that they are binding on the contracting ment meted out to her people. parties from the day of their date.
3. International comity is another Woolsey. in his "International Law,"
duty of nations. "It embraces," says says : " National contracts are even more Woolsey," not only that kindness which solemn and sacred than private ones, emanates from friendly feeling, but also on account of the great interests in· those tokens of respect which are due volved, of the deliberateness with which between nations on the ground of right. .. the obligations are assumed, of the per- This principle of comity has been in. manence and generality of the obliga- fringed by the insult not only to the tions, and of each nation's calling, Chinese laborers, but the greater inter. under God, to be a teacher of right to national question of insult to the Chi. aU within and without its borders."
nese Government, passing a law against The opinion of a former attorney.gen.
certain subjects of China without regard eral is cited by the State Department as to the national feelings of China. follows: "Not to observe a treaty is to 4. International intercourse by means violate a deliberate and express engage· of international conference is the es· ment, and afford good cause of war. When Congress takes upon itself to dis- things should be notAd if a subsequent regard the provisions of any foreign act of Congress is to prevail over a prior treaty, it of course infringes the same in treaty, and what I here say is also based the exercise of sovereign right, and vol- on the Supreme Court: First, according untarily accepts the causus belli_" Such to another decision of the Supreme is the state, then, in which we find our- Court, if Congress may nullify a treaty selves placed as a nation by Congress, with a foreign power, the nullification in the exercise of its sovereign right, must be express, and not by implication. passing the two bills of 1888 and 1892_ But thus far neither Congress nor the Our treaties with China are broken, and executive has either expressly or impliedthereby one principle at least of inter- 1y abrogated the treaty with China. national law is trampled UpOll_ And hence the treaty is still in force, and not the suhsequent act of Congress. In my younger days of studying in. Secondly, an act of Congress cannot ternational law I learned all this, but pass as law and abrogate a prior treaty, only of late and as a result of studying if it is arbitrary and unjust, as the Suthis Chinese question have I learned of preme Court has also adjudged. 'Thirda modifying principle. Though it makes ly, as according to the Constitution, law rather too complex for an unpro- Article YI., Clause 2, all treaties, as fessional mind, it is still our duty to well as the constitution and laws of the state it as it is. The Supreme Court, United States, are the supreme law of in rendering its decision in 1889 on the the land, so any law which may be Scott Bill of 1888, said: "Although it proved unconstitutional cannot prevail must be conceded that the Act is in over a prior treaty. As the clause encontravention of express stipulationE of joins, the laws must he " in pursuance" the Treaty of 1868 and of the Supple- of the constitution to ,. be the supreme mentary Treaty of 1880, it is not on that law of the land." And this is what the account invalid or to be restricted in its Chinese, under advice of competent atenforcement. By the Constitution, la"s torneys, are wishing to test-viz., made in pursuance thereof and treaties whether the Act of 1892 is constitumade under the authority of the United tional and binding or not. For this States are both declared to be the su- reason the mass of the Chinese in the preme law of the land, and no para. United States are ignoring the regulamount authority is given to one over tions of that act. the other. In either case the last ex· pression of the sovereign will must con- Bnt whatever the outcome, this much trot" So Attorney-General Crittenden, is clear, that it is a lamentable caricain an opinion on certain legislation con- ture on our American civilization that flicting with the Treaty of 1819 with our national government shall even de- Spain, held that" An Act of Congress sire, to pass a law which may break the is as much a supreme law of the land as treaties and the principles of internaa treaty. They are placed on the same tional intercourse. Would it not be betfooting, and no superiority is to be ter, would it not be a sounder and more given to the one over the other. The honorable policy to seek the path of last expression of the law-giving power harmony, either by changing the law or must prevail; and a subsequent act revising the treaty, so that the law shall must prevail and have effect, though be in harmony with the treaty in accord inconsistent with a prior act ; so must with international law, and in pursuan act of Congress have effect, though ance of the constitution? inconsistent with a prior treaty.." What is the bearing of all this on It is not for one like me to argue the missionary work in China? The nummeaning of the law. I merely take it her of American citizens in China are for granted as the right and supreme de- second on the list, those from Great cision. But it seems to me that three Britain being the first- The numher, however, is a small one, being a little ing and estrangement, lind the suspicion over one thousand, both men and worn· of our bad intentions rather than a be· en. Of this number nearly one half are lief that we Americans are all 80 good.
mISSIonaries. Small though the num· Furthermore, there may well be a ber may be, it should not be forgotten ground of shame, to think that it reo that they are all representative men and quired a band of plain Chinese laborers women, delegated to their work by com· and laundrymen to bring our law·mak· petent religious bodies at home. The ers to terms, and that the Chine,se in work they are doing is also a represent. New York should have to raise $30,000 ative work, representing not only the to engage competent attorneys, and five hundred or more who are in China, prove· before the national Supreme but representing the Christian senti· Court that the bill passed by both ment of the people in America. This Houses of Congress and signed by the work thus organized likewise occupied, President is null and void.
as we have mentioned above, places of Suppose, however, that the law will influence, and in some cases strategic be carried into effect next May by or- points of China. Of the twenty.two ders of the Executive, and we shall be capitsls in China, and everyone a very called upon to witness a scene similar centre of influence, half of them are to the expUlsion of the Jews from Rus.
showing to.day the beneficent work of sia or their ancestors from Egypt, or our American missionaries. Already suppose, in a. milder way, the law will obstacles, persecution and riots, all only gradually be applied for the next much as anyone should desire, beset six months, all through the world·wide the work of the American missionaries, Exposition at Chicago, on till the Suo as well as those from other lands, and preme Court shall meet in October- need no additional impetus from the reo what then? We will find ourselves in action in China of our legislation at this position: the United States Con· home. gress can pas!! a bill abrogating a treaty; Whether th'l bill of Chinese Exclusion the Chinese Government will then de· will impair the lives and work of our cide that her treaties with the United missionaries in China, I regard only as States are invalid, and that she, too, a minor matter. The main question is has a right to make la.ws and issue or· one of justice and right. Still the ques. ders contrary to the treaties.
tion of security or peril is interesting Already something of this kind has to those here, as well as slightly so to occurred. According tl! the American our fellow.countrymen in China, I will Treaty of 1880, the same tonnage dues not attempt to prophesy wars, blood. or duties shall be granted to goods car· shed, or martyrdom, but content my. ried by American vessels as by the Chi.
self with plain facts. nese. Well, last autumn the Chinese Let us first suppose that the Chinese began to ship grain to Peking on the laborers, the Six Companies and their China merchants' steamers free of duty.
American attorneys, succeed in carrying under special permits from the Chinese a case to the Supreme Court in the authorities, while duty was still charged United States, and obtain the decision to the grain carried on English steam.
that the bill of May, 1892, is unconsti. ers. By the" favored nation" clause, tutional. This, it seems to me, will be the same favors accrue to England a.s to the probable result, if there can only be America or any other country. Lord the chance to have the case tried. Un. Rosebery, therefore, made a complaint der such circumstances the effect in to Peking on basis of our treaty of 1880.
China. will be nothing da.ngerous or The Chinese Government replied that startling, but none the less there will ex· for the present that treaty was broken ist in ma.nya Chinaman's breast ill·feel· and the right had lapsed. The Oritioisms on the Deoennial Oonfer- A small minority asked the privilege to withdraw the resolution for harmony, ence. lIS it WIIS not unanimously adopted. By We saw it alleged in an India paper a very narrow majority the Conference- some years since, that the India army many members not voting-finally al- was so decimated by disellSe superin- lowed the committee to withdraw it.
duced by vice that it was a serious ques- This action has subjected the Confer- tion whether it could be mobilized to ence to a great deal of grave criticism meet a great emergency. The remedy for lack of moral courage, and even as was sought in a legalized patronage and sympathizing with legalization of vice.
supervision of this vice in military can- By others it is blamed for vacillation, tonments. A great protest of the Chris- and by still others for merely stupidly tian sentiment in India and Great Brit- blundering in procedure. It has been ain resulted in an Act of Parliament asserted that it shows a decadence in dissolving this official connection with ancient missionary enthusiasm under sin. The India authorities have very the domination of "Brahmanized edu.
tardily, if to any important extent, car- cationalists who have ceased to be mis- ried out this decree of the nation. The sionaries." One British editor, who missionaries have in sections where the writes with warmth or does not write at military were quartered protested that aH, says the apology given for the with- great hindrance came to their work by drawal of the resolutions in the light of the presence of this legalization of vice. the Word of God" shrivels into some- All have felt the disgrace of a great thing worse than insignificance."
Christian government sustaining such The criticisms have been so sharp relation to impurity. and so widespread that the missionaries The Government of India carries on have lost no time in making clear their officially the culture of opium for ex- position in relation to the State regula- port, largely to China; and it is claimed tion of impurity. The first meeting of that the revenue from this opium cul- the Calcutta Missionary Conference, the ture is absolutely necessary to balance largest body of missionaries in the world the financial budget of the empire. The meeting regularly at short intervals, India Government has also a license passed a resolution setting forth that system of intoxicants which has many they bad always unanimously con- peculiarly obnoxious features. It fos- demned all State regulation of vice as ters instead of restrains ; forces instead carried on under the now abolished of represses their sale. Contagious Disease Acts, and protest- Itwas anticipated by many. that when ed against any continuance of the sys- the Decennial Conference convened it tem under the Cantonment Act, and re- would express its condemnation of these affirmed their view that the resolution offensive public acts of the Govern- of the British Parliament abolishing it, ment. But the Conference appears to in India ought to be carried out. The have decided not to pass any resolutions two conferences of the American Meth- on any subject Whatever, as it had no odists meeting in Bombay the week pre- power lIS a deliberative body. This vious had declared most positively caused great dissatisfaction, and an- against all three of these vices, and that other adjustment was had that all reso- is quoted as showing the missionary lutions be sent to the business commit- sentiment.
tee, who should present such as com- A great meeting outside the Decen.
mended themselves to their judgment. nial Conference to protest against A very strong resolution was presented opium culture, and traffic is pleaded to against State regulation of vice, which show the real sentiment of the mission- was passed amid loud applause-many aries personally on that subject. It is witnesses say by a vote of " silC to one." shown, too, that a great portion of the agitation against the three forms of vice largest, and in many respects, the fore.
in question has been fostered and led most missionary force of Protestant his.
by missionaries. It is said as an excuse tory.
for non·action by the Conference that It will be more profitable that we de.
the licensed impurity is confined to the vote our attention to their great thoughts military stations, and many missionaries, and ac'tion on the overwhelming oppor· as a consequence, know nothing of it as tunities and responsibilities of the hour an obstruction to their local work; the in India, where there is a condition of practice of opium.smoking is confined things which will not last. It is only within certain areas, too, and its evil is now that the chance of directing Whole not known to many missionary fields. masses and great movements is ours.
These and numerous other statements The lower classes in India will slough and apologies are found filtering through off from Hinduism whether we reach the Anglo.Indian and British press to them or not. They will go to Islam or offset the criticisms. It has even been something else, if not to Christianity.
also said that there was no consistency The upper and educated claflses cannot in the Conference condemning the Gov. remain Brahmans. What will they be ?
ernment while missions continued to reo That is of vital consequence. There is ceive money from the same in support of no reason to believe that the missionary their schools and colleges; the missions force on the field is incapable nor dere.
might better first quit themselves of the lict to duty. They are the best men we charge of being partic,eps criminis. can find. They must be criticised, if We have thus tried to state briefly needs be, but they must l;e trusted. '
lIome of the main features of this case, They deserve our confidence, and will because it is likely to be a subject of honor it. J. T. G.
controversy for SODle while to come, whether and to what extent the Confer- ence shirked its responsibility or mere· The Afro-Mala.gasy Sla.ve TrafBo.
ly blundered for lack of competent lead· BY J. BlIITISH BESIDENT IN MJ.DJ.G.llIC~.
ership under the pressure of its closing hours. There can surely be no neces· Lord Rosebery, at the request of the sity to defend missionaries from suspi. French Government, has issued instruc.
cions of lagging behind the moral sen· tions to the officers of the British navy timent of the age in the matter of social and the British consular agents in this impurity; we will not brook so much as country to in no way concern themselves the suggestion. But the missionaries with exercising a police control over the of India will realize afresh that they dhows of the various nationalities in the have to reckon with a public opinion waters of Madagascar ; in fact, notwith.
among their constituency at home. standing the right of search and seizure That the Conference ought either to of all vessels suspected of slaving in the have stuck to its original decision to waters of this eountry being specifically adopt no resolutions at all-which we stipulated for by Articles 16 and 17 of do not concede to be wise-or having the Anglo-Malagasy Treaty of 1865, his grappled with any form of evil should lordship, according to telegram to hand have gone straight to its mark, will, we here, .. has directed English ships and have no doubt, be the opinion of the the consuls not to search vessels of any Christian world. As it is difficult to flag in Madagascar waters. "
judge of motives and some personal This, in many ways, political as well prejudices at this distance, the proba· as philanthropio, is a very grievoUll bilities are that no more serious damage abandonment of those rights and privi.
will result than grief that an altogether leges the British Government were at regrettable affair marred the harmony pains, in the Anglo.French Convention of so important and noble a body, the of 1890 regarding Zanzibar and Mada· guoar, to reserve to England in their flying flags of different nations, and no entirety; and to avert the censure vessel would be allowed to fly the flag which, I haTe reason to know, is in cer- of any of the great powers without reg- tain qnarterll contemplated being pub- istration and a proper license. They lioly pronounced, at no distant date, on might thank the Government of France England's abandonment of her interest for having conceded what, for some in the suppression of the Afro.Malagasy time, appeared to a certain extent against slave·traffic, the attention of the Gov- their will-the right of search to all other ernment should be called to the spirit nations."
in which the Zanzibar.Madagascar Con- This being the spirit in which Eng- vention was ooncluded. land and France came to an agreement When placing the Anglo.French Con- upon Zanzibar and Madagascar, and this vention before the House of Lords, Lord being the spirit in which both Houses Salisbury stated: "We have taken the of the British Parliament regarded that opportunity on both sides not only to agreement, Lord Rosebery should recon- reserve all rights and privileges which sider his instructions for Her British all subjects of either country (England Majesty's representatives not to take and France) might have in either coun- part in the reduction of the slave traffic try (Zanzibar and Madagascar), but also in Madagascar waters. Under the lax to give the most explicit guarantee to surveillance of France the slave trade missionaries and missions, "nd of free· will assuredly increase with great rapid- dom of religious practice and religious ity, and then attention will be influen- teaching." And Sir J. Fergusson, then tially drawn to the matter, and when it Under-Secretary of State for Foreign is generally known that the increase is Affairs, said during the discussion Mr. due to England having for no purpose S. Smith raised on the convention in abandoned her treaty rights, Lord Rose.
the House of Commons, he thought that bery will be censured for not pursuing all might rejoice with them in what he that "continuity of Great Britain's considered to be the greatest step taken moral policy" which he has recently laid in the last half century toward the ex- such emphasis upon.
tinetion of that accu1"sed traffic (the slave·traffic). Following up the Act of Brussels, a blow had been struck at the The Opium Habit. slave trade in its developments and in its sources. BY BEV. "WILLIAM M. UPCRAFT, SUI-n, CHINA. The statement of Lord Salisbury makes olear that it was not his lord- The opium trade has been called Eng- ship's intention to abandon any British land's sin and China's curse. Both sin right or privilege. And the utterance and eurse it may prove itself to be to of Sir J. Fergusson makes evident that both nations yet, ere their hands are the facility which Anglo.French co- free from it.
operation would give for the extinction The present extent of the curse in of the slave traffic was one of the main China is alarming. but still increasing.
reasons Lord Salisbury had in signing The western province:! produce enough the convention regarding Zanzibar and for home consumption, enormous as Madagascar. Indeed, so strongly did that is, and yet leave a margin for ex· the anti-slavery reasons influence the port to other provinces.
House of Commons that, among other The vice has fastened itself upon all speakers expressing similar approval, classes and all ages. Recently the Mr. S. Buxton said, in the course of the writer was gnest with a responsible same discussion : "It was satisfactory mandarin, and through him was brought to find that careful supervision was into friendly acquaintance with several going to be uudertaken with regard to other officials and students, all of whom smoked the drug. and most of them The Rev. D. C. Gilmore, writing from quite heavily. the Baptist College a.t Rangoon, Burma, The earliest memories of many chilo says: dren, both at home among friends and "The Rnmw for September, 1892, at school, are of opium in its moat sedllc. under the caption' Prayer 1I6rBIU Pray- tive forms. er,' called our attention to the appoint- One of the moat alarming features ment by the Hindus of October 30th as now is the loss of conscience on the sub. a day of special prayer' to the Supreme ject. It is no longer a shame to smoke; Power, that the Hindu religion may be indeed, it is considered a ah·ame not to saved from its present degenerate posi.
smoke when all others are doing so, tion.'
much the same as it used to be consid· " In this connection the REVIEW sug· ered a want of tone in anyone who gested that' It would be a very fitting could not drink his share with the rest thing for the Christian churches of all when drinking was more common in the world . . . to set apart October Westem lands than is now happily the 30th as a day of special prayer for these case. Not to smoke is to be strange. religionists, that God would, in a way In the city of Sui·fu there are said to be they little intend or suspect, hear their over two thousand opium dens, and in cry and answer them.'
the smaller city of Luchow, thirteen "The Burma Bo.ptist Convention as· hundred such places are reported. sembled at Rangoon in October, 1892, To the question, "Do you smoke endorsed this suggestion, and the day opium?" one often gets the reply, .. Who was-to what extent I cannot say-ob- doesn't smok(l1" 0. counter.question tho.t served by the Christians of Burma. It is both reply and comment. was very fervently observed by the Why do they smoke? may be asked Christian students of the Rangoon Bap- o.nd may be answered in 0. sentence-the tist College. It was a beautiful sight to moral deterioration of the people com- see Karen, Burman, and Shan disciples bined with the seductive cho.racter of the (some of whom were themselves converts habit. It begins in play, it ends in grim from heathenism) uniting in prayer on earnest. There is a growing fascina- behalf of the heathen on the other side tion in the way it is taken-this subtle of the !lay of Bengal.
drug. The smoker lies down to it- " But what I particularly want to say bliss in itself to an Oriental. Such a is that one of our heathen young men, position o.ffords an opportunity for the the subject of much prayer, who is now gossip the Oriental lo,es. The opium applying for baptism, says that he was becomes 0. pet to him, he fondles it with led to seek the Lord by the exercises of his fingers, heats it over the tiny lamp, that day of prayer for the Hindus. Our its fumes enwrap him, and finally send prayer for the Hindus of India has been him off to slumber and dreams. answered by the conversion of a Bud.
And who shall measure thll damage dhist in Burma. The hoy ascribes his wrought by this facile agent for suicide change mainly to the long.continued in.
-they can commit suicide and yet die fiuence of Christian schools, but says decently and po.inlessly ! that that day of prayer was the tuming To the lack of adequate medical at· point,"
tendance and accurate medical skill may be traced the large use of opium. Opium THE GAlIOS IN ASILUI.-The Bev.
also is a panacea to a people whose E. G. Phillips writes a note, saying: medical faculty is in the barbarous con· " The state of spiritual life in the na- dition of that of Europe in the dark tive Church in our field is very encour.
ages. The destruction by opium is an aging. The first two of the Garo tribe added plea for the quick evangelization were converted thirty years ago. They of Chiua. begall work among their people, !!oud four years later 40 converts were bap- schools, 240 scholars. The heathen at· tized and a missionary located among tendanta on public worship number them. Since then the growth has been 5790.
steady, until now there. are about 2500 "The Rev. J. W. Mackenzie and wife, communicants, and there have been of the New Hebrides Mission, &fter a probably 4000 baptisms on profession sojourn of several months in New South of personal faith. The work is moving Wales, left in improved health on Feb- on with increasing momentum, and ruary 15th for their work in the illiands.
promises in the near future to bring in They have been for 20 years among the the whole tribe. More than 700 were natives of Ef&te, and have a Christian baptized during the past year. The people around them. Mr. Mackenzie great part of the churches are self.sup- has carried a new school primer and portiJlg in the matter of finances, church hymn.book through the press in Syd.
discipline. and to an encouraging de. ney. There are 80 hymns in the collec- gree in aggressive church work. The tion. He has also reprinted a first cate.
standard of church life is maintained at chism, after the one prepared by the a higher point than in many parts of Rev. John Geddie. There is a cate· Christian lands. chism on geography also in the volume.
.. The Garos are demon.wcrshippers- "The Rev. Joseph Annand, M.A., and one of the many animistic races in wife have been in Tasmania for their Northeast India. Their universal and health before returning to the New constant practice of animal sacrifice Hebrides."
makes them, I believe, specially sus.
ceptible to the teaching of the Atone- Our editorial correspondent, Rev. Al. ment." bert L. Long, D.D., of Robert College, has received from Prince Ferdinand of NEW GUINEA..-Rev. Dr. Steel writes Bulgaria the cross of Commander in the from Sydney: Bulgarian National Order of Civil Merit. An exchange says: " The Rev. James Chalmers has got a steam launch for the Fly River Mission. " It is a much·coveted mark of distinc. It haa cost £1220, raised in Australia. tion. This is the second Bulgarian The Rev. W. G. Lawes, of the London decoration he has received. In both Missionary Society, is soon to return to cases they were conferred without no· New Guinea with the printed New Tes· tice. The first waa from Prince Alexan. tament .in the Motu language. There der, the cross of a commander in the are now 5 European stations of this so· Order of Saint Alexander, an order in. ciety under 6 missionaries. There are stituted by him as a mark of apprecia- tion of special services rendered the national cause. The second is the new order instituted by Prince Ferdinand."
80 other stations. The native teachers from Christian Islands of Polynesia are The Free Churoh of Scotland Monthly 50, and no less than 30 native Christians says: "Dr. Pierson haa been delivering of New Guinea are now teachers. There to large audiences in Edinburgh and are 500 church.members-baptized on Glasgow the Duff Missionary Lectures. profession of faith in Christ. There are The subjects chosen were those with 3000 in attendance at the various which the lecturer had already a special schools. Besides the New Testament acquaintance, and his handling of them printed in the Motu language, gospels was eloquent in a high degree. They or portions of Scripture have been print. will read well, and his book when it is published will certainly prove to be the most popular of the series. ", ed in five other dialects.
"The Wesleyan Mission in New Unoccupied mission territory: to the Guinea has 4 ordained missionaries, 1 extent of 4,000,000 square miles still ex· lay missionary 2 lady missionaries, 26 ists in Central Africll-an area larger teachers, and 1 local preacher. There life ~ Cbllrches, 44 cqmmqnicants, 8 than the whole of Europe. So says Rev. George Grenfell, of the Baptist Congo Mislljon,
DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN El!IDKAVOl. 453
III.-DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED BY PBOFES80R AKOS R. wmJ.B.
The "First Young People's Memorial ahout six weeks. The course is to be Churoh," whioh Lutheran young peo- obtained, free, and without collections ple are endeavoring to build at San at the meetings, on condition that all Diego, Cal., has obtained from them churches with Christian Endeavor soci- nearly half of the $5000 desired. Only eties in the town petition for the oourse ; 166 Lutheran young people's sooieties, that local missionary societies co-oper- however, have yet oontributed, and 140 ate ; that the Sunday when the address of these are Chril!tian Endeavor soci- is given be made a misaionary field. day, eties. As there are about four hundred pastors preaching missionary sermons Christian Endeavor sooieties in the in the morning, miBBionary workers General Synod branoh of the Lutheran holding a conference and prsyer semee Churoh, it would seem that the SU0088S in the afternoon, and 8 union m……. of the undertaking is essily assured. meeting being held to listen to the ad- The Presbyterian Board of Foreign dress in the evening; that full preBB Missions sends out a ~onthly state- notices be given before and after; and ment. For Maroh this statement that travelling expenses and entertain- showed oontributions from Presbyterian ment be furnished the speakers. This Christian Endeavor societies to the seems to be one of the most praotical amount of $3582.67. For Maroh, 1892, and valuable of the many devioes fOr the Bum received from the BaID.e souroe the popularization of missionary.intelwas $1639.22. This is a gain of $2043.- ligenoe that the Christian Endeavor 45, or 132 per oent! From May 1st, movement has brought into use. 1891, to Maroh 31st, 1892, Christian Dr. Clark fell in with forty Christian Endeavor oontributions to this board Endeavor ~ooieties in India, only about were$6628.25; during the same months ten of which had ever been-reported to of 1892-93 they were $12,710.06 ; a gain the Boston seoretary. This is certainly of $6081.81, or 91 per oent. The board indicative of a general condition of made gains in receipts from Sunday- affairs, and there are undoubtedly schools, legacies, ohurches, and wom- many more Endeavor societies in the en's boards, bnt no gain was anything world than ever appear in the annual like the gain shown by these figures. report of Secretary Baer.
The nlinois State Christian Endeavor The Methodist Christian Endeavor Union, through the efforts of that ar· Society at Allahabad, India, is quite dent missionary worker, Mr. S. L. Mer- suooessful in enlisting in its ranks the shon, of Evanston, has set on foot a British redcoats. Of course this soldier plan which will be adopted, we hope, element is a fluctuating quantity, 8JI the by every Christian Endeavor union in troops are moved he.re and there, but it the world. It is a" missionary exten. is a noble work that this society is thus sion course," and has been prepared in doing. Every aotive member in this connection with the various denomina- sooiety may be depended upon to offer tional boards. Eight or nine promi- public prayer. nent and entertaining speakers have The Christian Endeavor society in been secured. Mr. Torrey is among Bombay, India, is so large that it is dithem. Their subjects will all be mis- vided into four divisions, each of which sionary. Twenty·five places will be is really a separate sooiety. carefully chosen as strategetioal points The Christian Endeavor society of throughout the State, and these leo- the Blockley Baptist Church of Phil,,- tures will be given there at intervals of delphia has established what is called a "propagation committee," which is The president of the New South Wales planning to hold evangelistic services Union writes as follows about the prog.
Sunday afternoons during the sum- ress of the Christian Endeavor move- mer. ment in Australia: "There has been The pastOr of the Christian Church steady progress-more especially among of Lawrence, Ran., was absent for a the Wesleyan denomination-from a month leading a missionary revival in dozen to twenty new .societies being re- another town. During this month his ported each month. The spirit of en- pulpit was occupied Sunday evenings thusiasm is ever on the increase, and by young men from his Endeavor so- devotion to ollr movement becomes ac· ciety, and their ministrations met with centuated every day."
much suooess. Here is an idea.that many a Christian The extensive arrangements for the Endeavor society might carry out for International Christian Endeavor Con- the benefit of some missionary worker vention, to be held in Montreal, July and the cause in general. Rev. E. P.
5th-8th, are well under way. Among Holten, of the Madura Mission in the speakers already secured are Dr. southern India, has a camera, which Cuyler, Dr. Chapman, the Canadian was given him by an Endeavor society Minister of Finance, Dr. Henson, Dr. in Hanover, Mass. This camera he Hoyt, Dr. Burrell, Bishop Arnett, Hon. uses in making pictures of natives and W. C. P. Breckinridge, and many an· of Indian scenery, which he sends back other famous Christian preacher and to the home churches to arouse interest scholar. Two great meetings will be in missions.
held simultaneously, in a hall that will . The Endeavor society in the girls'
seat nine thousand and a great tent boarding school of Madura petitioned that will seat eight thousand. their teacher to allow them to go with.
An excellent Christian Endeavor so- out cocoanut meat in their curry, in or· ciety exists in the Methodist Church in der that they might have something to the historic city of Lucknow. India. give to missions. When it is remem- Two strong Christian Endeavor soci- bered that the girls live on rice and eties are also found in the great Dhur- curry, and that cocoanut is the most amtallah Street Methodist Church of delicious and highly prized ingredient Caloutta. of their curry, the extent of their self- Christian Endeavorers everywhere denial can be understood.
have met a severe loss in the death of a The weekly reports of the workers noble and beautiful man, Rev. A. C. and committes of the Endeavor society Hathaway. Mr. Hathaway was the of Madanapalle, India, are very inter.
ohief promoter of the Christian En- esting. At a recent meeting that Dr.
deavor movement among the Friends, Clark attended, John Yesuratnam re- and was the president of the Friends' ported that, with four others, he had Christian Endeavor Union. preached the Gospel, within two weeks, A Christian Endeavor society has to six huudred people in seventy differ· been formed in the American Church ent villages. Lazarus Marian had start- of Paris, France, whose pastor is Rev. ed a Sunday-school with one hundred Edward G. Thurber, D.D. and twenty members. J. P. Timothy Here is one good result of the Chris- and others had preached the Gospel on tian Endeavor self·denial week of this the railway trains, going from one com- year. The president of a certain Dli- partment to another, as the trains nois society was a confirmed user of stopped at different stations. The cars tobacco. For that week, as hili self- on the Indian railways are built on the denial, he neither smoked nor chewed English compartment plan, and the the weed, and as a result has deter. Hindoos ride. for the most part, in the mined never again to touch it. third·class cars, which are usually crowded. Twenty.five workers from 'Glad are we to Bee you, the society, on the previous Sunday Glad are we to sea you, evening, with a magic lantern, musical Glad are we to see you, instruments, singing, etc., had proclaimed the Gospel to three hundred Glad are we.' people in Madanapalle. The total for the week showed that eleven hundred In front of them was another whitepeople had been reached by about forty robed procession from the girls' school ; members of the society. and they, too, took up the strain- Rev. W. I. Chamberlain, of the Arcot 'Glad are we to see you, (Dutch Reformed) Mission in India, Glad are we to see you,' etc. told Dr. Clark that on one occasion, being asked to show his magic-lantern Thus all the way to the bungalow pictures, he threw them on the white marched these singing youths and wall of a new Hindoo temple which was maidens. Was ever a welcome more being dedicated. So interested were cordial or more unique? Our full the auditors that the dedication services hearts responded, though we conld not were deserted, the· interior of the tem. sing it so well as they, ' Glad ar& we to pIe was emptied, and the priests them- lIee you, dear Endeavorers of Madana. selves, with a throng of hundreds of palle.' For this was the famous sooiety Hindoos, stood for an hour, with won- of the Arcot Mission, a pioneer of Chrisder and interest, while he explained tian Endeavor in India." the story of the crOBS. Perhaps many missionaries in India and other lands, At the decennial missionary confer. if provided with so attractive a sermon ence held in Bombay, India, last De. adjunct, could be as much helped there- cember, the Christian Endeavor Society by. Here is a hint to our societies at received many Warm commendations home. from the speakers, who had tried it, and found it admirably adapted to the Here is Dr. Clark's account of the needs of the young converts. way the native Christian Endeavorers of Madanapalle; India, received him, In four denominations Christian Enas his party approached the mission deavorers are now engaged in raising about nine o'clock in the evening: money to build "Christian Endeavor "When we were within a quarter of a mission churches" under the direction mile of the gate three white figures sud· of their denominational boards. The denly started up from the roadside, fifth denomination to set its Christian peered eagerly into the carriage, and Endeavorers to doing this work is the then started off at a 2.40 pace for the Congregation·al. They wish to raise, mission compound. A little further, from the Congregational Christian En. three other little ghosts suddenly ap- deavor societies of the country, $7000 peared, gazed into the carriage, and for the Philips Church, in Salt Lake were off like the wind. ' They are City. This was the first church (now looking to see whether we have all existing) founded by the New West come,' says our missionary friend, 'so Education Commission. as to give the signal.' Another two minutes, and we hear the mission bell Here is the Sunday programme of one ring out, and when the bullocks turn Christian Endeavor society in France: in at the gate of the mission compound, Church in the morning ; an afternoon a few minutes later, two score of white- service; Sunday-school; Chrstian robed figures, Telugu boys from the Endeavor meeting; then in the even. school. are arranged on each side, sing- ing half of the society holds a service ing melodiously, in good English and in the McAIl Mission braneh, while the with all their hearts and lungs- other half, under the leadership of a young lady, a converted Catholic, con_ ducts the evening service in the church.
The Christian Endeavor society in Monastir, Macedonia, gave its seU-de- nial week collection tQ a struggling church in Bulgaria.
EDITORUL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The following letter is one out of many whom the Lord has blessed both many which cause the editors no little perplexity. From the outset we have with the means and with the heart to been seeking to furnish the REVIEW at a give who will gladly joi,n in this goOd nominal rate, or entirely free, to all stu- work. A. T. P. dent volunteers for mission fields who were unable to payfor it, and for a time Death of Dr. Mitohell. our friends have helped us by donations given for this special purpose. For The death of Dr. Arthur Mitchell, t!le every dollar sent us we have, at one.half able and honored Secretary of the Presprice, sent the REVIEW to such students. byterian Board of Foreign Missions, The demand, however, has been so great which occurred in Saratoga, N. Y., on and the fund for this purpose so ex- April 24th, is felt as a great personal bausted that we can no longer cope with loss to the editors of the REVIEW. In the claims of these young men. One of Dr. Mitchell the cause of missions 108.,s the editors has paid for a large number a warm friend and able advocate. The of the REVIEWS thus sent to students. news of his death will be the occasion But unless some benevolent friends of great sorrow. shall give help, this important part of the missionary sernce of the REVIEW Ths Finding of Bishop Hannington's cannot be maintained. And it is our Remains. persuasion that the fact needs only to be known that such applications from Important letters were received from students far outrun all the means at our disposal to elicit both sympathy and Bishop Tucker up to December 18th aid. Any contributions, large or small, sent for this purpose to the editors or last. The most interesting part of them publillhers will be acknowledged on the cover of the REVIEW. refers to the discovery of Bishop Han.
The letter referred to reads as fol- nington's remains: lows: Mumiya's, December 9th,1892.-To. .. DEAR DB. PmBsoN : There are 110 day we came on to a still larger and more populous town, Mumiya's. Our student volunteers who are scattered arrival was expected, and so there were great crowds of people with heavy bur· over the English and Scotch universi- dens of food standing ready to greet ns. I went at once to Bee the chief Mumiya ties, and who are willing to take the -a young man of great intelligence. After talking some time with him, it MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD at struck me that he must know something about Bishop Hannington. Accordingfour shillings (one dollar) and postage ly, I introduced the subject. He knew in a moment to whom I referred, and extra. The names were sent to Messrs. spoke of his· having lost a thumb. He told me that he begged the bishop not Funk & Wagnalls, but they reply that to go through Busoga, but that he said it would be all right, and he would the fund for this purpose is entirely ex- reach Uganda safely. I asked if he knew where the bishop'S remains were hausted, and the REVIEW' cannot be fur- buried. He told me in reply that he knew nothing about it; that Mr. Jack. nished at that price without positive son had brought them, but that they had been carried on to the coast. Of loss to tbe publishers. May I ask your course I knew that this was not so, and being convinced .that I was somewhere ~dvice? near the spot, I pressed my question further, but without avail. While.I was [Signed] "L. B." talking to the chief. a young man came np who had been with the bishop on his The editor replied, assuming ihe re- fatal journey through Busoga. This sponsibility for whatever is lacking in man said the chief was with him when the price, that these 110 young men might have the REVIEW. But, as already intimated, he feels confident there are he was killed. I then entered into con- was at s considerable angle. The lid also had been broken. The people had versation with him, and tried to get evidently suspected that something had been buried under the 1l00rof the house, some information out of him. with refer- and my idea is that, believing it to be ence to the place of burial. The re- ivory, they had made an attempt to get mains, Mr. Jackson told me, had been at it. There was no doubt whatever as to identification. We sent for a ooverplaced by himself in an iron box. The ing from the camp, in which the box containing the remains was wrapped. young man told me very much the same Dr. Baxter and I then quietly and rev- erently carried it between us. We took 8S the ohief. Now comes the strange it to my tent, and there left it for a time, closing up the tent so as to stop.my part of the story. I had bidden the idle ouriosity. Mr. Fisher kindly gave me a long tin.lined box, as it was quite chief good-by and had nearly reaohed impossible to remove the remains in the old one. Dr. Baxter assisted me in the oamp when this young man of whom the solemn duty, and then. with a lin. ing of some sweetly scented grass that I have spoken came up to me very quiet- reminded us of the dear home land, we two alone in my tent laid all that WilS ly, and wh·ispered that he knew where left of the dear bishop in the new case.
the remains were-that they were actu. Sunday, December 11th. -We had a very solemn service of oommunion this mornally in Mumiya's village, having been ing, and in prayer for the Church mili- tant specially thanked and praised God buried by Mr. Jackson under a lloor of for His servant, Bishop Hannington, whose earthly remains were with us in a house. He declined, however, to show camp. All in the party were deeply touched, and, I feel sure, have been me the house himself, but said, "There drawn nearer to God by the affecting events of the last day or two. I hope is a man here who was with Mr. Jack- to carry the bishop's remains to Mengo, and with the Churoh's service to bury son, and he will show you the place." them there-the fittest place, it seems to me, for them to await the resurrec- On reaching my tent, I sent for this man tion morning.
at once, and he told me quite freely that Our sympathies are extended to the he knew the spot, and would take me to American Baptist Missionary Union in it. I set off immediately with him, in its losses by the late fire which oon- company of Dr. Baxter, and he took sumed Tremont Temple. We under- us without hesitation to the place. stand that the Missionary Union's .. Here " said he "abisouttheeigshptoe~tn" point- Museum, collected through forty years, ing to'; little bush inches was totally destroyed. That is an irrep. high. I looked around and could see arable loss. Another museum may be traces of the house, which had fallen oolleoted, but there were articles in that, into ruins, and had been taken away. such as Felix Carey's First Burmese It was a solemn moment to us, standing Grammar, a perfect copy. Although as we were by the grave of Hanning- the permanent records were preserved ton, murdered seven years ago. There by the fire-proof vault, yet the loss of is no doubt that in a very little while all the temporarily exposed correspondall trace of the actual spot would have imoe and doouments is more than an been lost, as the people had begun to inconvenience. The offices are at 2 A cultivate the ground about it. As you Beacon Street. Boston.-J. T. G. know, this was not the place of the Pocussing Our Missions, bishop's death, for he fell in Busoga, A suggestiou has been made by Mr. seventy or eighty miles away. The most Hunter, of Liverpool, for awakening appropriate spot for the resting.place of greater interest in the foreign mission the remains seems to be either in Buso- ga, where he died, or in Uganda, which he longed and tried so bravely to reach.
I think the difficulty of laying them in BUioga will be very great. Even if they were buried there, it would be scarcely possible to raise any permanent monu- ment to mark the spot. After consider- ing the whole matter most carefully, I think the proper resting-place will be in Ugimda. At 6.30 this morning, with six men, I commenced the search. The men dug very industriously for an hour and a half, but the deeper they dog the harder the ground seemed to get. We then de- termined to try a few feet further away.
Soon it became quite clear that there had recently been a disturbance of the earth, and we became very hopeful. In half an hour more our efforts were suc- eessful. and the top of the box was dis- covered. But it had evidently been disturbed since it was plaoed there hy Mr. Jackson. Instead. of lying list, it field, and one which, if not original, Mission Board sees fit to do this, in has at least the merit of going into de· order to aid the movement, and, I hope, tails. Recognizing the fact that the gen. give an impulse to others, I propose to erality of people think in the concrete bear the cost of the salary of an addi- tional evangelistic missionary. While rathet: than in the abstract, it is pointed I do not bind myself formally, it is my out that there is very little to take hold intention, if the Board accepts my offer, to continue this contribution yearly of them in the vague expression, "our during my lifetime.
missions in China." It would be other- I also venture to suggest whether the wise, however, if they were personally Board should not either directly, or through the Synod, make an appeal to acquainted in some fashion with one or' our congregations and to our wealthier other of the missionaries out there. As members to become responsible for the we have about fifty missionaries and salaries of missionaries in any of our about three hundred churches here, the fields they choose to select, so that the number of our staff may be greatly inproposal is that each missionary should creased. be allocated to the care of a group of six I am, yours very truly, churches. By a diary and correspond- DUNCAN MoLAREN.
ence from time to time he could keep the home churches posted up in his Rev. Dr. Townsend, of Birmingham, work, and they, on the other hand, would England, in his article on .. Comity and be more likely to take a personal interest Co-operati~n in Missions," in the May in the man and his labors than they do number of the REVIEW, says that" one now. crying want of our mission enterprise ill an organ somewhat resembling the MIS- The suggestion is one which has long SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, issued been in practical operation in Scotland, in New York, or on the plan of the Rewhere Church or Sunday-schools have view of Reviews, which shall be pan-mis. taken some little dusky child for their sionary in its scope, catholic in its protege – even at times to the nam- spirit, wherein news of all missions can ing of it. A scheme of this kind can al- be reported, plans of extension disways rely on finding a good basis in cussed, candid criticism indulged in, human nature; let us imbibe or stand and fresh enthusiasm kindled in the for what principle we may, the personal heart of the Church. It should become element will always command the great- the most popular magazine of the day ; est interest.
An Exa.mple to be Followed. certainly none would be able to com- pete with it for freshness, romance, or We publish a letter from one who has inspiring power." himself visited many of the mission fields of the East, and knows from ex· Just what our brother here recomperience that foreign missions are not mends the editors have sought to ac- "a failure." We earnestly wish that complish in the REvrEW. We design it his noble example might be far more to be pan-missionary in scope, catholic widely followed. in spirit, and a magazine wherein news of all missions may be reported, plans ST. OSWALD'S, EDINBUllGH, February 27, 1893. of extension discussed, and problems considered. Dr. Townsend could not Secretary of U. P. Mission Board: DEAB MB. BUCHANAN: .The cheering have better outlined our plan from the tidings received from Manchuria as to beginning, and all we need is hearty cothe large number of persons who have applied for baptism, showing the mar· _operation to make this magazine supply vellous progress of the Gospel in that the very place which this programme land;must convince all that the number proposes. We shall welcome any con- of converts is limited only by the num- triblltions under any of'the departments ber of missionaries in the field. It seems to me, therefore, the hounden he mentions, and any requests or sugduty of our Church to increase the staff gestions we will give attention to as far of our agents year by year, and if the ali lieil ill. our power. A. T. P. The Afrioa·Malagasy Slave Traffic. motion of alarm. .' The Malagasy Church," he says, .. has passed through L. M. S. COLLEGE, ANTANANARIVO, two seasons of great trial; out of both of these it has come both stronger and MADAGASCAR, January 17, 189a. better. I do not desire further troubles for it-very far from this; but if they To the J!)Jitor of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW: come again I do not fear them; if only the Malagasy Christians remain firm in SIB : May I, as II. Madagascar mission. their faith in Christ, then all will be well. I believe, not as part of a lifeless aaryl~tctaelrl*thoef attention of your readers to creed. but as the expression of a living a British resident in this truth in the words: ' Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the country, which appears in yo~r pres.ent Lord of Hosts.''' Mr. Clarke writes like one who knows his God and knowllHim oisfsuthe~ referring to the certam reVival too well to fear diplomatic intrigue or slave trade from Africa into this the menacing power of the oppressor. Faith's stillness, or, as some may call island if the extraordinary instructions it, weakness, is greater strength than the might of kings, or, as we should of Lord Rosebery on this subject are al. here say, repUblics.
lowed to go unchallenged by I'arliament "An AmeDican missionary, writing from Arcot, in India, says that the and the country. Church has two missionaries, of which it takes little account namely, the bicy· Is it really the fact that a Liberal Gov. cle and the magic lantern. The former, 'over the admirable roads so largely ernment is going, not only to give up found in India, makes short tonrs, and even long ones, rapid and easy, and is all British interests in this island to the much used by the younger missionaries. Of the other agency, large use is made tender mercies of a French protectorate, in many places.' " -Pree Church Monthly.
but also to abandon the long.continued The Church of England London Mis. sion is now under an eclipse, being at honor England has had of protecting present without a single representative. The" Appeal for Men," issued in April the Rlave? last, has not met with a response. Since then Dr. Battersby has been I am, yours faithfully, obliged to relinquish the work for the third time and has no hope of being JA)'IES SIBBEE, able to return; and Mr. Eric Lewis, amid general regret, has felt obliged to Missionary of the L. M. 8. sever his connection with the society.- British Notes. The Church Intelligencer for February contains several interesting items from BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS. Archdeacon Wolfo's journal. Tho ex· tracts relate to visits made in connection 'From copies of the Madagascar News with the Fuh-Kien Mission. The follow. which have come to hand. we find ing case of conversion, one of many cit· that the missionaries are being raked ed, we give iIi condensed form. A shop. by two fires. Mr. Henry E. Clarke, missionary in Antananarivo, in a let. ter thml de~cribes the case: "The Par. is papers blame us for not being neu· tral. The Madagascar News, on the other hand, has for months been writ· ing at us for being neutral and for reo fusing to leave our neutrality. Poormis· sionaries I How hard to please every. body-nay, we please neither side I"
In reply the Madagascar News says, in effect: " What the missionaries now feel we foresaw and forewarned them of. We knew that their Christian·like resig. nation to what the future has in store will not save the Protestant Church of Madagascar if France enforces her pre. tensions on the Malagasy."
A strong case may apparently be made out for both sides of this question. Faith's power is often more seen in quiescence than in agitation or in what may even look like heroic measures. Mr. Clarke evidently believes in the repose of faith and in stilling the storm by believingly stifling the first • Page 449. keeper of the age of fifty who had made As noted in the columns of the Daily some money and retired was robbed Telegraph, reports have reached London one night of nearly all that he had. It from Mr. Hill, the archbishop'S com- was then, in the providence of God, he missary to the Niger missions, and heard for the first time of the riches 'bishop.designate of that district in suc- that never fail, and he was led by God's cession to Dr. Samuel Crowther, stating infinite mercy and grace to fix his heart that the native Church demands a sec- on these treasures, and at once became ond negro bishop, but will compromise a regular attendant at the church. upon a division of the see with one Eu- Wondering at the fact, now to him ropean and one African prelate. The strange, that he had not heard of these archbishop'S decision is not yet given, things hefore, seeing that Christian and the equally vexing problem con- teachers had been at work in those cerning the bishoprics of Maritzburg parts for many years, he began to go and Natal is still unsolved.
ahout among his neighbors and seek out the ears that were willing to hear the Mr. Eugene Stock, in the Church Mis- precious news of the unsearchable. sianary Gleaner for February, in a paper riches. As a result, several families, entitled" A Month in New Zealand,"
both inside and outside the city, have gives the following summary concerning been won over and are now in attend· the natives of that island: .. Less than ance on the means of grace, their faces forty thousand Maoris remain in New set Zionward. Zealana. Of these the great majority are quiet, professing Christians. About Archdeacon Wolfe, commenting on half belong to the Church of England, St. James's description of the little memo and about llalf the rest are Wesleyans ber, says: "No one who has not lived or Roman Catholics. The remaining in a heathen, country and mixed freely fourth represent the semi-heathen sec- with heatht"n and understanding what tion that either fell away or had never this tongue utters, can have any concep. been brought in."
tion of the vile, filthy, and atrociously abominable language which this little, The Rev. T. Harding, a Church of vile member can give expression to, es- England missionary, has supplied a pecially when brought into play by most interesting account of a preaching heathen women; and it is one of the tour in the Yoruba country, Western surest signs of conversion when the Africa, a stronghold of th'e most degrad- tongue has been' tamed' and its vile ed heathenism. He has evidently taken habits cleansed and purified. It is up the work of missiolllzing these peo- often the case," he observes, "that ples with. both hands and an ellrnest Christians suffer great losses because heart, and has done something, as it they cannot give license to the tongue; seems to us, considerable in breaking and the heathen knowing this, take ad- up the fallow ground. He has utilized vantage of it to harass and defraud them the magic lantern with great effect and of their property." A case is instanced taught gospel truth by eye and ear to of a man who justified his heathenism large multitudes. He says, "Without on this ground. All the members of exaggeration, I have taught thousands the family were Christians but himself ; of people to pray, •Jesus, Son of God but he frankly told the missionary it and Saviour of the world, save me ; for- would never do for no one in the family give me my sins, and show me TI1y to be able to swear and use bad Ian. way.' Who can tell how many of these guage; and aF! Christians could not do will find entrance into the eternal home? this vile business, he remained a hea- Jesus knows, and we can often com- then in self·defence and to protect the mend them to Him in prayer, and His general interests of the household. Holy Spirit can teach them… The Rev. C. W. A. Clarke, M.A., small, I beliQve there is not such a sad principal of the Robert Noble College, sight throughout the eighteen provinces Masnlipatam, contends that the educa. of China as that of which I write.
tional missions of India are fully justi. Here are Whole tribes, whole peoples, fied by the results. Giant trees have without even a chance of knowing about been cut down, the names of some of the Saviour's love. "
the largest heing Caste, Idolatry, Lying, Lust. "From the Noble College," he says, A mail from Uganda was received on "God has brought out men who have December 23d bringing news up to Sepdone great things for Him. One convert tember 26th. The eagerness of the was a district missionary in charge of the Waganda to purchase Scripture portions Masulipatam district; another an evan· was marked. So tremendous was the gelist to the Telugu people, mighty in crush to obtain copies that Mr. Basker. deed and in word; some have taught in ville was obliged to barricade his house our college and our high school in the and sell from the window. In ten min. Telugu country; some are preaohers, utes all the copies of St. Matthew's gos· some laymen, influential and highly re· pel were sold. Mr. Baskerville says, spected by their non·Christian brethren, "We could sell fifty loads, when we striving to bring home the power of only have three to sell." Christ to those who know Him not, by their life and conversation in that sta- tion in life to which God has oalled Miss Holme gives a graphic account them. In everyone of these cases the in Ohina's Millions of the assault on the convert has had to pass through the fiery home of Mr. and Mrs. Huntley, she furnace of persecution and atRiction be· being at the time their guest. Her tesfore he could openly serve Christ or be· timony is eminently God-honoring. .. I come a witness for Him before his caste praise God for giving me the honor of brethren." Mr. Clarke is satisfied with suffering for righteousness' sake. I the theory and the principles and is shall never fear what man can do unto also enamored with the machinery. me ; nor the evil day ; for I know grace " The one thing we, like all other work. will be given, as it has been in this ers for Christ, really do want is more of case. I know the Lord is a very present the power of the Holy Spirit to give life help in time of trouble. Oh, how much and effect to our efforts." I would like to tell you how the Lord showed His goodness! I do praise Him An appeal is made by Mr. John A. for allowing me to prove His sustain. Anderson, in G'hina's Millions, in behalf ing grace."
of the unevangelized aboriginal tribes.
Three are mentioned-the Ming kia, the The tidings to hand in China's Nul- Mo'soh, and the Lo·los. In the Ta·Ii ions from Rih-chan, Shansi, and Hiao·I, valley there are three hundred Ming-kia Shansi, are of more than ordinary in- villages, numbering many tens of thou. terest. 'Many conversions and baptisms sands of souls. Mr. Anderson says, are recorded; and also one or two in· .. So far as I know, nothing has been stances of much heroism under suffer.
done to give them the Gospel in their ing. Mr. Lutley tells of a convert own tongue. They are very aocessible. named Roh who, because he would not Both men and women come freely to pray to the idols, was accused of being me for medicine, although often unable the cause of a drought then prevailing.
to talk Chinese…. Although my " They first beat and kicked him, and knowledge of the oomparative needs of then tied his hands together, and carried other provinces is necessarily very him to a village three Ii distant, where he became insensible, and they had to mation, as to what has been actually acdrench him with water to relltore him; complished, than they can get either but it was not until evening that, bruised from missionaries or from their wouldand stiff, they let him go free. They be critics. So the English Baptist Misalso made him pay a thousand cash to sionary Society sent out two clergymen give a feast to the men who had beaten to visit the Baptist stations in North and carried him. It was good," con· China. Mr. Morris records his imprestinues Mr. Lutley, "to hear the poor sions of what he saw and heard, vividly I fellow relating how, when they were and clearly, showing himself to be a carrying him, he remembered that Ste. careful and shrewd observer, giving us phen, while being stoned, prayed for valuable information as to the country his enemies ; and he began to pray for and the people. He discusses the rehis, asking the Lord to forgive them," ligions of China and the various phases a proceeding on his part which but in- of missionary work, and says that, for creased their rage and brought upon extent, character and work, missions in him worse blows. China far exceed hi~ largest expecta- tions. It is a valuable addition to our Another notable case of sovereign knowledge of the country and the pracchange is that of Mrs. Kia, who was for- tical value and actual accomplishment merly possessed by an evil spirit. ., She of missionary effort. was," says Mr. George McConnell, "a terror to all, even to us. We feared to -Madagascar, its .Missionaries and its see her come into our yard ; but now Martyrs, by W. J. Townsend, D.D. she is so changed, fully saved, out and (F. H. Revell Co., New York and Chiout for Jesus." cago). Dr. Townsend gives the marvel- lous story of Christianity in the island The Moravian Quarterly is marked by of Madagascar in a most vivid and intones of mingled gladness, Aadness, and teresting way. It is a story with which determination. The pioneers in North all Christians, young and old, should Queensland have acquired speedily a be familiar, for it is unique in the hispowerful influence over the natives. tory of missionary enterpriRe. More at- Confidence is won in the highest degree, tention is given at present to the newer some acquaintance with the language and larger mission fields, but the story has been made, and since the natives of the planting and training of the understand a few English words, the Christian Church in Madagascar is one pioneers are able to testify to them ., of which will never los(l its interest and God who is love and of the redemption power. for sin through the blood of His Son. "
Difficulties impede progress in Nica· -Lives and Work of Rev. and Mrs. ragua, ., but the earnest appeal of the Cephas Bennett, by Ruth Ranney (Silver, poor Indians for missionaries will Burdett & Co., New York, Boston, and quicken sympathy and prayer, before Chioago). Sixty years of missionary life which all obstacles must vanish." in Burma are here described graphically and tersely. Miss Ranney has succeed_ Publioations Noticea, ed in narrating the lives of her grand- parents in such a manner as to transfer . -A Winter in North China, by Rev. to the reader the interest which she T. M. Morris (Revell Co., New York and herself feels in their work. Dr. Bunker Chicago, $1.50). It is natural that the says in his introduction: .. The aroma people at home who contribute gener. of these lives will pass upon others; ously for missions shOUld desire occa- and no one can study them without sionally some more unprejudiced infor- being better." The proceeds from the book will be devoted to mission work in Bul'IP!.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
Africa,* Madagascar,t The Freedmen,* AFRICA. § Bechuanaland and Mashonaland along the way of the lakes to Uganda and BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D. down the valley of the Nile to AIexan- dria. Only 35 years have elapsed since Africa has been described as .. one the mighty prize of the source of the universal den of desolation, misery, and Nile was wrested from oblivion j and crime." It is a vast country to come more has been done, so far as any susunder such characterization. It is 1500 picions of history reveal, to reclaim the miles long and 4600 miles wide. The .. Lost Continent" within 30 years than equator cuts it, and both tropics cross in the previous 3300 years. it. Lay its western edge at San Fran. cisco, and it would cover land and sea The population of the continent is to the coast of Ireland. Its rivers are roughly estimated at 200,000,000, or its most marked geographical feature. nearly one-seventh part of the people of The Nile sweeps through 37° of lati- the globe. The beat authorities haTe tude; the Kongo has greater volume agreed that the ethnological classificaand basin. Of its great inland seas, tion must, for the present at least, follow Victoria Nyanza and Albert Nyahza be- language lines. The general conclusion long to the Nile, Tanganyika to the is that the cradle of the genuine negro Kongo, Nyassa to the Zambesi. Possi- race is Africa; that of the Bantu. Asia j blythe entire continent was circumnavi- the one living for ages without the tropio gated in B.C. 600; but in the Middle of the East, the other pushing on to its Aries it had already become the" Dark sunny home in the great peninsula. Continent," its coast line being un· There is known to be a wide difference known beyond Morocco. By the close between the negro and the Bantu races. of the fifteenth century the Portuguese The Bushmen and Hottentot are relathad got far round the Cape of Good ed linguistically with Egypt, and have Hope_ For the next century Africa been sundered from the northern eleseems destined to be the wonder of the ment by some great dividing wedge. world. The rapid opening up of its They differ in appearance, manners, and enormous stretches and the marvellous customs from the Bantu. They were way in which Christianity and civiliza- wont to worship the moon, following tion are bringing light and hope and the sidereal worship of North Africa, liberty to the races of the interior are and their gods are beneath, never above. adding fascinating chapters to the his- The Bantu are lighter colored than the tory of the world. Already the whole negro, nor is their hair so woolly. The country is known from Cape Town to indications are that the Bantus originat- Cairo, and soon the telegraphic com- ed in Western Asia, perhaps in Armemunication will be continuous from nia, possibly in the Euphrates. Their mutual relation is traced in language- * See also pp. 48, 64 (Jan.), 136 (Feb.), 196, 226 structure and roots, as close as those of the Aryan family. The Zulu is spoken (Mar.), 370{May), 404, 423, 426,428 (present issne). in Zululand and by half a" million in t Sec also pp. 66 (Jan.), 4t9, 459 (present Issne). Natal. Dr. Bleek makes 13 classes of t See p. 413 (present issne). Zulu dialects. Sigwamba is spoken ~ We draw largely on the following sonrces aa from Zululand to the Sofala, inland 300 miles j the Yao in the region east and lIumorities in this study: "Report of Commer- south of Lake Nyassa ; the Nyamwezi cial Agent Chatelain on the Province of Angola," east of Tanganyika ; the Swahali by half with original map, .. Reports of the Consuls of a million of people in Eastern Africa; the United States, No. 147, December, 1892;" the Umbundu in Bihe and Bailunda; "The Church Missionary Atlas: Part 1,Africa ;" " Africa Rediviva," by Robert N. Cust, LL.D.; "The IaiZlllu," by Lewis Grout; ~~ Missionary L8ndscap~ in the Dark Continent," by Rev. James Johnston, A. T" S.; "Forty Years among the Zulus," by Josiah Tyler. the Kimbundu, Xongo, and Umbundu Marshman's" History of Roman Catho- in Angola; the Xongo in Xongo region ; lic Missions" layll large claim to success the Mpongwe on the Gaboon River; under the Portuguese in Xongo and the the Dikele by 100,000 at the sources of Zambesi. It is scarcely too IItrong to the Gabun (see Grout's Grammar). The say these utterly relapsed into heathen_ .. Atlas" recognizes six groups for the ism. .. Quick baptisms" by wholesale continent: Hamitic, Nuba-Fulah, Semit- brought their natural result. ic, Negro, Bantu, Hottentot-Bushmen. MODEBN PROTESTANT MISSIONS date The religiO'll8 are (1) African pagan, from Moravian beginnings in West with witchcraft. human sacrifices, ahd Africa in 1736, and in South Africa in fetichism; and (2) Muhammadanism. 1792. The Church of England began Chatelain lIByS, and all experienced work in Egypt in 1826. The United witnesses agree with him, that the Presbyterians of America have had the pagans all believe in one God, who made m08t marked 8ucce88 of modem times and maintains all things, inTisible yet in Egypt proper for a dilltance of 400 eTer seeing the thoughts of man, the miles up the Nile. They have 90 staauthor of all the good and much of the tions with schools, or congregations and suffering, who is angry with men and in- schools united, taught by native pasdifferent to the details of their liTes. tors and teachers; 1000 Mos11!m bOYII They do not worship him nor represent and girls are in these schools. The him by image, nor do they believe that North African Mission ill in Tunis, he is contained in any fetich. What Tripoli, Algeria, and Morocco. So are tranllera generally call gods are inferior some others in localities, and numerous spirits, to whom God has intrusted the organizations of Roman Catholics are in administration of the natural forces. all this region and in the Sahara. They fear these and the shades of de- In 1875 Nyassa, "the Lake of the parted spirits. The images are simply Stars," was circumnavigated, and the amulets and talismans. Dying, one goes Scotch Free Church, Established to hades; dying in hades, he goes to an Scotoh, the United and the Reformed utterly unknown region. Muhamma- Presbyterians soon thereafter began danism swept with fire and sword OTer work in this part of Africa. North Africa in the seventh century, In November, 1&75, Mr. Stanley'. and in the lallt two centurills has spread challenge to Christendom to enter over the Soudan, West Africa proper, Uganda appeared in a London paper. and on the eastern coast. It has Beven months later the first mission brought some externals of civilization; party arrived at Zanzibar. The first but the tribes are in little but name Mos- converts, five in number, were baptized lem ; thllY have changed the fetich from March, 1882. Uganda lies northwest of .ticks and stones to Arabic texts from Victoria Nyanza, and is one of the most the Quran. The whole of the vast inland powerful kingdoms in East Central slave trade is in the hands of these Mos- Africa. It is a four months' journey lems. Mr. Cust says that Islam is " in from the coast. To carry 250 tons, possession of the majority of the popu- $250,000 must be paid to 1000 slaTes lation of Africa, with a tendency to in- hired Ollt by slave owners. But by the crease by its own momentum and adapta- prooeeds of the hire of the British East bility to the environment of the pagan Africa Company, 4000 slaves have effect- African." (3) Christianity came to Africa ed their freedom. The railway system through Hellenist Jews. In the fifth cen- of 600 miles building from the coast tury there were 560 bishoprics in North will cover a coast line of 400 miles and Africa. The North African Church was 1000 miles inland, levering the IIlaveswept out of existence by Islam; the caravan-routes. The reverses of the Coptic- and Abyssinian churches have Church of England Mission have been been Christian in little more than name. connected with the political situation ; lItesa's professed aoceptance of Chrill- besi, a strip. of 800 milesin length. The tiatiity; his return to heathenism, his mis!lion history. thougll I!.ot ita wOl;k, death, the succession of Mwanga, his dates from 1877 ; the la~ter begins with hostility and overthrow, his reinstate- 1885. The mission is international, mentunder the influence of the Roman- though under the di:tection of the Paris ist missionaries, his unprincipled con- Evangeliclll Missionary 8ooiet1. The duct-all combined to make a fiery fur- Primitive Methodis~s have recently en. nae,s for the martyr church of Uganda. tered this :tegion. The sacrifice of missionary life has already been enormous. The saintly The missions of Kajaria bave bef'n 80 band of graduat.,s from the English Uni- long familiar to the Christian churches versities who founded a unique mission that we make no further mention of with four bases, on the eastern side of them than, that of 650,000 Kafirs in Cape Lake Nyassa cover a radius of 25,000 Colony, about one fourth have bl'len bapsquare miles in their estimated reach of tized ; and in Zululand. of 50,000 up_ influ~nce. Thirty-six of these young ward of 2000 are Christians; and in men and maidens, the Hower of English Pondoland, of 150,000, 3000 are Chris-, birth, culture, and piety, have found rest tianized. in African graves. The mission h~s nevertheless made marked progress. In Katanga Arnot began work in 1881 by journeying from Natal to Shoehong, Lake Tanganyika was discoverlld less and on to Benguela on the West Coast, than 40 years ago. Until lately thE! and then peaceably forced his way into route thither was 830 miles from Zanzi- the Garanganze country to initiate bar, and took 100 days. Now it is up Christian civilization. The book by the Shire, thence by the missionary Mr. Arnot," Go.renganze: Seven Years' . highway, .. the Stephenson road," unit. Pioneer Mission Work," published by ing the north end of Nyassa and the the Revell Company, belongs, as Dr. A. southern point of Tanganyika. The T. Pierson says, "in the department, London Missionary Society began work not of Apologetics, but of Energetics." here in 1874, inspired by the telegram to London: "Livingstone is really The &uthern missionary region-De.- dead, and his body is coming home in maraland, Namaqualand,. Good Hope one of the queen's ships." Living. Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, etc.- stone's trumpet call, ., Go forward, and needs not detailed reference here. with the Divine blessing you will suc· These missions do not cling to the ceed. Do you carry on the work which coast, but occupy interior positiona. I have begun. I leave it with you," The climate is suited for Europeans, roused England as well as Scotland. A and large colonies have been settled. noble, heroic work, with increasingly en- Islam has never been in the ascendant. couraging result, has been done by Our reference to Mr. Cust's" Redivive." .. running the gauntlet of fiery ordeals, must in nowise be accepted as comenduring the hardship of perilous travel, mendatory of the idiosyncrasies in his surmounting obstacles of transit and opinions and criticisms. They must malarious climates, pelletrating regions stand on their merits. and some of them untrodden by Europeans," but with an have decided merits; others wear an ez ever-widening confidence amollg the cathedra air, as on page 38, aboutmiBsionmotley population of this territory. arr interference with public morals as impertinence, which it mayor may The Upper Zambesi missions in the not be ; but any allusion to their" ex- Barotsi kingdom were inaugurated by pulsion" on this account is ludicrous. M. Coillard. This kingdom stretches If anybody has gone to South Africa to from the Rafu River to 20° east long., stay, it is the missionary_ and from the Quando and Zambesi to the watersheds of the Rongo and Zam- Angolaland is 80 interestingly treated in Mr. Chatelain's" Report," that we would like to transfer it to these columnl!!. It can probably be had on ap- the English Wesleyan!! Penetrated to plieation to the proper authoritie.IJ. The Quarra, a branch of the Niger. The history of Roman Catholic missions Soudan, stretching from 8° of lat. to under the Portuguese is of use for the the borders of the Sahara, and 3500 warnings of their mistakes and the re- miles from east to west, has a popula- sults. They are now stimulated by the tion nearly equal to that df North Amer- presence of the "Bishop Taylor" 80- ica ; but missionary pioneering has be- styled " Self – supporting missions,' , gun. The name of Crowther, "the which extend to many interior stations only colored non-European bishop con- and have cost lives and money. secrated in England since apostolic Kongoland, with its good waterway days," will ever stand connected with throngh all its great basin, is so promi- the Niger region and missions; and nently in the eye of the Christian pub- Wilmot Brooke's memory will be per- lio tliat, vastly important as it is, we petuated in the Soudan Mission.
need bestow only a paragraph on it in The Gold Ooast from St. Paul to Cape this skeleton reference. At Boma are Palmas has much independent territory, 800 more or less resident Europeans, where the English Wesleyan, the Basle 80 of whom are missionaries. The Eng- and Bremen have done noble work at lish Baptists entered the Kongo valley large cost of life and yet with gratify- in 1878. Through 15 years of struggle, ing results. Liberia is patronized only, soldiers and heroines of faith have !l0 far as foreign subsidy of men and sened, suffered, and perished, till " no money goes, from the United States.
Christian church has supplied a nobler Mr. Cust is too emphatic in saying that contingent to the army of martyrs"- Liberia, as well as Sierra Leone, has the Combers alone would make this failed to make any impression on the record resplendent. Various societies surrounding colored men of the same or are at work-the American Baptists, the cognate African race. It is a marked slip Bishop Taylor, the Kongo-balolo; and in ethnological reference, for the Afro- the French Evangelical of Paris pro- Americans represent trihes in most cases poses, if it has not already begun. to from which they are remotely separated, enter French territory. Through 12,000 and to our personal knowledge they miles of coast or river.line villages and have done something, and under their towns are approachable by the mission- oonditions a good deal, to "impress"
ary. the native races adjoining them. Bishop On the Gabun, the coast island of Taylor's line of self·supporting work in Corisco and the Ogowe, the Ani.ericun the Cavallo. River country has been Presbyterians, after years of successful vigorously pushed, and though ham- work, are hampered by the French Co- pered, deserves great commendation.
lonial policy requiring the use of the Bie-.-ra Leone has an English Episcopal French language in educational work. Ohurch, self-supporting. The English In the Kameruns the English Baptists Wesleyans, the United Brethren (at had a good work, but were substituted Mendi), an American mission from Kan- by a German mission solely because it sas behind Freetown, as 1 base for a had be00me a German colony-a narrow Soudan mission, represent the work of policy out of joint with the times, and Protestants. In the Gpmbia region, at :' a I!hameful breach of the recognized Bathurstand other places, the Wesley- law of missions. " ans and English Episcopals have long The Niger basin presents a population sustained work.
•' untainted" by the evil of contact of We have made a very incomplete and European commerce. The Church of not a balanced sketch of the missions England Missionary Society has impor- of the continent of Africa. They are tant station!! in the Delta, conducted till too vast already for an outline of even very r~cently by African missionaries; a dozen pages. We have been obliged to suppress even the names of the Roman to·morrow if there were funds and men Oatholic societies and orders, many of to do it. The Tembu people have whom have shown illustrious heroism pleaded for a long time that a mission.
in self·denial and endurance worthy of ary be sent to them. The headman has high admiration. All of them will be given ground for the missionary to live found named in Mr. Oust's" Rediviva," upon. At a time when rood was soorce which if not complete is the nearest and the people nearly starving because complete reference volume that we can of what befell their harvest last year, he name, and which is invaluable except has supported in his own hut a native where the author makes excursions to evangelist who was sent there during express his notions instead of judgment; the last six months. . . .
but even these are spicy and suggestive, " People at home should know these and of vaJue. facts. In Western Pondoland there are MADAGASOAl AND ZANZmAl belong to probably not fewer than 40,000 people the African system, and should be con· with no one to tell them the Gospel.
sidered in this group of missions, They are a fine stalwart race of men, though the Malagassy belong ethnologi- but they are living in the grollsellt heacaJly rather with Malaysia. Madagas- thenism. Such a fact should surely apcar is the Great Britain of Africa, but peal to those who may know little of three times her size. Ellis's" Martyr the details of foreign mission work, and Ohurch" of Madagascar well-nigh ranks may in consequence have but a languid as 110 Christian classic. The London Mis- interest in its needs. sionary Society, the Society for the Prop. agation of the Gospel, and the Friends, ,. The TembuB have been aSKing tbat as well as the Norwegians, have operated in Madagascar, the pre-eminence a missionary should be sent to them for belonging to the first-named. All of the ten years. In the thanksgivings of this islanders are not yet evangelized. jubilee year the Tembus and Pondos will surely not be forgotten." (The A late number of the London Chronicle money is now provided, and a missionsays: "We have received a printed table ary will be sent to Tembuland. The Glasgow Oollege students are to pro- vide the mission hOllse, and Stockbridge congregation have given the communion plate.)-Rev. John Lennoz.
of statistics, showing that in our Mad- agascar Mission (not including, however, In a recent letter from Uganda, the the Betsileo district) there are 980 Rev. G. K. Baskerville, of the Ohurch schools; that of the 46.501 scholars Missionary Society, gives a striking inpresenting themselves for examination, stance of the eagerness of the Waganda 21,721 brought slates, 19,480 brought to purchase Scripture portions. Some Bibles or Testaments; and that 16,206 boxes of books arrived, and, during the passed in reading, 12,739 in writing, sale, so tremendolls was the cmsh of and 9,334 in arithmetic." those anxiolls to purchase that Mr. Baskerville was obliged to barricade his " There is a chain of missions stretch- house and sell from the window. All ing like a great strong backbone through the copies of St. Matthew's Gospel the country from Lovedale to Somer- were sold in ten minutes. Prayerville, a distance of two hundred and books, reading-books, etc., were aJl dis- posed of, and more than a thousand people were waiting about, "mad to buy a book."
fifty miles. There are two places at which this backbone just now needs The Derlhi Missionary Society is en strengthening badly. It is at that big gaged in six sections in South and Eaflt gap of ninety miles. On the left-hand Mrica, and at the various stations.has side of the direct line there is a large gathered 11,456 communicants. A misunworked part of Tembu1and. On the sionary stationed at Konigsberg writes: right hand there is the vaRt Pondo na- •• Twenty-five years ago the number of tion in wild untouched heathenism. baptized heathen in Natal was 2000 and Both of these places could be occupied now it is 8000. And the Boers, who formerly looked coldly on, now regard the mission with favor."
GENERA!. lIlSSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
, ED~ BY lU!lV. D. L. LBONAllD.
Extraots .iid TiaD8~tion8 from Foreign to an 'African boy to sit still. It is no trouble' to an Afriean to show an ap. Periodioals.
pearanoe of reverence. Africanboys BY 'UT. C. 0. S'UlIllucx. ,ANPOVEB, ;MASS. have not ,the fidgets like English boys AnroA. have, and they have not so strong a -" Our Lessouto field is whitening will to be oontrolled, What we want is to tne harvest. There are 7689 pupils to teach them a religion which will lead in our sohools, ,and 12,460 Christians them· to disoipline their li"es. Somein,our ohurohes. While, formerly, the times when I have heard warmth of ex- Bassuto Christians doubled their num- pression on the part of those natives bers in fourteen years, it has of late who have been brought up differently; I only. taken six years for the aggregate have felt a little sad, as if there was to double itself again. During the past something wanting among us; but my ten years, tbe scholars have quadrupled, oommon sense and my experience have and 'the Christians tripled. Our Zam- alwsys .brought me baok· to this-that besi mission occupies in the missionary we must teaoh them a religion whioh army working for the oonquest of Cen- will lead them to .disoipline themselves tral A~icaa position of inoaloulable in the midst of 'this vast mass of imimportance; what surprise, then, that purity-in the midst of this terrible at- the.prince of this world should defend mosphere of evil in whioh their battle with special fury the poiD.t menaced by lies. Yes, I do not suppose that anyonr work? God has, moreover, per- body here in this protected country mitted that this mission should be a knows what a battle it is to anyone powerful means of edification for onr there in Africa to live a really holy and churohes, stimulating the faith and noble life. We hear of the virtues of courage of many." -Journal des Mis- the 'Doble savage.' Let anybody who sions, quoted in The Ohristian. talks about the virtues of the noble sav- age come and stay in oup country, and -" In the Soudan, stretching from I think then that he will have to correct the Atlantic to the Red Sea, between those theoretical impressions of his. I theeigMh and sixteenth parallels of think that he would soon have to Benorth 'latitude, there is a population of knowledge that for anyone to lead a 60;000,000 to 80,000,000, mostly Mos- really Christian life in t~t oountry lem, and almost untouched bv oission- means a much greater battle than most illY effort."-The Reaper. people have to fight amid that Chris- -" I, am oertain that the people of tianized social opinion and those sur- Africa need not so muoh to be taught roundings of protected life which most an emotionnl as a di~ciplining religion. of us have here. Therefore we ha?eto It is not difficult to work uppn the emo- koep people a long time waiting.before tions of the inhabitants of a tropical we admit tht>m to Christianity. It has oountry~ We may produce, I dare say, generally been supposed that Roman a ..great.appearanoe of outward devo- Catholics are verY easy in baptizing tion., I think that some people in Eng- people, but a Frenoh miBllionBIY told land would be surprised if they came me the other day that Cardinal Lavi- to our, large school at Zanzibar and saw gene, the great head of African mis- the devotion of the boys at the time of sions, had sont out a message that no sei'vioe; but the fact is that it does native was to be baptized under two not D1ean nearly, so much, as it would years' preparation as a catechumen.'
mean in this country. It is no trouble Well, I have tried something of that kind, and I acknowledge that it is too pa.rily in order to guard the yet weak long; but still there must be·a long Ch:ristian.·from the temptations ofe·the preparation first to test their· earnest. great city. In the course. of the year ness and sincerity, and then there must twenty houses were thus ftlledwith be the deepest dealing with individual Christian families, so that now Christ sculs. Call it conf6B8ion or what y{)U Church has a Christian· cOllgregation of like-we must deal'with each individ. about one hundred souls belongiDg,to ualsoul. The spiritual pastMmUstput it. These are partly derived from; the his arm around each individualAfrica.n, Univeraities' Mission itself, partly from and he must fight side. byside with him the stations of the Church Missionary the battle of life. Society in Mombasa and Freretown.
" The Church must not be depressed With these twenty modest Christian to a lower level to meet half.way the abodes the Mkunazini property of the heathenism of .Africa. The Church Universities' Mission forms a gennine must embrace the African, and raise Christian colony in the midst of the him up by her sacraments and means Mohammedan capital. Around the of grace, and spread a network around former slave market are situated, to the him and raise him up to her high lev. north, Christ Church; to the sOuth, the el, not abating one jot in morality or mission house with the missionaries'
spirituality of what she' requires of her dwellings; to the east the Apprentices'
children here at home. Only so, I be· Bome ; to the west the hospital, and lieve, will there be a truly healthy, liv. around these stately buildings the com· ing Church in Africa. Only then will pact array of the Christian homes.
she dare, as we are daring, to try to The whole is a worthy representation, form a native ministry, and to,put be- a mighty sermon in stone, setting forth fore each boy who has intellectual ca· English Christianity in the face of Mos· paeity, and is leading a high moral life, lem bigotry and moral corruption."- that that is the life he is to look for· Pastor RICHTlI:B, in Allgemeine M"tasions· ward to out of gratitude to God; that Zeitschrift.
as our Lord Jesus Christ has chosen him out of the millions of heathen who -The blessing of God, remarks Dr.
are still in darkness to be Bisson" and WABlflI:cX, continues to rest on the little has poured down so many blessings mission of· the Free Church of Canton upon him, so it should be the highest Vaud, at Delagoa Bay. It has three ambition of his life to take the message stations: Lorenzo-Marques, Rikatla, of the boly Gospel to his. brethren, and and Antioka. In six year!!, for the to spend his life in sharing those great three, about nine hundred· convBl'ts blessings which he has received with have been gather.ed. At Lorenzo~Mar· hiB brethren, who will remain in heathen ques a missionary physician has Hen darkness if he dQes not go to teach stationed, with very. happy results of. his them. That is what many of our young activity. To the north of Rikatla, ·in men have in their hearts ; and one day the territory of the ehief'Mahazule, a I am quite sure that ,we shall Bee an en· little Christian community has consti· thusiastic and able ministry extend· tuted itself &sa result of the courageous ing the w{)rk of· the Church far and wide testimony of a converted woman; who in Africa. " -BIBK{)p SKYTEIES, in Central has won anuruber of other women to Africa. the Gospel. .In North Transvaal" where there are also three stations-Valdelia, -In Zanzibar "it was an original Elim, and Shiluwane-there is much to idea of Bishop Steere to gather around -l'etard the work; the gold fever, the the beautiful edifice· of Christ Church ,law forbidding. more than fi'Ve'oolored all the native Christian elements, partly families to reside on one estate' (and the in {)rder to form a parish for the church, estates are large), and. continuous·.warlike commotions. Discontent, insub- delivered Himself up for us and has left ordination, and looseness of living are us His example. A missionary without sadly fostered by these conditions, and enthusiasm would be a oontradiction ; occasion the missionaries much solici- but the solid and consoientious prepara_ tude. tion of a missionary, the clear-sighted and firm direction of his work, may The Berlin Mission also suffers great- multiply tenfold the activity of a man ly from the same causes, especially from who reckons above all things on God, the oppressive Plakkerswet, the restric- and who, before submitting himself to tive law mentioned above. This mis- the direction of men, and before hum. sion, whose field of labor is very exten- bly preparing himself for his sacred mise sive, divides it into six synods, or super- sion, has surrendered himself BOul and intendencies : North Transvaal, hence- body to his God and knows that he is forth divided into ten Dioceses ; South but a torch-bearer of the eternal light. " Transvaal; Orange Free State; Natal; –Professor F. H. KRUGER, in Journal Caffraria; Cape Colony. These six dis- des Missions. tricts comprise 23,841 baptized peraons ; 1489 cateohumens; 11,456 oommuni- THE WORLD AT LARGE. cants ; 4179 scholars_ -The Zeitschrift states that the Eng- " I am only one, but 1 am one; lish oensus of Basutoland shows the I cannot do everything, bnt I can do somepopulation to be 218,324. The number of Christians of the Paris Society was thing; 9662. Adding children and adherents, What I can do, I onght to do ; these form about 11t per cent of the And what I onght to do, by the grace of God I popnlation. Scholars: 1887. 3754; 1891, 7031 ; 1892, 7869. The mission- will do." aries testify to a decided growth among the Basuto Christians of their spiritual -How little we appreciate the might life, their sense of duty. and their spirit of mites when suffiCiently multiplied. of self-denial. For example, if a church of 30 members were to contribute regularly each one – " Mr. Arnot finds himself obliged at cent a day, with an extra cent each as last to do what all missionary societies a birthday gift, and then half a cent do. He has an agency iJl. Europe to each at the end as a thank offering, look after the transport of baggage; he the amount for a year would be the has an agent on the ooast to receive handsome sum of $110, or enough to them in transit. He has seen himself keep 11 girls or boys in a boarding-school obliged to found two intermediate sta- in India. A club of 3 would thus edutions between the coast and Bunkeya. cate 1 heathen child. What a chance This mission, lately ext~lled as repro- for Sunday-school classes! duoing the apostolic type, in contrast with organized societies, assume., more -The Boston Saturday Evening Gazette and more, the habits of these. It oould recently bestowed upon its readers this not be otherwise. Every personal effort eminently sensible and Christian counwhich prolongs itself must needs organ- sel: .. If you are getting lazy, v.-atch ize itself or disappear; but a regular James. If your faith is below par, read and faithful organization does not ex- Paul. If you are impatient, sit down clude the apostolic spirit, self-denial, quietly and have a talk with Job. If self-renunciation, the sacrifice of life, your are just a little strong-headed, go if needful, the ardent love of souls, the and see Moses. If you are getting holy desire of glorifying, by an obscure weak-kneed, take a look at Elijah. If and hidden work of perhaps all the there is no song in your heart, listen to days of our life, our Saviour, who has David. If you are getting sordid, spend a while with Isaiah. If you feel chilly, get the beloved disciple to put his arms around you. If you are losing sight of the future, climb up to Revelation and split in two for me, let me get under get a glimpse of the promised land." one corner.) 't Yes, and also let us add, if you do not -Somebody defines Buddhism to be believe much in missions, and so do not a system which teaches men to pray to give much, sit down for an hour now nobody to be made nothing of. and then and commune with the Son of God and the apostle to the Gentiles, -A glance at some missionary statis- to read, mark, and inwardly digest tics carefully prepared and published their teachings on the subject. in tbe American Q;u,arterly Register for -The first appropriation to send a 1830 is very suggestive, and clearly indi- Methodist missionary to India was made cates what marvels of progress have in 1852. The amount was $7500. The come to the kingdom during a few bishops were requested to select a decades. For the Sandwich Islands proper man for superintendent. Four only 90 communicants are reported, and years passed, however, before anyone for the Wesleyans in the South Seas, with the proper qualifications could be Fiji included, 60 communicants and 165 found willing to assume the task of in the schools. In New Zealand and founding a great mission in India. New Holland (for as yet there was no Bishop Thoburn says that it would sur- Australia) are 7 missionaries and 199 in prise people at the present day if the the schools. Africa has 91 missionaries, whol.! truth were told about the search representing 9 societies, 10 native asfor a superintendent, and expresses the sistants, and 2603 communicants. In opinion that" no other prominent post Ceylon, Hindustan, and India beyond in all the history of the Methodist the Ganges 10 societies are at work, Church was ever declined by so many with 135 missionaries, 424 native assist. nominees." At last, in 1856, Rev. ants, 2864 communicants, and 39,219 in William Butler accepted the post. the schools. Dr. Morrison had been in China since 1807 ; 2 others had just ar· -A missionary to New Zealand who rived from America; Messrs. Bridgman was in the habit of dispensing blankets and Abeel, two natives, have been bapamong the Maoris who attended his tized, and one of them, Leangafa, is meetings, noticed that one native came zealously engaged in spreading the too frequently for these comfortable ar- Christian truth in the interior. At the ticles. He mentioned the fact. "No close 30 benevolent societies in the more blankets ?" responded the Maori. United States are named, including all "Well, then, no more hallelujah 1" And the missionary societies, both home and he departed. foreign, also all the Bible, tract, educa.
-Evidently the Occidental mind and tion, temperance, colonization, sea- the Oriental were not cast in the same men's, peace, and prison societies, and mould; and therefore it behooves trans- asylums for the deaf and dumb; and lators in particular to be careful in their the total receipts for the year preceding choice of language. Dr. Chamberlain is given as $584.084.02. Those days of tells this story in illustration. He one exceedingly small things are not so ve~ day SUbmitted a somewhat close Telugu far distant, either.
translation of the hymn, "Rock of Coming down 30 years nearer to the Ages," to an able Telugu pundit, and present, in the New Englander of Au- asked him to say frankly what meaning gust, 1860, Leonard Bacon said : "There it conveyed to him. After long ponder- are at least 40 societies with an expendi.
ing and much hesitation, he replied: ture of $3,000,000, with 5000 native "Every religion has its mysteries, and helpers, and 200,000 communicants."
this, I suppose, is one of yours. I can- Glancing backward, he added: "In not understand it at all, but this is what 1820, at the end of the first decade of it seems to say, 'Oh very old stone, the American Board, there were not more than 50 oonverts," though he could Boldier who (in Lawrence's last words) not find half so many-oould discover died 'trying to do his duty' has d~ but 1 in Bombay, a Mohammedan, 2 in served better of his country and of man- Ceylon, and 20 Indians and negroes kind than have these brave ~en and among the Chootaws and Chickasaws of women of the Madura Mission, who Georgia. And in 1825 there were but 5 face daily the fever of the jungle and native helpers, 4 in Ceylon, and the cholera, whioh is always present in fifth among the Cherokees. ., Now they India, and are, with heroio self·sacri. are grown to 497, of whom 243 are pas- fice, wearing out their lives silently for tors." the good of others."
-The Ohristian Observer (Presbyte- -In Thibet almost every crime is rian, Louisville, Ky.) heads an editorsl punished by the imposition of a fine, relating to the acceptance of three men and murder is by no means an expen- as miBSionaries " More Foreign Mission sive luxury. The fine varies according Appointments, .. and says: "The secu- to the social standing of the victim-120 lar papers are full of the names of men bricks of tea (worth about 35 cents a appointed to represent the United brick) for one of the "upper c1aBS," 80 States in foreign lands, and we have bricks for a person of the middle class, felt that these men are honored in being 40 bricks for a woman, and so on down appointed ambassadors of this Govern- to 2 or' 3 for a pauper or a wandering ment. .. And then, after naming the foreigner. Almost every grown-up man young oandidates and the countries to in the country has a murder or two to which they are to be sent, asks: ,. Shall his credit. we not feel that they have an honor greater than that of any earthly ambas- -In Afrioa a Masai woman has a sador ?" market ,value equal to 5 large glass beads, while a oow is worth 10 of the -The Kingdom (Baptist Missionary same. Union) declares that since there are thirty times as many heathen as there "It was a girl, you know," was the are evangelioal Christians, it follows reallon given by a man and his wife on that eaoh Christian is responsible for Epi, one of the New Hebrides, who had thirty heathen, and they are his share. unblushingly confessed to having buried one of their children alive. -Charles S. Smith, a New York merchant of eminent standing in the busi- Dr. William Ashmore, of Swatow, on ness world, has been visiting India, and visiting a neighboring village, asked the writing to the Tribune, speaks in the population, and was told, .. about three highest terms of the missionaries he or four thousand." "Does this inolude met, and espeoially of those in the Ma- women?" he asked. .. Oh, no," was dura field, whose work he carefully in. the reply; "we follow the Chinese cusvestigated. Thil!l is the closing passage tom and do not count the women." of his letter: "I have since visited the stirring scenes of the Indian Mutiny at -The Spirit of Missions has been told Lucmo,.., Cawnpore, and Delhi. I have " that when that marvel of business enstood reverently and with uncovered terprise, the Standard Oil Company, head beside the graves of Havelock and would find a market for its products it Lawrence. I have read the tablet of is not content merely to wait on the or- Lord Napier, upon which he inscribed dinary demand, but it proceeds to create the name. of the gallant men who car- a market. Its agents went into Menco, ried the Kashmit gate by storm, and but found the people so averse to ohange gave their lives to save the honor and that they would still hold on to their the empire of the English raoe in India. tallow dips in spite of all that was told I solemnly believe, however, that no them of the excellence of kerosene. What then? Did the company give that up as II hopeless market? Not at all. Their agents went about to con· 'Was no ordinary calamity to us as Bapquer the prejuuice and to overcome the tists, for it was, as' has been said, • the stolid indifference, and they did it at a home of Baptist traditions and treaprodigious outlay. They took into sures,' as well as a c&ntre of our misevery house a lamp, all trimmed and sionary operations, home and foreign. filled with oil, and gave it to the people, Every day brings some fresh experience and immediately the market was made." of loss and hindrance oonsequent uPOn it to the workers of the Woman's Society -An interesting illustration of t,he of the East. " indebtedness of science to Christianity is given in 8 little book descriptive of " We can never recall this calamity " Work for the Blind in China." From without thankfulness that no lives were this it appears that a system of Isised imperilled, that it has called forth such characters representing the Chinese lan- kind expressions of sympathy, ihat guage has recently been perfected, a strength equal to the day has beengiven language which has no alphabet proper, to those whose work was so seriCHlSly but 4000 symbols representing syllables, interrupted. The experienoe has taaght and which takes a lifetime to learn. us new confidence in God asa very The system employed is by an ingenious present help in trouble." reduction of the sounds-as distinct from the syllables-to 408. The inventor is -The women of the Lutheran Church, a self-taught genius, Rev. W. H. Mur- General Synod, have four representa. ray, BOn of a Scotch mechanic, who was tives in the foreign field, all at Guntur, prevented from following his father's India, and one of them is a physician. trade by an accident in which he lost They publish mission studies for each an arm. Becoming an agent of the month, and' the General Literature Bible society, he was sent to carry Committee keeps on hand a varied supon its work ill China. Here the mis- ply of tracts, photographs, etc., to dif.' erable condition of the blind, of fuse information and excite interest. whom there is an unusual number in the empire, attracted his attention, and -The women of the Scottish Free led him to devote himself to the discov- Church publish the Helpmeet and the ery of a method by which they might be ahildren's Record. enabled to read. -The English Baptists have their WOMAN'S WORK. Ladies' Association for the Sllpport of zenana work and Bible women in India -The Woman's Missionary Society and China, and a monthly paper, the of the Methodist Church, Canada, has Zenana Missionary Herald. 501 auxiliaries with 11,557 members, and 221 circles and bands with 6590 -The London Sooiety sends out 60 members. The income last year was women, 31 to India, 20 to China, 5. to $35,790. The number of missionaries Madagascar, and 4 to the South Seas. is 26, of whom 16 are in Japan, and 8 in Mrs. Robert Whyte edits the Quarterly British Columbia at work for the In- News of Woman's Work, and the Juvedians and Chinese, with 2 in China. nile also is published, a neat mouthly full of good things. The April number -Helping Ha:niJ. for May has an im- contains an amusing illustrated poem pressive page, which gives in parallel entitled "The Lament of a Missionary columns first the ., shade" and then Box," whioh had seen better days, but the ., light" of the current missionary is now empty and forgotten, an excelsituation. The first item in each col- lent piece for· recitation. umn will serve as a specimen : -In the 'Home JC'lSsiooary for April "The burning of Tremont Temple Ellen W. Curtis tells of what she calls .. a novel climb in Miehigan," but which is equally good for any State, or territory, or kingdom on earth, and no mat- Bible women of our own country and ter how level the surface may be. After England must number approximately premising that" too many of us are sur- 2000..- Oongregationalist.
rounded by the Mountains of Ignorance UNITED STATES. (ignorance of the missionary work); and closing down. overthese mountains, -Christians in Great Britain or upon and shutting us in from the busy out· the Continent have little conception of side world, is the leaden sky of indif- the peculiar and very heavy burdens ference, and we do not know that Le- borne by their American brethren. For, yond these mountains lies a vast field in addition to the calls to aid in the re- ready to be cultivated by us ;" she goes demption of the heathen world is the on to allege that "in flOnt of every imperative and almost appalling de- church in our land stands a mountain, mand for home mission work in almost which we will call the' Mount of Priv- every community between the Atlantic ilege: and we may all climb it if we aitd the Pacific, in the new,settlements, will." And the sentence which follows and among the Indians, and the Freed· will give an insight into the meaning men, and the Chinese, and the foreign.
of the parable: "First let me ask your ers from every clime. Take a single forbearance if I should not go straight denomination as a fair specimen, which, up the old beaten path that leads to the aftlJr an annual expenditure of $6,790,.
home missionary work, for you know 000 for ordinary church work, gives in on mountain trips Bome of the most addition some $2,500,000 for home mis.
beautiful mosses and ferns are often sions on the frontier, etc., and after found in the little side paths; and if I that $840,000 for foreign missions.
take you into these paths, it will only -It is announced in the Roman be that I may show you some of the Catholic journals that the Rev. WaIter peculiar blessings with which our Elliot is to try" an interesting experi· Heavenly Father has endowed thill ment." He is to give himself to the State. " work of converting AmericaIl "non.
-In the early days of missions the Catholics" into good subjects of the Bible woman was not. She is the prod. Papacy. He is to do this by public ad. uct of years of patient toil. It was dresses, by lectures, by sermons, by necessary first to win her from allegi- wayside talks, by the distribution of ance to heathen gods, then to teach her leaflets, etc. He is of Irish-Catholic to read the Bible, to understand its descent, and is described as " American in all his ideas and aspirations;" an truths, to imbibe its spirit and to shape " eloquent speaker;" and that we may know the Paulist father more perfectly, her life by its laws. Then came years he is further described as a "most enof spiritual growth and of increase in gaging personality, a six-footer, broadnumbers, until now the Bible woman is shouldered, manly, and with a voice recognized an an important factor in deep and resonant, in the prime of life, missionary work. A Japanese pastor about fifty, with a full, reddish.brown said of them, .' I would rather have one beard, slightly flecked with gray." of these Bible readers for a helper than With this Mr. Elliot on the one hand, a man if I could have but one. " Count· and Mr. Webb essaying to win us to ing those supported by Christians in Islam on the other, great will be our foreign lands, the Congregationalists opportunities. have over 200 Bible women, the English Zenana Society has 171, the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of the Unit. -A church in New York, Methodist ed States over 150, the Methodist For· Episcopal, has among its members the eign Missionary Society in the United following nationalities: English, Irish, States 300, It is safe to state that the Scotch, Welsh, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, French, German, Spanish, beyond Behring Straits, and where the Italian, Greek, Roumanian, Chinese, Presbyterians have a mission, and stu- African, and Hebrew. And these, all dent life must be peculiar: .. The winborn of the same Spirit, having experi- ter term is one long night. The conence of the same pardoning grace, and stant need of lamps in the school·room rejoicing in the same blessed hope, may is a matter of course. But II greater sing together, "All hail the power of difficulty is experienced in the confu- Jesus' name." No other name can I!IO sion of time which arises from the abunite. sence of the sun to mark day and night. Without a marked difference in the light -A Dakota paper gives an interview between noon and midnight, all knowlwith an Indian whose son is in the school edge of time among a barbal'ous people at Carlisle, Pa. In broken English he becomes lost. They know no difference said : "It makes him good boy ; he read between nine o'clock A.M. and nine Bible; he help me chop wood; he cure o'clock P.M. Consequently, when the my leg; he build fence; he make scbool bell rings out into the Arctic house; he make coat; he mend shoes." darkness at nine o'clock A.M., some of This is quite a list of accomplishments, the pupils have just gone to bed, and !tnd shows the young man had not been are in their first sound sleep. Roused among the white people in vain. Fur- up and brought to the school-room, they ther on he said: "He no dance any fall asleep in their seats. Many of the more; he say that foolish." pupils have come to school without their breakfasts; with sleepy bodies -Probably there are from 10,50(l to and empty stomachs, they are not in 11,000 Indian adherents of the Protes- the best condition to make progress in tant Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Con- their studies. " gregational churches in the Dakotas. Last year three large assemblages were -The American Colonization Society held of the Christian Sioux. On July was organized seventy.six years ago, be- 4th a Catholic congress gathered at gan to send colonists to Liberia four Standing Rock Agency, with 2 bishops years later, aided 50 to emigrate thither in attendance, 8 missionaries, and 800 last year, and from the beginning 22,- Indians. Of these 224 were confirmed. 135. Just now one important part of Then the last of August the Episcopal its work is found in agitating for more Convention met on the Rosebud Reser- direct, IDore frequent, and cheaper vation, attended by more than 2000 communication, in order that the Freed- Sioux, all in citizen's dress. They men may more easily exchange the formed their tepees, 470 in number, in United States for Africa. a circle half a mile in diameter, with wagons in the rear, and 2000 to 3000 -These few figures are most eloquent horses feeding on the plains beyond. About $1000 were brought in-offerings in setting forth the marvellous developby the women. The Presbyterian Indians and their missionaries held what ment of the Young Men's Christian Asthe Indians call the Paya Owohdakeunited talk-at Yankton Agency, South sociation: Dakota, September 17th to 20th. As many as 1000 were gathered at one 1866. 1892. time. During the year this Indian board of missions received $1386 from Associations reporting…. . 68 1,372 the Indian churches and kept 4 Indian missionaries in the field. Total membership …….. . 15,498 217,090 -Rev. Sheldon Jackson has this to Secretaries and other emtell of Point Barrow, Alaska, lying far ployed officera… . . . . . . . . 12 1,192 BuildiD~s …… ……….. 1 268 Value of buildings……… $10,000 $11,002,520 Total value pro)crty.. …. 90,000 12,878,595 Annual expenses of local work ………………. 50,000 1,992,328 Associations in college. . .. 1 400 Railroad secretaries em- ployed ……………. .. o 111. These figures, however, tell but part -The Board of Managers of the For. of the story. "Instead of being scat- eign Missionary Society of the Protestered bands, the associations are all or- tant Episcopal Church has sent an inganized into a great army and are work. vitation to Bishop Ferguson, of Liberia, ing together as no other religious or- at Cape Palmas, to visit the United ganization except the Roman Catholic States during the coming summer. Church, and even that is eclipsed in Bishop Ferguson is the only negro many ways." member of the American House of Bishops. He was born in Charleston, -The International Medical Mission. S. C., a little more than forty years ary Society has a charter in sight, under ago, but went to Liberia with his parwhich it can open in New York City a ents when he was five years old. He medical missionary training school, if has been educated wholly in the schools, only its friends will rally and raise $50,- college, and theological seminary which 000, to put with a like sum already the Episcopal Church maintains in that pledged, for a building and endowment. country. A preliminary circular has been sent out to all who may desire to enter such -The African Methodist Episcopal an institution. Church has a. mission in Sierra Leone with several stations, 355 church-mem. -The dedication on April 6th of the bers, 325 in Sunday-school, and lIome great granite Mormon temple in Salt 700 adherents. The mission was opened Lake has received abundant notice in in 1886. the public press; but the statement that this structurc cost $5,000,000 is to -Who says that science is not the be taken cum grano magno. One third handmaid of religion? Read this : of that sum is probably nearer the amount of money actually expended, .. The health of Rev. F. C. Klein, the since the bulk of the work was donated Methodist Protestant missionary at by· the saints. As far back as 1853 Nagoya, Japan, and president of the Brigham Young began to send pitiful Anglo-American College at that place, appeals to the faithful in Great Britain baving become impaired to such an exto contribute liberally for the purchase tent as to threaten his recall, it occurred of .. glass and shingles." Thill is the to one of his friends that his labors might eighth temple built, or founded, by the be lightened and his strength and eye- Mormons for the practice of their secret sight (which was also failing) husbanded rites-one in Ohio, two in Missouri, by the use of an Edison phonograph. one in Illinois, and four in Utah; and An appeal was made through one of the their amazing scheme contemplates the church papers for an offering for that erection of something like two dozen purpose. The next week a check came more-that is, one for each ., stake of from the president of one of the Chris- Zion." tian Endeavor societies for $150, and the instrument has been forwarded." -Our Baptist brethren of the Missionary Union sorrow, and also greatly -The Mennonite Mission Board has rejoice, for when Tremont Temple, charge of an Indian contract school at Boston, was burned March 19th the so- Halstead, Kan., with upward of 30 puciety suffered serious embarrassment pils, is doing work among the Cheyennes and loss; but then, as an offset, though and Arapahoes of Oklahoma, and bethe centennial million was not obtained, sides has in contemplation a mission yet when the books were closed the among the Moquis of Arizona. The sum total of gifts and pledges had amount expended last year was $9901, reached $851,375, with good hope of of which $3913 was received from the large additions later. government.
-In a recent issue of the Central Pres- byterian (Richmond, Va.) a mission arti· cle sets out with a Te Deum and closes ulation oi the district are now nomiwith a Miserere, and because : nally Christian. It is believed that he had just completed the revision of his ,. Never in the history of our church translation of the whole Bible into has the call to put forth every effort in Cree, into which language he had also our foreign mission work been so loud. translated the Prayer Book and> a hymnso inspiring as at this time. The op- book. portunities set before us are unparalleled in our experience, The tokens -The London Society has ordered a of God's favor have never been so steamer, to cost $80,000, for use in the rich. Twenty-seven missionaries are South Seas, and calls upon the young before our E:Kecutive Committee to be people to undertake the serious task of sent out as a new force-the largest providing the funds required. number ever offered in one year. Among them are 4 accomplished medi- -The Propagation Society (S. P. G.) cal men-l for the Congo, 1 for Korea, reports a total income for last year of 2 for China," $635,745.
And the inviting openings are named -The United Presbyterians report in and described through a half column; a single month 95 baptisms in their but over against all this is the report of mission fields: in Manchuria 63, in a " heavy falling off in contributions." Kaffraria 18, and in Old Calabar 14; and a most earnest call has been issued -The United Brethren are passing for 11 additional missionaries, 6 men through a time of sore trial, for not and 5 women, to strengthen and enlarge only has their African mission been the work. sadly weakened again and again by death, but also, on March 9th, Rev. ASIA. B. F. Booth, D.D., the faithful and efficient secretary of the Missionary So- Turkey.-The Hebrews who during ciety, was called from earth. recent years have returned to the Prom- ised Land have not found it flowing EUROPE. with milk and honey, but, on the con- trary, rags and pinching hunger are the -The English Baptists set out to raise lot of thousands, so that their benevoa $500,000 centennial thank-offering. lent brethren elsewhere are compelled which March 20th had reached $555,- to raise large sums for their relief. 000, and later intelligence is to the effect that $625,000 have been pledged. -It is pleasant to know that, after Verily, the zeal and good works of Carey long delay, our Government has taken have not been forgotten. the Sultan sternly to task for the out- rages and destruction of property in -The China Inland Mission sent out Marsovan, and that the costly seminary 57 missionaries between August, 1892, is likely to be rebuilt erelong with and February of this year. Of these Turkish gold. 25 are from Great Britain, 6 from America, and 5 from Australia. For -Rev. H. N. Barnum, of the Amerithree months 113 baptisms are re- can Board, writes to the New York Obported. server of the crushing calamity which has befallen Malatia in Eastern Asia -The Church Missionary Society has Minor. Three years ago the city, of received intelligence of the death of 50,000, was desolated by fire, a year the Rev. John Horden, D.D., Bishop of later a second time, and now an earth- MoosonGe. Dr. Horden went out to quake has killed or wounded some 600 Moose Fort on Hudson's Bay in 1851, and left the bulk of the population desand was consecrated in 1872. Through titute of homes, while the church, the his efforts the whole of the Indian pop- parsonage, and the 4, school buildings are in ruins. The people are heroic, 1890. Taking all the societies together, but desperately poor, and large help is the foreign and Eurasian missionaries required. increased from 479 to 711 ; the native helpers from 1643 to 3278; pupils in India.-It appears that evangelistic schools from 40,897 to 62,414 ; and pu. work, after the American pattern, is to pils in zenanas from 9132 to 32,659. be pursued in heatheI!- lands. The Rev. Dennis Osborne, who became well -A sign of the reviving activity of known in this country while in attend- the Buddhist religion is seen in the ance some years ago in the Methodist work of the Buddha Gaya Maha Bodhi General Conference, "has been ap- Society, the objects of which are the es· pointed by Bishop Thoburn general tablishment of a Buddhist monastery evangelist for all India. During the and a Buddhist college, the publication past year he has given much of his time of Buddhist literature in Indian verto Hindustani evangelistic work, for naculars, and the support of Buddhist which he is well prepared. " missionaries at Buddha Gay a, or Bud Gya, in Behar, India, the spot where –At a meeting of the North India Gautama, sitting under the great ban- Conference of the Methodist Episcopal yan tree, B.C. 588, is said to have re- Church, held at Bareli, 48 men were or- ceived his call. From this place it is dained to the office of the Christian intended to start a gigantic mission for ministry. All save 3 of these were na- the propagation of the faith throughout tives of India. This is in the district the world. It is intended to unite the where, in 1892, 18,000 baptisms were Buddhist countries-China, Japan, Siam, made. These men have been: in train- Cambodia, Nepaul, Burmah, Ceylon, ing for many years, and are believed to Chlttagong, Thibet. and Asakan-in this be thoroughly fitted for ordination. movement; and tho secretary of the so· ciety represents that it has been cor· -The Lodiana Mission of the Ameri- dially welcomed hy the educated Hindus can Presbyterian Church reports a total of India. Our Colonel Olcott is director of 266 additions on confession of faith and chief adviser, and Sir Edwin Ar. during the last year, making the roll of nold is said to have expressed sympacommunicants 948. The per cent of thy with it. increase is far beyond anything hitherto reported. Many of the additions were China.-Dr. Morrison died in 1834, in the districts connected with the sev- after 27 yeari! of incessant toil, and dureral stations. ing all that time had not heen allowed to hold a public service; but yet every -In this vast peninsula only 1 man Sunday, behind locked doors, with a in 10 can read and write, and 1 woman few natives, he had read and expounded in 190, while among the Christians the gospels. With that fact in mind one third of the men cau read and scan these figures, relating to the inwrite and one seventh of the women crease of church-members: and girls. Of the Hindoos 1 man in 10 is possessed of scholarship to this ex- In 1842 there were …………. 6 tent and 1 woman in 267 ; of the Mo- .. , ……… 350 hammedans 1 in 15 of the men and 1 in '. " 1852 … ……… 320 of the women. 1865 ~ 2,000 ……. ~ …… 13,035 -An industrial school for Moham- " 1876 " " ………….. 28,000 medan women, the only one of the " 1886 " kind in Southern India, has been estab- " ……… … 37,287 lished by the American Lutheran Mis- " 1889 sion. " 1892 …………. 50,000 -Woman's work in India had a wonderful development between 1881 and -A gentleman once saw in an out-of.
the.way place about 20 Chinese babies tied to stakes on a patch of green grass.
The length of each rope was about ten feet, and the stakes were far enough it. Latterly the German Government apart so that the babies wouldn't get has been reduuing Arab slave dealers to all tangled up. They seemed very subjection within its sphere of influence happy, and while he stood watching in Southwest Africa, anrl have succeeded them he did not hear one of them cry. in limiting their operations to the The mothers were at work in a rice-field country lying between Stanley Falls and a little way off. Lake Tanganyika. The only outlet left for the IIIave drivers is eastward. Henry -Dr. Legge, the eminent Chinese M. Stanley says in a late Harper that a scholar, now connected with Oxford railway from Victoria Lake to the Ind. Uni,ersity in England, says: " I have ian Ocean would extinguish the traffic, been reading Chinese books for more and would command an area of 150,000 than forty years, and any general re- square miles.of British territory. If he quirement to love God, or the mention can belt the Dark Continent from east of anyone as loving Him, has yet to to west and Cecil Rhodes project a line come for the first time under my eye." north and south, it will ensure its ulti. mate civilization. -The Ohinese Recorde:r hears with deep solicitude that the International -The Protestants in Uganda have Missionary Alliance is to send 200 two thirds of the oountry allotted to Swedish missionaries to China, at the them, the other third being divided berate of 20 each month, and with only tween the Roman Catholics and the $250 a year for salary and expenses. Mohammedans, as they are less numer. ous. The mission work is going on -One of the ablest. native preachers most prosperously, the greatest danger in the Foochow conference, though beiug that the political supremacy of offered $50 a month to enter the con- the Protestants will lead many to prosular service refused, preferring to con. fess themselves Christians from oorrupt tinue preaching with but $3 a month. motives. Within a period of about eighteen months, ending in September, -Thibet continues to be inaccessible. 1892, the Bible Society delivered to the No missionary is allowed to cross its Church MissionAry Society about 25,000 frontier. But its needs are not lost copies of Scriptures for use in Uganda. sight of. In our last, mention was This shows in a striking way the inter. made of a Roman Catholic who had est of the people in the Bible, but is hung about its borders for years, and very far from indicating its full extent. had prepared a dictionary and a trans· lation of St. John. The Methodists -In the report of Lovedale for 1892, have long had a mission immediately it is stated that the church, which was outside the country, and a flank move- organized in 1886, has now a member. ment from the northeast is now being ship of 150. During the year 40 new undertaken by the agents of the China communicants were received, 33 young Inland Society. The Moravians, too, men and 7 young women. Besides have been long watching and waiting, these, 19 Gallas were admitted by bapbusy meantime with a translation of tism, 14 boys and 5 girls, on profession the Scriptures. Those barred gates will of their faith. erelong be seen standing wide open.
AFRICA. -The East African Mission of the American Board is to be moved from -In 1885 the leading powers of the the malarious and unsympathetic neighworld gave their recognition to the borhood of the Portuguese coast town Congo Free State, one of its duties Inhambane to the healthier interior of being the suppression of the slave trade. Gazaland. In its new location it will Zanzibar has done something in this be under English protection, and will direction. Morocco and Tripoli foster start with a grant of a traot of land as earth and straw giving plaoe to edifioes large as an ordinary farm. of stone and briok. One of the first -The Hermannsbnrg missionaries substantial buildings was intended to among the Zulus, after holding a con- hold the fine library of the Universities ferenoe, decided to abolish the prevail- Missions. But before the building was ing oustom- among the natives of ex- oompleted a fire destroyed the 1500 vol· ohanging girls and women for oattle I umes which the missionaries had aoou· Strange to say, the Christian oonverts mulated. Now they are hungry for oy- .are not willing to submit to this inno- olopmdias, works of soienoe, grammars vation, and have dllmanded of the mis- and dictionaries of vario1!" foreign lansionaries to prove to them from the guages, books of travel, poetry, history, Scriptures that it would be unlawful and standard fiotion.
for them to sell their daughters for oat- -Miinzenberger in his" Abyssinien" tle. If the above statement is true, it holds that the regeneration of Abyssinia looks as though some second conver· is the first step toward gaining Afrioa sions were in order. for modem civilization and the Gospel; that in these old seats and oentres of -The promoters of the Zambesi In. Christian culture, literature and learn. dustrial Missions have a plan for mak. ing, the best base of operations can be iDg missions self-supporting after the found, from which the work oould exfirst outlay in establishing them. It is tend in all direotions. proposed to raise $7500 to purchase land-which can be bought in some dis- tricts at the rate of 1000 acres for $250 -In a letter written by Dr. Living- -and by native labor to raise crops, stone in 1870, just brought to light in which when realized would pay the oost England, the explorer oonfesses that if of missionary wO'rk in the district. It he had known all the hunger, toil, and is believed that by means of the project hardship in his exploration, he " might there would be planted in the heart of have preferred a straight waistooat, the Africa; a self-supporting, colonizing and head shaved and a blister on it to under- Christianizing element which would be taking Sir Roderiok's task. My ohilof great value to the people, and which dren, however, will Bee that I have been would help to develop the vast re- a stout-hearted servant of Him who en· sources of the continent. dowed me with the wisdom, taot and -'Siokening accounts oome of deso- pluck of an explorer, as He did the lating slave·raiding in the region lying workmen of the Mosaio tabernaole and to the north of Lake Nyassa. Arabs others in all ages."
are the acoursed aotors, and their plan -A letter received in London from is to surround a village by night, place Sierre Leone says that the vigilant sup. a warrior at each door, order the in- pression of the slave trade along the mates out, spear the men and boys and coast, and the consequent inability of oapture the women. Of the latter 300 the warlike races to dillpose of their oapwere thus taken in a single village. tives at a profit, has oaused a revival in -A pathetio appeal for books comes the most terrible form of the scenes of from Central Africa. In Lake Nyassa slaughter and bloodshed which formerly is Lukoma Island, oontaining only made every chief town of the interior & twelve square mUes, but more densely Golgotha.
populated than many places in Europe. It is universally admitted in the settle.
Missionaries have lived there for years, ments that the approaching extinotion and many of the natives arB able to read of the slave trade in Western Afrioa is and write. The island has recently making warfare more meroiless than it .b~n comple.t.el'y transformed, huts of used to be.
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1891
HUGUENOT FEMALE SEMINARY. WELLINGTON, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH
MISSIONARY REVIEW. OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIV. No. 6.-0Zd Serie.~.–JUNE.–VOL. IV. No. 6.-New Series.
THE MIRACLES OF MISSIONS.-XO. XVIII.
J [EDITORIAL, A. T. P.
THE LIGHT AT THE CAPE OF GOOD ·HOPE.
" IF you want most to serve your race," said Mary Lyon, " go where no one else will go, and do what no one else will do."
We propose to draw· in profile the outline of one of the most wonderful and fascinating stories of modern missions-the narrative of the founding of the Huguenot Seminary at Wellington, Cape Colony.
Wellington, about forty miles from Cape Town, is a gem set in a ring ~f mountains-the Drakenstein and Paarl ranges. It is now more' than two centuries since some three hundred Huguenots, who had fled from France to Holland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, accepted the invitation of the Dutch East India Company, and settled at the Cape. What the Puritans were to America, these devoted refugees became to the Dark Continent.
·By law Dutch was the language of the colony; and so, in a few generations, the French ceased to be their language, and almost the nationality of these refugees was lost. Early in this century the colony passed into the hands of Great Britain, and the Dutch Reformed churches. already established, became largely supplied with Scotch Presbyterian pastors. .
One of these was Rev. Andrew Murray, who was settled over the congregation at GraafI Reinet. He married a Germano-Huguenot lady, and five of their sons now preach in the colony, while four of their daughters are wives of ministers. The second son, also called Andrew, is the pastor of the church at Wellington, and the now famous author of the most pr«>ciolls devotional books which perhaps during the past half century have been issued from the English press.
This man of God, Andrew Murray, nearly twenty years ago, buried two young children at his African home; and, as Mrs. Murray expressed it, " their hands seemed emptied and ready for some work with which the Lord was waiting to fill them." The bereaved husband and wife went in December, 1872, to the seaside to rest, and there they read together the
THE MIRACLES OF MISSIONS
marvellous life of Mary Lyon. So thrilled were they by that story of heroism, that they sought to obtain everything that could further info}m them of the subsequent history of the Holyoke Seminary and its pupils, and eagerly devoured the story of Fidelia Fiske, the Mary J~yon of Persia.
Just at this time the descendants of those Huguenot refugees living at Wellington were proposing to build some monument or memorial.to their ancestors; and Mr. Murray was strangely and strongly impressed that the best memorial they could rear was just such a school for their daughters. The schools scattered through South Africa were neither such as the mind nor morals of the girls needed; few of them were fitted to train immortal souls for service here or glory hereafter. Every indication of human need and Divine Providence seemed to point to this as the time and place for a new Holyoke. And, after much thought, consultation, and prayer, letters were written to the Massachusetts Holyoke, asking for a graduate to found a similar school at the Cape of Good Hope.
These letters awakened unusual interest at the parent seminary, and were put into the hands of Miss Abbie P. Ferguson, a graduate of the class of 1856, who was at that time conducting a very successful work in New Haven, Conn. Her mind was 80 deeply impressed that God was calling her to Africa, that she could not rest until she had laid herself at the Lord's feet, to go wherever He might lead. She breathed a prayer that, if He was indeed calling her to Wellington, another might be found to share the work; and just then Miss Anna E. Bliss, of the class of 1862, offered herself as a companion in labor. Just at this time, across the Atlantic, special prayer was arising that Jehovah Jireh would provide a teacher, and so once more prayer and its answer joined, in a blessed harmony, man's performance and God's purpose. Before the letter~ reached Wellington, telling of the decision of these teachers, Mr. Murray, with characteristic faith, had sent passage-money to America; and when the news of the decision of Miss Ferguson and Miss Bliss reached the colonists, the open letters were bedewed with the tears of thanksgiving. They had asked one teacher, and God had given two.
Mr. Murray rehearsed the whole story of this marked leading of God, commended the proposed work to the Lord in prayer, and pledges were given on the spot to insure the support of the new school. Though not a rich people, in a few weeks $6,000 had been given by the Wellingtonians alone, one widow giving one sixteenth of the whole amount-all her little patrimony.
Miss Ferguson and her companion sailed for Africa in September, 1873, and arriven at Cape Town in about eight weeks. They found that a large building with grounds had been bought for the school, the life of Mary Lyon had been translated into Dutch, and many young people were ready to enter as pupils into the new Huguenot Seminary, or as teachers, to seek higher fitness for their calling. The seminary was formally opened, January 19th, 1874, anq the large assemblage which that day prayerfully committed the work to the – Lord will never be forgotten. During the first term there were forty Rtudents from fifteen to forty years of age; and the Bible and prayer were from the first the characteristic features of the school life, the first hour of each day being given to instruction in the Holy Word, and a half hour in the day beibg reserved for the quiet of personal communion with God.
The devout and earnest purpose of these teachers was to educate Christian character. God honors those who honor Him. One morning the Scrip~ ture lesson was on the new birth, and before that day had gone thirteen had taken their place on the Lord's side. Even those whom candor compelled to confess that they were unsaved, could not rest content without salvation, and when another meeting was called for those who felt that they were Christ's, everyone in the school came. And after all these years have put the confession to the test, nearly everyone has remained faithful, and not a few have been filling positions of singular usefulness.
Our space will not permit more than an outline of a history now covering nearly a score of yearil. But, as might be expected, the saved became saviours. Children were gathered from the street, and 8 Sunday-school was formed ; through the children access was obtained to their parents; cottage meetings-as many as fourteen, in or near the village-were conducted by the young ladies j the navvies and their families were reached by the same consecrated workers, and Wellington Seminary became a fountain of living waters.
The seminary building became too strait for the growth of the institution, and a new building became a necessity j its corner-stone was laid November 19th, 1874, the two buildings together costing $40,000. Two more teachers were sent for, and Miss Wells and Miss Bailey came from America, Noyember, 1874, and soon after, Miss Spijker, from Holland, to teach Dutch and French.
In July, 1875, the new building was ready for use j the pupils increased from forty to ninety, and the school was divided into two departmentsone preparatory. In December, 1875, Miss Landfear came from New Haven to share the growing burden of work, and still later Miss Brewer, of Stockbridge, Mass. j in 1877, Miss Cummings and Miss Knapp were added to the corps of instructors, and the standard of the school kept rising higher and higher both intellectually and spiritually.
During 1878, stimulated by the reports of the Ten Y-ears' Work of the Woman's Board of Missions in America, the Huguenot Missionary Society was organized, and became speedily the parent of many mission circles. Missionary offerings had been the habit at the weekly devotional meetings, and had been sent to Mrs. Schauffier, in Austria, to Dr. Bernardo and Miss Annie Macpherson in London, and to the Basuto, Natal, and East Indian missions. But now the work took organized form, and before the year closed a member of the school offered herself as a missionary, and subsequently went as their representative to the heathen in the Trans~ vaal. That same year-1878-the first graduating class left the Huguenot Seminary. To trace the after-careers of these four graduates may give some hint of the streams which flow from this fountain. One of the four (Miss Malherbe) was next year a teacher in her Alma Mater, and then took the principlllship of Prospect Seminary at Prretoria in the Transvaal ; Mi~s De Leeuw and Miss Mader started a boardiug-school at Bethlehem, in the Orange Free .State,similar to the Wellington Seminary; and during the first year had five more pupils than Wellington at the corresponding period of its history ; Miss Wilson went to teach in the Rockland Seminary at Cradock. In December, 1879, seven more young ladies received diplomas, and all became teachers. Meanwhile God continued to bestow His grace. and again in 1879 nearly all the inmates of the school became disciples of Christ. These nearly twenty years have been marked by a constant growth. In 1882 there was opened a model school, and a normal department was organized. Rooks, and chemical and philosophical apparatus, a Williston observatory and telescope, etc., were furnished by generous friends; and far and wide the" daughters" of Miss Ferguson and her fellow teachers scattered to diffuse new blessings.
In April, 1880, Miss Ferguson left for rest and change, and visited her native land, returning the next year. And in 1882 another building was erected, to accommodate .about forty more pupils-boarders; and during the same year, as already intimated, another building was opened for a model school for the training of the younger children of the village j and the pupils of the normal class have practice in the art of teaching, and can learn the most approved methods-kindergarten, etc.
The pressure of pupils and too little room made it necessary again to enlarge, and a cottage adjoining the school grounds was purchased. In i885 Miss Cummings, of Strafford, Vermont, one of the teachers, came home for a year's visit, and secured from Mr. Goodnow, of Worcester, a building costing some £3,000. The upper story, to be used as a chapel, will seat five hundred, and the lower floor is devoted to art-room and scientific class-rooms.
Last year the applications were so many it was again necessary to provide more room, and while hesitating whether to build or rent rooms near the seminary, the principal of a girls' school at the PaarL a village some eight miles distant, applied to the trustees to purchase' his building, failing health making it necessary that he and his wife should give up the work. Some of the village people were very anxious the school should come under the influence of the Huguenot Seminary, and after much thought and prayer the purchase was made. This school takes the younger pupils, 'making it a preparatory department, and one of the American teachers superintends it. This gives more room at Wellington for advanced pupils. The schools are called Huguenot Seminary, Paarl, and Huguenot Seminary, Wellington. There are now in the two schools over four hundred pupils. They have the same board of trustees, and are under the same principlll, The expense of buildings and grounds has outrun their income, and they have felt keenly the pressure of debt. But the friends of Christian education in the colony have responded nobly to the call for aid, and at different times Parliament has granted them appropriations amounting to £2,000, so that during the last year they had much rejoicing in Wellington over the accom- plishment of the long-desired freedom from debt. There is some indebted· ness on the Paarl school yet; but Dr: Dale, or Sir Langham Dale, the Superintendent of Education for the colony, gives them encouragement to hope that Government will give them help by and by.
In 1888 Mrs. H. B. Allen, of Meriden, Conn., a sister of Miss Ferguson, sent a circular letter to her sister's classmates asking for help to reduce their indebtedness, it being her sister's" jubilee year," and the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the Huguenots in South Africa. They were making a special effort ~o " go free" that year. Mrs. Allen secured about $200 in money, but interest and prayer which were, perhaps, worth more. And then faith was rewarded, for early in 1889 the grant from Government came.
The writer does not know just the number of missionaries who have gone out from the school, but there have been hundreds of .teachers.
Miss Ferguson made a famous journey in 1887-8. In October, 1887, she left the seminary for her year's vacation. The first three months of it she spent in visiting the missionary stations in the Midland and Eastern provinces of the colony, where some of the pupils are located as missionaries and teachers. She returned to Wellington in December, and met two of her pupils from Basutoland, who had just graduated, and returned with them to their home. They are the danghters of French missionaries who are in charge of the Protestant mission of Basutoland. They went by train from Wellington to Kimberley (where the diamond mines are), spent several days with school daughters there. A bullock wagon, drawn by fourteen oxen belonging to the missionaries, was sent from Moujah to meet them. Leaving Kimberley on the 28th of December, they reached Morijah on the lOth of January, outspanning in the heat of the day, and travelling often by moonlight. Two Christian natives, who had long been in the mission family, had charge of the party-Eleazer and Nkloroso.
I have before me the plan of. the journey as Miss Ferguson sent it from Morijah. Here are extracts from her journal: " February 5th at Hermon (Basutoland) ;. February 12th at Mofukas for the baptism of a sister of the old chief Mosesh, over eighty years old, and others. February 19th, Leribe, Mr. Colliard's old station. February 27th, Bethlehem, Orange Free State, with Mrs. Theron, one of our Huguenot teachers. March 3d, Heilbron, Orange Free State, where four of my Huguenot daughters liye. March 8th, Freeport. Orange Free State, the minister and wife from Wellington. March 12th, Potchefstroom, Transvaal, where I have several daughters. Here Mrs. Gonin, wife of the missionary at Saul's Poort, meets me with her bullock wagon, and we go on to Rustenberg, where one of my daughters is in the school. Her father is the principal. March 19th to April 20th, Saul's Poort, Mabie's Kraal, ~nd l1ochuli ; in all these places we have girls who ~re missionaries. The last of April I go to Prretoria (Transvaal), where we have girls teaching j then on to Wakkustroom and Utrecht with Mr. Murray's sister. The last of May to Rorke's Drift, where my friend, the Baroness Posse has a little mission work of her own. June and July I expect to spend in Natal with the American missionaries."
Miss Ferguson was detained by rains and full rivers, so that she did not leave Mochuli (which is half-way between the parallel 24° S. and the tropic of Capricorn, and half-way between meridian 26° and 27° E. just north of the Natwane River, almost in the torrid zone. It is not on the map) until May. Pietermaritzberg, the capital of the Transvaal, was the only place where she spent a night at a hotel. She arrived Saturday night, and her letter to friends had not been received; but she was found on the Sabbath and carried away to the home of Christian friends.
Early in August she sailed from Durban to Port Elizabeth, went to King William's Town, and on up to Graat! Reinet; then to Kimberley again in the interest of the mission work so near her heart, which has resulted in the Mission House, cared for by three of the Huguenot daughters; and back to Wellington the last of September.
Every letter speaks of the marvellous kindness everywhere received, and the wonderful openings for work. We have not spoken of the " Chautauqua circles" that have been formed all through South Africa. Miss Landfear, one of the Huguenot teachers, is the secretary for South Africa, and is introducing a class of reading that it! educating and elevating those who have left school. A circle has been formed among the native boys at Morijah.
If any of our readers will, on the map, follow this remarkable journey of Miss Ferguson through Southern Africa, they will see how many hundreds of miles she went; and let it be remembered tbat only one night in all tbat journey was spent at a hotel; in every other case she was the guest of "her daugbters"-the young ladies wbo had graduated from Wellington and gone into all that dark land to become teachers, missionaries, wives of godly men and ministers of the Gospel, an~ who are thus turning many a " Valley of Desolation" and barren waste of paganism into the Lord's garden! Are we not right in calling Wellington's Huguenot Seminary" the Light at the CapeY" To-day Miss Ferguson has under her care four hundred pupils.
We must add a word as to the progress of education in other parts of the land, which is largely due to the influence of Wellington.
In 1874, the year when the Huguenot Seminary began its work, Rev. J.
Neethling, of Stellenbosch, asked for a teacher from America, on behalf of the school committee, and Miss Gilsou came in response to the call in November of tbe same year. Beforethe year 1875 closed a boarding department was opened ; and the large and flourishing seminary now does for the Lord most excellent and efficient work both in training intellects and educating Christian hearts for the service of the Kingdom.
During 1875 a request for two teachers was sent from Worcester by Rev. William Murray, the minister there, to America. And, as at Wellington, the spirit of faith and prayer anticipated the arrival of the teachers in preparing for the school and sending forward the passage-money. The Misses Smith (two sisters), of Sunderland, Mass., responded. In April, 1876, the the seminary building at Worcester was completed. At the opening, Rev. Andrew Murray spoke on the great need of multiplying such Christian schools in Africa, and it was determined to ask for six more teachers from over the seas.
At the same time. Miss Helen Murray began work at Graaff Reinet, taking charge of the Midland Seminary, with twenty-five boarders and as many day scholars, until Miss Thayer and Miss Ayres arrived six months Jater. A reVival during the first term put the significant seal of God's approval on the work at its very inception, and nearly all the pupils rejoiced in Jesus. In 1876 Miss Lester left Woodstock, Conn., for the Bloemhof Seminary at Stellenbosch, and in April, four years after, was transferred to a similar work in Standerton, in the Transvaal.
During 1877 Messrs. Andrew and Charles Murray visited America, and in answer to their appeal for teachers, thirteen more went to Africa that year, one of whom went eventually to Swellendam. And when, in September, 1877, the Messrs. Murray returned, Rev. George R. Ferguson, brother to the founder of the Huguenot Seminary at Wellington, came with them, to take in charge a new school or institute for training of young men as evangelists and missionaries ; and has since been engaged in that work at Wellington.
When this noble band of workers arrived in 1877 to reinforce the educational mission work in Africa, a feast of rejoicing and thanksgiving filled an " eight days" like the feasts of ancient Israel. The windows were illumined, the flowers hung in festoons or bloomed in bouquets as on an Easter morning, and the Lord was magnified in the praises of His own. One day twenty-seven Americans dined together in the building where, four years before, two teachers began their pioneer work. The teachers at Graaf Reinet, too far away to participate in person, flashed greetings over the electric wires.
After a few days the new teachers began to disperse to Worcester, Graaf Reinet, Stellenbosch, Beaufort West, Swellendam, etc. Miss Clary chose Prretoria, because the work there was most difficult and discouraging; and Miss Ruggles undertook with her the journey to this field fifteen hundred miles beyond Cape Town.
We can follow no further this fascinating story. In 1880 eleven schools had already been established in South Africa under the care of these American teachers; eight in Cape Colony, two in the Transvaal, and one in the Orange Free State. Thirty-eight ladies had, previous to 1881, gone out from America to take charge of this work of education ; and the devoted man of God, Rev Andrew Murray, has generally had the privilege of applying for teachers, while Mrs. H. B. Allen, of Meriden, Conn. (sister of Miss Ferguson), has co-operated in the selection of those who should go.
No words can expr/ilss the blessing which has come through this period of almost twenty years to the whole of Africa through these grand Christian schools. They are building light houses, not at the Cape only, but all through the southern half of the Dark Continent. We doubt whether any work ever done for God has had, from the inception, more signal tokens of His approbation and blessing.
. Those who have visited Graaf Reinet have remarked that it stands close by the" Valley of Desolation," so called from its absolute barrenness and the absence of life. In fact, Graaf Reinet is itself simply a section of that barren waste reclaimed by culture and irrigation. How completely the whole aspect of this. part of the valley has been transfigured may be inferred from the fact that in the garden of Rev. Charles Murray eighty different species or varieties of roses may be ·found in bloom. May thiR not be a precious symbol and type of what the Huguenot Seminary and its companion schools are doing for the wild wastes of the Dark Continent, flashing out rays to illumine the midnight, and sending forth streams to irrigate the barrenness, until where darkness and dearth abounded there shall be a radiance as of a morning without clouds, and a fertility as of an earthly Eden !
" The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom like the garden of the Lord."
[Apropos of the foregoing, we gladly publish a letter from Rev. George S. Malan, of Montagu, Cape Colony, giving additional information about the work in South Africa.-EDIToR.] The Dutch Reformed Church of the Cape Colony counts upward of 100 congregations, with an aggregate membership of about 90,000 ; the number of souls being about 200,00'0. Our ministers are trained at the Theological College * of our church at Stellenbosch. Some four years ago one of the settled ministers of our church (Rev. Helm) was led by the Lord to give up his congregation in the colony and devote himself to mission work. Our church had already at the time five mission stations outside the borders of the colony. These were each under the superintendence of a resident white missionary, assisted by several lady workers as teachers, and by evangelists (native) for the work among the outlying kraals. To one of these stations, situated in the north of the Transvaal, our brother minister went as assistant to our veteran missionary there, who after nearly twenty * It was fouuded in 1859, and has since then supplied the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa with upward of 120 ministers. years of ,unceasing toil in the mission field, had grown weak and aged in the Master's service.
Our people were never adverse to mission work; and as a whole our church contributed well for the cause.
This was, however, a new departure. A minister giving up his congre- gation to go to the heathen was something unknown before. A new im- pulse seemed to be given in that way to the good cause. More liberal con- tributions followed, and greater interest. This was the result also of a visit to the colony, and of addresses given everywhere by our veteran mis- sionary (Mr. Hofmeyer), who was enabled to leave his work for a short time through the assistance afforded him by Brother Helm.
At the same time, or thereabout, a society was started among the theo!
logical students of the theological college, known as the Students' Mis- sionary Society, with the object of getting contributions for the cause, but most of all to create a love for mission work among the future m~isters of the church. '
Not long after the ministers of the church formed among themselves a Ministers' Missionary Society.' This society has since sent out a~d is now supporting two missionaries in Nyassaland, in the vicinity of the sta- tions of the Scotch church. One of these missionaries is a son of one of the ministers of our ,Church, a young Ulan of ability and promise, who passed through his full theological course here, and after that had a few years' training in medicine, etc., at the Edinburgh University. Last year -especiaI1y through the influence of some American teachers from Mt.
Holyoke, engaged as such at the lIuguenot Seminary, Wellington, a large and flourishing educational institute for young ladies-a Woman's Mis- sionary Society was formed, with several branches throughout the colony, for the purpose specially of sending out and supporting lady helpers to the missionaries at our various mi~sion stations.
Toward the end of last year the session of our Synod took place.
Brother Helm from the Transvaal mission field (Zoutpausberg) was present.
lie earnestly advocated the claims of the Banyai. This tribe of Kaffirs in- habit a very healthy and fertile country north ot' the Transvaal and east of Matabeleland. The king of the latter country, a savage despot, con- siders the Banyai as his slaves, and has hitherto, for obvious reasons, re- fused evangelists the right of settling and laboring there. Attempts made by our church in previous years to send evangelists there proved vain, and even fatal to the life of one of them. But what hath the Lord wrought!
The British Soutb African Chartered Company obtains from the imperial Government a ~harter to settle in and develop those 'regions, especially Mashonaland, which lies more or less in between Matabeleland and Banyai- land. This company goes there with an armed police force, several hun- dreds strong, for the protection of its chartered rights, builds forts, etc., in short, colonizes the country, and in this way forms an effectual barrier for the Banyai against the oppressions and despotism of the Matabele. All at once the Lord has opened Banyailand. Brother Helm had just returned from a visit to that country when he appeared in the Synod. And now the Synod has decided, on his urgent appeals, to send, as soon as possible, three or four more ordained missionaries, men fully trained at the theological college, to occupy the open field-some in Banyailand, and others to stay at Zoutpausberg, and so enable the church to establish there a Training Institute for native evangelists, who by the side of the white mis. sionaries can do the great work waiting for us to be done there. Surely the Lord reigneth among the heathen! His blessed Kingdom must and will come also in those dark regions of South Africa. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly !
MONTAGU, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA, January 26, 1891.
Dr. Arthur Mitchell, of New York, says of the rise and progress of woman's work for woman: "Great was the surprise of the entire Presbyterian Church when the first year the women sent to the Board *27,000, their greater snrprise when the next year it was $67,000, the third year, $87,000, the fourth year, $96,000, increasing the amount each year of the fifteen, except in one instance, until it has reached $250,000." Dr. Mitchell told of a good old doctor of divinity who, being on a committee on missions in the General Assembly, told in the report of what the women had done, gracefully Ilnd kindly giving them all due credit, but adding in humorous fashion, " You know the women are good collectors." "Can it be possible," thought Dr. Mitchell, who sat there listening, "that the good doctor does not know more of the sources from whence these women have their strength. I' They have three never-failing fountains from which to draw. The first, Organization. The work has been done systematically, until nearly all our churches have Woman's Foreign Missionary Societies, and even the children have their mission bands. Second, Information. They are far in advance of the men's Board in the number and character of their publications. They have, among other things, given to the world one of the best books on missions ever written, the " Historical Sketches of Missions." Influenced by Woman's Work, the Board improved the Foreign Missionary, until it seemed to have taken on a new life. Third, is the Sympathy existing between the women at home, who are interested in missions, and the missionaries in the field.
Dr. Smith, of Baltimore, says that he has, closely observed, from its be. ginning, this work of woman for woman, and at the close of fifteen years of trial and triumph, rejoiced to say that woman had found her tl'lle sphere in work for the Master, which leads her to the foot of the cross. The cross has always had a strange attraction for woman. Yes, even that plain wooden cross on Calvary drew all the Marys about it. This society has proved its right to a new name, Esther, the morning star, which shines brightly just hefore the dawning, and ushers in the glorious Sun of Rillhteousness.
TIlEl D1VINE AND SUPERNATUltAL IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
THE DIVINE AND SUPERNATURAL IN FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
IF anywhere we might expect to see Divine and providential manifesta- tions rising toward the supernatural, it is in the spbere of foreign missions, because they, in a pre-eminent degree, seek to honor God, express the mind and purposes of Christ, have their spheres of operation amid perils and dangers. encountered only that error and evil may be overthrown and God have the glory, which is His supreme righ~.
The missionary enterprise bears two features distinctly expressive of the Divine presence and blessing. First, these only can explain the origin, his- tory, and progress of the enterprise. Then there occur in its affairs a series of incidents which more than point at personal and supernatural intervention.
1. God must have put it into the hearts of His servants to form these societies. They are not after the manner of men, since they involve out- lay, trouble, responsibility, yet forbid any of the usual incentives of a return in money, honor, or personal aggrandizement.
2. These enterprises were all begun after much prayer. They not only were born and cradled in an atmosphere of prayer, but have lived in such an atmosphere.
3. There are manifold evidences of Divine interposition and guidance in the manner in which obstacles have been removed, openings made for their efforts, and snitable agencies for the most varied spheres provided.
4. In many instances the agents to begin the work and to nurture it into strength, both at home and abroad, have evidently been called of God and prepared for the spheres they have filled. So was it with Count Zinzendorf, the father and founder of the Christian Knowledge Society j the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel j the Baptist and London Societies j the American Board j the first Danish mission, and Mr. Hudson Taylor's. So was it with the pioneers: Hans Engedi, in Greenland j Zeigenbalg, Plutschan, Schultze, and Schwartz, in South India; Carey, ifarchman, Ward, and Duff, in Bengal ; Mor~ison, in China; Judson, in .Burmah j Moffat, in South Africa, and many others.
5. The manner in which, now for some three generations, this work has been sustained, and with steadily growing liberality, has nothing in the history of human effort to compare with it for disinterestedness, persistence, and widespread self-denial. It has come to pass that after years of detraction, some millions of people, unusually thoughtful and considerate of their expenditllre-most.ly belonging to the lower middle class of society -contribute spontaneously for th~ love of Christ, almost all in small sums. an aggregate amount of two and one half millions a year. (2 Chron. 5: 11-14.) 6. A Divine gnidance and control is surely seen in the direction Of tlJese ·societies. Considering that they h:l'1." had to originate policies; to enter on spheres but little known; to discover the best methods of opera- tion; to meet all manner of difficulties; to conduct their operations in countries most diverse, ·among all classes and conditions of non-Christian 'people, and to disburse annually an aggregate sum which has grown from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, one may marvel at the few great mistakes that have been made, the general good sense and practica- bility of their policies, and the honor and integrity with which their affairs have been conducted. No class of commercial, financial, or national under- takings can show a record as free from stain.
7. Equally noteworthy is the integrity of missionaries. Thousands of them have lived for years away from the rJstraints of civilized society, where the inducements to live loosely, to become mercenary, and to misuse power are strong. But how few have made shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience! Contrast the lives and conduct of missionaries in every quarter of the globe with those of adventurers, travellers, traders, where the two classes come into contact with barbarous or semi-barbarous races!
8. The success of missions. Their results prove them to be of Divine origin and to have the Divine blessing. Here it can only be pointed out, (1) that no doubt it always has been a most arduous task to make anyone a true Christian, or to overthrow the superstitions of any race in favor of Christianity. (2) That considering all the conditions of the stupendous problr-m, the marvel is that missions have been as successful as they are proved to be by the Divine change that has passed over the natures and the lives of hundreds of thousands of heathen people; by the change from heathenism to Christianity on the part of at least four million persons, and by many changes tending toward Christianity in the opinions, sentiments, customs, and condition of many races.
The only adequate explanation of all these facts and phenomena is, that connected with Christianity there is a personal God who interposes in human affairs, a Divine King who rules all things, and is guiding the affairs of the Christian Church (Matt. 28: 18-20; Eph. 1 :.15-23; Col. 1 : 9-20), and a Holy Spirit who potentially affects the thoughts, feelings, opinions, lives, and even moral·and spiritual natures of men (John 16 : 7-15 ; Gal. 5: 13-26; 2 Cor. 2 : 14-17.) Second, these great truths, assumed everywhere in Scripture, embodied in their history and the lives of saintly persons they record, find a plMe in the experience of the sen'ants of God now, and especially of those who have strong and simple faith, and choose their fields of action in heathen lands. (Ps. 35; 91; Mark 16 : 15-20; 2 Tim. 3: 10-13; 2 Cor. 11 : 16-33; 12 : 1-13.) 1. They are singularly preserved from the perils of the sea. The Moravian missionary ship, for instance, has sailed to and from Labrador for 120 years without any serious accident, though the voyage is an unusually precarious one. The case is so exceptional that the experienced Lord Gambier declared that he considered the continued preservation of this ship the most remarkable occurrence in maritime history that had corne to hi8 knowledge. * And this is but a small part of the MOr1lvian testimony. During 158 years, 2300 of their missionaries have sailed to foreign lands, hut only eleven times has shipwreck resulted in the loss of life. Of all the children of missionaries sent home to Europe in charge of friends, not one has per- ished at sea. And so it is with missions generally. A careful investiga- tion of the nautical affairs of any society will show how few missionary vessels have been lost, and how few missionaries or missionary families have perished by shipwreck.
2. Missionaries in some parts of Africa, India, and the Indian Archipelago have to live and travel where deadly reptiles and beasts of prey are numerous, but i.~ there an instance of one of them thus dying?
3. Their protection from violent men is very marked. The escape of five Malagasy refugees to England was a series of providential interventions. Three of them were chiefly sustained for six months in a forest by food brought by a friend a distance of fifty miles. One of them would have been apprehended by soldiers in a house where she was hiding had not the noise made by cr()w~ given warning of their approach. On another occasion she only escaped by lying in a bog with her head concealed in rushes. She was recognized by a slave, who told her master, but he would not believe her. A house in which she was hidden was searched, but she was not found. On their flight to the coast they had to travel by night, often lost their way, had to avoid villages, soldiers, and spies, to be ferried across a river swarming with alligators, where the boatmen were on the watch for fugitives. H~w they escaped was a marvel to their enemies, to themselves, and to their friends. t On one occasion Livingstone had to pass through a dense· forest along a narrow path. In one pIneo the path was obstructed, and men stationed to kill him. A large spear hurlcc1. past almost grazed his back. "As," he writes, "they IJ,re expert with the spear, I don't know how it missed, except that he was too sure of his aim, and the good hand of God was upon me." All his party were allowed to pass a certain place when another spear was thrown at him by an unseen assailant, and it missed him by about a foot in front.
Further on he saw a gigantic tree on fire, but felt no alarm until he saw it .come straight toward him and fall a yard behind him. Had the branches not previously been rotted off, he could scarcely have escaped. "Thus, three times in one day," he says, " was I delivered from impending death.
The first missionaries to the Fegeans were exposed to great perils, for not only were they threatened with death, but stood again and again before mfuriated men, who avowed their purpose to kill them, as repeatedly, and.
* "Brief Account of the Moravian Missionary Ships Employed for Labrador."
t "Madagascar: its Missions aud its Martyrs." without compunction they killed and ate their own people. "On one occa- sion they were told that they too would soon be killed. The king's Bon in a fury came for this purpose, and only with great difficulty was restrained. The peoplo seemed bent on mischief and murder. One night they assem- bled near the house of the missionaries, giving unmistakable signs of their intent. The missionaries and their wives resolved to die praying. But &S they prayed a ringing shout outside announced that the murderous purpose of the multitude was abandoned. * The autobiography of J. G. Paton abounds with providential occur- rences. These are some of them: Some of his converts resolved to visit an inland village much opposed to Christianity. They were told, "If you come you will be killed." They went, nevertheless, unarmed. Many spears were thrown at them. Some they evaded, others they caught or turned aside in an incredible ·manner. The heathen, amazed at these men coming unarmed, and instead of throwing back the spears, still pressing on in a calm and cheerful manner, desisted, perfectly overawed. The chief and all his tribe came into the school of Christ, and, Mr. Paton adds: " There is, perhaps, not an island in these Southern seas, among all those won for Christ, where similar acts of heroism on the part of converts can· not be recited by every missionary to the honor of our poor natives and to the glory of Christ."
For months, almost years, he lived through repeated outbreaks of sav- age hostility. Of one of these occasions he writes: "The inhabitants for miles around united in seeking our destruction, but God put it into strange hearts to save us." " My enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs. against my life, however calmed or baffled for the moment. When natives in large numbers were at my house, a man furiously rushed on me with his axe; but a chief snatched a spade, with which I had been working, and dexterously defended me from instant death. Life in such circumstances led me to cling very near to the Lord Jesus. I knew not for one brief hour when or how attack might be made; and yet with my ~rembling hand clasped in the hand once nailed on Calvary, calmness and peace and resigna- tion reigned in my soul" (Col. 1 : 19).
"A wild chief followed me about for four hours with his loaded mus- ket, and though often direCted against me, God restrained his hand.
" One evening I awoke three times to hear a chief and his men trying to force the door of my houso. God restrained them again; and next – m"orning the report went all round the harbor that those who tried to shoot me were smitten weak with fear, and that' shooting would not do. ' A plan was therefore set on foot to fire the premises and club us if we attempted to escape."
"One day, while toiling away at my house, a war chief, his brother, and a large party of armed men surrounded the plot where I was working.
* "Fege and the Fegeans." By Thomas Williams. They watched. me for some time in silence, and then every man levelled a musket straight at my head."
After a strange, terrible journey in the night through an unknown region, dangerous to strangers, and abounding with enemies, the natives who heard of his escape, exclaimed: "Surely any of us would have been killed. Your Jehovah God alone thus protects you and brings you home. "
On his final flight with a few friends, they lIaw, as far as the eye could reach, the shore covered with armed men, and, overwhelmed with fear, his native friends hopelessly exclaimed: "Missa, it's of no use, we shall all be killed and eaten to-day I" Nowar, a friendly chief, said to Paton: " Misse, sit down and pray to our Jehovah God, for if He does not send deliverance now we are all dead men. " Presently he said: " Missa, Jehovah is hearing. They are all standing still." So it was, though there was nothing whatever to oppose their advance; and presently the host turned and marched back in great silence.
Instances like the following have been by no means rare : Kapaio, a native of one of the New Hebrides, confessed, after he became a Christian, that for many months he was on the watch to take Mr. Geddie's life. He was a strong and powerful man, familiar with violence and bloodshed, and one blow from his club would have caused death. One night, as he was on the watch, Mr. Geddie went out of his house alone and passed close by the bush which concealed Kapaio. Now was the opportunity for which he had long waited. He grasped his club, but he was powerless to strike; a strange sensation came over him, and he could not hurt the man who was entirely in his power, whom he hated and came to kill.
4. The manner in which the temporal wants of missionaries are supplied is remarkable. No class of civilized men going among the uncivili2ed are really so dependent, or have as few material resources as missionaries, and yet in a manner which is extraordinary, their daily wants are met. Is there an instance on record of a missionary or his family dying of want excepting through folly or imprudence 1 And in many cases of exigency supplies have come evidently from God.
Dr. Fisher writes from the Garenganze Mission, South-East Africa, December 8th, 1889 : "Yesterday two circumstances occurred which we cannot doubt, were ordered by our blessed Lord. In the morning our meal bag which supplied us for three weeks was empty. We had told the nati,.es for five days that we wanted meal, but none came. In the afternoon meal was brought by five different women, which was all freshly pounded, the whole just filling our bag. Then six carriers came yesterday wanting their pay. I had no cloth with me, and wanted three different varieties in order to pay them. As it happened, three of the six loads which they brought were bales, and to my surprise each a different kind of cloth, so I was able to pay the men off. I took both these circumstances as the manifest and loving care of the Lord for us. "
S~me of the Moravian missions in the North of Europe and America supply a continuous series of such instances, since they are placed where almost all their supplies must be drawn from other countries, and the sup- plies, though often interrupted, hardly ever fail.
So it is with large numbers of missionaries who cast themselves directly on the providence of God. He honors their trust.
5. God answer8 prayer. Here is an instance: Two years ago the lo()al secretary of a branch of the Gleaner's Union obtained some African curi- osities from the C. M. House t,o exhibit at a Mother's Meeting. She was instructed to forward them next day to a clergyman in a distant town. She sent them off j and the same night, being sleepless, it occurred to her to pray that the clergyman, of whom she only knew the name, might use them effeotively, and that his influence might be instrumental in sending forth some young missionary from his parish. This she did, by the space of two hours j and from that day, every month for two year8, she looked in The Gleaner to see if anyone had been accepted from that town. In a recent number she found, to her intense joy, that the clergyman him8elf was going out! The world would call this a striking coincidence j what do we call it ?
So, when some of the friends of the China Inland Mission, moved by the wants of that great empire, united in definite prayer that the Lord would enable them to lIelid 100 more missionaries, the prayer was heard, and the 100 were sent.
The "Lone Star" Mission among the Telugus was saved from extinction and nurtured into extraordinary success by prayer. When it was very low, a missionary; his wife, and three native helpers on the first day of the year ascended a hill overlooking Ongole. They saw the large town and some fifty villages wholly given to idolatry, and, moved by the sight, each one in turn prayed that God would send a missionary to Ongole. The prayer was heard, though it was not answered for twelve years; but in little more than twelve other years the little church of eight souls had become 12,000 tried converts with a yet greater number of general adherents.
When the church numbered 143 members, they made it a special request, during the week of prayer early in 1869, that God would convert and add to the church during the year 500 souls. The number baptized into the Ongole church was 573, as well as 53 into the neighb,oring church at Nellore. And that was but the beginning of blessing.
At a special missioMry service, Dr. Ryland, And!:,ew Fuller, and others, solemnly agreed to pray for the immediate conversion of J abez, the son of Dr. Carey, then in India. Some time after a letter was received from Dr. Carey, giving details of the time and manner of his son's conversion, from which it appeared that he was converted at the precise time they had united in prayer.
The Rev. James Calvert, * acting on the idea that prayer and effort for 1he conversion of selected individuals would be honored by God, thus • The Life of James Calvert. prayed for the conversion of Thakumbau King of Fege. His prayers were heard, ~nd this greatly tended to bring about the man-ellous spiritual revo- lution witnessed in these il!lands.
6. The evidence is ample of Divine interposition and guidance. For instance, the chief of Fallungia, West Africa, prayed for twenty years for a missionary, and one was found in an unexpected manner. * So Barnabas Shaw was thus directed to his important sphere. He was not all~wed to settle near Cape Town, so he relilolved to seek a sphere in the interior. For a month he travelled on, not knowing whither he went; but as be halted, the chief of Little Namagualand, with four attendants, halted beside him. They were on their way to Cape Town in search of a missionary, now greatly desired by their tribe. They and he thought they saw in this unexpected meeting the finger of God; and Shaw's great success in subsequent years proved that they were not mistaken.
Hundreds of missionaries, looking back on their past careers, have been conscious that they were guided to their scenes of labor by God, and have noted numerous events in their history which neither chance, nor coincidence, nor human aid adequately explain.
So, too, of events. Our belief in a personal God and an overruling Providence justifies us in believing that He sent Carey to India to give so many versions of the Scriptures to the people. That He sent that copy of the Pushtoo Bible to the Afghan, who kept it " from fire and from water" for thirty years, so that when it was resolved to reprint this Serampore version, this copy was the only one that could be found in India; who guided that copy of the Japanese New Testament, floating in one of the harbors of that empire, into lands where it was greatly blessed by God; who sent through shipwreck and heavy loss the ruined merchant to Mr. Ross, of Manchuria, when he was at a loss to find anyone competent to assist him to translate the New Testament into Corean. Surely the God of Israel still guides His people, going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.
And He avenges and punishes as well as guides. Listen! In January, 1878, the Day-Spring, the mission ship of the New Hebrides, was wrecked on a coral reef. She was bought at an auction sale by a French slaving company, who managed to get her off the reef, and intended to use her in the Kanaka traffic-a euphemism for South Sea slavery. This filled the missionaries and native converts with horror and alarm, for they knew that, deceived by the name, many simple natives would be allowed on board only to find, instead of a mission vessel, that they were entrapped for the most brutal, unjust, and cruel of purposes, and that revenge would perhaps be taken for the wrong done on the missionaries, as in the case of Bishop Patterson. What could be done 1 Nothing but cry to God, which all the friends of the mission did night and day, not without tears. Listen! The French slavers, anchoring their prize in the * "Remarklble Pl'ovidences, " p. 205. By the Rev. J. R. Phillips. bay, and greatly rejoicing, went on shore to celebrate the event. They drank and feasted and revelled. But that night a mighty storm arose. The old Day-Spring dragged her anchor, and at daybreak she was seen again on the reef, this time with her back broken in two, and forever unfit for service either fair or foul !
Speaking of the Europeans who trade in unrighteousness, Mr. Paton says: " Thousands upon thousands of pounds were made in the sandalwood trade, but it was a trade steeped in blood and indescribable vice. Nor could God's blessing rest on them or their ill-gotten gains. I have scarcelyknown one of the traders who did not come to ruin and poverty.
" The money that came in to the ship-owners was a conspicuous curse. Fools made a mock at sin, thinking that no one cared for these poor savages; but their sin did find them out."
So of the enemies and friends of the worship, as it was called on Tanna, Mr. Paton says: "This Miaki and his followers were a scourge and terror to the whole island of Tanna. They intensely hated Nowar because he would not join in their cruelties. Yet he and Manumauaud, Sirawia, and Taimungo continued to live long after war and death had swept all the others away. The first three lived to be very old men, and to the last they made a profession of being Christians." (Ps. 7 : 8-17 j Ps. 58 j Eccles. 8: 11-13 j Rom. 11 : 2-16 j Rev. 18: 4-8.) THE MISSIONARY CALL.
TUNE: "Still There's More to Follow."
Hark, the bugle call of God ! Down the ages sounding, " Go ye, and proclaim abroad News of grace abounding !"
CHORus.-Tell the news! Tell the news! Let the farthest nation Hear the sound, the world around, Tidings of salvation!
Let the sacred heralds go, Through the vales and mountains j Steady streams of trensure flow From the golden fountains! [CHORUS.
Go to woman, now enslaved [CHORUS. In her household prison, Tell her, you whom Jesus saved, He was dead-is risen J Hosts of God, march round the wall !
While the trumpet's pealing j Satan's mighty towers will fall, God's own power revealing! CHORUS.
A.T. P.
THE PENTECOST ON THE CONGO
THE PENTECOST ON THE CONGO.
BY J. R. MILLER, D.D., PHILADELPHIA.
THE Acts of the Apostles closes like an unfinished book. The truth is, it is an unfinished book, and new chapters are continually being added to it. The wonderful stories of modern missions belong really to the samevolume.
Few narratives of missionary experience in all this century surpass in thrilling interest the account of the work of the past twelve years at Banza Manteke, in Africa. In 1879 the Rev. Henry Richards went from Eng. land to Africa as a missionary of the Livingstone Inland Mission. He established a station at Banza Manteke, one hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the Congo, and ten miles south of that great river. In its earlier years the mission was transferred to the American Baptist Missionary Union, and now there is a large Baptist church there, in the midst of a great heathen population, upon which it is pouring the light of the Gospel.
Mr. Richards came to this country last year to tell the wonderful story of the Lord's work on the Congo. This story is so full of interest that it is here condensed from the missionary's own accounts into a simple narrative.
Stanley travelled from Zanzibar around the lakes and down the Congo for a thousand days, and though many thousands of people passed before him each day, he did not find one that knew the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1879 two missionaries were sent out to penetrate this trackless region. They succeeded in getting some distance into the country to a place called Palabala. Mr. Richards, with some others, was sent to try to get, if possible, to Stanley Pool. But the difficulties were very great–insurmountable for men of any but intrepid courage and indomitable persistence. At length the missionaries reached Banza Manteke, and being unable to go any farther, they decided to stay there and establish a station. There were many villages near by, and the people were inclined to be friendly.
They had only one tent, and they built a hut of the long grass that grew all about them. There, in . September, 1879, Mr. Richards fonnd himself alone among people who were entirely unknown to him. He knew nothing either of their customs or of their language. He at once began to study the people, tut, not knowing a word of their language, found it very difficult. Some things, however, he soon learned. For one, they all seemed to be thieves. They would take everything on which they could lay their hands. He would look into their faces and accuse them of stealing his things, but they would deny it without the slightest hesitation.
Mr. Richards gives a most interesting description of his experience in learning their language. They had no dictionaries, no grammars, no books, no literature of any kind. No white man had ever learned the language. He took a note-book and determined to write down pbonetically everything he could hear, with the meaning that he supposed belonged to the word. In this way he soon had a number of words, phrases, and sentences, and at once began to use them. Although the people would laugh at his pronunciations and at the way he put his words together, he did not mind it, but persisted in his effort.
Some words he found it very hard to get. He noticed that the affection between the mothers and their children was very strong, and he wished to get the word for mother. At last he thought he had succeeded, but afterward he learned that the word which he supposed meant mother really stood for a full-grown man. He was three months in finding out the word for yesterday.
At length he began to try to get hold of the grammar of the language. He began with the nouns, and sought for the way of forming plurals. He expected to discover some modification at the end of the words, but could not detect any such change. After much experimenting he learned that there were sixteen classes of nouns, with as many modes of forming the plural. In like manner he discovered that there were seventeen different classes of verbs, with very many tenses besides the ordinary present, past, and future, each having its specific form. The shades of meaning in these variations are often very delicate and beautiful.
The language is not, as one would suppose, a mere jargon, but is really very beautiful, euphonious and flowing, with numerous inflections. When one has acquired it it is very easy to preach in it and to translate the Scriptures into it. Says Mr. Richards: "I think if some of our best linguists were to try to form a perfect language, they could not do better than to follow the Congo. It seems to be altogether superior to the people; and there must have been a time when they were in a high state of civilization, from which in some way they have degenerated."
After learning in this patient way enough of the language to use it a little, he" began to try to find out the customs, superstitions, and religiou of the people. He found that they believed in a great Creator, who made all things. He asked them why they did not worship this Nzambi, and they said they did not think He was a good God and they did not thank Him. He did not concern Himself about them j He was too far away. They had little images cut out of wood-some like themselves, with birds' heads, beaks, and claws; others like animals. These are their gods. They trust in them for protection from harm, sickness, death, or misfortune, hut never expect to receive any blessings from them. They arc believers in witchcraft, to which they attribute all evils and misfortunes. They have charms to counteract witchcraft. They have witch-doctors, for whom they send if anyone is sick. 'The doctor comes, and with a great many incantations tries to drive the demon out. Sometimes the doctor points out some person as the witch, and this person then has to take the test by poison. If he ejects it, they say he is innocent i but if it kiJll~ him they say he was ~uilty. The missionary at length began to show them that sickness and death, and all misfortunes, were due not to witchcraft, but to sin. He gave them the Bible account of the creation and the fall. Then he began to try to show them th/!-t God is not only a great Creator, all-powerful, but that He is also kind and loving. They would ask many questions, some of which Mr. Richards found it hard to answer to their satisfaction. He continued, however, for four years, teaching them about the creation, the fall, the flood, and the history of the Israelites, thinking it necessary to give them some idea of the Old Testament before beginning with the New. But the people were just as much heathen at the end of this time as when he first went among them. There was no evidence of any change. They did not feel themselves to be sinners.
About this time Mr. Richards was at home for a season of rest, and while there he spoke to one who had had much experience in mission work, saying he did not see how he could preach a Saviour until the people felt themselves to be sinners. He was advised to go back and preach the law -for it is the law that convinces of sin. So, on reaching Banza Manteke again, the first thing he did was to translate the Ten Commandments, and then he began to read and expound them to the people. They said the com- mandments were very good, and claimed that they had kept them. The most plain and personal applications of the law made no impression on them. So two years more passed with no result; the people were no better than when he first went to them. He began to grow hopeless of any good from preaching among them. He had gained their respect, and they were kind to him, but that was all.
At last, in his discouragement, Mr. Richards began to study the Scrip- tures anew for himself, feeling that there was some mistake in his preacb~ ing. In the early days souls were converted; why not now ~ Had the Gospel lost any of its power ~ If heathen then turned from their idols to serve the living God, why should not these people in Banza Manteke do the same? He studied the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, and began to see his mistake. The commission is not, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Law," but" Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel." .
It was the turning-point in the work of this lonely missionary. He determined to preach the Gospel. Five times in four chapters Peter ac.- cuses the people of the crucifixion of Jesus. Another thing that struck him was that the disciples were bidden to wait until they were clothed with power from on high. He felt that he had not this power. He went again to his work, determined to preach the Gospel, and cry to God for the promised power.
Then he had to decide precisely what the Gospel was. If he preached Jesus and Him crucified, the people would want to know who Jesus was.
He decided to take Luke's gospel, as this seemed the most complete and the most suitable for Gentiles. He began tran~lating ten or twelve verses a day, and then read and expounded them, asking God to bless His qwn Word. At once the people were more interested in the Gospel than they had been when he preached the law. As he went on he was greatly encouraged.
When he came to the sixth chapter of Luke, thirtieth verse, a difficulty arose. The people were notorious beggars. They would ask for anything they saw that pleased their eye-his blanket, his knife, his plate ~and whIm he would say he could not give the things to them, they would reply," You can get more." Here now were the words of the Gospel: "Give to every man that asketh of thee." The missionary was greatly perplexed as to what to do with that verse. He let his helper in translation go away, and went to his room to pray over the matter. The time for the daily serviM was drawing near. What should he do 1 Why not pass over that verse? But his conscience told him that would not be honest dealing with the Scripture. Time for service came j but, instead of advancing he went back to the beginning of the Gospel, reviewing the earlier part. Thus he would gain time for fuller consideration of the text. Still he could not find that it meant anything but just what it said. He consulted a commentary, and it said Jesus was giving general principles, and that we must use com::non sense in interpreting His words. But this did not satisfy the missionary. If we are allowed to interpret oue Scripture in this way, why not others? Leaving the meaning to be decided by " common sense" seemed a very unsafe course.
After a fortnight of prayer and consideration he concluded that our Lord meant just what He said j and he went and read it to the people. He told them that this was a very high standard, and it would probably take him a lifetime to live up to it j but he meant to live what he preached to them. After the address the natives began to ask him for things, and he gave them what they wanted. He wondered whereunto this thing would grow i but he told the Lord he could not see any other meaning in His words. However, the people were evidently deeply impressed by his course. One day he overheard one say: " I got this from the white man." Then another said: "I am going to ask him for such a thing. " But a third said: " No i buy it if you want it." The leaven of grace was working in their hearts. After that they rarely ever asked him for anything.
Mr. Richards then went on translating and expounding Luke's gospel, and the interest continually increased. The climax was reached when he came to the account of the crucifixion of Christ. There was a large congregation the day he read this passage. He reminded the people of the kindness and goodness of Jesus and of His works of mercy, and then pointed to Him nailed upon the cross between two thieves, and said: " Jesus never would have died if we had not been sinners j H was because of your sins and mine that He died." The impression was very deep. It seemed that indeed the Holy Ghost had fallcn~upon the people. He continued preaching. One day, as they were returning from a ser- vice, Lutale, the man who had helped him in translating, began to sing one of the Congo hymns. His face shone with joy, and he said: "I do be- lieve those words; I do believe Jesus has taken away my sin~; I do believe He has saved me." After seven years of toil and weary waiting and suffering here was the first convert at Banza Manteke. At once Lutale began testifying what the Lord had done for him. But the people became his enemies and tried to poison him. He had' to leave his town and live with Mr. Richards for safety. For a time there were no more converts. However, the people were stirred. By and by the king's son became a Christian. Shortly after this another man came wit,h his idols, and placing them on a table, said, savagely, that he wanted to become a Christian. He soon began to preach. So the work went on until ten were converted. These all had to leave their own homes, however, as they were threatened with death. The missionary now shut up his house, and taking these men with him, went from town to town preaching the Gospel. The people were greatly moved, and one after another came over to Christ's side. Two daily meetings were held, and inquirers were numerous. The work continued and was blessed, until all the people immediately around Banza Manteke had abandoned their heathenism. More than one thousand names were enrolled in a book of those who gave ~vidence of real conversion.
Four years have now passed, and Mr. Richards has carefully noted the results of the work. Most of the converts are holding on their way. About three hundred have been baptized. The Church is earnest and spiritual. There has been much persecution, but the Christians have not been intimidated by this. Many examples of earnestness are reported. Materials for a chapel (provided through the liberality of Dr.· Gordon's church in Boston) were brought to a point fifty or sixty miles distant, and the people carried them all the way to Banza Manteke, over rough roads. Some of them went four or five times, each trip requiring a week. In all there were about seven hundred loads, of sixty pounds each, and the whole thapel was thus carried, and without charge.
The people, thieves before, became honest. Liars before, they now became truthful. They have also become industrious and cleanly. The women want to dress better. The men are more energetic and industrious. Witchcraft, poison-giving, and all such heathen practices were put away by those who confessed Christ. Many brought their idols, and at the first baptism they had a bonfire of images, destroying thus every vestige of Idolatry.
This sketch of the work at Banza Manteke, given almost in, the words of Mr. Richards, though greatly condensed, is' sufficiently full to indicate the method pursued and the different stages of progress. The story is of intense interest, and is also full of instruction not only for missionaries in heathen lands, but for Christian workers in any field.
AN AFRICAN DEVIL'S BUSINESS AliD ITS ARAB AGENTS
AN AFRICAN DEVIL'S BUSINESS AND ITS ARAB AGENTS; OR, THE SLAVE TRADE OF THE PRESENT DAY: WHO CARRIES IT ON, WHERE ARE THE SLAVES USED, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO STOP THE BUSINESS?
BY FREDERIC PERRY NUBLE, NEWBERRY LIBRARY, CHICAGO, ILL.
I.-THE FIELD AND THE HUNTERS.
Draw a line from Cape Verde to Cape Guardafui. Coast southward along Somauliland until you strike the equator. Run inland to Lake Vic- toria. Prolong an eastern boundary from its south-eastern corner to Lake Nyassa, and down the Shire River. Follow up the Zambesi to its source in Lake Dilolo ; then draw a line to Stanley Pool on the Congo, and fol- low the curve of the Gulf of Guinea, but at an average distance from the sea of about one hundred miles, until we come back to our starting.point in Senegambia. Thus, generaJly speaking, the Sahara, the Indian Ocean, the great lakes, the Zambesi, and the coast lands of the Atlantic constitute the boundaries within which the devil's-business of man-hcnting is pur- sued. With the exception of the Guinea coast and the west half of the Congo State, there is scarcely a recess into which the Arab has not pene- • trated. His hunting-grounds comprise, (1) the independent Soudan, (2) the for-mer Egyptian Soudan, (3) the heart of Central Africa, i.e., between the Congo and the lakes, and the Zambesi countries.
1. First and foremost among slave-stealers stand people from the east coast. These consist of shore tribes called Swahili, of half-caste Arabs, of resident Hindus called Banians, and of Portuguese in Mozambique, or up the Zambesi. Their boundaries of action lie between the Aruwimi, Lakes Albert-Edward and Victoria, Lake Nyassa and Shire River, the Zambesi as far as Victoria Falls, thence to Lake Bangweolo, where only yesterday , the Arabs instigated the Awamba negroes to pursue a most destructive sys- tem of slaving among the inhabitants of its northern and western shores; down the Lualaba-Congo to Nyangwe, whence they swing 100 miles west to Lumami River. Not more than 400 Arabs operate here; but they employ armed negroes in such numbers-Tippu Tib alone being reportfld to have 2000 men in his pay-that perhaps] 0,000 bandits wage war upon the blacks in this section. Until now the Free State post at Stanley Falls, even under Tippu Tib's governorship, kept the Arabs east of that point. But now that Tippu Tib is at Zanzibar, impotent with paralysis, his hotblooded kinsfolk are swarming over the barrier, and are fulfilling the prediction that they must yet be battled with. In March, 1891, seeing that the Free State's forces stop their passage across the Aruwimi, the slaveraiders turned north, reached the Welle, and threatened the Free State's port on that stream. The situation is alarming in the extreme, for the Congo State has no adequate revenue for military purposes, and America has robbed it of the means to secure itself. Its principal stations have
R .A
T SLAVE TRADE MAP OF ocEA EQUATORIAL, REPRINTE 0 FROM "T'HE ARABS IN CENTRAL ArRICA AND ATLAlo<E NYASSA IJ BY J,STEVENSON,F:R.S.E ..
F=Sc~a~1~e~1.~.2~3~,O=O=O:;,O~O~O='~ o ]QQ 200 0300 4boArU98.
-Tracl<s ofSlaveCaravan.r and S love-Hunter.r.
["//lPJ~rjP~~e~~;::~ ~r;:;;:z~ -1~~~~~~~~~~·~~~~7~At~-~::~–~-·J~~ti.;(~~~~~~~~~~~<r~~~~ tit", Coast or Districts near it.
AN AFRICAN DEVn!S BUSINESS AND ITS ARAB AGENTS
been Zanzibar, Bagamoyo, Kilwa, and Quilimane (all on the coast), U-nyanyembe, U-jiji, and Kazembe's toward the lakes, with Nyangwe and Stanley Falls on the Congo. The main lines of travel were three: (1) Erom Manyuema via Tanganika Lake, U-jiji, and U-nyanyembe to Bagamoyo, Kilwa, and Zanzibar; (2) from Lakes Bangweolo and Moero, with a branch across Lake Nyassa to Mozambique; (3) from Lake Victoria to coast towns.
2. Next in power for evil come the slavers of the Egyptian Soudan, with Khartum as their centre. This territory comprises the Nile basin of 2,000,000 square miles, reaching from the Blue Nile to Lake Victoria 1500 miles south,and to the Welle River in the northeast quarter of the Congo State. There the Mabdist and the Zanzibaris lock hands. When Baker was appointed governor in 1869, he fuund 15,000 Egyptians, or Turks, engaged in slaving; and the number cannot now be less. Emin's former province of Equatoria and West Abyssinia are their .latest victims- Khartum, Fashoda, Sennaar, Gondokoro, and (formerly) Massowah the depots. The export route is the Nile, or overland through Darfur and Kordofan. In 1873 these fellows annually smuggled 50,000 slaves into Egypt, Tripoli, Arabia, Turkey, Persia, and eyen Turkestan. There are reasons for fearing the number to be as large to-day. The power and organization of the Khartum slavers may be inferred from the fact that during the Brussels Anti-slavery Conference, 200 delegates assembled at Khartum to devise measures for suppressiug Europe and America's rum traffic with Africa. They resolved to girdle Africa with dhows, confiscate every vessel containing liquor, and sell the crews into slavery. May the worst men lose !
3. The third principal source of supply is the native Soudan. This is about 2500 miles long by 500 wide, and forms one vast hunting ground, with Arabs from Morocco, Tripoli, or Kabylia as Nimrods. From Wadai these marauders penetrate to a point among the cannibal Nyams and dwarfs as far south as the Congo. Captives are transported to the market of Kuka, on Lake Tc,had, where about 10,000 are annually bought by Barbary dealers, and marched across the Sahara to the Fezzan, an oasis south of Tripoli. There they are sold to the south and east coasts of the Mediterranean. The sufferings en route have been so dreadful that very many succumb; and travellers unacquainted with the road need only follow the bones lying right and left. From the West Soudan, via Sok6to and Timbuktu, slaves are also sent to Morocco, where almost every town has its market. Throughout Africa nearly all Mohammedan towns arc receiving and distributing centres for the" black beasts." Morocco owns 50,000 slaves, and annually imports about 4000.
4. There are also minor sources; these, however, being less only by contrast. (1) In Congo State a domestic slave trade is fiercely pursued by large, powerful tribes between Stanley Pool and Stanley Falls. In this western half, as in general through the central belt extending from Senegambia to Uganda, the possession of many slaves is indispensable to tho dignity and power of head men, both in this life and after death. Their. decease is the signal for human sacrifices on a huge scale. Near the mouth of the Mobangi-Welle the inhabitants sell their war captives to the cannibals of its upper reaches expressly for food, and the latter even wage wars for the one object of capturing" long pig." (2) In Lunda, between Angola and the southwest of Congo State, Portuguese subjects enslave its people than dose around the sources of Zambesi River. Cameron was, in 18'75, informed that slaves (at least a few) were still exported from the Portuguese west coast. On the east coast the Portuguese (African and European) ship" black ivory" from Mozambique and Sofalaland. In 1880 the British Consul at Mozambique City rated the annual export at 3000 louIs; but an increased demand for ivory afterward gave the business fresh impulse, the two trades being hand and glove. In 1888 a Portuguese officer, reporting from his post in the interior, said of its commerce ,: " The lole trade of this district at present consists in slaves." Thus Portuguese authorities demonstrate that under their flag the slave trade has so increased and strengthened that to-day there is a yearly export of 10,000 slaves to Madagascar and the Comoros. (3) At the Gulf of Aden slaving is very active in Somauliland, where the slaves are bought or stolen from the Gallas inland, from Guragwe, and the Shillooks or Denkas. Abyssinia has many markets; and former Mahdists have swept thousands of its native Christians into slavery in Arabia. (4) Across the continent the natives of French Loanga, the German Cameroons, and Ashantee and Dahomey hunt their fellow-men relentlessly. (5) Uganda seems to link the Soudan and Zanzibar trades, since M'wanga formerly stole and sold 80,000 people each year, while one competent authority rated that export at 180,000 slaves. Central Africa contains 41 slave routes, varying from 100 to 1'000 miles in length; 16 slave-producing areas of less or larger extent, and 6 regions (several larger than Ireland) which have been all but depopulated, if not utterly unpeopled.
H.-THE METHODS.
The methods of slaving involve the commission of every crime. Before 18'70 slaving was generally commerce j to-day it is murder and robbery. Invasion of peaceful communities, not seldom prosperous or semi-civilized, firing villages at midnight, massacring terror-stricken men as they start from sleep to fall amid burning huts into sleep that knows no waking; kidnapping women and children, or holding them as hostages for a ransom of ivory from yet surviving fathers and husbands j and gratifying every instinct of lust and cruelty-all constitute its ways and means.
We wish, however, to scan the inner workings of the system, and must, therefore, concentrate attention upon Zanzibar as being fairly enough typical.
Among its commercial classes, none before 1890 exercised so much influence on the trade of East Africa as did the Banian, who number thousands. The Arabs are nearly all in their debt j and if a trader planned to journey to Uganda or Nyangwe or Nyassa for slaves or ivory, gum-copal or orchilla, he would borrow $5000 at fifty, sixty, or even seventy per cent interest, and purchase goods. At his journey's end they would have more than trebled in purchasing power. Leaving Bagamoyo or Kilwa with a caravan numbering 100, 300, or 500 pcople, our half-caste, who is mer- chant or murderer, as circumstances permit, takes several months to reach U -nyanyembe. In the maritime district kidnapping is seldom attempted, for the natives stand ready to avenge the slightest affront with bloody hands, and to use firearms whenever opportunity presents itself. From U-nyanyembe (Tabora) routes diverge to U-jiji and Uganda. Passing to U -jiji, he might either purchase slaves at its market or push into Manyema, 150 miles beyond Tanganika Lake (so Stanley pronounces and writes). At U-jji 5 dotti of cloth worth $7.50 would purchase a slave worth $30 at Zanzibar, while $6 would purchase ordinary males, whose value at U-nyanyembe would equal $25. Leaving $3500 as capital, this secured 464 slaves who, if surviving the march to Bagamoyo, realized $13,920 there-a net profit of $10,420. Nor is there reason to !luppose that their value in 1890 was less at marine marts, whence they could still be exported; and often the traders did better still, almost always returning with an enormous margin of gain.
Manyema, in 1865 an unknown country to these Arabs, has for twenty years been an El Dorado of ivory. When the first slaver returned in 1867 with a wealth of tusks and with tales of fabulous quantities of the precious article, the beaten tracks of Uganda and of Tanganika's coasts to east and south became comparatively deserted. Nevertheless, in the long band of country extending from Lake Victoria to Zambesi's wave the slaver has since ravaged and ruined so ruthlessly, that many populous, fertile districts have been reduced to deserts, and in every village around the great lakes no woman or child wandering ten minutes away has any likelihood of ever seeing home again. In Manyema firearms made even small parties of Arabs invincible. This helplessness and the ridiculously low price of ivory led to the new era in slaving, to the methods of the present day, and the rise of the Tagamoyos Tippu Tibs, and Ugarrowall.
Ivory cost, in copper wire or in beads, from one half to one and one quarter cents a pound in 1870-its value in Zanzibar being from $50 to $60 the 35 pounds. To-day that amount is worth $105, and is bought with bullets and blood. The new-comers, urged on by greed and ferocity, began the practice of wholesale massacre. They would accumulate tusk upon tusk for years, till great piles were buried beneath their huts. Suddenly they would "one day pick a quarrel, seize herds and goods, and shoot the men, sparing only enough to carry ivory. They fired the village, and the march worse than death had begun. Multitudes perish merely as beasts of burden; but ·for every slave-porter escaping or succumbing, a man is stolen or bought from the nearest tribe. This supplies its losses by seizure from Beighbors, and thus the caravan, even on the road, Cfl'ates a constant circu- lation of human cl1rrency in every local centre traversed. The Arab wreaks a ruin even greater than the annihilation of tribes outright. He keeps the region in a perpetual ferment, pits chief against chief to prevent com- bination, and either makes tools of tribes likely to become dominant, or shatters them by instigating rebellion among their dependants.
It is in the Congo forest that the frightful atrocities of the Arab slavers reach the depths of hellishness. Within an area equal to France and the Iberian peninsula, Tagamoyo, Tippu Tib, and Kilonga.Longa have suc- ce8sively harried, kidnapped, and murdered, till exaggeration by the nar- rator is. sheer impossibility. The sailor was right who said, on seeing slavers, " If the devil don't catch those fellows, we might as well have no devil at all."
November 27th, 1883, when founding establishments in the :Congo State, Stanley met with the Arabs of Nyangwe. He discovered that this horde of banditti-for in reality and without disguise they were nothing else-had started in July, 1882, from a village half way from Nyangwe to Stanley Falls. The ban 1 numbered 300 fighting men armed with flint- locks, double-barrelled percussion guns, and a few breech-loaders; their domestic slaves and the women doubled the numbers. For 11 months they had raided the left bank of the Congo for 100 miles, and as far north as Aruwimi-mouth ; then they had spent 5 'months on Congo's east shore in the same cruel work. This territory comprises 34,570 square miles- exactly 2000 more than Ireland-and had possessed nearly 1,000,000 peo- ple. One hundred and eighteen villages, comprising 43 districts, had , been devastated to gain the scant profit of 2300 women and children, and about 2000 tusks. Stanley calculated that if those 118 towns had only 1000 inhabitants each, the Arabs had a profit of merely two per cent, and that after these captives had undergone the voyage to Nyangwe, camp life, and the pests which miseries breed, there would remain only a scant one per cent on the bloody venture.
Horrible as are these facts from slavery's charnel-house of horrors, they do not begin to be the worst. Five expeditions, each as great as the pres- ent one, had already come and gone with their booty, and had completely weeded the region. If each expedition was as successful as Stanley's acquaintances, the slavers got 5000 people safely to Nyangwe j but 5000 out of 1,000,000 is one half of one per cent, or 5 slaves out of 1000 per- sons-the poorest possible profit. The 2300 slaves had cost 2500 souls shot, and 1300 dying by the way j and at this rate the 5000 slaves surviv- ing at Nyangwe (of the 10,000 originally obtained) had cost 33,000 lives. Each of the very smallest infants Stanley graphically estimates to have cost the life of a father, and perhaps his 3 stout brothers and 3 grown-up daughters': "An entire family of 6 souls has Leen done to death to obtain that small, feeblc, helpless, useless child !"
" What," he asks, " was the cause of all this vast sacrifice of human life, this unspeakable misery? Nothing but the indulgence of an DId Arab's wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous instinct&. He wished to obtain slaves to barter profitably with other Arabs. Having weapons—guns and powder-enough, he placed them in the hands of 300 slaves, and de- spatched them to commit murder wholesale, as an English nobleman would put guns in the hands of his guests and permit them to slaughter the game on his estate. If we calculate three quarts of blood to each person who fell during the campaign of murder, this one Arab caused to be shed 2850 gallons of blood-sufficient to fill a tank of 460 cubic feet-quite large enough to drown him and all his kin."
Stanley's pen-picture of this camp is as vivid as if taken by instantaneous photography. "It was surrounded with a fence made 'of the hut-walls of the native town, which lay in ruins outside, square plots of raised tamped earth, with a few uprights alone indicating where it had stood. The banana groves had been levelled, and their stalks employed to form the fence. Within the enclosure was a series of low sheds, many lines deep, extending 100 yards inland from the immediate edge of the bank In length the camp was about 300 yards. At the landing-place were 54 canoes, varying in capacity from 10 to 100 people. The camp is much too densely peopled for comfort. There are rows upon rows of dark nakedness, relieved here and there by the white dresses of the captors. There are lines or groups of naked forms upright, moving listlessly, or standing; naked bodies are stretched under the sheds in all positions; naked legs innumerable are seen in the perspective of prostrate sleepers; there are countless naked children, many mere infants, forms of boyhood and girlhood, and occasionally a drove of absolutely naked old women bending under a basket of fuel or cassava tubers or bananas, who are driven through the moving groups by two or three musketeers. Mostly all are fettered; youths with iron rings round their necks, through which is riven a chain like our boat anchor-chains, securing the captives by twenties. The children over ten are secured by three copper rings, each ringed leg brought together by the central ring. The mothers are secured by shorter chains; around are grouped their respective progeny of infants hiding the cruel iron links that fall in loops or festoons over their mothers' breasts. There is not one adult man captive. Beside the shaded ground so thickly strewn with prostrate and upright bodies lie scattered or heaped in profusion everywhere the relics of the many raids. There is scarcely a square foot of ground not littered with something. All these littering the ground, or in stacks and heaps, with piles of banana and cassava peelings, flour of cassava, and sliced tubers drying, make untidy pictures and details, through which prominently gleam .the eyes of the captives in supreme and utter wretchedness. Every second during which I regard them, the clank of fetters and chains strikes my ear. My eyes catch sight of that continual lifting of the hand to ease the neck in the collar, or as it displays, exposed, a manacle through fl mllscle bein~ irritated b, its wei¥,ht or want of fitnilss. 130lllld or riveted by twenties, they wallow in filth. . Only the old women are t"ken to forage; they dig the cassava and search for the banana, while the guard, with ready musket, watches keenly for the coming of the vengeful native. Not much food can be obtained. What is procured is flung in a heap be- fore each gang, to cause at once an unseemly scramble. Many of the poor things have been fettered for months already, and their bones stand out in bold relief on the attenuated skin which hangs down in wrinkles and puckers. Who can withstand the feeling of pity so powerfully pleaded for by those large eyes and sunken cheeks ~"
As we listen to this eye-witness, it appears unthinkable that wicked- ness can go lower. Yet it is Stanley himself, who from Darkest Africa brought tidingS and tales of deeds of darkness befitting depths beneath the lowest depths of hell. He says: "In 1887 a half-caste Arab slaver and his Manyema banditti launched out on one of the most sanguinary and de- structive careerl, to which even Tippu Tib's and Tagamoyo's offer poor comparison. Toward the Lenda and Ihuru rivers they had levelled every settlement into black ashes, had even vented their rage for destruction on the plantain groves, had split every canoe into pi~ces, had searched every , island, and had penetrated into the darkest recesses whither a slight track ( could be traced, with only one dominating passion, which was to kill as many men and capture as many children and women as craft and cruelty would enable them. However far north or east these people had gone .they had done precisely as we had seen, and had reduced the forest to a howling wilderness. Through all the immense area they had left scarcely a hut standing. Assuming that their ravages had extended east, north, and south 105 miles from Ipoto, we have something like 44,000 square miles. Once we know where the slaving centres are, we may, with a pair of compasses, draw great circles round each, and park off areas of 40,000 square miles into which a half dozen resolute men, aided by their hundreds 'of (negro) bandits have divided three-quarters of the Congo forest for the sole purpose of murder, and of becoming heirs to a few hundred tusks of ivory. • •• There were Manyema headmen responsible to the chiefs for followers and operations entrusted to their charge. At alternate periods each sets out for his own special sub-district. The fighters con- sist of Congoans trained by the Manyema as raiders, as in 1876 Arabs and East Coast natives had trained Manyema. This extraordinary increase in the number of raiders on the Upper Congo is the fruit of the policy of kill~ ing the adults, but preserving the children. The girls are distributed among the Arab, Swahili, and Manyema harems, the boys are trained to carry arms, and are drilled. Grown tall and strong; they are rewarded .with wives from the female servants of the harem, and are admitted as partnera in the bloody ventures. So many shares of the profits are due the great proprietor; a less number becomes the due of the headman, and the remainder is the property of the bandits. . . . At other times all ivory over 35 pounds goes to the chief i that between 35 and 20 pounds belongs to the headman, while young ivory, or scraps or pieces, fall to the lucky finders. This intlpires every man to do his best. The caravan is well manned and armed by the great proprietor, who stays in his harem on the Lualaba. The headmen, inspired by greed, grow ferocious. The bandits fling themselves upon a settlement mercilessly to obtain the largest share of loot.- children, flocks, poultry, and ivory. • •• All this would be clearly beyond' their power if they possessed no powder. Not a mile beyond home would the Arab and his followers dare venture. It is more than probable that if gunpowder were prohibited entry into Africa, there would be a general and quick migration of all Arabs from inner Africa to the sea, as the native chiefs would be immeasurably stro~ger than any combination of Arabs armed with spears. Of ivory there is not a single piece nowadays which has been gained lawfully. Every tusk, piece, and scrap in the possession of an Arab has been steeped and dyed in blood. Every pound has cost a life. For every five pounds a hut has been burned ; for every two tusks' a whole village destroyed; every twenty tusks have been obtained at the price of a district with all its people, villages, and plantations. It is simply incredible that because ivory is required for ornaments or billiards, the rich heart of Africa should be laid waste at this late hour of the nineteenth century, signalized as it has been by so many achievements; incredible that populations, tribes, and nations should be utterly destroyed. Whom, after all, does this bloody seizure of ivory enrich' Only a few dozens of half-castes, who, if due justice were dealt them, would sweat out the remainder of their piratical1ives in the severest penal servitude."
IlL-THE RESULTS.
How many slaves are captured; how many lives lost annually! In Nyassaland and Zambesi, according to Cameron's latest (1889) statements, 525,600 each year become slaves. In the equatorial tableland, from the data furnished by Papal missioners, the figures mount even higher. Thill brings the total of Africans who annually lose freedom at the hand of tho Arab hell hounds between the Soudan and the Zambesi up to 1,050,000. Including the Soudan, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, Ashanti, Dah6- mey, Loanga, the Cameroons, Lunda, the native slaving on the Congo, Somauliland, and Uganda, it appears certain that the grand total equals at least 2,000,000. It is as if a Georgiaj or Iowa, or Michigan were annually enslaved. The worst of it is, that Christendom has a real though ,indirect responsibility for those astounding figures, because the relaxation of the English blockade, the troubles in the Soudan and on the East coast, the connivance of Portugal, and French bulldozing in Madagascar enabled the slave trade since 1885 to increase fourfold.
Yet this host, moving every twelve months into the house of bondage, does not represent one half of man's inhumanity in the land of death shades. The mortality of the caravans varies from one-half to three- quarters, and even nine~tenths. We wonder that one slave in ten ever reaches his destination, when we hear the accounts of Cameron, Baker, Livingstone, Lavigerie, and Stanley. Lavigerie says: "When all that are captured are hurried off, a series of unspeakable miseries commences. The men who appear strongest, and whose escape is to be feared, have hands and feet so tied that moving becomes torture, and on their necks are placed yokes attaching several together. All day they march ; at night a few handfuls of raw sorgho are distributed ; this is all their food. Next morning they must start again; but fatigue, suffering, and privations have weakened very many. The women and the aged are the first to halt; then, to strike terror into the miserable mass, their conductors, armed with a wooden bar-to economile powder-approach those most exhausted, and deal a terrific blow on the nape of the neck. The victims utter a cry, and fall in convulsions of death. The terrified troop immediately resumes its march. Terror has imbued even the weakest with fresh strength. Each time one breaks down the scene is repeated. At night, on arriving at their halting-place, after the first days of such life, a not less frightful scene awaits them. The traffickers in human flesh know how much their victims can endure. A glance shows who will soon sink from weariness j so, to economize food, they pass behind these wretched beings and fell them with a single blow. The corpses, when not suspended on neighboring trees, remain where they fall, and close to them must their companions eat and sleep as well as they can. In this manner the weary march is continued, sometimes for months. Daily the number diminishes. If, goaded by their cruel sufferings, some attempt to escape or rebel, thl! masters cut them down, and leave them as they lie, attached by yokes. "
Baker shall be our next witness, describing a slave-dhow and its cargo. He ordered one searched, and the captain was astonished that search was considered necessary. Besides crew and soldiers, the skipper averred, there was not a soul on board, while the vessel had only com in the hold, and ivory beneath. "But," says Baker, " she appeared suspiciously full of corn"for a boat homeward bound. There was an awkward smell about the closely-boarded forecaStle that resembled that of unwashed negroes. . . . Abd-el-Kader drew a ramrod from a soldier's rifle and sharply probed that corn. A smothered cry from beneath, and a wriggling among the corn were succeeded by a woolly head, as Abd-el-Kader, having thrust in his long arm, dragged a negress forth. At once the planks boarding forecastle and stern were broken, the corn was removed, and there was a mass of humanity exposed-boys, girls, and women close packed like herrings in a barrel, who, under threats, had remained silent. The mainsail appeared full and heavy in its lower part. Upon unpacking, it yielded a young woman thus sewn up. We discovered about 150 slaves stowed away in a most inconceivably small area. The stench was horrible when they began to move. Many were lD Irons. I ordered the agent and the captain to be put in irons."
Yet the captives and human exports are far and away the slightest sectiOl~ of thf;J sufferers. Every slave, on the average, represents 100 victims. T.he populations blighted by the simoom of slaving number 150,000,000as many as the German and Rm!sian Empires together.
IV.-THE REMEDIES.
1. As the Zanzibar slave trade has so long been sustained by the capital of British Hindoos, England has moral respousibility for that traffic. Now she is mistress of Zanzibar and Pemba, and her East Africa Company controls the coast north, and has brought Uganda under English lordship. 'With Zanzibar as the maritime key of the situation, and with Cairo a future . centre of Saxon government over an area greater than India, England can lock this export traffic into the interior. Moreover, Germany is conquering lands between Zanzibar and the lakes, the Reichstag has forbidden marine export.ation of slaves, and domestic sl~very will be abolished from its African possessions as speedily as circumstances permit.
2. Again, it began to look, last February, as if the Great Powers would fulfil their solemn pledges for the welfare of Africa, which they have shamefully failed t<? live up to. In 1884 they declared the Congo State should not be used for the slave trade, and each. bound itself to employ all means at its disposal to end the traffic and punish the slavers. Had they enforced their prohibitions, the slave trade could not have attained its present proportions. They <leclared that " these regions shall not be used as markets or as routes of transit for the slave trade, no matter of what race j each of these powers binds itself to use all the means at its disposal to put an end to this trade, and to punish all engaged in it." In 1889 they met in Anti-Slavery Conference (It Bru!:lsels, and agreed that the following measures are directly and generally practicable: (1) Tribes concerned in raiding shall be held responsible. (2) Any tribe through whose territory slave caravans pass shall be held to account, and such chiefs or organizers of caravans as have been once convicted of slavetrade offences shall render security on starting from the seaboard. (3) Chiefs ou whose coast slave shipments occur shall be dealt with. (4) The police of the sea is to be maintained by joint European effort, maritime transportation being the point where force and united action can be made most effective. Vessels of 500 tons and under, unless slavers of larger tonnage be hereafter discovered, shall, on the high seas, be subject to supervision and detention. (5) Disarmament of the slaver is nigh. From 20° North to 22° South, and from 100 miles out in each ocean" the sale of firearms to Arabs or natives is prohibited. Arms must be deposited in Government warehouses, taken· out only on permission, and not in sale include the most improved weapons. Stanley has said: "for wholesale massacres of African aborigines there is only one remedy -the solemn combination, of England, Germany, France, Portugal, South Africa, East Africa, and the Congo State against the introduction of powder into any part of the continent, except for the use of their agents j and seizing every tusk of ivory." Now Christian sentiment must compel civilization to redeem itself by grappling immediately with the slaver of the Congo, for the Free State offers the most advantageous means of attacking these Manyuemans and Soudanese in the rear, while Stanley Falls is the West Point of the Upper Congo. The United States itself took part in this Conference, and the refusal of our Federal Senate to ratify the decree of humanity is a damning diegrace to America. How the country that shattered the shackles of 4,000,000 bondmen could shirk its duty and fasten fetters on the black man in Africa, passes comprehension. EYen Holland played the man and shames us.
3. Cardinal Lavigerie has awakened even papal peoples to their duty in suppressing slavery, and proposes to stop man-hunting at its source by the sword. The campaign to realize this object may take place, since several thousand young meu have foluTJteered and are preparing. In the Sahara these youth~ and the Peres Blancs are already proving themselves true knights of labor, as diggers of wells and planters of trees.· It is objected that these crusaders would merely destroy a few slavers and divert the trade to other routes. But Lavigerie's real idea is that every European Power should maintain sufficient military forces wherever in its possessions the black is hunted j but, if finances forbade, he would revive the medireval soldiers of the Church, its Knights of Alcantara, Lazarus, or Malta, adapt them to modern methods and needs, put them under the Pope, and at the call of any government remove them from place to place requiring their services. Small, inexpensive squadrons can achieve great results.
Whether or not we agree with Lavigerie on the means of employing force, it is absolutely certain that force is now an indispensable necessity in suppressing slave-stealing. The case admits no alternative to-day, for Africa is bleeding out her life-blood at every pore: the population is far too scanty, and va~t areas are relapsing into uninhabited wilds, impenetrable to missionary or merchant. The Arabs are bitterly hostile to European influences, mean to practice slaving as their right, wage wanton war against missions, and demonstrate that in Central Africa European and Arab cannot live together. Turkey intends to send Mohammedan missionaries into her African possessions.
What, then, are the warlike measures inevitable against the Arab? Simply this: protection of Arric's dusky, helpless children. This comprises the introduction of armed bodies into the interior as shepherds of the people, continental blockades against caravans, and as police patrol. At their head will be Europeans, in the ranks natives, as militia, or Sepoys, picked men and masters of gun-drill. As on the Congo, so on the East Coast, the Zambesi, the Niger, the Nile and the lakes, lines of military posts or commercial depots three days' journey apart, are opening. These will absolutely forbid slaving, abolish local markets, prevent the transporting of slaves, except domestics duly registered, and sweep away customs or duties levied on slave sales. Swift armed launches are to be put on all navigable waters, with a garrison or tWQ on the high, healthr platealls of ~a<?h llik~ and on the main traffic lines. Such a chain of fortified posts we may soon see from Suakim along the Nile and the lakes to Quilimane. This will cut the roots of the cancer, and constitute bulwarks behind which missions may advance-missions, which alone can work lasting good.
4. When the export over-sea, indispensable to the continuance of Mos- lem slavery, is destroyed, serfage cannot long continue. Closure of ship- ping ports must therefore be effected, though a tremendous 3000 miles task. The status of slavery must be denied further recognition by inter- national law, the traffic be banned as piracy, and the maritime routes be made so utterly unsafe that no Arab will dm'e risk his life.
5. Mohammedan slavery keeps Africo.Arab slaving alive. So the Brussels Conference brought public opinion to bear on Persia and Turkey, the sole independent slave powers there, and deprecated the influence of their domestic bondage. They should persuade the heads of all Mohammedan States to discourage the purchase of negro slaves, and hold Moslem rulers accountable for future slaving infamies. Zanzibar's new sultan has prohibited slave selling, and instituted measures that will steadily wipe out the whole institution. The British Anti.Slavery Society has pledged itself to suppress Mohammedan slavery, and very many facts prove that the prospect for slavery dying out from the Moslem East is better than that possibility of mediooval Christendom.
6. Colonization, commerce, and railroads afford Christianity the underhold in this death grapple. The prejudices of the natives against colonization, never very strong, will yield to fair and judicious treatment.' But tropical Africa cannot be colonized. by " Caucasians," and it may well be in the Divine statesmanship that the American freedman and none other is to save the brother in black and teach him to save himself. Liberia and its noteworthy success, despite every disadvantage, prove negro colonization to be no Utopian scheme, and with regard to the Congo State, Stanley assures us that if " American negroes form the majority of its citizenship, it would, with proper encouragement, make remarkable development, and in time become a great nation. If these civilized blacks are developed morally, their contact with the savages would be happy." Signs are not wanting that among the negroes of our New Soutb not a few consider. African evangelization their race duty; and that the wonder-working Providence of American history anoints them as apostles to Ethiopia. The task would require comparatively few of the 7,000,000 black Americans, for if less than ten per cent return, 500,000 chosen people would, within one century, accomplish the regeneration of tbeir mother country. Such colonies will swiftly develop legitimate commerce and native industries among the fairly active and workable populations.
Commerce strangles slaving by making its profits less tban those of lawful trade, though it needs to be protected by physical force before it can produce its effects. On the Congo commerce checks the slave trade, since Boma and Matadi are drawing the ivory trade of Stanley Falls away from Zanzibar. Grenfell avers that if once the railway, now rapidly building between tidewater and Stanley Pool, is completed, the Arab will find his occupation gone. On the East Coast the African Lakes Company was organized as a lay auxiliary of Nyassa Missions, and accomplished this by buying ivory at higher prices than slavers can pay. It also built Murchison Road round the Shire Cataracts, and Stevenson Road between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganika. These mend the breaks in the water route from Quilimane to Ruanda, and are for humanitarian purposes the most im- portant thoroughfares to Central Africa, as this line cuts the principfll routes to the coast, and several garrisons on it could throttle the slavers in transit. As to Uganda and Masailand, Mackay and Emin have affirmed that a safe road to the coast must unquestionably be opened. The British East Afric:m Company is building a railroad from Mombasa to Lake Vic- toria. The English, at Stanley's request, devote their Stanley fund to placing a steamer on that lake, and Germany is doing the same thing. Emin has established a fortified post on its south shore, after whipping Arab slavers in many encounters. U-nyanyemhe is his central station, but he will found four large commercial stations and several smaller ones on the Tanganika and elsewhere. An ivory tribute will, within three years, repay the expenses-$400,000. That does not appear unreasonable when we remember that since 1885 Tippu Tib has exported $500,000 worth of ivory, and that this includes the cnormous stock just brought to market by his 7000 porters. A Swedish expedition intends to plant stations from Lake Victoria to Tanganika for co-opcration in suppressing ~laving. The Germans will, of course, push roads to the latter lake. The British Company bas effected the emancipation of 5000 slaves since 1888, made compacts against slaving with tribes inhabiting 50,000 square miles, compels Arabs themselves to recognize that no native is to be held in servitude, releases slaves in caravans, and enables domestics to buy their freedom. On the Juba 30,000 runaway slaves recently asked to be taken under its protection. In Uganda, Mwanga pledges himself to assist, in the abolition of slaving. Thus the outlook for the speedy suppression of East African sla1Jing, and the march of Christianity even to the Great Forest, is full of promise.
The greatest efficiency of the iron horse in destroying the slave trade will occur on transcontinental lines bisecting the slave-belt~. A railroad from Congo mouth to Zanzibar, Stanley says, can be eatiily constructed, and would pay from the start. Another, 1000 miles long, runs from Cape Town to Kimberley, and the South African Company, which is to govern all lands between the Orange River and the Tanganika will prolong it to the Zambesi. (A railroad from the South already reaches Yryburgh in Bechuanaland.) The Niger Company controls the Low.er Niger, where it bas suppressed human sacrifines and checked slaving j before 1900 it wm control the independent Soudan as far as the Egyptian Soudan. There .it will be met hy English -agents, either by Anglo-Egyptian officials, who will have recovered. the Khartum country, or by the East African Company from Equatoria itself. Since tltat is their ultimate goal, then we shall see the proposed railway from Monrovia to the Red Sea, a French line from Algeria to Lake Tchad, aud the Nile made, by skilful engineering at its modest cataracts, a broad waterway from the Midland Sea to the inland seas. Such roads will accomplish far more than armies; and if Europe will Europe can within a decade shatter the Arab slave trade to atoms. God grant that the negro who talked with Jephson about railways prove a prophet of good, and" that when the railroad is made, Jesus Christ may go up with it."
James H. Richardson, M.D., of Toronto, writes a letter to the editor, expressing emphatic dissent from the article in the January issue on " Livingstone and Stanley." We perhaps owe it to fairness to quote portions of this letter. Dr. Richardson questions the propriety of coupling these two men as we have done, and thinks the aims, characters, and methods of the two are dissimilar and antagonistic. Dr. Richardson thinks Mr. Stanley has given sanction to practices which humanity and Christianity must deplore, and cites the Emin relief expedition as an instance. We give his words: " Think of the very first step-the investing, of that fiend, Tippu Tib, with the authority and pay of an officer of the Congo Free State in the very heart of the country where he had been pursuing his most nefarious deeds of rapine, plunder, and slavery j and in the appointment recognizing his authority for carrying them on above the Stanley Falls. Think of the contract with this miscreant to furnish 600 slave carriers. Mr. Stanley denied, in his lecture at Montreal, that slave labor was employed; hut his book (' In Darkest Africa,' vol. i1., p. 3) records, ' The utter unruliness of this mob of slaves which had maddened tne officers of the rear column.' In vol. i., p. 26], he describes the la~hings on these poor slaves, and says 'awful oaths of vengeance were uttered for all the indignities they suffered j' on pages 212 and 213 we have the record of the hanging of a , slave of Fayilla,' and the condemnation to death of two other slaves-one the slave of a man in Zanzibar, thc other a slave of an artisan in U-nyanyembe, both of whom must have been brought with the expedition all the way from Zanzibar.
" Think of the 357 rifles and the Maxim gun which poured out a deadly stream of 300 bullets a minute! Think of the invariable practice' of driving the poor natives out of their villages and taking occupation. The very first landing at Yambuya was of this character. Read the account (vol. i., pp. 113, 114) after parleying uusucce~s£ully for an hour, ' for leave to reside in their village,' the signal was given, the whistles wl:lre blown" the, boats were moored to the shore, and the horde of about 700, armed to the teeth, rushed up the bank, ' and when the summit was gained not a villager was in sight.' For ten or eleven months these poor villagers were kept out of their homes; no wonder that two days afterward, when Stanley
43i .A. CRITICISM OF STANLEY
started with his advance force, the poor natives drew themselves up at the entrance to their village to prevent it from being taken possession of, and no wonder they never tried the defence again, as they were mowed down by the bullets from the 357 rifles and the deadly Maxim gun. They seem to have vacated village after village in terror, as if the demon of destruction was let loose on them. See also vol. i., p. 152. On July 10th the expedition occupied one of seven large villages at Gwengwere, out of which' all the population had fled ;' on tho 11 tIl, he writes, ' as we were disappearing from view of Gwengwere, the population was seen scurrying back to their homes, which they had temp'orarily vacated for our convenience. It saved trouble of speech, exerted, possibly, in. useless efforts for peace, i.e., if they had not left peaceably they would have been driven out!
" Think of every village being raided for food, and provisions for ten days carried off without remuneration, and this not once. but every day. It may be said that these robberies, this occupation of their homes, this employment of slave labor, this authority conferred on Tippu Tib, were necessary to the success of the expediti.on ; if so, then the expedition was an unholy one. To do evil that good may come is as wrong in this case as in any other. " Dr. Richardson adds that, in his opinion, the sad story of the rear colJlmn " would not have been written if Stanley had done his duty. In 1'0. t, pp. 337, 338, 362, and 364, it is recorded that after a council on Lake Albert, not having found Emin, they concluded to retrace their steps and to ' hurry' on to find Barttelot and the rear column before it was a , wreck' as 'the only sensible course which was left to them,' and how he abandoned this' only sensible course' and left Barttelot to his fate because the headmen and officers wanted to go back to find Emin, and so lost four months and a half before going to Barttelot's relief. As to the abuse heaped on Barttelot because he did not advance without getting the carriers promised by Tippu Tib, one short sentence (vol. ii., p. 13) settles the question: ' Without Tippu Tib, or one of his nephews, such a column' (as the rear column) 'could not be taken through the broad extents of wilderness ahead.' "
The Australian Ballot System is a striking illustration of the benefits which Christian lands may receive from their efforts in carrying civilization and Christianity to heathen countries. Australia was formerly wholly heathen, but has become a Christian land by colonization and missionary effort. The conditions of life there rendered possible the trial of a system of balloting which it would have been very difficult to experiment with in any country of more established institutions. But after having proved successful in Australia it is now adopted in nearly all the United States to the great satisfaction of every intelligent voter. It pays for Christian countries. to send missionaries and colonists to lift heathen lands out of their ignorance and degradation. Every nation so raised to an enlightened religious condition will have some peculiar contribution to the welfare of the whole world which could come from no other people.-Baptist Missionary Magazine.
MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP AND LAWS OF THE BANTU LANGUAGES
THE MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP AND LAWS OF THE BANTU LANGUAGES, AS SEEN IN THE KIMBUNDU AND ISI- ZULU.
BY REV. l"EWIS·GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
The elementary grammar of the Mbundu language, by Mr. Heli Cha~ lain, is a very valuable and timely contribution to a better knowledge of that great family of Bantu languages, which is now known to extend all through South Africa, or, in general terms, East and West from ocean to ocean, aud from the Orange River to some five degrees North of the equator. The grammar is pnmarily designed for the missionaries, the natives, and the colonists of Angola and neighboring dist.ricts; and, for this reason, is written in Portuguese, which prevails to a large extent in that field. Otherwise it would seem to have been better had it been written in a language more widely known. The author of the grammar was well qualified for the work he has done, and has done it well. A native of Switzerland, having acquired a knowledge of six or eight languages aside from the French and German which were his mother tongues, he went out some seven or eight years ago to Loanda, in the Portuguese colony on the West Coast of Africa, as linguist of Bishop Taylor's self-supporting mission. Studying the Portuguese Oil his voyage out, he was well fitted for his work among tribes that spoke dialects of which comparatively little was known as yet in other lands, though they are spoken of by Dr. Cust as constituting the lingua franca of all Western Africa. Indeed, Livingstone speaks of a resemblance between this language and that spoken at Tete, on the Zambezi in Eastern Africa; and the inhabitants of Angola have always found the Mbundu language of great service to them in their travels far to the East.
Mr. Chatelain, giving himself to the study and development of the Bantu languages, has prepared a primer and a translation of John's gospel for his mission, a short vocabulary of the Mbamba, and another of the Umbangala. He is now completing a work on the legends and fables of Angola, and several new vocabularies of neighboring dialects. A more extended work is that of a dictiona~y of the Mbundu language, now in preparation, to be enriched by a comparative study of the Swahili of East Africa, of the Kongo on the West Coast, and by the fruits of the labors of the American missionaries in the Benguela district, together with the fruits of German missionary labors in the Herero of Damara-land. Dr. Cust, the learned and able author of "Modern Languages of Africa," a work published in 1883, speaks of the Mbundu as one of the most important in all West Africa; and, having given a sketch of what the Portuguese have done during the last two and one half centuries to master and make this language known, concludes by saying: "It must be admitted that a new grammar of it is still required." But now, a year since, writing an " Introduction" to Mr. Chatelain's" Kimbundu Grammar," he expresses himself as much pleased .that the matter had fallen into the hands of a scholar 80 well qualified to undertake it, and commends the work to the favorable consideration of African scholars. It will help to give some idea of both the Zulu and Mbundu languages, their general character, forms, laws; also Fome idea of the relationship, or points of similarity that prevail throughout the ('ntire family of South African or Bantn language~, of which Dr. Cust finds 168, aside from 55 dialects, if we institute a brief comparison between the Kimbundll of Angola, in the northwest of the field, and the Isizulu of Natal and Zululand, in the southeast-a geographical distance which puts the two languages nearly two thousand miles apart.
One of the minuter points of resemblance is, that both languages make open syllables; that is, each word and syllable ends in a vowel; and, at< a general rule, the accent falls on the penult. Each abounds in certain consonantal combinations, such as mb, mv, ml, mp, nd, ng and nz; but clicks and gutturals are found only in the Zulu. The vowel signs used in writing have in each the Italian value, and the abundance of these makes the flow of pronunciation in each easy and musical. In their radical element many of the words are the same, or nearly the same, and quite the same in respect to the principle and use of the incipient elements or prefixes of words, though in the forms of their several prefixes they generally differ. Thus, nouns: ENGLISH. ZUI,U. MBUNDU.
Person. s. umuntu. S. mutu. Mother. P. atu. Snake. P. abantu. S. mama. Death. P. jimama. s. umame. S. nioka. P. jinioka. P.omame. S. kufua. P. makufua. s. inyoka.
P. izinyoka.
s. ukufa.
P. ukufa.
So in verbs: ZULU. MBUNDU.
ENGLISH. uku tunga. ku tunga. uku luma. ku lumata. to sew. uku shinga. ku shinga. uku beta. ku beta. to bite. uku lima. ku rima. to insult. uku sala. ku sha:la. to beat. to till. to remain.
For" three" we find tutu in both languages; for" five" we find Manu in the Zulu and tunu in Mbundu. In the former uleu lamba means" to hunger," in the latter leu lamba means" to cook."
In each language the nouns are divided into classes according to their prefix or preformative, and according to the way in which the plural is generally made from the singular by some change in the prefix. Zulu nouns are divided, in this way, into eight classes, the last two of which are without distinction as to number; and, in the same way, Mbundu nouns are divided into ten classes. In the former, the prefix u, um, or umu, of the first class, is changed to 0 or aba to form the plural; as um/ana, " boy," abafana, "boys." So, again, ili or i is changed to ama; im or in to izim, izin, orama; isi to izi, izim, or izin; and um or umu (impersonal) to imi ; though nouns of the seventh and eighth classes have the same pre- fix, ubu or uku, in both numbers: thus, ubuso may mean either" face" or " faces." Nouns in uku are of a verbal character, being the same as the verb in the infinitive mode. In the Mbundu the prefix mu, of the first class, is changed to a, to form the plural; as, mutu, " person," aiu, "persong;" m'}', of the second class, is changed to mi, as mulundu, " mQlmtain," milundu, ,-' mountains. " So, again, ki is changed to i; ri to ma; u to mau; lu to malu,. tu to matu,. ku to maku,. ka to iu; and other forms to ji.
IIi both languages alike f'ach class of nouns has a fragmentary or genitive pronoun of a preformative character, which corresponds to the noun's ptefix ; one for the singular, and one for the plural, which, with the genitive particle a, denotes possession, or the relation of a subject to an attribute; thus, in Zulu, ilizwi lom/ana (loa-um/ana), " word of the boy," or " boy's word;" ~baniu benkosi (b-a-inkosi) "people of the king," or "king's people. " So in the Mbundu, muiue ua mutu, " head of man," or " man's head;" mitue ia atu, " heads of men."
In both languageR alike the adjective takes a prefix corresponding to the prefix of the noun with which it agrees; thus, in Zulu, um/ana umkulu, "the boy (is) great;" um/ana omkulu (a-umkulu) , "the boy (which is) great," i.e., "great boy;" abantu bakulu, "people (are) great ;" abantu abakulu, "great people." So in Mbundu; thus, muiu uonene, "great person;" kim~ kionene, "great thing;" ima- ionene, "great things ;" r'ital'i l'ionene, "great stone;" mata;'i monene, "great stones. " So, too, in respect to numerals. In the Zulu we have umuntu omunye, "one person;" abantu ababili, " two persons ;" izinkomo ezintatu, "three cows." In the Mbundu we ha-e mutu umoshi, " one person ;" kima kimoshi, " one thing;" ima itatu, "three things ;" matubia matanu, "five fires."
The grammar of the verb is essentially the same in the Mbundu language as in the Zulu. In the latter the infinitive has the sign uku, " to ;" as uku landa, "to love;" uku bona, "to see;" in the former, ku; as ku zola, "to love ;" ku longa, "to teach;" ku banga, "to make, do." In both languages alike the pronominal subject of the verb in the third person corresponds to the prefix of the noun for which the pronoun stands. Thus, in Zulu (um/ana, "boy") u bona, "he see~;" (aba/ana, "boys"), ba bona, "they see;" (inkomo, "cow"), i bona, " it sees;" (izinkomo, " cows"), zi bona, "they see." In the Mbundu we have (mutu, "person"), u banga, "h~ (or she) makes;" (atu, "persons"), a bar.ga, " they make ;" (kima," thing"), ki banga, " it makes ;" ' (ima, "things"), i banga, "they make." 'For the first, second, and third persons, preient tense, we have: IN ENGLISH. IN liIZULU. IN KIMBUNDU.
S. I love. S. Ngi tanda. S. Ngi zola. thou Iovest. u tanda. u zola. he (or she, etc.) lovt's. u (i, or Ii, etc.), tanda. u (or a, etc.), zola.
P. we love. P. si tanda. P. tu zola. ye love. ni tanda. nu zola. they love. ba. (or zi, etc.), tanda. a (or i, etc.), zola.
In the few following forms we have a comparative view of some of the modes in the two lan~ua~es : IN ENGLISH. IN ISIZULU. IN KIMBUNDU. '
Love, or love thou. tanda, or ma u tande. zola. Love yeo I love, or I do love. tandani. zolenu. I may love. I should love. ngi tanda, or ngi y a tanda. ngi zola.
ngi nga tanda. ngi zole.
nga ngi tanda. ngojo zola.
In the following we have a comparative view of a few tenses.
IN ENGLISH. IN ISIZULU. IN KIMBUNDU.
I love. ngi tanda. ngi zola. I loved. nga tanda. nga zolo. I have loved. ngi tandile. nga zolele. I had loved. ngi be ngi tandile. nga. zolele kia. I shall love. ngi y8 ku tanda. ngondo zola, or nganda ku zola.
IB respect to species of verbs, we find much of likeness between the Zulu and the Mbundu, as also between these and the Hebrew, in what is there called " conjugations." In the former from tanda, ,. love," we get the causative, tandisa, .. cause to love j" the relative, tandela, " love for j" the reciprocal, tandana, "love one another j" the reflective, zitanda, " love self j" the subjective, tandeka, " be lovely or lovable j" also other species. In the Mbundu we have from zola, ,. love," zolesa, " cause to love j" zolela, "love for j" rizola, " love self." We sometimes find two or more species combined j as, in Zulu, the causative and relative, tandisela, "cause to love for j" in Mbundu, zolesela, " cause to love for."
The mutual relationship and laws, or kinds of resemblance and difference that prevail in the great family of Bantu languages are seen, to some extent, in the goodly number of words that are found to be substantially the same in many of its members, though such words are often found in greatly differing forms. "Ve take two words, or, rather, one word in its two numbers, umunt!l, " person," abantu, " persons or people," as a good example of the unity in variety in some of the corresponding words in the cognate lauguages of which we speak. This word consIsts of two elements, one radical, the other preformative, which is also called "prefix." In Zulu the ,root is ntu; the prefix, singular, umu, plural, aba. And, of all the numerous forms which this word may take, whether in root or prefix, doubtlelOs the Zulu, as above, i.e., um'l1ntu, abantu, are alike most original and complete., For these Zulu words we find the corresponding words, in the cognate languages, to be, on the South, in the Kafir, umntu, abant'l ; on the West, in the Sesutu, motu, batu,. in the Sethlapi and Sechuana, mothu, bathu. Going northward and eastward, and coming into the Delagoa region, we find, in the Southern Tekeza, munu, banu or vanu,. in Northern Tekeza, amuno, vano,. coming to the Tete and Sena on the Zambe~ii, we find munttu, vanttu,. in the Quilimane, muntu, antu,. in the Maravi, muntu, wanthu. In the Makua, latitude 15° South, we find muttu, attu. In the Yao, on the eastern bank of Lake Nyassa, we have mundu, vandu or wandu; in Kiswahili, latitude from 5° to 6° South, mtu, watu,. then, in the Kinika, mutu, atu,. in the Kikamba, mundu, andu,. and in the Kisambala and Kipokomo, on the Pokomo, Dana or Tana River, near the equator, we have muntu, wantu.
Passing now to the southwest of the Bantu field, and moving northward along the West Coast of the c'ontinent, we find, in the Otyiherero or Damara language, omundu, ovandu j in the Sindonga, the language of the Ovambo, umtu, oantu,. in the Nano of Benguela, omuno, amana j in the Kimbundu or Angola, mutu, atu,. in the Kongo, omuntu, oantu j in the Benga, as spoken on the Corisco Islands, North of the equator, moto, bato,. and in the Dualla and Isubu or Cameroons language, motu, batu.
From what is already known of the many other Bantu languages, we have every reason to believe that the points of agreement and difference which we have. now passed in review are a good specimen of what prevail among the scores that still remain to he reduced to order in the great inland region that stretches through the interior, from four or five degrees North of the equator to the Orange River on the South.
Of how great advantage this relationship must be to the hosts of missioll9.ries, whose great work it shall yet be to reduce the still unwritten multitude of these Bantu languages each to its own grammatically exact order, and translate the Scriptures into them, it is hardly pOl)sible to give any adequate idea. If the writer, while preparing to go abroad, could have, had the means of getting even such a knowledge of these languages as may be gathered from this article, it would have been of more aid and saving of time to him than he can now tell.
We reprint from the African News a brief article on " The Spelling of African Names," by Heli Chatelain, which is appropriate to follow Mr.
Grout's paper: " Every reader of African publications and student of African maps must have been struck with the orthographic chaos which prevails throughout African nomenclature. The same town, country, people, mountain, or river is designated in different maps and b?oks, sometimes in the same periodical, with a variety of names which, to the uninitiated, present but few or no traces of similarity, much less of identity.
" This lamentable fact is due mainly to two causes: (1) to the hetero-
THE SPELLING OF AFRICAN NAMES
geneous spelling of European languages, from which the information is culled; (2) to the prefixes and suffixes of African languages, whose secret is understood by few African linguists, and even then imperfectly.
" ]. The nature of the first difficulty will be understood at a glance, on comparing the following table, giving the principal European ways of rendering the same sounds : English. Frencli. German. Portuguese. Spani87i. u 00 ou u u e e a e,(! tl x, eh nh Ii 8h eh seh eh nj dj ny gn tach, tj ao au dsch, dj ai, ae ai, ay elt teh all j dj ei ow (as in how) aou i a"i Thus the Magadoxo of the Portuguese becomes Magado~ho in English, and MagadoKcho in German, unless the Arabic form Mukhdishu, with its own national transliterations, be preferred by a traveller or map-maker.
" The British Government and the Royal Geographical Society have recently taken an important step toward bringing some order into the hitherto arbitrary nomenclature, by agreeing on a systcm of geographical speIling and transliteration which shall be followed in all official documents, and is sme to be adopted by the public at large. The value of the letters according to the new system is given on page 466 (October, 1890), of the African News j but one important article was omitted.
" In the names of places belonging to the German, French, or Portuguese spheres of influence, and, in the case of a few old names, the German, French, or Portuguese spellings are to be left unchanged. So, the readers will still be supposed to know all those langllage~, if they want to pronounce correctly. It follows, therefore, that the new spelling will be principally applied to the tranBliteration of native names in eOllntries controlled by England. It may be interesting for many to learn that the system recently made official is simply the one used by Krapf and his colaborers in Ea~t Africa, for the transliteration of Ki-swahili and other East Afril)an languages.
" The United States have just been favored with a Board on Geographic Names, whose duty it is to give the standard, to which all official publications will have to, and the unofficial will choose to, conform. It is much to be desired that our Board will, as far as possible, concur with the decisions of their colleagues across the water.
"2. The second cause of pnzzling spellings, the peculiar construction of African tongues, cannot be as snmmarily dealt with as the first. Only as our knowledge of the hundreds of dialects advance~, can the correct names be settled on, and the only rightful judge on the question is the acknowledged master-linguist of each separate language. Many of the names now generally accepted will have to yield to new ones, because they are not the names used by the natives of the 'place, but those given to travellers or missionarie~ by their native guides or carriers belonging to other tribeft, who adapt all the names they hear to their own national taste. Though quite insufficient for the scientist, a few points will be very useful to the general reader.
" Thus, in most Bantu languages, whose area covers the immense triangle between the Cameroons (now Kamerun), the Kilimanjaro and the Cape of Good Hope, the different prefixes, which puzzle so much the stranger, can easily be learned: Mu- mo- m- * mean man, e.g., Mu-ganda signifies a G"nda-man. Ba- wa- a- ma- t mean mtn. e..q., Ba-gar,da signifies Ganda-men. u- Ki- tlki- si- mean language. e.g., Ki-swaltili signifies Swahili language. Bu- mean country, e.g., Bu-ganda, U-gogo signifies Ganda Oountry, Gogo Oountry.
" When, therefore, an African name occurs, the prefix will tell you whether the name indicates a single man, a people, a country, or a lan- guage, and our table will tell you approximately, in case of doubt, which prefix you have to use. Never use Wa- or Ba- for the country, nor Bu- or U- for the people. Tbough less gross, mistakes are even then unavoid- able, alii a comparison of the prefixes used (1) by the Ba-ganda, and (2) the Ba-sutu will show: .
Man. Men. Country. Languap:e.
(1) Mu-ganda Ba-ganda Bu-ganda Lu-ganda (2) Mu-autu Ba-8utut Le-8utu Se-&utu " In Angola two neighboring nations are distinguished solely by prefixes, which were modified to avoid the confusion. Thus, in the language of Angola proper, ki-mbundu means the language of the a-mbundu (people), while ki-mbundu, applied to a person, signifies a native of Bailundo or Bihe j as to the language of the latter it is called u-mbundu, which is also used to express the negro color and natnre.
" Dr. R. N. Cust. in his excellent' Modern Languages of Africa,' cut the Gordian knot of prefixes and suffixes in Alexandrine fashion by ignoring them completely aud using the bare radical to indicate language. Ignoring them, however, docs not remove the difficulties for a long time j the specialists keep on clinging to their distinctive prefixes. The splendid language map, which accompanies Dr. Cust's book, has passed into the hands of many students of Africa, and has led them to use the radicals, which there designate the languages, for either countries or people.
"A treatise on the subject by a speciaJiRt in each of the few great. families of African languages would be timely and helpful to geograp}:lers and the reading public." ——————– The religion of the people of Syria is usually called by the Government Moslem and non-Moslem. The first includes Orthodox and Persian Moham- medans (Moslems and Metawalies), Druzes, Nusaireeyehs and Ismaileyehs and all Bedawee Arabs. Non-Moslems are Jews, nominal Christians (Or- thodox Greek, Papal Greek, Maronite [Papall, Jacobite, Syrian, Armenian and Latin Papists) and Evangelical Christians. The principal accessions to the church have been from the non-Moslem sects. Work among these is important. It aims to give them a pure Gospel and to remove all ground for the well-merited contempt in which nominal Christians are held by Mos- lems. This has been so far successful that, first, the religion of Evangeli- cal Christiant! is looked upon as a new religion and is respected by the non- Christian sects j second, the old sects are beginning decided reforms in their churches j and, third, the leaven of the Gospel is working in a most interesting and marked manner among the Moslems, giving the confident hope that the day is not far distant when a large number of them may be brought to Christ. Earnest prayer is asked that freedom of conscie'lce may be fully granted to all. – Ohurch at Home and Abroad.
• In nicknamee eometime. KOr and t TIl·.
t The French spell BOrBOuto, the English, ~Or8'ttu, the Germano, BOrBOto. The correct woulq be Ba-eOtO. the accented vowels sounded like u inj'ult, but long. THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA lIY W. A. I'lTANTON, EI'lQ., HAMILTON, :N. Y.
Now that 110 much interest centres in the Dark C0I1tinent; we seek for some comprehensive view of the great people wbo inha;bitjt. We hear· much of individual tribes, but very little of general races. 'Ve :rnow something of the Negro and the Congoese, but very little of the African man, in his diverse life and multitudinous types, from the M:editerranean to Cape Colony. Our view is 1>artial and one-sidlld, rather than complete 'and comprehensive. It will be the purpose of this paper to gather up the results of recent investigation, and present, as far ·as possible; a broad general view of the people of Africa. We will accomplish this be·stby considering, first, the ethnology, and second, the gener:;tl condition of the people j or, in other words, by seeking to discover who -the people are, and what they are.
I. Who are the people of Africa! 'Ve must remember at the outset t~at the population· of Africa is composed of two elements; the native and the foreign.. Thl'! foreign element consists of Europeans, Arabs, Moors, Turks, a~d Jews. With these we will not deal, as they are well known both as to race chamcteristics and general manner of living. We must not, however, classify 'the Arabs and Moors in exactly the same rank with the Europeans or. even the Turks. For the Arabs have been in Africa ever since 300 B. c., and· have thus become almost indigenous, in many cases amalgamating with the native races. But it is not this foreign element, however long it may have cxisted in the land, of which we wish to speak, but of the great undefined and unclassified native population. Any true classification of the people is almost an impossibility. The ethnology of Africa is in the utmost confusion. Every new explorer brings to light great and hitherto unknown races, as well as· establishing new facts in regard to old ones. As the case now stands, in the light of Stanley's most recent discoveries, the native population of Africa consists of six great races-B·erber, Coptic, Nilotic, Negro, Bantu, and Goriepine.. Mr. Stanley, in his most recent work, criticises the term " Bautu" as unscientific, on the ground that it simply means "men j" but, as all the best authorities employ it, and as it has become asseciated by constant use with the race to which it is usually applied, we think it best to retain it. All these six races are allied to a greater or less degree. They all spring from the great Indo-African or Indo-Ethiopic family. They are thus a mixture of the pure African type with the Asiatic. and differ in race characteristics according as the one type or the other predominates. Though thus allied, they present strong race distinctions, and hence deserve a separate classification. 1. The Berber. The Berbers are a race of great antiquity. They are descendants of the primitiv~ ~to{:k of the land. They vary in color from a black to a dark bronze or copper. They have hig~ cheek-bone!!, the nose sometimes flat, like that of the Nf>gro, and sometimes aquiline; lips formed like those of Europeans; eye!! expressive, and hair curled, but not woolly. They are without the slightest trace of what is generally recognized as the negro physiognomy. They are an athletic, strong-featured people, accustomed to hardship and fatigue. Though the various tribes differ much, they are all fine men, tall, straight, and handsome. The home of the Berbers is in North Africa. They extend from Morocco to Egypt, and from tho Mediterranean to the Soudan. The Shuluh of the Atlas district, the Kobyles of Tunis, the Tuaneks of Western and Central Sahara, and the Tibbus of Eastern Sahara all belong to the Berber genus, and speak the Berber language.
2. The Coptic. The Copts are descendants of the an~ient Egyptian… They are a mixed race, their ancestors h!1ving intermarried with Greeks, Nubians, and AbYRsinians. Their complexion is similar to that of the Arab-a brownish yellow; foreheads flat, hair soft and woolly, noses flattened like the Negro's, lips thin and straight, cheek-bones high, beards thin, eyes large, and bent upward like the Chinaman's. They represent all that is left of the proud blood of the Pharaohs. Their home is in Northern Egypt.
3. The Nilotic. There are three main divisions of this race-the Nubians, Abyssinians, and Gollos.
The Nubians are of a reddish brown complexion; their color in some cases approximating a black, but not like the ebony hue of the Negro. They are described as a handsome people, with beautiful features, fine expressive eyes, and of slender and elegant forms. They inhabit Nubia.
The Abys~inians are a IItrong and vigorolls race, of a copper hue, more or less dark, with straight noses, eyes clear yet languishing, hair black and crisp, but not woolly. They are a mixed race, and inhabit Abyssinia.
The Gollos are the strongest tribe of the Nilotic race. They are a large, vigorous, almost bulky people. Their color varies between black and brownish, some of the women being remarkably fair. As to type, they stand between the Negro of Guinea and the Arab or Berber. Their countenances are rounder than those of the Arab, their eyes small, deeply set, but lively. They occupy a large district in East Africa directly South of Abyssinia.
4. The Negro. The general physical characteristics of the Negro are too well known to need description. It is a mistake to suppose all Africans are Negroes. The Negroes form but one of the six great races. Their home is in the Soudan, stretching from Senegambia on the West, to the highlands of Abyssinia on the East. The Mandiogoes are one of the most powerful of Negro races. They inhabit Senegambia, are very numerous, and partially civilized.
The W olofs occupy the region between the Senegal and the Gambia. They are the blackest and handsomest of all Negroes, and are a mild and social pe>ple. Central Soudan is occupied by the FOlllahs. They are one of the most remarkable races in Africa, distinguished for their intelligence and friendliness, are fairly industrious and civilized, and speak a rich and harmonious language. Our knowledge of Negro races is confined, in the main, to those of the coast, who are of the lowest type. Of the vast inland tribes of the Soudan ah:~ost nothing is known. The heart of this great country has scarcely been penetrated, and is now the least known of any part of Mrica.
5. The Bantu. The Bantu race is the most marked and characteristic race in Africa. The Bantu is of a far nobler type than the Negro. Though there are many tribes and nations, they all have the same general characteristics, and belong to one great family.' They are thus described by a recent traveller: "The Bantu is a fine, tall, upright man, with delicately small hands and well-shaped feet, a fine face, high, thin nose, beard and mustache.
" The further you go into the interior the finer the type becomes, and two points about them contrast yery favorably with most of the coast racesnamely, their lighter color, generally a warm chocolate, and their freedom from that offensive smell which is supposed wrongly to characterize most of the Africans. Some of them are perfect Greek statues as regards the splendid development and poise of figure. " They occupy a greater extent of cOllntry than any other one race in Africa, stretching from the SO North of the equator to the Tropic of Capricorn; or by countIies, from the 'Soudan nearly to Cape Colony. Thus nearly the whole Southern half of Africa is the home of the Bantu race.
6. The Goriepine. The Goriepine race is composed of Hottentots, Korannas, and Bushmen. A description of the Hottentot will suffice for all. Where they originated is a mystery. The only people to whom they are thought to bear a resemblance are the Chinese or Malays. Like these they have the broad forehead, the high cheek-bones, the oblique eye. the thin beard, and the dull yellow tint of complexion; but there is a difference in regard to their hair, which grows in small tufts, harsh, and lather wiry, and in the formation of the bones of the pelvis. They are a race of dwarfs, rarely exceeding four feet six inches in height. They are lively, cheerful, good-hnmored, and by no means wanting in intellect.
These six races form the native population of Africa. The entire population, both native and foreign, is variously estimated from 200,000,000 to 350,000,0.00. Mr. Guinness estimates it at 350,000,000. Stanley places it at 250,000,000. A conservative estimate would place it between 250,000,000 and 300,000,000.
II. We ask, in the second place, what is the social and moral condition of this great people 1 As to civilization and social status, Africa may be divided into two .great sections. The division is marked by passing a line froni the mouth of the Senegal Rh-er on the West to Cape Guardafui on the East. The Northern half includes aU the States of the Mediterranean, Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and the Sahara. The Southern half embraces the Soudan, and Central and Southern Africa; or, as to races in the North, the Berber, Coptic, and Nilotic, in the South the Negro, Bantu, and Goriepine.
The Northern half has the characteristics of the Arabic civilization. The people are largely pastoral and nomadic. They have all the genius of the Arab, both for war and for trade. The Tuoricks and Tibbus of the Sahara are purely nomadic, living by means of predatory incursions and by tribute exacted from passing caravans. The Kabyles of Algiers and Tunis are the most industrious of Berber tribes. They till the land and work the mines in the mountains. The Copts of Egypt are an extremely bigoted people, of a sullen temper, very avaricious,. great dissemblers, ignorant, and faithless. They form the middle class, working chiefly as tradesmen and mechanics. The Abyssinians are, on the whole, barbarous and addicted to the grossest sensual pleasures. Their priests, among whom marriage is common, are but little better than the mass of the people. They are fierce and warlike, and have little regard for human life. In general, we may say of the Norj:.h African people, they are restless and nomadic for the most part, fierce and warlike, yet in some cases peaceable and industrious, proud; haughty, arrogant, energetic, and aggressive; in trade keen and versatile, with a strong native instinct for acquisition; in morals grossly sensual as the Abyssinians, or markedly abstemious as the Tuoricks of the desert or the Nubians of the Nile. In fine, they are characterized by both the virtues and the vices of the Arabic civilization and the Moslem faith. The stamp of the Arab and of Islamism is impressed on every race from the Mediterranean to the Soudan.
The Southern half of Africa is utterly destitute of any civilization worthy of the name. 'fhe people are for the most part in Ii primitive condition, not strictly savages, yet not civilized. As to social status, the people live mostly in independent groups under the command of a chief or king, whose domain may comprise only a few villages, or it may be a large extent of territory. In the Congo valley every village is independent, while in the South is the great Gorongange kingdom of Msidi, who is a most absolute despot, and rules by means of 2000 fusileers. In general the king or chief is tyrant and the people his slaves.
As to intelligence, there is a vast difference in different tribes. The best representatives, perhaps, of intelligence are the Bololo people, in the bend of the Congo. They clear away the tangled growth of t.he forest in their settlements, and sow the fertile soil with maize and mandroca. They are expert in the working and smelting of brass. They understand division of labor, and have divided themselves into farmers, gardeners, smiths, weavers, cabinet-makers, warriors, and speakers. They are intelligent, industrious, and friendly. The streets of their villages are straight and regular, running at right angles. Their houses are large and commodious. Far in the interior, however, we find a different state of things. Professor Drummond gives this description of the people in the Nyassa district: THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA.
" Hidden away in the endless forests, like birds' nests in a wood, in terror of one another, and of their common foe, the slaver, are small native vil- lages ; and here in his virgin simplicity dwells primeval man, without clothes, without civilization, without learning, without religion, the genuine child of nature-thoughtless, careless, and contented. This man is ap- parently quite happy ; he has practically no wants. One stick pointed makes him a spear j two sticks rubbed together make him a fire; fifty sticks tied together make him a house. The bark he peels from them, makes his clothes; the fruits which hang on them make his food."
There is one common characteristic of the Central African people. They are bom traders, and therein lies the hope of a future civilization for Africa. The commercial instinct is all-powerful.· They have actually created among themselves a true currency, though not a money one. " In the management of a bargain," says Stanley, " I should back the Congoese native against Jew or Christian, Parsee or Bonyan, in all the round world. Unsophisticated is the very last term I should ever apply to an African child or man in connection with the knowledge of how to trade. I have seen a child of eight do more tricks of trade in an hour than the cleverest European trader on the Congo could do in a month. Therefore, when I write of a Congo native, whether he is of the Bakongo, Bayanzi, or Bakete tribes, remember to associate with him an almost unconceivable amount of natural shrewdness and power of indomitable and untiring chaffer." As to morals, the picture is not so fair. The degradation is extreme and well- IJigh universal. Polygamy is everywhere practised. In the empire of Kasongo, 'Vest of Lake Tanganyika, the ruler is regarded as the husband of all his female subjects, except his mother. The idea of chastity seems to have been entirely lost. The value of a human life, especially of a slave, is unknown. Mutilation and death are the only punishments in vogue, even for the slightest offences. The slaughter of men, women, and children that accompanies the death of a chief is so revolting as to be almost incredible, had it not been attested by eye-witnesses. Human sac- rifices are common. The walls which surround. the palace of the King of Dahomy, on the West African Coast, are decorated with the heads of war- captives stuck on stakes. Cannibalism is not universal, but is prevalent among the tribes of the Upper Congo and about the Mobangi River, where the paths are marked by rows of human skulls, and the people wear neck- laces of human teeth. We shudder at the very mention of atrocities which ~ are of every-day occurrence among this people. From the dwarfs of the Great Forest of Upper Congo to the half-human inhabitants of the Kolohori Desert, and from the besotted Negro of Old Calabar to the degenerate Hot- tentot of Momagna land, the same blackness of moral degradation prevails with ever-deepening shades. All are not as atrocious or as degraded, but the few faint and s~attered gleams of light only serve to deepen and in- tensify the dense darkness that covers like a pall this truly benighted land. Africa has been likened, from her geographical form, to a woman with a
CONFUCIUS AND CHRIST COMPARED
huge burden on her back. Need I ask what that burden is! It is the crushing weight of a bondage more cruel and relentless than that of the Arab slaver, more deadly and destructive than that of the white man's rum -the bondage of a thousand years of ever-deepening sin.
CONFUCIUS AND CHRIST COMPARED.
In a recent issue of the American Missionary we find the vast difference between the power of the moral teachings of Confucius to affect the conduct, and that of the teachings of Christ, very clearly put by a converted Chinaman, as the following item will show: Hing Sing is a helper in the Chinese mission at Petaluma, Cal. He • reports in a letter to Dr. Pond, the superintendent, an interview with a pagan friend. Though his English is in dialect form, he makes it express very clearly his idea of the universality of the religion of Jesus, and its superiority to that of Confucius.
In the course of the interview his friend had acknowledged that it. was a wrong way to do to smoke and to gamble, and that it wasted money. " But," he said, to quote Hing Sing's own words, " you should not believe Jesus, for we have our own Confucius doctrine, which also taught us to be good. You should not believe Jesus, and should not imitate foreign doctrine.' , I answer him: " Gold have no limit, no matter from what country or nation, but pure and true, so that we call precious, for everybody can use it. Also the Jesus doctrine have no limit, from whateTer nation, but is the true, for we to imitate and believe.
" We loand Jesus was the Son of God, came down to saTe our soul, if we real trust in His name. I found our Confucius, he was virtue and good man. lIe can teach us to be good and honor, but he cannot save our soul. But we found J csus was the Son of God, for lie can give His Spirit to melt our wicked hearts into righteous and faithful and good man; our Confucius only can tell us between good and bad, but not able to melt our evil heart. How many our Chinese people understand our Confucius doctrine! Why should they not imitate and obedience his teaching? Smoke opium, gamble, swear, and other evil things, they know very well that was unrighteous, for why should they not imitate our Confucius what he has done, the good work, and obey his teaching 1 Ah, for he can only indicate to you the way of good, but he cannot inspire your spirit, but Jesus only can! Nothing impossible. When I was not a Christian I was gamble and I was swear, but since I became a Christian, never smoke opium, never gamble or swearing, and many of my friends was the same.
So it was illustrated, Jesus was the Son of God, can give ot His Spirit to inspire our spirit, to turn away from bad to the good."
A. WONDERFUL LIFE·BOAT
A WONDERFUL LIFE·BOAT.
BY CAPTAIN E. C. HORE, F.R.G.B.
If you turn to the map of Africa you will see, toward its centre, several large pieces of water known as the Central African lakes, and, in a central position among them, a long. shaped one called Tanganyika j its surface is 2700 feet above sea-level, and it is hemmed in nearly all round by high land crowned witb forests. Around the shores of that lake twelve different tribes of Africans have their homes j there may be seen market places where hundreds of natives bring their produce, such as mats, baskets, skins, bark cloth, woven cotton cloth, pottery, iron, both as hoes and axes, weapons and wire j copper, botb in pigs and manufactured into bracelets and otber ornaments, sugar-cane, ground nuts, palm oil, salt, honey, and butter, besides goats, fowls, fisb, and corn and vegetables of 'many kinds. , These are spread out for sale in the early morning in the market-places, which become busy scenes of barter and exchange.
For such busy and industrious people the lake forms a ready means of getting about; and much of the produce to be seen in those markets is brought there in canoes. These are wbat are known to us as dugouts– hewn out of solid trunks of trees from the great forests on the lake shores; they are clumsy-looking craft, following rather the model of the hippo- potamus than that of the swan, but strong and safe for all that j and tbe natives are very clever in managing them. These canoes are also largely used for fishing. I have seen more than 200 little canoes at one time out at nigbt catching whitebait. In each canoe a long faggot of dried reeds, witb one end alight and pushed over the bow of the canoe, served to attract the little fish in immense shoals. The fisherman, standing erect in his tiny-craft, and using a large hand-net, literally shovels them in. Tbe fish are then taken on shore, baked quite dry in the hot sun, and made up into little bolster-shaped loads wrapped round with leaves, and thus form,ing portable packages of preserved provisions, which are sent far and wide over the country. Other large canoes, some of them over forty feet long, are engaged in all kinds of trading enterprises between the different countries round the lake, and, especially, in the slave trade between tribe and tribe. For, although these fine people are so enterprising and industrious, there is everything with them that we think of as heathen and savage, the horrible curse of the slave trade having always kept them down, and no light of Christianity brightened their life into liberty and civilization.
But, a few years ago, there appeared on those waters a boat of most strange appearance and character for that remote region.. The Morning Star was her name, coming, let us hope, as the harbinger of the light and glory of a true daylight. She is a boat built of the best modern materials, and of handsome appearance, like a large sea-going life-boat, with three sails and eight oars, and flying at her masthead the peaceful device of the dove and olive branch-the flag of the London Missionary Society, to whom she belongs, and whose missionaries she conveys from place to place with a message of Jove and light to those natives.
And this is how the Morning Star got to 'l'anganyika : I went home from England to Central Africa in 1881 with a survey of Lake Tanganyika, and a report of the kind of vessel necessary for missionary work on that inland s~a. In due time the Good News, auxiliary steam yacht, was placed in hand for that purpose ; but, as it would be some time before she was ready for service, and a large reinforcement of missionaries were starting for Tanganyika, another smaller vessel was required, both for immediate use, 'and, afterward, to complete the efficiency of the boat service on the lake as tender for the Good News, or independently.
For this purpose I designed the Morning Star, 32 feet long and 8 feet beam. She was built from my design, by Forrestt & Sons, of London, in six complete sections, and ele'en smaller pieces, to be jointed together with bolts and nuts, each section and piece separately galvanized, and t:) form, when put together, a strong, sea-going life-boat. Each end section formed a complete air-tight tank, and two intermediate little cabins formed each of two sections, also being water-tight compartments.
To convey these sections overland six small carts or barrows, consisting of light wooden frames exactly to fit the sections, and wrought iron wheels and fittings, were made, also conveniently taken to pieces. All these sections and pieces and their carts, were conveyed in the ordinary way as cargo in a steamer from London to Zanzibar, where the strange enterprise commenced of conveying them overland to the centre of Africa.
From the East Coast of Africa, opposite Zanzibar to Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, following the windings and zig-zags of the only possible paths, is a distance of 836 miles, without railways, vehicles of any kind, or even beasts of burden. On the heads and shoulders of Africans, or on carts drawn and pushed by them, the Morning Star was conveyed to the lake. Carried over first in small Arab dhows from Zanzibar to the coast (a distance of 25 miles), the sections, and carts, and loads were landed at Saadani, a native settlement or town under the rule of the Sultan of Zanzibar. There the carts were fitted together ,and the sections secured npon them, and, after a great deal of work and preparation (for the boat and its fittings formed part of a large caravan, consisting altogether of over 900 Africans, ten of our missionaries, and all their stores, besides African moneys in the shape of many bale~ of calico and other cloth and barter goods) started on their long journey.
For three and one half months the faithful African porters cut their way through broad belts of jungle, dragged the carts ankle deep through miry swamps, threaded patiently the winding forest tracks, slowly clambered over mountain barriers-often hungry, thirsty, and excessively tired, but never giving in or yielding to others the" honor," as they considered it, of .managing the cart, or carrying the piece of boat which formed their part of the work. In camp. gossiping over the fire at night, they would argue with one another as to how the boat would be put together, and to strangers along the road they would boast that they were ,,'partners" in the enterprise of conveying it to Tanganyika; and this, often, while they were hungry and thirsty by reason of the hard work it had cau~ed them.
At last Ujiji was reached, the carts causing a great sensation there, and great wonderment was expressed at the boat sections. I soon got settled in myoid quarters, and the boat-building was commenced. Day after day she grew in size and beauty as the various parts were joined together, until, all being finished, she was one day launched into the lake, a thing of beauty and strength, and a joy to us for years of work, during which she proved to us safety and comfort and speed.
As the Morning Star was being built, some of myoid boat'll crew (natives of Ujiji), who were. eager to go again with me voyaging on Lake Tanganyika, came, day by day, to look at the new craft; day by day, too, some cloud or doubt seemed to damp their ardor about the coming voyage, until at last, one day, they came along to have a special talk with me, and the difficulty was explained. They had beguu to wonder, and then to doubt as they saw the metal sides of the boat, and had finally determined to tell me that, although they would" go anywhere" and" do anything" for me, they really could not go " to sea in a saucepan." I told them to wait; and while I was preparing to depart from Ujiji and give up our house to its owner, the boat lay quietly afloat at anchor. Several times I took So~lC of these Wajiji sailors off with me to the boat to have a look, and in this way seeing her buoyancy and perfect tightness, they at last became convinced of her seaworthiness.
Our beautiful boat was complete, and her loyal crew ready for work; the new Morning Star shone forth upon the lake, and now, for more than five years (having become well known as the harbinger of peace and goodwill) has been afloat there, welcomed wherever she goes, conveying backward and forward, between our stations, our missionaries and their stores, proving herself to be a stanch and good vessel, and in her life and history fully entitled to the name of " a wonderful life-boat."
There she still remains (together with her larger companion, the steamer Good News, afterward built there) on Lake Tanganyika, 2700 feet above the sea, and 800 miles from the sea-coast, a remarkable evidence of the very practical nature of missionary work in that country, and a means by which our young people may, by contributing to her support, help in giving to Dark Africa the Light of the Gospel.
Any of our readers who wish to study African missions will find, we are sure, great help in Tlte African News, published by T. B. Welch & Son. While this admirable periodical especially reports Bishop William Taylor's work, we have found it full of information, and have taken the liberty to copy a short article in these pages.-EDITOR.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVl'i:R, MASS.
-The Calwer Monatsbliitie1·, referring to David's ordinance, that" as his part is that goeth down to the battle, RO shall his part be that remaineth by the stuff, ,., remarks: "This is the word of a king, and is in force even to this dar. The cause is the Lord's. His are the laborers. His is the result. And He apportions the reward as He will. His truth finds application in a thousand ways. The simple Christian, who imagineR himself so far behind the missionary, and the missionary, who is tempted to imagine himself of special dignity in the kingdom of God, will one day find the Judge using another standard than that of either. Those .who look upon home .missions as an inferior work, and they whose sense of their country's need" makefl them jealous of everyone that is penetrated with the thought that ' the field is the world,' will both find at last that the question is not: ' Where have ye wrought l' but, 'How have ye wrought where ye were called to work~' 'If it is only good, then it is good. ' " Or, as the youthful Malcolm says: ., This, and what needful else That :Jalls upon us by the Grace of grace We will perform in measure, time, and place. "
" Inner missions," says the Monatsbliitter, referring to George Miiller's definition of himself, "are a Handlanger of foreign missions." A hand- Zanger is one who hands the materials which the craftsman uses. In Germany the mutual inosculation of the two interests is even more distinctly evident than here. It is no wonder,. then, that George Miiller has brought with him to England in the most eminent degree the instinct that refuses to separate them either in thought or act.
-The different departments of evangelistic work are corning so rapidly into intercommunication that we are as likely as not to find the fullest account of what is going on near us in some publication at the ends of the earth. This is illustrated by the following paragraph from the Bombay Guardian of November 22d, 1890. Even when it states facts already known, they seem to have a new meaning when they reverberate from hoary India: " We have frequently noted with thankfulness the progress of the McAH Mission in Paris. Now we learn that a large missionary boat, in connection with the mission, is to be anchored in the Seine. Daily services will be conducted in the cabin, which will contain nearly two hundred persons. The authorities have given every facility and protection. The Parisian prefect of police testifies to the good work which the mission is doing. He says: ' Every new McAll station means a reduction of po1ic~ force. Sixty persons now give their whole time to the missions, and froIl). 600 to 700 co-operate. There was an aggregate attendance last year of 1,200,000 persons in the 130 salles in all parts of France. In connection with this we may mention that in a paragraph in our last issue, on page 11, entitled' A Noble Giver,' alluding to this Rubject, the name of the writer-Dr. Pierson–was omitted. There is a holy emulation between the McAll Mission, the Salvation Army, aud the Belleville Mission of Mademoiselle de Broen as to which shall have the largest share in the leavening of the slums of Paris with Christian truth. They form an heroic trio. Things arc greatly altered for the better in Paris since the terrible record of 1871, with its petroleuses and communistic horrors." At least an elect remnant is being saved. The insurgents of 1871, as Mr. Hamerton remarks, should be called communards, not communists. The privileges which they claimed for the Commune, or Municipality of Paris, had no connection with any theories of communism.
-The Heidenbode informs us that the province-or as it is called there -the Presidency of Kedol, the newest field of evangelization in Java, now numbers 1000 professed believers, lately Mohammedans. This has been almost wholly the work of Javanese Christians, who show a remarkable zeal and successfulness in diffusing the Gospel which they have received. Everywhere, however, in the Dutch East Indies, Islam is advancing by natural increase, and by a steady reduction of the heathen populations under its sway. The Netherlands Government, which long directly encouraged the spread of Mohammedanism, is now beginning to be afraid of it, and is looking to its meani of suppressi.ng a very possible Moslem outburst of rebellion.
-The first re-marriage of a widow has taken place in the Pokarna callte of Brahmins.
-The (Jhronicle for November, 1890, speaking of the work ofthe London Missionary Society in Hankow, China, refers to the Hanyang Hill a8 being" so situated as to ghoe anyone who ascends it a bird's-eye view of the whole neighborhood. When our former foreign secretary, Dr. Mullens, came here many years ago, Dr. John took him to this spot as to one of the principal sights of the neighborhood, and he declared that in all his travels in India and elsewhere he had not seen any sight that impressed him more. Not that the view here presented to the eye is one remarkable for the beauty or grandeur of its physical ,scenery. A few low hills, a few lakes in the distance, the' great yellow Yang· tsze-here a mile wide-stretching away as far as the eye can reach in a north-easterly and a south-westerly direction, while from the northwest the tributary Han winds in and out till at last it empties itself here at Hankow (i.e., Hanmouth) into the larger river j these are the chief natural objects to be seen here. But it shows us one of the largest centres of human life and activity in the whole of Asia. To men and women who in any part of the world are carrying on the work of Christ, excellence of outward surroundings must always be estimated with reference to the presence or absence of their fellow-men. The first paradise of which we read was indeed a garden, the garden of the Lord, full of exquisite scenery, and of everything in nature that could delight the eye, but almost entirely devoid of living, sentient, thinking human beings. The last paradise is to be a city-the city of God. The difference is most significant. The Son of God rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men j and when once His call has been heard by any of His followers to devote their lives and strength to the one work of saving men, then every large hive of human beings, every city-even if only full of fallen, sinful, heathen human,ity, and not, as the New Jerusalem, full of saints redeemed from the earth-must always have a strong attraction and fascination sl1ch as no solitary region, however grand or picturesque its scenery, can ever have." The population of Hankow, on ship and shore, the Rev. Arnold Foster, who writes this, estimates at a million and a quarter, besides the throngs passing and repassing from other provinces.
-The Missions-Blatt of the Moravian Church, for JailUary, gives a New Year's benediction, which, coming from that centre, extends over all that are concerned for the work of the Lord throughout the world: "Th9 Saviour's rich blessing for the New Year. May Himself, the King of HiA Kingdom, greet thee, beloved Church of missions, with the greeting of His peace! May His grace and His truth 'permeate thy ranks anew, and deeply illumine thy innermost heart. Into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hast thou also been translated through the love of the Father j and thou dost daily experience that He who, born of the line of David after the flesh, has been manifested in power as the Son of God after the Spirit, hallows more and more them that come believil1gly to Him as a people of possession, being now risen from the dead. Be He then in the New Year also, as well the heart of our preaching, as also He for whom we adventure and surrender all that we have-life and limb, goods and blood. For who but He is it that hath redeemed and won us over from all our sins and from the dominion of death, and from whom alone we have received grace and apostleship to establish among all the Gentiles the obedience of faith in His name."
-The Brethren's Church hall decided to take up a new mission in North Queensland, among the aborigines, and another on Lake Nyassa, within the German " sphere of influence. " .
-The Moravian Mission in Greenland consists of 6 stations, in 2 gro~ps, and of 9 missionaries. Under their charge are 1608 persons. The rest of the Greenlanders are cared for by Lutheran brethren of the Church of Denmark.
-The death, by a fall from his horse, of the hereditary High Chief of the Mosquito State-a young man of twenty-live-suggests to the Moravian. brethren that, in the event of the extinction of the reigning family (happily not imminent), this little Protelltant State would be, by treaty with England, absorbed by the Catholic State of Nicaraugua. This, however, is showing itself ftiendly to the brethren, and now allows them to instruct their converts on both sider; of the line.
-The Missionary Record for December, 1880, gives statistics (thoroughly corrected) of the advance of the missionary work of the United Presbyterian Church in Scotland in thirty years. The term" missionary" includes ordained native pastors, Zenana misI'ionaries, and European teachers, but excludes all native evangelists and teachers: Missionaries. Home Contribntions for Foreign Work.
1859…………………….. 30 1840…………………… £3,300 1869….. , ………………. 63 1849…………………….. 12,800 1879…………………… 81 1859…………………….. 16,900 1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 1869…………………….. 29,100 1879 ……………………. 32,300 1889……………………… .40,500 No. Native Congregations. Members in Full Communion.
1859 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 1859……………………. 4,552 1869 •……………… ~. " …48 1869 ……………………. 5,740 1.879……….. " ., ……….. 63 1879……………………. 9,187 1889…………………….. 96 1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,899 Native Pastors. Native ContributiollS.
1859……… 1 (Rev. Tiyo Boga.) 1859…………………… £2,090 1869……… 7 1869……………………. 3,020 1879 . . . . . . . . . 12 1879……………………. 6,500 1889. . . . . . . . . 23 1889 …………………….10,470 "The missionary sympathy of the Church has been widening and deepening j the liberality of the Church has been expanding j the lands in which our operations are carried on are being more completely taken possession of in the name of the Master; while a native church in each of those lands is rapidly gathering around itself the love and devotion of the native population, and promises to become, in course of time, so vigorous that it will be able to manage its own affairs, and allow our missionaries to enter into new regions where they may still further extend the blessed work."
What is said here about the Jamaican Church, connected with the United Presbyterian Church, ought to be laid to heart universally: "Our Church in Jamaica is looking forward to such independence, and endeavoring to prepare for it. But this independence ought not to be sought in the near future. It is a distinct advantage, to the cause of Christ in Jamaica that our Church there continues to be in dependent union with a church life ~f wider horizon and riper experience. Its own church life gains through this union, possibly a firmer fibre, but certainly a richer tone and a greater influence upon public opinion. To force our Jamaican Church into a position of independence by any mechanical arrangement would be a mischievous policy. It would mean the undoing of results that have been gained, and might require a reconstruction of the agency at work after an inferior pattern."
The present writer, two of whose former charges have been happily incorporated into the Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, can wish nothing better for them than that the United Presbyterian brethren in Scotland may keep an eye on them for a number of years to come.
-The following paragraph from Central Africa, the organ of the Universities' Mission, gives, in a few lines, the whole African heathenismperhaps the darkest form of heathenism, the most utterly dismal and comfortless in the world: "Only gradually does the deadly atmosphere of heathenism dawn upon one. Lust, as strong, perhaps in some ways stronger than with ourselves, has nothing to check it. There broods oppression on a petty scale, with tragic burnings and poisonings, fear of lions, or sudden night attacks, and murders of a mother or ,near relative who has been half the little world of life-things that leave the child an old man in heart, cut off from our comfortable security."
-The Indian Witness of December 6th, 1890, says ~ ., The death of Sir Rivers Thompson, late Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, calls for a notice from the Christian press of the country. Respected even more than he was loved by all who came within the reach of his personal influence, he has left behind him a reputltion which any Indian civilian may envy. What he was in the dawn of his wider influence he was consistently in its meridian and at its close. An open worshipper of the living God, a friend of all agencies that sought to make Him known to dying men-a Christian in his conscienee, an Englishman to the backbone."
-The Mission Field, the organ of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, says: "Both by countenancing heathenism and by ignoring the missions, Christians in India retard the work. They do it doubtless unintentionally. Then they in some cases eomplete the mischief by depreciating the missions when they come home. It is an unfortunate fact that there is injury to the cause of missions, and to the zeal of the Church at home by those who, by having been in India, claim to be able to speak with authority, while as far as any actual knowledge is concerned, they are as ignorant about missions in India as they were before they left England. They take upon themselves the responsibility of repeating indiscriminate slander on the work of God, although they may be living close to strong evidences of God's grace and power." -The late Daniel Adolf Cracau, of Breslau, left, in 1887, a bequest of about £4,0,000 to the Moravian Church. The custodians of the trust are the German Emperor and the King of Saxony. Half the income is to be used for the conversion of the heathen, half for the ransom of slaves.
-The Moravian brethren, in their Periodical Accounts, cordially echo the wish expressed by the Rev. S. D. Fulton, in this REVIEW, that Protestant missions may soon be established in Nicaraugua, which, they truly say, bids fair to be just such a mission centre as the Apostle Paul • would h,.ve delighted in.
– The following reminds one of the suggestions of Gregory the Great to the Abbot Augustine, when sending him on his mission to con- vert our English forefathers. As Gregory was a man of deep practical in ight, his suggestions are always worth heeding. Speaking of the Melas, or religious fairs of India, the Mission Field says: "It is beginning to be generally felt that it would be well to have Christian Melas. The Mela is, in fact, valued by the great mass of the Hindus and Mohammedans merely as a holiday. It is the only holiday there is for the mass of the people.
Where the Hindu cannot attend one of his own he betakes himself to the Mohammedan, and vice versa. So will it be for the ordinary native Chris- tian. If he have none of his own he will be strongly tempted to attend those of his Hindu or Mohammedan neighbors. Accordingly there is a strong feeling that Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide should be treated as times for Christian Melas, and that the largest and nearest Christian station should be the centre to which the surrounding Christians should resort." The writer remarks that such gatherings may easily be kept free from all leaven of heathenism.
-The charges of " unscriptural optimism" and" unscriptural pessim- ism" are freely bandied back and forth in the Church between Christians.
The Bombay Guardian seems to hit the nail on the head in the following: " Every well.established Christian should be intenRely pessimistic and intensely optimistic. He should be intensely pessimistic of what he or any other man can do of himself, and intensely optimistic of what God can do through any child of His who fully surrenders to Him." .
-Henry Augustus J aeschke, late Moravian missionary iq the Himalayr.s, a lineal descendant of the first Moravian emigrants to Herrnhut, besides German was master of Polish, Danish, Swedish, and was acquainted with English, Hungarian, Bohemian, Latin, Greek, and after going to the East, already knowing Sanscrit, Persian, and Arabic (and doubtless Hebrew), he learned Hindustani, and Urdu, and lastly Thibetan. He was likewise an enthusiastic student of mathematics and natural science, especially of botany. But he obeyed. the call of his Church, to go to the dreary Thibetan regions, as unquestioningly as if he had been an unlearned artisan. "While at Ladak he lived at Stok, near Leh, in the most frugal and primitive fashion. His food consisted of oatmeal and porridge, and the woman of the house faithfully kept for him the egg which her one hen laid every day. From his curiously.shaped bedroom he had to climb to his study by a stair composed of five unequal blocks of stone, and his furniture consisted of a tottering table and a still more defective stool." He had no notion of being too valuable in Europe to be hidden away in the inaccessible uplands of Asia. In other words, he was a true Moravian.
-The Periodical Accounts for September says: "THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD holds on its way with growing interest and power. Dr. Pierson continues his graphic and informing missionary letters from abroad, and we join with many in gratefully acknowledging his manifold labors on behalf of' missions by pen and word of mouth." The editors also express a kind senljle of the value of the extracts from foreign magazines.
-The .Macedonier brings the same accusation against the Dutch Govern- ment that English Christians bring against the British, with the further aggravation, that whereas England is ready to ruin a foreign race with opium for the sake of gain, Holland is destroying her own subjects.. In a notice of a Dutch book on the opium question, it says: "It supplies con- , vincing proof that the Netherlands are every day heaping new guilt upon themselves and murdering, body and soul, the Javanese who are under their jurisdiction. Yet it gathers nothing but facts, and for every statement is careful to give its authority."
-Missionary Lazarus, in the ])ansk .Missions-Blad, gives a pleasant instance of how the seeds of truth blow about in India: "Yesterday afternoon we preached before a Telugu village called Karapet, which we had already visited two or three times. Just as we arrived, the people, who are all lapidaries, came out to bid us welcome. They then begged us to sit down, and began to sing a Christian hymn, ' Come quickly, flinner, come to the Saviour.' The hymn was in Telugu, and many of them sang it well. I asked thelll where they had learned it,. and found that they had picked it out of a tract I had left there, and had set it to one of their own melodies. I then addressed them, and taking advantage of their calling, depicted to them Jesus as the Great Lapidary, who deals with our nature as they deal with rough rubiefl, to cause it to gleam forth in the glory of a pure gladness. Thus we find that the leaves of healing are not spread abroad to no purpose."
-We find in the Bombay Guardian of November 8th, 1890, the most particular account we have seen yet of the happy development of missionary activity among the English Friend@. It says: "Any Church which tries to exist without a missionary spirit will inevitably perish. Aggression is the soul of life. About twenty years ago the Society of Friends awoke to this fact, and in England turned its attention to the lapsed masses at its doors. Now nearly all its meeting-houses have a mission attached, seeking to help the poor in soul and body. Mothers' meetings, clothing clubs, adult and juvenile schools, and other similar agencies, are vigorously prosecuted. A marvellous increase of spiritual life in the Church itself has resulted. Its foreign mission work has likewise developed almost entirely during the past twent.y years. Up to 1875 only 1 missionary was in the field in India, now there are 14. Madagascar has 22 j China, 4 j Syria, 10 j Armenian Turkey, 9 j Zululand, 3. American Friends are also carrying on mission work among. the North American Indians, and in Mexico, Jamaica, Japan, China, Alaska,. and Ramallah in Palestine. Thursday of this week was to be observed at the headquarters of the society in London, as a day of united prayer for missions, including a Bible study on the spirit of missions, and then a survey of the needs of both the foreign and home work." Thousands of the children of this venerable society, now found in other denominations, will rejoice at this sudden outburst of life after long apparent decay. May she renew her youth, and while coming to this greater distinctness of evangelical apprehension and activity. long abide as a witness to essential, over against all the overvaluations of ceremonial, righteousness.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEY. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Black Fellows of Australia. colonist said to them: .. The few blacks will ultimately accept the Gospel of a FrnST PAPEB-MOBA.VIAN MISSIONS. crucified Saviour and be blessed there- • by, but the whites will hinder your BY~EV. A. HARTMANN, MOBAVIANTOWN, ONT. work, as they did the mission work of other societies." The first hindrance (Continued from page 217.) arose from the discovery of the gold nelds at Mount Alexander; the gold dig- I. FIRST ATTEMPT AT MISSIO:ti WORK. gers, coming from Adelaide, passing the mission station, damaging them in many Being repeatedly pressed to com- ways., This might have been borne mence mission work among the blacks with, but.the vulgar and disgusting in- of Australia, the Brethren's Church trigues of unprincipled whites greatly (Moravian) sent out two missionaries, hindered the missionaries in their efforts Tl1ger and Spieseke, educated laymen, to attract the natives to the place and to commence the work. In 1850 they to gain their confidence. Then, after arrived at Melbourne. They were very the exhaustion of the gold, many of the kindly received by the Governor, Joseph European immigrants took up land in La Trobe ; and the Bishop of the Angli- the colony, and also about Lake Bogs. can Church, as well as many ministers The missionaries were given to under. of other denominations, met them with stand that if they did not voluntarily true Christian love, and encouraged leave the land (on which they had set- them to do the Lord's work. tled by permission of the Government) steps would be taken to drive them After a long search in the northern away. districts of Victoria for a suitable place, they came at last to Boga Lake, which Meanwhile the missionaries went on had been recommended to them as the in their work, being strengthened by very best place, because it was a favor- another brother (Hansen) sent out in ite resort of the blacks. This Boga January, 1854. They also succeeded in Lake is about 200 miles northwest of gaining the confidence of a number of Melbourne, close to the boundary of the natives: Spieseke wrote: .. We have Victoria and New South Wales, and not not yet enjoyed the happiness of ob- far from the mouth of the Loddon serving the work of grace and of the river, emptying itself into the Murray. Holy Spirit in the hearts of the blaoks. Brethren, have patience with us, and The missionaries went back to Mel- believe with us, for we have reason to bourne, buying all that was necessary to be thankful for what the Lord has done carryon the work, and were permitted for us. When we oonsider how the ene- and authorized by the Government to mies of the Gospel have exerted them- make use of a certain portion of land selves to keep the blacks away from us, facing the lake, to build up a settle- we must confess that it is a wonder we ment. They little thought at the time have so many gathered about us, and that attempts would be made by some notice how they begin to trust us." whites to claim the land they had set- tled on. Much less did they think that We put it down as a fact that the mis- by their attempt to hring the natives sionaries would have succeeded if the under the blessed influence of the Gos. Prince of this world had not been per- pel, they would stir up the hatred and mitted to frighten them away. ill-will of white neighbors. ., There is no space allotted us in your columns to go into detail, and so we Heavy rains, followed by large 1I.00ds, made it impossible for them to arrive at Boga Lake before October 21st, 1851. They commenced their work in fear • and hope, and they experienced what a '< must sum up the diRastrous retreat of the missionaries now bitterly regret the Moravian missionaries very briefly. that they acted upon the impulse of the moment, and thus cut short a work In 1855 a neighboring settler, Imp- which was sure to bear fruit to God's ported by the District Court, claimed to glory, as the sequel will show. have a right to the land granted to the miRsionaries by the Government. Mr. II. Tager, the leader, being in ill health, had no inclination to enter on a legal RENEWAL OF THE MISSION WORK. process, as. he was advised to do. When, therefore, he found that he was For want of space we shall have to not righted after he had lodged his com- make just a mere sketch of the very plaint with the Government, he grew blessed and very successful issue of this impatient, and declared that on July second attempt. The two brethren ap- 1st, 1856, he would dissolve the mis- pointed (Hagenauer and Spieseke) have sion, as the authorities had failed to in every respect justified the confidence support him, and he had no mind to go placed in them by the Church. (Brother to law. A private individual has a right Spieseke was not to blame for leaving to actin this manner, but not a re- .Lake Boga ; he was subordinate, and spor:sible agent of a Mission Cburch did not agree with the move.) On May like the Moravian, for it was a breach 7th, 1858, they landed in Melbourne, of confidence. and were well received by the Gover- nor, Sir Henry Barklay, and numerous We quote the words of the Mission Christian friends. They were directed Board of the Moravian Church as laid to the Wimmera district, as most suitbefore the Christian public: •• It is true able for work aDlong the natives, and, that our mission work in Australia has after much travelling, a site for the for the time come to an end, an occur- establishment of a mission was found rence well calculated to humble us.. on the river Wimmera, not far from the How often, and not without reason, has sheep station Antwerp, belonging to the perseverance of our missionaries Mr. Ellerman, by whom they were reo been lauded when they were laboring ceived with open arms and helped. under various trials and difficulties, Here they obtained a grant of land of and under apparently hopeless pros- three square miles. The place was pects of success. How they kept to called Ebenezer. On January 10th, 1859, their post in a simple faith! Think of after humbly imploring the Lord's blessthe work in Greenland; think of the ing on the undertaking, the two mis- West Indies, where many brethren and sionaries started for the chosen spot, sisters went willingly into the jaws of and commenced clearing. Two natives death, and then think of the work here at first, and more afterward, assisted in in Australia, commenced with much the work, and by this means became aclabor and outlay, and carried on £or a quainted with the brethren. Soon the number of years; think of the giving natives gave the missionaries to underup of this mission, the necessity of stand that a carroboree–a kind of rewhich we are not able to prove. Think ligious dance-would be given in their that the missionaries left their post be- honor, which the missionaries could not fore every hope. was vanished to main- prevent. Mr. Ellerman provided the tain their position ; and then that they workers with food and lodging at his returned home without, and contrary home in Antwerp, twenty.two miles to, the permission of the Board. This distant, till they had built a home for is a painful confession, but we do make themselves. After eight :lays, Hageit before our dear Christian friends, and nauer commenced a school for the bow at the same time before the Lord, young men, and several made pleasing that He may again be gracious unto us progress. The women and girls were and exalt us in due time. We add that not forgotten. Clothing material had benches ; they made bedsteads, and a been provided by friends in Germany, box, etc. The youth Corney joined and Brother Hagenauer, though quite them. When the missionaries gave inexperienced, cut out and directed the them some kitchen utensils they were sewing of the dresses and pants. Later as proud and happy as kings. The rest. some ready-made clothing arrived from of the blacks looked on with astonish- Melbourne, which was a real boon to ment and pleasure, and after a time the missionaries. At the Sunday service sought to follow their example. For a the audience presented a remarkable as- whole year the missionaries had to fight pect. All had washed, and, so to say, against the difficulties which Brose from dressedthemselvegtoo-thatis, one had the heathen rites and dances, and the on a shirt, another a pair of pants, a superstition and degraded habits of the third a coat, and so on. .They had people, with no appearance of life from divided their clothes among themselves, God among them. But at last, in Januso that they might all appear at church. ary, 1860, the light sprung up and chased Amid all the work and anxiety of estab- away th.e darkness in the heart of Peplishing a home in the wilderness, the per (before mentioned), and he became missionaries never lost sight of their a new creature in Christ Jesus, though proper errand. But at first tbe only not without much conflict and many answer to the heavenly message was; slips and falls. One day Brother "Give me something to eat; give me Spieseke showed some Scripture prints; clothes; or, as when old Charley, after among others, one of the flood, and ana long, earnest talk and prayer, which other of our Saviour on His knees in Hagenauer had with him, pointed to agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. A heaven and asked if there were many day or two later Pepper came to him sheep and oxen there. Another time in the evening, saying, .. I want to came Diggy, and asked Spieseke for speak with you about my state. I don't flour. ,. What for?" said Spieseke, .. you know what is the matter with me. I have have done no work." "No," said Diggy, wept over my sins; last night I cried .. but I will go to prayers to-morrow." aloud. Just now I went to the river for The blacks showed a willingness to do water, and I thought, and thought, and all that was required of them. Their thought how our Saviour went that behavior at the meetings surprised night into the garden, and prayed till Spieseke, who knew their restless He sweat drops of blood, and that for habits, and looked upon it as a hopeful me." These words he spoke with much sign for the future. At times the wan- feeling. From that time a great change dering spirit came upon the natives, and was observed in Pepper, and be.came they vanished almQBt to a man. But two evident also to his brethren, for out of of their number (young Bony and Pep- the fulness of his heart he spoke to per) began to understand some of the them of the way of salvation, and of benefits of the coming of the mission- the Saviour whom he had found. His aries, and stayed with them, in spite of joy in God's Word, and his loving and the entreaties of their wandering com- tractable behavior showed that the panions. After the mission house was Spirit of God was at work in his heart. finished and the missionaries took up One Sunday evening, as the missionaries their abode in Ebenezer, these two young were returning from a neighboring stamen expressed a desire to give up their tion, where they had preached, they wandering life and build a house of found Pepper, surrounded by fifty of their own, which they did, with the his people, preaching to them the glad help of the missionaries-building it of tidings of the Gospel. Great was the bark, and finishing it off with I/, brick joy of the missionaries, who begged chimney, as the missionaries had done him to proceed, and afterward thanked their own. Inside were table, stool, or and praised the Lord for His grace thul! bestowed. After a time the request of mony. Even old people and little chil- Pepper to be especially instructed, with dren gave pleasing proofs of their be- a view to baptism, was acceded to, as it lief in and love of the Saviour, and became more and more clear that the many of them are now, we fully believe, work in him was of God. The 12th of rejoicing before the throne of God, .. hav- August, 1860, was the day of his bap. ing washed their robes and made them tism, and also that of the consecration white in the blood of the Lamb." Al- of the small church which had been ready in 1868 the number of converts in erected, and for which a new bell had Ebenezer had reached twenty. But be- been sent from Germany. Rev. Chase fore this time other laborers had arrived took the long journey from Melbourne; -two brides for the .brethren Spieseke from Horsham came friends, and the and Hagenauer, in May, 1861, who found neighboring sheep farmers came to· plenty of work among the women and gether to celebrate the event. That day the sick, besides caring for their own will not soon be forgotten by those who households. In November of the same were present. Pepper received, at his year, Brother Francis came from Engown request, the name Nathaniel. land,and when he left, after two years, Hagenauer says: " We felt that the Brother Hartmann and his wife entered blessing of the Lord was with us on that day." Of Nathaniel's further on the ~or1r, in which they continueCl course we will here say that though a true s!3rvant of Christ, he was Ii very for eight years. weak one; and though at times his light burned brightly, to the joy of his RAMAH-YUCK. teachers, at others he triell their pa· tience and grieved them by inconsisten- In the mean time a new work had been cies, which indeed was scarcely to be commenced in Gippsland by Brother wondered at in one so recently a hea. Ha.genauer at the request of the Presthen. He was the first of a great num- byterian Church of Victoria, who promber of converts who received the Gos- ised to provide the means if the Morapel with joy, and turned with repent- vian Church would send the men. It ance and faith to the Saviour, proving was proposed to name it .. Ramah," to by their lives, and often by their preach- which the natives added" yuck," " our ip.g; theirlove to Christ and the breth- home," thus showing their joy and apren: '~ 'these many names could be preciation. In Ramah-yuck the faithgiven.. Young Bony (baptized Daniel) ful efforts of Brother Hagenauer and was, at his earnest request, accepted as his wife met with success 8.Il in Ebeneassistant to the brethren who went to zer. In 1866 the first convert was bapcommence a mission at Cooper's Creek, tized, and received the name of " James in the interior (of which a hrief men- Matthew," and five months later Tomtion will be made later), but died on the my and Jack. In 1868 the number had ;way thither. Philip and Rebecca were increased to seventeen, and by the end placed in charge of the orphanage at of 1869 had risen to twenty-six. Ebenezer, and were most useful and consistent Christians. Philip also as- But these missions are not remarksisted in preaching, and often accom_ able for numbers, nor for the shining p~nied the missionaries on their evan_ lights among their converts, though, as geliziug tours among the still wander- was said before, some of these put to ing tribes. Dick-a-Dick 'was baptized shame many white Christians by their on what proved his death-bed. His consistency. Moreover, as sad diseases childlike and strong faith rejoiced the -particularly consumption-carried off hearts of the missionaries, and aston- many of their number, and others left ished all who heard his dying testi- the mission station to obtain employ- ment, it is easy to see that the work done was in many cases lost to slght, and, indeed, we shall only know when we see them in glory, how many of thll8e poor lost ones were rescued and saved. mankind, and that some will certainly The schools at both stations reached a be among the multitude surrounding high standard, that in Ramah.yuck the throne of God and the Lamb. having gained the highest marks for fOllr successive years, the only school in All the glory be to His name. Amen. Victoria which could show such results. So much for the general opinion that -The African Times says that a stam. the blacks could not learn. An attempt pede is reported among the" traders on was made to found a mission in the in. the Congo from the right to the left terior, at Cooper's Creek, which was bank of the river, except one Dutch given up on account of cost, and be- house, to escape the impediments and cause Lutheran missionaries had en· taxations of the Free State. The traders tered the same field, probably not know- say that this heavy taxation not only ing that our brethren were already there. applies to liquor, but to land tax, and Spieseke, after faithfully serving in even to canoes and surf-boats, and to the mission at Ebenezer for twenty white and black employes. years, died happily in the midst of his people, and was honored by them in his -Rev. Dr. E. W. BIyden, at a public burial. His place was supplied by dinner tendered him down at Lagos, Brother Kramer and wife, and Brother said, recently, that the Mohammedan Bogish. population of ,Lagos has increased with astounding rapidity during the last The natives are dying out fast, and thirty years. In 1863, Captain Burton the half breeds are not allowed to stay estimated the Moslem population at from on tj:le stations, so there is a fear that 700 to 800. In 1889 Sir Alfred Moloney our work in Victoria will soon be over. put them down at 15,000, and he de- scribes them as " the most orderly, in· But other fields are opening in tellectual, and respectable class of citi. Queensland; the latest news being that zens, composed of all the tribes of three brethren have been appointed by Yoruba. 'l'his is tb e official testimony our Mission Board. The country has borne of this people in all the settlebeen explored by Hagenauer with a view ments. They have spread over the to a speedy commencement of a mission whole of our fatherland north of the to the degraded cannibals of Queens. Equator from the Atlantic to the Red land. If we understand rightly, the Sea, from Lagos to Morocco, and from Presbyterians will supply the funds, Sierra Leone to Egypt." and the Moravian Church the men. Two other missions-one at Lake Con. Release of Mr, Penzot.ti dah, supported by the Church of England. and one at York Peninsula, sup- We have at last the satisfaction of reported by Friends-are carried on by cording the fact, which has already be· Moravian missionaries with much pros- come widely known through the daily perity and success. Lack of time and and weekly newspapers, that the long space forbids our entering into details and wearisome imprisonment of Mr. in regard to the blessed results of this Penzotti in Callao has been terminated mission among the aborigines of Aus- by decree of the Supreme Court of Peru. tralia; but enough has been said to The terms of the decision are not yet show that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus reported; but a telegram, dated Lima, Christ is "the power of God unto sal· April 3d, and addressed to a gentleman vation to everyone that believeth;" to in New York who has taken great inter. show that there is no respect of persons est in the case, announces in a single before Him, but that the Holy Spirit is word that he has been liberated. 1m. " given to all that obey Him;" to show prisoned for more than eight months, that the blacks of Australia are also in- on an accusation presented and urged cluded in the plan of God's salvation of , by a Roman Catholio priest, the Rev. of the terms offered the natives by the Jose M. Castro; charged with the offence Spanish Governor. He says the specifi- of violating the law in holding unauthor- cations of the Governor's trumped-up ized religious services; kept in a dun- charges against him were of three sorts : geon after he had once and again been (1) that I had been harboring the re- adjudged guiltless by the tribunals be- bellious Metalamin chiefs, feasting them fore which his adversary had summoned and buildingthem a house at Kiti. Also, him; denied the privilege of bail; (2) that I had been having meetings shrinking with inexpressible loathing with them and the Kiti king to influ- from the filth and impurity of the cell ence them against the Spanish rule. He in which he spent two hundred and also said, (3) that he had positive proof fifty nights with thirty or forty crim- that I was one of the principal leaders inals ; refusing to listen to the whis- in planning the breastworks at Oua.
pered suggestion that proceedings might And (4) as the mission was responsible be discontinued if he would agree to for the present outbreak of the Metala- leave Peru; constrained to send his min tribe, he did not think that we daughters out of the country, lest with- would be permitted to carryon our out a father's protection they might be_ work much longer.
comlt"victims of a foul consph:acy ; and ever hopeful that his sufferings would -Bishop A. W. Wilson, of the Meth- eventually lead to the promulgation of odist Episcopal Church, South, says religious liberty in Peru-he is now " that the agitation in Japan of the revi- vindicated and set free. Eight months sion treaty has affected foreigners in of imprisonment and the exp~nse of general, and missiona.ries to some ex- defending himself in three courts is tent along with the rest." Missionaries, what the administration of justice in he says, " have to be very careful about Peru awards to an innocent man! One their political positions.
cannot but ask What penalty would "This treaty agitation has raised up an have been in:tlicted upon him if the anti-foreign party, who want the Chris- outer door of the warehouse in which ti:l.n missions conducted only by native he talked to a small company of men Christians. 'I'hey want the natives to about the Gospel of Christ had not been formulate Christian creeds for them- locked, and if admission had been grant- selves. They do not want Christian ed to people without a ticket.-Bible creeds formulated for them by the West- &ciety Record. ern nations. They are fully able "to -Sir Edwin Arnold says, in the Daily understand Christianity and to formu- Telegraph: .. A new Japan is definitely late from the Bible creeds to suit themborn-constitutional, progressive, ener- selves. The idea of a representative getic, resourceful, sure to become great, government, as we have it, is not comand, perhaps, almost again as happy as prehended ; it is not in the mind of the she was of yore. Let the nations of the Japanese people. West receive and welcome as she de· serves this immeasurably ancient em- .. For 2500 years they have taken all pire which thus renews her youth in law from the Mikado, and I doubt not if the fountain cf constitutional liberties the Mikado would to-morrow withdraw and institutions." the Constitution, which gives repre- sentation to the people, the great mass of the people would quietly accept it as -The Daily Pacific Commercial Ad- coming from the source of all law-the vertiser of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, Mikado. There would probably be a of March 14th, contains along letter from few murders among the student class, Rev. F. E. Rand, written at Ponape, to who would resist it, and there it would friends at Honolulu, giving an account end."
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Among other Alliances for Prayers for "Even so, come, Lord Jesus (Rev. Missions, we call attention to the xxii: 20). Prayer Alliance, of whi6h Miss Mabel B. Atwater, 334 Lexington Avenue, New " And this Gospel of the kingdom shall York City, is Secretary. It reads as be preached in all the world for a witfollows: ness unto all nations; and then shall the end come (Matt. xxiv: 14). Walch " In the Year of our Lord 1891. Shall and pray." the generation now upon the face of the earth hear the Gospel? Likewise we call attention to the Prayer Union for Arabia and the Ara- "First. It is our Lord's last command bian Mission. Gen. xvii : 18. (Mark 16 : 15). 'Every creature' cannot possibly mean only those on one Aden, Arabia, January 1, 1890. third of the globe. It is our Saviour's will (1 Tim. 2 : 4, 6). The Arabian Mission, begun in an- "Second. This generation will be lost swer to prayer and sustained by conunless they hear the Gospel (Rom. 1 : 20, 21, 28, and Ps. 9 : 17). stant appeals to the Throne of Grace, " Third. If this generation hear the comes to its friends with a New Year's Gospel, IDe must carry it to them, for to us the work has been committed (2 Cor. request. 5 : 19 ; 1 Tim. 1 : 11). On the threshold of Arabia, face to " Fourth. We cannot serve the next generation. Are we with David serving face with the greatness and difficulties our own generation (Acts xiii: 36)? of the work, and deeply conscious of " In the heathen world there are about 1,000,000,000 souls; 30,000,000 a year our own weakness, we ask you, who go into eternity without God. Our Lord said: ' Go ye into all the world have already shown your sympathy for and preach the Gospel to every creature.' Out of 35,000,000 Protes- the cause of Christ in Arabia, to join tant church-members only about 6000 have obeyed this command, one in us in stated, fervent prayer: every 5800. Evangelized, 116,000,000 ; unevangelized, 1,000,000,000. The field 1. That God's promise in regard to is the world. 'Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.' the children of Ishmael may speedily " And whatsoever ye shall ask in My be fulfilled, and that His blessing may name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John xiv :13). rest upon every effort put forth to give " Pray ye therefore the Lord of the them the Gospel. I harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest (Matt. ix : 38). 2. That many may be led to choose PRAYER ALLIANCE. for their field of labor this neglected .. , Depending upon the Holy Ghost to portion of the Lord's vineyard. bring it to my remembrance, I pledge myself to pray daily, IN FAITH, for the 3. For a special blessing upon the evangelization of the whole world during the present century; and the speedy missionaries of the Arabian. Mission: coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.' that they may live very close to the Master; that t.heir lives and words may ever point men to Christ; that God may be pleased to use their efforts in bring- ing many of the children of Ishmael unto Himself.
Will you join us in making these ob- jects a special burden of prayer at your Sabbath morning devotions throughout the year?
"The wilderness and the solitary plllce shall be glad for them, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."
" He is faithful who hath promised."
.TAMES CANTINE, S. M. ZWEMER. " Speed on, ye heralds, bringing The latest phase of the Uganda revolu- Life to the desert slain ; tion-the flight of Mwanga, his appeal Till in its mighty winging, to the Church he persecuted, the vic- God's Spirit comes to reign. tory of the Christians. the J:eturn of From death to new·begetting, Mwanga, and his re·establishment in God shall the power give; the kingdom surrounded by chiefs and Shall choose them for crown.setting councillors professing the Christian And Ishmael shall live. faith-is a chapter in praise of meekness and mercy. In Uganda to.day the .. So speaks the promise, bringing , meek inherit the earth' and Iorgive. The age of Jubilee ness is proved to be the noblest re- To every home and tenting, venge." From Tadmor to the sea. The dead to life are risen; Goodness is sometimes better than The glory spreads abroad ; greatness. A missionary in India was The desert answers heaven, so feeble mentally that he could not Hosannas to the Lord !" learn the language. After some years -J.G.L. he asked to be recalled, frankly saying that he had not sufficient intellect for The St, Paul of Uganda. the work. A dozen missionaries, how- ever, petitioned his Board not to grant When Stanley urged Christendom to his request, saying that his goodness send missionaries to Mtesa's kingdom,' gave him a wider influence among the Mackay joined a party of eight to found heathen than any other missionary at an industrial mission to the Victoria the station. A convert when asked, Nyanza. In three years he alone sur- " What is it to be a Christian ?" replied, vived. For fourteen years, in jeopardy "It is to be like Mr. –" naming the every hour, he was yet the soul, the good missionary. He was kept in In- hand, the head of this great and model dia. He never preached a sermon; movement. The London Times called but when he died hundreds of heathen him ".The St. Paul of Uganda" : as well as many Christians mourned him and testified to his holy life and char· " He built, cut type, translated, print- acter. ed, engineered, navigated, diploma- tized; he de~ounced crime, preached It causes sorrow to many to learn that .the Gospel, acted as schoolmaster and Mrs. Phraner, wife of Rev. Stanley K. doctor; he befriended Emin Pasha, Phraner, died at Chang Mi Laos, in Junker and Stanley, and strove, alas Northern Siam, one month after their in vain! to save Hannington from the arrival. Mr. Phraner graduated last results of unconscious but heroic folly; spring at Princeton Theological Semi. he controlled the court so far as it could nary, was ordained by the Presbytery of be controlled; protected the brave Westchester, was married, and imme- Christian boys, and, in a word, through diately set out as a missionary to Siam. baptisms of blood and fire, won a He is a son of Rev. Wilson Phraner, church in the wilderness for the dear D.D., for many years pastor at Sing Lord and Master whom he served with Sing, N. Y. an absolutely single eye. No such story of Christian heroism has ever teen told Dr. Storrs, of Brooklyn, the President in our day. The boys of Uganda who of the American Board, referring to died in horrible tortures rather than whiskey in Africa, is said to have used deny their faith will rank with the this terse but telling sentence recently: noblest martyrs of Christian history. ., Every dollar gained in the Congo rum Every line in our Lord's Sermon on the trade ought to burn in the palm of a Mount finds its illustration and con- firmation in this extraordinary history. man who gains it, as if it were a part Proposed Colony on the Bellamy Plan. of the blazing asphalt that makes the pavement of the infernal regions." A ,despatch from Hutchinson, Kan., says: "John Caplieg, of Buffalo, N. Y., Baptist Missionary Centenary in passed through this city, March 26th, on 1892.-Next year the Baptists will cele- his way home from Beaver City, in No. brate the centenary of the formation of MlLn's-LlLnd, where it is proposed to lotheir Missionary Society. It is the old- cate IL co-operative colony to be organest organization of the kind in existence, ized on the Bellamy plan. He said that excluding, of course, the Society for the he expected the colony would be formed Propagation of the Gospel, founded this spring in time to put in crops, if nearly a century previously. William possible. The colony, he thinks, will Carey, of Leicester, Baptist minister, comprise about 500 people to start with, schoolmaster, and shoemaker, first raised and it is to be strictly co-operative." the question of modern missions in 1786. but not until 1792 was the Society Attempts similar to this have been launched. Historic dates and places made from time to time, but the bottom linked with the So.ciety·s inauguration has dropped out of them all Booner or will determine the time and centres of later. The only perfect state is that the forthcoming services. Carey built on Christianity. kindled the flame by a missionary sermon preached on May 31st at Notting- The revival among the Telugus in ham; on October 2d the Society was the last few months has been the notable formed at Kettering; and, on March event of the year. Four thousand con- 20th following, he was ordained for mis- verts in that mission have put on Christ sionary work at Leicester. At the open- in baptism. Upon one Lord's day 1671 ing meeting of the Society £13 28. 6d. was were baptized in a little over six hours, subscribed, which .seems trifling com- two men only at a time administering pared with the current average annual the ordinance. It must have been a income, between seventy and eighty grand sight to witness on the forenoon thousand pounds. The Society has a of that dllY the thousands of thirsty inbright record of labor in the East and quirers, many of whom had travelled West Indies, and latterly, since 1878, miles, sitting upon the ground in the on the Congo, where it employs over broad commons drinking in with rapt twenty mISSIOnaries. A centenary attention every word that fell from Dr. thanksgiving of £100,000 has been Clough's lips, as he expounded from proposed, and the increase of the Soci- the text, ., Come unto Me, all ye that ety's yearly income to £100,000. The labor and are heavy laden, and I will young folks connected with the Baptist give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, chapels and Sunday-schools are invited and learn of Me ; for I am meek and to raise one fourth of the form€r sum. lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest To the 120 missionaries and 306 evan- unto your souls." The words given of gelists at present in the field it is con- the Spirit to the speaker were indeed templated by the Society to send forth .words of eternal life to the hearers, and a hundred additional men and women. brought rest to many souls whose bodies The Baptist Union of New Zealand has were wearied by the long journey to this resolved to hold simultaneous centenary " Bethel" of their souIs. Thirty of Dr. gatherings. Once more I notice that Clough's co-workers assisted him in the "A Frii'md" has sent £1000 to the examination of the candidates for baptreasurer of the Baptist Missionary So- tism, and none were baptized of whose ciety. a similar amount having been conversion they did not find good evisent by the same person at the begin- dences. ning of several recent years. In this Ongole station the revival has been continuous now since 1877, and it may be doubted whether in all mission- sticks, and objects used in their idola- ary history another such case is to be try, and made a great bonfire of them. found. Mr. Mackay says that over 500 houses were cleansed of idolatry in his pres. The Right Heir, e:nce."
When the excellent Christian Schwartz Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins, it may be re- was about to end his long and devoted membered, were to join Mr. Pentecost missionary life in India, he said, in view and assist him in his evangelistic work of all the Lord's goodness to him, "I in India with their singing. In are. make Christ my heir"- and then by his cent letter to the Hartford ReligiCYU8 will made provision as far as his world- Herald a member of the family writes as ly means would go, for carrying on the follows: work of Christ among the heathen after he would be gone. We can think of but " On the 17th of November we reached one addition to this plan: to make Calcutta. Here we stayed until the 1st Christ first of all the partner of our daily of January, 18111, helping Dr. Pentecost toils and profits. in his meetings, and doing a great deal of singing for the missionaries. We We are so crowded with matter of were entertained by Bishop Thoburn, great importance that we omit this the Methodist Bishop of India, and by month any distinct Department of the pastor of the M. E.church there. Monthly Concert. Our readers will not The Methodists are by far the strongest miss this, inasmuch as the whole num- in India of any of the denominations, ber is maiuly given to Africa, and is and they are ce~tainly doing a great and unusually rich in material from various grand work. About Christmas time Dr. valuable sources upon different phases Pentecost decided to turn his attention of the languages, customs, oppressions, to the educated natives, and as they and needs of the Dark Continent. were not appreciative of Christian song, he·advised us to make a tour of the cities Says the Ewminer: "The Rev. Mr. of India, helping the missionaries as Mackay has been in the Island of For- we go. So we left Calcutta, January mosa for a great many years. About ,a 1st, and next day arrived at Benares, dozen years ago he planned to visit a the seat of Hinduism. We sawall their district containing a number of villages vile worship, and the great ruins of bearing the name of Ka-le-oan. Not Buddha's first preaching places.••• being able to go he sent II native preach- We visited Cawnpore, the scene of the er. Mr. Mackay was enabled a few worst atrocities of the mutiny of 1857. weeks ago to visit the region. He Then up to Noradabad, where was being found the people having a wonderfully held the North India Conference. We clear conception of the Gospel and had some fine meetings, and got a peep wearied with their idol worship. They at the executive missionary body. told him that the Mandarin would not let them throw up idolatry, declaring "We have held a song service and that they would be rebels against Chi- sometimes two or three in every city we nese authority if they did so. Mr. have been in except Delhi, where we Mackay saw that official and gained his were not entertained. We ha"e helped consent to let the people do as they in the conferences and in every place liked. 'fhe people held a council, and have sung to large audiences of Euroat once determined to forsake idolatry. peans." Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins planned A temple recently built was turned over to sail for home on February 28th, and to the missionary, and became a Chris- stop in Egypt, Palestine, Italy, Gertian meeting:house. Parties went about many, and England, reaching home by the villages gathering up idols, incense midsummer.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
BY MRS. 1. T. GRACEY.
Woman's Foreign Missionary 22,156 subscribers, a children's paper, Union of Friends in America. Cor- the King's Messenger, is also published, responding Secretary, Eliza C. Arm- with 20,315 subscribers, Boston, Mass. strong, Centre Valley, Ind. A large amount of miscellaneous litera- ture is issued by the society. The consolidation of the various branches of the woman's societies un- Woman's Baptist Foreign Misder one board has been accomplished, sionary Society of the West.-Orwith a department of missionary litera- ganized 1871. Corresponding Secretary, ture, one of junior and juvenile work, Mrs. A. M. Bacon, 3032 South Park another of systematic Christian giving, Avenue, Chicago, TIl. and another of interest and organization. Home report of this society: Number Number of auxiliary societies 224, of circles 1243, number of guilds and with 3376 members, and 2140 members young people's societies 233, mission of children's bands (number of bands not bands 309. The fields occupied are the given). Amount of money received dur- same as those occupied by the society of ing year, $23,164. the East. The same periodicals also are circulated. The board supports 18 missionaries, 8 native evangelists and Bible readers, Foreign work: Twenty-eight mission- 51 children in homes or boarding- aries are supported, 3 of whom are medschools, 7 day schools with 304 pupils. ical; 79 schools, in whole or in part, with an aggregate of 1759 pupils; and 31 Work is carried on or aided in Mexi- native teachers and 49 Bible women co, Japan, India, Syria, China, Indian have also been supported. Territory, and in Alaska. During the year the Carpenter Memo- Friend's Missionary .Advocate is the rial Hospital, at Bassein, has been official organ. This paper has been opened. Receipts for the year, $34,674. owned by Mrs. Esther Tuttle Pritchard since its establishment, in 1886, until Woman's Baptist Foreign Misthe past year, when a centralorganiza- sionary Society of California.-Corretion was effected, she presented the sponding Secretary, Mrs. L. P. Huntspaper to the union. man, 1264 Eleventh Avenue, East Oak- land, Cal. BAPTIST WOMAN'S BOARDS. This society has been organized 16 Woman's Baptist Foreign Mission- years. Previous to 1889 only one misary Society.-Organi~ed 1871. Cor- sionary was supported, who was staresponding Secretary, Mrs. O. W. Gates, tioned on the Congo. Now they sup- Newton Centre, Mass. port 4 missionaries, 2 to Hakkas, of China, 1 at Seudai, Japan, and 1 at The home work of this society is rep- Swatow, China. resented by 1440 circles, or contributing churches, 702 mission bands, and 15,578 Receipts for past year, $2214. No re" members. Amount of money raised for port of home work.
year ending March, 1890, $99,007. Woman's Baptist Missionary So- The society has work among the Bur- ciety of Oregon. -Corresponding Sec- retary, Mrs. Clinton Latourette, Oregon mese, Karens, Shans, Chins, Kachins, City. Eurasians, Telugus ; missions in China, Assam, Japan; Congo Mission, Africa, This society reports 31 circles, with a and Europe. membership of about 500, 7 children's bands, with 220 members, and 11 young Fifty-one missionaries are supported; people's societies, with 345 members. 9 sent past year; 171 schools with 6119 Amount of money raised from October, pupils, and 67 Bible women. 1889 to October, 1890, $1730.
Official organ, the Helping Rand, with One missionary is supported in Now- its Church Board. It helps to support gong, Assam. and contributions made work in Shanghai, China. Has 2 misto support Bible readers in Burma and sionaries-I a physician-and 3 assist. in, China. ant teachers. Has 1 boarding.school with 12 pupils. Work is also carried on Woman's Missionary Union Aux- in Holland in addition to home work. iliary to Southern Baptist Conven- Receipts for year, $3216. tion.-Organized 1888. Corresponding Secretary, Miss Annie W. Armstrong, 10 Christian Woman's Board of Mis- East Fayette Street, Baltimore, Md. sions.-Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Lois A. White, No. 160 North Delaware Prior to 1888 the Baptist women of Street, Indianapolis, Ind. the South had been working for missions, but without a general organiza- Twenty·nine States report 882 auxtion. Auxiliary societies 1469. iliary societies connected with this bo.ard-156 organized the past year. The society contributes to the work Present number of members 15,086, of the board in Brazil, Japan, China, young people's circles 49, children's Cuba, Italy, Mexico, Africa, besides bands 380. work at home among the Indians and colored people of the South. Official organ,' Missionary Tidings, with 4459 subscribers. A children's The society has a general depot for paper, Little Builders at Work, has a submissionary literature in the city of Bal- scription of. 2000. Amount of money timore, where can possibly be found the raised for the year, $45,166. largest variety of missionary le!,fiets in the country. Literature has been sent The society has work in India, out to 14 States, and over 100,000 Jamaica West Indies, and in Montana leaflets and pamphlets have been dis- in the home field. An orphanage is tributed during the year. supported at Bilaspur, India, with 19 orphans, and a school with 27 pupils, Amount of money raised, $21,398 for and a hospital has been established in foreign missions, and $10,161 for home India. Number of missionaries or formlSSlons. Official organ, the Baptist eign workers not given in report. Basket, Louisville, Ky. Woman's Auxiliary to the Board Free Baptist Woman's Missionary of Missions of the Protestant Epis- Society. – Corresponding Secretary, copal Church.-Corresponding Secre- Mrs. J. A. Lowell, Danville, New Hamp- tary, Miss Julia. C. Emery, 21 Bible shire. House, New York.
The home work of this society is rep- During the past year a junior auxiliary, resented by about 250 auxiliary societies modelled upon the woman's auxiliary, and 57 children's bands. Amount of has been formed, and a paper called the money raised during year, $7694. Peri- Young Ohristian Soldier started. The odical, the Missionary Helper, with 1250 woman's auxiliary has its workers in 51 subscribers. dioceses and nine missionary jurisdic- tions. Besides their domestic missions, The main work of the society is in the auxiliary aids the work in China, India. The principal stations are Mid- Japan, Africa, Mexico, and Alaska. napore and Balasore, where zenana, Six missionaries have been sent to the school, and medical work are success- :field the past year. fully carried on. Twenty teachers, 5 Bible women, 13 male teachers, in all 49 The aggregates are all given for parish persons, have been supported. An Of- ladies' aid work and other mission work phanage at Balasore has 35 children, and combined. It appears that of an aggre 7 day schools with 270 pupils. gate collection of $542,197, about $36, 838 is spent in foreign work. But the Woman's Board of the Seventh- North American Indian work is includ- Day Baptists.-Corresponding Secre- tary, Miss Mary F. Bailey, Milton. Wis.
This society works in connection with ed in domestio missions. It is impos- eties, 437 auxiliaries, 176 mission bands; sible to follow here the classification members in auxiliaries 10,443, members which is made where the home and in bands 4869; total membership 15,- foreign work are in separated societies. 312. Amount of money raised from April, 1889 to April, 1890, $32,117. 'Woman's Foreign Missionary So- ciety of the Reformed Episcopal This board has work among the Ind- Church.-Organized May, 1889. Corre- ians of the Northwest, missions in sponding Secretary, Mrs. William H. China, Formosa, Central India, Island Allen, Philadelphia, Pa. of Trinidad, the New Hebrides, and British Guiana. Foreign statistics not This society, so recently organized, given in report. Periodical, Monthly raised during the year $4077. One mis- Letter Leaflet, with a circulation of 5500. sionary is supported in Cawnpore, India, and another went to Calcutta under the Woman's Foreign Missionary So- auspices of the Woman's Union Mission- ciety of the Presbyterian Church in ary Society. Money has been sent to Canada (Eastern Section}.-Organized Sierra Leone, Africa, to open a training- 1876. Secretary, Mrs. J. T. Thompson, school, and some aid given to Japan. 111 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, N. S.
Oa.nadia.n Societies. This society is represented by 6 Pres- byterian societies, 112 auxiliaries, 5 Woman's Missionary Society of young people's branches, 46 mission the Methodist Church (Canada).- bands. Work is supported in the same Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. E. S. fields as those of Western Division. Strachan, 163 Hughson Street, North Receipts for year $5340. Hamilton, Canada. Woman's Baptist Foreign Mis- This society, territorially, is divided sionary Society of Ontario.-Corre. into 5 branches, viz., Eastern, Western, sponding Secretary, Miss Buchan, 165 Central, Nova Scotia, and New Bruns- Bloor Street, East Toronto, Canada. wick, and Prince Edward Island branches. Number of contributing circles 173, number of bands 81. Money received Home force: Auxiliaries 358, memo for the year $7471. bers 8020, mission bands 153, members 4462. Amount of money received for ,Work is carried on in India at Akidu, year $25,560-an advance of over $3254 Cocanada, Tuni, and Samulcotta. At over preceding year. Cocanada a flourishing boarding·school is supported, with 26 pupils. The society has a prosperous work in Japan, a boarding.school at Tokyo, and Woman's Baptist Foreign Misseveral day schools. Also a large work sionary Society of Eastern Ontario among the French in Canada, and dur- and Quebec.-Corresponding Secretary, ing the year a French institute has been Miss Greene, 478 St. Urbain Street, established in Montreal with 43 pupils. Montreal, Canada.
Theyhave a work also among the Ind- This society has work the same as the ians and Chinese on the Pacific Coast; society in Western Ontario. It has support 18 missionaries, 12 in Japan about 50 circles. Money raised during and 6 at home. Periodical, Missionary year $1530. Other statistics not given Outlook, Toronto. in report.
Woman's Foreign Missionary So- Woman's Auxiliary to Diocesan, ciety of the Presbyterian Church in Domestic, and Foreign Missions of Canada (Western Division). – Or- the Church of England, Diocese of ganized 1876. Foreign Secretary, Mrs. Toronto.-Secretary, Mrs. W. Cum- L. J. Harvie, 80 Bedford Road, Toronto, mings, 321 Markham Street, Toronto, Canada. Canada.
This society has 25 Presbyterian soci- Number of adult branches 51, number of junior branches 17, members 1407. Periodical department in The Canadian Ohnrch Magazine and M'i,Ssion News. The human family living to-day con- Total amount of money raised for sists of about 1,500,0'00.000 individuals. 1890, including value boxes of clothing In Asia there are now approximately to needy missions, $12,236. about 800,000,000, densely crowded; on an average 120 to the square mile. In General Statistics, Europe there are 350,000,000, averaging 100 to the square mile-not so crowd- BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD. ed, but everywhere dense, and at all points over- populated. In Africa there Missionary Ammunition. – Every are 210,000,000. In America, North and pastor ought to see that every pew is South, there are 110,000,000 relatively supplied with the diagram first pub- thinly scattered. In the islands, large lished by the Church Missionary Society and small, probably 10,000,000. The of London, which pictures to the eye at extremes of the white and black are as a glance, and most effectively, the 5 to 3 ; the remaining 700,000,000 interspiritual condition of humankind by mediate brown and tawny. Of the race, means of a rectangle 4 by 6 inches, 500,000,000 are well clothed, that is, printed in various colors, to distinguish wear garments of some kind to cover the principal religions and divisions of their nakedness; 700,000,000 are semithe Christian Church, and divided into clothed, covering inferior parts of the some 1500 squares, each one represent- body; 250,000,000 are practically naked. ing a million souls. Thus the Jews oc- Of the race, 500,000,000 live in houses cupy but 8 squares, the Greek Church partly furnished with the appointments 84 squares, Protestants 125, Roman of civilization; 800,000,000 in huts or Catholics 190, Mohammedans 170, but caves with no furnishing; 260,000,000 the heathen 856, the latter and most have nothing that can be called a home, palpable fact being properly emphasized are barbarous and savage. The range by so many squares in jet black. And is from the topmost round-the Anglothen, to show what slight impression Saxon civilization, which is the highest has been made, what a tremendous task known-down to naked savagery. The remains to be performed after 19 centu- portion of the race lying below the line ries of Christian history, after 100 years of human condition is at the very least of Protestant modern (playing at) mis- three-fifths of the whole-900,000,000. sions, those awful 856 inky squares contain 2-only 2-near the centre that are -The various Protestant churches of snow white-standing, of course, for the Canada sustain 6 missionary societies, handful of converts made from heathen- and contribute to the foreign work an ism. What Christian heart can gaze aggregate of $165,000 annually (of unmoved upon such a lamentable de- which $100,106 is expended through the lineation? Presbyterian Board), have Ill3 missiona- ries in the fiela: and 380 native laborers, Then add to this another set of fig- and have gathered 8172 members into ures, which portray the physical, intel- their churches. lectual, and social status of mankind, and we have a working basis for an –The indications are unmistakable overwhelming appeal for a general and that the Huguenots in France, after sublime outburst of evangelizing faith centuries of extreme depression, and and zeal. And without doubt never after even lad apostasy from faith and were the facts relating to the condition fervor, are at length awakening to new of the race upon the material side set spiritual life. This fact appears espeforth so adequately in such brief space cially in the aggressive work undertaken as in the statement which follows. It to spread a pure gospel both at home has been before the public for some and abroad. They number some 600,000, years, and may therefore be quite famil- and are gathered into about 650 iar to many; and yet it cannot be reviewed and pondered too often: churches, though 30,000 or more are the seat of the IIiission. The work acsCdttered, and destitute of pastors and complished is made palpable in part oy places of worship. They sustain 3 Bible 125 chapels and prayer· houses, 341 consocieties, 3 book and tract societies, gregations, 6367 communicants, 223 many Young Men's Christian Associa- Sunday-schools, with 8151 scholars, and tions, 2 theological seminaries, 2 schools 194 day-schools, with 236 teachers and for evangelists, 4 societies for carrying 4423 scholars. Of these schools 171 are on evangelistic work, and a host of col- primary, 15 are high caste Hindu girls' porteurs. The annual contributions schools, 3 are Mohammedan, 3 boardfor home missions amount to $100,000, ing, and 1 industrial. In addition a and for foreign missions, $80,000. But college was opened in 1885, which now so limited are their resources and so has a teaching force of 19 and 361 stuheavy their burdens, they have sent one dents, and having as its chief object the of their number-Professor L. J. Ber- training of teachers and gospel workers rand-to America to raise here, if pos- of every kind. Money has also been sible, $20,000. raised ($15,000) for a hospital in Guntur.
Methodist Protestant Church.- -The Moravian Church, the pioneer Secretary, Rev. F. T. Tagg, Easton, missionary body in modern times, I!nte. Md. dating Carey and the Baptist Missionary Society by 60 years, with its" home .. Report for eight months ending De- membership of but 21,360, has in its cember 31st, 1890 : missions 30,591 communicants, and 87,263 in its congregations. Ten coun. RECEIPTS. tries are occupied, with 135 stations; 36 men and women were sent out last yelll, Foreign Fund..•..••.••…………• $3,452.12 making 355 Europeans and native as. Children'S Day…………..•……. 5,718.74 sistants in the field, with 1663 other Album F'und . . . . . . . . .• . . . . . . . . .. .. . 142.71 native helpers. In 113 Sunday-schools SpeciaL ……….•………………• 1,319.06 15,362 scholars are taught, and in 235 day-schools 20,629. The receipts for Balance, May 1 …… _. . ••• .. ….•. . 1,250.03 1889 were $100,115, of which upward of $40,000 came from non – Moravian Total. ……•…••…•••.•…….. $11,882.66 sources. Expenditnre•..•..•••…•..••.•.••… 11,371.15 The lal'gest mission is found in the Balance, Dec. 31…….. ..•. ………. $511.51 British and Danish West Indies, with 49 stations and 39,420 in the congrega. This society has 2 stations in Japan; 2 tions. Next come Surinam and Deme- churches, with 205 members; 15 mission· rara, South America, with 27,534 adaries and teacher/!; 3 Sunday.schools, herents, and South Africa, with 13,084. with 350 scholars; a college with 50 stu· Gnadenthal, the oldest station in South dents; an Anglo.Japanese school, with Africa, is to celebrate its centennial an attendance of 152, and a school for next year by the erection of a new women with 90 pupils, in all 292 under church, to cost £2000, of which the peo. instruction. A kindergarten will soon pIe on the spot hope to raise £1500. be opened, and the first native Japanese preacher has been chosen and will -The Syria mission of the Presbysoon be ordained. terian Board, North-especially with its large and thoroughly furnished printing General SynGd of the Lutheran establishment, and its Bible house at Church.-Secretary, Rev. George Scholl, Beirut-is one of the most important in D.D., Baltimore, Md. the entire foreign field. Besides Beirut, stations are maintained at Sidon, Trip- This society has 1 mission in Africa and 1 in India, and sustains in all 13 representatives from America, and 171 native assistants. The India field is in the Madras Presidency, upon the Bay of Bengal, and among the Telugus, covers about 5000 square miles, and contains 1,000,000 of inhabitants. Guntur is ali, Abeih, and Zahleh. This tahle progress has been for nearly fifteen will show how steady and general the years: STATISTICS OF THE SYRIA MISSION.
1876. 1885. 1886. 1887. 1888. 1889.
– – – – — – – – – – – American Missionaries .. _. .. _… . .. . …….. . 28 38 37 34 35 42 Native Laborers . ….. ' ………………….. . 120 Stations and Out-Stations ……………….. . 65 189 179 171 201 201 95 91 96 94 94 Church-Members ……………………….. . 573 1,301 1,440 1,493 1,534 1,615 Added on Profession…. .. . ……………… . 75 130 153 104 63 98 Average Congregations ………………….. . 2,642 3,891 4,293 4,289 4,522 4,640 Sabbath-Schools ••.•.. . ………•••……… 40 S. S. Scholars …………•……………….. 1,540 73 68 66 81 88 Total Schools. . ………… .. . ………… . 80 3,804 3.746 3,732 4,620 4,966 136 121 125 141 142 Total Pupils …………………………… . 3,509 5,665 5,344 5,391 6,299 6,172 This table of statistics, and the one summary covering eighteen others, which follows, though in a condensed while from four, the Free Methodform, are taken from the very valuable ists, the African Methodists, the Bap- American Board Almanac of Missions. tist Convention of the United States, Facts are set forth in detail concerning and the Friends, no report was reten of the principal societies, with a ceived : 'FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1889-90.
~ .; AMERICAN ~ ~ ci ]"o'" ~. .~'c"~.; LABORERS. '<""3 0 '~" 00 :og.~a SOCIETIES. rn.; ".8 "03 w "~ .:i 0""3,8" .;J .S ""..~- .co $ "03 S ."c 0 ""… ~" ~ 'c:3~ ….:I 'C E,,"~ rn ;:;I I'""< ~ 0 'C … ~" .":: "'C ,,~ 8~ ~ .c p~…. z" -;; 'C 0 Z 0 -<j —— — — —— — —— Meth. Epis.,North 52 :1 159 135 3,018 559 42,632! 5,563 30,049 $282,997 $885,197 Presb. Bd., North. 99 240 336 1,302 320 26,794' 2,753 23,935 Am. Board(Cong ) 96 200 333 2,417 387 36.256 4,554 47,319 lii,494 794,066 762,947 Bapt.. Miss. Union 64 1,382 131 200 1,343 712 81,072 7,099 20,615 54,844 440,788 Meth.Epis., South 4,014 244,176 Ref. Ch. (Dutch).. 18 . i4i 34 "35 97 "in 5,336 552 '4',i56 . fi,D03 117,000 15 26 364 Protestant Epis .. 52 168 74 39 210 38 2,631 264 3,876 5,527 189,183 ~aPt. South. Conv 37 124 33 45 86 62 2.213 409 675 4,681 109,174 resb.Bd.. South. 18 98 37 41 50 31 1,207 360 1,207 4,317 107,627 Unit. Presb Bds. 16 198 26 44 459 391 9,568 1,722 10,687 7,167 100,539 E ili~te:sn ~.t~~~ ~~: 113 151 ~ ~ –.: -.-: ~.495 3,351 –.:,871 ~,187 _278,914 1 Totals . . . . . . . . 580 3,474 1,054 1,296 10,020 2,721 236,187 25,963 174.891 $524,21J $3,977,701 PRINCIPAL FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES OF GREAT BRITAIN.
MISSIONARIES. zi ~ "" '" 'C.; " °8 ~.2 – – – – – – Ol SOCIETIES. w~ "03 ~=">= S" ~ "ol~o~~ oJ S Z S 0 03 – "rno );l "I'"< 0 =">-< 0 —– – —— Church Missionary Society. . . . . . . . . .. . …. 315 338 59 4,121 49,016 $1,145,240 Wesleyan Missionary Society. ….. . …. 363 343 6,284 34,086 703,115 Society for Propagation of Gospel ………. 499 2,447 66,593 625,190 London Missionary Society…..••………. 1)33 155 154 5,419 68.805 505,765 Free Church of Scotland…… .. ……… 209 80 35 660 6,620 480,535 Ba{,tist Missionary Society……………… 515 126 986 48.646 , 398,045 Chma Iuland Mission ……. .. ……….. 158 180 180 232 2,839 257,420 United Presbyterian, Scotch …………… 251 491 14,899 202,455 69 25 Established Church, Scotland. .. … … .. 30 17'9 825 156,805 Church of England Zenana MIss. Society .• Gl 113 639 135,000 – – – – Twelve other societies. .. ……………… 348 347 232 3,059 55;752 540,803 — Totals ………….. ……….. …. 3,353 2,167 – – – – —- 798 24,517 '348,081 $5,150,373 The second table of figures on the pre- so heroically founded by the late Mr. ceding page gives certain details con- Mackay before the waves of successive cerning 22 British societies, of which 12 revolutions swept over Uganda. In May are presented only in a summary. But next another mission party depart for the total of receipts is not to be taken as Uganda, under the tried leadership of showing the entire gifts of British Prot- the Rev. R. P. Ashe. 'lile Rev. G. H. estant Christians to foreign missions, for, V. Greaves, and also Dr. G. Wright, have according to Canon Robertson, their con- been appointed to it. "Six or eight more tributions in1889 amounted to $6,056,530. are at least required," says the Church Missionary Society, "in view of the -The Methodist Episcopal Church, wonderful openings for Christian work South, publishes a very complete table of all kinds in Uganda, in Usoga, at the of statistics of its Chinese Mission Con- south of the Victoria Nyanza, not to ference for the year ending September speak of the nearer territories of the 30th, 1890, and showing the results of British East Africa Company." five years' work. Two dist~icts are occupied, and 10 circuits, with 30 mis- Except the Scottish m~ionary camsionaries, male and female, and 6 nati ve paign of the Free Church of Scotland to helpers. Into the churches 345 mem- raise a sum of £20,000 for the fourth bers have been gathered; 22 Sunday- period of five years in the history of the Bchools are sustained, with 742 scholars; glorious Livingstonia Mission, no sim.iand 47 schools of all grades (including lar undertaking can be compared with an Anglo-Chinese college, with 146 stu- the remarkable endeavor of the Church dents), with a total attendance of 100l. Missionary Society to send forth 1000 In the 2 hospitals 2494 patients were missionaries during 1891 into the mis. treated last year. sion field. Partaking of the nature of a missionary revival, it is being achieved Foreign Mission Notes, with almost incomparable enthusi8Rm. Men and means are flowing into the BY REV. JAlIlES JOHNSTON, BOLTON, ENG- treasury of God. LAND. Mr. A. M. Mackay's Father. -The Africa – Bishop Tucker. – Clouds readers of the :MISSIONARY REVIEW in all continue to hang over Uganda. Bishop lands will welcome a glimpse of the Tucker had a rough journey inland, not- father of the late distinguished mission. withstanding the kindness of German ary, which the writer, favored with an officials en route. On reaching the con- intimate friendship, can supply. At fines of his new diocese he was seized the foot of Boniface Downs, east of with fever. By the attacks of this Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, overlook. dreaded foe two of his ardent fellow ing the wide-stretching blue waters of missionaries were fatally struck down the English Channel, lies the charming at Usambiro. Their loss to the cause is home of this dear old man. It has been greatly regretted. Through the jealousy opened to receive many weary African of the French Roman Catholic mission- traveilers, who have left behind them aries, and the ever-threatening attitude souvenirs of the Dark Continent, or of the Mohammedans on Mwanga's ter· gifts from the gallant Mackay himself. ritory, the bishop finds the situation in From this spot were sent for yearll Uganda exceedingly perplexing. It is newspapers, books, etc., to Alexander not improbable that as soon as an inter- Mackay, who in turn despatched porview has been granted by Mwanga he tions bf them to his friend Emin Pasha, may make a hurried journey to England, in Equatorial Africa, when caravans to take council with the committee as to were.permitted to pass through the inthe future policy. Should the journey tervening hostile countries. The father be made, he will leave a small band of of Mr. Mackay is a native of Thurso, in men in Uganda to re-establish the work Caithness, originally, in all probability, as well as the export of slaves in his of Scandinavian stock, and his mother, territories, to the best of his power. of Banffshire. In his quiet Ventnor The following is the translation of the home, which he occupied on retiring from the Presbyterian ministry in Scot- copy Oll" TREATY: land, he has watched with practical solicitude the course of the missionary " I, Mwanga, King of Buganda, here- enterprise. Though bearing the silvery by declare, in the presence of Dr. Carl locks of age, it is a veritable inspiration Peters and Pere Simeon Lourdel (since to listen to his eloquent utterances on dead), that I prohibit the slave-trade in the redemption of the heathen world Buganda and the territories belonging from the yoke of idolatry. thereto, and that I will do my utmost to prevent the exportation of slaves from As Mr. Stanley promised Dr. Mackay, all countries under my jurisdiction. prior to departing for Africa, in 1887, to bring his son home "safe and "MwANGA, KA13AKA sound," it is not easy to imagine his disappointment when he learned that of Buganda. his long-absent "Alick," declined to leave his post. Greater and irreparable " SIMEON LOURDEL was the blow on the arrival, last year, of the tidings of Mr. Mackay's death. of the AlgerilJn Missions. Of this calamity the doctor has written, under date of February 7th, 1891, to the " CARL PETERS. writer: "The news of my dear son's death at Usambiro gave me a stunning " MENGO, May 16, 1890." blow. It came so unexpectedly that, for a time, I could hardly realize it, es- The arrival of this information, topecially as I half.expected him home gether wUh the adherence of all the some time during the summer. I have, European powers (now that Holland has however, learned to say, 'the will of the consented) to the General Act of the re- Lord be done,' and I have no doubt this cent Brussels Conference, will gi"e a event, like all others, has been wisely strong impetus in every quarter of the ordained by the Divine Disposer." He globe to the anti·slave·trade movement. alludes to the success of his son's memoir written by his sister, of which 8000 More African Missionaries.-Dr. copies have been sold. "Its perusal," George Smith says that he knows noth. he says, ., has led to the self-consecra- ing at all in history which equals the tion of some young men to the Lord, rapidity with which the civilizing, Chrisand to the evangelization of poor be- tianizing organizations had spread over nighted Africa." Mr. Mackay's trans- Africa during these fifty years. Although lation of the Scriptures is being dili- he has spent the greater part of his life in gently completed by three of his most India, where there has been great misintelligent converts and pupils in sionary enterPrise, "still, before Africa, Uganda. India paled. " I understand that the Mo- ravian Mission and the Lutheran Society King Mwanga and Siavery.- in Berlin were in communication with Though one is naturally sceptical of the doctor last January, asking his adany real change in the heathen passion vice and assistance respecting the des· of this African monarch, it is gratifying patch of missionaries to the German to report that Prince Hohenlohe Lan- African territory. It is remarkable to genberg, President of the Deutschen learn that instead of entering their own Kolonial-gesellschaft, writes of Mwan- " sphere of influence" from Bagamoyo, ga's resolve to forbid slave-dealing, they preferred the Scottish route via the Zambesi, the Shire, and Nyassa. Very shortly the Livingstonia Mission pur· pose sending a party of six men, two of whom are medical missionaries, to the north end of Lake Nyassa. The Mora- vians propose to send in their compnny four missionaries for work in Ge.rman territory, and the Lutheran Society will send three, or probably five, by the same that they have a right to cook or sell in missionary expedition. them, and turn them into shambles, or set up open.air theatres on the sideways. A Congo Missionary Heroine.- They cannot endure the institutiou of a Friends of the Congo Missions will re- pound. Dogs, donkeys, and troops of gret to hear that Mrs. Percy Comber, goats from time immemorial wandered who only went out in May last year, and where they pleased. Who was the worse was married to Mr. Comber in the for their liberty? The dogs never went August following, has fallen a victim to mad; they were the auxiliaries of the the malarious climate. Great sympathy hymns in devouring corpses scarcely cov- is expressed for her suddenly bereaved ered with earth. Why trouble about the husband. The name of Comber will be registration of births, deaths, and mar_ always honorably associated with Afri- riages ? Tunis, nevertheless, is making can missions and African exploration. steady headway in the path of progress. Their martyr roll on African soil in- cludes the names of Dr. Sidney Com- In this unevangelized region seven ber, Thomas Comber; Mrs. Hay, her missionaries of the North Africa M'tssion sister, Mrs. Thomas J. Comber, and are laboring. The darkness of the land now, Mrs. Percy Comber. By these, is appalling. Tunis is spiritually dead. truly heroic breath has been offered for Alcohol is the chief foe of the mission Africa's perishing millions on the Con- workers. Mohammedan insobriety is go watershed. notorious. A missionary writes of the Regency: " The longer I live in Tunis, The Niger Troubles.-A long doc- the more I see and hear of its awful ument has been issued by the Commit· wickedness, and the burden of souls is tee of the Church Missionary Society, very real to us. " It is pleasant to learn appointed to inquire into the charges that the Roman Catholic Italians in made by the English secretary on the Tunis are moved with the simplicity of west coast of Africa against the native the Gospel. mIssIOnaries. Briefly summarized, the report practically acquits of guiltiness Uzbek Turki Gospel Translations. the principal native clergy whom the -Thanks to the enterprise of the Brit· Rev. F. N. Eden took upon himself to ish and Foreign Bible Society, a part suspend, yet in two instances his de. of one of the most important biblical cision is confirmed. An English Church translations undertaken of late years, dignitary will possibly embark for the consisting of the four Gospels, is now Niger on a mission of reconciliation. passing through the press. It is esti- To the credit of the society, it should mated that Uzbek is the' language of be known that, promptly and exhaus· nearly 2,250,000 people scattered over tively, it invariably deals with the diffi· Russia ;r;. Asia, Bokhara, Afghanistan, culties whieh arise on its fields of labor. Khokhano, and Khiva, and is spoken by almost all the agricultural population of Tunis.-Of this J!'rench Protectorate these territories. The language is hard in North Africa, with a population of to acquire, as it is spoken in an exceed- 2,000,000 souls, the great majority of ingly rapid, shrill utterance. The transwhom are Mohammedans, a book of lation, reported to be quite worthy of considerable interest has just been pub- the society's repute for scholarly acculished, entitled" La Politique FranQaise racy, was commenced in 1884, by M. en Tunisie," whose author hides his Ostroumoff, a learned Russian gentle. identity under the signature of P. H. X. man who had lived many years in Cen- He speaks of the administrative diffi. tral Asia. His rendering has been most culties of the French resident as being caretully revised and, where advisable, very trying. The Tunisians like their amended by Dr. Radloff, Professor Sale. picturesque, old·world ways, and aro man~, Dr. Sauerwein, and M. Amischanot to be meddled with. Their idea is sisantz. that the streets belong to everyone, and Jewish Colonization in Palestine.- Government circles cause serious mis· "Yeax by year," remaxks Lieutenant· givings regarding the nation's welfare. Colonel Goldsmid, "the state of the Thus fax French influence has not raised Jews all over the world is becoming less the moral standard. The habits of life satisfactory instead of better. As the and non·Christian principles of Frenchresult of the persecutions in Russia and men are unmistakably introducing a Roumania Jewish colonies are being false civilization. In developing the refounded everywhere. They are even in sources of Madagascar, or promoting an initiatory stage in South America, commercial enterprise and colonization, and may likely be commenced in Cen- the French are utterly unfitted. The tral Africa. These schemes, Mr. Gold- export and import trade is nearly all smid thinks, are only deferring the evil done by English and American traders. day. He holds firmly that the Jewish Religiously, the work continues to prosquestion will never be settled until there per. In face of the disappointments is a Jewish state in the Holy Land. with respect to the action of the Govern- " In some countries," he says, " we are ment, the missionaries maintain a pow. persecuted. In others we are barely erful hold on the native communities. tolerated. I am not at all surprised at The London Missionary Society and the this. What other race with 80 glorious Society of Friends sta,nd on almosj; sima history as ours would tamely sit down ilar platforms, and attempt much in comand see the land of their ancestors in mon. It is regretted that the advanced the hands of a foreigner? Italy has re- sacerdotal teachings of the agents of the gained Rome, why should we not regain Society for the Propagation of the Gos. Palestine, instead of being contented to pel prevent co-operation with this body. remain tolerated by the peoples among Despite the energy of Roman Catholic whom we live ?" missionaries and their numbers, they are singularly weak and unable to gather Madagascar.-Political affairs are congregations. taking an erratic course on the island. The determined attitude of the more India-" Age of Consent" Bill.-Naenlightened and patriotic Malagassies tive papers are full of letters and distoward the French Protectorate, to cussions relating to the proposed measwhich I referred in the January issue of ure for raising" marriage consent" from the MISSIONARY REVIEW, is being neu- the age of ten to twelve. The bill is in tralized by the Malagasy Court. Either committee, and should reappear before by adroit negutiations, or intrigue, the the Legislat.ive Council next March, French are already on growingly cordial meanwhile, local goveTnments are colterms with the Government. The Eng- lecting native opinion in all parts of the lish adviser, the Protestant missiona. country. By the Mohammedans exries, and other tried counsellors, are to- pressing themselves favorable and, to day set aside for the French, while the a laxge extent, the Brahmo-Somaj, there queen, the prime minister, and the . is great anticipation of eventual sucladies·in-waiting affect French customs, cess. Orthodox Hindus in Upper· and and eagerly show their regard for the Western India are apparently unconofficials of the French Republic. As a cerned. The National Congress is neucorrespondent says: "The French rep- tral, according to its resolution not to resentative has but to go ahead cau- agitate on social questions. From Bengal tiouslyand circumspectly to obtain for comes the most pronounced opposition, his country all she can possibly wish though it is generally believed the meas· for." What the future will bring re- ure will be carried when it is universally mains to be seen. At present the coun- known that the bill does not interfere try, administratively, is in a lamentable with religious customs, or form a pre-. condition. .The increasing selfishness, Iude to corresponding acts of legislation. despotism, and lax morality noticed in