The Missionary Review of the World — December 1938
1938
"What a Time to Be in China 1"
Courtenay H. Penn The Call of the Dyacks of Borneo R. A. Jaf/ray Christian Sadhus and Ashrams w. Q. Lash What Is the Koran?
E. E. Elder The Privilege of Preaching to Moslems -Stephen Khoobyar Presenting the Gospel in Brazil E. M. Do Amaral The Prime Needs of a City Church G. H. Bechtold 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to. Remember LET CHRISTMAS COME T:O
December 6-9-Biennial meeting of The chUdren of war.torn China. orphaned. abandoned. hopeless. lift appealing the Federal Council of Churches, hands. Your prayers and aid wUlllive them a Christian Christmas. Buffalo, N. Y. HOME OF OMESIPHORUI December 13-30 – International Mis- sionary Council, Madras, India. TAIAN. SHANTUNG. CHINA December 30-31 – All-India Confer- Thill faith work. one of the largest Christian institutions in the Orient. has saved ence of Indian Christians, Madras, thousands. Founded more than two decades ago by the Rev. and Mrs. Anglin. India. Thousands of earnest Christians have been blessed by sharin. their means in this ministry. Your help now will make Christmas a time of joy for hopeless chUdren January 8-10, 1939 – Home Missions and a time of reaping a great harvest of souls for the Kingdom. Council, Baltimore, Md. Write today for FREE picture and story of Chinese girl shown in this ad; January 21-25 – Cause and Cure of also receive "Helping China's Helpless." If God speaks to your heart, War Conference, Washington, D. C. enclose cheCk or money order or indicate willingness to join in prayer for God'. blessing on this work. Addres.: January 23-February IS-Iowa School for Missionaries. Iowa State College, HOME OF ONESIPHORUS American Office Ames, Iowa. 2811 North Racine Avenue Drawer 36 Chicago, Illinois February 6-l4-International Council of Religious Education, Chicago, Ill. Hughes was born in Atlanta, Ga., sev- Amoy, China, under the Reformed enty-two years ago. Church in America, died at Hemp- FLORIDA CHAIN OF MISSION- stead, L. I., on November 12th at the ARY ASSEMBLIES *** age of 85. She was born in China, the daughter of the Rev. John Van January 24-26-Jacksonville. Miss Annabel Galt, retired mission- Nest Talmadge, a missionary, and January 25-27-Daytona Beach. ary of the Presbyterian Board, died in after being educated in America re- January 28-February I-Miami. Orlando, Fla., October 3. Miss Galt turned for her long service in Amoy January 29-31-Ft. Lauderdale. went to Siam in. 1891, and was sta- and came to America only last year, February l-3-Palm Beaches. tioned at Petchaburi for eight years. suffering from the effects of a frac- February 4-8-0rlando. From 1900, she was connected with tured hip. February 5-7-DeLand. Bangkok Christian College as teacher February 9-l0-Sarasota. of English. In addition to this work *** February 8-l0-Ft. Myers. she taught Bible classes, prepared and February 11-I6-St. Petersburg. edited several textbooks in Siamese, Mrs. A,no Liza Gulick, the widow February l2-15-Clearwater. aided in planning and developing the of the Rev. O. H. Gulick, formerly a February 17-18-Southern College. women's organizations in the local and missionary to Japan under the Amer- February 19-21-Tampa. National church, and worked in the ican Board of Commissioners for For- February 19-21-Winter Haven. Sunday school and community. eign Missions, died in Honolulu on February 22-23-Quincy. October 9th at the age of 105. She February 23-24-Tallahassee. *** was born in the Hawaiian Islands and February 24-26-All College. later attended Mt. Holyoke College, The Rev. John B. Dunlap, D.D., an Massachusetts. She was married to Obituary Notes honorably retired missionary from Mr. Gulick in 1855 and went to Japan Siam of the Presbyterian Church, where they remained until 1892 when Dr. Murdoch MacKenzie, of the U. S. A., died in Los Gatos, California they returned to Hawaii to work United Church of Canada, widely on September 22nd. He was born in among the Japanese. known by reason of nearly fifty years' New Alexandria, Pa., on Sept. 12, service for missions in Honan, China, 1860, and after being graduated from THf PRfSBYTfRIAn died recently. Dr. Murdoch was born Washington and Jefferson College and eighty years ago in Scotland. In Western Theological Seminary, he (0 The only weekly in the 1883, he went to Canada, was educated sailed for Siam in 1888 and remained Presbyterian Church. in McGill University, and the Presby- there for forty years, teaching and terian Seminary in Montreal; in 1889, doing extensive evangelistic work. He (. Its message is based upon he was sent to Honan, and with Dr. also prepared a Siamese hymnal and the Revealed Word of God. Jonathan Goforth had many perilous directed the work of the Mission Press experiences. Dr. MacKenzie was a in Bangkok. (0 Goes into every state in man of profound and devout scholar- the Union, U. S. possessions ship, upon which he drew with untir- *** and many foreign countries. ing energy in the training of a native ministry. The Rev. Masue Kawazoe, veteran Subscription rate – $2.50 pastor of the Church of Christ in J a- Ministerial rate . . $2.00 Shortly before his death, he realized pan (the Presbyterian and Reformed a long-cherished desire to visit the Church) died July 11th at his home SOc. extra..Canadian postage Holy Land, and a farewell visit to his in Tokyo. Mr. Kawazoe. was born in $1.50 extra.. Foreign postage native Scotland. Kochi sixty-nine years ago, was bap'- tized at seventeen, educated at MeJji THE PRESBYTERIHn *** Gakuin, Tokyo, and Auburn Semi- nary, New York. After being or- 121 7 Market Street Samuel Bryant, Treasurer of the dained in 1898, he was pastor of Philaclelphia, Pa. American Baptist Home Mission So- churches in Nagasaki, Osaka and ciety since 1919, died at his home in Tokyo. He was a member of the Palisades Park, N. Y., September 21. Committee on the Revision of the He had devoted eight of the nineteen New Testament, on the editorial staff years of service without salary. of the Christian Literature Society of Japan, formerly dean of the Theo- *** logical Department of Meiji Gakuin. president emeritus of the Japan Theo- Mrs. Isabel Hughes, wife of Bishop logical Seminary, former president of Edwin H. Hughes of the Methodist the Synod of the Church of Christ in Episcopal Church, died in Washing- Japan, pastor emeritus of the Aoyama ton, D. C., September 16, after an ill- Church, Tokyo. and one of the foreness of more than two years. Mrs. most Japanese scholars of New Testa- ment Greek.
*** Miss Katharine M. Talmadge. for sixty-four years a missionary in
Malwa-the Great Temple THE
REVIEW OF THE WORLD When Ihe good wOl'k calls you Easl … sail DBLAVAN L. PIBBBON, BeUtor p&O VOL. LXI DEC., 1938 No. 12 Publication and Buslnesa Ollie&– Third and Reily Ste., Harrlsburl, Pa.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS ROBBRT E. SPBBR, President A. L. WABNBlIUIB, V'CtI-Prerilknt W ALTER MCDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PIBBSON, Secretaf'1/ PAUL J. BRAISTED SAKUBL MCCREA CAVERT D. J. FANT MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD WK. B. LIPPllABD ERIC M. NORTH SAMUBL M. ZWEKER 1938 marks the second century of P & 0 Editorial Chat The great white Empresses hold service to the lands beyond Suez! When- every speed record to and from ever you are called to the other side of Here endeth our sixty-first volume the Orient. 10 days direct to the world, choose this traditional route. of THE REVIEW. But another volume Yokohama by Empress of Asia Cross to England by Cunard White Star begins with the January number. or Empress of Russia. Or only . . • and then embark in a great liner of This coming year is one that you will three days more via Hawaii by the P & 0 and British India fleets, led not wish to miss. Never were there Empress of Japan, largest and by the new 23,SOO-ton Stratheden and greater problems that face the Church fastest on the Pacific, or Empress Strathallan, featuring air-conditioned of Christ in China, Korea, Japan, In- of Canada. Connect at Honolulu dining saloons in first-class, hot and cold dia, Europe, and America. Never was from California ports. running water throughout, built-in out- there greater need for Christ and His From Vancouver and Victoria of-door swimming pools, children's play- Gospel; never were there larger op- to Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, rooms! Regular service to Egypt, Sudan, portunities or greater encouragements. Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila. Iranian Gulf, India, Burma, Ceylon, THE REVIEW will keep you informed Details from YOUR TRAVEL Straits Settlements, China, Japan, Aus- on these points and on progress all AGENT or Canadian Pacific,: tralia, East and South Africa, Mauritius. over the world. 41 offices in U. S. and Canada. Special reductions and generous baggage allowance for missionaries. *** Convenient through bookings can be ar- In 1939 we plan to take up the most important topics discussed at the rangedby your travel agent or any office of Madras Conference, together with rad- ical changes proposed in missionary CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE policies and methods. Mrs. Howard Taylor is to tell in our January issue General Agents the inspiring story of how God guided the program of the China Inland Mis- 25 Broadway and 638 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. sion in North America. It is a story that all should read.
A number of pastors and mission- ary executives will tell "How to In- terest Men in Missions." The answers they give are illuminating for they come from experience.
Here is the c*om*men*t of one reader as to the value of THE REVIEW: "We have been delighted with THE REVIEW. Please enter our subscrip- tion sufficiently in advance so that we will not miss any of the issues. We do not care to be without the mag- azine. It is a source of spiritual power and inspiration to us."
MRS. HOWARD THOMAS, American Presbyterian Mission, Kiulung- kiang, Yunnan, China.
[561 ]
~ C!Cbristian C!Cbristmas :!fMessage
FROM JAPAN TO CHINA* DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS: I ask your pardon for my nation. Because of what. we are doing, I cannot preach in the Name of Christ. … I ask your attention to this fact; however, that even in Japan the majority of the Japanese people were against sending any troops to China. We Christians were bit- terly opposed to it. Therefore pardon us, pardon me especially, because our Christian forces were not strong enough to get the victory over the militarists. But the day will come when we shall be strong enough to do so, and when both nations will be harmonious and peaceful in the Name of Christ. . . . We Japanese love China. Where the city of Kyoto stands today there was in former times a colony of Chinese farmers. Because they had the highest culture then known, the Japanese Imperial Household moved to that district. As the city of Kyoto grew up, eighty per cent of its noble families came to be of Chinese descent. Among the immigrant strains in Japan, from the Southern Seas, from Korea, from Siberia, from Mongolia, the one which has contributed the dominant factor to Japanese civilization is from China. Therefore we who know the facts love China. But unless we, in both Japan and China, become more Christian, we shall never have per- manent peace. . . . Sometimes we are very selfish and even some Christians do not see the need of praying. . . . When you are contented, and have no holy ambition to build up the nation, you may have no desire to pray. . . . Oppressed by wars, oppressed by capitalism, op- pressed by the injustice of the present economic social system-can we ignore the needs of men? If we are contented with the sort of world we have at present, there is no use of praying to God. But if we want real peace, and real humanity, real Godliness, there are many problems for the solution of which we must pray. We must pray for each of the nations, for Africa, for India, and for China and Japan. We must pray for world peace, for the uplifting of the poor, for the desert to be made green, for the New Age, for the New Society. We must pray for science to be controlled by conscience. . . .
If you pray, world peace will be realized; the poor will be emancipated. Abraham Lin- coln prayed through the night before he wrote his Emancipation Proclamation. I believe it was because he prayed that the four millions of poor slaves were emancipated.
Unless Christ is glorified in the Orient, the fate of our continent will be very dismal. Un- less we believe in Christ, and deepen our spiritual life with Christian idealism, peace will never come…. Stanley Jones, in his small pamphlet entitled "Christ on the Andes Road,"
tells of how war had long prevailed between Argentine and Chile. After many years a reconcili- ation was suggested, and they came to the conclusion that they must have peace through Christ.
On the top of the mountain range between the two countries a great statue was erected of the Saviour, Christ, stretching out His arms, on the one side blessing Argentine, and on the other side blessing Chile. May the Prince of Peace come thus in the Orient, and bless China on the one hand and Japan on the other! TOYOHIKO KAGAWA.
• From Friends oj Jesus (December. 1931) .
.. IIl~~!IJI!IJI!i!i~~!IJI!i!lJl!i!i!i!i!i:IIl!i»a!i!i~!i!lJl!i!lJli; [562 ] REVIB ORLD VOLUME LXI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 12 DECEMBER, 1938 Topics of the Times REAL CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR 1938 moting international peace and a cessation from the building of a great army and air force. The widespread spirit of Christmas giving throughout the world is evidenced by the general Suppose that in Spain, Loyalists and Revoluobservance of Christmas even among the non- tionists should extend to each other the right hand Christians-in music, festivals, cards and the too- of brotherhood and should give themselves to the often formal exchange of gifts. How much of this work of promoting righteousness, brotherly love, activity is truly motivated and directed by the and the rebuilding of their national life on a firm Spirit of Christ? Christians acknowledge that basis. Italy might celebrate their Christmas by giving Ethiopia her freedom and her own people every good gift comes from God – our physical a release from fear. Mexico's gift might be not and mental powers, spiritual things – and are only a square deal for the peons and for the available even though we neglect, reject, despise Church but the right to teach Christianity and a or misuse them. The best gifts are those that no just settlement of questions involved in the conmoney can buy, and that enrich the recipient while fiscation of property.
they do not impoverish the giver. What about England and America? Could not With Himself, Jesus Christ gave the world His Great Britain make a better Christmas gift than love, peace and joy, the forgiveness of sin and 5,000 new bombing airplanes? How would the Life Eternal. Spirit of Christ best be shown in the settlement of Was there ever a time in history when these the Irish question, the problem of Palestine, Homegifts were more needed than today? How much rule in India and in the matter of German colit would mean if they were everywhere received onies? In America the Christmas spirit is not and shared? How infinitely better these would be shown in the increase of armaments and of taxes. than the gift of greater material prosperity for There is abundant opportunity to celebrate in a which men are striving so eagerly – better even settlement of labor difficulties and by giving unthan new laws, than new labor-saving inventions, selfish, efficient government to the nation, states higher wages. or shorter hours of work! and cities. Christ-like Christmas gifts would in- What a difference it would make in the world clude the general observance of laws and customs today if the true Spirit of Christ were manifested that promote purity in the home and personal life ; this year among all nations in the observance of sincerity in the worship of God; brotherly treat- Christmas. Imagine the effect if Japan, moved ment of Negroes, Mexicans and Orientals. Amer- by this Spirit, should give peace to China and true ica might celebrate in a Christ-like way by using religious liberty to the Koreans.. Suppose that her wealth to meet the crying needs of others Soviet Russia should celebrate Christmas by giv- around the world. Would not this be a different world if the love of Christ and a knowledge of ing the right to teach youth to know and worship His Way of Life should direct the Christmas cele- God, freedom to political prisoners and freedom bration of all nations in 1938 and in the years to of the press and speech! What if Germany gave civil rights and freedom from persecution to her come?
Jewish population, freedom from religious and We may not be able to control the giving of the political oppression to pastor Niemoller and other nations, but what about ourselves? As individuals Christians, friendly cooperation to Europe in pro- how can we best show our sense of indebtedness [563 ]
to Christ; how can we truly reveal His Spirit and thousands of Chinese find food, protection and make this a joyful Christmas, effectively carrying loving sympathy.
forward the work that He came to do-in our own Z. Should missionaries leave their stations to lives, in our home circle, in our nation and in the follow the fleeing Chinese so as to continue or world, to make this a truly joyful Christmas? establish work among them in new centers where little has been done? This course has been fol- MISSIONARY PROBLEMS IN CHINA lowed in the case of faculties of many schools and With the Japanese war-machine pressing on- colleges which have been closed by the Japanese ward in the west and south of China, the Christian advance. The Nanking University work has been missionaries as well as the Chinese find themselves moved to Chengtu in Szechuan; the faculties of in a difficult position. Driving onward up the Soochow College and Schools have been moved to Yangtse River the Japanese have captured Han- Shanghai and elsewhere ; much of the Bethel Miskow, Wuchang and Hanyang where over one hun"- sion of Shanghai has been transferred to Hongdred and fifty American and British missionaries kong or Kowloon, since their property has been have been working under the London Missionary occupied by the Japanese. Foochow College stu- Society, China Inland Mission and the American dents have been moved to a less dangerous. location Protestant Episcopal Church and twenty other further inland, since the Japanese seem to plan missions. In this Wu-Han district are located hos- the destruction of educated Chinese. Thus the pitals, colleges and schools and churches that Christians have sought to conserve their resources mean much for the development of China. Al- and to carryon their work with as· little loss of ready many of the institutions have been moved life and with as much efficiency as possible. westward to Chentu and southward to Hongkong but, with the modern airplane in the hands of a 3. In cases of Japanese occupation and dominaruthless but skilful enemy, no people or place, tion in larger or smaller areas in China, should however remote or peaceful, is exempt from the missionaries remain at their posts as neutrals and devastation wrought by these engines of destruc- serve all within reach-whether Chinese or J aption. The Chinese armies, in spite of intense suf- anese-even cooperating with Japanese for confering and against heavy odds, are still fighting structive work? This view is held by some who courageously to defend themselves and their coun- believe that missionaries are supra-national. Most try from this invasion but the immediate outcome of the missionaries, however, believe that, while is impossibl~ to predict. The Christian mission- they are ready to minister in the Spirit of Christ aries are proving their sacrificial courage, their to all within reach, their first responsibility is to real love for the Chinese and their resourcefulness the Chinese to whom they have gone as ambassain this time of danger. Without their help the dors of Christ. They believe that the Chinese are situation of the Chinese in the war areas would the victims of an unprovoked attack, and realize be infinitely worse; more and more the Chinese that there are still many millions of the people realize this. But the problems of the missionaries who have never yet even heard the Gospel and are many and do not decrease as the war advances. there are many thousands of towns and villages Questions are raised: still without any representative of Christ. They have seen the nobility and faithfulness of Chinese 1. When war threatens their ve'ry existence Christians and believe that this time of fellowship should missionaries close their work and move with them in suffering is opening many Chinese elsewhere to carry on? Some few "neutrals" ad- hearts to Christ and His message of life as never vise this in order to avoid international complica- before. tions. But the missionaries as a whole reject this suggestion as desertion of their posts. and their Christians and the Christian Church have never flocks. While women with children, who could not been exempt from suffering; but history has be of help under war conditions, have been evac- proved, times without number, that the very uated from many stations, the vast number of "gates of hell shall not prevail" against those who missionaries remain at their posts and risk their are loyal to Christ and His program. Victory and deliverance is assured since Christ is the Victor.
lives to serve the Chinese. In one mission seventy THE DILEMMA OF KOREAN CHRISTIANS out of seventy-one stations are still kept open and missionaries continue to serve as ambassadors of Reports from Chosen show the determination Christ and helpers in time of need. Many schools of Japanese officials to compel Korean attendance and colleges are necessarily closed, or have moved at Shinto shrines. At first this order was enforced elsewhere, because of danger to pupils and the only in certain centers and in government schools.
occupation of property by the Japanese soldiers; It was then extended to all Christian colleges and but the hospitals and churches are kept open and schools and now is being enforced for theological mission compounds are used as refuges where seminaries and Bible school students(and teachers.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
Churches and other institutions are included in gods or to follow the superstitious rites propithe order to set up shrines or to bow before the tiating spirits in Africa and the islands of the sea. Emperor's picture. A refusal on conscientious grounds means rough treatment, imprisonment The situation in Korea is serious. In Formosa and other forms of persecution. the Shinto shrine rule has already been enforced. Apparently "Cresar" has won for the time being The Japanese officials are evidently determined and Christian schools that did not comply have to break down all opposition and are endeavoring been closed. There is danger that the Japanese to create a totalitarian Japanese Empire with ab- will endeavor to enforce the same regulations in solute and unquestioning obedience to every order Manchukuo and in occupied territory in China. of the Government. They recognize no God or Harmony is possible between national loyalty and law of God as of greater authority than the laws loyalty to God but there can be no truce between of the Empire, represented by their "divine" Em- the Japanese conception of Emperor worship and peror. While some officials declare that obeisance the Christian obligation to put God first in every at the shrines of the "Sun Goddess" is merely a phase of life. patriotic observance, they have refused to make any compromise in the ceremony such as will con- WILL MADRAS MEET THE OPPORTUNITY? vince Korean Christians that they can take part in the observance without disloyalty to God as the There is unquestionably a crisis in missions toonly object of worship. day. The conference at Madras, composed of selected delegates from mission churches 'and A crisis came in Chosen at the time of the meet- from American and European missionary leading of the Korean Presbyterian General Assembly ers, will be called upon to face that crisis. They on September 10th. The Japanese police ordered will consider, not so much the lack of missionary every delegate not to oppose going to Shinto candidates and missionary support from the shrines and many who refused were prevented sending churches, as the problems on the fieldfrom attending the Assembly. Missionaries were the promotion of self-support; their independence; asked to sign a statement that they would comply their union or inter-church cooperation in each with the order to advise their people to attend the area; the adequate training of native Christian shrines. They refused; if they attempted to speak leaders; the development of spiritual life in the on the subject at the General Assembly they were churches and homes; the place of education in forcibly prevented by the police who crowded the missions today; but, most of all, there must be an meeting place and sat on the platform. When the earnest study of the promotion of spiritual life, question was put-advising all to attend the of faith and Christlike service in each church and shrines-very few of the delegates responded; the group. Madras must look earnestly and fearlessly negative was not put to vote and some protested. at these problems and must prayerfully and hon- As a result several missionaries have felt it neces- estly seek God's guidance and power for their sary for them to withdraw from the General As- solution. Some present-day problems that form sembly and a committee has been appointed to the crisis seem to us to be as follows: appeal to Tokyo. Should secular education under mission con- The Japanese have also ordered that steps be trol be curtailed in many fields so as to release taken to alter the character and powers of the workers and money for direct evangelistic work. General Assembly, making the Moderator a "legal The church leaders must face this matter couraperson" with authority to act for the whole geously or they may be forced out of this field Church; there are signs that the Korean Church by governments that wish to control education. may be compelled to unite in one organization with the Church in Japan. Some new plan should be formulated whereby churches and institutions in the field will ex- Loyal Korean Christians are suffering in many ercise a greater degree of self-government, and at ways-in prison and out. They offer no objection the same time receive substantial support from to showing loyalty to the Japanese Emperor, to abroad, when they show that they will use it efthe Government and obedience to all righteous fectively. That problem of support must be faced laws; but multitudes take the stand that they and solved. choose persecution and death rather than be disloyal to God. It is' practically the old question More attention must be given to the developraised in Israel by the worship of Baal, in the ment of spirit-filled and intelligent Bible-trained Roman Empire by the order to worship Roman Christian workers in every church and in each gods and in every mission field in recent years field. The means must be found for the increase where Christians have faced persecution because and improvement in such training by schools, they have determined to worship God as revealed institutes and conferences. in Christ rather than acknowledge the prior claims of Mohammec or Buddha, the Hindu or Chinese Union mission enterprises are facing a crisis. If they are to continue they need to be placed on
a firmer spiritual basis, with clearer agreement FIFTY YEARS IN ARABIA as to aims and teachings, and as to the spiritual power, personnel and methods on which their Arabia, the great western Asia peninsula, is abiding success depends. about one third the size of the United States, and with a scattered population of possibly 10,000,000 A new study should be made as to the type of -chiefly nomadic tribes of Arabs, most of them missionary that is needed in order to cooperate hunters, traders and fishermen. There was no harmoniously with the leaders of the native Christian work among them, until in 1886 a churches, to help train spiritual workers, and to young man, Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, went out do abiding, effective Christlike service. from England and settled in the small British out- post of Aden in southern Arabia. The Arabians How can the churches, and Christian groups in were scarcely touched by the Gospel Message. each field, conserve the essentials of the Christian Then two young Americans had a vision of the message? This includes the eternal, spiritual Neglected Peninsula. James Cantine and Samuel character of God, the Father; the revelation and M. Zwemer – college and seminary graduates, salvation provided in Christ, the Son of God; the connected with the Reformed Church-heard the guidance and power of the Spirit of God; the in- call of God and volunteered to go out as mission- tegrity and authority of the Bible as the Word of aries to these fanatical Moslems, without any God; the essential unity of Christians and their guarantee of Mission Board support. Peter work as witnesses of the redemption brought Zwemer joined them two years later but died in through Christ and His manifestation of the love 1898; the" other two continued the work. They established mission stations on the Persian Gulf, of God. traveled widely over the peninSUla and faced and How, at the same time, can the churches and survived opposition and many dangers. They are now "honorably retired" but still are active in Christians in each field contribute most to the America in behalf of Moslems the world over. promotion of God's control over human life– national, physical, economical, social, mental and After some years the Reformed Church in spiritual; and how can each country be free to America adopted the mission and has since spon- develop its own type of Christlike life and service sored its activities'. Their plans for the jubilee under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, without celebration includes an interesting history of the imitating American and European institutions? fifty years ("The Golden Milestone") prepared by Drs. Cantine and Zwemer; a tour has already But most of all, and affecting all, is the problem been taken among the churches; one secretary, of how the spiritual life of churches, families and Dr. F. M. Potter, has gone out to visit the field; individuals can be promoted most effectively so all Reformed Church congregations are to hold as to carry out the teachings and spirit of Jesus anniversary services on February 26, 1939; a Christ. thanksgiving offering is to be taken and used to strengthen the work; a church-wide study of Here is a large program for the four hundred Arabia is to be undertaken to inform Christians delegates during their two weeks' conference at at home as to the needs and progress of the Madras. The problems are different in Africa, Arabian enterprise. Here is a notable jubilee, Turkey, Iran, Latin America, China, India and worthy of joyful and sacrificial celebration. Japan. But the same principles underly them all and the same Spirit of God must show their solu- God's guiding and governing hand has been tion. China is sending a strong delegation to the clearly evident in the lives of the missionaries and conference but Japan can send very few; India in the development of the work. The evidences of will be well represented but many other fields this are clearly set forth in the history of the Mis- must depend on a small number of native leaders. sion prepared by the founders. Closed doors have America is sending about fifty and Europe (in- been opened, hostile sheikhs have become friendly; cluding Great Britain) as many more. One weak- invitations to visit new districts have been ex- ness will be in the absence of representatives of tended, even by the king, Ibn Saud himself; the independent, nondenominational missions like the interior and the coast have been explored; schools China Inland Mission, Christian and Missionary and hospitals have been established; tons of Alliance, Sudan Interior Mission and other "Faith Bibles and other Christian literature have been Missions." They represent a type of work and distributed; men, women and children have been . missionary ideal that should not be overlooked. won to Christ. Many of the stories of "Arabian Days Evangelism" are as thrilling as those of the It is a time for 'Christians at home to pray for "Arabian Nights Entertainment"; in addition the delegates at Madras and to prepare for the these missionary stories are true and stimUlating messages and the messengers who will be com- to Christian faith. ing back to report and to stir spiritual fires in America and Europe. Was there ever a greater need for a world-wide revival under the banner of Christ?
"What a Time to Be in China!"
By the REV. COURTENAY H. FENN, D.D. I ~. – I For Thirty-four Years a Missionary in China ,~==========================~ T HIS caption, from a missionary's letter* gives prehension has caused this experience to become graphic expression to the diametrically op- the time of unprecedented opportunity for the posite attitudes of two groups of people-an missionary and the time of unparalleled success attitude of repulsion and an attitude of exultation. for the Gospel.
In these days the most frequent salutation of a In view of this fact, what are the perils of war furloughed or retired China missionary from his and the hardships of seeing and ministering to acquaintances in America is: "Aren't you glad limitless suffering? Not only does the missionyou're not in China now?" With the current ary ask for no exemption from the sorrows of the newspaper and radio pictures of "bombs bursting people, but from the beginning has refused to in air" and in much more deadly proximity to accept such exemption when offered him. In so human lives and habitations, and with the maga- doing he has not merely won the hearts of the zines venturing at last to print eye-witness ac- suffering people, but also such grateful acclaim counts of the frightfully barbarous massacres and from the Chinese leaders that hitherto closed burnings and rapings perpetrated by a scientifi- doors have been thrown open to him and the limically equipped and demon-inspired invading horde, tations of liberty to give religious instruction in there are millions of our people, in the Church as the schools have been removed. The thanks of well as out of it, who cannot conceive of any the nation have been proclaimed by those highest other rational answer to the question than, "In- in authority and there has been a spontaneous outdeed I am glad!" Yet, mirabile dictu, the reply burst of appreciation of the sacrificial love, like from the missionary is, "No; I am distinctly that of the Saviour, of whose commission these sorry to be compelled to be out of China at this friends from the West have not been ashamed.
time, and only wish I might go back." And many Those who have kept closely in touch with the are going back, most of them invigorated for a events in China since JUly of 1937 have been better service at the end of a regular furlough, deeply impressed with the facts and the implicabut not a few volunteering to abbreviate the nor- tions of a widespread movement, which has been mal furlough in order to rejoin their mission asso- the inevitable consequence of the way in which ciates in the most strenuous, yet most interesting the war has been carried on. Its significance may and rewarding, ministry that China missionaries extend far beyond anything in the thought of have ever seen. Though God, in His wisdom, has either belligerent, and may achieve as beneficent not yet seen fit to "restrain the excess of wrath" a divine purpose as did the dispersion of the first (except in a marvelous preservation of missionary century Christians by the persecutions in Judea. lives), He has, to an almost unbelievable degree, Preceded by terror, accompanied by death .and "caused the wrath of men to praise Him." destruction, and followed by sanguinary "mop- ping-up," the invading armies have scattered the The first impressions of the savagery of the surviving Chinese civilian population in precipi- "undeclared war" were of frightfully wasting de- tate flight, carrying what little was left to them struction and of imminent peril to all missionary in a desperate trek over hundreds of miles of as well as humane interests. There has been no roads and rivers and wastes, as far as possible decrease in the savagery in spite of the protests from the devastating s.courge which had destroyed of a horrified and outraged world, no lessening of their property and taken the lives of countless the destruction and the threats; but, as the relatives, friends and neighbors. months have gone by, "the Form of the Fourth,"
like unto the Son of Man, has appeared in the There has been no respect of persons in this midst of the fire, with the Chinese Church, the hounding of the masses in flight. Men of wealth home Church and the mission, walking triumphant have been reduced to beggary; men of native and through the flames. A Power beyond human com- foreign education have been compelled to straggle • In the September number of The Ohinese Recorder, reprinted in a along the roads with the most ignorant and unlet- AFwmrerEicaas.tern Bulletin of the Foreign Missions Conference of North tered·, all alike have been kept from starving only [567 ]
by the kindness of those as yet undisturbed in a city and town and village to which the invading their homes by the oncoming storm, or through troops may never come. In cities like Shanghai the merciful provision by the Government or by and Nanking, laid waste from the air, the water the Christian Church, of refuges for the desolate. and the land, the hundreds of thousands of home- Entire schools and colleges, whose administration less, hopeless, wounded and sick, have made diffi- has been rendered impossible, or whose buildings cult the task of ministering even to the most acute have been bombed or occupied by the invaders, needs and this work has taxed the strength and have moved to distant provinces in the far in- the resources of Chinese and foreigners alike. In terior, or have combined with others in interna- the northern cities, now for months behind the tional settlements. Much of the culture of the lines of the invaders, tens of thousands have lost coastal provinces and of the great cities has thus all their possessions and must be helped; even in been transplanted to regions formerly considered Peking, which, through early surrender, suffered backward or unenlightened. It has been estimated less destruction than any other captured city, that at least thirty million people have been ren- refugees flee from the rural districts where dered homeless, unsettled from former founda- brigands prowl, as the invader controls little be- tions. And it is a most interesting fact that, from yond the city and the railroads, and soldiers work the beginning of the consequent migration, wise their nefarious wills on the peasantry.
men in the Government and in education foresaw Christians in the Crisis something of its extent and potential meaning and made far-reaching plans for turning the agony So practically throughout China there is des- and the evil to good purpose. Not only has the perate need of material help; and the loving min- Government opened many refuges for the mi- istration to that need, by missionaries and Chris- grants, but it has opened schools in many of these tian Chinese, has aroused hundreds of thousands places and has assisted the homeless wanderers of the suffering people to ask, "Why do these with food and clothing and means of transporta- Christians devote themselves to our relief, wash tion. In the remote west and southwest, where our sores, heal our wounds, feed our bodies and there have been few roads and no railways, mil- instruct our minds? They must surely have some- lions of men have been set to work to construct thing in their hearts which we do not have: what modern roads, while millions more are being is it? They say that they have learned it from trained for various industries, the machinery for Jesus Christ whose followers they are; from the which was early transported from Central and merciful Saviour who, they say, laid down His East China cities. The population of these west- life for us as well as for them." Thus the Gospel ern provinces having been greatly increased, in has found an entrance into many sorely burdened some cases doubled, by the migration from other and bewildered hearts; facilities have been pro- parts of the country, every effort is made to train vided, in Mission compounds. and elsewhere, for the newcomers for self-support through the de- study of the Christian truth and life, and multi- velopment of provincial resources and in the large tudes are being brought into the Kingdom of our variety of new construction called for by their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
presence and by national rehabilitation schemes. As one looks back a little more than a year to Model counties are being organized; model towns, the discussion by the Mission Boards as to the villages and farms are laid out and operated. Mu- reply which should be made to the urgent advice tual helpfulness is being cultivated as an essentiftl of their Governments, and the general, popular concomitant of the new patriotism which has been clamor that the missionaries should all escape the so greatly stimulated by the foreign invasion. peril and simplify the international situation by Spiritual Influences leaving China at once, one does not like to think what vastly different conditions would now exist What is true of educational and industrial cul- in China if those counsels had prevailed and if ture is also emphatically true of spiritual develop- China and her Christians had been left to them- ment. As the Christians of the more fully evan- selves. An unequalled opportunity would have gelized provinces, driven from their homes, have been lost irrevocably to show the love of God in migrated to Kwangsi, Kweichow, Yunnan and Christ to that people, and to win their hearts to Szechuan, where new centers of evangelization Him. So thrilling has been the success of the .
and education are opening, people who had "sat policy of withdrawing only the physically feeble in darkness" are seeing for the first time "a great and of reinforcing the strong, that, from the light." The vast migration of refugees has nat- Chinese Church, from officials, and from the mis- urally necessitated the opening of refuges, tem- sions on the field, has come not only a chorus of porary or permanent, far from the actual war thanksgiving but also a united and importunate areas, for the indiscriminate bombing of civilian call for more missionaries to meet the need and populations has precipitated the flight from many capture the present opportunity. How else could
the Church and the nation hope to minister to have risen most sympathetically to the need and thirty million refugees, among whom are hun- met the opportunity most effectively. Not only dreds of thousands of war orphans? Never be- have many buildings been made available as fore were Chinese hearts and minds so sensitive refuges, but camps. have been set up in many to the redeeming touch of self-denying love, mani- places as "resting places for weary wanderers" in fested in the sharing of suffering and the planning their almost endless treks in search of new, homes.
for better days. It is the general testimony that, Wherever possible, industries have been started in through this deliberately and prayerfully chosen these refuges, both to prevent demoralizing idle- glad sharing, "the prestige of the Church and hos- ness and to fit the migrants for self-support in pital has never stood so high as it stands today" ; their new abodes. Incidentally and Providen- the infinite love of God for mankind has shone tially, among the refugees are hundreds of skilled radiant as the one glorious hope of the world, and artisans. teachers, evangelists, homeless wander- is no longer thought of merely as an item in a ers like the rest. They are drifting to Hunan, and doctrinal system from the West. The loyalty and other regions, "for such a time as this," a time courage of the missionaries, who have "stood by" when the harvest is so unusually great and ripe the people of a strange land through the most and the laborers are so pitifully few, that they acute and devastating sufferings ever inflicted by have found fullest use for their talents and ener- one nation upon another, will never be forgotten. gies. Again, in strangest wise, God has "thrust Civilians and Soldiers forth laborers into His harvest." Most appro- priately has the Hunan Presbyterian Mission en- Christian ministry to civilians in or near their titled its Annual Report, "The War-cloud's Silver own homes has been but a part of the great work Lining," as it sets forth "the calibre of these of deliverance, protection and supply; an exten- guests" from war-torn regions, "trained workers,"
sive organization has been created to help the pen- "whole schools," "hospitals with equipment, niless migrants along the way to their remote des- nurses and doctors," "scientists, engineers, busi- tinations, and none have so inspired confidence ness men, rural experts," undaunted by misfor- and shared burdens as have the Christians. And tune and peril, responsive to need, ready to start great has been the change which has taken place afresh and eager to be useful. The courage of in the mutual relations of Chinese Civilians and many of these migrants is magnificent. A thou- their own soldiery. A few years ago the civilian sand students from three North China colleges, felt no greater dread than that for the Chinese having located temporarily at Changsha, a little soldier, who seemed ready to do almost anything later started out, men and women, to walk the but protect him. Now soldier and civilian are eight hundred miles to Kunming, capital of Yun- united for the defense of the nation, and the nan, to locate their University there.
civilian, realizing that the soldier is ready to suffer Cooperating Agencies wounds and to lay down his life for his country, is responding by doing all in his power to relieve The International Red Cross has furnished the wounded soldier on the field and in transit. much equipment and supplies, with expert direc- And so, by the combined activity of Chinese and tion, to the relief measures, as has also the Inter- foreigners, an elaborate organization for first-aid, national Famine Relief Commission. The League transportation and hospitalization has been cre- of Nations Epidemic Prevention Commission, ated, very inadequate of course in view of the with its groups. of health officers and specialists, limited number of doctors and nurses and the in- in three sections of China, is fighting to prevent sufficiency of supplies and funds, yet saving thou- smallpox, cholera, typhoid and malaria. Young sands of lives and relieving untold suffering. Mis- people are being trained to give first-aid and gen- sion hospitals have been crowded to the doors, and eral medical assistance. Many church services to the floors, as these torn remnants of brave and are crowded with interested newcomers. Chris- patriotic humanity have been carried in from the tian Fellowships are being organized. Student fields and the roads of that horror-filled land, skil- Centers are being opened, for entertainment, for fully patched-up for life, or eased for inevitable varied instruction, and for travelers' aid. Mr.
death with the Gospel message of eternal life in Stanton Lautenschlager, of Cheeloo University, Christ. Many university students have also lent has spent some months in presenting a challenging a hand in humble service in the laundries and message, personal and social, to the students of dressing-stations. Hunan, hundreds of whom have responded with a Few if any of the other provinces have seen as determination to follow Christ. He reports un- much of the migrants as Hunan, as through that precedented student interest in the things of the province pass. many of the natural ways from the Spirit.
east to the west, from the north to the south; and As the writer of the Hunan Report says, "One the Christians of Hunan, Chinese and foreign, of the most beautiful flashes of silver in this
struggle is the attitude of the Christians toward pressure of disinterested kindness, the barriers their enemies." Though more whole-heartedly of racial and national fear and dislike completely patriotic and resolved to win than ever before, thrown down by the courageous, self-forgetful "there is no bitterness or hatred against the in- ministry of a Godlike love, bestowed in the name vaders." Even the missionaries "have marvelled of Christ by men and women come from the other at the Chinese Christians' lack of resentment and side of the world, to live, and if need be to die, freedom from hatred. To listen to their prayers for China. And a multitude of the like-minded for China and for Japan is like standing on holy in the home lands, to whom is denied this privilege ground." This witness regarding Hunan is of personal ministry to such a need, are exulting echoed from all parts of bruised and bleeding in being there in spirit as they avail themselves China. Has the world ever seen its equal in any of one or another of the agencies, which have other land? sprung into life or added this function to others- the International Red Cross, the Committee on the "What a time to be in China!" Truly it is no Far East of the Foreign Missions Conference of time to be there for those whose chief delight is North America, the Church Committee for China in personal ease and comfort, whose slogan is Relief, the China Information Service, China "Safety First"; who cannot bear the sight of Famine Relief, or any of the Mission Boards blood or the smell of sweat, who think the lives of working in China – to give out of their relative a hundred Chinese of less value than the life of abundance for the maintenance of the missionone American; who have no sympathy with the aries and their manifold ministries to China's apspirit which impelled the Son of God to become palling need. "What a time to be in China" inflesh and dwell among us that He might redeem deed, in person or by the proxy of self-denying the world, or with the spirit of the Apostle Paul gifts loyally continued as long as the need of that whose joy was to "become all things to all men fearfully harassed and patiently enduring people that he might by all means save some." But the continues. Is it not, for every Christian and every able-bodied missionaries who are there exult in the unselfish humanitarian, a God-given privilege, as privilege which has been given them of minister- well as a duty, "to be in China" at this time? ing to the world's greatest need, and of watching the shell of indifference break under the steady A LETTER FROM OHINA By DONALD FRASER OF CHANGTE, HONAN: Following complete breakdown of negotiations with the former bitter persecutors of the Church, should have been the active force that liberated our people. It is a marked bandits after their request for $100,000.00 for ransom, contrast to other forces around us. No ransom was given and no conditions asked. things began to happen elsewhere. Kuo Ch'ing, the bandit The fortitude and spirit of the captive young women leader, crossed the Chang River; was surrounded by the under the most trying circumstances is a thrilling story. One of them, a young teacher, said: "I was born in a 8th Route Army, wounded, defeated, his home burned and Christian home but before the raid I cared little for Christianity. This time I have had a wonderful experience many of his followers scattered. He was rescued by of God. Now I want to work for Jesus."
bandit chief supreme, Wang Chih Ch'uan, and fled south. There was joy and thrill in her voice, a changed young woman. There is a glow in the witness of many of them. The 8th Route Army declared that all banditry must cease. When carrying them away the bandits sneered: "So you thought your church could protect you. See, we will look Kou Ch'ing was cornered but slipped through the net. after you."
Wild rumors said that he was going west to Shansi with One seventeen-year-old lassie they tortured cruelly, ask- ing, "Do you still believe?" twenty-three of our Christian people. No ransom, they Gradually she became semi-unconscious but always with would sell the girls! That blackest night our minds were the reply~ "I believe" and the prayer, "Father help me."
filled with unnamed fears. All next day passed and still In sending them back some of the bandit remnants said, "Your prayers have moved Heaven." no word. At 5 p. m. a breathless messenger arrived. Others .said: "You're different; could we come and "Freed," he shouted; "nineteen girls and four men are learn your doctrine?"
coming home." Fly wheels, fly! Our bikes tore up the dust Surely a mighty triumph of good over evil. We are more one with our Chinese friends here than ever before. as we raced out to meet them. Tired and dirty, after Adversity has schooled us all. God has sent the 8th Route Army to check this dastardly scourge that has terrorized three weeks with no washing facilities and only the scanty and bled the country to death for the last ten months. There is great rejoicing over wide areas in the order, reclothes on their backs grabbed out of sleep when they were spect for life and security that is following in the wake of this cleansing, restoring force. After ten months of hell carried away, they were home, alive and smiling and all the relief is tremendous.
well, except for three with malaria and others with blisters from enforced marches. .
The other fourteen had disappeared. The whole country was chaotic. Travel was very dangerous but our men, especially Liu Ch'eng Chang, were tireless in their search.
Monday five came in. But nine young women were still missing. Tuesday 2 a. m., loud knocking on the front gate.
All were back. "Rejoice; a,gain I say rejoice."
The venture was a dead loss financially to the bandits.
Not only that, they were scattered and broken and would have been completely eliminated but for timely aid. It seems strange indeed that the sometimes called reds,
Call of the Dyacks of
By the REV. R. A. JAFFRAY, Dutch East Indies Missionary of the Christian and Missionary Alliance A MONG the Dyacks of Borneo, Buddha is them by way of the Barito River, with Banker- .r. named, Mohammed is named, but Christ is masin as a base. Some effort was also commenced on the west coast, entering by way of the Kapoeas not named. He is almost unknown. What River, but the Methodist Episcopal Mission has a great need for Gospel witness, especially in the now entirely withdrawn from Borneo.
interior of these islands.* On the north coast there are, beside the River Burito which empties into the sea at Banjermasin, The three main ports of British North Borneo five or six other rivers which are gateways to the are Sandakan, Kudat, and J esselton. The mis- interior. At none of these points has missionary sionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the work been attempted. Gospel are laboring here; the Basil Mission has independent self-supporting Chinese churches, Balik-papan is a city of about 21,500 people. and also the Roman Catholics. Work has been The district, of which it is one of the centers, has commenced among the Dyacks, the aboriginal tribes of the interior of British North Borneo. a population of about 200,000.t The city contains The Chinese are largely of the Hakka race and three-fourths of the Chinese inhabitants of Kudat a great mixture of races: Malay, Javanese, Boe- gis, Chinese, Indians, Arabs and also a sprinkling are church members. of Dyacks from the interior. As I walked the In Dutch Borneo there is no Christian mission- streets of this city, I asked: "Is there anyone here who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ?" After ary work carried on on the east coast. The inte- many replies in the negative, I was directed to a rior may be reached from many ports by river. Chinese carpenter's store, and found a Chinese On only one river is there a regular steamship who acknowledged the name of Christian. His line, at Samarinda, but by native craft the mis- face did not look like that of a Christian for his sionary can penetrate the interior and reach "the face was flushed with wine. As ·D. L. Moody once wild men of Borneo." said, "He may have been a Christian but he did not smell like one!" There he was-a lone Chris- The Dyacks, no doubt, originally occupied the tian-in the midst of the darkness of heathendom. entire island but the coming of the Malays, the He had a Bible and prayed sometimes, but could Javanese, Chinese, Indians and Arabs has gradu- not be considered a true witness for the Lord ally pushed the wild men to the interior. The Jesus. Later I met another Chinese who seemed Malays have inter-married somewhat with the to love the Lord but who dared not be baptized aborigines with the result that the Dyacks to this for fear of offending his parents. So far as I extent have been absorbed. It is said that the orig- know, no messenger of Christ has ever lifted up inal pure Dyacks of the interior are decreasing in his voice to preach the Gospel in this place. What population. The Dyacks were originally head- utter darkness! hunters and cannibals, and in some cases may still be such, but the influence of other races has I was anxious to visit Samarinda because it is had the effe~t of subduing and semi.,civilizing at the mouth of the Kutai or Samarinda River and them. On~ qf the original customs '¥f1s that a the main entrance to the interior of Borneo from young man proposing to his bride must have the th~ast coast. Here again 'is another city of darkskull of one whom he himself had slain ere he ness and the same mixture of races. There is a could hope to be accepted. This custom, I am Mohammedan mosque and Chinese temple in told, has nearly died out. Samarinda. There are houses of prostitution and gambling halls on all sides, in full swing. But no There are many different language groups Gospel chapel. I met some Chinese Christians who had been baptized in China, but who seemed among the Dyacks and most of them have Xlever been reached with the Gospel message. From the south coast some effort is being made to reach • I visited Sandakan, on the northeast coast of British BOI:neo; t Balik-papan is the great oil field of the Dutch Indies. The Ballk-papan on the east coast of Dutch Borneo; Samarinda ; Donggala ; Pare-pare and Makassar, the capital of the Celebes; installation of the Batavia Petroleum Company, the Royal Dutch Siagaradja, a port on the Island of Bali; SurabaYa on the northern Shell Petroleum Company, a branch of the Asiatic Petroleum Co., coast of Java, the largest commercial center of the Dutch Indies; is the largest oil Installation in the Far East. All the all con- sumed throughout the Far East comes from the Balik-papan wells. Bangdang and Batavia, the capital of the Dutch Indies, [571 ]
to have backslidden. In one store where I was tion is located in the port cities. The entire east telling the people about the Lord Jesus Christ, coast is without missionary work, and the Methone said in a loud voice, "God only blows the wind odist Episcopal Mission has evacuated the west on us to make us catch a cold." coast. The entire south coast is also unoccupied with the exception of Banjermasin and the work Four other rivers farther north are also gate- done by the Basil Mission and the Dutch State ways to the interior. The Kutai is navigable by Church up the Barito River. small steamer for ten days as far as Long-Iram, and by native craft for many days farther up. Dr. Slotemaker de Bruine, the missionary con- The Roman Catholic Church has a mission three sul of the Dutch missions encouraged us to occudays inland from Long-Iram at Lahan, where py some of the unoccupied areas of the Dutch priests and nuns are teaching the people farm- East Indies. We recommend the following fields ing, trades, and so forth. All the other rivers where no work is being done: from the east coast, save the Kutai, are, I fear, only navigable by native craft. A Dutch official 1. The entire east coast of Borneo, with Samarinda and traveled up one of these rivers, ascending terrible other places as centers. and dangerous rapids for seventy-five days, and came down the river, covering the same distance, 2. The west coast, with Pontianak and other places as in ten days. While I was trying to tell them of centers. The object would be to reach "the wild men of His love and of the sacrifice for our sins on the Borneo," the Dyack race of the interior. cross, and feeling the opposition very strong, an elderly Chinese lady came from the rear of the 3. The Boegis people on the coast of the Celebes, and store and said: "I once neard of Jesus when I the wild races of the interior, with Makassar as a center. was in China. I don't know much about it, but I know this-Jesus is good, Jesus is good." She 4. The whole southwestern coast of Sumatra. repeated this several times. I left Gospel tracts 5. A large number of smaller islands in the East Indies at many stores in Samarinda. where no Gospel witness has yet been given.
The population of Dutch Bornea is about 1,800,- If the Gospel does not soon enter these fields, 000. Perhaps one half or more of this popula- the influence of Mohammedanism~ which is spread- ing rapidly, will soon be such as to form a most effective barrier to the progress of Christianity. The fact that Mohammedanism is rapidly displac- ing paganism makes the evangelization of these fields urgent.
A Missionary Is Converted By EDITH FUESS HENRY, Shanghai American School, Shanghai, China I T IS homecoming for a missionary! She pauses of overwhelming facts around which sat commit- outside the compound wall to pound the door; tees, numb and dumb-nor power, nor wisdom, in the wait she turns to look back. The road nor means to cope with such; the paralyzing tales by which she has come has been a long, long road; of sorrow, pain, loss, destruction, poured from the it stretches back over eleven months in life's lips of arrivals fresh from battlefields; the feldeepest depths. In those few moments of time a lowship groups where gripping testimonies from panoramic view of never-to-be-forgotten days tear-stained eyes, quivering lips, and crushed passes before her eyes: days on days, and weeks hearts, yet dauntless spirits, could say, "I am on weeks of the ceasless roar of cannon, the pierc- bent, but not broken." . . . ing whistle of bullets, the deafening whirr of planes, the violent bursting of bombs; the heart- The gate opened! Can this be home! The shatsickening sight of scattered, mangled, bleeding, tered roof; the battered walls; the broken doors; human flesh, shrieking and groaning its prayers the empty rooms; the wild weeds; can this be to heaven; the endless lines of terrorized men, home? The home that twenty years ago in a women, and children madly fighting their way to spirit of love and dedication was built in this land safety zones; the great concentration camps of of China that He might have an abiding place hungry, filthy, frightened human beings waiting from which to reach out arms of loving ministry for the ministry of human hearts and hands; the to needy ones around? Can this be home? scurry, hurry, worry of channeling bean milk to the thousands of starving little ones; the fright- "We must begin and build again; build again ful days and nights in losing battle with epidemics the things that are gone." that stalked with relentless step among the masses, taking their fearful toll of life; the tables A house? Can one live again in the shelter of four walls, when so many thousands know only God's earth for a floor, and His sky for a roof?
A piano? Dare one make melody in his own
DR. IMAD-UD-DIN-A CONVERT FROM ISLAM
chamber when the teeming millions of this land Rugs? Can one with pleasure walk the path of hear only the rhythm of guns and bursting cushioned ways, when he sees the tracks where bombs? bruised feet have trod on rugged stones? . . .
Beds? Were it not better to companion those A stir: the neighbors, the friends, the Oriental who like the Master have not where to lay their crowds are standing by in silent commiseration. heads? "I can not see; I do not know; yet deep within Refrigerator? Why preserve food, unless one the silence of my soul there is peace. Old things can find a way to preserve for mankind love, have passed away; all things are become new. kindness, brotherliness, and peace? And I; am I not new?"
Dr. Imad–ud–din-A Convert from Islam* "BY REVEALING the Word of God I have found enjoyment in life. I rejoice greatly there was no peace in his heart. "Whatever af- in my Lord, and my soul is always making flictions or pain it is in the power of man to enprogress in his grace."-Imad-ud-din. dure, I submitted to them all, and suffered them to the last degree; but nothing became manifest The Moslem community, well organized and to me after all, except that it was all deceit." disciplined, with memories of centuries of conquest and domination, has been very stern in its At this time he was appointed to preach the resistance to foreign influences. And yet there Koran in the large Mosque at Agra with a view to were a number of important conversions among opposing the Christian missionaries and for three them in the first half of the nineteenth century as years he exponded the Moslem commentaries and a result of the earnest and vigorous work carried traditions. It was there he was perplexed most in on by Christian missions in Northern India. Even his faith and the thought of utterly renouncing the men of high social standing gave their hearts to world came into his mind with so much power that Jesus. he could not resist. He became a wandering fakir, going from village to village without plan or bag- Maulvi Imad-ud-din was a lineal descendent of gage. He was honored as a very pious soul but a famous Moslem saint, Gutale Jamal, and a de- none could know the uneasiness in his mind when scendent of the Royal House of Persia, famous as he thought of the Judgment Day.
champions of Islam. He was born in 1822 at Pani- He heard of the conversion of Maulvi Safdar pet, India, the youngest of four brothers. Much Ali at Jubbulpore and this put into his heart a care was bestowed upon him in imparting a thor- new hope so that he began an earnest study of the ough knowledge of Islamic law and religion. He New Testament. As he went on studying, a new studied at the Government College at Agra. This unspeakable joy came into his mind and he found education stirred in him a thirst after the knowl- solace in Jesus Christ. Afterwards he went to edge of the unseen. He visited fakirs and pious Amritsar and received baptism at the age of sixty- Moslems, frequented mosques and homes of maul- four, from Rev. Robert Clark of the Church Misvies, and carried on a vigorous study of many sionary Society. books on Islam. He wrote: "Since my entrance into the grace But he was assailed with doubts and perplex- of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have had great peace ities and his contact with Christians led him to in my soul. The agitation of m~,mind and restdoubt the Islamic injunctions and accepted prac;!- lessness have entirely left me. ETen my health is tices. He had some discussion with Maulvi Abd,ul improved, for my mind is never perplexed now." Hakim who could not convince him so that he once for all gave up the idea of disputation. He He became a zealous preacher of the Gospel began to acquire knowledge by reading night and and wrote many books, vindiCating the way of day, with the idea that time spent in its pursuit Christ to his Islamic brethren. One of these was given to the worship of God. books, called the Tahquiq-ul Iman (the Investiga- tion of the True Faith), was written for the He submitted his body to severe tests, by living maulvies who could not see their way to follow the apart from men, keeping awake at nights and by Crucified Christ. He was ordained in 1866 and various penances. He sat on the graves of holy the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on him men with the hope that he might receive some the degree of D.D. in 1884. He died at Amritsar revelations from the tombs. But he says that on August 2'8, 1900, at the age of seventy-:eight after seeing his father and brother confess Christ. • Adopted from The National Missionary IntelZigencer of India.
Christian Sadhus and
By W. Q. LASH, Acharya in the Christa Prima Seva Sangha, Poona, India D ECEMBER 18th, 1904, is the date of the from place to place, on foot or by more rapid conversion of Sundar Singh, whose name means of locomotion, and are given opportunities has made the Western Hemisphere famil- in each place according to their reputations. iar with the idea of the Christian sadhu. In his Sadhus of this kind are in the minority. The life own country also he turned the thoughts of In- is full of temptations. It requires. a man of deep dians and others to the possibility of revealing humility and rare spiritual qualities to sustain Christ in ways well suited to the setting of East- them unscathed. Too many lack sufficient selfern life. Sundar Singh was neither the first nor discipline, and do not easily accept discipline from the only one to attempt such a method. He helped without. to bring to light the Secret Sannyassi Mission, which for generations. had hiddenly followed a The lack of any kind of discipline is the greatsimilar path. Dr. Pennell of Bannu and Tucker est weakness and danger of the solitary Sadhu's Booth of the Salvation Army had· made independ- life. In the Panjab, Sundar Singh's own province, ent experiments, and Sundar Singh himself came the problem is especially acute. The executors of into touch with the American follower of St. his will have made some attempt both to organize Francis, Samuel Stokes. Centuries before, in the sadhus already practicing, and to use the South India, Robert Nobile had proved the ef- funds he has left to give some training to those ficacy of presenting Christ and His message in an who feel a calling to this way of life. It was the Eastern garment. ambition of the late Canon Chandu Lal to form an Ashram at Sundar Singh's home in Sabathu, It is, however, a unique place that Sadhu to be a rallying place for the wanderers, and to Sundar Singh holds towards the methods of the help give them spiritual and mental nourishment Christian Sadhu and the Christian Ashram. His and discipline. To do so has not proved easy. influence on both has been indirect rather than Sadhu life tends to exaggerate individualism. Exdirect. In his lifetime he refused to allow a group cept in rare cases, we come to the conclusion that of disciples to gather round him and to train them the sadhu, who is unwilling to be linked with othin the way which he followed so successfully. ers under some kind of control, loses more and Disciples he has had, and even now has, nine more control over himself. In spite of the many years after his disappearance; but they are not attractions of this method of presenting the Gosall 'Sundar Singhs." They create problems for pel this way of life may prove more a liability themselves and for the Church at large, which than an asset to the Church. might have been less, if he had handed on his tradition to a company, trained by himself, and set- The Indian Ashram* is a means through which ting a standard for others. Yet his plea that his- the same inspiration may find expression. During tory has shown that organizations tend to decay the last twenty years or so many experiments after the death of their founders cannot be ig- have taken to themselves the name of "ashram." nored, and perhaps he was wise to found nothing. It is not always easy to discover what they have in common. Each is an attempt to come closer to Sadhu Sundar Singh's life is well known. It is the life of the country and to break down barnow nine years since he vanished into the Tibetan tiers, which have become increasingly serious in hills for the last time. A crop of Christian Sadhus 6ays of growing nationalism. Each has aimed has resulted, amongst them men of high mental also at a greater simplification of modes of living, and spiritual qualities, who have to their credit and a greater emphasis on the importance of much fine work as prophets of the Church. Such prayer in relation to the active side of Christian men are accorded great respect among Indians, ministry. Beyond this it is difficult to select the both Christian and non-Christian. They travel common features. Some Ashrams are only sea- sonal, being hardly other than summer schools of Footnote: The term Ashram denotes both the four normal stages asosmpeecrinaal ktyepme.arArimedonmgetmhebepresrmthaenneunct lseeutstl;emotehnetrss, of a Hindu's life, and the forest or mountain retreat to which the insist on single men or women; others have no Hindu went when the calling came to a life of meditation. In ancient days boys were sent to Ashram for spiritual training. In modern ~:y:h:a~r::::dlr:t~g:.1 and Tagore have added the Ideal of service [574 ] clear policy on this point. Equally diverse are the completed a few years ago what must be the finest environments which have been chosen; some are place of Christian worship in an Indian style of in remote jungles; others in country districts; architecture. It is a magnificent Jebalyam (chapothers in towns. el), with a walled garden surrounding it which is also used for prayer. Its architecture is that of a Three of the earliest Ashrams were permanent Hindu temple of South India. Increasingly, in settlements. In Travancore members of the this Ashram, the vocation to prayer and worship has claimed precedence over all other forms of CHRISTAKULA TIRUPATTUR ASHRAM HALL OF WORSHIP service. From time to time young men and others use the Ashram for periods of retreat or for Orthodox Syrian Church, the oldest Christian courses of training in service. Its influence is Church in India, formed an Ashram under the wide in South India; the membership is undeleadership of their energetic bishop. Two Ash- nominational, but the members adhere strictly to rams in reality were formed, one for men and one the principle of brahmacharya, or celibacy. for women. This was an Indian enterprise, as this Church is entirely Indian. It was an attempt A third experiment was made at about the to bring the ideal of community life into the same time, as the Bethany Ashram in Travancore, Syrian Church, which had already been for cen- when the Christakula Ashram at Tirupattur came turies familiar with the rampan, or solitary monk, into existence. This was the foundation of the but. had not developed the practice of a life of Christa Seva Sangha in the village area of Ahprayer among those living together. The location mednagar, in Mahar~shtra. During its early of the Ashrams was a beautiful wooded and hilly years its membership consisted of one Englishdistrict' in the interior of the State of Travancore. man and several Indian village Christians. There For several years these Ashrams brought great were married and unmarried within its fellowinspiration to their Church, and beyond it. Then ship. The members lived entirely in Indian style, its founder seceded to Rome, taking the sisters and sought to find natural Indian expressions in with him. A number of the men continued faith- Christian worship. As the Christakula has been fully under Fr. Alexios in spite of great difficul- helped by the rich store of Christian Tamil lyrics, ties. After resisting pressure for ten years he so the Christa Seva Sangha was fortunate in the was consecrated bishop this year, but continues to fact that the leader of the modern school of live in the Ashram and to give as much time to Marathi poetry, N. V. Tilak, was a Christian. it as he can. A number of other Ashrams have The idea was to form a nucleus of married memcome into existence in the Syrian Church, both bers with a band of sanyassis, who would go out for men and women. – . – _ . .-.. . .. About the same time two doctors, one an Indian and the other a Scotchman, felt a call to found an Copyrright by (Jh(JIrZes Petrasoh Ashram. This they did at Tirupattur in South India. The way of life is entirely Indian, and a INTERIOR OF THE ASHRAM CHAPEL number of young men have joined from time to time as volunteers. Until recently they were the in the manner of sadhus and return to the center only two permanent members. As was natural, for fresh inspiration. After about five years a with two men of their profession, the ideal of group of young men came out from England, service took a great place in the life. A hospital whose ideal was to be members of a community is attached to it. Other activities in the form of after the manner of St. Francis of Assisi. An schools and agricultural experiments. also serve the rural population. In this Ashram there was
Ashram was established in the intellectual center of workers from the jungle districts and carry of Poona, but the attempt to combine the idea of out devoted service to the simple peoples of the the original group with that of this later recruit- forest. The books of the founder, Verrier Elwin, ment led to difficulties. Hence in 1934, when the have done much to bring them to the notice of an original founder left the society it was divided unheeding world. into two groups. Maharashtran village Christians The Christa Sishya Ashram was open,ed a few POOL AND THE "CLOISTER" WHERE THE BROTHERS LIVE years ago in a village area, not far from the in- dustrial town of Coimbatore, South India. Its now continue a life akin to the earlier idea at a members are Syrian and Anglican. It is remarkvillage four miles from Poona, under the old able as one, if not the only, piece of work for othname. Meanwhile the Poona Ashram has become ers carried on by members of the Orthodox secthe headquarters of a community of Indians and tion of the Syrian Church, outside Travancore. Englishmen on the lines of a community. The impact of Christians, who are not the prod- uct of Western missions but can trace their own The Poona Ashram has now the name of history as Christians into remote days of our era, Christa Prema Seva Sangha. The buildings are on non-Christians is most interesting. The Ashsimple, and are arranged to concentrate the life ram regards the married state as normal for its inward. There is a chapel built in Hindu style, members. and,adorned by pictures painted by an Indian art;. ist, trained in the Bengal school. The emphasis Among the seasonal Ashrams the first to be is laid on the life of prayer; the evening and ear- founded, and the best 'known, is that of Sat Tal, ly morning are kept in strict silence to create an founded by Dr. E. Stanley Jones in North India. atmosphere of quiet. Time is devoted also to study To this beautiful spot, year by year in the hot and to active service. One of the chief tasks of weather, groups of Westerners and Indians come the Ashram is to build up a natural Christian life together for periods of spiritual and intellectual in an Indian setting, into· which others may also refreshment. Non-Christians sometimes attend. be brought whether Christian or non-Christians. Of late years, in Lucknow, the nucleus of the Sat Educated converts are frequently sent here from Tal Ashram has attempted to form a more permadifferent parts of India. There is a hostel on the nent Ashram life. It is too early yet to discern the same compound, and lectures' are given in a hall exact shape this group will finally assume. attached to the Ashram. Various works of social service, or Christian ministry, are carried out by An Ashram similar to the Sat Tal has come inmembers in the town and the Presidency, Bom- to existence at Kadoaikanal and does for South bay. Recently a branch has been founded in a India what the former does for the North. Such rural area about 150 miles north of Poona. seasonal meetings playa great part in drawing Among other permanent Ashram settlements CHRISTAKULA AT TIRUPATTUR STRUCTURE OF two of the most interesting are the Bhumjan Seva THE JEBALYAM MandaI and the Christa Sishya. The former has been founded by two former members of the Poona Ashram, among the aboriginal tribes of the jungles of the Central provinces. These Christians have gathered around them a varied group
INDIAN CHRISTIAN SADHUS AND ASHRAMS
together Westerne:rs and Indians, and help to demand for equal partnership to one of full conbreak down barriers which all too easily tend to trol. The Ashram movement has clearly an imform in ordinary mission work. They also make portant task in meeting this present situation. It their contribution in discovering and disseminat- must be Temembered that it has influence far being Indian ways of approach to the Christian yond the Ashram walls. The Christakula has faith and practice, and bring into fellowship "friends" out in the world. The Christa Prema Seva Sangha has a Third Order after the manner ASHRAM SCHOOL, VILLAGE CHILDREN AND TEACHER of the Franciscans, whose members in the several parts of India are full members of the society Christians from various backgrounds and schools with the brothers and share in its government. of thought. Similarly each Ashram has a circle more or less closely attached. Thus the ideals can penetrate It would be impossible to speak of all the Ash- the Church, and this movement is further helped rams which have come into existence, and are be- by such periodicals as The Ashram Review. ing added to year by year. Enough has been said to indicate different types of experiment, of which Yet there may be an even more important part several other examples could be quoted. There for the movement to play in the future. Chrisremains to consider the importance of this move- tianity is a supra-national religion. Great harm ment in India, for the present and the future. The will be done if Indian Christians attempt in their Ashrams have come into existence largely owing reaction to become isolated from the rest of their to a sense that India may rightly expect that a fellows. In the future the ideal of equality of religion, which was born in Asia, should reveal Easterner with Westerner, which has inspired the Eastern characteristics, and in answer to the pioneers, may turn to that of equality of Westtaunt that it is a foreign religion from the West. erner with Easterner. Thus the Ashrams will be- Every day it becomes of increasing importance come the channel of the riches of all Christendom that Christianity in India should be Indian. The being mediated to the Indian Church in a form Indian Government not only makes non-Chris- in which it can assimilate them. Some hope the tians contemptuous of anything not of the coun- Ashrams may become the much-needed homes of try, but affects the Christians themselves. They Indian scholarship and theology. resent any sign of dominance on the part of Western missionaries, and will swiftly :pass from a Finally, the discerning expect that, in spite of the present continuance of Mass Movements in some parts of India, a Dark Age awaits the Church in India in the not distant future. During such a period, institutions, whose primary task is to lay stress on the priority of prayer and worship over activity, will form valuable rallying points for the preservation and building up of the inner life of the Church, even as monasteries did in the Dark Ages of Europe. Their true worth will be proved when the day dawns for renewed expansion of God's Kingdom through Christ's Church.
THE PRIEST'S SON'S TESTIMONY Nungan, an outcaste boy of India, whose father baptized? Are you willing? It will mean that he is a village priest, has always been eager to hear must give up his idol worship and have nothing Bible stories. For years Nungan went with his to do with the heathen ceremonies or with idols." father to the temple and watched him perform the rites, offering to the idols many a buffalo, The father replied, "He has given that up long goat and chicken. Never for a moment did he ago. He won't come near the temple, and refuses think it wrong until he heard the Gospel of to eat or partake of anything offered to the idols. Christ. One morning Nungan came to the mis- He says he is not going to worship demons but only sionary and said: "Ammal, I want my name the Jesus God. You can baptize him if you wish." changed," (meaning he wanted to become a Christian). Weeks later he asked me again. While the father was standing there I asked Nungan what the Lord Jesus had done for him. Not long after this he came again up to me, Without waiting he said, "The Lord Jesus died and pathetically said: "Ammal, won't you let me for me on the Cross. I believe that and He is come?" now in my heart." He was entered upon the list of candidates for baptism. A few weeks ago At that moment his father came along and I Nungan had his heart's desire fulfilled and he took asked: "Do you know your boy wants to be the name David."-Darkness and Light.
is the Koran?
By REV. E. E. ELDER, Meshed, Iran Missionary oj the Presbyterian Church, U. s. A.
To UNDERSTAND the religious life of the nated "The Heifer" because it gives the command millions who follow the M.oslem faith one of M.oses to sacrifice a red heifer (Deut. 22: 1-9). must kn.ow something of their sacred book. The fifth sura is called "The Table" from a ref- Although the K.oran is not mentioned in their brief erence made to a festival table sent down to Jesus statement of belief: "There is no god but Allah from heaven. This is only one of the many sub- and Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah," Mos- jects discussed in that chapter which, before it is lems recognize the Koran as the Message of that a third through, has listed lawful foods and meats, Messenger. prescribed regulations for ablutions before prayer, No tW.o sacred books in the world have S.o much recalled Allah's covenant with Israel, warned in common as the Bible and the Koran. Both Christians of infidelity and retold the story of mention the creation of Adam and Eve and their Cain and Abel's offerings.
expulsion from the Garden, the flood, the faithful M.ost of the earliest suras are short and appear witness .of Noah and the promise to Abraham that at the close of the Koran. They were delivered he should have a son in his old age. The chapter by Mohammed at Mecca. The style is rhythmic, in the Koran entitled "Joseph" gives over three- but the staccato sentences are not strictly in score facts about his life which agree with the metre. These set forth such subjects as the unity story told in Genesis. From different chapters of Allah, the signs of his greatness and the cer- one may glean many details as to the life of Moses, tainty of judgment .on the unrighteous. Later in his sojourn in Midian, his mission to Phara.oh and Mohammed's career an appeal was made to his- the exodus of Israel from Egypt. The Koran also tory and many of the sections at the beginning contains a record of the tables of the Law, the and middle of the Koran tell and retell the stories episode of the calf, the manna, the quails and .of the prophets to illustrate Allah's guidance. At water from a rock. Space does not permit a Medina when the prophet became the head of a record .of all that is told .of David and Solomon, warring community the revelations took the form Aaron and Miriam, Cain and Abel, Lot and Zech- of legislation f.or peace and war, inheritance laws ariah. From scattered verses in the Koran one and regulations of religious ceremony. The sen- may learn that Jesus was the son of Mary, the tences now become involved; the rhythm is .often Word of Allah, the Spirit from Allah and the Mes- stilted and artificial. siah, and that he healed the blind and the lepers Each sura is made up of verses or ayas (signs and brought back the dead to life. But with all or miracles). This term suggests the fundamental this material in common, the Bible and the Koran conception of the book as a collection of wonderare in sharp contrast as to message, arrangement ful phra'ses and sentences. Another division of and theory of authorship. the Koran into parts cuts right across the chapter The K.oran speaks little of the "lostness" of arrangement. There are thirty equal portions man; there is great emphasis on the saying of which facilitate the recitation of the whole book prayers and the payment of alms by believers. during the month of Ramadan – the month of The red thread of sacrifice which runs through fasting by day and feasting by night.
the Bible is lacking in the Koran. Protestants, in their contacts with Moslems, The Koran, although almost as large as the New often assume that their scriptures are for them Testament, is not divided into integrated sections "the only rule of faith and practice." Alongside dealing with history, doctrine or prophecy. There the Koran there are other foundations UP.on which is little logical or chronological sequence in its religion is built; there is Tradition, what the arrangement. It consists of 114 suras (or chap- Prophet taught, practised and approved; there is ters) which vary in length from one almost as the Agreement of the Moslem community; and long as the epistle to the R.omans to some which, there is the use of reason in Analogy. All these in the Arabic text, take but three or four lines. have their place in the commentaries; all of them Each chapter has a special name referring to some have been resorted to in the making of canon law.
subject menti.oned therein. The longest is desig- Yet for the pious Moslem the Koran is the [578 ] source of all science and every kind of knowledge. forgery. Instead of simple narrative about Jesus Does it not say that it is, "a detailed account of he expects. to find God's words to Jesus. The Sereverything" (12: 111) and that in it "nothing is mon on the Mount appears to most followers of neglected" (6: 38)? When in Egypt Napoleon Mohammed to be like some of his sayings reasked the learned sheikhs whether this included corded in the traditions. the formula for making gunpowder. They replied that it did, but admitted that not every reader Another thing about the Koran that strikes the would know how to find it. Only a few years ago the representative of Egypt at the Oriental Con- non-Moslem reader is its constant reference to gress at Oxford said that those who pursue a deep study of the Koran do not fail to find there some itself. Mohammed believed that he had a message reference to the latest inventions or an explana- to deliver and that this message was contained in tion of some scientific points which have been ob- a book. Other peoples had their holy books in scure. He then proceeded to quote verses that for their own tongues. Through him the Arabs were him showed that the earth had been flung off from to receive a book in their own language. "Verily the sun and prophesied that man had the power we have revealed it: an Arabic Koran that ye to fly. may understand." The Koran is self-conscious. One dominant note repeated throughout relate to Authors of the Bible and Koran the book itself; yet during the life time of the Prophet no attempt was made to gather the "rev- There is a sharp contrast between the Bible and elations" into a volume. It did not receive its the Koran in the time occupied in their composi- present form until one of the Khalifas, or succestion. One represents less than a generation, the sors of the prophet as head of the state, realized other over fifteen hundred years. At least thirty that the oral record, treasured in the hearts of individuals contributed to the text of our Bible, men and in the few scattered written fragments, whereas Islam holds that Mohammed was the sole were futile to survive the ravages of war and human medium for the Koran. Christians believe time. An authorized edition was finally made by that the writers of the Bible interpreted God Zaid ibn Thabit who had been one of the Prophet's through their personalities as they wrote. Dif- principal scribes. All other editions were supferent times and different environments called for posed to be .destroyed. Some years ago Dr. men with different gifts. In Islam revelation and Mingana, of the Rylands Library in England, inspiration tend to merge into one another. To aroused considerable interest when he brought the Moslem's way of thinking the Koran is in no back from the east a manuscript which contained way connected with the genius of Mohammed. a version considerably different from the present text. Moslem critical works on the Koran give Some years ago a prominent Christian was ad- various readings that run into the thousands. Aldressing an audience in Cairo, and thinking to though the book is of comparatively recent date, clinch his argument he quoted from the Koran. when contrasted with other holy books, perhaps He prefixed his statement with the words, "Your no other has more variant readings. Are there prophet says." When the Moslem hearers real- verses left out that should have been included? ized that he referred to the Koran, there was a The Shiahs of Iran, who hold the preeminence of storm of protest, not only because the words were Ali among Mohammed's companions, hold that not given verbatim, but also because the foreigner some verses substantiating their claim have been had ascribed the words of the book to Mohammed. suppressed. Sura thirty today contains only sev- enty-odd verses; there is a tradition that it once In spite of this mechanical theory of inspira- contained two hundred. There is little wonder tion, native stories are given in the "Traditions" then that Umar advised, "Say not I possess the which reveal something of the process by which whole Koran, but of it what is extant." the Koran developed. One day Mohammed was dictating to his amanuensis, Abdallah ibn Saad, In spite ,of the references to the Torah and Injil something regarding the creation of man. When (Gospel) as being authoritative for their peoples, he paused Abdallah said in wonder, "Blessed Moslems today usually hold that the Koran has therefore be Allah, the best of Creators." The superseded the Law and the Gospels of the Bible. prophet was so taken with the words that he said, This is not surprising when certain verses in the "Write that down, for so it has descended." The Koran itself have been abrogated by other verses. story continues that the scribe wondered whether The text remains but a later saying has taken revelation from Allah had not also descended on away its force. The Koran provides for this by him. But such tales do not destroy the dictation saying: "Whatever verse we may annul or cause theory of the Koran. It is held to be wholly a thee to forget, we will bring a better one than it, collection of sayings coming to Mohammed from or one like it; dost thou not know that Allah is the Angel Gabriel, so that the Moslem, when he mighty over all?" first reads the Christian Gospels, rejects them as a At the same time I,slam holds that the Koran
is the replica of a Heavenly Book, written on a ers on the Arabic professional stage. The measpreserved or well-guarded tablet, sent down on uredcadences of the book have so woven themthe Night of Destiny and dictated to Mohammed selves into the life and worship and literature of piecemeal by the Angel Gabriel. In spite of the Moslem peoples that they are the expression of historical evidence for a great variety of readings their deepest emotions, sorrow and joy, anger and and the great part played by scribes in collating love, prayer and praise. the material, together with the possible omission of what was originally from Mohammed and the The percentage of literacy is low in many Mosinclusion of portions suggested by others, never- lem lands and that has increased the use of the theless orthodox Islam holds that the Koran is the Koran as a magical force. A minute edition is uncreated speech of Allah. Westerners may fail sometimes used as an amulet and worn about the to see the soundness of such arguments, but the neck or on the arm. The recitation of certain Moslem theologian, with his use of dialectic, an- verses is believed to make evil spirits flee in terswers that all the varied readings are given in the ror. Quotations are used as a means of divina- Preserved Tablet. He can even argue that, far tion. In lands where Arabic is not understood from detracting from the glory of the Koran, they the power of the Koran must often be thought of add to its glory. as magic. To the learned Mullahs any translation of the Koran from the sacred Arabic has seemed Although commentators admit that the perspic- a sacrilege. Turkey has now, however, issued an uous book contains obscure ambiguous passages, edition in Turkish in Latin characters. The reliit is held to be the miracle of the ages.. To millions gious leaders of Egypt finally admitted the possi~ who follow the religion.of Is'lam its claim is in- bility of an interlinear translation which would be violate. "Verily if men and jinns were assembled in their eyes a commentary on the sacred text. together with a purpose of producing this (book) they could not do it, even though they helped one With the invasion of Western civilization and another." Christian teaching into the world of Islam a chal- lenge has come to the power of the Koran. Even Influence of the Koran in the desert one finds that in practical life there are more real forces in a Moslem's life than the Few Christians appreciate the .hold that the sacred book Jarvis, in "Yesterday and Today in Koran has on adherents of the Moslem faith. In Sinai," tells us that the Arab will cheerfully give Arabic-speaking lands it is still the golden treas- false evidence on the Koran, and that in the Libury for examples of grammatical constructions, yan Desert if you want the truth you must get rhetoric and literature. Throughout Egypt stu- your man to make his oath at some sheikh's tomb; dents in elementary, primary and secondary in Sinai you must resort to trial by ordeal, which schools are required to memorize selected por- consists in licking a white-hot iron. Yet the edutions. Illuminated texts, in elaborate styles of cated classes among Moslems, who admit they penmanship, take the place of pictures and wall know little of the contents of their sacred book, decorations. Over the radio professional readers reverence it and say with one of the modern daily recite portions from it. The poverty- writers, "from the point of style alone, it is nothstricken beggars who ask for alms chant passages ing less than a miracle, as great a miracle as ever from the sacred volume. Rarely does a Christian was wrought." Time alone will show whether it ,preacher receive a fifth of the salary obtained by can stand translation, whether it will go down befavorites of the theatre or Hollywood studios, but fore changing ethics, and with what resistance it I have been told that the best professional reciters may confront the Living Word of God. of the Koran are as well paid as the best perform- NOW WHAT SHALL I DO?
We held our communion service at the soldier's camp, in two languages and I could not understand all of the dialects. We had put Itola's baptism off until the next communion for she had been "following afar off." She tried to speak to me several times, but the Buluba- speaking Christians crowded her out. We had not been able to check the communicants at this soldier's camp, as we usually check our outstation Christians before communion and not until after the service did Itola get a chance to speak with me. In great distress she cried out, through an interpreter: "I took the bread and wine before I was baptized and now they say I shall die. Now what shall I do?" I told the interpreter to explain to her that God would not hold her accountable if her heart was right. "Be punctual at the Inquirer's Class," I said, "and when I return, you shall be baptized." PLUMER SMITH, Mutoto, Congo Belge.
Privilege of Preaching to
-<tEf I By STEPHEN KHOOBYAR, Tabriz, Iran 115–·- THERE is probably no harder task in the of sin against God and our fellowmen and against efforts to advance the Kingdom of Christ oneself; on the other hand the teachings of Islam than the winning of Mohammedans, but these look upon sin in a very light way and even excuse difficulties are well known. The disappointments or condone the things which separate man from experienced are sometimes such that only the God in this world and the next. hope of Christ can keep one from pessimism. It is a great sorrow to see those who have confessed Christ not only shows sin in its true light but Christ fall away, but at the same time there is offers the one and only remedy for sin. In Islam real joy in preaching Christ to Moslems, when the fundamental idea concerning sin seems to be a man has been called of God. When we see Mos- that a man may make up for evil deeds by doing lems believe on Christ so that they are born into something that is good, like prayers or pilgrimage the Kingdom we are as certain to have joy in our or the giving of alms. In the faith of Christ the hearts as a rose is to have perfume. remedy for sin is supplied by God Himself; in Islam the only remedies offered are man-made It is a great privilege to be called to serve Christ works. and to share in the work that is dearest to the heart of God. David Livingstone is said to have Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has revealed the remarked that in all his toils and dangers there truth that God is our Father. Through Christ we was one thing which gave him greater comfort may approach God. To Islam the title of Father, than all else; it was the word of Christ, "I am as applied to God, is blasphemy and is almost withwith you always." In preaching to Mohamme-. out exception understood by Moslems in a carnal dans we should never feel lonely with such a way. Though the Koran says that God is as near Presence to sustain us. as the jugular vein, yet in actual practice the whole system of Islam makes Him appear like a power- It is also a joy to explain the Word of God to ful tyrant who cannot be approached. What a those who have no true message from their Cre- blessing to come to our heavenly Father through Christ, our Elder Brother! ator. It is wonderful to go from shop to shop, from house to house, from city to city as the In Christ we have a personality that is unique. bearer of Glad Tidings, an apostle of the Word of How far from anything that Islam has to offer God. If we do not preach to Moslems we are like are the love, forgiveness, mercy, service and selfthe brothers of Joseph who sat down to eat bread sacrifice of our Master. What a marvelous joy while their brother lay bound and in the pit. How to be able to point to such an example. But can we be happy while we leave our brothers Christ is far more than an example – He is the bound and in darkness? Christ is the only One One who atones for sin, the Mediator of the New who can fulfill every longing of the deepest spirit Covenant that reconciles those who were at enof Islam. mity with God, making peace through His Cross.
Our souls are also happy because in preaching a In these great offices Christ is unique; Islam has to Mohammedans we are fulfilling the command nothing like it. What a joy to present such of Christ. When He sent out the twelve and the Saviour to a Moslem and to proclaim His words, seventy they went on their errand with joy in "I am the way, the truth, and the life." "Come their hearts. The Apostle Paul could not remain silent after he had seen Christ, but found his joy unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
where we find ours in helping to carry the Gospel Christians have also the matchless blessing of to every nation and tribe. the help of the Holy Spirit to guide and empower them and to cleanse from sin. Islam teaches how The Wonderful Message ceremonially to clean hands and feet before prayers, but only Christ shows how to purify the There is joy in the Christian mes'Sage that can- heart. A few years ago, I was speaking in the not be found in Islam. It is a mess.age that per- waiting room of a mission dispensary on the verse, fectly meets the deepest need of our Moslem brothers. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see The New Testament sets forth the true nature God." There were nine mullahs present. When [581 ]
I had finished one of them said, "It is impossible have presented the Christian message directly, in to be pure in heart." All the other eight agreed most cases without any reference to Islam, and with him. Without the Holy Spirit true purity many hundreds of Moslems have attended and is impossible. have shown the keenest interest.
Islam has its holy shrines, like Mecca and In one of the smaller cities of Iran we held serv- Medina, the graves of the prophet and the Imams, ices on several successive Sundays. Though there is no established Christian <church in that city we but it has nothing to compare with the Christian had a w.onderfulattendance of Moslems. The last sacred places that have a deep meaning fQr us. Sunday, though a heavy rain was faIling, there were more than three hundred Moslems in attend- Bethlehem-Place of the Incarnation. ance. N.o room at our disPQsal was large enough The Wilderness – The place of overcoming to hold such a congregati.on so I stood in a d.oor- way opposite to be sheltered from the rain and temptation. listeners filled the porches on the first and second Gethsemane-The place of agony for sin. stories of the long h.ouse where we were staying. Golgotha-The place .of atonement on the Cross. One could hardly believe that such an .opportunity The Empty Tomb-The place of victory through could be presented-that so many would be ready to hear the straight evangelistic message in a city resurrection. The Mount of Ascension-Place of power and the Great Commission.
It would be hard to imagine anything that eQuId that is noted :for its fanaticism. M.ost Christian evangelists in Iran have a room bring more jQy than the pr.oclamation of such or office where peQple may come to see them for great truths. If any Christian has, lost his joy in conversation .or to secure Christian literature. In preaching it must be because he has lost contact our .own evangelistic rQom we have a Bible class with these great and fundamental truths. If any each Sunday morning for Moslem men. Though worker for Moslems has lost the j.oy of such service let him return to his God-given Message and the attendance is somewhat irregular because most of the young men are from the upper classes of he will find there what he has lost. the g.overnment schools, we very often have thirty Islam has no real vital message. In a large or forty or even more of these intelligent young town of our province a number .of mullahs came men; they must often cut their classes to come. to our rQom. We asked them to choose a man to What a joy to have such hearers; their attendspeak for thirty minutes on the message .of Islam ance is entirely vQluntary, yet they leave their and we would speak for a similar time on the own school work to come and listen! That should Christian message. They chose the leading m.uj- bring joy to the heart of any Christian preacher. tahid who spoke for .only five minutes. We took the other twenty-five minutes of his time and the Opportunities to present the Christian message half-hour allotted to us to present the Christian are not confined to large congregations but come message. This has happened over and .over again from personal contacts in our every day WQrk. In in our experience. Great should be our JQY for a certain city I was invited, with a mission doctor, we have a wonderful message, which Islam has to the home of the head of the tax department.
not. He had also asked the Governor of the district, The Moslem Hearers the head .of the education department, several vil- lage landowners, and others to come to his home We not only have a message but we find in Mos- for conversation with us. We were able to prelem lands many who are ready to listen to it. sent tQ these officials the straight Christian mes- Though there are great .obstacles to be .overcome, sage and they seemed glad t.o listen. Recently yet we thank God for the great oPPQrtunities. that after Easter I stood in a school for girls with the lie around us. The fanaticism and bigotry which whole student body before me. The large room fQrmerly refused to listen to the message .of Christ was darkened and at the front .of the rQQm there have largely passed away. The tremendous social was a cross illumined by electric lights, covered changes and the m.odern outlook, together with by white cloth and lilies. By the light of the cross the new nationalistic spirit, sometimes make for I read the resurrection story. The great majority more freedom in preaching, and at other times of the girls were from Moslem families, yet there they .offer hindrances; yet in all we rejoice that was respectful silence and strict attention. Whose the general flow of the tide is toward a more ready heart would nQt overflow with joy at such an ophearing and more people willing to consider the portunity to preach Christ? claims of the Gospel. Last year, returning across the lake from visit- In the large cities all over Iran we have recently ing the churches in the Urumia region, I started been holding special evangelistic meetings. Some- a religious conversation with an army doctor soon times for a week these services have continued after the boat had left the pier. Others gathered each day and s.ometimes for longer periods. They around and through the whole day the conversa-
THE PRIVILEGE OF PREACHING TO MOSLEMS
tion went on, with all listening who were free to a mob of men. Some entered the room and began gather around. It was one more joyful chance for beating converts who were with us. They threw personal work. us out of the room; as they pushed us out of the yard, one man said, "If you ever come in this yard As a subject of a Moslem country, I live under again, or even in this street your blood will be a constitution which establishes Islam as the State spilled on these cobblestones." After we left a religion, yet there is an open door for the Gospel man who had lately professed Christ was shamewhich no one can shut. I have the joy of diffi- fully beaten by the rabble. culties to be overcome and the daily joy of seeing non-Christians willing to hear the message Christ Some time ago, as I was leaving the church, a has sent me to give. young Moslem put a sealed letter into my hand. I did not open it until I got home and then found it The Joys of Tribulation contained a threat that if I tried to convert Mos- lems to Christianity, either by preaching in the There is another sort of joy that comes from church or personal work, my blood would be shed suffering and persecution for Christ. The joy of in the street. It was signed "The Group of those the day of Pentecost was one sort of happiness for who Shed Blood." the Apostle Peter, but when some time later he was beaten he found joy in that experience also. We must expect at any time to be put out of We read in the Acts that "they departed from the places where we go to preach. Our books will be presence of the council rejoicing that they were seized and we may have trouble but, like the Hecounted worthy to suffer shame for his name." brews to whom the apostle wrote, most of us "have The Apostle Paul must have rejoiced to see not yet resisted unto blood." Even should it be churches spring up through his efforts but his our privilege to share the martyr's crown, we will heart broke forth in joy at the thought that his still say with the prophet Nehemiah, "For the joy apostleship was sealed by fellowship with Christ of the Lord is your strength." in His sufferings.. Just as we fail to match the apostles in power, so we fail to attain to a fellow- The Joy of the Harvest ship in suffering such as they enjoyed. The trials we are called upon to bear are trivial in compari- There is the joy in gathering fruit. We do not son to their sufferings, yet our own may be enough see great numbers of Moslems accepting Christ, to bring that deep joy which comes only through or mass movements such as are reported in India, sharing with Christ in pain and distress. Korea and Africa. We must work and pray for one convert from Islam, but in the large centers, Some years ago I was touring with one of the where churches are established, there quite a missionaries. We reached a district in the moun- group join the church each year. In the villages,· tains where so far as I know Christian evangelists on the other hand, there may be a single convert had never been. Some sixteen years before one here and there but we struggle toward the stage Christian had passed through the district. We where we may witness groups. of Christian became into a village just before nightfall, in a storm lievers in villages and small cities. The main reaof rain and wind. We asked for a place to stay sons why we do not see large numbers of converts but there was not one family in the place that are: would receive Christians – especially in our wet condition. They thought that we would contam- The lack of religious freedom; Religious or national fanaticism; a inate their houses in that condition. They showed Loss of economic and social standing; Actual persecution of converts. us the ruins of barn but we decided it would be beUer to stay in the streets than among the ver- One time, touring with a new missionary who min there. Another man took us to an old chicken had come from America a short time before, we house, one of the most filthy places I have ever stopped at a druggist's shop in the bazaar and a seen. At last one man suggested that there was crowd started to gather when they saw we were a shelter in an orchard some way from the village. speaking about Christ and the Injil (Gospel). I We made our way out there and found some sort moved to a wide part of the bazaar and at least of a room upstairs; we put our saddlebags over a hundred people gathered and gave me a wonderthe places where windows should have been and ful opportunity to preach the Gospel. They lisat last made our beds with the wind and rain tened with fine attention and were evidently imwhistling through our abode~ I have never in my pressed by the message. As we returned to our life enjoyed a sweeter sleep than that night. room my heart was singing, but I noticed that the young missionary seemed sad. When I asked the At one time I was invited with a missionary to reason, he replied, "I am filled with sorrow bethe home of a prominent man who had recently cause not one man stood up before the crowd and been converted from Islam. As we were talking confessed Christ. In such a meeting in America, a high Moslem ecclesiastic entered the room and we saw that the yard was filled with mullahs and
with people listening with that sort of attention, connection with our church, confessions had been at least fifteen or twenty would have arisen to few. One morning a young man, who had been confess their faith." Those of us who have spent attending services for some time, came into my many years in work for Moslems hope for that offic·e and made a clear confession of his faith in day but we have not yet seen it. Men and women Christ. He was from a good family and now has are born into the Kingdom one by one and great a good position as a clerk in the military service. is our joy over one soul that steps out into the How glad our hearts are made after a season of sunlight of Christ. little apparent fruit when we see the Spirit work- ing to turn men to Christ! One day as I was passin.g a vineyard, a boy came running and asked us into the garden where In one village I passed a mullah sitting in a an old man was sitting.. I read to him the story shop. Something made me turn back and I found of the Prodigal Son, and before I was through the he had never read the Injil, so I gave him a copy. old gentleman was crying like a child. He under- After that there was not a day when we did not stood the meaning of the story before I had ex- converse; he was certainly near the Kingdom and plained a word and I am satisfied he found Christ came to a full understanding of the love of Christ. in that single interview. In one village I had a conversation in a Bahai house that lasted until One of the fondest memories of my work for midnight. The owner was not converted but one Moslems was the conversion of a leading mullah, man who was present was deeply affected. He a descendant of the prophet Mohammed, who had came to see us later and before we had left the charge of several mosques. His was a wonderful village he confessed Christ and has remained true conversion and he not only believed but preached to. this day. his faith with utter disregard of consequences. He was called upon to suffer persecution which I recall three young men with whom I came in almost made him despair of life itself. But noth- .contact through the young people's society of our ing has been able to shake his faith. The last time church. One of them later confessed that he had I saw him he had a book in his hand and showed been drinking the first time he attended a meeting me two pictures,as others on the street stopped and had gone there as a lark. They all later con- to look and listen. One was the picture of a lion fessed Christ and though they have separated to and the other of a lamb. He said to me, "In the places that are far apart each has done much for end this one will triumph," pointing to the lamb. Christ in this land. It is not necessary to mention many other cases In one large city I had been working alone for which come to mind. As the angels in Heaven several weeks with very small show of results. I are filled with joy when one sinner repents, so we had given a Bible to a young man of a very prom- are happy beyond measure to see one soul from inent family. One evening as I sat in my room Islam born anew in Christ. If we carry the real almost discouraged as to the work, the young man message, in prayer and the power of the Holy came in. He had been reading the Bible, and be- Spirit, the fruit will come whether we or others fore he left, he confessed faith in Christ. My are to harvest it. I can conceive of no greater joy pessimism was· changed to joy. Shortly after this than that of seeing souls come out of Islam to take another man, who was a tailor and had been read- their place beside others who were formerly Zoro- ing much of our literature, confessed Christ and astrians or Jews, Armenians or Assyrians, and began to witness for Him. The poor man never all these together building the Church of Christ in reached the point where he could quite give up Iran. We praise God for our opportunities. "He his old custom of smoking opium but he professed that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious his faith before all up to the time of his death. seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." During some months of evangelistic work in A church that divides the Christian community is impotent to transform or redeem it.- Rev. Ross Sanderson.
*** We have sometimes covered over the ugly and dangerous weaknesses of our civilization and have given them the appearance of strength.-Rev. A. E. Keigwin.
FOR LEPER COUPLES IN A LEPER COLONY, NORTHERN
Obeying Christ's Forgotten Command Dona Eunice and the Lepers of Brazil _.o~ ~o._ r By EULA KENNEDY LONG, formerly of Brazil I A MONG those present at the fourth Interna- eradication of this dread disease in one generar-. tional Conference on Leprosy, which met in tion."
Cairo last March, was Dona Eunice Gabbi About a decade ago, under the capable and un- Weaver, a native Brazilian who married an selfish leadership of Dona Eunice, a small group American Methodist missionary in Brazil. She of Christian women began the work which is now came as official delegate and was the only woman carried on by seventy-two societies, associated in to read a paper before the conference. Dona a Federation of which she is the national presi- Eunice is a product of Christian missions, for she dent. They have erected prevention homes for received her early education in the mission the care of children whose parents have been in- schools of Argentina and Brazil. Later, she took terned in Government "colonies," and for un- a nursing course; and in 1929, toured the world tainted babies taken from leprous mothers at on one of our "Floating Universities." For some birth.
years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Weaver Since the disease is not inherited, a child's superintended the Methodist Settlement House in safety depends on immediate removal from a dis- Rio de Janeiro. eased mother. Tragic as this separation is to the About eight years ago Dona Eunice became in- mother, it is less terrible than that of seeing her terested in the lepers of her country and took up child doomed to hopeless suffering.
the work as a life investment. Up to that time, A very important phase of this work is keep- efforts in their behalf had been sporadic and ing up the morale of the patients. Dr. Muir, of In- localized. According to Dr. H. C. Tucker (for al- dia, has said that 85 per cent of the cure of lep- most fifty years Secretary of the American Bible rosy consists of moral and spiritual help, and Society in Brazil), "no one in Brazil is doing so only 15 per cent is due to medical care. Societies, great a work in dealing with this gigantic 'prob- therefore, have provided work-shops, libraries, lem as is Dona Eunice Weaver. Dr. Victor Heiser recreation centers and Christian chapels for the states that "Brazil may lead the world in the pres- patients, and organize entertainments for Christ- o ervation of the children of lepers and in the mas and other special days.
[585 ]
This work is in cooperation with the Federal and other influential men and women, receiving Government, which has built some twenty colo- cooperation from the humblest widow, as well as nies (in which about twelve thousand lepers are from the first lady of the land, Dona Darcy Varnow interned) and has fourteen more under con- gas. struction. Getulio Vargas is the first president of the country to attack this problem in a vigorous One of the most interesting and heartening and statesmanlike way. But government alone features is that Dona Eunice, although a Protescannot carryon all phases of this stupendous un- tant, has secured the cooperation of Roman Cathdertaking. It must have the assistance of private olics, Spiritualists, and Positivists. Her success beneficent organizations. in carrying out Christ's oft-forgotten command to cleanse the lepers, proves that Christian love, in From the pampas of the South to the waters of actual practice, can transcend barriers of class and the Amazon, Dona Eunice travels by train, ship, creed, and be a living force in .the service of sufauto and military plane, enlisting the sympathy fering fellow-men. and active support of state governors, Rotarians, Presenting the Good News in Brazil By E. M. do AMARAL, Rio de Janeiro Secretary of the Evangelical Federation of Brazil W HENEVER the message of the New Tes- The Christian conscience of the people of the tament reaches men, no matter how di- so-called "Younger Churches" reacts immediately, verse the interpretations may be, it will awakened by the responsibility for evangelizing always speak vigorously to the consciences, ap- the world in accomplishing the missionary task. pealing to the sacred missionary responsibility. They cooperate in the great labors initiated in Christians everywhere receive, as a command, the their country. duty of propagating the Good News of salvation; to present to men the unique Personality of Jesus But it is just to mention that, at the touch of Christ-the incarnation of the highest ethics, and the international or ecumenical spirit of Chrissupreme giver of energies for conduct. It is a tianity quite evident in the work of the Missions, duty to spread among the masses the noble in- the Christians of the evangelized countries awake, fluences of the Gospel. both in their duty to do missionary work and in their national feelings. For the love of their coun- The peoples who had already experienced try they wish to propagate the light of Christ; Christianity for centuries-and especially the or- and because Christianity awakens the conscience ganization which followed the principles of the of personality, and on account of the fact that the Great Reformation of the sixteenth century-felt national feelings do not die, there is born the dein its full power this heavy responsibility to prop- sire that the work, started by self-denying pioagate the teachings and the spirit of Jesus, to con- neers of other lands, may be carried on by those vey His influences among the people who did not who have received the fruits of the missionary know Christ, or who were in unfavorable circum- labors. stances on account of wrong interpretations and practice of Christianity. They have felt this duty, It is needless to call attention to the struggles and have sought to perform it with earnestness which have been fought, in these circumstances, and tenacity. many times due to lack of understanding from both sides as to their respective functions. Thanks In the exercise of this duty by the missionary to God, that there is already a new spirit predomcountries, there developes a true internationalism, inating and a better comprehension of duties will which exists in the religion of Jesus Christ, and bring greater blessings to the missionary enterwhich, in order to bestow benefits and accomplish prise in all the world. There is a reasonable its spiritual mission, is beyond racial and political expectation that this will come to pass. barriers. Again, this international spirit meets and often awakens the national spirit of the peo- Br.azil has already been the host to French ples who receive the blessings of the missionary missionaries in the colonial period (sixteenth cenenterprise. tury); and has had a movement of the Reforma- tion to a certain extent, during the Dutch control;
PRESENTING THE GOOD NEWS IN BRAZIL
also, in colonial times (seventeenth century) ; and God, and it is fair to mention that they are en- was educated in the principles and loose practices gaged in it with enthusiasm and a burning sense of Roman Catholicism. Not speaking about visits, of responsibility.
now and then, already received in the nineteenth In the capitals and in the larger cities, but espe- century, she began to receive the evangelical mis- cially on the coast, we have already strong sionary influence only in the last quarter of the churches-many of them self-supporting and help- last century, less than 80 years ago, implanting ing smaller churches as well as the general work, the regular work of the various Missions, which and maintaining regular missionary work within brought us their great blessings and, let us say their areas. Whosoever will examine rapidly the also, transported to the new land the sectarian evangelical enterprise in some capitals, will note struggles of Europe and America. the churches maintaining various preaching sta- Already, within a half century, the feeling of tions and congregations, within a short time will ecclesiastical autonomy has been greatly awak- develop into new churches and all of them dedicate ened, which means the privilege of self-govern- themselves to propaganda.
ment, responsibility for self-support, but still the A considerable part of the evangelistic field is in sacred duty to propagate the Good News by our the rural zone, and even there, in spite of the lack own efforts. A great progress has already been of resources, the National Church does the same achieved. There are denominations entirely auton- work of evangelism. It is a perplexing problem omous; others, which are autonomous, even in Brazil, but the Christian workers and the Counthough they receive some support from the Mis- cils face the situation with courage and energy. sions; and others upon which the missions have The rapid development of the churches comes yet preponderant influence. We have gone quite a way in the direction of about in such a way, that within a short time, the field of labor of one worker multiplies itself, the rethis equilibrium, which generates a healthy, mu- sponsibilities increase, new centers come up, new tual respect between the missionary and the native churches are organized in much larger proporforces; and also we affirm that there is not, in a tion than the regular growth of the number of general sense, the sad "nationalism" which dead- workers. A distinguished Brazilian preacher who ens the work. We meap to say this: the collab- occupies an important pastorate in one of the oration of missionaries and Brazilians is of such largest churches in Brazil, and who is working a nature that these can develop, with liberty and very efficiently, was the initiator of the work of satisfaction, the promotion of the Christian cause. evangelization in a vast rural zone, in which there We are thankful to report the fact that the are today, instead of the small church then organ- Brazilian Churches, all of them, felt the impera- ized, not less than three Presbyteries.
tive missionary duty, and all of them, continually, Completely occupied with the common labors, with some enthusiasm, by their own initiative and and with this work in which the cure of souls and expenses, and employing their own methods, do the propagation of the Gospel extend together, the the best work of propaganda that they can. Brazilian workers have not always had sufficient The Christian schools of Brazil are yet in a funds for spreading out and planting new marks great part under the direction of missionaries, in far-away places in the outlying districts.
affiliated with various Missions in the United But all this is done, while the sons of the States. In the Theological Schools there are also "younger churches," feeling the weight and glory some missionaries, even though nearly all the of their mission, are face to face with the hard Schools of Theology are under the Brazilian lead- task of giving guidance to the general work. The ership. In the regular pastorate there are several Evangelical press, the training of ministers, the missionaries, but in considerably less proportIon, general work of Christian cooperation,· although and variable according to the denominations with helped by missionary experience quite often, is which they are connected. In the work of evan- on the shoulders of the nationals. Along these gelization, in zones in which the Brazilian lines, the Fifth Evangelical Congress, which met churches cannot have much influence, and espe- in S. Paulo, in 1936, had an important task; with cially in the hard task to evangelize territories far the help of missionaries who were there they made away from the civilized centers, there is a fine a careful study of questions. regarding evan- number of self-denying missionaries, including gelization, education, literature, social action, missionary ladies worthy of all respect, who are ecumenism, unity, held the attention of the Con- doing splendid educational work and nursing, far gress and very important conclusions and recom- away from the resources of civilization. mendations were made, in which there is a cou- Excluding these and other works, which the rageous acknowledgment of past mistakes and Brazilian evangelicals receive with gratitude, the shortcomings, and the presentation of desirable national leaders, naturally, have an ample and steps. and initiatives to follow in behalf of the heavy task in the propagation of the Kingdom of future kingdom of Christ in Brazil.
Adventure in Panjab
By HELEN A. DUFF Missionary of the American Presbyterian Church at Moga, Pan;ab AN AMERICAN woman, beginning mission- brought encouragement. But in many villages she r-. ary work with her husband a few years ago found none but tottering and toothless old women in the Bible classes. "Why do not the young ones in the villages of southeastern Panjab, was come?" she asked. astonished to find that almost none of the Christian women in that district knew anything about "They haven't time. They are busy with their the new religion which they professed. In each children and their husbands, with their grinding village there was usually a man or two who could and spinning, and all the business of living. What tell a few Bible stories from the mission course time have they to think of God? But with us, who then in vogue, but scarcely a woman knew so have finished with living, our children are dead, much as the name of Christ. There was no dis- or grown and it is well now for us to give a cernible difference between their mode of life and thought to God and to death and the Judgment bethat of their outcaste neighbors. The homes and fore it is too late." children of the Christians were as dirty as others in the village; many charms were to be seen about Young mothers, wrestling with the problem of their necks; and much quarreling and filthy lan- how to find enough bread for their children, how guage was heard; they showed as little interest to save them from cholera and blindness and the "evil eye," and all the rampant vice of village life in school. were not concerned with God. He could be of no "Perhaps the evangelists take no interest in service to weary and despairing souls who groaned under the degradation of an outcaste teaching the women," thought the missionary woman's lot. Why should they give much time to wife. "They teach only the men." She decided to think of Him, when as yet their day for dying explain to the evangelists that the women also was still far off? should be taught. The evangelists listened politely. Some took the trouble to explain why such a The old women's answer marked the turning thing was not to be expected. There were a num- point in that district. We decided to undertake ber of reasons-time-honored sex taboos and to do something more creative. In many villages women's brainlessness. The headstrong young the old women still sit, passively content to listen foreigners must find out for themselves the utter to Bible stories, but twice a year now, increasing unreasonableness of their expectations. numbers of young women and girls flock eagerly into the mission station for a sort of girls' camp, The missionary changed her tactics. She de- for two weeks of dynamic study. cided to inspire the evangelists' wives to take up the service, each in her own home village. But The experiment was launched with misgiving. there were many practical difficulties. In that "Parents will never send their daughters," said district there was no precedent for such a pro- the wise and experienced evangelists. In the becedure. The women were not used to sitting in ginning few did. But in that first critical two classes. All their lives they had been told that weeks' session, the few girls who came had such they had brains like the buffal'Q.cf.The evangelists' a rich experience that their drab lives were wives dften reminded them of the fact. Besides, changed and the news spread. As a result many these wives had to care for their own homes and a girl has prevailed upon fearful old parents or children and could not take on more work, for a jealous or stingy young husband, to allow her which they were not paid. to attend camp once, if not twice, in the year. But gradually, by persistent prayer, with ex- A group of little two-room native houses was ample and precept, the work was begun. From found where the girls might live for two weeks. scattered villages came reports of women learn- All the activities of the camp are used to convert ing Bible stories. No radical change of life these drab mud houses into. what a Christian vilseemed to follow ammediately, but that would lage home should be! The girls pasted the houses take time. The missionary began making visits neatly with thin mud plaster, built tidy fireplaces, to the villages where women were listening; her decorated their walls with designs of their own praise of those teachers who were most faithful in white clay, or color. Pictures cut from maga- [588 ] zines have added splashes of color. Simple little There is at times tension or lack of cooperation, hand-made pottery have a place in the scheme. but as each situation arises, it gives opportunity Beds neatly spread and clean floors gradually for the girls themselves to evaluate it in the light become the standard. Personal charm has been of the standards which they themselves have ac- enhanced by daily washings and combing of hair, knowledged. Behavior is measured by the motto weekly washing of clothes, and getting rid of lice they have chosen, "In love serve one another."
once-for-all! Girls take turns in cooking, learn- The babies who are sure to attend also learn ing from a woman who is a mistress of the art. much, for these are made the subjects of all the There are also lessons in soap making, cutting experiments in baby bathing and weighing, in and sewing of garments, knitting, baby care, and feeding and discipline! They learn to take their sometimes in simple gardening and chicken rais- food once every four hours, instead of every time ing. they whimper. They learn to sleep, cool and com- The twice-a-day lessons in reading are attacked fortable, in their little cots, while their mothers with more zest than anything else and we find attend school. They like this better than being that there is nothing which so much enhances· constantly jiggled and smothered in mother's self-respect as an ability to read. warm lap. Mothers like it better too. Finally, Lessons in Bible are not cut-and-dried, but free they return to their village homes, bedecked in discussion is encouraged, to find answers to ques- the gaudy new shirts which their young mothers tions about daily living. have made for them. Two- and three-year-olds "What shall I do when my child gets fever? learn to detach themselves from mothers' skirts, My mother-in-law tells me that the blood of a and have a good time independently in an attrac- black goat smeared on the bed posts would be tive little nursery school.
helpful." Each morning and evening during the camp the "What is the harm in child marriage?" girls gather, sometimes together and sometimes "How should my husband treat me?" in separate house groups, for Christian worship.
"Why should I not slap my child when he an- On the last days, when the girls must return to noys me? How else can I control him?" their villages, their expressions of regret and To these and other daily problems the girls and their wistful yearnings to stay longer, are di- teachers try to find the Christian answer, in the verted into the more positive attitude of service light of Christ's teaching. There is gratifying for others. What are they taking back to their evidence of the effectiveness of this more realistic villages? Will they find some other girls to teach?
method, despite its many flaws. Staff meetings to Here and there a village girl can be found who prepare for class discussions have helped. has learned to read a little, or to knit, or to keep There is also much fun in these schools. There her children cleaner and to quarrel less with her are trips to thE! ice factory (as good as a trip to mother-in-law, because a friend who has been to Europe), picnics on the canal bank, games and camp has shown her that Christ teaches her to songs, and village folk dances. do those things if she wishes to follow Him.
TEN RULES FOR OHRISTIAN LIVING By THE LATE GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH 1. Consider your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and treat it with reverence and care. 2. Keep your mind active. Stimulate it with thoughts of others that lead to doing something. 3. Take time to be holy with daily Bible reading and prayer. 4. Support the church of your faith. Mingle with others. 5. Cultivate the presence of God. He wants to enter your life and will,-as far as you let Him. 6. Take God into the details of your life. You naturally call upon Him in trouble and for the bigger things. 7. Pray for this troubled, war-threatened world and the leaders who hold the destinies of the various nations. 8. Have a thankful spirit for the blessings of God – country, home, friends and numerous "
other blessings. 9. Work as if everything depended upon work, and pray as if everything depended upon prayer. 10. Think of death not as something to be dreaded, but as a great and new experience where loved ones are met and ambitions realized.-Selected.
Lift Up Christ in
Two Methods of Introducing Jesus to Non-Christians _o·<tH{1.:;11====B;;;;Y;;;;A;;;;M=IS;;;;SI;;;;O;;;;N;;;;AR=Y=IN=IND=I;;;;A====!III.- My FIRST year of evangelistic work in the Maddened by his prowess, the Mohammedans Panjab was spent in a proud and big- grew acrimonious in their attacks, saying abusive oted Mohammedan city, where for fifty things of Christ, and making personal attacks on years Christian work had been carried on with the evangelist. The Christian maintained his good almost no visible results. A spirit of defeatism humor, but his tongue grew more adroit in trip- and indifference, and even of antagonism to the ping up his less skilful rivals, demolishing their non-Christians, characterized the local church. arguments with his brilliant irony.
The Christians, having come from the Depressed Long before the evening was over, it was evi- Classes, were scorned by their proud Moham- dent that the Moslem opponents were routed. The medan neighbors, and it is not easy to love peo- discussion ended with shrill and furious invective ple by whom one is scorned! on one side, and cries of victory on the other. On But the Indian pastor and the missionaries had their way home, some of the Christians were plans for stirring the city into new life. A short seized and beaten by enraged Mohammedans, but time before the Panjab had been startled by the they gloried in their sufferings for Christ.
news that a brilliant and zealous Mohammedan Some of us who were new to the work were dis- maulvi (theologian) had been converted to Christ. turbed by the unfriendly spirit shown and there- As in the case of Paul, the talents which former- after dissociated ourselves from such debates.
ly had been skilfully used to refute the claims of Our Christian associates were patient, pointing Christ were now even more vigorously employed out that more Gospels had been sold during that in defense of the Christian faith. In the hope of week than in the whole preceding year. God could stirring lethargic Christians to fresh zeal, and of "make even the wrath of man to praise Him,"
converting hardened Mohammedans, the church whereas indifference was more difficult to over- leaders invited this man to come and give a series come. Some Moslems came to ask questions, while of evangelistic addresses before his former co- others sought to quarrel with the pastor and the religionists-the Moslems. missionaries. We were amazed w~en three young He had accepted the invitation and the news Mohammedan men asked for baptism at the close was soon spread, through every alley of our city of the campaign. They had become convinced, and into surrounding villages. It was rumored they said, by the logic of the evangelist, that to among the Christians that the local maulvies, follow the way of Mohammed would surely lead fearful lest their learning might not prove ade- them to hell. The baptisms aroused such bitter quate to the challenge of so illustrious an oppo- antagonism in the city that the young men seemed nent, had sent to Amritsar and to Lahore for two to be in peril of their lives and were obliged to of their most scholarly and most eloquent maul- make their escape into another part of the counvies to uphold the Prophet's honor. Excitement try. For a time every home in the city was closed ran high. Christian evangelists, as they went to us. about in house to house visiting, were sharply *** questioned about the coming addresses, and some- When the Christian Students' Council of a times were taunted in the streets. Christian college planned to show stereopticon On the night of the first debate, crowds filled slides of the "King of Kings" (Life of Christ) in the arena. Men and women with babies, attended the college chapel, where attendance was volun- from the Christian compound. For the first time tary, a group of Mohammedan students, prej- in the history of our city, Christianity was head- udiced against Christianity, determined to cause line news. The debate began in dignified and a disturbance.
scholarly manner, as the maulvies matched their As the lights went out, and the picture was learning against that of their Christian rival. It shown, the mischief makers began to chatter, soon became apparent that the maulvies were far shuffle their feet, snap their fingers, hoot in de- out-classed in their knowledge of the subject. rision, and throw paper wads at the figure of Again and again the convert scored, tearing to Christ on the screen. The president of the college pieces with ease the arguments of his opponents. felt that he could not allow such insults to his [590 ] Master, and sprang to his feet to shut off the pic- ly the audience watched that broken body taken ture. Just then there came before him the mental picture of Jesus and His disciples, weary and from the Cross and laid sorrowfully in its resting footsore at the end of a day's journey, refused place by His brokenhearted friends. The crowd shelter in a village of Samaria. While the dis- was deeply impressed as that invincibly friendly, ciples, in anger at this indignity to their Master, virile, gallant Spirit went down to seeming dedesired to call down fire from Heaven on the in- feat, so unmerited and ignominious. But with the hospitable village, "Jesus turned and rebuked dawning of Easter morning, when the noble figthem; and they went to another village." The ure of Christ rose from his grave, living and vicpresident decided to ignore the disturbance, and torious, the whole student body was on its feet let the picture go on. and the oppressive stillness was broken with cheer after wild cheer, exultantly ringing through Little by little, as Jesus walked before them on the chapel: "He has conquered!" the screen, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowful, playing with little children, gradually the The next day a sober-faced committee of Moshuffling of feet, and the derisive "cat calls" les- hammedan students called at the president's office. sened. Later, when the scenes of Christ's suffer- "We came to beg forgiveness," they said, "for our ing on the Cross were thrown on the screen, a shameful rudeness of yesterday. We would never tense and breathless stillness filled the room. Quiet- have acted as we did, if we had supposed that Jesus was like that!"
CHURCH GIVING HAS INCREASED The statistics of the United Stewardship Council (Harry S. Myers, Sec.) are for the church years ending between December 31, 1937, and September 1, 1938. These figures show an increase in giving to benevolences and to congregational expenses; membership also shows an increase.
The new depression that started in the fall of 1937 caused a severe slowing up in contributions in many churches, but the total for the year is larger than the total for the preceding report. In per capita giving the United Presbyterians stand at the head with $5.47 per capita for general benevolences and $7.09 for denominational work.
The increase in giving by the listed twenty-five church bodies is $2,313,425.00, or is .007 per cent over the preceding year.
All groups except five show a growth in membership; the Southern Baptists stand first with 4,595,602. The total membership, exclusive of infants, reported by these twenty-five church bodies in the United States and Canada, is 25,143,316, an increase of 133,766, over the statement made last January.
RELIGIOUS BODY 1 – -P-ER- -OA,P-IT-A-G-IF-TS- – – – 1 – – – – -T-O,T-AL-G-IF-T-S – – – – – – 1 Membership Denomina· oongrega. Denomina· Oongrega- Excluding tlonal Be· tiona! All tiona! tiona! AIl Purposes Infants nevo!ences Expenses Purposes Benove!ences Expenses 1——1——–1———-1——–1—— I Baptist, Northern ………………. .. $1.76 $10.19 $II.95 $2,590,305 $14,957,043 $17,547,348 1,468,043 2 Baptist, Southern ..•……………… 1.24 5.78 7.02 5,702,150 26,563,537 32,265,687 4,595,602 3 Baptist, Seventh Day ……………. .. 3.79 10.45 14.24 25,736 70,968 96,704 6,793 4 Brethren, Church of ……………… . 2.23 7.89 10.12 368,269 1,300,000 1,668,269 164,784 5 Brethren in Christ, United ………..• 1.92 10.02 II.94 790,793 4,125,218 4,916,011 411,674 6 Congregational and Christian …….. . 1.57 14.10 15.66 1,613,817 14,534,449 16,148,266 1,030,914 7 Disciples of Christ ………………. .. 1.33 6.08 7.40 2,130,988 9,768,528 ll,899,516 1,607,716 8 Episcopal, Protestant ……………. . 2.53 20.26 22.79 3,437,559 27,500,570 30,938,129 1,357,496 9 Evangelical Church ………………. . .69 19.07 19.76 162,820 4,498,461 4,661,281 235,868 10 Evangelical and Reformed ………… . 2.24 II.95 14.19 1,464,002 7,796,393 9,260,395 652,668 II Lutheran Church, United …………. . 2.32 12.26 14.59 2,612,550 13,802,994 16,415,544 1,125,399 12 Lutheran Conference, American …… . 2.62 11.31 13.93 2,699,066 11,658,225 14,357,291 1,030,861 13 Lutheran Conference, Synodical …… . 2.65 10.81 13.46 2,921,804 ll,894,245 14,816,049 1,100,572 14 Lutheran, Other Synods ………….. . 1.49 7.58 9.07 123,660 627,393 751,053 82,789 15 Methodist Episcopal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. 98 14.11 16.09 7,285,917 51,788,184 59,074,101 3,671,ll5 16 Methodist Episcopal, South , ……… . 2.53 7.43 9.96 7,149,726 21,040,770 28,190,496 2,830,258 17 Muravian, North ………… , …….. . 4.86 17.38 22.24 84,603 302,234 386,837 17,392 18 Nazarene, Church of ……………… . 4.54 26.35 30.89 650,892 3,777,210 4,428,102 143,330 19 Presbyterian, United ., …………… . 7.09 16.80 23.89 1,276,683 3,025,969 4,302,652 180,065 20 Presbyterian, U. S, (So,) ………….. . 5.18 16.40 21.58 2,579,108 I 8,162,139 10,741,247 497,816 21 Presbyterian, U. S. A………. , ….. .. 3.58 17.64 21.23 6,823,443 33,584,4II 40,407,854 1,903,747 22 Reformed in America …….. , ……… . 3.76 19.66 23.41 598,440 3,132,064 3,730,504 159,343 23 Baptist, Ontario and Quebec …….. ,. 3.63 14.61 18.24 205,652 1 828,556 1,034,208 56,700 24 Presbyterian in Canada ………….. . 3.11 14.03 17.15 547,6331 2,467,362 3,014,995 175,824 25 United Church of Canada …………. . 3.62 14.13 17.75 2,306,259 8,995,562 11,301,821 636,547 1-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-. Average or total, 1938 … , …….. ,. $2.23 $11.38 $13.62 ……….. '1-.-.-.-..-.-.-..-.-1–.-.-..-.-.-..- ____A_v_e_r_a_g_e_o_r_t_o_t_a_I,_19_3_7_._._.._._._.._._'_'_"_"1__$_2_._16_ __$_1_0._9_6_ __$_1_3_,2_5_ _,_,_'_"_'_'_"_'_' _1_'_'_'_"_'_'_'_"_'_1__"_'_'_"_'_'_"_'_1__"_'_'_"_._._._. 1 1 1 _ _ _G_r_a_n_d_t_o_t_a_I,__19_3_8._._.._._._.._._.._._._._.'-'-'1-'._._.'_'_'_1_'_'_'_••_._._1_'_'_'._,_._'1 $56,151,875 _1$286,202,485 $342,354,360 25,143,316 Grand total, 1937 ….. …………. ……. .. ….. . …… $53,793,095 $272,964,745 $330,040,935 21,909,550
and the World's Crisis*
By INABELLE GRAVES COLEMAN, Richmond, Va.
Editorial Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention THOUSANDS, even millions of Christians When the first mISSIOnaries came to Yintak, around the world are celebrating milestones the present young people's leader was a tiny lad. of victory for Christ. Numerous reports of The American children attracted him and soon prevailing privations, persecutions, perseverances he was joining them in their story hour time and personalizations of both missionaries and na- about their mother's knees. Theile stories always tional Christians evidence manifold fulfillments included Jesus and the love of God. of the petitions of the pioneers of yesteryears. The Chinese lad was held spellbound by these No missionary has claimed that he or she has stories for they were like none he had ever heard made a sacrifice or complained because of priva- before. He retold them at home. None of his tions. There are some less surrendered souls who family had ever heard of Jesus but believed that may do so, but the missionaries dwell on life's there are many gods whom one must worship sweetest moments of fellowship with the spirit of in order to be prosperous. When the boy repeated God. Many of the by-products of the privations the stories of Jesus, his family did not like the however, would not be necessary if we at home idea of adding a "foreign god" to their list. would keep closer to missionaries in prayer and in knowledge of their needs. The climax came when this eldest son came home one evening declaring that this God of the One quiet evening in far interior China a for- foreigners is the only true God. Fear filled the eign missionary and an American on a missionary family. To fail to worship the spirit of one's anjourney sat sharing with the Chinese evangelists cestors and the gods of wel:tlth, health, the kitchen, their heart yearnings for God's Kingdom. After and the cradle or the gods. of thunder and disease, a little while the group knelt to pray. In Chinese, would bring great calamity upon the family. The in English, they joined their hearts in praises and lad's grandparents forbade his ever again seeing petitions to the Father of all. When they arose the foreigners. He must forget all that the twilight had given way to darkness, and only by strangers had taught him. But the child could not the glow of a flashlight could they find the door forget. The still small voice of God's Holy Spirit leading into the night. Without apology the had found entrance to his understanding. Alhostess said "Perhaps you wonder why I have not though he had never heard what Jesus said about given you light. There is a little group of Chris- loving father or mother more than God the lad tians not far from us who had no pastor. We chose to obey God. Today, as he counsels with were giving all we could to God's work, but some- Chinese youth, he understands what persecuone happened to remember that if all of us in our tion means to some who become Christian. little church would give our oil money, there would be enough to supply food for a pastor for this little *** flock. For two months we have had no oil for our lamps. We go to bed early and get up by God's Rumania's State Church is a branch of the Rosunlight. It is a good reminder to know that we man Catholic church, and when one of that church are in physical darkness that these babes-in- comes in vital fellowship with God's Spirit and Christ may have spiritual light. We remember Christ becomes his Mediator, he no longer goes to to pray more for them as we sit in the twilight's confession. Instead of paying fees to the priests, dimming glow, and have no oil for our lamps." his free-will, love-offerings are directed toward opening for others this true way of salvation In the two-thirds of the world where paganism through Christ Jesus and naturally the priests obreigns unrelieved by the Christian message, it is ject. Asa result the Evangelical is boycotted, exnot easy for one to turn from the ancestral to iled, persecuted. follow what seems to be a foreign religion. For many that would mean exile from home, family, Far in the north of Rumania is a little missionfriends and loss of means of support. ary society that included five young girls. One sunny April morning, when the beauty of spring- Ch:i~o~~e:i~~l~~~m 1~3~.isslonary Message given during the Florida time filled their hearts with melody, softly they sang a hymn. Before the chorus was completed, a [592 ] rough knock at the door filled them with fear. An The sorrow and suffering, and death in warofficer entered and marched them off to prison torn China today cannot be described. The picfor being "a public nuisance." Locked in a room, ture of death, hunger, and distress are too terrible whose ceiling and walls were dotted with many for words. knotholes, they were commanded to count these knotholes until they collapsed. It is not easy to In spite of war, imprisonment, boycott, and subbe a Protestant in dominantly papal lands. tle persecutions, the Christians of war-torn lands, totalitarian states, and other unenlightened na- The world's youth are on the march today, but tions are loyally persevering, faithfully witnesstheir bands are not playing "Onward Christian ing to Christ their Lord and Saviour. Soldier." These youth, in many parts of Europe, are marching to the commands of dictators like Recently one hundred and fifty young people Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. For disobedience of enlisted in special training for service under orders, they. suffer imprisonment. the leadership of Enrico Paschetto of Turin, Italy. More people were baptized into the Protestant In the prisons of Chosen there are today thou- churches of Rumania last year than during any sands of political prisoners. In Germany's con- previous year. centration camps there are said to be 100,000 men, of whom 10,000 are ministers of Christ. No one For the first time in China's history a corps of knows how many prisoners there are in Italy. In Christian medical students recently offered the Russia, imprisonment and exile have not been government their services and asked to be sent to sufficient to satisfy the dictators; many Christians the front to alleviate the suffering of their fellow have faced the firing squad. men. They are willing to risk their lives for others. One of the three hundred refugee camps Surely it matters to us that thousands of Chris- of Shanghai is located in Old North Gate Baptist tians in the world are persecuted for their loyalty Church. The day after the shelling of Natao, one to Christ. of the many missionaries who has chosen to re- main in China, braved the danger of flying shrap- Nazism that exalts a man above God; Fascism nels and stray bullets, and went over to this old that places. the State above God; Communism that church. The quietness when he entered the vesexiles God; Imperialism that claims divinity for tibule made him wonder what could create such a its emperor-all these attempt to fetter the souls silence among a multitude crowded into these of men. over-flowing quarters. He saw Pastor Y. C. Ching standing in the midst of this homeless, hun- Because Martin Niemoller preached from the gry crowd of crushed sorrowing humanity, readtext, "We ought to obey God rather than man," ing the 23rd Psalm. How could these people deshe was tried for treason and today he suffers in a titute, desperate, wounded, snatched from death "concentration camp prison." If he had said, that claimed their loved ones, understand those "We ought to obey Hitler instead of God," his fate words about the Lord as a Shepherd, from the would have been reversed. Over the beautiful psalmist? gates of one of Germany's oldest universities once was the challenge to youth: "To the living Spirit Then he remembered the words: "Surely He of the Eternal God." Now the word "God" has shall not fail nor be discouraged until He hath set been chiselled out, and "Germany" has been mor- his justice in all the earth, and the isles shall wait ticed in its place. for His law?"
Christians cannot be unaware of these facts. Calmly the missionary wove his way through The cause of Christ must be promoted with knowl- the mass of humanity until he stood by the calm edge of the conditions that affect missions and Christian pastor. Putting his arm about Mr. hinder or help the progress of the Kingdom. Ching's shoulders, the West and East, the white and the yellow races, brothers in Christ, testified "The Beauties of War" is the title of a recent to the fact that "The Lord is my shepherd." book from the pen of Mussolini's son, who has barely reached his majority. He depicts a spring- Faithfulness to Christ prevails in these lands time airplane flight through the heaven's blue of persecution and trial around the world. skies of Ethiopia. In the morning sunshine he spies a village of peasants-only women and chil- The Chinese ideograph for America is composed dren for all of the men and boys have gone to of a combination of characters meaning literally fight the intruding army. The young aviator "Beautiful Country to the West." Most of the drops a bomb on the peasants and with a laugh world thinks of the United States as a land synsoars above the dust and death he has created. onymous with beautiful freedom and delightful liberty. The eyes of the world are upon "Chris- Such hellish delight is incomprehensible to a tian America," as the United States is frequently Christian. Those thus destroyed lived in the land called by Christians of other lands where America of Abyssinia, the oldest nation to claim the name and her sins are not well known. "Christian."
At the Nanking home of Dr. Sun F'o in 1936, At a university luncheon in Nanking the Ameriwhen he was the head of the legislative depart: can guest sat next to a Chinese leader in Nanment of the National Government of China, a king's civic and social service work. Recalling group of Americans found their host in his office. their college days in America, they remembered Dr. Sun still wore his shaded reading glasses. that both of them had met at the Y. W. C. A. Before him were two opened books: a Bible, Camp at Blue Ridge a decade ago. (opened to the Proverbs of Solomon), and the Constitution of the United States of North "How did you come to give up the missionary America. With these pages before him, this Chi- call that burned so radiantly in your life then?" nese scholar and statesman was drafting the new ventured the American. constitution for the Republic of China. With national courtesy the Chinese woman hesi- A passenger on the Atlantic was coming to one tated, but the American urged her to forget Oriof the largest cities of the United States to teach ental politeness and to be Americanly-frank, for his native tongue. By calling, and in fifteen years she was asking the question for reasons deeper of service, he was a Christian minister and he had than curiosity. never taught school before. "Then, for Christ's sake, I shall tell you. As a "I would not have left my people-they need college girl in China I was very happy with the me now more than ever, but the churches are thought of going to America to be with and study closed; scores of preachers, who have dared to with people who love God. The night before our preach in spite of the government's repression, ship touched the United States, I did not even have landed in jail. But there is much we can do take off my clothes. I prayed all night. My heart without preaching in a pulpit. We can go from was full to bursting. I prayed three things: I h.ouse to house breaking the Bread of Life. Quiet- praised God over and over for such a privilege to ly we can shepherd our flocks. But my lad's come to Christian America; I prayed to be worthy mother died last summer. She was training him to set my feet upon America's soil-I felt so unto worship and encouraging him to be a Christian worthy; and I prayed for an open heart and mind in spite of Naziism. I was afraid to have the boy to receive the blessings of learning that I might grow up in a land that has exiled God. It is also be like the missionaries who come from this for the lad that I am coming to America. I want beautiful country to which I was now privileged him to have the blessings of growing up in Chris- to come. Then, but-" and her voice broke. tian America." Humiliated by the world's personalization of an Christian America? One trembles and prays! America unworthy of such admiration and es- May those who personalize and idealize America teem, Christians are moved by a renewed zeal to and call her people Christian, not be disillusioned! respond more faithfully to the aching heart of humanity.
The Prime Needs of a City Church By REV. G. H. BECHTOLD, D.D., Philadelphia -otil Executive Secretary, Board of Inner Missions, Evangelical Lutheran Church M OST Protestant congregations begin in supported by the congregation, usually support promising neighborhoods, in a growing themselves and are a source of support for the community of new homes and new fam- congregation. While the congregation grows and ilies. The folks have brought with them some prospers, it never outgrows its early manner of tradition of church attendance and join their new living. With the rapid changes in our modern friends and neighbors in erecting a new church urban life it suddenly finds itself panic stricken. building. For a longer or shorter period of time People are leaving the neighborhood and a differtheir chief occupation is paying the debt and rais- ent class of persons is coming in. Raising money ing the pastor's salary. Some city congregations for local expense and getting new members has not never get beyond that stage. In one communion. succeeded in permeating the community with the Gospel. Money raising devices may have made the over 80 % of the entire income was used for local congregation a nuisance to the small business man. Finally the congregation prepares to move to a expenses, interest, and liquidating debts. The Bible schpol and youth activities, instead of being
THE PRIME NEEDS OF A CITY CHURCH
"more promising" neighborhood. This is a drab tion. People have more leisure and more forms picture, but we need to examine ourselves before of amusement than ever. Amusement resorts proceeding to the building of a constructive pro- cater to capacity crowds but so do our hospitals for gram for action. mental diseases. The Church has a legitimate field in providing the plan and the opportunity for A change of attitude is a prime necessity in a clean pastimes. Music, dramatics and sports are truly Christian program. We read "My house health outlets for pent-up spirits. Folks learn to shall be called a house of prayer for all people." know one another better and are more ready to As a matter of fact, the average Protestant church work together in the serious work of Kingdom is chiefly a "house for the respectable middle building. In one large city church the older men class." We reach neither the very rich nor the were organized into twenty quoit teams. They very poor, although they are there among us. At played every night during the summer, becoming times, groups of congregations make a survey of better acquainted with each other, and in an in- their neighborhoods, but often that gives the indi- formal way, with the program of the church. vidual congregation no accurate picture of its field. Surveys must be made, in order that we may know For nineteen centuries the Christian Church who the people are who live in our parish. has been the St. Elizabeth of the needy. The vast State relief programs have overshadowed the work In every neighborhood there are static as well of the Church. Nevertheless only her persistent as moving elements in the population. Among benevolence has made it possible for the State to those who are static we find the conservative well- carryon on such a colossal scale. What the Church to-do, who were once active in the local church. lacks in funds she possesses in the miraculous Another group could not keep up the pace; they power of multiplying the loaves and the fishes. stayed in the neighborhood, but out of the church. Unemployment has had a devastating effect on In every community there are hidden treasures the life of all classes in the community. Lack of waiting to be turned up. There is a glaring illus- jobs causes lack of funds. Pride has kept many tration in the case of the aged widow in Philadel- former members out of the church. While it is phia for whose millions hundreds of hungry heirs laudable to say "Come whether you have money are squabbling, but for whose soul no church or not," what many really need is a job. Here we seemed to have any concern. have fallen down. Congregational employment committees cooperating with a community Free Having learned the possibilities of a field, the Employment Bureau conducted by the denomina- congregation must look at itself. Having gath- tion have sometimes been the means of finding ered the facts, the congregation must adopt a new work for hundreds in private and public positions. attitude of determination and optimism. First of all, its equipment must not look run down at the Social and economic changes afford the city heel. Many city churches were erected in the days church an opportunity to provide an outlet for the when folks had large families and when every exchange of ideas. In many cases, discussion one went to church. groups have taken the place of old debating clubs. People like to talk about present-day problems. People are conscious of a building that is clean In most congregations, there are one or more col- and well lighted and warm on cold days. lege graduates capable of conducting such a group. One danger is that the pastor may monop- Adequate and decent housing is one of the sta- bilizing factors in a city church. When the newly- oJize the time. Give the people a chance to answer weds can find a modern home close to the old home back. Our Lord had a deep concern for the physi- they will stay. If the family which has risen from cal welfare of the people; Christians may have poverty (are there any such today?) can find a no less. But what of the Gospel? Many sermons more comfortable dwelling among the old neigh- are only husks. The text often provides a peg on . bors they will remain. The church should have a which the preacher hangs his personal views. live interest in the enforcement of housing and What most people want is an authoritative presen- zoning laws, in order that she as well as her neigh- tation of the Scriptures in simple Anglo-Saxon. bors can live happily. It is more constructive to In many cases we have secularized the Church have some unsanitary condition corrected than to with such themes as "Patriotic Grandfathers' pay for the burial expenses of an innocent child Day," "Rocking Chair Sunday," and other cheap victim. tricks to draw a crowd. Worth-while services and messages send folks home with the conviction that People also need to be taught how to live in a they have been with God. home. Despite all the new fangled devices to lighten the "drudgery of housekeeping," nothing A church open every day, ministering to its has yet been invented to take the place of intel- neighbors all the day, is an answer to the prob- ligence. lem. True leadership involves surrounding one- self with an efficient force of workers. Instead of In most parishes in a city, nickelodeons, gramo- phones and player pianos started the process of drying up the wells of wholesome family recrea-
one pastor in a large city church there should be source of lay activity we could turn the ebbing three or four. Experience has shown that not tide in the city churches.
only the unchurched but many of our best work- We also need to cultivate the lost art of singing.
ers are in need of intense pastoral care. Mean- One small city church that we know, with a mem- while the solitary pastor is shackled by a multi-' bership of only 200 had three excellent choirs, an- tude of details that call for trained workers. other larger congregation has fifteen. Not only While every city church has audiences and or- have they served to hold together the group, ganizations, what it needs is worshipers who also spread the appreciation of good music, stimulated are workers, evangelists or deacons in the sense the singing of the congregation, but also they have of Acts 6: 3. City church societies should repre- sung the Gospel into hearts of many.
sent the spirit of Christian fellowship and be the In a community where there are people the training school for volunteer workers. In Ger- prime necessity of the city church is to believe in many the Protestant Church societies have had its mission to permeate and dominate the commu- more than three million volunteers ready at a nity with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, moment's notice for any service. With such a preached, lived and practiced.
Evangelistic Work in Ludhiana Hospital By D. M. PAYNE, Evangelist Memorial Hospital, Ludhiana, Pan;ab CHRISTIAN medical work brings us into been educated in a mission school, and would like touch with all classes of non-Christians- to read the Gospel story over again very carefully. Hindus, Mohammedans and Sikhs. Our ap- He bought a Gospel, and asked her to pray that proach to these people through our medical and as he reads Christ will reveal His full light to him health work is a very effective means of reaching so that he may find salvation and peace of heart. them with the Gospel message. In the hospital, where patients stay for a shorter or longer period, We also found this same earnest seeking after we have a unique opportunity of seeing their re- the truth as revealed in Christ, on the part of a action to the message and of finding out their atti- Hindu whose wife was admitted to the hospital for tude to Christ. Not only the patients, but their several weeks. He bought a Bible saying that he relatives, too, both men and women, have an op- had read it while in a mission school as a boy, but portunity of hearing the message day by day. had paid no attention to its teachings then. Now, however, he was anxious to read it over again very Many these days are buying copies of the Scrip- carefully from beginning to end. Another edutures and seem genuinely anxious to find out about cated Hindu, a master in a high school, whose wife these things for themselves. I think it is not an was in the hospital for some time, said that he exaggeration to say that there is a real spirit of had a Bible at home which he was in the habit of enquiry abroad in India just now on the part of reading to his wife and children. A text hanging many, who are dissatisfied with what their own on the wall of the ward, "The wages of sin is religion has to offer them, and this is causing them death, but the gift of God is eternal life through, to study: the Scriptures and listen with eagerness Jesus Christ our Lord" attracted his attention, and to the message of salvation through Christ. I one day he said, "Will you explain the meaning have, personally, met very few non-Christians of it to me? I have been pondering over it for the during my twelve years of service in this country last two days.'" who are really satisfied with their own religion, and can testify to having found the truth. On the The Hindu doctrine of Karma (salvation by contrary, I have met many who are ready to con- works) is a hopeless one, and it seems that some fess that they are in search of truth. of the thoughtful Hindus are wistfully looking to Christ for salvation that does not depend on the A short time ago the father of one of our Mo- self-effort of weak humanity. Our experienced hammedan patients was listenfng to the Gospel Bible worker, who visits among the "zenana" message while on a visit to his daughter. As the women in the city, reports that among the Hindus Biblewoman was preaching about the death and a number have given up the worship of idols and resurrection of Christ, he exclaimed, "Quite true! long pilgrimages to bathe in the Ganges to remove Quite true!" Afterwards he told her that he had the stain of sin. To some of these she has been
EVANGELIST WORK IN LUDHIANA HOSPITAL
preaching Christ for years. In some instances Him as a prophet, but since I have learnt more of their husbands have joined the Arya Somaj Com- Him during my stay here, I now know that He munity-an advanced sect of Hindus-who, in is the Son of God, and my Saviour from sin." Her spite of having given up idol worship and other eldest son, whose right it is to take the important old customs and superstitions, have still not set- position occupied by his father, refuses to do so tled the sin problem. Many are looking and long- because he says their religious teachers are false, ing for a manifestation of God in the flesh, the and rob the people whom they are supposed to coming of a Divine Being who is perfectly pure teach and shepherd. He says that his "two eyes and holy. Some of the women whom she has been have become four" since reading the Bible. teaching, have accepted Christ. One very significant fact in regard to the atti- The Mohammedans look upon Christ as one of tude of non-Christians towards Christianity, is their prophets, and reverence Him as such, but that they expect a higher standard of love and of do not believe that He died on the Cross to save life from Christians. sinners and think it is blasphemous to speak of Him as the Son of God. However we have come EIGHT CHRISTIAN COLLEGES FOR across a number whose hearing or reading of the WOMEN IN ASIA Word has had considerable effect on them, so that their ideas of Christ as taught them by their own There are eight Union Christian Colleges for religious teachers are changing, and one comes Women in the Far East. St. Christopher'S across many who have come to realize that He is Training College at Madras, India, opened in indeed the Son of God and Saviour of the World, 1923, has now an enrolment of 93 young women although only one here and there has actually with a practice school of 454 pupils. Its gradutaken the step of baptism, while there are a large ates are scattered all over India, teaching in number who are searching the Scriptures and are schools and colleges, in Christian, Hindu and gradually coming into the Light. A Mohammedan, Government institutions. a Police Officer, said to me the other day, Between three and four hundred Japanese "Since I have realized that Christ ..alone of our young women are studying at the Woman's prophets was born of the Holy Spirit, I have felt Christian College of Tokyo. Scholastic training compelled to make a study of His life and claims." is accompanied by practical Christian service.
A Mohammedan student who was in training in Ginling College recently at Nanking, China is our hospital for three and one-half years, recently having a desperate struggle and is operating in came to visit us, and said that the things she three units-one at St. John's College in Shanglearnt of Christ while here she has been passing hai, one at Hwa Chung College and a third at on to others. She said she was working in a part West China University, Chengtu. of the Panjab where many people have not heard the Gospel message, and invited us to go there Yenching College (co-educational) is operatand preach. This we did and found some who are ing within the Japanese lines at Peiping, China. really searching for the truth, and who took The enrolment is smaller than for some years. copies of the Scriptures to read. Others, to whom she had passed on what she had learnt of Christ Cheeloo University (Shantung) has had to as Saviour, are ready to come out on His side, abandon its buildings at Tsinan, but its doctors, and to acknowledge their faith before others in nurses and students are still serving the sufferbaptism. After we returned to Ludhiana a letter ing Chinese. came from a Mohammedan convert, whose home is in that area, begging us to come again, because, Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow, India, has he said "The harvest is really ripe." He also enrolled 214 students; these include girls who added, "I explain about Christ, my Redeemer, to have never been out of p1;trdah before coming to the people of my blood, who are really very fond college and girls who haie never been in school of hearing the message," and then goes on to say, before. Its graduates ~re scattered all over "Most of this country is populated by Moham- India. medans, who regard the Lord as prophet. The only thing that is to be done is to get them to The Woman's Christian College at Madras, realize his Omnipotence." India, prepares for medicine and the higher branches of learning. Many of its students take Another hospital patient, the widow of a big graduate work in America or England. religious leader a m 0 n g the Mohammedans through hearing the Christian message daily, de- Missionary Medical College for Women at Velclared that she has given her allegiance to Christ lore, South India, is . .veIl known through the since hearing about these things. To quote her work of Dr. Ida Scudder. Here seventy young own words, she said, "Before coming here I knew women are in training for a life of service in a country where women doctors are especially needed. The roadside clinic run by this medical school serves a large community.
-The Church Woman.
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.~ ij Effective Ways of Working 'rested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MISS GRACE 'vY. McGAvRAN, 5718 OAK AVE., INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA ~'==I===========~='IJi OHRISTMAS GIFTS materials to use; for ways of tions. Use the books that are on working are prepared by the your shelves in a conscious ef- "There is so little we can real- various peace organizations of fort to preserve the will to peace. ly do for peace," mourned a the country. Choose one organrather short-sighted member of ization and keep in touch with it. Oooperate With the Ohildren a women's missionary society. Use as many of its ideas as you can profitably put into effect. in Study "There are, on the contrary," s u g g e s te d another, "several How Many Books on Peace We often fail to have a vital things." relationship between agencies Has Your Library? in the same church, doing the "Such as?" same thing. The following in- "Object to the sale of war toys Public libraries, missionary li- teresting report from a church for children in our neighborhood braries, libraries of the church in Oklahoma shows how a really stores; give some thought to buy- school departments, private li- valuable connection may be ing for your own children books braries, all these should have made. The Primary children which will aid world friendship, some good recent materials on were given the feeling that what and toys that emphasize con- Peace. A very practical thing they themselves were doing was structive enterprises; and think you can do is to have someone of real concern to grown-ups. out a definite way of helping really interested in peace educa- Their study must have gained them to decide to lay aside war tion make a classified list of what added dignity. The adults were toys which may come to them is available and where, and for made familiar with what chilfrom thoughtless relatives and what age groups. The young peo- dren can do in a field quite unfriends." ple might cooperate in this. known to themselves in their The first member had the Late winter is a good time for a own childhood. grace to blush. "Just to do those special reading campaign on the three things would: take more subject. Books may vary from "The Primary children recentthinking and a bit more courage the short but emphatic, "War is ly completed a study of World than I've given the cause of a Racket," by General Smedley Peace based on the course prepeace yet," she admitted frank- D. Butler, to the interesting but pared by Mrs. Elizabeth Loly. "I'm glad you called my rather difficult, "Power of Non- bingier-'Ship East-Ship West' bluff. I'll get busy at it, I prom- Violence," by Richard Gregg. and the accompanying teacher's ise you." Or it may include, "Ship East- guide. This project was carried Ship West," a book for 1st, 2nd on during the departmental ses- What specific task for world and 3rd grade children by Eliza- sions of the Sunday church peace are you laying before your beth Lobingier, which has facts school and a regular weekly group? Is it something each one and stories qui t e interesting meeting of the children of this can do if she has a mind to? Is enough for use with adults to department. Stories, dramatizait something the value of which whom they are unfamiliar. It tions, e x p lor at ion of Bible she will see? Is it something will do mothers and fathers a verses, investigations of facts whose cumulative effect will be real amount of good to read relative to the cost of war, the noticeable? Is it something that some of these new children's creation of peace bridges and demands a bit of courage or de- books on peace. "Broken Guns," other memorials erected between termination? There is something by Eleanor Brainard is another. f r i end I y nations, discussions every person can do. Find it, It is for Junior children. centering around methods of livput it before the group, follow ing together in peaceful relait up and report if possible on In this period when the world tions, were among the activities results. hangs on the edge of general con- of work carried on during this flict it is essential, if we are at study. Make Use of Peace all interested in ultimate peace, Organizations that we use the written word to "At the close of their work keep people's minds turned to together, the chi 1d r en had Many excellent and detailed the possible ways of cooperative charge of the peace program of suggestions for programs on dealing with each other as na- the Women's Missionary Society peace; for lines of action; for of their church. At that time the [598 ]
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
things which they had learned Peace in an exhibit being sponsored by and done during their study to- the group. gether were shared with the Peace in our time, 0 Lord, older members of their church To all the peoples-Peace! (3) Some young people, wantin a most effective way. Peace surely based upon Thy Will And built in righteousness. ing to make quoted material viv- "As a concrete expression of id, memorized a paragraph each their interest in world peace, the Thy power alone can break and gave it, in proper sequence boys and girls are packing two The fetters that enchain with all the dignity, emphasis suitcases to be sent to the Com- The sorely-stricken soul of life, mittee on World Friendship And make it live again. and effectiveness they could com- Among Children – one for a mand. Voices which contrasted Spanish girl, and the other for a Too long mistrust and fear and personal characteristics Spanish boy. While this study Have held our souls in thrall; which differed gave emphasis to as such has been completed, the Sweep through the earth, keen breath it and helped prevent any feelleaders of this group feel that ing of monotony. much more can be discovered of heaven, about this subject, and will con- And sound a nobler call! (4) One group wanting to tinue to carry the peace emphasis in their church program."- Come, as Thou didst of old, reach the larger church body, In love so great that men with the cooperation of the pas- Mrs. Grant Truman, Supt. of the Shall cast aside all other gods tor printed a paragraph in the And turn to Thee again! church bulletin e a c h week. Primary Department. Church members were urged to 0, shall we never learn Are your adults familiar with The truth all time has taught,- save the bulletins and reread as the mission study being carried That without God as architect a whole the entire message thus out by younger groups in the Our building comes to naught? given them. church? Are they helping the children and young people to feel Lord, help us, and inspire (5) Another group sends out that these things they are study- Our hearts and lives, that we ing are more than just matters May build, with all Thy wondrous an occasional valuable piece of of childhood interest? Why not material by mail to every memplan various occasions when the gifts, ber on the roll. It is mimeochildren's leader can say to the A Kingdom meet for Thee! graphed, as is the short accomchildren, "The· women of the panying letter, and goes for very missionary society (or the men Peace in our time, 0 Lord, little postage. of the Bible class) are interested To all the peoples-Peace! in this, too. They are working Peace that shall build a glad new You might use the paragraphs at it. Would you like to go to their next meeting and tell them world, below in one of these ways. And some of the interesting and And make for life's increase. keep on the lookout for vivid and worth-while things. we have dis- helpful and forceful quotations covered?" The sense of oneness o Living Christ, who still from other sources for similar in the great world-wide task of use. To stimulate thinking is the Church which results from Dost all our burdens share, among the most important of the such interchange is valuable in itself. It also strengthens each COofmaellnmowenanedvedrwywelhl ewreit!h*in the hearts tasks of missionary education. group participating. How Use Quotations "War is not born in a field or be- Sing Hymns of Peace hind a wall, or in a drafting room. Below you will find some very It is born in the mind of a man, or in We have had few hymns in our pertinent paragraphs on the the minds of many men. It is later on actual worship which are def- causes of war and the creation that it becomes bombs and cannon and initely related to a desire for of attitudes toward peace. They the tread of men on the march. peace. It is time we were using are part of an article by W. W. some of them. Reid. "While ideas that give rise to war are allowed to germinate in the human A comparatively new hymn One wishes that all the mem- mind-and are carefully incubated by by John Oxenham, sung to the bers of one's missionary group popular ignorance, by a jingo press, tune so familiar to us all, "Dia- or of the church might have by all the proponents of greed, hate, demata" or "Crown Him with them. There are several ways fear and jealousy, by a warped mili- in which different Qrganizations tarism and 'patriotism,' and, also, too Many Crowns" is given here.* have secured general reading of often in the schoolroom and in the such paragraphs. pulpit-we may fully anticipate the • Printed copies of it may be obtained only known fruit of such germination: from A. Weekes and Co., Ltd., 13-14, Han- (1) Mimeographed copies of wars, more wars, and worse wars. over St., London, W. 1. gngland. Send an similar material was prepared international postal money order for 2 sbil- for one meeting. Its unison "Treaties, solemn pledges, high relings and 6 pence (about sixty cents) for 250 reading was planned as part of solves and reason are powerless before copies. Or for 500 copies send 3 shillings the program. Each member was the causes of war found in the human and 6 pence. The notation says post free. asked to take it home and medi- mind. Until the mind of a whole But you might suggest in YOUI' letter that tate further upon it. world-wide generation is changed, we if postage to foreign countries is extra, they cannot hope for lasting peace. An deduct it from the amount and spnd fewer (2) A member of one group 'embargo' is but war with newer copies. made a series of posters each weapons! Increased armaments pro- carrying in vivid lettering a voke added hate and fear-new causes short paragraph. She used these of conflict! Physical disarmament- in presenting a short talk on the without disarmament of mind and theme. The posters were later spirit-leaves us like our ancestors used, placed in consecutive order who yet warred without the tools of modern combat! • Copyright by The Ohristian Centwry In 1,000 Quotable Poems. Used by permission. "To keep any generation out of war, we must teach it a new philosophy. The whole strength of school, home,
church and the channels of public very familiar one "Uncle Sam box of hanging-tinsel was pro- OpInIOn must be geared together in Needs You," (The picture of vided but by common consent, this educational task-as they now Uncle Sam pointing straight at not used. Some of the mothers gear together when war is to be pro- you). Find a contrast such as and fathers had bought a couple moted. The new teaching emphasis the Poster of the Emergency of strings of electric lights. must be a p p 1i e d simultaneously Peace Campaign of 1937-1938, throughout the world: for peace can- "For What?" (A young man What was the point? They not reign anywhere while the roots of were preparing their gift to a conflict grow in any land. tied to the mouth of the cannon.) near-by city mission, so that the Arrange these against s 0 m e children there might have a tree "One remembers the technique of to enjoy, which was just the fitting the American mind into a war background the size, shape and same tree as they had enj oyed. program in 1917. . . . The success color of an army blanket, with If you could have heard the joy- of that propaganda is now history…. 1917 in large letters over one, ful, "I think they'll like this But if these same instruments of ornament!" and "We'll let them propaganda are used to promote peace, and 1937-38 over another. Be- put on the tinsel-hanging be- they can just as readily-perhaps tween them run the legend. cause we might lose some if we more readily-insure understanding "War is futile. Help us find the used it now," or "It's the nicest and appreciation and cooperation, and Christian way." tree we ever had!" Personal? war will be impossible. Their pride and happiness in it N ow for the display of your had no bounds. It was some- "Suppose we have a misunderstand- contrasts.1 Mounted on beaver thing far more than a gesture of ing, or difference of opinion, or an eco- board, they may be slid one at a giving. Every thing on it had nomic or territorial dispute with some time across an opening in your been selected with the idea of foreign power. Suppose our news- s tag e curtains-dramatically giving delight. papers have their best journalists pre- Rent equally well both sides of the dif- lighted-with the audience in All cannot have children give ference. Suppose the cartoonists, the the dark-as part of a program decorated Christmas trees. But movie men, the radio announcers, the on peace. you can arrange for whatever teachers in their classes, the preachers personal gift they are making at in their pulpits, and the orators of 2. Hire an empty store and set Christmas to have in its prep- all parties extol the virtues of the up the display for Friday and aration, and completion, the .. people with whom we differ; picture same thoughtfulness, and delight the good of their civilization, their Saturday. Hang curtains over in sharing. artistic contribution to mankind, the the windows till you are ready reasonableness of their point of view- to display. In this event you A Look at Future Plans perhaps their very needs for new will want to have an easily-read lands to feed increasing- populations. statement on your group's atti- Pages such as these must be Suppose dolls representing the chil- tude toward war where the win- planned months ahead. There dren of that land replaced guns and dow gazers can read it after are so many lines along which tin soldiers as toys; its pictures and looking at the posters. Someone we might search for effective songs and stories were used from kin- might smash the window, so be methods of working! dergarten to college; the theatres and prepared to pay damages. schools gave plays and displays re- You will find a wealth of in- countin~ that land's history and cus- A Very Personal Gift teresting and helpful suggestion toms' and aspirations. In fact, sup- among the following themes to nose every agency thought and worked Feeling that the children's giv- which we hope to be able to give for peace and understanding. prominence in the months men- ing at Christmas was not very tioned. "In such an atmosphere, commis- sions representing both countries could personal, a Junior Superintend- January-General Plans. easily reach a conclusion of the diffi- February-How to Make Effective culty that would be satisfactory to all. ent planned a bit of Christmas Recourse to arms would be un- Contacts with Missionaries, Mis- dreamed of. sharing in a new way. They sion Leaders and Nationals. March-The Local Church and Its "This is not a small task. Rather themselves always had a Christ- Missionary Program. it is the greatest task of the human April-Various Matters of Interest. race, the task of all governments and mas tree at their Christmas May-Plans for Summer Effective- of all peoples thinking and working ness. cooperatively. It is not to be attained party. Thig year they saved June-Helps for the Home Missions without cost. Into its cost govern- Study. ments will have to transfer many of money to buy an extra big one. July-Visual Education in Missions. the millions now spent in war-produc- Septembm'-Effective Publicity for ing armaments. It was left without a decoration Missionary Events. October-Helps for Our Foreign Mis- "What if one generation today on it. sions Study. 'sacrifices' all its pomps and vanities N ovember-Stewardship. that a thousand coming generations As the boys. and girls arrived December-The Enrichment of the may live!" Devotional Life. for the party, each carried some Twenty Years After Have you used effective meth- Christmas tree ornament or dec- ods along these lines? If so, kind- Rolled away in somebody's at- ly let the Department Editor tic in your town are some of oration. It was either a new one hear of them. those wonderful war posters of 1917-1918. They were superb in chosen and bought by the child their appeal. Emotionally they did just what they were intended especially for this occasion, or it to do. was one in good condition from Why not use them now for peace education? Here's how! his own home tree. .
Choose a poster such as the What fun they had decorating that tree. Some time was spent making extra decorations. A 1 Various posters against war may be bought from The National Council for Pre- vent:on of "-ar. 532 Seventeenth St.. N. W .. Washington. D. C. Write for descriptions and prices.
BULLETIN
Council of Women for Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
~'================~ij THE STRANGER IN OUR MIDST-THE MIGRANT!
"Away in the Manger, finds in some instances sixteen They Starve That We No crib for his bed . persons living in a one-room May Eat t shack; the only drinking water TTamp-Tramp-Tramp available that which is sold from Shall this continue to be true a filling station at five cents a or will you, and you, and you, Can you hear the Migrants as quart; a destitute mother and who eat fresh and canned vegethey move across the country in baby shipped as freight half-way tables and fruits gathered for search of shelter, employment, across the country to join a hus- you by the Migrants become schools for their children, hospi- band in an endless trek of six- their champion! It is imperative talization for the ill members of week jobs and twelve-week peri- that we as Christians and as their families; for sanitation, ods of looking for it! citizens see that the more than simple justice from individuals two million Migrants in America like you and me who eat the veg- For generations this condition have the right to work and live etables they gather. On foot, in has existed-ever since railroads as human beings. old cars, in and under freight and refrigerators made it postrains many come great dis- sible for neighborhood markets SIX A. M. AT THE NURSERY tances in expectation of short- to obtain tropical fruits in Jantime jobs gathering peas, beans, uary and vegetables the year Does Your Church Know? tomatoes, lettuce, cranberries, around. asparagus, cotton, sugar beets, How the Council of Women apricots, hops, and other vege- Recent years have added for Home Missions, representing tables, small fruits, and fisheries greatly to the number of Mi- twenty-three national women's here and elsewhere. grants due to floods, droughts, denominational Boards is at- share-cropper eviction, and most tempting to meet this problem? Through the pressure of pub- recently the tractor. Where the If not, make it your business to lic opinion the families of the tractors are appearing the rural secure for your pastor, your city slums can turn to the clinic, landscape is strewn with abanthe visiting nurse, the relief doned houses. Residents in west- • Quoted from an artiCle on Migrants by agencies, the school, or the ern Texas explain as they point: Paul ·S. Taylor, of the University of Calichurch and receive help because "There used to be two families fornia, entitled "What Shall We Do with they are members of an organ- out there. The tractor got both Them ?" April, 1938. ized community. But not so with the Migrant families – always SUPPER FOR THE FAMILY OF ELEVEN t "They Starve that We May Eat" is the "strangers in our midst." Un- These meals must be prepared in the early protected by law he is barely in title of a valuable booklet on Migrant work the consciousness of the public. morning before going to the fields compiled by Edith E. Lowry, and published Public opinion is not aroused to by the Missionary Education Movement and the :plight of this segment of of them. . . . That farm has the Councll of Women for Home Missions, Amedcan life. As a result one made a living for a family ever price 35 cents. since the land was broke. . . . The tractors are keeping our families from making a living." * [ 601 ]
Barbara Green make out someway until tomorrow al- would like to read something. He said though Dorothy had cried all night; he would and picked out Peter Rabbit. STORY HOUR FOLLOWS WORSHIP and they had no money. . . . Worker It was a sight to see him sitting there, AT TEN O'CLOCK saw the county doctor in —. He absorbed, mouthing his way through is not too vitally interested, but told a book he should have been able to Missionary Society President, her to use bread and milk poultice and read with ease seven or eight years your Sunday School Superin- bring Dorothy to him tomorrow and ago. But at least he can read it now tendent, and your young people's he would make no charge. Worker and that is something." leader full information by writ- told Father this on way back. If he ing to the Council of Women for does not see to it, perhaps worker will "A large majority of the children Home Missions, 297 Fourth take her." in these camps do not attend school. Avenue, New York, N. Y. What Of course they do not want to attend a force for public opinion we "We had a rummage sale. Many and, as a superintendent of one of the could be if every church made of the parents came. It gave them a schools said, 'If they did all come I the story of the Migrant a con- chance to see the Center as well as don't know where we would put them.' cern of that entire church! get clothing for the family. Most But they do not all come and never articles were sold for 5 cents, a few will unless local communities make a The following excerpts are things were 10 cents. Some of the point of seeing that they come by enfrom reports of the fifty-three parents said, looking around, 'No won- forcing compulsory school attendance." projects in thirteen states where der the kids like to come here so the Council of Women for Home well!' " "We were all ready for our trip to Missions with the aid of trained the Museum. The group of ten was volunteers has been a construc- Barbara Green just a good number. First we went to tive force in the life of the CLEAN-UP COMES JUST BEFORE LUNCH! the Park, and for awhile the boys kept Migrant: busy at the playground. We had "Today I had an extensive talk with lunch near the pond. The one diffi- Christmas Eve in a Cotton Claire on religion, I, a Baptist and she culty was that the boys wanted to Camp a Catholic. Her interest and knowl- catch the goldfish in the pond. They edge were astounding. The conversa- roamed around and looked at the vari- "We came to play Santa Claus in a tion was not one of proselyting, but ous things in the park, and then we small way-in a small way of neces- rather one of sharing. Religious con- all walked down to the Children's sity because of the almost insurmount- versation is not in any degree so taboo Museum. We saw colored slides of able task that is presented. Proper here as on the college campus. . . . the West first, and then movies of the clothing, nourishing food, warm As young as they are we get into good desert, South America, and the Far shelter. The cabins are built on the discussions on religion. They told me West. The boys were really interested ground and with rough boards covered today that they thought I would go to and enjoyed the exhibits. They seemed with dirt for the floor. An old garbage heaven even though I didn't tell my to be quite enthusiastic about the can turned upside down serves for a sins to a priest." whole trip. . . . At eight o'clock the stove, and a pile of cotton with a piece children's choir sang one of their new of canvas thrown over it is known as "Our men were forced to strike this songs for devotion and did very well. the bed. This is the winter home of morning When 'thousands' of cars … The dance later in the evening four children and their parents who came tearing in to drive them out of was a huge success, though there was pick cotton when the weather permits. the fields. They are striking for a some tension when the orchestra did . . . From churches, Missionary So- fifty-cent raise for the pickers. We not arrive on time. Someone esticieties and other organizations have stuck around until the tobacco in the mated that there were four hundred come toys, clothing and food which is shed was all used up then went home. people there as dancers or spectators." distributed to every household. . . . If . . . Back to work this morning. The those who have contributed could have boys only got a twenty-five-cent raise. "Workers were putting the rest of heard the cries of joy and glee, and . . . They didn't want the strike in the children to sleep, while B, M, and seen how tickled these children were the first place. These people certainly J were doing dishes. When they went as we handed the gifts to them from ought to be organ'zed that they may out they found a note on the, refrigour trucks they would, I am sure, feel better understand their needs. But erator, 'Dear teachers, we have moped fully repaid and realize that their sac- first of all must come education. Four every bit of the kitchen flour. It is rifices were not in vain." boys accused of leading our strike real clean. B-M-J.''' were fired." "Dorothy has a badly infected "We fold our hands and softly say finger. Worker stopped to see her "Jack is a bright looking lad of fif- Mother and urged her to take Dor- teen. The worker asked him if he Thanksgiving for our food this day." othy to the doctor. The mother said she had been told she would have to Don't have your concert first, and then tune your instrument; begin the day with the Word of God, and get into harmony with Him.-J. Hudson Taylor.
Christmas Story for
A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN never had opportunity to talk it White ought to tell it, since he BETHLEHEM with some one his own age. is a real teacher," said Micah's mother. By VIOLET WOOD, NEW YORK Although he felt very shy, he approached the man and "N0," said Dr. White. "You Micah had anxiously watched asked timidly, "Please, may I come from people with a rich the sky all afternoon. An air- help carry your bags?" tradition in poetry and beauty. plane had sailed by, but even It will be wonderful to hear you that failed to shake his gloom. "You speak English!" cried tell the Christmas story." The clouds remained and he the little girl. "Do you live was very much disappointed. here ?" So, after they had eaten a Tonight was the night of light meal at the inn, they went nights! For weeks now he had "Yes, I do. My mother, fa- to the roof. The air was melprayed that his father's busi- ther and I will be here for one low and the wind gentle alness would continue in the little or two weeks more," responded though it was December;, but town of Bethlehem until Christ- Micah. there were no stars to be seen mas Day. The prayer had been in the clouded sky. granted, for it was Christmas "Well," said the fat her, Eve and he was still in Bethle- "that's fine. We'll be here for "In America," said Joan, hem. a few days. This is Mrs. White, "perhaps there is snow on the this is Joan and I'm Dr. White." ground now. The Christmas "Oh," he sighed, "if only the trees will be lighted and the stars would shine tonight, so "My name is Micah," replied shop windows gaily decorated that I can watch the sky and the boy with a low bow. in red and green. And, oh, it look for the Star of Bethlehem. will be very cold in many parts How happy I should be!" His Just then his mother came of America. Just think, next mother had promised to take out and met his new acquaint- Christmas I shall be there! How him to the roof of the inn where ances. Mrs. White had just much I will love to tell my they were staying. There she come from a visit to the school friends there about this Christwould tell him the ancient story in Baghdad w her e Micah's mas in Bethlehem. I can't beof many generations ago when mother had once been a pupil; lieve this is really Bethlehem her forefathers had been shep- so they chatted together like old and that it is Christmas Eve. herds in the hills. It would be friends, speaking of teachers It seems like a dream." She wonderful to hear the Christ- and places they both knew. laughed. "These s t ran g e mas story in the town of Beth- mosques and minarets and low lehem itself. But none of this When rooms for the White houses look just like the picwould be possible if it rained, family were found and their tures on Christmas cards at or if the clouds hid the stars. luggage arranged, Joan said: home." Dusk was rapidly falling and the "We are going to walk through clouds remained. the streets of Bethlehem, even "Tomorrow," ask e d Micah, Micah gazed sadly down the if it rains. Coming to Bethle- "will you tell me about Christroad. The sight and sound of mas in America? Mother has an approaching automobile in- hem is my Christmas present terested him, although since his from mother and father. Won't told me about Santa Claus, father was a traveling mer- you come with us?" Christmas trees and the hangchant, he had seen more cars and ing up of stockings. I want to had journeyed more than most Micah's mother looked very hear more about them." Arabian boys. The automobile thoughtful. "I am ashamed to stopped at the inn and Micah have to say this, for it is partly "All right," answered Joan, watched an American lady, a the fault of my people, the man and a little girl about his Arabs; but it is not safe to "but I want to hear about own age get out, laughing mer- walk in the streets of Bethle- Bethlehem now." rily and talking English. This hem when it is dark, even on was very exciting to Micah, be- Christmas night. There are "It is a very simple story," cause his mother, who had been many street fights. Please do began Micah's mother, "one educated at a Christian school not go. It is already dark." that you have heard over and in Baghdad had taught him English. He often talked that "Mother, couldn't they come over, but I will tell it to you as language with her and with the up to the roof over our rooms? it has been told in my family British soldiers, but he had We could watch the sky while from the beginning many, many you tell us the story of the shep- generations ago. I come from herds," pleaded Micah. a long line of Bedouins, or wan- dering shepherds. They lived "Oh, yes," cried Joan, "that would be lovely." in tents made of dark woolen cloth which they threw over "I don't think that I should be the one to tell the story. Dr.
[603 ]
long frames, leaving a flap of afraid and covered their heads ing others there of the birth of cloth tied to a pole which they Jesus. used as a door. Like all shep- with their long tunics. But the herds they spent very little time "King Herod heard the report angel of the Lord appeared and and wondered what it meant. in their tents; they preferred to Later some Wise Men came from lie on the hillside day and night told them of the birth of a baby the East and said tbey had seen watching their sheep and look- a wonderful star. They asked: ing at the stars, and thinking that was wrapped in swaddling 'Where is the newborn king of about the God who made them. the Jews, for we have seen his clothes and was lying in a man- star in the East and are come to "Hundreds of years ago to- worship him?' Herod was frightnight a little group of Jewish ger where cattle were usually ened when he heard of this and shepherds were lying on the sent for the Jewish priests and hills near here. It had been an fed. Then the whole chorus of .unusual day and it was a teachers to ask them about the strange night. The sheep were heavenly angels sang as with old prophecy that told of the restive. The camel trails had one great voice of praise: 'Glory coming of a Jewish Messiah. been much used by strangers all Then he told the Wise Men to go morning and afternoon. for the to God in the highest and on to Bethlehem to look for the decre~ of the Roman Emperor, child. Cresar Augustus, was that all earth peace, good will toward the descendents of King David "As they traveled on, the star should bring their tribute to men.' appeared again and the Wise Bethlehem. So, many travelers Men were filled with great joy. came from as far away as Leb- "As suddenly as they came, They followed where it seemed anon and Jericho and Nazareth to point until they came to a to the ancient City of David. the angels went away again; the house in Bethlehem where they found the young child with Mary "The shepherds knew of the sky became as before, and a old prophecy that a Messiah his mother and they, too, wor- great silence surrounded them. shipped him." would someday be born in Bethlehem who would deliver his The shepherds were no longer *** people. They thought of it as they lay silently watching the afraid. They talked with one Here Micah's mother stopped sky. As tonight, clouds rolled speaking and looked up into the over it. Suddenly strange mu- another of their vision and de- sky. All the others looked up, sic was heard in the distance. cided that certain of them would too. The clouds had passed and The shepherds looked at one a lovely, bright star was shining another shaking their heads. go to Bethlehem and see if they Something wonderful was about over them. to happen, of that they were could find the wonderful child. "Oh," cried Micah in joy, "the sure. "Some of the shepherds went star! See the star!" "All at once, just after dark- "Just think," whispered Joan, ness had grown soft and black down the hills and made inquiras velvet, the heavens became "this might have been the very very bright around them with ies until they found the baby in spot." a strangely brilliant light. The shepherds were very m u c h the stable of the inn at Bethle- "Yes," said Micah. Doesn't hem. He was wrapped in swad- that star seem to be pointing here?" dling clothes, with Mary his "That is because the Star of mother beside him and her hus- Christ is shining in our hearts," murmured Dr. White. band Joseph seated near by. The humble shepherds bowed down and worshipped this child, who was called Jesus, of whom the messengers from heaven had told them. .
"Then the shepherds returned to their flocks, full of wonder at what they had seen. For many days they told the story of their vision, and their finding of the Christ child to travelers who stopped in the hills to refresh themselves and to fill the i r waterjugs. Some of these trav- elers went on,to Jerusalem, tell~
World–wide
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO NORTH AMERICA try area all the churches have were removed, the bottles care- been slowly dying, with only one fully washed, then a tract or "A Reaching Mission" left that has a pastor who comes Gospel penny portion placed in every second week for a serv- within, after which the bottles Protestant pastors in Philadel- ice. It has been years since any were sealed and consigned to the phia, having had a preaching thorough pastoral work has been sea. This is no small-town enmission and a teaching mission, done there. The result is that terprise. Sometimes as many as have now embarked upon a there is not one person under 2,500 bottles go into Chesapeake "reaching" mission. Ministers thirty years of age in the area Bay at a single launching. of 22 denominations have adopt- that has made a Christian coned a program of pastoral and fession and united with any Thus, the bottles once containcongregational evangelism, and church. This is true of another ing evil spirits, now are filled by unanimous resolution declare community in the western part with the spirit of the Gospel. that "the supreme task of the of the state. church is bringing men, women, -Bible Society Record. boys and girls into personal fel- The Gospel in Bottles lowship with the living Christ. Crusade Against Liquor There is no solution of problems Near the waterfront in Balti- Advertising other than the Christ way of more, Md., is a small lunchroom life." bearing the sign "Mike's Place." The National Temperance and This might suggest the under- Prohibition Council is urging all President Walter Greenway, world, but the presiding genius temperance forces to unite for of Beaver College, who proposed is a devoted Christian Italian the suppression of liquor adverthe plan, originally developed who has hit upon a unique meth- tising in newspapers, magazines, this program in a rural church od to spread the GospeL Mi- over the radio and by all other of 100 members, enlarged and chael Coscia was born over a means. An undertaking of this found it effective in a town saloon kept by his father. His magnitude will require concerted church of 500, and finally tested associates as he grew up were effort, hence the Council, comit thoroughly in two Philadelphia the type who loaf in barrooms. posed of 27 organizations seems churches, each of which as a re- When he was past thirty there the logical force to carry forsult grew from few members to came a day when life took on a ward the project. Protesting to over 2,000. The program sug- new meaning for Mike, and he the owners and managers of gests preparation for the pastor felt an urge to preach the Gos- radio stations, to the editors and and the entire congregation, out- pel, but realizing his handicaps, publishers of newspapers and lines methods of publicity and he looked for another method to magazines advertising intoxicatthrough it all stresses the su- proclaim the message than from ing liquors, and laboring for the preme preparation by the Holy a pulpit. After he had estab- enactment of legislation to stop Spirit. Its flexibility permits it lished his lunchroom, he placed liquor advertising are the lines to be used successfully in any de- a Bible verse on the roof, where along which the Council will dinomination or congregation. The it could be seen by thousands rect its efforts.-S. S. Times. ministers of the city have been who transact business in the tall asked to spend from 9 to 9: 15 buildings near by. Irreligion in Films each morning in intercession for one another and for the churches Mike's next inspiration came Rt. Rev. John T. McNicholas, in this outreaching enterprise. from finding every morning Catholic Archbishop of Cincin- scores of empty whiskey, gin nati, spokesman for the "Legion -The Christian Century. and wine bottles scattered of Decency," says that effort is around Market Place. Of course, being made in recent pictures to Godless Spots they were gathered by the white spread ideas antagonistic not wings, so that for most of the only to Christian morality, but Harold C. Loughhead has sur- day the streets were clean. But to all religion. He warns film veyed a number of areas in rural Mike saw in these empty bottles producers that they have an in- Pennsylvania, and has discov- a great opportunity. He and his escapable responsibility to safeered some amazing facts about family began to gather the bot- guard the moral welfare of the this supposed stronghold of tles daily, like the manna. Labels public by putting before them Christianity. In one open coun- right patterns of thought and [605 ] conduct.
It was the American Cath- vestigation has discovered that aries was that of transportation. olic's Legion of Decency that Chinese percentage of delin- During the summer travel becompelled a radical change in quency is the lowest of any racial tween villages is more difficult the tone of motion pictures by or sectional group, the ratio be- than in the winter. The only a boycott, launched in 1934. ing almost negligible. Chinese means of transportation in many Now the Legion is viewing with teachers, questioned by the in- places. is by dog team and sledge grave apprehension the various vestigators, said that the reason over the frozen ~round. Small subtle attempts to employ the for this remarkable showing is a boats can ply the rivers and the film to project irreligious points precept of Confucius: "The mis- sea coast, but they are inadeof view-films that portray, ap- conduct of the child is the fault quate, very inconvenient, slow, provingly, concepts rooted in of the parent." Every Chinese irregular and costly. Only the philosophies attacking the Chris- child is made to understand that villages along water routes can tian faith. his misdemeanor in public brings be contacted thus in summer disgrace not only on himself but while the regions beyond are -Dayton Daily News. on his family, and the severest neglected. punishment is to "lose face." Iowa School for Missionaries Traveling by dog teams has United Church of Canada also its hazards. Many "mush- The first Iowa School for Mis- Crusade ers" have been caught out on the sionaries will be held January 23 tundra, many miles from the to February 18, 1939, at the Iowa The United Church of Canada nearest cabin in a blizzard and State College, Ames, Iowa. The is conducting a quarter-million then he will have to make a camp courses offered are Sociology and fellowship crusade during the and dig himself and his dogs into Rural Organization, Family Life last ten weeks of 1938, including a snow drift until the storm and Health, Agricultural and a recall to worship of all its abates. Another danger is from Rural Education, Foods and Nu- membership and a campaign for the packs of hungry wolves rovtrition and Agriculture. There a quarter of a million new sup- ing the tundra. Even if the will be afternoon conferences porters. This Church stands "musher" is armed he and his and field trips to near-by com- fourth in per capita giving dogs are an easy prey for the munities, schools and parishes. among the 2'5 leading denomina- hungry wolves. A special two-day conference on tions of North America. Rural Missions Work will be The airplane is a fast and a held over one of the week-ends In the last Canadian census convenient way to travel in during the school session. The the people listing themselves as Alaska. The plane can land on school is in charge of a commit- of the United Church numbered the water, when equipped with tee from the faculties of Agri- more than two million, or one in pontoons, on the snow-covered culture and Home Economics of five of the dominion population. tundra, when equipped with skiis which Professor R. H. Porter is Of these, the members in com- or on one of the many airfields chairman. Dr. Porter was for a munion are less than 700,000; kept in good condition by the number of years a member of of these the regular supporters Government. the faculty of the College of by envelope amount to 235,000; Agriculture and Forestry of the and those who also contribute to This mission has purchased a University of Nanking, China. missionary and benevolent en- Fairchild plane with a Warner- The only expenses to students terprises amount to only 110,000. Scarab 145 horsepower engine, will be for board and room. Mis- seating three persons besides the sionaries who expect to attend -The Christian Century. pilot. It has a cruising range of the school are requested to send 500 miles with a speed of 125 in their names as soon as pos- A Missionary Airplane for miles an hour and can climb sible to Professor R. M. Vif- Alaska 16,000 feet, crossing anyone of quain, Room 122 N, Agricultural the Alaska mountain ranges. It Hall, Iowa State College, Ames, The natives of Alaska will be is equipped with all the neces- Iowa.* visited during this winter by an sary instruments for blind fly- airplane which the Evangelical ing, including a radio, all in- How Chinese Check Mission Covenant Church of spected by the U. S. Government. Delinquency Chicago has recently sent to The trip from Chicago to Seattle Nome. When the old "sour- (Z300 miles) was made in 21 There are about 3,000 Chinese doughs" used to call preachers hours, at 12,000 feet altitude. boys. and girls in the New York "sky pilots" they did not realize From Seattle it was shipped to area. During the past eight that in the future the preacher Nome as the fog was too thick years there have been among would come dropping down from on the coast to fly all the way. them only two cases of juvenile the clouds with a message from delinquency. A recent court in- above. The plane will be stationed at Bandle, a village on the Arctic • A descriptive folder of the school may In the summer of 1937, the Circle, where a new work was be had on request, either to Professor Vlf- Covenant Mission sent its secre- opened last summer. The Misquain or to the Rural Missions Cooperating tary to the Alaska missions and sion Covenant has work in sev- Committee, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, he found that one of the prob- enteen larger villages and beside New York. lems confronting the mission- the six missionaries employ a
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
number of native evangelists. THE' ALASKA Scriptures, and where members During the last three years, five MISSIONARY of evangelical churches had been new churches have been built arrested on charges of subverand one parsonage. When the AIRPLANE sive activities. It was definitely plane becomes a weekly visitor known that this was due to presto the unevangelized regions the Put in service at sure on the part of the bishops work should quickly expand. Nome, September 27, of the Catholic Church. 1938. Will1>e piloted THE REV. G. E. JOHNSON. by Rev. Paul Ben- Representatives of the Amer- jamin Franklin Carl- ican Bible Society and the Brit- LATIN AMERICA son. On picture to ish and Foreign Bible Society right is the Secretary sought and secured a personal Human Salvage in Mexico of Missions of the interview with the proper gov- Covenant-Rev. Gust. ernment authority. This official Although the Salvation Army assured the Bible Society agents has work in some 80 countries, E. Johnson that the sale of Scriptures could political conditions in Mexico not be prohibited, since the Conmade it seem practically impos- he~dquarters, and the office cre- stitution of the republic granted sible for the Army to enter. But ated for the purpose has been in liberty both of worship and of a young Mexican, a former gov- contact with young people's commerce, but that the Governernment official and communist groups in every Latin American ment would not tolerate political leader, was converted, and with- country, trying to find out their propaganda. Assurance was givout knowing anything of the Sal- viewpoints and other prelim- en him that absolute abstention vation Army or its methods, inaries. The Congress will be from all political activity was began to work in the slums of held in 1940, probably in Lima, required of their colporteurs by Mexico City among drunkards Peru. Political conditions might both Bible Societies, and that and other human wreckage, on require the selection of another any breach of this rule led to inlines similar to those used by the city for the meeting. stant dismissal. The Minister, Army. who asked for a copy of the Bi- -World Dominion Press. ble for his own use, then ordered Street meetings were held in that a circular be sent to every defiance of the law, and when How to Handle Crime Problem Prefect in the republic. arrested this young man and his helpers continued to preach in Federal and State govern- – World Dominion Press. jail. The transformed lives that ments might make a note of the resulted convinced the govern- way the present government of An Evangelistic Odyssey ment of the value of this work, Guatemala handles its vice proband it was allowed to continue lems. Too often there is neglect A house on wheels is a novelty unmolested. This spontaneous in permitting marijuana cigar- in Colombia. The Gospel bus, movement has now been in- ette peddlers to hang around provided by Sunday School tegrated with the world organi- our high schools, but Guatemala Easter offerings and other gifts, zation of the Salvation Army. authorities hound down these was greeted along the road with ghouls and make their business this exclamation, Ave Maria -World Dominion Press. one of high crime. With the ex- purissima! Que es eso? (Hail, cellent police system, the crim- Mary, most pure! What's that?) Young People's Congress inal is most likely to be caught The bus accommodates about promptly, and alas for him if twelve people, seated on benches For several years evangelical convicted. and boxes, but on occasion more leaders of young people in Latin than twenty have crowded in America have been hoping for a Some years ago a German and listened to the Gospel story. Congress for young evangelicals merchant undertook to introduce from all the republics. The need the opium vice into Guatemala. Rev. Pryor T. Smith tells in of stronger ties among young He dropped with a thud into Colombia Clippings of some of Christians; interchange of ex- public contempt as a result, and periences; a united attitude to- his application for an importawards moral, spiritual and social tion permit was promptly turned problems; the creation of a down. Reform in Guatemala is strong force which may impress not a mere vaporous election by its idealism; and an effort to slogan for political purposes save Latin America from insta- only, but is handled calmly and bility are some of the reasons vigorously. which make the Congress a vital need. -Guatemala News.
The first River Plate Congress Scripture Distribution in Peru of young people met last year in Rosario, Argentina, and from it Early this year a number of came the formal decision to or- cases were reported where colganize the Latin American Con- porteurs had been prohibited by gress. Rosario was chosen as local officials from selling the
the difficulties encountered. Upon found anywhere. It is interest- Ethiopia when the Italian conarriving in a town, the bus is ing to recall a stanza from John quest was completed were asked parked in the plaza. Soon a Oxenham's famous poem of trib- to depart at once, and no foreign crowd of the curious is assem- ute to Livingstone: Jews have been allowed to settle bled, and often some burly ruf- there since May, 1936. The Jews fian will order the bus out of He passed like light across the dark- in Italy are roughly estimated at town, while others cheer him on. ened land, 44,000, and among them are a Sometimes the tires are punc- number who have recently fled tured, or a fictitious tax is im- And dying, left behind him this com- from Austria. posed for selling literature. But mand, in Yarumal business men filled -Alliance Weekly. the bus and bristled with ques- "The door is open! So let it ever tions about Protestant beliefs. stand!" Calvinism in Hungary As soon as one group left another took their place, and then Full mightily wrought he. Reformed Churches in eastern a third group kept the mission- Forth to the fight he fared, Hungary are among the oldest aries busy until far into the High things and great he dared, Protestant institutions in the night. Here and there, barriers In His Master's might to spread the world; some are said to have are coming down. been founded even before the Light death of Calvin. Most of Hun- EUROPE Right faithfully wrought he. gary became Protestant then, He greatly loved- and much of it remains so. A "Order of Christian He greatly lived- writer in The Christian Century Citizenship" And died right mightily. describes a walking trip through northeastern Hungary with a In Great Britain, 25,000 -United Church Record. Y. M. C. A. group, wandering young Methodists have instituted from village to village and visitthe "Order of Christian Citizen- Reich Church in Bonds ing pastors and churches. The ship," which requires the appli- boys marched behind a banner, cation of the Christian Gospel to A pamphlet has been privately singing folk songs, religious social problems. The movement printed and circulated in Ger- hymns and national songs. The is directed by a standing com- many which concludes with the banner consisted of a special mittee of the Temperance and question: "How does Pastor Y. M. C. A. flag and many rib- Social Welfare Departments of Niemoller's continued imprison- bons of various colors, which the Methodist Church, but steps ment affect us?" and the answer: they had received from places have been taken to put the young previously visited. On them people actually in control. Its It demands that we should recognize were such slogans as "For God program includes the fostering that Martin Niemoller is not in the and Hungary," "Onward with of international peace, the com- Sachsenhausen concentration camp as Christ," "Jesus Conquers," and bating of the drink, gambling a private individual, but that in him short Bible verses. Fourteen and other social evils, and the the entire Confessional Church and all days were thus spent. Each making of social surveys for the men who are fighting for the freedom church spire is crowned with a information of the young. of the Gospel in Germany have been cock and star, emblems of Cal- thrown into prison. It demands that vinism. The star is supposed to -United Presbyterian. wherever we are we do not keep our guide the people and the cock to mouths shut like dumb dogs, but speak keep them awake. Just how Livingstone Shrine out what God has ordered us to speak. much awake they are one cannot and that we fight for the freedom of say. Certainly there is much for "The most frequented person- His Church and for the authority of them to do. al shrine in Scotland," is said of the Gospel in Germany. As long as the Scottish National Memorial Martin Niemoller is in the concentra- Dictatorship in Greece to David Livingstone, at his tion camp, there is set up in our midst birthplace, Blantyre, near Glas- a signal. visible from afar, that the No sooner had Eastern Orthogow. In one year alone the at- Church of Jesus Christ in Germany dox Churches seemed to have actendance exceeded 73,000. It is is in bonds. quired the "ecumenical mind" already the greatest children's than the dictator of Greece took center in Scotland. Since the Pastor Niem611er is said to be steps to give the Greek Orthodox Memorial was opened by the in failing health. He is allowed Church an ironclad monopoly in Duchess of York, in October, one visit a month from his wife that country. Under new edicts, 1929, 406,208 visitors have and one child~ (He has seven.) persons trying to make converts passed through the turnstile. to any other church will be sub- Italy's Jews ject to fine and imprisonment; Dr. John R. Mott calls it one if foreigners, they will be exof the most wonderful things he Nearly twenty-five per cent of pelled. The police power is to be has seen in all his numerous Italy's Jews are affected by the invoked to compel school chilworld journeys, and perhaps the decree that all Jews who have dren to attend church on Sunday. finest shrine to any person to be established themselves in Italy and her colonies (excepting pos- sibly Eritrea and East Somali- land) since the World War must leave within six months, or be expelled "following application of penalties fixed by law." Under present laws they will be able to take little of their property with them, save a small amount of money for traveling expenses.
Foreign Jews in business in
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Literature expressing opInIOns the continent, yet if one mission by my own power that I am preserved not acceptable to the Holy Synod is banned. No doubt the purpose station a day could be visited, it till now and given the news of the behind these decrees is to check Roman Catholic activity, though would take eight years to see everlasting Gospel of Christ, but only an American Protestant missionary has been refused permission them all. -Pageant. by the power of the one great Cause to enter Greece, for the apparent reason that he was a Protestant of causes, the Almighty. minister. Dictatorship knows no curb. -Christian Century. White Hearts Lifted Up . -So S. Times.
AFRICA Mrs. Julia Lake Kellersberger, Memorial in Madagascar in the Presbyterian Survey, de- He Was "From Missouri" scribes a missionary meeting in World Dominion Press records the Congo: that native churches have given Mr. C. J. Mellis, sixty-year- 250,000 francs for the erection old realtor from St. Louis, after The Doxology rings out through the of a church in memory of David contributing generously to mis- opened windows and echoes in the J ones and Thomas Bevan, Welsh sions in Africa for nearly 20 mango grove. It takes no amplifier of pioneers to the island of the years, decided to take a look for man to make it resound. White hearts London Missionary Society, who himself, and see what it "was are then lifted up in prayer, though landed at Tamatave in 1818. In all about." In company with a the lips that utter them are black. 1907, the work was transferred Presbyterian minister, Rev. H. One after another these women rise to the Paris Evangelical Mis- J. Heinecke, of Greely, Colorado, and give their testimony. The first is sionary Society, whose missionhe sailed from Liverpool to the leader herself. Her testimony aries have erected the memorial Nigeria. Ten months later, after rings true, for there is a life back of church, which is the largest of traveling 15,000 miles across it to emphasize the words. the 3,500 Protestant places of Africa, these two returned to worship in the island. About New York. Said Mr. Mellis: A perfect "carbon copy" of an old- 4,000 natives were present at "The job missions is doing out fashioned Southern black mammy the opening. there is so big it beggars de- rises and with cracked voice tells of scription." The men brought her joy in being able to care for sev- Progress in Kabylia back 200 reels of movie film eral little orphan children and to cook which Mr. Mellis is showing the daily manioc for those at the hos- One encouraging feature of throughout his own state and pital too sick to care for themselves. missionary work in Kabylia is those adjoining, with a series of It has been strongly suspected that that in many places converts 12 lectures. she spends some of her hard-earned from Islam are taking the initia- pittance on delicate tidbits, such as tive in this work. Natives played Seventy-five mission stations caterpillars, or juicy ants, for the a large part in a recent Chriswere visited; to every mission- especially weak ones. A converted tian Conference. Under the ary visited they put this ques- witch doctor, sister of an African chairmanship of a gifted Kabyle tion: "How many natives in chief, reveals the fact that she had Christian, who translated the adyour particular field have never burned her former heathen medicine dresses into Arabic, French and heard a single sermon, never lis- and was made well, not by incanta- his own language, men of differtened to a single Gospel mes- tions and sorcery, but by an opera- ent tongues, from numerous dissage ?" The answer was some- tion at the Christian hospital. tricts met and told of their extimes 350,000, and never less periences in the Christian life than 100,000. Another question The climax of this wonderful meet- and their efforts to "let their was: "What special problems ing comes when a woman leper arises. light shine." do Africa missionaries have to She is a woman of unusual force of face?"; the reply was that the character. Like the one leper who re- A lack of conviction seems to greatest difficulty was to make turned to give thanks to Christ, she characterize man y Mohammebuildings and equipment keep tells of His gift of healing. Then the dans of today. In a shop in pace with the growth of the final hymn, "There shall be showers Oran, a man was heard to say: work. Another problem concerns of blessings," sung as only African "If I knew the truth I would fol- Mohammedanism. Entering a women can sing. low it. I would leave Islam and native village with a pack on his Mohammed tomorrow if I were head, the Mohammedan trader, A Strange Prayer convinced that the truth lay elsebefore untying his wares, pre- where." Those who heard the sents an invitation. "Come," he In some reminiscences of a remark showed no resentment. says, "be a Mohammedan. We'll missionary at Lovedale, South teach you to lie, steal and cheat Africa, mention is made of an -Life of Faith. the Christian infidels." African boy, pupil of a Chris- tian school, who had kept a Christ in Uganda Mr. Mellis said that while journal of his experiences. The they saw a good cross section of following is an extract: The C. M. S. Outlook says that Christianity has taken root in Before I go further I must tell you Uganda, and that the Church is about my prayers when I was a little becoming increasingly indige- boy. I could not believe that God nous. Uganda Christians have could hear prayer in Kaffir, and of served as missionaries in the English I knew too little. In fact, I Southern Sudan, in the Belgian knew but two words, "Friday" and "Amen." So I prayed, "Friday, Fri- day, Friday, Friday" four times and then, "Amen." But although this was my prayer yet the Almighty God did not cease to send down his influence upon me.
My parents became Christians, not by my power, though I often prayed for them by the same two words "Fri- day" and "Amen." Nor has it been
Congo and the Pygmy Forest, in gelized territory, covering a And what a privilege to look Ruan9a and Urundi. They have thousand miles from east to after such a family!" carried the Gospel to all parts of west, and three hundred from the Uganda Protectorate, from north to south, and suggested -The Chronicle. the great northern plain to the that the S. A. G. M. adopt it. Ruwenzori Mountains. Recently The challenge was accepted in EASTERN ASIA some men walked 300 miles to 1910, and A. W. Bailey was com- Kampala from a distant State to missioned to set a line of sta- Aleppo Beggars ask for African missionaries to tions across Rhodesia and Portutheir fellow-Africans 300 miles guese West Africa, to be known The beggars of Aleppo are an away. as the Andrew Murray Memo- interesting study. It would re- rial Field. Now, 28 years later, quire detailed research to find From Tanganyika comes the that goal has been reached and out to what extent they are orreport of steady growth in the a new challenge is presented in ganized, how their "beats" are number of African ministers, re- the recently granted permission divided and what are their musulting in more adequate pas- to occupy further Portuguese tual understandings. The Aleptoral care of Christian commu- territory. In southern Angola po visitor has the impression nities. there are from nine to sixteen that their business is on a sound large tribes representing three basis, and that there is no un- Islanders Have New Chapel language groups whose dialects employment. A number of the have never yet been reduced to beggars are quite well-dressed. The first Presbyterian mission writing. This area is totally un- The Maronite Church is the cento West Africa was on the island touched by Christian influence. ter around which they mill conof Corisco, off the coast of the tinually, but especially on Sun- French Cameroun, but the work- Undoubtedly, future work of day mornings. Old, old women ers soon moved to the mainland the mission will lie in Central sit along the walls, never moving and the island was left without Africa rather than in the south, about but waiting for alms to a resident or visiting missionary. where the natives have been en- drop into their laps. On cold African Christians on the island couraged to take responsibility, mornings, they have little brahave recently dedicated a beauti- and are becoming indigenous. ziers at which they warm their ful new chapel, planned, built hands and sometimes two or and paid for by the islanders -The Christian. three beggars will share this themselves, of material trans- comfort. Sometimes they sit and ported from the mainland in sail Tiger Kloof Family argue, instead of attending boats; the concrete was made on strictly to business; but one asthe island. The work at Tiger Kloof, siduous fellow may be seen beg- South Africa, is not standing ging even while he eats, mum- The dedicatory service was still, but widening its influence. bling touching petitions with his held in three languages: the Miss Janet Bryson has been mouth full. Benga of the island, the Bulu of Principal of Tiger Kloof Native the Cameroun mainland, and the Institution since 1923. She re- Aleppo is considered a rich Spanish of Spanish Guinea. ports that applications for ad- city, and with the prosperous are Each was translated for the ben- mission must be refused, as no also large numbers of desperefit of those who did not under- more can possibly be accommo- ately poor. Between the two, stand the others. dated. "School life," she says, this beggar class battens on the "is difficult to report, since it is philanthropically disposed. -Monday Morning. just the ordinary story of daily life among African girls-trying H. G. DORMAN, JR. More Open Doors to show them the things that really matter, trying to get them Situation in Palestine The South Africa General to grow in the things that are Mission began with work among worth while and to shake off The situation in Palestine, the white population of South those that hinder. Girls who dark though it is, has a few en- Africa, chiefly Jews and Mos- care-and those who don't; girls couraging features. lems, soldiers and sailors, rail- who know very little and those way and postoffice workers, but who know too much! Girls who 1. The Jews, driven by presthis proved to be the stepping have never known tribal life, but ent difficulties, are thinking and stone to that which followed. only the so-called civilized life of questioning about religious mat- The vast expanse of heathen a city like Johannesburg-girls ters as never before. They are darkness was a challenge, and who have never travelled beyond realizing that materialism and after claiming Swaziland, other their native village; girls who religious indifference are not a centers opened, and the work speak one language – girls who sufficient foundation on which to extended into the Cape Prov- speak three or four; girls whose stand amid the present storms, ince, Natal and the Indian set- fathers are paramount chiefs- and they are increasingly asking tlements. The next epoch began girls whose mothers earn their what Christianity has to say. when Frederick Arnot, mission- fees by hard work in a European ary pioneer, reported that he home in one city or another. 2. There is a change of outhad discovered a great unevan- look on the part of young Jews in the agricultural settlements. Formerly they were completely
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
indifferent, and often actively Education in Iran Bible and "no eyes," meaning hostile, to religion. This is no longer the case. The Old Testa- Several years ago, as a move there was none among them who ment is frequently read and to unite the nation more closely, could read. "Do you pray?" he often also the New Testament, the government of Iran pro- asked. No, they didn't pray. and Jews are ready and in many "Do you sing?" No, the young cases eager to discuss religious hibited Iranian students from man had told them their songs questions. attending any schools under for- were bad, and they must not sing eign direction. Thereupon, Pres- them any more. "What do you 3. It is evident there is a byterian mission schools discon- do when you meet in the dawning realization on the part tinued primary classes; though church ?" And the sad reply of both Jews and Arabs that in Hamadan and Teheran, Iran- came, "We just sit and wait." Christ does offer the one hope of ian Christians kept up this work. peace and reconciliation. The number of young people de- -Alliance Weekly.
-International Council of manding an education is now so A Year's Changes Christian Approach to great that the Ministry of Edu- the Jews. cation has asked the mission to Dr. and Mrs. C. Herbert Rice, reopen its lower schools. Under of Allahabad, have returned to In Armenia present staff limitations this is India, after furlough, and find not possible, but upper classes many changes; among them, the The Secretary of "Friends of Armenia" has recently visited are more and more crowded. It national Congress party had Syria to study the probable future needs and condition of the should also be noted that these taken up the constitutional meth- Armenians, and to recommend schools are in the front rank, as od of advancing the cause of some line of action. Stopping at evidenced by the percentage of self-government. Seven of the Geneva, he found that the Refugee Commission of the League of successful students taking the eleven provinces are now work- Nations was not only dead, but ing under a Congress party minwas calling in the loans made to government examinations. refugees. The whole refugee istry, many of the "stormy problem is greatly accentuated Adult education is making since Germany's seizure of Aus- great strides in the country. petrels" of agitation days now tria, and the increasing number Students in Teheran University occupying seats of authority. fleeing from areas under Nazi last year numbered 1,549, of High British officials are coopdomination. Germany is bring- erating with these ministries in ing pressure to bear upon small whom 86 were women. There countries to refuse help to ref- are 18,354 enrolled Boy Scouts. a genuine effort to make selfugees, and prevent their giving Dr. Sadiq, of the University, in government in the autonomous them asylum. a recently delivered lecture in provinces real and effective. Teheran stated that brotherhood, Measures of social, educational In Syria, Armenians have and agrarian reform are already made tremendous effort to make the sacredness of family ties and demonstrating that the new gova new start; most of them now the doctrine of the resurrection ernments are fully conscious of have SOme sort of a home. Ex- are the center of the Christian treme cleanliness and neatness religion. their responsibilities, and also was found in every shack; ter- that they have a large measure rible poverty and rags, to be sure, but self-respect and no beg- INDIA AND SIAM of popular support. The air is ging. However, everywhere full of proposals for the improvethroughout Syria, with the exception of the coastal province of Waiting for Light ment of the condition of the Lebanon, there is a feeling of rural population, for the proimminent danger, a constant The story is told of a mission- vision of specialized schools and looking over the shoulder for ary who visited a spot in India the bringing of educational what may be coming. where no missionary had ever methods into touch with the life been, yet the villagers had dis- of the people; with plans to pro- Armenians still need all the carded their idols and met each mote the mass education of illithelp that can be given them, week in a church which they had erate adults. especially in the spiritual realm, built. Inquiring into this, the lest with these long continued missionary found that a young . Says Dr. Rice: troubles they may fail to maintain their high Christian tradi- man, traveling for some foreign We are convinced that Christian tion, and their young people, business concern, had been de- institutions will in many ways receive particularly, lapse from the a greater welcome than ever before. splendid .standards of their fa- tained in their village several High-minded national leaders will thers.-Evangelical Christian. days by a flood. While there, he surely accept with gratitude all the told the villagers that they help that we can give in the solution of pressing national and human prob- should not worship idols; that lems. It is true that in the present there was a true God whom they atmosphere of religious rivalry and should worship, and that they tense communalism we may expect in- should build a house and meet in creasing opposition to the conversion it once every seven days. They of Hindus and Mohammedans to Christianity. On the other hand there had followed these instructions. is growing up a constantly increasing The missionary asked if they resentment against ancient authority and ancient forms of social and reli- had a Bible, and who read it to gious restraint. Inroads are being them. They said they had no made upon the caste system. This
growing spirit of freedom will itself that he wished a Christian mar- "Some bought gladly, others penetrate the realm of conscience and riage, before he could change his were so much confused by the religious belief. We need not fear for noise and crowds they were not mind again. This also put a re- interested. Some railed at us the future of the Gospel and the straint on the opposition. The Church, whatever the immediate difficulties connected with the political affair having come before the au- for bothering them so much. situation may be. thorities, they dared not resort Sometimes we talked until our Heathen Marriage the to violence. mouths were dry, but were- Stumblingblock MRS. A. B. GOULD, vived when anyone came to buy. Thus we worked for four days; Presbyterian missionary 3700 portions had been sold." The time – honored heathen at Ambala.
marriage ceremony is the last Ten in One Church Builds a School thing to be renounced by Indian Christians; and nothing so The Baptist Mission in Burma A church in a remote part of is in reality ten missions, owing Siam was having a hard time. arouses non-Christians as a de- to the great diversity of races The staff was small, the district parture from these rites. For and languages in this field. The large, the responsibilities many. one thing, a Christian loses Gospel must be preached to each A young Siamese minister was money by the renunciation, since one in his own tongue; and even called to this field, and soon put each guest is expected to bring a so, there are many tribes as yet his finger upon the difficulty. unreached in the hill section of· "N0 Christian education for the rupee to the bride's father. A Burma, and the border areas. So older boys," he said. "The little hundred guests would quite ma- when we read .of Bur man ones can go to the girls' school; terially help to defray expenses c h u r c h e s, Burmese-speaking but the big ones have to go to for the feast. But this is not all. churches are meant, not every government schools where they A while ago a Christian couple have to take part in Buddhist wished to marry their daughter church in Burma. to a Christian young man from celebrations, and are seldom able In addition to work among the to go to church or Sunday school. another district. The bride- many races in Burma, the Gospel They drift away from Christiangroom's party arrived the eve- is preached to Indian immi- ity. That means, too, that the ning before, reenforced by three grants. Most of the 15,000,000 Christian girls have to marry Christian preachers, whose pres- inhabitants of Burma live in vil- non-Christian .or only half-Chrisence, it was thought, would dis- lages of from ten to three hun- tian men. Some day our people courage active hostilities. The dred houses, and most .of the invited guests, Christians from will be so well trained and edu- missionary work centers in the cated themselves that they can other villages, had also arrived. towns. R u r a I reconstruction The dinner was cooked and committees are being organized. instruct their children at home in Christian faith and practice; ready to serve. But the enemy had mustered his forces. Chu- Footprint of Buddha but now we need a school." hras (Sweepers), the class from So he put it up to the church, which these Christians came, One cannot help being im- and the members agreed to start had gathered from a number of villages, and swore that not a pressed with the religious fervor a boys' school as one .of their bite of that dinner should be of the crowds, old and young, projects. It is still an experieaten until the parents consented who visit the footprint of Bud- ment, but is well under way. to a Chuhra wedding. dha at Prabat, Siam, every year. Church members contribute a The men stood by with walk- A Siamese colporteur tells in part of the expenses, some help ing sticks, to intimidate the the Siam Outlook of the oppor- comes from the mission and guests. The Mohammedans of tunities this festival offers for some from churches in other vilthe village sided with the presenting the Gospel. "We lages from which pupils come. Chuhras, and threatened to turn sang as we rode along by launch The Siamese pastor hopes to the family out of their village if to Lopburi. A man asleep was have the school self-supporting they persisted in their purpose. disturbed, and asked us what in four years.
All night the dinner lay un- we were doing. This gave us a touched. The guests drowned chance to bear witness. Great CHINA their hunger in sleep, so far as crowds were going happily Hope in the Long View the noise of battle would permit! along, some selling flowers to The discussion went on most of offer at the shrine. After we Dr. W. W. Yen, former Chi- the night, with the result that had found a place to stay in nese ambassador to Moscow and the father, never much of a force the market, we went into every Minister to Washington, believes in the family, was won over, and by-lane where we might make a that "out of the ashes .of death gave his consent to a Chuhra sale. So we continued until two and devastation, there will arise marriage. Here was defeat. The in the morning, for people were a new China, modern, sanitary, next step was for the preachers enjoying the festival all night. scientific and beautiful, testify- to get the father to the nearest Some of our Gospel portions ing to the indomitable spirit and police post four miles away, and were stolen: we pray they were indefatigable industry of the there make him sign a statement read! people." Dr. Yen thinks there
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
is no warrant for pessimism, be- upheld the cause of justice. Through sincere, often tearful confession cause throughout the ages the His words and works, He manifested of national and personal sin. Chinese have been able to the reality of His love and sacrificial Mr. Lewis says that in the many weather the storm. Out of the prayer-meetings he has attended spirit. I have come to the conviction that, if we wish to revive the Chinese present struggle, the greatest people and reform society, we must during the past year he has not gain will be national unity; an- heard one word of recrimination other is the lesson of self-help, adopt as our own the universal love against the invaders. On the the gain in moral values and in- and sacrificial spirit of Jesus. There- contrary, they often make earn- fore, I take it that in whatever sphere of life, whether in social relationships, ternational understanding. civil administrations, military com- est prayer both for the Chris- -The China Colleges. mand or other service, we must make tians of Japan and the people in charity and peace the basic principles general, and entreat God to dis- Victorious Christian Youth of action. To this end all revolution- pose their hearts toward peace. ists must accept, struggle and sacrifice A number of missionaries in Evidence multiplies as to the as a daily duty. This was the spirit widely separated areas of China victory of Christian over nation- of Jesus. This is what I meant when testify to their belief that this is alist feeling in this time of crisis. I had occasion to say before, "We the attitude of the whole Chris- shall not give up the hope of peace until peace is absolutely hopeless, but Hunan University Christian As- we will not shrink from any sacrifice tian Church in China. sociation addressed an open let- when the hour demands it."
ter to Japanese Christian stu- Snap Shots from Siangtan Time for Advance in Tibet dents, and after expressing dismay over the invasion of their Interesting things have been In China's Millions, Dr. J. H. happening in Siangtan, Hunan. Jeffrey lists the following reacountry, which they characterize One was the opening of the sons for a missionary advance as "wanton and unwarranted," Kwangtao Girls' School building among non-Chinese in Tibet: they express the hope that "our as a refuge for Christian Chinese flooding into the city. A commu- A more favorable political situation. common belief in God and our nity kitchen was set up and the love of personality will not dis- classrooms divided into cubicles A priesthood largely discredited, in appear in this time of crisis; and to accommodate 70 at a time. some parts at least. that the spirit of our common Morning worship is conducted, fellowship may be kept alive and one baptism has resulted. The destruction of many important Three refugees are tutoring as a lamaseries and the slaughtering of . . . so as to sow the seeds for means of support; others hold hundreds of lamas, thereby depriving future building for the service night classes. the non-Chinese people of their spirof God." The Hunan students itual guides. then urge the Japanese to join Another outstanding feature with them in a period of prayer was the organization of a Chris- High cost of training priests. at stated hours, saying, "Let us tian Fellowship group, that pray that this war will soon end, Christian refugees might get ac- Friendliness of the people towards the foreigner. let us devote ourselves to preparing for Christian fellowship be- Many regions formerly regarded as being closed to the missionary now tween our countries in the fu- are open.
Readiness to believe the mission- ary's message.
ture. . . . We pray for tolerance quainted with one another and JAPAN-CHOSEN and love and faith in God." The with the Christians of the city. letter is concluded by a quotation Two large gatherings have al- Delegates to Madras ready been held with over a hunfrom the prayer of our Lord as dred in attendance each time. After a good deal of hesita- tion, Japanese Christians have recorded in John 17: 20-23 and Bible study groups and a lit- decided to participate in the eracy class have been held espethe final sentence is, "God bless cially for the refugees, and the Madras Conference, and about literacy class for children has 15 Japanese delegates and seven you all!" -Advance. been reopened. missionaries are now on their way. Several full meetings of Chiang Kai-Shek on the Radio Continued Prayer for Japan the delegation have been held, and sectional and group studies In a recent radio address, the Rev. A. B. Lewis, member of are now going on. Dr. Kagawa Generalissimo referred to Jesus the Field Council of the China plans to go, and to spend some Christ as the leader of a national revolution, and also of a reli- weeks in evangelistic effort in gious revolution. He said: I have long sought to know the real Inland Mission, writes in the India. source of the revolutionary spirit of Life of Faith of the effects of Within the Christian move- Jesus. From whence did it spring? ment in Japan, there is a tend- Entirely from His spirit of love. war on the Chinese Church. ency toward a more unified con- Chinese Christians have been trol. The smaller denominations Through the spirit of love He would driven to their knees as never drive from the minds of men all evil thinking and break up systems of before. Heartfelt earnestness is and the many one-church units inequality that all men might exercise to be expected, but the outstand- are on the way to federating and the heaven-given right to enjoy liberty ing thing about their prayers then affiliating with the National and equality. has been the complete absence of Christian Council. Conferences All through His life Jesus opposed bitterness toward Japan, and the are also being held to discuss orthe use of might without right, but
ganic church union, and a spirit mise was correct, and he still has were baptized. Today there are of urgency is noted. his copy. -Monday Morning. 400,000 baptized Christians of the Batuk tribe. Their churches, ~The Christian Century. MALAYA AND THE large and small, dot the land. ISLANDS Making the Dead Give -Missionary Educator. Moslems of Malaya Japan has decided that the Chinese Conference in dead also must contribute to the Christian missions among Mo- Singapore conquest of China. A group of hammedans in Malaya have asdentists recently told the govern- sumed several forms. The first There have been Religious ment that about $2,900,000 in thing to be done is to gain the gold goes each year into graves confidence of the people, and Education Conferences in Singaor cremation urns, so it has been medical aid is one of the most suggested that a dentist be as- effective ways. Christian litera- pore in English, but recently one signed to each crematorium to ture is another. So far, only one remove gold fillings, plates, experiment has been made in in- was held in Chinese for the Chicrowns and teeth from the stitutional work; this is the bodies. boarding school in Malacca, nese Church in Singapore, in started with the idea that work, Here are some of the features to be effective, must be carried which entire responsibility for of a vast program of retrench- on outside the village environment: chemists in the Ministry ment, where Christian influence the program was assumed by of Agriculture are tanning rat has a better chance to operate. skins in their search for a leather One of the most recent experi- Chinese pastors and lay workers. substitute, and match makers are ments in establishing good-will asked to reduce the length of the contacts with the Malays has It continued for four days, June match by .029 inches. Shorten- been teaching the Malay women ing of the match stick, it is esti- to read. This has been made 28-July 1, at the new. Foochow mated, would save enough in a possible through the application year to keep the army going in of the system by Dr. Laubach, of Methodist Church. ,There were China, at the present rate of ex- the Philippine Islands, to the penditure, for about one hour Malay language. It has proved delegations from every Methodand five minutes. to be very successful, and thus another door has been opened. ist and Presbyterian Chinese -Alliance Weekly. -Christian Advocate. church of Singapore, Johore and Miserliness Saves a Bible! The Gospel in Sumatra Malacca districts, as well as While Syenchun, one of the largest Christian centers in One hundred and four years from Seremban and Sitiawan. Chosen, has active church groups ago, two American missionaries, and a living spirit of evangelism, Lyman and Munson, made the The men and women were it is a different story in a village first attempt to carry the Gospel barely three miles from there. to the pagan race of one-time about equal in number; the Voluntary Christian workers cannibals in Sumatra, called who went out from Syenchun to Batuks. Twice some of the Ba- women made their contribution conduct services and w 0 r k tuks had been killed by Mohama m 0 n g non – Christians were medans because they would not to the program equal to that of pelted with rocks; the Christian embrace the faith of Islam. villagers had even worse experi- Thinking these two white mis- the men, and were particularly ences, some were beaten and all sionaries were Mohammedans, were abused in one way or an- come to kill them, they promptly prominent in the demonstration other. Finally, local police took put them to death, and feasted a hand and jailed the most vio- on their flesh. For 25 years, ,no classes and in the smaller discuslent persecutors for one day. one dared go again. When the sion groups. Opposition was checked, but not Batuks at last realized that the ill feeling. missionaries were their friends, One day was devoted to each the way was opened for others to One young man had bought go with the Gospel message, and of four themes: children's work; five copies of the New Testament almost at once the Batuk people and his grandfather burned embraced Christianity. This re- young people's work; work them all. Then, hoping that the markable fact has no parallel in old man's penurious disposition the history of the Church today. with adults and work in the would keep him from destroying Thousands of these once cannisomething that cost a great deal, bals accepted the Gospel and community. 0 the r features he bought a very expensive copy of the New Testament. His sur- were: Church music and Sing- ing, Chinese Literacy work and methods of teaching illiterates Romanized Hokkien, and recrea- tional programs for young peo- ple. -Malaysia Message.
Filipino Christian Projects Dr. William H. Crothers, now beginning his second year of vol- untary service as member of the faculty of Union Theological Seminary, Manila, tellS' what he saw on a tour of missionary projects in the Philippines: "We saw self – supporting churches at their worship; met enough evangelical Christians in places of responsibility to know how far out of proportion to their numbers is their influence; saw three of our mission hospi- tals actually enlarging or plan- ning expansion; we saw, in fact, church history in the making- the love of Christ animating men
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
and women and children, mold- one who cannot use his brains they may be used for religious ining their lives and motivating for such purpose. They came to struction if it is so requested. institutions. If the thousands of realize that education is essenmen and women who, for the tial to progress. -Manila Daily Bulletin. love of that same Lord, have given offerings that have made Today, teachers are trained MISCELLANEOUS this work possible could have at Davuilevu, which has in addiseen what we have seen, they tion to the Normal School a pri- The Problem of the Jew would, in this dark day in the mary school, technical school Orient, thank God and take some and theological seminary. From There are evidences of incourage." -Monday Morning. this center come some of Fiji's creasing anti-Jewish feeling in best men. As a still further America and Great Britain. This An Old Timer Returns equipment for life, agricultural situation moved a group of training is provided at Navuso. Christians last spring to suggest A soldier who had served in Nor has the education of girls special days of prayer for Israel the. Philippines from 1898 to been neglected. Several schools on the first Sundays of July and 1902 recently revisited the teach them the principles of October, 1938, and January and I s I and s. Astonished at the hygiene and the art of cooking, April, 1939. Five suggestions changes he saw, he asked a needlework and home-building. for prayer have been made: friend how it was that the na- T hat anti-Semitism may be tives had made such unparalleled -The Missionary Review averted in the United States, progress. The friend promptly (Australia) . that Christians everywhere may named as factors in the prog- share something of Christ's love ress, the Filipinos' disposition to Quezon Rebukes Catholic for His brethren, that Israel will advice, the spirit of the Taft Church look to God for help and not to Commission, American teachers nations, that American nations and American missionaries. On the eve of his departure will have a share in the care of Noting an incredulous expres- for Japan, President Quezon of Jewish refugees, and that the sion at the mention of mission- the Philippines, issued a strong present issues in Palestine may aries, he added : "Yes, mission- rebuke to the Catholic Church in be settled as God would have aries. In proportion to their the Philippines. This was in re- them settled. number, no group did more to ply to an ecclesiastical letter, interpret to the Filipinos the urging a boycott of schools "Hadassah," the Women's Zispirit of America, and to assist where religion is not taught. onist Organization of America, them to assimilate its civil, edu- The President accused the has to date raised sufficient cational and religious freedom. Church of trying to meddle in funds to transfer and provide They discussed the personal and for 2,200 German and Polish community problems of the peo- affairs of State, and warned that Jewish children, and to settle ple on the plane of sympathy and this will not be tolerated. Among them in Palestine. Up to the friendship, and visited the hum- other things, Quezon, himself a present, 1500 Austrian Jewish blest of them as good Samari- boys and girls have applied to a tans."-Madras News Service. Catholic, said: Palestine Bureau in Vienna for similar transfer to Palestine. Education for Fijians It should be unnecessary to remind A Jewish rabbi of Lexington, A former student of the Meth- the ecclesiastical authorities in the Ky., VIsited Germany with a odist Boys' School in Suva gives Sherwood Eddy group last June, the Fijian point of view regard- Philippines that the separation of relying upon his United States ing education. Early Methodist passport to protect him from asmissionaries were the first to Church and State in this country is sault. He says that the situation build schools to teach Fijian in Nazi Germany has not been youngsters what they needed to a reality and not a mere theory; and overdrawn, and that all Jews know. The results were wonder- there are facing starvation by ful. Those early schools were that as far as our people are con- 1940. He calls attention to the held in the village church, if fact that cutting off these people there was one; otherwise, out cerned, it is forever settled that this from purchasing power will of doors. Lessons were mostly have its effect on economic consums and the vernacular; how- separation shall be maintained as one ditions, and the closing of Jewever, to know something is bet- ish stores will be reflected in all ter than to know nothing, and of the cardinal tenets of our govern- the industries. In his opinion, this paved the way for Fijian the faith of the Jew is not failparents to wish their children to ment. . . . . ing him. By hundreds, they are have an education, for they saw worshipping in their synathe contrast between the child If I were inclined to interfere in gogues.-I. C. C. A. J. N ew.'l who has learned to read and the Sheet, Dayton, Ohio, News. the affairs of the Church, as the School Curricula Revised Catholic bishops are attempting to do Some idea of what follows with the affairs of the State, I would when a conquering army enters tell the Archbishop and the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Cebu that it is their lack of Sunday schools and catechists to teach the Catholic religion that is mainly responsible for the deplorable ignorance of their own religion that is found among Catholic youth.
Moreover, if the desire is to have hours exclusively devoted to religious instruction in the public schools, so that the regular school activities may not interfere with said instruction, I am placing Saturdays and Sundays at the disposal of all the ministers of all the religions existing in the Phil- ippines. On Saturdays and Sundays, the public schools are not being used for school purposes and, therefore,
a country may be had from in- The first task of the Council attention to the remarkable genformation sent by Dr. S. C. Ziegler, United Brethren missionary will be to aid in keeping up the erosity of Jews toward Chrisin North China. In regard to education he says: standards, professional and spir- tians. Christian refugees from The Japanese acquired control of a itual, of the medical and nursing Germany and Austria have delarge area so rapidly that it was impossible for them to handle immedi- appointees of the various mis- pended in large measure upon ately all the problems that arose. Revision of the curriculum was dealt sion boards. A second task will Jewish help. with in only the sketchiest fashion. Military training, Boy Scouting and be the study of environments in The lot of Christians of Jewish civics, which had been a part of the political training imposed on the many countries with a view to origin is even more unfortunate schools by the nationalist party, were suggesting to the societies ways than that of the Jews. They immediately abolished. A Codex Expurgatus for the textbooks used in in which their medical work were doubly outcasts. They were the other subjects was issued, and whole pages that offended them had may become better related to the not Jews, because their parents to be torn out, while separate para- churches, to government health or grandparents had embraced graphs and sentences had to be deleted programs, and to developing sys- Christianity, and they were not under the teachers' direction. For the tems of national medical prac- recognized as German citizens coming semester primary schools are tice. forbidden to use any of the textbooks because they had some tincture formerly issued in China. New ones now being printed in Japan are prom- of Jewish blood. It is underised in a month. In the meantime, we How Much Is a Man Worth? stood that the Council will enhave to mimeograph lesson sheets to use. Japanese as a foreign language An exchange comments on the deavor to assist Christian and has been added as a required subject damages allowed in accident other non-Jewish people who are from the fifth grade through the cases, and asks what is the true' fleeing from Germany, Austria twelfth. The general trend is toward value of a human being. A boy and Sudetenland. the elimination of Western ideas and -Life of Faith. influences, and bringing in classical lost his hand and the courts al- Chinese and pro-Japanese ideas. Recently all teachers were required to lowed him $1,700 damages, but attend a three-day institute conducted later, when he lost his other Christian Youth Conference by Chinese and Japanese officials, at which the invincibility of Japan and arm, he was allowed $2,000 dam- In the list of encouraging the desirability of a Japan-Manchu- age. An eighteen months old kuo-China alliance against the West child toddled out into the alley trends of today must be classed and the white race were loudly pro- where rubbish had been burned, the increasing number of youth cla.imed. and three toes were injured. conferences, and camps. One Damage, $750. A young wom- was held at Bievres, France, in -Dayton Daily News. an, injured in an auto wreck in August, when 60 leaders from 23 Omaha, was given $9,500 by the Christian Medical Council court. A girl going abroad to countries formulated plans for a buy perfume had her nose in- World Conference of Christian The Christian Medical Coun- Youth, to be held in Amsterdam, cil for Overseas Work was es- sured for $50,000. Because of Holland, July 24-August 2, 1939. tablished in New York on June her back being broken in an ac- The delegates represented the 3, 1938, by twelve missionary you t h organizations of the societies of North Arne ric a cident a girl was allowed $38,- churches, the Y. M. C. A.~ the which have long sought a way 000. A Kansas City lad injured Y. W. C. A., the World's Student by which their medical work by a live wire so that he could Christian Federation, the Ecumight become better correlated never smile was allowed by the menical Youth Commission of at home and more effectively in- courts $20,000. A boy's ability the World Alliance for Internategrated with the needs of the to smile is quite worth while. A tional ~riendship through the environment abroad. They have motorcycle officer in Omaha was already created an office for su- allowed $30,000 damage for loss Churches and the Provisional pervision of the health of their of a leg while on duty. Ian Ku- Committee of the proposed workers abroad. This agency belik had the fingers of his left World Council of Churches. has been at work in New York hand insured for $250,000 while City for over five years and is a Paderewski carries $10,000,000 The program is to have four conspicuous example of comity insurance on his fingers. The basic emphases. The first is to among missionary societies. It question is, if parts of the body is the stated purpose of the are so valuable, what is the stress solidarity by setting forth Council, "to discover what, un- value of a soul? the essential content of their der changing conditions, should common Christian faith; the be the unique contribution of second is an approach to the Christianity through medicine; problems of the day through inand, as an advisory body, to aid the societies in making that con- Aid for Christian Refugees tensive, daily study of the Bible; tribution effective." the third discussion of actual In the Jerusalem Chamber of next steps to be undertaken by Westminster Abbey, in October, Christian young people; and there was inaugurated a Central fourth, an effort to place all of Council for Christian Refugees. these elements of the program in It is estimated that the migra- a setting of ecumenical worship tion from Sudetenland will in- in which the theme of the day volve 100,000 Germans, 30,000 and the aspirations of the dele- Jews and 400,000 Czechs. Sir gates are brought together be- John Simpson, who was elected fore God in prayer. Chairman of the Council, calls -Federal Council Bulletin.
Missionary
Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information Devotees of Christ. By D. S. Batley, study books and will prove in- Himself. The Autobiography of a Illus. 12 mo. 147 pp. 28. Church Hindu Lady. By Ramabai Ranada. of England Zenana Missionary So- teresting reading for mission ciety. London. 1938. study circles. Translated from the Marathi by Mrs. Katherine VanAkin Gates.
If anyone still has a doubt Dr. Ida, India. By Mary Pauline Jef- 8 vo. 253 pp. $2.00. Longmans Green & Co. New York. 1938. about the conversion of Indian fery. Introduction by Mrs. Henry women to Christ and the value W. Peabody. Illus. 212 pp. $2.00. This is a very delightful of such "new birth," this book Fleming H. Revell Co. New York. by Miss Batley of the C. E. Z. 1938. autobiography of a Hindu wom- M. S. will supply uncontestable an, married to an educated Hinevidence. They not only became Anyone in America at all in- du reformer whom she refers to Christians but efficient workers formed about mISSIOns, and as "Himself." They never befor Christ. As the Right Hon. many in India not so informed, came Christians but continued to Viscount Halifax, former British will know that this book tells observe many Hindu rites and Viceroy of India says in his in- the thrilling story of Dr. Ida S. customs. The interesting story troduction, "These women, by Scudder, President of the Medi- reveals the highest kind of famtheir noble work, accomplished cal College for Women at Vel- ily, public and religious life much in their time." The stories lore, South India. And it is a among educated Indians. The of some twenty-three of these truly wonderful story – fuB of wife, married at the age of women are told here and told ef- stirring incidents and inspira- eleven, was later the founder of fectively. Almost all of them tion. the Seva Sedan Society, to uplift were connected with the Church Indian womanhood. The picture of England missions, but many It is an indication of the place is not typical of India any more others equally remarkable came Dr. Ida holds in India that a let- than are the sordid pictures in out through the work of Bap- ter from America, addressed "Mother India," but Mrs. Ratists, Presbyterians, Methodists with only the three English nade shows the brighter side of and others. words that form the title of this the picture and uses language book, should reach Dr. Scudder that might refer to the Jewish The biographies are very brief in a land of over 350,000,000 or Moslem religion. There is no but enough facts are given to people living in over 740,000 Christ in their thought or expemake them interesting reading. cities and villages and speaking rience so that the Christian view over thirty languages! of sin, salvation, God and eternal Some names are well known like life is not mentioned. Chandra Lela, Pandita Ramabai, The life story tells of Dr. Ida's famous grandfather, John Scud- Ellen Lakshinie Goreh and Susie der, and his call to India; of the It Began in Galilee. A Study in Sorabji. Others are known only father John who followed to the Revolutionary Christianity. By to a few outside of their immedi- same field; then .of Ida's mis- Reginald J. Barker, Director of the ate circles-but they are worth chievous girlhood and the "three Methodist Central Mission in Tonyknowing-women like Shuruth calls in the night" that led her to pandy (Wales). 317 pages. $2.50. Mohini Datta and Marmarna devote her life to the neglected Cokesbury Press, Nashville, Tenn.
Bose. Most of them have gone women of India. Most criticisms of Christian- to their reward but some are still Dr. Ida of India has built up ity are directed against some excarrying on their devoted serv- the large Christian hospital, isting form of it. But the critics ice. They came from many walks nurses' training school and Med- of the revolutionary Christianity of life and all had tasted the un- ical College in South India. To here proposed will have to direct satisfying fruits of Hinduism or the advantages of good birth, their shafts against the theory, other Indian religions before thorough education, beauty and not the practice, for the precise they found peace and satisfac- unusual ability are added, in Dr. gravamen of Mr. Barker's tion in Christ. They entered into Scudder, co u rag e, Christian charge (so far as he is critical) Christ's service as preachers, character and a vital fellowship is that unless Christianity is revteachers, mothers, doc tor s , with Christ. olutionary it is not real, and that nurses, matrons and Bible wom- The book gives much valuable therefore most actual types of en. Here is an excellent sup- information on India-caste, dis- this religion, as now exemplified, plementary volume to this year's ease, women and children. are not genuine. What Mr.
Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[617 ]
Barker proposes, however, is not Barker sees only failure for any upon Christ's head, if he has not set forth as something newly in- revolutionary movement, how- first crowned Him King and ever much he may sympathize Lord of his own life." vented and therefore untried. During the making of this book with their aims, which does not An Epilogue offers an answer he has re-read the New Testa- include re-making of men by the to the question any reader would ment many times-and with vig- power of Jesus Christ. Individ- ask: If the present state of ualistic (traditional) Christian- things is so diametrically unorous results. He goes straight ity fails because it is essentially Christian, and if not only the to the New Testament for the State but the Church opposes al- selfish and other-worldly, and most every attempt to right the bases of his contentions: that therefore is false to Christ and world, how can genuine Christi- Christianity is in essence revolu- to the Word of God; secular so- anity get a start? The author sees no mass-movement, but a tionary, not simply for the indi- cialism and revolutionary anti- few outstanding personalities, an vidual but for society; that per- Christian com m u n ism are "order" cutting across all fron- doomed also to fail because they tiers, perhaps forced out of orsonal and social Christianity are ganized Christianity and cominseparable. The light of the do not aim at inner transforma- pelled to found a church-life of Gospel upon this world, and our tion. The revolutionary appeal its own; filled with power, swinging open the gates of civilization in it, has never been "must be evangelical to be effec- prayer again, knowing God not turned more unsparingly and tive. . . . The Christian ethic only in limited interior ways but in the whole gamut of human exvividly than in this book. The as an ethic is impossible; as a perience. author re-examines carefully the religion it is gloriously possible." KENNETH J. FOREMAN. records and the ideal in Gospels Unlike some who have been and Epistles, surveys the present strongly moved by the social China Marches Toward the Cross. By Earl H. Cressey, Executive Secstate of the world, and concludes challenge of the Gospel, the au- retary of the China Christian Eduthat if the true Gospel of Christ thor does not ignore theology. cational Assn. Pamphlet. 25 cents. were really preached and prac- On the contrary, his social pro- Friendship Press. New York. 1938. ticed it would mean a revolution. gram is entwined with his re- Here is a timely pamphlet on Mr. Barker means just what ligious beliefs. He is no Calvin- the Japanese invasion of China he says. Many persons assent and its effect on the land, the lazily to the proposition that ist, but his brilliant excoriation people and Christian missions. of Calvinism is less an indication First the author, an American Christianity would make a dif- of that system as it is preached Baptist missionary for 28 years ference, if practiced. Where Mr. and now on the China Christian Barker differs is in proposing today than a reflection of the ef- Council staff, gives a brief statethat we do something about it; fect that a high Barthianism has ment as to the Marco Polo and in envisaging the revolution on a sensitive and social-minded Bridge incident in July, 1937, in concrete economic-social that was used as an excuse for Christian. the Japanese military advance. terms. Capitalism is flatly de- Even those who cannot go all The result has been increasing solidarity, resistance and announced; absolute pacifism is the way with the author can tagonism to Japanese on the part held up as the only really Chris- profit from reading such a book. of Chinese sufferers. tian position; repeatedly the No one can read it with compla- In the midst of this suffering saying is quoted, that "the bias cency. A gift at pointed phrase- and cruelty the story of the sacof the disciple who has the mind making makes truth stick. Al- rificial service of Christian mis- sionaries stands out as an epic of Christ, will always be towards most at random one may note: of heroism. They have defied communism." The truly radical "They were pricked to the threats, danger, suffering and nature of Christ's religion is so death. Men and single women heart-by the sharp point of the have stuck to their posts in order plain, we are told, that only those that they might minister to the can miss it who are comfortably Cross which had been driven Chinese refugees and wounded. cushioned in their own security. into the heart of God." "His The story quoted from various centers is thrilling and might be A Christian who speaks thus death was necessary for the greatly enlarged. should have earned the right to hard-hearted whose ve r y re- spectability obscured the i r Chapter three describes some do so; and Mr. Barker, as head need." of the work of relief, the exodus of a Methodist mission in the from invaded areas and the refamous (or infamous) Welsh "The Cross is no historic trick sults of air-raids. Christian to appease an angry God; it is work in "occupied" areas is the coal-mining district, has not only the eternal truth of God and His seen the end-results of capital- way with man in all his history." ism in a "Christian" country but has given his own life to bring a "The Kingdom (of God) is Christian solution. our world seen under the aspect The distinctive feature of this of the universal sovereignty of author's viewpoint is the God." "The significance of Jesus can warmth of his evangelical fervor, his high reverence for never be taught as a doctrine; Christ, and his deep-rooted it is born of that knowledge Christian faith. In no irritable which comes from love of him." or sarcastic spirit, but in love, "It remains true, however, that no man can lift a hand to place moves the entire argument. Mr. the crowns of earth's kingdoms
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
subject of chapter four. Mis- only once and then merely to re- Church and the Oxford Group," sionaries and Chinese Christians fer to an incident, his theological and that the Church should not have carried on with increasing viewpoint is apparently the same be "guilty of the insensate folly vigor, in spite of heavy losses. as that of the first four chapters of rejecting unity with any force Most of the mission stations re- of that formerly much discussed that can help in the winning of main open and active and thir- but now half forgotten volume. the spiritual world war." Critics teen of the great Christian edu- He holds that "the answer to of the "Groups" may not relish cational institutions are still in present world turmoil is a new such a characterization. The operation but eight of them have Christianity freed from the dog- book as a whole is excellent, a moved to new locations. Their matic metaphysics of the Catho- fervent summons to Christians enrolment is 4,305 compared lic Church, and from both the to get in pe'rsonal touch with God with 7,098 for the previous year. irresponsible otherworldliness of and unite in a spiritual mass The great Chinese trek to the Lutheranism and the legalistic movement which God can mobil- "new West" is briefly described conception of Calvinism." He ize for the salvation of the world. as the greatest mass movement strongly urges a "liberal Prot- ARTHUR J. BROWN.
of population in modern history. estantism" w h i c h "recognizes Factories, public buildings, rail- the will of God as supreme over Toward a Literate World. By Rev. roads and bridges have been de- all life, individual and national," FTank C. Laubach, Ph.D. Foreword stroyed in the path of the in- a Christianity the heart of which by Prof. Edward L. Thorndike of vaders. The last chapter (Nine) is the revelation of God in Columbia University. 8vo. 175 pp. describes the present missionary Christ, and the goal of which is $1.50. Columbia University Press. New York. 1938.
"opportunity." The prestige of the Kingdom of God as Jesus Dr. Laubach's short cut meth- Christianity was never so high described it. Those who do not od of teaching illiterates to read and people everywhere are ready as well as those who do agree and write has created quite a to listen to the Gospel proclaimed with some of Dr. White's state- stir not only among the Moros by men and women who are giv- ments and theological presuppo- of the Philippines where it was ing their lives for China and are sitions will find much in this revealing Christ by their acts as thoughtful and remarkably in- originally tried, but in India, well as by their words. teresting book in which they will Africa, and other lands. Dr. heartily concur. This book furnishes material Laubach has been called "an for many missionary addresses. ARTHUR J. BROWN. evangelist of literacy" who carries on his campaign success- A Working Faith for the World. By The Church Can Save the World. By fully among all classes of people. Hugh Vernon White. 213 pp. Samuel M. Shoemaker. 162 pp. He estimates the illiterates of $2.00. Harper & Bros. New York. $1.5!J. Harper & Brothers, New 1938. York. 1938. the world at 62 % of the popula- Although Dr. White became The rector of Calvary Protest- tion and in some countries it is sec ret a r y of the American ant Episcopal Church, New Board of Commissioners for York, has earned the right to be as high as 90 %. The progress Foreign Missions only seven heard and read. At the age of thirty-two, he took an old down- toward literacy has been steady during the past thirty years but it has been slow. By Dr. Lau- bach's method illiterates have years ago, he has already won a town Protestant E pis cop a I learned to read their native recognized place a m 0 n g the church (Calvary), with a large tongue in a few weeks. This scholarly thinkers and writers plant and a small congregation; will be of immense advantage in on missionary problems. The his flaming zeal has made it an general education and in openthesis of his present volume is evangelistic powerhouse in that ingavenues of Christian truth. well expressed in its title. He part of the city. . The present What has been accomplished and presses for a "faith" that volume, like its predecessors, the method, form a fascinating "works." In Part I, "Christian- shows that he has something to story. Missionaries and educaity a World Faith," he discusses say and that he knows how to tors in backward countries will the world's need of a unifying say it in straight-forward fash- be especially interested in Dr. faith, the different kinds of reli- ion. He believes that the situa- Laubach's story and many will gion, the role of religion in hu- tion at home and abroad is omi- be eager to apply his principles man life, and the effect of reli- nous with peril, but that the to their own people. The achievegion on civilization. In Part II, Church can yet be used to save ments among the Moros and the "Christianity at Work," he dis- the world if its members will influence on their whole life and cusses the religious character of dedicate themselves to the task thought constitute a miracle of the world mission, "sharing and in full surrender to the guidance progress.
beyond," and the two poles of of God. His viewpoint is that of the Christian movement. Part the "Oxford Group," of which he Directory of World Missions. Edited III describes the "Objectives of is the recognized leader in the by Joseph 1. Parker. 8 vo. 255 pp. Christianity" as Christian truth, United States. His zeal leads International Missionary Council. Christian personality, and Chris- him to declare that "antichrist New York. 1938. tian community. While he men- has been busy attempting to This companion volume to the tions "Re-Thinking Missions," wedge apart the organized "Statistical Survey" gives the
main facts-names, addresses, subsistence by hard work. The do not believe, in the hope of officers, periodicals and fields of reward 'Of toil, outside of char- winning their assent but we the mission boards, societies, col- acter and personality building, meet with disappointment. Why leges and councils connected is kept before the reader in the with Protestant foreign mis- form of wage'S or returns for is this? Such books are good sions. Merely this brief direc- service. The change of wages and useful, but· is there some tory impresses one with the mag- in various economies is carefully other approach to which Chrisnitude of the enterprise. Over considered as related to China. tianity must turn? Canon 1,100 organizations are listed Barry's restatement is firm and (without duplications abo u t The 3,000 years of feudalism persuasive-a genuine and hon- 1,000) ; these are related to nine- in China repeated many condi- est service to the Christian teen denominational families and tions found in the world tQday, cause. He himself, no doubt, independent groups. The Pres- showing the way to organic CQ- feels the perplexity. Our Chrisbyterians and the Reformed rep- operation among variQus ecoresent the largest number of so- nomic groups. The study of tian case is clear. Why then do cieties, (83); the Lutherans wages is fruitful for the scholar, men not believe? That is our come next (60); the Methodists the agriculturalist, the me- problem. The Gospel of John is next (43); and the Baptists chanic, the tradesman and 'Other full of answers to it. (42) . Independent and "Faith" workers but nQt to the militarist missions are not separately whose life is built on the philoso- R. E. SPEER. listed, but they number over 175, phy of force. union enterprises. 275 and indig- Steps Toward the World Council. enous societies over 100. The This book traces the primal By Charles S. McFarland. 8 vo. independent "Faith" missions cell of China in society toances- 128 pp. $1.25. Fleming H. Revell have had an especially large tral relations and then thrQugh Co., New York. 1938. growth in the past twenty-five property holding, bartering and years. This reference volume is the problems of industrial diffi- The recent Conference at particularly valuable for mission- culties. Facts as to' incQme, the Utrecht, Holland, draws attenary executives. cost 'Of living and the means of tion to the movement for church subsistence are carefully CQm- unity. The next step seems to Adventures of Service. Stories of piled. In an estimated popula- bet h e "World Council 'Of Modern Pioneers. By D. M. Gill and tion of 474,569,181 or 80% are Churches," proposed at the Ox- A. M. Pullen. 127 pp. $1.00; paper, active in agriculture. The me- ford and Edinburgh Conferen- 50 cents. Friendship Press. New chanical trades are growing in ces. Dr. McFarland, who was York. 1938. number and their products are the first Secretary of the Fed- becoming diversified. These eral Council of Churches of Here are eight stories of facts help the missionary to Christ in America, presents a pioneers who worked against gauge, not only the condition but brief history of the Movement, heavy odds to help their fellow the possible support to be ex- showing the need, progress and men and women. Some are well pected fQr the Church and its some of the suggested plans; known -like Jane Addams and institutiQns. Booker T. Washington. Others Victory Through Youth. By Luther are comparatively unknown- While there is nO' direct ref- J. Holcomb. Booklet. 83 pp. 25 like John Flynn of Central Aus- erence to the Christian mission- cents. Boardman Press, Nashville, tralia, Edward Wilson of the ary enterprise as such, every- Tenn. 1938. Antarctic Scott Expedition and thing in the book bears some re- Sophia Jex-Blake of Scotland lation to missions and to all life It is estimated that over 15,- who opened the medical profes- as related to sound economic sion to women. They a'"8 read- principles. JOHN M. G. DARMS. 000,000 young people under the able stories told fQr young people. Additional facts, a few What Has Christianity to Say? By age of thirty are connected with dates and names of places are F. R. Barry. 192 pp. $2.00. Haradded in the notes in the ap- pers. New York. Protestant churches in America. pendix. Canon Barry deals in this At least 10,000,000 are Roman Der Arbeitslohn in China. By Prof. fresh and refreshing book with Dr. Paul Arndt, Dr. Djini-Schen the modern world in its sickness Catholics and 40,000,000 are and Dr. Chii-Fen-Lo. R. M. 9. and with the Gospel worded to Hans Buske, Leipzig. the mind and speech of the mod- outside any church. One-half 'Of ern world a'S the one remedy for Every missionary to China its disease. To us who believe these are between twelve and will find great prQfit from read- it seems that such a statement, ingthis illuminating and inform- meeting the modern mind in its thirty years of age. Mr. Holative book. Evidently it was own habitat, ought to be conwritten after years of research, vincing. Of many present-day comb, a young man, writes of and from first-hand knQwledge statements of the Christian view of the field, by men who gained we have this feeling. And often the need of these youth for a we give these books to men who spiritual revival. The first sec- tion deals with planning a re- vival, suggesting committees and their work. The second part is a series of ten very short mes- sages from such men as Dr.
George W. Truett, J. H. Pace and Norman W. Cox. While the general tenor is Baptist, the whole book relates to youth and their spiritual revival. It has a definite message and practical value. •
Missionary BookshelF Prisoner of War 31,163-Bedros M. Dr. William Pierson Merrill
Sharian. Ernest Pye. 202 pp. recently resigned from the pastorate $1.50. Revell. New York. (Concludea from page 620.) of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City, has been elected A Year of Children's Sermons. By Soudan's Second Sunup. Desmond W. President of the International Com- Joseph A. Schofield, Jr. 192 pp. Bittinger. 254 pp. $2.00. Elgin mittee of the World Alliance for In- $1.50. Cokesbury Press, Nashville, Press. Elgin, Ill. ternational Friendship through the Tenn. 1938. Churches. Dr. Merrill is also Presi- Studies in Church Unity. Angus Dun. 48 pp. World Conference on Faith The pastor of the First Pres- and Order. New York. dent of the Church Peace Union. byterian Church of Gouverneur, Urban Scene. Margueritte Harmon New York, has acquired the art Bro. Illus. 61 pp. 25 cents. Friend- … … * of preaching also to adults ship Press. New York. through his talks to children, Vivid Experiences in Korea. William Rev. J. Quinter Miller, Ph.D., has without seeming to do so. All H. Chisholm. 136 pp. $1.00. Bible succeeded Dr. Roy B. Guild as Executhe stories in this volume of Institute Colportage Assn. Chicago. tive Secretary of the Federal Counfifty-two sermons-and they are The Spirit of the Shepherd. M. P. cil's Field Department. Dr. Miller real sermons, each based upon a Krikorian. 125 pp. $1.00. Zon- will continue to carry part-time re- Scripture te~an be adapted dervan Pub. Co. Grand Rapids. sponsibility in the work of the Con- necticut Council of Churches.
… … * Rev. Eleazar Guerra has been elected Bishop of the Methodist Church of Mexico. He is a graduate to local audiences. In some of Studies in Hymnology. Mrs. Crosby of the Southern Methodist University them, simple objects are used as Adams. 96 p:p,. $1.00. Cokesbury of Dallas, Texas. Press. NashvIlle. illustrations. H. H. F. .. * .. The Star in the East. C. Darby Ful- Sclrsi.ptu6are. Calendars for 1939. lB. and ton. 264 pp. Presbyterial). Com- Kemal Ataturk, President and each. Pickering & Inglis. mittee on Publication. founder of modern Turkey, died on November 10th at 58 years of age. The Victory Life. John Wilmot Ma- He is succeeded in the presidency by London and Glasgow. General Ismet Inonu, former Premier and sometimes called "the conscience These daily calendars combine hood. 120 pp. 35 cents. Zonder- of Ataturk." The late president was dates, Scripture texts, and com- van Pub. Co. Grand Rapids. regarded as a military genius who ments from well known Bible seized the reigns of power at the end teachers. The larger calendars What Has Christianity to Say? F. of the World War in 1918 and built a (with the comments from men R. Barry. $21.00. 190 pp. Harper dictatorship (nominally a republic) on like D. L. Moody, Horatius Bo- Bros. New York. the ruins of the Caliphate of Constan- tinople. The new president is expected The Way of Partnership in India. P. L. Garlick. Is. 86 pp. C. M. S. nar, F. B. Meyer, Arthur T. Pier- London. son, Campbell Morgan, Graham to continue constructive work in Tur- Scroggie, Hudson Taylor and Youth in the Toils. Leonard V. Har- key and to preserve friendship with others) are one shilling six pence rison and Pryor McNeill Grant. Great Britain and the Soviet Union. each; the others are one shilling. 167 pp. $1.50. Macmillan. New He is looked upon as an able soldier, York. a talented diplomat and a stern ruler.
There are also almanacs and di- Personal Items He was said to be responsible for aries that make very useful gifts abolishing the Moslem Caliphate, –especially to missionaries. closing religious schools and monas- teries, and forcing Turks to discard Dr. Hu Shih, the new Chinese am- the fez and wear hats. bassador at Washington, is the highest type of Chinese practical philosopher New Boole. and sage, with an American education. J)pmn~ He is not a professing Christian like. Central Africa Revisited. D. M. Mil- his predecessor Dr. C. T. Wang, but ler. 120 pp. 2s. Africa Inland is sympathetic with Christian ethics of tbe and ideals. Dr. Hu Shih is anti-mili- Mission. London. taristic and has been working for peace and unity in China, based on Cruickshank of Calabar. 6aA. lePxiacnkdeerr- literacy unity with a common national €btf~tfan Gammie. 110 pp. 2s. tongue, general education and agreeing & Inglis. London.
Five Times Ten. A Child's Story of ment in ideals. He uses politics to 1fft the Woman's Missionary Union. promote education, unity and liberty ell BOOK of worship in song, com- Myrtle Anderson Love. 64 pp. 25 based on it general recognition of the bining a hymnal for general cents. Broadman Press. Nashville. rights of man. He wrote in The Forum in 1927: church use, and a Song book for evan- Interpretative Statistical Survey of ~elistic purposes. Oilly songs sound the World Mission of the Chris- "The part played by the mission- tian Church. Edited by Joseph I. aries in the modernization of China In the faith and inspirational in char- Parker. 324 pp. $5.00. Interna- will long be remembered by the Chi- acter included—emphasizing Evan~e1- tional Missionary Council. New nese, even though no Christian church ism, Missions, and the Deeper Life. York. be left there. They were the pioneers of the new China. . . . They agitated against foot binding, which eight cen- Japanese Terror in China. H. J. Tim- turies of esoteric philosophizing in na- Many of the new—the best of the old. perley. 220 pp. 75 cents. Modern tive China had failed to recognize as Age Books. New York. an inhuman institution." 504 Songs Responsive Readings The Man by the Side of the Road. … … * Topical Index Gold Embossed Willard W. Bartlett. 62 pp. 50 cents. Albert Pub. Co. Westerville, George H. Theuer, a graduate of Published in round notes and Roxite cloth Ohio. Yale University Sheffield Scientific edition only at $65.00 per 100–an especially School and a member of the Evan- low price. Single copy, 8Sc postpaid.
Write toda, for returnable sample cop, Patches-Missionary Life in India as gelical Church, has been called to be CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, Inc. Seen by a Dog. Loretta P. Root. associate secretary of the Student Illus. 98 pp. $1.00. Women's Mis- Volunteer Movement, 254 Fourth 1502 NORTH THIRD STREET sionary Society, Winona Lake, Ind. Avenue, New York. HARRISBUR.G, PA.
mediate Jesus Christ to men and women and to bring them into
touch with God through Christ is the one objective of The ~merican Baptist Home Mission Society. Participation in our work through prayer, service and gifts IS THE PRIVILEGE OF ALL By means of the ~nnuity Gift the great objective of the Society may be furthered by you after all participation in life has passed away.
An Annuity Gift brings you a guaranteed income for life. It also brings you into an immortal partnership. Your gift, a steady source of income for you during life, will help to carryon Christian missions in the United States and Latin America after your need of an income on earth has ceased.
For information concerning rates of income address: G. PITT BEERS, Executiue Secretary THE AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY 23 East 26th Street, New York, N. Y.
FOR A CHRISTMAS GREETING SEND Cbt Upptr Room in a special envelope beautifully printed in two colors A GIFT OF REAL VALUE AT A MINIMUM COST THE UPPER ROOM, 10 or more copies to one ad- For the past four years an increasing number of pasdress, 5 cents each, postpaid. Special ChristllUUJ tors, Sunday school teachers, and other group leaders Greeting Envelopes, $1J)() per hundred, postpaid. have used THE UPPER ROOM as a Christmas Greet- If you wish us to address and mail a copy 01 THE ing to members of their groups. Thousands have UPPER ROOM in one of these envelopes, the found it a convenient, appropriate, and economical way price is 10 cents each, including postage. En- to remember their friends. velopes plain (unprinted), 50 cents per hundred. No order for envelopes filled for less than 10 The January, February, March issue, in the specially printed, two-color Christmas Greeting envelope, costs cents. a total of 6 cents, plus postage, if mailed.
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The Missionary Review of the World — March 1937
MARCH,1937
Changing and Unchanging Things in Foreign Missions Robert E. Speer The American Indian and His Religion Elaine Goodale Eastman What Christ Has Done for Untouchable~ v. s. Azariah A Firebrand for Christ in Iran J. Christy Wilson Japanese Shrines and Emperor Worship By a Resident of Japan Modern Missionary Motives w. B. Anderson Christ, the Church and Modern Youth Daniel A. Poling 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember PLAN NOW to Spend Next Summer's Vacation with
ica's Greatest Theological Teachers. March ll-15-Annual Meeting, Wom- an's Missionary Council, Methodist Winona Lake School of Theology, Winona Lake, Indiana Episcopal Church, South. Colum- bia, S. C. For Ministers. Teachers, Missionaries. Sunday School Workers and Laymen SO May ll-General Conference, United Courses leading to Regular Theological Degrees, Cost Reasonable Free Brethren in Christ, Chambersburg, July 7 to August ll···Two Terms 15 Days Each.•·lnterdenominational Pa. Rooms Evangelical Faith and High Scholarship Combined May 18-21-National Convention of Dr. W. E. Biederwolf. Director (Ask for free Prospectus) Dr. J. A. Huffman. Dean the Evangelical Women's Union, St. Louis, Mo. and of all Christians in order to rid ~!,mn~ the world of leprosy. May 20-25 – Northern Baptist Con- vention, Philadelphia, Pa. *** of tbt May 26 – General Assembly, United Miss Laura M. White, a mIsslOn- Presbyterian Church, Oak Park, Ill. ary in China for over forty years, May 27-General Assembly, Presby- died in Germantown, Pennsylvania, ((bri~tian terian Church in U. S. A., Colum- on January 25. She was born in bus, Ohio. Philadelphia, where she was grad- Obituary Notes uated from Temple University and lLift Mrs. Amy Wilkes Zwemer, the went to China in 1892 under the Womwife of Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer, of an's Foreign Missionary Society of cA. BOOK of worship in song, com- Princeton Theological Seminary, died suddenly of heart disease in New York the Methodist Episcopal Church. For bining a hymnal for general Citv on January 25. Mrs. Zwemer fifteen years she was editor of The was born 71 years ago in Woolver- Christian Literature Soc i e t y of church use, and a song book for evanhampton, England. After being graduated as a registered nurse she served Shanghai. gelistic purposes. Only songs sound in a hospital in Sydney, Australia and *** volunteered for mission work in Bagh- Mrs. Lillie Campbell Orbison, wife in the faith and inspirational in chardad, Iraq. She and Dr. Zwemer were married in Arabia in 1896 and con- of Rev. John H. Orbison, recently a acter included—emphasizing Evangeltinued their missionary service for member of the Punjab Mission of the Moslems, residing in Arabia and Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., died ism, Missions, and the Deeper Life. Egypt until 1930 when Dr. Zwemer on February 5th in Hoshiarpur, India. Many of the new-·-the best of the old. became Professor of Missions and Comparative Religions at Princeton Dr. and Mrs. Orbison were honorably 504 Songs Responsive Readings Theological Seminary. One of Dr. retired in 1932, after nearly fifty Topical Index Gold Embossed Zwemer's daughters, Mrs. C. L. Pickens, is the wife of a missionary in years of service in India. Mrs. Orbi- Published in round notes and Roxite cloth Hangkow, China; two other daugh- son was born in Manayunk, Pa., 78 edition only at $65.00 per 100···an especially ters and a son, Dr. Raymond L. years ago. low price. Single copy, S5c postpaid. Zwemer, of New York, also survive *** the mother. Mrs. Zwemer was author Write today for returnable sample copy of "Two Young Arabs," was joint author of "Topsy Turvy Land," "Zig- Mr. Frank Thompson, who died in Zag Journeys in the Camel Country," and was one of the editors of the CRUSADE SONqS London on November 22, in his 84th volume entitled "Moslem Women." year, was known for his long associa- '" Wellesley C. B'a" ile'"y, founder and tion with Spurgeon's Tabernacle and cA CHOICE selection of 105 hymns and retired secretary of the Mission to its allied institutions. He was also choruses for Revival Services, Bible Con- Lepers, which he founded over sixty years ago, died in Edinburgh, Scot- for nearly a quarter of a century a ferences, and Missionary Conventions. land, on January 28th at the age of member of the Baptist Missionary 90. Mr. Bailey was born in Thorn- Society's General Committee. One Strong manila binding, 15c each; bury, Ireland, on April 27, 1846, was son, Stanley, served in the Congo $12.50 per 100. Carriage extra. educated at Kilkenny College and after a brief period in New Zealand until retired because of broken health; CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS,Inc. became a Presbyterian missionary at another son, Cecil, is Secretary of a Ambala, India. There he opened the British Mission Auxiliary. 1502 North Third Street first missionary leper asylum in 1869. Five years later he founded the Mis- '" '" '" Harrisburg, Pa. sion to Lepers, during his furlough in Ireland, and in 1886 became gen- Sir Andrew Wingate, son of Rev. eral secretary to the Mission, a post Wm. Wingate, missionary to the Rev. Robert Tahupotiki Haddon, which he held until 1917, when he be- Jews, died in Switzerland January 1, Maori chief, died November 5. The came Honorary Superintendent. Mr. at the age of 90. Sir Andrew entered Methodist Times says: "Mr. Haddon Bailey emphasized the necessity for a the Indian Civil Service nearly sev- was a chief of high rank who could threefold objective, preaching the enty years ago, becoming widely trace his ancestry back a millennium. Gospel to lepers, supplying their known as Famine Secretary during He stood over six feet in height, erect simple wants, and relieving their suf- the great South India drought of as a spear, with flashing eyes in a ferings through medical care. Since 1877. On his retirement in 1902, he rugged, kindly countenance. He was then the Mission has sought also to gave himself wholeheartedly to volun- ordained to the native ministry in win the cooperation of governments teer missionary work. He was espe- 1904, and for over thirty years he exercised a faithful ministry. Mr. cially interested in the Bible Society's Haddon twice advocated the claims of activities, in Jewish missions, and in his people in New Zealand Parlia- Anglo-Indian Education. ment.
'" '" '" The Rev. Dr.'"Jam* es*S. Gale, author Dr. Thomas J. Porter, Prof. of of "Korean Sketches" and other vol- Church History at Campinas, Brazil, umes and for forty years a mission-' until his retirement in 1932, died sud- ary of the Presbyterian Church, denly in California, December 26. U. S. A., in Korea, died in Bath, Eng- Dr. Porter was a missionary in Persia land, on J.anuary 31 at the age of from 1889 to 1896, and after a period seventy-five. James Gale was born of iII health took up the professorship in Pilkington, Ontario, graduated from Toronto University and went to at Campinas.
'" '" '" Rev. N. Odinzov, President of the Korea in 1888 as a representative of All-Russia Baptist Union, recently the Y. M. C. A. Three years later he died in the Yaroslaw prison. He had joined the Presbyterian Mission and refused every temptation to renounce retired in 1928. to live in England. his Christian convictions. (Concluded on third cover.)
MISSIONARY Personal
REVIEW OF THE WORLD Dr. Julius .Richter, of Berlin, is TBE DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor now in America, lecturing at the ORI.ENT VOL. LX MARCH,1937 No.3 , Biblical Seminary in New York. In Publication and Business Olllce– Record Time! Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. * * … Mr. William M. Danner, for over Go direct fromVancouver and Editorial and Executive Olllce– Victoria in 10 days by Em- 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. twenty-six years the General Secre- press of Asia or Empress of Entered as second-class matter at Russia. Only 3 more days via tary of the American Mission to Hawaii by Empress of .lapan Post Olllce, Harrisburg, Pa., under Lepers, has been honorably retired. (fastest ship on the Pacific) Act of March 3, 1879. or Empress of Canada. Con- So far as his health permits, he will nect at Honolulu from Cali- 25 cents a copy–$2.50 a year. continue to serve the cause of the fornia ports. Low round-trip Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. fares include passage from Published monthly, except August. lepers by public addresses and in con- and to Seattle. All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. British agents – Marshall, Morgan sultation on the affairs of the Mission. ~fI.+ and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, .. * .. For rates and sailings, see 10 shillings a year. YOUR TRAVEL AGENT or Cana- The Rev. Emory Ross has been dian Pacific: New York, Chi- MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB~ ca~o, San Francisco, 38 other LISHING CO., INC. elected General, Secretary of the citIes in U. S. and Canada.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS American Mission to Lepers. He was, ROBERT E. SPEER, President A. L. WARNSHUIB, Vice-President for some sixteen years a missionary in WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary the Congo. … …
SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Rev. T. C. Wu, General Secretary WILLIAM I. ClLumlDRLAIN D. J. FANT of the Chinese Mission to Lepers, has MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD WM. B. LIPPHARD resigned after more than ten years'
Emc M. NORTH service. As leader of the Chinese SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Mission to Lepers he has placed that Editorial Chat work on a high level of efficiency.
The annual meeting of the REVIEW * * … was held on February 18th for the Rev. Thomas Alfred Tripp, of consideration of annual reports and the election of directors for the en- Mystic, Connecticut, has become Assuing year. sociate Director of the Town and *** The June issue of the REVIEW will Country Department of the Church be devoted to the Home Mission study subject for the year, "Christ and Extension Boards of the Congrega- Rural America." (See notice on back cover of this issue.) tional churches. * * .. *** Rev. Ernest E. Grimwood has been Will you help acquaint friends with the REVIEW as a means of increasing appointed Director and Chairman of interest and cooperation in Christ's work throughout the world? Send the Central Asian Mission. Prior to names and addresses to the Circulation Department, 3d and Reily Streets, the War, he served the Mission as Harrisburg, Pa., and we will send honorary secretary and editor and free sample copies. later was honorary secretary of the *** Sudan Interior Mission, which posi- Here are the unsolicited estimates of the value of the REVIEW, received tion he resigned… in No… vember. recently from missionary readers: … "The REVIEWS that you are getting out are exceedingly fine. I do not Rev. William Henry Fonger has think that in all its history THE RE- been elected secretary of the Philip- VIEW has done as good work as it is pine agency of the American Bible doing now, and unless I am very Society, where he has served as actgreatly mistaken God is using it and ing agent since March, 1934. other influences with it, to get the missionary enterprise back on its own *** even keel again." Dr. Roy ,B. Guild and Dr. Worth DR. PAUL W. HARRISON. M. Tippy, Executive Secretaries of Muscat, Arabia. the Federal Council, became emeritus *** on January 1 and they will continue to give part time service to the Coun- "We enjoyed the Africa number of cil through 1937, carrying on certain THE REVIEW and hope that it will be important duties and being available possible for you to have a China number before very long. as counselors. … … …
REV. G. W. ROYALL. Dr. W. B. Bagby, Baptist mission- Shangtung, China. ary to Brazil since 1881, lives to see 600 churches with 50,000 members, five colleges, two seminaries, ,a publi- cation society, a home and foreign mission board carrying the gospel to the far interior of Brazil, to Portugal, and from Portu..g. al… to …Africa.
Dugald Campbell, F.R.G.S., who for several years has been in the serv- ice of the National Bible Society of Scotland, circulating the Scriptures through the Sahara, has found it necessary, from repeated heart at- tacks, to relinquish responsibility at Tamanrasset. This is an important development of the Society's work in the Sahara; it will now be under the direction of M. Jules d'Allmen.
(Concluded on third cover.) [113 ]
by Bureau of American
A RELIGIOUS TORTURE RITE OF THE AMERICAN I;lDIANS OF THE PLAINS THE RAIN DANCE OF THE ZUNI INDIANS OF NE.W MEXICO (See article on "The Amerkan Indian and His Religion," pages 128 to 130) REVIB ORLD VOLUME LX AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 3 MARCH,1937 Topics of the ·Times YOUTH – THE GREAT AMERICAN jority .of American yQung people are tQday spir- MISSION FIELD itually illiterate. But just because they are in this conditiQn, From all quarters today is heard the cry fQr revival. Religious leaders are joined by men young people constitute a great and fruitful misprominent in business and professiQnal life in de- sion field. For, whether we who had our educaelaring that modern problems have .their roots in tiQn more than fifteen year,s ago like to admit it moral and spiritual ills. One of the recent addi- or not, our schools and colleges are today almost tions to the chorus insistently calling fQr revival completely secularized. Of course, there are still is Mr. John Edgar Hoover, chief of the Federal a few Christian institutions left, but, compared G-Men. Commenting upon the huge crime bill of with the total student population .of the land, their the nation, he says, "We are in dire need .of a number is very small. President James Bryant spiritual awakening. We must place the rejuve- Conant, Dr. Eliot's successor, once remQved, nation of national morality above mundane am- spoke in his first annual report of the aim of the founders of Harvard and that early Puritan herit- bitions. . . ." age .of the university whereby educatiQn and the- There is nothing very remarkable about such a ology were united. And then with perfect candor statement. Mr. Hoover's work brings him face to he continued, "It is hard fQr us to recapture their face with the fruits .of godlessness. In the great [the Puritans'] point .of view; today, learning has army of youthful criminals he sees the logical re- become secular." And so it has. It has become suIt of the fact that vast numbers of American so secular that President Nicholas Butler, .of Co- parents have heedlessly left God and religion out lumbia, protests as follows in one .of his reports: of their lives and out of their homes. In an essay "So far as tax-supPQrted schools are cQncerned, published in The Atlantic Monthly, in 1924, the an odd situation has been permitted toO arise. The late Pres,ident Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard, separation of Church and State is fundamental in pointed toO the forty or fifty milliQns .of Americans our American political order, but as far as relinot connected with any church or religious or- gious instruction is cQncerned, this princip,le has ganization whatever. After remarking that the been so far departed from as to put the whole children .of such parents receive no religious in- force and influence .of the tax..supported school on struction at home .or abroad and are therefore the side of .one clement .of the population-namely, densely ignorant .of fundamental moralities and that which is pagan and believes in no religion even gQod manners, Dr. Eliot wrote these trench- whatever." ant words: "N0 such experiment on SQ vast aYes, the young people of America are a great scale has ever been tried since time began, as this missionary challenge. And this applies to uniconsiderable fraction of the American people is versity students as well as to secQndary and elenow trying-namely, bringing up their children mentary pupils. As the Editor of this REVIEW without any religious instructiQn." The great remarked, after lunching with some leaders at a New England educator published those words recent Student Volunteer C.onventiQn, the delethirteen years ago. Has the experiment paid? gates were a missionary field in that many .of them Every judge, every minister, every spiritual- had never yet really faced the claims of the Gos:- minded educatQr knows that it has not paid. pel .of Christ? If ever the words of our Lord re- Rather has it cost a dreadful price; the great ma- garding "the fields white unto the harvest" ap- [ 115 ]
plied, they apply to. yQung people tQday. But, line-"The hungry sheep look up and are not fed." thank God, it is a fact that Ameriean youth is Let all missionary-minded Believers in Christ resPQnsive to. the Christian message. Black as the pray and wQrk to the end that the dreadful repicture of s,piritual illiteracy amQng our YQuth proach of a younger generatiQn spiritually starvmay be, it has anQther side. The great missiQn ing in a nominally Christian land may no longer field of American yQuth :is responsive to. Christ! rest upon the Church. FRANK E. GAEBELEIN. When He is truly presented, they listen and as they listen many yield themselves to Him. CHIANG, CHANG AND CHINA This is the mQst encQuraging fact in the reli- Oriental diplomacy is largely unintelligible to gious life Qf our cQuntry today-that the stirrings the Occidental mind, even ,to those who have spent of a spiritual awakening are being felt especially a lif~time in the Far East. China and Japan, in amQng the youth. SQme significant facts substan- any given circumstances, seldom s.ay or do what tiate that statement. First, there are the inter- Great Britain or America WQuld have said Qr denQminational ,summer cQnferences for young dQne, and their explanations of processes and repeQple. At a SCQre of centers throughout the land sults rarely meet Western requirements as to great numbers of students, many of them from lucidity Qr adequacy. colleges or universities, assemble for Bible study and spiritual fellowship, usually fQr periods of a One of the most mysterious and apparently irweek. Anyone who has been a leader in such con- rational performances in recent histQry is the ferences must have been struck with the intellec- sudden "kidnapping" and the unexpected release tual and moral calibre of the delegates and, even Qf Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, the head of more, with their eager response to. the preaching the Nationalist Armies, together with the surof the sovereign claims of the crucified and risen render, trial and treatment of his erstwhile cap- Christ. To see college men and women, to say tor, Chang Hisiieh Liang, a subordinate officer. nothing of the many high school students who. go The Generalissimo had just ,achieved such marvelto. these cQnferences, enter into a personal rela- ous success in uniting all the provinces of China tionship with the Lord gives Qne new hQpe for a under a central gQvernment, after personally leadcoming revival in America. ing National forces in driving the murderous CQmmunist hordes ,to the northwest borders, that There are also Bible study groups in leading the world, in its reawakened hope that China was universities. A few months ago. the writer had winning a new lease of life, was startled and horthe privilege of 'speaking at a great technological rified, early in December, by the report that institute. He was invited by a Bible study club, Chiang Kai Shek had been seized and held prissponsored by a group of students and faculty. oner by Chang Hsueh Liang, his subordinate of- The meeting was not large, but its very existence ficer in Shensi whom he had gone to consult. Many was remarkable. After it was over a professor of Chiang's military escort were slaughtered at said that it was only the second time he had ever the time and Chang was even reported as brQadseen a speaker with a Bible in his hand on a plat- casting to. the world his execution of the Genform at that institution. And many anQther great eralissimo. educational institution has a similar group of earnest Christian students and faculty, seeking The so-called "Marshal" Chang, son of Chang to. give a real witness for our Lord. Tso Lin, the ex-bandit "War-lord" of Manchuria, unable to hold Manchuria and other territory Again, any .pastor who is preaching the Gospel against the Japanese and for some time in retirewith power to a fun church, will say that his mQst ment, was ostensibly engaged in completing the resPQnsive hearers are his young people. So has suppression of the CQmmunists in Shensi and it ever been. The disciples came to Christ as Kansu. He seems, on the contrary, to have made young men. As young men the greatest mission- common cause with those outlaws in demanding aries have gone out to. preach the -GQspel. for the Communist party a share in ,the govern- ment and cooperation with the gQvernment troops The spiritual illiteracy of American YQuth is an ina crusade to drive out the Japanese. The appalling problem. It is heart-breaking to see seizure of General Chiang was for the purpose . millions of them being educated in bQdy and in of cQmpelling the adoption of ,this PQlicy by the mind, but with spirits starved for want of the Nanking government. Bread of Life and the only thirst-quenching Water of Life. What a challenge this mi'ssiQn Profoundly stirred by the rebellion and es,pefield of youth, in yQur city or town and in mine, cially by the threat against the life of the leader in your very neighbQrhood, makes upon us to to. whom all were looking for the safety of China, whom God has entrusted the only Message that the Nanking authorities despatched large fQrces can give our young people the joy and fruitful- fQr Chiang's rescue, but hesitated to. apply force ness of the new life in Chdst Jesus. In his great immediately lest it provoke his murder. Negotiaelegy, "Lycidas," John MiltQn has this poignant
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
tions w1th the rebels were undertaken and Mad- times, as heretofore, but something very near personal ame Chiang, with her brother T. V. Soong, flew concern for the safety of an admired, if not loved, figure. to Sian, the capital of Shensi, to intercede on the Our teacher, who came to Nanking rabidly anti-Chiang Generalissimo's behalf. On Christmas Day came three years ago, was so upset that he could not eat or sle'ep the word that not only had Chiang been freed but and was ready to weep. He said, "If only people knew that he was flying to Nanking with his captor! how much Chiang has done for the country!" Most of On their arrival both professed "penitence": the students were fearfully depressed and then went wild Chang for the rebellion and Chiang for the lax- when the news of Chiang's safety came. There are thouness of discipline which had rendered that rebel- sands who would be only too glad to kill Chang (Hsueh lion possible. Chang was tried, convicted, and Liang). pardoned, but retained in custody, while Chiang retired ;to his old home in Chekiang "for a rest." It is impossible to apportion the measure of Recent reports, like the earlier ones, are sadly tragedy and of melodrama in this whole series of conflicting. On the one hand they visualize a events. We may never know how much blood was concentration and stiffening of the rebellion actually shed or how serious was the actual threat under the leadership of Communist generals and of Chang Hsiieh Liang .against the life of his under the inflammatory radio broadcas,ts of a superior officer; but this much seems evident that woman radical from America. On the other hand not only China but the world has been led to realthey present a picture of the surrounding of rebel ize how much Chiang Kai Shek has already acstrongholds by government troops and the nego- complished toward the rehabilitation of China and tiation, at Sian, of peace ,to be secured by the how indi'spensable is his continued activity for withdrawal of all forces opposing the government. the completion of that enormous task. He has Only time will disclose the actual facts, or per- long been hampered by internal jealous.ies and haps only a small proportion of them. ambitions and by Japan's unwillingness to see China become a strong nation. China and the As to the missionaries of Shensi and Kansu, world shuddered at the reports of Chiang Kaireports have indicated their widespread peril, Shek's capture and execution; China and the with 'some of them held in Sian as hostages, world, in spite of the mystery of the transactions groups of rescuers were proceeding from Peiping at Sian, have exulted in the outcome'with its prosand elsewhere for their relief. By airplane and pect of better days to come. Once more China and the world have been made conscious of the other transportation many have left Shensi.* fact that, not only the Generalissimo and his wife, but also most of the other Chinese, prominent in Letters written at Nanking immediately after the building of the New China, find in Christianthe release of the captive Generalissimo give ity not only their own hope but the supreme hope forceful expression to the universal joy: for the future of the nation.
The word just received of Chiang Kai Shek's safe ar- COURTENAY H. FENN. rival in Loyang (Honan) was the most longed-for and welcomed of all Christmas gifts. The whole city and coun- WHEN DISASTER COMES try has been wild with joy. No one can realize how both he and Madame Chiang have endeared themselves to the Recent floods have devastated large portions of Chinese people. The loyalty and affection which is felt the Ohio Valley by raising the river level over for them is such as no one in China has ever before ex- sixty feet and have also threatened those 500,000 perienced. Just an hour ago the sky above us was filled people who live along the banks of the Mississippi, with airplanes going out to greet General Chiang ashe in the 1,200 miles from Cairo to the Gulf. It is returns to the city. Firecrackers are popping everywhere; reported that there is over $700,000,000 damage the streets are crowded with eager faces and the vicinity to property; nearly 1,000,000 people have temof the airdrome is filled with the joyful crowd waiting to porarily been driven from their homes, business greet the leader of China. has been disrupted, churches and schools inun- dated, and as a result over 500 people have died *** by drowning, accident, exposure or disease.
The situation at Sianfu (Shensi) has cast a pall of It seems incredible that with one hundred and gloom over everyone. So you can imagine our joy at six sixty years of national history, with immense o'clock Christmas Day at hearing that Chiang was safe wealth, great unemployed man-power, most modand in Loyang. The city went wild, with the streets ern powerful machinery, and efficient managers j.ammed with people and a din of firecrackers. It was a 'Of big business, no way has yet been found to perfect Christmas gift for the Government and many of prevent such destruction of life and property and the people. Indeed the most remarkable thing about the such disruption of national life. Some steps have whole affair has been the unprecedented concern of the been taken by certain towns and cities along the man on the street. I've never seen anything like it before Ohio, .as by Dayton, Ohio, and along the Missisin China. It was not fear of looting or financial hard sippi River, and $325,000,000 have recently been • Newspaper reports indicate that in the settlement with Communists and with Yang's and Chang's forces, the Nanking Government has recognized Communist control in North Shensi (where Swedish Baptists have a station), and gives Yang Fu-Cheng control over a central section where the Scandinavian Alliance Mission (C. 1. M.) has several stations. In Kansu, under the control of Chang's ex- Manchurian armies, there are stations of the Scandinavian Alliance, Assemblies of God, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Tibetan Tribes Mission.-Ep~TOll,
expended by the United States Government in and coordination of all life. Some nations claim flood-control work on the Mississippi. that this ideal can be reached by strong military measures, some by the rule of the proletariat, But while levees and spillways have proved some by human dictatorship and a totalitarian their value, they do not solve the problem. The State. Christians know that the solution is in the floods carry off top-soil, which the raging torrents recognition of the sovereignty of the Almighty, bring down and deposit in such abundance that the all-wise and loving God, as revealed through Jesus bottoms of the riverbeds are continually rising Christ as the Way, the Truth, the Life. The pracand levees must be built higher and higher. Pitts- tice and the making known of this Way of Life burgh, Cincinnati, Cairo and Louisville are among is what constitutes the reason for existence of the the large cities that have suffered and President Christian Church. Is there any doubt that Amer- Roosevelt placed the entire Government on a "war ica and every other country in the world needs basis" to administer relief to the stricken areas true missionaries of Christ? – rushing airplanes, trucks, troops, doctors, nurses and conservation workers to the scene. CHURCH GROWTH IN CHOSEN As in other cases of sickness, sorrow and loss, The growth of Christianity among Koreans is Christians are not exempt. Churches, parsonages, one of the most enheartening evidences of the schools, homes and business, belonging to follow- work of God's spirit in the world. In the Presers of Christ, suffer with the people and property byterian Church alone there has been a growth who do not recognize Him. This causes some of of 75 % in the past six years-compare that with feebler faith to question the love of God or His a 10% growth of members in Presbyterian and power to protect His own. But the situation is Methodist churches of the United States. not new. Followers of God have always suffered with their fellow men who are unbelievers, but the In Chosen there were only 150 "adherents" remoral and spiritual effects on the two classes are corded for Presbyterian missions in 1890, six not the same. Disasters and trouble draw some men to God and turn their thoughts to the great years after the work was started. During the abiding realities, to the things that make earthly life effective and they have the assurance of next ten years the number increased to 13,569 or Eternal Life beyond this. Distress and disaster also develop human sympathy and sacrificial serv- 9000 %. Since 1900 the work has steadily grown ice, as has been shown so often. Sickness and calamity always stimulate human minds to study until now the adherents number 341,700-and the preventive measures, and to apply remedies. New cities and new men rise on the ruins of the old, Church is self-supporting and self-governing with when there is a vision of better and more abiding things. "No affliction (chastening) for the pres- its own Presbyteries and General Assembly. From ent seemeth to be joyous but grievous-nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of 1930 to 1936 the church growth, as stated, was righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." seventy-five per cent in the number of Koreans on But if blessing comes through physical disaster Presbyterian church rolls. Adherents include bapwhat shall be said of sorrows, destruction and death that come through human selfishness and tized church members, enrolled catechumens, chilcruelty. In Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan and elsewhere the self-will of the natural man that dren and regular attendants at church services. is "at enmity with God, and is not subject to the law of God," brings untold suffering and loss. In The roll of baptized communicant members has America the reign of lawlessness in criminals; the selfish disregard of human rights on the part increased from 100 in 1890 to 112,987 in 1936. of many employers and employees; the selfish weakness of many unemployed; the strikers that The net gain for each decade has been from refuse to work, or to allow others to work-all 331;2% to 3600% in membership. The number add to the present nation-wide unrest and suffering. Even the most materialistic thinkers are of churches has grown from three in 1890 to coming to realize that what this nation needs, and every other nation, community and individual, is about 3,600 in 1936, with 3,254 church buildings. an all-wise, benevolent and all powerful Ruler who will insure righteous laws, impartial justice, There are nearly 19,000 unsalaried Korean evanunselfish and wise officials, and effective control gelists and local church leaders and the Sunday school pupils number about 35,000. Christian Endeavor societies report 37,695 members. The church contributions for the year 1936 amounted on the average to ten days' wages per member.
How about America? .
One of the most vital factors in the life of the Church in Chosen is found in the Bible institutes held at various times in the year. These bring together over 182,000 Korean Christians – one- half the church membership-for from one to six weeks for Bible study, prayer and training for Christian work. Is it any wonder that the Church is alive and grows?
and Unchanging Things I•n
Foreign Missions* l By ROBERT E. SPEER, New York -"-If:1~. ,-;;;;_""==A""ut""h""O",,r""0,,,,'"""""C""h""rCi""sht""ri.ai"s"nt""R"t"oe""a"M"li""tei",,e"s"",'"e,,'"t"c".""T""he=M""e""a""nt""'n,,,,g""O""'==-:.I}3e– T ET me begin rather indirectly. Some time ago deeper problem – which is the real one – is our L there appeared in the International Review relationship to history and experience. of Missions a review of a volume entitled There are those who thrust their heads into the "The Finality of Jesus Christ." It was a some- sand and say that there is no such relation, that what severe review and culminated in the criti- the imaginary present is wholly separable from cism that the book represented "the Presbyterian the past. Shortly after the World War a little orthodoxy of fifty years ago." Some time later group of students in one of our eastern univer- the publisher of this volume issued another book sities, feeling greatly bewildered and confused, by the same author which he sought to have ac- went off for a week-end retreat, and invited with cepted by one of the committees recommending them as a senior counsellor the late Dr. James monthly books to the reading public. He told me Harvey Robinson. One of the boys told me after- that the member of the committee of selection wards that in his first talk Dr. Robinson unequiv- whom he had approached remarked in reply that ocally advised them "to cut loose from every idea the writer of the book "was a good fellow but he and institution of the past." Some time after- was a hundred years behind the times." ward I was talking with the president of one of I am rather well acquainted with the author of our largest railway systems with regard to one both these books-somewhat too well acquainted of our best-known American preachers, for whom -and I know that his only complaint with regard my new acquaintance was expressing the greatest to these criticisms is that they make him out en- admiration, on the ground that he had no respect tirely too much of a modernist! His purpose in whatever for the past and, frankly abandoning the first book was not to set forth the orthodoxy its positions, was striking out on wholly new of fifty years ago but to go much farther back and ideas.
to declare what he believed to be the orthodoxy To these two illustrations let me add one more, of the New Testament. And so far from being namely a full-page advertisement of a fortnight only a hundred years behind the times his earnest ago of the Bernarr Macfadden pulp magazines effort had been to get wholly behind them, be- which declared that these magazines were "keyed hind all time, and to set forth the eternal truth to the present and future" and not to the past. which is beneath time and beyond time. Pulp is a material which has no past. It is a sort of mushroom product and is a fitting material on The question here of perennial interest is of which to print magazines which instantly on course the question of the relation between the their publication vanish into the past which they present and the past. In a sense, to be sure, any despise. such issue is purely fictitious, for what we call the present is a vanishing line. It is simply the fu- These illustrations will suffice. What a queer ture flashing by into the past. In reality, the and yet entirely natural reaction they represent! present is nothing but a compound of the imme- A few years ago the dominant formulas of diate past and the proximate future. The ques- thought were "heredity" and "determinism"; tion is how much of each enters into what we call they bound us hand and foot to the past. Now we the present. I suspect that the ratio differs with are swinging to the opposite extreme. But what different people but that in general the present is an utterly impossible view the new view is! Dr. simply a word for the period made up of perhaps Robinson was advising the boys to reject every seventy-five per cent of the immediate past and idea and institution of the past. I suspect that if twenty-five per cent of the proximate future. The they had looked at him carefully they would have • President's address, somewhat abridged, delivered at the Forty- seen a twinkle in his eye and his tongue in his AfomuretrhicaA, n(n.uJaanl uSaeryssiIoi ntoof8,th1e93F7o)r.eign Missions Conference of North cheek. He was giving them this advice through [119 ]
a language which was the supreme embodiment maica and Sierra Leone and then at home had and achievement of the past; and his chief instru- done his work in the destruction of British slavment of action as an author was books produced ery, and who represented in his own mind and and circulated by means of inventions of the past. character the great Christian tradition of his race. "Some, perhaps," said Trevelyan, "will re- The railroad president wanted the past re- gard such motives as old-fashioned and such conjected. What would his board of directors have victions as out of date; but self-abnegation, selfsaid if he had proposed that the capital of the road control, and self-knowledge that do not give to accumulated in the past, its rolling stock manu- self the benefit of any doubt, are virtues that are factured in the past, its right-of-way acquired in not old fashioned, and for which as time goes on the past, should all be discarded and the road be- the world is likely to have as much need as ever." gin anew? The other quotation is from "The Life and Let- Would our friend, the book-recommender, pro- ters of Thomas Hardy." "Conservatism," wrote pose to discard everything more than a hundred Hardy, "is not estimable in itself, nor is change years old-Shakespeare and Milton, Raphael and or radicalism. To conserve the existing good, to Michelangelo, Plato and Phidias and Homer? supplant the existing bad by good, is to act on a What silly talk this is and how utterly stupid in true political principle which is neither conservaits failure to realize that time is not mechanical tive nor radical." but organic; that the present is only the projected and continuing past; and that the past, so All this just as background for the theme on far from being closed and complete, is all open which I wish to speak, namely, "Some of the and contingent, waiting for the full determination Changing and Unchanging Things in Foreign of its character upon the loyalty or disloyalty of Missions." the present and the future. Changing Personnel At Northfield long ago one of the best loved and most original veterans of the Civil War, the late Of the changing things, each one will be think- Chaplain Henry Clay Trumbull, made the Fourth ing first of the changing personnel. In this comof July address on the theme "Our Duty to Make pany there is not one person besides myself who the Past a Success." He took his text from the was present at the first of these conferences forty- Epistle to the Hebrews where, after the great roll four years ago. The conferences began at the inof the heroes and heroines of Israel's history, the stance of the Committee on Foreign Missions of writer declares: "And these, all having obtained the Western Section of the Alliance of the Rea good report through faith, received not the formed Churches holding the Presbyterian syspromise; God having provided some better thing tem. That committee called a conference of the for us, that they without us should not be made representatives of the Foreign Mission Boards of perfect." the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of the Uuited States and Canada to meet on January 11, So! How often during this past football sea- 1893, at the old Presbyterian Mission House on son did we see the ball on the five-yard line, with the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twelfth Street in the whole stadium seething with excitement, with New York City. There were present 38 repreone team seeking to carry the ball the last five sentatives of the eight boards of these Presbyyards and the other team resisting with every terian and Reformed Churches. There are only ounce of its power. How did the ball get there, two survivors of this group- Dr. Avison, who if the past is of no consequence? On that phi- has just retired from his rich service as a medical losophy, why not take it back to the middle of the missionary in Chosen, and myself. The following field where it will stay forever, on the theory that day there met in the same place 78 representathe present is to have no use for the past? All tives of the 23 foreign mission agencies of that the struggle that went before was futile unless day, including almost everyone of our denominanow in this fleeting moment the present does its tional boards and also the China Inland Mission duty to the past and fulfils its own mission in the and the Christian and Missionary Alliance. The discharge of its trust. Lutheran Church was not represented at the first conference but was present at the second and . Noble things the great past promised, thereafter in the person of a grand Christian Holy qreams both strange and true; man, Dr. Scholl. – There are only five survivors of the 78 delegates at this first conference-Dr. Avi- But thE{present shall fulfill them, son, Dr. Mott, Dr. Campbell White, William D. What he promised she shall do. Murray and myself. The names of almost all who were present come back to me now: Dr. N. G. All can be found in two noble quotations from Clark, Dr. A. C. Thompson, Dr. Judson Smith of two books I have just read. The first is from the American Board; Dr. Duncan, and Dr. Henry Trevelyan's "Life of Macaulay," regarded as one of the half-dozen great biographies in the English tongue. Trevelyan is speaking of Zechary Macaulay, Lord Macaulay's father, who in Ja-
CHANGING AND UNCHANGING THINGS IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
C. Mabie of the American Baptist Missionary who came to perpetuate the ministry of Christ Union; Dr. Tucker of the Southern Baptists; Mr. and to make the Christian Church the most tire- Kimber and Dr. Satterlee of the Episcopal Board; less, the most inventive, the most persistent, the Dr. Stephen C. Baldwin, Dr. A. B. Leonard and most persuasive agency of human history.
Dr. Peck and Dr. Walter R. Lambuth from the I have seen so many attitudes change, and so two Methodist Churches; Dr. R. M. Sommerville many issues rise and disappear, that I can view of the Reformed Presbyterian Church; Dr. Henry with a calm mind many of the eddies and drifts N. Cobb of the Reformed Church in America; of the present day. I was a schoolboy in Phillips Dr. Dales and Dr. Barr of the United Presby- Academy at the height of the Andover contro- terian; from Canada came Dr. Sutherland, Dr. versy and the contention in the American Board MacLaren, Dr. R. P. Mackay, John Charlton and over the question of the "second probation." We others. Most of the glorious company whom we have seen the humanism of the last generation met in these conferences across these forty-four rise and begin to pass, and have heard Berdyaev years are gone now. How fast they pass! Soon and many another sing its requiem. Professor the new generation will be taking our places. Julius Richter, on his last visit, described with Not only does the personnel of missionary humorous disdain the burial in Germany of many workers at home change but how fast has changed of the philosophies which had been born and had also the roll of missionaries. We could profitably died there and which were still influencing thought recall tonight the men and women who have gone in America. We have all seen the rise of the out from our churches, served the three genera- Barthian emphasis, which surely is not the whole tions of our foreign mission history by the will of of the Gospel but is an essential recovery of cer- God and who are engaged now in an ampler serv- tain aspects of truth which will not be so easily ice and an immortal liberty. lost again.
One would also recall the great list of national Some of our changes of attitude are not as great leaders; Dr. Schneder and I were speaking today as we sometimes suppose. In the January issue of that company of powerful personalities which of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD I founded the Christian Church in Japan and were quoted the substance of a letter which the late remembering the three survivors who are still Dr. J. P. Jones wrote to The Harvest Field in with us-Ibuka, Kozaki and Ebina. We sorely India in 1903. He was one of the wisest and miss the men who have gone-Goreh and Chat- ablest missionaries of his time. After he had terjee, Arcadio Morales and Alvaro Reis, Eduardo been traveling among the churches on furlough, Pereira and Erasmo Braga, and scores of others he wrote for his friends in India his impressions who were with us and are not with us now, save of the missionary situation in the home church.
in the invisible company. The personnel of our If he were describing the situation today his de- missionary enterprise changes fast, and this scription would not differ greatly from his ac- change alone brings with it the inevitable changes count of what he found a whole generation ago.
due to new times and new duties and the new per- There have been changes of emphasis and of atti- sonalities which rise with them. tude, but the essential issues have not changed so The Changing Methods much as some suppose. The change of attitude has probably been far The methods of the missionary enterprise have greater on many of the mission fields. The non- also changed and are ever changing. Perhaps Christian religions have changed as Christianity these changes have not been as great as we some- has not. Noone can overestimate the radical times suppose, or as we might desire. There are changes they have undergone and are undergoing.
new forms of evangelism, by newspaper adver- I have been reading the issues of the Bombay tising and radio (still in its infancy as a mis- Guardian under the editorship of George Bowen.
sionary method), and some old activities, such as He was one of the most remarkable Christian per- street and chapel preaching, are less practised sonalities of the nineteenth century-remarkable than they were. Many of us feel that the change for his intellectual ability and cultivation, for his has been too great in the diminution of mission- spiritual character, for his personal influence.
ary itineration. But the great basic method of The Bombay Guardian under his editorship was human influence and persuasion cannot change. one of the ablest religious papers in the world.
Preaching, teaching and healing were the meth- It is interesting to read today the articles on reli- ods of our Lord and they are the obvious and per- gious life and thought in India in his day; on manent methods of evangelism. One would like Hinduism and the reform movements, and to note to see still more ingenuity, more fertility of inven- the almost incredible changes which have come tion; not more reliance upon the promotional about in the past half century since Bowen wrote.
methods of modern exploitation but far more re- I do not remember Mazoomdar's visit to the West, sponse to the suggestions of that Living Spirit but I remember the swath cut by Swami Viva-
kananda. Many a Swami has followed in the conditions which the missionary enterprise had path which he blazed, all of them unconsciously to meet seventy-five or a hundred years ago-con- witnessing and contributing to the doom of that ditions of ignorance, of prejudice, or of racial and which they were seeking to preserve. And all religious selfishness. We are lacking today the these changes of past attitude are only predictions tidal wave of interest and sympathy which we had of further changes, not all of which will be for a generation ago in the old Laymen's Missionary good but none of which do we fear. Movement. Those who did not feel the hopeful The Changing Problems joyous surge of that spontaneous movement among the laymen of our churches cannot appre- Problems also have changed and will change; ciate what we have lost. Our new problem is to most of them superficially, but some fundamen- know what can take the place of such movements, tally. The political problem has changed greatly how the missionary enterprise can be so formu- within my memory. Mr. H. V. Morton's book, "In lated and so presented now as to draw forth the the Steps of St. Paul," reveals the change in the resources needed for the new opportunities.
freedom of the missionary movement since Paul's Changing Opportunities day. Paul was able to pass from Jerusalem to Spain without a passport, crossing no interna- Of the many changing things which I might tional boundaries on his way. Mr. Morton speaks mention, I will speak only of the changing oppor- of the contrast in his own experience, in passing tunities and resistances which are upon us and only from Antioch to Rome. ahead of us. Nobody any longer talks of the "im- In the last fifty years there has been a vast movable nations" as they were described in Rob- change for the worse in this matter of the free- ert Barr's book, "The Unchanging East." That dom and trustfulness of human intercourse. was the commonplace idea in regard to Asia fifty When I first visited Asia forty years ago it was years ago. One of the most authentic books of not necessary to get any vises on passports, and that time was "Asia and Europe," by Meredith we were not asked to show our passports more Townsend, who lived for years in India and suc- than two or three times in crossing a dozen or ceeded George Smith, Sir George Adams Smith's more nations. Now at every national boundary father, as editor of The Friend of India. Then he the barriers stand. We have lost the freedom of returned to England to succeed Richard Holt world movement of the Roman Empire, but alas, Hutton as editor of The London Spectator in the we have got back its worst political principle in days when the Spectator was one of the three most the deification of the State. Mr. Michael Williams, influential journals printed in the English lan- editor of The Commonweal, has pointed out the guage. No man was better informed regarding fact that the old concept of the "Cresar-god" is the relationships of the East and the West, and back again, with all its ominous significance as to yet the unchanging and yet constantly varying the relationship of the State to the freedom of the thesis of his book was the unchangeability of Asia.
human spirit. This problem of religious liberty Townsend held that Asiatrc races were sterile; has taken on accordingly a new aspect. I am not they had had their history. They were burnt out referring to the issue of missionary freedom, al- and no movements of living change could be gen- though that is significant enough. I am thinking erated among them. What must Mr. Townsend of those principles of religious liberty which we think as he looks down today upon the peoples of believe to be of universal validity and to enshrine Asia, representing one-half the population of the the basic rights of the human spirit. world, swung completely away from the old moor- It would be well for all of us to read some of ings, which he thought were perpetual, and that the recent books which deal with this issue, such are now adrift before mighty tempests on the vast as Christopher Dawson's "Religion in the Modern waters of time!
State" ; Adolph Keller's "Church and State in These nations have not changed more than Contemporary Europe"; William Adams Brown's some of our Western nations have changed; "Church and State in Contemporary America"; among them no change has been greater than the and Carl Heim's "The Church of Christ and the place of our own among the nations of the world.
Problems of the World Today." We have no time I remember well my first crossing of the boundary to discuss this here but it is a very different prob- between Persia and Mesopotamia, then under the lem today from what it was fifty years ago. Our rule of Turkey, just forty years ago. We were present situation is a throw back to darker days held up in the villages of Khanikin and Kasr-i- from which we had hoped we had escaped forever. Shirin by a Turkish quarantine. It was an in- Weare confronting another set of new prob- teresting place, near the old palaces of the lems in the promotional work of the missionary Khosroes. Mrs. Speer and I sat on those great enterprise at home. In one sense these problems terraces, where the marble pillars had held their are not new; they represent simply the revival of marble roofs, and recalled Browning's "Love
CHANGING AND UNCHANGING THINGS IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
Among the Ruins." When at last the quarantine India now than there were in the entire world in was lifted, for almost the only time on that trip, the year 300. There come to my mind again the we showed our passports to the Turkish officials. names of the leaders of these churches, of whom They gathered around Mr. Hawkes of Hamedan I was speaking a little while ago, men and women who had brought us to the border, and we over- who are the peers of any in our Christian heard in their discussion the words "Yangi churches in the West and with whom we rejoice Dunia." I supposed it was some barbarism for to step forth, brother clasping the hand of "Yankee Doodle" but we learned from Mr. brother, fearless amid the welcome changes of the Hawkes that they were the Turkish words for new days. "New World." The dispute was as to whether there really was any such country as the United Things That Do Not Change States of America and if so where it was and what it was. In those days the sight of the Amer- Now one rej oices to turn from these, and the ican flag was a rarity, and only once or twice in innumerable other changing things representing the waters of Asia did we see it on any American both gain and loss, to the consideration of some ship. As one goes across the world today no of the things that do not change. words can exaggerate the difference, whether it be for good or for ill, in the knowledge and in- First there is God, the same from everlasting fluence of America. to everlasting. I recall most vividly the meeting of the general War-time Commission of the To this plasticity of the fixed nations, and to Churches in Washington, during the World War. this unlimited influence of our country, one adds There were three speakers, Archbishop Soderblom the amazing change represented in the rise of of Sweden, Bishop Gore of England, and Dr. the Christian Church. There is enough to dis- Harry Emerson Fosdick of America. Who that courage us in the problems of self-support, true heard those three notable addresses could ever independence, literacy, and self-propagation, and forget them! Dr. Fosdick had just come back the true spirit of autonomy in these churches. I from France and closed his address by quoting have seen the abandoned parasite churches which the familiar hymn which was the favorite of Engdied when the subsidies failed. But these discour- lish-speaking soldiers from whatever land, "Abide agements are offset tenfold by the miraculous with me, fast falls the eventide." Standing out· growth and progress of these past years. How for the soldier most distinctly were the lines, easy it would be to recite many concrete evidences "Change and decay in all around I see; 0 Thou of the change. I know of hardly anyone more who changest not, abide with me." Thank God, dramatic than the Lushai choir. Half a century He is unchanging. ago the Lushai people lived in terror and suspicion of each other. "Chief rose against chief, village Turn back again and read sometime Bishop against village. Prisoners were taken and car- Brent's address on next to the last evening of the ried back in triumph by the conquerors who used Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910 on the them as serfs, or cut off their heads and put them theme "The Sufficiency of God." Time swings by on poles outside the villages. The Lushais were in its ever rolling stream, bringing its unceasing head-hunters. When they died those who had the change; but this work that we are doing, however required number of heads were allowed to enter much its form and conditions may shift from year the Lushai paradise." Today there are 300 Chris- to year, is mortised in One who changes not. tian churches among them with 50,000 members, and the Lushai choir travels all over India singing o God, the rock of ages, Gaul's "Holy City" and Handel's "Messiah" as well as they can be sung by the great choirs of Who evermore hast been, the West. What time the tempest rages, About a year ago we celebrated the jubilee of Our dwelling place serene; missions in Chosen. I was in Korea shortly after the organization of the first church in Pyengyang Before Thy first creations, and could appreciate the feelings of Dr. Samuel Moffatt who founded that church as he watched o Lord, the same as now, the jubilee procession of Christians seven miles long and could reflect that there are more Chris- To endless generations tians in Chosen today than there were in the The everlasting Thou. Roman Empire at the end of the first century. The last news bulletin of the United Lutheran This metaphor of the rock, which the Old Testa- Church called attention to the fact that according ment used with regard to God, is equally relevant to the last census there are more Christians in and came naturally to the thought of the writers of the New Testament, with regard to Jesus Christ. He is "the same yesterday, today and forever." I do not say that He must be the same to us. If He is what the New Testament repre- sents Him to be, and what we believe Him to be -the fullness of the Godhead, in whom are hid all the riches of grace and knowledge-then He cannot merely be to us the same from day to day,
but must every day be something more, as we two of the ablest Greek scholars in England, Sir grow in the knowledge of God in Him, and move Edwin Hoskyns and Noel Davey. There has been "in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of no more thoroughgoing acceptance of the analyt- the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the ical criticism of the synoptic Gospels than this. measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." But its conclusion is that, dissect the Gospels as We want no misunderstanding of our position; you please, you will have, when you come to your whatever the materials or the plans of our build- most destructive end, a Person from whom there ing, there is one unchanged and unchanging foun- is no escape, One who believed Himself to be God dation on which we bUild. Everything else may and whose belief His disciples shared. It is inter- shift and alter but not this. We thank God for esting to note that, in the hands of some, the Grundterg's noble Lutheran hymn: "form criticism" of the Gospels is taking this same reverse turn. It was formerly held that the evan- Built on a Rock the Church doth stand gelists had overdrawn the picture of Jesus, that Even when steeples are falling. love and devotion had read into the story what was not there. But now there are those who hold Crumbled have spires in every land that the evangelists underdrew the picture, and Bells are still pealing and calling. that Jesus, being what He was, it was inevitable that His picture should be underdrawn; th8t do Let the steeples fall if they will, and more surely their best, men could do nothing more than touch still the minarets and the pagodas and the towers, as it were but the hem of His garment. "Jesus but the great Rock Foundation stands is greater than the traditions about him," says Deissmann, and I think that we are on the thresh- Whereon our feet were set by sovereign grace, old of a day when the godlikeness of Jesus will Nor life, nor death, with all their agitation displace, perhaps overmuch, the humanitarian Shall thence remove us if we see His face. interpretations of His person. Let the interpre- tations come and go-He is what He has always One of the greatest services ever rendered by been, and we stand on His unchangeable reality, our friend Dr. William Douglass Mackenzie, who Son of God and Son of Man. belonged by birthright and conviction in this fel- lowship, was the work he did in his latest book, Onr Unchanging Faith "The Christ of the Christian Faith." In the .finality, the absoluteness, the sufficiency, the Our fourth great unchanging inheritance is our uniqueness, of this supreme Personality the mis- common catholic faith. Weare often reproached sionary enterprise believes, and here it unalter- with our divisions and disagreements but as a ably stands. matter of fact these are trivial in comparison with the broad basic unity of our common Christian Unchanging Facts of History mind. Weare often told that we shall never be able to get together in our Christian opinion and The facts of Christian history and the record that we should turn accordingly to cooperation of those facts in the Gospels also stand un- and practical service, where it is assumed that changed. We are not ignorant of, neither are we we can unite as we cannot unite in our underlying disturbed by, the historical and literary criticism convictions. "When there is a great fire," we are of the early Christian documents. What the facts told, "see how men of every opinion unite. Reliabout Jesus Christ were, they were and are. No gious and political differences are forgotten in the criticism of history can alter the facts. It can common effort to deal with the great emergency." alter the interpretation of the facts. It can cor- Nothing of the kind. The opinions that are not rect any misrepresentation of the facts. But what relevant to the emergency are temporarily held in happened happened; and we are absolutely sure abeyance, but there is no cooperation in work that that whatever changes may take place in the form does not rest upon intellectual agreement in that of the New Testament criticism will leave us with work. The fire extinguishers are united in their the fact of Christ, and the facts of Christ more opinions about the fire and the method of its exsure and certain than ever. As Harnack said, in tinguishment. And as a matter of fact the area closing his famous address on "Christianity and of our intellectual agreement in Christianity goes History," "Let the plain Bible reader continue to far beyond the measure of our practical cooperaread his Gospels as he has always read them; for tion. It was a significant thing that at the first in the end the critic cannot read them otherwise. "Faith and Order" Conference at Lausanne the What the one regards as their true gist and mean- only commission's report which could be adopted ing, the other must acknowledge to be such. . . . was the report on the common faith, a report This evangelical faith need fear no test that can which was embodied in the message of the Jerube applied to it. It can bear a strict and me- salem Missionary Council. That Council too could thodical scrutiny of the facts which form its historical foundation."
One of the most significant books of recent months is "The Riddle of the New Testament" by
CHANGING AND UNCHANGING THINGS IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
never have been united in anything except its ac- Two specially great and inspiring books that ceptance of the common Catholic faith and par- I have read recently are "The Autobiography of ticipation in the common Christian experience. Jawaharlal Nehru" and Seaver's life of "Wilson We have seen this very richly in the recent Na- of the Antarctic." Jawaharlal Nehru, now presitional Preaching Mission, where men of many dent of the India National Congress, has been for divergent denominations and dissimilar methods years one of the outstanding younger leaders on found themselves absolutely united in their proc- the Nationalist movement in India. He is the delamation of the essential Christian message. voted friend of Gandhi, though they differ almost What we need is not so much more doctrinal by the width of the world in their ideologies and agreement: it is the implementing of our exist- philosophies. He wrote his book in prison and ing agreement in the instruments of united action. the shadow of his wife's illness lies over the last pages. As a Socialist drawing near to commu- In the world at large today we face the same nism, Jawaharlal frankly repudiates all religion. situation. Whether it likes it or not, the world is It is open to question whether his methods may unified today in its economic life and in its real not frustrate the very ends which he seeks, but political self-interest. Our trouble is that we are there can be no question as to the glorious deseeking to deny facts and that we have not pro- votion of the man, his steadfastness, his patient vided, either in the League of Nations or other- endurance, his self-sacrifice, his disregard of wise, the instrumentalities through which the everything else in his loyalty to his cause. One common life of humanity can express itself and asks himself, as he lays down the book, whether fulfill its functions. Many changes are called for his Christian loyalty can match this Indian's conin the world and in the Christian Church today secration and how soon, in the Church on the misbut underlying all of these the hopeful thing is sion field and the Church at home, leadership can that we have already existent a great body of be raised up that will surpass in the Christian common faith and life extending far beyond our cause young Nehru's leadership in the cause of achieved, united and cooperative action. Indian Nationalism.
The Great Fundamental Aim and Method The other book is more wonderful still. One feels unworthy to read the story of such a life. After all, the great fundamental aim and cen- Wilson was a biologist, an artist, a naturalist, a tral method of the missionary enterprise remain physician. lIe was the doctor and the spiritual unchanged. What is that aim? It is all expressed mainspring of Scott's expedition to the South in our Lord's prayer: "Thy kingdom come, thy Pole, where he died with Scott and two other comwill be done on earth as it is in heaven." This panions as they were returning from the Pole in formula may seem to over-simplify the task. their effort to reach their base of supplies. I have What is the Kingdom of God? The phrase is used never read a life of purer inspiration. When the with half a dozen significances in the New Testa- bodies were found by the expedition that came to ment. What is the will of God? Much of our seek them two letters. were taken from Wilson's philosophy and theology reads the evil of the breast addressed to his wife. Let me read them world into the Divine Will. I do not believe that now: any sanction can be found, or any rationalization either, of sin and unrighteousness in the will of To My BELOVED WIFE: the righteous and holy God, the Father of Jesus Christ. Dishonesty, murder, adultery, rapine and Life has been a struggle for some weeks now on this lust and crime are not the will of God. return journey from the Pole-so much so that I have not been able to keep my diary going. Today may be the last But the difficulties do not touch the central effort. Birdie and I are going to try and reach the Depot simplicity. Our business is to live and work to eleven miles north of us and return to this tent where bring the life and work of the world into con- Captain Scott is lying with a frozen foot. . . . I shall formity with the pure and righteous and loving simply fall and go to sleep in the snow, and I have your will of God, as revealed in the mind of Christ. little book with me in my breast-pocket. . . . And the central motive must be what it has ever been, what it was to St. Paul: "The love of Christ Don't be unhappy-all is for the best. We are playing constraineth me." Does that love adequately con- a good part in a great scheme arranged by God himself, strain us? There was no one in st. Paul's day and all is well. • . . I am only sorry I couldn't have seen whose devotion to any master or any cause shamed your loving letters, and Mother's and Dad's and the the devotion of St. Paul to Christ. Are we sure Smiths', and all the happy news I had hoped to see-but that we should feel no shame as we set our devo- all these things are easily seen later, I expect. . . . God tion to Christ today over against the devotion of be with you-my love is as living for you as ever. men and women around about us to the causes which command their minds and wills and their I would like to have written to Mother and Dad and all utmost sacrifice? at home, but it has been impossible. We Will aU meet after death, and death has no terrors. . . . We have done what we thought was best. My own dear wife, good-bye for the present.. . I do not cease to pray for you-to the very last. . . •
To My MOST BELOVED WIFE: than our predecessors had then. The trouble is, God be with you in your trouble, dear, when I have we do not think enough on the continuity of life gone. I have written another short letter to you. . . . and time. We have too many ephemeral notions -they spring up this morning and will fade to- I leave this life in absolute faith and happy belief that night. We need to do our thinking deeper down if God wishes you to wait long without me it will be to some good purpose. All is for the best to those that love God, and oh, my Ory, we have both loved Him with all in the organic unity of the enterprise. There is our lives. All is well. . . . a bit of verse I came upon recently in a little Eng- We have struggled to the end and we have nothing to lish book, "A Cotswold Year": regret. Our whole journey record is clean, and Scott's God guard me from those thoughts diary gives the account. . . . The Barrier has beaten us Men think in the mind alone. -though we got to the Pole. He that sings a lasting song My beloved wife, these are small things, life itself is a Thinks in a marrowbone. small thing to me now, but my love for you is forever and a part of our love for God. . . . I do not cease to pray for And the moral principles abide. A New York you and to desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will. (Later.) God knows I am sorry to be minister in a sermon on the recent tragic experi- the cause of sorrow to anyone in the world, but every ence of the whole English-speaking race depre- one must die and at every death there must be some sor- cated the persistence of the old ethical ideas. The row. . . . All the things I had hoped to do with you after Ten Commandments, he held, were antiquated this Expedition are as nothing now, but there are greater relics of a social life lived in the desert long ago things for us to do in the world to come. . . . My only and were irrelevant in our present time. Let a regret is leaving you to struggle through your life alone, but I may be coming to you by a quicker way. I feel so word spoken by Walter Lippmann at the inauguhappy now in having got time to write to you. One of ration of President King of Amherst answer this my notes will surely reach you. Dad's little compass and poor preacher's folly: "What the world needs Mother's little comb and looking-glass are in my pocket. most of all from the colleges," said Mr. Lippmann, Your little Testament and prayer book will be in my hand or in my breast-pocket when the end comes. All is well-. "is not medicine for its pains but the maintenance So they left him there, covering the little group intact, amidst all the distractions of life, of its with a clean snow monument and setting up over standards of excellence." The mariner's comthem the simple inscription: "To STRIVE, TO pass does not change with the moral caprices of SEEK, TO FIND, AND NOT TO YIELD." For the joy men; and the spiritual principles are equally sethat was set before Him our Lord endured His cure and unshifting. It would be well if we would cross; for the love of such a Master, St. Paul set ourselves individually and collectively, to diswalked the roads of the Roman Empire, crossed cern and draw out these principles. A great deal its seas, and died outside the walls of Rome. Is of our confusion is due to our failure to apprethe unchanged motive dominant within us today, hend them. We are seeking, for example, to furor has our changeableness and vacillation held us nish leadership today for our youth movements back from the pure devotion that has been the and to see what can be done to vivify and maincentral spring of the missionary enterprise tain these movements, including the Student Volthrough the centuries? unteer Movement. Leadership will not be sup- plied to these movements from without-it must I have been reading Thomas Traherne's "Felici- spring up spontaneously from within. We need ties" with their contempt of the "Cursd and to remember, too, that the greatest spiritual lead- Devisd Properties" which robbed his eyes of ership is often the humblest and the least pubsplendor, and kept him from the glory to which licized. The things that have happened in his- God called all obedient life. Are the proprieties, tory, that we do not know about, probably outthe conventions, the accepted respectabilities, the weigh in their eternal significance the things that unbelieving naturalism, the fear of wonder and happened and that we do know about. Some auof miracle, keeping us in grooves from which we thentic unrecorded history is vastly more imporshould. break out, with self-forgetfulness, in striv- tant than some authentic recorded history, and ings and in achievings transcending the sacrifies still more important than the recorded history of nationalism and of exploration? This is the that is not authentic at all. And what is true of unchanging call. history is still more true of personalities.
Unchanging Spiritual Issues Some time ago I sent to one of our able mis- There are great spiritual principles and issues sionaries a little statement of suggested items·of that after all change little if at all. Read the missionary principle and policy, one of which.I resolutions adopted by the early Foreign Missions am afraid slipped into just the error of which I Conferences. The resolutions adopted long ago am speaking. It read, "Perhaps the largest part at tl;Ie meeting of this Conference in the rooms of of our whole problem is to find and prepare men .the Board of the Reformed Church in America and women who know what the Gospel is and who dealt with just the issues that we are facing now. are intellectually and spiritually capable of com- They show that we have no more wisdom today municating it and of doing today the work that
CHANGING AND UNCHANGING THINGS IN FOREIGN M'ISSIONS
needs to be done by great evangelists, apologists automatic self-progression of humanity. As Dr. and theologians, as well as by common men and Adolph Keller wrote recently fr:om Geneva, as he women who simply know how to love and serve." surveyed the European scene: "We are coming back to the first Christian conception of the world. The good and wise man to whom I sent the The world is not plastic material to be easily statement replied: moulded by Christian influence. There is a hos- tile demonic element. The Church has to fight Will you forgive me too if I fail to respond, as I perhaps stubbornly against principalities and powers for should, to the mention of the great names of the past as its faith and liberty, for the conversion of peoples necessarily suggesting more heroism than is evident today, and the spread of the Gospel." under conditions not so difficult in many other ways? I am sorry also to say that the really great names of the This was Paul's view. "For we wrestle," said missionary enterprise, as of any other enterprise, are never he, "not against flesh and blood, but against prinmentioned, and that makes me wince a bit at the last line cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of of your paragraph 11. I am so much of a heretic in the the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickface of present plans and propaganda that I believe that edness in high places." If any of you have lived the strength of the missionary cause is in "the common such placid lives that you do not realize this, if men and women who simply know how to love and serve." you still think that life is a bright and happy un- folding of its: own latent nature and possibilities Unfortunately, too, the solution of our personnel diffi- of good, I hope you may be spared those deep culty does not seem to lie alone, or even predominantly, tragedies through which others of us have had to along the line of preparation. This is not to discount the pass, tragedies which have taught us the truth of importance and necessity of the very finest preparation Paul's interpretation. We do believe, as the hymn available, but there is a real sense in which a preparation in our conference hymnal declares: too intense and technical and American, reaches a point of supersaturation which really unfits a person for the God is working his purpose out main essential in missionary living, which is simple- As year succeeds to year: hearted adaptability to the situation in which he finds himself. The problem of reconciling these two is a very God is working his purpose out, difficult one, and I don't think that we have reached the And the time is drawing near; solution. Nearer and nearer draws the time, The truth that we need to learn and keep ever The time that shall surely be, in mind St. Paul set forth long ago in one of his letters: When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God As the waters cover the sea. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many We believe this. If Paul could believe it and noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things declare it in his letter to the Philippian Christians of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen written from jail, from discouragement, from the weak things of the world to confound the things which loneliness, from the treachery of fellow Chrisare mighty; and base things of the world, and things tians, surely we can believe it and declare it towhich are despised, hath God chosen, yet, and things day. But the purpose will be accomplished only which are not, to bring to nought things that are. as the end of a great struggle: a struggle that cost the life of the Son of God, a struggle that is Here once again is the everlasting paradox. calling today for everything that is within us, that Who was the man who wrote these words? We is demanding of us more than all that Jawaharlal see him now not as weak and foolish but as the Nehru is giving to his Nationalism, all that Edmightiest figure in human history, next to his ward Wilson gave to Antarctic exploration, that Master. David Livingstone gave to those dark journeys which lifted the somber fringes of the night and The Nature of the Christian Life let light in upon Africa, all that Jesus Christ asked and is asking still, "If any man will come Lastly, among the unchanging things of which after me, let him deny himself and take up his I would speak there is the real nature of this life cross and follow me." This is the summons that that we are trying to live and this work that we is unchanged and unchanging. are seeking to do. It is a conflict in which we are engaged-a conflict ever changing and unchanging. We are passing beyond the easy conception of the last generation or two with regard to the We need, not simply education, but Christian education – training that issues in religious conviction and Christian personality. Our strength lies in the intelligent religious convictions of our people. In the more comprehensive sense of the term the whole problem of the church is now more clearly seen to be one of education. We have to bring every available resource to bear to make the home, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the day school, the university, the the- ological seminary, all our educational factors, efficient in carrying out the great task of train- ing men and women in Christian character. R. E. S.
American Indian and His
Native Beliefs and Customs and the Christian Missionary Motive -4£{ By ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN Author of "Pratt: The Red Man's Moses"
THERE are undoubtedly inherent values in right in assuming that their religious associations many primitive religious beliefs., and there are not likely to alter radically "so long as the is an essential human dignity in black, brown culture pattern holds firm." Among our own and yellow men. But the recognition of these American Indians the opposite condition obtains. values has gone too far in many cases, as for ex- Nearly all of them have been compelled by circumample as regards the relatively small group of stances to turn for a living to agriculture, cattlepartially assimilated American Indians. raising or sheep-herding, modern industry or other civilized employment, and schooling has Recent writers have indulged in what may well been general in most tribes for one or two genbe termed extravagant praise of the original In- erations. dian religion and culture. Ernest Thompson Seton's "Gospel of the Red Man: An Indian The Decline of Primitive Cultures Bible," is a brief summary of the "highest and best" ethical teachings of many tribes. The au- The early missionaries, foreseeing this radical thor quotes nine passages, covering almost every shift of cultures, knew that a decay of faith and point made, from Dr. Charles A. Eastman's "Soul ritual based on war and the buffalo hunt must of the Indian" (published twenty-five years ago), inevitably follow. "So far as this tribe is con- and closes with the words: "We advocate his (the cerned," writes one who passed a lifetime among Indian's) culture as an improvement on our own." the Sioux," there never was any use of force to Having long been keenly sensible of the charm turn an Indian away from any religion or toward of the primitive, I have insisted upon the native any religion." Such men were not unwilling to virtues of the untutored Red Man in a day when admit the merits of a culture they saw as doomed. such an attitude was frowned upon as sentimen- Aware that some loss was unavoidable, they tality. Until well into the nineteen hundreds, the sought to balance the loss by greater gain, usually Indian was looked upon as a "savage" and a with marked success. "heathen"-no less! The time came when I was Although a few literal-minded officials and privileged to assist in the preparation of Dr. East- over-punctilious clergymen did try to root out man's idealization of his ancestral philosophy, as everything "native" just because it was native, filtered through a modern mind-a study of this I think this was never a typical attitude. I know subject which has perhaps never been surpassed. that missionaries made some of the finest collec- Yet the Sioux author would not go so far as to tions of aboriginal art, and in some cases built up claim, as has another college-bred Indian, that his a profitable trade in these articles for the benefit race "has contributed more ideas of freedom, of native craftsmen. The Mohonk Lodge in Oklaequality and brotherly love than Christ ever homa is an example. While encouraging the pro- dreamed of"! Nor did he ever assert with Seton duction of things beautiful and serviceable, they that theirs was "the most spiritual civilization the could not be blind to the existence of objection- world has ever seen!" If these things were true, able habits and demoralizing superstitions. Di- what had we to offer them? In defense of the vi- reet attack upon these is, however, a less effective tality and persistence of the Christian missionary method than the friendly offer of something better motive, let us set beside the misleading half- in their place. Every normal personality instinctruths of the new school of Nature-wors'hippers tively seeks it consistent, well integrated philoso- the other half of the story. phy, and the adoption, even in part, of a modern Frank G. Speck, in his book on the Naskapi, the viewpoint implies the rejection of such naive ex- "savage hunters of the Labrador peninsula," as- planations of natural phenomena as that lightning serts that long-time missionary enterprise among proceeds from the beak of an enormous bird, or this people has basically failed. They are still that disease is the work of a malicious spirit. nomadic hunters, ,and the scientist is probably Sterling traits of character, present in some de- [128 ] gree among all mankind, are by certain extremists Photo by Bureau of American Ethnology labelled typically "Indian." Actually, there is HOPI INDIAN SNAKE DANCE little reason to suppose that the ordinary Indian surpasses the common man of another race in courage, generosity, truthfulness, or any basic virtue. In any group these traits vary widely with the individual. Neither, we may assume, is he in reality more "spiritual." True, a state of chronic warfare develops aggressiveness and continual hardship teaches endurance, while such vices as theft and avarice are hardly to be looked for in a moneyless society, whose few possessions are unprotected save by public opinion. On the other hand, those who live close to the soil are constantly preoccupied with primary needs and desires. The day-by-day talk of a primitive Indian camp deals first of all with food-a material necessity; after that, with a never-ceasing flood of incredibly petty and often spiteful neighborhood gossip.
The acceptance of civilization and Christianity makes life more complicated. Along with new temptations, it presents higher standards and a far wider outlook. I am fully aware of the difficulty of making so fundamental an adaptation. I know, however, from first-hand observation, that it may be and has been achieved, in numerous cases. Doubtless the ancient mores at its best produced some fine characters-an earnest of the strength and richness of those that have been developed under Christian teaching.
Some Harmful Indian Customs munities, some attention to the laws of health and preventive medicine is required by law. Both the literary fashion of lauding pagan cults, and the activity in their behalf so recently 2. The Hopi snake dance, theoretically a prayer undertaken by the Indian Office, have put our for rain, is now a well-advertised tourist attracmissionaries more or less on the defensive. With tion. The question arises: Do religious saturnalia no desire to call in question the existence of good of a sensational character, especially after they in all religions, it may be well to specify a few begin to be exploited for money, tend to exalt huof the old-time Indian customs which the mission- man dignity? A correspondent of The Christian aries hold to be definitely opposed both to moral Century commented, a year or so ago, on a someadvance and civic progress. what similar affair staged by Southern "poor whites." "Teester's performance," he wrote, "has 1. The occult arts and weird incantations of brought on such a widespread orgy of snakethe medicine-men, who are doctors as well as handling in tent and crude tabernacle meetings priests, not only fail to cure the sick-unless to that something will have to be done about it. . . . a limited extent by hypnotic powers – but they Press and sound news reel have made capital of often spread disease among the well. For one ex- the frenzied spectacle." ample out of many, take the Reverend J. C. Morgan's description of the ye-ba-chai, sacred healing 3. Rites involving public torture and mutilation ceremony among the Navajos. Mr. Morgan is a once climaxed the Sun Dance of the Plains people. native missionary. He writes: "In this dance These were banned by the government; but it is many men take part, each wearing a snugly fitting said that in some pueblos there are still ceremonial buckskin mask. One after another wears the whippings. same mask all night long. Some have sore eyes; some have tuberculosis; the masks, become sat- 4. Belief in witchcraft is almost universal urated with breath and perspiration. I believe among primitive Indians. Some tribes execute many are infected with trachoma or tuberculosis persons suspected of being witches. or both." This dance lasts nine days and nights and costs much money. In most enlightened com- 5. Fear of "ghosts," really fear of the dead and their power to harm, is extremely common. It causes a great deal of unhappiness and leads to
lending one's wife to a visitor, will hardly be de- fended as worthy of perpetuation among United States citizens..
11. The tradition of incessant petty warfare against "enemy tribes," usually near neighbors, dominated the society of the leading Indian na- tions. No youth might honorably seek a wife until he had shed the blood of an "enemy," often that of a solitary hunter with his helpless little family. Next to taking the life of a member of another tribe, either man, woman or child, in a kind of private "war," most renown was to be won by "stealing" his horses or other property.
REV. BEN BRAVE – SIOUX INDIAN The Need for the Christian Message practices injurious to the living, such as the de- It will be said in reply that no one has proposed struction of a dwelling in which a death has oc- going to logical extremes, but merely that the curred. Extreme mourning customs, the cutting "best" of the ancestral tradition be perpetuated. of the hair and flesh, burying or giving away all This means that the much eulogized "native culpossessions, add needlessly to the pain of bereave- tures" must first be judged by wholly alien standment. ards. After the process of sifting, only a few selected items remain, and these usually among 6. It has been said in praise of the old-time the least characteristic and important. Customs Indian that "his ambition was not to possess shocking to our moral sense, such as kidnapping, wealth but to give it away." At the same time, slavery, massacre of noncombatants, torture of property must first be accumulated, before pres- prisoners and many others, though sanctioned if tige can be acquired by its distribution. Probably not enjoined by various Indian religions, are supthere was little pure altruism connected with the pressed by Seton in his "Indian Bible" as well as tradition of public giving, which was on the whole by certain spokesmen for the Indian Office. The a form of display. The leading men of some tribes widespread injury to health from the use of collected and destroyed great piles of savage peyote, and the activities of native medicine-men, wealth as the surest :r;oad to personal distinction. are glossed over or ignored. If it were actually possible to reestablish the "integrity of the old 7. The Peyote cult, borrowed from Old Mexico, order," as some enthusiasts have seemed to advocenters about the use of an intoxicating drug for- cate, we should once more have tribal leaders of bidden by the laws of several states. Missionaries the type of Geronimo, Sitting Bull, and Kicking and other close observers have invariably con- Bear – high priest of the Messiah craze. This demned it as harmful. It is tolerated, however, would be genuine "Indian leadership," promoted by the present Indian administration. by strange forms of religious excitement and find- ing vent in intertribal feuds, as well as in undying S. Religious taboos against many common hostility to the white man! foods, such as fish, or the totem animal of the individual, cause needless privation and inconven- On the other hand, our present-day Indian leadience. ers have been trained by Christian men and women to lead away from, not back to, the primi- 9. Isolation of the menstruating woman, often tive. Most of them are of mixed ancestry, and with inadequate fire and food, is a common cul- the same is true of an estimated two-thirds of the tural trait based on superstitious fear. It involves Indian population, so-called. Intermarriage, says great discomfort and probable danger to health. the Dutch scientist, Schrieke, in his book, "Alien Americans," is "America's greatest contribution" 10. Polygamy, and especially the claim of a to the solution of the Indian problem. The inman to any or all of his wife's sisters as second- evitable transition is now far advanced. Surely ary wives, regardless of their preferences, to- the future of-these aspiring contemporary Amer.igether with the custom of sexual hospitality, or cans cannot, to any significant extent, lie along aboriginal folkways? If not, the "missionary mo- tive" is still valid, and Christ not only offers an advance upon any and all native religions but a new conception of God and the way of life for man.
Christ Has Done for Untouchables*
By v. s. AZARIAH Bishop of Dornakal, India THE whole of India has been agitated by the They cannot lose government help, simply because declaration made by Dr. Ambedkar that all they change their religion. Some others say that who are known as Depressed Classes should Hindus are reforming themselves, and there is give up Hinduism and seek to join some other re- much change nowadays compared with former ligion that will give them the fullest opportunities times, and that the Depressed Classes must wait of developing themselves. Dr. Ambedkar char- in patience. Dr. Ambedkar says in reply that he acterized Hinduism as a contagion; those who has now waited for many years and nothing is wished to escape the evil effects of this contagion really done; that the nature of Hinduism is such must flee from it. that nothing much can be done within it and the fact that some people have changed does not prove Dr. Ambedkar has been in Europe, England, that his people's lot is going to be very different and America and has spent several years in those from the past. countries for advanced study. Owing to his Depressed Class origin, however, he was put to great It is not for us to say what religion Untouchinconveniences when he began work in the Baroda ables must join; and what religion will give you State and in the Bombay Presidency. He is now what you seek. We place before you what the practicing law in Bombay and is also the principal religion of Jesus Christ has done in the past for of a law college. Thousands of those hitherto your brethren who have become Christians. known as Untouchables in all parts of India have declared their willingness to follow Dr. Ambedkar We have in the Andhra Desa about a million and renounce Hinduism and join some other reli- Christians. Of these nine-tenths must be people gion. who themselves or through their forefathers were in the so-called Depressed Class groups before Hindu leaders naturally are advising the so- they became Christians. What has Christ done called Depressed Classes not to abandon Hindu- for us who are converts and your brethren? ism. Some reformers urge that Hindu temples must be open to Depressed Classes. But "ortho- 1. He has lifted us socially. We have had edudox" Hindus vehemently oppose ,this. Pious Hin- cational facilities given us by missions. Adults dus would no longer visit the temples If they were have learnt to read. Our children live, study, and polluted by Untouchables. It would be reasonable eat alongside of any who may have come into our to ask why the Depressed Classes should now in- religion from any other caste. We have risen in vade Hindu temples where they have never wor- the estimation of other castes because of our edushipped before and hurt the feelings of the devout cation and character. Our original caste and the orthodox people. Many Depressed Class leaders ca11te of our forefathers are thus being forgotten. have publicly said that they do not want this. Some of our men are occupying positions as Deputy Collectors, Tahsildars, Sub-Magistrates, Some Hindu leaders have argued that the De- Municipal Commissioners, Revenue Inspectors, pressed Class people will not gain anything by etc., throughout the Andhra Desa. Most of our giving up Hinduism, because only when they re- pastors and teachers are from our own people; main in the Hindu fold will they be entitled to and these have under their care Christian conenjoy those political privileges and government verts from all castes. There are hundreds of favors which they now get as Depressed Classes. Christian pastors and thousands of schoolmasters But Dr. Ambedkar asks: "What is the use of all over the country. Converts from the Brahmin, privileges when we are to he eternally called 'out- Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra castes are taught castes,' 'untouchables' and have to live under this in Christian schools and are given religious mindisgrace?" And he is right. Moreover, he is con- istrations by converts from the Depressed Classes. vinced that the government is certainly not going These things. are not unknown to you. to do any such injustice to the Depressed Classes simply because they choose to revolt against the 2. He has raised our womanhood. The Chris- ~osition in which Hinduism has placed them. tian women stand higher than Hindus in educa- tion. In English education they stand highest of *N~~t~~~e~i~~~r distributed by the Foreign Missions Conference among Indians. Among them are found many doctors, and B.A.'s who are occupying responsible [131 ]
positions in the Andhra Desa. A few are in gov- ment in the higher things comes to us and these ernment service. These are respected by all who inevitably lead to enlightenment of mind and adknow them. Infant marriages are unknown vance in general culture. The light of Jesus among us; purdah is unknown, and this gives Christ has shone into our hearts and minds, and our women the opportunity of going on to higher is illuminating us. This may be noticed in any education and making themselves useful in public village in the Andhra Desa. life. Our home life is generally known to be pure and happy. Taken as a whole, our women and (e) Christianity has brought us fellowship and our girls enjoy life, full life and happiness, be- brotherhood. It has treated us with respect, and cause of our religious injunction-one man-one it has given us self-respect. It has never despised wife, and both equal before God. us because of our lowly origin, but on the contrary has held us as individuals who are as valuable be- 3. He has removed the customs and habUs that fore God and man as any man of any origin. We have been the causes of our past degradation. believe it has been the working out of the will of God, that probably more than seventy-five per (a) As we have already said Christian mar- cent of all the great efforts Christian missions riage law has given us happy homes. How con- have made in the past two centuries, has been for stantly, among the so-called Depressed Class peo- us, the Depressed Classes, for whom previously ple, men took liberty to give up one wife and take no one had shown any interest or care. All this another without making any provision for the has been in accord with the life and character of first wife? It was possible, too, for a man to take the Lord Jesus, who said, "I am come to seek and more than one wife. The result of this was un- save that which is lost." We, your blood and happy homes, wrecked lives, bitter tears, Quarrels, brethren, can witness to you what a blessing it and sometimes even murders. All this has now has been to be "found" of Him. changed. (f) Best of all, Christianity has given us hap- (b) The Christian religion has combated the piness and joy that can only come by the knowlcurse of drink. There is no doubt that one reason edge that God has forgiven our sins and has made for the poverty of the laboring classes is that half us His children in Christ. We consider this as the the earnings of men is usually wasted on drink. foundation cause of all that we have received Drink has also led to quarrels, riots, and court through this religion. The fact that Jesus Christ cases. Christianity has opposed this; and we can died for us makes us hate sin, and live new lives. point out many whole villages from which drink He lives now and enables us to give up our old, has altogether been driven out. This has in its bad habits and grow in newness of life. "If any turn brought prosperity. We know-we can cite man is in Christ there is a new creation," say onr names-all over the Andhra Desa, of Christians Scriptures. (who were known formerly as Depressed Classes) who have given up drink, and thus after a short All this has not been accomplished through any time have been able to payoff old debts, and a magic, or done in a day. It has been the result of little later have been known to possess bullock- years of service, patiently and with love poured carts, and earn an independent livelihood for out by thousands of consecrated Christian men and themselves. Decent houses have been built, and women, both Indian and foreign who have labored the general level of life raised, after the people to improve our lot. It has been the result of conbecame Christians. stant teaching, care, and instruction. It has been accomplished moreover, because we ourselves, (c) Christianity has made the people cleaner. freed by Christ from chains of ignorance and The Christian religion requires us all to meet in fear, have found within ourselves new courage, our churches every day, and most of all on Sun- new hope, new strength to struggle upward. It is days, together for the public worship of God. still a process going on; we are not a finished This regular worship of God has inculcated in us product (you may no doubt find many faults habits of cleanliness and self-respect. within us) but no man can deny that we are grow- ing, moving toward the goal. If you, like us, (d) Christianity has also improved our intel- should choose Christ in your momentous choice, lectual powers. The Christian religion enj oins on you will find in Him, not empty words, but ~n opall converts a certain amount of knowledge of di- portunity for an abundant life. "I am come that vine things. As soon as we are enrolled as Chris- ye might have life, and that more abundantly." tians regular instruction begins. A teacher and his wife are sent to live in our midst, and they All over India the Depressed Class people are guide us to knowledge in divine things. Our Sun- wistfully looking in every direction for a new reday worship includes instruction in religion. As ligion. The decision must be yours. What we a rule during daytime the teacher conducts a have tested and found that Christ is doing today school for our children. Men and women and for millions of your brethren, He can do for you children are thus lifted to a higher level of life; also. and by daily teaching and daily lessons, enlighten-
A Firebrand for Christ in
By the REV. J. CHRISTY WILSON, D.D.
American Mission, T abriz, Iran "I WANT to enter the school, and especially to study the New Testament, and learn more of Christ."
These were the first words of a Moslem village boy who came to the Mission School at the begin- ning of the fall term. Though he did not show much promise as a student his purpose was un- usual. In his case there was no prejudice against Christianity to break down. Somewhere he had learned to read Syriac, and the story of Jesus had captured his imagination, if not his heart.
Like many another boy in lands around this old world, he explained, "I have no money for tuition, nor even for books, but I am willing to do any kind of work."
Our drinking water was carried from a mission compound a mile or two outside the city so that his first job was to carry water in an earthen jar, like the woman of Samaria. That task led her to the well where she found Christ.
During the few busy days before the opening of school I saw much of this boy. At every meet- ing in the church or school he was present. He even appeared at teachers' meeting! A hunger to hear and learn everything he could made it un- necessary to urge him along "the flowery path of knowledge." At first he had appeared to be a very ordinary village boy but we were soon aware SAMUEL NARY – A MOSLE'M WHO FOUND CHRIST that his was no ordinary zeal for learning. He was sixteen or seventeen years old, but because from Islam, most of them develop gradually into of little previous schooling he was enrolled in the full-fledged Christians, but not so this boy. He third grade. gavehis heart all at once in full and complete sur- His name was "Seif Ali," he said, but he asked render and he was transformed. In an instant, that we enter his name as "SamueL" The reason it seemed, the village Moslem boy had passed he explained, "My name means 'The Sword of away. Before us there stood a new creation.
Ali,' who was the son-in-law of Mohammed the From that moment he became a firebrand for prophet. The name does not suit me, however. Christ.
I prefer to be called Samuel, that was the name Samuel went on with his studies and before of the boy whom God called and who later became long began bringing others to our house to talk of a great prophet." So Samuel it was. Jesus. They were for the most part common men In a Moslem country like ours, Friday is a from the bazaar, but they had been prepared for school holiday and on that morning a class of the interview. If they could read, Samuel had boys, who were interested, came by invitation to given them Christian literature and portions of study of Christ. Samuel drank it all in. Inside the New Testament. Instinctively they had real- of three weeks he was leading us in beautiful and ized that this boy's great and sincere desire was effectual prayer, and before three months he had to share with them the glorious new life he had confessed Christ. I have seen many converts found in Christ.
[133 ]
Following a shorter period of probation than you want me on your account to break a law of usual, Samuel and another boy who had accepted the school?" Christ about the same time were baptized, after being examined and accepted by the elders of the "My dear Sir," the boy responded, "I am not church. He began to wield a great influence under law; I am under grace." among the boys in the school and in the dormitory and the church. His surrender to Christ, his He continued in school through the sixth class Spirit-filled life, and his sincerity were so appar- and soon after was called by the government for ent that his faith could not be doubted. His zeal two years of military service. He went gladly to was contagious, and Christians who had grown serve in the army, saying that he had two great cold were warmed into new fervor by the fire that duties, one to serve God and the other to serve his burned in his heart. There were more than two country. He was anxious, however, to get the hundred boys in the school, many of them born patriotic duty out of the way, so he could devote and reared in Christian homes, but before the end his time more fully to what he conceived to be the of the year this' boy knew his Bible better than greater task. During his army service he conany other in the school. He seemed to have an tinually witnessed for his Master and became answer for every question in the words of Scrip- known as the most willing recruit in all his conture. It may have been that his influence had a tingent. Some years later, when another Chrisgreat deal to do with the fact that before the year tian convert boy went to serve under the same was over more than twenty of the students and hard-boiled drill sergeant and the latter saw how teachers expressed a desire to dedicate themselves gladly he obeyed even the most difficult assignto full-time Christian service. ments, he said, "What do we have here, another Samuel Naby?" At the time of his baptism Samuel asked to be called "Samuel Naby" or Samuel the Prophet. Periodically the boy in uniform came to ask for When he returned to his village his first concern Christian literature and Gospels, which he diswas ,to witness for Christ to his own relatives and tributed widely but with great care. Then no friends. There was some property of which he word would come from him for a time as he would was part owner and the members of the family be off in a distant area of the province. News took legal action to obtain his share of the prop- came from him at times and in various ways. erty on the grounds that he had become a Chris- Once two Jews walked about fifty miles to the city tian. He did not contest the action but remon- to get aNew Testament in Hebrew; they had strated with them for attempting to take away by been interested in Christ and His Way through force what he would have been willing to give the testimony of the boy doing military service them freely. His was the spirit of Him who said, in their mountain outpost. "If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." One day the officer in command of his compaJjY found Samuel reading. He asked what book it The vacation period passed and the principal of was-and the boy, standing at salute replied, the school, in whose place I had been substituting for the year, returned from furlough. Samuel "The New Testament, Sir." came from the village to enter school again. He "Put that book away, you have enough to study asked if he might skip a class, and tryout in the in your guard manual," was the command. grade ahead, since he was older than the average of his classmates and had been studying in the "Sir," Samuel answered, "it is because of this summer. As reported to me the conversation was Book that I have in my hand that I stand here somewhat as follows: saluting you. Had I not learned from this Book my duty to my king and country, I should have "I shall be glad to have you enter a grade fled like many of my companions across the borahead," said the principal, "but you shall have to der to avoid military service." pass all the examinations of the class you wish to skip before you can enter the advanced grade. The officer did not answer but passed on. This is a positive rule of the school." Some ,time later the company to which Samuel "Please let me go in the higher class and try belonged was ordered to the extreme northwestern out there," Samuel replied. "Inside of a few frontier for a campaign against unruly Kurdish weeks I shall know perfectly well whether I can tribes. The going was hard and many wounded carry the work or not. If I cannot keep up you and sick were brought in to the military hospital will not need to say a word, I shall go back in the in the city where we were living. One day w·e other class of my own accord." heard that Samuel was there. I called on him. and found him as full of zeal as ever, though suf- "I should like to do it that way," the teacher fering from a severe case of pleurisy, contracted answered, "but our rules must be kept. Would from exposure and sleeping on the ground. I had taken him some books, which he began to pass on to others before I left his bedside. When my visit was about to end he shouted to all the sick
A FIREBRAND FOR CHRIST IN IRAN
and wounded men in the big ward, "Now be quiet Naby. His teacher in the training school for a minute, you fellows, this man is going to lead evangelists testified, "I have never received so us in prayer." There was absolute silence as I much spiritual help in my life as from that boy prayed-in the government military hospital. The in the three months he was with me." It will next time I came I was besieged for books and take much in sacrifice, and life itself, to found the tracts. church which God is calling out of Islam in this land, and this young friend would deem it a rare In due time the boy was well enough to return privilege to be one of the foundation stones-beto his home city to complete his military service. neath the ground if need be–in that church. When released from the army he started on a tour of near-by villages, busy at once in evangelism on The Great Teacher of us all has told us that: his own initiative. I was later told that many "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and Christians asked themselves the question, "Must die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth we wait to be shamed by this former Moslem boy forth much fruit." In Samuel Naby I have seen before we begin to witness for Christ?" the absolute living proof that the Spirit of Christ can change, in a moment of time, an ignorant vil- Samuel expressed his desire to become an evan- lage Moslem into a radiant, powerful Christian. gelist and give all his time to that service. He wanted to be free to work anywhere that God WILLIAM CAREY'S COVENANT called him and said, for a time at least, he would like to travel like Mansur Sang, the Christian Weare thinking much of missionary methods dervish. The Mission decided that he should go in these days. Carey and his colleagues, in the histo the distant city of Isfahan to take up training toric Serampore Covenant, expressed convictions in the school for evangelists. He already had the which never grow oldprime requisites, a heart full of love, a yearning to lead people to Christ, a burning zeal, and a 1. To set an infinite value on men's souls. good knowledge of the Bible. He was, however, 2. To acquaint ourselves with the snares which anxious to get the best possible training before he took up his, life work. hold the minds of the people. 3. To abstain from whatever deepens India's On his way to the training school he stopped for a few days in our city where he spoke in prayer prejudice against the Gospel. meeting and made the prayer at the general Sun- 4. To watch for every chance of helping people. day service. Many people caught a spark of his 5. To preach "Christ crucified" as the one great fire and he was mentioned scores' of times after he had gone on his way. means of conversions.
Reaching Isfahan, Samuel plunged into his 6. To esteem and treat Indians always as our training with keen delight. He was hungry for equals. instruction and worked with a will at these lessons under a young English missionary. He still 7. To guard and build up "the hosts that may be had time, however, to work among patients in the gathered." hospital, with men in the street, in the bazaareverywhere he carried on his intensive witness for 8. To cultivate their spiritual gifts, ever press- Christ. No necessity for others to plan "field ex- ing upon them their missionary obligation perience" for him in connection with his course – since Indians only can win India for of study! Christ.
After some three months of this training he 9. To labor· unceasingly in BibHcal translation. had some trouble with his throat and it was suggested that he have his tonsils removed. He ac- 10. To be instant in the nurture of personal recepted ,the proposal gladly, and when the time ligion. came went to the operating room laughing and saying to his friends, "I'll be out in just a few 11. To give ourselves without reserve to the minutes." Chloroform was administered for the Cause of Christ, "not counting even the operation and under the anesthetic Samuel lost clothes we wear as our own." consciousness but never regained it in this life. "Brainerd in America poured out his All efforts to revive him failed. very soul before God for the people. Prayer, secret, fervent, expectant, lies at Why God called him, at what to us seemed the the root of all personal godliness. A combeginning of his wonderful ministry, we do not petent knowledge of the languages current know. From our viewpoint the three years min- where a missionary lives, a mild and winistry of our Lord would have seemed all too short. ning temper, and a heart given up to God One thing we know is that many lives were stirred – these are the attainments, which more into new consecration by the passing of Samuel than all other gifts, will fit us to become God's instruments in the great work of hu- man redemption." It is written of Carey that "his whole desire went out to meet the Will of God."
Shrines and Emperor
–<!IIi By a R",;d,nt of Japan III>– T HE tradition of the descent of the Japanese that shrine w,orship is a secular ceremony, both ruler from the Sun Goddess has seen a strong scholars and the general Japanese and K'Orean r·evival during recent years. Ten or fifteen public look upon such acts as religious. The leadyears ag,o liberal Japanese leaders were inclined ers of the present reactionary movement (the to interpret this traditiDn as meaning only that Fundamentalists of Shinto) have succeeded in the line of EmperDrs, to quote the constituti,on, demonstrating that the act of paying reverence at "is coeval with Heaven and earth," leaving the a national shrine is an act of worship. The leadattendant mythology to fade into the background. ing authorities ,on National Shinto are c'Oming to Others even pr,ofessed to hope that Japan would devel,oP into a constitutional monarchy of the the position that the national cult is a religion. * British type. All 'Of this has a vital relationship to Christian Today, however, no 'One dares to express such education in Japan because the larger percentage opinions 'Openly. The world "Emper,or" and pro- of the students in all ,of the missiDn schools (exnouns applied to Him must be capitalized when cept the theol'Ogical seminaries) are n'On-Chriswritten in Western languages. The Japanese tians, and parents and guardians are consequently SChODl books state, "We Japanese lODk up to our non-Christian and very susceptible to influences Emperor as to a God," and "The Japanese Em- surrounding them. Non-Christian alumni and peror is divine." Last year the word used in offi- parents, s,ometimes instigated by pr,ofessiDnal "pacial documents for "Emper,or" was chang·ed from triDts," have demanded that the schools "clarify kotei (the general term for emperor) to Tenno, the national polity" by speaking 'Out clearly CJnor "Heaven-ruler." The Japanese are quite con- cerning the divine nature ,of the Emperor and the cerned because the Eur,opean word "emperor" is Sun Goddes·s. used with r·eference to the emperor of India and the emperor 'Of the Roman Empire, so that SDme This present-day interpretation of Japanese call their ruler Tenno even when speaking a fDr- nationalism forces several serious pr,oblems ,on eign language, and refer to Japan as a Tennocracy the attention ,of Christian schools in Japan, rather than an empire. It is forbidden to refer to Chosen and Form'Osa. the Emper,oras a man even in praise, and mDst Western j'Ournalists adopt the policy ,of referring 1. The moral basis ,of Japanese education is laid to His Majesty as seldom as possible in order to in the "imperial Rescript" on education, drawn avoid giving ,offense. They dare not ever refer up by the Department ,of Education in 1890 and to the Emperor Meiji as a "truly great man." issued under the name and seal of the Emperor Japanese express amazement that Christians Meiji to offset the flood of Western ideas. The should be S,o fD'Olish as to believe that one person Department of Education ordered that it should (Jesus) might be both human and divine. be read, with appropriate ceremony, 'On stated 'Oc- casions in all the schools. Recently another movement has revealed an unmistakable demand that loyalty to the present Within the past ten years, the Rescript has been Empel'or shall be equal to the loyalty to the Sun exalted n'Ot only as the basis 'Of Japanese educa- Goddess, and that the test 'Of national lDyalty is tion but as the Apostles Creed ,of the Imperial the worship 'Of the "Ancestress 'Of the Imperial Cult. The Rescript itself is held to be without line." Some years ago many scholars interpreted err,or and beyond criticism. Its morality is C,onthe Sun Goddess merely as a personification of fucian but it clearly states the divine ancestry 'Of one 'Of the tribes which invaded Japan in prehis- the Emperor. This element has caused it to be toric times. Today loyal subjects of the Emper'Or esteemed highly by those wh,o wDuld stem the tide· must accept the Sun Goddess myth just as it of present-day _Western doctrines. In recent stands. months all schools have been f'Orced to lay more emphasis upon this liturgy-the method 'Of read- In Korea most 'Of the shrines are dedicated to ing, the white gloves 'Of the reader and the bowing in reverence. In most Christian schools these the Sun Goddess, whereas in Japan most are dedicated to Japanese herDes. Japanese officials say • See article by D. C. Holton in the Japan Ohristian Year Book f~~ ~;i~6 q~Oe~tton~ummary of present-day scholarly opinion concern- [ 136] ceremonies are acc.ompanied by hymns, Scripture tion." Christians never know how the Rescri.pt reading, prayers and a short explanation .of the will be interpreted next. meaning .of the cerem.ony, but it is doubtful whether this can long continue since it is looked A few years ago when the service of a certain upon ,as an opportunity to teach the Christian d.oc- church was being broadcast at Christma's time the trine of God and to inculcate a Christian attitude phrase, "Lord save the Emperor," caused the of l.oyalty to the State. church such difficulty that a revision of the prayer book was necessary. The phr&se "King of kings In N.ovember, 1936, the Department .of Edu- and Lord ,of lords" was indicated as unacceptable cation required all schools to present copies of the for Christian worship. Recently Paul Kanamori's program used at the Rescript ceremony, and to "The W,ay to Faith," was withdrawn from cirexplain the nature,Qf the care taken of the sacred culation because of its monotheistic arguments. d,Qcument. The public press has also criticized the Christian doctrine of the Kingdom of God because its basic 2. In Japan most Christian schools accept the virtue of love is contrary to loyalty, the basic virstatement of the Government that the ceremonies tue of the J.apanese Empire. Hymns used in at the shrines are nonreligious and permit their Christian services (both English and Japanese students to go there to pay respect. These Chris- translations) might be oonstrued as treasonable. tian schools have not adopted the custom of volun- Opponents of Christianity are looking for the tarily, but thr.ough social pressure or demands slightest deviations from the present interpretafl'om patrons. In some Christian schools attend- tion of national loyalty. Christi.ans are concerned ance at the shrines is optional; in others the en- lest they should be forced to ,teach dogmas which tire student b,Qdy is taken under the direction of run counter to fundamental Christian principles. the military officers to pay reverence. In one boy's school the military officer invariably chooses Japanese Christians are concerned about these a Sunday to take the students to the shrine. In problems, but their concern is modified by two or T,Qkyo and vicinity the authorities are more three modifying factors. lenient than in other districts, a proof of the truth of the Japanese proverb that "The foot of the 1. The J,apanese Christians feel that officials lighthouse is in darkness." charged with the enforcement .of the law are friendly. All of the leaders .of the missi.on schools 3. The Japanese consider it a great honor for who have been called to confer with the officials a school to receive a Portrait of the Emperor. of the Department of Educati,Qn have been treated The Portrait must be kept in a fireproof safe with great oonsideration, and the men in charge when not in use; a teacher must sleep each night seek to make everything as easy as possible f.or in the same room ready to protect the sacred the sch.ools and churches to abide within the law Portrait with his life; acts of reverence must be without offense to conscience. The officials themmade when passing the Portrait or the container selves are being pres'sed by the Shinto Fundamen- ,of it, and the Portrait is on display only on the talists into a positi.on which they would not take ceremonial occasi,Qns when the Imperial Rescript if left to themselves. They are willing to make is read. Most Christian schools have avoided re- almost any compr,Qmise to avoid a public scene ceiving the Portrait by pleading that they had no that might involve them in lese majesty. These suitable pJ,ace in which to keep It. In the autumn men who are enforcing the law are not followers of 1936 all Christian higher schools were called of any particular religion. They are atheists or to the Department .of Educati.on to explain if they agnostics. The men .of the Meiji Restoration, who had a copy of the Portrait, and if not why not, devised the present cult of National Shinto, were and .if so, how It was treated. Leaders of the Na- rationalists and ,&theists. The J.apanese Christional Chdstian Education Ass.ociation advised all tians, therefore, conf.orm to many ceremonies Christian schools to apply f.or the best.owal of the without scruples, which would be impossible to a Portrait. Officials of the Department .of Educa- people (such as the Koreans) who do not have tion have recently advised Christian schools that this historical understanding. The men in charge a chapel, having symbols of the w.orship of the .of enf,Qrcing the law realize the necessity of not Christian God, was not an appr.opriate place for violating the constitutions guarantee of freed.om the display ,of the Portrait. .of religi.on, and will not force an issue which will antagonize the strong theistic sects of Buddhism, 5. In recent years the Government has been as well &s the Christian churches. emphasizing the importance of religious education in schools. A distincti'on is made between culti- 2. The Japanese Christians bend but do not vating the spirit .of religion in the pupils and break easily. Historically the cult of Shinto was teaching the doctrines of any ,specified religion. not intended to be religious, and many believe that The Government memorandum stated explicitly when this present tension has passed the .original that "n.o religious teaching will be permitted that purpose of the founders of the constituti.on will runs contmry to the Imperial Rescript on Educa- be maintained. Therefore, if the Government
will consistently maintain that the shrines are gone through controversies with the Government nonreligious and that reverence paid there is an in the past with credit and if they cannot find a act .of I.oy.alty and not .of religi.ous worship, they way out of this present crisis, they are ready to will foll.ow. Meanwhile they insist upon the re- pay the price in persecuti.on. form of Shinto and the removal of religions elements from shrines. Christians in Japan are fear- Finally, Japanese Chdstians are unwilling to ing a new era .of persecution, but d.o n.ot wish to create an issue out of what really seems to many precipitate it. a min.or matter, f.or they realize that far more important issues are in the air. 3. One question involved is, What does the Government mean by the words used for "God" for 1. A definite and well-directed anti-Christian "worship," for "divine"? It was unt:ortunate that m.ovement is .on foot in Japan, the extent of which the word adopted for "God" (kami) in Japan is is being revealed. The Government and the offithe same as that used for the Shinto divinities, cials ,are generally on the side .of the Christians, who are spirits of nature and deceased nati.onal seeking to avoid any overt act that would precipiheroes. The significance of the w.ord is little more tate a crisis. Ina certain city the l.ocal authorithan "eXialted being." Many Protestant Chris- ties recently issued orders that every house should tians refer to God by the term "Heavenly Father," erect a Shinto god-shelf. In another city placards .others ,always qualify the w.ord kami by phrases denouncing Chdstianity as a disl.oyal sect apasserting the uniqueness, the eternity and the fa- peared .on the streets one morning. In these plactherhood .of the Christian God. Although the ards the situation was analyzed so clearly that Shinto FundamentaHsts, ,and many .of the common it made one feel that, if a concerted effort were people, may think .of the Sun Goddess .or of Im- made by the enemies of the Gospel, there would perial Ancestors as possessing attributes of deity, be little difficulty in persuading the nonthinking the Christians know that the ideas differ greatly populace that Christianity is a traitorous religion. from the ideas which ,the Christians hold concern- At least many of its fundamental concepts run ing the Heavenly Father. Unfortunately, owing directly contmry to the stream of nati.onalistic to the hysterical state .of many "patri.otic" leaders, thought current in Japan at present. Certain it is impossible to air the differences involved, but hymns, certain secti.ons from St. Paul's Epistles, the Christians are thinking things through and from the Prophets, from the Book .of Revelati.on, discussing them in small groups. and from the Westminster Gonfes,sion, if pub- lished .on billboards, would precipitate trouble. Worship is paid by people to the spirit of a The situation is, as the Japanese would say, "delifaithful dog, whose statue stands at the railway cate." station where he awaited the return .of his dead master. Buddhi,st mas,ses are regularly held for 2. Another 'element of danger lies in the milithe spirits .of needles broken while sewing, and tary faction which use,s the Shinto reactionaries for ,the spirits of broken dolls. B.owing the head and Loyalists to further its policies of nationalistic is not reserved for what Westerners term "reli- expansion. This is.a subject concerning which it gi.ous" occ'll;sions. The sentiment .of awe at the is not prudent to write. There is clearly a rift center .of the Japanese idea of w.orship enters into between the civil ,authorities and the military. We many social conventions and habits. It is P.ossible are told that soldiers attempted to prevent the f.or Christians therefore to b.oW at shrines, even reentry of Dr. Kagawa, who was forced to appeal though thes~ same shrines may be used by .others to the governor of the prefecture before he could for religious purposes. It means little more to enter Kobe. them than taking off our hats at that same shrine would mean to us. The military authorities today are acting as if another war were imminent, and they look upon But many Japanese Christians will n.ot g.o vol- missionaries as enemies of their country, because untarily to the shrines or, adopt these methods .of they are foreigners; they look upon Japanese showing their loyalty. Well-known Christians are Christians as semitraitors because of their connot afraid to state that they or the'ir children d.o necti.on with the missions and because of the libnot worship at the shrines. If an issue is pressed, eral political and social ideas held by many Chrish.owever, they W.ould conf.orm rather than precipi- tian leaders. These things have had the effect of tate a crisis which might be far-reaching. drawing the Japanese Christians closer to the' missionaries, for in the event of a crisis both When such vague notions are common in Japan would suffer equally. regarding the meaning of "God," "worship," and "spirit," many missionaries feel that it is better The situation in Japan is more serious than that to leave the distinguishing .of the things that involved in the Shrine problem. Japanese Chrisdiffer to Japanese Christians. They are men and tians are seeking to avoid any open break with w.omen of a high .order .of intelligence, they have the authorities which would give additional oc- casion for their enemies to attack them.
Nagao-a Japanese Christian
By the REV. WILLIAM AXLING, Tokyo, Japan American Baptist Foreign Mission Society; Author of the "Life of Kagawa"
HAMPEl NAGAO was one of Japan's front- young Mr. Nagao has forged his way to the front line Christian leaders. While a student in and has become a conspicuous figure in the na- Tokyo he enlisted in the Christian life and tional life of Japan. On the staff of the Colonial this step ushered him into an entirely new world. Administration of Formosa, as Japan's represen- Everything he saw, the sky, the sea, the moun- tative on the International Railway Commission tains, the trees, the flowers, spoke to him about his in Siberia during the World War, as Chief of the new-found God, as revealed in Christ, a God who Southern Division of the Imperial Government is not only great and powerful but his Father, his Railways, as Head of the Municipal Street Car Friend. System of Tokyo and as a member of Parliament With unspeakable eagerness he looked forward he has rendered a significant service.
to the summer vacation when he would return to Through it all he has stood s.taunch as a Chrishis country village and share this new experience tian. Again and again he paid a big price for his with his parents, his brothers and his sisters. Christian conviction. He lost his seat in Parlia- Slow-footed summer ~rrived at last and hurriedly ment because the liquor interests combined he started for home. In his letters he had at- against him. But he lost it with a smile, saying tempted to prepare the way so that his family that his Christian principles were far more knew that he had become a Christian. precious to him than the coveted seat in Parlia- When he reached his village and opened the ment.
door of his home, the family rushed forth to greet Although constantly carrying heavy official re- him. All but his father. He was not to be seen. sponsibilities he was never too busy to respond to This seemed to augur ill. The father sent word a call for Christian service. For over twenty demanding that he must renounce his new-found years he was a trustee of the Tokyo City Y. M.
Christian faith before he would be received. C. A. and for a part of that time served as Chair- Worse still the father refused to allow the son to man. He was one of the organizers and a trustee cross his threshold. This was like a blow in the of Tokyo Woman's Christian College.
face. All the happy anticipations. of his home He was a flaming crusader in the temperance coming were shattered and he stood stunned. cause and a passionate advocate of church union.
The lad's reply was that he would do anything In these two fields his contribution was unique.
within his power to please his father but he could He was one of the prime movers in the movement not give up his faith in Christ. The father in which enabled the Christian Literature Society turn sent word that he was then no longer a son and the American Bible Society to secure their and this was no longer his home. Members of the present quarters. He passed into the life beyond family interceded, but the father's only reply was a few months ago and now that he is gone, the that the son had brought such dark disgrace upon battIe for everything that is Christian and good, him and the home that he was strongly tempted to will be lonelier and more difficult. atone for the son's sins by committing "harakiri" When Mr. Nagao died thousands of people in true traditional Japanese fashion. gathered to pay their respects in one of the With the tears streaming down his face Nagao largest auditoriums in Tokyo. Ministers of state, took his New Testament and, with a prayer, laid ex-ministers .and members of Parliament paid it on the threshold, sending word to his father, high tribute to his life and Christian influence.
asking him to read that book and judge for him- One other word of thanksgiving must be added: self whether Christianity was the evil religion His father read the New Testament which his which he supposed it to be. Then bidding good- sort left on the doorstep that fateful summer eve- bye to the members of the family and sending his ning and too found it to be Good News. He belove to his father, the boy turned away, weary in came an earnest Christian and the whole family body and broken in spirit, to retrace the long, long found their way into the new life in Christ. Even- miles back to Tokyo. tually the son was welcomed back into the home This happened fifty years ago. Since that time from which he had been banished.
[139 ]
Missionary Motives*
By the REV. w. B. ANDERSON, D.D., LL.D., Philadelphia, Pa.
Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church A WIDELY read book on missions, recently or of Robert Hockman of Ethiopia. They do not published, makes an astonishing statement sound familiar to those accustomed to listening of its authors' conception of foreign mis- to the missionary purpose as stated simply and sionary motives. They are attempting to state earnestly in gatherings of students, or from mis- why, in their opinion, men and women have be- sionary platforms, or read in mission offices. This come foreign missionaries. Summed up briefly, analysis of foreign missionary purpose looks their motives are as follows: . somewhat unattractive, and does not promise en- (1) The ardent desire of all religions to com- during energy and vital strength. municate what is spiritually valuable or of su- Fortunately we are not left to speculation at preme importance or unique (found particularly this point, but can determine the actual facts, in the followers of Buddha, Jesus and Moham- since each candidate for missionary appointment is always asked to state clearly his or her motive med). (2) Conviction as to the greater need of those for seeking appointment to foreign missionary service. The reply is personal and confidential. in the Orient. (3) Hopes of a greater return for given evan- Since the beginning of the foreign missionary work of the United Presbyterian Church, 761 misgelistic effort.
(4) The danger that those unevangelized would sionaries have been appointed. We have studied records showing the dominating motive of 308 go to eternal death. men and women in seeking appointment and these (5) The vision of a world-wide Church. include those enlisting over a period of the past (6) The desire for world unity. (7) A subconscious impulse to achieve one's 50 years.
growth through giving to others. The documents of the group were examined, This seems to be their analysis of the foreign and records made, some years ago. In many cases missionary purpose into its contributing personal statements contained more than one motive, but motives. an attempt has been made to select the predom- inant motive. No statement has been omitted be- A high school girl came into the laboratory cause the meaning of a writer was obscure or where the teacher in biology had spread out upon might be misunderstood. The dominant motive a tray the various parts of a flower. When asked that contributed to the missionary purpose of each if she could believe that this was a morning glory, individual is placed in a group, with the number she replied that she did not think that it was a given to those stating the same motive: morning glory, but only the stuff of which a morning glory was made, "For," she said, "life must Obedience to Christ ………………………… 58 bind all this together into a flower; and really the Appeal of the need ………………………… 52 life is the flower, is it not?" To lead others to Christ …………………….. 36 Love for Christ …•………………………… 34 These motives seem to me to lack something Desire to serve ……………………………. 17 that is found in the missionary purpose as I have To preach the Gospel ………………………. 16 To make the best investment of life …………… 15 known it in students and in missionaries. These To serve with her husband ………………….. 1~ motives, and others, may be variously combined To respond to a definite call to serve abroad ……. 12 in certain individuals, but a true Christian mis- Enlisted through -the influence of others ……….. 11 sionary purpose must have something that is not To advance Christ's kingdom ………………… 1 For God's glory …………………………… 1 present here. To promote Christian civilization ……………… 1 These motives in any combination seem to lack something vital found in the purpose of Jesus Not one of these candidates for foreign mis- Christ, or of the Apostle Paul, or of Livingstone, sionary appointment failed to recognize his faith * Condensed from The United Presbyterian (December 3, 1936). in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, and [ 140 ] loyalty to Him as personal Saviour and Lord of groups, moved by the passion of love for Christ his life. Whatever motives may have entered into and loyalty to Him, going out at any cost to lay the decision, it was this vital essence of Chris- down their lives in service for their fellowmen. tianity that bound them together into an indomitable purpose. Without this faith and loyalty, The only true Christian foreign missionary purthere can be no Christian mission any more than pose that can be found outside books, and that is there can be a morning glory composed of its effectively operative in the world today, is the parts without the vital spark of life which is the purpose derived from love for the risen Christ morning glory. and 10Yfl.1 obedience to Him. Because this purpose is inherent in His life, and has been imparted to This study of the subject of foreign missionary His followers, this purpose cannot cease. The motives is confined to the missionaries of one de- only Christian missionary purpose springs from nomination, but for us its conclusions should be motives that are stirred by personal love for, and reassuring as we face new opportunities for ad- loyalty to, Christ who is a living, ever-present, vance, knowing that there is no hope for true ad- ever-ruling Saviour and Lord. When this purvance and permanent results apart from the pose, springing from this love and loyalty, has eternal Gospel of the Son of God, and personal been fixed in the life of every Christian, those loyalty and obedience to Him. who go and those who stay, nothing can stop the accomplishment of the Church's mission in the I have had the opportunity of knowing many world; but merely human "religious" motives missionaries of other churches during my years of and purposes, however powerful, will always conservice abroad and at home. With them I may tinue to fail. have differed in race, nationality, social background, degree of education, creedal statement, Three years ago a group of college students definition of theological terms, form of church were discussing how the students on the campus government, or missionary methods, but with the could be interested in foreign missions. After exception of two or three such missionaries, every several had been heard, one of the leading men of one I have known personally, in his own statement the college arose and said that it was his convicof the creed has been a professing believer in the tion that the only way in which men and women one vital essence of the Christian faith. could be effectively enlisted in the foreign mission- ary enterprise was by causing them so to know The attempt being made today to rationalize Christ that they would in personal devotion to Christianity, by eliminating the miraculous Him submit their lives entirely to Him. Then he through the denial of Jesus Christ as God mani- made a statement of his own experience. This is fest in the flesh, is not some new thing that may not an ancient pronouncement, but it is made by destroy the Church. Agnosticism began this at- .a Christian student leader of today. The modern tempt in the first century, and under some form" missionary motive is devotion and obedience to human pride has ever continued this attempt. God in Christ, incarnate, crucified, risen and pres- Since the beginning of its history, the Church has ent in His people now. We thank God that in the had within it a group, or groups, of those deter", Church throughout the world the trend of convicmined to eliminate the miraculous from its teach:'. tion and faith seems to be strongly back to the ings by discounting the deity of Christ. The con: child-like faith in Him which is the door to the cern of such groups has ever been to secure for Kingdom of God, and to the simple devotion and the Church a place of esteem among human insti- obedience to Him which alone can ever inspire the tutions, and to escape from the "offense of the Church to evangelize the world. cross." But we do not find any record of such One of my classmates in the university was surpJ;'ised that I, whdihad taken an engineering course along with him, should set my face toward the mission field; Many unfamiliar with mission work think it is a far step from studies in electricity and mechanics to carrying the Gospel to the lost ones in Africa; but I would not trade jobs with any man. I have'seen automobiles, bicycles, and all sorts of machines broken, abused, and cast aside as worthless, brought to our shop. Old parts were taken out, new parts put in; and they were again put out on the job for which they were originally intended. With the repair of most of these I have had some responsibility. I have also seen men broken, abused and cast aside as worthless, led to Him who is able to do all these things well. In His hands they have been cleaned up, remade, old things have been cast away, all things had been made new, and they too have been sent out to do the service for which they were originally intended – for the praise of God as witnesses to His great Love. – EDWIN COZZENS, Cameroun, West Africa, in the Drum Call.
for the World We
By the REV. JOSEPH A. VANCE, D.D., . Detroit, Michigan ~..- Pastor 'of the First Presbyterian Church and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
EVERY reverent and persistent student of the whom the whole modern world has gotten in the New Testament is impressed with its mar- Mosaic Law its moral backbone; in Greek, the velous inexhaustibility. As the late Bishop language of universal culture and philosophical .H. C. G. Moule, of Durham, wrote with his un- conquest; and in Latin, the language of universal .usual spiritual insight and experience, "After rule of the world-conquering Roman. Through fifty years of study, each fresh effort and difficulty the centuries since, Jesus has been turning this lays open to me something that adds to the com- unconscious prophecy of Pilate into history, and pleteness of the apostolic record." fulfilling His own promise, "And I, if I be lifted As one goes digging deeper and deeper for this up, will draw all men unto me." surprising treasure, he is made increasingly aware This amazing universality of Jesus embraces that it comes, in one way or an- four elements: other, from ,the person of Jesus 1. He breaks down all race Christ. He discovers that here barriers. The mother of Jesus is the life story, not of a mere was a Jewish girl. So far as provincial Jew, but of a more we know, he was never outside than cosmopolitan, eve n a the little land of Palestine. All .world citizen, who takes on of his recorded literary quota- himself the title, "Son of tions are from the He or e w Man." In this oompact life Scriptures, but the little village story of Jesus of Nazareth, we of Nazareth, where he grew come on ,the vast reaches of up, was at the crossroads of universality. Born of a Jewish the world, and its people be- mother, here is one Man who came the world-bridge that puts racial prejudices under mediated between the old and his feet, and brothers human- new worlds in civilization, and ity. Cradled in David's little especially in religion. So here town of Bethlehem we see a He had many a vision that pre- .Babe over whose birth :the pared him to brother men of 'angels proclaim a promise of every race and to disciple the universal peace and world-en- world for citizenship in His compassing good will. Kingdom.
In His career as a Teacher, 2. In the second place, Jesus Jesus not only wins a unique bridges the world's soc i a 1 place among his own people, REV. JOSEPH A, VANCE, D.D. chasms. He is no high-caste but sends his followers on a Brahmin or Nordic egotist. He campaign to win .all men of every nation to His is far more ,than an Occidental democrat. He , discipleship. neither denounces a man because he is an aristo- When sharp antagonisms bred a hatred that crat nor cold.,shoulders him because he is a social :,sent Him to the cross, a cynical oflicial nailed over outcast. He asks a cup of water from one and ' the victim's head, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King goes to dine with the other.
of the Jews"; .but even in attempting to pro- Jesus Christ has kept this spirit alive down the . vincialize the victim and ,humiliate those who vic- centuries. The uneducated ,toiler, and even the out- ., timlzed him, the Roman officiill became a prophet caste gone tothe gutter, is as sure of His sympathy : of his victim's world-wide mission, for he wrote and help as is the honest and cultured. He broth- , the inscription in three languages ~ in Hebrew, ers the streetsweeper and the premier of state, : !he tongue of the great religious specialist, from and brings them together in a bedside prayer.
[142 ] 3. The third of these universal qualities is His Thou hast no power, nor mayest conceive of mine, agelessness. Jesus is as much at home in the But love I gave thee with Myself to love, twentieth century as in the first. The world out- And thou must love Me, who hast died for thee. grows Plato and Aristotle, even Mohammed and Confucius, but it is never able to outgrow Jesus. Down the ages his followers have marched, We can picture Him as easily in a dress suit at a thrilling to its music by an unknown monk of the dinner party today as we can see Him dining at Middle Ages, singing: Bethany with Lazarus. His figures of speech are as eloquent in our day of airplanes and stream- Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler. of all nature, lined cars as among the boats and nets of Galilee's fisher-folk. o thou of God and man the Son!
4. His universality even stands the test of sex; Thee will I cherish, thee will I honor, and how amazing that is, few fully realize, even Thou my soul's glory, joy and crown. in our day of open doors for women. The ordinary man takes on womanly qualities at the ex- And an Oxford student also turned evangelist pense of his personal force, and the average with his immortalwoman pays with her charm for her approach to masculinity. But Jesus is history's unique blend Jesus, lover of my soul, of virility and tenderness. He blazes with wrath Let me to thy bosom fly. in the face of hypocrisy and injustice, but outwomans a mother in dealing with quarrelsome What place can this Prince of Peace find in this brothers or a wayward girl; His compassion for confused, cynical, warring world of today? the down and outs has sent His followers on a new religious crusade for social justice. Probably now is the greatest chance to redeem it that He has had in all the world's history. What is the secret, from the human side, of this Through sheer disappointment elsewhere, and amazing catholicity of Jesus Christ? Is it not to tragic despair as it slips into the maw of self-debe found in the fact that He ministers to those struction, the hour has sounded for the Galilean. needs of the human race that are essential and universal and ageless? He breaks through the Never perhaps in the world's history has the strange speech and the local color and the ephem- human race been so earnestly seeking peace, and eral external, and meets the needs of men, not as never has the world witnessed the creation of Jews or Gentiles, not as slaves or freemen, not as more orderly and seemingly adequate machinery ancient or modern, not as male or female, but as to create and maintain it. The world is deluged human beings. with unanswerable arguments for peace and for the futility and folly of war. Not only has prac- Every man, for example, is a sinner, and Jesus' tically every type of religious organization, J ew~ great mission is to save people from their sins. ish, Catholic and Protestant, declared war to be wicked and contrary to their essential tenets, but Every man has darkened and unworthy concep- pacifist organizations have multiplied. The signations of God. Jesus is "the express image" of tories of the Kellogg Peace Pact have pledged God's person, and. "the exceeding brightness of themselves not to resort to aggressive war, and the Father's glory." the World Court waits to settle all international disputes amicably. But despite these and the Every man is more or less enslaved to ignorance League of Nations, the nations of the world are and the indulgence of his lower appetites, and racing to out arm for possible war against each comes, sooner or later to face his inadequate other on land and sea and in the air. Italy has equipment for the moral struggle. Jesus brings defied the rest of the world to make military conto both individual and the race, power to win out, quest of Ethiopia, and the whole world seems to and to turn life from tragedy to victory. be slipping into the abyss of war.
Then, as a climax to it all, we come on the uni- Who can exorcise this bloody demon and loosen versality of the language in which Jesus makes his grip on the sons of men? His appeal. By way of His cross He revealed the universal language of love. "And I, if I be lifted Our only hope of universal peace is in men's up, will draw all men unto myself." "This he full allegiance to the universal Christ. said," adds the apostle John, "signifying by what death he should die." Anyone can understand Weare accustomed to find the essential causes that language: "He died for me." No mind is of war in commercial rivalry, class inequalities, too stupid and ignorant to feel the love back of racial antipathies the ambition of political leadthat sacrifice; no genius is so brilliant as to de- ers, the sordid greed that will plot wholesale spise it. murder in order to sell munitions. But underlying all of these is that something in the human soul o heart I made, a heart beats here! that thrills to the call of war and irresistibly rushes to its appeal. Face my hands fashioned, see it in myself! The universal Christ binds His followers in a brotherhood that abolishes racial hatreds and bridges social chasms, that links the men of all ages in ties of love and abolishes even the limita- tions of sex.
But Christ does far more: He enrolls the nat- SIR FREDERICK AND MRS. N I CHOLSON ural fighting spirit on the side of truth and human brotherhood. He furnishes an "equivalent After being graduated from Oxford, Frederick for war" in clothing His followers in the armor of righteousness and rallies them to "fight the good Nicholson went to India as a young, untried offifight of faith." He not only furls the black flags of piracy and the red flags of class hatred, but He cial from a Christian home. He was soon proranges over egotistic nationalism the Cross-emblazoned banner of sacrificial service. moted and became collector of a great district.
Raymond Guthrie confesses that he loves war There he found his wife, a lovely daughter of a because he finds in it all the things that are denied him in peace time; because it offers him missionary of the Church of England. It was my association with a great number of men in a common cause; it gives him a chance to put forth his good fortune to meet them as a young missionary, effort in a cause greater than his own personal concerns; it thrills him with a sense of its eco- escaping from the heat of Madras to the hilltop of nomic equality and its spirit of adventure. Yercaud. Their friendship for a young Amer- Ninety-five thousand people will throng to spend over a million dollars to see two pugilists batter ican girl, far from home, made life different for each other. The average man loves a fight, and if he cannot fight himself, he gets his delight the five following years of missionary service. vicariously from seeing others fight. Many beautiful surprises included frequent visits Life fascinates us only when it has some element of struggle and adventure, some cause for and aid for the mission work in Madras. In sickwhich to suffer, something for which one is willing to die. ness and sorrow Sir Frederick and Lady Nichol- Christ sublimates this fighting spirit, robs it of son were always helpful. He was deeply interits appeal to baser instincts, and sets to martial music the tramp of a holy army marching to uni- ested in developing industries for the Indians and versal philanthropy. Christianity calls to a world war against every evil demon within and without. discovered a very fine grade of clay with which "We wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but he started a pottery. This he gave to the mission against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places." We thrill to the station to use for their Christian people who were call to put on the whole armor of God, and life's greatest adventure comes to us as we "fight the often thrown out of their homes after conversion. good fight of faith." Memories of fifty years of friendship linger to Kellogg pacts will continue to be but scraps of paper, and even World Courts and Leagues of this day. Sir Frederick rose to become a mem- Nations will prove vain attempts to promote world peace until we learn to sit at the feet of ber of the Viceroy's staff, and was knighted by Him who is both Son of Man and Son of God and find the Captain of our salvation in the Prince of the British Government. He was the man who Peace. developed the Agricultural Banks which have been The Son of God goes forth to war A Kingly crown to gain. such a blessing to India-and might offer a sug- His blood-red banner streams afar; gestion to progressive America. He also initiated Who . follows in his train? the plan for fisheries, and after visiting notable CHRISTIAN SERVICE IN CIVIL SERVICE examples in Europe, spent a summer in America In the passing of Sir Frederick Nicholson, the eminent statesman of India, the world has lost and carried back from Gloucester what he con: more than a Knight of the Empire of India. He died last summer at the age of ninety, in the hills sidered the best suited plan for India. If Maof South India, the Coonoor country to which he had given his life. His work for India was no- hatma Gandhi had the spirit of Sir Frederick he . table, even among the many ably British stateslnl;'!l} who have aided the Empire. might do more for men of all classes of India:. At his death the press, people and officers united in highest praise. In all his loyal service for the Empire he never lost sight of the Kingdom of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Lucy W. PEABODY.
Unevangelized Chinese
By H. FRENCH RIDLEY, Urumtsi, Sinkiang Missionary of the China Inland Mission FOR years the spiritual needs of the Moslem as they did after the rebellion of 1894-5. On my people (Chanteos) who occupy that little arrival at Korla the man from the Yamen came known district which lies to the east and south to see me and look at my passport. They asked of the great Takla-Makam Desert has been laid me where I was going. I replied: on my heart. When in Sining Kansuh, I would often gaze westward to that vast region, between "You know our business is to go where there us and Kashgar, without a single messenger of the are people." Gospel. I wondered if it would ever be my privilege to visit those regions. That was away back "Oh, yes, we know you Fuh-ing-Tang, you are in the nineties. On my return from furlough in good people exhorting people to be good." They 1913, I was asked to assist in Lanchow in the troubled me no more, yet still I did not feel per- Middle School for two years. During this time fectly safe until I got to Chaklik. my thoughts again turned to this needy field and in 1926 the way opened to come to Tihua to re- It was necessary to provide food for the whole lieve a fellow worker. During my three years way to Chaklik – sixteen days' journey. We in Tihua my thoughts were continually upon this stored up a lot of bread, the bread being kept soft field and I picked up as much as I could of the by mixing three pounds of mutton fat with ten Turki language. pounds of the flour.
In the year 1931, after the return of Messrs. On November 16th early in the morning, with Hunter and Mather from their visit to the Qazaqs a full moon shining down upon us, we set out on in the mountainl;! and IIi (Kuldja) I was led to our journey. As the books I had with me were take a journey as far as Karashar and Korla at limited, I divided them up so that I could leave a the northeast end of the great Gobi Desert. A Gospel in every place we passed through. We British officer had been refused the request to camped out in the open without tents the whole take the route just previously so I little expected way to Chaklik, with the exception of two places. that I would have much chance even if I tried. Desert, jungle and sand dunes made up the jour- But the Lord was laying it more and more on my ney, interspersed with a small village here and heart that now was the time for me to go. Don- there or scattered farmsteads. Choang Kul had keys could be procured easily and the innkeeper 20 families; UIugh Kul (Kul is lake), 30 famtold me that he would find a reliabie man as don- iIies; Kulslagh Camp, 70 families; Tikkenlik, 150 keyman. A cart road had been made all the way families; Kara Bais, 70 families. The last five to Chaklik to make the transport of food for the stages had not more than 10 families. Beside givtroops at Chaklik easy. The soldiers built a high- ing away Gospels, we left tracts in bushes and on way through the marshes which were impassable trees where by-paths led off to farmsteads. Four without a guide and very trying to the traveler. hundred and fifty soldiers were camped at Tikken- Canals had also been cut so that fresh water was lik. I disposed of quite a few books there and obtainable all the way. As the Roman soldiers, later saw one man sitting at his door reading the before the Christian era, built fine roads in all Gospel with seemingly great interest. We camped parts of their empire, making it easier for the near the river at Arghan. A shepherd came and messengers of the Gospel to carry the glad news, I gave him a Gospel and a Pilgrim's Progress. so once again the soldiers of this great empire Early next morning ere we had broken camp he had gone before, making it easier for another mes- returned for copies for two other shepherds. He senger to carry the glad news to the people of this said they had been reading the greater part of the region who had never heard it before. Mission- night and liked the books very much. Here they aries living in the province have an advantage were in the jungle with their sheep and cows four over travelers and explorers, because we are per- days' journey from Chaklik, days passing without mitted to go where we desire. Nevertheless I was seeing anyone. They were rejoicing over this gift doubtful about being permitted to go as there was of books which will be read again and again in still fear that the Dungan's, in case of being de- their loneliness, with plenty of time to discuss the feated in Kansuh, would fly to this said district, contents. May they, like Bunyan's Christian, find their way to the Cross with their burden of sin.
Nearing Lob Nor there was a terrible gale of wind called a "buran." Fortunately behind us.
[145 ]
The wind whizzed among the trees and just be- River and halted for the night. The following was yond was the open desert. Noone could possibly a lovely winter day. Our path first led through pass over the desert that day. In the evening, the jungle, then among the high reeds and rushes snow fell and from Fort Kuron to where we of Lake Choang to a little hut, the home of a shep- camped at Kashgar forty days' journey, snow lay herd. These huts are made of wattles plastered along our path. Lob was our last encampment ere over with mud, the walls falling two or three feet we reached Chaklik. We had to take fuel for our short of the r.oof, leaving plenty of room for fresh camp fire from Fort Kuron. The trek to Chaklik air. When we entered the hut the shepherd's wife is sheer desert, a long weary journey. and three naked children were sitting around the The First Contact with a Missionary fire on the ground in the middle of the room. No table, chairs or forms. We all squatted round the We arrived at Chaklik, a little town of 140 fam- fire, ten in all, and fared out of the same big ilies with probably some 500 families in the whole cauldron, inviting the family t.o join us at our district, at dusk. Over 700 soldiers were stationed sumptuous feast of mutton broth and bread.
there to check the Dungans. I sold all the books The following day we passed through much I could spare and gave away many tracts. The grassland and saw several flocks of sheep, crossed people were courteous and visited me in the inn. the Charchien River on an ice bridge and at dusk This was their first contact with a missionary. arrived at the village of Tatran where we were When I left on the 9th of December my donkey- informed that there was no inn. I then over- man pr.omised to go as far as Keria (19 days heard s.ome one say there was an officials' Rest further) but changed his mind, so I bought his House called a kong-kuan. Soon a door was donkeys and hired a man to help my servant. We opened and we entered a very cozy room, the floor replenished our store for the next seven days to covered with Khotan carpets. The caretaker and Charchien (Churchend on some maps). A 33-mile his wife and mother were exceedingly obliging, trek over sheer desert, flat as a pancake, we ar- soon had a fire lit and tea ready. All joined in a rived at Gillig, where a man has his hovel by the supper of mutton. The village elder and a few riverside. There are two little caves, without other men came in to see me and I gave them doors .or windows, dug out in the bank of the books.
river. We arrived late so found the caves occu- Good News for the Magistrate pied, but some merchants made room for me and my servant in their cave. They had brought fuel The next day we arrived at Charchien. Our with them, or we should have fared badly. I gave entrance into the town settled a little quarrel that was going on in the street, the advent of a forthem a Gospel. Another 30 miles brought us to the village of eigner being more important. The news caused Vara-shari, with some 120 families. We stayed a stir in the Yamen for no official information in the official Rest House. The young women of had been received of any foreigner coming and the household were keen to have a look at me and I had no escort. We had just gotten settled and made several errands to pass my door. Several I was having a cup of tea when a man came from men came to see me, and by the help of my serv- the Yamen demanding in a bustling and rude ant, I told them why I had come. The crucifixion, manner where I had come from and where I was death and resurrection of our Lord was fresh going. He stood asking for my passport. "Sit news to them. They asked many questions. We down," I said. "What is all your hurry, I am not rested a day to prepare for the heavy cr.ossing of going away again tonight; wait till I have finthe high sand dunes. Towards evening of the ished my tea, then I will give you my card.
following day we reached the foot of the dunes. He replied, "The magistrate is very anxious to There is only one hut and it is occupied by a fam- know who you are, as he has had no n.otice of your ily of five. There is no grazing land for cattle or coming." Finally he sat down and talked. When sheep and all the food has to be brought from I was finished I gave him my card but he wanted Vara-shari. They were glad to have a gift of my passport.
some white bread. In the evening the son and "I will bring it along tomorrow," I said, but he other tr~velers sang songs and played on the would not go without it so I sent my servant to banjo. The women folks were peeping through bring it back.
the wattle petition. I seized the opportunity of The next day r visited the official, an elderly getting in a word for my Master and gave them Chanteo gentleman from Kashgar. He received some books. me very graciously and returned my visit when The following day we crossed the sand dunes, he gave mean unique opportunity of telling him several hundred feet in height – heavy traveling the Glad News, as he opened the subject himself.
for man and beast. "Did Christ really die and rise again?" he Finally we reached the banks of the Charchien asked.
THROUGH UNEVANGELIZED CHINESE TURKESTAN
"If it had not been so I would not be here," I talk about the Gospel, and they all got books to answered. take away with them. In the afternoon the head- There was a big, listening crowd. Several de- man of the oasis, with a few friends, came to see sired books and one man surprised me when he me. He was from Yarkand and asked many ques- told those who stood by that what I had said was tions about the Gospel. Having asked my age, perfectly true. said, At Charchien we replenished our food supply, "Why, at your age, have you come this long des- as well as grain for the animals. Nine days of ert route?"
desert lay before us. Snow was on the ground "To do the will of my Lord and Master," I re- everywhere and the road was heavy with sand plied.
dunes. The first three langars (Rest Houses) "It must be done," he answered. I gave him were in charge of a father and two sons, living Mark's Gospel and a Pilgrim's Progress. Niya alone, thirty to thirty-five miles apart. Some- and Endere are the two places where Sir Aurel times for days no travelers are to be seen, so if Stein unearthed many interesting relics. Forty one of these men were ill and died the other mem- miles direct north from Niya is the shrine of bers of the family would not know for days. Imam J afir Sadik, the most famous shrine in all Around Endere there is a good deal of jungle, Central Asia. As my mission was to bring the therefore many wild sheep, cattle, horses, foxes richest Treasure that this world affords rather and pigs. One touching scene on the way is the than seek for earthly treasures, I had no time to lonely grave here and there marked by a long pole go so far out of my way. There is a small langar stuck in the ground and a yak's tail hanging on at 40 li (13 miles) from Niya. It seemed no top. Sickness had overtaken them far away from bigger than a dog kennel, but it is built in a hol- help. It may have been that they died of thirst. low, the smallest langar we saw and is in charge We passed a little group of four one day. The of two very old women. We had to stoop down to mother had been taken suddenly ill, could no get into the miserable hovel. They had prepared longer ride the donkey, so was lying on the ground a little mutton broth for passers-by. In the sum- with the remainder of the family standing around. mer when there is no snow the water has to be On the sixth evening from Charchien we ar- carried five miles.
rived at the Yak-toghrak Langar to find the inn In a Farmer's Home full of guests, so there was no room for us in the inn this Christmas Eve. After going three miles Next day we journeyed 35 miles, arriving at the we beheld a camp fire about a half mile off the oasis of Oy-Toghrak at dusk. There was no inn, road. It was a cloudy evening and dark. Slowly so the donkeyman took us to the home of a friend we made our way among the shrubbery, snow be- where we had a very hearty welcome. Our host ing quite deep in some places, and at last reached was a well-to~do farmer. To my surprise they in- the camp fire. Our fellow travelers had found a vited me into the women's quarters where there hole under the huge roots of a tree. My men un- was a fire. A wee laddie of five summers took loaded the animals, swept the snow off the ground, hold of my hand without fear. The old mother then went in search of fuel and soon had a roar- and one of the daughters-in-law came and sat be- ing fire. It was Christmas Eve again over nine- side me near the fire. There was a father, mother, teen centuries after that first Christmas Eve. two sons and their wives and two boys. One of Here was I, out in the desert, privileged to be the the sons is a mullah.
messenger of the same Glad News to a people who After supper all except the father gathered had never heard it before. It will be a never-to- round my fire, chatted and asked questions. The be-forgotten night for me. most interesting thing was my teeth. I told them Three days more brought us to the oasis of my errand and they listened very patiently. I Niya, about 20 miles in length sustaining a pop- had only a few tracts left, but had asked for Gos- ulation of 1,000 families. Just before entering pels to be sent from Kashgar to Keria to await the oasis we passed the grave of some holy men. me, so I promised to send some back with the There were two ram's horns on one grave, on an- donkey man. None of the women wore veils in other a ram's head, a third had a sheep skin, on the house. The old lady performed her evening a fourth hung the skin of a fowl, besides hosts of devotions while I was still in her room.
little flags upon which were written prayers, re- New Year's Day we reached Keria, a city of minding one of the Tibetan obos with their hosts 6,000 families and probably 40,000 in the district, of prayer flags hung on branches of trees stuck which includes Niya and Oy-Toghrak. Here was on the top of the obo. In the evening several mer- my first touch with a bit of Western civilization, chants came to the inn where I was staying; all the post office. There is no telegraph office nearer but one could speak Chinese as they had been to than Kashgar. I was invited to stay in the home Kansuh with their merchandise. We had a long of the Aksakal, an Indian Moslem who is the rep-
resentative of the British Consul General in Kash- lars all the way. To be away from the desert gar, appointed to look after the British Indian for a short while was a real treat. subjects. It was bazaar day when we arrived and the streets were packed with people. We first We arrived at Khotan at noon and were enterwent to the inn but were glad to be invited else- tained at the home of the Indian Aksakal. The where, for the room smoked badly and was so journey long prayed about was accomplished. dark that I needed a candle to read. Here is a Khotan had already been visited several years ago good center for a mission station. The city is by that intrepid missionary, Rev. G. W. Hunter, built on a high bank overlooking the river. There who has been traveling 25 years in the province are no gates of importance and only two main and knows it better than any other living person. streets, but lanes galore, running here and there The distance from Korla is 1,140 miles and the in a most tortuous manner that it was difficult to route naturally divides itself into two parts: find one's way around. There is a large popula- Korla to Vara-shari, with headquarters either at tion on the north side of the city. Except on Korla or Karashar. one and a half days further bazaar days the city presented a very quiet ap- north, Tatran to Khotan with headquarters at pearance. When I wanted to buy anything, I was Keria. The Swedish Mission hopes to occupy told to wait till bazaar day otherwise it would be Khotan soon. difficult. The people took little notice of me. In fact, along the whole journey, except in Char- From Khotan I went northwest to Yarkand and chien, the people were not a bit curious. How Kashgar and had the privilege of seeing the work they would receive missionaries it is difficult to of the Swedish Mission at their three stationssay. It would be necessary to visit the place a Yarkand, Yenghi-hissar and Kashgar. Between few times and do a little dispensary work to open Khotan and Yarkand the three cities of Suma, the way. The need is great and that in itself Kargalik and Posgam ought to be occupied. I constitutes a call. This field naturally falls under returned via the north road-Maral-bashi, Aksu, the care of the Swedish Mission who hope to open Kuchae and Karashar thus circumambulating the Khotan in the near future. great desert of the Takla-Makan, probably the first time it has been done in one journey by a After a twelve days' stay in Keria, I sold my white man, a distance of 2,625 miles. From donkeys and bought two horses. It was a long Karashar I returned home to Tihua (Urumtsi). stretch of forty miles of desert to Yar Langar I left Tihua on the 22d day of October and reand thirty-three miles more on the following day turned on the 24th of April, in six months and brought us to the town of Chira with a population two days having covered 3,300 miles, passed of 2,500 families in the oasis. All along the route through 18 cities and towns where there was no people had been saying that it was the coldest Christian mission station. winter in the memory of the oldest inhabitants and at Chira there was a great scarcity of water. The need itself is the appeal. Pray for God's Here are ten thousand people who had never had blessing on the books and tracts sold and given the opportunity of hearing the Glad News. Much away on this virgin soil, that He who blessed and land is yet to be possessed. In the oasis of Lob broke the five loaves and two fishes and satisfied there are supposed to be some 20,000 families. It five thousand men, besides women and children, joins up with Khotan-a vety rich district. From may so break the precious Word that many souls Lob to Khotan is 20 miles along a lovely road for may be fed in this wild desert region. In the day motors about 20 feet in width and lined with pop- when He gathers up His jewels may there be many found among His treasures gathered out of this land of buried cities.
As the sculptor works in wood and stone I would devote myself to the living soul. But I face the solemn thought that the sculptor cannot carve either in wood or in stone anything better than himself. All the lines of my carving Will but reveal my own soul. Gazing at my hand, at my chisel, I shudder. How long will it take for this human sculpture which I can never carve better or finer than my-own soul? How shall I escape! how escape from my pitiable, limited self, and rise to become a carver of God!
Happily there is a guide for me, One Who has opened the door of the sanctuary, One Who in His living flesh Has given us an image of the living God.
-Toyohiko Kagawa.
Eskimos-Old and New*
=B=U=T=Z=IN====!.lII~- –tIi{II.!;;!===B=y=th=e=R=E=V=.=A=RT=H=U=R=F=.
ARE the results of fifty years of continuous their faith and hope as they heartily sing: "We .r.. missionary effort equal to the price paid? shall sleep, but not forever." As they glance at Fifty years of the Moravian Church's the crosses marking the last resting places of northwestern venture has involved thousands of their own, they have in their hearts the assurance dollars. The human effort and sacrifices with the of a glorious dawn when they shall never part.
compensations and losses involved can never be The Old Religion and the New reduced to figures set on a balance-sheet.
But in answering the question let us contrast The medicine man, or shaman, was a conspic- the Eskimo of yesterday with the Eskimo of uous person in the old order. As direct repre- today. sentative of the tunrangaiyak (Devil) he was The ancient religion of the Eskimo was one of powerful. Many of them used this power diabolideception and fear. They summed it all up in the cally. Some were of a kindlier disposition, but words: "I fear." In their language there are all of them could easily become the tyrants of many synonyms for fear, foreboding and horror. foreboding and terror. Fear enslaved the people For this fear they blame one tunrangaiyak and to these men. A young native, dying of the dread his agents. He is "the Ruler out of the Dark- tuberculosis, said to me: "The shaman has bound me. I have begged him, but he will not ness." We call him the Devil. For the Christian Eskimo the ancient fears are unbind me. So I must die. If only he would unof yesterday. They have accepted the Saviour, bind me, then I could live." who has broken the bonds that once enslaved them That the shaman did have terrible power our to fear and horrors. They say with all believers: older Christians know. But they also know that a "This is my Lord, who redeemed me, a lost and stronger and a kinder One has come. A Christian undone human creature, purchased and gained Eskimo, also dying of tuberculosis, was besought me from sin, from death and from the power of by his father, still a heathen, to have the shaman the Devil." Some may still need to say: "I be- in. He would not. They begged him that they lieve; help Thou mine unbelief." But they are might take his parka to the shaman to pow-wow saying it sincerely. Christ has opened a new over. No, he would not. If his Saviour would, world of trust and hope to their hearts. He has he could heal him, but if He saw fit to take him brought them a real salvation from terrible bond- from earth to Himself, that would be best. But age and has also introduced to them the mighty in any case he would not now let his soul be soiled by the touch of the Devil. God as their dear and loving heavenly Father. Under the old regime death came with horror, A heartless religion engendered heartlessness. hatred and hopelessness. The loss of child, Our early missionaries repeatedly met with inmother, father, or other dear one, caused the stances where those enfeebled by age or disease were left behind to starve at the time of the spring usual natural heartache. In addition were the migration. When they realized this, our missionhorrors and terrors of apparitions of the de- aries prepared salt fish ahead and saw to it that parted. There was hatred for the shaman who they had sufficient ammunition to procure the might have caused the death. Added to these was necessary ducks and geese to feed such during the utter hopelessness. Life was gone forever. periods of scarcity of food. This kind forethought Death still brings to them the heartache and made its impression. The modern missionary feeling of loss. I have heard a Christian Eskimo still encounters a sad lack of deference and kindfather sob over his dying son: "Father have liness for the aged and feeble, but they are now mercy upon me." Later this father calmly spoke fed and cared for. There is a growing Christian to his people of the Home with the heavenly Fa- opinion that the aged should be dealt with conther and the Saviour, where he would meet his siderately. Most of our congregations have colown again. Easter has become the glad day for lections especially for such older and needy folks. bereaved Eskimos. At the sunrise service they tell Sometimes Sunday school classes gather gifts for * From 1'he .BIorav1an (Decenlber, 1935). them and sing in their homes.
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The orphan and the "half-orphan" (child of gether easy in that low, flat country of rain, Eskimo companionate marriage) shared the lot of water, slush and mud where dirt is a natural aged feeble folk. However, they could not be element. starved so readily nor was that exactly desirable. The people needed "slaves" to labor for them. And it is true that the persistent influence of Hard work, rough treatment and "garbage" food the Gospel is toward cleanliness. The old superand clothing fell to the lot of these. We have seen stitions thrived in filth and darkness. Jesus is the these "slaves" among well-fed and happy children. Light of the world. Light dispels darkness and They looked on while the others had their fill of destroys filth. This is the experience of the Good the choicest. When all were satisfied, they got News among the Eskimo. Napagiaghak village the crumbs, bones and dregs of the tea that hap- wanted a chapel. They could not build it without pened to be left. These things used to be com- help. In presenting the need of a chapel their mon, for there was no sentiment to forbid it. spokesman advanced as the cogent reason for it that it was not compatible to celebrate the Holy "Let the little children come unto Me," includes Communion in the dark, dirty and soot-covered the orphan. That part of the Gospel is being in- kashige. The younger set are eagerly learning terpreted by the orphanage. Again the Eskimo the truths of sanitation and gradually are formas a whole have responded wonderfully. From ing habits of cleanliness. all corners of our field comes approval. Native congregations give fish. Some have donated fur A Long and Winding Trail boots and other things. Before our eyes we see another advance. It is the Saviour's will that It has been a long, long winding trail from their none of these little ones be offended. primitive superstitions and fears to the devotion, thankfulness, hope and Christian fellowship ex- The Social Change perienced at one of the Communion services to- day. The pioneers met with stolid hostility, with The aboriginal Eskimo considered woman very dense ignorance and utter indifference. The Gosmuch man's inferior. She was man's servant. pel message was too immense for their minds. Her duty was to bear and rear children, and al- The trail through their hearts led to their souls. ways serve the man. She gathered the wood and The patient kindness and service rendered them cured and stored the fish. She removed and dried by the missionaries won their confidence. As one the pelts of the animals trapped by the man and ignorant Eskimo said to one of our missionaries, out of them made garments. Whenever a migra- "You are Christ to us." Any verbal interpretation took place, she helped the dogs haul the bag- tion meant nothing to that man; a Christlike life gage, or if by water, she and the children pro- did. pelled the boat, while the man sat in the stern steering it. She was "too dumb" to appreciate Today they listen gladly to the message and, anything better. Mentally she was considered a furthermore, they themselves have become detervery inferior animal. mined to have a share in presenting the invitation of Christ to fellow Eskimos who have not yet ade- That feeling still persists, but there is in prog- quately heard. Helper Neck is outstanding. His ress an adjustment. Husbands and wives now name is first in the "Eskimo Who's Who." He live together – some of them very peaceably. had come from the uttermost-a shaman of the They bring up their children together. As a fam- shamans, zealous. He had accepted Christ. Thereily we see them coming to church; the husband after his living was of Christ and for Christ. He is even carrying the baby in his arms; though he and a host of others have written the Gospel acwalks on ahead while she follows! The husband cording to the Eskimo. This interpretation of has begun to fetch the wood and water and lend Christ in living epistles is read and understood. a hand in the curing and storing of the food sup- Congregations have been touched by this Spirit. plies. In many of our congregations the woman They help support native preachers in the frontier has been granted the vote. Some of the more villages; when a new chapel is to be built, a coladvanced pray at their meeting and teach Sunday lection may be taken or a hand is lent in its conschool classes. struction.
*** Fifty years in the life of a race is but a day. It would be unreasonable to expect that in so short a Very much has been said and written about the period every vestige of the old superstitions and Eskimo and his foul igloo. The subject may seem fears should have been utterly destroyed. The over-emphasized, but only to such who have never older folk "know" experimentally that evil as imseen, smelt or touched it. Then, if it be true that personated in the shaman was powerful to bless cleanliness to Godliness is kin, some very notice- and curse, That same power stilI exists, though able change should be apparent in the person, held in check by the stronger power of a merciful home, and surrounding of the Christian Eskimo. God. We wilI grant them that cleanliness is not aIto-
the Church and Modern
By J,rnV. DANIEL A. POLING, D.D. I I r~"- Pastor of Baptist Temple, Philadelphia, Pa.
~==============================~, MODERN youth is incurably religious-not may stand between, youth presses toward the goal by the test of any particular human creed, at whatever cost. Youth does not and cannot not in the vernacular of fifty, twenty or escape Jesus Christ when He is released by those even ten years ago, but in deep reality. Modern who too often build about Him barricades of youth is incurably religious even though he may prejudice and petty sectarian difference.
deny the fact for the moment, by deeds as well as What is it that makes Jesus Christ unique as words. the Captain and Leader of youth? "I will follow William Lyon Phelps, who talks a language withersoever thou goest," declared a young lawyer that youth understands, has suggested a reason centuries ago as the Galilean Teacher moved tofor the basic religious..attitude of young men and ward Jerusa·lem and His crucifixion. Those words young women. "Youth responds to the spirit and of dedication were spoken deliberately, in the message of Jesus Christ," says Dr. Phelps, "be- light of known facts, after Jesus, by the test of all cause Jesus knew more about political economy human evidence, had apparently passed from than all the professors in all the colleges in the triumph to decline; they were spoken in the face world and He knew more about the human heart of impending physical disaster. This young scribe than did Shakespeare. Jesus Christ is the great- made his choice knowing full well that by so do- est leader, the most absolutely right Person, the ing he turned his back upon family and ambition, world has ever known. A complet~ change has that he invited tragic risks, that he flung wide his come over the world since the War, especially in arms to defeat and even death.
the emergence of individual leaders in times of Jesus was on the march, and it is life on the peace. StaHn is running Russia alone, Hitler do- march that captures youth. Jesus was moving ing the same thing in Germany, Mussolini in toward a great goal. The young man knew it, Italy. The whole world is in such a turmoil that and he would go along. The psychology of youth men are looking for leadership and saying, 'Who in every generation is the psychology of advance.
is going to get us out of this mess?' People may Progress, and not decline, is the key to the hearts be following some fallible human leaders for the of our sons and daughters; and Jesus Christ for- moment, but the leadership of Jesus Christ in our ever has that key. He has a destination in view, lives ought to be, may be, constant in everything. an immortal destiny. He could not be turned If I should say that the only way in which every aside by opposition and He would not retreat be- person in this world may be saved is by joining a cause of bitter dangers. It is not a Garibaldi particular church, you would rightly think me patriotism that discourages a young man today.
crazy. I am not out of my mind when I say the It is not a loyalty involving danger that dampens only way the world can be saved today is by ac- the ardor of a young woman. But an institution cepting and following Jesus Christ." or a leader that is not going somewhere, that is It is in the very heart of the vital matter that not headed toward some real and alluring destinawe find the great twentieth century issue for the tion, cools the fevered blood of a holy purpose in Christian Church. She cannot win youth by ask- the veins of a rising generation. ing youth to join her divisions but she can win Let the Church, with her allied institutions and youth by asking them to unite their lives to the organized activities, give heed today. Let any person and cause of Jesus Christ. Jesus in the church that does not have young people, and is flesh always attracted young people to' His com- not able to attract them, take account of stock and pany, challenged them with His message, won remember the man of twenty centuries ago who them to' His ministry. He was always going some- cried, "Master, I will follow thee whithersoever where and knew where He was leading them. thou goest."
Danger and defeat did not lose youth's allegiance, Saul of Tarsus was riding hard toward Damas- for always yO'uth is on the march and if the goal cus, but Jesus rO'de faster, overtook him in the is worth reaching, though reverses and disasters way, tumbled him into the dust and then lifted [151 ]
him to sweep him forward faster than horses and to make men and women truly good and powerful farther than the boundaries of Rome's imperial is adequate for this crisis. The editorial concludes world. This same Jesus overtook Rome herself at that this solution is to be found nowhere else than last and moved on ahead of all her legions. in Jesus Christ and the New Testament.
What was the destination of Jesus? Where is The world has a growing sense of need. Her He going? When He was on earth he went to find very terror in the presence of the machine age she the hungry, and He gave them food. He went has created may be matched by her desire to find with healing for the sick, and even the dead lived and travel the road that leads to a new world. It again. He went to reveal the true basis of brother- is as though the leader of this generation said, "I hood to a world filled with hates and fears; He will follow thee, follow thee whithersoever thou went to find the lost and to show them the way goest." But have they counted the cost? back to the Father. He is still on that mighty quest. He goes now to destroy armed conflict and One of the distinguished military leaders of the bring peace; He comes to right wrongs and to Great War declared it to be his reasoned concluoffer new life and youth flocks to His banner sion that "only the Church can save the world wherever it is lifted on high. from another and even more disastrous conflict." He added, "If another great war comes, the Where is Jesus, our Lord, going? He hastens Church will be to blame." Can the Church preto establish the sacredness, the divinity of human vent war? Can the Church destroy poverty? Can personality, when brought into vital relationship the Church secure justice for weaker races, and with God. For him a little child, the humblest classes? Can the Church solve the problem of baby of the poorest house is of greater value than lawlessness and actually Christianize civilization? all the wealth of a great city. No-the Church cannot, al'5 an institution with an institutional program. As an organization in her Jesus Christ travels on with the ever-lengthen- own right, however great and glorious in the light ing stride of eternal truth to free man's body from of sacred history, she cannot. But as the chosen its bondage, and to cure and save the soul of man instrument of this same Jesus Christ, the Lord of so that it will never die. All other leaders are Glory, the Church, united, humbled by the sense little men when compared with the divine Gal- of her human weaknesses, but with the knowledge ilean. They have their moment of acclaim, but of her infinite divine resources, the Church, folseldom more than one. Only when they join His lowing the l~adership of Christ, thus can save the company and are possessed by His Spirit do they world. This is the Church to which modern youth survive their generation – such were Paul and will come, as youth in every generation has Luther, Wesley and Spurgeon and Moody. The flocked to enlist for high adventure. Youth enlists youth of the world can be saved today only' by fol- today for dictators, and youth marches behind lowing Jesus Christ. the banners of Stalin and Hitler and Mussolini, moved by fear and hatred and self-interest. When In a popular magazine an editorial writer, who the lists of Jesus Christ are opened and His would resent being called a preacher, declared that trumpet is blown youth will march under His it is not by a "new thought" that the world can be banner. saved but that the regeneration of society demands new lives, and that only a Power sufficient LET THE CHILDREN BE HEARD You may hush every other voice of national and individual complaint; you may silence every other tongue, even those of mothers of destroyed sons and daughters, of wives of profli- gate husbands; but let the children speak – the little children, the wronged children, the crip- pled children, the abused children, the blind children, the imbecile children, the nameless chil- dren, the starved children, the deserted children, the beaten children, the dead children!
o my God, this army of little children!
Let their weak voices, faint with oppression, cold and hunger, be heard. . . . Let their little faces, pinched by want of gladness, be heeded! Let their challenge – though made by small forms, too mighty for estimate – be reckoned with! Let their writing upon the wall of the nation – although traced by tiny fingers, as stupendous as eternity – be correctly in- terpreted and read, that the awful robbery of the lawful heritage of their little bodies, minds and souls is laid at the brazen gate of ALCOHOL. – EVANGELINE BOOTH, General of the Sal- vation Army.
Christian Students and
–<!III By H. W. PEET, London, England 11"'- T HE student Christian Movement Quadren- The worst policy today is to maintain the status nial of Great Britain was held at Birming- quo; anti-Communist crusaders become too easily ham. This great gathering is held to bring the messengers of the "bad news" that things before each generation of students the needs of must remain as they are. The Church must realthe missionary work of the Church. ize that "The finest realities of the West are not in systems; forms of government are merely tem- The trend of student thought today is reflected porary ways of dealing with human affairs. We in the general title of the conference, "God Speaks must have a sense of proportion-or humor-and to This Generation." As Dr. Leyton Richards, of the idea that behind the facade of affairs are just Carrs Lane Chapel, Birmingham, said: frightened human beings. We must try to look God in the face and realize how ridiculous it is "After the war the emphasis was on social work for us to sit in judgment on one another, like and international matters. These are still press- archangels on the day of judgment. We must ing heavily on the students but they realize that realize that humanity is a band of sinners who they and the world around them have failed to should come to God and then stand side by side put things right, and they are returning to a helping to make a new world." search f.or a sure foundation for their faith in God." Dr. t'Hooft gave a vivid analysis of Great Britain today as an outsider sees her. He put his The early disciples of Christ started with the finger on the weak spots in British national facts of Jesus' advent, life, sacrifice and resur- armor, and quite frankly said that the world is rection. They found that these historical facts irritated with Britain because she seems so easily became for them the basis for a moral fact. As to find great moral reasons for acts of self-interthey tried to explore the moral fact and explained est. Britain must be willing definitely to conit they found that the Person they had known tribute to the peace of the world, apart from any just as a fact of history, and whom later they advantage such an act may bring to herself. recognized as the great factor of moral life, could only be explained as a spiritual fact, as One who An Anglican Father, Rev. W. S. A. Robertson, was the embodiment or incarnation of the very of St. Ives, who is d.oing a magnificent work in being of God. the midlands among tramps, presented an attrac- tive figure in his brown robe and course girdle. The gathering was attended by 2,000 people, Speaking on "The Reality of God," he said that, including many overseas students studying in even though his audience was so different fr.om Great Britain and others who came specially for those among whom he had recently been mixing the meeting from the continent of Europe, Asia yet they had much in common for all .of us must and Africa. come to God as "down and out" men and women.
Dr. Visser t'Hooft, the very capable Dutch sec- Rev. William Paton, Secretary of ,the Internaretary of the World Student Christian Federation, tional Missionary Council, spoke on his recent representing some 200,000 students in 45 coun- visit to the Far East and dealt with the political tries, spoke on "The 'Christian' West." He said: and religious ferments there. In his analysis of "We might as well talk of the 'Christian Jungle,' " the situation in Japan, where the worship of the recalling the tragically unchristian state of af- Emperor, inherent in the Japanese system, is setfairs which prevail today. "Nevertheless," he ting up a superreligion of extreme nati.onalism, added, "Christianity has been the central forma- he really gave a digest of his important book, tive element in all that is good in Western civ- "Christianity in the Eastern Conflicts." One of ilization. It has emphasized the worth of effort the speakers of the World Student Christian Fedand of individuals. Without Christianity the erati.on was Mr. Sen, ,an Indian who has just been West would be historically inconceivable. "What touring the United States. His illustration of the the world lacks today is a common point of ref- five fingers .of our hand representing what should erence. Several groups believe that they alone be the five chief elements in our life. The thumb can save Europe-and are willing to ruin Europe represents strength and courage for with it we in order to prove their thesis. The ideological grip things. The first finger represents leadership enemy is considered the representative of some satanic principle."
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and guidance, for with it we point. The center supplication, but rather with hand stretched ,out finger represents harmony. The third on which in cooperation." In a warm tribute to the misthe wedding ring is placed, stands for love. And sionary movement of the past hundred years, Mr. the little finger when we hold our hands in prayer Sun said, "It would be difficult to discover in hisfaces the aUar and, also, in the Indian meth,od of tory any group ,of men and women who have comsalutation, faces the person we honor. manded greater respect and admirati,on than those ,of the missi,on field. The world owes a greater The Archbishop of Y,ork spoke on "God in debt to these men and women than it sometimes Christ," recalling the first Quadrennial he at- realizes." tended in 1908. "Those who saw God in Christ in the first century," he said, "did not argue ab,out Africa was represented by Mr. J. C. W. Dougit. F1aith is a response of the wh,ole mind, critical all, the new Secretary of the Conference of British and constructive. Yet the essential wonder of Missionary Societies, who has spent s,ome years faith is much more like the feeling for a trusted in East Africa as educational adviser to missi,ons. and admired leader than it was like the Q. E. D. While all the most vital questions of international at the end of a geometrical proposition." relationships may be focussed in Africa at the moment, the most important fact Lor the future is Rev. Paul Rangaramanujam gave a stirring ac- that there is a Christian Church in Africa. count ,of the growth of the Mass Movement in the area in which he works. On the political situa- The urgent need for missionaries at present was tion Mr. Rangaramanujam said that India is emphasized by Miss Ruth Rouse, Educati,on Sec- retary of the Missionary Council of the Church of facing clear issues with high idealism, c,ourage England-who, incidentally, was one of the three and wisdom that are almost Christian. The Na- people present at this conference who were also tional Movement which used to have primarily a at the first Student Christian M,ovement Quadpolitical emphasis is n,ow beginning to embrace rennial in 1896. There are today 400 vacant P,osts social and economic pr,oblems. While earlier it in the Protestant mission field which can be filled wanted self-government because it did not want only by men and women who were now students to be g,overned by others, now it desires inde- -ordained men, teachers, doctors, nurses, women pendence for the noble purpose ,of serving India evangelists, agricultural engineers, builders, weland seeing that her P,oor, depressed and ,outcaste fare workers.· There are fields now where the pe,ople come into their own. Great Britain is average age ,of the missi,onaries is between 50 and called to send Christian men and women to G,oV- 60. New consecrated, well-trained missionaries ernment service, military and other forms of serv- are needed from the present student generation. ice to India, to sh,ow the go,od will there is in the Church of Christ in Britain. Mr. Rangaramanu- There are great possibilities in consecrated jam also emphasized the needs which the Church young life and our prayer is that y,outh may fulin India still has of spiritual and intellectual lead- fill .its pmmise and see its way, having listened ership from Western Churches. to the voice of God, to a path which will lead the world onward. As a leading member of the The Chinese Christian editor, Mr. T. H. Sun, faculty of Birmingham University said of the made a plea for help for the Chinese Church from gathering: "The whole atmosphere is reeking the church of the West. "The younger Churches," with moral gunpowder." he said, "come to you n,ot with the open hand of A HINDU PARABLE There was a donkey which belonged to a dhobi (handy man). The poor donkey had a hard time, for, as everyone knows, donkeys belong to a "depressed class." The owner abused and overworked him shamefully. The rope by which he was tied was very old and had be- come weak in many places, partly because many reformers had tried to cut it and free the donkey. The poor animal longed to be free and himself often chewed it. He CQuid have broken it easily; but whenever he became restless, the dhobi would give him a little green grass and as he was always hungry he would quiet down to eat the grass. Then his ,owner would load him up again' and beat him and curse him. Again he would determine to go free at the first opportunity but as often as he started to break away the dhobi would again give him a little grass. Then, the donkey would think, "After all, if I leave this place where could I go? This is the place where I was born." So he remained in his wretched condition, not because the rope held him, but because he received a little grass and because he really disliked to change.
Moral: The bonds of caste are not strong enough to hold anyone who really wishes to go free.
Ways of
'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~'=I============================~ MEN'S MISSIONARY LEAGUE, 1934 – FIRST UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ELYRIA, OHIO An Achievement in Masculine den of responsibility for the gained 50 % in active member- Missions present abnormal situation in which "the whole undertaking ship, 34% in general offerings Under this challenging title, to make Christ known to the The Men's Missionary League world is regarded as a strictly and an increase of 43 % in the of the United Presbyterian feminine affair" (in the local church of Elyria, Ohio, has church aspect) and the entire thank-offering over that of the brought out a leaflet giving "the missionary movement is a wom- preceding year! The entire mishuman interest history" of their an's undertaking and not some- sionary budget offerings of the adventure in leading men to thing to challenge the serious congregation for the church year major in missions. The pioneer- and active devotion of strong ending in March, 1935, were ing pastor, Rev. George A. Christian men. The story of the Brown, told the story of the ven- way in which Mr. Brown set 137 % over those of the year beture in THE REVIEW in Novem- about harnessing the men and ber, 1935. As set forth therein boys in his church for team work fore. the problem of enlisting men for with the sisterhood is a chalmissions is, in its final analysis, lenging one, and the report of We have now to record that a matter of interesting them the effect upon the local wom- the infant organization has not whole-heartedly and enthusias- en's missionary society is star- only survived and grown but tically in Jesus Christ Himself, tling. At the end of the first year that similar leagues have sprung the dynamic of whose life work of the League, that society rewas the missionary motive and ported marked increase in mem- up in a number of other churches the carry-on personnel of whose bership, attendance, offerings, necessitating the issue of the interest and cooperation never leaflet above mentioned as an incampaign, in the early centuries, known before on the part of "the structional manuel with model consisted of the informal mis- brethren." In the language of sionaries we now call laymen. figures, the women's soc i e t y constitution and by-laws. On the evening of Nov. 17, 1936, the Upon the pastors rests the bur- [155 ] League celebrated its t h i r d birthday in a party with all the other missionary organizations of the church as guests and Sam- uel A. Fulton, International Chaplain of the Gideons, as the main speaker. Two special mis-
sionary projects-one home and ets of such material over care- African territory-very picturesque) ; one foreign – have been under- fully and found them highly sug- "African Lights and Shadows" (story taken by the organization as its gestive, the Editor is glad to re- illustrated by shadow piCtures inpractical outlet. In a recent let- deem her promise to cite them volving a series of dramatizationster to the Department Editor, for consideration, especially as full directions given); "An African Mr. Brown says: the African study period is not Village Trial"; "Harum Scarum finished yet; and the bulk of the Harems"; "Enlarge Your World" We have been going now for over material is of a timeless, univer- (folder illustration); "Mimeographed three years and the interest not only sal character and the "program Patterns"; "Greetings-Congo Style" abides but grows with the passing molds" of such a type that they (full directions for picturesque ceremonths and meetings. Our men here will suit a variety of topical con- monial) . are enthusiastic about it and the work tents. The denominational brand is extending throughout our church. is also negligible. Any evan- An outstanding feature of We have had wide and favorable pub- gelical group can utilize most of these packets is the number of licity, not only in this land but in the programs, devices and sub- references made to plans and Canada. The hand of the Lord is ject matter to good advantage. articles in the October issue of most manifestly in our work and we THE REVIEW. Much of its mawant it to grow for His sake and to The three packets are adapted terial is recommended for spe- His glory. for use among women's societies, cific use. older and younger young peo- With whole-hearted assent we ple's groups and Sunday school Follow the Line of Most echo the closing words of the classes or departments. They Resistancecampaign leaflet: may be obtained at The United Christian Missionary Society, but that's only one way Let each pastor preach to his men Missions Building, 222 Downey of saying it. at the earliest possible date, and more Ave., Indianapolis, Ind., at 50 earnestly and plainly and directly cents each. State for which The blue waters of Eagles than ever before, to show them that group the material is desired. Mere Lake moved and shim- Missions is a man's job. Then call a mered under a golden June sun. meeting for the organization of a Each packet contains an out- The foliage circling the lake like Men's Missionary League: pray, plan line of the course and materials, a wreath provided a restful and proceed as the Holy Spirit Him- instructions for leaders and pro- change for the eyes and at least self may lead. In the words of our gram builders, ready-to-use les- two city-dwellers sitting on the rallying song: son subject matter, dramatic beach appreciated the scene. sketches, folk lore tales, complete A wake, ye Christian men; devotional, consecration and in- The girl in the bathing suit Behold the world today; stallation services, question and dropped her beach coat so that discussion mat e ria 1, mimeo- the sun could reach her shoul- Great multitudes like scattered sheep graphed patterns, African games ders. They were conspicuously From God still go astray. for the recreational periods, etc. white compared with those of Sample questions and discussion other bathers about her. Come with a spirit stirred; topics are: Obey your Lord's command; "Dotty," she spoke to the girl Is it right to impose denominational- in blue gingham beside her, Pray Him to send forth laborers ism and white civilization upon "why have I never done this be- Into each waiting land. other countries? fore? A vacation at a mission- ary conference didn't sound Present your gifts to Him, Is the African not happy as he is? thrilling to me, but I don't know Your silver and your gold; Why interfere with his beliefs? when I've enjoyed a week more, and I'm going home with my But first of all, yourself He asks, What conditions growing out of the head simply crammed with That He your life may mold. conquest of Africa jeopardize the ideas." She took a small note- peace of the world todav? book from the pocket of her coat Go forth, ye Christian men, and began turning its pages. Proclaim His name abroad; There is so much to be done at home. Why support foreign missions "You know, Sarah," Dotty re- That sinners far and near may come until we have Christianized our plied, "when I asked you to come To know the Son of God. own country? with me last year, you said you were taking your vacation later. He gave His life for you; The process of securing products from Most of the conferences like this His precious blood He shed. Africa is changing the lives of were over. But I knew you Africans. As a user of these would like it." Serve Him who saves you by His products do I not have a moral grace, responsibility toward Africa? "Well, I certainly do. Thete's plenty of time for outdoor exer- The Church's living Head. How does my consecration compare cise and the things I'm learning with that of African Christians? come in such an easy, interest- (Copies M the organizational leaflet may ing way – everything combines be had at 4 cents per C(}py. 40' cents per Is my life a recommendation for to make me feel a real satisfacdozen, $3.00 per hundred, from The Board Christ? tion." of Administration, United Presbyterian Church, 705 Publication Building, Pitts- Dramatics, dialogues, visual- "Just before I came," the burgh, Pa.) izations, etc., include the follow- other went on, "I agreed to be ing as samples: "Allo, Congo!" "Upriver on the Oregon" (travel As mentioned in the October impersonations); "White Gobblers in issue of this Department, the Africa" (illustrated representation of foreign mission programs. and foreign rapacity in "gobbling up" study material of the United Christian Missionary Society could not be listed until after the first of the year, as they would not come out before January. Having looked the several pack-
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
president of our mIsSIOnary sort of thing. Of course, we'll like to have an evening with circle next winter. My notebook have a play or a talk by a mis- Polly Brown and Helen Frazier sionary so as to keep the party talking about their trip to the is a sort of outsize one and it's Orient. They didn't visit all the going to be a lot of help to me. from being all amusement and mission stations but they did nothing to show for it after- meet a few of the missionaries I can make use of so many of wards." and if they would show the the things we get here. You things they brought home and "That sounds fine," praised tell about the ones they met, and weren't here the first night when Dotty, "and how about making describe our work as they can the literature lady told that little invitations like those we saw in read it up in the missionary story made up of the titles of the the shape of an African hut. magazine, I'm sure the girls books on Africa. That was They are made of wrapping would learn something from clever and it's a stunt that might paper with the thatched roof that, too." be done with titles of books crayoned a darker brown. You about any country. She had a catch a glimpse of the wording "A good thing about the methglobe in front of her on a table on the inside fold through a ods we've had here," remarked Dotty, "is that they could be and she repeated the words of little cut-out door in the hut. We adapted to suit the study of al- 'This is my Father's world,' the must pique the imagination with most any country. Now, my the wording of the invitation, as cousin says they will study first verse, while someone played Miss Applegarth said. Didn't Japan this year because the misit softly on the piano. Then she you love her asking, 'Has the dic- sionary their own church sup- tionary joined your church?' ports is making their town her said, 'My Father's world! I re- It's true that we keep on using headquarters while she's at peat the words often thinking the same old hackneyed terms home. That series Miss Appleonly of the part I can see with garth suggested on Hands, for my eyes' or words to that effect. in our meeting announcements. instance, could be used for any We just don't take the trouble other land as well as Africa. She went on to talk about Af- to think up more alluring ones." Remember, she had the titles rica, bringing in the titles of the listed, Hands across the Sea, different books and magazine The sun was slanting lower Hands that Rock the Cradle, articles and holding each one up Hand – Me – Down, Behindhand and the lake breeze was cool. or Beforehand, Han d i c r aft, as she mentioned it. Then she Sarah pulled her coat about her Hand-in-Hand. Can't you just closed with the last verse of the shoulders again as she scribbled picture how those topics could hymn, after saying something a few words in her tiny book. be worked out. It does take "Yes, and we mustn't use stilted imagination, though. I must about our obligation to help Af- phrases either. They put peo- say, I feel as though I never rica's people to see the Father's ple to sleep-people at a meeting again will be satisfied to follow 'the line of least resistance' in world and be able to thank Him need to be electrified. Even the presenting the cause of missions for it, too. I thought at our first furniture should be placed dif- -there I go again using set meeting we could give the girls ferently now and then, and the phrases! How would you say minister's wife mustn't always that, Sarah? Follow the line of a glimpse of the study plans that lead the devotions. In our case least resistance in broadcasting same way." it's the minister's daughter, but the fact that our missionaries I'm going to ask Flo this time to are heroes in the midst of a Sarah was still fingering her get two other girls to read with thrilling adventure-up against notebook, nodding her head to her the story of Philip and the all sorts of odds, yet they see reshow that she was listening. sults that make them realize they "One thing sure," she declared, Ethiopian eunuch. One can read are truly workers together with "I never would have promised to the narrative part, one will take charge of the party for new speak for Philip and the other God and must win in the long members if I'd not been getting run. When the girls really get some of those things they call for the eunuch. It will make the 'methods' from Margaret Apple- story more real." that view, they are sure to want garth. Now I know just what to help. By the way, Miss Ap- I'm going to suggest to the com- "Another thing to think about in devotions is hymns. Alice plegarth and some of the other mittee. Remember the game we leaders are going to be here played on Saturday afternoon, told me she simply hadn't the with the name of a famous per- heart to sing '0 Zion Haste' ever again next summer." son on every girl's back. We'll again. She says we always sing use people connected with Af- it. I told her that if she'd come "Well, I'm telling you right rica, missionaries like Living- and lead us in some really new stone and Jean Mackenzie, and hymns, or even some old ones now, so am 11" a few like Cecil Rhodes and that we don't sing so often, we'd Haile Selassie. For refresh- JANE GILBERT, give the stand-bys a rest for a ments we had a whole bunch of year. And with just a little Vice-Chairman, Eagles Mere, Pa., bananas, and cookies cut in the originality, there are ways of Conference, June 26 to July 3. varying the use of even an old shape of the map of Africa, hymn to advantage."
spread with a mixture of peanut "If I wasn't so full of this Af- rican party," said Sarah, "I'd butter and chile sauce-weren't they good? And the peanuts we had to hunt for all around the room. The girls will love that
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BULLETIN OF The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTlVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~'~I~–==~~~~~~~~~===—-I~ LET US REMEMBER JESUS INTERLUDE OF MUSIC: BENEDICTION: A Lenten Service of Worship* Vocal solo–"My Task"-Ashford. (Remain standing after benedic- tion.) INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: PERIOD OF MEDITATION. LEADER: "The Palms"-Faure. LEADER: (Continue to play softly as ac- ("Into the Woods My Master Went" companiment during the reading Let us remember Jesus: Who loved to be played softly during reading of the poem.) men, yet retired from them to pray, of poem.) rose a great while before day, LEADER: watched through a night, stayed in o Master of the Galilean Way, the wilderness, went up into a Judean hills are holy, Judean hills mountain, sought a garden. Who, Forgive us for the vows we fail are fair, when he would help a tempted dis- to keep: ciple, prayed for him, and for the For one can find the footprints of perfecting of those who received Forgive us that we so neglect thy Jesus everywhere. sheep, him. One finds them in the twilight be- So idly waste this shining harvest neath the singing sky, INTERLUDE OF MUSIC: day!
Where shepherds watch in wonder Vocal solo-"Into the Woods My What matter if we cannot under- white planets wheeling by. Master Went" – Lanier. (F irs t stand stanza.) His trails are on the hillsides and The mystery of Love that is Di- down the dales and deeps; PERIOD OF MEDITATION. vine, He walks the high horizons where LEADER: Nor pierce the veil! Dear Lord, vesper silence sleeps. our faith increase Let us remember Jesus: Who be- He haunts the lowly highways lieved in men to the last and never To know that, since our hands where human hopes have trod despaired of them. Who through may reach thy hand, all disappointment never lost heart. The Via Dolorosa up to the heart Who disregarded his own comfort Our lives are made all-powerful, of God. and convenience and thought first through thine, of others' needs, and though he suf- He looms,·a lonely figure, along the fered long was always kind. Who, To heal a wounded world and fringe of night, when he was reviled, reviled not bring it peace! again, and when he suffered, threat- -Molly Anderson Haley. As lonely as a cedar against the ened not. Who humbled himself lonely night. and carried obedience to the point Poems from "Quotable Poems," Vol. I of death, even death on the cross, Judean hills are holy, Judean hills and endured faithfully to the end. Clark-Gillespie, Willett, Clark &anCdo.p, ra1y9e3r1~' are fair, New York. Music, meditation INTERLUDE OF MUSIC: from HNew Hymnal of American Youth" For one can find the footprints of Jesus everywhere. Vocal solo – "Into the Woods My H. Augustine Smith, Appleton D. Century, -William L. Stidger. Master Went." (Last stanza.) New York.
PERIOD OF MEDITATION. UNISON PRAYER AND CONSECRATION Officers, 1937 LEADER: (Standing) : President – Mrs. Millard Robinson (Methodist Episcopal). As we worship together- o Christ, our only Saviour, so come Let us remember Jesus: Who, First Vice-President-Mrs. Orrin R. though he was rich, yet for our to dwell in us that we may go forth Judd (N. Baptist). sakes became poor and dwelt among with the light of thy hope in our us. Who was content to be subject eyes, and thy faith and love in our Second Vice-President–Mrs. Augus- to his parents, the child of a poor man's home. Who lived for thirty hearts. tus Trowbridge (Protestant Epis- years the common life, earning his To the preaching of good tidings copal). living with his own hands and de- of salvation we consecrate Third Vice-President- Mrs. J. W. clining no humble tasks. Whom the our powers; Downs (Methodist Episcopal common people heard gladly, for he To the healing of broken bodies South) . understood their ways. and the relief of distress we Recording Secretary – Miss Dorothy consecrate our gifts; A. Stevens (N. Baptist). INTERLUDE OF MUSIC: To the leading of every soul to the knowledge and love of Treasurer-Mrs. Norman V. Peale Vocal solo-"When the Lord of Love Christ we consecrate our in- (Reformed in Am.). Was Here"-Brooke. (First three fluence; stanzas.) To the Christianization of the Chairmen of Committees world, PERIOD OF MEDITATION. To the building of the Kingdom of Annual Meeting: Miss Laura H. Parker (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). LEADER: God: Chautauqua: Miss Amelia D. Kemp We consecrate our money, our ef- (Un. Lutheran). . Let us remember Jesus: Who was Conferences and Schools of Missions: mighty in deed, healing the sick and forts and our lives. Amen. Miss Carrie M. Kerschner (Evan- the disordered, using for others the powers he would not invoke for RESPONSE: gelical Reformed). himself. Who refused to force Editorial and Publicity: Mrs. J. men's allegiance. Who was master "Hear Our Prayer, 0 Lord." (Vo- and Lord to his disciples, yet was cal or instrumental.) Henry Callister (Friends). among them as their companion and as one who served. HYMN: Eva Clark Waid Memorial for World • Prepared by Charlotte Mary Burnham. "0 Master, Let Me Walk with Peace: Miss Emma Jessie Ogg Thee." (Four stanzas.) (Presbyterian, U. S. A.).
[158 ]
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
Finance: Mrs. Mary D. White (Con- one another and to demonstrate the Western Hemisphere and to ex- gregational-Christian) . the inclusiveness of the home tend this policy of good neighborliness mission program. In reporting to all nations, regardless of geograph- International Relations: Miss Elinor the year's activities at the busi- ical propinquity. ness session novel methods were K. Purves (Presbyterian, U. s. employed – panel discussions, 2. To exercise moderation with re- round tables and skits, thereby spect to our military establishments, A.). making the presentation of re- to the end that the influence of the ports interesting and stimu- United States may be on the side of Legislative: Mrs. Bessie H. Payne lating. peace and not on the side of war. (NatI. Baptist). Important actions were taken, 3. To accept membership in the Migrant: Mrs. Kenneth D. MiIIer a few of which are reported in World Court and through such action (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). V. this Bulletin. The Liquor Com- relate our nation in a helpful way to Chairman: Mrs. D. C. Turner mission appointed at the 1936 the development of a world commu- (Congregational-Christian) . Annual Meeting, to study the re- nity of law and of justice. lation of the Council of Women Nominating: Miss Edna M. Spring- for Home Missions to the Liquor 4. To extend the existing neutrality horn (Un. Lutheran). Problem presented a very com- legislation to include an embargo on prehensive report including the basic war materials to nations resort- Office Administration: Miss Ann follow i n g recommendations ing to war, in order to keep the Elizabeth Taylor (Presbyterian, adopted by the Federal Council United States from being drawn into U. S. A.). Biennial Meeting last December war, while at the same time it coop- and which were adopted by this erates with other nations for the Pension Plan: Mrs. Edmund B. Chaf- meeting. preservation of peace. fee (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). 1. That temperance education be 5. To work to secure national and Programs for Local Interdenomina- strongly reenforced in church and international control of the arms tional Groups: Mrs. Fred S. Ben- community and that denominational traffic. nett (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). and interdenominational boards and agencies charged with this responsi- 6. To extend stilI further the ad- Race Relations: Miss May Huston bility seek to cooperate in the publi- ministration's program of trade agree- (N. Baptist). cation of study courses for youth and ments and to facilitate through such of temperance literature; action the easing of economic tensions Study Courses: Miss Margaret Mars- throughout the world. ton (Protestant Episcopal). Vice- 2. That exploration be made as to Chairman: Miss Mabel M. Shei:o- the possibility of taking the profit out 7. To make clear the fact, by Presi- ley (Presbyterian, U. S. A.). of the manufacture and sale of liquor dential proclamation or otherwise, and the Research Department of the that the armed forces of our country World Day of Prayer: Mrs. Daniel Federal Council investigate and re- are not, under any circumstances, to A. Poling (N. Baptist). Vice- port on this aspect of the liquor be employed for the protection of the Chairman: Mrs. E. E. Cooley problem; economic or other material interests (Presoyterian, U. S. A.). of American nationals in other lands. 3. The securing and furnishing of Young People's Work: Rev. Frederick data which may be used by educa- 8. To take such steps as may be ad- R. Thorne, D.D., Chairman (Pres- tional agencies in presenting the sub- visable to insure the improvements of byterian, U. S. A.). V. Chair- ject; American-Japanese relations and, in man: Miss PrisciIIa Chase (Con- cooperation with other interested na- gregational-Christian) . 4. That the press of the country be tions, to labor for the restoration of urged to consider the harm done to a treaty structure for the Pacific. Joint Indian: Rev. Mark A. Dawber, themselves and their readers by liquor D.D., Chairman (Methodist Epis- advertising and, together with the 9. To place upon a strictly volun- copal). Vice-Chairman: Miss radio and the screen, be urged to elim- tary basis all military training in Helen M. Brickman (~ef'd in inate the emphasis on drinking habits; civil colleges and universities and to Am.). provide for the elimination of all mili- 5. That the Council of Women for tary training in high schools. ANNUAL MEETING Home Missions, in the interest of na- tional safety and welfare, most sol- That it make known this endorse- The Council of Women for emnly calI upon the people of this ment in a letter to the President of Home Missions and the Home land to arouse themselves to the men- the United States. Missions Council held their An- ace of this growing evil and by pernual Meeting January 11-14, sonal influence, by coIlective and polit- That it commend to the women of 1937, in Asbury Park, New Jer- ical action strive for such practical the Church through the denominasey. The first two days were measures of restraint and control as tional Boards the statement on peace given to the business sessions of are necessary for the protection of adopted by the Federal Council of the two Councils and the last society. Churches at its meeting on December two to the National Conference 11, 1936, asking them to study the on the City Church. The Fel- The above recommendations nine point program, included therein, lowship Supper which officially had been adopted at the Biennial to make known their attitude to the opened the Annual Meeting of Meeting of the Federal Council government of the United States the Council of Women for Home of Churches on December 11, and to the people of their communi- Missions was in every sense a ties, and to develop in their own and fellowship. Mrs. Millard Rob- 1936. other people's minds the will to peace. inson, President, presided. The program, informal in nature in- International Relations YOUNG PEOPLE'S WORK cluded greetings from fraternal delegates and then three-minute The Committee on Interna- It was reported that at the accounts given by a representa- tional Relations recommended: Conference of United Christian tive named by each constituent Youth Movement at Lakeside, Board describing the outstand- 1. To implement stilI further its Ohio, in the fall of 1936, it ing achievement in the home Good Neighbor policy with regard to had been decided to include mismission work of each board in sionary emphasis in the promo- 1936. Seldom has any feature tion of Christian Youth Building on an Annual Meeting program a New World, and material is done more to acquaint us with being prepared for this by the Youth Committee of the Mis- sionary Education Movement.
~i'==O=u=r=w=o=rl=d=–W=i=d=e=o==ut=lo=o=k==~ir
J1t A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events "
~. EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO .~~ LATIN AMERIOA Preaching Restricted quainted with us, told of what we were doing, .of the impor- Ouba's Oooperative School Rev. C. S. Detweiler, of the tance of Christianity for the American Baptist Board, made world. He ended with a cordial The c.ooperative idea in rural a recent visit tQ Central Amer- invitation for all to attend Chriseducation has been highly suc- ica, and reports that it is prac- tian services." cessful in San Miguel de los tically impossible for any m.ore Banos, Cuba, where a Presbyte- new missioOnaries to enter Costa Bibles, Testaments and tracts rian Mission has an experi- Rica and Guatemala. With SoOme in Chinese have been sent for to mental rural proj ect. For three difficulty the Protestant missioOns help follow up this important months ,the idea grew upon the in these countries have been able opening. community, and 25 adults and to secure replacements f.orthQse 22 children were found who whQ have left, but are not al- A More Liberal Order needed and wanted the school. l.owed to increase the staff. Evangelical missi.onaries have New thinking is observed in A thatch-:mofed house was been affected by new restrictions Colombia. Youth is impatient put up; the next move was to upon their work in town and with the old order and is workprovide a teacher. She will country. The g.overnment is re- ing for liberal principles in edumaintain her own home, and the quiring all pas,t.ors t.o secure a cation, and a relaxation of the young women of the community license, and .only thus are they inhibitions of the Roman Cathwill take turns living with her, permitted to hold services. olic Church. This attitude has in order to learn home making been reflected in a 71 per cent from her.-Monday Morning. -Watchman-Examiner. increase in the enrolment of Protestant Sunday schools since Ohristian Literature for The Ohinese in Guatemala 1932. Mexico Dr. E. M. Haymaker, editor Legislation recently passed by F.or the first time in the his- of Guatemala News, describes a the Colombian Par I i am en t tory .of evangelical wQrk in Mex- new work which the newly ap- marks the great changes now in ico, Sunday School Association pointed Chinese consul helped tQ progress. Three articles .of the publicati.ons are being sold in inaugurate. He is a Christian Constitution have been deleted: books,tores .other than their own. Chinese, while his wife is the Works by Kagawa, Compton, C. daughter of a Chinese pastor Article 38. The Roman Catholic F. Andrews and others are in and granddaughter of a former religion is the religion of the nation, prQcess of translatiQn. The first one. Both are deeply interested protected by the public authorities, reof a series of booklets intended in their Christian faith. spected as an essential element of sofor student evangelism appea,red cial order. early this year. There are about 742 Chinese in Guatemala at present. Article 41. Public instruction shall Prof. G. Baez Camargo be- be organized and directed in agreelieves that this literature pro- Dr. Haymaker felt that some- ment and harmony with the Catholic gram that is being carried .on thing ought to be done for them, religion. modestly, but effectively, will and talked over the matter with prove to be .one of the greatest Mr. LeQ, the consul, with the re- Article 55. Buildings destined for spiritual adventures in the his- sult that some .of the mission- worship, seminaries, and episcopal tory of the evangelizati.on of aries were invited tQ tea at the houses shall not be subject to taxa- Latin America. consulate to meet a group of tion, nor taken for any other service. Chinese. This gave the oppor- Personally, and through the tunity of meeting no less than -Indian Witness. SUPP.ort .of friends in England thirty of the principal Chinese and America, Prof. Camargo of the capital where there are Beginnings in New Field has launched a literature project some 200 located. "There was .of another type: a Christian no beating about the bush as to E. K. Pinn and D. Michell, quarterly especially dev.oted t.o the object of the tea," writes w.orkers f.or the Evangelical the intrQduction .of the GQspel Dr. Haymaker. "Mr. Leo, in UniQn of South America, have to students, professors., social explaining whQ we were and changed their field from Chinleaders and educated persons. why he wanted them to be ac- chellos to Talavera, Peru. Work at the £Qrmer place is being c.on- -W. S. S. A. News. [160 ] tinued by two young Peruvian Christians.
These missionaries find in Talavera a mQre .open-minded, liberal spirit, "but," they say, EUROPE Outlook in Spain "while it is a pleasant change Toward Church Unity Dr. Juan Orts Gonzalez benot to be called 'devil,' 'Or 'athe- lieves that now, more than ever ist' or to have people surrepti- In St. Paul's, London, a contio'usly looking f'Or our tails, in- ference was held last October, before, the Gospel of Jesus differenc·e and materialism can attended by delegates represent- Christ can be made known in prove as great enemies as fa- ing most of the church b'Odies 'Of Spain even to devout Catholics, naticism. Many people are glad the W'Orld. Plans, are being de- if appropriate efforts are made. to have us here to visit the P'O'Or vised f'Or the cl'Oser drawing toand sick, but do not want to be gether 'Of all denominations. A He writes: disturbed in their life 'Of im- great pageant is to be held in m'Orality, 0 r m'Oney – making, London at a date to be fixed, the "A few months before the revdrink or other besetting sin." background to which will be a olution began, the Bible Society choir 'Of 1,500 voices. Preceding succeeded in publishing adver- Encouraging aspects in the this dem'Onstration, which will .tisements in the two great prochange are improved health, be broadcast 'Over a world-wide letarian papers of Madrid, El friendliness of the majority, network by the British Br'Oad- Socialista and Claridad, with more level c'Ountry so that they casting Corporation, two world very satisfactory respons,e in the can walk farther, and the coop- conferences will be held, one in eration 'Of teachers in all'Owing Oxford,and the other in Edin- way of sales. Shortly afterthe children ,to attend prayers. burgh, the object of which will wards, Claridad published an These children have mem'Orized be the removal 'Of all barriers article undoubtedly written by many hymns and passages of which prevent unity. an evangelical, in which it was Scripture. Lantern meetings, ;stated ,that ,the Gospel of Jesus with slides 'Of the Life 'Of Christ, -Alliance Weekly. prove helpful. Christ is the greatest basis for Church Union in France formulating the just claims of -South America. the worker; and the editor, a leading Marxist, in presenting the article said: 'This is a vital topic; and we invite all 'Our Unity in the Reformed Church readers who can write to take Religion in Argentina's of France seems about to be part in the discussion of it.'
Schools achieved. The Synods of the Scarcely a day passes in which Reformed Evangelical, and of the leading papers, in criticising The law in Argentina provides the Reformed Church have for the hierarchy and the fascists that, in respect to religi'On, some time been working toward who claim to interpret Chrisschools are neutral ground, so union; the acceptance of a com- tianity better than anyone else, that "religious teaching may mon confession of faith had, do not quote the example and the only be given in the public however, yet to be achieved. words of Christ in refutation of schools by authorized ministers Last June, this was accepted by their claim. of the various cults to children both synods. It is probable that of their own c'Ommunions before the regional synods will accept "The greatest proof which I, or after school hours." This has the new statutes in the spring personally, have experienced of hitherto saUsfied Christians, of 1937 and that a Synod consti- the receptiveness 'On the part of Jews, Moslems, Buddhists and tuted by the first united church the Spanish people to religion 'Other religi'Ous bodies who con- will take place in 1937 or 1938. has been affol'ded by ,the results The question will arise as to of my newspaper evangelism. tribute their share 'Of taxes f'Or whether the two faculties of the- With the generous help of the the upkeep 'Of the schools. The ology of Paris and Montpellier United Society for Christian Litpresident of the National Coun- should be united. erature (London) and of the cil on Education recently de- Methodist Board of F'Oreign Misclared that as a religious back- During 1935 the Societe Cen- sions (U. S. A.), I have already ground for moral teaching was trale Evangelique worked in 40 been able to publish more than necessary in the schoo~s, the law thirty articles of this type in El should be altered so that Roman departments of France; in 13 Popular of Ma.laga. Several Catholic clergy might give in- of these it was the only Prot- thousand persons have read struction during school hours in estant body represented. The those articles, and a great many Sunday schools showed prog- of the readers have seen Christ all public schools. Non-Catholic ress, instructing 1,600 scholars, and His Gospel in a different children would have the alterna- and of these 419 were confirmed Cay, evidenced by the personal tive of receiving any instruction and received as members of the testim'Onies I have received." in morals and civics. The pro- Reformed Church. In different posal is regarded as an attempt churches 370 new members were Must Not Pray for Hitler received. The difficult task of to reintroduce 'sedarian instruc- keeping spiritual contact with A very curious thing has haption in public schools, and the scattered French Protestants Argentine press is critical, hold- was vigorously maintained, and pened in Germany. The Scriping that the existing law is the this Society is now maintaining tures enjoin prayer for those least discriminating towards all 70 evangelization centers. classes 'Of the community. who rule over us, but no one is -The World Today. allowed to pray for Hitler. Re-
cently a pastor was censured for church and state are separate the sweet potatoes must be uprooted praying that this ruler might be and in which Freethought is ac- or all would die of hunger! Meangranted "guidance to his spirit tive. Affirmative answers are while Gure Christians were praying so he may submit humbly." This said to have come from Mexico for rain; they also prayed for the was interpreted by the Minister and the Spanish Loyalist Gov- witch-doctor's soul. of Culture as an implied criti- ernment. It is also reported that cism of Hitler's policies! a Russian :£actory has received That night the Lord bountifully an- large orders for life-size statues swered the prayers and sent an -The Presbyterian. of Christ, Moses, Mohammed, abundance of rain! No more has been the Pope, Luther and others to said about our potatoes. Protestantism in Austria be used ,as targets at shooting contests. Lagos Cathedral Evangelical Christi1anity continues to increase in Aus,tria, AFRICA After a brief furlough in but more slowly than in 1934 Great Britain, Dr. F. Melville when the movement was partly To Educate the Blind Jones, Bishop of Lagos, Nigeria, due to a new law obliging every has returned to continue buildcitizen to join ,some church. The The first steps to assist the ing the cathedral, which he new members are eager to learn; blind in Egypt, of whom there undentook on his appointment and as the Pr'Otestant churches are a great many, were taken in 1919. Dr. Jones and his wife in Austria insist ,that candidates by the missionaries. Their suc- have between them spent ninety for membership shall receive a cess has apparently stirred the years in Nigeria, and it is their course of Bible instruction, the Moslems to similar efforts. Al earnest desire to see the catheknowledge of the Word of God Ahramannounces that the dral finished before they retire. made a great impression on their Sheikh of the Azhar proposes The chancel, transepts, lantern hearts. Many have been soundly the instruction of blind students tower, and one hay 'Of the nave converted, and their testimony in the elements of mathematics, are completed. Of the £18,000 has brought in 'Others. reading and writing. A scheme which it has cost, all but £1,000 has emerged to form an i<Az_ has been contributed by the Af- -Alliance Weekly. haric-Institute of the Blind." rican people of the diocese. To The Braille method will be used complete the building, £4,000 ad- Conference in Athens and the necessary educational ditional are required. appliances will be ordered from Twenty..,six Greek Orthodox abroad. -Tke World Today. -Life of Faith. theologians recently held a conference in Athens. Three were Rain and Potatoes Active German Mission from Jugoslavia, three fr'Om Bul~ria, seven from Roumania, Miss H. Griffin, of the Sudan Bethel Mission was founded six from Greece, four from the Interior Mission, writes: in Berlin 50 years ago when Ger- Russian Theological Academy man colonies were acquired in in Paris and two from the The millet was ready for trans- Africa. Since 1891, the Mission Polish Orthodox Church. The planting but there was no rain, and has worked in the hinterland, <:Ecumenical Patriarch was rep- if rain did not come soon, the grain and in the Usambara mountains, resented. would die. Several sacrifices were Tanganyika, and ,after 1907 in made and chickens killed but no rain Ruanda. After the war the Papers were read on church fell. The witch doctor was called and Mandate for the latter region and state, the possibility of an- after much talk and noise, water was was given to Belgium and the other <:Ecumenic Council, social taken out of a hole in a rock which Belgian Protestant Missionary work and missions, biblical criti- is believed to control the rain. They Society is at work there today. cism, ,and church culture. These threw the water in the air, calling, papers will be published by the "Send more rain!" Beer was then The Bethel Mission has 18 Athens faculty. The Bucharest poured into the hole, but still no rain chief-stations and 169 ou.t-sta- Orthodox theological faculty will came. tions, 10 native pastors, 339 men lay plans for the next conference and 59 women helpers, and 17,- to be held in 1939. In the in- Finally five chickens were brought 945 Christians. In the 174 vilterim an effort will be made to out, and with them rested the fate of lage schools and two intermeestablish a joint magazine for our sweet potatoes! Gure people eat, diate schools for boys and two the promotion of theological but never plant sweet potatoes because for girls there are 8,501 p"l~pils. scholarship throughout the Or- of evil spirits. When we planted ours In the Bukoba field the mission thodox Church. on the compound, we were told they is experiencing a remarkable re- would bring :floods and spoil the vival among the heathen. .New Antireligious Treaties harvest. Until now the rains had been groups constantly offer them- normal and nothing had been said, selves for bapUsm and the' ca- The Soviet Government is pro- but with the scarcity of moisture pacities of the few missionaries posing to draw up antireligious things were different! The – five are strained to the u.tmos.t. There treaties with other governments, chickens were to be the deciding fac- are two medical centers. It has according to press reports from tor in revealing the cause of the also the only nerve hospital con- Leipzig. This pact is to be of- drought. ducted by a mission, with a cafered to all countries where pacity for 100 patients, as well As each chicken was beheaded the as a mental depar:tment. Alto- witch-doctor said, "If the sweet pota- toes are not the cause, rise up in the air, if they are the cause, lie quietly on the ground." The chickens re- mained quiet, conclusive proof that
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
gether the mission, including Bantu S. S. Convention Scho'0ls. Plans have been made doctors, teachers and other mis- The first Bantu S. S. CQnven- to extend this in 1937. sionaries, has 92 German work- tion was held at Port Elizabeth, The publicatiQn '0f an Arabic ers. December 14-16. The meetings bQok of f'0lk songs has helped tQ Spain and the Cameroun were in the nature of a workers' introduce grQUp singing, as conference and schQQl of meth- Arabic music is almost whQlly Civil war in Spain has reached ods. Bible ,teaching through the a S'0lo perfQrmance. A Syrian medium of the Sunday schoQl w'0rker was able last year to con- West Africa. The colony of adapted to Bantu life and cQndi- duct a school which did not re- tions, was discussed. Lectures, quire any '0utside financial help. Spanish Guinea, which lies just She used discarded dress ma- demonstrations and discussiQns terial to make aprQns and cutsouth tofofthWe eFsrtenAcfhricCaamPreersobuyn~ dealing with Bantu child nature, tings of bolts of strong muslin is par preparation of the lessQn, class tQ make sacks fQr carrying books teaching and Sunday s c h 0 01 tQ the school. She used worn terian Mission. In Ootober, the out tQwels tQ make baby bibs management were given; also and had the boys dOl carpentry seapQrt town of Rata was shelled practical demonstratiQns, with repair for schQol benches, mak- ing use 'Of wood already on hand. by gunboat fire. Refugees, from Bantu children, of methQds of All Hterature is furnished by the worship, instruction and expres- Central Committee. the coast fled across the border sion work. The meetings were open to Natives of all denQmina- Newman School of Missions intQ French territory. For three tions.
days truck loads of Spaniards -South African Outlook.
came to Elat and to the near-by government station of EbQlowa.
MOIst 'Of them had fled without having time tQ collect any per- sQnal belQngings, and American and French residents had tQ sup- ply ,them with clothing, fQod and Imagine This! A writer in the Near East sleeping accQmmQdations until Bulletin remarks that "if Palessome place could be prepared for Zulu peQple sang and ap- tine has the deepest valley and them. Christian mission work plauded at a meeting where has gone on without interrup- mQney was solicited fQr missiQn- the saltest sea, she has added to tiQn. -Presbyterian Banner. ary work! Rev. H. A. Stick had this distinction by having the been instructed by the Zulu An- Leprosy in Nigeria nual Conference tQ stir up inter- longest strike on record," adding est amQng Zulu churches in mis- that this gives Christian forces .A r~cent report on leprosy in sionary work among the Batswa, opportunity for prQmoting rec- NIgeria recommended that leper the Shangaans and the Chopes colonies should be the care of in Inhambande, East Africa. onciliation. Despite the strike, missions as far as possible. The SubscriptiQns were made rang- Administration of the Northern ing frQm 10 cents to $30. Many Newman School of Missions in Provinces has, therefore, ap- gave $5, which is the equivalent proved a scheme for the exten- in an American wa,ge earner's Jerusalem has not lessened its sion of the work of missions in mQney tQ $25 'Or $30. Even a enrolment; the total was 8l. this direction. The Sudan In- "heathen"-with three wivesterior Mission will undertake gave $5.50 and promised $2.50 Among the students last year the chief responsibility fQr lep- more for his trio of spouses. was a Japanese, Rev. Y. H. rosy work in the north; other There are just two ordained Af- SacQn, whQ is preparing to sucsocieties accepting increased rican ministers in a field 200 ceed tQ his father's Old Testaparticipation are the Church miles long by 50 wide, trying to Missionary Society, American serve 90 churches. The rest 'Of ment chair in the Japanese Baptist Mission and the Sudan the work has tQ be dQne by un- MethQdist TheolQgical Seminary United Mission. educ,ated laymen. near TokYQ. In Southern Nigeria, a new -Overseas News. The student grQUp also inleper colony has been opened to accommodate 1,000 patients. cludes tWQ German missionaries from Egypt, two from the Dan- ish Mislsion in Aden; others from India and Mor'0cco. Fif- teen missionaries in all took ex- aminations in person, and one by corresPQndence.
The Government of Nigeria, Na- WESTERN ASIA INDIA-BURMA-SIAM tive Administrations, the British Empire Leprosy Relief As- Schools in Syria sociation, the Mission to Lepers, The Near East Bulletin lists World Y. W. C. A. Conference all have shared the cost. The encQuraging signs in educational When it is remembered that Church Missionary Society has WQrk in Syria. One factQr in the first organization of women, provided the doctor. The Sul- promoting efficiency was the "The Female Sense Society,"
tan of Sokoto, spiritual head of mimeogmphed material sen t formed in 1807, had to have a Islam in West Africa, has agreed frQm America tQ help the teach- man to count their mQney and to the opening of a dispensary ers. The second factor was the offer their prayers, it is clear at Chafe, in the province of So- great improvement in Teacher that the Y. W. C. A. Regional koto, by two young Christian Training Schools ; and a third C'0nference in Ceylon was a Africans.-The World Today. has been the VacatiQn Bible milestone. In 'Order tQ ensure
more Far East participation, Hindu Temples Opening Generous Hill Women this conference was held in Cey- The doors of Hindu temples The Hill women in Assam, lon instead of in Europe, as are gradually being 'Opened to who have very little money, usual. The subjects discussed Depr,essed Classes, and the re- through their donations of rice, were: cent proclamation of the Ma- saved a handful at a time from 1. My country as a background to the haraja of Travancore, already the daily meal, are able to sup- work of the Y. W. C. A. referred to in these columns, port not only an evangelist, but which gives to all Hindus the to start little village schools. 2. The place and contribution of These are often taken up by the women. right to enter and worship in all mission and raised to a higher state-eontrolled tem,ples', is the 3. The message of the Y. W. C. A. in latest evidence of the growth of status. asiatic countries. sentiment supporting the de- Women in the Telugu field, 4. The problem of international rela- tions.
5. Leadership. mand of the Depressed Classes. after hearing of the cut which Among other helpful lectures Gandhi insists that it is for caste the Home Board had to make, were those of Miss Anna Rice, Hindus to right this wrong, and how their mission was try- National Secretary for U. S. A. whether the Depressed Classes ing to meet the situation, met to- She said: make the demand or not. gether for a half hour prayer "We are faced with two spe- The action of the Travancore service. Then one woman said cial dangers: (1) That we be- state will make it difficult for it wasn't enough to pray, and come an instrument for agita- other Hindu states to refuse to tors, and drift with the tide make similar proclamation. If gave a jewel worth Rs. 75. away from our purpose. (2) temples in South India, strong- Others followed till they had That we retreat from the prob- hold of untouchability and Hindu lems of our environment and fail orthodoxy, are opened, the strug- raised in cash and pledges nearly to make our spiritual inspiration gle is as good as won. Rs. 200, and voted to make it productive." Rs. 500, to send to the Home -Indian Witness. Board as an expression of ap- In the session on "Findings" preciation. In the News -Baptist Missionary Reit was agreed that: Any reputable citizen of Bom- view of India.
We must feel individual responsi- bay would read the average Sheep Without a Shepherd bility for humanity's victims. American daily with horror, and would probably be filled with In the little town of Jampur, Religion to be effective must develop pride that in India, papers do evil was so rampant that the a practical program of work that not flaunt tales of gangdom, little group of Christians were truly reflects present-day needs. robberies, murders and kidnap- sorely beset. There had been no ping. ordained minis·ter there for We need to rid ourselves of violent three years, not even a village emotions and hateful impulses and However, one may read in a reader for a year and a half. fear; we need to have tolerance and Bombay paper such items as Dr. Noel Fletcher writes: Some respect sincere experiment; we must this: of the group had been won by strive for racial amity and the pres- their Moslem neighbors into the ervation and creation of beauty. "Mr. S. K., a prominent young citi- fold of Islam. "Dr. Miss Sa- zen of M., was found on Tuesday, We need an affirmation of individ- drowned in a well near his home. His ual Christian faith. We must not only believe but allow truth to function in our lives. Personalities are more important oldest son was very ill with a fever hiba," said the faithful old than programs or methods. which seemed hopeless. So the father sweeper at the rest house where -Malaysia Message. had gone to visit a famous holy man we stayed, "please will you write and ask what might be done to save Thirty-Year Service Pins his son. The holy man told him that the name of my padre on a slip if there should be some other death of paper for me? Sometimes a The U nit e d Presbyterian in his family the god would be ap- sahib comes here, and when he Board rec'Ognizes the service of peased and spare the life of his boy. knows I am a Christian he asks So the father decided to give his own me who is my padre. For three missionaries who have served 30 life for that of his son." years since Padre Chambers years 'Or more by a service pin, Sahib left, I have not known, consisting of a cross and crown Or another like this: and I feel ashamed." .
of dull gold, set with amethysts "L. B. was sentenced to be hanged -C. M. S. Outlook. and pearls, surrounded by a in Poona on Wednesday for the murwreath of laurel leaves. At the der of his son. It seems he had been Burmese Buddhism annual meeting of the Sialkot told that there was a treasure buried in his land. He was in desperate need Mission, Misses Nancy Hadley, of money, so he went to a holy man to Mary Kyle and Flora Jameson ask how he might find the treasure. Burma is the most .actively 'If you will sacrifice your child to the were each presented with this goddess you will find the gold.' So, Buddhist country in the world; thirty-year service pin. Thirty- during the night while the mother was one might say Burma and Bud- asleep the father stole the child and dhismare synonymous, and one such pins have now been killed him." there is no sign of weakening in awarded. What was done about the holy this religion. Every day one -Women's Missionary men? Nothing. may see monks on their journey- Magazine. -Western India Notes. ings. The proportion of monks
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
to the population is said to be 1 language of those who are study- "Materia medica," he says, in 30. A boy is known as a ing. During the rainy months "as practiced in ancient Chinese "little animal" till he has been of July to October, I spent every fashion, is a thing to behold. to the monastery school for a spare moment translating med- Only three major possessions while; then he is called "a little ical literature. Ten men began were needed by an enterprising man." That happens in the life the course in November, 1935; fellow in order to set himself up of every boy. Village boys come nine of these finished the last of in the profession of Chinese daily to Buddhist schools to be March. The course is so ar- quackery; a bland and scholarly taught reading, writing and re- ranged that those who spend countenance, a collection of alligion, and in consequence lit- only one year will have a good leged drugs, and a lot of nerve. eracy is higher in Burma than practical knowledge with which Add to these a mortar and pesin any other province of India, they can go to their villages and tle, a cutting board, several and religion is stronger. begin the long tedious process of sharp knives, a bottle of river teaching the ignorant villagers water and place to hawk his -The Layman. the value of modern medicine. wares, and the quack was ready Three more years of study will for business. Training Kachin Leaders be offered to those who really desire to take up medicine for a The modest ethics of the mod- A triennial Leadership Train- life work." ern medical profession were ing Institute for Kachins was unknown to him. He advertised held near Bhamo, one of the -Moody Institute Monthly. that he could cure anything, and Kachin mission stations in upper to his credit it must be stated Burma, last year. Over 5,000 Literacy in Siam that he at least tried. He was Kachins assembled for the meet- all things unto all men, that is, ings, some traveling for twenty The government has under- to all afflicted men, and to his days, many on foot. Kachins taken to create a literate nation shop flocked the sick, the lame, are giving liberally in their sup- within ten years, and teachers the halt and the blind. The maport of this leadership training are at a premium. Training jority of his patients survived, institute. Eleven young people classes at Wattana Wittaya, and those not too seriously affinished the two years' course Presbyterian Academy for Girls, fected got well, as they would and have gone out into the work. cannot begin to supply the de- have under any circumstances. Many of the young peo,ple of the mand. Refusing to send out school go into the villages round half-trained teachers, they have Church "Comes of Age" about each week-end and the started a practice s c h 001, many changes taking place tes- attended by 60 youngsters from In a letter to the Board, a tify to their earnestness and ef- neighborhood families, teaching Presbyterian missionary tells fectiveness. them the regular government how a church in Nanking "came curriculum of studies, and do- of age." -Watchman-Examiner. mestic science as well. "For some time, we have been Doctor Multiplies His Talent Wattana Wittaya is located on working on a policy whereby, the Sam Sap canal, the "canal beginning with April, 1936, any Dr. Richard S. Buker has, been of 10,000 mosquito smarts." The church which could not take full pioneering in North Burma long name means Academy of Pro- responsibility for its pastor's enough to get his bearings in gressive Knowledge. The stu- salary was going to have to give the matter of making his life dents take the Red Cross exam- him up for such part of his time count. He tells how he plans to inations, Girl Scout tests, and as they did not pay for. So the mUltiply his ministry: the temperance pledge. Two mission was preparing to use Christian Endeavor societies, part of the time of Pastor Dju, "The tremendous call of thou- one f:or seniors, one for juniors, of the Second Presbyterian sands of villages about me, which meet regularly. Church of Nanking, but we have not the slightest chance of reckoned without the church receiving even simple medical On Sundays groups of stu- people. The elders and deacons care during sickness, continually dents visit the homes of the peo- had a meeting and decided that bears upon my mind. I am the ple living along the canal, for the church could not afford to only doctor with a medical de- whose children the academy let any part of Pastor Dju's time gree who can possibly go to these maintains a day school of 40 go into other work, and they villages. My great desire is to pupils. -Monday Morning. went out among the church spread myself so as to be of members to raise his entire salmore value. The only way for CHINA-TIBET ary. In a short time they anme to do this is to teach others nounced to the Presbytery and what I know. The Passing of the Quack the mission that the church was prepared to call Pastor Dju as "A building for the teaching is Dr. W. H. Dobson, South its full-time pastor, completely practically completed; now there China Presbyterian missionary, supported by the church." must be funds to feed the stu- thinks that with the passing of dents, and provide them with the cure-all quacks, one of the books and incidentals. There most colorful institutions of old must be medical literature in the China will become history.
Taking the Gospel to Prisoners meating Chinese life, and cites hope that it may contribute to- a number of them. Here are wards a larger understanding of A Scandinavian missionary three: the problem, and help all those at Changan, Shensi, writes in serving in the rural church to China's Millions of opportuni- A well-to-do young Chinese couple, plan more intelligently and acties for prison preaching. so wealthy that they did not know tively for the future. In Kiangsi what else to seek in life, decided to the provincial government has In answer to a long time of prayer commit suicide together. They hired adopted a three-year plan to and waiting, a new door finally opened a room in one of the large new hotels carryon work along four linesfor Gospel work among the men pris- in Shanghai, and turned on the radio to stimulate village self-governoners in the provincial prison. As to drown the noise of their suicide. A ment, to organize the farmers mentioned in earlier letters, the work Gospel appeal happened to ring forth, for self-protection; to develop among the women prisoners started and both were soundly converted. rural education; and to raise long ago. There are not very many people's economic level, for the women, and the matron is an earnest Many missionaries have stopped at realization of the self-govern- Christian, which made an opening Wing On's large department store in ment, self -dependence, selfeasier. The situation is different with Shanghai. Among other goods ex- supply and self-protection of the the men, for there are over three hun- ported from that shop are hundreds of rural population. dred in number, which makes gath- tons of soda crackers. Under the lid ering for meetings more risky. 'I'heir of each tin is a slip of paper, neatly -Chinese Recorder. officials are non-Christians and, though printed in red characters, which very friendly, could not be expected reads: "Jesus said, I am the bread of For Neglected Seamen to show any hearty interest in Gospel life: he that cometh to me shall never work. But a visit to the prison by hunger; and he that believeth on me Although a great deal has been members of our Field CommitteE: was shall never thirst." done for seamen in other nawell received, resulting in an official tions, Chinese seamen had been permission to hold meetings for men A little outpost was too poor to neglected until Mr. B. J. Tan, every Saturday. Brother Swenson, raise a regular preacher's salary. An who worked among seamen in the Bible-school teacher, and others excellent evangelist and teacher, England for 20 years, organized take part in these meetings. Several known among us as Nathanael, of- a Seamen's Mis,sion in Hongof the prisoners have already decided fered to go and help that little com- kong three years ago. Mr. H. for Christ. munity last winter, without any stip- R. Wells describes this work in ulation as to salary. Just inside the the Chinese Recorder. New Ways for Old door of the little mud chapel two large barrels were placed. Into one of The mission is making good prog- Here is a story told in the these, contributions of grain were ress since the opening of the new United Church Record of Can- poured; and into the other, cabbages, headquarters last May. The men are ada. onions or turnips were dropped-and glad to have a place to rest, read one day a new gown was dropped for books, newspapers and magazines, Canton's old execution ground is Nathanael! write letters and play games while being used for better purposes in these they are waiting on land for situadays. Its most frequent use is for Christianity or Communism? tions. athletic meets; but Easter Sunday saw it serving another purpose still The problem of livelihood is Sunday evening service is well atmore remote from its original use. receiving increased attention. tended since the opening: some of the Soon after sunrise people oegan to The New Life Movement was men join us in our daily prayer meetstream from all parts of the city- quickly followed by the People's ings, morning and evening. We visit some in buses, some in cars, some in Economic Reconstruction Move- the boarding houses once a week, and rickshas, and some on foot-towards ment, which is devoted largely ships alongside the wharves, carrying the East Parade ground, and by half to the welfare of farmers, since The Word of Life, cheer and comfort, past eight the scene which in former 80 per cent of China's popula- and distrii:>ute cards with "Golden days witnessed many a criminal pass tion belongs to that class. There Texts." Not merely the men themon without a ray of hope, was re- has been a striking increase in selves, but their wives and children sounding to the voices of five thousand the number of cooperatives; the are helped when the men are inpeople singing "Jesus Christ is rben Government and several banks structed in the principles of Christian today, Alleluia." The singing was led are trying to help the farmer morality. by three bands from the Pooi Ying, by extending loans, and there is Pooi Ching and Ling Naan schools, a national bureau for the im- Tibet to Modernize and by a choir of five hundred young provement of rice and wheat and men and women gathered together a central bureau for the im- Gordon Enders, son of a Presfrom the various churches. The provement of cotton. The prob- byterian missionary to India, as hymns were well known and suitable lem is how to translate plans advisor to the grand lama of to the occasion, so that the huge con- into action, because of wide- Tibet will have an important gregation was able to follow whole- spread illiteracy and the peas- role in the modernizing program heartedly the lead given by the choir ant's suspicion of new methods. planned for that country, schedand bands. Dr. T. Z. Koo's message The alternative, "Christianity or uled to start this spring. was short and to the point, empha- Communism," is stirring Chr-issizing the radical change in the lives tian forces to pay more attention Century-old stores of gold will of Christ's disciples as unimpeach- to community welfare. be removed from mountain monable evidence of the resurrection. By asteries and used to build highthe help of a loud speaker, the whole A start in this direction has ways, railroads, and establish assembly, accommodated on tiers of been made by Nanking Theolog- air lines and modern communiseats arranged in a large quadrangle, ical Seminary which has begun cation systems, according to Mr. was able to hear every word. a study of 100 representative rural churches in Ghina, in the The Gospel Spreading Life China's Millions says that many instances may be quoted to prove that the Gospel is per-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Enders. The grand lama does integrate it into the life of the and rural evangelism in pubnot plan to modernize Tibet in- nation. lishing a weekly magazine called dustrially, although power plants Severance Medical School in The Christian Herald. will be estahlished on mountain Seoul, Korea, was the first misstreams. He wishes to give his sionary hospital to be thus in- Social Gospel in Korea people certain advantages of the corporated. -Living Church. An article in a recent Chris- tian Advocate shows how new modern world, without import- Church Union in Japan ideals are influencing an ancient ing the industrial world's prob- country. A popular type of lems. The lama will try to es- The National Christian Coun- town work is the Well Babies' tablish a spiritual nation intent cil was instructed by the All- Clinic which not only looks after on keeping peace. Japan Christian Conference held last November to lend its good the baby but also influences the -Dayton News.
JAPAN-CHOSEN offices in furthering the work of mother and ultimately the whole the Commission on C h u r c h home. It also acts as a link be- tween the sick mother and the Population Increase Union appointed by that body. hospital. The provision of clean, Japan's population increased That Commission has been at standardized food for babies has 1,100,000 in 1935, according to a work during the year on the resulted in a revolutionary report from Tokyo. The aver- change in child nurture and age rate of increase has been questions of the form of or- gives prospects of lessening the from 800,000 to 900,000. The ganization for a United Church, notoriously high child mortality. birth rate for 1935 was 31 for The soy bean may be the means 1,000, while the death rate was a creedal statement and pro- of providing a cheap, nutritious, 16 for 1,000. The number of cedure. It has drawn up a premarriages was 556,730, showing liminary report, to be presented clean, milk substitute. an increase of 44,076 over the to the Council's Annual Meeting, It was once believed that Koprevious year. The number of expressing the following concludivorces was 48,528, or 0.70 per rean women could not study, 1,000, showing a decrease of 82 sions: That the United Church sing or play. Now one of the in actual number and of 0.01 in in i.ts organization does not the rate from 1934. necessarily require the realiza- departments of the women's col- tion of organic union, but the lege in Seoul trains Korean -China Weekly Review. adoption of a system of govern- women to be music teachers. Another early belief was that ment whieh will respect the Korean girls could not and autonomy of the various com- munions. That it is advisable to adopt the creed in the proposed would not take part in games. Faculty All Christian draft for Church Union – pre- Now the girls' college has a Wilmina School for Girls in sented last year – but incor- physical director, and the new porating the Apostles' Creed. plant includes a well-equipped Osaka is rejoicing because the That headquarters should be set gymnasium. This same girls' principal and everyone of the up in the center of the Empire; faculty of more than 60 J ap- college has a department of home that steps. should be taken to co- economics where an attempt is anese teachers are Christians. ordinate and unify the husiness being made to apply the benefits The number of students in- offices of .the various denomina- of science to the household econcreased from 450 in 1930 to tions and then advance by coop- omy of Korean homes. 1,060 in 1936. Each year about 100 girls from this school are erating on a nation-wide scale to In short, it has been proved baptized, with the full consent of bring about gradually a walking in many ways that Korean wom- and working together; that any en can do everything that women their families. -Monday Morning. new evangelistic campaigns, do anywhere. either within or outside Japan, Charter for Medical Center should be planned on a coopera- Carrying On in Korea tive basis through the above- Permission has been granted mentioned central headquarters; A letter from Mr. and Mrs. by the Minister of Home Affairs and that in order to nourish the Harry J. Hill, of Pyengyang, to incorporate St. Luke's Inter- faith of absentee church mem- says that in spite of the fact that national Medical Center under bers facilities should be made never in their 19 years of serv- Japanese law. The college of for the passing of church mem- ice have the forces of darkness nursing had previously been in- bers from one communion to an- been so determined as now, corporated, but the medical other. center as a whole had, from its doors are wide open to evanearly history, continued to exist C. E. in Chosen as a private mission enterprise. gelism ; and never a finer group The institution had grown to Nearly 1,300 Christian En- of volunteer workers. In Ocsuch proportions that those in deavor Societies, with 35,500 tober, 117 girlsoome for the members, are inactive operation Junior Bible Institute, one from Manchuria.
charge of the work felt that this in Chosen. The national C. E. The name of the all-year Bible step was necessary to safeguard Union is joining with the de- School for Women has been its future, and more thoroughly partments of religious education changed to Women's Biblical
Seminary. Calls for its grad- tion and wider knowledge, to under the transforming influence uates come from all over Korea, better material living and more of the one Bible saved from the 'and from J apanand Manchuria. widespread commercial activi- "Bounty," as it was taught to the These young women are leading ties, and best of all to better women and children by Young many to Christ in factories, hos- moral and spiritual progress. and Adams, after all the rest pitals, street chapels, homes and had been murdered and killed. government schools. The Evangelical Church in the Today we thank God for His Philippine Islands has helped Word, which was ,the means of The Institute for Blind and the people on their way by en- saving us from heathenism, and Deaf Boys now admits little deaf lightening their minds and com- doubtless cannibalism. . . . girls, as there is no other place forting their souls through the in Korea where they may learn Gospel of the Christ who said, "In your letter you ask to read and write, and use the "I am the way, the truth and the whether the National Bible Sosign language. This work is not life; no man cometh to the Fa- ciety of Scotland might have the under the Mission, but under the ther, but by me." privilege of s.ending a further Korean General Assembly. Fif- supply, if there was need. That teen blind and 20 deaf and dumb Rhine Mission Jubilee offer is unsurpassingly kind, for are taught by four part-time which we would return grateful blind teachers, one deaf and The Rhine Mission last year thanks. . . . Many of the older dumb and four part..,time sighted commemorated the 75th anniver- folk need large-print Bibles. teachers; with a blind evan- sary of its work in the Batak Our popUlation now numbers gelist calling regularly in homes country, Dutch Indies. The 215, including children who canof the blind. climax of the occasion was the not yet read. I leave it to you unveiling, in the Church square to send as many copies as you ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC at Siporok, of a monument 20 think advisable. I would be very feet high, a four-sided, trun- grateful also for a Teacher's "On Their Way" cated pyramid, which bears the Bible in large size, also one for inscription in Batakian on a my nephew, Richard Christian, Rev. Charles N. Magill, D.D., marble plate; "The Lord hath who is in need of one." was recently asked what he done great things for us, therethought was the most marked fore are we rejoiced." The New Britain's Village Schools material change that had taken monument stands on the spot place in the Philippines since where the first meeting of the In "Man in the Making," the his arrival in 1905, and he Rhine Mission was held. The author, R. R. Marett, defines replied: "Improvement in trans- Batak church is now numbered savagery as "intellectual confuportation." Facilities for trans- among the greatest and most im- sion combined with physical disportation have increased perhaps portant native churches of the comfort." Pioneer missionaries one thousand per cent. The world. to New Britain some 60 years rough mountain trails and the ago, Dr. George Brown and his dusty quasi roads of the dry sea- Bibles for Pitcairn Island band of Fijians, found people son and the mudholes, called who fitted ,this definition, but it roads, of the wet season, have The story of "The Mutiny on can no longer be truthfully apbecome first class highways over the Bounty" is well known. By plied to the majority in these w h i c h speeding automobiles, the reading of a Bible, which islands. busses and trucks carry multi- had been carried ashore from the tudes of people and the products ship, the whole of the island was The first aim of the mission of the country. Thirty years ago changed, and became a moral has been to assist the natives to travel was on foot, or on ponies, community in which the Gospel a right relationship to God; secor in two-wheeled rigs. This created an atmosphere of love ondly, to develop character and was slow, uncomfortable and ex- and peace. In 1848, when the citizenship; and thirdly, to enpensive. People did not travel news came to Britain of this re- able them to acquire those skills much as compared with the markable tllansformation, the which will assist them to protravel of today. Now there are Edinburgh Bible Society sent vide for their material welfare. thousands of miles of splendid out fifty Bibles for the benefit of New ethical standards and new roads and tens of thousands of the colonists. motives have been supplied as motor-vehicles in operation. old ones disintegrated. Village Every year millions of pas- In 1935, the Secretary of the schools have also worked toward sengers are "on their way." National Bible Society of Scot- raising standards of health. land, sent a letter ,to the descend- This includes such training in Within three decades there ants of the mutineers. Extracts practical gaI'dening as will enhave been introduced and put from the reply sent by Mrs. sure a more consistent and varinto effective operation "ways Edgar Christian, wife of a fifth ied supply of food. Often a naand means" to help the people generation descendant of Flether tive community is sick largely not only in traveling over high- Christian of the "Bounty," will because of improper diet. ways, but in progress to better be of interest: "We raIl know government, to better laws and how the scenes of vileness, The future of these mission quicker justice, to fuller educa- cruelty, and murder gave way schools is uncertain. Either the Administration will gradually
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
establish its own elementary study and to aid Sunday school from pastors to whom a quesschools, in which case the mis- teachers and officers in their tionnaire had been sent. sion system will no longer be re- church work, by making five quired; or the Administration tours. Five teams, visiting 72 In response to the first queswill assist in maintaining schools high schools and 58 churches, tion: "Have you had or do you of greater efficiency than is pos- reached more than 5,000 church plan some evangelistic effort sible with limited financial re- members and 6,000 high school during the present c h u r c h sources. students. -Monday Morning. year?" In response to this ques- tion, 655 ministers answered -Missionary Review of For Better Movies yes; fifty-five answered no; and Australia. eleven did not answer. The "Legion of Decency" sug- NORTH AMERICA gests some restrictions to insure In response to the question as proper motion pictures. Here to whether or not they felt there What Makes Criminals? are a few: was a growing spirit of evan- gelism among the pople, the an- Dr. Amos O. Squire, for many No picture shall be produced in swers were as follows: Yes, 398 ; years head physician at Sing which evil is made to appear attrac- No, 196; no answer, 127. Sing Penitentiary, in an address tive, and good unattractive; in which on "Youth and Crime in Modern the sympathy of the audience is In answer to the question as America," revealed some star- thrown on the side of wrongdoing, to whether or not the spirit of tling facts. He said: evil and sin, or against goodness, evangelism was growing among honor, innocence, purity, or honesty; Sunday school teachers, 443 of "In 1900 the average age of in which law-human or divine-shall the 721 pastors answered yes; criminals in America was forty; be ridiculed, or sympathy be created 148 answered no, and 130 did today it is. twenty.,three. Forty for its violation; in which the treat- not answer. The ministers were per cent of the atrocious crimes ment of crime makes heroes of crim- asked to give the number of adcommitted in America are by inals and seems to justify their ditions they had had during the youths still in their teens. One actions. first six months of the church hundred and seventeen thousand year. A total of 5,521 additions are now imprisoned in Federal -Alliance Weekly. on confession of faith was reand State prisons, while 200,000 ported by six hundred ministers. more are confined in county jails An Atheist Converted The other 121 ministers either and reformatories." reported that they had had no Martin S. Charles was a additions or did not fin out that His explanation of this, in a young preacher whose Christian part of the report. word, is the breakdown of Amer- faith was undermined by false ican home life. He said: teaching that he became an Twenty colleges of the denom- atheist. He founded The God- ination indicate that they have The breakdown of religious author- less World magazine, conducted some definite plans for keeping ity has left character seriously un- twenty-two public de bat e s the claims of Christ before the founded. A boy whose character has against Christian ministers, and students under their direction. no deep religious foundation experi- held offices in the Association for ences a serious shock if his home is the Advancement of Atheism. -Christian Observer. broken up. Perhaps his parents be- Then, after twelve years, he was come divorced, or they separate, or supernaturally stopped in this Elyria, Ohio, Men's League they live together, but in perpetual career, being convinced of the strife and unpleasantness. The effect reauty of the existence of the The men of Elyria, Ohio, on the boy is to unhinge him, and he One whom he had denied. He United Presbyterian Church drifts into crime. Forty-five per cent has recently been conducting a who formed a local Men's Misof the boys who are coming to Sing "Back to the Bible Mission" in sionary League in November, ~ing, having previously served a term Fort Wayne, Indiana. 1933, have no thought of quit- In the Reformatory, are children of ting, for since the last anniverbroken homes. Conceit, if pursued -So S. Times. sary a new project has develintensely enough and long enough, oped, in addition to their foreign tends to produce a definite mental Presbyterian Diamond Jubilee mission obligation of supportunbalance. Character, religiously ing a native missionary in India. founded, will stand up under serious The Diamond Jubilee of the When the pastor, Rev. George shock. Southern Presbyterian Church, A. Brown, visited Colorado last was celebrated last December. summer he found a small mining -Christian Advocate. One of the chief objects was the town, Tellurite, without a resi- promotion of a renewed spirit of dent minister for many years. Christian Education Tours e van gel ism throughout the Getting in touch with church of- Chur.ch; and in particular to ficials, Mr. Brown has been the Seven denominations – Pres- win 25,000 new members on con- instigator of placing a missionbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, fession of faith in the home ary there, and the Men's League Baptist, Congregational, Chris- Church and 10,000 in the for- will contribute to this project. tian and Moravian-Jamestown eign field. College, and the State Council of With a foreign and home proj- Christian Education worked to- Dr. B. K. Tenney, secretary ect now a definite part of their gether from October 19 to No- of the Jubilee Committee, re- activities, the local league begins vember 8 in an effort to acquaint ports on replies so far received high school students with the North Dakota plan of Bible
the fourth year with renewed Keystone School of the Bible have carried on daily advertise- ment about Christianity for vigor and a determination to A new international training some months, and a number of keep growing. Since last year enquiries have been received. In several new men's missionary school has been opened in Pitts- India, a weekly article inserted leagues have been formed. burgh at 535 Penn Ave. The in a Karachi paper has brought school has a directorate of nine enquiries from people of all -Elyria Daily. ministers and thirteen laymen. classes and faiths. An experi- It is conservative in theology. ment in Christian journalism is Stewardship at Asheville also being carried on in Moham- The President is Rev. A. Gordon medan countries; while in Spain Ike and Mike were two pigs MacLennan, D.D., pastor of the the editor of El Popular, a raised for the Lord by several Shadyside United Presbyterian widely read paper, has agreed to Asheville Farm School boys. Church of Pittsburgh, Pa. The publish a Christian article of Daily the owners cared for their Dean is Wm. S. Hawks, B.A., 1,000 words every Sunday for a charges and watched them grow. year. Following the corn harvest the from the Davis Memorial Bible boys gleaned several bushels of School of Binghamton, N. Y. Leper Statistics corn from the field for their pigs. The school is supported entirely Finally, having grown round and by voluntary contributions and is one of the 66 cooperating in- fat, the pigs were sold. After all stitutions throughout the coun- Medical returns from fiftyexpenses were paid the proceeds try which includes the Standard four leper homes and hospitals went as a contribution to the Training Course of the Evan- in India, China, Korea and young people's missionary budg- gelical Teacher Training Asso- Africa where work is mainet in the presbytery. ciation. Eight men compose the tained by the Mission to Lepers, The Lord's Acre Club at Ashe- faculty. afford some indication of prog- ville Normal School, organized ress made during the year: two years ago, has twenty-three Negroes in Detroit Eleven thousand, nin~ hundred and members who annually clear a twenty-two patients had been under plot of ground of brush and The Negro population in De- treatment for not less than three troit has risen from 40,838 in months. Of theseweeds, and plow, plant and hoe 1920, to about 135,000 in 1936, it. One member stays during the larger portion of this in- One thousand and fifty-four had bethe summer to cultivate the crease coming from villages and come disease arrested cases without crops. From the sale price all rural sections of the South. deformity (i.e., symptom free). Housing conditions are reported expenses are met. The net pro- as bad; health conditions, as Five hundred and twenty-seven had ceeds the first year were fifteen might be expected under these become disease arrested cases with dollars and the second year sev- housing conditions, are also bad. deformity. enteen dollars. Six hundred and ten churches Three thousand, nine hundred and -Presbyterian Banner. eighteen had much improved.
Two thousand, eight hundred and fifty-three had slightly improved.
One thousand, two hundred and two minister to the Negro popula- were apparently stationary. Awards for Missionary tion. Forty-five per cent of Of the remaining cases some had Sermons these are "store-front or house become worse and a considerable num- Awards for the best sermons churches." Numerous cuI t s ber had left or died. Seven hundred on foreign missions are offered flourish among the Negroes and and seventy-six of the cases arrested without deformity had been discharged by the Centennial Council of the constitute a serious problem. and 168 of those arrested with de- Presbyterian Board of Foreign The report warns that the Negro formity. In addition, upwards of Missions, in connection with is fast drifting away from the 7,500 lepers had been treated as outtheir centennial this year. For patients. Where the attendances had faith of our fathers into some- been regular the results had been enthe best sermon which has been thing else. Thousands of them couraging; 142 outpatients were repreached to an actual congrega- have become communists asking ported to have become arrested or tion, $150 will be awarded, with "Who is God?" "What good is symptom-free cases. the church?" They have been $75 for second place, $25 for told that it is the mother of race The chief problem in the conthird, $10 for fourth and, for hatred, prejudice, war, capital- ism, lynching, injustice and trol of leprosy is to prevent the each of the six next best ser- slavery. mons, there will be awarded a infection of children. Where copy of "One Hundred Years," -Presbyterian Banner. the centennial history by Dr. this can be accomplished the dis- Arthur J. Brown. MISOELLANEOUS ease should become negligible Each sermon should be typed, within one generation. .
-Without the Camp.
on one side of the paper and New Newspaper Evangelism Lutheran World Front should be accompanied, on a sep- arate sheet, by the name and ad- Newspaper evangelism, first A "Lutheran Front," massing dress of the writer, and the ser- tried out in Japan, is steadily the more than 80,000 members mon's text and theme. It must reaching into other countries. of this body behind a very defireach Room 913, 156 Fifth Ave., In China, the movement is still nite evangelical program for New York, before April 1, 1937. new, but two Hankow papers world betterment, will take vig-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
orous form within the next four day schools. Remarkable growth ment is organized to inaugurate years. Headquarters for this is reported from the former and maintain in the educational program will be established in German colonies; Tanganyika work of the church such definite increased over 40,000, the Cam- programs of teaching and wor- Berlin. For the achievement of Luth- erouns 10,000, and Southwest ship, based upon the Word of eran Solidarity a series of spe- Africa 8,000. The Union of God, and interpreting the life cific tasks has been mapped out. South Africa increased over and teaching of Jesus Christ as There will be gathered "an en- 100,000 since 1932. Brazil in- shall lead to interracial undercyclopaedic file of information creased 43 %; Argentina, 34'fa. standing, international concord concerning a II L u the ran The situation in the larger and the ab-owlit.ioSn. of war. Churches of the world." There Sunday school constituencies in S. A. News.
will be prepared for publication Burma, Ceylon, India, China and Christian Humanitarian in 1940, a revised edition of Japan has not changed materi- League "Lutheran Churches of the ally, though Japan reports an in- World," first published in 1930. crease of eight thousand. The A Christian Humanitarian Periodical bulletins will be is- loss reported in China is more League has been established and sued to the Lutheran Church apparent than real, as the figures held its first meeting at The Press of the world. A "Central for Manchuria and Mongolia Hague at the close of last year. Bureau of Relief" will be estab- have been deducted. India con- This League has set up as its lished. The executive secretary tinues to have the largest Sun- general principle: "The only will be the official representative day school enrolment in Asia, of the Lutheran Churches of the with Korea holding second place. just basis for the construction world. There is to be built up of a new social life is the Chrisan international Lutheran pulpit North America, Sunday school tian doctrine, which sets us the stronghold of the world, shows task of being human; that is to and lecture exchange. a falling off, though it should be say, in all respects and under all The Executive Committee, noted that other youth move- circumstances to do our Chris- ments and religious education tian duty in the spirit of truth, recognizing that the present day projects have increased. Eu- justice and love. For the buildis one "of enlarging relation- rope, as a continent, shows a net ing up of a new social life, emoships," a day when "religious loss, but gains are reported in tion and reason must be healthily Poland, Greece, and even har- and normally developed and bodies that have always laid assed Spain. Russia is out of work together in harmony. Reclaim to ecumenical character the picture entirely. ligion, truth and justice are the are pressing those claims with most important foundations of new vigor," have issued a dec- Peace Resolution this new social life." laration as to Lutheran participation in general world-wide re- Perhaps the most important The urgent necessi.ty for a ligious movements, saying: and far-reaching action taken concerted effort against atheism by the Oslo World's Sunday was emphasized at this meeting. "The Lutheran Churches of School Convention was the Peace the world should proceed with Resolution. Every Convention Forward – Day by Day united front on their relations since 1904 has adopted a peace with ecumenical Christian move- resolution, but this Convention The Protestant Episcopal ments, general cooperative or- realized that better than a reso- Church has issued a booklet ganizations, or C h r i s t ian lution is the development of containing daily Bible readings Churches claiming universality. Christian men and women who with comments, practical sug- They should agree among them- can reach across national bound- gestions for Christian living, selves as to their united partici- aries and extend the hand of fel- and prayers called "Forwardpation or nonparticipation." lowship to those of all races and Day by Day." This booklet has been widely distributed; alto- -International Christian Press.
Achievements in Religious nationalities, with a desire for gether 3,625,000 copies have Education mutual understanding and com- been bought and paid for. In mon endeavor in behalf of the addition to regular congrega- There are nearly a million welfare of all. There can un- tions from coast to coast, this more Sunday school pupils in doubtedly be no lasting basis for manual goes into prisons, re- the world today than there were peace that is not built upon a formatories, hospitals, sanatofour years ago. Africa is cred- more vital Christianity, without riums, camps, schools, and to ited with more than half this which peace pacts and interna- the employees in bus i n e s s gain, or 581,721. Notable gains tional treaties will continue to be houses.
were made in Belgian Congo, mere scraps of paper. The Peace Translated into Japanese it Angola, Rhodesia and French Resolution adopted by the Oslo has been distributed to 271 con- Equatorial A f ric a. Uganda Convention differs from those of gregations in Japan. It goes to made its first report showing an former Conventions in that it everyone of the Church's for- enrolment of 2,000 in the Sun- calls upon all constituent units eign mission fields. In Canada day schools and over 100,000 re- of the Association in every field and the United States it goes ceiving religious instruction in where the Sunday school move- into homes of scattered settlers.
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Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information I Iril~==~~=======-=~~ An Advancing Church in Latin The third chapter, "The Hun- writes and whom he describes. America. By Kenneth G. Grubb. 256 pp. 38. 6d. Marshall, Morgan dredth Milestone," gives an out- The description of scenes in the & Scott. London. 1936. line of the history of the Evan- various countries is true to life, Mr. Grubb is a past master in the art of condensation. The gelical Movement in L a tin and the value of the text is enlittle book whose title is given America, since its founding, now hanced by a number of wellabove and which has less than 80 pages is multum in parvo. more than a century ago; the chosen illustrations, unusually Rarely does a reader find so much information condensed fourth, "God and Cresar," deals clear and attractive. Throughinto so few pages, and in such with the rising tide of national- out the book, but particularly in short space, and the information given is unusually correct and ism as it impinges on the prog- the chapter on Peru, there is up-to-date, inasmuch as the author has recently made a close ress of the Evangelical churches, frequent and sympathetic refer- and personal study of the coun- and the fifth and closing chapter ence to the Indian population, tries and the problems of which he writes. The seventeen re- deals with "The Significance of and a moving presentation of publics of Hispanic America, as the Indian," that submerged the physical, spiritual, and ecoalso the three Caribbean republics, Cuba, Santo Domingo and portion of the population that nomic needs of this portion, Haiti, plus the island of Puerto Rico, are brought under review might well call out with the which, in some cases, is the main this small volume, and he who reads its chapters carefully will Psalmist, "No man cared for my jority of the entire population. be much more knowing in regard soul." W. E. B. No doubt some of his readers to our friends, the other Americans, and the problems with will not agree with what the auwhich they contend. Why South America? By A. Stuart thor believes to be the best meth- The first chapter, "From Mex- McNairn. 145 pp. 28. 6d. Marico to Cape Horn," is, in a sense, shall, Morgan & Scott. London. ods of organization and carry- 1936. an introduction to those that fol- ing on the work of the churches low, since it gives much of the This is a book by an author physical and historical setting who is thoroughly familiar with and groups of believers. But all his subject. He was for a numof the various republics and ber of years a missionary in intelligent students of missions their peoples. In the second South America, and, in more rechapter, the author comes to cent years, has served as a mis- will applaud his insistence on grips with what is evidently the sionary secretary, in which posi- tion his long experience on the the necessity of the missionary main problem of the book, in his field has no doubt been of great treatment of "The Necessary service to his board. By fre- to give his time to the raising up Evangelical Church." T his quent and extended visits to all church will be, in essence, we are parts of the continent, Mr. Mc- of "faithful men who will be told, "a Fellowship of the Burn- Nairn has become thoroughly ing Heart," a band of brothers familiar with this field. able to teach others also," thus whose hearts God has touched. While the book, very natu- making it possible, in time, for It will be a band, not necessarily rally, gives more attention to the of intellectuals, but of all re- work that is being carried on by the missionary himself to pass deemed sinners, a true expres- the Evangelical Union of South sion of the communion of saints America, the missionary board on to other fields that are as yet and of their reunion in the Body with which the author has been of which Christ is the living long identified, it will neverthe- unreached. W. E. B. Head. less interest and instruct a much larger community of readers. Pastor and People. By O. C. S. Wal- The references to history and lace, D.D., Litt.D. 128 pp. $1.25. other developments of the differ- Broadman Press. Nashville, Tenn. ent sections of the continent are 1936. reliable and informing, and the reader will correctly gather the In twenty-five brief and inti- impression that Mr. McNairn mate chapters, Dr. Wallace dis- not only knows, but loves the cusses many of the problems land and the people of which he which face the modern minister and his congregation: pulpit poses and voices, understand- able speech, postsermonic "let- downs," songs and singers,. offi- cers and officiousness, meddle;. some men and flattering women, ushers and their larger calling, the minister as a steward and a man of God, the sacraments, and a host of other important ques- tions. He writes with sympathy, clarity and insight, and with a Any of the hooks noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[172 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
wealth of fresh illustrative de- thought does not concern itself many influences are promoting tail. with obsolete theories regarding it, especially in Turkey, Egypt, the death of our Saviour. Nor and Persia. Hugh Walpole once wrote, "If can it accept belief in the actual an author is to survive a year or resurrection '(page 231). Even With the new economic role two after his death he had bet- the Synoptic Gospels must be in which women are playing ter cultivate the spirit of kind- stripped of supernaturalism be- their part and crossing the liness in his work." In this fore they are trustworthy. threshold of professional life, short volume the vet era n there is, of course, the danger preacher and teacher – he was Aside from this viewpoint, the of liberty becoming license. The eighty November last – demon- book contains many excellences. author points out the effects of strates the ministerial embodi- The weakest chapter, next to old social customs on health and ment of that essential virtue. that on Christianity, is that on the higher standards that are Islam, where the author or the now advocated. The two later R. 1. LINDQUIST. proof reader is responsible for chapters deal with the widening many curious blunders. sphere of women's interests and Living Religions and Mod ern the pressure of change on Islam Thought. By Alban G. Widgery. S. M. ZWEMER. itself by the new womanhood. 306 pp. $2.50. Round Table Press. New York. 1936. Moslem Women Enter a New World. The illustrations are remark- By Ruth Frances Woodsmall. 431 ably fine, and the author's style The title of this book and the pp. $3.00. Round Table Press. is attractive. The book gives author's qualifications as Profes- New York. 1936. very few references to authorisor of Philosophy at Duke Uni- ties and no statistics; the latter versity lead one to expect great In many respects, this is the is understandable. As the authings. Throughout the book is best book we have had in Eng- thor remarks, scholarly and thought-provok- lish on womanhood in the world ing, and presents a comprehen- of Islam. Miss Woodsmall is Statistics today are half-truths tosive and ethical view of the General Secretary of the World's morrow. The subtle nuances of world's living religions. The ar- Y. W. C. A., and spent nine years change are of real significance. To rangement is logical, and the in the Near East. Later, through see one woman from a high-class author has a concise style with a traveling fellowship, she jour- family of Mecca today unveiled would facility for factual classification. neyed beyond the Near East into be a more surprising symptom of Persia and India. Long-time change than the thousands now un- To the Christian, however, residence might give a more in- veiled in Istanbul. I have tried, therewho accepts the ecumenical timate portrayal of the present fore, primarily to understand the creeds and the historicity of the conditions, but none could do it trends of Eastern life, the currents Gospels, this book is a dis- with greater sympathy and a already visible on the surface and the appointment. Christianity is bolder sweep of the pen. undercurrents which determine the placed with the other living re- main movement, using statistics, ligions only as the climax of hu- The rising tide of social where available, only as subsidiary man effort to understand God change is flooding the Near East indications of change. It is evident and the universe. The author and obliterating many Islamic that the very essence of change makes begins that chapter by saying: customs. On its crest it carries it impossible accurately to portray it, a new freedom for womanhood. for while you have stopped to record Founded by a Jew, in its funda- But the undertow is still very trends of change, life has moved on. mental spirit Christianity is essen- strong, and it is here that one Today a new book each month could tially a continuance of prophetic would like the important state- scarcely keep up with the changing Judaism. With allowance for the ef- ment, made by the author her- status of Moslem women; whereas fects of differences of individual char- self, underscored in the preface, formerly one every century would acter and environment, Jesus and and as a footnote on nearly every have given a fair picture, for there Paul may be considered in the line of page of the volume: "Ninety was no change. Hebrew prophets. per cent of the people in the Near East are still untouched by We have two criticisms, how- Religion is even now in proc- the film, but the remaining ten ever. The first is that the causes ess of development. There are per cent represent the important for all thi,s social upheaval and many pathways which lead to progressive minority who s e the dawn of a better day are not God. thought today is in a large meas- sufficiently indicated. One would ure determined by the film" (p. expect an appreciation of the The religious wealth of mankind 27). fact that the whole educational will most probably be increased by program for womanhood in Mosscholarly adherents of particular re- What is true of the film is lem lands is due to the initiative ligions remaining faithful to their re- true of all the other social and of Christian missions. A second ligions and striving to realize the intellectual changes so admirably omission, which is less excusable, elements of value in them. The way sketched as milestones in prog- is that the author gives so little to comprehensive truth and unity is ress. The trend is undoubtedly attention to Islam and its teachnot likely to be found in the present away from polygamy and the ing regarding womanhood, as universal adoption of anyone existing old freedom of divorce. The the background for her picture. religion. marriage age is rlsmg. There The appendix of three pages, in is an educational awakening, and which some badly translated The living religions, treated verses of the Koran are quoted, by the author, are all measured is scarcely adequate. by such a twenty-inch yardstick. According to the writer, modern
Previous writers on the sub- two religions. It may lead many proper Christian home, or it will ject (Robertson Smith, Perron, to a fuller knowledge of the not be done at all. Mansur-Fahmi, and 0 the r s) Christ of whom Isaiah testified. seem to agree that the position Each church must be domof womanhood in Arabia before The Church and the Churches. By inated by Christ, the Christ of Islam was better than it became Karl Barth. 92 pp. 75 cents. Wm. the Scriptures. through the legislation of the B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. Grand Prophet. No less an authority Rapids, Mich. 1936. FRANCIS SHUNK DOWNS. than Professor Duncan B. Macdonald states: "I do not think The World Conference on With Christ Into Tomorrow. By that there can be any question Faith and Order to be held in Hunter B. Blakely. 8vo. 160 pp. that the position of women in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August, 50 cents, paper; cloth, 75 cents. Islam is practically due to the 1937, has doubtle,ss been the oc- 1936. Presbyterian Committee of attitude of Mohammed himself. casion for the writing of this Publication, Richmond, Va. 1936. Monogamy would be the rule in book. Professor Barth is such Islam, while the veil would a fearless and forceful thinker, This mission study book, writnever have existed except for with a flair for fairness and yet ten by the pastor of the First the insane jealousy of Moham- with such a forthrightness of Presbyterian Church, Staunton, med." It is not true, as we read style, that anything coming from Virginia, signalizes the concluon page 376, that "customs, his pen is eagerly read, whether sion of seventy-five years' hisrather than the actual teaching or not we agree with all of his tory of the Presbyterian Church of the Koran, resulted later in positions. in the U. S. The six chapters the veiling and seclusion of are as follows: women" ; nor that "by incor- The four chapters are sugporating the various social re- gestive in their headings: The Our Groping World forms such as the restriction of Unity of the Church, The Mul- Our Adequate Christ polygamy and inheritance rights tiplicity of the Churches, The Our Compelling Mission directly into hi,s religious teach- Union of the Churches, a Task; His Universal Church ings, Mohammed proved himself and The Church in the Churches. His Abiding Method to be a practical idealist." Ex- Professor Barth maintains that His Ultimate Victory actly the opposite is the fact. because the one and only Word Mansur Fahmi, an Egyptian of God has once for all been The author says: "My hope in Moslem, states: "The ancient uttered in the fact of the Incar- Arab woman was happy in her nation, the Church is one in the sending this little book on its home. She lived. Soon Islam, task to proclaim this coming of with its diverse institutions, its God to earth and "to summon way is that the reader may be theocratic laws, and the conse- men to believe in its reality." If quences that followed, changed we are to realize the unity of stimulated to think creatively the Church we must first accept the customs and the activity of Jesus Christ as the Head and concerning the Christian duty of women was paralyzed." This is Lord of the Church. "Jesus Christ as the one Mediator be- world evangelism, and to face very different from the idealized tween God and man is the one- Islam of Miss Woodsmall's book. ness of the Church, is that unity squarely the personal obligation within which there may be a S. M. ZWEMER. multiplicity of communities, of for giving Christ to a needy gifts, of persons within one The Shepherd Prince. A Historical Church, while through it a mul- world." Romance of the Times of the tiplicity of churches are ex- Prophet Isaiah. Translated from cluded." Therefore he concludes, Dr. Blakely is one of the lead- the Hebrew masterpiece of Abra- if we listen to Christ, it is "un- ham Mapu by B. A. M. Schapiro. thinkable that great e n t ire ing young ministers of his de- Introduction by the late Robert groups of communities should Dick Wilson. 400 pp. $2.75. stand over against each other in nomination. His book is sim- Brookside Pub. Co. New York. such a way that their doctrines 1936. and confessions of faith are mu- ilar in purpose and plan to the tually contradictory." In this classic the translator larger book, "Missions Tomorhas preserved the fire, pathos Dr. Barth concludes his book with a statement of the essential row," by Latourette, and forms and intensity of the author's ro- conditions under which it would mance interwoven with drama be possible to share in such a an excellent companion piece to and tragedy. Both Christians genuine effort of union towards a living Church. Real unity is that volume. It is ideally adaptand faithful Jews will find a advanced as we listen to Christ fresh concept of the God of in our own Church. Union work ed to mission study classes and must be done wit h i n the Abraham. The novel helps one churches, he believes, as its reading groups not only in the to understand the Jewish race and reading it should help to Southern Presbyterian Church cement the bonds of friendship but for a wider circle. Approxibetween the followers of these mately ten thousand copies have already been used in mission study circles during November.
Mrs. W. W. Draper's "Helps for Leaders," in teaching "With Christ Into Tomorrow" (price 15 cents) is issued by the same publishers. H. KERR TAYLOR.
Tangled Waters. By Florence Cran- nell Means. $2.00. Houghton, Mifflin Co. New York. 1936.
Too many American Indian stories are told from the white man's point of view. Once this meant contemptuous ignorance of native traditions; today, on the other hand, we often find a
forced and artificial enthusiasm the blanket secretly woven by of more than seventy years, which takes no account of their the young girl in defiance of which has carried the Gospel to hopeless incompatibility with tribal taboos, copying a sacred every province of Inland China modern life. Such new juveniles sand-painting for a collector who and to its almost inaccessible deas "Singing Sands" by Grace pays liberally; the search for pendencies, begins with the over- Moon, and "Indians Today," by hidden treasure; the desper- whelming sense of God's Love Mario and Mabel Scacheri, are ately sick child carried out of and the desire to be given some really part of the current super- the hogan by a superstitious fa- self-denying service for Him ficial propaganda for Indian cul- ther and left to die alone and un- which filled the heart of young tures as something to be pre- tended, till happily rescued by Hudson Taylor shortly after his served, or revived, among con- the indignant white doctor; the conversion. This longing for an temporary young Americans of plans for a forced wedding "Outlet for Love" pointed him Indian descent. broken up at the last moment by to China's measureless need and For these reasons, "Tangled Altolie's school friend and a led to the founding of the Waters," is the more welcome to plucky little missionary woman C. 1. M., though he first served thinking people. This story will -all these are woven into a for four years under a Society not only please the young girls strong plot. whose running into debt trou- for whom it is primarily in- "Tangled Waters" is recom- bled him. He "could not think tended, but will interest and in- mended, not only as a story but that God was poor or unwilling form their elders. It combines as giving the right clue to a very to supply any need of whatever a vivid and sympathetic picture human and troublesome prob- work was His." The history of of present-day Navajo life with lem. It has passed the scrutiny the Mission is one long record the frank and intelligent treat- of several specialists in Navajo of answers to the prayer of life, and is especially advised for faith. Love always found a ment of a typical situation. Mrs. Means, who has spent missionary societies and school way, often an adventurous one many weeks in Arizona during libraries. which taught the missionary to nine years past, introduces us to "I think it is the difference laugh at rough places, to suffer a family of native sheep-herders, between their beliefs and ours," extreme perils undauntedly, and characteristically dominated by says Altolie, speaking of her to be "strong as death" through the fiercely conservative old white friends, who do not trem- the terrors of 1900. Love found grandmother. The N a va j 0 ble before malicious spirits in its reward in the great awakenwomen, as is usual, do most of air and water or fear to touch ing of China which followed, the' work. The native "singer" the dead and dying, even when seized its opportunity and, or "Medicine-Man" must be their nearest and dearest. "I, through all testings and discalled when there is illness and too, would like to live without tresses, with undismayed courhe is well paid for his mum- fear!" ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN. age and unfeigned fidelity, though pressed on every side mery. Altolie's stepfather is a By Love Compelled. The Call of the and meeting financial ordeals in confirmed gambler. The old lady, his mother, is planning to China Inland Mission. By Marshall forced evacuations, ever made Broomhall. 126 pp. 35 cents, the same reply, that it would trimarry our heroine as soon as paper. London, Hodder & Stough- umph "at all costs," even cap- possible to the ne'er-do-well son ton, 1936. Marshall Broomhall, chief aide tivity and the loss of life itself. of a richer family.
The fifteen-year-old girl has for many years of Hudson Tay- If anyone has been deceived wholly natural and spontaneous lor, founder of the China Inland by the specious claims of theaspirations toward the marvel- Mission, years ago gave to the oretic Communism, one chapter ous new opportunities presented world a detailed history of that of this book, with its ghastly picby school and mission. Presently unique missionary enterprise. ture of Red massacres and deva bad fall opens the way, and at He has now rendered an equal astations, should prove an adethe mission hospital she is put service to the many who would quate antidote. into a bed "like a warmed snow- lose the benefit of that volumi- The last chapter describes the drift." Here· she meets with nous work through its very size, close fellowship of the organizaterror, soon merged in joy and by presenting the gist of it, tion, under wise leadership, with confidence, the white doctor with brought down to date, in this equal provision for all members bright blue eyes "of a keen kind- modest and cheap form, stress- from funds never directly apliness." Since more time is ing the heart and sinew of this pealed for but always supplied needed to heal a torn tendon, greatly blessed enterprise in the for every emergency. Altolie is placed in a near-by "faith which worketh by love." school for regular treatments, Previous publications of the C. H. FENN.
and there by an attractive boy a Mission have laid the greater Mexico Today. Col. Irving Speed little further along the new road stress on Faith: in this book, Wallace. 364 pp. $2.00. Meador she is encouraged to forget "Love rings out from every Pub. Co. Boston. 1936. homesickness and press on to page with a marvelously clear Of the making of books on better things. note." Latin America, or on this or that The cloud-burst in the canyon; This brief "sketch" of a work country of the 20 which form
that geographical entity, there as .more or less of equal im- j ects. It is interesting to note seems to be no end; and very portance. Some fault is found that Dr. Lane refers to THE with both Church and State, in MISSIONARY REVIEW more freoften the reading of them has their somewhat confused rela- quently than to any other magabeen a weariness to the flesh. tions, but the author gives credit zine except the North American Many have been written after a to each. Review-which has been in exhurried trip around the con- istance 30 years longer. Many writers on Latin Amertinent, in a comfortable steamer, ica reveal an evident dislike for Frank Mason North, 1850-1935. A and after having seen the sights the people, and approach their Biographical Sketch and Appreciaof some important cities from a subject with a fully developed tion. Published by his friends. modern hotel as a base. Such superiority complex. Colonel 1936. books may be interesting, but Wallace shows that he likes Mexico and the Mexicans, and A Christian is known by his such information as they give is he envisages the time when there friends and his achievements. will be a closer cultural under- Frank Mason North was a man not likely to be true to the facts. standing between the United greatly beloved and highly hon- States, Canada, and Mexico, ored by many and the influence In "Mexico Today," Colonel even to the point that, should the of his life and work extends occasion arise, their flags may around the world. He was born Irving Speed Wallace gives us a be "unfurled in one united de- in New York, was graduated book of a different type. He has fence." from Wesleyan University and in 1873 became a minister of the not been content with the usual Anyone who reads "Mexico Methodist Episcopal Church. trip around or across the con- Today" with care and attention, For twenty years he was a pastinent. His writing is limited to will be much more intelligent in tor; for another twenty years the republic of Mexico, and he regard to our neighbor republic, he was corresponding secretary wrote only after years of travel much more sympathetic with the of the New York City Church government in its attempt to Extension and Missionary Soand adventure, not only in the raise the moral and cultural ciety and for twelve years was larg cities, but also after per- level of the people, and will corresponding secretary of the sonal experience with mountain understand more fully the strug- Board of Foreign Missions. His gles which that people has other activities, offices and contrails and life in the most re- undergone in its attempt to free nections were too many to. remote hamlets. He went among itself from the shackles of feud- cord. As a poet and hymn alism and the bondage of an ec- writer he was well known and an untutored and semicivilized clesiastical system which sought some of his songs are widely population, as well as making no advantage save its own. used in many churches. They contacts with representatives of will live even where the author W. E. BROWNING. is unknown. A son, Dr. Eric the cultured classes. Therefore, M. North, is secretary of the the reading of his book is not Missions in Magazines. By Ortha American Bible Society. only interesting; it is also illu- May Lane. Pamphlet. Tientsin minating. In twenty chapters, Press Ltd. Tientsin. 1936. Gordon. A Drama in Three Acts. By E. J. Richter. Pamphlet. 50 he gives us a great deal of infor- Here is an interesting study cents. Capano Press. New York. of the treatment of Protestant mation in regard to methods of foreign missions in American "Chinese Gordon" is ever a Transportation, the Six – Year magazines from 1810 to 1935. heroic Christian figure, a martyr Plan, the New School System, It is a treatise in preparation for to the cause of British rule in the the degree of Ph.D. in the Grad- Sudan. This drama presents Home Life, the National Sport uate College of Iowa State Uni- briefly and accurately the events -which is bull fighting-makes versity. The aim of the study CUlminating in the fall of Khar- is to show how much and what tum in 1885. Twenty-five chara very sympathetic reference to kind of Protestant missionary acters appear besides sheikhs, the present able and energetic information American maga- dervishes and tribesmen. The President of the Republic, and zines will print; also the scenes take place in London, adds attractive references to changes in this respect in the Cairo, Khartunl, and the camp past 125 years. Most modern of the Mahdi. It is not a misquaint old Spanish customs of editors of secular magazines are sionary drama, and may be a the people. not interested in the religious little difficult to stage, but it has aspects of missions but will a stirring appeal for those who There is no chapter specially print articles dealing chiefly believe in the necessity of prodedicated to the relations of with political, sociological and moting peace and human wel- human interest values. This fare by the use of British armies State and Church, but there are study will be of especial value to and the sacrifice of men and several references to the reli- editors, mission board officials money. gious situation, written from an and writers on missionary sub- unbiased standpoint. His description of a conversation with an innkeeper in one of the smaller towns, whom he asked why the bull ring is always near to the church, comes very close to the real heart of the question. The innkeeper, after due reflec- tion, said that he supposed they were "put close together so that the folks could go to the bull fight from the church and lose no time." Both were classed together in the life of the people
Lights in the Near East. By of "A History of Korea," "The Van- Rev. Andrew Gih, the evangelist
Abdul-Fady (Arthur T. Upson). guard," and "Korea in Transition." the Bethel Mission, Shanghai, who re- 128 pp. Illus. 2s. 6d. Marshall, Dr. Gale is survived by his second cently visited America, was born as Morgan and Scott, London. 1936. wife, Ada Louise Sale Gale, a son, a the son of a Buddhist scholar. In daughter and two stepdaughters. his youth he was antagonistic to the The author was, until re- Christian message, and vowed that he cently, Director of the Nile Mis- *** would never become a Christian. sion Press in Cairo. He is one of the few foreigners ever in Dr. Thomas N. Chalmers, a clergy- The Presbyl:erian Egypt who could, unaided, write man of the United Presbyterian articles in Arabic which needed Church and head of a Christian Mis- A weekly religious newspaper in no correction before publishing. sion to the Jews in New York, died its lo6th year of continuous pub- This book is made up of reminis- in Tampa, Florida, on January 29, Iication under the same name. cences of his busy life; of strik- at the age of 78. Dr. Chalmers was ing examples of divine guidance, born in Riverside, Illinois, and at- It is conservative and evangelwhich were to him "High tended Monmouth College and the ical, gets its news by telegraph Lights." United Presbyterian Seminary in and keeps abreast of the times. Xenia, Ohio. After pastorates and a During the author's ,thirty- lectureship, he served as a missionary It goes into every state of the three years of active service, he to the Jews in Chicago and Pitts- Union, the District of Columbia, has issued over 700 publications burgh, in 1908 founded the New York and U. S. possessions. through the Nile Mission Press, Jewish Evangelization Society, and many of which he had written. was editor of the Jewish Missionary It goes to Asia and AFrica, South Magazine. America, Canada and New Zealand New Book. and into twelve countries of Eu- *** rope. Ethel Ambrose – Pioneer Medical Missionary. Compiled by Mrs. W. Miss Annie Van Sommer, the Subscription Price, – H. Hinton. 256 pp. 3s. 6d. Mar- founder of the Egypt Mission Band, Ministerial Rate, – shall, Morgan and Scott. London. died at the age of 83, at her home in England on January 9th. During the 50c. extra—Canadian postage Changing Russia. F. J. Miles. 144 past forty years Miss Van Sommer $1.00 extra—foreign postage pp. Is. Marshall, Morgan and spent much of her time in Egypt and Scott. London. was a valued member of both Field THE PRESBYTERIAN and Home Councils of the Egypt Mis- Missionary Romance in Morocco. sion Band. She founded the beautiful 1217 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. By James Haldane. Illus. 190 pp. Rest Home for missionaries at Fair- 2s. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. London. haven, near Alexandria. She was II If you use greatly interested in the distribution The Church Through Half a Cen- of Christian literature through the PRINTING tury. Edited by Henry P. Van Nile Mission Press and in promoting Dusen and Samuel McCrea Cavert. prayer through the Fellowship of Y OU will profit from an ac- 426 pp. $3. Scribners. London. Faith for Moslems. quaintanceship with us. We do the job complete in our own Agnes Dickinson-Missionary to the *** plant, whether it be large or Chinese. Margaret Ness. 80 pp. small. 45 cents. Woman's Missionary So- The Rev. John MacNeill, D.D., of ciety, Presbyterian Church of Can- MacMaster University, Hamilton, On- While our specialty is Books, ada. Toronto. tario, died at his home in Hamilton Magatines and Pamphlets, yet on February 11th at 63 years of age. we have a variety of modern Definite Experience-Convention Aid Dr. MacNeill was President of the equipment to meet all the re- and Deterrents. A. S. Wilson. 128 Baptist World Alliance from 1928 to quirements of your particular pp. Marshall, Morgan and Scott. 1934 and of the Canadian Baptist job. You will find our service London. Foreign Mission Boards. prompt, careful and courteous.
The Father and His Sons. Arthur *** Will you allow us to estimate B. L. Karney. 68 pp. Is. S. P. G. on your next printing? We be- London. The Rev. Herbert C. Withey, pio- lieve you will be delighted with neer Methodist Episcopal missionary our product, price and service. The History of Jewish Christianity. in Angola, Portuguese West Mrica, Hugh J. Schonfield. 7s. 6d. 255 died in Malange, Angola, on February The EVANGELICAL PRESS pp. Duckworth. London. 11th at 64 years of age. Mr. Withey was born in Lynn, Mass., and went to Print…. of Heritage of Beauty. Daniel Johnson Africa with his parents in 1885 under The Mi••iona,., Review of the World Fleming. 94 pp. Illus. $1.50. the leadership of Bishop William Friendship Press. New York. Taylor. M.r. Withey became an au- PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE thority on the Kimbundu language Third and Rally SIr••1s Hettlsbur., P.. Immensity-God's Greatness Seen in which he reduced to writing and into Creation. Clarence H. Benson. 140 which he translated the New Testa- pp. $1.50. Scripture Press. Chi- ment and a part of the Old. He also cago. translated "Pilgrim's Progress" into Kimbundu and Portuguese. For many Jesus According to Mark. Albert years he was editor of the Angola Hughes. 188 pp. 60 cents, paper; News, a Sunday school monthly and $1.00, cloth. American Bible Con- the only periodical in Kimbundu. ference Assn. Philadelphia. *** Obituary Notes Personallteml (Concluded from second c(1)er.) (Concluded from page 113.) He was a master of the Korean language, edited an Korean-English dic- Rev. George Freeman Bragg, D.D., tionary of more than 80,000 words, colored clergyman, celebrated in Jantranslated several volumes from uary the 50th anniversary of his ordi- Korean into English and from Eng- nation, and the 45th as rector of one lish into Korean. In addition to of the pioneer Negro parishes of the "Korean Sketches," he was the author St. James Episcopal church, Balti- more. Dr. Bragg has a notable record for the fostering of mutual under- standing and good will between the White and Colored races.
THESE SPECIAL
The Missionary Review ti.~World The June Number will contain special articles on Christ and Rural America Christian Achievements in Rural Churches The Challenge of the Rural Community Trends in Rural Life in Twenty-five Years Cooperation in Rural Parishes The Church in the Country Community Evangelizing Our Rural Foreign Born The Larger Parish Project Leaves from a Colporteur's Notebook Solving Some Rural Problems The Youth and the Country Parish Rural Life in the Southern States A Rural Pastor's Job Some Unchurched Rural Districts Rural Responsibility of the City Church Woman's Work in a Country Parish Special October Number CHRIST AND THE MOSLEM WORLD A Survey of Islam Today Why Preach Christ to Moslems? Results of Missions to Moslems Women and Children in Moslem Lands The Bible and the Koran Some Great Missionaries to Moslems The Influence of Christian Literature Islam in India Today Some Evangelized Moslem Fields Notable Christian Converts from Islam Articles by Christian Moslems Order These Copies Now for Yourself and for Mission Study Classes 25 cents a copy $20 a hundred $2.50 a year The Missionary Review of t:he World Third and Reily Streets, Harrisburg, Pa.
ROBERT E. SPEER, President DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Edito:r
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1935
1935
Idols Falling in China James P. Leynse A Robber's Church in India H. R. Coventry A Century of Medical Work in China J. Oscar Thomson Problems and Encouragements at Home Seen by Home Mission Executives The Success of Missionary Children Ellsworth Huntington Among the Italians in America A. Di Domenica
~bt 1Sing'~ .u~int~~ Augustus Field Beard was born
May 11, 1833, in Norwalk, son of Al- published by gernon Edwin and Mary E. Mallory Beard. After attendmg Williston BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES Academy, he went to Yale, bemg graduated with the A. B. degree in A monthly Bible Family Magazine with something in it 1857 and receiving his Master's de- gree in 1860. In 1857 and 1858 he for every member of the family circle went to Auburn Theological Seminary, and in 1860, the year that he was I SSUED for twenty-five years without interruption. THE KING'S BUSI- ordained a minister of the Congrega- NESS has consistently represented the best thought of the funda- tional Church, was graduated from mental Christian churches of the nation. In addition to its Union Theological Seminary. interesting contributions by leading teachers, evangelists and pastors, it prints every month several valuable departments, including: An Dr. Beard in 1886 became corre- International Lesson Commentary, Notes on Christian Endeavor, Daily sponding secretary of the American Devotional Readings, Girls' Query Corner, Junior King's Business, and Missionary Association of the Congre- Helps for Preachers and Teachers. Trial subscriptions (3 months) 25c; gational Church. For many years he Annual subscriptions $1.50. The following premiums are at present took a prominent part in the developavailable free with annual subscriptions: a teacher's Bible, a copy of ment of schools and colleges for Nelamison's Bible Chart, or a copy of Objects that Talk and Teach, con- groes in the South, and on his huntaining 52 new and interesting object lessons. The supply of each of dredth birthday anniversary, a fund these premiums is limited, so order at once. of $100,000 was started to provide scholarships for advanced Negro stu- Address: dents.
tlrbt Iting'5 1iusimss *** 558 South Hope Street Los Angeles, California Miss Frances Cecil Heath, one of the most valued leaders of the Y. W. Dates to Remember Obituary Note. C. A. in Great Britain, died on De- cember 30, 1934. She was the daugh- FLORIDA CHAIN OF MISSIONARY Masanobu Ishizaka, first Dean and ter of the late Rev. Christopher and ASSEMBLIES then President of Aoyama Gakuin, Mrs. Heath of Hucclecote and Chelten- Tokyo, died in that city November 8. ham and joined the Y. W. C. A. in For further information, write to His doctor's degree was received at 1912 as Divisional Secretary of the Miss B. Louise Woodford, 930 23d St., Johns Hopkins University. Southern Division of Great Britain. North, St. Petersburg, Fla. She became principal of the Associa- January 26-30-0rlando. Dr. J. J. Ran*som* , p*ioneer Method- tion's Training College in London and January 27-30-Deland. when the College closed Miss Heath Jan u a r y 30-February 1 – P a I m ist missionary to Brazil, died at Nash- went to Jamaica, and put the work of ville, Tenn., October 18. Dr. Ransom the Y. W. C. A. on a lasting founda- Beaches. organized the Methodist Mission in tion so that it has increased in February 2-7-Miami. Brazil, and was an outstanding lin- strength. Her remarkable power with February 7-8-Bradenton. guist and theologian, contributing Colored girls was evident when later February 7-S-Fort Myers. frequently to church periodicals and she went to West Africa to make a February 9-IS-St. Petersburg. translating religious works into Por- survey for the World's Y. W. C. A. February 10-13-Clearwater. tuguese. As a result of her visit a good work February 13-1S-Tampa. was started in Lagos. February 17-19-Lakeland. The Rev. Fr*ede*ric*k Lynch, D.D., February 17-19-Winter Haven. If you use February 19-21-Gainesville. minister, editor and peace advocate, February 23-26-Jacksonville. secretary of the Church Peace Union, PRINTING 1914-26, died in December at his home January 22-2S-Cause and Cure of in New York City, at the age of 67. YOU will profit from an ac- War Conference. Washington, D. C. quaintanceship with us. We Dr. Lynch was born at Peace Dale, do the job complete in our own January 22 – February 16 – Cornell R. 1., and studied at Yale and was or- plant. whether it be large or School for Missionaries, Cornell, dained in the Congregational ministry small. N. Y. in 1899. He edited Christian Work for twenty years, 1906-26, and was While our specialty is Books. February ll-IS-Annual Meeting, In- president (1910-18) of the American Magatines and Pamphlets. vet ternational Council of Religious Scandinavian Foundation. He was a we have a variety of modem Education, Chicago. founder and in 1914-26 secretary of equipment to meet all the re- the World Alliance for International quirements of vour particular February 24-Brotherhood Day. Friendship. job. You will find our service March 8-World Day of Prayer. prompt, careful and courteous. March S-IO-Youth Conference under The Rev. Dr. Augustus F. Beard, the oldest Yale alumnus and the old- Will you allow us to estimate the Auspices of the Greater New est Christian minister in the United on your next printing? We be- York Federation of C h u r c h e s, States, died on December 22d at his lieve you will be delighted with Riverside Church, New York. home in Norwalk, Connecticut. He our product, price and service. was 101 years old on May 11. The EVANGELICAL PRESS He took his first airplane ride at 100. Print.,., of The Mi.s5lonary Retri…. of the WMid He attained wide recognition for his work in the advancement of higher PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE education for Southern Negroes, and third and Reily Str••ts Harrl_l, P.. was for many years secretary of the American Missionary Association.
MISSIONARY issue, and 1 congratulate you. After "We deeply regret that
REVIEW OF THE WORLD I laid it down my wife took it up, and Young, when called upon by the when I came back an hour later she Minister of War, did demon- DELAVAN L. PmRsoN, Editor was still reading it. strate the use of the hand 'bil- lies' on one occasion. This we VOL. LVIII FEB.,1935 No.2 PAUL DE SCHWEINITZ, feel was a serious error on his Trea8urer of the Moravian Church. part. The leading newspapers Publication and Business Oftlce in Ecuador recognize that Mr. Third and Reily Sta., Harrisburg, Pa. *** Young acted from a sincere de- sire to save human life, without Editorial and Executive Office It was a glad surprise to find the thought of gain for himself . . . 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City latest copy of the REVIEW on the S. S. Entered as second-class matter at Empre88 of Canada last summer when "Mr. Young has served as a Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act enroute to Honolulu. Someone ought missionary in Ecuador since of March 3, 1879. to place the REVIEW on other large 1918 and has proved himself to 25 cents a aopY-$2.50 a year. be a devoted servant of Christ, Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. steamers! an earnest and successful win- Published monthly, except August. ner of souls. We believe he acted All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1934. ANNE SEESHOLTZ, Exec. Sec., innocently, although inadvised- British agents, Marshall, Morgan Council of Women for Home Mi8- ly, in this matter." and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, 8ion8, New York, N. Y. DAVID MASON. 10 shlllings a year. *** Personal Items MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- This January MISSIONARY REVIEW LISHING CO., INC. Mr. W. P. Livingstone, of Edin- BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE WORLD, fine as it is all burgh, has retired from editorship of Life and Work, official organ of the RoBERT E. SPEER, President through, appeals to me especially be- Church of Scotland, and the young WM: I. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President people's missionary paper, Other WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer cause of its breadth of vision in giv- Lands. Mr. Livingstone is the author DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary of fourteen missionary books, of which SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT ing all Christian matters pertaining the best known are "Mary Slessor of MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD Calabar," "Laws of Livingstonia" and WM. B. LIPPHARD to the Church of Christ throughout "The Galilee Doctor." He is well ERIC M. NORTH known not only in Great Britain and MILTON T. STAUFFER the World. ADELE GREENE. America, but.in Africa, Australia and A. L. W ARNSHUIB the West Indies. His Life of Mary SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Wa8hington, D. C. Slessor has been translated into Ara- bic, Dutch, French, Chinese, Welsh, Editorial Chat "Missions or Hand Grenades" Hindi, Norwegian and Hungarian.
January was the month for taking A Correction *** account of stock; for considering the past and its lessons; and to prepare Exception has been taken to a Carlton M: Sherwood, General Secfor an advance. The Foreign Mis- paragraph in our December retary of the International Society of sions Conference met for this purpose number (page 589), under the Christian Endeavor, has been apin Garden City (Jan. 2 to 4) and the above caption. The information pointed Executive Director of the As- Home Missions Conference in Phila- was copied from The Living sociated Boards for Christian Colleges delphia (Jan. 6 to 10). Both meetings Church which, in turn, quoted in China, with headquarters in Bosof missionary executives are briefly from testimony presented at the ton. reported in our "Topics of the Times." munitions inquiry in Washing- Fuller reports can be obtained from ton. Letters from Rev. A. C. Dr. John H.* Fi*nley*, educator and the headquarters of the Foreign Mis- Snead, and from Rev. David Masions Conference, now at 156 Fifth son, Foreign Secretaries of the publicist, has accepted the national Avenue, New York, and of the Home Christian and Missionary Alli- chairmanship of "Brotherhood Day" Missions Council and the Council of ance, under which Mr. Young which will be observed by Protestants, Women for Home Missions, 105 East was sent as a missionary to Catholics and Jews on February 24, 22d Street, New York. The REVIEW Ecuador, throw light on the mat- 1935. is cooperating, heartily but unofficial- ter. These letters and The Ally, with these interdenominational or- liance Weekly contain the fol- Rev. Frank T*. C* ar*twright, Associganizations and with all evangelical lowing comments on the incimission boards and societies, denom- dent: ate Secretary of the Methodist Forinational or independent, that are eign Board, is touring the mission seeking to make Christ known and to "During 1932, there was con- fields to study cooperative problems enlist men and women in His service. siderable political turmoil in in Japan, Korea, China, the Philip- Ecuador, with frequent revolu- pines and Malaysia. The aim of the REVIEW is to pre- tions, during which many lives sent the universal need for Christ and were lost, including the lives of *** His Gospel and to report how God is innocent bystanders, among them working today in all parts of the a fine Ecuadorian Christian. In Miss Sue Weddell, Secretary of world to reveal Himself, to save men order to prevent further blood- You n g Peoples' Work, Reformed from sin and eternal death, and to shed Mr. Young suggested to the Church in America, has been elected establish His sovereign control in all authorities that tear-gas might Chairman of the Board of Managers lands and in all realms of life. be used in place of guns to over- of the Missionary Education Move- come the unruly rebellious mobs. ment. *** As a result, communication was established between the Minis- *** Encouragement comes from letters ter of War and the Federal Labwhich tell of the way God is using the oratories and sample "billies"- Miss Anne Seesholtz, Executive REVIEW to stimulate interest in our tear gas bombs – were sent Secretary of the Council of Women readers and enlist them in His service. through the regular Government for Home Missions, has received a Some of these write as follows: channels to Ecuador. We are as- degree of Doctor of Philosophy from sured that Mr. Young did not Columbia University. Her field is This afternoon I did something that take orders for the bombs. History and Philosophy of Religion. is psychologically all wrong, but I could not help it. I took up the Janu- [49 ] ary REVIEW and read it from cover to cover. I simply could not stop. I think it is an exceptionally interesting
A CHINESE CHRISTIAN ARTIST INTERPRETS CHRIST'S
1. The Parable of the Great Supper. 2 The Broad and Narrow Gates. 3. The Wise ",nd Foolish Virgins. 4. The Good Shepherd Returning. 5. "Ask and It Shall Be Given You." REVIB ORLD AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS VOLUME LVIII FEBRUARY, 1935 NUMBER Two —-~- —–~~—————————————— Topics of the Times HOME MISSIONS TODAY IN AMERICA of the Church to move with the frontier and to establish churches and schools. In our own day geographical fron- Some of the present-day problems and challenge tiers are shifting, as in the Tennessee Valley development.
in the task of making America Christian was pre- By the turn of the twentieth century the frontier had sented in the twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of shifted from the West to the industrial communities of the Home Missions Council and the Council of the East, from Anglo-Saxon to the Slavic, Latin and Women for Home Missions which met in Phila- Semitic races. The Church never really occupied this delphia, January 7th to 10th. The presiding offi- frontier, with serious consequences for the America of to- day. This frontier still lies as a challenge before the cers were Dr. Charles E. Schreffer, Secretary of home mission agencies. But the frontier of the new day is largely social-inthe Reformed Church in the United States Board dustrial, economic. It is psychological and spiritual. Conof Home Missions, and Mrs. Daniel A. Poling, gregationalists are creating a Social Action Department, President of the Council of Women for Home and the Baptists have appointed a Christian Social Action Missions. The topics discussed included young Commission. There can be no doubt that it is the func- people's work, pioneering, migrant workers, In- tion of the Church to cultivate social insight, to create social sympathies, to cultivate social imagination-that dian work, Jews, New Americans, West Indies, the effect of individual conduct or social action may be Alaska, rural work, church buildings, Orientals, envisaged-and to cultivate in individuals and groups not cooperation and strategy and planning for the only a willingness to share but the courage to create situa- future. The home mission study topic for the year tions under which they must share. As the Church dur- ing the eighteenth century prepared men to serve on the (1935-6) is the "Next Steps in Home Missions." geographical frontier and later other men to serve on racial frontiers, should not the Church and its home lPis- The major emphases of the message for the sion agencies now definitely set apart men for service present day were enumerated by Dr. Chas. H.
Sears as follows: along the new social frontiers?
The current demands upon religion are for spiritual Home mission leaders must be quick to shift their stratpower to transcend difficult and almost baffling circum- egy to meet changed conditions, recognizing that "Church stances that confront us. Men look to the Church to cul- extension" demanded on the geographic frontier is not tivate the resources of the Spirit. The human spirit can the "Church extension" required on the social frontiernever be satisfied with its material environment for it fewer new churches, more outreach in ministry. The has needs which no social order can satisfy. The time- home mission programs required today must meet the reless task of the Church is to cultivate the powers of the ligious needs of people and the social needs of individuals Spirit by which great souls rise superior to and become and communities rather than seek only to save one's self.
victorious over circumstance. The work in the home mission fields was ably Men look to the Church to cultivate the active mood reviewed by Dr. Wm. R. King, Executive Secre- through which men are inspired to lay the foundations of social life in accord with Christian principles. The tary of the Council. There are now twenty-six Christian Church must not fail it at such a time as this. denominations cooperating and the Council is also It must ever recognize the essential character of religion affiliated with ten interdenominational bodies, -that religion is life and is dependent upon spiritual nineteen State Home Mission Councils, fifteen forces. Current demands upon home mission agencies include State Councils of Churches, forty-five City Church programs that comprehend the whole task of the Church; Federations, and nine cooperative regional com- programs that are extensive and that carry vital religion missions. Cooperation between evangelical agen- along the shifting frontiers of American life-geographi- cies is a great feature of the two Home Mission cal, racial, social. Within one hundred years after the Councils.
close of the Revolutionary War the geographical frontier T~e p.resent trends to which Dr. King called atof America was pushed forward from the Appalachian Mountains almost to the Pacific Coast. It was the task tentIon Include (1) improvement in financial sup- [ 51 ]
port; (2) consolidation and simplification in "Confessional Synod," cannot be foreseen. Up to board organization and administration; (3) in- the present the contributions to the missionary creased cooperation between denominational agen- societies have been well maintained. The threat- cies; (4) new steps toward comity to eliminate ened collapse is due to the restrictions which the overlapping and waste of energy and money; (5) Government, owing to financial circumstances, has greater emphasis on evangelism and the need for imposed on German exchange. The transmission spiritual awakenings, with plans for Gospel of money out of Germany has been greatly re- preaching missions; (6) there are also unfavora- stricted and though the German missionary soci- ble trends toward denominational emphasis due eties have funds at their disposal they are not to a mistaken idea of the need for self-preserva- allowed to send them out of the country excepting tion; (7) anti-religious and anti-denominational as authorized by the Government.
activity; (8) attacks on home missions as an out- The normal expenditures of the German evan- of-date enterprise – due to prejudice or lack of gelical missionary societies on their work abroad information. has been approximately $1,650,000 a year, of The fourfold challenge to the Christians in which about $500,000 was for general missionary American churches was outlined as follows: (1) purposes such as the payment of indigenous work- To realize and make known the great present-day ers, the maintenance of institutions and general need and to employ more effective methods to running expenses, while the remainder covered meet that need; (2) to unify the study and ap- the allowances to German missionaries. It was proach to the problem and the attempts at the hoped that a certain amount (probably less than solution, without interfering with individual ini- half the normal sum required) would be allowed tiative and operation; (3) to put home missions to be transmitted for this latter purpose, since .
to the fore as an inspiring service for Christ and the Government recognizes an obligation towards mankind and a vital part of each church program; its own nationals overseas. The latest informa- (4) a determination to advance in spite of diffi- tion is, however, that the restrictions on exchange culties, to regain lost ground and to evangelize will not permit the sending of even this limited untouched fields and un-Christian areas of life. contribution. In November, only 8,500 marks were The Church must, under the guidance and power available for the total support of German mission- of God, conquer atheism, materialism, and selfish- ary work throughout the world. The German fields ness. Christ alone is able to solve all problems thus receive no money at all from home, or at the but He evidently does not plan to solve them alone. best an insignificant amount. It needs little im- As Head of the Church He calls for the devoted agination to realize the difficulties and distress cooperation of His followers. created by the sudden cutting off of customary The conference this year passed special resolu- supplies from the home base for the churches in tions urging the adoption of the Costigan-Wagner the field. The German societies have appealed to anti-lynching bill; the observance of "Sanctuary the missionary societies in other countries to come Sunday"; approval of the Religion and Welfare to their aid in the attempt to mitigate the dire ef- Recovery Movement, and of the Young People's Spiritual Emphasis Movement. fects of the calamity. The Conference of Missionary Societies in Great The president of the Home Missions Council for the coming year is Dr. E. M. Halliday, of the Britain invited representatives of the German Congregational Church. Mrs. Daniel A. Poling missionary societies to come to London to c~mfer continues to be the efficient president of the Coun- with a subcommittee of its Standing Committee cil of Women for Home Missions. The next an- and with the officers of the International Missionnual Home Missions Conference is to be held in ary Council. The conference took place at Edin- Washington, D. C., early in January, 1936, and burgh House on November 12 and 13, 1934, and will center its attention chiefly on Town and Coun- each of about twenty-five German mission fields try work, and the Rural Fields, which is to be was examined in detail. The result showed that home mission study topic for the year 1937-8. at least $250,000 a year, or half of the amount hitherto transmitted for general missionary pur- A CRISIS IN GERMAN MISSIONS poses, would be required to meet pressing needs. It was assumed that the German societies would The work of German evangelical missions be allowed t; remit in addition at least some part throughout the world is threatened with catas- of the money required for missionary salaries- trophe. The primary cause is not the conflict an assumption which is likely to prove mistaken.
within the German Church, though how that con- Real and urgent as the need is, it is clear that flict may affect the work of the missionary socie- in the present financial straits in which the mis- ties, all of which have identified themselves with sionary societies in all countries find themselves the movement represented by the conservative there is little hope of obtaining from their con-
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
stituencies additional contributions to anything tress during a limited period, probably not longer like the amount required. On the other hand, the than the end of next June. The figures given in Church throughout the world cannot stand aside an earlier paragraph are an indication of the exand see the fruits of one hundred years of mission tent of the need. Similar appeals are being made work fall into ruins. in Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries.
A continuance of German missionary work on Some missionary societies outside Germany its former basis is impossible unless the restric- have special links or associations with a particutions on foreign exchange are relaxed. The Ger- lar German mission and consequently may regard man societies, like the missionary societies in it as a special obligation to give help in that quarother countries, though in a still more drastic and ter. There is no reason why special efforts of this abrupt way, may be obliged to reconstruct their nature, while retaining their distinctive character, whole work to meet the altered conditions. But should not be coordinated with a more general efthis task, though it must be taken in hand at once, fort in which the missionary societies in other cannot be carried through in a day. It will have, countries seek collectively to bring aid to the soremoreover, to be undertaken in international con- ly pressed churches established by the German sultation and cooperation. If the German mission- missions. In order to avoid duplication of efforts, ary societies are prevented from supplying either and to provide for cooperation, it is urgently remen or money for their fields, a large and impor- quested that the offices of the International Mistant work, hitherto conducted by a German mis- sionary Council, now at 156 Fifth Avenue, New sion, is threatened with complete collapse, a situa- York, be used as a clearing house of information tion may be created in which some other society and that notice of all funds sent from any source outside Germany working in an adjoining field in North America to any German mission, and may feel under an obligation to come to its aid. the place to which they are sent, should be at once communicated to the same office* In order that these possibilities may be explored, a breathing space is essential. In the A. L. WARNSHUIS. meantime there are needs of extreme urgency to be met. Unless some help is immediately forth- FORWARD IN FOREIGN MISSIONS coming the catastrophe may be complete. Like Napoleon's drummer boy, the foreign mis- The facts were fully reported to the Committee sion leaders of North America "know not how to of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions beat a retreat"-but for a different reason. The Conference of North America and upon the rec- Foreign Missions Conference of North America, ommendation of that Committee, the Conference including some 200 missionaries, executives and on January 3d adopted the following resolutions: other leaders of the United States and Canada, met (January 2 to 4) at Garden City, Long Island, That this Annual Conference commend to the churches in their forty-second annual conference. They and boards an appeal for contributions to an Emergency faced frankly old and new difficulties that con- Fund for immediate relief to German missions and with a front the enterprise at home and abroad-financial view to providing for a period of a few months in which straits; indifference in the churches; opposition plans may be developed for the necessary support of the and regulation by governments in Mexico and foreign missions of the churches in Germany. other lands; Roman Catholic antagonism to evan- gelical work in the Congo; divided forces and at That the Conference entrust this appeal and the Emer- times rival programs among Protestants; weak gency Fund to a special committee with the officers of the national churches; nationalism; materialism, ra- International Missionary Council. tionalism and godless communism. These and other difficulties do not dismay or discourage mis- That we authorize the special committee to seek a con- sionary leaders who are conscious that the forces ference with the German Ambassador to the United States that are for us are greater, far greater, than those to discuss with him the conditions in Germany which have against us. The Christian Church has always led to this regulation, and to learn how we may be of help, faced insuperable difficulties-insuperable to men and to inquire how some plan may be worked out which but not to God. would lessen the burden of our German fellow missionaries. A dark picture of economic and political condi- That this Annual Conference instruct the special com- tions in Europe was painted by Stanley Highmittee to express to the German Missionary Conference Congregational pastor, editor and radio speaker. the sincere sympathy of this Annual Conference and an It was a picture without much light or hope for assurance of its united prayers and such assistance as may be practicable with the hope that effective relief may • Contributions to the German Mission Emergency Fund may be soon be found from the difficult situation in which the Ger- sent to the office of the F'oreign Missions Conference, 156 Fifth man missions are now placed. Avenue, New York, and, in accordance with advice received from the German societies, these will be sent immediately where the need Is These resolutions have been put into effect im- greatest. mediately and an appeal has been sent to all the Foreign Mission Boards in North America to contribute to the proposed Emergency Fund. No definite amount has been fixed for this fund, but the aim is only to provide relief for urgent dis-
he failed to take God and His forces into account. to Christ by word of mouth and by Christlike life The facts, the shadows cast by human selfishness and service. Their appeal was very sympatheti- and sin, cast a gloom over the earth, but we must cally received and was referred to a committee not forget that God can change the whole situa- for further conference and recommendations.
tion over night. Here is manifested a revival of the missionary Dr. Herbert H. Farmer, a professor in Hartford spirit among college-trained youth that led to the Theological Seminary, clearly and cogently pre- formation of the Student Volunteer Movement a sented the brighter side of the picture, calling half century ago.
attention not only to the great need of man but to Other speakers at the conference included Dr. the saving power of God at work in the world. Francis Wei, of China; Dr. J. Oscar Thompson, Dr. Farmer pointed out that the Christian mes- of Canton; Dr. Victor G. Mills, of Montclair, and sage is uniquely adopted to the present age and Dr. Nicol Macnicol, formerly secretary of the that no man has the right to change this divine National Christian Council of India. Dr. Robert message to suit his own view of what will meet P. Wilder, who has given nearly half a century to human need. God speaks to the world through the missionary cause-in India, America, Europe, Christ and He speaks to His Church through the and the Near East-was introduced to the conferworld events that reveal human need.* ence.
One afternoon was spent in considering the Dr. John R. Mott was elected Chairman for the "Next Steps in Missions," but while helpful coming year, and it is proposed to hold the next thoughts were presented there seemed to be no annual meeting from January 8 to 10, 1936, in a clearly-defined program for advance. Dr. Fred place not yet designated. The annual budget F. Goodsell of Boston reported that the American required is $51,000. One of the features of this Board plans to emphasize evangelism-or "The year's meeting was the presence of a larger numexperience of Christ in modern life"; social action ber of younger people than usual, under thirty -or the application of Christianity to present-day years of age, a feature that it is proposed to conproblems; more cooperation in mission work; and tinue. One lack in this year's program was any a financial advance that will endeavor to enlist a effective presentation of concrete, up-to-date facts larger number of givers rather than to secure from the mission fields; the weakness of some larger gifts. Miss Sallie Lou MacKinnon of the discussions of present-day problems 'was the lack Methodist Church, South, convincingly recom- of any adequate suggestions as to their solution. mended that missionaries be given more liberty The Foreign Missions Conference has, in past to work outside of established institutional pro- years, been the means of achieving many valuable grams-as Dr. Stanley Jones is doing in India and results in cooperation at home and abroad, in China and Dr. George Howard in South America. promoting missionary preparation, and in develop- The success of these plans depends on the guidance ing leadership and strength in the churches on the and power of the Spirit of God working in and field. through the missionaries. Dr. Alexander Paul, of the United Christian Missionary Society, rec- CONDITIONS IN SOUTH INDIA ommended that more power and authority be given Gandhi's political influence in India seems to be to National Christian leaders; Dr. S. G. Ziegler, diminishing. Many Indians are criticising the of the United Brethren Mission Board, strongly methods that he has employed. Some are trying advocated seeking to recapture for the Church the to gain results by working for majorities in the vision of the lost condition of the 800,000,000 or conventions. It is evident that the "Self-respect more still unevangelized, whose supreme need is Movement" in the middle classes, has gained for Christ and His salvation. God offers to do for markedly in extent and influence. It is mixed man that man cannot do for himself. Dr. John with Bolshevistic aims and works openly against R. Mott, who has recently returned from South religion. Such circles are openly hostile to Indian and Central Africa and is about to revisit the Far nationalism as it finds expression in Gandhi. East, gave one full evening to the subject of the Wherever he appears they wave the black flags need for further union and cooperation among which are their symbol, in protest against him.
the followers and forces of Christ. Gandhi is also compelled to face the opposition of One of the stirring features of the conference the orthodox- Hindu circles. Many Brahmins are was the personal appeal to the mission boards by enraged because he is fighting for the admission a group of Hartford Seminary students-of varied talents and church affiliations-who are asking to of the "untouchables" to the temples. be sent as a unit to some mission field for pioneer work, without guaranteed salaries, to bear witness All this points to the fact that the Indians can not be helped by mere political agitation. They need the Gospel of Christ, which alone can create • We expect to publish this address in our March number. a new beginning.-Leipzig Mission Report.
CHINESE PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS-LIVING GRADUATES OF CANTON MISSION
A Century of Medical Work in China* By J. OSCAR THOMSON, M.D., Canton Hospital, Canton, China T HE Centennial of the founding of the Canton The Canton Hospital, although it has had to Hospital in 1835 has a peculiar interest for close its doors on three occasions, has survived me. My father was in charge of the hospital many stirring events: Wars and sieges of Canton at the fiftieth anniversary in 1885, the year of my in 1840, 1856, and 1884; the T'ai P'ing rebellion; birth, and wrote a history of the hospital and of the Boxer outbreak of 1900; the Revolution of the Medical Missionary Society in China. At the 1911; the frequent contests of the warlords since. anniversary he read a letter from Dr. Peter and the political typhoon of 1926-28. Our insti- Parker, the founder of the institution and the tution has helped to produce, directly or indirectly, originator of modern medical missions, who many of the constructive movements in the modwrote: ernization of China. It has been an important factor in opening the doors of China. The fourth of November, 1835, was the date of my opening the Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton. To the adorable When we consider the conditions that existed in Saviour Jesus Christ be given the praise and gratitude of China, that walled in nation, in the early nineall the millions who, by the instrumentality of medical teenth century, we have the greatest admiration missionaries in the past, present and future, shall have for the courage and wisdom of the pioneers. Wells become acquainted with His unspeakable and divine char- Williams wrote: acter.
The chairman of the fiftieth anniversary meet- Owing to the increased hostility of the Chinese authoriing, the British Consul General Sir Challoner Ala- ties, the mission at Canton was now more than ever baster, remarked that because of the greatness of cramped and confined in its operations and perplexed bethe object and the importance of the work, others yond measure. The arrival of Dr. Peter Parker from New would be commemorating the one hundredth an- York in 1834 had added to the force an enthusiastic misniversary fifty years hence. sionary of exceptional vigor and ability who by his med- ical training was able to introduce a new factor that has • Substance of an address given at the Medical Missionary Dinner, performed a service of the highest importance between New York, December 14, 1934. Chinese and foreigners by removing their mutual mis- understandings. This was the establishment at Canton [ 55 ]
of a dispensary and hospital for the free treatment of organization which has a Council on Medical Mis- Chinese. sions of which the Chinese president of the Asso- Not only did Parker render a great service in ciation is a member, and which has a Section on "opening up China by his lancet" to missionary Medical Missions at the biennial conferences. work, but he also created in America and Europe What a fine culmination to the work of Parker, much interest in medical missions while the hos- Kerr and other noble men and women who had a pital was closed in 1840 owing to the war. superb vision and a Divine Leader.
The organization of the Medical Missionary So- The hospital compound at Kuk Fau in the centre ciety in China in 1838 is an indication of the eager of Canton, facing the Pearl River, and on the acceptance by the Chinese of the benefits of mod- most important street of the city of Rams, is a ern medicine, surgery in particular, and the in- great medical and missionary centre. It is a terest in medical missions on the part of all classes splendid viewing stand for momentous events.
of foreigners in China, merchants and officials, The daily exodus on the passage boats to all parts as well as missionaries. It was a splendid example of the delta takes place at the hospital gate. De- of a cooperative effort on a wide scale, that is feated and conquering armies pass the front door.
needed again today. It was international, Amer- The "Dare to Dies," wearing union suits of under- ican, British, and Chinese cooperating. It was wear as a uniform, carrying baskets of bombs, interdenominational, Congregationalists, Presby- passed by. Processions of all kinds, political, terians, Wesleyans, Episcopalians, Baptists, Quak- anti-foreign, anti-gambling, anti-opium, colorful ers and other denominations working harmoni- weddings and funerals are seen. Frequent clashes ously together. It was the first organization defi- of armies near or around the compound, with nitely to combine the alleviation of human suffer- rushes of noncombatants up the hospital lane to ing and the extension of Christianity. Its pros- escape the flying bullets. One campaign across pectus envisioned the spreading of scientific medi- the river lasted for a week, the hospital being in cine and Christianity throughout China-medical the centre of the fighting zone, and gunboats par- education, specialization in hospital work and ticipating, at a time when it was impossible to medical research, to benefit mutually the Orient evacuate the patients. Sun Yat-sen's gunboats and Occident. passed repeatedly up and down the river firing on Following the retirement of Dr. Peter Parker the soldiers on the Bund. Wounded from both and the burning of the hospital building which sides were in the hospital simultaneously. We Howqua, the Chinese senior Hong merchant had witnessed the massacre of the defeated· on one provided, Dr. John G. Kerr, a graduate of Jeffer- occasion; the assasination of high officials; fires son Medical College, reestablished the Pok Tsai -eight hundred houses burned on the north bank Hospital ("Hospital of Universal Benevolence") of the river, coming close to the hospital, when at the present site. For forty-four years he did a change of wind blew the sparks across the river great and enduring work. He built up a large and destroyed two hundred dwellings there. An- hospital. He wrote and translated many medical other fire extended for half a mile along the Bund, textbooks, the wood blocks of which were still at in front of the hospital, with a south wind blow- the hospital when I arrived twenty-five years ago. ing the sparks over the premises, and setting fire More than a hundred Chinese physicians were to wharves and passage boats which were left trained during his term of service. They became stranded by the ebb tide. The exploding ammuni- pillars of the church and highly respected leaders tion of the anti-pirate guards prevented the ap- of the medical profession. proach of the firefighters. Then there was the My father was intimate with Dr. Kerr and had great flood of 1915, aggravated by the floating great affection for him. One of the most impor- burning oil. Wrecks and drownings in the river tant events of that period was the organization of' are numerous.
the China Medical Missionary Association in 1887, The Revolution of 1911 introduced a new era of which Dr. Kerr was the first president. This for China, with modern medicine firmly estab- has been an important factor in the building up lished. Changes of government, attended by civil of modern medicine in China. The final and most and feudal wars have followed. Our institution convincing proof of the worth and status of med- has served as a base hospital, receiving the cream ical missions in China was the amalgamation in of the wounded (from a professional viewpoint) 1932 of the China Medical Association and the those with retained bullets or shell fragments or National Medical Association to form the Chinese with wounds of the head, chest or abdomen. The Medical Association, a wonderful example of maintenance of discipline has been an important union between a missionary and a national or- task requiring, for instance, the prevention of a ganization, "a fine instance of friendly interna- revolver fight amongst the bodyguard of a dying tionalism in -science." This is a national medical colonel over the regimental treasure chest. More
A CENTURY OF MEDICAL WORK IN CHiNA
than one hundred serious cases :kave been brought of Dr. Sun's dissatisfaction with conditions exist- to the hospital at one time, requiring the use of ing in China and his new ideas and thoughts were six operating tables. After the institution was developed while in the Canton Hospital and from full to the doors, wounded soldiers with retained there spread throughout China. On the occasion missiles have been brought from military hos- of the 80th anniversary in 1915, the President of pitals to have the foreign bodies removed and China, Lei Yuan Hung, sent a congratulatory tele- were then carried back. Seven pounds weight of gram and a gift of five thousand dollars. At the bullets were removed from wounded soldiers and eighty-fifth anniversary (1920), President Hsu civilians in one year,. Amongst the gunshot Shi Chang wrote a commendatory letter and do- wounds were many unusual cases such as the nated one thousand dollars. To commemorate the Yunnanese officer who was shot through the brain ninetieth anniversary, in appreciation of its serv- one year, and through the heart the next – and ices and to allow for its extension, the Govern- survived. One man, with twenty-six shrapnel ment of China, through the Mayor of Canton, Mr.
bullets distributed throughout his anatomy, Sun Fo, son of Dr. Sun, made a grant to the hos- wanted the removal of those not located in dan- pital of a splendid tract of land chosen by us.
gerous situations! When raising the twelve thousand graves which Gunshot wounds, tumors and vesical calculi are were on the land, some said to be four thousand common conditions. In Guy's Hospital, London, years old, we were reminded of Ezekiel's vision of and at Yale are paintings of many of Parker's the valley of dry bones, accompanied as it was by massive tumor cases; tumors with pedicles, caus- the rejuvenation then taking place in China.
ing neither pain nor disability are stock in trade Had Dr. Sun Yat-sen lived, it is probable that for beggars who are fortunate enough to possess China would have been spared the political ty- them. One man was reluctant to lose his fourteen- phoon in 1926 and 1927, with its communistic, pound parotid tumor of the neck because it served labor, anti-foreign, hypernationalistic and anti- as a comfortable pillow! Ten different "Chung Christian agitation. The events of those years Yees" in turn had guaranteed to cure a man with were varied and interesting. After a blockade of cervical lymphosarcoma. We had to treat him as the hospital for three days by the order of the a charity case and pay his way home after we had communistic labor leaders, because we declined to alleviated his pain by ligating his common carotid surrender the right to control the hospital em- artery. An infant, two days old, fell into a nat- ployees, we closed down the institution and dis- ural sleep while a teratoma, larger than its head, persed the staff and patients. At a conference was removed under local anesthesia, and went with the noncommunistic officials, who did all they home cured. More than four thousand operations could to help us, the editor of the Government's for the removal of vesical calculi have been per- English newspaper said, "Don't give in. You are formed in the Canton Hospital, some of the pa- in the right." Later he printed in full our version tients coming from long distances. A Chinese of the affair written at his request. ·When the living in Baltimore entered the Johns Hopkins storm had blown over we were thanked by Chinese Hospital with a large hernia. When told that he leaders for having resisted the impossible de- required an operation he returned to China to mands of the labor agitators and thus exposing have it done at Poktsai. their ignorance and intolerance. In the records Chinese Appreciation of the chief Russian communist, found after their expUlsion, was the statement, "The Canton Hos- At the seventy-fifth anniversary of the hospi- pital affair was badly managed."
tal's foundation, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, then President It was obvious that a movement which could of China, was present, lauded the work of the in- temporarily wreck such an institution as the Can- stitution where he had commenced the study of ton Hospital, the first benevolent institution in medicine while my father was in charge, and gave China, was artificially inspired, abnormal, un- a donation. Some years later on another visit to healthy and would not be permanent. The three the hospital to see the wounded, we took him to periods, before, during and after the chaotic years the operating room where we were about to com- of 1926 and 1927 were epochal, as different as mence work on the wounded. As we exposed the those prior to, during and following the French seat of injury of the first patient, Dr. Sun as- revolution. An official told me that were it not sumed from its location that the soldier had been for the mission schools and hospitals, little educa- wounded in the back whilst in rapid retreat from tional or medical work would have been done in the battlefield. He grunted, "Shot in the back," China during the past two decades. He also dep- and declined to examine any oether patients. Lay- recated the too rapid devolution of such institu- ing the cornerstone of our new building some tions as tending to lower standards.
months ago the Mayor of Canton said that much At the present time China is definitely discard-
ing its ancient ideas, traditions and customs, as The next meeting of the Chinese Medical Asso- indicated by the "New Life" and similar move- ciation, which is to be held in Canton in the first ments, and is seeking to find a self-respecting week of November, 1935, to commemorate the place in this modern age. The Government was centenary of the introduction of modern medicine anxious to have the Canton Hospital reopened, into China, will take place in the new Canton Hos- but it seemed wise to await the return of more pital building. It is essential that the Mission stable conditions and to avail ourselves of the op- Boards with medical work in China be well repre- portunity to reorganize and plan for another cen- sented in order that wise and coordinate plans tury of work if necessary. The deserted hospital may be prepared for ano~her century of work, if compound resembled a tropical jungle or a buried necessary.
city. It was possible to carry out plans that had We do not talk of "devolution" in Canton, but been maturing for some years. The Canton Hos- of cooperation, with gradually increasing Chinese pital was transferred to Lingnan University, control. The Occident and the Orient, the older which has a strong Chinese Christian Board of and the newer churches, are sharing in a common Directors with foreign representation. President task of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on Chung told me recently that his chief concern is earth. The Canton Hospital still supplies many that the university shall maintain a strong Chris- converts to the church, many cured and happy patian influence, which he considers to be the chief, tients open doors to the Gospel and form centres if not the only reason for its continued existence. for evangelization. A few days before I left on He also remarked that buildings can be secured furlough a missionary lady visited the hospital and from Chinese sources, but that the needed for- said, "We have an enthusiastic new convert in our eign personnel and its maintenance must be sought church. She says you took away her thyroid from abroad. Some of the Chinese faculty mem- gland without her knowing it or having any pain; bers are the salt of the earth. The brother of a and while in the hospital she heard the Gospel." laundryman in America is one of the best. He is a Ph.D. of an American University and sang What are some of the results of the work? with the Glee Club. Most important of all are changed lives. The Liu family serves as an example. The father, Dr. Liu The next step was to arrange for the affiliation Tak Shaang, was a graduate of our medical school of the Hackett Medical School for Women (Amer- and served on the staff. Later he became college ican Presbyterian Board) to Lingrian University physician at the Canton Christian College (now and Canton Hospital, and to make it coeduca- known as Lingnan University). With the help tional. At the home of the Mayor of Canton, a of the college faculty, Mrs. Liu, after the death of Chinese lady, head of a large government scl,lOol her husband, continued the education of her famand of a hospital, told a "Medical Fact Finder" of ily, all of whom are college graduates. President the Laymen's Commission that the graduates of Hackett are abler, more dependable and have a Chung highly recommends her as a teacher of much finer spirit of service than those of govern- home economics! One daughter is a director of ment medical schools. The Pok Tsai and Yau Lingnan University and in charge of an impor- Tsai medical centres give postgraduate training tant school. She was overheard saying to Mr.
to interns and thus provide the outlying mission Sun Fo, also a Lingnan director, after a meeting hospitals with physicians. of the Board: "My students never had the objec- A new building is now being erected at the Can- tion to the study of the Bible that they have to the ton Hospital, most of the funds for which have compulsory study of your father's (Dr. Sun Yat- come from Chinese sources. In planning the new sen's) textbook, the San Man Chue Yee." A son, building there were many factors to be taken into a graduate of Cornell, is an expert in sericulture consideration: It must be a modern scientific and rural reconstruction and is doing splendid teaching hospital under Christian auspices, in the work for the government and for Lingnan Uni- tropics, with long, hot and humid summers and versity. Another daughter is the energetic and short, humid, cold winters; with the possibility efficient head of the Mission Union Normal School of foreign aggression, international wars, civil and in Canton; a sister is in charge of a large school feudal strife; blockades, strikes, and boycotts; in Macao which, though a Protestant institution, typhoons, fires, floods, and white ants, noise, dirt has the cordial support of the Portuguese Govern- and smoke. It must be an institution that would ment. A y6unger sister is our very attractive have the approval of the twenty or more organiza- young social service director. An interesting case tions-religious, mission and professional-that that she reconstructed was a young beggar woman have an oversight over the work of our staff mem- with a large abdominal tumor that had been grow- bers, also of the Chinese Government and its de- ing for nine years, the supporting factor for her partment of health, and finally of the many com- husband and son. When in desperate condition missions that tour the Orient! she lay down at the hospital gate to die, penniless.
IDOLS FALLING IN CHINA
We admitted her, improved her general condition Association medical missions have become an inand removed the tumor. Well-to-do patients in tegral and permanent part of the medical system the hospital became interested in her and contrib- of China. Where the pioneers had first to attack, uted to her future support. The husband, hearing then later to lead, now as partners, representaof this, tried to get the money, and being refused, tives of the older and younger churches share in was so unpleasant to her that she attempted to the task of reconstruction and harvesting. commit suicide. We frightened the man away, and the woman recovered. Miss Liu taught her fancy Observing several wooden idols floating down sewing and found her a place, ·first in the home the river we asked a passerby the reason. He reof the Moderator of the Church of Christ in China, plied, "We have no use for idols in this enlightin order to test her honesty. A new use for a ened age." Is Christianity or materialism to premoderator! Then she got work for her elsewhere. vail in China? The Moderator of the Church of The former beggar is now a strong, handsome, Christ in China, Rev. Y. S. T'aam, has written, independent, self-respecting woman, supporting "This comes at just the time when there are unherself and her son, and interested in hearing of surpassed opportunities open to the Christian the Great Physician. Church. The Gospel preaching is eagerly listened to." Dr. Stanley Jones, when in Canton, said: There are many other such families. On our "This situation constitutes the greatest evanhospital staff are a number of second and third gelistic opportunity in the world." generation Christians, and individuals whose ancestors served in it. Thoroughly qualified Chinese What is our object? We are earnestly looking graduates of foreign universities are now serving forward to the time when such institution~ as the on the staffs of our mission hospitals, as heads of Hospital of Universal Benevolence will no longer departments and taking their turn leading morn- be needed; to the time when "God shall wipe away ing chapel. A Christian medical profession is be- all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no ing perpetuated and through the Chinese Medical more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain."
Idols Falling in China -Ell By REV. JAMES P. LEYNSE, Peiping, China I Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. s. A.
I N THOUSANDS of homes in China the idols bership. I have had the privilege of baptizing are falling down. Change has come like a this year men and women, old and young, stu- shock. Ideas and standards have been shuffled dents and illiterate, all changed into new beings in striking fashion. The old religions are totter- by the grace of Jesus Christ and all having dising ruins. The temples are vacated. The control carded idol worship. Members of families were of the older generation has slipped away. The baptized together. Fathers with their grown-up youth is in the lead and seeking new ways. As a sons, mothers with their daughters, side by side result evangelism is experiencing a golden age of with single individuals, first ones of families to opportunities. Everywhere around us a clarion cross the barrier. For instance, Mr. Chang and call for service is sounded. What will take the his grown-up son, who testified that before their place of the idols? Communism or Christianity? conversion they were "like blind men ascending a mountain to view the landscape." And Mrs. Chia No Depres.sion in the Peiping Churches and her daughter, who confessed that "the eyes of their hearts were dead" to spiritual issues until There is a forward movement in the Peiping they met Jesus. Also the mechanic Li and his churches. Weare seeking to win more Christians wife and three children, a splendid volunteer and more faithful ones and the congregations join worker, who works hard so that his children may hands with us in striving to reach our section of be educated and his wife attend a Bible school for this great city. Our churches are putting the em- volunteer leaders. phasis unquestionably upon the spiritual, and therefore there is activity instead of depression. In China it is always exceedingly difficult for The church attendance is growing steadily and members of families to make an individual decismany new converts have been added to the mem- ion to break away from idol worship. But various
candidates for baptism have done so, like Mrs. to cheat the gods," but who now worships in spirit Ho, who as she stated had been "for 45 years a and truth Jesus Christ; or like Mrs. Li and Mrs.
vegetarian to please the Buddha with the Long Kao, who have rented two rooms at the most pop- Eyebrows" and who for years every morning and ular market place for a little Gospel Hall; or Mr.
evening "knelt once, bowed thrice and offered in- Kung, a former opium slave, now a prince in the cense and candles for 30 Buddhistic scriptures to Lord; and Mr. Fu, a business man and pillar of find the way of life." Now she has become a liv- one of our churches; and many others like them.
ing member of the Church of Christ, and an ar- There are also among them those with too much dent Bible reader. It is hard to realize how much unbridled enthusiasm like Sung the fifth who, it cost in sacrifice of self to become a single lamp after his conversion, went home to testify. He in a dark place like Mrs. Hu Li and many others. preached on the streets in his home town, made After her heart was reached she buried her idols, a deep impression, but took the idol of the Buddha but when truly converted she dug them up and with the 1,000 arms and eyes out of the temple burned them. She was the new believer who had and chased the priests away. He was caught by the story of her conversion printed and sent to all the police, beaten till unconscious and put in her relatives and friends with the signature: prison. As a member of a gospel team he is still "Formerly Hu Li, now Mrs. Born-Again." needing our constant guidance. It was also neces- Lighted Pagodas sary to guide wisely the trio consisting of a dyer of blue cloth, a coal shop owner, and a hatter.
All our three city churches are self-supporting, They memorized whole parts of the Bible and went self-governing, and largely self-propagating. The out preaching all over North China carrying neither purse nor scrip and refusing all support. forming of a number of volunteer evangelistic They had many conversions but they gave up their bands has been one of our most fruitful achieve- business, let their wives and children suffer, and ments. Spiritually, our volunteer leaders have came back to our church stranded and lacking in had much capital to invest and their profits are maintenance. therefore large. Bands are preaching in court yards, homes, factories and shops. They are The Hall of Happiness illuminating the neighborhood like lighted pago- Electrically lighted gospel posters on the doors das. As a member testified, they are greatly en- and walls make our two city gospel halls attraccouraged to see that "the Lord responds to man tive places where large crowds gather. There we as quickly as shadow to form or echo to voice." face five evenings a week the five types of Chinese Bible classes, various training classes of two society: weeks' duration, revival meetings, prayer meetings, cottage meetings, systematic home visitation, The scholars, feeling superior to the lower weeks of gate-to-gate preaching, report evenings, order of beings; classes of mass education, and other activities keep the lamps burning and make our large num- The farmers, in town to sell their products, ber of gospel teams a valuable asset in our aim to amazed by a civilization producing loudspeakwin the Chinese by the Chinese. Mr. Sun, of our ers and radios; church, this year bought a small printing press and prints all the tracts used by these volunteer The mechanics, who build and proclaim that bands at cost price. A shopkeeper keeps a bundle next to food, shelter is the only necessity of of tracts in his counter for free distribution. A life; seller of millet puts a tract in each package. Church-member Chao bought tracts and evan-~ The tradesmen weary of a day full of bartering in trying to squeeze the last penny; and The soldiers whose business in China often seems to be to consume what others produce.
gelistic literature worth two months of his salary But also, modestly sitting in a corner, there are and a nurse of our hospital gave 10 % of her in- the women, with dignified old faces or keen young come to the tract fund. ones, countenances with souls behind them, calm, The Chinese we come in contact with outside serene and composed, purged of egotism by living our churches are no longer worshiping idols at the in crowded quarters, the real leaders behind the temples. They are in the grip of a spiritual family thrones. Large colored posters, Biblical hunger. After the storm of change there are lantern slides in Chinese setting, music, singing, pears to gather. Shall Bolshevism reap them? and popular illustrated talks penetrate their The claim to the harvest of China is open to any walled-in hearts new to spiritual issues.
claimant. Our volunteer leaders are taking their Outside the meetings we reach the hitherto un- place. They are of all kinds: like Miss Wang, reached through Bible classes for men and- women, the teacher, who confessed that she used to "spend English night school for business boys and girls, many good coppers to buy sham silver with which day school for poor children, mass educational
classes, clubs for women and girls, and special the electrician, who persuaded his whole family, meetings for children, women, and parents. The including an old mother of 75 years, to throw gospel halls are also the entrance halls to our away their idols.. On Sunday he leads his family churches, a field for clinical experience and self- to the church and almost every evening he stands expression for our volunteer lay-leaders. There at the door of one of the gospel halls welcoming they receive their practical training in soul-win- the people with tracts bought with his own money. ning work. Always a group of them is present to testify, act as ushers, doorkeepers, and distrib- This year these services changed also the opium utor.s of enquirers' cards. After the preaching den of Mr. and Mrs. Chao into a little gospel hall. there is the gathering of enquirers in a side room. For years they had been opium smokers. They Personal things are there semi-publicly discussed, were fairly well-to-do but poor in spirit. It took privacy is rarely sought after and so one, once months of daily care before they found salvation. showing genuine concern about his soul life, has But once reached by Christ they were able to from the very beginning the support of a group break the opium habit without any medical assistof our leaders. ance. Their opium den became a neighborhood house where they preach and live the Gospel to- The work in the gospel halls reveals plainly that gether with Mrs. Chang "the woman with the the Chinese of today are, practically speaking, black soul." She came in contact with Christ at without a religion, without their many gods. They our weekly meetings at the Peiping prison. For are open to leadership, asking for anything that years she had sold opium to the coolie classes and promises to uplift, welcoming any idealism. "I injected morphine Into ricksha boys. Taken to am seeking for something worth while to live for" prison she found there salvation at one of our is a crying need often heard at these after-meet- meetings and has become an ardent and capable ings. These are the days to spread the Gospel in personal worker in one of our street halls. China. The results of this year's work in the gospel halls has been distinctly seen in the grow- The idols are falling and something will have to ing attendance at our churches. Mr. Hsia, a take their place. Russia has already hundreds of young student, who after his conversion kept on Chinese students working as volunteer agents in repeating: "I do not know how to describe my all parts of the country. Humanism of a nonexperience. Everything in and around me is so theistic tendency is already a potent force in the changed, even the leaves of the trees seem changed hearts of many a Chinese youth. If Christ Jesus to a new shade of green." He is an ardent mem- is to be the Saviour of the individual and the reber of a gospel team, disowned by his father, poor generator of present living conditions the Church in earthly goods for Christ's sake, but rich in of Christ in all lands must face the challenge and spirit, winning many young people. And Mr. Kao, spread the Glad Tidings to those who have not yet heard.
OLD CHINESE RELIGIONS LOSING GROUND By DR. FRANCIS CHO-MIN WEI, President of Chunghua College, a Protestant Episcopal Institution, Wuchang, Central China Dr. Wei, who is now in America, recently addressed the students at Yale University, New Haven, on "The Changing China and Christianity." He said: China has to choose what kind of nation she is to be. She is at the cross-roads. Her choosing within our generation will determine her destiny for the next century. And the world cannot be indifferent to her decision. China's most difficult problem is not political. In spite of the startling headlines occasionally 'found in newspapers in America, China is approaching national unification under able leadership. Her problem is not even economic. With peace and order restored, economic development is only a question of time. The West has ready lessons to teach us in this respect, and we are learning.
The problem of the gravest concern to one who looks seriously into the future of China is whether the spiritual forces in the country are sufficiently strong to direct and mold her political and economic development during the next thirty years. The popular religion which used to sway the masses is losing its grip. Taoism and Buddhism have no message for modern China. Confucianism is too closely tied up with the political and social institutions of the past to maintain its hold upon the people under a new economic order. But there is much in its outlook on life, in its ethical ideology, that may still be revitalized. Its conception of the individual as a social being in a network of relationships, each offering a chance for development, its emphasis on the duties of man rather than his rights, what he owes to others in his station of life rather than what he can claim for himself, its tremendous faith in the capacity of man for development and for living together, and its conviction that the universe is a moral order wherein man finds a place for moral lifeall these can be revitalized. But this can only be if Christianity brings to China and her masses the gospel that God is the Father of all men, that He desires them to live together as brothers, and that Jesus of Nazareth shows the way in which that kind of life can be lived.
Years' Growth in
By CLIFFORD M. DRURY, Ph.D., Moscow, Idaho A RECENT issue of the Bulletin of the Na- tians to take up the work dropped by their for- tional Christian Council of China (May eign comrades. More was accomplished under 25, 1934) carries the following statistics the urgent necessities of the time toward turning which reveal a very healthy growth of the Prot- over responsibility to the Chinese Christians tnan estant Christian Church in China during the nine would ordinarily have been accomplished in a years covered by the statistics: ,. decade or more. The persecutions endured by the 1923 1932 native C h r i s t.i an s purified the church and Foreign Missionaries (138 societies) .. 7,663 6,150 strengthened them in the faith. The foreigners Resident stations ………………. . 1,149 1,130 could flee but the native Christians were obliged Ordained Chinese clergy (124 societies) 1,696 1,86"5 Communicant (full) members ……. . 402,539 488,53g to stay and meet the opposition. :Now we are be- Under religious instruction ………. . 292,857 239,655 ginning to see the results of those turbulent years These statistics show an increase in the number -the Christian Church has grown! of ordained Chinese Protestant clergy of 169 and an increase of 86,000 communicants. There is a There was a great spiritual awakening for the decrease of 1,513 foreign missionaries; of 19 Christians in China following the Boxer uprising. resident stations; and of 53,202 of those under The Protestant Church doubled its membership religious instruction. On the whole the report is from 1900 to 1906. By 1907, the communicants very encouraging. The nine years covered have numbered 178,261. By 1923, this number had been some of the most troublesome for Christian been more than doubled again.' As the church missionary work. grew in numbers the ratio of increase decreased. Now during these nine years under review, the In 1926, five missionaries, Roman Catholic as well as Protestant, gave their lives to the cause church grew 21 %. of Christ. Others were taken captive by bandits. Communistic propaganda, with its anti-Christian A very significant development in the foreign teachings, was exceedingly strong in some sec- mission personnel in China is the increase of the tions.. The nationalistic spirit, with its anti-for- number of Americans as compared to the number eign tendencies, was equally strong in other sec- of Britishers. In 1907, there were 1,727 British tions. In both cases the Christian cause was missionaries to 1,304 American. The percentage under suspicion and criticism. was then forty-five to thirty-five, the balance be- ing made up of missionaries from other lands. Just before the Nanking tragedy of March, By 1922, only 18% of the Protestant missionaries 1927, the Protestant missionaries reached the peak of their numerical strength. At that time were British, while 51 % came from the United 8,200 were reported. When Nanking was taken States.
From 1858 to 1914 the ratio of foreign workers to native converts remained at about one to fifty.
by the southern troops, representatives of five na- After 1914 this ratio was changed. The with- tionalities were killed, including one Protestant drawal of missionaries following the Nanking in- missionary and two Roman Catholics. This trag- cident has now brought this ratio to one mission- edy hastened the withdrawal of all foreigners ary for every eighty communicants.
from all parts of the interior. By the summer of The Protestant work is strongest in the mari- 1927, 60 % of the 8,200 missionaries who were in time provinces because it was here that they first China before the Nanking affair, were out of got started, due to the rights to dwell in cert'ain China. Most of these returned to their home- treaty ports. In 1922, seven out of every ten l~nds. From three to five hundred were trans- communicants resided in these provinces, and ferred temporarily to mission stations in Korea, most of these lived in or near the treaty ports Japan, Siam, etc. About 3,000 remained in China, themselves.
many of whom found refuge in such coast cities The outlook for the growth of the Christian as Shanghai. Only about 500 remained in the in- Church is promising for the church is wen terior at their work. This wholesale evacuation equipped with native leadership. The old feeling was on the orders and advice of the consular and that the Christian religion was a "foreign" reli- diplomatic officials who were fearful of compli- gion is dying down. The one great purpose of the cations arising out of the Nanking incident. missionary is to put himself out of business by so One beneficial result of this wholesale evacua- developing the native work as to make the for- tion was the necessity of the Chinese native Chris- eign worker unnecessary.
[62 ]
J. R. SATHE (AT LEFT) AND CONVERTS FROM SETTLEMENT AT
A Robber's Church in India -4§f By H. R. COVENTRY, Baramati, Poona District, India J!t– Missionary of the Australian Churches of Christ Mission, 1916- DOWN the ages strange and varied persons proud Kaikadi who may lead an armed band of have composed the Church which is the highway robbers. These and many more types body of Christ. From the day when the are to be found scattered about this sub-continent dying thief on Calvary was granted pardon and with its 352,000,000 people. The villagers fear Joseph of Arimathea used his newly hewn tomb them and therefore shelter and protect them when for the body of Jesus, the criminal, as well as the the police are hot in pursuit. City dwellers have highly respected, has been attracted to Christ. A had occasion to know of their presence, and travrobber's church is an anomaly but a Christian elers by road or train have been their normal prey. fellowship may contain reformed robbers, vessels These are professional thieves, whose only trade made over into redeemed souls fit for the Master's is robbery. They are proud of their forbears and use. have schooled their children in stories of their A peculiar situation exists in India where large caste heroes. They glory in one who even stole groups or castes of people are hereditary crim- from the Police Superintendent's bungalow or had inals. They are to be found in all the provinces, taken clothes and jewels from the Governor's rail- both among those professing Hinduism and Islam. way train! The form of crime committed by.each They belong to various strata of society, from the caste is decreed by their patron god or goddess. outcaste gypsy to the proud caste man. Their "We are a divine scourge," declared one proud rascality varies from the cringing, petty thief tribesman,"ordained to relieve the avaricious and who steals small articles from the bazaar to the the rich of their unmerited riches. Without us [63 ]
what would you judges do." Those of us who to the American Marathi Mission of the American have been educated in nominally Christian coun- Board. Later the settlement at Hubli was en- tries, know something of the righteous commands trusted to the Society for the Propagation of the of God cannot easily understand the mentality of Gospel, and in 1920 the settlement at Baramati, people who lack any ethical sense such as under- conducted by the Australian Churches of Christ, lies the sixth commandment. was recognized by the Government of Bombay.
What remedies can instil into these tribes the A few years ago the Depressed Class Mission principles of common honesty? Fear of the police undertook the control of the Belgaum settlement and prison does not reform although it may nold and last year, the Servants of India Society joined crime in check. Some agency is needed to reform the ranks by taking over Jalgaon Settlement in the adults and to drag them out of the pit into Khandesh. Many settlements are still under di- which their fathers had fallen. Children must be rect Government control.
given a chance to know some ot~er type of life. Efforts are made to instil into the minds of the The solution of this problem has been attempted youth of these castes right principles of living.
by the establishment of settlements all oyer. India. Education is compulsory for all children up to For the past twenty-five years the Bombay thirteen years of age. Night schools continue the Presidency has intrusted this reformatory work work backed up by Scouting and Guiding, lectures to a Revenue officer for whom a special depart- on temperance and other topics. Trades are ment has been created, first known as the Crim- taught to enable boys to secure better positions, inal Tribes Settlement Department. More recently to wean them from crime, and to prepare them its scope has been enlarged and it is now called to live rightly.
the Backward Class Department. Many of the The Government gives voluntary agencies a free men of these tribes would have been in prison hand in their religious work for the task is after had it not been for these settlements. Not only is all spiritual. We fight against powers of dark- the criminal brought to a settlement, but his wife ness. Sin and evil are rampant. Immorality is or wives and children also. He is given a small often a part of their religious creed and custom plot of land, sometimes a cash advance, and is so that it is difficult to convince such a person of told to build a house of mud bricks and a grass sin.
roof. Settlements are usually located in open Sound religious education naturally finds a spaces outside of towns and a high barbed wire prominent place in Christian activities, but the fence is the only barrier to freedom. In some conscience clause is observed. Any settler object- places even that is absent. They are placed upon ing to Christian teaching may be transferred to a their honor and are told that good behavior frlr Government settlement and attendance at reli- six years will earn them release from the settle- gious classes is voluntary. In the Sholapur set- ment. Another six years on probation makes tlement a pastor and some Bible women are em- them free men once more. Much of the routine ployed in evangelistic work, assisted by the vol- work of the trained staff in each settlement is con- untary service of many Christian members of the nected with the finding of suitable employment staff. With over 4,000 people in the settlement for settlers. They are released during the day- and free colonies there is scope for all their efforts.
light hours to work within a radius of five miles. Fear is the religion of many settlers – fear of The second duty of the staff is to see that all are horrid goblins that fill the night with terrors; fear in the settlement at night. of the evil eye; fear of disease; fear of death.
After a few years of work, the Government de- There is no knowledge of the loving heavenly Fa- cided that if suitable private agencies would vol- ther for the love of God and love for fellowmen unteer to supervise the settlements they might be are new ideas that sink in very slowly.
handed over to them. "A voluntary agency is Since 1917 the Gospel of Christ has been con- actuated by a spirit of zeal and earnestness and stantly preached among the settlers at Sholapur.
by an undoubted religious fervor that cannot be· The usual policy has been to wait until a man has expected in a government department. Its per- been released to a free colony before he is bap- sonnel would not be subject to constant change as tized. This prevents any from asking baptism is the case of a government agency and would from unworthy motives. Character is the only therefore be able to keep in very close association thing that counts towards release from the settle- with the criminal tribes and work up a connection, ment. There have not been a large number of that would be a very great factor for success in converts through the years but the number is their regeneration." growing and they have continued to grow in grace.
In some provinces much of this work has been It has been an uphill road all the way.
undertaken by the Salvation Army. In 1917 the For many years one of the lady workers in the .growing settlement at Sholapur was handed over settlement, Miss E. C. Hoxie, has dreamed of a
A ROBBER'S CHURCH IN INDIA
suitable building where these souls won out of tain many former criminals who are now teachdarkness can worship the true God. She talked ing Sunday school classes, holding office in the of this plan while on furlough and she prayed church, preaching the Gospel! fervently. Some American friends gave money in memory of the Rev. L. H. Gates who lived and The work has not been easy. Social and family boycott have usually resulted from conversion. To have one's own bread thrown to one by an enraged wife, and to be told not to enter one's own door has been the experience of many. Their employ- ers, usually Hindu, have not been sympathetic and have insisted on Sunday work with loss of em- ployment as an alternative. They are not rice Christians. The missions are not feeding them, THE SHOLAPUR SETTLEMENT CHURCH worked long in Sholapur and altogether about – …… $5,000 were contributed. The settlement school children also brought their coppers and gifts in ~~ _.<", …: – "-I _P ~~ " … kind, to help in the building of God's House. The women's sewing class and the other converts took a .. – """.' ,. . . . . . . '"yo ,.. keen interest in the matter and the Christian staff gave a portion of their tithe for the building. A INTERIOR OF THE SHOLAPUR SETTLEMENT CHURCH Bombay architect submitted plans for a house of worship especially designed for India, to cost and many have gone hungry rather than deny Rs 16,000 (about $5,000), and the building was Christ. Carpenters, tailors, masons, clerks, teachopened on February 5, 1933. It is capable of seat- ers, are among the converts. One young man has ing 350 on the floor. taken a Bible School Training course and is now preaching the Gospel to his former caste people At the dedication service the writer was privi- and to the villagers around. These twice-born leged to conduct the first communion service in the men have become new creatures and are living new building and a goodly group of converts was new lives in Jesus Christ. present. At first this building was used only as the settlement chapel, and it has satisfied our spirit of reverence and our desire for quiet and beauty for worship. Plans for the recognition of this group as a church under the United Church of Northern India were consummated on September 10, 1933. The foundation members of the new church number 50, half of them being former criminals. J. R. Sathe, who had worked for many years among these people, was installed as pastor. It was the realization of a dream. The following Sunday fifteen more members were received into fellowship. These ex-criminals and their grownup children exhibit anew the power of the Gospel. Broken earthenware made over by Christ Jesus. Caste and fear are dethroned and Christ is enthroned in their lives. Those dug from a pit, centuries deep, are now rejoicing in free salvation.
The churches at Baramati and Hubli also con-
THE MARQUIS OF LOTHIAN ON THE CHRISTIAN COLLEGES OF INDIA Lord Lothian is a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee to submit to the British Parliament the draft of India's new Constitution. He is a former Undersecretary for India and was Chairman of the Indian Franchise Commission. As Sir Philip Kerr, he was the Pri- vate Secretary to Mr. Lloyd George when Prime Minister. Lord Lothian recently visited the United States in the interests of the Rhodes Trust of which he is the Secretary. He is a great friend of the India Christian colleges, on whose behalf he has been recently very active in Great Britain. At a luncheon in New York, in the interest of Christian colleges in India, the Marquis of Lothian said: .
"In this situation (Le., of internal disunity in India); is there any force comparable to that which can be exercised by the Indian Christian colleges for bridging these interior gulfs and for producing the kind of leader who can lead India toward both unity and freedom in the terrific experiment which is being launched today?
"When I studied the positions occupied by the gradu~tes of the India:Christian colleges in India today, I said, these rejuvenated colleges may be the (me saving factor in the situation.
I believe that in the first responsible ministry in the Province of Madras an the Indian min- isters were products of the Madras Christian College. The total number of students in these Christian colleges is about 14,000. Of that number about 2,000 are Christian, while the majority of students are Moslem or Hindu. The standing of the Christian colleges is high among the Hindus and Moslems because they are able to give the kind of education to their children that they want. There is something about the Christian spirit which they want and which they do not find in the government institutions.
"The central characteristic of modern education in India, as elsewhere, is that it breaks down the ancient religious loyalties and the ancient moral and social customs. Large numbers of the young generation are dr=ifting without any moral foundation for their lives. One of the main reasons why these Hindu: and Moslem parents send their children to Christian colleges is because they feel that some moral foundation is given them that they do not get elsewhere.
"The spirit of Christ shining through tllOse institutions can transform much of young India, and so produce leaders who are immune to or who can surmount the communal feeling, and the appeal to noncooperation and violence, and so act as political cement and give heal- ing wisdom in the difficult days that lie ahead.
"The work that c'an be done by the Indian Christian colleges is not only of value to India but of supreme value to the world. If the Indian experiment fails, if cooperation between Great Britain and India, during the next ten or fifteen difficult years, breaks down, whether through the inability of the BritiS'li"to move fast enough, to put themselves into the shoes of another nation, or whether through the inability of India to settle down to the practical work- ing of the constitution-the result will be further chaos for the world. We cannot afford to see another great section of the human race going into the sort of revolutionary disorder we have witnessed during the last twelve or fifteen years in many parts of the world.
"I feel very deeply that the Indian Christian colleges have an immensely important work to do. They are specially important in the case of women. There has been no more remark- able recent event in India than the development of the women's movement. I can without hesitation say that some of our most active, persistent, and competent witnesses were Indian women. The Christian colleges are training a large proportion of women students in India.
"The Lindsay Commission report gives a new and inspiring picture of the function of missionary education in India. It seeks to bring the students into much greater and closer touch with the real life of India, especially village life. It sets out to strengthen not only the technical equipment but the religious and Christian spirit in the colleges themselves. The Indian Christian colleges are not only doing a work for India, but even more for the whole of humanity."
and Encouragements at
As Seen by Home Mission Executives THE following are interesting answers to two questions sent to home mission executives to obtain their views as to the situation at the beginning of the New Year. The questions were as follows: 1. As you see it, what are some special present-day problems that we face in the Home Mission enterprise? Such problems may relate to finance, changes in policy, difficulties in the field or in the home church.
2. What are some of the encouragements that you note in the home church and in the field?
Such encouragements may relate to improvement in finances, to increase in interest in the home church, to the attitude of the young people, or they may appear in reports from the field as to the progress and outlook. EDITOR.
PRESENT PROBLEMS IN HOME MISSIONS too great. The principal condition required for cooperation is understanding. This will go far to E. GRAHAM WILSON prevent waste and duplication, will correct mis- Executive Secretary, Board of National Missions, takes already made and insure united effort when Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. needed. Most of the religious bodies have agreed The home missionary work in America is fac- to this in theory but when an attempt is made to ing today some serious problems. Among them apply it to normal rather than exceptional situa- are the following: tions, strain is produced. How to obtain effectual 1. The incomes of all Home Mission Boards cooperation is the outstanding problem and is es- have been drastically reduced. This has necessi- sential for "comity." tated the cutting of salaries in many cases below 2. The great multitude of the unchurched prethe subsistence level. Appropriations for schools sent a challenge to the churches. There are large and hospitals have been reduced to a point where groups of foreign-speaking folk who have lost it has not been possible to maintain standards their affection for the church of their fathers and which should prevail. Repairs on Board-owned are wandering unshepherded and without any re- property have necessarily been neglected. l'igious connections. For instance, the evangelical 2. Practically no new work has been opened up bodies, as a rule, have ignored their obligation to during the past few years. The financial condi- share their knowledge and experience with Christ tion has made it impossible to respond to the many with the Jewish people. Industrial workers often urgent calls for service, some of which have a have a deep longing to help make this a better strategic bearing on the future of the whole home world but they have no appreciation of that more missionary task. abundant Life which Jesus Christ promised-not 3. Much remains to be done in the field of com- the abundant life of the economist but the larger Life of the Spirit. Even though we do not all ity. While something has been accomplished, in agree on the means to be used, the duty of min- some sections of the country there is still over- istering to these and other groups is so manifest lapp.ingt·of churPches and. cobm·petitiond bebtwte·en tdhe- that our neglect is a rebuke. n~mma IOns. rogre~s IS. ell~g m~ e, u.m e 3. The desperate conditions in rural areas in mmds of some ~enommatIOnahsm IS more Impor- 'America is reflected in the life of the rural tant than the Kmgdom of God. churches. Their pastors . are facing a terrific FRANK A. SMITH strain in their personal problems and. in their ministry. Two great needs are: first.· a leader- Secretary of Missions in the United States," American Baptist ship that has sufficient support to give the men a Home Mission Society sense of permanence, and second, vision andjn- spiration for the larger parish and for the smaner 1. The magnitude of the home mission problem calls for the united efforts of all Protestant forces. fields. This is one of our major responsibilities. While the differences in doctrine and practice 4. The Home Mission enterprise is affected on must be recognized, the situation demands a every side by social conditions that cannot be united home mission strategy. No church or de- ignored and to which the missionary forces' must nomination is equal to the task singlehanded, and bring a solution. The changing social order can the entire resources of Protestantism are none never accomplish its goal without Christ. In all [ 67]
social problems the basic requirement is spir- 2. Private and public relief, correcting unemitual, for progress that is simply material cannot ployment and lost morale, economic and social malendure. A demonstration of Christian living is adjustments, with their consequent liabilities, deneeded, an exhibit of Christian relations among mand a new appraisal of this phase of our modmen. The church must speak out in matters of ern home missionary task and a clear understandhuman welfare because social justice can never be ing of its relationship to government, state and established by law of man but by the law of God. local relief agencies, in order to increase efficiency as well as to avoid duplication of effort and waste E. D. KOHLSTEDT of resources in an imperative realm of religious responsibility. Executive Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church 3. Racial relationship issues in the United States, more acute than elsewhere, challenge The Christian's constant concern is the totality home missionary service, particularly among of individual and collective life. United States American Negroes who, despite a heritage of history is replete with illustration of enriching servitude and unj ustifiable economic and personal services rendered by preachers and missionaries, discriminations, have recorded the' most amazing pioneers of progress and creators of national chapter in the history of racial progress. The ideals. Today functional frontiers, in underprivi- crime of lynching human beings is a form of lawleged and complex areas of life, confront the lessness that still stains the American Flag, sym- Church of Christ with an intensive task that must bol of democratic freedom and fair play. mean an active, cooperative interest in the current economic and social as well as in the purely per- Dr. Edwin Lewis, of Drew University, mentions sonal issues that determine human and national the following incentive to cultivate a genuine paswelfare. sion for sacrificial service to these and other de- veloping life situations that now challenge the An unwholesome industrial and social system Church of Christ: that breeds economic inequities, ignores unjust racial discriminations, tolerates city slum and If Christ could have His way with men, there would be dumping ground residential areas, barters with no industrial oppression, no hopeless little children, no beer barons and liquor lords for the privilege of cheerless old age, no grinding poverty, no fattening of the physical and moral debauchery, winks at salacious few on the toil of the many, no racial hatreds, no armaliterature and indecent film portraitures of the ments, no false standards of judgment as between man worst features of life, cheapens itself by iniquitous and man. Only as the race can make progress in this divorce laws, cannot escape the concern of an direction can there be any hope of the future, and such aroused Christian conscience. Unj ustifiable ex- progress depends entirely upon whether or not the foltremes between poverty and plenty, starvation and lowers of Jesus Christ are willing to leave the eternal fate surfeit, are an anomoly that has no rightful place of their souls in their Lord's hands while they devote themin the scheme of professedly Christian common- selves to making his spirit operative in the world of today. wealth. Modern Home Missions must be concerned with areas of life that challenge the JAMES S. KITTELL resources of a living faith, vitalized by an experimental knowledge of realities in the realm of re- Secretary, Board of Domestic Missions, Reformed Church ligion. in America The work of modern home missionaries in new 1. A financial survey reveals certain weakareas of activity is more impersonal and intricate, nesses as to invested funds. There should be a but not less romantic, urgent or significant to the more careful watch set on mortgages as to the welfare of this nation, than that of our pioneer real estate, not only its value but also as to its preachers. Among the causes that now challenge future. There should be regular renewals with the mental and material resources of American amortization insisted upon, a careful search of Home Missions are: court and tax records, especially to watch liens against the properties which have proved very 1. Distinctive social situations, different from embarrassing of late. Bonds and stocks should early American community life. To make the be passed upon by experts and changes made to Gospel of Jesus Christ a reality to polyglot city increase income and security each year. centers; to cement our Americanization process with the concept of universal brotherhood; to en- Budgets should be made on the basis of a threesure an adequate religious ministry to changing year income avoiding sudden expansion during mountain, rural and urban communities; and to one prosperous _year. A program of expansion cultivate a cooperative Christian ministry to man- should cover a number of years, with the most kind, regardless of traditions and prejudices, is a important points kept at the top and taken up task that requires heroic service. only as finances warrant after a due considera- tion of the future carrying charges. No new work should be undertaken because of the de- mands of ecclesiastical organizations, but only in
PROBLEMS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS AT HOME
harmony with sound judgment. The depression tofore. We are not merely camping until some- has proved that the Lord does not take care of thing better comes along; we are here for busi- presumptuous programs of expansion. ness as long as the Lord wants us here."
2. The field today offers many opportunities The Home Mission boards are facing many which should be considered. There is also the serious problems, but they are determined to rise opportunity for reorganization of the field, espe- up and enter the promised land of opportunity cially in the light of changing rural and city con- and service for Christ who is the nation's only ditions. There should be a wise insistence on hope.
mergers and refusal to carryon a work because FRANK A. SMITH of sentiment only. Through the Home Missions 1. There is ground for encouragement in the Council there is a growing cooperation in the general feeling that the reconstruction of life to- matter of unreached fields and classes, which day, both for the individual and for society, needs promises a more effective work over a wider area. all available spiritual resources, and that the 3. As to missionary personnel we must give Church, as one of the fundamental institutions heed to the training of men gifted for and de- concerned, is making a valuable contribution. The sirous of doing special kinds of work. In the splendid service of our home missionaries who past too many have entered the work with only have assumed burdens far beyond what should general ministerial or educational qualifications. rightfully be required and who have labored cheer- There is need for special insight into and desire fully amid discouragement, furnish one of the to do a particular type of work. All our mission- most splendid chapters in church history.
ary schools should be kept to the simplest kind of 2. The growth of the spirit of cooperation is work, with no large budgets and no showy fadist increasing the love and confidence of different de- departments for advertising purposes, such as nominations in each other. The study of the fields handicraft. by home mission leaders, where different denom- SOME ENCOURAGEMENTS inations are at work, has revealed a statesman- ship and purpose to avoid useless and hurtful E. GRAHAM WILSON competition and serious duplications. This atti- There are elements in the Home Mission situa- tude promises a new day in Home Missions. The tion which give ground for encouragement as we number of projects in which various churches pool their resources is increasingly large. The face the new year. 1. The receipts of most Home Mission Boards development will be slow, too slow to suit the are slightly in excess of last year. We believe we more ardent and critical, but it is so firmly estabhave touched bottom in the matter of decrease in li~b.ed that it will have increasing recognition. financial support. While the increase has been 3. The Home Mission enterprise is of such magsmall, there are some substantial increases in the nitude that no single Christian body is equal to giving of churches and individuals. One board it and our combined resources are not commenreports the largest single legacy in its history. surate with the opportunity. Present social, eco- 2. There is increased evidence that the Prot- nomic, and religious conditions demand a redisestant Church believes in the importance and . tribution of resources, workers, and fields, for value of the home missionary enterprise. Not the need of the hour will not be met by each one only is it conscious of the fact that the present seeking to do his best irrespective of others but church is the result of the home missionary work by recognition of the fact that we are workers toof the past, but it also realizes that unless there gether with each other and workers together with is a missionary program in America today there God. will be no Church of tomorrow. The many under- JAMES S. KITIELL privileged peoples of America appeal to our sym- One has to look closely to discern encourage- pathy and arouse us to a realization that for them ments in Home Mission work today but we are not also Christ died. without them.
3. The courage and devotion of our home mis- 1. The depression has brought the work closer sionaries in these difficult days is a great inspira- to the individual church and has led to a keener tion and a source of encouragement. Salaries of sense of responsibility for the work. The next practically all have been drastically cut; responsi- few years should see the pressing of the fact that bilities have been increased; missionaries have the whole enterprise is based on the church.
oftentimes been asked to make "bricks without 2. There is one change in the situation that we straw," but they have carried on without com- must heed in these times and that is the growing plaint. As one wrote to his board : "We are go- tendency of the Federal Government to take over ing to stay on the job even ,if the board should all relief, to establish old age pensions, unemploy- take away all the allowance they have given here- ment insurance, etc. It seems that the money for
this work will be secured from inheritance taxes. velopment of particular fields. Comity will see to This probably means the diminishing of legacies it that there is no overlapping. "Fewer pieces of as well as the directing of generous minded peo- work, and better," will be the ideal. Such fields ple to material relief as over against the spiritual will be built as are our schools and colleges, on a needs of men. broad and permanent base, with a program as wide as the community and as deep as human ERNEST M. HALLIDAY need. They will be controlled as much as pos- General Secretary, Extension Boards of the Congregational and sible by their several constituencies and will aim Christian Churches; PreSidetlt, Home Missions Council at hearty participation and financial support by The Home Mission situation is big with prom- everybody concerned. The boards have no easy ise. It thrills with the spirit of adventure. money to pass out for half-hearted service to Changes are upon us. The old wells of personal moribund churches, but they have funds with commitment and devotion to duty must be redug which to support enterprises which are vital, for- in all our churches. That is an inspiring task for ward-looking and constructive.
the Home Mission Boards. New ways of preach- It may well be, as was recently suggested by a ing, teaching and applying the Gospel are just distinguished and experienced denominational ahead. A generation of young people is ready for leader, that the consolidated school in rural sec- education in self-expression, social outlook, and tions is pointing the way to the consolidated practical helpfulness. Older folk are at a point church. Instead of sending our missionaries where they have time and inclination to be led on around to little groups in separate churches, why explorations into broad, new fields of culture. should we not send the school buses out on Sun- 1. Cooperative planning within the denomina- days to bring the people in – whole families of tionsand between them is eliminating lost motion them- to a well-equipped and manned central and unnecessary expense. This has a good start church plant, worthy to rank with the central but it still has far to go. Specialized training of rural school? Is not the work of the church as home missionaries deserves emphasis. None but important as that of the school?
the strongest should be chosen. It takes as big a 3. Finances? Yes, they offer a problem hard man, perhaps bigger, to do an effective job in an to handle. Income is 41.7% lower than it was in isolated, lonely parish as in a staunch old church 1929. But the downward curve is leveling itself where the general set of the current is in the di- out. It may even start upward after awhile. The rection of religion. He needs to be rugged in main problem is so to readjust our activities that physique, warm of heart, sturdy in mind, deep they will be thoroughly effective in this new day.
and true of soul. Such men, trained for sel1vice If we can do that, financial support will follow.
and ready to serve, will find opportunity in the home missions of tomorrow. Ten Obstacles to Modern Missions The line of development may be envisioned Dr. Julius Richter, Professor-Emeritus of missions in something like this. First of all will come positiye Berlin University, gives ten difficulties which world-wide cooperation between the· various Mission Boards. missions face to-day: By working together at a common task, the field 1. The financial depression which compels a curtailment of each will be broadened, and fraternal appre- of work.
ciation intensified. Why, for example, should not 2. Loss of prestige to Christianity due to brutalities all our boards come to look to the interdenomina- of the World War. tional bureau of architecture of the Home Missions Council for architectural service? Why 3. Un-Christian and anti-Christian science and tech- nique, the fruits of which are sought by non-Christian peoples.
should not Alaska be regarded as a geographical 4. Competition between Roman Catholic and Protestant unit and organized under a cooperative set-up missions as in the Congo. which all could have a part in supporting? Why 5. New advance of Islam—especially in Africa. should we not work together in what we do for 6. Bolshevistic atheistic communism. Indians and Spanish-speaking folk and immi- 7. Nationalism, especially its "anti-foreign" phase. 8. Increasing restrictions placed upon missionary edu- grants as we now do for farm and cannery mi- cation by non-Christian governments. grants? Why may we not jointly employ special- 9. Immoral lives of many representatives of white rulists in city and rural work who, divorced from administrative responsibilities, will serve all the ing classes at home and abroad. 10. Institutionalism, which absorbs so many people amt so much money and often hampers aggressive evangelism.
boards as expert counsellors? Why should not A mission study program might be built effectively all missionary organizations join forces in the around these points. Were any of them characteristic of first-century missions? Which are a rebuke to our lives, support of "preaching missions" for all the . our methods, our wrong zeal, our improper standards of churches? judgment? What is the true goal of missions?-The Mos- 2. There will be intensified denominational de- lem WO'rld.
Among Italians in
By REV. A. DI DOMENICA, Philadelphia Pastor 01 the Italian Baptist 'Church W HEN Paul wrote his Epistle to the Jewish- a metamorphosis: instead of being the means of Christians of Rome, speaking in general Christianizing the heathens she became heathen- terms of the gentiles as "being filled with ized! Before his "conversion" the Emperor of all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, cov- Rome had been the Pontifex Maximus of the etousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, heathen religion; when he accepted Christianity debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, that title was retained, but under the mask of the haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, in- Christian religion!
ventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, When Constantine removed his seat to Byzan- without understanding, cov- thium and the bishop of Rome enant breakers, without natural was left behind, the Church be- affection, implacable, unmerci- The pre sen t condition gan to lose sight of the altar for ful" (Romans 1: 29-31), he among the four and one half the throne, and the cross for purposely or incidentally al- million Italians in the United the sword! As the Church luded to the moral and spiritual States is described by one of began to a c qui r e political condition of the Italian people their own number as being strength, she lost spiritual as they were chief among the Hmoral and religious chaos." power. In proportion that she gentiles of the world. How- Nominally most of them are enriched herself in secular and ever, when these Italians ac- Catholics; in reality they material things, she impover- cepted Christianity, they be- are materialists. There is, ished herself in spiritual attaincame the light of the world, de- however, a Hsaving remnant" ments. This was illustrated by fying persecution and death for composed of some 25,000 Savonarola w hen he said: the sake of their Master. The aerveanggaethliecraeld iCnh2r4is0tiParnosteswtahnot "There was a time when the churches. The Spirit of God Colosseum in Rome and the is moving in this Hchaos" and Church had wooden cups and catacombs are living monu- golden clergy; but now she has ments of their faith and Chris- is bringing l)ew spiritual life golden cups and woo den tian fortitude. clergy." The same thing was and activity. There is reason observed by Thomas of Aquinas The Christians of Rome were to thank God and take cour~ examples of holiness in the time age, but the solution presents when one day the Pope, who of the sojourn of Paul in Rome. a challenge to the Church of was boasting of the wealth of Writing to the Philippians he Christ in America. the Church, said: "Thomas, speaks of them in high terms: the Church cannot say now: "All the saints salute you, 'silver and gold have I none!' "
chiefly they that are of Cresar's household" (Phi- Aquinas retorted: "Neither can she say: 'Arise lippians 4: 22) . and walk.''' Aquinas knew that the Church had This characteristic which signalized in such a lost her spiritual fiber because of her earthly am- conspicious way the faith of the Christians of bitions.
Rome was handed down from one generation to In proportion as the Church adopted heathen another until the time of Constantine when the practices and beliefs, the Italians became less and Christian religion became a State Religion. We less Christian in their religious thinking and life.
all know the change that took place in the Church They have absolutely no sense of the tragedy of of Jesus Christ from that time on. If in the past sin and the impelling necessity of the new birth the Church had insisted on the new birth as con- as the foundation for a genuine Christian experi- dition for membership, now it begins to receive ence. They have no conception of this funda- into its bosom unregenerated persons. The State mental principle of the Christian religion. It is even compelled soldiers to accept baptism without true that the same catastrophic situation is being conversion and in course of time the Church experienced even among the so-called Christians adopted many heathen practices to satisfy the of Protestant faith and heritage, yet it is more taste of the newcomers. The Church experienced evident among Roman Catholics.
[71 ]
Since the Roman Church adopted so many and when he found little response on the part of heathen doctrines and practices, the religion of the Roman clergy and people, he said: "The the Italians centered itself in outward formalities; Christian conscience is more than half destroyed, devoid of spiritual value. When one goes to Italy and it is only through divine mercy that any por- or visits Italian communities in our large cities in tion remains."
America, and sees the various celebrations in When the Italians immigrated to America they honor of Italian patron saints and madonnas he carried with them their religious heritage mixed is apt erroneously to consider the Italians very de- with superstition, irreligion, indifference and a vout and religious. Christian conscience "more than half destroyed."
When Paul visited Athens "his spirit was On top of this we must add another painful situa- stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given tion little apprehended by our American friends.
to idolatry" (Acts 17: 16), and he did not hesitate Italians did not leave the old world for religious to tell his hearers at Mars' Hill that they were motives as did the Pilgrim fathers. The sons of "extremely religious" with a religion that satis- Italy crossed the ocean for purely economic rea- fied the priests but not the burning soul of Paul. sons and in years gone by we have heard them The same thing can be seen today in Italy and in say: "We did not come to America to bother about Italian communities in America. religion; we came here to make money. When we The Rev. Dr. J. H. Eager, for a number of years go back to Italy, then we'll go to church."
a Baptist missionary in Italy, in his book "Roman- While the Italian immigrants came to America ism in Its Home," quotes Prof. Raffaele Mariano, with the intention of going back to Italy as soon of the University of Naples, who in an address on as their economic situation would warrant it, they "Religious Thought in Italy" said: became attached to American life and decided to establish themselves here permanently. Their With the sacraments reduced to mechanical acts, with marvelous advance in the social, educational and purgatory and pecuniary offerings to free from it, with economic life has astonished every observer and festivals, indulgences, jubilees, pilgrimages, relics, mir- student of the New Americans. But they have acles, adoration of saints and madonnas, Romanism has inoculated in the Christian religion the forms of magical and idolatrous naturalism…… And the worst of all is not been immune from the influence of atheistic that Romanism makes the sacerdotal hierarchy the only propaganda. Agitators are found everywhere and indispensable mediator of the religious and moral life. from the Atlantic to the Pacific, sowing tares of The atonement, repentance, absolution of sin, the efficacy doubts and unbelief among the people of the of the Christ and His benefit, everything centers itself in a monopoly of the hierarchy. From all this we must con- middle class. If this propaganda has not made clude that Romanism is the very opposite of that duty many full-fledged atheists, it has succeeded in which distinguishes the human soul…… This religion may have had its days of glory and usefulness, but it has causing many to drift farther and farther away now become a pure formalism. It has no power over the from any religious influence.
morals of the people; it does not attract or educate or With a background such as Prof. Mariano, edify the masses, but simply holds them under its sway by Father Curci and many others have described, and force of habit, by inert traditionalism, and its ultimate adding to it the condition of the American life as result can only be ignorant credulity in the midst of we have endeavored to portray, the religious life ignorant incredulity. of the Italians in America is far worse than that And yet we must not be too severe on this miserable re- ligious conscience of the Italian people, for when did the of their brethren in Italy. In the midst of this leading classes take the trouble of illuminating and rais- crude reality which describes in contradictory ing it up? It pains me to have to confess it: the religious terms the irreligiosity of the Italians, their supercondition of the upper classes in Italy is much more trou- stition, idolatry and semi-atheism, they would inbled than that of the common people. With a few honor- variably call themselves Roman Catholics should able exceptions, they present to us a large army of minds whose existence is a perpetual moral somnolence; unable they be asked about their religious affiliation. to believe, they have not enough moral strength to dis-·- believe anything seriously. They are Catholics for social When you talk to them about the doctrines of the convenience and opportunism. They boast that they have Roman Church such as the auricular confession, minds strong and free; but whilst they attack religion, purgatory, indulgences, mass, litanies, etc., they they send their children to Jesuit schools. They have no say: "I don't believe in these things, but I was convictions, and laugh at everything; but you see them born a Catholic and I shall die a Catholic …… I on every occasion ordering masses and priestly funerals. don't care to attend the church and support it They desire the priest, but in the solemn moments of life financially, but -I am a Catholic, and I am proud . they throw themselves, body and soul, into the arms of the of it." clergy….. .
Prof. Mariano was not a Protestant, but as a Prof. Archibald McClure, of the University of student and observer of the religious life of the Chicago, in his book "Leadership of the New Italians he was honest enough to say the truth. America," says: Father Curci, a great scholar, had a great de- The startling assertion has been frequently made this sire to translate and publish the New Testament, past winter that 90 per cent of the Italians are without
CONDITIONS AMONG ITALIANS IN AMERICA
the sway of the Roman Catholic Church. Though they priest as being parasite, gnawing worm, bag of coal, selmay still go to church to be baptized, married and buried, fish, and author and bearer of misfortunes . . . this is their sole connection with it. Even this is a matter of social custom rather than conviction. A leading Italian All that is being said by the people in Italy against the priest in New York admitted that at least 50 per cent of hated priest, their most foolish accusations, their most the Italians were without the church, except for baptism, infamous malignity, are repeated in America by the Italmarriage and burial-and that although some 3,000 at- ian people. Very often they salute the priest when he is tended Sunday services in his church on the lower East in front of them, but to his back they say uncomplimen- Side, there were as many more in that neighborhood who tary things against him . . . While we see the Amerdid not do so. . . . .. A father of a very prominent Italian icans, both Protestant and Catholic, respecting their lawyer of New Jersey has been here forty-two years and priests and devoted to their churches, the Italians speak never been in the church; another Italian notary public disparagingly of their priests, saying: "Let them go to in West Virginia, though here fourteen years, never goes work" . . . "I don't intend to support them" . . . "They to the church-just two instances of religious indifference repeat the same thing." . . . . "I . . . go to church?" which might be multipled by the hundreds and the thou- Hence we see that not even five per cent of the Italians sands." attend church.
One Sunday morning I preached on "The Re- This statement is by an Italian priest who ligious Indifference of Galio," one of the twelve knows the religious condition of his people. The Italians mentioned in the New Testament (Acts religious condition of the Italian Catholics in 18: 12-17). I deplored the religious indifference America has not changed for the better during the of our modern Italians who generally go to church past twelve years. The situation of the second on three occasions of their life: christening, mar- and third generations is very perplexing and of riage and burial. At the close of the service a great concern to those who are interested in their young man approached me and said: "Pastor, I welfare. These American-born seem to have given want to thank you for your sermon but I don't up the good traits which their parents imported agree with you when you said that the Italians from Italy, and to have retained the bad ones, go to church on three occasions in their life. In and on the top of this they have absorbed the fact, when they are christened and buried, they worst customs of the American life. The combiare carried there; so they go only once by their nation is not an easy matter with which to deal. own free-wilL" May God inspire and lead us in handling this disturbing situation. Speaking with an intelligent Italian business man on religious matters, and learning that he Now if this is the picture of the religious status did not believe· in the most important doctrines of the Italians in America, what are we going to of Catholicism and did not support his Church in do about it? Shall we imitate the priest and the any way, I pointed out to him that he could not levite of the parable and "pass by on the other be a good Catholic if he rejected practically all si~' or shall we follow the example of the Good her doctrines and dogmas. He answered: Samaritan who proved to be a real neighbor?
"Reverend, when you go to a banquet you don't It is to be regretted that in America there is a eat everything they put before you, but you sim- tendency on the part of some people who say that ply take what you like. So I do with my religious Protestant has no right to disturb the faith of food." "My dear man," I replied, "judging from these Italians and to try to convert them. But what you said you believe, it seems to me, that do they have any real faith to be disturbed? Their you don't take any food at all from your Catholic own priests acknowledge that they have none. banquet; if you don't change cook and dining The objections come from "broad minded" minroom you will soon be starving to death!" isters who have influenced not a few of our Prot- estant pulpits, men who believe that all religions He laughed and said: "Well, what's the differ- are of equal moral value. If all roads lead to ence; religion to me is a secondary matter. I Rome, all roads do not lead to Heaven. There never bother about it. I am a Catholic …… and was no compromise on the part of Jesus Christ this is enough for me." concerning the way of salvation. He did not hesi- tate to disturb the Jews and to tell them they The Rev. P. Pambianco, a priest of an Italian must be converted. Catholic Church of Philadelphia, published an article in L'Opinione, a daily Italian paper of the If Protestantism has no mission in the world same city, on July 20, 1922, in which he says: today then the Reformation of the 16th century was a colossal mistake. But if Protestantism has Our colonies have no consideration for the Italian Cath- a work to do, let us not hesitate to disturb the olic clergy. They still have ferocious prejudices against faith of the Italians and with renewed faith, in the clergy as though the priests were one of the causes Jesus Christ, and with enthusiasm and consecrafor the propaganda which is being waged against the tion let us go forward in preaching the Gospel to Italians who are looked down upon in America . . . the people "who recently came from Italy" (Acts The Italian people have been influenced against the clergy 18: 2). by the well known ring-leaders who have instilled in the people's mind the most foolish prejudices, hatreds, scorns, sarcasms and defamations. Hence utterances against the
Success of Missionary
By ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON, _.•<tff{ New Haven, Connecticut Department of Social Sciences, Yale University TAKEN as a whole, missionary children ap- in "making themselves useful and valuable mem- pear to be of unusually high character and to bers of society" and in thus becoming "men whose achieve unusual success. This fact was for- achievements render the world a better place in cibly brought out by Dr. Robert E. Speer in an which to live." The method at Harvard was more address at the annual meeting of the American personal, but otherwise was essentially the same.
Eugenics Society in May, 1934. In that address The number of missionaries was small (six at Dr. Speer emphasized the value of the fine train- Yale and two at Harvard), but it is worth noting ing received by missionary children. Another that all of these eight were ranked high, and their factor, however, is likewise important, namely average was notably higher than that of graduates their biological inheritance. From birth onward in any other profession. This rating is confirmed no two individuals are absolutely alike in either by other facts. Dr. Speer, for example, states appearance, intellect, or temperament. "Identi- that thirty-six missionaries from the Presbyterian cal" twins, springing from a single egg, are al- Board alone have been decorated by foreign gov- most exactly alike until diverse environments ernments. Who's Who in America for 1926-27 cause them to differ, but other pairs of brothers contains forty-seven sketches of missionaries and and sisters, even ordinary twins, differ greatly about twenty-seven times as many of clergymen physically, and the mental differences are even who are not missionaries. This means that, in more noticeable. Innumerable experiments make proportion to their numbers, the missionaries are it clear that no known method of training can con- fully as likely to be included in Who's Who as are vert a congenital moron into a genius. On the the clergymen who stay at home. This is in spite other hand, a person born with a fine intellect can of the fact that the missionaries are buried far be trained in many directions. Environment hiay away in foreign countries where there is little turn him into a skillful criminal or a spiritual opportunity for their deeds to become widely leader; but in either role he will excel because of known among Americans. Hence it appears that inborn ability. The unusual success of missionary missionaries as a whole achieve a much higher children apparently is due to the fact that they degree of what is commonly called success than possess unusual innate ability, and therefore can do the clergymen who stay at home.
profit from excellent training. Turning now to the children of missionaries, the But what evidence have we as to the success of three Yale classes studied included six sons of missionary children? In contradiction to the old missionaries, all of whom are engaged in non- sayings as to the black sheep among ministers' missionary professions. These, as well as the sons and deacon's daughters, Dr. Speer has col- actual missionaries, were ranked phenomenally lected many forceful opinions which indicate very high by their classmates, averaging well above the high ability, character and success. While there sons of graduates in any other profession.
is not much statistical evidence to uphold this In another investigation the college careers of favorable opinion, such evidence as we have indi- Yale classes graduating from 1922 to 1926 were cates that missionaries are as a rule highly suc- examined. The members of these classes were cessful and that their children follow in their ranked according to their official records as to steps. A few years ago, Dr. John C. Phillips and scholarship, athletic activity, other extra-cur- the writer cooperated in a study of the success of ricular activities, and earnings. The eighteen college graduates and the relation of success to young men who -were sons of missionaries out- the size of families. He took three classes at ranked the sons of every other profession. Un- Harvard who had been out of college 25 or 30 fortunately it is impossible to pick out all the chil- years, and I took three similar classes at Yale. dren of missionaries in "Who's Who," but some In the case of the Yale graduates, from five to can be identified and the number of sons of mis- nine men in each class graded their classmates on sionaries appears to be out of all proportion to the a scale of one to five according to their success actual number of missionaries. For example, [74 ] among the seventy-one missionaries listed in the sionaries, as in no other profession, the same rig- 1932-33 edition of "Who's Who," at least thirteen, orous selective processes apply to both fathers and including all three of the missionary women in mothers. Selection on both sides of the family the book, are children of missionaries. But among seems to be one of the great secrets of the success missionary children it is not probable that more of missionaries' children. than one in ten or twenty return to the foreign All this means not only that the missionary child field. Even if one in ten go back, missionary chil- is very carefully trained, but that the biological dren are nearly twice as likely to be included in material to which the training is applied is of "Who's Who" as are the children of clergymen in high quality. One member of the great J. P. Morgeneral. Further exact data on this subject are gan banking firm, for example, is the son of a greatly needed, but enough has been said to show missionary, while many others are in equally inthat wherever we have yet been able to test the fluential positions. It is natural for religious matter, the children of missionaries on an average leaders and educators to believe that training is show unusual ability and achieve notable success. the main reason for high character and success.
Let us consider now the reasons for this suc- The world has long believed that if children could cess. Undoubtedly one is the good training which be properly trained in every respect, many of our the children of missionaries receive in their early troubles would end. It seems to be scientifically years. Another and equally important reason is demonstrable, however, that unless we have able that such children are usually endowed with a fine leaders no such training is possible, and the rank biological inheritance. Their parents are selected and file will not make progress. It seems equally very rigorously. The Builders of America, writ- certain that able leaders are born as well as made. ten by Mr. Leon F. Whitney and the present au- Even though our present knowledge of human inthor, calls attention to the fact that the mission- heritance is very imperfect, it is clear that higharies of practically all the more intellectual de- grade parents tend to produce children of high nominations must be well educated, which means grade. In individual cases the children of the that they must have good minds to start with. fine parents may turn out poorly, because every Next they must be deeply religious. Third, they one carries a highly mixed inheritance. Weare must be so altruistic that they are willing to make genuine mongrels because thus far there has been great sacrifices. Fourth, they must have the no satisfactory eugenic program. Nevertheless, pioneering spirit, or the spirit of adventure which repeated investigations demonstrate that if a thoumakes them eager to go to one of the remote parts sand children of high-grade parents are compared of the earth. A fifth type of selection arises from with a thousand children of low-grade parents the the necessity for moral courage, and for the kind forwer type will have a decided advantage. Thereof strength that resists the attractions of life in for'e it is highly desirable that there be relatively America with all its opportunities for fame, large families among missionaries, among whom wealth, and pleasure. The majority of mission- both parents have been chosen through a process aries must be willing to resign themselves to life of strenuous selection. Today among the missionin some lonely corner where no one but God knows aries listed in the 1932-33 edition of "Who's Who," much about their struggles and their successes. the average number of children born in completed Physical as well as moral courage is a sixth qual- families amounts to 3.48 whereas it was 3.71 ten ity which acts as a selective factor. One who is years earlier. The corresponding figures among physically timid, or at least who yields to physical clergymen in America are 3.21 and 3.29, while timidity, rarely goes to a mission field. It takes among all the men in "Who's Who" it was 2.80 the finest kind of courage to proceed quietly with in 1922-23 and among artists only 2.20. The famone's work when a Boxer uprising or the fierce ilies of missionaries have declined appreciably anger of savages endanger one's life. Still an- during the last decade while those of the clergy at other factor in the selection is the fact that only home have changed only a little. Nevertheless, people of good health and sound constitution are the missionary families still remain slightly accepted for the mission field and later ill health larger than the others, and both clergymen and of any member of the family may cause their re- missionaries have more children than are born in turn home. Thus missionaries are selected be- the less altruistic professions. Those who because of intellectual ability, religious earnestness, lieve in the value of religious training, as well as altruism, the spirit of adventure, moral courage, of heredity, see in this a good sign. The world physical courage and good health. But the most has no greater need than that of high-grade chilimportant point of all is that among foreign mis- dren in high-grade homes.
of the Unchurched
By J. CAMPBELL WHITE, LL.D., New York Minister of the Community Center and Training School, West 44th Street United Presbyterian Church p: OFFICIAL resolution, passed at the recent get this truth across to all the children and youth National Convention of the Protestant of the nation by every possible method of ap- Episcopal Church, reads in part: proach? This is the truth and is tremendously "Whereas, millions of unchurched children in worth saying, and as soon as the churches can say this country constitute a major responsibility and it and mean it, a vast change will begin to take an unrivalled missionary opportunity for the place throughout America. Church." It is futile to try to reach all these millions of The resolutions called upon all the bishops, children and youth by anyone method, however clergy and churches "to make every effort to valuable. Doubtless, a genuine awakening of the reach these children through our church schools churches would lead to a great expansion of Sunand other agencies for Christian education." Sim- day school work and to a vast improvement in ilar action was taken by the New York and Kan- its general quality. But many millions of these sas Synods of the United Presbyterian Church and by the United Lutheran Church of America in youth will need to be reached by other methods. their biennial convention. These official actions, One thoughtful man, writing on the subject, says: taken during October of this year, make it clear that there is a real and widespread stirring of "We need practically a new profession created, of conviction on this question of evangelizing the persons who specialize on finding contact with a children and youth of America. The question group of these young people and leading them into was under prayerful discussion as to the need for the knowledge and experience of the truth as it is in Christ." What a chance for a training school for leaders of youth that would be competent to develop such "a new profession" !
a national agency to promote Christian effort For younger children one of the great fields to among unchurched children and youth. be expanded is Bible teaching of public school It is clear that only a powerful, sustained, na- children on released time. In Chattanooga, for tionwide effort can enlist and guide our churches the past twelve years, a committee representing in reaching double the number of children and youth than they are now reaching. No one church all the Protestant churches has selected and emcan solve this problem. It will tax the resources ployed Bible teachers in the public schools. Last of all of our Protestant churches working coop- year 8,758 pupils were taught in 32 different eratively. But by concerted and determined and schools of the city. Their report states that "many divinely guided action on the part of all Christian children have been won to Christ and church memforces it is possible to bring about a radical bership through the Bible classes in the public change in this situation during the next few years. schools. Hundreds of children from homes that Can we not so lay this burden of responsibility are not Christian first learn of Christ in these upon all churches that they shall actually make Christian instruction of youth as general as secu- classes and are led into the Sunday schools." "The lar education? There are thirty-four million chil- children in their Love Offering conducted by the dren of school age (6 to 18) in the United States. Parent-Teachers Association gave $1,243.39 to Only one-half of them are under Christian instruc- the budget, the largest single gift received from tion by either Protestant or Catholic churches. anyone organization." If this can be done in Chattanooga, why can it not be done in 1,000 other cities and towns of America? Millions of children In the meantime, immorality and crime go on might thus be reached with vital Christian inincreasing. Our Attorney General called a con- struction who wf)uld not be reached without this ference on Crime Prevention to meet in Wash- method being used. Have not the Christian ington on December 10th. He says that crime is chu1'ches and Christian parents surrendered ennow costing one billion dollars every month. What tirely too much in failing to provide for biblical can the Christian forces say that is worth saying, education as an essential part of education? An unless it is that Christ alone can cure sin and effective national agency can lead hundreds of crime and that the churches are determined to cities to adopt this plan.
[ 76]
CRITICISMS OF WORK FOR JEWS
The Catholic and Jewish groups in Chattanooga Some constructive ways to help: have been free to provide their own religious instruction for school children electing it, but they 1. Take this need deeply into your heart to pray have never actually supplied it. and work for till the need is actually met. Pray in groups as well as alone. In addition to the above methods, millions of other youth can be reached only by the small group 2. Let your own church leaders and the Intermethod. The right kind of a leader, organizing a denominational Provisional Committee which is club of boys or girls and cultivating them wisely working at this problem know of your interest. for their own development, including the consid- A thousand persons praying and thinking and eration of the deepest problems of life-this plan working together for this object will become irreis probably the chief practical one in the case of sistible. Why not be one of that group? (Please multitudes of youth not reachable by other meth- send your name to the writer at 432 West 44th ods. Almost no youth are beyond reach by this Street, New York City.) method-if the leader is both competent and consecrated. The enlistment and training of an army 3. The strong national agency needed to get of such leaders is a matter of first importance. such a program into operation and carry it for- It is a bigger and more important job than is now ward will require substantial financing. Pray for being done by any university in existence. Who the funds needed and do whatever else you are will provide an adequate training school for pro- moved by the Spirit of God to do to get this parducing reliable guides of youth? Could anything ticular problem solved. conceivable have a larger place in building the new nation and the new world that must be the 4. Tackle where you are the job of reaching desire of all who have been touched by the Spirit unchurched children. If you can get into contact of the Good Shepherd? with even half a dozen of them, it may mean their transformation, to say nothing of what it may mean to you of added joy in living.
Criticisms of Work for Jews By REV. PAUL I. MORENTZ, Philadelphia, Pa. Missionary of the Luthera11 Miss.ion to the I ews • CRITICISM, both by Hebrews and Christians In searching the Scriptures, one cannot find a single trace in regard to what is called "proselytizing" of Judaism being reserved, as it were, for the children of among the Jews, is based on erroneous con- Jacob, or anything that could be construed as being adceptions as to what the Gospel is and what con- verse to bringing other nations within its fold…. It is stitutes Christian mission work among Jews. quite natural that the Jews, while their own lives were threatened by persecution, and when the conversion of a Hebrew Critics Gentile might have brought dire punishment on the whole community, should have refrained from carrying on reli- Who are the Hebrews who criticise Christian gious p~opaganda. Not so, however, in olden times, and mission work among the Jews? Are they Ortho- under cIrcumstances favorable to Jewish missionary activdox Jews who sincerely believe in the Old Testa- ity…. We find at the very beginning of our history the ment Scriptures, in the mission of Israel and in promise given to Abraham that "all the nations of the the coming of the Messiah? earth shall be blessed in thee." His descendants were to be means of spreading this divine blessing among all the In my library is a collection of essays under the nations of the world…. The messages sent by the prophtitle: "The Jewish Library," edited by Rabbi Leo ets, were they not apostolic epistles from those who propa- Jung. Among those essays is one on "The Spread gated the Word of God and the fear of Him to the heathen of Judaism Through the Ages," by the Rev. nations and kings? Haham Moses Gaster, Ph.D., London, England, who says: This much from a very prominent representa- tive of orthodox Jewry. Among the many fallacies affecting the Jews and Judaism, there is none which is so generally accepted and so How about Reformed Judaism which rejects the deeply rooted as that which declares Judaism to be a mere coming of a personal Messiah but which speaks tribal religion, and to have neither the wide outlook nor in most emphatic terms of "the mission of Israel" the ideal expectation of becoming a world religion. . . . (whatever they may mean by that)? In my li- brary is another book called "The Unknown Sanc-
tuary," by Aime Palliere, a French Catholic con- the world for Judaism." (From the Chicago Jew- vert to Judaism, who some years ago toured ish Sentinel of January 23, 1931.) America as a guest lecturer invited by the well- Let Us Carry On known Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. A Foreword to this book, written by Edmond Fleg, a prominent How can we carry on mission work among the representative of Liberal Judaism in France, has Jews? I could not tell you if I would and I would this to say: not tell you if I could. Who am I to tell others how they should win a single soul to Christ, to Reversing the route by which Catholicism had developed say nothing of how to win a nation to Christ? No from primitive Christianity, and primitive Christianity method is right that is not in strict accord with from Judaism, he [Aime Palliere] became step by step the the spirit and teaching of Jesus Christ. Any spiritual contemporary of those great Romans, who, at the method is right that is in strict accord with the time of the coming of Christ, were the proselytes of Israel.
. Almost unconsciously he realized that he had ceased to be spirit of Jesus Christ. My personal method is to a Christian and that he had been conquered by Judaism. seek to educate Jew and Christian. The Christian In this inevitable return journey the new convert seems as must learn what the Jew has and what he does not yet a solitary pilgrim-but this may only seem to be so. have; when we learn that then we must be will- … At last there seems to be a sign that this age-old hope may be realized amid the diverse faiths of the world. ing to give the Jew what he needs – the Gospel, Might not one say that the ancient Messianism of Israel, Jesus himself, and above all, His love. In a counwhich is become the religion of Palliere, is on the way to try like America, where the Gospel has free becoming the religion of humanity? course and where Jews and Christians are in con- Christian Critics stant touch with each other, the Christian should Who are the Christians who criticise mission not leave the work of spreading the Gospel among the Jews to a few converted Jews or professional work among the Jews? Do they accept the Bible, mISSIOnaries. Every church should be a store- Old and New Testament, as the inspired Word of house of Christian knowledge and life for all peo- God? Do they accept Jesus as the Messiah, prom- ple, Jews and Gentiles. Every Christian pastor, ised to Israel and through Israel to the world? indeed every sincere Christian, should be a mis- Do they accept Christianity as a universal reli- sionary to the Jews-not a "proselyter" for his gion that preaches a universal salvation and that particular church or denomination, but a witness answers a universal need? This is the sole basis for Jesus Christ. The Jew must learn that the of mission work among Jews. If the Jew who be- Christian has no other interest except to bring lieves in the Old Testament sees in it a universal Christ to him. Noone wants to force a Jew or mission, is a Christian to see less in his Bible anyone else to be a Christian. No one wants any which has, in addition to Moses and the Prophets, one to give up his race or nationality. No one the New Testament, Jesus and the Apostles? Is wants the Jew to give up anything that is essenthere a single passage in the New Testament that tial to Biblical or national Judaism. All a Chris~ would encourage one to think that the universal tian wants is to enrich the Jew and his religion claim of Christianity excludes the Jew? I heartily by the teachings and life of Jesus Christ, just as recommend to Christians the attitude of men like many thousands of Jews in the past and as many John R. Mott, who is quoted as having said at a thousands of Jews at present are enriched by the meeting of the International Missionary Council: Gospel. When both Jews and Christians learn "Missionary work among the Jews is a duty in that there is no ulterior and unworthy motive spite of all protests." It was refreshing to see back of mission work, that all can only benefit by that when Dr. Mott's remark was termed "ill coming together and contributing to each other, timed" by a Christian (the Rev. Everett R. then criticism will vanish and sincere Jew and Clinchy), a Jewish Rabbi from Chicago, (G. Christian will both be enriched by the Gospel of George Fox), came to Dr. Mott's defense by say- Jesus Christ. ing: "Dr. Mott is simply a good orthodox Chris- tian, who believes with all his might in the words A Missionary's Equipment of his Gospel. And if you turn to Matthew 28: A life yielded to God and controlled by His Spirit.
19-20, you will find what in Christian theology is A restful trust in God for the supply of all needs.
called the 'Great Commission' and which reads: A sympathetic spirit and a willingness to take a lowly 'And Jesus spake: Go ye therefore and teach all place. nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching Tact in dealing with men and adaptability towards c,ir- cumstances.
Zeal in service and steadfastness in discouragement.
. them to observe whatsoever I have commanded Love for communion with God and for the study of His . you.' . . . I wish we Jews had the faith and the word. loyalty and the zeal of a Dr. Mott. I wish we could muster men who would be willing to conquer Some experience and blessing in the Lord's work at home. A healthy body and a vigorous mind.
-J. Hudson Taylor.
Ways of
I ! crested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~=I================================~I'~ I OUR MISSIONARY EDUCA- local church. The ultimate objects of for "Coaching Days" held in dis- this endeavor is to sow free literature tricts or zones for the benefit of TION KALEIDOSCOPE throughout the churches, swing the prospective teachers in local mis- congregations into line with mission- sion study groups. "Suzuki As your Department Editor ary education plans, promote reading Looks at Japan" is recommended shifts her interdenominational and mission study classes or circles, this year for all adult groups. kaleidoscope, the brightest mis- cooperate with the pastor in his missionary feature in the home sionary plans, use the church calendar The United Brethren are pubchurch is the annual increase in or bulletin, posters, etc., as means to lishing through their Foreign the number of readers and stu- the main end, hold an annual tea in Mission Society a forty-page dents of home and foreign mis- early autumn to present the new books pamphlet entitled "Our Father's sion literature and the variety and outline plans, make use of insti- Family" in which are thirty-five of devices for making this at- tutes and other interdenominational daily readings for devotional tractive. She has an embarass- study groups and to keep before the periods inclusive of family worment of voluminous contribu- members the special privilege of fur- ship, to familiarize the people tions at hand upon the subject nishing funds for the translation of with affairs in the younger and can give only a few bits literature into other languages. The churches on the overseas fields. from here and there. If your mission study department is furnish- A Scripture reading, a prayer plans for Schools of World ing- the money this year for transla- and a three-quarter page of bio- Friendship are already under- tions into Japanese. "Since every ef- graphical mat t e r concerning way, save these suggestions for fort is worth while, discouragement some missionary character is the the next time. But many of shall not lodge with me," concludes the daily assignment. them are timeless and may be Synodical Secretary of Mission Study. used by program builders as well The American Friends Board as study leaders. A Variety of Plans of Missions holds one-day mis- sionary institutes at which the A leaflet of the Women's Mis- Coaching Conferences are be- morning session is devoted to an sionary Society of the United ing used· by Southe~n' Presby- exhibit of map s, pictures, Lutheran Church says: terian churches to aid mission graphs, data, etc., with speakers study leaders to present their furnishing the interpretations. An imperative obligation to make textbooks in the best possible In the afternoon missionary edudisciples of all men rests upon the way. These gatherings are held cation methods, field problems Church. This obligation cannot be "early enough for the teacher to and "ways and means" discusdischarged without widespread and in- make plans for the class but not sions fill the time. Stereopticon telligent sympathy throughout the too early for her to 'cool off' and pictures are shown in the eve- Church. I believe this can be brought lose enthusiasm." The groups ning. about by systematic missionary edu- are so arranged as to minimize cation. The advantages of a small traveling expenses, delegates be- The Reformed Church in the study class are: (1) Its small size ing further instructed, in some United States majors on miswhich permits expression from each cases, to bring their own lunch- sionary ins t r u c t ion in the member. (2) Its series of meetings eons with the hostfi!sS providing Church School. They don't do in close succession, thus securing the only a hot drink. Some synodi- things by halves. One church cumulative effect of impressions. (3) cals, however, allow a fund in writes that every class in its Its demand for serious study. (4) their budgets to cover confer- school took six weeks of study Its atmosphere of discussion which ence costs. Leaders of vision in the fall and six more in the gives life to the class. The gaining and enthusiasm are chosen. spring, alternating bet wee n of information in a class is not an end in itself but should result in inspira- "Leadership of Mission Study home and foreign missions. Ortion which leads to action. The aim Groups" is the name of a course dinarily straight mission study is: To realize the slogan, "One or used by the Methodist Episcopal takes the place of the regular more mission study classes and read- Church, South, pastors and Sunday School lessons for those ing circles in every missionary society other leaders being familiarized periods. Miss Ruth Heinmiller in the United Lutheran Church." with the current study books and writes in Bulletin No. One of the also the principles and methods The system advocated is that of for teaching them, with a view having a synodical mission study sec- to becoming, in turn, instructors retary working through the conferences and on down through confer- [79 ] ence and congregational secretaries to' similar promotional agencies in the
International Council of Reli- flags and decorations matching loved on both sides of the line, gious Education: the countries. With each ex- writes: hibit was a map showing the The men were reluctant at first location of the stations, and from We set up an exhibit on Friday, about taking it, but after they got this were strung ribbons bear- preferably in a gymnasium or some into the study they didn't want to stop. ing the names of the mission- room with high walls. We decorate They have been writing in asking for aries and dates of their terms of the walls with tapestries, maps, picmore information and especially about service. This material was in- tures, etc. We place on long tables our denominational work. The y tensively used in nine successive all the way around a large, square frankly confessed that they did not services inclusive of Sundays room . . . curios representing the know our denomination was carrying and Wednesdays, with a stereop- home life, agriculture, industries, on so much work. A striking result ticon lecture at each meeting. trade, health conditions, religions, etc., of this study is the fact that this China, Ceylon, India, America, of our different mission fields. We church paid the highest amount of its the Near East, Africa, Japan. have one or two missionaries at each denominational apportionment of any and the Philippines were succes- of the tables representing Korea, church in the Classis for the year. sively featured, plays, pageants, And for the third quarter of this year impersonations and an "around- China, India, Africa, Trinidad and (1933-34) they have paid 100 per the-world sup per," cafeteria Home Missions. They explain the cent! style, adding to the lure of the curios and are ready to answer ques- lectures. Churches within a The Protestant E pis cop a l radius of fifty miles were invited tions. Church has set up series of to these excellent meetings. We invite all the public and high reading courses through its Projects helped to make the plan Woman's Auxiliary, following permanent and practical. A school scholars to visit this exhibit the general plan of the Amer- number of the contributing mis- from two to four, the younger chilican Library Association in its sionaries had mentioned articles dren coming from two to three and "Reading with a Purpose." The they needed for their work. In the high school students and adults chief aim is to develop the mis- response, the Women's Associa- from three to four. Then we close sionary reading habit among tion, the Young People's Socie- the exhibit and bring all those old those not attending study classes. ties and three departments of enough into an auditorium to hear an A line of brief booklets called the Sunday school joined forces address on what missions means and "The Today Series" has been to collect materials and funds to what moves us to carryon the work. brought out, for ins tan c e, meet the needs. Surely the per- Then we divide the audience into "Japan Today." It is amazing manent effect of such an effort groups to go with the missionaries how much interesting informa- justified the great amount of tion can be packed into so small energy expended upon it. into class rooms for conversation and a space. The Lenten season is study. We put a small library on the especial mission study pe- In an isolated mountain region riod of the Episcopalians, its six of North Carolina, a woman liv- each field into the corresponding class weeks being intensively used, ing part way up a mountain did rooms so that the missionary is able even to the taking of Lenten and her bit in starting a missionary to tell the people what is available for Birthday Thank-offerings for loan library, as many as twenty- them to read and study. We put a spreading Christ's Kingdom. five books being called for and very large exhibit into the center of the recipients traveling many the big gymnasium which is sur- The Congregational-Christian miles to get the reading matter! Denomination is very zealous in rounded by tables of curios. A group of rural and village After these discussion groups we missionary education. 0 n e churches in New Jersey united church in Emmetsburg, Iowa, their resources for m iss ion usually have a supper to which leadconsented to be one of twelve study over a period of six weeks, ing workers are invited. Sometimes churches in the state to hold ex- with the result that the partici- we have one supper for young peoperimental "World – Friendship pants were very enthusiastic, ple to which everybody is invited. Institutes" which would bring saying they 'had never had a Sometimes over 200 sit down. The the world to the home church. more enjoyable or profitable time general public likes to come in about Letters telling of the proposed than that spent in this coopera- seven o'clock to see the exhibit. Misinstitute were sent to thirty-nine tive endeavor. sionaries are all in charge and the missionaries widely scattered public is always welcome. Then there over the map, asking for letters, And Away Up in Canada is a big mass meeting beginning at maps, pictures and explanations of their work, the local churches In the International Council eight o'clock. We put ads into the meeting the transportation ex- of Religious Education Bulletin paper and secure extra sp.ace for inpense up to a given limit. The previously mentioned an ac- terviews with missionaries and anresponse from some of those ad- count is given of the marked suc- nouncements of Sunday preaching. dressed was a flood of excellent cess attained in Canada by On Sunday, missionaries and secrematerial, even to a choice collec- "World Missionary Conferences taries preach in all the churches in tion of shells. The material was and Missionary Exhibits." Dr. the city and surrounding country. assembled in a series of booths F. C. Stephenson, a man much representative of the various Then on Sunday afternoon there is an fields, the home material in one International Missionary Rally – a room and the foreign in another, wonderful m e e tin g – with short speeches. On Sunday night, there are speakers in city pulpits. In some churches after-meetings are held, but enough missionaries are free to con- duct the exhibit for an hour after church.
On Monday morning we have a meeting with the ministers. . . . We let them tell us all their troubles and try to help them . . . Also on Mon- day morning our missionaries go to the high school and technical schools, giving short addresses and inviting the young people to come to our ex- hibit, so Monday afternoon is usually a very strenuous one. Usually we have a pageant or play put on by the N"oung people Monday night, preceded by a big supper. By Tuesday the
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
workers and ministers are thoroughly 8. Pantomimes during reading of maintains attendance and interaroused. The day is spent in close-up "East Wind, West Wind." est, Rev. William E. Harmon dework with ministers, official board cided that this was not so much members, Sunday school and young 9. Debate on Unemployment Insur- due to irreligion, irreverance or people's leaders, closing with a big ance (following study of "Christ and the death of spiritual impulses supper at night which is well at- the Modern World"). as to the need for giving "old, tended. Then of course we must fol- eternal truths new habiliments low up with correspondence. We have 10. Address by Negro woman on -a refurbishing and sometimes never put on anything else which is "Changing Racial Attitudes." entirely new clothing." On this quite as satisfactory. thesis he established The Reli- 11. By means of posters, charts and gious Motion Picture Founda- One Plan in Detail scrapbooks, class members presented tion, 140 Nassau St., New York a graphic demonstration of the appli- City, whose very comprehensive The following detailed study cation of Christian principles to some catalog may be obtained free. of one School of WorId Friend- phases of the world's life. War and The expense is very slight and ship is timeless in its principles peace were emphasized the most. precludes any profit for the and its pattern may be used with (Given by guild girls.) Foundation save that of spiritany combination of themes or ual dividends. For communities study books. This schedule was 12. Interracial frieRdship program, without facilities, the Foundavaried from year to year but in by junior and primary children, re- tion offers projectors, screens general remained basic: flecting their class study and using and even the service of an oper- Mexican children, with other partici- ator upon application at the 6: 15, an inexpensive supper. pants costumed to represent children nearest distribution bureau, as 6: 45 to 7: 15, song and devotional of other nationalities. follows: period-a study of great hymns for one topic. 13. From the covers of a book large Beacon Films, Inc., 25 West 45th 7: 15 to 8: 10, study classes, lecture enough to conceal them stepped class St., New York City. method used with adults, in the main. members impersonating doctors and 8: 10 to 8: 45, feature period. nurses whose lives of service were re- Holbrook-Smith Production, 33 West A hymn-sing was used last year to corded in one of the study books. Ex- 60th St., New York City. make profitable the pre-supper period hibit of hospital supplies made by while the people were gathering. class, to be sent away through the Pilgrim Press, 14 Beacon St., Bos- White Cross for mission use. ton, Mass. For the regular suppers, the juniors sometimes prepared at- The closing session of the series one Division of Visual Aids, Presbytractive table favors. Leaflets year featured a Friendship Supper. terian Board of Christian Education, furnished by the national board From large upright hearts in the Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia, of the denomination were also center of each table extended red Pa. placed at each plate at table; and cords to flags of different nations set in accordance with the slogan, at the four corners of the table, to Presbyterian Book Store, 234 Mc- "Read! Share!" the literature express the keynote of the function. Allister St., San Francisco, Calif. was supposed to be read between Beautiful booklets indicating the evesessions and passed on to others ning's theme had been made by the Y. M. C. A. Motion Picture Bureau, who had not been present. juniors and were used as place favors. 347 Madison Ave., New York City, or Girls doing Christian Americaniza- Room 1019 South La Salle St., Chi- The feature periods, following tion work and others having foreign cago, Ill. the class sessions, were of spe- friends brought these as guests of cial interest. .Here are a few il- honor, introducing them to the entire The Japanese Tourist Bureau, lustrations: company, the foreigners giving sen- 551 Fifth Ave., New York City, tences of greeting in their own lan- also furnishes for the cost of 1. Five-minute map drill of Baptist guages, translated into English by carriage only a number of reels stations, using electrified maps of the their friend-hostesses. Appropriate of Japanese pictures of general home and foreign countries studied- music of the nationalities was inter- import and good as background three on each-all given by the same spersed. An original pageant on one material. person to ensure unity and compre- of the study books (Torch-Bearers) hensiveness. furnished the climax of the evening. Pass on the Torch 2. For "atmosphere," an exhibit of Expressional Projects furnish one Pass on the torch, pass on the flame, Indian and Chinese art, pictures, items of the most valuable features of each of home settings, etc., arranged by a School of Missions in this church. Remember whence the glory came; guild girl who gives the explanations. Hospital supplies, showers for mission stations under the direction of a And eyes are on you as you run, 3. Responsive readings on "Along "Shower Lady," presentation of gifts the Indian Trail" and "Lanterns in suitable for use among Indians and Beyond the shining of the sun. Their Hands," given by different in- collected in an Indian drum accorddividuals to present a wealth of facts ing to lists of needs previously ascer- Lord Christ, we take the torch from about the two fields being studied. tained from various stations, offering of money gifts for Chinese missions Thee, 4. "Missions Speaks"-a playlet by (dropping this into a Chinese languild girls advertising denominational tern), and such like outlets for inter- We must be true, we must be free, missionary publications. est and emotion aroused by the studies are always arranged. Can you And clean of heart and strong of soul, 5. Talk by college professor on the imagine children trained thus in sucdevelopment of the Middle West along cessive sessions ever saying, "We To bear the glory to its goal. the line of Indian trails. don't believe in missions?" o Lord of life, to Thee we kneel; 6. "Indian Night"-Indian museum The foregoing excerpts were examined under guidance of "atmos- Maker of men, our purpose seal! phere" chairman. taken from contributions sent to this Department from the First We will, for honor of Thy name, 7. Play, "Two Thousand Miles for a Book," by dramatics class. Baptist Church of Galesburg, Pass on the torch, pass on the flame.
Illinois. -Allen Eastman Cross, in The Presbyterian Magazine. Visual Aids Noting the increasing diffi- culty with which the Church The Council of Women for Home Missions ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~~,===–=====~=I~ indifference t 0 ment" is quite in accord with the others, for the re- general subject of p ray e r, moval of bitter- namely "Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of ness and e viI Christ" (Gal. 6: 2). The service thoughts fro m is prepared in six main divisions of which the third is "Worship our minds. Through Interpreting the Theme for Life Today" : Almighty God, our LEADER: What would it mean to obey heavenly Fat her, Christ's new commandment in our homes? who didst so love the ASSEMBLY: It would mean that gentle- world as to give Thy ness and courtesy, the will to under- stand, patience and good humor Son to be its light would bless the relationships of husband and wife, parent and child, and life, we would brothers and sisters. Each would share the work of the home, and know the mind of each would share his best gifts of mind and heart for the building of .: ',' our Master concen:- happiness in the home. ing this world of .' …. LEADER: What would it mean to obey Thine. For t his Christ's new commandment in our schools? .'.. -,', . cause we pray in . the words of Thy ASSEMBLY: It would mean that each member of the school community '., ," servant, Paul: "Let could be relied on for school spirit, that gentle manners and careful ." . this mind be in us, consideration for the rights of . .' which was also in others would prevail; and that a desire to fit oneself for service Christ Jesus." Help would replace selfish ambition as the dominant motive in education. . . .. .. us to see the world LEADER: What would it mean to obey as He saw it, to hear Christ's new commandment in the world of business? . " its cry as He heard ASSEMBLY: It would mean that em- ., it, to feel its need as ployers would deal with those who work for them as human beings of He felt it. Give U5 dignity and worth. Equally it would mean that all who are em-· His w 0 rId vision, ployed would give full measure of interest and of energy to the day's His world compas- work, regarding the humblest task as a trust to be fulfilled. sion, His world pur- pose and His wor~d LEADER: What would it mean to obey Christ's new commandment in our yearning. Forgive us community life?
wherein we h a v e ASSEMBLY: It would mean that the resources of the community would tried to keep His be organized for the well-being of all the citizens. Wholesale recrea- world-gospel to our- tion would be provided, temptations to intemperance and vice removed. selves. G ran t us The work of the community would be justly divided, as well as the re- LET TIns' MIND BE IN YOU singleness of pur- sulting gains. It would not be tol- WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS pose and strength of will to publish the mind of Jesus for our world; and so bless the endeavors The illustration above is given of Thy servants who proclaim His gracious Gospel, that this our world through the courtesy of the may speedily. and surely be His Woman's Missionary Society of world. In His name. Amen. the General Synod, Reformed Church in the United States. ARTHUR V. CASSELMAN.
This society is in process of be- "A New Commandment"
coming the Woman's Missionary The Service of Worship for Society of the Evangelical and Young People to be used on the first Friday in Lent, Mareh 8, Reformed Church, an evidence 1935, the World Day of Prayer that "the mind" of Christ Jesus for Missions, was prepared by Miss Marjorie Trotter of Canfor unity is at work in the hearts ada at the request of the Interand minds of His followers. Board Committee, Woman's Mis- The illustration, symbolizing the sionary Societies of Canada. The theme "A New Commandfamily with the child in the midst, is the cover of a year's calendar of prayers. These prayers ask forgiveness for [ 82]
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
erated that a few should amass for- Blackfeet fro m the CONCERNING ORIENTALS tunes while the many suffered want. Winnebagoes. The i r IN AMERICAN LIFE LEADER: What would it mean to obey Christ's new commandment among homes, the i r lan- the nations? guages, their ways of ASSEMBLY: It would mean that the nations would gladly create inter- living, are not the national forces to regulate the world's trade for the benefit of the same." peoples of the world. It would mean that instead of throwing their 2. "I like to be strength into the race in armaments nations would throw their strength known as an Indian on into the World Court and League of Nations, that these might become the reservation," said effective instruments of world peace. It would mean trying to understand a Chippewa girl in St. the differences between races and peoples and giving each a chance to Paul, "but not in the make its distinctive contribution to- ward the enriching of the common city. If I told my em- life. ployer I was one, he LEADER: What would it mean to obey Christ's new commandment in our would think that I was personal lives? not capable and I ASSEMBLY: It would mean refusing to cherish resentment or bear a should lose my posi- grudge; it would mean looking for the best in other people; it would tion." mean studying and supporting the movements looking toward peace 3. Edward S w i c k and a new society; it would mean asking for God's help from day to (Wintermoon), in re- day in order to show forth the spirit of love in every situation. porting to Indian stu- Price, 2 cents; $1.50 per hundred. Order dents his participation from your denominational headquarters, or 105 East 22d Street, New York City. in the recent Meth- NEWS FLASH FROM odist Episcopal "cov- WALES ered wagon" journey Rev. Watcyn M. Price, of from Boston to Salem, Wrexham, Wales, wrote to the editor expressing his apprecia- Oregon, told of mistion of this Bulletin and reported that "The Presbyterian Church understandings of the of Wales will join with yourselves in the observance of the American I n d ian. World Day of Prayer (March 8)" and that in previous years Sometimes hew a s "wonderful prayer meetings up and down the land have been named "alien"; many held." were surprised that he INDIAN AMERICAN YOUTH spoke English; a boy "TRANSPLANTED" TODAY in New York City re- Haruko and Sabura-from "Rainbow Bridge" What Indian American young fused to shake hands (For junior children's reading, by Florence Crannell Means) people recognize as their own problems: with him "for he be- 1. Haskell student: "We In- lieved me not to be an Indian, DEAR READER: Haruko and dians are not all alike, any more than you white people are. The for he thought all Indians used Saburo are Americans. They Dutch are different from the paint and feathers." Winter- ask, Now that you have prob- Swedes, the Russians from the moon said, "It is the duty of the French. In the same way, the Indian to relate the analysis of ably studied about them in the Dakota Indians are different the characteristics of the Indian books on Japan and about Orienfrom the Chippewas, the Nava- tals in American Life, recently jos from the Cherokees, and the to the so-called Americans so published by the Missionary that they may readily under- Education Movement, what have stand us, that they may heed to you yourself done about it? our call, to our needs in this What has your missionary so- complicated world."
4. Ataloa of Bacone College, ciety done? Are they now for- Muskogee, Oklahoma, in ad- gotten? Or have you as fellow dressing Indian youth, said, citizens written to the President "We need religious leadership, of the U. S. A. expressing your motivated by the teachings of conviction as to the urgent need Christ, that will prove a new to secure new legislation and im- migration quota for Orientals, faith can minister to every comparable to that granted to phase of Indian experience and other new Americans? If you relationship with the same vi- tality as the old religions. . . . But without spiritual guidance, have not done it, please take the training, and unselfish devotion. lead in having your society think, Indian youth will fail in meet- pray, act now "for their sakes"
ing the challenge." and also as an immediate way "Trained leadership is the to do your part to maintain only answer to these problems. This means education where one world peace in the Pacific Area. may learn to 'share a life as well Sincerely yours, as make a living.' " THE EDITOR.
Europe where the lamp of truth once government. Later editions
the lurid tale were published to Principles that Unite Nations burned brightly. It is possible for help the Russian secret police fo- ment anti-Semitic agitation. The Universal Christian Coun- America to cease to be a Christian cil for Life and Work is looked country. . Bernstein's statement was upon by some as a world federa- confirmed by the lawyers for the tion of churches in the making. It is high time for us to awake to Berne plaintiffs who declared The younger churches in the Ori- that "The Protocols" were origent have been represented in our opportunities and responsibilities. inally based on an essay written meetings of the Council, and are in 1864 by Maurice J oly, a expected to form a fifth section We cannot play fast and loose with French author, called "A Diaof the world organization which logue in Hades Between Machinow has four active sections our obligations,and expect to trans- avellie and Montesquieu." made up of Eastern Orthodox, British, Continental and Ameri- mit to the coming generation a virile, -The Litery Digest. can. The Oriental Protestant churches are closely related redemptive Gospel. Every Christian World Wide D. V. B. S, through the International Missionary Council, which has as should pause and ask, What is Amer- Rev. Robert G. Boville, foundconstituent bodies the various er of the Daily Vacation Bible National Christian Councils. ica's testimony to the Christian faith? Schools, reports that during the The fundamental idea of the past year there had been held Universal Christian Council is What is the testimony of the Govern- 3,307 vacation Bible schools in that common service and con- the different countries of the paduct based on Christian prin- ment? of the college? of the church? gan world, having 13,911 teachciples, will draw together even ers, and 173,421 pupils. In the such bodies as theologically dif- of myself? What sacrifices are you United States in 1933 there were fer in some points. The Council 14,829 schools, with a total enhas its head office in Geneva. making for the fulfilment of Christ's rolment of 1,290,460. It was un- der the administration of Mr. Re-thinking Loyalty promise that the time will come when Boville that this movement was started by the New York City The Presbytery of Pittsburgh throughout the whole world "every Mission Society and it has grown has sent out a call "to the task to world-wide proportions. of re-thinking loyalty to Christ knee should bow and every tongue and His Church." Some of its -Watchman-Examiner. pargraphs are the following: should confess that Jesus Christ is NORTH AMERICA It is impossible to escape the im- Lord, to the glory of God the Father. plication that if we are disciples of "Everyman's Offering" Christ we must follow where He leads. "Protocols of Zion" a Fake He goes before us and it is ours to U n de r the leadership of follow. It is not a debatable question The "Protocols of the Elders Charles P. Taft II of Cincinnati whether we shall go where He leads. of Zion," an anti-Semitic book an emergency gift was gathered published in Russia in 1905, by by a committee of Episcopal lay- In recent times the followers of Sergei Nilus, is a fantastic story men, and called "Everyman's Christ seem to have lost the sense of of an alleged Jewish conspiracy Offering." The object was to direction. The chill of the outside to overthrow Christianity and to avert the threatened heavy cut world has come into the church and dominatEY the world. These docu- in missionary appropriations of we have passed the torch of mission- ments have been declared forg- the Protestant E pis c o· p a I ary enthusiasm to other hands. Chris- eries, copied from an old book, Church. Making its appeal to tians confess to the lack of the driving and the Union of Jewish Com- the men of the Church, in eight power of a great passion for the cause munities in Switzerland have months this offering amounted of the Christian faith which alone can brought suit for libel to end for- to $251,000. More than 1,200,- redeem and save our people. The ever the gruesome tale which 000 pieces of literature were lives of Christians are the real ob- has plagued Jews for sixty sent out and thousands of indistacle to the progress of the Gospel in years. viduals were personally solicited. our generation. The "Protocols" were re-pub- Christianity was driven from North lished in London in 1920 under Africa and from parts of Asia and the title "A Jewish Peril" and were discredited in 1921 by Her- man Bernstein. In a booklet called "the History of a Lie," he traces the documents to a novel published in Germany by Her- man Goedische, writing under the pen-name of Sir John Ret- cliffe. An excerpt from this book was published in 1872 un- der the title, "The Jewish C-eme- tery in Prague and the Council of the Representatives of the Twelve Tribes of Israel," which recited the story of bearded J ew- ish elders conspiring, in a ceme- tery, to overthrow Christendom and to set up a Jewish universal [84 ]
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Among the startling f act s only institution of its kind in the LATIN AMERICA brought up by this dragnet was northeastern section of the Unitthat three-fourths of the church ed States. The ex-slave is Dr. Reactions in Mexico membership were making no Walter H. Brooks, pastor of the regular contribution to missions. Nineteenth S t r e e t Baptist Rev. Clarence Neff, of Guad- Church of Washington, D. C. alajara, Mexico, declares that Some observers believe that He entered Lincoln University only a movie camera can portray this movement may take perma- in 1866 when only a few years conditions in that country, so nent form in organized local out of bondage. He is now 83 rap i d I y does the situation groups of mission-minded men. years old, and has been a pastor change. "Far from being a time in Washington for over 50 years. to give up and retire from the -The Christian Advocate. field," says Mr. Neff, "this would A letter from Dr. Brooks to seem to be one of those crises Churches Sold for Debt the president offhe University which challenge the reality and recalled a gift of $500 he had resources of our Christian reli- Dr. F. W. Mueller, superin- received from the Presbyterian gion." tendent of church extension for Board of Education in Pittsthe Methodist Board, reported burgh when he was a student. The Congregational Church at at the annual meeting, Novem- Dr. Brooks wrote further: Hermosillo was taken over by ber 20, that thirty Methodist the Government as a social cenchurches had been sold by the I can never return the favor in ter. Instead of crushing their sheriff during the depression, mere dollars and cents. But today, spirit this seems to spur the and that about 400 others were for the first time in my life, I am able workers on to new endeavor. At in a critical condition. About to draw a check for $1,000 and have Matzatlan, where the clergy are 5,000 of the 20,000 churches of a hundred or two left to my account, put on a quota, a progressive the denomination had debt prob- only a hundred or two, however. program of social action serving lems, he said, and the interest on the community has been pushed. church property debts "exceeds "Peyote Christians" For services the churches join the amount given by the entire together with the Baptists whose church for world service." In Rev. F. C. Patterson, writing pastor has a permit to officiate. each case, Dr. Mueller said, a in the Woman's Missionary Mag- The English Forum and the Inmodest loan would save the day. azine of the deep spiritual need ternational Club are growing of our American Indians, tells concerns. Professional and busi- Anti-Alcohol Education why it is difficult to win "Peyote ness men, both Catholic and Christians." Most of this group Protestant, discuss questions of The 60th anniversary conven- were nominal Christians before general interest in a new Spantion of the W. C. T. U. held in joining the cult; in fact, they ish-speaking group. Cleveland, Ohio, November 10- claim it is a Christi,an church, 15, climaxed in the launching of organized in Oklahoma as "Na- Instituto Colon, a Congregaa five-point, five-year, $500,000 tive American Church." Their tional school, has been unable to program, to culminate in 1939, distinctive characteristic is the meet expenses and has closed the centenary of the birth of use of the narcotic-drug, "pey- but the Colegio Internacional is Frances Willard, and at once to ote" as the Bread in the Holy still functioning. embrace a nation-wide plan of Communion. They hold their education for youth and adults, meetings only when they have a -American Board News. along with unwavering cham- supply of this drug. It keeps pionship of legislation looking them awake for 24 hours, so they Work with Mexican Troops toward the goal of national ab- usually start their meetings on olition of the liquor traffic. Saturday evening and the effect N. W. Taylor is evangelizing of the drug continues through Mexican soldiers who occupy Mrs. Ida B. Wise Smith was the Sabbath. This drug enlarges roadside camps; and has met a reelected national president. the retina of the eye and causes cordial response. Week after The next world's convention will them to see wonde.rful color ef- week this work has gone on. be held in the United States, fects. They think of these color Four regiments have been visprobably in 1937. effects as visions of Christ and ited in their barracks and two claim the drug is the Holy Spirit hundred and seventy-five New Ex-Slave Gives $1,000 revealing the truth to them di- Testaments and 150 Bibles have rectly so that they do not need been sold to soldiers. Many of- With an initial gift of $1,000 to read the Bible. ficers, and between eight and from a former Negro slave, a nine hundred soldiers have taknation-wide movement has been The thing was started by a en a stand for Christ before launched to raise $400,000 for government agent in order to their comrades. the expansion and improvement profit from the sale of the drug. of Lincoln University near Ox- The government is now handi- In one meeting a major gathford, Pa. This is a pioneer liber- capped in legislating against it ered 45 soldiers, their wives and al arts college and theological because the Indians cry "reli- children who drank in every seminary for Negro young men, gious persecution," and all argu- word, and showed much interest founded 80 years ago, and the ment is useless. in the chart explanation of the Gospel. The major, looking up
the references, would occasional- cate Rev. Irven Paul of Chile to London October 2, Prof. Duncan ly say to the company with a such a continent-wide service W. Blair declared that there is nod, "Yes, here it is, just as he u n d e r the auspices of the no more strategic field of evansays." When the invitation was World's Sunday School Associa- gelistic effort than the universigiven one of the first to raise his tion, and it is confidently ex- ties of the world, because stuhand was this major. pected that the way will be clear dents are required to assimilate for the inauguration of this new a constantly growing mass of in'- At Managua, Nicaragua service early this year. formation. Representatives from several universities reported up- In twelve years the Baptist The first national Sunday on the witness borne by the Church at Managua, has in- School Convention ever held in Christian Unions in the univercreased from less than 100 to Colombia is reported a pro- sities. 500, and the Sunday school from nounced succeSf!. It was held in an average attendance of 75 to Bogata and the' attendance was One speaker told of a tour in more than 400. The church has representative. This new I y Hungary, in which he met an igtwo branch Sunday schools. Al- formed organization desires to norance of the Word of God though the members are all very b e com e affiliated with the which is almost incredible, and poor, $12,000 has been contrib- World's Sunday School Associa- of hunger for the Word. He inuted to the work. The church tion. stanced cases of students standis planning to enlarge the chapel ing firmly for Christ, although and has a fund of more than To Evangelize Argentine Jews lonely and suffering dire pover- $5,000 toward a church building. ty. The Hebrew Christian Alli- Miss Mary Mills, Baptist mis- ance of America plans to send The President of the Fellowsionary, writes that 533 boys Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Glass to ship, Dr. T. W. Gilbert, said that and girls are receiving a Chris- inaugurate work among the the movement is the most steadytian education. We have in our 150,000 Jews of Argentina if the ing influence he has known, and employ at Managua eighteen necessary funds are obtained. that its members are character- Nicaraguan teachers of whom There is a great field in Buenos ized by a devotion to the Lord, eight are Christian and four oth- Aires alone, a city of over 2,000,- and strong conservative views, ers are very sympathetic toward 000 people with 90,000 Jews for which result in clear testimony the Gospel. Last spring Don Is- whom little Christian work has and simple faith. Some of the mael Garcia, pastor at Santa ever been, done. ablest men of the day were Ana, who is counted one of the among their ranks. best evangelists in Latin Ameri- -Christian Approach to Jews. ca, conducted services in our -The Christian. church. Nearly every night the Baptistqrowth in Brazil building was crowded, and Fifteen Years in Belgium eighty-five accepted Christ. They Dr. arid Mrs. W. Bagby, are now in the candidates class. Southern Baptist missionaries A review of the work of the A Mr. Hamilton, Moravian mis- in Brazil, have seen the Baptist Belgian Gospel Mission has an sionary, is pastor of a church on Church in that country grow especial interest since the Homethe east coast of Nicaragua from 2 to 50,000 in fifty years. going of its founder, Ralph C. which has a membership of more There are Baptist churches in Norton. Mr. Vansteenberghe, than 800. every state of Brazil; in all, 490 who has been with the mission churches, 1,214 pre a chi n g since its beginning, surveys this -Watchman-Examiner. points, 42,000 members, 718 work for the Sunday School Sunday schools, 226 young peo- Times. Sunday Schools in South ple's unions, 400 women's soci- America eties, two seminaries, two train- In fifteen years the Belgian Gospel ing schools, two colleges, four Mission has grown into a work whose Since the World's Sunday academies, forty-eight primary branches reach from frontier to fron- School Convention in Rio de J a- schools, a publishing house, a tier. 'Through the tents or other neiro, much thought has been home mission boa:r:d with work means the battle line against the force given to the need for a general among the emigrants, Indians, of the enemy has been stretched out worker for religious education and in the far interior, a For- until today we have posts north, south, in the Spanish-speaking coun- eign Mission Board with work in east and west in this land. In all tries of South America. Brazil, Portugal. these places the Gospel is preached which speaks Portuguese, is well regularly, and all exercise their incared for under the leadership – Watchman-Examiner. fluence in a certain radius. Homes of Rodolfo Anders, Secretary of where meetings are now being held the Brazil Council of Religious EUROPE may become in the near future centers Education. Recently the Board of established work; in all, there are of Foreign Missions of the Pres- Inter-Varsity Fellowship 60 points where regular services, are byterian Church, U. S. A., an- on the way. nounced its willingness to allo- At the fourth annual meeting of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship The Mission did not escape the de- of Evangelical Unions, held in pression unscathed. At the beginning of summer no money was available for tent work, but the Lord made pro- vision, and since July 1 both tents have been out, and now at the end of July the French tent is at the end of its second series of meetings, while
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
the Flemish tent is in the middle of thirty-one me m be r s and a reading it, but he continued to its third campaign. We have been do so, in company with some of church membership of 3,000. his friends; the more they read, working in new territory as far as , At the 116th annual meeting the tents are concerned. of the Methodist Board of For- the more they were dissatisfied eign Missions, held at 150 Fifth The 'original church in Brus- with the Church as they found sels decided last year that it Avenue, New York City, Novem- it. Kwasniuk and his friends could be self-supporting, which ber 21,23 attended by nearly a sought out the American preach- hundred per cent of the 115 min- ers in Kolomea, and as a result means voluntary gifts amount- congregations came into being ing to at least $3,300 annually. isterial and lay managers, it was Church Life in Germany voted to unite with the Synod of in both villages. The movement the Methodist Church in Italy, spread with great rapidity, and From the International Chris- which is under the jurisdiction is still spreading. Groups of tian Press, Geneva, we find evi- of the British Methodist Church. evangelical Christians sprang up This merger, when consum- in village after village. In the dence that in Germany the mated, will give Italy a stronger beginnings of a new church life Methodism and strengthen the neighboring town of Stanislau the movement was organized on are to be perceived. The number evangelical forces. of people who have come back -The Christian Advocate. Lutheran lines; in the neighbor- hood of Kolomea it retained a to the Evangelical Church indi- strong Reformed character. One cates that the movement towards Czechoslovakia Church or two Greek Catholic priests the Church has by no means Independent and a number of theological stureached its limit. In Berlin dents identified themselves with alone, in 1933, some 63,815 I?eo- Czechoslovakia c h u r c h e s the movement. Lutheran and pIe j 0 i ned the EvangelIcal ceased last year to receive any Church as compared with 4,272 Reformed branches' have allotted in the preceding year. Similarly, financial aid from the American to each other specific spheres of Board, and thus a connection of labor, to prevent all clashing and the number of communicants sixty-two years was finally sev- competition; their relations are amounted to 259,737, out of a ered. Dr. James L. Barton most cordial. total of 301,975. That wide cir- writes that it was his privilege In Poland the law requires cles of people are ready to take to visit a large number of the that a change of religion can part in parish life is proved by churches in Austria in 1909 in only be made after certain legal a number of facts, among them, company with Dr. John Porter, preliminaries, w h i c h require the deliberate renunciation of whose cordial and sympathetic three months for their accomhome baptism in favor of con- relations with pastors and lead- plishment. The cost including gregational baptism w h i c h that of securing from the priest ers was evident everywhere. He seems to be taking place to an was manifestly honored and a birth-certificate, amounts to increasing extent. Another cus- loved by all who knew him; he tom which had largely gone out had the happy faculty of giving about five American dollars, about one month's wages for a of use, according to which a be- able and constructive assistance peasant. Children between the to the evangelical movement trothed couple is present at the without seeming to dominate. ages of six and fourteen may not service at which their banns are change their faith, even though published, is be i n g resumed Dr. Porter celebrated his sev- their parents do so, but must entieth birthday last May. Leadmore and more. With the pres- continue to receive in the schools ers throughout the entire field religious education from the ence of the betrothed couple in joined in urging him, when his the midst of the interceding con- Church to which they have pregregation, the publication of active service came to an end, to viously belonged. In spite of banns has regained its earlier remain with them as long as he these facts some 4,000 persons lives. -Missionary Herald. have officially made the transfer church significance. In order to bring the pastor into closer con- to the Reformed Church, and about the same number to the tact with his congregation, an Revival in Poland Lutherans. -Rev. W. T. Elmslie, Leeds, order has been enacted in Thiir- Reference has been made to ingen relating to pastoral visits. the revival among Ukrainian Eng. peasants of southern Pol~nd. It has become the duty of the Nine years ago some AmerIcan Soviet Children Ukrainian Protestant preachers pastor to make at least ten house held services in Kolomea. The Differences in the mental outvisits during the week, and to enter them in a special book.
Italian Methodists Reorganize news came to a village some ten look of children in France and miles away where was a peasant, of those reared under a commu- Methodist work in Italy, after Roman Kwasniuk, during the nist regime were shown in the sixty-two years, is to be reor- war a prisoner in Siberia. There answers to questionnaires ad- ganized in view of the cha!l~ed he had learned to read the Bible, dressed to both French and Sovpolitical situation and the rIsmg which he brought back with him iet children from 11 to 15 years tides of Italian nationalism. to his native village. He was of age and from families of Italy Annual Conference has discouraged by the priest from widely varying circumstances.
A question on what was their U n i a t Christians. Between From Spanish Guinea ideal in life brought from Cairo and the Mediterranean, French children such answers among 6,000,000 people, there Rev. Joseph McNeill, an as: "To be rich"; "To have a are only about 2,000 Christians. American Presbyterian missionbicycle"; "To travel"; "to be an Many social and educational readmiral"; "To read books with forms are being promoted in ary, writes from Rio Benito, of happy endings." Soviet young- Egypt, but there are powerful missionary triumphs and dissters gave such answers as: "To elements which view with appre- couragements. During a comoverthrow capitalism and build hension any weakening of the socialism" ; "To be like Voro- traditional Moslem position and munion season he summoned the shiloff [Defense Minister]" ; prestige. -Moslem World. twelve catechists and said: "I "To study to be outstanding in am going to write to friends in sport." Egyptian Women in Public . America who have helped us The question, "What do you Life with gifts. Tell me what was know about God?" brought from French children views ranging Many women of Egypt stepped done with some of them." from pantheism to the opinion from their homes into public life He was a bearded old man who during the first years following One reported: "At Christmas had perhaps died. Soviet chil- the World War, according to dren unfaltering declared that Madame Khayat, of Cairo, who we gave a feast and fed 70 peo- God was an invention of priests. is in touch with many young ple. Some marveled when we women through her program of Both Soviet and French chil- social work in Cairo. She points gave preference to widows and dren exhibited a low opinion of out that with only fifteen years orphans. We told of the wonthe League of Nations, some of emancipation Egyptian wom- French boys considering it a so- en have reached the front ranks derfullove of Christ that softens ciety of old gentlemen trying to of public and professional en- us toward the needy." prevent war, and Soviet lads re- deavor without having the long garding it as a weak organiza- years of work in schools, fac- "And I," said another, "I tion that "merely talks while we tories and business, which wombuild socialism." Asked what en of the western world experi- found a poor, sick woman with they would do if head of the enced before they were able to no one to care for her and gave Soviet State, Russian children's break into higher fields. answers were such as: "Develop her a cloth. She said, '0 my the waste parts of the Soviet -Yo W. C. A. News. friend, that chicken you used to Union and improve living condi- see running around my yard tions"; "Build new houses and Ethiopia's Forward Look finish the subway"; "Destroy died; I have nothing to give you class distinctions." The Psalmist's pro ph e c y, "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out in return for this.' " -New York Times. her hands unto God," now printed on Abyssinia's corona- "There is a poor albino woman AFRICA tion postage stamps, seems in process of fulfilment. Fifteen in my town," said another. "She Egypt's Recent Progress missionaries have been commis- wanted to come to communion sioned by the Bible Churchmen's Egypt is not yet emancipated Missionary Society, some of service and had nothing to wear. religiously, and constant dis- whom have already settled in So I gave the dress to her, and putes arise on the question of Abyssinia. Schools are opening, what do you think? She came, liberty of conscience and teach- printing presses are at work, ing. There are over 400 mis- contact with the outside world is but had no money for the consionaries and nearly 30 societies established, the circulation of tribution, so offered to give the in the country. Forty per cent Scripture in the modern lanof the missionary force is in guage of Ethiopia is going for- dress for the Lord's work. The Cairo, but there are some 300 ward. Ras Kassa, trusted coun- pastor felt she needed that dress centers of work. Much evangel- cilor of the Emperor, has asked and now she is trying to find ism has been carried on among the Society to supply physicians the Copts since 1859, and a very and teachers for a center which something from her garden to large part of the Protestant is being built seventy miles north meet her pledge." Church is built up from among of the capital; and the Governor them~ In 1927 out of the popu- of Chercher has opened the way Mr. McNeill tersely sums up lation of 13,000,000 there were for work among the Islamized the advances of the year: nearly a million Coptic Chris- Abyssinians east of the capital. tians, 66,000 Protestants and A Year Ago Today 117,000 Roman Catholics and -So S. Times. Slow transportation ……. .A Ford truck. No church in the interior •.Mengo Church or· ganized. No trained native workers ..One native pastor, four t r a i ned Catechists. No village schools ……….One station school and twelve vii· lage schools. Lethargy of Beach Churches .Five outposts sup- ported. Okak barriers ………….Fifteen Okak con· verts.
Clouds Still Looming Heavy Catholic opposition ………Greatly increased. Scant white personnel ……Doctor and teacher still lacking.
In Madagascar Members and adherents' of the church founded by the L. M. S. in Madagascar number 250,- 000, the next largest total being that in India where the figure is 188,000. There are 747 Sunday schools on the island, with 38,-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
000 children attending them. The scorpion's nest in Izmir, the the work of the churches has Training in Sunday s c h 001 American college, is closed. The build- been put on the project basis, methods is included in the the- ing in which the priests' black spirit each enterprise being obliged to ological seminary at Tananarive, had permeated is now overcome by the commend itself to the judgment the capital. red color of the Turkish culture. The of a mixed group of appraisers year before last the American college before funds are allocated. In the Betsileo Pro v inc e, at Sivas had been closed. Can a scorwhere there has been a center pion's nest exist in the place where the Kennedy Memorial Hospital of the L. M. S. for over 60 years, Ghazi had opened his congress for the in Tripoli for the first time last there are six central stations, liberation of Turkey? Is it certain year received an income equal to 259 outstations, and about 45,- that during the coming school year expenditures. T his released 000 people ass 0 cia ted with many of the foreign schools in Istan- most of its appropriation for the churches as members or adher- bul and the Tarsus college will be development of pioneer medical ents. Here, also, is a small the- closed? Those parents who send their work in another section. It is ological school. The vernacular children to such schools will suffer for hoped that this condition may press of the island is almost en- their crime. Izmir is silenced. Tarsus continue. tirely Christian. closes its accounts at the new year. In its report sent to America, the col- Another advance is the in- -The Chronicle.· lege states that unless help is sent, it creasing opportunity for young cannot continue for more than four Christians to express their new WESTERN ASIA months. Istanbul colleges do their life in voluntary service to their best in the way of propaganda, to own people. This is furthered Turkey Bans Clerical Garb catch in their net the ignorant, to get by the changed status of women. money. But it is all vain. Sooner or Girls from the Junior College Mustafa Kemal's government later they'll have to lock their doors, have for three successive sumin Turkey has been conducting a and put a signboard on the buildings mers gone into villages where determined campaign to break that they are for rent. . . . the people are living in unbethe power of the Mohammedan lievable ignorance, poverty and priesthood. Its resistance has See how happy the Turkish child is disease; have camped near the led to a series of repressive at Izmir. See! the winds blow over village and entered into its life; measures, one being a decree the place where the school used to be. have gathered the children, forbidding ministers to appear Come, 0 Turkish youth! Make your teaching them cleanliness, hyin public in cleric attire. Civil- vow that all foreign schools in Istan- giene and religion. ian clothes must be worn on all bul shall sell their goods at auction occasians except when actually and all the "doctors," "madams," -Women and Missions. attending religious ceremonies. "messieurs" and the "soeurs" shall The decision applies alike to the take their passports and go to the land Forward Looking Persia Moslem, Orthodox, Armenian, of Hottentots. Catholic, Protestant and Jewish September 25, 1934, the Shah clergy. Church of the Martyrs of Persia issued a decree sup- pressing the wearing of veils by Two Mosques Become Cultural This church in Aleppo cele- Persian women. The action is Centers brated its third anniversary Sep- similar to that taken by Mus- tember 23. It has been self- tapha Kemal in dec r e e in g A decline in Mohammedan supporting from its start. The greater freedom for Turkish worship in Turkey is indicated congregation meets in the outer women. This will mean little to by the transformation of the an- court of a home which contains the young school girls who have cient mosque, Aya Sophia in no room large enough for it. In never worn a veil. One of the Ista~bul, into a museum for summer, it shifts from one side leaders of what might be called Byzantine art. The Sultan Ah- to the other to keep in the shade, the feminist movement in Persia met mosque, situated in the same and in winter lowers a curtain has frequently said : "We are square, will be transformed into to keep out the cold. working for the lifting of the a public library. The first was, veil of ignorance and superstifor more than 900 years, the The church committee is a tion. The removal of the chudgreatest Christian Church on typical group of Armenians who dar is of no great importance." earth, and for 480 years the have made good, though heavily greatest Mohammedan mosque handicapped as strangers in a Other laws have been enacted on earth. The latter mosque was strange land. In the group is a within the past two years giving considered the most beautiful pedlar, a hardware merchant, an women more protection and one in the world. editor, a doctor, a pharmacist greater freedom. The age of and one woman member. marriage has been raised; di- -United Presbyterian. vorce laws now give women -Missionary Herald. equal rights with men; before Turkish Irony marrying an additional wife, the Growth of Syria Missions husband must inform all the The Turkish periodical, Bir- women concerned. Women have lik, thus expresses satisfaction Among significant develop- entered business and governover the closing of an American ments in Syria two stand out; ment positions. In addition the Christian College: one is the accomplishment of self-support on the part of two Presbyterian medical institu- tions, the Hamlin Memorial San- atorium and the Kennedy Me- morial Hospital; and the long stride toward self-support on the part of the Syrian Church. All
"Red Lion and Sun" (Red friends and neighbors waiting heard of occurrence, as caste Cross), there are a number of for his death that they might conversions have been rare inother societies, one for fallen take him to the cemetery. When deed. Short courses of study women; others educational, in- he rallied somewhat, and they have been offered these converts, cluding two schools for adult left, she sent word that as her and their response shows the women and a reading room. friends would not permit a keen interest they have in learn- Christian funeral after his death, ing the real meaning of their de- -Women and Missions. would it not be possible to have cision. the funeral before he died. The Persian Medical Advances request was so earnestly desired Conversion of 8,078 people in that it was impossible to refuse. one week was the result of Evan- Leaders in Persia are "sold" Following the prayer meeting a gelistic Week in May, when on modern therapy, and are group of Christians crowded 2,693 villages were visited by planning many things; among into the little room where he lay Christian evangelists, 3,674 servthem, the construction of many dying and the sentences and ices were held, and 12,000 peonew hospitals. None of these Scripture portions recommended ple took part in witnessing to approaches in magnitude or for use at funerals were read. Christ. magnificence the group of new It was surprising how fitting buildings now completed at and helpful these verses were to Christians in the d i 0 c e s e Meshed. A tho usa n d men the situation, and while the com- raised 12,000 rupees toward seworked daily, rushing this task mitment service was not read, curing an assistant bishop, and to completion in time for dedica- the remainder of it was com- toward a new cathedral. In the tion of the buildings by His Maj- pleted without the slightest sense Council there was no thought of esty Reza Shah Pahlavi at his of impropriety. curtailing the work, or even a visit in the autumn. With its mention of it, although some 300 Iron beds, its own electric INDIA salary cuts were made. lighting plant, its steam heating system, this array of twelve or A Grievance Removed -The Living Church. fourteen beautiful buildings stands in sharpest contrast to A long-standing grievance of Wanless Tuberculosis the old buildings of this same Christian converts has been that Sanitorium hospital twenty years ago-then in the public courts and records dark and ill-kept, without any villagers of the backward classes The Wanless Tuberculosis modern features whatever. who had been converted to Sanitorium at Miraj, which has Christianity were still entered been functioning since 1931, was The Sacred Shrine possesses as bhangis and chamars. The formally opened October 24. great wealth, poured into its Indian Christian Association coffers by successive waves of brought the matter to the atten- "How was the Sanitorium pilgrims through hundreds of tion of Sir Malcolm Hailey, Gov- built in these days of depresyears. Its resources are now ernor of the United Provinces of sion?" is a question frequently being utilized by the present Agra and Oudh, with the result asked. Miraj Hospital bought progressive ruler of Persia for that all officials have been in- the land, 105 acres; friends the support of modern schools, structed to record those who from Bombay Presidency subthe work for lepers, this new have been converted to Chris- scribed liberally, and wealthy hospital plant, and other projects tianity as Christians. This ac- people have given large donafor the benefit and relief of the tion on the part of the Govern- tions. During 1933, Rs. 15,000 pilgrims, and the 2,000,000 peo- ment is greatly appreciated by were received from a Hindu ple of Khorasan. That pioneer Christians of the backward Bombay broker for a new x"ray; Christian hospitals have been a classes, and also by those who and Rs. 50,000 from a Jain major factor in stimulating this are working for and among Trust Fund for new buildings. medical advance throughout Per- them. -The Indian Witness. The former came as the result sia there can be no doubt. of a promise made to Dr. Wan- Three Years in Dornakal less in 1930; the latter through His Own Funeral the influence of a patient who Encouraging reports were re- was connected with the Trust A Christian convert in Persia, vealed at the Dornakal Diocesan Fund. During the past year whose faith had sustained him Council which met October 4. there has been added to the Sanithrough his long and hopeless Since the last meeting of the torium one new general ward, a illness, faced the end with per- Council three years ago, 35,494 guest house, a clinical building fect confidence. Some days be- new Christian converts have housing the new X-ray, an operfore his death, his wife, a Mos- been baptized in the diocese of ating room, clinical laboratory lem, came asking that they Dornakal. Last year nearly and examining rooms, a 15 H. P. might have a Christian funeral, 1,000 Sudras were converted engine and building to house the to which assent was gladly given. and baptized, hitherto an un- same, six new cottages contain- But when the end drew near she ing eight beds and an endowsaw the yard filling with Moslem ment of Rs. 10,000. The goal is 125 beds. -Dnyanodaya.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Javanese Converts at Delhi New Life in Siam "When we arrived in China pon Four Javanese young men, in- There has been a year of prog- ~ there was not a single mile of ress in Prae, Siam. The Presby- railroad operating anywhere in terested .in Scout work, were terian Church in that city has the land. Railroads are now members of a party which set launched out, with faith, on a measured by thousands of miles out on a world tour from Java plan of complete self-support. and include several trunk lines, to study education and political They have promised to support with others planned or under questions. They were Moham- their pastor and carryon all construction; well-built motor medans, but in Delhi they came their activities without any help roads are being opened almost in touch with Christ through from America. An ordained every month, bus service is be- servants of His in the Scout man from southern Siam, who is ing extended and airplane routes Movement, and in the missions. now resident in Prae, has given have been opened. Flour was After earnest study they pro- much time in volunteer service, ground by cow power and the fessed conversion, and were bap- and through special meetings product quite unprotected from tized in the Free Church at a and intensive evangelistic ef- dust raised by the animal's feet beautiful and memorable serv- fort under the power of the as it pursued its weary circuit. ice. They then decided to re- Holy Spirit, has been instru- Splendid flour mills with the turn to Java, to join with one of mental in bringing many to most up-to-date machinery are the missions there and become Christ. In all the churches, ex- now turning out daily hundreds grounded in the faith. cept the small group at Ban of sacks of good flour; and fac- Moon, a number of acceSSIOns tories of every sort produce the -London Missionary Herald. have been recorded each com- necessary supplies which until a munion Sunday. Quite a num- few years ago came from other Fresh Egg Association ber of old-time Christians who lands. had "said goo d – bye to the Among the experiments in Church," as the Siamese express "Forty years ago, outside misrural reconstruction, the Fresh it, have returned, renewed their sion schools, the only textbooks Egg Association is one spon- allegiance to Christ and asked to in use were over a thousand sored by the Baptist Mission at be restored. years old and there were no. re- Pyinmana. It has made a steady vised editions. Now there IS a growth. Each member has to Rev. Puang Akapin, evan- national educational s y s tern give eight annas to belong to the gelist at Pitsanuloke, has dedi- which provides schools for all Association and is given a num- cated his life 100 per cent to ages from early childhood to maber which he can place on the Christian service, without re- ture manhood, and they are open eggs to identify them. The mem- muneration from any organized to boys and girls on an equal bers are given the first oppor- body. His wife, a very capable footing. tunity to sell their eggs to the woman, has started a business mission, and are given the first in Prae which they hope will care "Undoubtedly there is a growchance to buy purebred cocks. for their family. Since he came ing sense of the need of a more The Association is now collecting he has inspired the group in the vital religious life than any of about 3,000 eggs a week and its city with the desire for a more the old cults ever produced, and activities are employing five fully consecrated life in Christ. the fact that many of the Agriculture School graduates. scholars of the land have pro- Last March two village poultry The hospital has pas sed vided themselves with copies of shows were conducted. through one of its best years the Word of God is cause for since the time when there was a great encouragement and thank- June 9, 1934, eleven Christian resident missionary physician. fulness."
men organized the Pyinmana In- The doctors from McCormick Once Buddhist-Now dustrial Cooperative Bank, Ltd., Hospital in Chiengmai have Evangelist with shares of Rs. 50 each to made regular monthly visits and finance poultry far min g in have generally found more work Each morning at Hengchow Yamethin and Toungoo districts, than they could do. Presbyterian Hospital, all em- and in Taungdwingyi subdi- -Siam Outlook. ployees who can spare the time, all patients able to walk and any VISIOn. Two Cooperative Poul- CH,INA friends who so desire attend try Societies were also organized ~ at Shwemyo and Lewe. Each chapel, by invitation, not commember puts in Rs. 5 a year un- Forty Years in Review pulsion. A Chinese evangelist, til he pays Rs. 25 for half a share in the Society. In case the So- On the eve of his retirement Mr. Dzu, who was a Buddhist ciety becomes liable for debts after forty years of service orator and strong anti-Christian which it cannot otherwise meet, under the Presbyterian Board the member may be called upon in China, Dr. J. E. Shoemaker speaker before his conversion, to pay the remaining Rs. 25. reviews some of the changes like the Apostle Paul, is now which have come under his ob- -Burma Baptist Bulletin. servation. just as ardent a worker for Christ. He is in charge of chapel services, leads once or twice a week and gets other
speakers at other times. Here orders to the village of Laomu- Building at Ginling College, there is not the difficulty in tell- teng that all Christian services, Nanking, were held in connecing, as in America, who is and even in the homes of the peo- tion with the Nineteenth Annual who is not a Christian, as non- ple, must be discontinued. The Founders' Day in November, Christians do not have the out- converts are, therefore, now 1934. This marked the compleward conformity to Christian meeting in the forest, or going tion of the academic quadrangle standards and Christian back- by a roundabout road to one of of Ginling College as planned ground. Mr. Dzu knows the psy- the other villages on Sundays. and financially provided for in chology of his people. Chris- Another village has been or- 1921-23. In a joint campaign tianity is never forced on pa- dered by the official to burn all for seven colleges in the Orient tients, but a few words are Christian books. Two chapels, a total of $3,000,000 was raised, spoken, a Scripture passage left besides the one at Laomuteng of which Ginling's share was with those who read and in a previously mentioned, have been $600,000. few days he makes it a point to completely destroyed. Several During the nineteen years of have a long talk with those who of the other chapels have been Ginling's history the student enshow interest. Not a few of the partially destroyed. rolment has grown from nine to patients leave the hospital Chris- Stressing Stewardship 213. In addition to the college tians, and much of the credit is students there are 74 senior due this former Buddhist. Rev. H. G. Hilscher, of the middle school students in the Shantung Presbyterian Mission, Practice School under the Edu- Overcoming Adversity cation Department of the insti- has made two extended bicycle tution. Dormitories are crowded The little Christian Church at trips over the Tengchow field to to capacity, and further provis- ion for housing must be made to Chi Yang had fallen on hard stress stewardship and self-sup- meet the normal growth of the port. He reports that the result student body. days. The membership slowly exceeded expectations. "Numer- -China Weekly Review. melted away. ous c h u r c h members have pledged their tithe. Our pastors, Friends Face Issue "Friends," said the volunteer who a few years ago all refused Friends at West China Union preacher, Mr. Wang, "either we to make such a pledge, are now University are confronted with tithing, as are many elders and a serious situation which arises do something or allow our from the requirement of the other leaders. One woman, Chinese Government that educachurch to be occupied by the formerly an evangelist who tional institutions in China shall teach military drill. Recently, military." So they started serv- hated to give, was revived last the government has been press- year and pledged her tithe, but ing this requirement, and the six ices again; then a school for this spring changed her pledge Friends who are members of the teaching staff have sent a signed girls; then Thousand Character to two-tenths. In one place letter of protest which stayed where we held meetings many proceedings for a time, but the Classes. The Commanding of- pledges in produce were made, ultimate result is still in the balance. iicer of the Army division turned e. g., a bushel of millet, or of wheat, eggs laid on Sunday, an The Presbyterian mission in out to be a Christian, with a de- Shantung also passed a strong entire apricot crop; and the resolution a g a ins t military sire to help. They outgrew old children insisted on having a training in Christian schools.
quarters and built a new church. share. The total amount pledged Some eminent Chinese leaders in the country field is about three have spoken frankly in regard to In late October, Rev. Rowland giving education precedence over times that of last year. military preparation. "We must M. Cross attended the dedication. Owing to finances two pastors believe," said Dr. Hu Hsih, "that the education of 50,000,000 chil- The campaign for funds was had their subsidies entirely dren will be 50,000 times more effective and important to the promoted by three loyal sons, withdrawn, but they decided to country than 5,000 airplanes!" continue on a faith basis. It two students in Yenching and meant hardship, but they testify -American Friend'. to greater joy in service, and .Jefferson, respectively, and one certainly they show greater zeal. a teacher in Tunghsien. The One who was lazy is now inces- santly preaching and looking iirst person to offer public con- after his church members; his gratulations was a non-Chris- wife is an inspiration by her tian, leading business man from constant singing, testimony and praying, and her radiance in the an adj oining town. Bowing low home. to the Cross on the altar and the picture of Christ above it, he then turned to the congregation and thanked them and the Kung- lihui for what itthheadcodmomn~eniatny.d was doing, for The pastor, a local farmer, serves without pay.
Christian Services Forbidden Persecution of Lisu converts Buildings for Ginling JAPAN -CHOSEN Dedication ceremonies for the General Assembly Meeting in the province of Yunnan continues. The latest report to China's Millions is that the local new Chapel-Music Building and The forty-eighth annual meetofficial has definitely iss u e d the Library – Administration ing of the Presbyterian Church
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
in Japan was held in Tokyo last Sunday school and worship serv- that ha<J been stripped from the ices are held. Each year in Jan- October. About 300 delegates uary the farm accommodates the wall of a Korean room, and that were in attendance, coming from 20 to 30 who come for two weeks consisted of leaves from one of all parts of Japan and from For- of Farmers' Gospel S c h 0 0 I. the first Korean Bibles that had mosa, Korea and Manchukuo. There is also a Rural Women's been sent in from Manchuria be- The meetings were characterized Gospel School where along with fore the first missionaries arthroughout by a spirit of prayer the Gospel, courses are offered rived. -Pyengyang News. and harmony, and a generous attitude toward others in the in food preparation, care of chil- ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC problems that were discussed. dren, housing conditions, hy- Among the questions voted upon gienic c lot hi n g, budgeting, Transformed Islanders were: The appointment of a simple marketing, etc. In 1875, Dr. George Brown Japanese as principal of the -Kagawa Fellowship landed on the beach at Molot, in Tainan College in Formosa, con- Bulletin. the Duke of York group, New ducted by the English Presby- Britain District, and found a terians, in response to an ear- New Church For Koreans people wholly savage, of disgustnest request from that mission. ing habits and of evil temper.
A special committee was ap- There are now 500,000 Ko- All the horrors of heathenism pointed for conference on union reans in Japan, scattered from were around him, and human of all denominations, with no one end of the land to the other. life was not safe. Fifty years sacrifice of principles or faith. Through the cooperation of later a missionary stepped on the Methodist and Presbyterian same beach, to be welcomed by It was urged that the Church's churches in Korea, and about over two thousand people singthree seminaries establish closer ing Christian hymns. They were relations by means of annual ten missions of various denomiconferences. nations in Japan, 48 churches clean, self-respecting, and, as was subsequently see n, of It was voted that more em- have been established for these changed character. Fiji was phasis should be placed on the Koreans, with about 4,000 Chrisspiritual and less on the scholas- once a by-word for bestiality and tic qualifications of candidates; tians, 1,000 of this number being indescribable cruelty, and all the this in view of the fact that sev- baptized church members. horrors of widow – strangling, eral men of outstanding ability had failed in one or more exam- This church as now written cannibalism and infanticide inations last year. its own constitution and creed were commonplace. Today there and set up an organization with is a whole nation transformed, -Christian Observer. and eagerly preparing to cele- something like sessions, Presby- brate the Centenary of Chris- teries or conferences, and a su- preme council. Practically all the cooperating bodies have cor- tianity in those once dark One-Acre Evangelism dially approved the new organ- islands. There is now a Church One of Mr. Kagawa's ventures ization. Six or seven congrega- that has sent its sons and daugh- tions have their buildings paid ters to New Britain, Papua, Solis to establish in various parts of for, and are contributing toward omon Islands and North Aus- Japan, as experiment stations in their workers' support. tralia to preach the Good News keeping with small scale farm- that so marvelously redeemed -Pyengyang News. their own lives. ing and living standards a series of model one-acre farms, tilled Moffett Memorial -The Open Door.
and lived on by Christian farm For some time Korean friends A Discovery in New Guinea experts. The first of these was started a few miles from Tokyo, and on it as tenant and man- of Dr. Samuel Moffett have An Australian anthropologist, ager went a young Christian wished to erect some memorial E. W. P. Chinnery, has reported graduate of the Imperial Agri- as an appreciation of his many his discovery of an area of 5,000 culture School in Tokyo and an years of service. Their first square miles in the interior of instructor therein, with his wife thought was a bronze statue, but New Guinea, inhabited by at and baby. During their three they have deferred to Dr. Mof- least 200,000 savage people who years' residence the acre has fett's wishes in the matter, with have never had any contact been transformed from the usual the result that a very neat and whatever with the outside world.
cluster of one-group rice paddies substantial two-story b ric k On venturing an investigation, into a veritable horticultural building stands at the intersec- the natives were found to be garden, with various sorts of tion of the two streets which quite friendly, much better phys- animal husbandry. Not only skirt the Eastern part of the ical specimens than many of this but the farm is a center of missionary compound. Although their fellow New Guineans. This community life and culture, as not quite finished it was used newly discovered group is with- one may judge from the well- during the meeting of General in British mandated territory.
thumbed library in the home. Assembly to house a remarkable Here is a good opportunity for Every Sunday the little house is Jubilee Exhibit. An interesting pioneer missionary work.
converted into a church where feature a section of wall-paper -Moody Institute Monthly.
Missionary
Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information I ~,==~~========~========~==~=~, Christianity Tested, Its Significance strange, heavy," and "its doc- Dr. Buck writes out of his own for Modern Missions. By Oscar Macmillan Buck. 257 pages. $2.00. trines are foreign and bewilder- experience as a former mission- The Abingdon Press, New York. ing." (p. 104.) Then, "What ary in India, and his studies as 1934. is it," he asks, "that we have to Professor of Missions and Com- Dr. Oscar M. Buck, Professor give that is unique?" (p. 128.) parative Religion at Drew Theoof Missions in Drew University, He declares that "it is not logical Seminary since 1920. In has undertaken a difficult task- enough to say that the Christian 1925-26, he spent a year in Asia, to show how Christianity looks uniqueness is Christ," as was during eight months of which he to Asiatic non-Christians. He affirmed at the Lausanne and J e- was engaged in evangelistic frankly says that it would be rusalem Conferences. (pp. 129- work among educated non-Chris- "far easier to discover the 130.) Dr. Buck finds the answer tians. In 1930-31 he was again uniqueness of Christianity" to which satisfies him in "the in India as Secretary of the western Christians. But what Christian manner of living." (p. Lindsay Commission on Chrisdoes a non-Christian see? This 139). "What we have to giveis what this book sets out to and all that we have to give-is tian Higher Education. He is show. He guards himself at the the proof of what is unique in outset by saying: the life and religion of Jesus." an ardent advocate and an ear- (p. 230.) This attempt at a philosophy of mis- nest student of foreign missions, based upon what is unique and Is there a contrast here be- sions. Whether his present atdistinctive in Christianity among the tween the religion "of" Jesus and tempt is successful, as an Occiworld's religions and irreligions, has the religion "about" Jesus, the dental Christian to put himself to do only with the first approach to religion of which He is not only the non-Christian. It does not claim the perfect example but the ob- in the other fellow's place and to be a compendium for all that is dis- ject of its faith and worship. As tinctive in Christianity, but only a for "manner of living," it would see Christianity from the viewstatement of that central uniqueness be easy to name men who do not point of an Oriental non-Chriswhich would commend Christianity to believe in Christ at all-agnos- tian, an American is hardly in a the non-Christian without making tics, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists position to decide. Only an edu- Christianity to him at the start a sys- -whose "manner of living" is as cated Asiatic is competent to tem so exotic, so complicated, and so irreproachable as that of Chris- appraise the validity of the auaggressive as to arouse in him the tians. thor's argument. One would will to disbelieve if not the will to like to have the reactions of such counter. (p. 10.) Dr. Buck seems to magnify the men as Chang Po-lin of China, intellectual obstacles to the Kagawa of Japan, Bishop Dorne- He concludes that the mission- spread of Christianity in Asia. kal of India and Boon Boon Itt ary enterprise makes a mistake Such obstacles undoubtedly ex- of Siam. They have not found in emphasizing at the outset the ist, but are they the most for- the central Christian doctrines divine sonship of Christ, His "incomprehensible," nor did that atonement and redemption, great theologian, the late Dr.
which, precious as they are to us midable ones? Whatever they Uemura of Tokyo, who taught who "are heirs of Plato and are, we concur in the declaration these doctrines to hundreds of Plotinus, with Greek id~alism of the Lausanne and Jerusalem his students and preached them based on a metaphysical dualism Conferences that "our message to tens of thousands of Japanese. the framework of our thinking." is Jesus Christ" as He is pre- But Dr. Buck has written a (p. 95.) His ideas are unintelli- sented in the New Testament. remarkably thought – provoking gible to Asiatics who have no This is the message that has won book and one that contains a such background. "The Chris- all the victories that Christianity large amount of valuable matetian missionary enterprise," says has won thus far. The Asiatie rial. Missionaries and secreta- Dr. Buck, "has never taken suffi- delegates to those conferences ries and members of boards ciently to heart this incompre- voted for the statement and its should carefully read it. The hensibility for the Asian of its power has been attested by hun- lack of an index is a defect which doctrines and methods." (p.90.) dreds of thousands of Oriental should be remedied in any fur- The Church, too, he deems "a Christians who have understood ther printing. barrier" as "its organization is it and joyfully accepted it. ARTHUR J. BROWN.
Any of the books noted In these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[94 ] History of the Korea Mission, Pres- cret of the work that has been China, shows 122 missions under byterian Church in the U. S. A. By carried on with great power various orders of that Church. Harry A. Rhodes, Editor. 682 pp. even through much weakness. Protestant statistics are more 8 vo. $2.00. Published by the Mis- "Certain spiritual factors have difficult to obtain because of the sion. Sold in America by Fleming predominated, viz., prayer, con- many agencies at work. There H. Revell Company, New York. fession, Bible study, worship, are two Australian Societies, 17 1934. witnessing, observance of the British, 66 American, 21 Conti- Lord's Day, revival, giving, tem- nental, with 21 agencies and so- This volume should every- perance and righteous living." cieties that are quite distinctivewhere commend the deep inter- Readers of this history will join ly Chinese, in addition to the est of students of missions. It the missionaries and their Ko- China Inland Mission rated as is the kind of work that needs to rean friends in the earnest hope international and seven educabe done in all fields, putting the that these factors will continue tional agencies not listed among records of the years into perma- in full power in trying days that the others. There are 6,121 nent form. The Presbyterian are sure to come. Protestant missionaries, 481,162 Mission in Chosen has been no- registered Protestant communitable both in methods and in CLELAND B. McAFEE. cants in a partial and incomplete results, leading to the establish- report, with 214,566 others rement of a Church which takes The China Year Book, 1934. Edited ported under instruction. Note itself with great seriousness. by H. G. W. Woodhead. 8 vo. 854 is made of medical, educational, Probably no mission in the world pp. $12.50. Published in China. relief and other forms of work. has tried to put into operation Agents for U. S. A.: University of more thoroughly what is known Chicago Press, Chicago. 1934. Other sections of the volume as the "Nevius Plan" of self-sup- give accurate facts as to the govport and self-government among This sixteenth edition of the ernment and its constitution, so new believers. Dr. Rhodes here China Year Book is even more difficult to obtain elsewhere, railtells the story of the half-cen- elaborate than its predecessors. road, postal and other statistics tury, having had full access to Manchukuo is dealt with in a and programs, and an excellent all records in Chosen itself and special chapter, since the Chi- and informative "Who's Who." in the Mission Board files in nese Government does not exer- It is an invaluable guide to the America during a recent fur- cise at present any authority facts about China. lough. The result is a sumptu- there. A special Year Book covous volume, sold at a surprising- ering Manchukuo is issued in CLELAND B. McAFEE. ly low price to make it available Tokyo. The chapters on Roman to all. In addition to 682 pages and Protestant Missions in China's Problems and Their Solution. of text there are eighty-three China have been brought down By Wang Ching-Wei. 199 pp. $4.50. pages of illustrations from pho- to date by resident writers; China United Press. Shanghai. tographs; most pages contain- there is a new chapter on "The ing two or more pictures. It is Press" and a full account of the This is an authoritative interan unusual and valuable piece of Kuomintang. Data are here pretation of present-day China, work, describing fifty years of available on virtually every as- its revolution, problems and polremarkable achievement. pect of Chinese life and history icies. It is written by one who so that the book should be in might have used the historic After giving the background every public and school library phrase: "All of which I saw and of Korean history, religion and and in the hands of all careful part of which I was"; for the customs, Dr. Rhodes takes up the students of Chinese affairs. author was a collaborator and main theme-the work of grace confidential friend of Sun Yatthrough the mission and the re- The religion of the Chinese is sen, the father of the Chinese sulting Church. The record of discussed in an extended chap- Republic, and since the latter's great revivals and new begin- ter. There are between fifteen death he has been an influential nings is given with balance and and twenty million Moslems in factor in the Government and is careful analysis. The story of China. A few hundred Chinese now president of the Executive cooperative efforts, of diver- Jews are found in Honan, gath- Department of the Government, gence of views regarding some ered around the ruins of a syna- and Minister of Foreign Affairs. points as between field and home gogue built in 1183, rebuilt in He frankly says that "China is office, of movements toward edu- 1488, and now being reclaimed sick and suffering from a series cation of the believers, of the by an Anglican Mission. Most of complications which may' be organizing of the Church and its Chinese accept Confucianism, described as general debility, a many agencies of expansion, of Taoism and Buddhism, all three weak heart and a tumorous medical work, industrial service, at the same time. "The record- growth." (p. 13.) But he firmforeign missions, of the found- ed Roman Catholic population ly believes in the recuperative ing of stations-all this is told today is 2,624,166. Every cor- powers of his country and that, in a way to inspire the reader. ner of this immense Chinese field given reasonable time and free- Missionary-minded pastors and has been planted with a Cross. dom from outside interference, other speakers will rejoice to find New workers come in hundreds China can and will develop a the whole story rich in incidents. every year from Europe and sound and stable government. Effort is made to reveal the se- America." A large statistical He roundly denounces the folder of the Catholic Church in "swashbuckling war-lords" and
"predatory militarist" whose sympathetically told and is an girls are bad; they are more "cruel selfishness" is keeping the excellent supplement to the more sinned against than sinning. country in turmoil. (p. 17.) complete biographies by Mrs. Many have left home for good, He declares that China can no Arthur Parker, Drs. Streeter unselfish reasons, because their more tolerate communists "than and Appasamy and Dr. Heiler of parents could not support them. the existence of poisonous snakes Marburg; the book by Mr. An- But they are ruined or on the and wild beasts." (p. 171.) He drews is an especially well writ- road to ruin for they live by earnestly advocates a policy of ten and satisfying interpretation their wits and brute strengthunification, and he wisely and of the man. tramping, stealing, begging, lyplainly says: "there is only one As is generally known by ing, in promiscuous sex relations course open to us-to put our readers of THE REVIEW, Sundar that sap physical and moral vihouse in order so as to consoli- Singh was a well-born Sikh, and tality. Their only education is date our national strength and had a devout mother and an hon- that which they pick up as chickvitality and thus strengthen the ored father. He went to a Chris- ens pick up grains from the dirt. foundations of peace in the Far tian mission school but lead in Prof. Minehan has interviewed East and in the world beyond it. student opposition to Bible study 1,377 boys and 88 girls of the There is no alternative." (p. 5.) and Christian influence. He was, American "jungle." Most of This is Chinese statesmanship however, a seeker after God and them are American born and so at its best. There is hope for a when about sixteen years of age are their parents. They came nation that has such leaders as had a remarkable vision which from over 22 states. Their ages Wang Ching-Wei and Chiang led to his acceptance of the living ranged from 12 to 21, the aver- Kai-shek. The volume has a Christ. Persecution and ostra- age being about 17 years. Most wealth of information and is cism from his home followed. claimed to be Protestants and 88 handsomely printed and bound, He forsook all, was baptized and had attended Sunday Schools. but the price is rather high for a began to study with missionaries Many had been on the road from book of hardly 200 pages. at Ludhianna and later at La- one to two years. Few had ARTHUR J. BROWN. hore. Finally he decided to be- reached high school. A glossary come a Christian Sadhu-a trav- Sadhu Sundar Singh. By C. F. An- eling witness to Christ and a is needed to interpret some of' servant of all in the name of his their language on the road. drews. 8 vo. 204 pp. $2.00. Harp- ers. New York. 1934. The book is interesting but sad Many· who were acquainted Master. Many and remarkable reading and describes where with Sundar Singh were strong- were his visions and experiences these boys and girls come from; ly impressed with his likeness to -it being difficult at times to where they go, and how; where Christ. This likeness included distinguish between the two. His they sleep and eat; their renot only his Eastern dress and great ambition was to carry the ligious life and standards; their general Oriental appearance but Gospel into Tibet, the closed conversations and sex life. What his quiet self-control, his peace- land, and several times he jour- can be done about it? Unfortuful demeanor, his strength of neyed thither. On his last jour- nately they don't like missions. character, his sacrificial service ney, in 1929, at the age of 34, These boys and girls will not be to any and all who needed his he disappeared and his death is taken in C.C.C. camps and are help, his constant witness to God generally accepted but he has not on relief lists. They need to and the love which drew children left an abiding heritage to the be rescued and put into homes and others to his side. C. F. Christian Church. for their own sake and for the Andrews knew Sundar Singh in- This biographical sketch and sake of humanity before they go timately and is a kindred spirit. interpretation is well worth on spreading moral and physi- In these personal memoirs Mr. reading. It reveals what may cal disease and death. They con- Andrews describes his own con- happen when Christ takes pos- stitute a social evil that will tacts and conversations with the session of an Indian soul. spread if it is not remedied.
Sadhu; he tells of his devotion Boy and Girl Tramps of America. By Navaholand and Zunitown. A Reto Christ and the deathless beau- Thomas Minehan. Illus. 8 vo. 267 port of Christian Reformed Misty and strength of his character. pp. $2.50. Farrar and Rinehart. sions. Htmry Beets. 25 cents.
"Sundar Singh," he writes, "by New York. 1934. Grand Rapids Printing Co. Michihig creative personality, set for- Depression-financial, domes- gan. 1934.
ward a true type for Indian tic and moral-is responsible for This is a story of work among Christians to follow." India many ills, one of the worst of the Indians of New Mexico and would be a new land and the which is its influence on boys Arizona-a work nearly forty Indian Church a nearly ideal and girls. This description of years old and showing much en- church if the devotion, the char- life among vagabond boys and couraging fruitage. There are acter, the spirit that dominated girls is by a young professor schools and hospitals, churches the Sadhu, prevailed in that land from the University of Minne- and Christian homes. These and church. sota who lived among them, dis- brief sketches reveal the power Here is a fascinating, stimu- guised, for three years. The of Christ to transform life so lating biography for anyone to story he tells is shocking, heart- that the good Indians are alive read. The story is simply and rending. Not all the boys and not dead.
New Chain-Reference Bible. But, however mixed their blood, religious leadership, and what a
Compiled and edited by Frank group of Baptists are doing at Charles Thompson. 12 maps. 8 Vo. the culture has become largely Clear Creek Mountain ~prmgs VarlOus styles and prices. B. B. English and most of the de- to help train the mountam Kirkbride Bible Co. Indianapolis. nommations represented were brought over by the ~nglish. preachers. 1934.
The Bible is still the "best Three outstanding characterIs- Dr. Dunn's chapter on "Misseller" in the world and has been tics of the pIOneers stiH prevail sionary and Phi I ant h r 0 pic for at least a century. There in great degree-individuallsm, Schools" is full of informatlOn are translations, editions, anno- emotional instability, and reH- essential to a thorough knowltations, notes and styles almost ance on natural ablllty unaided edge of this phase of the mounwithout number, and the added by special training. The book tain work. If one wishes a commaterial varies greatly in prac- gIves a hIstory of the rise of de- pendium of information about tical value. This Chain-Refer- nominatIOnal1sm and shows that, the religious and educatlOnal ence Bible has many unique and on account of the individuallsm conditions of the mountams, the useful features for Bible stu- of the people, the SImple democ- changes now taking place, and dents-particularly for begin- racy of the l:Saptist Churches be- the many problems facing the ners in deeper study and for came popular and has held the mountain workers, this bOOK will parents and teachers. It is based ascenaency. 'l'he uneducated be a great help. L. C. KELLY. on the King James Version, has preacher and his emotIOnal1sm a self-pronouncing text, good proauced persecution in Virgmia New Books print and I eat her binding. but resulted in granting freedom Among the special features are of worshIp to all. American Family. Faith Baldwin. the chain references by which a The chIef elements in the re- 388 pp. $2. Farrar & Rinehart. subject can be followed through ligious inheritance of the High- New York. the entire Bible. There are also The Christian Fact and Modern lanaers are a strong belief in the Doubt. Geo. A. Buttrick. 301 pp. an analysis of the different real1ty and importance of re- $2.50. Scribners. New York. books, an outline study of Bible liglOn, a fear of the l(.oman Cath- A Christian Manifesto. Edwin Lewis. characters, pictorial maps and 245 pp. $2.00. Abingdon Press. charts, a general index, a text 01lC vhurch, a distrust of all New York. forms or symbols (as being encylopedia, Bible readings, out- Christ and the Congo. Findings of line studies, Bible harmonies, a associated with the Catholic Conferences Held by Dr. John R. Church) , reverence for the Mott. 68 pp. 2s. 1. M. C. London. concordance and atlas. Bound words of the Bible, and a belief with it is Dr. Thompson's own in the supreme importance of Forward in Western China. E. S. system of Bible study with sug- personal salvation. Stewart. 75 pp. lB. C. M. S. Longestions as to the analytical study, the synthetic study, chap- Isolation, poverty, overpopu- don. ter, topical and verse studies. This is the result of thirty-one lation, bad health conditions, and God's Unspeakable Gift. H. A. Ironyears of careful, reverent labor. sides. 192 pp. 28. 6d. Pickering & It is adapted to all classes and the slow development of schools Inglis. Glasgow. will be found especially useful are discussed. Lack of social to missionaries, young pastors organizations, the inferior posi- His Book or Structure in Scripture. Norman B. Harrison. 111 pp. 75 and Sunday school teachers. tion of women, and pioneer eth- cents. B. 1. C. A. Chicago. ics are discriminatingly pointed Is He Not Able? Edith F. Norton. out. The report of a funeral ser- 147 pp. $1.00. Bible Institute Col- mon is included in a graphic portage Association, Chicago.
Religion in the Highlands. By Eliza- picture of the preaching of a Ploughed Under. Amy Carmichael. beth R. Hooker. With a section on primitive preacher. The anti- 28. 6d. Illus. 156 pp. S. P. C. K. Missionary and Philanthropic mission and sectarian spirit of London. Schools. By Fannie W. Dunn. 319 pp. $1.00. Home Missions Coun- certain sections are well defined. Race and Economics in South Africa. cil, New York, 1933. The Northeastern Cumberland W. G. Ballinger. 67 pp. 18. 6d.
We are here given an insight Plateau, which comprises much Sun Yat-Sen-His Life and Its Mean- of Eastern Kentucky and some ing. Lyon Sharman. $3.50. 418 to the mountain life and moun- pp. John Day Co. New York. tain problems educationally, and of West Virginia, is shown to be That Strange Man Upon the Cross. religiously. Miss Hooker's divi- the most destitute educationally Richard Roberts. 137 pp. $1.25. sion of the territory of the south- and religiously of all the moun- Abingdon Press. New York.
ern mountains into the North- tain sections. Because of this The Tiger Tamed. R. H. Boyd. 208 western Cumberland Plateau, destitution it has become the fo- pp. 28. Pickering & Inglis. Lon- the Northeastern Cumberland cal center of many people who don. Plateau, the Allegheny Plateau, seek to help the people religious- Unto the Skies. Lilian G. Carleton. the Blue Ridge, the Central ly, educationally, and otherwise. 210 pp. 38. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. Ridges, and the Central Valleys, The book gives a fine discussion London. shows a true insight to the great on church houses, missionary Ways of Praying. Muriel Lester. 32 agencies, denominational and in- pp. 35 cents. Cokesbury Press. differences between mountain Nashville. people and their varied prob- dependent schools. It is the only lems. The ancestors of these Word Studies in the Old Testament. people were largely of German, book we know that discusses im- Vol.!. B. A. M. Schapiro. 28 pp. partially the uneducated moun- 50 cents. Hebrew-Christian Pub. English and Scotch Irish stocks. tain preacher, the problem of Society. New York.
—A PROBLEM OR A
HERE IS A CHALLENGE TO YOU I Will you help to spread international understanding and brotherhood?
Dr. Charles W. Iglehart, who has been a missionary in Japan for twenty-Five years, sees the problem presented to Asia and to America. He also sees the challenge and the present opportunity.
Will YOU accept the challenge and make use of the opportunity? HOW? Send for copies of Dr. Iglehart's leaflet and distribute them in your church, your club, your social circle. It is d stirring picture that Dr. Iglehart draws—one to hold the attention and stir to action—useful Cpristian dction. Send 2 cents for a sample leaflet. Then send $1.00 for a hundred more. An American layman was so stirred by this message from Dr. Inglehart that he provided for the publication of a limited number of these leaFiets—with the conFident hope that you will help distribute them.
cSend to THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 1S6 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK AGENTS WANTED CUTS FOR SALE THE MISSIONARY REVIEW Excellent halftone plates and line cuts (undam- can be sold in quantities to aged) used in THE MISSIONARY REVIEW every Missionary Society. It fur- during the past two years. nishes information in brief, in- teresting form for leaders and For sale at one-third the cost. These are val- discussion groups. Why not act uable for loccill or denominational papers. Vivid as our Agent in your church or pictures of life all over the world. community? You can advance the cause of Foreign MisSions, Americ:an Highlands and at the same time can earn Americ:an Indians Afric:ans—Heathen and Christian A Liberal Commission China···Old and New Japan and. Korea • India's Idols and Christians Results in Moslem Lands Address.–Circ:ulation Manager Savages and Saints The Pacific Islanders The Missionary Review of the World • Third and Reily Streets Harrisburg, Pa. c8enCi to The Missionary Review of the World Third and Reily Streets Harrisburg, Pa.
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1900
A CAMP OF TIBETAN
A BRIDGE ON THE TIBETAN BORDER OF CHINA. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
Old Series. ~ MAROH. New Series. VOL. XXIII. No.3. f { VOL. XIII. No.3.
MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION.
BY REV. AltTHUR J. BROWN, D.D., NEW YORK CITY.
Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
The Ohurch does not exist simply for the edification of its members and the maintenance of public worship. It has an object beyond itself. That object is not self-chosen, but Divinely imposed. Its performance is not optional, but obligatory. Ohrist hail commanded it under pain of forfeiture of His presence and blessing. " Go " is the order, and "to every creature." That is not a suggestion, not an invitation, not a request; it is an order. It leaves nothing to our choice. It transmutes indifference into disobedience. It assigns foreign missions the supreme place in Ohristian activity. The Ohurch must be foreign missionary or lose its charter. We have the Gospel, the world needs it, and we are, therefore, debtors to the world. This is our" Father's business," and we must be about it.
The method should be commensurate in scope and dignity with the object to be attained. It is now generally agreed that this necessitates a central, administrative board. Such a work can not be properly done by individuals or by churches acting separately. It is too vast, the distance too great, the single act too small. Ohurches do not have the experience in dealing with missionary problems, or the comprehensive knowledge of details necessary for () proper conduct of such an enterprise. Moreover, the individual b.ty die or lose his money. The single church may become indifferent or discouraged. Even if neither of these alternatives happened, the work would lack stability. It would be fitful, sporadic, too largely dependent upon accidental knowledge or temporary emotion. A chance newspaper article, or a visit from somE; enthusiastic missionary, would direct a disproportionate stream of gifts to one field, while others, equally or, perhaps, more important, would be neglected. The wise expenditure of large sums of money in far distant lands, the checks and safeguards essential to prudent control, the equitable distribution of
workers and forms of work, the proper balancing of interests between widely-scattered and isolated points, the formulation of principles of mission policy, all these require a board.
This is a spiritual warfare on a vast scale, and war can not be prosecuted by individuals fighting independently, however numerous or conscientious. There must be an army with its centralization of authority, its compactness of organization, its unity of movement, its persistence of purpose. General Booth says that the Japanese defeated the Chinese, not because they were smarter, but because they were better organized. A church or a presbytery can, with comparative ease, supervise the simpler and more homogeneous work within its bounds, and, therefore, under its immediate oversight. But the foreign missionary work is in distant lands, in different languages, among diverse peoples. It is, moreover, work much more varied and cQmplex, including not only churches and ministers, but day-schools, boarding-schools, industrial schools, colleges, inquirers' classes, normal classes, theological classes, hospitals, dispensaries, translations and sales of books and tracts; purchase and care of property of all kinds; the health and homes and furloughs and children of missionaries; currencies various and distractingly fluctuating; negotiations with our own and other governments, and a mass of details little understood by the home church. Problems and interrelations with other work and workers and questions of mission policy are involved, which, from the nature of the case, are entirely beyond the experience of the home minister, and which call for an expert knowledge only possible to one who devotes his entire time to their acquisition. Missionary work has passed the experimental stage, and an apparently simple question may have bearings that a friendly pastor may not suspect. The experiment 'of having each State control its own regiments in a national war has been tried, and with such disastrous results that it is not likely to be repeated. Dr. Cust says that" the conduct of missions in heathen and Mohammedan countries has already risen to the dignity of a science, only to be_learned by long and continuous practise, discussion, reading, and reflection; it is the occupation of the whole life and of many hours of each day of many able men selected for the particular purpose by the turns of their own minds, and the conviction of their colleagues that they have a special fitness for the duty."
In these days, when independent missionary societies are so lJumerous and insistent, it is interesting to remember that prior to the organization of their board, Presbyterians thoroughly discussed the question whether missionary operations should be carried on by voluntary societies or by the Church itself. The result was the decision of the General Assembly of 1837, "that the General Assembly shall superintend and conduct by its own proper authority, the work of foreign missions of the Presbyterian Church by a board
MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION
appointed for that purpose and directly amenable to said Assembly." Manifestly no other conclusion was possible if the Presbyterian body was to be a church in any true sense. A denomination would be false to its highest duty, it would abandon its claim upon Christ's promise to be with His disciples" alway," if it confined its organized energies to its own land, and relegated its most important activities to outside societies, characterized, perhaps, by doctrinal vagaries and irresponsible leadership, and however ably and conscientiously led, with no guaranty for responsibility or permanence but the personal character of the men who for the hour control them. It is fundamental to any sonnd thinking on this subject that the foreign missionary enterprise is not something outside and voluntary, but that it is the inherently vital work and obligation of the Church itself.
It would be neither safe nor business-like to leave such an undertakiug to outsiders, and the Lord's work calls for business methods as well as man's work. The Church must take up this matter itself. It must form some responsible central agency, whose outlook is ever the whole field, and through which individuals and churches can work collectively and to the best advantage; some lens which shall gather up all the scattered rays of local effort and focus them where they are needed; some institution which, tho men may come and men may go, shall itself "go on forever." Recognizing these things, each of the leading denominations has constituted a board of foreign missions as the great channel through which it shall unitedly, wisely, and systematically carryon this work for humanity and God. And with this board all auxiliary denominational agencies are supposed to cooperate -churches, bands, Sabbath-schools, young people's and women's societies, and the p.ermanent committees of the lower church courts.
MISSIONARY BOARDS AND SECRETARIES.
The typical board is an incorporated body of twenty-one members. eleven ministers, and ten elders, elected by the supreme judicatory of the Church and divided into three classes of seven, each class serving three years. All live in or near the city in which the board is located, hecause, in the language of the Presbyterian General Assembly of 1870, "experience has proved that a few men, each of whom can be easily reached, all of whom have a vital interest in the trusts confided to them, will perform any given labor more efficiently than a large board whose members are so diffused as to be seldom collected, or as to forget the claims of a duty whose immediate field is far away."
But while the members of a board are chosen from one part of the country, they are not sectional in spirit. I have been impressed not only by their ability but by the breadth of their sympathies. There are no wiser ministers in the country than those who are on our boards of foreign missions. There are no more sagacious business men than
the lay members of those boards. Those who sneer at mission boards forget that they are composed not only of distinguished pastors and seminary professors, but of bank presidents, successful merchants, railroad directors, great lawyers, managers of large corporations-men who in the commercial world are recognized as authorities and are implicitly trusted. Is their jndgment of less value when they deal with the extension of the Kingdom of God?
These men devote much time and labor to the affairs of the board, leaving their own work, often at great inconvenience, to attend board meetings and to toil on committees-earnestly, prayerfully considering the things which pertain to this sacred cause.
Yet they receive no compensation whatever, but solely out of disinterested love, they give the Church the benefit of their ripe experience and business capacity. You would have to pay a good round sum to command their services for any other cause, if indeed you could command them at all. One of them is reported to have said: "I could not be hired to do this work for $5,000 a year; but I will do it gratuitously for the sake of Christ and my brethren." The churches owe to such men a large debt of gratitude. Let them be slow to criticize and quick to praise. Whatever their shortcomings, these men are unselfishly and self-sacrificingly administering the great trust which has been committed to them, and tho they may make an occasional mistake, their loyalty, devotion, and intelligence are a reasonable guaranty that they will wisely serve the cause which is as dear to them as it is to others.
The executive officer of a board is the corresponding secretary, the large boards having several secretaries of coordinate rank and making the treasurer also an executive officer. They are elected by the board with special reference to their supposed fitness for executive duties, and as they devote their entire time to the care of the great interests entrusted to their supervision, they of course receive a salary, tho it is modest compared with the salaries paid by the larger city churches. It may interest some who imagine that a secretaryship is one of the pleasant seats in Zion to know that I find its duties heavier and more exacting than those or the pastorate of a church of a thousand communicants. The Rev. Dr. Henry H. Jessup, who had a brief experience as a secretary during the illness of one of my colleagues, says that in three months he was laid aside by nervous prostration, and that he "would rather drive over the range of Lebanon in midwinter, throngh snow three feet deep, or in August in a scorching sirocco, or preach on a housetop in a bitter north wind, or in a harvest field with the black flies swarming until the white canvas of the tent was as black as Pittsburg, or teach Hodge's Theology through Arabic gutturals, than to undergo for a series of years the mental and physical strain required of a foreign mission secretary." The Rev. Dr. W. W. Eddy
MISSIONARY ADMtNIS.TRA'I'ION
of Beirut (who has just died) says that" secretarial service in the mission rooms has been as trying as missionary service on the coast of Africa."
THE METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION.
These may be illustrated by the Presbyterian Board with which I am most familiar, and which is probably fairly typical. Our board meets regularly twice each month. The docket often includes forty or fifty items. These items comprehend phases of Christian work which at home are distributed among no less than six different boards, besides several undenominational and philanthropic agencies. But while each denomination has many home boards, it has but one foreign board, and that single agency must concern itself not only with informing the churches and developing their interest and gifts, but with a multitude of details incident to the conduct of so vast and varied an enterprise, and its related financial, industrial, political, educational, medical, and diplomatic problems. The Rev. Dr. George Alexander truly says: There is no business on earth that touches life at so many points, or appeals in so many ways to mind and heart, as the business of foreign missions.. . 'rhe board is a central telegraphic station, from which wires stretch to the ends of the earth, each freighted with its own special message. There the appeals for help from a lost world concentrate, and are met by the responses that come from the great heart of the church.
The board is divided into committees representing all the mission fields, and there is, in addition, a finance committee, to advise with the officers of the board on important questions of property, and the larger items of expenditure, and particularly with the treasurer on the details of his office. The administration is divided into departments, each officer conducting the correspondence relating to his own department. Of course, there is much of that correspondence that is of a personal character, for the secretary is not only the official representative, but the personal friend of each missionary, and he endeavors to keep in close and sympathetic touch with him, to form the channel, as it were, through which the interest and cheer and love of the home churches may flow out to the devoted, lonely workers so far away. But all questions affecting mission expenditure and policy, and all requests to the board the secretary takes into the executive council, which is composed of all the officers of the board. In that council each question is discussed and a judgment reached which, at the next meeting of the board, is presented to that body by the secretary in charge, and the action is not complete and has no authority until it has been ratified by the board. If the question is of special importance to a mission or an individual missionary, the council asks its reference to a committee of the board in conjunction with the council,
and the eight or nine men thus involved sometimes devote several hours to its consideration.
It will thus be seen that there is no opportunity for one-man power in the workings of the board, inasmuch as each secretary must always submit his conclusions for the approval, first, of the executive council, and, second, of the board itself, and in special cases of a committee besides.
In the handling of money great care is taken. Not only is every sum received promptly acknowledged to the giver, but a public report is made in the columns of the Assembl.1f Herald (tlte Presbyterian Church magazine) and in the Annual Report of the board, which is printed, submitted to the General Assembly, and a copy mailed to each minister in the denomination, while extra copies are freely given to any layman who requests them.
Still further, an annual contract is made with a firm of certified public accountants, whose representatives walk into the office at any time, examine all books and vouchers, and audit all accounts, making their report, not to the treasurer, but directly to the finance committee. In this, as well as in other ways, every possible business precaution is taken to secure entire accuracy, and so great is the care exercised and so complete is the system, that it is not believed that any serious mistake could escape prompt detection. In 1807, a committee consisting of a Buffalo banker and a Pittsburg merchant, both men of the highest standing, had occasion to go through our office as a su bcommittee appointed to inquire into the practicability of having one treasurer for the three boards located in New York, and another treasurer for the three boards located in Philadelphia. -They made a thorough investigation, and they not only reported that it was inexpedient to consolidate the treasurerships, but they bore" testimouy to the complete and business-like methods that are followed in the office management, which we believe are fully up to the best practise in the leading financial and industrial institutions of the country, aud give assurance that the business entrusted to this office is promptly, efficiently, and economically conducted."
The majority of the members and officers of the board are or have been pastors, and the others are members and c(}ntributing elders of churches. We know, therefore, apart from our correspondence, that the money we receive comes not only from the rich but from the poor, that it includes the widow's mite, the workingman's hard-earued wage, and the little child's self-denial for Jesus. We know that it represents sacrifices very precious in the sight of the Master, and that it is followed on its mission of salvation by the prayers of thousands of loving hearts. "I went without breakfast for a week to save this money," said a poor washerwoman as she brought her offering. "I am sorry that I can not give more, but I have been sick and obliged
MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION
to hire some one to take my place," wrote an aged colored woman, who earned a scanty living by sweeping offices, and who enclosed two dollars. So the board regards that money as a sacred thing, a holy trust to be expended with more than ordinary care.
Each mission is req llired to make an estimate of its needs for the year, not in a lump sum, but in a minutely itemized statement. Then those estimates are rigidly scrutinized by the executive officers of the board. Every detail is watched. Then the probable income is carefully computed on the basis of average receipts for a series of years, and the appropriation is made subject to such a cut as may be necessary to bring the work within the limits of estimated income.
THE COST OF ADMINISTRATION.
What proportion of the receipts is required for expenses of administration? Vell, the scale of administration is, of course, largely determined by the ideas of the church which we represent, and the work which it requires us to do. If you quote the low administrative expense of certain independent agencies, I reply that they do not provide such guarantees and safeguards for prudent administration, and that they do not assume snch responsibilities for the maintenance of their missionaries. But the Presbyterian Church does not wish its foreign missionary operations conducted on that basis. It wants its missionaries adequately supported for a life work, an-d that involves an administrative board, commensurate in expensiveness with the obligations which it must assume. Still, the cost of administration proper of the Presbyterian board last year was only 4-£ per cellt. That is, to borrow a senten,ce, "it takes about the value of a foreign postage stamp to send a dollar to India or Mid-Africa." Do you know any mercantile concern doing a business of a million dollars annually, and requiring the services of over 2,500 persons scattered all over the world, whose percentage of expenditure for administration·is only 4-£ per cent? The Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke of New York made inquiries of several large corporations, railway, manufacturing, and mercantile, and he found that the average cost of administration was 12.75 per cent., while in one great establishment it rose to 20 per cent. The manager of one of the large department stores in New York told me that their expense for administration was 22 per cent., and he expressed astonishment that the board's was so low as 4! per cent. '1'he reports of twenty of the leading life insurance companies of the United States show that only two of them have a ratio of management expense to income of less than twelve per cent. In the majority of the companies, the expense is from sixteen to twenty per cent., and in some companies it is eve-n higher. Of course, the cases are not entirely parallel; but after making all reasonable allowances for differences, the essential fact remains that the cost of missionary administration is remarkably low. About 95 cents out of every dollar go either to the foreign field or to forms of work in this country expressly authorized by the General Assem bly. The Rev. Dr. John Hall once said, "I have been closely connected with the work for more than a quarter of a century, and I do not hesitate to say that it would be difficlllt to find elsewhere as much work done at so moderate a cost as in our mission boards."
(To be completed next month.)
DWIGHT L. MOODY AS AN EDDCATOR.* BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Nothing in his career more surprised his friends, and even Mr. Moody himself, than that he, who was never in a college. should have been a father of colleges. It was, in fact, his lack of education that suggested the thought of undertaking to supply that lack for others; and especially for those who, like himself, had been the children of comparative poverty, lacking the ampler means of securing a firstclass training for a life of intelligent Christian service.
It is a doubtful use of terms to speak of Dwight L. Moody as an uneducated man. If, as Dr. Shedd said," education is not a dead mass of accumulations, but power to work with the brain," Mr. Moody was one of the best-educated men of his generation. By whatever means acquired, he had learned the mastery of his own powers. He marshalled them like compact battalions, and led them into the conflict of life like a sagacious general. His addresses were always exhibitions of power, both in thought and speech, and at times power of no mean order. They showed careful analysis and orderly arrangement, close argument and happy illustration; the pith of the proverb and the tact of the man who knew men. Sometimes there was not only the philosophy of common sense, but the poetry of the imagination. His memory was marvelous, and it was so trained as to bc both ready and retentive; but with the power to remember and reproduce was a more remarkable faculty-that of assim£latwn. A cow may crop grass in many pastures, but she gives her own milk; and he never read or heard a good thing without storing it up~for use; but when he used it it was his own-assimilated to his own mind and adjusted to his own end-it had passed through his digestion, and was no longer a foreign and borrowed idea or illustration. His language was generally, and on the whole, terse, strong, vigorous, appropriate, and sometimes very fit and forceful. He might say" you and I" when he should have said "you and me," or reversely; he might use the present " come" when he should have used the past" came," or say" done" for "did," but these were largely the relics of his untrained boyhood, rather than the indices of the full-grown man. If the mark of an educated man is found in the union of capacity and sagacity, innate mental vigor and practical ability to use It for a purpose, again we dare to say this was no common specimen of a man of education III the best sense.
*The photograph of Mr. Moody used for a frontispiece in our February number was an enlargement from a group photograph which we have since learned was copyrighted. Our acknowledgments and apologies are therefore tendered to Towne & Whitney, photographers. of East Northfield, Mass. They are able to snpply photographs of Mr. Moody, hIS home, and institutions.-EDIToRs.
A MEETING IN THE NORTHFIELD AUDITORIUM AT THE AUGUST
But he had gone through no college curriculum. Like Shakespeare, whom Ben Jonson called that man of "little Latin and less Greek," he could not cite from the ancient "classics," nor the modern" epics." He might not have been able to tell who Halicarnassus was, where Epaminondas fought, nor why Eadward III. was called "The Oonfessor." Probably he would have been puzzled to teU the five "rivers of hell," or even to give the "five points" of Oalvinism. These things were not in his line. The Bible was his book, and he knew that as some even of t he modern" Oxford scholars" do not; and he could use it as some well-trained clergymen can not. There are university preachers that would give not a little to be as much at home with the Scriptures as that Northfield evangelist, and we all know that a close study of the Word of God is worth a university training, not only in maturing spiritual life, bnt in disciplining the intellect, and fitting the tongue for vigorous speech.
It would be a mistake to dismiss the matter of Mr. Moody's education without emphasizing the power of tlte study of the Englisn Bible to greaten a man's mind and teach him how to use his native tongue. Many do not know that the English Bible, considered simply as a book, a literary product, is unsurpassed and unrivaled. The Book of Job is doubtless the oldest dramatic poem extant and the noblest. One chapter of it, the thirty-eigkth, touches science at some thirty points of contact, and not once with inaccuracy; and altho so ancient that the sciences, as we know them, were in their infancy, its elastic phraseology proves as fit for modern discovery as for ancient poetry. There is more correct scientific reference in those forty-one verses than in all the literature of the world besides, previous to the birth of Ohrist. This Book of God is a compilation of sixty-six different books, by forty authors; yet such is its unity that it is one Book, and such is its comprehensiveness that somewhere within its pages may be found a brief presentation of every subject vitally connected with man's welfare. For example, the law of God in Exodus xx, the beauty of love in I. Cor. xiii, heavenly ethics in Matthew v, vi, vii, the resurrection of the dead in I 001'. xv, Ohristian giving in II. 001'. viii, ix, the triumphs of faith in Hebrews xi, the true attitude in discipline in Hebrews xii, the perils of the tongue in James iii, the final judgment in Revelation xx, the secrets of practical sinlessness in Romans vi, vii, viii, etc.
As a model of language the Bible is the purest well of English undefiled in the whole library of the English-speaking world. The Book of Ruth may be taken as a specimen. It has twenty-seven times as many words of Anglo-Saxon origin as of Greek or Latin derivation. Is it any marvel if the man of one Book, like Mr. Moody, is able, by simply studying that one volumc, a library in itself, to charm scholars and command the attention of critical students? For forty
DWIGHT L. MOODY AS AN EDUCATOR
years that simple evangelist had been addressing the multitudes, and never exhausted his store of matter, because he had behind him the treasury of God's truth; and he learned a strong, simple, and telling diction because he drew from that pure spring of Anglo-Saxon utter- ance. Whatever maybe thought of Mr. Moody's own education, no doubt he educated others. To-day at East Northfield there stands a goodly array of fine buildings, dormitories, recitation halls, library, gymnasium, auditorium, etc., and some four hundred young women throng those college halls, and as many more would be glad to come if there were room. This seminary was started in lSI!) with eight girls. Across the river is Mount Hermon school, started two years later, and with as many more young men, and a like assemblage of fine buildings, including refectory, laboratory, and chapel, etc. At Chicago there is a training institute for men and women, capable of accomIllO- NORTHFIELD SEMINARY CAMPUS IN WINTER.
dating about three hundred more, and started in ISS!), and with another set of buildings, including dormitories, library, nnd chapel. All these schools are furnished with n competent corps of trained men and women, who do the teaching, and would fill similar chairs of instruction elsewhere with honor and success.
These institutions, thus all planted between lS79 and ISS!), are all unique in idea and character. 'They are purposely for the poor, or the less favored with worldly means, and hence the charges are but nominal, about one-half the actual cost of tuition and board. Everything is frugally conducted, the students enconrnged to self-help, and taking part of the care of the table and of their own rooms to diminish expense. 'I'he cost of maintaining these three schools, outside of fees received, is about 125,000 dollars annually, and this great sum Mr. Moody himself raised every year, mostly by his own direct appeal to individnals, and with such success
MOUNT HERMON SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
that, after all these years, there is no debt. Of course, the original cost is outside of this annual expenditure. The grounds and buildings embrace about 1,200 acres, and the buildings, almost exc1usively of brick and stone, are worth, with the grounds and the values represented in their contents and partial endowments, a total of about a million and a half dollars. 'rhese buildings are almost all of them erected by the gifts of generous friends of Mr. Moody and his work, on both sides of the sea, such as the Marquand Hall, Weston Hall, Skinner Hall, Overtoun Dormitory, etc.
Another unique feature of all these schools is that they are crystallizations of Mr. Moody's life, thought, and purpose, to fit young men and women for a 11/e of work for God. He sought not simply to educate, but to educate for service. He wanted to have a generation trained mainly in the knowledge of the Word of God, and practically endued with the Spirit of God, and so make these schools "schools of the propl18ts," whence should go forth year by year well-equipped soldiers, well-trained servants of Christ. And he lived long enough to see his desire reaping the harvest of his seed sown. Literally hundreds of men and women have gone forth to become missionaries abroad and helpers at home, pastors and pastors' assistants, preaching and singing evangelists, teachers of truth, medical missionaries, and trained nurses, or fill other and less conspicuous places, but with the love of the Word of God and of His work to prompt to service. In all of these schools he has moved as a sort of presence, his own magnetic personality molding the characters of students and shaping the policy of the institutions. 'rhere has always been a hallowed atmosphere in these colleges for training. As Arnold made Rugby
DWIGHT L. MOODY AS AN EDUCATOR
the nursery of a peculiar type of British men of culture, :l{oody has made Northfield, and Mount Hermon, and Chicago, nurseries of Christian character and service, after a unique pattern, not often found elsewhere.
We must n0t forget the Northfield conferences, which have been for just twenty years a growing power in America and the world. Here was, perhaps, in some aspects, the greatest sphere of Mr. Moody's work as an educator. At first he called together a few friends-in 1880. It was a .. convocation for prayer." Ministers and laymen, godly men and women met to study the Word of God for ten days, but mainly to wait on God for a new anointing from on high. About three hundred attended, and among them a delegation from beyond the sea. Then followed a second convention in 1881, filling the whole of August, and at which Andrew A. Bonar, of Glasgow, was the main figure. '1'he leading feature for these four weeks was Bible study, and the attendance was nearly trebled over that of 1880.
Mr. Moody's absence in Britain for evangelistic campaigns caused a gap of three years; but since 1885 the conventions have been annual, increasing in numbers and power. No such assemblages of men have been connected with any other series of meetings during the half century. Mr. Moody has always presided, except one year, when Dr. A. J. Gordon took his place. From America there have been such preachers and teachers as Drs. Pentecost, Brookes, Goodwin, Erdman, Morehead, 'Vest, Parsons, Broadus, Townsend, Green, Strong, Trumbull, Judson, Merle Smith, and a host of others; such evangelists as Whittle, Needham, Hammond, Munhall, Blackstone, and Hastings; such temperance orators as Gough, Murphy, and Woolley; such leaders of young men as Wilder, Ober, Mott, Speer, and Wishard; and from
across the sea such men as Monod, Bonar, Drummond, Meyer, MowlI, McGregor, Morgan, Webb-Peploe, Andrew Murray, alld such missionaries as Chamberlain of India, Chamberlain of Brazil, Ashmore and Hykes of China, and Hudson Taylor, Studd, Thoburn, Jewett and Clough, Eddy, etc. And these are but a few out of the many whose voices have been heard on the Northfield platform. Of late a Northfield extension movement has been started, the aim of which is to expand the sphere of this educative influence, and bring the truths and principles for which these conferences stand into contact with a larger number and over a broader territory.
)fR. )IOODY AND THE CHURCHES.
Of Mr, Moody's work as an educator of Christian life in the churches, it is not needful to speak. He always pleaded for righteouslless between man and man, as well as for holiness as between man and God. In his preaching on repentance and restitution, he often reminded one of John the Baptist, ,,,hile in his presentation of love he suggested John the Apostle. He was as impulsive and impetuous as Peter, as npright as James, and as energetic as Paul.
lie never espousedjureign missions with any enthusiasm, because his mind was so taken np with home missions that perhaps his vision was shortened. From the first a worker in the Young Men's Christian Association and the Sunday-school, a seeker of young men in the strcets and lanes of the cities, and an evangelist of the masses, he gave foreign missions little attention, and knew little of their history, heroes, and progress. But God deems best that some people shall be specialists, even in matters of Christian duty, and he was a specialist on city missions. But we have seen him kindle to more than warmth under some stirring missionary appeal; and had he gone on a world tour itS some of his friends so much desired twelve years ago, and seen India, and China, and other oriental fields, and studied their needs on the spot, no man would have felt more keenly and sympathetically the claims of these lost souls. We have sometimes thought that, had he never taken up the educational work, but confined himself to his worla wide evangelism, and visited these remote la-nds in that capacity, it would have been a greater gain ultimately to Christian history. Other men might have built up schools, but God made Moody an evangelist such as has not been seen since Wesley and Whitefield, and that was preeminently his sphere in which he was inimitable.
The qnestion comes, and must be met: Who is to carryon the work of Dwight L. Moody? How is to be supplied the annual expense of thesc institutions he has left to the Church as a legacy in trust? No one man can slip into Mr. Moody's shoes, and if he did he could not w,alk in them. The whole Church must rally to the work, if it is
DWIGHT L. MOODY AS AN EDUCATOR
to go on, and this seems the fitting time and place to give publicity to a portion of the appeal of the trustees.* The colportage work which Mr. Moody inaugurated a few years ago, showed how true was his missionary spirit. It occurred to him that criminals shut up in jails for a longer or shorter term, are comparatively neglected, spiritually; and that they both desire the companionship of books to relieve their solitude, and are accessible to such visitors. The authorities are favorable to the distribution of religious reading matter in prisons and reformatories. Here was a new scope for the powers of Mr. Moody. He set himself to create a literature appropriate to the needs of the criminal classes. In conjunction with Mr. Revell, the publisher, and his wife's brother, he obtained cheap reprints of his own books, with a number of others, from such authors as Mr. Meyer, Andrew Murray, Wilbur Chapman, etc., and these he sent by the ton to the prison cells of our land, and almost daily he received his returns in letters disclosing the blessing received by the lonely inmates of our houses of imprisonment and correction.
Mr. Moody's life motto was Isaiah 1: 7 : For the Lord God will help me; Therefore shall I not be confounded; Therefore have I set my face like a flint, And I know that I shall not be ashamed.
How that unlocks many a door in the secret chambers of this man's biography! his bold· assaults on the slums and saloons; his even braver assaults on the iron gates of English university towns, where the bars of a refined culture, a jeerillg skepticism, and a religious ecclesiasticism united to exclude him. How it explains his courage in undertaking enterprises that seemed to others hopeless for their discouragements, or gigantic for their dimensions!
* THE MOODY MEMORIAL ENDOW~IENT.
"I have been ambitious not to lay up wealth, but to leave work for you to do." were almost the last words of D. L. Moody to his children.
These institutions are unique in character, and offer an opportunity for young men and women of limited means to secure an education that will thoroughly equip them for Christian life and service. They consist of the Northfield Seminary and Training School for young women, Mount Hermon School for young men, and the Bible Institute, Chicago. All are incorporated.
The Northfield Schools have about 800 students, who are charged $100 per annum for board and tuition. The actual cost is about $200. At Chicago the amount required approximates $150 each for SOO students. Therefore, a sum of about $125,000 is annually required to maintain the work inaugurated by Mr. Moody on the principles successfully pursued for the past twenty years. This sum has heretofore beeu largely raised by his personal efforts. We believe his friendo will now wish to express their appreciation of him, and their gratitude to God for his accomplished work, by Eharing the responsibilities bequeathed to his children by raising the present limited endowment to $3,000,000, the interest on which, at four per cent., would guarantee the perpetuation of his work in all its present prosperity.
The appeal is therefore made now to Mr. ~Ioody's friends throughout the world to contribute, without curtailing their support for current expenses, to a "Moody Memorial Endowment," notifying his elder son, W. R. ~loody, East Northfield, Massachusetts, of tne amount they are moved to give.
In looking back and reviewing his whole career, we can not but regard Mr. Moody as a great man. His greatness was mainly that of a loyal and faithful disciple, who meant God to have full controlthe gen~<us of goodness. Such only are" great in the eyes of the Lord," like John the Baptist, and the secrets of such greatness are not hidden. 'rhey were mainly these three: Mr. Moody studied and loved the Word of God, he gave himself wholly to the work of God, and he sought to lose himself in the will of God. The Word of God made him great in wisdom and spiritual learning; the work of God made him great in power and influence, and the will of God made him great in boldness and courage. These are open secrets, and open to all. They will make any man or woman proportionately great in any sphere, home or foreign. His life motto it is not hard to understand, when the facts of his history light it up with special meaning.
The official and family biography, .which is now in course of preparation by his elder son, will furnish many precious memorials of Mr. Moody's career. But enough is known by us all at this present time to incite us to a new life of godliness and usefulness. Let his dying words be our living motto: "Earth is receding, Heaven is opening; God is calling."
With such a threefold fact in our spiritual life-with a perpetual retiring of the world and all it contains into the background, and a perpetual approach of heavenly things into the foreground, and into clearer apprehension; with a consciousness that God is calling, and a daily and hourly prayer that we may hear and heed his call, what a new year this will be! What a new era!
MODERN MISSIONARY BEGINNINGS.
BY REV.•r. T. GRACEY, D.D.
In view of the Ecumenical Conference on missions to be held in New York the last of April next, it is of interest to recall the feeble beginnings of the great work which is now extended over such vast portions of the world.
It is a long way back in missionary records of this country to the earliest beginnings made by John Eliot. Mr. Eliot was born in England almost three hundred years ago (1604 ?), and died at Roxbury, Mass., May, 1690. He may have been ordained in the Church of England, to which he was attached before coming to America. November 5, 1632, he was ordained a "teacher" of the church in Roxbury, an office which he held for more than fifty-seven years.
Mr. Eliot preached the first sermon ever preached in a native
1900.J MODERN MISSIONARY BEGINNINGS
tongue of the North American contincnt. '1'he first community of Christian Indians was gathered by him ahout five miles west of Boston.
'1'here were five principal nations of Illdians dwelling at that time in Massachusetts. The first picce of literature furnished for these, and the carliest printed book in the Massachusetts' Indian language of which any record has been foulld, and of the first or second edition of which no copy is known to be extant, is ': Eliot's Primer or Catechism, or the way of training up of our indian 7Jouth in the good knowledge of God, in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and in an ability to read." It was printed at Cambridge,IG54; the second edition in IGG2; the third in IGG9. '['he only copy of the third known is in the library of the University of Edinburgh, which was" Gifted to the library by Mr. Jo Kirton, April 19, IG75."
"Bibliography of the Algonquian Languages" -* has, facing page 128, a facsimile of the title page of this edition of IGG9, repro- duced from a photograph, which FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF JOHN ELIOT'S INDIAN PRIMER OF 1669.
we present herewith. Ml'. Eliot translated the" Assembly's Shorter Catechism." No copy of this translation has been founll. He translated several catechisms into the Indian language. Eliot's second pUblication in the Indian lan- guage probably was '['he Book of Genesis (perhaps 1GG5). It was now that he wrote, "While I Ii ve, if God please to assist me, I resolve to follow the work of translating the Scriptures." The world knows what came of that determination.
WILLIA~I CAREY.
From Mr. H. W. Jacques, Merrickville, Ontario, Canada, we have received an item of interest in connection with the origin of modern missions in England. Mr. Jacques' wife, who died Feb. 5, 1898, was the daughter of the late John Ryland, Esq., of Bristol, England, and granddaughter of Rev. Dr. John Ryland, president of the Baptist College, Bristol, England, who, with Carey and Andrew :Fuller, were the originators of Baptist missions.
Dr. Ryland had a very unique form of manuscript notes for pulpit • published by tbe Bureau of Ethnology of the SIl)ith~onian Institution,
use. A large number of these arc still preserved. Of one of those in possession of the writer, dated at Northampton, 1785, we produce an exact facsimile of one side of the strip containing the sermon, the other half being folded over so as to form a band around a leaf of his …4.4-" V.pl. i.~7$' small Bible. It is the most open speci- men at our command, others require good 'GG~ "e~ <Xfx''l}!!.P 'fit7r..>7'1ptI. eyesight to peruse them at all. What tf(.)"'c. 'Tf{ tA{/if. dV{9V, J(,VPM gives special interest at this time to these manuscripts is that on one of ;a(jwQJN' ~ ldf<Vt1·~ O.rPEcTIJI af'''f 'TIC)}J.
them, a sermon on missions by Dr. Hyland, is the following memorandum: On October 5. 1780, I baptized in the river Nenn, behind Dr. Doddridge'a meet- ing-house, a poor journeyman shoemaker, about twenty-one years of age, little think- ing that before nine years had elapsed he would prove the first instrument of form- ing a socieLY for missionaries from England to preach the Gospel to the heathen, and much less that he would be a professor of languages in an Oriental college, and the translator of the Scriptures into eleven different languages. Such, however, was the purpose of the .Most High, who selected for this work (not one of our most opulent dissenting gentlemen), but a son of the parish clerk of Paulerspury, in Northamp- tonshire, and accordingly, on October 2, 1792, I witnessed, in a little back parlor at Kettering, the first formation of a 'small society which began with a subscription of £13 28. 6d., and of which this V. Carey, the elder, was the second, who is now super- intending the printing and publication of the Scriptures in twenty different languages. Three of these had been made many years ago – the Tamil, the Cingalese, and the :Malay.
THE" HAYSTACK" 1'1LYEH-JIEETIXG.
The birthplace of the American for- DR. RYLAND'S MANUSCRIPT. eign missionary movements La other than the Indians, as is well known, is what is memorialized III thl3 Haystack Monument, near Williams College. It is needless to traverse the history of that remarkable incident which has borne fruit in all the foreign missionary societies of North America. '1'he Encyclopedia published by Funk & Wagnalls Com- pany, edited by Rev. Dr. E. M. Bliss, says: In 1806, at a gathering of four students of 'Villiams College, under
MODERN MISSIONARY BEGINNINGS
lee of a haystack, where they had taken refuge from a thunderstorm, one of the number, Samuel .r. Mills, proposed that they attempt to send the Gospel to the heathen, and said, "We can do it if we will."
Some years since the writer had occasion to examine with some pains the conflicting statements found in missionary literature con. cerning some of the data of this remarkable event. Some historical sketches said there were three students present at that meeting, others, like the Encyclopedia above quoted, gave the number as four, while the monument erected to commemorate the incident contains the names of five students: Samuel J. Mills, James Richards, Francis L. Robbins, Harvey Loomis, Byram Green.* Again, we have found at intervals the names of Gordon, Judson, Newel, and Nott, referred to as having been at that prayermeetillg. In the pursuance of the investigation we finally received a letter from Rev. E. E. Strong, D.D., editor Tlte Missionary Herald, which set the matter at rest in onr mind, and which we gi ve for the benefit of others. Dr. Strong wrote: DEAR DR. GRACEY: Those five names are on the monument be- cause those five men only w ere at that particular prayer-meeting in 1806, when the thunderstorm came on. Rice was not a member ::>f Williams College at that tim e, and THE HAYSTACK MONUMENT.
Hall was not then a professor of religion. There were about a dozen young men who usually attended a prayer-meeting in a grove, but that afternoon was excessively hot, and few attended, and they were driven by the thunderstorm to the protec- tion of the haystack, where they talked and prayed about missions.
Loomis, while sympathizing with the spirit, did not agree in judgment with the others as to the practicability of missions to the heathen. I never knew why Robbins and Green turned to other work than that of • Even Dr. Haydn, in his" American Heroes of Mission Fields," speaks of Richards, Mills, Rice, and Hall, of .. haystack" fame, tho the fronti spiece to the volume Is an engraving of the Haystaci> Monument, with fiVe ~mes, of which Rice and Hall are not.
foreign missions, but Green (Hon. Byram Green, of Sodus, N. Y.) identified the spot in 1854.
The Alumni of Williams College held a Missionary Jubilee, August 5, 1856, and published an account of the services, with a letter 'from Byram Green.
Hon. Byram Green gives the names of eleven young men who usually attended the prayer meetings in the grove in 1806, to wit: John Nelson, Calvin Bushnell, Byram Green, Rufus Pomeroy, Francis L.
Robbins, Samuel Ware, Edwin W. Dwight, Ezra Fisk. Harvey Loomis, Samuel J. Mills, and James Richards. Others attended occasionally.
Luther Rice and John Whittlesey were added in 1807.* At the Jubilee exercises alluded to "by Dr. Strong, Hon. Dudley Field, LL.D., called attention to the moral heroism of these young men, who were poor and yet who dared in such times to attempt such work. The times were unpropitious. Said Dr. Field: The earth was filled with war and carnage. Europe was covered with armed battalions from Gibraltar to Archangel. In that year the battle of Jena had prostrated Prussia at the feet of the French emperor, whose beams thence culminated from the equator, portending an universal military and irreligious domination. Our own country was about to be swept into the vortex of war. . • .
But these young men went forth to greater conquest than any of the rulers of their times attained. Mills went down in the Atlantic, Richards died in India, but the cause they championed marches to ever fresh conquest in the remotest quarters of the globe. Were these triumphs among those which Richards, dying at thirty-six, saw, when the last words fell from his lips, "0, what glories I see!"
If that company of praying young men could have foreseen the Ecu- menical Missionary Conference of April, 1900, in New York, it would have seemed too romantic for common sense to trifle with. But as we assemble in that great meeting perhaps our faith will gather larger scope, and we shall catch up the words of Richards and apply them to the openings ahead of God's visible Church and cry out, "0, what glories we see ! "
BRITISH STUDENTS IN CONFERENCE.
BY ROBERT E. SPEER, N.EW YORK CITY.
The second missionary convention of the students of Europe was held in London, January 2-6. The first convention had been held in Liverpool just four years before. Four years is the average length of a generation in the student world, and in Europe and America alike it has been the plan of the Student Christian Movement to hold such a conference for each student generation. The Liverpool meeting was attended by 717 students, the recent London meeting by about 1700, more than 100 of them from the continent. There were repre- * After writing thus far we were favored with the loan of the pamphlet "The Missionary Jubilee held at Williams College, August 5,1856," 103 pages, printed by T. R. niarvin & SOD.
42 Congress St., Boston, 1856. We feel deeply grateful to the Librarian of Williams College. Mr. Charles H. Burr. In a note Mr. Burr says: "For other data see Durfee's History of J. T. G. Williams College." IJail to Williams!
BRITISH STUDENTS IN CONFERENCE
sentatives from Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, S.witzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Finland, and Russia. Delegates were present also from Oanada, the United States, South Africa, Oeylon, India, Ohina, and Japan. The students of Holland refrained from sending any representative on the ground of their inability to do anything that would appear to indicate any sympathy with Great Britain in the present struggle in South Africa. But there was not one occasion of disagreement or misunderstanding during the whole conference, and practically the only reference to the difficulties in Africa was made by the chairman when on the occasion of the collection for thE! support and extension of the movement he expressed the sympathy of all with the South African Student Movement, composed of student organizations in Oape Oolony, the' Orange Free State, and the Transvaal, and including Natal in its field, and announced that the first £150 of the collection would be given to that movement to aid it in these trying days. And the whole audience rose in silent expression of its sympathy.
The conference was held under the auspices of the British Student Volunteer Union, which was established in 1892, after a tour among British colleges by Rev. Robert p, Wilder, tho there had already been in existence a Students' Foreign Missionary Union, formed in 1889. The objects of the Union are practically identical with those of the American Student Volunteer Movement; the program of the conference defined them to be: (1) To unite those whose purpose it is to become foreign missionaries, in order that they may effectively bring the claims of the foreign mission field as a life work, before all students while in college.
(2) To seek to aid students in the study of foreign missions. (3) To keep before its members and the Church of Christ, the evangelization of the world in this generation as their aim.
It ought to be stated more clearly, however, that the primary object of the movement is to persuade students to give their lives to mis- sionary service. The report of the British Student Volunteer Union, read on the Thursday evening of the convention, indicated the degree of success with which its objects had been attained.
Working among the 43,000 students of Great Britain and Ireland, it had enrolled 1,686 volunteers, 366 of them women. Of these, 565 have sailed, 110 have withdrawn, 30 have died (14 before reaching their fields), 25 are definitely hindered, and 606 are still in college. Of the remaining 366, the majority are in further preparation. Some are hindered temporarily by health or circumstances. Of these 1,686 volunteers, 598 are theological students, 458 medical, 363 arts, and 270 in other schools. The 565 sailed volunteers are working under some fifty societies, in nearly every mission field. In its educational work the Union has served over sixty missionary boards. It will be noticed that 33 per cent. of the British volunteers have sailed. Of the 57 students who up to the
present year have held office as secretaries or executive members in any department of the general British Student Movement, 54 have been volunteers. Of these 33 have sailed, 16 have not yet completed their college course, and of the remaining 5, one is temporarily hindered, 4 are in further preparation, and hope shortly to sail.
It wiII be seen that the British volunteers have been actively pressing to the front. They have conducted this movement so as to command the approval of the Ohurches, and the first evening meeting of the conference, following the opening session addressed by Dr.
Moule of Oambridge, on the promise" I AM WITH YOU," was addressed by the Bishop of London, representing the Ohm'ch of England, and by the Rev. Alex. MacKennal, president of the Oouncil of the Free Ohurches. The Bishop of London was exceedingly cordial in his wel- come, and his expression of approval of the students' work, and of sympathy with missions and united conference. All Ohristians can unite, he said, on the principle that the whole earth belongs to our one Lord. Surely, he added, that is a sufficient bond of unity. Tho we differ from one another in opinion, God means us to learn from one another, especially to learn what each of us can teach the others about the best missionary methods. "We hope," he declared, "that in the long run the mission field will bring about that which some call a phantom, but for which we hope and pray, the outward visible union of all Ohristians." It is in work rather than in doctrine that we may now unite, and this work will correct our doctrines and ways at home.
This is not a special work. It is the great work of the Ohurch, and never more than now, with the heathen world calling out more articu- lately than evcr for Ohrist. Dr. MacKennal, more venerable in appearance even than the Bishop, spoke· happily and cordially of "the audacity, the reasonableness, the splendid possibility" of the watchworu of the Student Volunteer Movement in both Europe and America, « the evangelization of the world in this generation." ,. More than human thought is in this watchword. God's finger is pointing the way, and His Spirit is leading the endeavor." Dr. MacKennal recalled the memories of Exeter Hall, in which the conference was in session during its meetings, and especially the evening when Livingstone spoke there of missions as philanthropy not at a distance, but heart to heart with human need. He rejoiced at the thought which had run through all that the Lord Bishop of London had said, that in this mission work the Ohurches are the Ohurch. Mr. H. O. Duncan, of Edinburgh, the chairman of the executive committee of the Union, who presided with flawless skill and dignity and modesty at all the meetings, replied to these addresses of welcome, saying that London had seen many great gatherings, but never one like this before, when the students of all Europe, even of the whole world, were met, filling Exeter Hall, to ground their devotion to God more deeply in knowledge and love, to wait only upon Him, and to plan to hasten the day when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.
"BRITISH STUDENTS iN' CONFERENCE
'rhe evening meetings began at seven usually and lasted until nine, and this first evening was long enough for a masterly address in closing by the Hev. R J. Campbell, M.A., of Brighton, one of the brightest Con- gregationalist ministers in England, on "'1'he inadequacy of nOll- Christian religions to meet the need of the world." He struck notes that did not die away. It was a keen, crisply stated, accurately reasoned argument for the uniqueness and supremacy of Christianity as alone furnishing the vision of God, redemption from all ills, and "more life and fuller," without which humanity must die.
The session began each day with a prayer-meeting, and two other sessions followed, one from 10.:30 to llA5, the other from 12.15 to 1.15 or 1.30. The first of these meetings on the first morning was devoted to the receptioll and addresses of the foreign delegates. Miss Effie K. Price, representing the American Y. W. C. A., and Mr. S. Earl Taylor and Mr. .F. M. Gilbert, representing the American S. V. M., were given a whole session to themselves on the following day. Hepresentatives from Scandinavia, France, Germany, Hungary, and South Africa spoke. Dr. Karl Fries, of Scandinavia, the president of tlw World's Student Federation, spoke of the extent of the Students' Christian Movement on the continent. Against great difficulties it has been steadily making its way, in France against Homan Catholicism and agnostic culture, in Switzerland against linguistic division, in Germany against formalism and ecclesiastical infidelity. As yet there is no organized work in Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, and Hussia.
'1'he noon meeting of the first full day was crowded to hear the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Hev. Alexander Connell, B.D., speak on "Evangelization the primary duty of the Church." The Archbishop is a wonderful old man, far past three score and ten, and yet with scarcely a gray hair, and with the vigor and earnestness of a young man. He spoke out simply and directly, without removing his overcoat or using a scrap of paper. "Why was the Church created?" he asked, and replied, "To give the Gospel to the human race." Part of the Church's duty, he acknowledged, was to press on to their duty in other regards Christians already won to Christ, to care for their spiritual development, but first of all, and above all, the Church is here to evangelize the world. Two things, he said, had struck his conscience of late. The first was that now men's minds are more aroused to the commands of Christ.
The Lord died for us on the Cross, but, strange to say, He left the task of telling it to men, to human will. I can not express my astonishment at this mystery. If man will not do it, God, the patient God, will wait.
The second thing calling us to passionate devotion is the preparation God Himself has made for the present evangelization of the world. The aim of this society expresses our duty. And it is not an inconceivable thing that as in the past generation God has prepared the way, He may in this generation crown the work. 'Vhy should not you, young men, before you die, be able to say that this watchword has been realized?
It is not possible, of course, to report here all the addresses. Wednesday evening was occupied with appeals in behalf of China by the Hev. George Owen, of Peking; of Africa by the Rev. James Johnston, a negro clergyman from Sierra Leone; and of the Moslem world by the Rev. Robert Bruce, D.D., founderof the C. M. S. mission in Southern Persia. Thursday morning Dr. George Smith and Dr. R.
Wardlaw Thompson reviewed the history of missions; Friday morning the subjects of "The spiritual standard of giving" was presented by the Rev. G. A. Stuart, M.A., and" The use of money" by a lawyer of the Church of England, Mr. G. A. King, M.A. These addresses were followed by a meeting on "Preparation for missionary work." C. F. Harford-Battersby, M.D., principal of Livingstone College, spoke 011 "Physical preparation"; the Rev. '1'. W. Drury, the new princi pal of Ridley Hall at Cambridge, on " Mental preparation "; and the Rev; R F. Horton, D.D., on "Spiritual preparation." Dr. Horton's address made a singularly deep impression, partly as a result of the singularly solemn impression the sight of so many earnest students eager to learn appeared to have made on him. On Saturday morning the Rev. John Clifford, D.D., and the Rev. Richard Glover, D.D., spoke on "The need of thinkers for the mission field," exalting not unduly the dignity, the intricacy of the mission work, and Dr. Glover adding a wise word as to the fact that there is room and need for many men who may not be intellectual giants but who know how to meet common men as common men. '1'he closing meeting on Saturday morning was addressed by the Rev. J. H. Bernard, D.D., of Trinity College, Dublin, one of the leading men of the Church of Ireland, and by Geo. Robson, D.D., of Perth, a missionary leader of the Scotch U. P. Church.
On Thursday evening two of the four American representatives spoke on "The Holy Spirit and missions," and" Prayer and missions," and Friday evening, after a large collection. of £] ,056 for the support of the movement, the Bishop of Newcastle made an earnest address on the watchword, saying that he felt the watchword had needed vindication and was now satisfied that it had been perfectly vindicated, that he thought the union was justified in choosing a watchword that challenged attention, and that this one contained a great and farseeing truth, and he hoped the stndents would cling to it and not let any discouragement or criticism move them to let it go. The farewell meeting on Saturday evening brought the great conference to a close with several short addresses.
It was a great and notable conference, simple, quietly managed, without a mishap, a slip of any sort to mar it, marked by a remarkably high intellectual standard in the addresses yet filled with the spirit of devotion and prayer. The program included some of the strongest names in Great Britain in and out of the established churches. From their references to the Church the Archbishop and Bishop would have been deemed by anyone just hearing the addresses more low church than Mr. Connell and Dr. Glover, and they were perhaps more impetuous and unconventional in their speech than other speakers.
It was especially delightful to see so many students from the continental countries and to mark their earnestness and love. 'rhey were eager for the conversion of any who might have come without being disciples of Christ, and they sought constantly deeper consecration for themselves and for all. They are the promise of better things for their lands. As the representative from Hungary said. "Weare at the beginning of beginnings. We have so much superstition and ignorance at home, we could not send many representatives, but we send many prayers to the Father in the name of the crucified Lord, that He will give His spirit and cleanse the branches that they may bear more fruit. Do not despise such small beginnings but rejoice that Hungary has not been lost to evangelical Christianity."
A JOURNEY INTO THE .l'ORiHDDEN LAND
A JOURNEY INTO THE FORBIDDEN LAND OF TIBET.
BY HEV. WILLIA1I UPCRAFT, YACHOW, WEST CHINA. Missionary of the America~ Baptist Missionary Union.
Lying along the western edge of China proper, there is a zone of little known country, which within recent times ba,~ been wrested froin the control of the lamas of Tibet by the aggressive Chinese. From the line where Chinese "effective occupation" ends, to the point where 'l'ibetan authority is unquestioned, is a twenty days' journey east and west, extending also to north and south almost indefinitely. As this field has recently been brought within the range of practical mission work by the advance of Mr. Polhill-Turner and his col· A TIBETAN FARMHOUSE WITH GRAIN STACKED ON THE ROOF.
leagues upon it, a brief account of a recent journey across it may be of interest to such as watch the advancing line of evangelical mission work.
From Ta-chien-lu on the east, to Batang on the west, or in other words, from the valley of the Tung to the western curve of the Yangtze, one traverses a country as distinct in its features from the wellgroomed country we have left behind, as the people themselves are different from the Chinese. In China, even nature herself seems to be subservient to the Chinese aims, anEl man is everywhere the most prominent feature in all scenes; but in this borderland the position is entirely changed. In the vast proportions which nature takes on herself in these upland regions, man is dwarfed into insignificance.
Leaving the border town 'l'a-chien-lu, where preparations of food, medicines, baggage animals, etc., have been made, the road winds for
the first day's march up the sides of the Cheb-do pass, through a wild, desolate region, that affords but slight sustenance to the meager pop- ulation scattered on its lower slopes.
Standing at the summit of the pass, 14,000 feet, one sees a road diverging north to the more pop- ulous districts of Chantui and Derge, while a bit further on a second road branches off from the main route to the left into Yun- nan and the flll'ther districts of the southwest. Leaving the pass, the road soon turns into a fairly prosperous and well· populated valley, where the farmhouses stand each in its little group of fields, each house looking like a castle, and severely isolated. In this the 'l'ibetans offer a strong contrast to the Chinese, who love to crowd together, to prop one another up. But these gloomy- looking stone-faced houses of the Tibetans seem to partake of the character of their owners – ex- clusive and built for defense.
We stayed over Sunday at the little village of Niang-ngan-ba, where my eompaniolJs attempted to hold a service for the people.
A few women and children came A TIBETAN OFFICIAL. in, and were with difficulty in- duced to stay, while a stray man or two looked in, hung for a time on the edge of the crowd, and then backed shyly out. The Tibetans are not strong on going to meeting, so far as the experience of this journey indicates. But on the score of appreciation in those who did come, little was left to be desired.
Grunts, sighs, and delighterl ejaculations kept the preacher company aU through his discourse.
From this point on, the road continues along a valley well peopled, farms and cattle in good condition-a most inviting place for a little mission station. At length the valley closed in on us, and the ascent of a second high pass began. The summit is a grassy plateau simply bestrewn with bright-colored flowers, a circle of snow mountains rim- ming the horizon. The road then makes a sharp descent through a fine forest, and so on down, following the course of a torrent to the
A JOURNEY INTO THE j,' ORBIDDEN iAND
banks of the Nya-rong river, and the tiny Chinese village of lIo Keo -" river mouth "-where the Chinese have a small official and a few soldiers. Baggage animals are changed hero after crossing the ferry to the right bank of the river. From this point the country assumes an even more marked Tibetan character. 'I'he Chinese are less in evidence, and the homes and power of tbe lamas begin to appear in numbers and strength.
One is surprised to find how much power is possessed by these Bud- dhist monks. Literally, everything is in their hands-politics, COln- merce, and education. A policy of repression and stern exclusiveness is apparent. The Chinese share with foreigners tho ban of these intol- erant priests, while the lay population of Tibet are bnt an annex to the lamahood. We stayed in an inn where fever was rampant. To get rid of it, a lama from a lama- sery, two days distant, was imported and engaged to chant prayers each day, with special mention of the parts supposed to be af- fected. :1<'01' this he was boarded, lodged, and paid a certain sum. This is the state of the medical pro- fession.
Between Ho Keo and Litang, five days' journey, three more passes have to be crossed. The country is charming and grand.
Variety and. beauty are on A TIBETAN ON HIS PONY. every hand. Away down in the well-watered valleys may be seen the tents of the nomads sur- rounded by uncounted herds of yaks and ponies. The country is in every way suitable for grazing.
Litang, which consists of a very large lamasery, with a small busi- ness street annexed on the south side, stands on the edge of an immense plain, through which a broad river meanders. The lamasery is hidden away behind a spiro of the adjacent mountain range, so can not be seen till one actually reaches it. The first view is that of a compaot walled town, dominated by the gilded spires of "God's house." And, in fact, the lamasery may well be described as a city. It shelters above three thousand monks, who have ample quarters, with granaries, offices, and worship houses.
The Litang monks are notorious. Bold and intolerant, they are a standing menace to all travelers, for in this case the cowl often
shelters a )'ogue, and the lamasery becomes a sanctuary for the evil-doer. Finding a shdter in a small dark inn, kept by a widow, we arranged onr beds, anu then sallied out to give the folks a chance to see us. The town was aroused. The lamas, conspicuous in red gowns and shaven heads, blocked the street, while the inferior laymenpoked their heads through the windows or craned their necks over the balconies of the fiat-roofed houses. Slowly we went along the street, a target for criticism and a butt for their wit. As we approached the south gate of the lamasery it was rudely banged in our faces, and a dozen brawny arms were outstretcheu to warn us off. In every lamasery we attempteu to visit on this road onr experience was the same-rigid exclusion. Evidences were not wanting of friendliness 011 the part of the common folk, if the priestly hand did not press down so austerely and effectively; but, on the whole, the impression one gets is not favorable. The Litang people hurried us off as fast as possible after making a hard bargain with us for mules to the next stage. This also was done by the lamas.
To Batang is yet seven days, across a country distinctly wiluer and less hospitable. Three very high passes have to be crossed, on which the sun beats down with merciless vigor, the rarefaction of the air allowing full play to both his direct and reflected rays, The ,. fall glories" were most gorgeous, and in contrast with the intensely blue sky and wow-capped mountains were ever a feast of beauty.
One cultivated valley is passed between Litang and Batang, but the people were yery cold toward any attempt to reach them through the Gospel. Curiosity, that prominent trait of the Chinese, seemed to be wanting in the Tibetans.
One place we passed was pointed out as the abode of the gods-a dark, forbidding canyon beneath the snowy slopes of Mount Neuda. To the good man the gods were saiu to show themselves friendly; to the evIl man they were evil. No grace, no favor, but stern recompense. Graee and Gospel are synonymous terms, and if current expositions of the ethnic faiths are reliable, only in the Gospel is grace for a sinner to be found. Charm flags, prayer cylinders, repetition of the sacred formula, "Om 'IIlani padmi hom "-these are everywhere, the hope being to escape the wrath of the gods. The Tibetan is even more continuously religious than the Chinaman.
From the top of the last pass, above sixteen thousanu feet in altibide, a rough, uncompromising road leads down to Batang-down from the breezy exhilarating plateau to the stuffy deadening air of a little shut-in valley, only about eight thousand feet above sea-level, and very hot. On the way down we passed a trio of young lamas steaming themselves in a natural bath by the roadside, while an older companion sat by boiling the inevitable tea.
Batang is a village of say two thousanu five hundred souls, an ill-
A JOURNEY INTO THE FORBIDDEN LAND
al'fanged quiet place, almost wholly occupied by farmers. The valley yields two crops a year, and easily supports the simple peasants who live here. A mile south of the village is the lamasery with fifteen hundred lamas, of whom little 'can be said seeing they refused all advances and would have none of us. Standing off to one side of the village is the Catholic mission house just out of the builder's hands. Fourteen years ago this mission was completely destroyed, and only last year was compensation given and permission to reestablish it. Over a generation of workers have labored and passed on, and still the mission is fruitless and its work resisted.
The lamas oppose; the people are helpless. Where there is a TIBETANS PLOWING.
mixture of Chinese there the people are more accessible. It struck me that perhaps in the first instance access will be had through the Chinese or those who are the offspring of mixed marriages. The Chinese are not slow to see the good points of Tibetan women, strong, capable, and winning, and many of them find wives there and so constitute a kind of neutral ground on which, perhaps, mission workers may first find a place of settlement.
The most prominpnt thing about the Tibetans is their religiousness. One scarcel), ever gets beyond the sound of their monotonous humming of the sacred phrases; a man will interlard his conversation with it and occupy his spare moments in reciting it. On stone slabs, by the roadside, on flutLering rags, in every prominent place one sees it. A more monotonous obtrusive thing than the Tibet&n's religion it .
B difficult to conceive.
The fear and ignorance of the people is most striking-the former because of the latter, perhaps. Every man goes armed. Suspieion lurks behind every corner. A foreigner is a monstrosity. The lamas have locked the door to knowledge and lost the key. The people do not know and have apparently no desire to know. The missionary will be a light bearer in every sense of the word. At first the light will be a sore trial to prejudice-blinded eyes and the light bearer may suffer; but that will only demonstrate the need.
There is also a lack of individuality, a loss of personal identity that is almost hopeless. The people are merged into a common mass. This is a dreary feature to contemplate. Think of the almost impossible task of reaching in any effective sense a people so dominated by priestcraft; so bound in fear and ignorance, and so far removed from the common haunts of men. And then, having reached them, what will it mean to raise from the common level of a sunken identity and place on an upward path such a man as the 'ribetan? 'rruly, the men and women who in the faith of a Divine call go to such a work are in no ordinary sellse the wards of the Church, and for them prayer should be made unceasingly. And yet Batang is only the threshold to Eastern Tibet!
THE OU'rLOOK FOR AFRICA.
BISHOP C. C. PENICK, D.D., FArHMONT, WEST VIRGINIA.
Formerly of the Protestant Episcopal lIlission, Liberia.
What is it? The answer is hidden in another question: Who is Africa? This paper is for a missionary journal and Christian readers; hence we assume that our readers would answer the question by saying: "Why the Africans are Africa. Tell us the outlook for the Africans." If the answer were for the world, instead of for the Church of God, it would want to know how Africa, as a part of the material creation, will respond to the application of brain and brawn with gain and gold. This is now the chief object, we fear, that lies before the nations, who are growling, snapping, and snarling at each other, all bristling with bloodthirsty steel determined to sacrifice the lives of even Christian soldiers, rather than any reasonable hope of grabbing and holding that which promises to add what the world calls wealth to their treasures. This is a heart-sickening sight; one that would shroud hope, were it not for the fact that the Christian knows that even back of all this world's forces stands God, overruling man's greed for mankind's good. So the child of "the Kingdom" can calmly look, with earnest longing, to see what God is doing with Africa; yea, with England, Belgium, Germany, France, the Boers, and all the national or racial forces that are surging into this old land.
We know that He who said" Let us make man in our image" ere
THE OUTLOOK FOR AFRICA
gold glittered or harvest waved, still moves straight on to His eternal purpose of seeking to mold God's image within souls. He is "seeking and saving" the lost with omnipotent energy and omniscient wisdom. When the convulsions of nations and fires of greed have wrought, He will find what neither Cecil Rhodes nor gold-loving Boer could find, jewels to set in the crown of Ilis Son, "stars of rejoicing" to shine brighter and brighter through the eternal years. Firmly believing this, and rejoicing in the sure success this faith brings, we may, with clearer eye and surer standard, measure some of the forces (so far as human mind can forecast their values), and reckon what is coming.
The African, that wonderful, mixed fraction, that mysterious unknown" X " in the problems of humanity, the dark dweller in the valley of the shadow of death, that race which has till now responded so little and sluggishly to the wooing forces that have called into splendid development other races, what is his outlook? The answer seems almost self-evident. He must rise or fall in proportion to his final ability to awake and respond to the call of life and conditions of living that the 20th century shall demand of him. But we may go further: What are the prospeets and hopes that a living response will be given? It is here that the study becomes exceedingly interesting. There is a common, and alas, too wide~spread belief, that anything moving under the llame of Christian missions carries in it power to arrest decay, and restore the heathen to fullest manhood, with all of its complicated and increasing relations. This is not so. Because an enterprise chooses to name itself" Christian" or "missionary," it does not follow that it will have the approval and cooperation of the living God. Character, principles moving forward along the lines of wisdom and truth alone, command ,God's approval and cooperation. It is time that men were getting a clearer realization of this truth and law. God is no more bound to back up stupidity in a missionary board, or a mission station, than He is to support similar stupidity in a king's court, or in a commercial enterprise. In Africa God means to bring this truth forward, and drive it home on the minds of the Church. The question what to do for and with the African, will call forth the best thought, and wisest planning, and strongest doing, yea, and it may be the most sacrificial living, that the Church has known for centuries. 'The handling of the forces that must be brought to bear for the saving of this race, will tax the best efforts of the Church in her fullest life and deepest longings to satisfy the love of Jesus and the purpose of God in salvation.
If we will go back with these thoughts stimulating our minds, and make study of what has been done, and what is being done now, it will prove interesting, if not instructive, work.
What nation, so far, has presented the best results toward taking
up the pagan African, arresting his downward tendency, stimulating him with strongest hope, ancI mustering him in greatest numbers ancI with best equipment to realize that hope, ancI become his best self and his greatest possible man among men ? We ask what nation? For outside of national cooperation very little lasting progress has been achieved along these lines, tho many precious lives have been offered, and it may be, martyr-crowns have been won by isolated scouts, or scouting parties of missionaries, whose light shone brightly as they lived, suffered, and wrought, but the results of whose efforts, having no civilization in which to plant them, went out in darkness.
St. Paul left his life's work almost entirely ill a: civilization which was as a nursing mother. So must Africa have a nurturing civilization; as it were, an organism, through which the forces of Christianity will move, ancI eventually it may be, create an African civilization all glorified with the life and saving power of Christ. Where can she look for this? Summing results, what nation has met this great need with widest hand and strongest and most successful application? The answer is, undoubtedly, "England." It would seem that the English haye made more of the African than all other nations put together. Whatever gain her commerce has reaped from her colonies, and how hard the conditions may have been made that reaped this gain, it can not be denied by intelligent students of the situation, that through the administration of English law, and under the proteetion of English government, the native African has advanced in greater numbers, and more splendid development, and penetrated further into the land of power and hope, than he has under the rule or sway of any other power.
Look at the Boers. Here is an experiment; where a branch of the white race have succeeded in overcoming the difficulties of climate, and made themselves a very strong, hopeful, and vigorous people, right in the heart of the" black man's" land. More than this; they have moved along the line of intense religiousness; their Bibles furnish their diplomatic language, and their hymn-books their battle songs. Yielding to their demand, the tropics are pouring out food for man and beast, and they seem firmly rooted in the soil of their adoption. What phenomena does all of this furnish, throwing light on the future of the African? Looked at from a distance, there has little light or progress come to the black man from his Dutch neighbors. Lessons of honest, hard work, and content with simple modes of life, are probably being woven into the lives of the blaeks about the Boers; and it may be, that the lessons of a civilization so crude and simple may serve these ehilcIren with the first primary steps short and easy enough for their untried feet to take, and by which they may ad,'ance better than by a higher civilization with its intricate and complicated divisions of labor, walled with many labor-saving machines.
What the French, the German, or any other nation or nations may make of the African when once he is under their tutorship and gov- ernment, is a problem far more difficult to solve than was that of penetrating the" Dark Oontinent" in exploration or op(;ning the road to its material wealth. That the strong nations of the earth must press into the resources of this long unworked continent, all know, who think. The development of these very nations calls for con- tribu tions that Africa alone can furnish; every increased pUlsation of life within the rest of the world, drives the circulation with quicker throb into Africa's sluggish and dormant veins; she can, she must, awake, arise, live, and be her best self, ere a world is saved. But how the multiplied and ever-growing mechanism, that is dwarfing the lower strata of these civilizations by narrowing the individual's task, and making him more and more a smaller cog on a bigger wheel in an evergrowing machine of ever multiplied wheels, is puzzling to the extreme. If one would realize a little of this difficulty, let him but look into the experiment of developing the negro in the United States since his freedom. How to advance him until his intelligence and skill shall enable him to lay hold of the tide of progress, and keep stride down the coming years with the white man already ahead of him by a thousand or more years, is what is confounding the philanthropist and clonding the horizon of hope before the black man himself. Yet, whatever difficulties this array of conditions may present, it seems certain that the black man must meet them. Hiding in the obscurity of the" Dark Oontinent" will not long protect him, nor defend him against the inevitable consequences of failure to see and take his place in the developing forces of time.
So far the Anglo-Saxon man has come nearest furnishing the conditions for rising which the African seems able to grasp, and the English form of government has proved the most efficient for restraining, guiding, encouraging, recognizing, and assimilating the powers of the negro. It has gone deeper into the wilds of the continent and into the degradations of the race, and made from the crudest material the greatest number of best citizens (so far as we can see) of any of the nations. Of course, in making this statement, we leave out any account of the negroes that were once slaves within this or other countries, and raise no question about slavery in the long past having been a powerful factor in training lower civilization into the laws of the higher. I would not for a moment in all of these statements and considerations forget Ohristianity. But I would insist upon pressing home upon the minds of men the fact, that God for the most part has used, and does use, nations, as transmitters of the forces of Ohristianity in forming nations. All real progress of races requires a government as truly as a creed; and it is Ohristianity workiRg through Ohristian governments, that God does use for the
making, molding, and training of races into factors, fit and powerful, for the future's progress. Therefore we do believe that God will use, for the molding and developing of the African the government or governments who have advanced iu the science of ruling nearest to the ideals of the Christ; and that just in proportion as the Africans respond to these ideals, they too shall be grafted into the great body of Christian life and living, and as they refuse they shall die.
It may be added, then: What are you going to do with the mi~ sionary? He, like the African, mnst take his chances of life on the same coilditions of obeying the laws of life. If he will persist in building" wood, straw, stubble "-well, the fire will surely try it, and the loss will be in proportion to the folly woven in the structure. God will not change His true laws for the gratification of stupid, yet loving servants. He requires these same missionaries to exercise their best brains, lighted by consecration, prayer, and the Holy Ghost, to move along those lines dictated by the great principles goerning tIle destinies of races and civilizations. The time has come for the Church of God to study the laws of God and the teachings of history, and organize and press missionary conquest along the lines demanded by these; her work in Africa can never be done, and her results achieved there, until His way, which is also the way of consecrated common sense, is followed. Africa is not only waiting for the African to be delivered, but also for Christendom to study and master the art of applying the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ according to the actual needs of a world, and with the knowledge and skill of a perfected Christian science, sure and true; a science cognizant of all thc needs of man, and the way of applying all the remedies of God to these needs in Hi.s own way. The outlook of Africa, therefore, is a Church of God, for Goa, and according to the wisdom of God, applied to the whole needs of man; nations, and civilizations, being Ilis instruments, as well and surely as individuals, schools, boards, denominations, or creed.
TIlE PROTESTAN'l' CHRISTIANS OF MEXICO.
BY REY. PEDRO FLORES YALDERRAMA, ~l.A., :MEXICO CITY.
Mr. Ygnanio Mariscal, secretary of state of the Mexican government, a short time ago wrote an article for the New York Independent, in which we find an erroneous statement which comes to be an actual insult to the Protestants of Mexico, and which we feel ourselves obliged to refute, to defend our character as honest men and sincere Protestants.
Secretary Mariscal, in the article referred to, refers to the Protestants of Mexico as follows: Altho Mexico is Roman Cathblic in every fiber, she has firmly and determinedly put the clergy out of politics and kept them out.
THE PROTESTANT CHRISTIANS OF MEXICO
That caused the most severe of all her struggles for independence. Its magnitude may be guessed when I say that, previous to 1860, a great part of the cities of Mexico consisted of churches, convents, and other ecclesiastical structures, many of which have been converted into libraries, stores, warehouses, factories, or applied to other useful purposes. Previous to the triumph of the Liberals, the archbishop of Mexico received $130,000 per annum, and could absolutely make and unmake governments at his pleasure. The Spanish high priests rolled in wealth, while the native parish priests, who did the real work of the church, were in the depths of poverty.
When the Liberals triumphed, they passed the laws of reform which divided Church and State, and they confiscated all church property, so that even the houses of worship are now the property of the government. They also confined religious ceremonies to edifices, and forbade special religious instruction in the public schools.
During the Spanish domination the Roman Catholic religion was the only one tolerated in the country, but later the constitution established freedom of worship, and Protestant missionaries entered the field. Many of the Liberals encouraged them, saying that it was the tendency of all the religious organizations to become insolent and despotic when they grew strong, and that what the Roman Catholic Church needed, therefore, was a rival or rivals.
The Protestants claim that they are making great gains, and that they have now about thirty thousand communicants, but thoughtful Mexicans believe that they are deceived by people who seek them for the "loaves and fishes." Practically the country is as Catholic as it ever was.
But this does not constitute the danger to liberty that it once did. Even the most devout Catholics seem to have accepted the reforms in good faith, and the influence of the pope has been strongly exercised for peace, reconciliation, and the healing of past differences. This has naturally strengthened the church as well as the government.
We do not know who are the" thoughtful Mexicans" to whom Mr. Mariscal refers, but the truth is that, up to the present time, only the avowed Catholic publications have asserted that the American missionaries have bribed proselytes to join the different denominations. Can Mr. Mariscal believe that a Flores Alatorre, a Victoriano Agiieros, a Sanchez Santos, or an Anabasis can be capable of judging Protestants with justice or reason? If Mr. Mariscal would procure his information from more impartial and better informed persons, he would avoid insulting some sixty thousand of his fellow countrymen (instead of thirty thousand) who profess the evangelical religion, and he would find the following facts, which would carry conviction to the mind of any disinterested person: 1. To bribe sixty thousand Protestants, if it were only with the miserable quarter that the Romish writers refer to, would require $5,000,000 a year; whereas the missionary societies that work in the country have not the twentieth part of that sum at their disposal.
We would like to know who is the "thoughtful person" who can prove the information given to Mr. Mariscal.
2. If Mr. Mariscal would take the trouble to read the reports of the different denominations that work in this country, we are sure he would be surprised to learn that some congregations existing in the republic are already sustaining their pastor, and paying all the expenses of their church, and far from receiving the" loaves and the fishes," are giving gladly and generously their money to support the Protestant religion, as the following items will prove: The Methodist Episcopal Church has received this year, to carryon the work of evangelization, the respectable sum of $32,398; and the Methodist Episcopal (South) nearly $24,664.
3. Mr. Mariscal must know that in Mexico there are Protestant organizations that are under no foreign missions, and consequently receive not one cent of foreign money to cover the expenses of their worship. The preachers of these organizations are under tile necessity of earning their living in secular occupations, and after following the command of the Divine Master, they are accused of being bribed with the "loaves and the fishes!" It is almost incredible that any educated person could judge so lightly or without testing their information.
4. Finally, if the fact that the Protestants will no~ allow one of their sect to die of hunger, or leave the body unburied of one whose relations can not provide the money for the necessary funeral expenses, lends color to the fable that the Protestant Church buys converts, then we must beg to inform all who are interested in knowing, that the money for these works of love and mercy comes out of no missionary society, but out of the pockets of one or all of the members of the evangelical congregations. We. defy anyone who believes to the contrary to prove that any missionary society has any fund for cases of this kind, or that the deeds of mercy performed by Mexican Protestants come out of foreign pockets.
We regret exceedingly having to speak on this subject, but the truth is that our public men, absorbed as they naturally are in governmental business, hardly realize that there are organizations like the Protestants that day by day extend their influence deeper into the bosom of Mexican society, and that these organizations are not composed, as the majority of Catholic writers assert, of beggars, idlers, etc., but of people who occupy places of importance in the schools, national colleges, in the army, in commerce, agriculture, and trade. Again, the Mexicans employed by the missionary societies are not receiving large salaries, but are barely paid what will support life. Many have left more lucrative employments to serve the cause of the Gospel, alid feel deeply the injustice of the accusation that they are influenced by the bribe of the" loaves and the fishes," and, moreover,
CUBA UNDER SPAIN AND UNDER THE UNITED STATES
all these Protestants, whom Mr. lfariscal treats with the utmost disdain, are among the best citizens of the republic, and will soon be the strongest support of the Liberal party in the country.
We hope that when our esteemed secretary of state next speaks of the Mexican Protestants, he may do so knowing more about them, and not incur the error of many distinguished people in Mexico who give a decided opinion on matters imperfectly understood or with deeply prejudiced feelings.
CUBA UNDER SPAIN AND UNDER THE UNITED STATES.
BY REY. GEO. I.ESTER, TRURO, ENGLAND.
Formerly General Superintendent of Wesleyan Missions in the Bahamas.
The social and religious condition of "the Pearl of the Antilles" has for many years been such as to call for commiseration. The Cubans have now a new lease of life with every opportunity to make progress under civil liberty and Christian instruction. The island is the largest of those in the West Indian Archipelago; its geographical extent is nearly equal to the area of the State of New York, and to that of Ireland, and is nearly one-fourth of that of Spain. Its coast line measures upward of 2,200 miles; in some parts abrupt and rugged, in others presenting a series of terraces, and on the south side, between Cienfuegos and Trinidad, generally low and marshy. Its cays, which constitute a formidable obstacle to navigation on the northern side, are mostly of coral, and are chiefly uninhabited. 'rhe beauty of the island is proverbial. Columbus, writing to his royal patrons, said: "It is the most beautiful land that eyes ever beheld; a country of such marvelous beauty that it surpasses all others in charms and graces, as the day doth the night in luster." Its beauty lies in its coast scenery, like that, for instance, of Baracoa and Matanzas; in its forests, like those of the Calderones; in its lofty monntains, like Turquino, and its charming valleys such as Ynmuri; in its tropical foliage, in which palms of almost every variety and gorgeous flowers form so conspicuous a feature; in its azure skies, its glorious sunsets, and its brilliant nights. The choicest tropical flowers flourish under its sunny skies without care or expense.
Cuba enjoys a delightfnl wi~lter climate. In December and January the thermometer in Havana averages '12°, the maximum being 78°, the minimum 50°. The summer climate, especially along the south coast and in the rainy season, is enervating and unhealthy, altho as Mr. Robert 'r. Hill tells us, "the highest temperature recorded in Havana for ten years was 100°, or four degrees less than the highest of Washington city for the same period." It is to be inferred that the unhealthiness of certain parts of the island during the summer
A TYPICAL CUBAN STREET UNDER SPANISH RULE.
season is the result of unsanitary conditions, rather than of excessive heat or heavy tropical rains.
Few countries possess such resources as Cuba. The prolific fertility of its soil, and its rich stores of mineral deposits await the industry of the planter and the enterprise of the miner. The chief agricultural products of Cuba are sugar-cane, tobacco, coffee, bananas, pine apples, oranges, and Indian corn. '1'he sugar plantations vary in extent from 100 to 1,000 acres, and produce an immense quantity of cane, which requires to be planted once in every seven years. The tobacco industry, so popularly associated with Cuba, represents an industry which finds employment, either on the fields or in the factories, for an immense number of people.
Cotton, coffee, cocoa, and indigo, are among the less prominent but remunerative industries of the island. The fruit-growing industry of Cuba, especially as it concerns exports to the United States, belongs chiefly to the region of Baracoa, and is capable of an almost unlimited development.
The mineral resources are represented in its rich Bessemer iron deposits in the Sierra Maestra range, already developed in part by the Jaragua company, ill its manganese occurring west of Santiago, in its copper at the mines of Cobre, in its asphaltum of unusual richness beneath the waters 01 Cardenas Bay, and in its salt on the margin of Caya Romano and elsewhere on the northern cays.
The Cuban of the city is generally a person of small stature, something of a fop, a student of proprieties, a lover of pleasure, and of gambling, and for the most }Jart none too well-informed. As to the
CUBA UNDER SPAIN AND UNDER THE UNITED STATES
negro, the prophecIes which nave declared that "he will oust the white man" are wholly unsupported by observation and inquiry. The life of the Ouban peasant is not a thing to be coveted. His house is a miserable shanty, his fields, thanks to his own neglect, are often overrun by vagrant pigs; the methods of agriculture which he employs are antiquated. Of domestic comfort he knows nothing. His food consists of sweet potatoes, plantains, rice, and sugar-cane, with an occasional taste of pork, or tassajo (dried cow), or bacalao (dried cod). He manages to exist in defiance of the laws of hygiene; he is the slave of customs which the rest of the civilized world has long discarded. His great aversion is the government official; his great ambition is to purchase a lottery ticket; his constant study is to avoid work. lIe spends his life in a sort or sullen contentment, ignorant, and devoid of aspiration.
It is the social and reli gious aspects of Ouba, however, that particularly claim our attention. I n the matter of primary education there has been a deplorable deficiency. The Havana University has done some good work. It was modeled after the Spanish universities, and devotes attention chiefly to medicine, law, theology, and old-time philosophy. It has been for some tim e chiefly under the direction or Oubans, and its students generally fignredprominently in revolts against Spanish domination. The large Jesuit Oollege de Belen, for boys, is well spoken of, especially ill connection with its devotion to science. In elementary education Cuba was in a worse condition than Spain THE HUT OF A CUBAN PEASANT.
itself, which has the reputation of being the worst-educated country in Europe. A fine opportunity therefore exists to put to the test Garfield's remark that "schoolhouses are less expensive than rebellions."
The inquisitorial attitude of the Spanish authorities prevented anything like vigorous Protestant aggression. The revised Spanish Constitution of 1884 granted freedom of worship; but an official explanation of Article XI conferred upon governmental and ci vic officers, and upon the Roman clergy, powers by which it became easy to hinder and harass those who were disposed to avail themselves of the new legislation. It did not actually reduce it to "a dead letter," but it made it difficult in application, and laid Protestant missionaries open to irritating interference, and was suggestive of suspicion and distrust.
Notwithstanding, there was" something attempted, something done" even under Spanish rule. The Philadelphia Female Bible Society did good work by colportage; the Episcopalians carried on work in Havana and elsewhere; the Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society wrought in Cienfuegos with some success and much discouragement; the Presbyterians of Mexico have experimented in Santa Clara; the Methodist Episcopal Church (South) did good work on a small scale in Concordia, Havana. The most promising and vigorous of the Protestant enterprises in Cuba, however, were those conducted by Pastor Alberto Diaz, under the auspices of the Southern Baptists. His work, despite the repressive regime of Spanish officialism, clearly indicated what the methods of evangelization are by which the Cuban mind and heart can best be reached, and exemplified in numerous and various forms the power of Divine grace to save this people from the vices and temptations which most afflict and beset them.
Evangelical work among Cubans in Key West, Tampa, and other cities in Florida, has been by no means unpromising. In his own country, the Cuban associated religion with a system of government officialism, which his soul abhorred. The Roman Church is, in his estimation, part of a great political tyranny, and her priests are regarded as arrogant and rapacious. Under kindlier conditions, the Cuban is known to develop a spiritual responsiveness, whilst his inborn politeness makes him a delightful pupil. The missionary methods which have been owned and blessed of God in Mexico and other Spanishspeaking countries, furnish an object-lesson to evangelical teachers who enter this new field of missionary enterprise.* The need for wholesome and influential spiritual labor impresses every Christian who visits Cuba. Flagrant desecration of the Sabbath, unblushing gambling, brutal and degrading sports, and the exposure * For a statement of the mission work which is now being carried on in Cuba see p. 205.
CUBA UNDER SPAIN AND UNDER THE UNITED STATES
of indecent prints, were until recently the visible signs of moral degeneracy which is deep and widespread. A writer who is by no means unfavorable to the Roman Church has said: "Whether it be from want of rivals or merely from force of time, the Catholic Church in Cuba has fallen from its high estate." It wants the wholesomeness which is essential to vigorous combat with worldliness and lust, and the lovc which endureth all things. With its celibate clergy for purity, and its confessional for heart-ease, it is derided by those who should be expected to esteem it, and its priesthood is a butt for the ribaldry of every scoffing wit. Its altars are served chiefly by foreigners; it is a rare thing for an educated Ouban to enter its priesthood. This church has had undisputed possession in Cuba for centuries, but it is a humiliating condition of things that presents itself as the result A. SCENE IN THE SUBURBS OF HAVANA..
of the monopoly. Captain-General Weyler, after his recall from Cuba, addressed a letter to his queen, in which, whilst professing his devotion to the crown, he, nevertheless, plainly advised her majesty to promptly hreak her friendly relations with the priestly party, which he charged as being almost wholly responsible for the misfortunes of his country.
With the introduction of American ascendency the death knell of religious intolerance has been sounded. The policy which the government of the United States has pursued throughout its vast territory with regard to religion is, of course, to be' followed in Ouba, and wherever else the Stars and Stripes have recently been hoisted. This means for Protestantism an opportunity such as it has never yet had in Cuba. To such as have seen this beautiful and resourceful island as it has been, this is a prospect which suggests the advent of "the chief good" for" the Pearl of the Antilles." It must be many days before
Cuba can completely recover from her exhaustion, resulting from the sanguinary conflict which for so long a time engaged her own insurgent forces and those of Spain. Her present condition calls for commiseration and patient sympathy. Before the people of the United States lies a task that is sufficient to tax their vast resources, their proverbial ingenuity, and their Christian graces. But to free, and then to mola for a nobler life, a people of such capacities as the Cubans possess, is a mission that any great nation might honorably covet to fulfil. Every man of large and deep sympathies, who unites with his magnanimity a zeal for God, will devoutly desire, and earnestly pray, that the Americans may, in the large and solemn duties now devolved upon them, be true to their country's motto- " In God we trust."
'Yhatever missionary work is done for Cuba should be done on a large and generous scale. Small hired halls in out of the way places neither attract the Cuban, who is a lover of the spectacular, nor do they suggest to him the idea that these evangelicals mean to stay. With every mission set up there should be arrangements for a cemetery-a strange suggestion to those who do not know Cuba, but to such as do, an adjunct regarded as important to success ill this island as are schools in India and dispensaries ill China. As far as possible, Cubans shouLl be employed as missionaries to their countrymen. There is a strong sense of fellowship in the Cuban mind; there are patriotic ambitions in which no foreigner can fully share. And in all labor, and underlying all plans of service, there must needs be a strong, fervent, and triumphant expectation of success. Protestant Christianity is a spiritual energy which, under God, is equal to the splendid task of saving Cuba.
THE HORIZON IN JAPAN.* Since the first of July not a week has passed in which Japan, in its length and breadth, has not been raked by the wina and drenched with rain, greatly damaging the harvest and causing much loss to both life and property. A people with a less hopeful temperament might be discouraged, but they show a wonderful power of recuperation. Indeed, this is a land of surprises amonnting almost to monotony. Earthquakes and tidal-waves, storms and tempests, fire, ana pestilence in the form of dysentery, amounting almost to an epidemic in large sections of the country, continue their disquieting rounds year after year.
* The author of this contribution has such an humble estimate of it as a literary produc- tion that we have not his consent to attach his name, tho his twenty-five years of experience and wide observation in Japan would give weight to it.-EDITORS.
'raE HORIZON iN JAl'AN
A few observations may not be amiss, especially as we are now aliens and subject to an alien government.
Japan's wonderful "progress," as described by a few superficial observers, and assented to with reserve by many, has been phenomenal. A people, whose land fifty years ago was a terra incognIta to all the world, has fallen into step with the civilized Christian (?) nations of the world. How has it been done? What have been the forces at work to cause so great a change? The forces have been varied and numerous, and all more or less marked by the characteristic of superficiality. In public the official and well-to-do commercial classes are clothed in tailor-made suits after the styles of the latest Parisian fashion plates, from top hat to pointed-toed shoes. The bicycle microbe has found its way here, and has seized upon the male youth, so that the" cycling mania" is no less intense in the Orient than it was in the Occident. They have clothed themselves also in the utilitarian thought of this utilitarian age. They are dressing their cities and towns with a network of poles and wires, telegraph, telephone, electric lighting, and the trolley. They are clothing themselves, too, in all the appliances of steam upon land and water. They have ransacked the schools and universities, the manufactories and industries, the judieial, legislative, and executive practise and policies of every respectable country in the world, and, judging from what has been brought forth, some that are not so respectable. The American pu blic-school system has been Germanized and Japanned, and every boy is taught the manual of arms, but is forbidden to receive religious instruction or to attend religious exercises of any descriptio)].
The institutions, laws, and invention,s which have cost the West centuries of effort-the highest and noblest effort the human race is capable of-have been copied, imitated with and without modification, and, one would suppose, without comprehension. But this need not signify among a people whose holdings are only" superficies." Character with us is fundamental, with them it apparently is external. When art, dress, and adornment cease to give expression to character, but are used to hide the real nature, they become nothing more than a mask, and they who don them are merely masqueraders upon the stage, playing parts, the significance of which they know nothing and apparently care less, so long as the audience is pleased with the spectacle.
The Japanese is the same in native characteristics that he was while in his isolation, simply clothed now in the light of modern material civilization. He is destitute of the moral qualities and religious experiences which have in the past safe-guarded that feature of civilization in the West, and which continue to do so in the present. This is clearly seen in the recent action of the Shinto cult.
They have declared themselves a "secular body whose function shall be to preserve the ancient rites and ceremonies of the land, and to file or record petition made to heaven." This latter must not be understood as a form of prayer. "The Japanese never pray." This action has been called" astute," and rightly so, for it is now rumored that a bill is to be introduced to the next diet making the performance of so-called ancient rites and ceremonies obligatory upon all-Buddhist, Christians, and what not alike. And this may be made the test of patriotism.
Christianity has, indeeu, been formally recognized by the state by means of an imperial ordinance. All missionaries, ministers, pastors, evangelists, churches, and preaching places throughout the empire are duly registered, together with the methods of propagandism pursued. Will the proposed board for the preservation of ancient rites and ceremonies, require his imperial majesty's picture and rescript to be exposed in the churches, before which, on stated occasions, the "ancient rites and ceremonies" shall be performed? If so, what if the Christians object, indeed refuse? Are they, for a matter of conscience, to be apprehended and condemned as traitors to their most beloved sovereign?
The situation is pregnant with possibilities, and the history of this people in the early part of the twentieth century may be but the rewriting of that which has already been recorded of the seventeenth century.
Liberty of conscience as an individual God-given right, is unknown, except to a comparatively few Japanese, and, perhaps, many of the few who have convictions are more willingly led by expediency and policy than by conscience. As a result of centuries of official espionage it has become habitual, perhaps, to perform outwardly acts which the moral sense condemns, and, for the sake of peace, to have kept the conviction of right hidden in the heart.
To what extent the ultra doctrine of the divine right of kings, as held in Germany and Russia, is responsible for the prcsent status of religion and education it is difficult to say. The time was, and not so long ago either, when the doctrine of the brotherhood of man was a rank heresy, but now it is admitted, and the school children are bidden, on the ground of that doctrine, "not to fear foreigners." How long may it be ere it is discovered, in spite of the efforts made to prevent it, that the gods are mortal P
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN OUR NEW POSSESSIONS
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN OUR NEW POSSESSIONS. * Comparatively few persons are aware of the amount and the nature of the work already begun in the islands for which the United States have recently become responsible. The effort is herewith made to pre- sent the facts up to date touching the undertakings of all denominations.
PUERTO RICO.
The American Missionary Association has nine missionaries in Puerto Rico who are engaged chiefly in educational work. Six of these are lady teachers. In charge of the school at Santurce, San Juan, is Prof. C. B. Scott. There are 125 pupils. On Sundays Professor Scott conducts a Sunday-school, and he has also organized a Christ.ian Endeavor Society. At Lares, a mountain town in Aguidilla province, a school was opened last week with 200 pupils. The school seats were conveyed up the mountains on backs of ponies, the Lares municipality paying the cost. The aim of these schools is normal work-the training of teachers for public and other schools. Rev. John H. Edwards, a former missionary in Mexico, is visiting the eastern part, where few missionaries have gone. He has his headquarters at Fajardo and reports a more ready welcome for evangelistic services, Bible readings, and song services, than he expected. Among the more intelligent he finds little interest in the Roman Church, and an awakening desire for something better.
Presbyterians, through their Home Board, are getting work in Puerto Rico well established. Mayaguez was the first point occupied. Rev. M. J. Caldwell is there with three teachers. The Synod of Iowa guaranteed the support of Dr. J. Milton Greene, and he has been sent to San Juan, with a promise of such helpers as the situation demands. Rev. J. L. Underwood, of Illinois, has just been commissioned for Ponce, and will begin work there immediately. Thus the three principal cities of the island are occupied by strong and experienced workers, all of whom are able to preach in Spanish.
The Baptists (North) are working through their Home Missionary Society. A chapel has been bought at Rio Pedras, the San Juan suburb, and fitted up. A church has been organized, and baptisms have taken place. Rev. H. T. McCormick is in charge, assisted by Miss Ida Hayes and Manuel Le Bron, a native helper. At Ponce, Rev. A. B. Rudd is assisted by Mrs. Duggan, and they report quite as promising outlook as at San Juan. Evangelistic work is carried on by Rev. C. A. Teller.
The Christian Home Missionary Society (Disciples of Christ) have Rev. J. A. Erwin and wife, and two teachers in San Juan. They have a church service and a day school, both reported prosperous.
Supported by United Brethren in Christ, Rev. and Mrs. H. N. Huffman and Rev. E. L. Ortt have opened a day and a night school in Ponce. The attendance is sixty, part free and part pay pupils, and so many more are applying for admission that larger quarters are to be secured. A religious service held on Sundays in a hall is well attended, and a permanent congregation is forming. Spanish and English are employed in both church services and schools.
There is a prosperous Episcopal church in San Juan, and another in Ponce. At the former, Rev. Henry A. Brown, who was chaplain of the Rough Riders, was in charge, and at the head of all their work on the .. Con1ensed, corrected, and supplemented from The Congregationalist.
island is Rev. G. B. Pratt. At Ponce is the Rev. Frederic Count, and the Bishop of Chicago has recently been appointed to oversee the work in Puerto Rico.
The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church has recently appointed Rev. C. W. Drees, D.D., formerly of South America, to have charge of their work on the island. He will be assisted by two male helpers, and deaconesses will be sent out by the Woman's Board. They will carryon work in San Juan and Ponce.
Y. M. C. A. work in San Juan continues to grow, and is now looking toward permanency. A building, with restaurant, has long been main- tained, and recently an assembly hall near by has been rented. There are also several independent missionaries in the island.
CUBA.
The Congregational Home Missionary Society has sent Rev. E. P. Herrick to Havana, where he has started services and where he reports the outlook for Christian effort exceedingly favorable. He has a promising Sunday-school, and has undertaken the task of training a band of native young men to do work among their fellows. Rev. Alfred De Barritt has a church and Sunday-school at Vedado, three miles out from the center of Havana. He also reports encouraging progress. A meeting held recently by him at Guanahay, thirty miles from Havana, was largely attended, the room being crowded with two congregations on the same night. Rev. J. M. Lopes-Guillien is also located in Havana.
The Baptists (North) are represented at Santiago by Rev. H. R. Mosely, general missionary for eastern Cuba. He has a church having about one hundred and fifty members. Property has been bought in the heart of the city and remodeled, the whole being now worth about $10,000. Dr. Mosely has a day and a Sunday-school, and is assisted by Teofilo Barocio, a Mexican of large experience in mission work. Mr. Calejo is at work at Manzanillo, and Rev. Mr. Carlisle has recently gone to Guantanamo, where a church has been organized with fifty members.
The Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention has for many years helped to support the work'carried on in Havana and vicinity by Rev. A. J. Diaz, who reports steady progress in Havana, and a better general material condition of the Cuban people. Work has been started in Matanzas, Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sagua La Grande, and is about to be started in Pinal' del Rio.
Southern Methodists find a demand for teachers of English and for evangelists to preach in Spanish and English. They are doing everything in their power to meet the opportunities in several cities. They have a promising work in Matanzas, under Rev. H. 'V. Baker and C. A. Nichols, but the Roman Church is straining every nerve to retain its hold. Rev. D. W. Carter, the superintendent, is at Havana, assisted by Messrs. Mac- Donnell, Holder, and Leland and several native preachers. A professor in the University of Havana is one of the pupils in the Methodist school. Cienfuegos has had preaching services in Spanish since July. Now there is a church with forty-five members, and promise of rapid growth. Rev. W. E. Sewell and Rev. H. W. Penny are in charge. There is a day-school with twenty-four pupils. Work is also being done in Santiago, Santa Clara, and is about to be started in Pinal' del Rio.
Episcopalians are laboring in Havana through Jose R. Pena, who, as layman, maintained a service during the entire war, altho imprisoned
twice and compelled to meet in an upper room near midnight. He has been admitted as a candidate for orders, and his mission is prosperous. Another service has been started in the main part of the city. In .M:atanzas a hospital has been opened which accommodates one hundred and forty orphans. Here are located Rev. Pedro Duarte and two teachers. Rev. W. H. McGee and one teacher are at Havana, as is also Rev. M. F. Moreno.
Rev. L. C. McPherson and wife, and Rev. Melvin Menges and wife, representing the Foreign Christian Missionary Society (Disciples of Christ), have recently reached Havana, where they are preaching in English and studying Spanish. In both Cuba and Puerto Rico this denomination is laying much stress upon educational work..
The Presbyterian Church (South) has at Cardenas Rev. J. G. Hall and wife, Miss J. H. Houston, and Rev. R. L. Wharton. They are chiefly engaged in evangelistic work.
The African Methodist Church is represented in Cuba by two ordained workers in Havana and one at Santiago. The Friends have two meet- ings on the island, and there are other independent workers.
In Havana Y. M. C. A. services have been held for some time in a room in Cabanas prison, where many a poor fellow has spent his last night on earth.
THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.
Through their foreign board Presbyterian churches are increasing their force in the Philippines as rapidly as possible. Rev. J. A. Rogers and Rev. D. S. Hibbard are there now, and Dr. J. A. Hall and wife and Rev. L. P. Davidson are en route or have recently arrived. Until peace comes they are to study the dialects and educational and religious conditions. Presbyterians and Baptists, the latter through their Missionary Union, have agreed to divide the Philippine field, the first named working in Luzon and Panayand Negros and the latter in the islands to the south, among the Visayans. No workers have yet been sent by the Baptist Union, but Rev. Eric Lund and a native Filipino have been requested to proceed thither from Spain.
The Methodist board has voted $2,000 to Bishop Thoburn toward the erection of a church in Manila. Services have been held in Manila, in the Filipino Theater there, since last February.
An army chaplain in the Philippines, who is a Disciple of Christ, has done some preliminary work, and the Foreign Christian Missionary Society have four families under appointment to the Philippines. Rev. and Mrs. H. P. Williams and Mr. and Mrs. C. S. Weaver expect to sail next autumn. The Christian and Missionary Alliance also expect to send workers to these islands.
Episcopalians have an organized mission in Manila, with a priest and a Brotherhood of St. Andrew man in charge. A celebration of communion in Spanish is attended by from fifteen to twenty persons, and the regular services by from seventy-five to one hundred. The work is also among the hospitals. A Brotherhood man is in charge of a tent at the front. The Missionary Society expects to send representatives there shortly.
In the Y. M. C. A. headquarters in Manila the preachers are Rev. Messrs. Rodgers and Hibbard, the local Presbyterian missionaries. Services are held in English for the most part and for soldiers, but in one
service in Spanish there is an average attendance of about fifty. In October a room in Cavite barracks was placed at the Association's disposal by Captain Greene, and forty-five marines attended the first service. An Association traveling library has been placed at Cavite. Owing to active work by the soldiers on the firing line, it has of late been impossible for the Association to do more than supply regular chaplains with books and other reading matter.
The work of the American Bible Society for the people of all these islands is of immense importance, for it is largely due to them that the people are given the Word of God in their own tongue.
TABLE SHOWING WORK OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.* PUERTO RICO.
Organizations. Stations Occupied. American Missionary Assoc…. Santurce (San Juan), Lares, Fajardo. Baptist Home Missionary Soc.. San Juan, Ponce, Rio Pedras. Presbyterian Home M. Board.. San Juan, Ponce, Mayaguez. Protestant Epis. M. Society…. San Juan, Ponce. Christian Home M. Society …. San Juan. United Brethren in Christ….. Ponce.
Meth. Epis. M. S. (North) …… SanJuan, Ponce (to be occupied soon). Reformed Catholic…………. Ponce. Y. M. C. A. (among soldiers) … San Juan.
CUBA.
Baptists (South. Convention) .. Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sagua LaGrande. Baptist Home M. Society …… Santiago, Manzanillo, Guantanamo. Foreign Christian M. Society.. Havana. Presbyterian Church (South) .. Cardenas and vicinity. Protestant Episcopal M S….. Havana, Matanzas. Congregational Home M. S …. Havana and vicinity. Meth Epis. Church (South) …. Havaua, Cienfuegos, Matanzas, Santiago, Santa Clara. African Meth. Epis. Church … Havana, Santiago. Christian and Miss. Alliance .. . Friends………………….. .. Y. M. C. A. (among soldiers) … Havana.
THE PHILIPPI~ES.
Presbyterian Foreign Board .. Manila, Ilo-ilo (to be occupied). Protestant Episcopal Church .. Manila. American Bal?tist M. Union … Negros (to be occupied). Methodist Episcopal Church. .. Manila. Foreign Christian M. Society .. (Under appointment.) Christian and Missionary All .. Y. M. C. A. (for soldiers) ……. Manila.
GUAM.
American Board C. F. M.••• ••• Expect to establish a station on Guam.
CHILD-LIFE IN THE SLUMS.t BY MRS. MAUD BALLINGTON BOOTH.
Child-life in the slums! What a wide, weighty, awful subject to write upon! How difficult to treat in poor human language the inexpressible heart sufferings, and to depict the wretched conditions of body and soul in the all too pale colors of word expression. What heartaches! What horror! What hopeless sadness those words conjure up to the mind of those who know of the subject from having seen and heard the sights and sounds which emanate from the slum's foul cradle of misery.
The number of slum children is legion. When you go visiting in the tenement houses and lodging houses, and cross the thresholds of the saloons, you find children everywhere. Children in the gutters, children almost beneath the horses' feet in the road, children in the alleyways and on the stairs. Everywhere you see their dirty little faces, hear the cry of their shrill voices, and the patter of their little bare feet. It is true that babies are mowed down by the hundred every hot summer with *Hawaii is no longer a mission field; Samoa is occupied by the London Missiollary Society.
t Condensed from the Christian Herald (Detroit).
CHILD-LIFE IN THE SLUMS
dread infantile diseases, and the winter takes its harvest through diph- theria, pneumonia, cold, and hunger; and yet the crowd seems never smaller. Many of these little ones are maimed and crippled-the effect of falls and, alas! of kicks and blows received in their infancy. Many also came into this distorted world of sorrow crippled to begin with, and scant food and miserable surroundings have stunted their growth and development. Hence they are to remain through life mere caricatures of human childhood.
There is another feature which a stranger spending a day in slumdom would soon notice, namely, the most of them have very old faces. Even the little babies of but a few months' old seem to have wizened features and careworn expressions; and with the children of a few years' old you can only guess their ages by their height and development, for their faces usually look years in advance of their ages.
Some of these slum children, however, are beautiful in features, with big, wistful eyes and angel expressions that make you feel, if the grime was washed off and the tangled hair combed into silky ringlets, they would grace any Fifth Avenue mansion with their beauty. All the greater is the shock of disillusion when you hear these very babies open their lips and pour out a stream of vile language, coupled with oaths and blasphemy. The language used by even the smallest of slum children would be a terrible revelation to the uninitiated. But it only goes to show the awful taint in the atmosphere which their moral nature draws in at every breath. The tiny toddlers in the street, quarreling over a broken toy or some bit of rotten fruit picked from the gutter, will shriek at each other, "I'll knife you," or "I'll kill you," in the most threatening and passionate manner. Bat these are only the echoes of more cruel threats made in dead earnest, and sometimes carried out before their very eyes, by those in whose steps they are following.
CRADLED IN VICE AND CRI;IE.
People talk with horror, as if it was a most unnatural thing for young lads and girls to turn early to vicious lives, but it must be remembered that from t.he cradle up they are accustomed to look upon vice in its most revolting forms. There are vices and sins that men and women of pure life know only from hearsay, when their work brings them in touch with those whom they are trying to help, but which are altogether unknown and unthought of by those who have not to face them in such a mission. But alas, these babies know all there is to know of sin! Their sweet child eyes are accustomed to it. They live in the crowded lodging houses and tenements, where men, women, and children are huddled promiscuously together in far closer quarters than those allotted to beasts; while the brutalizing effects of drink make them lower in instinct, and viler in action than the wild herds of the forest. What can you expect of the children of such homes? They are brought up in an atmosphere where pure and innocent feelings can not develop. That which is sinful, immoral, and wicked in thought, word, and deed, is not represented to them as such, but is the natural, everyday procedure of their elders. Thus they but follow on to be as those around them.
It must be remembered that I deal not with the children of the poor merely, but the children of the outcast, the product of the slum itself, not the little birds of passage that drift there for a time when work is slack, or through sickness and disablement of parents, who have come
from honest homes, and will struggle on to make one again when times are better. There are many families who have striven hard to keep the wolf from the door, who patch the children's garments, and who will not become beggars or paupers, however much they may suffer.
Then there is the drink curse which overshadows the larger proportion of these children. When we hear of a child born to parents who have some advanced disease of lung or heart, or brain, we pity it and look with forebodings upon its future, feeling that sooner or later it will become the prey of its parent's enemy. But how much more should we pity the child of the woman who has been drinking hard for years, and of the man who has lost all manly instincts in the saloon! One little baby but fifteen months old, was rescued, which not only had been nursed by a drunken mother, but the liquor had been poured down its little throat when it cried.
Apart from the direct effect upon the poor little bodies, there :.3 the brutal treatment these little ones receive from drunken parents. Many a one has upon it the marks of violence-cuts, bruises, and scars. And generally they are found in a heart-breaking condition of neglect, details of which I could not possibly describe in print. To such as these the slum nursery is a blessed boon. There little ones are brought early in the morning, and through the day are lovingly and tenderly cared forwashed, clothed, and fea-allowed to sleep in peace or play in safety; and those who have been mere bags of bones, wizened, old, and feeble, seem to grow back to childhood under the sunny, loving influence.
There are other terrible consequences that fall upon some of these little innocent victims. Their mothers take them with them into the common lodging houses to pass the night, and, faIling asleep in a drunken stupor, became unable to protect their babies, who are hence left to the mercy of the brutes inhabiting such places, who often respect neither weakness nor innocence.
Homeless little fledglings indeed are these! They make me think of the pitiful little birds who, featherless and with ungrown wings, hop aimlessly about at the foot of the tree whence the storm has swept away their nest, and who become the evil prey of the cruel cat, or creep off into a hole, where their bruised and bleeding bodies are made stiff in death from cold and hunger.
To find children naked or crying for bread is a common occurrence. To find little ones who for months never receive a bath and whose hair is perpetually uncombed and clothes unmended until they gradually drop to pieces, is the common order of things. Do you wonder that our brave slum officers breathe a fervent" thank God!" when they hear of some childish complaint having swept them mercifully into heaven, where slum babies will be as welcome as the children of the rich?
A BRIGHTER SIDE TO THE PICTURE.
But there are brighter sides to this sad picture. There is the wonderful mother love which poverty, misery, and even shame does not seem to kill in some of these poor mothers' hearts. Let it be remembered that not all the mothers of the slums are devoid of mother love, and that many even of the vicious are more ignorant than wilfully wicked. Then there are some who are the poor but honest wives of drunken and criminal husbands, and who have to suffer bitterly where they are not the least to blame. The way in which some will suffer. endure. and starve for
A ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION IN EASTERN TIBET
their baby's sake is touching in the extreme. There are also the girlmothers, whose weak young arms are burdened with a baby, and whose hands can find no work, while the tiny life has to be supported and the tiny head pillowed upon their breast. You imagine that such would, if it were not for fear of the law, determine to strangle the life out at its first breathing, drop the small bundle into the dark river, or abandon it on some doorstep. That this is so in many cases not revealed through the papers or discovered by the police may be only too true, and yet in many others these mothers cling in their hopeless sorrow with a pathetic tenacity and love to the little one who was to a great extent its innocent cause.
The bright rays of sunlight which are shed upon these little lives and in their miserable home by the influence of slum workers will never be thoroughly chronicled on earth, but will all be reflected in their true glory before the throne of God, where "their angels always behold the face of God." By day and night, patiently and lovingly, dressed in poor clothes, such as worn by their neighbors, and living in the same humble style, these women, who have willingly given up home, comfort, and respectable surroundings to become the sisters of the outcast, go gladly on their mission of love. The day nurseries in New York receive thousands of little babies. The mothers bring them early in the morning and call for them at night. It is not a costly place, furnished with brass bedsteads, nor do the people feel it is supported by rich patrons; but it is opened in the most neighborly fashion for the children of our neighborhood, and everything is sweet and clean, tho plain and humble. These mothers appreciate the nursery more if they feel they are doing something for the support of the little ones, so they pay five cents a day when they can afford it.
A ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION IN EASTERN TIBET.* This deserves attention as a martyr mission. Four European missionaries have been murdered at the instigation of the Lamas, and many of their native converts have been killed or cruelly punished. Again and again the stations have been destroyed just as they began to flourish.
The mission was founded in 1854 by the Sodete des jJfissions Etrangeres of Paris, which works exclusively for Eastern Asia. Krick and Bonny tried to find a way in through Booton and Assam, but were turned aside among unfriendly tribes on the upper Brahmaputra, where both were murdered. In the same year Father Renon made a successful attempt to form a settlement in the Bonga Valley, southeastern Tibet. The people here were disposed to receive religious instruction and baptism, and to be taught agriculture and needful handicraft. The valley was soon a flourishing garden. The harvests were ample, and almost all the families had a good support. From 1838 onward, however, this prosperity roused the rapacity of neighboring tribes, and the defection of so many Tibetans from Buddhism inflamed the rage of the Lamas. Incited by the Lamas, robbers made repeated and murderous attacks on the station. Appeals to the Chinese authorities did no good. Even one of the missionaries, Durand, was compelled to flee, and lost his life in crossing a torrent.
The courage of the missionaries, however, was not broken. They * Condensed from the Basel Missions-.llagazin for December, 1899c
now sought to establish stations to the north and south of Bonga. Farms were laid out, houses built, schools set up, a theological seminary established, and many adults and children baptized. Yet the devastations of the Lamas continued. In 1870 the station Batang was almost destroyed by an earthquake, and, in 1873, the remnant was laid waste by the Lamas agents, and the missionaries were forced to flee. Yerkalo was dealt with in like manner. In 1881 the missionary Brieux was assassinated.
With all these extraordinary calamities, however, there were, in 1877, still five hundred and sixty converts, seven chapels, four schools, and a seminary, and four dispensaries. Early in 1887 the number of converts had even risen to one thousand three hundred, served by fifteen European missionaries and a native clergyman. But in that same year the mission was smitten with a deadly blow. Batang, now rebuilt, Yaregon and Salegon, Yerkalo and the high mountain station Atentse, were all, with the consent of the Tibetan and Chinese authorities, entirely destroyed, and the converts compelled to flee. As a slight set-off, the Abbe Desgodins established a station to the westward, among the Himalayas, which still subsists. Yet even this devastation did not wholly end the mission. In 1890, Pere Courroux ventured through byways back to. Yerkalo, and reassembled some of the scattered flock. Persecutions recommenced, but he remained steadfast, as did, after his death, his European assistant. At last the French ambassador at Peking made energetic representaLions, which resulted in the partial restoration of all the earlier stations. The Lamas, however, as far as they dare, still harass them continually.
The Abbe Desgodins, now" apostolic pro-vicar for Tibet," who is engaged in literary work at Hongkong, writes: "This conflict has now endured for forty-five years. 'Vhen will it end? God alone knows. But we will, in confidence of the final victory, still work and suffer."
Passing over the great stress laid on speedy baptism, on the secret baptism of dying heathen children and other errors, the titles of the books printed for the converts give a favorable impression. "The Life of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," "The Gospels for Sundays and Festivals," "The Gospel of John," "Summary of Scripture History," "The Way of the Cross, " "Meditations on the Eternal Truths," "Doctrine of Wisdom." 1Vhile protesting against their errors, all Christians may be inspired by the endurance of these Roman Catholic missionaries of Eastern Tibet.
DOCTORING UNDER DIFFICULTIES IN UGANDA. * BY A. R. COOK, M.B., MEXGO, UGANDA.
Much of the successful work of missions is done not in the field itself, but in the quiet chambers of those at home. It may be some unknown invalid shut away from all active work, whose earnest, prevailing supplication is bringing down tliat unexpected shower of blessing on some long barren spot, and the laborer, disheartened, it may be, who has long been sowing the seed on barren ground, takes heart as he sees the wilderness beginning to blossom as the rose, and the tongue of the dumb beginning to sing.
Thousands of miles away lies the object of their petitions. The "Condensed from Mercy and Truth (London).
DOCTORING UNDER DIFFICULTIES IN UGANDA
answer comes-of course it does. It may be swifter than the thrill of the electric current, it may be withheld for years; nay, even till the lips that uttered the prayer have long been silent; but come it will. Over 300 years rolled away before Francis Xavier's dying prayer about China was answered: "0, rock, t'ock! when wilt thou open to my Master?" As we consider the answers and the prayers we are astounded at their dispro- portion. The feeblest prayer breathed in the name of Christ may open the very flood-gates of blessing for a whole nation. After all, it is only disproportionate to human eyes; there is no real paradox when we consider that the results come because the petitions are offered in the Name that is above every other name.
Because we realize the value of your prayers, dear unknown friends in the home-land, we want that more and more you should realize our needs, that prayer may be more definite. Successes are the answers to prayer, they need but praise and thanksgiving; but difficulties need constant prayer that they may be overcome.
First and foremost there are the difficulties in one's own spiritual life. One's first disappointment in Africa is in oneself. It may be that when extraneous helps are withdrawn, the real character comes out more clearly. The revelation may be painful and humbling, but if it drives one to "Him that is able," it is amply compensated for. These difficulties, however, I do not propose to dwell on; they are matters to be settled between the missionary and his loving Master in the Secret of His Presence, beneath the Shadow of His ,Vings.
In the preaching of the Gospel and the healing of the sick, the first difficulty that meets us is the language. As the years go by, one feels more and more one's ignorance and need of application to language study. It is not mere fluency or correct intonation or accent that is wanted, and these are not easy to attain, but learning how to express one's thoughts in their metaphors and to look, so to speak, through their mental spectacles. Nothing but constant and absolute dependence on the Spirit of God can do it.
Then the stupidity of the natives is often exceedingly exasperating. I know full well there are many excuses to be made for them-the mistakes in the language one makes, and their smt not being used to European ideas. This is the sort of dialogue that goes on with irritating frequency in the consulting room. Perhaps there are seventy or eighty patients waiting to be seen, and only an hour and a half to see them in.
DOCTOR: What is the matter with you? PATIENT: My name is so-and-so. DOCTOR: Yes, but where is your disease? PATIENT: I want medicine to drink. DOCTOR: 'Where are you hurt? PATIENT: I don't want medicine to swallow, but to drink.
DOCTOR: WHERE IS YOUR ILLNESS?
PATIENT: Oh, it goes all over me; it cries out" Ka, ka." 'Will you listen to the top of my head with your hearing machine? (stethoscope), etc.
All uncivilized natives seem to reckon alike. If one dose ofmedicine taken three times a day can cnre me in a week, twenty-one doses wUZ cure me si1'aight off-here goes! One has frequently to explain to the friends of patients that one can not prescribe without examining the patient. They have absolute and unbounded faith in European medicines, and think that if they tell us their friend is ill with pain in his chest or stomach, altho he may be ten or twelve miles away, we can immediately
give them a pill or draft that will restore him to health. Taking off splints and loosening bandages are among the minor drawbacks. In two cases, however, this was followed by a fatal result. In one of my earlier cataract cases a woman, tho warned against it, undid the bandage and rubbed her knuckles in the eye, with the result that next morning I found the eyelashes inside the globe of the eye. Of course, she lost the sight of that eye.
Often, even after explanations, one has to check them from drinking lotions and liniment for outward application only! A common complaint is [.i,nnitlls (a rumbling or buzzing sound in the ear). Being by now tired of explaining to them that it is due often to a diseased condition of the blood-for they universally putit down to insects having crawled into the ear-I now prescribe the appropriate treatment, telling them the medicine will kill the insect.
Laziness, neglect, and dirt are, of course, common to aU countries, and are not worse here than in the out-patient rooms of London hospitals. They are very fond of sending for one on the slightest provocation. A breathless messenger arriYes. So-and-so is dead.-Oh, then it is no use my going.- TVell, he is just at the point of death. So off one goes, perhaps in the broiling sun, to find the dead man merely suffering from indigestion. This sort of thing happens six times, and the seventh time, in exasperation, you refuse to go. Next morning the messenger turns up and says, Thcy are burying so-and-so to-day, and you find the man really has died. On the other hand, one is frequently called when they have delayed so long that the patient is quite beyond all treatment.
The pernicious practice of "hardening" children by exposing them to cold is in full swing here. New-born babies are placed on a cold plantain leaf and cold water poured over them. This is the regular routine. Babies with whooping-cough or bronchitis ai'O brought out on damp windy days with no covering at all. The fatalism many of the sick display is a very serious complication. Just because feeding may be difficult or painful, they prefer to starve, and even to die, without taking nourishment, and their friends quite agree. Patience and love are the two great weapons we noed, and we have very great need of them.
Then as to supplies: ,Ye are 800 miles from the coast by the quickest route, so that supplies of medical and surgical requisites can not be eaEily obtained. One has to order at least a year beforehand, and even then it is doubtful whether they will arrive in time. At present all our supplies for the year 1899 are blocked somewhere on the south route, the usual caravans not running owing to dysontry and famine being so rife.
But for every difficulty there are ten encouragements, and for every need the answering promise, My God shallsnpply all your nced according to H'is r'ichcs in glory in Ch1"ist Jesus. One hardly seems to have known what joy really was till coming to the mission field. There may be disappointments in oneself, but none in the work. And we need reenforcements quickly, for doors are opening wide, and the devil is being conquered, "even where Satan's seat is." One man now will be worth ten in five years. Eighteen months ago, when Major MacDonald and his force overtook the rebel Nubians at Luba's, the battle that ensued was for long undecided. The major had but a handful of Englishmen and a few hundred untrained Swahilis, with scanty ammunition, to oppose to three companies of fanatically brave and highly trained NlIbians, yet, after six hours' stllbb:)rnly contested fighting, he won. ,Vhy? Hidden behind
CIVILIZATION VS. BARBARISM
the crest of the hill he had his reserves, few in number, but fresh. At the critical moment, when ammunition was running low and the Nubians, tho wavering, still held their own, he launched these reserves in a headlong charge full on the flank of the enemy. The defeat was complete, and the Nubians fled to their fort down the hill, leaving the ground strewn with dead and dying. The moral is obvious. Victory is at hand, but we want men and means to take advantage of the open doors. Send out your 7'eserves.
MY LADY.* BY HELE~ A. ".ALKER.
I know a lady in this land ",Vho carries a Chinese fan in her hand, But in her heart does she carry a thought Of her Chinese sister who carefully wrought The dainty, delicate, silken toy, For her to admire, for her to enjoy?
This lady has on her parlor floor A lovely rug from a Syrian shore; Its figures were woven with curious art- I wish that my lady had in her heart One thought of love for those foreign homes ",Vhere the light of the Gospel never comes.
To shield my lady from chilling draft Is a Japanese screen of curious craft. She takes the comfort its presence gives, But in her heart not one thought lives- Not even one little thought-ah, mel- For the comfortless homes that lie over the sea.
My lady in gown of silk is arrayed, The fabric soft was in India made. ",Vill she think of the country whence it came, vVill she make an offering in His name To send the perfect, heavenly dress, The mantle of CHRIST'S own righteousness, To those who are poor, and sad, and forlorn? To those who know not that CHRIST is born?
CIVILIZATION VS. BARBARISM.t The experience of recent centuries has shown that when conflicts arise between civilized and uncivilized peoples, the result is generally in favor of the former. From the time when the Spaniard vanquished the Indians until our own day, savage nations have been getting the worst of it in their wars with civilized powers. The Australian aborigines, the Maoris, the Africans, have all shared in greater or less degree the fate of the American Indians. .
That savages should go down before civilization seems to us nowa- days to be only a matter of course. When, however, we come to consider the matter, such an inevitable result is only the experience of late times.
The experience of ancient nations was frequently the exact opposite.
The Romans went down before the Goths, the civilizations of North • From Woman's TVorkfor Woman. t Condensed from Life and Work, (Blantyre, British Central Africa).
Africa and Spain before the Moors, ancient Egypt before the "shepherds." No doubt some share in these disasters may justly be attributed to decadence of the civilized powers, but to balance this there is the other fact that these powers, even when decadent, had generally a much better military organization than their barbarian opponents.
Further, we seem to have evidence that in prehistoric times also barbarism was triumphant. In both North and South America remains have been found of peoples whose knowledge at least of mathematics, building, and sculpture, must have been of a rather high order. These peoples appear to have disappeared entirely before their savage successors. In South Africa also, the buildings and terraces whose ruins may still be seen, were certainly the work of a race more highly civilized by far than any of the present native races. vVhere have these people gone? It seems more probable that they were swept off by savages than that they became extinct or took their departure voluntarily.
When we try to find out how it came about that, whereas formerly the preponderance of the world's power rested with savagery, it now rests with civilization, two factors attract our attention. One is the fighting power of mind as distinguished from that of sheer physical force. This power, tho it had often manifested itself on isolated occasions, first found its proper expression in gunpowder. Since the invention of gunpowder the tables have been turned on the savages. Before that time fighting was largely a matter of individual valor. Since then it has become more and more a game of skill. This of course is a truism.
There is, however, another, and perhaps less evident factor to con- sider. Long ago the civilized peoples were a small minority of the earth's inhabitants. The outer barbarians were a vast multitude. It is pathetic to think of the various hopeful starts that were made in civilization here and there ovcr the earth's surface, only to be snuffed out by barbarism. The savage of to-day looks upon the civilization of to-day as a great unknown power, irresistible, crushing. The civilized lllan of long ago was conscious of the barbarism of long ago as a vast lllass surrounding him, of unknown and dreadful potentialities, liable like a volcano to sudden overwhelming outbursts. The transition from the one state of things to the other was doubtless very gradual. The pax Romana was the dawn of civilization's peaceful day. Order had at last made a successful stand against anarchy. In that happy dawn Christianity was born, destined more and more to absorb and identify civilization with itself. Yet even with the Romans civilization made a false start. The balance was not yet turned. Savagery overwhelmed them; and had not. Christianity saved the situation by converting the savage conquerors, Europe had become another America, covered with the ruins of an aborted civilization. Even as it was, dark clouds carne over this bright dawn, and there had to be a renaissance-a recovery of lost arts and letters.
Now at last civilization-Christian civilization-sits secure and rules the world. The world can hardly !lOW lose the art of printing, or forget the significance of the Roman alphabet. It is a wonderful change from the days of old. As for us who are the growing edge of civilization in one of the last strongholds of barbarism, we shall do well to remember that our very presence signifies, as it were, the prevalence of God upon the earth, and that our mission in these latter days is not to crush the barbarians with brute force, as once they might have crushed us, but rather to overwhelm them with that peace and good-will which are the essentials of our triumphant civilization.
1900.J EDITORIALS
EDITORIALS.
The Supernatural and Missions. became correspondingly superflu- ous after such confirmation had In these days when naturalism been amply supplied. and rationalism are so widespread, there is a growing sense of yearn- But, as Dr. A. J. Gordon used to ing for proofs and examples of the maintain, when and where this supernatural. Down deep in the same Bible and its Gospel mes3age human heart there is a craving for first comes into contact with a God. We were made for Him and heathen people, and therefore needs our hearts find no rest until they Divine sanction, we may on the find in Him their center of revo- same principles expect some new lution, like wandering stars wheel- and striking exhibition of God's ing into a new orbit. The mind power, giving boldness to speak demands a rest in settled con- the word by stretching forth His viction, and the heart a rest in hand to work signs and wonders. satisfied affection, and the will a 'Vhatever may be our philosophy rest in a higher and dominant and of the facts, the facts are to any beneficent will. careful and candid observer indis- putable, that in every field of mis- The history of missions is the sionary labor, and usually in pronearest approach in modern times portion to the previous degradation to the miraculous interpositions of and deadness of the people, the marprimitive and apostolic times. And vels of the apostolic age have had there is a reason why, if anywhere, a parallel in a wonder-working of we may look for and expect Divine God that left no doubt who it ,vas and special manifestation in the that was behind the pher.omena. work of missions. 'Vhatever may be thought of the ministry of the The narratives of the wonderful miraculous, and the fact or reason of God's providence and heroic of the cessation of miracles, one achievements of His servants are thing is universally admitted, unique in that they belong wholly to namely, that when the foundations the realm of Gospel i7+umph. of the Church were being laid, and Christianity may very safely chalthe Gospel of Christ was first being lenge any other sort of work besides authenticated all Divine, there was preaching the Gospel, to produce a particular demand and reason for such ample proofs of God's cooperaconvincing signs of God's sanction, tion. There is but one all·subto give requisite authority and duing force. It is love, and not affix His seal of attestation to a human love either, but the love of completed revelation. And it has God, and the love of man as it is been argued that, when these first perfected in His love. The proofs became adequate they were Gospel message is to-day proving discontinued, as no longer requi- itself the power of God and the site. As base blocks, huge, massive, wisdom of God unto salvation to and unhewn, are needful for the everyone that believeth. Nothing foundations of a building, .but else does or ever did work such neither necessary nor appropriate results. This is the hammer .of to the superstructure, so the mi- God to break the hardest heart; raculous works which served to this is the fire of God to melt and establish the claims of the Bible, subdue and fuse all elements of of the Son of God, and of the opposition; this is the sword of Gospel of His salvation, at first, God to thrust deep and cut in pieces the rebellious will; this is the
rod of God, that has only to be of Atlanta, Ga., being present in stretched out and miracles follow; the city for a few weeks, was asked it swallows all other rods and alone to speak daily, and the editor of blossoms with Divine life. The this REVIEW to assist him. Up to Lord God of Elijah still lives, the present the daily meetings and that he who can use the have becn going forward with inmantle in faith, to smite the creasing interest, and the prayers waters, will still find that they of God's people are asked for the part before the more than magic progress of the movement, and charms of that all-powerful name, especially that over it all the one Jehovah, God!-A. T. P. word PRAYER may be written as by the finger of God. Ohristian Union and Oooperation. In Glasgow, Scotland, a union One encouraging sign of the evangelistic campaign has been gotimes is an increasing spirit of ing forward with accumulating fellowship and unity among Chris- power. The whole city is being tians the world over, a growing stirred and rich harvests are being sense of the common b0nd of union reaped. in "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," and a stronger feeling of the In New York a movement is on necessity for a united front against foot to bring about a permanent the solid phalanxes of evil. Never federation of Christian churches before were there so many in- with a view to cooperating more terdenominational societies and effectively in the work of opposing movements-Christian ass 0 cia- corruption in all its forms, and of tions, young people's societies, mis- reaching the unsaved. It is hoped sionary agencies, and evangelistic that this will ultimately develop movements. In New York, Brook- into a national federation of lyn, and elsewhere tliere is a strong churches. effort being made by all evangelical Christians to bring about a truly In Philadelphia the Sabbathspiritual awakening that shall school association is attempting an reach all classes. interdenominational census of the city in one day. The object is to In Brooklyn, in the early part of find out those who attend church January, a few brethren, deeply and Sunday-school, and those who impressed with the needs of the un- do not, so that Christian workers saved, asked the ministers of Christ may have more definite knowledge to come together for a conference on which to work. The plan is to on'Vednesday, January 10, in the have thousands of men and women Y. M. C. A. building. About 150 at work on February 22d, who shall responded. There was a marked gather the information and report spirit of unity and of prayer. An to secretaries. In Pittsburg this appeal to the churches of the city method met with great success, and to unite in special supplication in brought many backsliders and nonbehalf of the city was issued, to Christians into connection with be read in all the pulpits; commit- the churches. tees were appointed, and a plan inaugurated to reach every unsaved There is also an interdenominasoul in the city within the year tional work covering larger terri- 1900. The first step taken was to be- tory. There was a conference regin public services at noonday in cently held at Auburn, ]1e., by the the Y. M. C. A. hall, Wednesday, Interdenominational Commission January 17. Dr. Len G. Broughton, of that SLtte. This Commission is formed for a definite purpose: "Thatno community, in which any
EDITORIALS
denomination has any legitimate as having received twenty-five hunclaim, should be entered by any dred Roman Catholics and their other denomination, through its families into his church. Bohemia official agencies, without confer- is experiencing a like transfer from ence with the denomination or de- the Roman communion, five thounominations having said claims." sand people being reckoned as There are also united plans for sup- already having gone over to the plying the Gospel to unevangelized Protestant churches. The Chr. districts. Already the commission lVelt draws up a statement founded has accomplished much, and has on records of the Vienna Church set an example which might well Council, chiefly, for the first six be followed by every State in the months of 1899, showing that the Union. Lutheran and Reformed churches received 3,275 persons from the In foreign fields also the spirit of Romish church. * unity is spreading. One hundred missionaries in China, representing Mr. F. VV. Baedeker, writing nearly every Protestant sect and from Styria to the Ch1>isiian of country, recently signed a common London, says the movement is so declaration of Christianity as a great that it can not but be recogbasis for united work in bringing nized, and various efforts are made China to Christ. It is now proposed to destroy the force of its being a to establish a federation of Chris- religious movement at all. The tians in India with a view to de- Roman Catholic press says it is fending" the faith once delivered principally national and political. unto the saints." The proposed But it seems to be acknowledged basis is as follows: that nine-tenths of the German population have been alienated (1) Acceptance of the Bible as the from Rome. .Mr. Baedeker thinks sole standard of authority in faith the real origin of the movement is and practise. (2) Acceptance of the in the pressure brought to bear on Lord Jesus Christ as the sole me- the people in 1898, by the Roman diator, redeemer, and high priest clergy, when they made a treaty of Christians. (3) Acceptance of with the Slavones. But the conthe completed sacrifice of Calvary duct of the Roman clergy in many as the sole ground of hope for sin- ways is distasteful to the people, ners. The constitution to be unde- and that of the Protestant pastors nominational and unsectarian. is more commendable, while here and there is found a Bible, and its It has been suggested that one influence is decidedly against the union Christian church be estab- papal ecclesiastics. But one thing lished in newly entered fields, like is plain, that the Roman church Cuba and Puerto Rico. We believe sternly pursues, and persistently that this ought to be done. These persecutes these secessionists from are true ideals, and in accord with its fold, and the fact remains that the desire of our Lord, who prayed these people stoutly resist and enthat "they may be one." The dure this antagonism and loss, givgreat shame is that these ideals ing evidence that their transfer of are so imperfectly realized. Unity allegiance is based on conviction among Christians will be propor- and conscience. tionate to union with our one Lord. This revolt from Rome affords A Revolt from Rome in Austria. * These data are furnished by the govern- From numerous sources we have ment itself, which is antagonistic to the Protbeen hearing of a remarkable polit- estant agitation. ico-religious movement in Austria. One Protestant pastor is reported
an opportunity to carry the truths of the sword; Christianity is a reof evangelical religion to various ligion of the 'Vord. The one has provinces of Austria, through the conquered and maintained itself by distribution of the Scriptures and physical force and is bound to fall; evangelical literature, and the ap- the other is conquering and estabpeal is made for aid to do this, by lishing itself by preaching spiritual the Association for Christian Col- truth and practising self-sacrificing portage, with Baron Gemmingen, love, and ifl sure to prevail. The of Baden-Baden, directing it. Of sword does not help the Word course, in a period of religious tur- except in so far as it may destroy moil like this, the danger is that or limit the powers of darkness. many will slip from their old moor- No nation has ever yet truly been ings to be swept away in the converted to Christianity by force, current of Rationalism. There is a and in India, China, and elsewhere " tide in the affairs of men." Such use of the sword has undeniably crises are a challenge to immediate prejudiced the people against the work._J. T. G. religion of their conquerors.
The Sword and Ohristianity. To-day, however, the State and the Church are separate, and their Hov far it is right to make use of aim and methods are different. The sword and gun in order to prepare one seeks to rule for temporal the way for civilization and Chris- advantage, the other for spiritual tianity is a question which puzzles and eternal welfare. Unfortunately many. Before the advent of Christ, the ideals of the State are growing when the Jewish Church and State further away from those of the were united, God sometimes di- Church. Consequently their prinrected the use of the sword for the ciples and methods are different. destruction of heathen peoples who Governments, as such, can not be occupied territory given to Israel called Christian, tho many high and whose influence was calculate.d in authority may be actuated by to contaminate His chosen people. Christian principles. Selfishness Conquest by force even for the sake characterizes the mass of politiof spreading truth and righteous- cians, and few indeed are the wars ness was, however, never com- waged purely from Christian momanded. The time for enlarging tives. The Almighty still, as in the Church had not yet come. days of old, causes good to come out of evil, and a way for the Christ preached a Gospel for the messengers of the Kingdom of God whole world; He advocated and may be opened by force of arms. commanded the propagation of This, however, can not be called a Christianity, but not by force. His Christian act, and is, we believe, method was the simple witness- opposed to the spirit and teaching bearing by the lives and words of of Christ. Christians are to go His followers empowered by the everywhere preaching the King- Holy Spirit. Peace between G~d and dom, not relying on human but on man, alld between man and man on Divine power; persecution is to be the basis of righteousness and love expected, but the only retaliation is the Gospel message. " They is to be by new acts of love overthat take the sword shall perish coming evil with good.-D. L. P. with the sword." Christians as such are to be men of peace, battling only Donations Acknowledged. with spiritual weapons against evil in all its forms. Islam is a religion No. 142. Ramabai's Famine Widows .. $ 1.60 " 133. Berea College, Kentucky…… 40.00 " 144. Indian Famine Sufferers. . . . . • 50.00
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS.
THm FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN NEG-RO. wellbeing of the negro, and thus secure his deepest, most lasting Booker T. Washington. 8vo, 244 pp. gratitude. In a word make the $1.50. SmaIl, Maynard & Co., Boston. negro first of all a' man in the highest sense, and all the rest will This is Mr. ",Vashington's latest take care of itself. The book re- contribution to the solution of one pays reading. of the greatest practical questions of our day and nation. Mr. ",Vash- THE CAROLINE ISLA,ms: Travel in the Sea of ington treats his subject like a the Little Islands. F. W. Christian. Map. statesman. He seems to us raised Illustrated. 8vo, 400 pp. $4.00. Im- up of God to grapple with this great ported by Charles Scribner's Sons. American problem of the race question. The negro is here, and So little is known of these is- as he makes clear, here to stay. The lands, and so rarely are they visited, project of colonization, transport- save by the trader' and the mis- ing the black man to Africa, he sionary, that any additional infor- shows to be utterly farcical and mation is most welcome. unpracticably chimerical. If it were possible to secure transporta- 111'. Christian visited the Caro- tion we could send to Africa only a lines as a scientist and a philologist, few hundred thousand each year, and along these lines his book and the annual increase by births gives evidence of careful research would more than overbalance the and contains much that is valuable decrease by such compulsory re- and interesting. But on many submoval. This is a fair sample of the jects there is a mass of statements simple good sense with which the which have little basis in fact. The author of this book deals with the reason is not hard to find. In his spefuture of the negro. He believes in cialty the author has been particueducating the negro, in fitting him lar to search for first-hand informafor service, intelligent civilization; tion, but in other matters he has he insists on doing right by the black been content to accept the stateman, and letting God take care of ments of "the beach' comber" and consequences, for nothing is ever of the Spaniards at the government settled until it is settled right. He station on Ponape. This is no maintains that not a negro has doubt the cause of the author's evibeen lynched for the abominable dent animosity to missions and crimes of lust and murder who has missionaries which leads him to been trained in these noble schools make many false statements in renow being planted in the South for gard to them and their work. this people, fmd of which his own Tuskegee Institute is a fine It is surprising that any man example. Instead of divorcing him who is evidently so careful in some from the South he would wed him particulars should publish such calmore closely to all its vital in- umnies apparently without at least terests. The negro must earn the an attempt to verify them. For exrespect and confidence of the whites ample, he makes the grave charge in the community and make him- against the missionaries that they self indispensable to the prosperity are responsible for Spain's diffiof that community. He would culties in this group, "the odium have the whites on the other hand theologicam, which has brought interest themselves in the highest about such a lamentable waste of life and treasure, and such cruel humiliation to Spain."
In his "Abstract of the History races, the hill tribes and those on of the Spanish Occupation of the the fiats; says that they make Group," Mr. Christian fUrther says: paint which is used by natives all over the group, etc., etc., all of Oct. 15, 1890: U. S. S. Alliance arrived at which statements are false. Ponape, demanding compensa)ion for the proposed expulsion of the missionaries, and It is to be regretted that with obtained 17,000 gold dollars. such delightful bits of legendary lore, such graphic pictures-and Alliance did touch at Ponape and true-of the beautiful scenery in indemity was demanded, not, how- these islands the author could not ever, because of the" expulsion of have added the very essential the missionaries," but on account characteristic of trustworthiness to of the wanton distrudion of the his many other excellent qualities. property of American citizens. The book is well illustrated and has This was demanded by the govern- a valuable appendix. ment at vVashington from the government at Madrid, and was MISSIONARY AN:NALS OF THE 19TH CENTURY. not paid until several years later. D. L. Leonard, D.D. Maps and Illustra- The author tells a very touching tions. 8vo, 286 pp. $1.25. F.1I1. Barton, tale of the trials of a Cape Verde Cleveland. half-caste, employed as interpreter by the Spanish. This young man The readers of the REVIEW will was said to be maligned in a letter not need to be told that Dr. Leonwritten by the missionaries to the ard's pen is at home in dealing with "Methodist (I) mission in Boston missionary topics. (He has inadbecause he had exposed the dark vertently fallen into the error of doings of some native Christians, calling 1900 "the opening year of who afterward brutally murdered the 20th century.") Every man has him." his own point of prospect, and his views are largely affected thereby. The account of this same half- ,Ve are not sure we should give the caste, as given by the Spanish gov- same relative value that the author ernor-general at Manila, differs does to certain men or certain measmaterially from that given by Mr. ures, or sanction all his opinions Christian. and outlooks, but the book shows much painstaking work, and will be It appears a Cape Verde mUlatto, a haJf- a standard book of reference to caste, was sent by the Spanish forces to par- many appreciative students of misley with the natives. This fellow provcd sions. ,Ve regret that the marfalse to both parties, thereby making matters ginal cuts of missionary heroes worse. He was finally captured, and brought are not more satisfactory. But to Manila, where he paid for his treason with we commend the book to our his life, as he richly deserved. readers, especially glad of its com- prehensiveness, brevity, and scope, In describing the natives of the and the fact that it is published at two islands which he most fre- a rate that brings it within everyquented, the author gives his opin- hody's reach. The table of dates ion of their character" for what it at the end is a very helpful addenis worth." The reader will do well dum, and the book as a whole will to accept this limit~tion not only prove a valuable review of the great on the value of the estimate of the century of which it treats. character of the natives, but as touching many other statements TATONG1 THE LYTTLE KOREAN SLAVE. Annie found in nearly every chapter of Maria Barnes. Illustrated. 8vo, 252 pp. the book. $1.25. The Presbyterian Committee of Publication, Richmond. Va. The people of Ruk are said to play a national game of head- This is a fascinating little story hunting; he tells of two distinct of Korean life, as touched by the
1900.J RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS
Jesus doctrine. The scene of the sup for advice and instruction. After story is the capital, Seoul. Tatong, many conversations and much a little girl, stolen from her mother prayer and study Kami! confesses in babyhood, becomes a slave in a himself a Chrbltian and leaves home. cruel home. She meets one day a He makes the acquaintance of Rev. man who has learned the Jesus James Cantine and Rev. S. M. doctrine. She is impressed by his Zwemer of the Arabian (Ameriloving acts, and more by his word can Reformed) Mission, and subthat there is a Father, "One who sequently becomes a preacher cares." Secretly she attends the of Christ to Arabians in Aden, Christian service in the marble Busrah, and on the coast. He pagoda, and learns more of the shows marvelous tact and power in "One who cares." She escapes dealing with Moslems, and became at last from her mistress, and, dreaded by Mohammedan officials. after many wanderings, finds her Two years after his conversion he father and mother in the mission died, apparently by poisoning, but rooms of the" Jesus man." he made a lasting impression in Arabia and on all who knew him. On almost every page of the story The story of his life will likewise are interesting details concerning make a lasting impression on all Korean customs-the weddings, the who read it. It is simply but funerals, the housekeeping. The charmingly told, and is a splendid story impresses us with the sadness specimen of the fruits of Christian of the lot of woman,. the cruelty or missions and the power of an edupetty tyranny of the men and cated, consecrated, native evanboys, the transformations wrought gelist. in a heathen society by Christianity. THE ApOS'l'LE OF THE NORTH-JAMES EVANS.
Parts of the book are seriously Egerton R. Young. Illustrated. 12mo, marred by the use of slovenly Eng- 262 pp. $1.25. Fleming H. Revell Co., lish. For example: "Had they New York. been like we buy eggs, some would surely have been broken." These Jh. Young's books and lectures on slips, however, are not frequent, the North American Indians have and we would recommend the book always intensely interested the to Sabbath-school librarians. English-speaking world. The open- ing sentence of this book is the key KAMIL: The Setting of the Crescent and the to the contents: ",Vhen God wants Rising of the Cross. H. H. Jessup, D.D. a man for a peculiar work He Illustrated. 12mo, 156 pp. $1.00. Pres- knows where to find him." He byterian Board of Publication, Phila., Pa. found James Evans at Kingston- on-Hull, where he was born in Dr. Jessup has here given us an 1801. He was converted under unanswerable argument in proof of the preaching of Gideon Ouseley, the fact that Moslems may be the Irish missionary, whi!e yet in soundly converted and become youth. Afterward went to Quebec, stanch Christians and able evan- became a school-teacher, was spirigelists. The story of Kami! is also tually quickened and revived, and one of the best evidences of Chris- by Rev. 'Vm. Case started on his tianity that could be cited. missionary career, first as a school- teacher among the Indians and A young man of strict Moslem finally as a flaming evangel among parentage becomes interested in the the tribes in Upper Canada and Bible in a Jesuit school in Beirut, the "unknown north." In 1846, Syria. His father destroys the copy yet a young man of 45, he was laid which the son brings home, and on to rest; his last address being in the priest advising Kami! to lie to his father, the boy goes to Dr. Jes-
Hull, his native town. It was this mas. The Bible readers' school James Evans who invented the syllabic characters, whereby so numbers 130, and they are prayereasily the people he taught learned ful and consecrated women, whose to read the ,Vord of God. And every lover of missions should read lives are given to public and private the story of these few years packed full of heroic service. ministries to souls. At 17 stations A QITARTER OF A CENTURY IX THE ISLAND EM- near Yokohama the Gospel is PIRE (JAPAN). Mrs. Louise H. Pierson. preached regularly. This book is a 12mo, 181 pp. The illethodist Publishing House, Tokyo. new commentary on woman's work, This is a valuable accession to and will intensely interest espe the literature of missions-the more valuable from the sudden depar- cially the womanhood of the ture of its beloved author. Mrs. Pierson went to Japan in 1871, Church. under the 'Vomen's Union Missionary Society of New York. She PEN PICTURES OF MORMONIeM. By Rev. M. L. was one of three ladies who went Oswalt. 12mo, 95 pp. 15c. American Bap. out to establish a boarding-school, tist Publication Society, Phila. with the Bible as its bed-rock. They began on a small scale, for it The author of this pamphlet is a was an experiment,women and girls being at first especially inaccessible. Mississippi clergyman. He gives in There was, however, growth, encouragement, enlargement, until a the introduction a brief account of converted native, Kumano, became teacher in the mission school. Mrs. his beguilement, by the elders some Pierson trained Bible readers, and with them she has carried on a twenty years since, and his subwork of evangelization in Japan, which made her the equal of any sequent removal with many others male missionary ever in the empire. And for these more than to Colorado, persnaded by glowing twenty-eight years she has lived assurances of conditions truly and labored in the sunrise kingdom, as Eliza Agnew did in Ceylon, and paradisiacal as to climate, soil, and with like fruits. She h(ts been a preacher and teacher and trainer, "sweet association with the saints." modestly doing her work, but without being hampered by her sex. After a residence of three years, The results are tabulated, but only in part. The mission school organ- coupled with utter failure to find ized in 1873 prospers. Under the the least of what he had expected, original administration, a term of twenty years, there have been 48 the region, fellowship, and creed, graduates, who have gone forth to' build up Christian homes, or estab- were all abandoned. The eleven lish or assist in other missions. Under the present superintendent chapters set forth the contents of and principal, Miss K. L. Irving, several more have received diplo- the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and the Utah teaching concerning the priesthood, miracles, salvation, for the lost dead, polygamy, etc. The treatment of the theme is intelli· gent, while a spirit of candor and fairness pervades every page.
Monthly Missionary Bibliography.
MISSIONARY ANNALS OF THE XIX. CENTURY. D. L. Leonard, D.D. Maps and illustra- tions. Index. 12mo, 286 pp. $1.25. F. M. Barton, Cleveland.
MISSIONARY FIELDS AND FORCES OF THE DIS- CIPLES OF CHRIST. W. H. Llamon. 35c. Fleming H. Revell Co. FACE TO FACE WITH THE MEXICANS. Fanny C. Gooch. Illustrated. 8vo, 5H4 pp. $3.50.
THFEorRdEsD, EHMoPwTIaOrNd,OaFnEdGHYuPlTb. er'tV, .NBewaseYloWrko.rs- fold. Illustrated. Svo, 333 pp. Longmans, Green & Co. EDI'CATION IN INLIA. W. I. Chamberlain. 8vo, 107 pp. 75c. The Macmillan Co. SAMUAL BAKER OF HOSHANGABAD. A Sketch of the Friends' Mission in India. Miss C. W. Pumphrey. Illustrated. 12mo, 228 pp. 3s.6d. Headley Bros., London.
LIGHT AND SHADIl" IN ZENANA MISSIONARY LIFE. Annie H. Sma-!. 'l'no~. Nelsoll ~ Sons, Edinburgh.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
AMERICA. object of lively and somewhat A Missionary Relic.-The settee apprehensive interest to Ameriis carefully preserved in the Taber- cans who speculate about the nacle church at Salem, on which the development of their country. pioneer missionaries, Judson, Hall, Newell, Nott, and Rice, sat on Feb- In addition to the above, it is ruary G, 1812, when they were or- our conviction that the promise dained for missionary service. " A of immediate temporal gain-an picture of the scene hangs above it, earthly paradise to live in, and the but who can paint the regeneration gratification of the appetites of the of the world that has gone OIl since flesh-are winning cards, played those heroic men sailed for the mis- with great skill and effectiveness sion field!" in seducing the unsophisticated. Their religion is so largely a religion Mormonism Roberts, the polyg- that panders to a life of earthly gain and pleasure that it has great Excluded. amist from Utah, attractions for the carnal minds of sinful men and women. has been excluded from the House of Hepresentatives by a vote of 2G8 to 50. He was not Christian In spite of Califor- permitted to take his seat on the Chinese in nia's treatment of ground that he is a wilful and per- California. the Chinese, Chris- sistent lawbreaker, and, therefore, tianity is making ineligible. The people of the United progress among her Chinese popu- States have asserted their antagon- lation. Rev. Jee Gam, in San ism to polygamy. Now for a uni- Francisco, reports a resident mem- bership of nearly foul' hundred form national marriage and divorce law! Chinese Congregationalists, and, Mormon That the .!formon perhaps, twice as many more Proselyting. missionaries are so Ohinese Ohristians in the churches successful in per- of other denominations. The early suading people to adopt their faith work of the mission proceeded is, perhaps, somewhat surprising. under great difficulties-the un- The chief secret of this is doubtless willingness of many Christians to given by lUI'. E. S. .iIartin in the concede to Ohinese the rights of Sah~nlay Evening Post. He says: fellowmen being the chief. The Mormon proselyting is peculiar old bitterness, however, has died in this, that it offers its converts a journey. The Christian missionary down since the passage of laws offers Christianity for local application, but the Mormon missionary preventing the further immigrasays: Accept my doctrines and come home with me without tion of Ohinese, and last summer, cost, and take a, new start in life. No doubt he pictures Utah for the first time since the year folas a land flowing with milk and honey. It is natural that to many lowing the opening of the goldwho are disconsolate and tired of their surroundings his message fields, the Chinese were invited to should sound attractive. No doubt the complete change of scene, life, take part in the Fourth of July everything which the Mormon mis- celebration. This they did with sionary offers, is a more potent attraction than the peculiarities of enthusiasm, and presented a pahis religion. At any rate, he makes converts, and his church grows geant that won universal admiraconstantly, and continues to be an tion. For the new mission house which Mr. Jee Gam is trying to purchase, his society has already raised over $10,000, of which about one-quarter has come from Chinese Ohr'istians.
Bread Cast A recent letter from cost money. The committee, after eight months' work, had raised Upon the a missionary lo- but $7,240 toward the $40,000 needful. In addition to this some Waters. cated near Canton, $13,075 have been guaranteed by responsible parties to avoid a defi- China, states that cit. But wide-awake, generous, and liberal disciples should cheerof the 25 native pastors and evangel- fully shoulder this part of the burden and wait for no appeal, but ists working with him, no less send contributions to the com- mittee of which Geo. Foster Peathan 20 were converted in ChinesE body, 27 Pine Sreet, N. Y., is treas- urer. Sunday-schools in America. And, as showing further what wide- spread results may flow from labors bestowed upon humble representa- tives of the Celestial empire so- journing among us, the statement comes that a Christian Chinaman has bequeathed his' estate of sev- A Home These figures relate Missionary to the three – fold eral thousand dollars to the Meth- Society. work of the Ameri- can Missionary Asodist church in Canada for work sociation: among the Chinese.
Y.M.C.A. The January Asso- Progress ciation lYIen, in its SOUTHERN CHURCH WORK.
in I899. leading article, tells Number of churches ……………. 0.. 211 of "a half million Ministers and missionaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Number of church members 0 0 0 0 0 0 0000. 11,3£8 of debts paid during 1899, a million Added during the year …. 0 …… 0 .. 0 0 0 1,447 Added on profession of faith 0 •• 0000000 1,238 in buildings secured, and three- Scholars in Sunday-schools 0 00000000.000 14,806 quarters of a million for new buildings assured." The last year's INDIAN MISSIONS.
army and navy work is set forth, Number of churcheso .. 0 …. 0 0 o. 0 0 …. 0 19 "a year's record with the city and M e m b e r s h i p 1,097 0 0 " 0 0 " 0 . . . 0 0 . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . 0 town associations" is presented, Sunday-school scholars 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 2,438 and a preview is taken of the Contribution for benevolence and c h u r c h . . $3,239 0 . . . . 0 . . 0 " _ . . 0 . . 0 0 . . 0 . . . . . . . 0 jubilee convention, to be held in Number of schools 0 0 0 0 ………. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Boston in 1901. Number of pupils……………….. .. 368 Out-stations 0 0 0 0 0 …….. 0 0 0 • 0 0 .. 0 .. … • 33 Ecumenical Preliminary meet- Missionaries and teachers (White, 49; 83 Conference. ings for the coming Indian, 34) . . . . . . . . 0 0 0 .. 0 ……
con fer e n c e were CHINESE MISSIONS, CALIFORNIA AND UTAH. held in New York on January 11th. The morning and afternoon meet- Schools, including Japanese .. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000 21 ings were for consultation, infor- Teachers, induding 10 Chineseo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 _ 35 mation, and inspiration. Dr. Pier- Pupils 0 0" 0" 0 0 0 0 …. 0 …… 0 .. 0 …….. 0 1,360 son, Dr. G. V. Chamberlain, and Professing faith during the yearo 000000 152 others spoke. The evening meeting was a mass-meeting presided Evangelization In addition to what over by Hon. Seth Low, and was addressed by Drs. J. T. Gracey, A. of French the Anglicans, lIeth- J. Brown, J. H. Barrows, W. R. Huntington, and Messrs. Mornay Catholics. odists, and Baptists Williams, and Chas. M. Jesup. All things portend a great success to of Canada are dothe gathering in April. ing to win over Romanists to a The conference, like any other great gathering where so many pure Gospel, the Presbyterians are guests are to be entertained, will able to give this summary of re- sults: 36 mission fields, with 95 preaching stations and 13 colpor- tage districts, occupied by 29 ordained missionaries and licen- tiates, 17 colporteurs, evangelists, and students, and 18 missionary teachers, a total staff of 64. The
'1900.] GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
average Sabbath attendance was uted by the monasteries and con- 2,314 last year, the number of fami- vents, which are rich with the lies 1019, and single persons 267. hoarded treasures of three cen- Sabbath scholars 1,091, attending turies. One thing that struck prayer meeting 896; 1,650 copies of me, was the curious way some Scripture, and 32,050 religious priests take to stir up the flame of tracts and publications have been piety (?) in their followers. Here distributed or sold. The fields have is an exact translation of an advercontributed $5,835 for salaries and tisement that appeared in a local expenses, $1,454 for schools, a total paper of Guayaquil, the eve of our of $7,289. visit to Ohimbo.
Trinidad (W. I.) "IDEAL MISSION- " 'On Novembel' 27 will take place Coolie Mission. ARY PROGRESS" is in the town of the Naranjita the feast of The Virgin of Sorrows. what the Presbyterian Review (Oanada) claims for " 'There will be bull-fights on the the Trinidad mission among the 26th and 27th, and on Lord's Day coolies. In support of the assertion dances of curiquingues (a comic these facts are given: (1.) 'Vhile the dance), horse races, races in sacks, mission cost $50,000 last year, cock-fights, greased pole, fireworks, $34,000 of this, or more than two- gambling permitted by the law, thirds, was raised in Trinidad; less and various other amusements. than one-third went from Oanada. The faithful and devout are invited (2.) While the work has been stead- to assist at said feast.' ily growing for the past five years, no increase has been asked from the "Both going to and ~eturning funds of the home church. from Ohimbo we passed through this Three things contribute to this little town. It was most saddening very satisfactory state of matters. (1.) There is money available in and shocking to see the gambling Trinidad. Planters and other friends there who see the work openly carried on in the streets, and know its value, come generously to its aid. (2.) The converts and the debauchery on every hand. have more mean" than those of our other mission fields. Their And all under pretext of religion, earnings are small, but far better than in heathen lands. (3.) It may and got up by the priest himself! safely be said that from the first our mission staff there is second to By the time we returned, the feast none in careful business management. was breaking up, and we had on the train with us two of the idols they had been worshiping, also strolling guitar players, drunkards, and other disreputable characters."
EUROPE.
Missionary lJfed'ical Missions at Physicians. Home and Abroad for January gives a complete list of medical mission- aries holding British degrees or di- Need of the In writing of a Gos- plomas. The number is 283; of Gospel in pel tour through whom 100 are found in Ohina, 99 in Ecuador, Ecuador in seeking India, 39 in Africa, 17 in Syria and Palestine, and the remaining 28 a suitable site for a missionary, Mr. Bright says: are scattered all the world over. The Ohurch Missionary Society "The revolution is a last, desper- leads with 53; the Scottish Free ate struggle of the priests to regain their lost power, and again to close Ohurch comes next with 29; thlJ London Missionary Society with the door against Gospel heralds.
The money to run the revolution 27; the Scottish United Presbyte- rians, 23; Presbyterian Ohurch of has (so it is reported) been contrib-
England, 18; Established Church of rejected on the ground of age, sex, Scotland, 15; China Inland Mission, creed, nationality, or physical con- 12; Church of England Zenana So- dition.
ciety, 11; Society for the Propaga- The Society for the Propagation of tion of the Gospel, 10; with thirty- the Gospel, during the last 199 years one other societies having each (it was organized in 1701), has receivfrom 8 down to 1. ed the vast sum of £6,417,608. It The English This auxiliary of employed for many years as mis- Church Army. the Church of Eng- sionaries many Lutherans and oth- ers from Germany, indicating its land, of which the then liberal spirit. But its action idea was borrowed from the Salva- now in missions is too often unfration Army, requires for its mani- ternal and exclusive-in greatest fold operations £150,000 annually. contrast to that of the C. M. S. It sustains 102 homes in the United Kingdom, which last year dealt The Christian Endeavor Society with 21,000 cases of want, including among the Teutons bears the name men and women, girls and boys; of Jugend Bund, and its monogram 66 mission and colportage vans is E. C., which stands for "Entwere kept busy, while 60 men and schiedenes Christenthum," or de- 40 women were trained as evangel- cisive Christianity. ists, nurses, rescue and slum work- ers, etc. Protestants in Italy. The follow- ing figures are believed to be ap- National (Otherwise known proximately correct: Waifs' as " Dr. Barnardo's Waldenses in the valleys. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 23,000 Asscciation, Hom e s " ) . Over " " rest of Italy…… . .. 10,000 ~lembers of other evangelical bodies.. 10,000 5,000 orphan or waif Foreign Protestants ………………. 55,000 children are now in "Dr. Barnar- do's Homes." Among these chil- 98,000 dren there are 724 little incurables, deaf and dumb, blind, crippled or Rabinowitz Since the death of otherwise afflicted children. Eight Mission. Joseph Rabinowitz, souls are added every 24 hours to the Rev. Samuel this great family. 38,767 waifs Vilkinson has visited Russia to ar- have already been rescued by the range for the distribution of the homes. Of these 10,660 trained New Testament, and inquire as to boys and girls have been success- the practicability of the continu- fully placed out in the colonies, ance of the work in Kicheneff so and more than 22,000 sent to sea or ably done by the late founder of placed in situations in Great Brit- the Sons of the New Covenant.
ain, etc. Some conception of the Mr. Vilkinson has made suitable extent of the work may be formed arrangements for such distribution, from the fact that during the last and we trust a great blessing will two years no fewer than 4,655 fresh accompany all the arrangements cases have been admitted-a num- made by him. He has not only ac- ber probably in excess of admis- quired a knowledge Df Hebrew and sions by all other existing societies German, but of the Yiddish jargon, put together. No really destitute which will enable him to carryon Ghild has ever been refused admis- his work more efficiently as co- sion. The doors are open to the director with his father, Rev. John homeless freely, day and night, all Wilkinson, in the great work of the year round. No eligible case is the Mildmay Mission to the Jews.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Protestants News has recently vation Army, 86; :Moravians, 25; Friends, 25; Independent missionin Russia. come of a renewed aries, 400. This gives a total of 2,797 foreign missionaries now la- attack by the czar's boring among the 300,000,000 people of India. government upon the Lutheran churches in Finland and in the Baltic provinces. :':1e pretext for this attack is that Lutheran clergy A Titled Vhile not man y in Finland and Livonia are favoring Missionary. noble are called, yet the spread of pan-Germanic senti- from among this ments. A number of recent con- class the Lord has always a few versions from the Russian Ortho- chosen workers. An interesting dox church to the Protestant faith recruit to the missionary army, have inspired a cry of alarm in the tho at present not regularly enrol- clerical and reactionary press. As led, is the Hon. :Montague Walde- a result, the Lutheran theological grave, a younger son of Lord Rad- seminaries, which a few years ago stock. He is proceeding to Pesha- had been allowed to be open in St. war, to work as a lay evangelist in Petersburg, have now been closed. connection with Dr. Arthur Lan- If the czar has hardened his heart kester's new medical mission there.
toward Lutherans, Finns, Jews, He will not be strictly a C.:M.S.
and :Mennonites, the death of missionary, at present; but none his brother seems to have caused the less interesting is the fact of some change, for the moment at his going.
least, in his attitude toward the The Poona and Indian Village Mission has recently been increased Protestants known as the :Molo- kani in far eastern Russia. The by a fresh Australian contingent of 35 missionaries. Nine young men, :Molokani are total abstainers from liquor, and have the reputation of who will form part of the party, arrived in Sydney from New Zeabeing wonderfully familiar with the Bible. When the czar's brother, land.
the czarevitch, was attacked by hemorrhage while taking a bicycle The Kellogg We learn that the Memorial " Kellogg :Memorial ride in the Caucasus, a poor :Molo- Church. Presbyterian kani woman found him, helped him to her house, and nursed him dur- Church," which is to be erected at Landour, will coning his few remaining hours of life.
In recognition of this, the czar has sist of a neat and comfortable building, capable of seating from issued a public manifesto, not only 200 to 250 persons, the cost of which thanking the woman for her serv- ices, but also offering his grateful would be about Rs. 10,000. The acknowledgments to the entire church will be for the use of the Presbyterian and Nonconformist Molokani sect.
troops, civil residents, and visitors ASIA. to the station. As some corporate body of a permanent character Missionaries The Protestant :Mis- should be made responsible for the in India. sionary Directory gives the following care and security of the property, it is proposed to ask the missionary statistics as to the number of for- eign missionaries in India: Episco- society-the American Presbyte- palians, 528; Presbyterians, 467; rian, with which Dr. Kellogg was connected-to hold the property in Baptists, 436; :Methodists, 298; Lu- therans, 263; Congregationalists, trust for the purposes for which it 159; female missionaries, 108; Sal- was erected.
Fruit Gather- As to results in the Sunday evenings (when possible) ing in India. Madura mission of for blessing on Hindu widows and their missionaries. the American Board, Rev. H. C. Hazen writes: 2. Widows' Work Union.-Mem- "We have at present 38 churches, 8 bel's to endeavor to interest other of which are self-supporting; 4,656 widows in their neighborhood in communicants, 15,432 adherents, this union, to establish "working with 32,561 rupees ($10,888) con- bees" or "sales of work" to be tributed by the people last year. devoted to the expenses of "The There are Christians in 461 villages, Industrial Home" and missionary and 577 agents at work. The in charge. ground has been thoroughly plowed, the seed industriously 3. Widows' Relief Fund.-Memsown all over the district, the har- bers to contribute to or collect for vest is ripening, the machinery of this fund among other widows or the mission seems to be complete her friends generally. and ready for the reaping. Since the first of January we have had Anyone desiring further paran accession of nearly 400 souls in 8 different villages that were purely ticulars will receive full informaheathen up to that time. As a result, we have 8 new congregations tion by addressing: Mrs. B. D. to house. Indeed, the people receive us so cordially everywhere, 'Vyckoff, care of Prof. 'V. A. and the harvest is so ripe, that, had we sufficient faith, consecration, Wyckoff, Princeton, N. J. and prayer, we feel confident of a speedy and glorious ingathering." This Mission The figures below not a Failure. relate to one of the strongest of Chris- tian missions, that of C. M. S. of Tinnevelli ~n South India. Who says that Hindus can not be reached with the Gospel?
Circles. "'…. .., 'ti '2 – d o <!) Widows' This Union has O~ <!) "S"!:'i 0 …
~~ .~ S'" ,~.<:::"a"
~<!) 0- 0" " Q 0"<:: ~'"
E-<<""lj Union in Aid been formed with —— — Palamcotta…… 5,853 5,557 1,674 1,242 Alvaneri. …….. 2,670 2,505 678 589 of Hindu the hope of enlist- Sevel ………… 2,603 2,310 476 553 Widows. ing all Christian Dohnavur ……. 2,863 2,463 465 667 Pannikulam ….. 1,958 1,778 538 827 widows (in Britain, Panneivilei …… 3,499 3,277 1,049 886 the Colonies, British India, and Mengnanapuranl 5,655 5,535 1,534 900 Nalumavady …. 3,332 3,254 1,006 620 Sattankulam …. 3,055 2,934 760 834 America) in active cooperation for Asirvathapul'am 2,305 2,167 548 613 the benefit of Hindu widows, and Suviseshapuram 4,019 3,632 954 812 Nallur………… 4.309 4,044 848' 1,543 for their release from the cruel Surandei.. ……. 2,424 2,279 501 1,051 oppression forced upon them by Sachiapuram …. 3,462 3,020 835 1,237 Vageikulam ….. 3,788 3,470 849 1,173 their heathen religion. — — — — Total in 1898 …. _ 51,795 48,225 12,715 13,547 The Zenana Bible and Medical 47'~112'618 Total in 1897….. 50,804 Mission strives to assist these 13.208 downtrodden widows in two ways: Increase in 1898.. 991 637 97 339 1. By bringing the enlighten- The" Crime" While in British ment and civilization of the Gospel within their reach in villages and of Being a India proper no zenanas. Christian. convert to the Gos- 2. By providing food, shelter, and employment for those widows who pel can be subjected are willing to place themselves under Christian instruction. to legal pains and penalties, yet in The union consists of three sec- the native, or feudatory states, tions: which cover 800,000 square miles, 1. Widows' Prayer Union.-Mem- and include 66,000,000 inhabitants, bers to unite in private prayer on the Hindu and Mohammedan rulers
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
are able to punish in various ways be lightly decried: for it is furnish- such as accept baptism at the hands ing us the trained native workers of the missionaries. Thus, writing for pioneering under the better to the Free Church Monthly, Dr. system of native pay now."
Macdonald says: I write in the hope that the "Boxer" Raids Tidings have rechurches of England, Scotland, and America, which are interested in China. cently come of the in the success of Christianity in the murder of the Rev. feudatory states of India, may be moved to take united steps to se- Mr. Brooks, of the Church Mission- ary Society, stationed at Ping-Yin, cure justice and full toleration to Shan-Tung. Members of a sedinative Christians and missionaries tious society called "Spirit Box- ers," have lately destroyei many in these states. Their subjects are villages and killed native Chrisundoubtedly subjects also of our tians. The governor of the provgracious queen, and should enjoy ince had despatched a force of cavlike rights and privileges with her alry to the scene of the disturban- ces, but the soldiers arrived too late other Indian subjects. As matters to save Mr. Brooks, who was killed at present stand, native Christians on December 30 last.
and other British subjects in some This fanatical sect has for its obof these feudatory states are sub- ject to drive out Christians and jected persistently, by means of foreigners from China. iniquitous laws, to injustice and Among the Christians who first forms of petty persecutions which suffered at their hands were sevenwould not be tolerated in China or teen families connected with the American Mission Board at Tung- Japan, and the progress of Ohris- Tehang, near Tsu. It is said that tianity is greatly retarded and ob- their houses were looted; and they were robbed of property to the structed as nowhere else in the British empire. The missionaries and others have sent uprepresenta- tion after representation to government to have these grievances removed, but as yet in vain. Thus it is time the home churches took the matter up and pressed for justice and toleration in these states, without distinction of caste or value of 4,000 taels. Families concreed, as in the rest of the empire. nected with the American Presby- Notes from Writing from Chi- terian Mission were also robbed, the Laos. eng Hai, Laos, Rev. and their homes were destroyed.
W. C. Dodd says: But upon the Catholics the natives "The Laos Mission is slowly recov- vented the full force of their fury.
ering from the pay system. In each A number were killed, two hundred of the two newest stations, Nan and families were robbed, and many Chieng Hai, the educational work houses and chapels were burned.
has been put under the care of a Dr. Porter, of the American board, chairmen, missionaries, the Board Missiou, writes that on Oc- members Laos. These schools are tober 14, the" Spirit Boxers" were self-supporting from the first, with assembled at a village six miles teachers trained in our Chieng Hai from Li Lu Chuang, and a sumboarding-schools. mons had been sent which read as follows: "The two churches of Chieng Hai Station have assumed the whole Exalt the Manchus; down with support of the new work in an adjoining province, under the care of the foreigners; kill the foreigners. a Laos minister, Rev. Vong, who was trained in the Mission Train- The Universal Society of Boxers ing School. Thus the system of desires your presence upon the sev- enth of the ninth month. Refusal to obey this summons means the loss of your head. .
foreign pay of past years is not to The attack upon the little village
of Li Lu Chuang was in every re- is paid, and has long been paid, by spect most outrageous. The P'ing the native church." Dr. Muirhead Yuang magistrate has shown piti- adds ~he good news that over 100 ful indulgence of the "Boxers." members have been admitted to He would not investigate cases pre- the church between January and sented to him, and warned them of October. the coming of the cavalry. He told them that the "foreigners had laid Nurses in In the early days of an accusation against them." The bandit" Boxers" felt that the mag- Mission Hos- mission hospitals in istrate was on their side, and they could do as they pleased, and looted pitals in China, nurses were the town. They intended to raid Pang Chuang but were met by an China. an impossibility. armed force, and many were killed, and others taken prisoners. The doctor had to feel his way cautiously in face of the suspicions and prejudices and slanders, ho,vever groundless, of the Chinese. He had to show to them the enormous advantage of Glad Tidings The news from Vestern medicine and surgery, from China. South China seems even without the aid, to us the in- good this month. May we not take it as a happy valuable aid, of skilled nursing. omen for the new century? Mr. Wells, writing from Chuk Un, one And it is one of the notable proofs of the Canton out-stations, says: "The work here seems full of of the influence of missions and of promise; the only drawback is that we have not a sufficient number of mission life on the general populaworkers, either European or native. A man stationed at Pok Lo tion that a call for nursing help in would have more than enough to do in the city and surrounding vil- our nursing hospitals begins to lages. People seem literally pressing into the kingdom, and our make itself heard. It means, of strength and wisdom are all too little for so great a work. If we had course, also, that the mission surtime to work this one place thoroughly, we might see marvelous geon realizes in these days a far results."-L. M. S. Chronicle. larger amount of liberty in the extent of his operations than used to be the case, so that the need of skilled nursing is increasingly felt.
There can be no doubt that the presence in hospitals of mission women, seeking the highest in- terests of the patients, has paved the way for the appearance and work of the nurse. In any case Ordination Dr. Muirhead, of she is already present in several Service at Shanghai, sends an mission hospitals, and the thing is Shanghai. interesting account sure to grow.
of the ordination of A Gospel The annual report Mr. Toong Chao-Hiun to the work Weapon. of the .American of the ministry. "Mr. Toong has Presbyterian Mis- been connected with us for 1):1ore sion Press, Shanghai, has appeared.
than twenty years," says Dr. This important b',1nch of the mis- Muirhead, "and tho he is not a sion work did yeoman service last scholar, his Christian character year. It issued 67,625,660 pages of and conduct are in harmony with religious literature. Among the his profession. The chapel was notable volumes published were well fl,lled by native Christians, 1,000 copies of "Stent's Diction- who took a warm interest in the ary," revised and enlarged by Dr.
proceedings. Mr. Toong's salary D. MacGilvary; a new edition of
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Mateer's Mandarin Lessons, a 5,000 Chinese empire. He says: "There edition of the Conference Com- are two ways of carrying on Inission mittee's commentary on the New work: one is to put missionaries Testament, and a similar number of to work among the poor and the "Opinions of One Hundred Phy- non-influential; the othor is to sicians on the Use of Opium." The work among the influential classes output for the year is nearly 23,- so as to get them in turn to elevate 000,000 pages in excess of last year. the poor-one takes hold of the short end of the lever; the other of Missionary In an interesting the long end. The British missions, Qualifications. letter to the Pns- with few exceptions, have devoted their main strength in education to bytel'ian Record, the non-influential, giving only one of the Canadian missionaries primary education and refusing to in China gives some of his experi- teach English, while some of the ences that shows the value even in American societies in education are that country of missionaries having devoting themselves to the influensome experiences of manual labor. tial classes, giving them superior He says: "I am thankful, ex- education; and the Methodists are tremely thankful, for two things: teaching them English. The result first, that I was born on a farm, is that in the educational reformaand second, that I have been tion going on in China now, the knocked about the world a good Methodist and Presbyterian misdeal since I was born. It seems to sionaries of America are sought me that everything I ever learned after to superintend the new eduis likely to be of use to me here. cation of China, and, therefore, For instance, I have taught the have the chief control of the rising blacksmiths to make drills-the youth of China. It is to be hoped blacksmiths here have no drills, that this will open the eyes of those taps, or dies, no vises-I have societies who have hitherto refused taught a man to make his own to grant liberty to their missionwhite lead, and mix paints in good aries to open schools worthy of style. Vhen a little shaver I used Christendom and worthy of the to watch my mother spin the wool high civilization of China, and who that kept my toes warm. Vell, I have neglected to follow those lines set the carpenters to work the which God has shown to be most other day, and we turned out a effectual in all ages." very decent spinning wheel that spins fast and well. vVe have also A Peasant's A medical missionbuilt a turning lathe that turns out good chair and table legs, etc. I Expression of ary says that gratthink a carpenter shop or a blacksmith'j3 forge a grand missionary Gratitude. itude is sometimes agency, second only to the hospital. I feel that the men do better work, shown by the poorand I think it is because they hear the Gospel. Till this summer they er patients by gifts of eatables, were entirely neglected." such as vegetables, fruits, fowls, pigeons, and eggs. As the Chinese peasant usually has no money, these articles are accepted and the Britishvs. A writer in the market value in cash given to the American C h 'i n e oS e Reeordel' hospital. One poor fellow, hearing Educational points out the dis- that the foreign doctor used cow's Work. proportion be- milk as an article of diet (which tween British and the Chinese in Shantung never do), American educational work in the brought him a bottle full, which he
said had taken several days to col- straw overhead, the result is not lect from a very thin old cow, pleasant to those underneath, and which he used for work in the reveals the fact of remaining soot, fields. As the man had come thTCe altho systematic sweeping, with days' journey in a broIling sum- leafy branches fastened on the end mer snn, the condition of that milk of a long bamboo pole, is periodican he hetter imagined than de- cally done. The heart of the Chiscribed. nese landlord is not easily moved, however, and he sees no necessity Missionary ISl1bella Ross, of whatever for a new roof."
Housekeeping the Christian and In China. ::Iissionary A II i – New Railway In September last ance, thus de- in Korea. the S e 0 u I – C h e – scribes the house in which she lives: mulpo Railway was "It is an old brick building, rented opened by impressive ceremonies.
from a Chinaman at the cost of It is true this new railway does not three Spanish dollars per month. yet quite reach the capital, since Once it was a tea shop, which the bridge over the river Han, just means a sort of restaurant, where outside the city, is not yet COjTI- a man can get a cup of tea, or a pleted; but the electric line of the meal. When it was rented for the city runs to the other bank of the foreign missionary, a great many river, thus furnishing practically improvements were necessary to an all-rail route. The distance, make it habitable. The floor had about 28 miles, is made in an hour been mud, and over this bricks had and 40 minutes, when formerly to be laid to make a floor that nearly a day was consumed in this would not become a mud puddle on journey. The road was begun by rainy days. The house rejoices in Americans and completed by the two 'T'ien-tsing' or 'heavenly Japanese. The cars are American.
wells.' These are spaces open to A correspondent of the Japan MaU, the air of heaven, so that the need speaking of this important event, of doors and windows is done away says: "The Koreans were much in- with, and thus much labor spared terested in the opening of the line.
the carpenter. The sun pours in A large company asserribled at the on bright days, and the rain like- termini, and all along the way peo- wise on wet days, so that one has ple were seen standing and staring ample opportunity to enjoy all at the passing train with profound kinds of weather without going out anlazement. "
of doors. The wind, of course, has also free access, which does not al- Manual Train- Rev. C. F. Reid, the ing in Korea. energetic and conways add to our comfort, but this secrated superinis only the main room of our house, tendent of our mission in Korea, is moving for the founding of a manwhere guests are received, and ual training school at Song-do. Two important contributions towhere meetings for worship are ward the enterprise have already been received from native Koreans. held. There is no ceiling to the Gen. 'V. N. Yun, late minister of justice, has given $1,000. Hon. T. front part of the house, and the H. Yun, governor of Gen Saw, gave a piece of land which was subroof being"covered partly with tiles, sequently sold for $1,350. This is and partly thatched with straw, is not over clean, and the smoke and dust of the old tea-shop have brought roof and woodwork from their original color to a fine ebony black. 'Yhen birds or rats stir the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
certainly an encouraging begin- A Wet Spell Rev. August Pohlning. 'Ve trust the church at home will show her interest in this in Liberia. man writes: "You work and her appreciation of this generosity by raising an amount wake up in the sufficient to build and equip the Song-do manual and training morning to hear the rain-drops schooL-Nashville Chr'istian Advocate. beating on the iron roof; you go to bed at night and fall asleep to the music of the steady 'drip- drop' of the big drops from the eaves of the house; you eat your AFRICA. meals accompanied by the howling of the wind and the rush of the A Christian Connected with the storm as it bettts now on this side College in American (United and now on that; you conduct Egypt. Presbyterian) Mis- morning and evening prayers while sion in the Land of the heavens hang heavy with the Nile, are 180 schools with 12,- waters eager to fall faster than 872 pupils, and Asyut College as gravitation lets them; you go to the crown. The total enrolment see the sick tucked snugly in a rub- of the college is 612, of whom some ber-coat, boots, and slough hat, 515 have been boarding students in while the umbrella only shows how the college dormitories. They much rain it can not keep off; you come from 112 different towns and write letters on the typewriter villages of the Valley of the Nile. while with every click the weather Those who come as boarding stu- shows some new turn; you take dents bring their own bedding, etc., off damp clothing at night and put provide their own books, and pay on damp clothing in the morning; for their tuition and board as they you light the damp wood with a are able. Notwithstanding the match-box and kerosene oil; you great poverty of the Egyptians, cook with peppel' clogged, salt wet, they pay from nothing to $28 per macaroni moldy, and spices gener- student for the term of eighteen ally spiceless; you start the laundry weeks, and by far the greater part to wash early ~Iondaymorning, and of them pay not more than $2.50 are glad if half of it is dry enough for the term, and sweep, wait on to iron by Saturday night; you tables, teach primary classes, etc., begin your study only to find after for the balance of their tuition and a while that there seems to be water board. A very large part of the even on your brain, for all the students bring their own bread, ac- thought that you seem to have, cording to the Egyptian custom, at while the dull ache creeps slowly the first of the term, which lasts up your back, and you wonder until the end of the term, being whether at your age you are al- kept dry and hard by the intensely ready suffering with rheumatism, dry atmosphere of Egypt; it is and on taking a stiff dose of quin- moistened in water just before it is in and phenacetin, that it was eaten. Since 1895 one hundred and only the 'ager' that is troubling thirty have graduated, of whom 63 your bones. Everything you touch have entered the ministry, 32 have has a damp, wet feeling-you wish become professional teachers in the you could feel dry for once; then Christian schools throughout the you light the oil-stove, and dry Valley of the Nile, and the balance and warm yourself in front, and (34) have entered various kinds of find that the dampness has only business and professional life, gov- been sent to the back of your ernment service, etc. body."
Mission Rev. R. H. Nassau, sentative stations-most of them the headquarters-of 5 different Schools in writing from the mission agencies. In addition to the Blantyre lIission, there are the West Africa. west coast, says Zambesi Industrial Mission, the Nyassaland Industrial Mission, the that in the mission Scotch Baptist Industrial Mission, together with an independent Inisschools are to be found representa- sion supported from Cape Town. In addition, MI'. Joseph Booth, tives of a score of tribes, and gives late superintendent of the Zambesi Industrial Mission, has returned as two causes: a Seventh-Day Adventist with a propaganda of his own, and has (1) Domestic slavery brings them. taken up his quarters temporarily Slavery has always existed in close to the Nyassaland Baptist In- Africa (long before the market was dustrial Mission. He is also said stimulated by an export demand), to be the harbinger of other assoeither as a punishment for cl'ime, ciated ventures to follow. And all or as a means of ridding a village of these are huddled together in one uncomfortable or offensive mem- srn::tll corner of the Dark Continent bers, or under the force of avarice. twelve miles long by five broad! " From interior tribes are sold away to the tribes next nearer the coast, The Popula- Approximately and thence by snccessive sales passed onward to the coast itself, tion of South these are the relacriminals for theft, adultery, witchcraft, and other crimes; deformed, Africa. tive numbers of the maimed, and idiotic, or little children sold by their own relatives for white and the colgreed of white man's goods. ored peoples south of the Zambesi: (2) For hundreds of years there has been going on a process of suc- I White I Colored cessive waves of human life, pushing toward the sea, and eventually Population. i Population. merged in the coast life. Tribe after tribe, in its effort to reach the Cape Colony……. . 37~.812 1,148.926 acme of tribal glory, i. e., direct Natal …………… . 45!1,288 contact with white man's trade, Rhodesia ………… . 41.41" 500,000 has pushed itself down along the Bechuanaland ….. . 13,000 7,471 river courses-has taken the place Basutoland …….. .. 5,254 218,326 and power, and even the language TransvaaL … ,…… . 649.560 of the smaller coast tl'ibes, and, Orange Free State .. 578 129.787 after generations, is itself super- Swaziland ………. . 300,000 60,000 seded by another fresh wave of 77,716 tribal life from the interior. That process is seen at this very time. 817,835 3,178,358 At Gaboon, the Inpongive tribe; at Corisco, the Benga; and at Benita, According to recent statistics the Kombe, all now reduced to a the Dutch Reformed Church has in few hundreds, are being replaced Cape Colony a membership of 97,- by intel'ior tribes, numbel'ing 800, in the Free State of 33,900, and thousands, who build in their in the South African Republic of vacant viIIages, compete with them 30,gOO-that is, 11 total membership in trade, and adopt even their of 161,800 for the whole of South names and dialect. Africa.
Let Us Have The folIowing note The Presbyterian Church of South Africa includes 7 presbyte- Christian from Life and ries, with about 50 congregations, served by European ministers. Comity. JVol'k in Bl'itish About half of these congregations were founded or fostered by the Centl'al All'ica, Free Church. About 18 of the present ministers, or fully onepublished at Blantyre by the Church of Scotland Mission, draws attention to a real evil which ought to be avoided by all missions: "Within a district around Blan- tyre, not larger than a Scotch parish, there are now settleit repre-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
third of the whole number, are dressed him by a word meaning men who received their training "there is none greater."
from the Free Church, or were sent A Double The Bezanozano, a out by its colonial committee; 14 others have a like connection with Medicine. tribe living west of the United Presbyterian Church; and the remainder, about 18, are to the Great Forest be distributed between the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Es- in Madagascar, are said to carry tablished Church of Scotland, and the Presbyterian Church of Eng- sticks, the wood of which has land. a bitter taste like quassia. At times they scrape a little of this into some water and drink it, or give it to their children as a medicine. The same stick is also Royalty in The king had about used to inflict punishment on un- ruly children, on the principle laid Uganda. 10,000 cattle and down in the old saying, "Spare the rod, spoil the child." ,Vhat a use- 20,000 sheep. The ful stick! It is in a twofold sense a medicine stick. Applied outwardly, cattle were herded in 20 different it drives away the spirit of dis- obedience; and taken inwardly, it districts of BunyarD, each herd cures the various ailments from which children suffer. being of the one color. Special white cows with long horns were kept inside the king's enclosure at night, and milked before the king.
Round the necks of these cows were small iron bells, which served Brighter Days The Rev. P. G.
to warn everyone to get quickly Coming for Peake reports an out of the way of the cows as they Madagascar. enthusiastic wel- went out to feed, under pain of come on his return death. Cows in Bunyoro were to Isoavina, Madagascar. ",Ve groomed as horses in England. have had the most demonstrative Seven loads of common salt were reception we have ever received thrown every day into the well from the natives. The first week froI,ll which the cows drank. The was almost occupied in receiving king's numerous wives were sent parties with the usual presents of out to the different cowherds in fowls, rice, eggs, etc. The freedom rotation that they might fatten on with which the people come to us milk, not being allowed to take indicates that the nightmare of any exercise. Kabarega was par- terrorism and persecution has ticular about his food, and lived passed away. l[ostof them, if not chiefly upon beef, goat meat, and all, realize that they now really milk, while fowls, sheep, pota- have religious liberty and tolerance.
toes, and' beans were excluded On ,Vedncsday wc had a visit from from the royal table. He never Governor-General Pcnnequin. He took any exercise and was conse- was very pleasant and seemed quently very fat. In the morn- pleased with his visit, for he made ing he heard cases and gave judg- a present of 50 francs to be dis- ments, and the remainder of tributed among the children."
the day was spent lounging Similar good ne,vs comes from the about, surrounded by his wives, Rev. J. Pearse, who reports the who kept away the flies, polished reinstatement (through the influ- his nails, and paid him other ence of Madame Pennequin) of Ra- similar attentions, while they jaofera, one of our evangelists, who kept up a running fire of the was banished last year on false boldest flattery. Everyone ad- charges.
THE ISLANDS. asm for their work.-Journal des J}[issions Evangeliques. There are 345,000 native Protestant Christians in Dutch East India. Reforms in The report of Cap- The New Hebrides Training Insti- Guam. tain Leary, govtution, on Tangoa, Santo, has com- ernor-general of pleted its first four years' course, and sent out its first class of grad- Guam, indicates an interesting uates to labor among the heathen. state of things in that newly In New Guinea, a little more than acquired American isle. 1'he gova quarter of a century ago, there ernor does not want any more was not a spot in that great island where the name of God was heard. marines, but begs for more civil Now 117 chapels can be pointed to where He is worshiped, and in officers, doctors, medicines, an those a large proportion of the peo- ice machine, tools, mills, etc. But ple will be seen with open New the most unique part of the Testaments in their hands. report relates to the moral reforms, of which the governor says: "Hav- ing disposed of the priests, rapid Missions in The Paris Mission- progress will be made and no further resistance will be en- countered."
Marquesas ary Society is about He issued two orders, the first of Islands. to send a mission- which directs all who have no ary to the Marque- trade to plant cereals, vegetables, etc., under more or less severe pensas Islands. The inhabitants are very degraded and brutalized, and alties.. All citizens must pay their taxes and discharge other indebtthe abuse of alcohol and opium is leading to a rapid decrease of the edness.
population. Fifty years of Roman The other order demands that concubinage, which was general all Catholic missions have not accom- plished anything in raising the over the island, stop immediately. In this order Governor Leary moral standard of the people. The London Missionary Society had moralizes as follows to the natives: once an abortive mission there, and in 1853 two Hawaiian Island The existing custom of raising families of illegitimate children is missionaries were sent by the Ha- repulsive to ideas of decency, an- tagonistic to moral advancement, waiian Evangelical Association. incompatible with the generally recognized customs of civilized They are still working there, and society, a violation of the accepted principles of Christianity, and a will welcome the coming of a most degrading injustice to the innocent offspring, who is not re- French Protestant missionary. The sponsible for the conditions of his unfortunate existence. French had once flourishing Prot- estant schools in one of the Mar- quesan islands, but the hostility of the French administrators of the island led to their being closed. The governor commanded im- mediate wedlock for the whole The governor has lately been adult population, and made the license and civil ceremony free changed, and it is believed that the until Nov. 3. As a result, the officers in charge of licenses and newly-appointed one will be more marriages were worked half to death until nearly everybody on the favorable to Protestant missions. island was legally married. There was a rush to obey the order, and, M. Vernier and his wife, the new missionaries, will take up the work of the Sandwich missionaries, who are now very old, and will open a school. They are full of enthusi-
GENERAL MLSSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
in fact, the people have shown a ing of missionaries, and Blumhardt disposition to be obedient to any became first director. This was in suggestion from their governor. 1816, and it opened with sev~n students.
MISCELLANEOUS. Medical The American Med- An Old-Time At a time in the Boards in ical Missionary is Missionary. early part of the Missiol1ary published at Guana- last century, when the Norwegian Church was covered Societies. juato, Mexico. In with a dark pall of worldliness and indifference, there were seven its last issue, refergodly pastors who, in face of great opposition, sought to pervade the ring to the program of the Ecuchurch with a truly evangelical and missionary spirit. At the head menical Conference, covering medof this noble body of men was Thomas Van 'Veston, a man ac- ical missions, it suggests that this customed all his life to endure hardships, and essentially a hero. might also be considered in the By the help of friends he went through the university course at topic, "Administration: Mission- Copenhagen, and exhibited such linguistic genius that he was offered ary Boards," and says: "The the chair of languages at Moscow by Peter the Great; but he de- Church Missionary Society, which clined, and became a teacher in a Latin school, and later on a hard- is most forward in doing medical working pastor near Drontheim. It was while here that he and his six work, have organized a separate colaborers sought to eradicate the surrounding darkness with the board, separate collections, and a light of missionary zeal, and these seven were called" the Pleiades." separate paper for the medical mis- sionary ,,,"ork, and while mission- ary boards at home have so few doctors in them, and are without sub-committees, largely consisting of consecrated physicians, to con- sider and present to the boards themselves the interests of this branch of the work, this question of the 'Societies; Their Organiza- tion,' needs full and kindly discus- sion to save other churches from suddenly taking this extreme posi- tion of the Church of England, as The Begin- Early in this cen- well as to forward justice and the ning of the tury, Basel, Swit- interests of the work as a whole."
Basel Mission. zerland, was threat- Send only The ministerial re- ened with destruc- the Best. porter of a church tion by the French garrison of paper noted in his Hueningen, and was actually bom- account of the proceedings of his barded. It pleased God to inter- conference, that one of their vene in a very strange way. He younger and most promising min- sent a violent east wind, which isters had been accepted for foreign blew so fiercely that it exerted a missionary service, adding an ex- counteracting force upon the pression of surprise-evidently bombs, and they were spent in the shared by many as well as himself air before they reached the dwel- -that a young man who occupied lings. As a thank-offering for the the position he did in the pastorate, miraculous deliverance, the mis- and of his standing in the confer- sion friends of the town, chief ence, should have chosen to leave among whom were Von Brunn, the home field, where his prospects Spittla, Steinkoff, and Blumhardt, were so good. Underlying this is established a seminary forthe train- the veiled assumption that inferior
men are good enough for the for- value of the peso to 30 cents. Our eign work-that while it may not books carry money in pesos of be amiss for [, young man not yet Guatemala, Colombia, and Chile, entered upon his ministerial career, mUreis of Brazil, yen of Japan and to elect to go abroad, it is almost Corea, Mexican dollars and copper absurd for one who has already cash of China, rupees of India and gained a good position for himself Laos, ticals of Siam, tomans of Perto do so. Against this unworthy sia, liras and piasters of Turkey." philosophy of missions we desire to enter a most energetic protest. OBITUARY. There is no grade of talent in any home land too good to be utilized Dr. W. W. Rev. Dr. ·W. W. in bearing the Lord's commission to those who sit in darkness and Eddy, of Eddy, for more the shadow of death. Unpromising men are more sadly out of place Beirut. t han forty – eight in the foreign field than at home. Nowhere are the men who can years a missionary bring things to pass and lead the militant host to victory more ur- in Syria, died in Beirut from heart gently needed than in non-Christian lands. The Church of God disease on January 21st. He was will never do its real missionary work in the world until it deliber- born 74 years ago in Penn Yan, ately selects and freely offers the very best it has to send forth as N. Y., and in 1851 sailed from Bosheralds of Christ's Gospel to the ends of the earth. It would ba a ton to labor in Syria as a missionwonderful means of grace to any home church if a hundred or more ary of the American Board. His of its younger college professors and city pastors should offer them- first years there he resided at selves in good faith for the King's service beyond the seas.-Indian Aleppo, at the same time doing Witness. much itinerary preaching. He also labored for a time at Sidon. More recently Dr. Eddy had been at Beirut as a representative of the Presbyterian Church. He preached every Sunday in the native lan- guage, and wrote a commentary of the New Testament in that tongue.
Dr. Eddy leaves a widow, who is in the woman's department of the Beirut school; a son, the Rev. "Vil- liam K. Eddy, who with his wife is doing missionary work in Sidon'; two daughters, Dr. Mary Pierson Eddy, the only woman physician permitted to practise in Turkey, and Mrs. F. E. Hoskins, the wife of a missionary at Zahleh, Syria; and another son, Dr. R. Condit Eddy, of New Rochelle, the only member Missionary These sen ten c e s of the family who is in the United States.
Finance. from one of the Dr. Ernest The death of the Presbyterian secre- Faber, of eminent German taries will help us to see how varied North China. missionary, Dr.
and complex is the task laid upon Ernest Faber, of those who mauage a great mission- North China, is a very great ary society: "But these estimates loss to Christian missions. Dr.
are made out in a dozen different Faber was only 59, but he had worked in China for 35 years, first currencies, almost all of them silver in the south, then in the north.
or paper of fluctuating value, so He had of late given himself espe- that, for example, an action of the cially to the literary work of mis- Board authorizing the Guatemala sions, for which his ·thorough knowledge of the Chinese classics mission to sppnd 5,000 pesos, each well fitted him. His position, while worth 15 cents of our money, in distinctly evangelical, was inde- September, 1890, might make the pendent. He went out as a Rhenish board liable for twice as much as it missionary, but latterly had been connected with the "Pl'otestan- had contemplated by a rise in the tischer Verein."
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1900
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
Old Series. } FEBRUARY. New Series. VOL. XXIII. No.2. { VOL. XIII. No.2.
DWIGHT L. MOODY, THE EVANGELIST.* BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
When, on the day of the winter solstice, Dwight L. Moody said, "Earth is receding, Heaven is opening, God is calling," and departed to be with the Lord, an event of no common magnitude occurred. No death among the believers in Christ has, perhaps, affected so many persons and general interests in the Church of God, within twenty-five years, except it be the deaths of Charles H. Spurgeon, Adoniram J. Gordon, George Muller, and Mrs. Catharine Booth.
Mr. Moody will be remembered mainly as the great evangelist of this half century, altho for some fifteen or twenty years he has been prominent as an educator also; and, as the wOl'k of evangelism is so vitally linked to all missions, both at home and abroad, it becomes us calmly and carefully to inquire into the lessons taught by this life.
During between thirty and forty years Mr. Moody has been used to lead souls to Christ, probably in larger numbers than any other one man. His whole career starts the question as to the sources of such power and the conditions of such usefulness. Is such success exceptional, or are the secrets of such a serviceabJe life communicable?
He began aright. From the outset of his Christian career he thought of his surrender to Christ as taking in all that was included in himself, and it was with no half heart that he took up the service of his new-found Master. With characteristic zeal and abandonment he forsook all else for Christ. Like other men he has made mistakes, but they have been errors of judgment, and not intentional departures from principle; for no error has ever been due to the lack of a will to serve God, hislife as a disciple having been always marked by a sacred earnestness.
In view of all later events and developments, how suggestive and • A further sketch of Mr. Moody's life and work as an educator and organizer will appear in our March number. His only authorized biography will, at his own request, be prepared by his elder son, William Revell Moody. to whom, at East Northfield, Mass., friends are asked to send correspondence or items of especial interest pertaining to his father. instructive are those brief minutes in thc records of the .Mt. Vernon Church, Boston, ill which, in 1855, was first madc a note of MI'. Moody's examination before the church committce: No. 1,079. Dwight L . .Moody. Boards 43 Court Street. Has been baptized. First awakened on the 16th of .May. Became anxious about himself. Saw himself a sinner, and sin now seems hateful and holiness desirable. Thinks he has repented; has purposed to give up sin; feels dependent upon Christ for forgiveness. Loves the Scriptures. Prays. Desires to be useful. Religiously educated. Been in the city a year. From Northfield, this State. Is not ashamed to be known as a Christian. Eighteen years old.
Again: No. 1,131. March 12, 1856. Mr. .Moody thinks he has made some progress since he was here before-at least in knowledge. Has maintained his habits of prayer and reading the Bible. Believes God will hear his prayers. Is fully determined to adhere to the cause of Christ always. Feels that it would be very bad if he should join the church and then turn. Must repent of sin and ask forgiveness, for Christ's sake. Will never give up his hope, or love Christ less, whether admitte-i to the church or not. His prevailing intention is to give up his will to God.
A few short sentences here reveal tbe germs from which have sprung and grown, during forty-four years, all the grand results which now challenge admiration and wonder.
These entries prepare us for what follows. Witbin two years after, about January, 1858, we find this young disciple thus briefly annonnc- ing a new step and stage in his self-dedication: " I have decided to give God all my time." And from that day on, he went about his .Master's business, and more and more did he become absorbed in it, until he gave up his worldly employments to live a life of faith, doing only God's work, and looking to Him in prayer for the supply of daily need.
How short-sighteu is man at the best. Here was a young man whom God had chosen, like Saul of Tarsus, to be a chosen vessel to bear His name, and yet, tho first led to God in lIay, 1855, it was not until after a probation of ten months that he was even admitted to the church, in March, 185G. He who was yet to be a teacher of teachers, was so imperfectly trained in Christian doctrine, as to be held at arm's length for fear of his being unsound; and, because he was impetuous in his zeal and lacked prudence, it was with difficulty that he got a foothold in service, even after he was received into membership, for his lack of good grammar and of moderation in his exhortations led his brethren to think that he was not called to speak in public, so that a church officer actually took him aside and advised him to keep quiet in prayer-meeting!
This he would not do, he could not; tbe fire in him must have room to burn, and must find vent in words and works. Fire is apt to burn fast and wax hot, and may need at times a little restraint, but
D. L. MOODY AND BIS FIRST SUNDAY· SCHOOL CLASS IN
Red Eye. Smlkes. BUly )lDel<tooth. Madden the Butcher. .Jacky CaDdies. Glberlck. Billy Bucannon. Darby the Cobbler. Butcher LUroy. Greenhorn. Indian. Black Stovepipe. Old Man. Rag Breeche. Cadet.
fire is a good thing, especially when lighted by the coals from God's altar.
Partly by the petty persecutions to which this young disciple felt himself subjected from critical brethren whose fastidious ears were offended by his uncouthness and excess of enthusiasm, he was driven to Chicago, where he hoped to find, amid a Western atmosphere, more room to burn and shine, in his way, and less hindrance to doing his own work as he felt led.
There, promptly offering himself at a mission Sunday-school as a teacher, he was brusquely informed that he could have a class if he would bring one. So, next Sunday, in he came-an engine, dragging behind eighteen boys, like empty cars to be freighted with Gospel truth. On that day he first solved the problem, " how to reach the masses"-"Gofor lhem! "-and such was his motto and his method ever after.
We must not despise the day of small things! Who could have foreseen that this raw recruit, who could scarce get admission into the ranks at all, and into whose awkward hands it was feared to put a musket, would in a score of years more be not only a conspicuous warrior but a leader of the host! Mr. Moody himself was not unCOllscious of his early failures, but they did not daunt his irrepressible spirit. When he first stood up to give his testimony for Christ, he afterward said, "I trembled in every limb, and, when I sat down I said to myself, , Moody, you have made a fool of yourself,' and that is what I have been doing for Christ's sake ever since."
His earnestness moved him both to prayer and to that endeavor which is itself a form of the" effectual, fervent prayer"- energetic prayer. When Mr. Moody went with a dying Sunday-school teacher in Chicago to see his class, one by one to,. entreat them to be reconciled with God, it was a typical act affording a key to his life as a worker. He believed in communion with God in the closet, but he believed in contact with souls everywhere. The prophet Elijah restored the dead to life-but how? Elijah prayed first for power from above, and then stretched himself upon the dead, mouth to mouth, eyes upon eyes, hands upon hands, the living in close contact with the dead. And so must we save the lost, and bring back to the dead the breath of life; first, get power from God and then get into contact with. men.
Perhaps the foremost spring of Mr. Moody's power was his downright earnestness. Every truly heroic character has at bottom enthusiasm, contagious and. inspiring. There was something about this man that disarmed antagonism and moved and melted men. In the Scotch pulpit, thirty years ago, scholarship and soundness were joined with an excessive and stubborn conservatism; and when Mr. :Moody with his new fashions, and Mr. Sankey with his" Kist of wussels" first appeared in "Auld Reekie," all Edinburgh was astir at these innova-
DWIGHT L. MOODY, THE E~ANGELIST
tions. But Mr. Moody won the day. And Scotchmen themselves tell how the cold and formal style of worship was invaded, when the American evangelist came there, and in the midst of the phlegmatic people of "the modern Athens" dropped his own burning, glowing soul, and set them aflame with his own fire, force, and fervor.
"Formality got its neck broken." The immovable imperturbable Scotchmen were roused under the awakening Spirit of God; the stereo- typed plates of memoriter preach- ing, melted in the glowing fur- nace fires of religious enthusiasm, gave place to tho inspiration of earnest, burning appeal. '1'he calmness and coldness of relig- ious custom and habit felt the mighty movements of a religious reformation, as a placid lake heaves before i he surging of a simoom, or the Red Sea swept toward the Arabian gulf when God blew upon the waters till they stood up as a heap.
Give us such earnestness and enthu siasm, even tho at times they overleap the bounds of a strict propriety, rather than the D. L. MOODY'S MOTHER AT NINETY.
coldness of apathy and the rigidness of insensibility. In the House of Lords culture and self- control are supposed to demand reticence and restraint, so that it is deemed coarse and vulgar for strong feeling to find vent in speech.
The church is coming to be too much pervaded with like notions, and strong emotions are r epressed and suppressed as out of fashion.
Every vital spiritual interest suffers thereby. We need emotion- overmastering feeling, and the cultivation of this philosophy of no feeling is fatal to even a holy vitality. Why should we be ashamed to have or to show deep feeling! The Master "wept," and, "being in an agony, sweat, as it were, great drops of blood!" "It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing." Men may sneer at it as fanaticism, but it is the only fit frame in which to think of, or to deal with, eternal interests and issues. Instead of avoiding we may well covet that passion for souls that beseeches God night and day with prayers, and entreats men night and day with tears-that bursts out in moving appeals, that can not keep silence, mind rules of rheto- ric, or be kept back by formal proprieties. Equity must not be lost in etiquette, nor Divine passion smothered by worldly fashion. Some men and some churches have so lost heat that they are frozen solid.
In Great Britain some twenty-five years ago, Mr. Varley said to Mr. Moody: "It remains for the world to see what the Lord can do with a man wholly consecrated to Ohrist." He afterward said to Mr. Varley: "Those were the words of the Lord through your lips to my soul." And so they were. He determined from that day that he would be wholly tlie Lord's, and prayed that God would in him make manifest how great things He would and could do for the salvation of souls. He has been a living proof of God's readiness to endue with power from on high, any disciple who will wholly surrender himself to His service. A fundamental article in our creed should be that the more honor put on the Holy Ghost as the sole source of converting power, the more honor he will put upou the instmment for the exercise and display of the power.
Another secret of Mr. Moody's success was found in promoting cooperation among disciples. He was wont to begin all revival efforts in seeking to arouse Ohristians. His motto was, first awaken disciples and then convert sinners. To get the Ohurch awaked ont of sleep, united in prayer and then in work, was the mode of his strategy. And he loved to see the flood-tide of spiritual power come in. sweeping away denominational fences and sectarian barriers, and making people of God forget everything but their oneness in Ohrist and their debt to a lost world. James Hamilton says, "When the tide is out each shrimp has its little pool; ocean rises, and olle pool joins another in the great sea – a }Tity the ebb should carry each back to his . pool! "
In every way a good general stimulates activity in believers, for to get ten men at work is better than to do the work of ten. Many who cry, "Alas, my leanness!" should cry, " Alas, my laziness!" Luther taught the Ohurch that" the jnst shall live by faith." God used Mr. Moody to teach ns that the just shall work by faith in the power of the Holy Ghost. His appeals to disciples were usually short and inCISIve. "Is this work God's work or the devil's? If Satan's, you ought to resist; if God's, you can not afford to stand idly by."
Mr. Moody aimed high, and made assaults on the gateways of hell. No small measure of usefulness contents an absorbed man. Like Oarey, such a man" asks great things of God and expects great things from God." On leaving America the second time for England, Mr. Moody set before him the winning of at least ten thousand souls, and he probably reached his cxpectations. Of course, he neglected no proper means. He believed in approaching everybody and in going everywhere. If Pandemonium had been accessible he would have gone there to hold meetings; and if it had been possible to set up an evan- gelistic tent in hell, he would have been glad to attempt it. Once, visiting the Romish bishop in Ohicago, he proposed that they close the interview with a prayer, without the least sensitiveness to the fact that
DWIGHT L. MOODY, THE EVANGELIST
in the eyes of that prelate he must have been quite outsiue of the "pale of salvation!"
His boldness showed itself in rebukes at times, as when, on one occasion in Chicago, a meeting was held to further a great benevolent project, and he reproved the avarice of a man of wealth who was praying Goel to show the way to raise the needed surn (about $1,200), remarking, somewhat brusquely, that it was absurd for a man worth half a million to ask God to move men to contribute.
George Muller once remarked to me that he foresaw that Mr. Moody was to be greatly used of Gou, because in his first visits to England he came to see him at Bristol, and exhibited such singular docility and humility. But it was not the humility of diffidence or morbid self-distrust. He was not lacking in a proper self-confidence, nor did he shrink, like Moses, from any work to which God called, or hesitate to appropriate a promise of Goll. His humility was that of dependence on God. IIe had learned that it is "not by might, nor by power," but by the Spirit of God, that all great results are secured, and he constantly urged men to be filled with the Spirit. It was perhaps to keep him humble that God had not given him the early advantage of a liberal education. Like Spurgeon, he was not a college-bred man, and he always felt his own lack of learning.
God has chosen what is weak in human eyes to work out his highest purposes. Noah was to his generation a madman and a fanatic. Joshua's method of taking Jericho by a big procession and a big blast on rams' horns, was a fool's way. Samson smote the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, and David slew the giant with a stone from a sling, and Gideon's three hundred routed Midian by a trumpet peal and light flashed from broken pitchers. All these displays of God's power we.re the more striking because the weakness of the men and the method was so manifest.
In all great results wrought in adrancing His Kingdom, the excellency of the power must be manifestly of God. 'fhe successful weapons are never carnal. The Lord saveth not by sword or spear, not by human might or power, not by the learning or the logic of the schools. 'fhe eloquence that wins men to Christ is that of the still small voice. And it is because very learned men are so prone to pride and selfconfidence, and because others are so prone to rely un such human instruments because they seem to them conspicuously fitted for influence, that God is compelled, in cho08ing his special servants, often to take those who are inferior in human eyes, that he may keep men from the idolatry of genius.
It is not necessary to be a fool in others' eyes, but it is neC"essaryto seem a fool in our own eyes, in order to be largely used by God. So long as we cleem ourselves mighty, capable of achieving success, God leaves us alone that we may by our failure discoyer our weakness. But
MR: MOODY'S nOME AT EAST NORTHFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.
so long as we heartily recognize all renl power to lift and save men to be of Him, He can use us as instruments or channels by which that power shall be exerted or conveyed.
Humility shows Its genuineness in the absence of all self-obtrusion. Some so-called revivalists begin their labors in such a manner as to remind one of Virgil's hero: "I am the pious .!Eneas!" The consciousness of weakness and consequent self-distrust have been most manifest in Mr. Moody during the years of his greatest snccesses; in proportion to his self-distrust has been his degree of efficiency. In attempting work in Britain, his fear was that the eyes of many might be turned to him, and so far taken off from the living God. And so he sought in every way, by personal and pnblic appeal, to prevent leaning on an arm of flesh. The man sought to be lost sight of in his message; in fact, in many cases, so plain, simple, and unartistic was the method of his presentation of truth that, like light coming through a pane of glass, the medium of transmission was not apparent. Often the dnreflecting and critical would say, "there is nothing in his address." Yes; but us some one has replied, " only eternity can show how much came out of £t ! "
Mr. Moody could have had no success, if he had not believed in and preached the pure Gospel. God has in him illustrated" the power of the Cros~, even when the truth of the Gospel is put before men by a man who is neither an ordained preacher nor an educated n"an. He had a simple aim and a Gospel message-he songht for souls and planned to reach them. He exalted Christ, and like Dr. James Alexander, made" much of the Blood."
DWIGHT L. MOODY, THE EVANGELIST
He believed in singing the Gospel–using sacred song to impress the truth on men, attracting attention, and awakening sensibility. He sang, before prea0hing, to break up fallow ground, antI soften the soil for the sowing of the seed; he sang, after preaching, to water the seed sown, and help give it permanent impression and deep root.
The Ohurch of God is slow to appreciate the power of "spiritual songs," songs which embody and express spiritual themes and truths, thoughts and emotions; songs through which as channels the Holy Ghost conveys spiritual life and power. There went to Britain two men: one with a Bible, and the other with a hymn book. One spake, the other sang, both prayed, and the truth which when spoken reached the head alld touched the heart, was by the usc of Gospel song borne deeper into the heart so that the will was determined for God.
The power of these songs depends on no lyrical excellence, for some of them are strikingly defective; in some there is little poetry, ancl even less melody. But when the aim which guides both the preaching and singing is to lead souls to accept the Gospel, the preaching, praying, singing, become so many rays, converging in one burning and melting focus. God always blesses singleness of aim. He al10ws His rays to be brought into this focal center. When singing is too artistic, art is its obvious encl, but when plainly not for display, but for Gospel effect, like David's harp, it drives away the spirit of evil.
Mr. Moody said more than once, "The secret of Mr. Sankey's success and mine is that we have stood fair and square on the Bible truth of the Atonement-substitution-that is what a dying world needs."
At Liverpool, anum bel' of ministers heckled him, some saying that he was putting temperance in the place of the Gospel, others wishing to know what he thought of the ordinances and sacraments. Still others asked his creed, to which question he replied, "My creed may be found in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah." His own dependence on the blood of Ohrist and his confidence in the great fact of vicarious atonement may be illustrated by his own comparison.
Frontier men, when prairies are burning, set fire to the part near them and stand on that, so that when the flames approach them they may hllve nothing to feed on, and die for lack of fuel. So we are safe when we stand on Calvary, for over that the fire has swept. Christ has slain my three great enemies of whom I always used to stand in fear: Sin, Death, and Judgment.
There can be no doubt that men instinctively feel their deepest wants and cravings met by such preaching, and cases are not lacking in which <' 'en Romish priests have been led to a new life in Ohrist by hearing these great truths plainly presented.
No man can preach a pure Gospel without elevating the blessed Word, for what is that but the mirror in which Ohrist is seen? In
the great Chicago fire of October, 1871, Mr. Moody lost everything "but his reputation and his Bible," and to save that, he would willingly have lost much beside. For more than it year preceding he had been entering as never before into the secret things of God in Bible stud y. He was led to a diligent and constant investigation of its precious truths, habitually rising at fi ve o'clock, and sometimes even at four, that he might uninterruptedly pursue his prayerful exploration into these hidden depths. The veil that had hitherto concealed the holiest place seemed rent in twain, and the secret things of God were made clear and plain. Everywhere he saw new truth, and above all, Christ. The Bishop of Manchester's fears were g roundless when he expressed his apprehension during Mr. Moody 's meetings in that city that "the people would acquire a craving for stimulatin g MR. MOODY 'S DlDLE. RESCUED FRO M THI£: CHlCAGO to'UU: . OPEN AT JOHN III : 16.
food, to the neglect of the wholesome dIet of prayer, communion with God, and earnest Bible stud y."
We must not forget the prominence of the (Iofter -meetin,q in Mr. Moody's work. lIe always insisted on prompt decision, like White· fi eld, laying great stress on instant, visible, and decisive action. In a large gathering a t Birmingham, England, after a forcible sermon, opportunity was usually given for those who were desirous of bein g made subjects of prayer to rise. No one responded. " Is there not one soul in this vast assembly that wants to be a Ch ristian ?" said Mr. Moody. On t he outskirts of the audience one young girl rose, trembling and weeping bitterly. "Tnank God fo r one!" shouted the evangelist, and instantly from two hundred t o three hundred jumped to their feet, who hail been only waiting for some one to be bold enough to lead the way.
In urging souls to a decision, there is a true philosophy. Clay must be molded in its plastic stat'e, the tree bent in the sapling, the
DWIGHT L. MOODY, THE EVANGELIST
seal impressed on the warm wax, and the iron shaped at the white heat. Why do we not so deal with men? Preaching is meant to soften-to create conviction, kindle sensibility and emotion, and so mold the will. The pulpit should be the furnace where a fire burns, lit from God's altar, fed with the fuel of God's truth and man's own soul, consumed by its own heat. And into that flame of zeal for Christ and love for men the hearer is to be thrust and held until he also is at white heat. Then is the time for the blow! The awakened soul should be put on the anvil, and the hammer of resolve should give new shape. In every audience there are some who can live in the very fires of revival, like salamanders, and feel no heat; but there are others who, if helped at the right time, would decide for God. But if we lose hold on them then, the devil will not.
The day is at hand when the after-meeting will be held to be essential to all true, converting preaching, and provision will be made in every well-regulated preaching service for bringing men to a decisive step, as a salesman displays his goods and then seeks to drive a bargain with his customer. The difficulty is fundamental, whenever we do not e.vpect immediate results, and so preach with reference to them. Were souls awakened so that the Pentecostal inquiry should be heard, " What shall we do ?" not a few modern ministers would be surprised, and some, in their bewilderment, might be found inquiring, "And what shall '/De do?" Mr. Finney, in his autobiography, gives us a sadly amusing anecdote of a young man who observed that, while his own ministry was barren of results, his ministerial neighbor had a continual harvest. Meeting him one day, and wondering whether, if he borrowed his sermon to preach to his people, the Lord might not use it for increasing the fruitfulness of his field, he took one of these burning Gospel appeals and actually delivered it in his own pulpit. It was a sermon made for the very purpose, and with the expectation of bringing sinners face to face with their duty to God. And at the close of service he saw that many were deeply affected and even weeping. Whereupon he made a profound apology, saying he hoped he had not hurt their feelings, for he did not intend it!
In Mr. Moody's career of usefulness as an evangelist, God has shown us that the non-church-going masses are best reached by a free, plain house of assembly, in which the poorest can feel at home, and have the Gospel without money and without price. No candid, reflecting mind can well avoid or evade the conviction, that the large free tabernacles erected in the great cities where his greatest work has been done were inseparable from his success. And the discovery is no new one. Wesley and Whitefield were driven from the churches into the open fields, where they addressed at once a gathering equal to the entire adult population of a small city. Mr. Spurgeon accomplished the most colossal church work of the century, going from a
ROUND TOP-THE RESTlNGwpLACE OF MR. MOODY'S BODY.
small London chapel, first into the largest of the metropolitan halls, and then into a free tabernacle, accommodating five or six thousand.
'1'he whole Christian world owes to Mr. Moody a debt of gratitude, so far as he has kindled to a brighter flame faith in the living God as the hearer of prayer. No great spiritual reformation or revolution was ever known, which was not preceded by earnest supplication. Edwards' sermon on U Sinners in the hands of an angry God," produced an effect, absolutely without historic parallel in modern times. It was never known until afterward, that thc whole night, JJreViOl£8 to the delivery of that sermon, was spent by the devout officers of his church in prayer for the power of the Spirit.
The last two campaigns conducted by :aIr. Moody in New York were remarkable for the interest aroused and the permanent results manifested. In connection with the Carnegie Hall meetings in 1897, the interest was so great that a special committee was appointed to follow up the 2,000-3,000 persons who sent in their names as desiring to be Christians. These inquirers were found to be from all classes and conditions, and hundreds of them not only confessed Christ, but became faithful church members and active Christian workers.
An incident, which happened during Mr. Moody's last journey home from Kansas City, shows how far-reaching and permanent were the results of these evangelistic meetings. The train was delayed by an accident to the engine, and much time was lost west of Detroit. As they were leaving that city, the new engineer sent back to find out if it were true that D. L. Moody was ill on board. Learning that he was, the engineer sent word, "Tell Mr. Moody that I will do my best to make up the lost time. All I am, I owe to him. He led me to Christ twenty years ago." The train ran the next 127 miles in as many minutes. It was all the engineer could do to show his gratitude, but the testimony was one of thousands which might be borne to Mr. Moody's faithful preaching of Christ and Him crucified.-D. L. P.
GOOD RESULTS FROM THE ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE
GOOD HESULTS HOPED FOR FRO~f TIlE ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE.
A POSTAL CARD SY.:IPOSIUM.
A note addressed to representatives of several missionary societies, asking a "point or two" Oil the anticipated good. results of the Ecumenical Conference, April, 1900, has brought prompt and sharply accentuated responses from which it gives us gratification to quote. There was not a doubtful hint in the entire communications. They all have the ring of assurance and triumph. The leaders sec victory, and the rest of the army feel the" swing of conquest." The presence of some two thousand representatives of the missionary forces of Protestant Christendom was said to be assured at the close of 1899, and it is possible that this number may be swelled to three thousand. If gratitude is "thankfulness for favors to come," as it has wittily been described, we can already be thankful. That is not all. There never was more need for anything than there is for humility, and the most instant prajer for the Divine blessing, that the greatest good may come to every phase of the missionary work. 'l'here is no international organization of erangelieals which would render it the duty of any ecclesiastic to appoint a clay of prayer for thiB assembly; but as Jesus Christ presides ill his own parliament, and the nations find themselves governed by law they do not formulate, so the Church universal has a head, and the Spirit of God will move earnest Chris-. tians to pray for this conferenee.~[EDITORS.] REV. ,TLDSOS S'IITH, D.D.
Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign lIissions, and Chairman of the General Committee of the Ecumenica! Conference.
"I hope that the conference will make a deep and abiding impression upon the general Christian public in America as to the breadth and strength and success of the foreign missionary enterprise of the day. I shall bc disappointed if there is not a marked change in the public estimate of missions and missionaries, of the forces that arc massed in the prosecutioll of the missionary enterprise, and of the wide reach of its influence, as a result of the great gathering of next April."
REI'. S. L. BALDWIN, D.D.
Secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Board, anel General Secretary of the General Committee of the Ecumenical Conference.
"I expect from the Ecumenical Missionary COllference a great impetus to the missionary spirit and zeal of the churches, a vast amount of valuable information, a demonstration of the unity of our Protestant· Christianity, and a concentration of the energies of the Church by wise counsel and mutual cooperation, based on some sensible plan. The world for Christ in the twentieth century! "
REV. HENRY N. COBB, D.D. Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America, and Chairman of the Executive Committee of ihe Conference.
"If I were to sum up all in one sentence I should say, a hetter understanding of the work of missions in its foundation principles, policies, and practise, and its more vigorous prosecution throughout the world.
" If I were permitted to mention even a few particulars, I would say: "1. The solemn reaffirmation of the Divine authority, Scriptural basis, and spiritual nature of the work, in distinction from, tho not as opposed to, its social, educational, and humanitarian aspects and results. These, also, I should hope would be clearly shown. "2. The impressive demonstration and promotion of the real unity in spirit, aim, and effort of the Christian Church in aU its branches, in its prosecution. "3. The discussion, and valuable contributions to the solution, of some of the difficult problems yet remaining; c. g., mission comity, the self-support of native churches, etc., etc. "4. The enthronement of the missionary idea and enterprise, as summed up in our Savior's last command, in the heart of the Church and of the individual Christian as never before. "5. A distinct, determined, and (may I not say?) tremendous for- ward movement. "There are many other directions in which I hope 'good' will 'come out of this conference,' but these seem to me the most im- portant. If these are attained the good will bc incalculable. If not, I shall be tempted to wish it had never been proposed." – REV. J. TAYLOR HAMILTON. Director of the Society for Propagation of the Gospel (Moravian Church).
"For my part I hope that the apathy of many in the Church at home may be aroused through the facts placed before the public by the representatives of the various missions, and that among workers in the field itself denominational comity may be further promoted through the resolutions of the Ecumeni,cal Conference."
REV. A. SGTHERLAND, D.D. General Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Church in Canada.
"As the outcome of the Ecumenical Missionary Conference, I anticipate: 1. A manifestation of the oneness of Protestant Chris- tianity. 2. A better understanding of missionary problems. 3. Prac- tical development of missionary comity. 4. A wider recognition of Christian stewardship. 5. A great exodus of missionaries to the foreign field; and, G. A mighty spiritual uplift throughout all the 'churches.
REV. W. DUDLEY POWERS, D.D. General Secretary American Church Missionary Society.
"I expect the folh)wing results; First, The development of
GOOD RESULTS FROM THE ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE
a happy policy in missionary fields. Second, Device of some means by which there may be prevented the duplication of missionaries and missions by different denominations in the same localities. 'fhird, The presentation to the people at large of the need in the mission fields, so that there will be generated a greater enthusiasm, a larger generosity, and a more decided identity."
REV. J. J. S"[;"XMERBELL. l1issionary Department American Christian Convention; Editor of The Herald of Gospel L,berty.
" I hope the coming Ecumenical Conference will do good in imparting to indifferent Christians information on mission work that will stimulate them to lend a hand; it will encourage missionaries, by exhibiting to themselves the magnitude and heroism of the work they are doing; it will impress sinners with the mighty strength of the organized forces of the Gospel; and it will bind together the followers of Jesus with more tender bonds of love."
REV. A. :McLEAN. Secretary Foreign Christian Missionary Society.
"I expect the Ecumenical Missionary Conference to so emphasize the infinite neea of the non-Christian worla, and to so lay the claims of the same on the hearts and consciences of Christian people everywhere, that they will greatly increase the force of workers on the field, and greatly increase the contributions for their support." .
REV, W. L. CLARKE, D.D. President Seventh Day Baptist Thfissionaty Society.
"I hope, First, That the trend of the Conference may lead us to look to Jesus for help in time of need, for without Him we 'can do nothing'
"Second, That the words of those who abide with Christ may give to the Conference a spiritual uplift, imparting new hopes, holier inspirations, and wiser plans for future work."
RE'. tl. H. CHESTER, D.D. Secretary Foreign Missions of Presbyterian Chnrch (Southern).
"One great good I hope to see come out of the Ecumenical Missionary Conference is a better understanding on the part of our horne boards of many of the questions with which we have to deal oftentimes with an insufficient knowledge of the situat.ion to enable us to aeal with them wisely. But the greatest good I hope for from it is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church and on the worla, in answer to the prayers of unitea Christendom that will be offered under the inspiration of the meeting."
REV. ARTUGR GIVEN, D.D. Secretary General Conference Free Baptists.
"I hope that the great Ecumenical Conference will, to some extent, arrest the attention of Christian people; give them in concrete form some idea of the marvelous work already dOlle, the world-wide
opportunities, and lead to some adequate supply of money with which to carryon the most magnificent enterprise of all the ages."
BISHOP WILLIAM NICHOLSON, D.D. Reformed Episcopal Church.
"The approaching Ecumenical Conference will be, I can not but think, of phenomenal importance and influence. Besides the splendor of so vast an assemblage of the representatives of God's people the world over, it will have the following practical results: "1. It will illustrate the essential oneness of all true Christians, that all who are born of God and are accepted in the blood and righteousness of Christ, however they may differ in subordinate matters, have in them the same heart-beats of spiritual life, the same sublime outreaching of love for the salvation of a ruined world. This will be a sight to see.
"2. It will quicken and enlarge the spirit of missionary enterpris e Each coal of fire will join its radiations to those of every other, alid a holy flame of God.-given zeal will enlighten anu warm the granu assembly.
"3. Beyond doubt, its various deliberations will clarify and illustrate the great question of the modes of missionary work, illumining many a dark problem; and thus give both impulse and direction to the Church's divine mission.
"4. It may thus prove to be, by God's blessing, a great step forward in' hastening t~ advent of the day of God,' when the Lord Jesus shall have His glotious epiphany, and His kingdom, ill the fulness of his glory, shall be inaugurated in the earth. Laus Dco."
REV. F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D. Secretary Presbyterian Board of Foreign lI1issions.
"Ill my opinion, the chief good to be derived by our American churches from the Ecumenical Council will be the new impression gained of the vastness of this work. Our churches have, perhaps, to a great extent, measured it by the operations of their own particular denomination. A second benefit will be the uniting in closer bonds of the friends of missions in this country with those of Great Britain and the Continent. We shall present a nobler front. A third advantage will be a better acquaintance with the variety of operations, to quote a New Testament phrase-the many lines of work, the widely_ scattered fields, the complexity of administration, etc., etc. The discussions from day to day will be a revelation on these points."
HEv. GEORGE SCHOLL, D.D. Secretary Board Foreign Missions Evangelical Lutheran Church.
"The little boy that amused himself, legitimately, with a tin horse and wagon, pet guinea pigs, and a paper boat, floated in the bath-tub, has grown up to a man's size; but havmg failed to 'put away childish things' he still continues to amuse him.self with his
GOOD RESULTS FROM THE ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE
tallyho coach, private yacht, and fast horseR, on which he spends time, the value of which can bo measured only by eternity; and money that runs up into the millions, while the world of humanity, groping in darkness, is stumbling down into death for the want of a book and a teacher that can not be sent because of the lack of a few hundred dollars.
"My hope and prayer is that the great gathering of God's prophets and teachers from all parts of the world next spring will arrest the attention of at least some of those who are now busy exploiting the world's wealth for their own personal gratification, and set them in the way of aiding in tIle great work of rescuing the heathen world from the darkness of sin and death, and building up the kingdom of God in the earth. We already have the Student Volunteer Movement, but what we most need now is a business man's volunteer movement for foreign mISSIOns. May we not hope that such a movement will be one of the good results of the Ecumenical Conference?"
REV. J. W. LAUGHLIN, D.D. Secretary Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Missions.
"1. I hope to see presented at the Ecumenical Conference, in an unmistakable way, the supreme and determining aim of mission work.
"2. I hope the work of world-wide evangelization will be so presented as to leave no doubt in the minds of the people as to the relative importance of the different agencies in accomplishing the work.
"3. I hope such an intelligent enthusiasm will be engendered as to send from the conference, pastors alld delegates so thoroughly alive to the possibilities within the reach of the Church as to compel a redoubling of effort among the people."
REV. W. W. BARR, D.]). Secretary Board Foreign Missions United Presbyterian Church.
"First, The Conference can not but make a profound impression on the world by the number attending it, and the extent of its representation. Every foreign missionary board or society in Protestant Christendom has been invited to send delegates. Almost without exception these have accepted the invitation. The result will be that not less than 3,000 delegates will be present. These will come- from every part of this wide world. The Conference will, therefore, be the largest and most ecumenical that has ever represented the Church in all the ages of Christianity.
"Second, The information given in the Conference in regard to mission fields, methods, work, and results, will be greater than in any missionary assembly ever held. The volumes that will contain the proceedings will be a thesaurus of the richest mission treasures.
"Third, The enthusiasm of this meeting, which will review a century of missions, will be a mighty stimulus to the Church to go forward into the opening twentieth century with zeal that has never
been witnessed, to bring Christ to every people and tongue on the face of the earth."
REV. HENRY C. )IABIE, D.D. secretary of the American Baptist Missionary union.
".My hope for the Ecumenical Conferencc is that it will awaken a deeper realization on the part of the people of the United States that there is a world yet pagan outside of America that is worth saving, and through the self-same Gospel which alone has made us to differ from them."
HEY. H. J. WILLINGHAM, D.D. Secretary Foreign )lission Board Southern Baptist Convention.
" I believe that the Ecumenical Conference will be a great blessing in many ways. The thousands who are privileged to attend will be awakened to new interest, and even enthusiasm, as they are brought in contact with the consecrated workers, and hear of the gracious work that is going on in all portions of the earth. Hundreds of thousands will be awakened through the information which will be sent out, and this Conference will draw the attention of millions to the great work of world-wide evangelization as no other meeting has ever done. Satan wants stagnation in God's work, and hcnce formalism has too much abounded in our churches. God's people need information, agitation, and consecration. I believe this great Conference will furnish the information which will quicken many hearts. The coming together of so many workers will awaken new inspiration.
"Of course, great good will come also from thc discussion of the problems connected with the mission work. .May the Holy Spirit take possession of the meeting, and make it a pentecost indeed."
REV. ROBERT E. SPEER. Secretary of the Board Foreign Missions Presbyterian Church.
"We hope for four things among many from the Ecumenical Conference: First: A new emphasis on the missionary obligation inherent in Christian discipleship, to the effect that a man can not accept Christ for himself without incurring the responsibility of giving Christ to his brothers. Second: A clear statement to the people who look through rosy glasses at the world, of the real sin and loss of men 'and nations who are without Christ. Third: A new revelation of the work missions are doing in changing character of individuals, the morals and politics of nations, and the customs of society. Fourth: A new indication to the Church of the purpose of her existence, and the glory of her mi£sion; not as a place for spiritual pleasure and cultivation, but as a force for human service and salvation."
)IH. JOHN W. WOOD. Corresponding Secretary Elect of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
"I hope that these results will follow the meeting of the Ecumenical Conference in New York: "1. The missionary enterprise in its widest meaning may become a
J CHINESE TURKESTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS. !l9
reality to thousands of persons to whom it is at present only lin unreal and incidental feature of Christian activity. 'rho assembling of many men and women from many lands, for the disoussion of missionary work, contact with living men and women who have given themselves to missionary work, and a oandid oonsideration of real and pressing problems of missionary effort ought to bring about this result.
"2. That, as a necessary oonsequence, the immense resources of this city-boundless energy, business daring, commercial sagacity, great wealth, readiness to make a praotioal response to a need whose reality is onco understood, by gi ving both financial aid and personal service and spiritual power-may bo devoted as never beforo to the extension of the kingdom of God among men."
CIIINESE 'rURKESTAK A~D ITS INlIABI'I'ANTS.
BY L. E. HOGBERG, KASHGAH, EASTE]{X TL:RKE8TAX. ::'t1issionary of th0 Swedish ~Iissionary Society_ Chinese 'l'nrkestan is situated in Contral Asia. It is the most westerly province of the vast Chinoso dominion, and may be roached by one of three roads. Ono of these runs from Central China, 011e from India via the Himalayas, an.d another from Asiatic Russia via the Tian Shan, a branch of the mountains of Pamir. For Swedish missionaries the last is, of course, the shortest, cheapest, and most convenient. But even at best tho road is long amI hard to travel. 'Vhon the railway is completed botween Samarcand and Margelan tho journey will be much easier.
Tho journey on horseback over the mountains between Osoh and Kashgar is most interesting, but most diffioult. Ono must cross some ranges of mountains which reach an elevation of from 11,800 to 13,200 feet, and many times the road is very narrow, with a mountain on one side and a precipice on the other. Kature in this part of Asia is wilel and grand. The Russian side of the mountains is more or less covered with verdure shrubs, and trees are to be seen here and thero; but tho Chinese side is barren and desolate. During spring and sum mol' tho traveler must frequently ford large rivers, often at tho risk of his lifo. Some of these rivers rush along with great violence, c~rrying with them stones and mud, while their roar is heard for miles aronnd. Another danger to travelers is the avalanches of SIlOW, whioh sometimes overwhelm them in narrow mountain passes.
Kashga'r appears to the traveler like an oasis in the wilderness. The sterile mountains and the grayish yellow "luss" give way to a rich vegetation. Wherever an artificial irrigation can be produoed mo~t of the cereals and fruits thrive. '1'0 make this irrigation possible
OFF ICIALS Olo~ EASTE RN TURKEST.AN AT KASHGAR.
The shenguan (mayor) is seated in the center and is" Cbinese; the begs (Moslem oIDcisls) wear caps and tbe sbaiks (Moslem religious leaders) wear turban•.
the water is led from the rivers throngh canals into the fields, which are divided into small square terraces. 'frees are planted along the canals, and the country is made to look like a garden. But there is not the abundance of bright flowers and beautiful lawns which are so often seen in Europe. When the crops have been harvested and the artificial irrigation 'ceases, the ground soon becomes parched and desolate.
A large natural basin is formed by the Tian Shan mouutains Oll the north, the Pamirs on the west, and the Indian and Tibetan ranges on the south. In the midst of this basin lie Tarim and the desert of Takla-makan. Some rivers and several small streams flow from thes0 mountains, but only the largest reach the lake, Lop Nor. The cultivated country thus forms a wreath around the desert, above which rises a protecting wall of the snow-capped mountains. These mountains do not lack in mineral wealth treasures. Iron, copper, coal, sulphur, and petroleum are found in them, and gold, which is also washed from the beds of the rivers. The country generally consists of deserts and jungles, in comparison with which the cultivated portion is but a fragment. The towns and villages located in the desert show that the country has previously been more populous than it is at present, and it may have been much more fertile. The climate is healthful, and the water generally seems to be good for drinking purposes; but in some places, as in YUl'kund and Khotan, t1e goiter is very common.
The inhabitants of Chinese Turkestan consist of a Mongolian- Tl"rtaric tribe, and there are besides Kirghizes and Chinesel Kash-
1900.J CHINESE TURKESTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS
mirians, Hindus, and some few Europeans. The government is in the hands of the Chinese, whose politic power and ability is not to be despised. As a rule the Chinese do not learn the language of the natives, and consequently the begs (Moslem officials) serve as the eyes, ears, and tongues of the Chinese. The religious leaders are called shaiks (high priests), and imams (local priests). Those who can read and write are called lIlollahs.
The condition of the people is similar to that of the Jews under the Roman government in the time of Christ. They are not as intellectual as the Persians, and, since the criminals are less cunning, life and property are more secure than in Persia.
Here there is little of that terrible struggle for existence which marks lands of extreme poverty. The rich man lives in ease and luxury, surrounded by his harem, but sluggishness and idleness are the characteristics of the poor. Having gathered some mulberries, they sell them, buy bread, and having regaled themselves upon it, they go to rest on a dung-hill. They take llbsolutely no thought for the following day, nor have the slightest ambition to rise from their low condition.
CARAVAN GOING OVER A PASS IN EASTERN TURKESTAN.
'rhe chief amusements of the people are their feasts. In the summer these are held in the gardens, and during the winter in the houses. 'l'hey have various kinds of societies formed chiefly for this purpose. Some are religious, and meet to read and discuss the saered books of their ancestors, say their prayers, but chiefly to eat enormously. Others are musical, and spend part of their time playing simple instruments, drinking brandy, and eating, playing at cards, dancing, ::md singing. The dervishes drink a decoction of hemp-seed, and likewise smoke hemp until they become intoxicated. After having fallen in an ecstasy, they begin singing, panting, jumping, dancing, and praying. But they, too, come together chiefly to eat.
At the birth of a boy there is usually great rejoicing; but when a girl comes into the world sorrow reigns. A marriage without children is regarded as a calamity, and is considered a sufficient cause for the husband to give the wife a writing of divorcement. Babies spend their lives in a cradle, and are sel<1om taken up ill the arms. Many a poor chiLl is frozen to death in winter because of its being left alone, tied up in its baby basket. III summer the little ones run naked until they reach eight 01' ten years of age. In winter the dress consists of wide trousers, a shirt with long sleeves, a coat lined with cotton, and a fur cap. The feet are protected against heat and cold by a kind of leather socks with soles. With very slight variation this dress is worn by men, women, and children.
In the city children of both sexes begin to go to school rather early, but the instruction is so poor that very few have learned to read and write, even when they have attended school for five or six years. Instead of a spelling-book, they use a piece of board on which the mollah writes the characters, or the passage of the Koran which the child is expected to learn.
Young men are expected to he married in their sixteenth or seventeenth year, and the girl at ten or thirteen. For some time before her marriage the girl must remain in the house, put on a veil, etc. Here is an account of a marriage ceremony told by a native woman: I was twelve years old. The friends of my mother and of my intended had settled the preliminaries of marriage. I knew nothing about it. One day a man arrived, bringing with him rice, flour, a sheep, clothes, etc., and then a great feast was prepared. I was peeling carrots, and this being finished, I ran into the garden, playing with my comrades. We were just running into the street when my brother gave me a severe blow on my ear. Upon c'omplaining to my mother, she said that it did not suit me going on to play in that way when itwas my wedding day. Hearing this, I began to cry bitterly. The guests were assembled, and I was clad as a bride. The mollah, being in another room, had already asked my intended whether he would marry me, and now it was my turn to be questioned. 'Vhen, not saying a word, he repeated his question again and again, until I mnst whisper my "makol" (yes, or accepted). The
cHINEsE) TURKESTAN AND tTS lNHA13ITANTs
day after I and one of my playmates mounted a horse and went to the home of my husband, where the marriage festivities were continued. :My husband was thirty-two years old.
The treatment which these little girls receive at the hands of their husbands can be better imagined than described. How they feel Wh8:1 the second, third, and fourth wives are brought into the house, can only be known by those who have had similar experiences. What it means to the wife when she is driven from home and children by her husband is indescribable. But it should be added that in many cases tho women are as bad as the men.
I know of no country or people among whom the family bonds are A MARKET SCENE IN KASHGAR1 CHINESE TURKESTAN.
more lightly regarded than hero Islam is chiefly to blame for such conditions. The permission of the Koran to practise polygamy is more faithfully observed than are the restrictions of the false prophet. One of our neighbors told ns that he had taken thirty-two wives; others have taken as many as two hundred. If a Moslem has not more than fonr wives at one time, he is obeying the law, and has a good conscience. Besides these wives who, as articles of merchandise, are going from one man to another, there is a class of still mure fallen women, and in consequence venereal diseases are quite prevalent in this country.
When these people have performed, accorJing to their law, their custom of purification, said their prayers, and kept rarnazan (the month
of fasting, when they fast by day, and gormandize by night), they carry their heads high, with great self-righteousness. '1'hen they consider themselves the most clean and holy people in the world, and look down with contempt even on other Moslems, not to mention the " infidels." Where vice is looked upon as a virtue, a people sin ks down to the depths, and its destruction is certain. This is a dying nation.
The Swedish Missionary Society has been permitted to establish a mission in this country, and during the winter of 1891, Mr. N. }!'. Haijer, and a converted :lVIohammedan from Turkey, Yoh Aveteraujans, came to Kashgar. A few days later Mr. Haijer returned, leaving Aveteraujans alone until the writer and his family, Miss Anna Nystrom_and Yosef, a Persian, arrived here in July, 1894. In the summer of 1896 Mr. Raguette, with his wife, and Mr. Baeklund arrived, sent out by the same society.
The work which is being carried on is especially of a }weparatory character. Four Gospels have now been translated and printed in the Kashgarian language-an important step for the mission. '1'he whole New Testament is translated, but has not yet been printed. This work was done by Yohannes Aveteraujans. We have now two stations-one in Kashgar, and one in Yarkaud. At both these we have also medical work, with it store of drugs and some surgical instruments. Several thousand patients have been treated and relieved of sufferings.
By means of conversations, daily meetings, and tours to other villages ',and towns, we seek to sow the Word of Life. The visible fruits of the mission work are thus far, two young men who have confessed their faith in Christ. During eight months they have come daily for instruction. They have learned to read, and have shown much perseverance and zeal, and are living upright, mOl'allives. We believe that the Lord has given them as first-fruits, the earnest of larger harvests of those who shan believe in Christ, and become partakers with us in the blessings of the Gospel.
THE EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM IN JAPAN.* BY REV. IRVIN H. CORRELL, D.D. Methodist Episcopal Mission, Japau.
The attitude which the Japanese government is taking through its millister of education is attracting III nch attention, and has been made the occasion for rather severe criticism. In order that we may have correct ideas concerning this all-important question, and not misjudge the government of the sunrise kingdom in this respect, it is necessary for us to remember a few. facts.
* This article has been furnished by Dr. Correll by request. There is about it a flavor of audi alte1'am partem. The italics are ours.-EDITORS.
THE EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM IN JAPAN
We should not forget that Japan is not, in any sense of the term, a Christian nation. It is by no means a secret that it is not an easy matter to have and retain in state institutions and public schools such conditions as purely religious people feel to be highly important and desirable for the education of our young men and women in one of the greatest and most decided Christian nations in the world. Only a short time ago the superintendent of schools in the city of Chicago issued an order, forbidding the reading of Kipling's" Recessional" to the scholars of the Chicago public schools, because it indirectly teaches things about God. 'rhis is done in a land which prides itself in its public schools, and is recognized as one of the leading Christian· nations. .
The Christian constituency in Japan numbers about 120,000, of which 54,000 are Roman Catholics, 25,000 are Greek Catbolics, and 41,000 are Protestants. This is about one in every three hundred and fifty of the population who makes any profession of Christianity.
These three divisions of Christians are greatly at variance with each other, not only as to teaching, but also as to method of propagandism.
Altho the Buddhists are spoken of as being moribund, they have, during the past ten or fifteen years, shown a wonderful degree of activity, and, altho we have faith to believe that their death is sure to come, the day for their funeral has by no means been fixed, and the government of .Japan must deal with conditions as they are, and not with what may be some time in the future. It is, therefore, compelled in all its councils of state to retnember, wherever the interests of religion in any way are concerned, that there are present in their country various bodies of religionists who are, to say the least, at variance with each other, if not in a state of direct hostility to each other. It scarcely seems just to censure the government in its effort to prevent the occasion- for strife and discord in its schools from this source, for if one body of these religionists is admitted none can be prohibited according to the constitution. Those of us who were in Japan in the earlier days, earnestly desired and prayed for the com- plete separation of church or religion and state, and we felt that the final blow had been struck when, in 1889, his majesty, the emperor, promulgated the constitution which granted religious freedom. In the following year there were great changes effected in the adminis- tration of affairs, and it was generally understood that the govern- ment disapproved of, if it did not positively prohibit, the teaching of religion of any kind in its schools. The disposition of the govern- ment in this respect was clearly seen in that the curriculum which it demanded should be taught in its own schools and those which it recognized, gave no place whatever for religious teaching, so that said teaching, if done at all, had to be done at extra hours. Several of the governors issued orders prohibiting religious teaching in the pub-
lic schools of the prefects which were nnder their control, giving plain evidence by so doing that this was in accord with the policy of the central government.
It is undonbtedly true that for some years past the government has tried more and more to get control of all the educational institutions in the country, not by prohibiting the existence or opening of private schools, but by granting special advantages to government schools which were denied to the private institutions, under which class the mission schools were included. It was thought that private schools might receive some of these advantages if they would apply to the government for recognition as an educational institution, and promise to adopt the government curriculum which was prescribed by the educational department, which a number of missionaries believed actually precluded all religious teaching. Some of the advantages granted the government institutions, which were denied the private schools, were exemption from the conscription laws for the students and admission to the higher institutions by certificate from the lower. Some of the mission schools made application for and received such recognition. They, however, continued their religious teaching to a degree at least, and we have not heard that the government interfered in any case. It has, however, been suggested that there may be some connection between the late deliverances of the minister of education and the conduct of these schools. It should be said that there 'Was not a 1tnanimit.1J of feeling among the missl:onaries as to the adVIsability of applying for this government l'ecogm:tion under the cIrcumstances, and experience has proven that the advantages pained in the maj01'ity of cases l'eally amounted to nothing.
The difficulties that have recently arisen are not because the government has issued any laws affecting the situation, but because of the instructions of the minister of education. The regulations recently promulgated by the government contain no reference to the teaching of religion in priva,te schools. The only regulation affecting Christian work is No. VIII, which says," Excepting private schools used as substitutes for public institutions of the kind, no private school may admit a child of school age who has not yet undergone the obligations of schooling." The" obligations of schooling" are between the ages of six and thirteen. The day-schools under the control of some of the lady missionaries fire affected by this, but it is not an entirely new question to them. The possibility of having their dayschools recognized as "substitutes" is evident; but if they have them thus recognized, no religious teaching will be allowed, and they are thus entirely secularized. Several of these schools have been closed.
Several months ago much fear was entertained that, in accord with a petition from the higher educational council, the government would issue regulations prohibiting all religious teaching in all the private
schools. The higher educational council is composed of the most prominent educators in the empire, all of whom arc, of course, con- nected with the government schools. It is a cause for gratitude that this was not done. The only reference made to religious teaching, as has already been intimated, is by the minister of education, who has issued the following instructions: It being essential from the standpoint of educational policy to make the work of general education entirely separate from religion, in government and communal institutions, and in others whose curriculum is determined by law, it shall not be allowed, even at extra hours, to give religious teaching or perform religious ceremonies.
These instructions are not based upon any recent enactments of the government, but upon the opinions of some of those who have to do with the educational affairs of the empire at this time. They indi- cate the present attitude of the educational department, but how long the present minister of education may remain in power, and what changes may be brought about if a more liberally-minded man should become his successor, we, of course, can not tell. It will be noticed that the instructions refer only to the government schools, and such of the private schools which adopt the curriculum of the educational department, and receive government recognition, which brings them under government control, or the control of the educational department. It does not affect in the least the private schools which remain simply as private schools, as the m£ssion schools all were ~tntil a few years ago, when some of them received government recoguition. They can now as private schools adopt the cU1'riculwn of the depal'tment of edu- cation, and in connec#on with that teach all the religion they choose, 01' they can have a curriculum of tlteir oUJn chooszng, with wldelt tlte government will not tnterfel'e in the least. Thm'l' gradnates can be received into the higher institutions on examination, 1f they can pass them, and there is 1'oom to receive them. In the Japan Times of August 4th, the editor says: It will be seen that the department of education is resolved on the maintenance of the principle of secular education in its extreme logical form. 1'here will doubtless be an inclination among missionary circles to characterize the traditionary policy of the mombusho (educational department) as illiberal and narrow-minded. And we ourselves are disposed to believe that there will be no harm in allowing religious teachings in schools of lower grades. But the modeling of a country's system of education being strictly its own internal affair, it will not be proper for foreign missionaries to indulge in any unseemly criticism of the policy pursued by the department of education, a policy which, we are sure, is not actuated by any anti-foreign spirit. Without attempting to thrust themselves into the domain of education controlled by the mombusho, the missionaries and those working with them will find ample field for exertion in purely Christian schools, which they are at liberty to establish in any numbers.
We will, of course, gladly hail the day, when the government recognizes all Christian schools, and puts them on a par in every respect with their own, all having the same curriculum as far as secular things are concerned, but we can scarcely expect such privileges until there is a sufficient Christian constituency in the empire to justify the government to make it thus. It is difficult to understand how the usefulness or effectiveness of mission schools, as such, will be very materially changed by these instructions. They will, perhaps, stand out more prominently and distinctively as Christian schools, but this will not necessarily detract from their infiuence. If they should adopt the government curriculum, which is generally admitted as admirably adapted to the present needs of the Japanese youth, and in addition to this, give as much true, thorough Christian teaching as possible, put forth every effort to prepare the students so that when they present themselves for examination for entrance to the higher government schools they can pass with credit to their alma mater, and in this ~way let the government and country know the excellent work that is being done in these institutions, it would undoubtedly be the best method of securing what we so much desire to have. It is possible that in those institutions where government recognition had been secured, there may be a falling off in the number of students, if they return the licen~e they have received, and stand simply as private schools, but those who are brought under their infiuence can be very greatly benefited, and a great work can still be accomplished for the Church.
There is also a way open for those schools which desire to retain the government license. The teaching of religion" at extra hours," refers to school exercises. There remains the possibility of using another building than that in which the school is conducted, and holding religions exercises of whatsoever kind may be desired in it, and invite the students there. Attendance upon these exercises would necessarily be voluntary, and it could not be regarded as a school exercise in any sense; still such infiuenceH could be brought to bear as would secure the attendance of a large majority 'of the students. The day schools are really the most seriously affected. These have been nuclei for Sunday-schools, but this is now denied by the minister of education, unless the Sunday-school can be held in another building, and the children invited to come there. In cases where the dayschools are contiguous to the church, there will be very little trouble here, but this is really the most serious blow at mission work that will result from the minister's instruction.
One great advantage is gained by these instructions which prohibit all religious ceremonies in the government schools. It has long been a question whether the oeremony performed in the schools on the emperor's birthday, Nov. 3d, when all teachers and scholars are
THE GREENLAND MISSION
required to pass in front of the portraits of the emperor and empress, and make their obeisance thereto, is a religious service or not, some holding that it is, and others that it is not, but this order settles the dispute, as it could not be allowed if it were a religious ceremony. This is a very important point gained. Some of the Christians who have been employed in the government schools have been placed in very embarrassing positions because of this requirement. They felt that if, as many held, it is to be regarded as a religious rite, they could. not participate in it, but if they did not, it was at ollce taken as an evidence of disloyalty to his majesty, and both they and the cause of Christianity were made to suffer because of it.
While there may be temporary difficulty of a greater or less degree because of the recent order, we are strong in the conviction that Pllrmanent good will come out of it, and that it is exceedingly important that the greatest care be taken as to the methods employed for bringing about the changes desired..
THE GREENLAND MISSION.
PRACTICAL INTERDENOMINATIONAL lh88IONARY COMITY.
BY REV. PAUL DE 8CHWEINITZ, BETHLEHAM, PA.
Interdenominational comity in foreign missionary operations has been abundantly preached. All Christians are convinced not only of its, advisability, but of its absolutc necessity, if the evangelization of the world is to be hastened, and the kingdom of Christ truly built up. But, alas, for the difference between theory and practise!
Reports of various mission Loards rushing into supposedly promising or patriotically attractive fields to the confusion of the best interests of the people to be brought under the influence of Protestant Christianity, continue to be heard, whilc discouraging and unattractive fields are left severely alone, as far as competition is concerned.
Such being the case, it is encouraging now and then to hear of instances when correct principles have been not only preached, but also practised. When Germany secured its sphere of influence in equatorial East Africa, a conference of the representatives of various mission boards was held in Berlin or Bremen, and the territory amicably divided between them. 'l'hat was about a decade ago. The agreement then arrived at has been, as far as is known, faithfully observed. to the evident blessing and success of the work in that field. In the district assigned to the Moravians work was begun among total heathen in 1891, and in July, 1899, it embraced four stations, served by nineteen missionaries (including wives), with one hnndred and fourteen converts, besides an ever-widening sphere of influence.
But the purpose of this /trticle is to call attention to ~ still more
striking instance of missionary comity. It has doubtless happened, with some degree of frequency, that single mission stations have been transferred from one mission board to another; bnt it is a unique thing when an entire missionary province is transferred from one church to another, differing in polity, language, and nationality. That testifies not merely to the practicability of interdenominational, but also of international, missionary comity, and reveals that the ties which unite true followers of the one Lord, Jesus Ohrist, may be stronger than those of church or nation.
Of all the fascinatingly heroic fields of Moravian missionary labors none is more heroic or romantic than that in the remote Arctic regions of Greenland. * It is the second oldest field of this ch urch's missionary operations. For one hundred and sixty-seven years the Moravians have sought to follow the Eskimo in his search for a precarious living on the narrow strip of inhabitable country between the treacherous Arctic seas and" Greenland's icy monntains," in order to bring him the bread of life. 'fhe influences that have gone forth from the missionary devotion displayed in that bleak and desolate country have been an inspiration for renewed zeal for the Master in other "uttermost ends" of the earth. In these one hundred and sixty-seven years thousands of souls have been" won for the Lamb as the reward for His sufferings," as the 1Ioravians love to phrase it. This mission field was part of the missionary consciousness of the Moravian Church, and countless recollections and associations bound it up with and into every fiber of the church's being. Ohurch patriotism, loyalty, and sentiment all clung to this field most tenaciously, and raised their voices in protest against ever surrendering this ground, hallowed by lives of unparalleled devotion to Christ, the Church's Head. That was the one side.
The other side was this. Coustant calls to enter new fields of work came to the church. During the decade 1889-1899, five new fields were entered, but sixteen specific and urgent calls had to be declined. With 192 stations ill 21 different provinces, served by 431 missionaries, having in their care 96,200 souls (July, 1899), while the home membership numbers only 38,000 souls, it was impossible to take aggressive steps for a forward movement, unless some of the older fields could be abandoned.
The church was convinced that the work of evangeliz~tion in Greenland was complete; it also realized that the maintenance of its old time missionary methods was fast becoming impossible because of the changed conditions under which the modern Eskimo must gain his livelihood; that the half-breed catechists educated by the Danish * Readers of THE M,SSIONARY REVIEW may recall an article on " The Missioll in the Land of Glaciers and Icebergs," which appeared in the issue of July, 1898, and which described the !nissionarr work of the Moravians in Greenla,nd.-P. de S.
Lutheran State Church are in some respects better able to look after thc needs of the Greenlanders than European missionaries; that as Greenland is a colony of Denmark the Danish Church has exceptional facilities for looking after all the missionary and church work of that land; that the Danish Church has, side by side with the Moravians, done noble missionary work among the Greenlanders;_ that the spiritual life of this church, at this present time, is of a high order, and is a guarantee that the spiritual welfare of the natives will be carefully provid ed for, and that there was a willingness, not to say a desire, on the part of the Danish Church to assume complete control of all the missionary operations in this colony of Denmark.
Here, too, was a body of trained missionaries, eight married MISSION STATION .l.T FREDERICKSBURG, GREENL..6.ND .
couples, who had been in the service for periods ranging from foul; to twenty-six years, who would be released for service elsewhere, and in the same way this part of the missionary budget could be appropriated for work among those not yet reached by the Gospel message.
It was not easy to come to a decision. The thought was publicly broached for the first time at the General Synod of the Moravian Church in 1889, but the feeling of love for this historic and heroic field of the church's missionary efforts was too strong to permit of its . surrender at that time. But at the General Synod of 1899 the Lord's leading seemed so clear, that after a debate occupying parts of two days the Synod with only one dissenting vote resolved to offer this mission field to the Danish State Church. This uniqu e decision was reached on June 21st, 1899, which marks a date of rare importance in missionary history. It is needless to expatiate on the deep emotion&
that filled the hearts of all participating in this action, and which have been shared by the church at large.
Preliminary negotiations had been begun by the mission board in anticipation of this action. These have been continued, alld have progressed so far, that the misssion boarcl was able to announce in November, ] 899, that the final transfer of all the six stations with their 1,700 souls would be consummated in 1900, and the Moravian missionaries withdrawn, when navigation reopens. The negotiations with the Danish Lutheran Church have throughout been of the most fraternal character.
While therefore the close of the nineteenth century witnesses the close of Moravian missionary activity in Greenland, yet the influences of the precious memories and of the rich historic associations bound up with Greenland's icy mountains can not fail to bear fruit in other climes, until all the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
This tale carries its moral on the surface. The real progress of the work of spreading Christ's Kingdom is of more importance than church pride, patriotism, or sentiment. If we in theory hold that our sister churches are just as truly workers in the Lord's great white harvest fields as our own church, then, when we find such a sister church better equipped to carry out the Lord's work in a certain field, then, for the sake of the Lord's work, let us put our theory into practise, and give our sister church free scope to do all the good it can, no matter how much our heart may cling to that field, and throw all our energies into fields where no others are willing to work. May the time soon come, when each new mission station founded will represent a new advance into the regions beyond, and never be an encroachment upon fields already occupied. Then verily will the coming of that day be hastened, when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea.
THE "GREAT KNIFE" SECT OF SHANTUNG.* BY MRS. GEORGE S. HAYS.
About the first of last March, in Western Che Mie, where Dr. Hunter Corbett's country work is situated, a new seCt was formed calling itself the "Great Knife" sect. Their chief aim seems to be unrelenting hostility to the Christian religion, and the killing or banishing of all foreigners from China. They proclaim their intention of uprootiug Christianity among the natives, and then all uniting in driving all foreigners out of China.
About the middle of March, this sect began the systematic perse- * A letter received recently from my father, Dr. Hunter Corbett, a missionary in China for thirty·five years, gives an alarming picture of the present situation in Shantnng.-F. C. H.
THE "GREAT KNIFE" SECT OF SHANTUNG
cution of the native Christians. Within twenty days the rioters had entered fourteen villages and broken into sixty homes, robbing the houses of everything; clothing, furniture, grain, and farming imple- ments were carried off. All animals were seized and driven off and sold. Any who tried to protect their homes were savagely beaten, and some almost killed.
They looted our chapel at Who Lin Chwang and robbed the Christians in charge, of everything. Several of our families have been obliged to pay large sums of money to escape similar treatment, havmg mortgaged all they owned to secure the money. Nearly all the men in that whole district, connected either with our church, or the Catholics, have fled. The women and children are left to beg.
In March, a German officer, a business man, and an interpreter were on their way to visit the mines near I-Chow Fn, where we have a large mission station, composed of six or eight missionaries, their little children, schools, a hospital, and a flourishing work among the natives. These Germans stopped for dinner at a village only twenty miles east of the city of I-Chow Fu. They had scarcely left the village when they wllre surrounded by about three hundred people, who fired cannon and guns at them. The Germans threw themselves on their faces, and with their revolvers shot a number of Chinese and managed to escape with their lives; The German emperor ordered troops to be sent there to demand redress. The Che lden (magistrate) refused to do anything, and was taken prisoner by the Germans. The ChI! fu-a lower official-ran away. The German troops surrounded the village, notified the people that all could flee through the west gate, and after all had fled, set the village on fire, and burned every house to the ground.
Large quantities of powder, which had been stored in the village in preparation for a rebellion, were exploded. Last winter the people of that village killed two members of the Oatholic Ohurch, and roasted their children in the fire, and drove off all other members.
'rhe Chi Mie magistrate absolutely refuses to arrest anyone, or do anything to protect the Ohristians. He fears rebellion, and has no force to control the people. The majority of his soldiers consist of farmers, whe are only called in on special occasions-such as the visit of a higher official, before whom they must be reviewed. They then don the soldier's garb, shoulder the g~n, and play the brave warrior for a day or two; after which they return to their farms. These soldiers (?) are all in secret sympathy with the Great Knife sect, and it would be worse than useless to call them out to fight the rioters.
In April, while Dr. Corbett was holding a service with the native Ohristians at Shi Keo-a town in this troubled district-the reports of firing of guns were distinctly heard. Soon word was brought that only two and a half miles distant, a Ohinese mob had stoned
eight German soldiers, and three Chinese had been shot, and one wounded.
Several months ago, the Germans had gone there to see about a beacon which they had erected on their boundary line. They found that the beacon had been removed, and they warned the Chinese that they must eithe); find and report the guilty party, or pay a fine of $20.00. On the morning of the day the firing was heard, the Germans came back to inquire into this matter, and no one in the village would give them a hearing. The Germans found two donkeys and two mules hitched in the village, which they untied and led away, telling the people they could redeem them by paying $20.00.
The village people rushed after the Germans, got a great crowd to join them at the market, armed themselves with stones, and hurled them at the Germans. One soldier was struck in his eyes, aud will be blind the rest of his life. The Chinese paid no attention to the gun fired as a warning, so finally the Germans fired, with the result above stated. (One of the Chinese who was killed led the crowd which stoned Dr. Corbett twenty-six years ago as he rode through that vil- lage.) All the Christians urged Dr. Corbett not to pass through that vil- lage that day, to reach an appointment he had previously made, as the people were arming to take revenge on any foreigners they should find. So, in the afternoon, he held a service in another village not far distant, and had only left it a short time when a mob came there hunting for foreigners! Thank God, he is now safely in his home in Che-fu; but it is a time of greatest danger for Ollr native Christians and our missionaries stationed in the interior.
Dr. Corbett, one of the most optimistic of missionaries, closes his letter with these words: If we did not have faith in God's power, wisdom, and goodness, we would feel greatly discouraged. Since the emperor was deposed last year, and the reformers executed for no crime, except trying to save China, China has been crumbling to pieces before our eyes. The famine is a terrible scourge. There has been no rain since last year, and we are now on the verge of a great famine in all this end of the province. The Mohammedans in the west have rebelled, and China is helpless.
MISSIONARIES AT WEI-HIEN, CHINA.
BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
We have been carefully studying the proceeding,) recently received of the second Shantung missionary conference at Wei-Hien.
There is fresh air blowing through a paper which was read by Rev. J. H. Laughlin, about"' Breaking New Ground." He thinks it often undesirable that the missionary shall reside at a newly opened station. His constant presence is apt to intensify native hostility to foreigners at the beginning. He secures his property only by conflict or a law-
MISSIONARIES AT "TEI-HIEN, CHINA
suit, and crystallizes opposition, and converts are ostracized by the "solidified aloofness" of the community. Influential centers should be selected. The important work of the American Methodists in Shantung began in Peking. There is good sense in the suggestion that a missionary in a new place keep" open doors." "The man who wants to see me, is the man I want to see," is the proper motto. Let the women, too, open the whole house, that the people may examine closets, chimneys, and all nooks, in search of the" uncanny." Secure servants of the locality; it tends to confidence. Study Hsing-Shan (merit-making), that is do something for the good of the people- something they can see, by schools or medical aid. In the discussion which followed, Rev. R. M. Mateer said he had made many inquiries as to the starting of Ohristianity in many places, and found that invariably it was the result of some kindness.
The Hev. Heury D. Porter, D.D., M.D., read an elaborate paper on "How Far is Federation Possible Among the Native Ohurches," which was a strong plea for some external expression of the internal unity which exists among the several denominations on mission fields. They are practically one in theology, ,and in their effort to rescue the nations the missionary body" have lost their taste for separation and controversy." The Ohurch in Ohristian lands has received a great impulse from the foreign missionary force toward unification. The "cordial and associated enthusiasm of the worldwide missionary workers," has had a reflex influence on the home churches. Their dwelling together in unity, Dr. Porter says, is "one of the admitted gains of the missionary service." Dr. Porter's contention was for some organization of the native churches which would make them recognize their strength.
In Shansi province five missions have met in annual conference for five years. A movement looking to such union has been inaugurated in Western Shantung and Oentral Ohihli, where one British and three American missions have adjoining work. They propose to consider the propriety of meeting in annual conference; delimitation of fields conducive to comity; an annual certificate of membership; and an agreement not to receive as helpers or members persons dismissed by any other mission, or whose Christian character is called in question. In Shantung there are thirteen separate missions at work about equally divided between English and American. '1'he Presbyterians number 5,000 members, the English Baptists 4,000, the New Oonnection Methodists 1,550, the American Oongregationalists 700. Dr. Porter urges that these twelve or fifteen thousand Christians be associated in some formal federation of the whole, recognizing the individuality of the separate bodies, to secure the best educational and other methods, such as some uniformity in securing the support of the nati ve ministry, and in the production and circulation of a Ohristian literature. This will deepen the sense of responsibility in the native church concerning widely extended interests, and tend to nnification and the development of statesmanship in the native church.
Other papers and the discussions 011 the topics at this union missionary conference were brainy, and indicate that the missionary force of the dozen denominational missions of Shantung Province are no commou folk. They deal robustly with live issues, and are clear-headed even when" turmoiling."
SHOSABURO AOYAMA, JAPANESE, CHRISTIAN, GENTLEMAN.
BY ROBERT E. SPEER, NEW YORK.
The rain was falling in torrents as our comfortable little ship, the Satsuma Maru, came to anchor off Shimonoseki, in the straits where the Inland sea of Japan meets the waters of the Eastern, the Yellow, and the Japan seas in the Korea Strait. A large covered sampan came out to meet us, and we clambered over the ship's side in the rain and tumbled in, creeping at once into the covered end of the shoeshaped boat, out of the wet. Laughing faces peered out from the clean little wooden houses as we jumpt ashore, and splashed through the water to an inn. A most sweet and tasteful little inn it was, and the proprietor, an elder in the Christian Church in Shimonoseki, welcomed us most warmly as we took off our shoes and climbed up the tiny stairs to a dainty room. And there we met Aoyama. A very courtly old gentleman he was. In the old feudal days of Japan he had been a warrior retainer of the Lord of Okazaki, and his manners were as gentle and polished as tho he had been of knightly birth. Only he was a Japanese, of course, and his ways were Japanese ways.
As the rain beat upon the little inn, and made music against the panes (for it had windows of glass, and not of paper, as in most Japanese houses), and nearly hid from sight the Satsuma 111aru, as she weighed anchor and went on to Kobe, Aoyama told us how, thirty years before, he had gone to a gun store to debate with some companions, and to prove to them that western guns were inferior to the old two-handed swords of Japan, and was worsted in the debate. Con-. vinced, then, of the superiority of Western things, he weut on to study Christianity, and, finding Christ and loving Him, had become His servant and soldier, and for nineteen years had been preaching His Gospel.
It was a sweet story. and profitable, and as nearly all the history of Japan for fifty years is illustrated in it, I want to tell it here as Aoyama told it to us, sitting, as you may see him in the picture, beside the haibaichi, or brazier, with the elder, who owned the inn near by, and with the kaikemonos on the wall behind him. Afterward he wrote it out, tho with hesitatioll, because he was unworthy, he felt, and needing not to speak of himself, but to seek the mercy of Christ. And this was his story: I was born January 4, 1843, at Okazaki, a city in the province of Mikawa. My father's name was Mokuemon Yamaji, and my mother's Tayo Yamaji. From generation to generation our family served the feudal lord (of Okazaki), and my father for a long time acted as his deputy. I was the youngest of seven sons. When I was eleven years of age a relative named Aoyama, who had no son of his own. adopted me,
SHOSABURO AOYAMA, JAPANESE, CHRISTIAN, GENTLEMAN
and I took his name. According to the custom of that time, I devoted myself diligently, day and night, to the study of literature (Chinese and Japanese), and military art. Being naturally dull, however, my progress was very slow. Every night my mother, while occupied with her house- hold duties, required me to read a primary history, and herself told me about the heroes of ancient and modern Japan, and taught me the duties of a warrior (samurai), and endeavored to cultivate in me strength of will. Altho adopted by the Aoyama family, and often visiting them, I continued to reside with my father and mother until I was sixteen or seventeen years of age.
When Commodore Perry came to Japan I was about ten years of age. His coming awakened the country as from sleep. For more than tw 0 hundred years there had been a period of peace, but now the weapons, which had long laid hidden away in boxes, were brought forth, and there was a revival in the study of mili- tary art. There was likewise a revival in letters, and Chinese lit- erature became very popular; but my inclinations were not toward literature, for I wished to serve my lord as a soldier. I became pro- ficient, excelling especially in the use of the spear and in artillery practise. At the age of twenty, however, the new methods of foreign gunnery were introduced, much to my dissatisfaction (for I held to the old), and I remonstrated with my superiors. They, how- ever, explained the shortcomings of our own and the merits of the new, and told me also about the real condition of foreign countries.
I was greatly interested, and from that time became a zealous student of foreign gunnery. I also devoted SHOSABURO AOYAMA.
myself to the study of foreign science, and, among other books, "Natural History" and" Elementary Physiology," written by Mr. Howson, a missionary to China, were of great benefit to me. At the end of these books there was an account given of Jesus Christ, and the wisdom and power of the Creator was described.
This I read repeatedly. It was easy to understand about the Creator, but I couldn't understand the least bit about Jesus Christ. At this time the feeling against foreigners was intense, and the principal subject of discussion was the driving of them away, and the closing against them of our harbors; and hence even those who read such books as I did were persecuted. But the current of events was too strong for the conserva- tives. Civil war was breaking out. I was then twenty-three or twenty- foul' years old. The ancient weapons of Japan quickly proved inferior to the better foreign weapons, and wonderful changes began to work in everything. At that time I was sent to Kyoto, as a military officer, to arrange for sending forward artillery in the war with Choshu (Yamagu- chi). While I was staying there I was promoted to the position of diplo-
matic officer (in dealing with other feudal lords). I thus had an opportunity to increase my knowledge greatly, for I met many famous military leaders, and visited the domains of other feudal lords. Heretofore I had spent my whole life in Okazaki, and my knowledge of other parts of Japan was quite limited; but now I came to understand the condition of the country as a whole. At that time the situation changed rapidly, and battles being fought at Kyoto and Fushimi, the shogun was overthrown, and the mikado was restored to power. Meantime I had been cast into prison for opposing the government, and there I remained until the war of the restoration was ended. (The feudal lord of Okazaki was a supporter of the shogun, but Aoyama evidently sympathized with the mikado, and hence was cast into prison by his feudal lord, and kept there until the triumph of the mikado's sympathizers compelled the release of all such prisoners.) 'Vhile I was staying in prison I pondered deeply over the question as to whether it was possible to harmonize Confucianism with foreign science, so that both could dwell together in the land. But the course of events was so rapid that it seemed that not one old thing was going to be left, and I searched in vain for some foundation principle that might serve as a guide for the mind of the new Japan. I thought that possibly, in the systems of foreign countries, there might be something similar to Confucianism, but I couldn't find anything.
In August, 1867, I was released from prison, but my troubles were not over. I had had much trouble from my childhood; trouble in connection with being adopted into another family; trouble inherited from the new house into which I had entered. Then, when I was cast into prison, my allowance was reduced, and when released I was in great poverty. (Samurai received an annual allowance of so many koku of rice from their feudal lord.) In 1868, however, the old officials were all dismissed, and those who, like myself, had been in prison, came into power; so the despisecl theorists became the high officials. The government in my feudal lord's domain was now exactly to my fancy, and I considered that the time had come when I could put into practise the new knowledge which I had gathered. But much disappointment was the result for the most part. .Tust at this time there was published the translation of a book called" Self-Help," by Smiles. In this book there was written much about missionaries, and the deeds of heroes, which I greatly admired. I read it several times, searching especially for the fundamentally different point of view which evidently distinguished the 'Vest from the East. At this time I was commanded to lead back to Okazaki the samurai who were gathered at the residence of my lord in Yeddo. This gave me my first opportunity to visit Yokohama, meet foreigners, and utter freely my inmost feelings. Then it was that I was told that Christianity is the foundation of 'Vestern civilization. With that began my desire to study Christianity. The national law, however, still prohibited, under the severest penalties, any such study, and as there were no books, I could not do ·anything. Nevertheless, I fairly hungered and thirsted with my desire. It happened, then, that one of my friends, who had been to America and Europe, returned. He had with him a Chinese translation of the New Testament, and he showed it to me. Then I told him what I wished to do, and my desire to possess the book, whereupon he gave it to me with pleasure. I was delighted, and read it many times, day and night. But the principle of it was entirely beyond my understanding, and I felt very foolish because I could not understand it, and many times
I cast it aside; but always took it up again. As I think of it now it seems like a dream. The cross of Christ was a special stumbling-block to me, and as a soldier I was greatly dissatisfied with the timidity of the disciples. I continued to read the book over and over again for four years, and gained no light. I wanted to read the Old Testament also, but could not get one.
In 1871 the Daimyates were abolished, and the present system of Prefectures was established. (This deprived the most of the samurai of their support.) Most of my friends got government positions, and went away, and it was necessary for me to find something to do, so I decided to go to Tokyo with my family. It was now the summer of 1874. It was at this time that I 'tried to pray to God secretly. I read books on the evidences of Christianity, and the like, and I began to venerate God. My main purpose in going to Tokyo was to obtain a chance of .studying the Bible, and, as I already had three children, to give them an opportunity of being educated in the new knowledge, and to bring my whole family under the influence of the new religion. When I first came to Tokyo I was introduced to Dr. Thompson by the same friend who first gave me the New Testament. I told to him my hopes, and expressed the desire to become his pupil. He treated me with great kindness. After that, every day, in company with four or five friends, I studied the Old Testament at his house. On Sunday I went to church with my family, and studied the Gospels of Luke and John with Dr. Verbeck. I felt I was beginning to understand their meaning, which is that Christ, with a nature that is both human and divine, is our great Savior. I soon asked to be baptized, and was baptized by Dr. Thompson. MyoId friends sought to persuade me to get employment with the government, but Dr. Thompson told me it would be a difficult thing for me to keep the Sabbath holy, and, if possible, it would be better to seek some other livelihood. As my allowance as a samurai was still coming to me as before, I was able to get on without trouble. I taught Japanese to Miss Schoolmaker, and afterward to Dr. Imbrie and Miss Youngman. While doing this I studied the Bible, and began to tell others about the way to believe in Christ. In 1876 the theological school was established, and I studied there for over two years, greatly to my benefit. I was shamefully slow in my spiritual development; I found it hard to believe in miracles; I thought that God was not ahove the reason, and, indeed, that God and reason were almost the same thing. But I did not wholly reject miracles-I looked upon them as historical events, and waited for clear evidence that would allow me to believe wholly. But in the unknown time the Holy Spirit was sent. I had a great struggle, too, with myoId habits. ",Ve began family prayers. The children grew in knowledge. My own weakness, and the power of old habits, were revealed to me continuously, night and day; nor had I any power to overcome them-any power of my own. I was in great distress, and could only exclaim, "0, wretched man that I am!" As I look back to that period I feel it to have been the period of my greatest suffering. Tho I believed in Christ, I did not receive His full light, I saw the dim light in the far distance; tho I was reformed, I sometimes felt hypocritical, yet I believed that God would surely help me.
For five years after I was baptized I preached the Gospel within and without the city of Tokyo. In the spring of 1878 I was told that Shimonoseki was to be made an open port. It was, therefore, my desire to begin to preach the Gospel in that place, and with my friend, Mr. S. Hat-
tori, I pledged myself to that work, and in April of that year we pro': ceeded to that place. As soon as we began to preach there arose a bitter persecution, and we had no place in which even to stay. But in the midst of the persecution, and in a short time, many became Christians; and at various places around there were inquirers, so that, on Christmas, 1879, we were able to organize a church. Mr. Hattori then went to Yama- guchi' and Mr. Nakashima coming to the field, the Gospel was preached in Hiroshima, Yanagawa, and Kokura. As I had been ordained before leav- ing Tokyo, I went about from place to place baptizing the converts. In the spring of 1881 there was a revival in Tokyo and Yokohama, and some Christians coming from there, we held meetings night and day. I also received the blessing of the Holy Spirit, and from that time I was full of gratitude.
In the spring of 1883 my wife, who had been bedridden for five years, died, leaving six children, so that both within and without my household I was m:tde to suffer; but the Lord made it all work out for my spiritual good, and led me in the true way. Afterward I became the pastor of the Yamaguchi church, and at that time there was an attack of the new theology, and it seemed as tho the churches in this region, and myself as well, would be overwhelmed; but we withstood it, and made firm the foundations. It was a great benefit to my faith, but there were many among the Christians who never recovered. – I have spent nineteen years working in this region-eleven years at Shimonoseki and at Chofu, three years at Yamaguchi, one year at Yanagawa (Kyushu), and four years in Usuki (Kyushu). During that time I have enjoyed the sympathy of Dr. Alexander, and he has done many favors to my family. I have had twelve children-by my first wife, seven, and by my second, five. By the grace of God ten are still living. The eldest son has graduated at McCormick Theological Seminary, and is devoting his life to the Gospel ministry. I rejoice in this. Dr. Alexander was a great help to him. I rejoice, too, in the bct that my eldest daughter is the wife of a pastor.
As I look back over my life I feel that I was chosen by the will of God, redeemed and consecrated by the precious blood of the Lord, and was made a servant and preacher of the vVord. My joy in serving the Lord without fear is changed into overflowing gratitude. I am not looking back; but, keeping my eyes in front, I press toward the goal.
It is plain that wonderful changes have taken place in Japan since the introduction of Christianity, but the changes are so various, and the causes so mixed, that it is hard to say that Christianity is the sole cause. Nevertheless, that it was a most important cause, all must admit. Of course, for the most part, Eastern customs are sprung from Confucianism and Buddhism; such, for example, as the honoring of men and despising of women, and the-division of society into ranks. But evil customs in Japan are being gradually rooted out. If it is asked why Japanese break with old customs so readily, the answer is, that they realize that this must be done if Japan wishes to rival civilized countries of the West. Feudal government has been abolished, and constitutional government established in its place with good effect. In the homes of the people the rank of women and the relations of man and woman are improving. It is impossible that educated women should be treated with contempt. There are two things, however, which are not yet established -first, the destruction of the customs characteristic of people of high
MISSIONARY CONVENTIONS OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
rank; and second, higher education among women generally. But it is clear that these will gradually improve. Thus the people are coming to look upon these various changes .'LS evidence that Confucianism and Buddhism are losing their power. The new wine will not be put into the old bottles. The old house has to be broken up in order to build a new one. If they wish to associate with foreign peoples on terms of equality, our customs must be made to conform to theirs. Now, if the many changes be examined carefully, and traced to their source, it will be seen that they all sprang from ideas revealed in the Bible. So the people in our country must come to Christianity in the end. Many among the learned men, the statesmen, and the business men, often confess this.
These people, however, are in no haste or anxiety for their own salva- tion; they favor their wives and children becoming Christians, and the country as a whole becoming Christian. This Christianity has been preached among the Gentiles, and they believed. One is surprised, therefore, at the smallness of the church; but there are reasons, both within and without, for this state. Within the church they still depend too much on the reason and knowledge of men, and not on the power of God; and the poison of the new theology is still at work. There are other causes, which I will not mention, but I believe in the final victory of the cross. I pray especially for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the churches of this land.
Please pardon the confusion of ideas, and the brevity of this sketch of my life. SnosABuRO AOYAMA.
Let us join good Aoyama in his prayer. When, later in the day, we said good-by to him, as we went aboard a tiny coasting ship for Mitajiri, it was with that sense of enrichment and satisfaction which comes from having met a good and gentle man. Who is not glad to have part in the work which produces such results?
THE JUBILEE MISSIONARY CONVENTIONS OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.
BY REV. A. }ICLEAN, CINCINSATI, O. Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society.
Fifty years ago the Disciples of Christ organized their first missionary society. That was for them the day of small things. They did not number at that time more than 100,000. Few, if any of them, were wealthy. They were for the most part a rural people, and widely scattered over the Middle States. The American Christian Missionary Society was organizeu to do home and foreign work. Soon after its organization it planted missions in Asia, in Africa, in the West Indies, and in the United States.
Since then the territory and the work hl,tve been divided. A separate society was organized twenty-four years ago to carryon foreign missicns. That society has representatives now in India, Japan, China, Africa, Turkey, and in different parts of Europe. The women of the church have organized a board of their own. They do
work in the United States, in Mexico, in Jamaica, and in India. A separate board has been organized to carryon work among the negroes. This board supports a number of schools and employs and directs the labor of a number of evangelists. A Church Extension Board has also been organized; this board has in its permanent fund $250,000. Since the organization of the American Christian Missionary Board in 1849, the Disciples have raised and distributed $7,000,000. The agents of the society have organized 2,361 churches, and have won 283,805 souls to Christ. Much work has been done that can not be tabulated. Scattered members have been gathered into churches and helped to secure buildings, and churches that were weak and discouraged and ready to perish have been fostered. The receipts for all departments of the work for the past year amounted to $690,016.83. The Diseiples are stilI far from being a rich people. They are growing in numbers at a very rapid rate; they now number 1,118,396.
The Jubilee Convention was held in Cincinnati in October last. 'l'here were more than 10,000 delegates present. All parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Australia, India, Japan, and China were represented. It was' the largest religious gathering ever held in Cincinnati. The Chicago Interior states that it is conceded on all hands that this was the most successful missionary meeting of the year.
On the Sunday of the convention a comm.union service was held which made a profound impression upon the people of the city. Some 10,000 people assembled to partake of the Lord's Supper. The great Music Hall was full more than an hour before the time announced for the service to begin. The multitudes filled the Odeon and packed the Central Christian Church. 'rhousands were unable to obtain admission anywhere. One of the city papers giving an account of the communion service said that from some comes the word that the religion of the lowly Nazarene is waning; but if they had seen that mighty host that gathered that afternoon they would have been compelled to admit that the old faith is still vital with life. "It has fallen to the lot of many men high in politics to receive great and popular ovations in this city, but never to mortal man was there such a demonstration, to use secular phrases, as that accorded to the' Carpenter's Son' yesterday afternoon. It was a crowd, too, brought together by none of the expedients usually resorted to. There was no blare of trumpets, no present or passing excitement, no furious passions of party, llO distinction or place among mell tQ gain, but the sole and abiding purpose was to eat of the bread and taste of the wine that represents the body and blood of I-Iim who was crucified on Calvary."
The missionary work of the Disciples of Christ is yet in its infancy.
OPIUM SUICIDES IN CHINA. i23
What has been accomplished is a prophecy of what shall be done in the coming years. At the convention plans were formed looking to the enlargement of the work. There is no thought of retrenchment or retreat. This society proposes to prosecute its work until the whole wide world is evangelized.
OPIUM SUICIDES IN CHINA.
BY HEV. JOH~ GRAHAM, TALI FU, CHINA.
Missionary of the China Inland lIIission.
One of the striking things in China is the lightness with which human life is regarded, and the trivial causes which lead the Chinese to commit suicide. If a reliable record were kept of all who die in China by their own hand, the figures would be appalling and almost incredible.
While at Yunnan Fu, I kept a record of all the cases of opium poisoning which came under our notice, and the total number of attempted suicides, from January 29, 1897, to May 3, 1898 (fifteen months), was 243, and this was only a fraction of the terrible total. There was an average of over 16 cases each month, and the largest total in one month was 25.
Let us analyze the cases of which I kept a more complete record: Girls (many of them slave girls)………. " .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28 Boys…………………………………………………. 4 Women ……………….. _……………………………. 145 Men ………………………………………………….. 36 Total. …………………………………………… 213 By far the greater number of attempted suicides in China are by women and girls. I, or some other missionary, attended most of these 213 cases, with the following result: Life saved ……………………………………………. 109 Uncertain outcome*…………………………………… 58 Dead or dying when found……………………………… 46 'rhus in fifteen months, in a city of probably 80,000 inhabitants, more than 243 persons attempted to take their own life by the use of opium. Many others doubtless attempted it, but did not seek our help. In other cities where I have lived the percentage of would-be suicides is fully as great. The estimated population of Yunnan province is 5,000,000, so that the average number of suicides may be estimated at about 1,000 per month.
1'he Chinese themselves are practically of no use at all in saving the lives of those who have taken opium. Their own plans are generally to give the patient oil to drink, cutting the throat of a duck and * lIIany of those marked uncertain we were not able to attend ourselves, so gave medi- cines and instructions to their friends, and did not hear further particulars.-J. G.
scattering the blood about; burning paper, throwing rice, inviting a devil driver in, etc., etc. If left only to the Ohinese probably not more than two or three per cent. would be saved. Latterly, in Yunnan Fu, the Ohinese have taken to giving away small packets of sulphate of zinc to be used in opium poisoniug. They expect thus to win merit for saving life, but not giving sufficient directions with this medicine, and the person gets no better, but rather worse, and the friends call in the foreign doctor. We usually ask, first of all, if they have had zinc, and often find that they have. If not too late, we give plenty of warm water, and probably the person is saved.
If in this thinly populated province there are on an average of 1,000 attempted opium suicides per month, the average for the whole of Ohina must be not less than 600,000 per year. Dr. William Park says there are over 800,000, and that the number of deaths from opium poisoning is not less than 200,000 a year. This means a population equal to that of Glasgow or St. Louis attempt suicide every year. Probably some Ohinese doctors near the coast have learned the foreign method of treating these cases, and are able to save some, but a comparatively small numbe'r are rescued either by Ohinese or foreigners, so vast multitudes must die self-murdered.
Think what all these deaths annually represent, the sin, the misery, the heart-breaking sorrow, the cruelty, the strife, the wretched, unhappy home life; and in very many cases, after a person has taken opium and died, the family are involved in endless trouble and difficulty, which often leads to more suicides. The suffering and misery caused by this evil is untold and untellable.
But why do so many take .opium to end their life? The causes are various: There has been a quarrel; a mistress has beaten the slave girl; a schoolmaster has "thrashed" his pupil, and the boy to be revenged on the schoolmaster, and get him into trouble, takes opium; a row over some money; a lost cat; in fact nearly every little circumstance imaginable has been the cause of some one taking opium. The aggrieved party in the heat of his or her anger, believe that if they kill themselves their spirit will take vengeance on their enemy. Opium is found in almost every home. What is easier than in the heat of anger to snatch up a box of opium and swallow the eontents ? If only opium could be made more difficult to obtain, many lives might be saved. As long as opium is everywhere, as it is at present, and the Ohinese are as they are, this awful amount of self-destruction will go on.
Another cause is carelessness. Several times littltt babies have been brought to us, dying of opium ·poisoning. The father has been smoking opium, with the child lying beside him on the bed, and the little one has put its fingers into the box of opium, and then into its mouth. The father finally awakens to the fact that his baby has been
OPIUM SUICIDES IN CHINA
eating the poison, and the case is generally hopeless. Are these people who have taken opium easy to save? As a rule, they are, if we are called in time. Their anger has generally cooled down, and they are glad to take an antidote. Now and again we meet one with whom we have a desperate stniggle, and are obliged to resort to force. Occasionally all our efforts prove of no avail, for the person is determined to die. Often they emphatically deny having taken the poison. Very often the other members of the family of a suicide are utterly callous, and will do nothing for the dying one. One man continued smoking his opium pipe whilst his son lay dying. Often a slave girl is cast out into the yard, and nobody cares whether she dies or lives. But happily we do come across eases where love and sympathy are shown, and where anxiety is manifested for the patient's recovery. But, strange to say, the work of saving life is generally one of the most thankless of all our labors. Most of the Chinese seem to think that saving life is such a meritorious deed that we shall have a great heap of merit in the next life, which is quite sufficient, and they need not trouble to thank us for the trouble we have taken.
May the "Sun of Righteousness arise" on the great dark sinstricken, opium-sodden land of China, "with healing in His wings," so that from north to south, east to west, there may be a great turning to Him who alone can cast out sin, and fill human hearts with love and sympathy and Christ-likeness, and save the soul from destruction.
Opium is the curse of China, as rum is the curse of many nations. Its victims number tens of thousands yearly, and untold misery is brought into millions of homes by slavery to the opium habit. The British government is responsible for forcing China to open her ports to the traffic, and still opposes any prohibitory tariff. Over one hun- dred physicians have recently published their opinions on the effect of opium on China and the Chinese. 'rhis volume* is a mass of tes- timony as to the physical and moral evils accompanying the use of the drug in any form. It causes premature old age, and physical and menial disability; it brings about loss of self-respect, and a complete degradation of character. Nevertheless, the number of opium smokers is increasing all over the empire, even children being addicted to the h::bit. Its slavery and effects are far worse than is produced by the alcoholic habit. Missionaries are continually fighting against this curse, and have established mnny refuges, where men and women may come to be cured. Hudson Tnylor and others believe, however, that unless converted, victims are practically incurable, altho they really desire freedom from this bondage. On what ground can England rigidly restrict the sale of opium at home, while she encourages it in India and China? It is a question of revenue only.
• Opinions of over 100 Physicians on the Use of Opium in China.-Presbyterian .Misslon Press, Shanghai.
WHAT CAN CHRISTIANITY DO FOR CHINA?* BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, D.D., :r'IENTSIN, CHINA.
lIissionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign lIissions.
However inadequate or imperfect our survey of the life of the Chinese may be, it must at least show that it has defects of a serious character. It is therefore a legitimate question how they are to be remedied, on the supposition that they can be remedied at all. There might doubtless be many remedial agencies set at work with varying degrees of success, but as a matter of fact, there is but one which has been tried on any extended scale. That sole agency is Christianity. It thus becomes an inquiry of great moment what effect the introduction of Christianity, in its best form, may rationally be expected to exert upon the springs of the national life and character of the Chinese.
What can Christianity do for the Chinese family? To the Chinese girl, the practical introduction of Christianity will mean even more than to her brother. It will prevent her from being killed as soon as she is born, and will eventually restore her to her rightful place in the affections of her parents. History testifies that if Christianity begins to lose its power, the dormant forces of human selfishness, depravity, and crime, reassert themselves in infant murder. Christianity will call into existence a sympathy between parents and children hitherto unknown in China, and one of the greatest needs of the Chinese home. It will teach parents to govern their children, an accomplishment which, in four millenniums, they have never made an approach.to acquiring. This it will do, not as at present by the mere insistence upon the duty of subjection to parents, but by showing parents how first to govern themselves. It will redeem many years during the first decade of childhood, of what is now a mere animal existence, filling it with fruitfulness for a future intellectual and spiritual harvest.
Christianity will show Chinese parents how to train as well as how to govern their children-a divine art of which they have at present no more conception than of the chemistry of soils. It will put an end to the cruelty and miseries of foot-binding. Toward this great reform there was never in China the smallest impulse, until it had long been urged by Christian forces. Christianity will revolutionize the Chinese system of education. To introduce new intellectual life with no corresponding moral restraints, might prove more of a curse than a blessing, as it has been in other Oriental lands. Christian education will never make the mistake so often repeated of seeking for fruits where there have been no roots. Christian educatian will teach the Chinese child his own tongue in a rational manner. It will abbreviate to the greatest possible extent "the toils of wandering through the wilderness of the Chinese language to arrive at the deserts of Chinese literature." It will awaken the child's hibernating imagination, enormously widen his horizon, develop and cultivate his judgment, teach him the history of mankind, and not of one tribe only. Above all it will arouse his conscience, and in its light will exhibit the mutual interrelations of the past, present, and the future.
Christianity will create an intellectual atmosphere in the home, • Read before the lIissionary Conference, Pei-tai-ho, August, 1899. Condensed from the Chinese Recorder.
900.] WHAT CAN CHRISTIANITY DO FOR CHINA?
causing the children to feel that their progress at school is intimately related to instruction at home, and has a personal interest to the parents and to the family as a whole. Christianity will provide for the intellectual and spiritual education of girls as well as boys, when once the Christian point of view has been attained. The typical Chinese mother is "an ignorant woman with babies." The education of Chinese women is a condition of the renovation of the empire. No nation, no race can rise above the status of its mothers and its wives. How deftly yet how surely Christianity is beginning to plant its tiny acorns in the rifts of the granitic rock, may be seen in the surprising results already attained.
Christianity will make no compromise with polygamy and concubinage, but will cut the tap-root of a upas tree which now poisons Chinese society wherever its branches spread. Christians will gradually make wedlock a sacred solemnity instead of a social necessity. Christians will gradually revolutionize the relations between the young husband and his bride. Their common intellectual equipment will-have fitted them to become companions to one another, instead of merely commercial partners in a kettle of rice. The little ones will be born into a Christian atmosphere as different from that of a non-Christian household as the temperature of Florida from that of Labrador. These forces will be selfperpetuating and cumulative.
Christianity will purify and sweeten the Chinese home, now always and everywhere liable to devastating hurricanes of passion, and too often filled with evil-speaking, bitterness, and wrath. Christianity is an efficient sanitary commission which aims at removing everything that can breed pestilence. Its introduction upon a large scale will as certainly modify Chinese society as a strong and steady north wind will eventually dissipate a dense fog.
Christianity will introduce an entirely new element into the friendships of the Chinese, now too often based upon the selfish considerations suggested by the maxim of Confucius: "Have no friends not equal to yourself." Those Chinese who have become intimate with congenial Christian friends, recognize at once that there is a flavor and a zest in such friendships, not only unknown before but absolutely beyond the r&':lge of imagination. Amid the poverty, barrenness, and discouragemants of most Chinese lives, the gift of a wholly new relationship of the sort which Christianity imparts is to be reckoned among the choicest treasures of existence. 'Vhen once the Chinese have grasped the practical truth of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, the starlight of the past will have been merged into the sunlight of the future.
In China the family is the microcosm of the empire. To amplify illustrations of the ?nodu.~ 0pcl-andi of Christianity orr a wider scale beyond the family, is superfluous. What Christianity can do in one place it can do in another. Tho soils and climate vary the seed is the same.
For the changes which Christianity alone can effect, China is waiting to-day as never before. Her most intelligent thinkers-too few, alas! in number-recognize that something must be done for her. They hope that by the adoption of certain formulre, educational, industrial, economical, China may be saved, not perceiving that her vital lack is neither capital nor machinery, but men. China must have men of conscience and of sterling character. It has hitherto been impossible to secure any such men except by importation; how is it to be otherwise in
the future? Only by the cultivation of conscience and character as they have been cultivated in lands to which China is at last driven to turn for help. Like all processes of development this will be a slow one, but it will be sure, and aside from it there is literally no hope for China.
The Christian converts are now sufficiently "numerous to show in what direction their influence will be felt in the not distant future. They are keenly alive to what is taking place in the empire, and they may almost be said to be the only Chinese in it who are so. China will never have patriotic subjects until she has Christian subjects, and in China as elsewhere Christianity and patriotism will be found to advance hand in hand.
It must be understood that all which we have said of the potency of Christianity as of "unwasting and secular force," is based upon the conception of it as a moral power. It is therefore eminently reasonable to point out that under no circumstances can it produce its full effects in less than three complete generations. By that time Christian heredity will have begun to operate. A clear perception of this fundamental truth would do much to abate the impatience alike of its promoters and its critics.
The case for Christianity in China may rest upon the transformations which it actually effects. They consist of revolutionized lives due to the implanting of new motives and the influence of a new life. They occur in many different strata of society, and with the ever widening base-line of Christian work they are found in ever increasing numbers. At first few and isolated, they are now counted by scores of thousands. Among them are many immature and blighted developments, as is true of all transitional phenomena everywhere; but the indisputable residuum of genuine transformations furnish a great cloud of witnesses, in the presence of which it is unnecessary 1;0, inquire further what good Christianity will do the Chinese and of what'use it willl)e to a Chinese to be "converted." It will make him a new man, with a new insight and a new outlook. It will restore to him the priceless birthright of immortality, give back his lost soul'and spirit, and pour into all the avenues of his nature new life. There is not a human relation in which it will not be felt immediately, profoundly, and beneficently. It will sanctify childhood, ennoble motherhood, dignify manhood, and purify ever social condition. That Christianity has by no means yet done for Western lands all that we expect it to do for China, we are perfectly aware. Christianity has succeeded wherever it has been practised.
How long it will take Christianity to renovate an empire like the Chinese, is a question which may be answered in different ways, but only hypothetically. It took eight centuries to develop the Roman empire. It has taken about as long to mold Saxon, Danish, and Norman elements into the England of to-day. Each of these race-stock!;! was at the start barbarous. The Chinese are an ancient and a highly civilized race, a fact which may be in some respects a help in their Christianization, and in others a hindrance. Taking into account the intensity of Chinese prejudices, the strength of Chinese conservatism, the vast numbers involved and their compact patriarchal life, we should expect the first steps to be very slow. Reckoning from the general opening of China in 1860, fifty years would suffice to make a good beginning, three hundred for a general diffusion of Christianity, and five hundred for its obvious superseding of all rival faiths. Reasoning from history and psychology this is
A JAPANESE BLOW AT MISSIONS
perhaps a probable rate of progress, and its realization would be a great . result. But whether it is to take five centuries or fifty to produce these effects, appears to be a matter of altogether no importance in view of certain success in the end.
A JAPANESE BLOW AT MISSIONS.* BY REV. E. SCHILLER, TOKYO, JAPAN.
'Vhat was long feared came on the 3d of August. A brief ministerial decree runs thus: All schools, which give a general education, shall be independent of religion; therefore, it is not permitted in government schools, and in other public schools, as well as in those schools which are guided by the ordinances touching public schools, to impart religious instruction or to celebrate religious ceremonies, whether within or without the regular school hours.
What does this decree signify? First this, that not all the hopes of the chauvinists are fulfilled. It is not required, even now, that founders and managers of private schools shall produee a Japanese teachers' cer_ tificate, and show a competent knowledge of the vernacular. Accordingly the help of philanthropists abroad or at home is not renounced, and foreigners can still set up schools for Japanese. But as schools of this kind are commonly missionary sehools, those now existing are smitten in their vital nerve by the new ordinance, which renders impossible the assistance of religion in education. This seeins equivalent to an annihilation of mission schools in Japan. These hitherto have flourished more and more from year to year, embracing at last 161 Protestant schools, with 12,312 scholars, an increase in ten years of 27.68 per cent. Besides, there were four schools of the Greek mission, with ]99 scholars, and 97 Roman Catholic schools, with 6,550 scholars; in all 265 Christian schools with 19,091 scholars. How much religious influen~e has spread abroad from these schools into the land, and how many that have been gained for Christianity have owed their conversion to the direct influence of these schools! Tl'tis influence is now hencefort.h as entirely as possible to be restrained. This is the wish of the Japanese government.
Even to a superficial observer it must be easily discernible that the disturbanee of the mission-school system, in present circumstances, can not fail to involve a disadvantage for Japan. For, on the one hand, the few higher state schools that it has thus far been possible to set up, by no means suffice to meet present necessities, and for Yflars to come the means of increasing their number will not be current. In the eight gymnasia of the land, hundreds of applicants have to be turned away yearly for no other reason than laek of room. On the other hand, the existing primary schools are far from affording room enough for all the ehildren of the school age. In Tokyo, for instance, the attendance on all the primary schools, including the numerous Christian charity schools, is only about 67 per cent. of the children of school age. It is plain, therefore, that the stoppage of the mission schools would signify a great loss for popular culture. Moreover, in Japan, for at least a century to come, a knowledge of the chief European languages-English, German, and French-will be a prerequisite of scientific progress and of progress in * Translated and condensed for the REVIEW from the ZeitschriJt Jiir Missionskunde.
general culture. This must go back even more than it has in the last decade. But the saddest 16ss for Japan is, of course, the ideal. The extension of a sound idealism and of a vigorous morality, both of which are presented by Christianity, will be long delayed, and the land still given over to the inadequate Confucian ethics, the Buddhist pessimism, and to an illuministic atheism and materialism. Thus the spiritual poverty, the lack of the higher ideals under which the land suffers so sorely, is likely to. be confirmed for decades to come.
Vhat now shall be done? The missionaries appear resolved not to yield. A committee of six of the higher mission schools, of the Qongregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians-including the Doshisha, which has now returned to its old statutes-have summoned their brethren to abide fast by Christian principles. It is true these higher mission schools are not directly menaced with ruin; they have the means of going on, and that with religious instruction. Only then they would no longer have the character of public schools, and their scholars would be shut out from admittaIlJ'e into the higher gymnasia and universities, and would enjoy no military exemptions. This could not but result in a considerable reduction of the number of pupils; which in the end might endanger even the existence of these schools. Technical schools, it is true, devoted simply to teaching handicrafts, languages, theology, etc., that is, which give special, not general training, are not touched; nor the higher girls' schools, whose attendants demand nothing of the universities and gymnasia, and are of themselves exempt from army service. Indeed, imagine the result, if the women of a nation numbering about 45,- 000,000 of people should be shut up to the nineteen higher public girls' schools! The heaviest blow, therefore, falls on the Christian charity schools, and it is doubtful whether these can survive it.
We must bear in mind also that the decree strikes the Buddhist as well as the Christian schools. The principle of parity accordingly is respected. But it is unlikely that the Buddhists wi11 bestir themselves to save the freedom of religious instruction. They have not seemed very much in earnest with their schools, which have been called into being not so much spontaneously as out of rivalry with Christianity, whose progress forced them to do something to meet the charge of being practically worthless, by which they would lose their standing ground. Their schools, indeed, have not been particularly flourishing. They will easily content themselves with the ministerial decree which deals so heavy a blow at their strong and dangerous antagonist, Christianity.
Nor can we hope much from the political parties of the land for all their high-sounding, liberal names. We might suppose they would, as guardians of the constitution, feel outraged by a decree which seems to violate the guaranty of religious freedom by restraining religiouslyminded parents from securing to their children the blessing of religious training. But the political parties are not likely to compmmise themselves with their constituencies by doing anything that favors Christianity. Again are we likely to see how strong the conservative current is in the Japan of to-day. It almost seems as if, after the strong impulse which for several decades bore Japan toward the assimilation of ,Vestern culture, she had now come to a halt. The feverish haste with which novelties-and always the newest of the new-used to be trundled in, has long disappeared. Pessimistic observers are already talking of stagnation as appearing in the most various spheres, typically, for instance, in
SOMALILAND, THE UNKNOWN
Tokyo, which, for five years back, has not made the least advance out of her wretched streets, deficient lighting, means of intercourse, school system, and many other proofs of backwardness. Munzinger, in his admirable book on Japan, points out. that it has been so from of old. Development has not been steady, but convulsively intermittent. So it was when Japan first came in contact with the Sino-Korean culture at the time of the migration of nations in Europe; much later with the medieval Catholic culture at the time of the Reformation, and of late with our present Western culture. After each former sudden and mighty advance there has ensued a period of stagnation, a sleep of centurjes. vVill it be so now, after the mighty impulse called out by contact vdth the modern Protestant culture? God avert it, for the good of the Japan.ese people which has lately been striving so earnestly to assimilate this modern culture, drawing on itself the eyes of the astonished world, and awakening such high expectations!
It plainly now behooves missionary workers in Japan to use more concentration in their methods. Medical missions, so beneficent elsewhere, are not now needed in Japan, which abounds in thoroughly trained physicians. Mission schools are now to be hemmed in more and more, as was long foreseen, altho so speedy a restriction was not expected. The work in Japan is now thrown back on the old apostolic means: preaching of the Word by speech or writing, and the influence of exemplary Christian characters. It is with these means that in old times Christianity fought out her victories within the domain of the Greco-Roman culture, and it is with these that in Japan also, in our times, she will "have the strong for a prey," however, these may for a while try to stem the current of the Western religion. And, moreover, the duty becomes far more pressing now than ever, that ChriRtiim workers should steep themselves in the national speech and character. Unhappily, in this mission field, where, a decade ago, Christians, in fatal misapprehension, weened themselves almost to have won the day, this has been too sadly neglected. Perhaps the new treaties will bring in not only a new period of Japanese history, but also of Japanese missions, in which the building-up of the kingdom of God will proceed more slowly than hitherto, but all the more profoundly, securely, and more directly to the goal. Then even the new hindrances will ratify the old truth: "God sits in full control, and guides all to the goal."
SOMALILAND, THE UNKNOWN. * BY REV. J. C. YOUNG, M.B., C.M., ADEN, ARABIA. Missionary of the Free Church of Scotland.
Somaliland is, except to the hunters of big game, a land which well deserves its Arabic name Bar Agwln, an "unknown land." Few have penetrated into its interior, and fewer still have mastered its language or taken pains to understand its people. Last October, however, it became a British crown possession, and great efforts will be made to open up the country. As servants of Christ it is our duty to ask, shall it, or shall it not, be opened by the Gospel?
* Condensed from The Regions Beyond, London.
Believing that there are still missionary societies and individuals prospecting for fields wherein to work, I venture to give a few facts about Somaliland, in the hope that these will bring some to work in the Horn of Africa, where a new mission station would form another link in that chain of mission forts, which was the dream of Dr. Livingstone's whole life.
At present there is no Protestant missionary in any part of that vast protectorate, and in only one town on the coast are the Roman Catholics at work. Yet there is very little malaria there; the climate is good, very dry and bracing, with a temperature varying in the hot season between 1150 F. on the sea coast and 500 F. in the uplands of the interior. The soil, too, altho almost completely barren on the coast, is excellent in the interior, and brings forth luxuriantly trees, plants, grasses, and flowers in great variety and beauty. Already the exports from the three seaports, Zaila, Berbera, and Bulhar, have risen to over £300,000 per annum, and there will no doubt be a very large increase when the country is opened up for commerce. In Somaliland ruins which tell of an ancient civilization are plentiful, while the numerous flint arrowheads found bear witness to the fact that for long ages a warlike, hardy, intelligent race, probably akin to its present inhabitants, occupied the land.
The slight build, high, arched forehead, thin lips, and general appearance of the Somali, all proclaim the fact that he is an immigrant to Africa, but whence and when he came are questions not yet solved. He himself claims to be a Shareef (i. e., a lineal descendant of Mohammed), whose lineage is with the Saiyids at Wabat, and says that his forefathers emigrated from South Arabia about 500 years ago. It must, however, be confessed that there is very little in his glabrous face, swarthy complexion, lithe form, peculiar customs, and mongrel speech, to bear out this statement of late immigration; and, therefore, judging from the way in which the Somalis mutilate their female children, their rough methods of surgery, their nomadic life, and the fact that no Somali woman ever wears "the veil," I am inclined to believe that the Somalis first landed with the Himyaritic chiefs in the reign of King Afrieus, about A.D. 400, and settled down in the Horn of Africa, which till the present day they inhabit.
Whatever his origin. may have been, there is no doubt that the Somali of the present day is a man of far better character than the Arab; for altho very lazy, independent, proud, avaricious, and fond of finery, he is at the bottom a good-hearted, straightforward, bright, intelligent individual, thoroughly trustworthy, and" quick in the uptake." Never shirking responsibility, one may rest assured that unless there be great manual labor involved, the Somali will discharge the duties allotted to him with alacrity and zeal; and surely it is on such soil that missionaries delight to spelld their strength.
The Somali language, which seems to be a cross between Galla, Kafir, Dankali, and Arabic, is still unwritten; for altho the Arabic character is sometimes used for business purposes, it can not convey the true sounds of the spoken language, and this fact often leads to great confusion. Toward the end of last year, however, the Franciscans at Berbera published in the Roman character a splendid English-Somali, Somali·English vocabulary and grammar, which ought materially to help missionaries settling in Somaliland to acquire the language and translate
GERMAN PROTESl'ANT FOREIGN MISSIONS
the Scriptures, while it gives them a basis whereon to work while imparting the knowledge after which, before many years have passed, the quick-witted intelligent Somali will assuredly seek.* GERMAN PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.t BY COUNT ANDREW BERNSTORFF.
The work of foreign missions in Germany is of much more recent date than the Reformation. But, perhaps, it is asking too much to expect that in the first struggle of the Reformation era, all Christian problems should have been solved. Luther was amply occupied with the great doctrine of salvation by faith. He saw the dead masses about him. The Gentiles, to whom the Gospel should be preached, were to him those nations which, tho nominally Christian, had to be reached by the pure doctrine of Christ.
It was a Christian layman, Baron Justinius von Weltz,::: born 1621 in Chemnitz, in Saxony, who first urgently pleaded the duty of the Church to evangelize the heathen. But tho his books may have prepared the way, no immediate result followed. The Church opposed him energetically, and made even a kind of system of rejecting the cause of missions. Toward the end of the seventeenth century the influences from Holland helped to propagate the ideas for which Weltz had so energetically fought; and later on it was Spener, the father of" pietism," who expressly proclaimed it as the duty of the Church to provide that the Gospel should iJe preached to all nations. August Hermann Franke, at Halle, was among the chief representatives of the new missionary movement.
Yet these ideas still lacked the practical execution. It was reserved for the small company of the Moravian Brethren to make the practical start. Their founder, Count Zinzendorf, who" had only one passion, and that was Him, the Crucified One," and who also had a great talent of organization, not only desired to bring Christians into fellowship at home, but he saw that" work must be done all over the world to gain souls for Him who gave His life for us." The first Moravian missionaries left in 1732 for the West Indies. In twenty years the Brethren had done more for foreign missions than the Church had done in 200 years. Even how the Moravians, who number only 33,000 members in Germany, do most for the great cause.
At first the example was not followed in the Church, as pietism was superseded by the rationalistic era, in which all religious warmth was quenched. But the revival of religion in Germany also gave new life to missionary work; and also for Germany the now waning century can truly be called a century of missions.
The opposition of the official churches to the work had two important * The king of Somaliland is now in London to promote the interests of his domain. His subjects are chiefly half·naked barbarians, but, says the London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian, he is highly cultured, speaking English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. The purpose of the Emir Soliman-for so he calls himself-is to civilize his people, an end for which he seeks British protection and British aid in the development of Somaliland. He confesses that five years ago he was with the Dervishes, fighting against us, but he has since become king, and has come to the conclusion, not only that the British are to be supreme in Africa, but also that they ought to be, because, to use his own words, they are the HI?Teat people." Coffee, corn, ostrich feathers, sheepskins, gum, india-rubber, ivory, and mmes of silver and gold are all, according to the emir, to be had in Somaliland; but there are no engineers, no machinery, no capital, and he wants these.-The Globe, London.
t Condensed from the Church Missionary bitelligencer, London.
~ See MISSlOliARY REVIEw, page 356, May, 1899.
consequences. It drove the foreign mission work into the hands of volun- tary associations. This we now consider as a great blessing. Even at present, when our church governments are very friendly to the work, the great missionary societies are entirely free organizations, not in any way dependent upon the consistories. Second, the want of theologians offering themselves for the foreign field obliged the societies to take simple men out of those who were being trained in seminaries. As a rule the unofficial character of German mission societies, both with reference to organization and to the persons employed, has rendered a true service to German Christendom by establishing the voluntary principle even within the State churches, and by showing that men without theological educa- tion can be effective preachers of the Gospel. Of course, this does not mean that onr miE;!sionaries are sent out without thorough training. They geJterally pass through a course of five years, and are well instructed in Bible knowledge.
It is only in this century that the German churches were really roused to their missionary duties. In Berlin, old Pastor J amicke created a mission school in 1800, but only twenty-four years later the Berlin Missionary Society was founded, which works in South Africa, in China, and now also in the southern part of our great East African colony. It has eightythree missionaries; its income of 390,000 marks ($75,000) annually hardly suffices for its growing work. About at the same time the BlUe Mission was founded, which has now 170 missionaries and 34,000 baptized adherents. * The third large society, dating from the same period, is the Rhenish Mission at Barmen. She now numbers 64,000 converts, and has 105 missionaries in the field. vVhile the Berlin society has a specially Lutheran type and the one at BlUe more a reformed character, it has been avoided at Barmen to take an exclusive standing in this respect.
Somewhat later, in 1836, the North German Mission was started at Hamburg, and later on removed to Bremen. She works in Western Africa, and takes her missionaries fronl. Bale, as she has no training institute of her own. In the same year the more advanced Lutherans, wishing to have a mission worked on their principles, founded one at Dresden, which was then removed to Leipsic. She has forty missionaries, and about 16,000 baptized Christians. Her work h; in India, and recently also in East Africa, near the Kilimanjaro. A third society, founded in 1836, is the Gossner Mission in Berlin, which works among the Cols in India, wbere thirty-seven missionaries are in the field. Forty thousand heathen have been admitted into the church. She owes her existence to the energy of one man, the well-known Gossner, originally a Roman Catholic, who afterward exercised a very healthful influence in Berlin. In a similar manner the Hermannsburg M~ssion owes her existence to the zeal and fervor of Pastor Harms, who turned his small country parish into an oasis of spiritual life and missionary enterprise. Fifty-six missionaries are working in South Africa and India, and have hitherto received 35,000 heathen into the Christian Church. In thirty years seven large societies, which are still working with increasing success, had been called into life by the small pietist circles of Germany. Certainly it was a help to them that the old rationalism was gradually overcome, and that true life returned into the churches. The Lord evidently blessed the obedience to His last command.
* Tho Bale is a Swiss city, we quote this important society among the German, since she recruits her missionaries and her funds, to a great extent, in Southern Germany.
1900.J BAPTISM OF AN AFRICAN CROWN PRINCE
In 1842 the Ladies' Soeiety for Missions among the Women of the Orient was founded in Berlin, in 1850 the Ladies' Association for China, and in 1832 the Jerusalem Association, which has an extensive mission in the Holy Land. Then follow, 1877, the Schleswig-Holstein Mission, which has twelve missionaries in India, especially the work of Pastor Jensen at Breklum, who thereby hoped to awaken more missionary interest in his province; and, 1882, the Neukirchen Mission. The latter has nine miesionaries in Java and British East Africa. It is based on the principle of faith, and stands on the ground of the Evangelical Alliance. It is perhaps the most spiritually conducted of our missionary societies. It originated in the living eircles of the Rhine province.
vVhen in 1885 the German Empire began to acquire colonies, this naturally gave a new impulse to missions, and the East African Mission in Berlin (with thirteen missionaries) owes its existence to the colonial movement. A society formed in Bavaria for the same purpose has now been amalgamated with the Leipsic Mission. Besides this the German Methodists work at Togo, and the German Baptists at Kamerun. The circles won by the new evangelistic movement in Germany show great sympathy for the principles on which Mr. Hudson Taylor conducts his mission. vVe have at Barmen and at Riel two branches of the China Inland Mission. The German relief work in Armenia will probably more and more get the character of a missionary society. At their station in Bulgaria real mission work is done among Mohammedans.
On the whole, the German missionary soeieties have a total of 750 missionaries, 315,000 baptized adherents, and an annual income of 3,750,- 000 marks ($900,000). 'Ve are aware that in these missionary results we are still far behind England and the United States. But we praise God that we are on a'l ascending line. The last ten years have brought an increase of 200 missionarias, 10,000 baptisms, and ne:1rly one million of marks. Thank God, we are in Germany in a time of spiritual revival; this will further the missionary work, and on the other side gain new strength from it. Also among the students of Germany the Christian Volunteer Movement is gaining ground, and we look forward to great blessings from the Lord.
BAPTISM OF AN AFRICAN CROvVN PRINCE.* BY M. LIENARD.
The important African kingdom of Zambesi is governed by King Lewanika. He is a variable and uncertain character, sometimes friendly to the French missionaries, sometimes hostile. Tho not obstinate and bloodthirsty, like M wanga, he is not very dissimilar to him. His eldest son and heir, however, Litia, is a very different man. In 1891 he came out on the Christian side. Then he relapsed, and took a second wife. He afterward repented of his apostasy, put away his polygamous wife, and has for several years lived as a consistent Christian. The missionaries have at last ventured to baptize him. The following is the account given by M. LiEmard.
Various friends of Zambesi, and of Litia, doubtless imagine that the son of Lewanika was baptized long ago, since his conversion and his faithfulness have long been known. Far from it. Abroad baptism ought not to be lightly given to proselytes. It has even been said that" the best * Translated from the French.
mission is that which puts off baptisms the longest." This is the best way of precluding apostasies.
Litia was converted in 1891. After a defection to paganism (he then took a second wife) he came back to the Gospel, to which he has since remained faithful, notwithstanding the opposition of his kindred. After some delays, the ceremony of baptism, of himself and wife, took place on Sunday, lfay 25th.
Great ceremonies are not celebrated under all latitudes with an equal display of pomp. In Europe, the latest scion of the most disputed and least authentic kingling or princeling turns all the city upside down, and ransacks the gardens of a province. In a family a little comme il jaut, a christening, especially of a first-born son, is an excuse for a thousand extravagances. And yet it is only a little unconscious being that is in question.
For the baptism of the son of a king really powerful, the son himself a man respected and a chief clothed with a great authority, the entry into the" Zambezian Church" of the heir of the Zambezian throne, for his public profession of faith, we have not llndertaken to renew the luxury of those decorations wherewith Remigius dazzled Clovis at Reims. The exterior means which the Catholic Church uses and abuses, especially in her missions, will not so soon be naturalized on the Zambesi.
However, there was occasion to give some visible sign that it was a festal day. Accordingly, the pulpit was draped in white; branches of jesSalI'-2ne and pomegranate flowers-our wftole parterre in this heart of our winter- were fastened here and there upon it, and a little tablecloth was spread over the table which served af> support to the font. This was a simple silver milk-jug, borrowed for the occasion from some tea service. For the neophytes, two cane-chairs, as a sort of prie-dieu, so much concession, and no more, was made to their rank.
At the usual hour, after the second summons of the bell, the people of the two villages, who had come in crowds to see an event of such unwonted significance, poured into the chapel, elbowing each other for room. Under the nave, in two columns, men and women are packed tight on the earthen benches; at the sides the crowding audience forms only one mass of sable bodies, wrapped in coverlets, or proudly draped in some cast-off clothes of whites. On the Zambesi, if you want to keep your countenance, you must only look your hearers in the eye.
M. Coillard mounts the pulpit first, and takes for text Hebrews xii: 1, 2, "The cloud of witnesses," also Philippians iii: 12, "I follow on," etc. He admonished the prince and his wife of the deep responsibilities which they assumed, to set themselves, the princes of a heathen land, on the side of Christ, a struggle beyond human power to sustain, except by ever looking at the Author and Finisher of faith.
M. Jalla, whom Litia regards as especially his missionary, added those personal and particular admonitions which seemed required. Litia then rose, and, recounting his Christian life, made his profession of faith, declaring to the people that he and his wife had broken forever with heathenism and all its ways, and admonishing his fellow-believers to steadfastness. There is no official liturgy in Zambesi, but the neophytes took certain engagements, above the level with which we content ourselves in France. They plainly understood what they were doing.
Litia has kept his name, that of a grandfather. The Zambezians know him by. seven or eight names. His wife, Namabanda, took the name of Mary, under its sonorous Hebraic form Myriam. After the baptism of the parents came that of the younger crown prince, to whom was given the name of David. His three elder children, all girls, are, by a strange custom of the Barotsi, in the keeping of the heathen grandfather.
1900.J. EDITORIALS. 13'1
EDITORIALS.
The Holy Spirit and the Church. too plain that for more than a thou- sand years He gave in the Church Two or three correspondents have at large no sign of His presence, written in criticism or inquiry as practically withdrawn because per- to the closing paragraphs of the sistently grieved, insulted, and first paper in the December number ignored. Whatever may be thought on the possible near approach of of this position held by many of the end of the age. It may not be the most devout souls, it can not be amiss to add that the position as construed into any discouragement to the Spirit's withdrawal was not of missionary labor or witness to advocated, but only stated in that the unsaved. His practical with- paper. Nevertheless it should be drawal is only from those by whom understood that the Holy Spirit His authority and administration bears to the Church collectively a are persistently disregarded. And, similar relation to that borne to therefore, it does not affect, in any the individual believer. And that, degree whatsoever, the faithful as the individual, so the Church few who live in obedience to Him. may "resist," " grieve," and At this very time, when in the "quench" the Spirit. Those who Church at large we see so little sign believe that the Spirit is with- of His active presence, there are drawing from the Church as a scattered all over Christendom and whole, do not hold that it is a heathendom bodies of believers, in literal withdrawal, or abandon- the midst of whom He abides as in ment, but that He withdraws as apostolic days. Again we say if the effective restraining power that He is withdrawing in any sense it hinders the full development of is only before the antagonism of evil. He is the administrator in those who choose to be controlled the Church, but He does not com- by methods, nleasures, and men pel submission; and where there is that are opposed to His will. either organized resistance to His authority, or such carnality and D. L. Moody's Departure. worldliness as make His effective working impossible, is it too much Nothing in Mr. Moody's life bore to suppose that, like a grieved stronger testimony to his faith in parent, He withdraws as into some Christ and to the power of Chrisinner chamber, and leaves such tianity than did the testimony of Laodicean churches to their own his last hours. It was a glorious devices? ,Vherever the individual triumphal entry into the heavenly or the local church seeks to be city of the King-his "coronation guided and controlled by Him, He day," he called it. The influence of is ever active and powerful. But his parting words, like that of his all the history of the Church since lifelong witness-bearing, has al- Pentecost demonstrates that to all ready borne fruit in the quickened intents and purposes He is practi- faith and zeal of many who are cally absent from any church or left behind. any believer where there is a habitual life of sin and unfaithful- It is especially fitting that this ness to truth and God. During the valiant warrior in the warfare Dark Ages He was in the Church, against sin should be called to his otherwise the Church would not reward almost from the midst of have survived; and yet it is but the battle. Six weeks after the news was flashed around the world
that D. L. Moody had broken down going. to make my will. '1'0 you, during a campaign in Kansas City, Will, I leave Mount Hermon to word was received that he had gone look after; Percy (his son-in-law, from his home in Northfield to be Mr. Fitt), to you and Emma I leave "at home with the Lord." Many the Institute; and Paul, to you, immediately thought of the words when you're a little older, I leave with which he had so often antici- the seminary." He closed his eyes pated this hour: "If you read in the and repeated again and again, as the paper some day that D. L. Moody is end drew near: "This is not death, dead, don't you believe it. That this is bliss, this is bliss." which is born of the flesh may die and crumble into dust, but that The funeral services were also tri- which is born of the Spirit will live umphant throughout. The Conforever." Yes, D. L. Moody still gregational church at East Northlives; the remembrance of his life field was filled to overflowing by will continue to inspire many, the friends from near and far, and words which he uttered yet speak while there were many full hearts to multitudes, telling of the way of and overflowing eyes as one and salvation; the work which he was another spoke words of thanksgivpermitted to begin still survives ing for the life and work of our defor others to carryon in the name parted friend, Dr. Scofield lout and strength of the Lord. voiced the sentiments of all whel1 he said: "We are not here to Earth had strong ties for Mr. mourn a defeat, but to celebrate a Moody; he loved his family, his victory." The exercises consisted home, and his work, and longed of songs of victory and peace by above all things to have a part in the congregation, and by Mr. the Christian awakening which he Moody's favorite Mount Hermon believed to be imminent. And he quartet, followed by words of will have a mighty part in it. His thanksgiving to God and love to departure is a call to Christians His servant, by Dr. C. I. Scofield, throughout the world to "live Mr. Moody's pastor; Dr. H. G. Weswholly for God" and to "go for- ton, president of Crozer Theological ward." But strong as was Mr. Seminary; Rev. R. A. Torrey, Mooily's love for his earthy life and superintendent of the Chicago work, he welcomed the chariot of Bible Institute; Eishop Mallalieu, God that took him home. Early in of Boston; Dr. J. vVilbur Chap- .the morning of December 22d, he man and Dr. Arthur T. Pierson, of said as if half in a trance, "Earth New York; Dr. H. M. vVharton, of is receding, heaven is opening; Baltimore, and the Hon. John God is calling, do not call me back." vVanamaker. Mr. William R. But he did not go yet. After a Moody also paid a loving and soullittle sleep from which it seemed as stirring tribute to his father, who, if he would never wake on earth, he said, never showed better than he opened his eyes again and said in his own home. It was his daily to his family who were gathered life that led all of his children to round him: "I have been within Christ. He had "crossed the bar" the gates; I have seen Irene and homeward bound, and they would Dwight (his beloved grandchildren not wish to call him back, but who had preceded him). If this is thank God for the life he had been death it is glorious." Almost his enabled to live. last words were of schools which he had founded. Turning to the doc- Mr. Moody's body lay in front of tor, he said: "Now, doctor, I am the pulpit, raised in such a way that it could be seen from every
EDITORIALS
part of the church. It seemed like shoot each other, British traders a message of peace direct from the were forbidden to carry these dethrone of God, when during the structive agencies to these islands. services, a beam of heaven's sunlight came through the western France at one time said that if window and lighted up alone, of all America would join in such measthose in the house, the face in the ures she would, but when America casket. seemed about to do so, France and Russia united together in refusing From the church the body was, to help on the movement. Conse- quently the signature of America at Mr. Moody's request, borne on a: was not obtained, and Britain stands thus far alone, tho the probier by Mount Hermon students to hihition acts invidiously in restrictits resting place on Round Top, ing British traders in matters where, after a prayer, the singing where others are free. It seems of a verse of " Jesus, Lover of My high time that in an affair so hu- Soul," it was lowered into the green mane, such an enlightened country covered grave-which had lost its should take the high stand Britain victory as death had lost its sting. has taken. There on the spot that he loved so well and on which he had so often 'Vhile Dr. Paton's main object is spoken words of life, the spot con- to secure such governmental action, secrated as the scene of the devotion he purposes to speak as opportuniof thousands of lives more unre- ty affords, on missions in the South servedly to their Master; there in Pacific, and especially urge further sight of birthplace and home, the effort to reach the 40,000 or more Colportage building, the Seminary, cannihals yet there; and his recepand Mount Hermon, lies all that tion in the Southern States, where was mortal of D. L. Moody, await- for some weeks he has carried on his ing the glad summons of the re- work, has been most enthusiastic. surrection morn. From there he goes to Kansas City, Pittsburgh, New York, Canada, Dr. Paton's Mission to America. etc., intending to return to his island work via Great Britain and Dr. John G. Paton has come to Australia. The mission in the Pa- America, not only as deputy to the cific continues to be greatly blessed, Pan-Presbyterian Council in 'Vash- and money only is needed to enable ington, but in the interests of hu- missionaries with active help to manity. He is here to urge on the follow up the work already done, President and Congress that their and secure new triumphs for the traders on the Southern Pacific, on cross. islands not under the protection of any civilized nation, should be It is reported that one of the naplaced under prohibitions similar tive teachers at Lenukel, 'Vest to those Britain has decreed as Tanna, has been murdered by the governing traders on islands under savages there. her care. Some years ago, when the facts were made known as to Progress in Missionary Oonferences. the demoralizing and ruinous influence of drink and opium, and the Apropos of the coming missionmany lives sacrificed by firearms, ary conference, it is well to notice: dynamite, etc., as brought to the islands by traders, and that having First, that it is by no means the no game, the only use the natives first or second of such conferences. could make of firearms was to Back of the Exeter Hall gathering in 1888, was one earlier even than
that, held in Liverpool in 1860, at been observed in over thirty differ- which there were 125 accredited delegates, among whom were such ent countries by Christiall students men as Rev. John Fordyce, Rev. and by people specially interested Thomas Gardiner (both from Calcutta), Rev. Stephen Hislop (Nag- in the work of Christ among pur, India), Rev. C. B. Leupolt students. ,Vherever there has been (Benares), Wm. Lockhart, Esq., medical missionary, Shanghai, thorough preparation, and the Robt. A. MacFie, Esq., Rev. Joseph Mullens (Calcutta), Rev. Geo. spiritual meaning of the day as a Pritchard (T a hit i), Rev. Thos. Smith (formerly of Calcutta), Rev. day of intelligent and heartfelt Behari L. Singh, native evangelist thanksgiving and of fervent interof India, etc. cession has been realized, the ob- At this conference papers were read on servance has been attended with marked and blessed results. .. European Missionaries Abroad. ~l "The Best lI1eans of Exerting and lI1ain- The following objects for intertaining a Missionary Spirit.1I cession are suggested: wMedical Missions in China. " B Missionary Education. " 1. Pray that Christian studen ts in all lands "Best lI1eans of Calling Forth Home Liber- may be more earnest in the battle against ality." student evils and temptations. '" Native Agency in Foreign lIissions." H Candidates for l:1issionary Work. n 2. Pray that more Christian students may (,(, Native Churches and Converts." Etc., seek by consistent life and by faithful witetc. ness to win their unbelieving fellow students to become intelligent and loyal disciples of It is also very noticeable that at Jesus Christ. that conference in Liverpool not one wonwn's name appears. Eight- 3. Pray that a far larger number of stueen years later, at a conference at dents may be led by the Spirit of God to de- Mildmay, only two women dele- vote their lives to the extension of the kinggates were registered; but at Lon- dom of Christ throughout the world. don in 1888, two whole sessions were given to woman's work, and A Correction. over 400 women were enrolled as delegates. Our attention has been called to errors in the January REVIEW. On Day of Prayer for Students. page 29, line 14, "one hundred and fifth churches" should read "one The general committee 01 the hundred and fifty Christians," 'Vorld's Student Christian Federa- and in the following line 10,000 tion has appointed Sunday, Feb- rupees should be 3,000 rupees. ruary 11th, 1900, as the universal day of prayer for students. This In the article on Canadian Miscommittee includes official repre- sionary Societies, it is stated that sentatives of the Christian student "the Baptist Missionary Union movements of Germany, Scandi- raised $36,580." There is no society navia, Great Britain, France, the by this name in Canada. The On- Netherlands, Switzerland, United tario and Quebec Mission Board of States, Canada, Australasia, South the Baptist Church had an income Africa, Japan, India, Ceylon, 1898 of $31,807.61. The Baptist China, and other mission lands, Maritime Convention' M;ssion including 1,300 student societies Board raised somewhat over $20-, with a membership of over 55,000 000 for foreign missions. students and professors. During the past two years this day bas In a REVIEW of this character it is apparently inevitable that occa- sionai errors will appear, especially in statistics. Weare always grate- ful to friends for calling our atten- tion to any important mistakes, and shall correct them at our first opportunity. Accuracy is one of our chief aims and endeavors.
Donations Acknowledged.
No. 139. The Doukhobors………………. £1 No. 140. Ramabai ………………….. $30.00 No. 141. The Doukhobors …………….. 5.00 No. 142. Ramabai……………………. 1.50
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS.
QUESTIONS AND PHASES OF MODERN MISSIONS. the foreign field. "Vhen he knew of a brother, like Albert Fenn in Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D. 12mo. $1.50. Spain, working on a simple New Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. Testament basis, independently, he sent to him 'Whatever he could, Anything which Dr. Ellinwood and at one time he thus aided over writes is sure to have a hearing, for 200 laborers, none of whom he ever he is a man of vigorous and strik- pretended to support as "his mising personality, both on the plat- sionaries." He promised nothing form and in the press. The book and assumed no obligation; but as before us is a group of fourteen funds came in which he was free to papers on missionary topics. The use as he saw fit, he divided ,the first nine are theoretical, the last total amount among those whom five touch practical phases and his- he felt led to help. That is all. torical facts. Dr. Ellinwood care- The amounts he sent varied as the fully and discriminatingly treats: amounts did that came into his Hindrances to missions and their hands; but it should be 9.istinctly remedies; the various direct and understood that Mr. Muller sent reflex advantages of missions; out no missionaries on his own remedical missions; Buddhist teach· sponsibility, and never undertook ings, etc., and then gives a graphic to be the head of any missionary outline of such striking events as society or support any laborers in the entrance of the Gospel into the foreign field. Hawaii, Mexico, etc., etc. Those who have heard Dr. Ellinwood's Another thing Dr. Ellinwood masterly addresses on missions evidently misunderstands. Mr. will be glad to have permanent pen- ]!iil!er did not oppose the use of work from his hand on the great all lawful means in othe'l's, while matters about which he has done he abstained from them himself. his best thinking. He had undertaken to prove to all who deny or doubt it, that it is Among other matters he touches safe to trust alone in God; and that the" Faith element" in missions, an extensive work for Him can be and seeks to embody wholesome carried on without appeals for aid warnings against presumption, to any but Himself, and even withunder the name of faith. Person- out informing inquirers as to exally we should have kept the ele- isting needs. He was very strict ment of divine healing quite sep- in avoiding all that might impair arate from the faith principle in his own testimony, while he exmissions, as it has no necessary pressly said that some of the means connection therewith. he forebore to use were not in themselves improper or objection- One serious misapprehension has able. Others who did not attempt found its way into this admirable the practical demonstration he did, book, which will be doubtless cor- had no occasion to be hampered rected in future editions. On page by his rules, and he consistently 147 he refers to his call on "one maintained that while all beof George Muller's missionaries," lievers should exercise like faith, whom he found suffering from all are not called to use like want, exposure, etc. Mr. Muller methods, had no "missionaries" in the sense implied. He never assgmed the support of one man or woman in
V,LLAGE LIFE IN CHINA. Arthur H. Smith, the author and reader. Mr. Archi- D.D. Illustrated. 8vo. $2.00. Fleming bald R. Colquhoun served in the H. Revell Co., New York and Chicago.
This is not unworthy of the au- colonial force as deputy commisthor of that very unique and bril- sioner in Burma, and adminisliant book, "Chinese Characteris- trator in Mashonaland. tics." It is well illustrated, but the style of Dr. Smith is so graphic and The author presents the interpicturesque that it hardly needs pic- national problem raised by the torial aids. Seldom does one meet affairs of China from the viewwith any writer whose manner of point of English-speaking and presenting thought is so full of a Teutonic races. He thinks the movements in the Far East of the quaint but never coarse personal- gravest import to the destinies of ity. He sees things as few others mankind. He does not hesitate to do, and he knows how to make his record his conviction that ultimatepen the handmaid of his fancy. ly will be placed the Teutonic peo~ The volume is full of first-hand in- pIes on one side of this great contenformation about that Chinese char- tion and the Slav-Latin on the other acteristic, the village, with all its side. vVhile he may be charged oddities and features put before us with Russophobia, there is calm as by an artist's pencil, in a sort of judgment in the assertion that pre-Raphaelite style of word paint- "the onward march of Russia can ing. The last chapter on "vVhat not be stopped even by her own Christianity Can Do for China," rulers, unless it encounter a solid leaves no doubt as to the convic- barrier," whether it be true or false tion and faith of the author, that that "the unchecked advance of the Gospel both can and will trans- that power seems c'3rtain to confer form the Chinese village, tho he on her the mastery of the world." does. not expect such a change in ten years, nor a hundred. All such Manchuria is, for all practical social revolutions, he thinks, are purposes, Hussian; Mongolia, IIi, slow if they are to be real and per- and Kashgaria are the czar's whenmanent. ever he chooses to stretch out his hand to take them. There is a CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION. Archibald R. deal of significance in Mr. Col- Colquhoun. Maps and Diagrams. 8vo. quhoun's expression, that it is hard $3.50. Harper & Bros., New York. to fight a country with" its back Just why the author should say to the north wind."
that this book" makes no kind of If anyone wants to understand pretensions to be a book for the the "open-door in China" prob- student," is not quite' manifest from lem, he will do well to consult its contents. In truth it is a book this volume. Mr. Colquhoun gives for the most advanced students of the key to the policy of an " open events in the Far East. To be sure door" in his statement that the these pages are written rather for " slumbering factors of an immense the expert than for the beginner, industrial production all exist in but the style is transparent and China." He calls the Chinese "an direct, and the treatment on a intelligent human machine," tho large scale; just what one might lacking initiative as an economical anticipate from one who for a long factor; "a Chinese man is turned period was correspondent of The out cheaper than by any other London T·imes. If the newspapers race." Tho progress has been at a have come to largely dominate the standstill for centuries, "many style of writing of the period, they products of China hold their own have at least left small gap between against the world." If modern ap-
pliances were adopted by the Chi- Sudanese war, and the dwarfs dis- covered and described by Henry M. nese, they might take" a leading Stanley. These pygmies occupy about 1,000 square miles of the position" in the world's productive immense forest lands east of Uganda. They are an exceedingly forces. He says" famine, provin- interesting people, and Mr. Lloyd throws much light on their characcial autonomy, and rebellion" are ter, customs, and beliefs. The author is a true-hearted man and the three great enemies of the Chi- shows how a Christian can travel in cannibal countries and not lower nese government. Ther(;l are dis- his standard. The Vord of God, he says, is the only power that can integrating forces at work; for- transform Africa. Much of the Dark Continent is still unexplored eigners have control of the coast, and myriads of human beings are there waiting for the light of life. and internal communication is The book is valuable and fas- cinating from many standpoints neglected. The capital being at the and should have a wide reading.
extremity paralyzes the authority ROMANISM IN lTS HOME. Rev. .T. H. Eager, D.D. 8vo,300pp. $1.00. American Baptist of the Peking government. Not- Publication Society, Philadelphia.
withstanding the grand canal A religion can best be studied where it has had unrestricted sway system, which is a monument of for centuries, or has come in con- tact mainly with inferior religions. human industry, the absence of The natural results of the errors of the Roman Catholic Church railroads and even of good roads, are clearly seen in the superstition, moral weakness, and illiteracy of results in inability to control the countries like Spain, Italy, South America, and Mexico. To give full empire. The United States has in- credit to a religion, however, it must also be studied in a country tense interest in this subject, as it where it comes in contact with a rival religion. Dr. Eager pictures already possesses one-seventh of Romanism as it is seen in Italy, and a dark picture it is. In the inthe foreign trade of China. To troduction Dr. John A. Broadm, testifies to the author's talents, build up a great commerce with sound judgment, and high charac- ter. He may be charged with a China without territorial control, lack of charity, but snch a charge can have .no force from any who but by overmastering influences, have not had equal opportunities to study Romanism with a desire which will result in the develop- to uplift its abherents. Ve may love Romanists and hate Romanment of the nation, is the "open- ism. The unenlightened condition of many Roman Catholics somedoor" policy of Great Britain and times reveals very little difference the United States. J. T. G.
IN DWARF LAND AND CANNIBAL COUNTRY. A Record of Travel and Discovery in Central Africa. A. B. Lloyd. Illustrated. Maps. 8vo, 385 pp. $5.00. Imported by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
"The end of the geographical feat is the beginning of the missionary enterprise," wrote Livingstone. How often Christian missionaries have been pioneer explorers and have placed the world under permanent indebtedness by opening up vast unknown regions. Mr. Lloyd is a missionary of the Church Missionary Society, and crossed Central Africa from Zanzibar to Uganda, where he was stationed for nearly five years, and thence traversed the vast forests occupied by the pygmies, to the western coast. The narrative abounds in thrilling incident and gives much reliable information on life in Central Africa, the wonderful work of God in Uganda, the
between Romanism and paganism. edited by the careful and loving Dr. Eager pictures clearly the hand of his beloved widow, is now formality, superstition, ignorance, in the market, and is fully the immorality, dishonesty, idolatry, equal of the two volumes that pre- intolerance, etc., which are not ceded it. If it has any fault it is only not eradicated by Romanism, that it enters too much into per- but are evidently fostered and pro- sonal details, which seem to belong duced by some of its beliefs and rather to the arcana of private life, practises. and are not appropriate for the public eye. But all that concerns The book also contains testi- Mr. Spurgeon has a fascination for monies from well-known authors, those who knew him, and Mrs. Italian statesmen, etc., and men Spurgeon is rearing to her husband who are giving their lives for the a monument more enduring than purpose of leading the people of brass or marble. Italy to a simple and sincere faith in Jesus Christ. Monthly Missionary Bibliography, These testimonies form an un- IN DWARF LAND AND CANNIBAL COUNTRY. Al- answerable argument for the need bert B. Lloyd. Illustrated. Maps. 8vo, of sending Christian missionaries !~~p"pSo!:"OO. Imported by Chas. Scrib- to Papal lands. BRITISH AFRICA. Maps. 8vo. $3.50. Im- DRAGON, IMAGE, AND DEMoN.-Rev. Hampden ported by Funk & Wagnalls CO. C. DuBose. Illustrated. 12mo, 464 pp. $1.00. Presbyterian Committee of Publi- VIEWS IN AFRICA. Anna B. Badlam. 547 pp. cation, Richmond, Va. 90 cents. Silver, Burdett & Co.
This is another edition of Mr. TRANSVAAL AND THE BOERS. W. E. Garrett- DuBose's classic on the three re- Fisher. 8vo, 400 pp. $4.00. Chapman & ligions of China: Confucianism, Hall. Buddhism, and 'l'aoism. It is a valuable account of the mythology, THROUGH UNEXPLORED ASIA. 'Vrn. Jalneson . idolatry, and demonolatry of the Reid. Illustrated. 8vo, 499 pp. Dana, Chinese-one of the clearest, sim- Estes & Co. plest, and most readable descrip- tions of Chinese religious thought LIFE IN ASIA. Mary C. Smith. Illustrated. and customs which have ever been 334 pp. 75 cents. Silver, Burdett & Co. published. It is too well known to need a recommendation. BRITISH INDIA. Map. 8vo. $3.50. Imported by Funk & Wagnalls CO. JAPAN IN HISTORY, FOLK~LoRE, AND ART. VVM. "-ESTERN INDIA. J. Murray lIIitchell, LL.D. Elliot Griffis, D.D. lGmo. Houghton, 1I1ap. 8vo, 406 pp. 5 shillings. David Mifflin & Co , Boston. Douglas, Edinburgh.
The name of Dr. Griffis has been MARY REED: MISSIONARY TO LEPERS IN INDIA. for twenty years linked with the mikado's empire, and this volume .Tohn Jackson. Illustrated. 12mo, 128 pp. of the Riverside Library for young 75 cents. Fleming H. Revell Co. people gives a vivid sketch of the THE REAL MALAY. Pen Pictures. Sir F. A. sunrise kingdom, its strange no- Swettenham. $1.50. John Lane, New tions and customs, its social life, po- York. litical framework, and the outward agencies and interior forces that A QUARTER OF A CENTURY IN THE ISLAND EMare recreating the empire. Tho PIRE (JAPAN). Mrs. Louise H. Pierson. written mainly for the young, it 1:!mo, 181 pp. lIIethodist Publishing is equally valuable for the elders. House, Tokyo, Japan.
The third volume of the "Auto- KAMIL: The Setting of the Crescent and the biography of Charles H. Spurgeon," Rising of the Cross. H. H. Jessup, D.D. Illustrated. 12mo, 1[6 pp. $1.00. Pres- byterian Board of Publication, Philadel- phia.
HAWAII AND ITS PEOPLE. Dr. A. S. Twombly.
Illustrated. 384 pp. $1.00. Silver, Bur- dett & Co., Boston. ,V. THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO. A Social Study. Prof, E. DuBois and Isabel Eaton. 8vo, 520 pp. $2.50. Ginn & Co., Boston.
INDIAN CHILD LIFE. 18 short stories. 8vo, $2.00. Frederick A. Stokes Co. CATHOLICISM: Roman and Anglican. Rev. A. 1II. Fairbairn, D D. 8vo. 78. 6d. Hodder & Stoughton, London. TWELVE PIONEER MISSIONARIES. Dr. George Smith, C.I.E. 8vo, 304 pp. 78. 6d. Nel- son & Sons, Edinburgh.
MODERN ApOSTLES OF MISSIONARY BVWAYS.– 8vo, 108 pp. 35 cents. Student Volnn- teer lIIovement, New York. LITTLE FOLKS OF lIIANY LANDS.-Loul.e J. N~~~: 8vo, 383 pp. Ch!r!e~ S9ril;mBr's
GENEl<AL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
AMERICA. into harmony. He notes six points Tuskegee On December 4 a of danger in the problem, such as Institute and public meeting was the impatience of extremists, the Negro Edu- held in Madison discouragement of the negroes in cation. Square Garden in their l.ong, upward climb, the mis- the interest of the representation of the South by Tuskegee Normal and Industrial mobs and exaggerated newspaper School for the education of negroes, reports, the lack of educational with various distinguished men to opportunities for the negro, and speak. The meeting was to further the repression of negro aspirations an effort to raise $500,000 endow- by unfair legislation. He proposes ment for the Tuskegee school. his own solution of the problem, Principal Booker T. 'Vashingt<'lll which is thai; the negro identify made an address, and at that time himself with the interests of the and subsequently various large South so as to make himself a neces- sums were promised for this pur- sary factor in its welfare. The pose. negro in the Sonth has it within We rejoice in the success of his power, if he properly utilizes this institution. Booker 'Vash- the forces at hand, to make of him- ington has declared that" no negro self such a valuable factor in the educated in any of onr larger insti- life of the South that for the most tutions of learning in the South has part he need not seek privileges, been charged with any of the but they will be conferred upon recent crimes connected with him. The man who has assaults on women." learned to do something better This statement has been repeated than anyone else, has learned to in substance by the representative do a common thing in an uncomof the Freedmen's Aid and Southern mon manner, has power and in- Edncation Society. Dr. M. B. fluence which no adverse surround- Neason, corresponding secretary, ings can take from him. It is remarks as a tribute to the uplift- better to show a man how to make a place for himself than to put him ing work of Christian education: in one that some one else has made for him. The schools of the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Educational So- The Mormon Not for half a genciety have been making good citizens, educating negroes to be Monster. eration at least has Christian men and women. They have not made criminals. The the entire land been criminal negro never comes from the Christian school. There have so deeply stirred as over the brazen been more than two hundred thousand students in these schools, impudence of the Latter-day sysand not one of them has ever been lynched or charged with the crime tem, and the peril to the nation for which negroes are lynched. which centers in Salt Lake City.
The people are nearly a unit in de- manding that the most stinging re- The Case In the Atlantic buke possible shall be administered of the Negro. Monthly for N ovem- at 'Vashington, by sending would- bel' Boo k e r T. be representative Roberts back the Washington has a notable article way he came, with the chagrin of on this theme, in which he shows utter and overwhelming defeat to that the coloredraceis in the South his plans. Increasingly for months to stay, and that the relations of – the religious and political press, the two races must be adjusted North, South, East, and West, has
been saying to Congress, ., This cent. to foreign missions and forty- sham~:ess lawbreaker must not. two and a half per cent. to the be sitffered to enter upon the role home field.
of lawmaker." On to The superintendent A Medical An effort is now Puerto Rico. of the Methodist Missionary making to establish Episcopal missions College. an International in Puerto Rico will come to his Memorial Medical work with the experience of Missionary College in New York twenty-five years of work in Span- City. In April, 1881, more than ish-American countries. Spanish eighteen years ago, the Internation- is as natural to him as English.
al Medical Missionary Society was The Methodists, with statesman- founded, to train young men and like forethought, have summoned women for service, and to reach the him from Buenos Ayres and put him sick poor of the city. Nearly 150 at work in Puerto Rico. Little did have been aided and trained for act- they dream years ago, when the ive work, and twelve have laid Mexican and South American mis- down their lives in foreign lands. sions were founded, that in that The purpose is to put the work on a work would be trained adminis- permanent foundation by scholar- trators, evangelists, and teachers ships in perpetuity. $1,000 in one who one day would be set at work cash payment is sufficient to found under the Stars and Stripes in the such a perpetual scholarship. It is "Vest Indies. The American Mis- also proposed to make the college sionary Association is not less for- a "memorial" to such friends of tunate in having at the head of its medical missions as Dr. John Scud- work in Puerto Rico a minister der, Dr. Peter Parker, Dr. Andrew trained to preach in Spanish by P. Haffen, and Dr. Samuel F. Green. several years' experience in a Mexi- The Gospel Mission to the Tombs can mission.-Congregationalist.
of New York City has been at work Newsfromthe An unexpected for nearly twenty years. It is Far North. mail reached us on managed by a board of ministers and laymen, representing the Bap- October 27th, from tist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Method- the Eskimo Mission on Blacklead ist, Presbyterian, Reformed, and Island, Baffin's Land. A fishing- Reformed Episcopal churches. The smack having called at the island, chaplain holds services Sunday and the missionaries took the opportuweek days, and visits the prisoners nity of sending home news. The in their cells at all times. In this Rev. E. J. Peck, in a letter dated way he comes in contact with 25,- September 30, gave a short account 000 prisoners annually. of the work. During the year an epi- demic resembling i.nfluenza at- Methodist Every year the tacked the Eskimo. This was fol- Money for l'Iethodist Mission- lowed by famine, and again and Home and For. ary committee dis- again the missionaries had to eign Work. cusses and deter- mourn the loss of the people.
mines anew what Through the kindness of friends at proportion of the funds received home, who had sent a supply of shall be devoted to the foreign and rice and peas, they were enabled in the home work, with a steady tend- some measure to alleviate the suf- ency toward an increase to the ferings of the Eskimo. Many of former. The ratio fixed for this the people can now read the Gos- year is fifty-seven and a half per pels, and during the winter a more
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
earnest and attentive spirit was government forces. In their turn shown. Mr. Sampson was for the priests have appealed to the about four months at Kikkerton, Vatican, and some of them have on the northern slope of Cumber- even threatened closing their land Sound, where he lived like all churches. Eskimo, having a snow house and using native lamps. He also had EUROPE. a snow church as long as the weather permitted, and afterward Romanism The sale for £202,- used the marquee sent by the Missionary Leaves Association. Mr. Decadent. 000 of St. Mary's, Peck has since reached home from Cumberland Sound. The smack, Moorfields,has left the AleTt, in which he made the journey, was nearly shipwrecked the city of London without a Rojust before reaching Peterhead.-C. M. S. IntelligenceT. man Catholic church; and altho it is urged that the reason for the step is simply the fact that the foundations have become "somo- what unsafe," owing to "the erect- ing of great piles of buildings, and the demand faT mOTe," it is under- Doctoring This was surely stood that funds are urgently re- Under never better exem- quired, and are not otherwise forth- Difficulties. plified than by Mr. coming, for the completion of the Sampson, of the huge Byzantine Cathedral at W est- Church Missionary -Society, work- minster, which the Romanists com- ing among the Eskimo of Cum- menced regardless of the illustra- berland Sound, Baffin's Bay. He tion given by our Lord of the un- had some cases of pneumonia to wise man who commenced to build treat. "These cases," he writes, without having counted the cost.- "are rather difficult to treat in a London ChTistian.
snow hut and on a snow bed, with Increase of At the recent "Dissenters." church congress in only a deerskin between the snow Great Britain, Dr. and the patient, and not enough Henry Wace, formerly principal of King's College, and one of the oil to heat the den. In one case writers of Times leaders, made a strong impression on the conferthere was no door. This den was ence by calling attention to the amazing growth in numbers, so small that I could not get in unity, and influence, of the "dis- senters." The facts are too imwhen both parents were in, so I portant not to be recorded for permanent use. The dissenting pushed aside the old cotton skirt churches had increased from a twentieth to more than a quarter, which served for a door, and I if not a third, of the population. The membership of the Anglican looked in when I wanted to give the Church in England and Wales was 1,920,140. In the dissenting churches sufferer medicine and food." there were 1,897,175. Church Sun- day-school teachers numbered 206,- Anti-Papal In Ecuador a move- 271; in the Free Churches there were 381,153. Church Sunday- Agitation in men t has been school scholars were 2,410,209; and in the Free Churches '3,284,963. Ecuador. started to restrict the clerical repre- sentatives of the Roman Catholic Church to their priestly functions, and thereby to free political life from their domination. Restrict- ive legislation has been achieved.
During the past two years the cler- icals have twice vainly tried to overthrow the present government in Ecuador, but in both cases the revQlutioni$ts were defeated by the
[THESE statistics are designed to include only Missions among either non-Christian or nonreduced. Accuracy has been sought, but also completeness, and hence conservative estimates within the space afforded by two pages of this Magazine, a large number of the smaller and Id » 'o-j ….. NAMES OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES I" 00 '" 8 'a ·1 e'"ras p.9cS'"':-o-1'~S0dOJ':!>~r.h GREAT BRITAIN AND UPON THE 0 ·C ~ <i CONTINENT, AND SUMMARIES FOR ~ 05 .0~ oj'- '" s» .o'~"jOJ 00 .~j ':O!J 00 o~ S .~'- z~ E·~ oj OJ ':! .., 0 0 I>- )::10 oj" ':! .~ Ag.o. ASIA, AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, ETC. '"" o'- 00 oj ~ ~..o.",j " o~ b~ 1-1 .:!l …:l ~ 0 $376.660 0 E-< — — — E-< — — — — Baptist (England) ………………… 1792 107 61 103 6 277 70 1,619 London Society (L. M. S.) …………. 1795 663,810 158 38 156 70 422 892 5,270 Church Society (C, M. S.) …………. 1799 1,899.,135 406 123 324 282 1,135 347 6,184 Propagation Society (i!. P. G.) •……. 1701 661,775 536 75 470 170 1,251 190 8,326 Universities' Mission ……………… 1859 173,075 45 24 1 38 108 13 118 Society of Friends…………. , …… 1867 106,315 31 4 24 23 82 0 1,035 Wesleyan Society………………… 1816 557,901 250 90 232 52 529 40 3,037 Methodist New Connection ……….. 1859 27,051 10 0 4 0 14 5 78 United Methodist Free Churches ….. 1837 52,810 30 10 27 3 70 7 260 Welsh Calvinistic ………………… 1841 37,070 17 3 14 R 42 6 56 Presbyterian Church of England …;. 1847 117,985 32 3 20 28 83 22 156 Presbyterian Church of Ireland …… 1840 101,344 28 4 25 7 64 15 385 China Inland Mission ……………… 1865 307,890 72 259 270 211 812 24 695 Established Church of Scotland…… 1829 188,035 32 12 27 48 119 12 537 Free Church …………………….. 1843 344,430 63 28 62 6g 221 23 1,149 United Presbyterian ……………… 1847 305,186 62 16 66 43 187 21 881 1,075,500 117 290 162 674 1,243 60 3,410 Other British Societies ……………. ….
Paris Society …………………….. 1822 226,730 46 8 45 12 112 42 342 Basel Society …………………….. 1815 284,417 193 62 143 9 407 45 1,184 Berlin Society ………….. , … , , ….. 1824 98,757 84 16 67 11 178 2 238 Gossner Society.. , ….. , … , ….. " … 1836 45,955 31 0 20 4 55 19 516 Hermannsburg Society, …. , .. ,", … 1854 70,480 60 5 52 0 117 0 499 Leipsic Society…………. , ………. 1836 137,779 37 5 27 4 73 22 596 Moravian Church…. "." ………… 1732 142,564 150 36 151 18 355 26 1,817 North German Society",., ….. ,', … 1836 33,18'1 14 1 9 5 29 1 55 Rhenish Society (Barmen)••….. , …. 1829 118,200 120 5 108 15 248 22 347 76,500 59 15 37 80 211 5 84 Eleven other German Societies., ….. …. 130,400 92 5 63 4 164 15 350 Fifteen Netherlands Societies, .. , …. …. 320,200 85 41 92 54 272 68 1,605 Nineteen Scandinavian Societies ….. ….
Societiesin Asia,Africa,Australia, etc . …. 570,600 395 320 462 122 1,299 420 11,900 Totals for Europe, Asia, etc. , , . " , … .- ._- -…-. —- .- 1,559 3,263 .- — .– — $9,241,711 3,262 2,069 10,301 ~,43r8.3':': —- 516 — ~'524115'864 Totals for America…….. , .. ,., ….. , 5,522,909 1,409 1,441 1,352 4,718 —- .- — Totals for Christendom.""".,',.," 14,763,620 4,671 2,075 4,704 3,421 15,019 3,958 64,193
GENERAL MISS10NARY INTELLIGENCE
Protestant peoples, and hence the figures of certain societies doing colonial work have been have been made concerning certain items omitted from some reports. Mainly in order to keep special organizations have been grouped together.] .:::"""" ""."., s"" I"'., I -2 …,, " " I[ -cr:i.e.,ll..:~eng:-~'.2'J.e.l.l ~:S (.'(l.S .Si "~,>~< ~:g~ I … OJ <en ~~ § odZ'~ 0 Countries in which o·~ S >'l 0 JtIissions are Sustained. I .., -OJ . .0~'W" "~d–.Q.2 od 0 — od Q —- ww —- " -"0od- E-< i wo – – -I- – – –,— 1,8U6 1,001 53,749 2,921 170,000 650 36,320 India1 China, Palestine, Africa, West 5,692 1,357 52,803 1,H17 175,588 1,037 Indies. 7,319 1,420 6.,904 1,950 247,566 2,181 4,577 4,500 40,000 1,780 130,000 50,613 China, India, Africa, !l'Iadagascar, 1,815 850 Polynesia. 226 38 93 7,21i 72 88,094 Persia, China, Japan. India, Africa, North America, etc.
38,000 India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Africa, West Indies, etc.
3,245 Africa (Lake Nyasa and Zanzibar).
1,117 246 2,730 230 14,297 250 20,869 Palestine, India, China, Madagas- 3,566 2,679 46,262 1,622 140,000 1,138 car.
92 197 2,527 I 52R 10,000 41 68,985 India, China, Africa (West and South), West Indies.
5115 China (Shantung, Tien-tsin).
330 199 11,098 840 25,000 21 1,340 China, Africa, Australia.
98 250 3,642 620 17.000 212 5.949 N. E. India, France (Brittany).
237 195 5,943 711 18,500 10 250 India, China, Malaysia.
449 102 1,960 490 6,000 65 1 5,825 China, India (Kathiawar), Syria.
1,507 318 3,195 1.02[1 25,000 132 1,726 China (Fifteen Provinces).
656 98 2,334 251 7,000 270 15,500 India, East Africa, Palestine.
1,370 349 10,977 1,921 43,808 499 35,298 India, Africa (South and East), Ara- 1.068 bia, Palestine. New Hebrides. 4,653 382 26,971 3,,,67 75,000 3il3 20,146 India, China, Japan, Africa (West and South), West Indies.
330 22,300 2,200 50,000 1,065 35,000 454 218 1'1,452 443 40.000 354 9,944 Africa, South and West, Tahiti, 1,591 Madagascar.
464 20,312 2,324 40,292 516 18,699 South India, China, West Africa.
416 233 17,58~ 1,400 34,877 100 6,898 Africa, East and South, China.
571 50 15,300 372 50,000 20;' 3,643 India (Ganges, ChotaNagpore).
616 168 23,882 640 46,372 10. 6,728 India, South Africa, New Zealand.
669 199 7.995 1,155 17,882 22G 6,908 South India, Burma, British and 2,22'Z German East Africa. 84 192 33,784 1,764 96,371 280 24,404 South Africa, Australia, South Am- 33 1,349 148 2,257 erica, West Indies, Eskimo. 36 1f19 West Africa, New Zealand.
595 270 29,700 2,943 72,367 279 12,599 Africa, East Indies, New Guinea., 295 100 1,420 82 5,200 35 2,250 China.
514 550 79,600 3,572 200,000 40 1,800 1,87'7 395 37,200 2,570 90,000 430 40,200 270,400 -8-,20-0 – – – – – – – – – 13,199 1.520 — 500,000 1,790 170.000 — — 18,053 -9-11,.16-6 48,188 2,357,594 —- — — – – – 57,956 — 13,253 732,747 — – – – – – 22,344 8,582 410,395 31,571 1,112,381 6,223 255,913 — — —– — – – 80,300 26,635 1,321,561 79,759 3,469,975 19,476 988,660
Abroad, Dr. Wacefound something honorary, an increase of 13 men less than three and a half millions and 52 women on the numbers for of Church of England communi- the previous year. In addition to cants, as compared with consider- the 84 honorary or partly honorary ably more than seventeen million missionaries, the stipends of 303 Free Church members. are wholly or partially borne by the gifts of associations or other These facts have a peculiar signifi- bodies (including 44 by the Colonial cance at the very time when more associations, and 49 by the Gleanthan ever Ritualism and Romanism ers' Union and branches), and 102 threaten the Anglican Church with by individuals, making a total of disaster if not disruption. Mean- 489 wholly or partially supported. while a new use for the Free Church catechism has been discovered. The Regions There are over 40 The Liverpool school-board pro- Beyond Mis- workers in the poses to make it the basis of its sionary Union. Kongo Balolo Misfuture religious teaching. This is significant, especially in view of sion, of which Dr. the fact that the board has a Grattan Guinness is director, and majority of members belonging 15 in the Peru and Argentine Misto the Established Church, and sions, and in addition it is proposed that the chairman is a clergyman. to undertake work in Behar, one of the most neglected provinces in Work for The British Deep India. All these missions, together with Dr. Guinness's well-known Sailors. Sea Mission, which missionary training institutions in London and Derbyshire, are now for many years has worked by the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, of which the done a noole work among the fish- two Drs. Guinness, father and son, and the Rev. F. B. Meyer, are the ermen of Newfoundland and else- honorary directors. The expendi- ture amounts to from £25,000 to where, lately held its annual meet- £30,000 per annum.
ing. It was announced that the Honors to the The V 0 ice from Virgin in Italy. Italy, in an article most munificent gift ever made to from M. Meil, dethe mission had been received from scribes the erection of a gigan- tic statue of the Virgin Mary an anonymous donor, a splendid on one of the highest peaks of the Cottian Alps. The cost of new hospital steam trawler, cost- the statue' was £5,000, which was made up by the gifts of 130,000 ing $50,000. The mission fleet now children, the younger members of the royal family heading the consists of 15 vessels, with 6 doc- list. The pope himself has written an inscription for it, in which he tors aboard, and its sphere of oper- implores it to defend the frontier of Italy from all invaders. The ations includes the North t:ea, the Voice estimates that there are nearly 100,000 Protestants in Italy, Channel, and "Vest Coast fisheries, of whom some 30,000 are Walden- sians. and the fishing grounds off Labra- dor, which extend six hundred miles northward by the coast line from the Straits of Belle Isle.
Forty-five tons of literature were distributed in 1898; 11,085 patients were treated in the North Sea, and 2,435 in Labmdor; 16,411 missionary visits were made, and 3,260 services were held at sea.
The C. M. S. The roll of C. M. S. Muster-roll. missionaries now includes 520 men, and 347 women, total 867 in all, of whom 84 are honorary or partly
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
A Catholic A Catholic ver- dared to publish an account of the outrage was afterward forced to Bible for sion of the Scrip- call in all the procurable copies that had been issued. Spain. tures in Spanish has been prepared in London, with notes authorized by the Roman clergy. Wherever a text Exodus from It was reported not contradicts Roman theory or prac- Judaism in long ago in the J ew- tise, a foot-note is appended to Austria. ish papers that last lessen or destroy the effect. The year 4,000 Jews purpose of the work, according to were baptized in Vienna. The J ew- the preface, is to arrest the progress ish congregation of Vienna contra- of Protestantism. It seems, how- dicted this, and gave the number ever, to be an almost utter failure. of baptisms during the last five Very few copies have been sold, years as follows: in 1894, 424 were partly because the book costs three baptized; in 1895, 433; in 1896, 457; times as much as a Protestant Bible, in 1897, 485, and in 1898, 468. The and partly because Spanish Cath- number of baptisms are a great olics as a whole are insensible of deal smaller than was formerly re- their need of Scripture. The Prot- ported. -Jewish Daily News.
estants have very adroitly turned what was meant to injure them ASIA.
into a valuable help. Every col- The Sultan as The sultan of Tur- an Educator. key is beginning to porteur is provided with a copy of put himself in line, this Catholic Bible, so that when to some degree, with the educa- tional movement of the day. he is called to account by a priest Through his agency, 50,000 schools have been established throughout or an official he can prove that the his empire, for girls as well as for boys. This shows he is at last Protestant Bible agrees on all wakening up to the fact that the world moves. His action marks a essential points with that issued striking departure from the tradi·· tional usages of his race. Some of under the sanction of the church. the old sultans and Turks would look upon him as an innovator of Persecution in The campaign of the most iconoclastic stamp. But the missionary is abroad with his Spain. persecution recent- school, and Islamism feels the ne- cessity for keeping pace with the lyorganized against educational force which has come with an advancing Christianity.- Protestantism in Spain has com- Presbyterian.
menced, and the Protestants of The Printing This pr'ess was Press in Beirut. founded in 1822, and Granada are passing through a is the most imporsevere ordeal. For some time the tant Arabic press in the world. It printed last year 49,000 volpupils of a neighboring Roman umes of the Scriptures, and among its sales were 36,941 scientific books, Catholic institute have resorted to and 18,311 tracts. One of its char- acteristic doings ,vas a "Martin the cowardly habit of stoning the Protestant chapel and the adjoining buildings. Before the police could interfere, a serious attack was or- ganized by a crowd of 200 persons, under the instigation of the priests, who cried out, "Death to the Prot- estants," etc., and threatened to burn the building. The riot was only quelled with extreme diffi- culty; and it is a fact that throws light on the methods and power of the Romanist party in the country, that the only newspaper which
Luther edition" of El Neshra, the the Euphrates and the head of mission newspaper, at the time of the Persian Gulf; from Bussora Emperor "Villiam's visit to the through Southern Persia and Balu- Holy Land. It contained a brief chistan to the borders of India; history of the causes of the Refor- thence across Northern India to mation, and a special copy with the eastern confines of Northern the first page printed in gilt letters, Burma; thence 1,600 miles farther was presented to the emperor and eastward through China to Shangacknowledged with his thanks. hai. Already it is announced that a contract has been made for the Christian Seven Christian En- building of the road to Bussora.
Endeavor in deavor societies are Beirut. organized in thii:l Demand for The rule now is to city, and more are the Bible in make every person planned for. No greater encour- Syria. who wants a Bible agement has come to the devoted either pay for it en- workers in Beirut than the spon- tirely or in part, and there were taneous demand among young men 5,000 more volumes of Scripture of the church there for a Christian sold last year than the year before Endeavor society. They wanted -and 22,000 more Bibles and por- it. They asked for it-received tions sent out from the press for help in organizing and, at the first use in Syria and Egypt. In Amer- meeting, 20 earnest young men ica we see sales advertised of the took charge of the meeting and "best-selling books." In Syria the thrilled the hearts of the veteran Bible is the best-selling book.
missionaries who could remember when the first evangelical church The Famine Says the Indian was organized in Syria with only in India. lYUness:" Impor- 18 members, some fifty years tant statements re- ago. Now there are 17 different specting the famine-its extent and Protestant services conducted on the steps to be taken in coping with Sunday in Beirut, in Arabic, be- it-were made in the Supreme sides the Christian Endeavor socie- Council last Friday. Mr_ Riyaz esti- ties, attended by some 4,000 men, mated the area in which scarcity women, and children.-Woman's or famine conditions already exist Work for Woman. or will soon prevail to be about 350,000 square miies, affecting a " All British Such is the title of population of about 30,000,000, in Railway to an article in the British and native territories. Be- China." Nineteenth Century sides these, large tracts in Central for last September. India, western districts of the The writer suggests that the build- North-West Provinces, and some ing of the great Trans-Siberian parts of the Punjab must suffer Railway to China calls for a simi- considerably unless at least one lar "all-British" one. The total inch of rain shall fall before the length of such a line would be end vf November or thereabouts.
about 7,000 miles, nearly 4,000 Summing up, he said that a much miles of this distance being through smaller area and population in British territory or territory under British India were this year seri- British control. The road would ously affected, and a much larger run from Alexandria to Akabah, area and population in the native thence across Northern Arabia to states, as compared with the Bussora (Busrah), at the mouth of affected area and population in
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
1896–97. The viceroy promised alive for one day; $1.00 will feed a whole family for a week and $5.00 most sympathetic and vigorous for one month. [The editors of the REVIEW will gladly receive and efforts of government to meet the forward funds promptly.] dire emergency in the affected The Offense The Rev. A. Gad- of the Cross. ney, a missionary regions-Rajputana, Oentral In- of the S. P. G., dia, Northern Bombay, Baroda, quoted in the O. M. r., asks why, etc., and expressed the!)arnest hope especially, it is that so much opthat India's own sons will come to position to the Gospel is to be found in India. He says: "Whence the relief of their distressed fellow- springs this antipathy? There may be several causes for it, countrymen in this th8ir hour of but no one who has studied the question can, I think, do otherwise sore need. "Ve are glad to see that than conclude that Brahmanism is responsible for a good deal of it. wealthy natives at different points Brahmans have confessed to me that they feel their' day' to be over. are subscribing liberally to relief And what does this imply? It implies this-that these people, funds." whose system h'as taught them to consider themselves 'lords of crea- Rev. H. Mould writes from Kher- tion,' superior to all other human beings, and altogether above law, wara, Rajputana: feel very keenly the leveling influ- ence of the present 'regime. 'We In ordinary years at this time the fields are are treated like other people now,' full of ripening crops of maize and other said a Brahman to me one day. kinds of grain; the hills and jungles are thick It is just this that makes them with grass, which serve as fodder for the ready to resent anything that they cattle for the next ten or twelve months; feel will place them on the level the rivers and streams are full of water. But with ordinary humanity. They feel this year what is to be seen? Nothing, that they have to fight for that absolutely nothiug but bare, empty fields, supremacy for Brahmanism that dry, parched hills and jungles, dried up they were so cunningly able to river·beds, with an occasional pool of dirty obtain for it for so many centuries." green water. And this is to a very large extent all the peasant population have to How and They sit crossdepend on for sustenance -for themselves, their families, and cattle for the next ten What Brah- legged, and touch month, at least. Already many are reduced to a diet of edible weeds with a handful of mans Eat. their food only with mJwlIJu or grain, if they are so fortunate as to get it, which is made into a kind of broth their right hand. and divided out equally to the family. It is as tho the whole peasant population of Eng- No tables, chairs, plates, knives, or land were reduced to a diet of boiled nettles or grass, on which they have to subsist for forks are required by them, as they the next ten months. Imagine this to be the case, and you will have a very fair idea of still follow the custom practised by the condition of a very large majority of the poor Bheels at the present time. their forefathers thousands of Miss Grace E. "Vilder sends the years ago. For plates they use following, which relates to a por- pieces of the stem of the banana tion of the Bombay presidency: tree, or plates made with leaves of Our rainy season is now over and the the banyan tree, stitched together prospect of famine is most serious. It is piteous to see the second crop withering in by means of bits of grass stalks. the fields around us, as the first did. Already we learn that the Bombay government is The latter are made in large numproviding for the employment of 950.000 persons. Most terrible of all is that water is short over large areas. A leading railway official has said, ~. In four months' time hundreds of miles of railway will be shut down and not onejtrain of any kind will run over these sectionsl simply because there will not be water to fill a boiler." Some rivers have now no running water in them, and there are seven months before rain falls again. The pressure of famine grows now rapidly heavier, because this famine has so closely followed the one of 1897. At the bazaar here our people are buying grain at almost three times the usual cost. If means are prOVided we could open relief work for nati ve Christians and others, deepening wells that are now drying np, etc. We shall also f~~~:~fn~~h~ld::~! an opportunity to care Five cents will keep a person
bers, tied up into bundles, and set happy family. On the itineracies apart for use when required. A all the agents eat the same food fresh leaf..plate is put down when- together, altho all castes are repre- ever food is taken, and thrown sented, from the Brahman to the away after the meal is over, as it Pariah and Chucklian. At the is defiled. There is, therefore, no mission bungalow, when refresh- . washing of dishes. The plate is ments are offered to the agents, spread on the floor, and little they take them without the slight- weights are put on the edges to est objection, altho those refresh- keep it flat. Boiled rice is then ments are prepared and passed to spread on it, and curry and vegeta- them by Pariah servants. . bles are added. A small quantity is lifted by the right hand, and He writes thus concerning the shot into the mouth by the thumb, removal of prejudice: which is placed behind it. This is repeated until all has been eaten. We have been particularly struck with the Rice is the principal food of the change in the attitude of the Mohammedan better classes, while different kinds community toward us. Thirty years ago the of millet form the chief diet of the mere mention of the name of Jesus to a Molower classes. Curry is universally hammedan audience would make them an- used in India, and can be prepared, gry. One of my first attempts at preaching, it is said, in a hundred different in the year 1868, was in the streets of Madura. ways. It is compqsed of many in- As soon as I began to talk of Jesus a Mussulgredients; such as mustard, pepper, man bitterly opposed and disputed. But turmeric, ginger, coriander seed, during the past two years I have freely tamarinds, onions, and coconut preached Jesus in purely Mohammedan viljuice. These are ground together, lages, always with the kindest reception. In and vegetable!:! and ghee (or clarified one village the people bought 7 Scripture butter) are added. This is the food portions, all that we had, and the head man of Brahmans, who, as a class, are shook hands with the missionary, giving a vegetarians. The Sudras and other sort of blessing. Subsequently we found the castes have meat or fish in addition people of that village with the same friendly to the vegetables and curry. Be- spirit. Their boys and girls come to our fore taking food, the strict Brah- schools, and sing our songs, and learn Scripman bathes, puts on clean clothes, ture with the others. repeats some hymn or sacred text, and marks his forehead and body Romanizing It has been the uniwith the sacred eml:>lem of his god and his caste. He then is ready Chinese. form testimony of to take his meal. missionaries t hat one of the greatest difficulties to be met with in mission work in China is the language, and especi- ally the alphabet. Comparatively few of the common people read, and it is almost an impossibility for them to learn after they have passed youth. Some of the mis- sionaries have urged that the lan- guage be Romanized. This has been done to a certain extent, and The Partial Rev. H. C. Hazen, the American Bible Society has al- Surrender of of the Madura Mis- ready printed the Gospels in Can- Caste. sion of the Ameri- ton Colloquial, and the Epistles in can Board, concern- Hinghua Colloquial in the Roman ing the " partial surrender of alphabet. The testimony on every caste:" In a single station board- hand is that wherever it has been ing-school 16 different castes are tried it has proved its value. The represented, all sitting upon the Rev. William N. Brewster, writing same benches, all eating the same in The Chinese Recorder, gives food, which is dealt out by the some interesting illustrations of pupils in turn at meal time, irre- the success in marked contrast with spective of caste. All form one the long delay under the old sys-
GENERAL M1SS10NARY INTELLtGEN(JE
tern. A year of careful study is Y ochow is rather more than a hun- scarcely sufficient to enable the or- dred miles to the southwest of dinary convert to read with ease -Hankow, ai; the head of the great and pleasure a single page of the Tung Ting Lake. I t is thus more Sermon on the Mount in the classi- than half-way toward Chang Sha, cal language; a boy in ten days the capital of Hunan. was able to do more reading on the Romanized phin than he would Southern Bap- The Southern Baphave in as many years on the other. tists in China. tist Convention has Of course, it is only a beginning, and there is very much yet to be 3 missions in China, done. The conservatism of the the north, the central, and the nation will be a difficult thing to south, and all three rejoiced in unovercome. but groups are being wonted prosperity last year. No formed in many of the stations, less than 550 were received into the and the work is progressing. Many churches, about double the number of those who have studied it care- admitted during any preceding fully affirm that if this difficulty year. can be overcome the advance of Christianity in China will be great- Queer Names W. Malcolm writes er than any could have anticipated. -Independent. for Chinese thus of the Chinese Attending a The London Times Babies. fashion of naming patient under gives an amusing difficulties. illustration of the b a b i e s: Children difficulties un del' may be called after any circumwhich a native Chinese physician recently, attended his majesty, the stance, or thing. For instance, jf emperor of China. When he entered the royal apartments, he was a child were born during 'a snowrequired to keep his eyes fixed on the floor, and to ask his majesty storm, or during a fair, it might be no questions, which would have been a breach of etiquette. He was called "Snow Cow," or "Fair only permitted to place one hand on the emperor's wrist-not to feel Cow." Or, again, Hthe river overhis pulse, however. As the physician remarks, "Under these condi- flows its banks, and floods the tions one doctor was just as good as another;" and after a second country, a child born at that time such interview, in which it was impossible to diagnose the case, the is liable to be called "Water Cow." attending physician begged to be relieved from duty on the plea of On our way to the hospital daily, illness in his family. we pass between two houses with their front doors opposite to each other. A baby having been born in No.1 house they called it" Cat Cow." Shortly afterward, a baby was born in No.2 house opposite, and for fear of the spirit of the cat baby, they called this one "Dog Cow." By and by another baby arrived at No.1 house, and so that it would not be afraid of the dog, they called it "Tiger Cow"; but in the course of human events, a second child came to No.2 house, and they named it "Rifle Cow," so Hunan On November 8th that it could kill the tiger. The Open. Griffith John was last arrival is at No.1 house, and, able to send this reasoning on the same prin(1ples, despatch to the headquarters of they have, for obvious reasons, the London Missionary Society: called it "Sledgehammer Cow."
"Yochow opened.. property p'ttr- We know of one family of five chased. Greig and Peake starting." girls, and when the first girl was
born, they said; We would rather subjective, but holds that the have a son, so we'll call this government has the right to reguone "Hwan Niu" (Change Cow). late and uefine all outward ex- When the second girl was born, pressions of that belief. And that however, she was so pretty that is just what we fear the governthey could not refrain from calling ment is going to do, viz., to conher" K wei Kiu" (Pearl Cow); but stantly interfere in religious affairs. when the third girl was added to Japan, just admitted to the circle the family, they said, "Girls ga- of civilized nations, within half a lore," and called her "Yu Niu" year seems in danger of showing (Many Cows). Still another, a that she was not worthy of adfourth daughter came, and they mission. vVith all her boasted said: The house is filled np with spirit of progress, she now is evigirls, so they called her" Chn Nin " dently seeking to turn back the (Full Cow). vVhen, however, the hand upon the dial. fifth and last daughter arrived, they were angry, and said: vVe have had "However it is through and in enough, and so they named her spite of such things that our " Kou Niu " (Enough Cows). glorious faith thrives and triumphs: 'God is in the midst of her, she The Crisis A correspondent shall not be moved, God shall help her and that right earl Yo • • • Be in Japan. writes from Japan: still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I "Not only has the will be exalted in the earth.' "
cause of Christian education re- ceived a terrible blow frmH the A Sound Conversion.-A Korean WOInan told of her husband's congovernment, hut that of evangel- version in a prayer-meeting, and said: "No more drunkenness or ization as well. Only to-day I re- hard, unkind words, and low, vile talk. vVe eat at the same table, at ceived notice from the local the same time, and out of the same dishes." authorities that no preaching may hereafter be done with open doors or in the open air, where a crowd may gather. Just how strictly this new regulation is to be enforced remains to be seen. But it indi- AFRICA.
cates the spirit of the government, TVhat a marvel! Khartum has actually become a tourist terminus. which is anti-religious. On the initiation of Lord Kitchener, Messrs. Cook & Son have arranged "Those who would excuse the a complete series of trips to Khar- tum in connection with their Nile action say that Buddhists and arrangements, the trains being provided with sleeping-cars and Shintoists have not been permitted dining-cars, and all other con- veniences for travel. to do this public preaching before, that now Christianity is only placed on the same footing. Be that as it may, the government is very clearly violating the principle enunciated in the constitution, which guarantees freedom to all Death of the Another blow has religions. Khalifa. been struck at "I understand t·hat Marquis Ito, Mahdism, and, in the statesman who more than any the words of the Sirdar, "the Su- other has made 'new ;Japan,' in- dan is now open "-open to trade, terprets the com;titution as guaran- civilization, and, we hope, the Gos- teeing freedom of religious belief pel. The way has been won by so long as it is confined to the great sacrifice of life and treasure,
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
and the Khalifa has followed the command more t,han $11,000· for .Mahdi-fallen by the edge of the this object. sword. With Osman Digna at large, however, there will doubtless Here may be an opportunity for be a temporary want of rest and the exercise of comity between the confidence in the entire region; but American and English missions. it is hoped that the time is not far distant when the "Yord of God will The Malarial The expedition of have free course in the land where the False Prophet has so long held Mosquito in Surgeon-Major Ross sway. Africa. to Sierra Leone in It is n~w feared that Menelik, the Negus of Abyssinia, may take connection with the advantage of the Transvaal war to advance against the English troops Liverpool School of Tropical Mediin the Sudan. His success would probably set back the opening of cine, marks an important deyelopthe Southern Sudan for several years. The British may find it ment in the investigation of the even more difficult to subdue the Abyssinian forces than those of the diseases of tropical Africa. Dr. Mahdi, and quite as great a task as they have encountered in South Ross has distinguished himself in Africa. India by the experiments he has made in connection with the mos- quito theory of the origin of malarial feyers, which seem to prove that the mosquito is at least the chief means by which malaria is propagated. These experiments have now been repeated in Sierra Leone, and as a result Surgeon- Major Ross tells us that there is a On to For years the Amer- distinct species of mosquito which Khartum. i can Mission in is responsible for the communica- Egypt (United Pres- tion of the disease. He also holds out byterian) has been waiting and hopes that by observing the habits watching for an opportunity to of these mosquitos, which breed on advance up the Nile beyond Asyut, the surface of stagnant pools, it or the first cataract, but in various may be possible to exterminate ways has been hindered. Now, them.-Ch7L1'ch JJ£issionaTY Intelli- however, the way is open, at least genceT.
so far as finances are concerned.
Some months ago the amount of The War and The war in South Missions in Africa is especially money for this purpose in the South Africa. to be regretted on hands of the society was a little account of its dam- aging influence on missions. Mr. more than $5,000. A benevolent Burford Hooke, the colonial mis- sionary secretary, writes that the English woman had promised hindrance is terrible. In Rhodesia, 800 miles from the seat of war, the $4,150 for the work. She has con- greater part of the men on Sun- da,ys spend their time in rifle pracsented that her donation should tise, the chartered company having furnished each with a rifle and a go with the society's fund, and thus hundred rounds of ammunition. And, before the war broke out, more than $9,000 will soon be in the prices had advanced sixty per cent. The after condition might be judged hands of our treasurer. In addition, when 200 miles of railway- to Rho- another English woman offered to give the mission $500 a year for three years, if it would advance into the Sudan, and has put the first $500 in the hands of the treas- urer in Egypt, and thus, including the amount in hand for this work from last year, the board has at
desia were in the hands of the the Free Church of Scotland in Boers. British reverses continue. Livingstonia. They are summed up by the Rev. Dr. Prentice as Flight from Owing to the war follows: "Six years' toil and one Swaziland. all missionaries baptism; ere the mission is twenty- four years old, 1,280 baptisms, and have had to leave. candidates for baptism exceeding The South African General Mission 2,000." have closed up five stations of their churches. Mr. Spencer Walton The Uganda According to the went to Delagoa Bay to meet the refugee missionaries and bring them Railroad. last annual report: round to Durban. They left Swaziland just in time and saved both During t1:J.e year oxen and wagons from being commandeered. The South Africa ending March 31st, 1899, the General Mission station in Mazozo, Natal, has also been closed owing "staking out" of the permanent to the war., News has reached Durban that both station churches alinement was carried forward to have been destroyed. There is some reason to fear an uprising of mile 418, showing an advance of the natives. 155 miles during the year; and 3 sur- veying parties are now employed on the remaining 137 miles or so yet requiring to be finally alined.
In this latter portion the Mau range will be crossed at a point Recent Revi- A missionary of the some 500 feet lower than the sum- val Among American Boa r d mit of the line originally recon- the Zulus. writes thus of one noitered. The actual laying of rails feature attending a has proceeded in the year from recent revival among the Zulus: mile 139 to mile 279, an advance of "They do not seem to be able 140 miles, as compared with 98 to pray silently. At their homes miles in 1897-8. A large carrying they often go into the bush and trade to the coast, which has pray aloud. So in these meetings, hitherto passed through German when they pray, they pray aloud- territory, is now diverted to the 40 or 50, perhaps, at the same time. new line, and supplies for the They do not pray so violently as German settlement on Kilima- three years ago' or break out into Njaro are being imported by rail disorder. They are intent in seek- from Kilindini to Voi, and thence ing God, each one by himself. It conveyed some 65 miles to the is fearful confusion and discord to frontier.
one accustomed to quiet, but one ISLANDS OF THE SEA.
can forget it and forgive it when he L. M. S. Work In view of the with- sees their peculiar nature and re- in Samoa. drawal of Great members how men awakened from Britain from the sleep to find their ship sinking in Samoan Islands, the following para- the deep waters would cry out for graph from Mr. Marriott, Mission- help." ary of the L. M. S. in Samoa, which Progress in The necessity of was written before the agreement Livingstonia. not being weary with Germany, will be read with in well-doing, and the truth that in due season mingled feelings:-" I am glad to we shall reap if we faint not, are illustrated by the experi- report more cheerful news from ences of the medical missions of Samoa than WE, have had for some time. The reaction in favor of our mission is strong and deep. The
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
pastors are proving veritable peace- MISCELLANEOUS. makers. The good they are doing Roman Cath- The Evangelisches will only be known at the last great olic Mission- Missions Magazin day. Mr. Newell reports a very ary Forces. remarks that this successful united service in the Malua Jubilee Hall, where nearly a century has witthousand people were addressed by nessed an extraordinary revival of him and two native pastors. Not- monastic and missionary life in the withstanding the calumnies of the Roman Catholic Church. Since 1800 Roman Catholic priests, and others, no fewer than 430 new congregations the people are still loyal to the L. have been founded, 100 of which are M.S. and to Protestant teaching." for men and 330 for women. The other orders, including the re- It is reported that Germany has stored Jesuits, show new energy. allowed the Samoans to reinstate In the "mission fields" there are Mataafa, and that many of the now laboring no fewer than 40 con- British are leaving the German gregations of priests and 20 of layislands. It is feared that German brethren, containing about 18,000 occupation will not be altogether men. Of these about 600 are Benefavorable to Protestant missions in dictines, 2,500 Franciscans, 700 Samoa. Capuchins, 700 Trappists, 500 Do- minicans, 500 or 600 Lazarists, and Heathen Hon- Dr. Armand writes some 400 Jesuits. The whole number of Jesuits is now over ors in the from Santo: "This 10,000. There are also numerous newer associations, and from 2,000 New Hebrides. has been a great to 3,000 missionaries who are sec- ular, or non-monastic priests. day at the village These do not include the ordinary English or American clergy, but of Tangoa. One of the persistent those who labor among Moslems or heathen. heathen there was to-day elevated Besides these, this century has to the highest social and political raised up for the ,missionaries new and exceedingly important assorank. To reach the top of their ciates, the sisters. These are not nuns, but active workers. No ladder, which we do not consider fewer than 120 congregations of sisters work abroad, and about very high, great efforts are re- 52,000 sisters, 10,000 being natives.
quired. Many aspire to the honor, The missionary army, therefore, is some 72,000 strong. China alone but few reach it. They rise accord- has 760 Em'opean and 400 native priests, 73 lay-brothers, and 979 ing to the number of tusked boars sisters. More than 200 missionaries have in this century shed their that they kill under certain strict blood for the faith, to make no mention of the sisters and the regulations. Here a man to reach a thousands of others who have succumbed to hardships. Besides coveted highest seat, m us t kill the Carolines and Kiautschau the Roman Church in the German about a thousand pigs. One hun- colonies has 58 main stations with 97 priests, 119 lay-brothers, and 75 dred of these must have tusks form- ing a complete circle or very nearly so. These are usually killed ten at a time, along with a number of other boars without those tusks.
Generally men are well up in years before they have secured the req- uisite number of pigs. There are, however, some exceptions to this rule. We have now in the insti- tution a student who had, while a heathen, reached the highest grade in the chieftainship on Malekula.
He is not much, if any, over thirty years of age."
sisters. It is worthy of note, that trained many of them to be not ten years ago there was not as only Christian disciples, but Bible yet one Catholic mission house, readers. Her work was prodigious whereas now there are seven. in extent, untiring in endeavor, and wide reaching. In one year Elias Riggs, Said one of the she superintended 968 Bible classes, the Veteran secretaries of the and no other foreigner in Japan Missionary. American Boa I' d, probably equaled her in the mas- tery of the native tongue, which speaking of T u r- she spoke like a born Japanese. key: "It would be impossible to Around her pretty cottage home report this mission and not to on the bluff at Yokohama, were make special mention of the ven- grouped a number of others, occu- .erable Elias Riggs, who alone rep- pied by native Bible women, and if resents the mission at the Turkish any missionary in Japan, man or capital, and who, I believe, in the woman, with the exception of Dr. records of the mission societies J. C. Hepburn, has done as much of the world, stands absolutely for the empire as Mrs. Pierson, we unique, both in the length of con- know not who it is. Her work secutive active service rendered, has, we believe, gone on without a and in the marvelous literary vacation, and reminds us of the ability which he has exercised and forty-three years of Eliza Agnew is still exercising in the field. For on Ceylon. sixty-seven (67) years he has stood at his post as missionary of this Dr. John The announcement board, coming to this country only once ,i'n that long period. At a Chalmers, of the death of Dr. time when most men would claim they had earned a rest, he has of Hongkong. John Chalmers, the remained at Constantinople, work- ing several hours each day, com- L. M. S. missionary pleting during the year now under review a revision of the Bulgarian to China, will be received with Bible dictionary, translating many hymns into Bulgarian, Greek, and general regret. He passed away, Armenian, and revising the Bulgarian Bible, which he translated on November 22d, at Chemulpo, and put through the press nearly thirty years ago, and which he has Korea. He was born at New Deer, once since revised." Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1825. Many years ",ince he went out to Hong- kong, and superintended the press of the London Missionary Society.
In 1859 he settled at Canton, but subsequently returned to Hong- kong.
OBITUARY. In 1897 the death of his wife was Louise H. It is a very conspic- a serious blow to him. After a visit Pierson, uous event, and one home he returned to China, and of Tokyo. which, we sadly was one of the shipwrecked passen- chronicle, namely, gers of the Scotsman, which found- the. decease of Mrs. Louise H. Pier- ered at the mouth of the St. Law- son in Japan, after twenty-eight rence river. He proceeded, how- years of faithful and unselfish serv- ever, to Chemulpo, in Korea, where ice in the island empir.e, in con- he died at the house of his son.
nection with the Women's Union Dr. Chalmers' writings, whether in Missionary Society of New York. Chinese or English, were chiefly Mrs. Pierson had a hand in found- connected with mission work. He ing the first Christian school for was a noble Christian, and an able girls in the sunrise kingdom, and missionary.
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 — February 1891
THE REGIONS BEYOND
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
YOLo XIV. No. 2.-0Id Series. –FEBRUARY.–YOL. IV. No. 2.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
THE REGIONS BEYOND. * [EDITORIAL. ] The old Greeks were a worldly-wise people. In the Olympio games they showed their sagacity. Three pillars stood in the ancient stadium, respectively at the starting point, midway, and at the goal or turning point. On the first was inscribed a Greek word, whose force was, "Show yourself a man !" "Do your best!" On the last was a word which migh~ be rendered, "Stop here !" "Arrest your steps!" But on that midway pillar was the imperative ::i;'7rEVOE, " Speed you !" "Make haste !"
How much philosophy there was in that! No risk was greater than the· risk of overconfidence when success was but half attained. A racer, who at first outran the others, and at the middle of the course found himself ahead, would be tempted to 'relax his efforts; and so some athlete, who had reserved his strength for the supreme effort at the end of the race, would pass him by and get first to the goal.
Paul was a trained athlete in the spiritual sphere; and the law of his life was, "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Spinoza wisely said that there is no more fatal foe to all progress than selfconceit and the laziness which self-conceit begets. To think and feel that we have already attained or are already perfect, is the narcotio that brings on the sleep of the sluggard and the slothful.
The motto of the great apostle of the Gentiles was, THE REGIONS BEYOND. He would be satisfied with no other man's method of measurement, with no narrow circumference of present attainment. He yearned to evangelize-to preach the Gospel in the Regions Beyond, and not to boast in another man's canon or measure as to territory already embraced in the scheme of labor.
That motto of Paul is the trne watchword of the Church in this new age of missions. After all the work of a century, we have only * The substance of an address at anniversary of China Inland Mission, Mildmay Hall, London, England, May 21,1890, and stenographically reported.- A.T.P. just begun. We are not even at the midway pillar; and God says, " Speed ye! Make haste! Forget the things behind and push for the Regions Beyond." And this will we do, by the grace of God!
This grand motto suggests various important applications: 1. The Regions Beyond, in the literal sense,of territory thus/ar unclaimed and unoccupied for Ghrist. If this great work of evangelizing the world is ever to be done, we must penetrate the deceptive halo of mere enthusiasm and come to the bare, hard facts of a world's destitution and degradation. Zeal is good, but zeal according to knowledge is better. To know the facts is to be oppressed with a great burden, for souls. To judge from what is sometimes said or written on missions, one wonld suppose that the work, not only of evangelization but of conversion, is going on so rapidly that we might wake any morning and find the whole world brought to Christ. Let us get past and behind this rose-colored cloud, and look at those great bald facts that, like those stopy shafts of eternity, the crags of the mountains, lift their awful forms before us-I,500,000,000 of human beings-enough, if they were moving, single file, past a given point, one every second, to consume fifty years, day and night, in passing, yet going down to the grave at the rate of more than one every second! Death, three times every century, sweeping the entire population 'of the globe into eternity, like chaff from a threshing-floor, to make room for a new generation! And this process going on for nineteen centuries, uninterruptedly, so that, since Cllt'ist was born, nearly sixty generations have lived and died, most of whom never heard of Him! What if all that host might be supposed to move in procession at the same rate we have already imagined! It would take over a thousand years! And, while we are talking about evangelizing the world, and some enthusiasts are prophesying its speedy conversion, is it not true that there are to.day more unsaved souls in the human family than there were last elmtury, or even last year? With all our missionary effort is not t 11e world';; population advancing faster than the churches of Christ are gathering converts? Surely it is time the church should fully awake to her responsibility. We act as though we had ages before us in which to preach, and the unsaved had ages before them in which to be reached, whereas our term of service and their term of life must very soon expire. The China Inland Mission found the germ of its being in the fact that, in Inland China alone, were eleven great populous provinces where as yet no missionary had gone to reside; and, in ten of the eleven, missionaries are now permanently working. Let the church not shrink from facing the facts: the destitution still unreached is appalling. What are 700 missionaries in China among 350,000,000 of souls? One missionary to half a million! About the same proportion of missionaries amc,ng the 250,000,000 or 300,000,000· of India, one to about 400,000! In Siam, with from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000, about a score of men and women, laboring among the native Siamese and Laos people, every male missionary having an average parish of a million souls, and cities with a population of 200,000 having not even a Bible-reader or native teacher!
Consider Africa's need! How little is it understood. Even a missionary journal gave currency to the misleading statement that the Dark Continent is " tolerably well supplied wi.th missionaries, as thirty-five missionary societies are now at work there." If you go across Siberia and down the eastern slope of the Kong Mountains, through the three Soudans, of the Niger, Lake Tchad and the Nile, 3,000 miles to the Red Sea, and if 400 miles north and south of your line of travel you could survey the land, you would find 90,000,000 of people with scarce one missionary! And farther south, in the Congo Free State, you might travel from Equatorville east to the Great Lake stations, and there is another territory 1,000 miles long by half as many broad, whose 40,000;000 of people when Stanley passed through Uganda had not yet seen a missionary! Doubtless Africa has to-day at least 200,000,000 of people who never saw a Bible or heard the first proclamation of the good news. And yet Africa is " tolerably well supplied with missionaries! "
Am I not justified in saying that we must get beyond and behind all this illusive glamour of ignorance and imagination? Yes, beyond evanescent touches of sympathy and passage of resolutions, and do something for souls that are dying without Christ.
In all the world we have six: thousand 01' seven thousand missionaries, representing 30,000,000 of church members-one for every five thousand! Whereas, if Protestant churches gave out of their membership one in three hundred, it would Imt 100,000 missionaries in the field, exclusive of the native helpers, who have for the last half century outnumbered four or fivefold the missionaries from Christian lands. These are, doubtless, familiar facts; but Sydney Smith said that for purposes of impression repetition is the only figure of speech worth a farthing. These facts must be beaten in by repeated blows. We must not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking. Never will the people of God take up the work of missions as they ought until they both understand and feel the emergency and extremity of a dying world and their own opportunity and {)bligation with reference to it.
As to opportunity, there was never any such before. We live in ~ays more augustly awful than any in previous history. I would rather live in this year 1891 than to have lived when Christ walked the earth. Grand as would have been the privilege of seeing the Lord in the flesh and being closely associated with Him then, this day of grace offers us opportunities of service and privileges of fellowship which, in their way, are even more transcendent.
The regions beyond, of the whole world, now lie open before the children of God. Fifty years ago the burden of public and united prayer for missions was that God would open the doors of the nations to the preaching of the Gospel. In those days Japan was like a vessel hermetically sealed; China was the walled kingdom, fifteen hundred miles of solid barrier shutting out "the foreign devils;" India was 'in the selfish clutch of the East India Company; the islands of the sea were held by cannibal savages, and Africa was not even explored. A hun- dred years ago it seemed as though there was no chance of reaching the vast bulk of the race with the Gospel. A great wall of idolatry, superstition, prejudice, surrounded the nations, with here and there a solitary breach; now, that whole wall is down, wit.h here and there a. fragment remaining to oppose our advance. Let those who see no God in history tell us how changes so stupendous have been brought about inside one century. No human being, no combination of human elements could ever have done this. But" one day is with the Lord as a thousand years," and there have been single historic" days" in this period, in which He has wrought the work that ordinarily would have taken a millenium.
That one year 1858 may be selected as the annus mirabilis of modern missions. During that one year doors were opened giving access to one thousand millions of the human race. In that year, 1858, Great Britain, after two hundred years of exclusion, made her treaty with Japan. In that same year China, by the treaty of Tientsin, threw open not only her p.orts, but her interior, and provided that any Chinese subject might embrace the Christian faith without molestation or persecution. In that same year India was transferred from the sordid East India Company to the British crown, and Victoria became Empress of the Indies. In that same year the revolutionary changes in Papal Europe laid the basis of Free Italy. In that same year David Livingstone sailed a second time for South Africa to complete his pioneer path for missionaries. In that same year Benito Juarez, in Mexico, overthrew the monastic system, confiscated the estates and revenues of the Papal Church, and opened the way for Protestant missionaries to enter Central America. And in that same year Elizabeth Sale, of Helensburgh, Scotland, successfully penetrated the zenanas of Hindustarr, and led the way in woman's work for woman!
Was there ever such a year as 1858? Within less than a twelvemonth doors of approach were opened to from thirty to forty millions in Japan, three hundred to four hundred millions in China, two hundred and fifty to three hundred millions more in India, including all her millions of women and girls, two hundred and fifty to three hundred millions more in Africa, besides the hosts in Papal Italy and Mexico! When Paul and Barnabas came back to Antioch from their first mission tour, "they gathered the Church together and rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." But did God ever open doors of access in Apostolic times with such rapidity and on such a scale of grandeur as in your day and mine? Who shall dare say that the days of supernatural working are past, ",hen such miracles qf Providence are performed before our ~ery eyes?
The apathy and lethargy of the Church of Jesus Christ are alarming, for they suggest a deadening of sensibility. We are like those that walk amid a blare and glare and flare, and whose eyes and ears are dazed and dulled by the glory of the scenes in t.he midst of which they are moving.• This year 1858 was not the only wonderful year in modern missionary history. In 1878 there was such a mighty movement of God's grace in India that sixty thousand people turned from idols in Tinnevelly and the Telugu country within six months! And it was in that same year that some twenty persons gave upwards of $4,000,000 to missions, as though God would show what on the one hand His grace could do among the heathen, and, on the other hand, in prompting a higher Christian liberality.
The Regions Beyond, thus marvelously opened to the Church, are a perpetual challenge to us to occupy till He comes. We need to get down on our faces before God for a greater Pentecostal baptism than the Church has ever yet known. All our efforts lack unity and harmony and business methods. On some mission fields a score of different denominations will sometimes be found, working side by side, in a comparatively small district, while in the Regions Beyond millions are without a single missionary. And our home fields are often overstocked in comparison. When in Scotland, on my mission tour, I found in one village, of perhaps 1,200 people, five fine church buildings with as many educated pastors; the entire church-going population could have been accommodated in one of those buildings, and cared for by one of those ministers, while the other four, with the money that their buildings cost, might have been evangelizing the interior of Chin.a, India or Africa, where each man might have a parish of from one million to ten million souls! There is something wrong in the Christian Church when denominational zeal outstrips that nobler zeal for the evangelization of the vast multitudes that are absolutely uncared for. It would seem that something is wrong, even in the basis of our missionary work, when the Church of God can calmly look on eight hundred million of human beings that, eve~ yet, after nineteen centuries, have not so much as heard whether there be a Christ or no ! When Rev: Geo. W. Chamberlain first went to Brazil, he found 10,000,000 of people in a nominally Papal land, who scarcely knew what a Bible was. One old patriarch of four score years, to whom he gave a Portuguese New Testament, and explained salvation by faith, said to him: "Young man, this is what I have long been waiting to hear. But where was your father when my father was alive that he never came to tell my father how to be saved?" Some such question as that we must all answer, if not before we die, at the judgment seat of Christ.
These Regions Beyond-this te;ritory unclaimed and unoccupied for Christ-should at once be possessed. Christ distinctly outlined for His Church her missionary policy: it is not concentration but diffusion. We cannot too often ring out this truth. Some have urged the American Board to concentrate its forces largely upon Turkey, and then, when Turkey is thoroughly evangelizeQ, it will, they say, furnish evangelists for the Regions Beyond. A similar policy has been urged upon the Presbyterian Board in New York as. to Japan, and the Church Missionary Society as to India. The argument is that we should unite our forces upon a limited field till it is thoroughly Christianized, and then make the newly converted people an evangelizing force to push on to the furtJlermost limits of the earth.
This looks well and sounds well at first suggestion; but is it scriptural? Our Master made no such discrimination. " Go ye into all the world," " unto the uttermost parts of the earth," and "'preach the GORpel to every creature." Those are onr marching orders. The policy of concentration more or less limits the area of the work of the Church. To follow such a policy is not to go into the Regions Beyond. We are tempted to choose fields comparatively neal', attractive, promising; fields offering prospect of large and quick harvests; and leave the more distant, destitute, degraded races of mankind to utter neglect. vVhile we are concentrating on Turkey, Japan or India, what is to become of the other millions of mankind that have only one lifetime in which to hear the Gospel?
Again we would peal out in the dull ears of a sluggish Church the signal of opportunity and obligation ! We are to take whatever men and women we can get and whatever money and other means we can gather and do just as OUI' Master bade us-go everywhere and to every creature with the Gospel, and do it at once. And when the Church of God will do her simple duty with faith in her Lord, the miracle of the loaves and fishes will be repeated on a larger scale in human history. 'fhe small provision, which seems nothing amil1 snch a vast multitude of hungry souls, will, when brought to the :Master and used along the lines of His command, again illustrate the miraculous mathematics of God. As we subtract from our supply, He will add to our resources. As we will divide, He will multiply; and He will increase for distribution what we decrease by distribution.
We write it solemnly and with profound conviction and deep emotion: Christ waits to see the travail of faith in the souls of His people before He can see the travail of His own soul in the redemption of the race! Never will that largest and last blessing come to our mission work until we emphasize evangelization. for which we are responsible rather than conversion for which we are not responsible; until we abandon our worldly-wise centralization and concentration and adopt the divine policy of universal extension and diffusion, going with all speed even to the uttermost parts of the earth and bearing among all nations our witness to our I.ord and His cross. From His cradle to His tomb, and from His sermon on the Galilean Mount, to His last commission, perhaps upon the same Mount, we seem to see but one commanding signal: it is a Hand pointing ~ TO THE REGIONS BEYOND. [To be continued. ] EACH religion has an appropriate symbol. The cross has come to represent Evangelical Christianity, as the crucifix does the Papacy, and the Greek cross the Greek Church. The wheel of endless transmigration may well stand for Buddhism, the iron ring of caste for Brahmanism, the crescent for Mohammedanism, the sun-disk for Parseeism, the tablet for Confucianism, the dragon for demon worship, the stone for fetichism, and the axe for a destructive atheism.
" BECAUSE iniquity abounds the love of many shall wax cold." No believer can afford simply to breathe a polluted atmosphere, and if his work for God compels such associations he must frequently go, as Christ did, apart with God, and on the lofty mountain tops breathe a pure air, taking long and deep inspirations of that purifying and strengthening oxygen and ozone. Prof. Bernard used to illustrate our unconscious accommodation to a vicious atmosphere by placing a sparrow under a bell glass receiver, with ail' enough for three hours respiration. Then, at the end of two hours, he put a sccond sparrow under the receivel', and it fell over dead, while the formcr bird was able to sustain the process of respiration for the remainillg hour. So there is a law not only of physical but of spiritual toleration. We learn to live in a polluted atmosphere, to accommodate ourselves to a low level of spiritual life. Could we come suddenly from a pure society into the carnal and worldly and selfish atmosphere often found even in Christian churches, we should be stifled. Let us live much with God, in the closet, and so learn to detect and flee from a contaminated atmosphere. May this law not explain in part the high consecration of true missionaries? They can maintain spiritual life amid snch surronndings only by mueh COil verse with God.
THE MISSION OUTLOOK
THE MISSION OU'l'LOOK.-II.
BY J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A., LL.D., NICE, FRANCE.
We proceed to speak of the foreign field. And first we ask what progress has been made in the evangelizing of the nations generally?
We sometimes hear even the friends of missions assert that the progress is deplorably small. 1Ve ask-small in comparison with what? If the answer be-small in proportion to the effort made, the answer runs clean counter to our deepest convictions. Considering how little man has done or tried to do, the blessing from on high ap- pears to us most graciously, most marvelously large. The seed we sow never perishes; it brings forth fifty, sixty and a hundred fold. Just compare the progress made in modern times with what was witnessed when the Gospel was preached even by apostolic lips. Some thoughtlessly speak as if the miracle of Pentecost had been frequently repeated through the early centuries. It was not so, even during the first. The highest estimate which we can possibly form of the number of professing Christians in the year 100 is not half a million, including childre'n, and some authorities make it considerably less. But, during the last century, more than 3,000,000 have been rescued from heathenism by Protestant missions alone. The Lord is pleaaed to bless our poor, initial efforts far beyond what we had reason to expect-for very feeble and faltering have these efforts been; and His marvelous goodness ought to impel us to run henceforth the way of His commandments.
1Ve are fully aware of the retort which is frequently made: "Yes, you have gained perhaps 3,000,000 from heathenism during the last century; but the heathen population of the world has been increased by a vastly greater number; and there are far more heathen now than there were a hundred years ago." True, but the Christian population of the world has been increasing too. Proportionally it seems to increase twice as fast as the heathen population; and by the end of the present century-that is, ten years hence-the Christian inhabitants will actually increase more rapidly than the heathen inhabitants. Of course, we may be told that merely nominal Christianity is of no value. But that is not true. Just compare the state of Europe with that of the heart of Africa! The last accounts, supplied by Stanley and Mackay, regarding interior Africa, are as horrible as the descriptions which Dante gives of hell. Europe is no paradise; but neither is it a pandemonium.
1Ve are amazed at the erroneous conceptions as to the progress of missions existing in quarters that ought to be well informed. A few years ago a journal of high name asserted that the conversions to Mohammedanism in British India were about a hundred thousand annually. More recently an anonymous writer in one of our most inflnential magazines maintained that the conversions to Islam were every year about 50,000, and that India was steadily becoming Mo- hammedan. It was of no use for missionaries to protest against these assertions; on such subjects they, good men, are supposed to be hopelessly prejudiced, and it is for able editors to put them right. But next comes Sir W. W. Hunter, whose knowledge of Indian sta- tistics is unquestioned, and he informs us that, so far as statistics are available, the general population of India, in nine years, has increased 8 per cent., but the Christian population 30 per cent.; and that, tak- ing Bengal as a sample, while the Mohammedans have increased 11 per cent. the Christians have increased 64 per cent. That particular error, then, is finally disposed of. So much as regards numbers; but what about character? No doubt there are black sheep in the flock. Missionaries are sometimes detleived by inquirers, and the children of {)onverts in heathendom are very like young people in Christendom. Still, there has been generally-we suppose universally-a remark- able elevation of the Christian community in intelligence and cllarac- tel', and, as a consequence, it has risen and is rising in position. In ~ndia, government returns show that crime' exists among native Chris- tians only to one-fifth the degree which obtains among the Hindus. We believe the same thing is tl'Ue of converts in China, Japan and Siam. It is remarkably true throughout the Dutch dominions in the islands of Eastern Asia, as we may have occasion to show a little farther on.
Letus now glance at the chief mission fields separately, beginning at the East: JAPAN.-The progress in this empire during the last twenty years ()r so in which it has been possible to preach the Gospel in public, has " been steady, and, as compared with that in other countries, even Tapid. Recently, among the educated or half e,ducated young men there have been manifestations of a feeling of dislike to foreigners; and probably the cry of " Japan for the Japanese" will wax louder and louder. The strong feeling of nationality will affect the missions and their ecclesiastical arrangements. Quite possibly foreign mis- sionaries will be told, before ten years are come and gone, that their presence is no longer needed; and this not scornfully or bitterly, but from a conviction that Japanese Christians can manage their own affairs and evangelize their countrymen better than foreigners can. For our part, we respect their feeling; and though we desire no abrupt severance of existing ties, we trust to see, ere long, the great spectacle of a national church in Japan-self-supporting, Eelf-gov- erned and self-extending. We say a national chttrch. The mission· aries are laudalby exerting themselves to reduce the number of eccle· siastical divisions among Christians. The Presbyterians have all united; they had almost coalesced with the Congregationalists, when a bar was unhappily interposed-from, America, if we mistake not. The Methodists wish to unite; and so do the Episcopalians and others.
Excellent, so far; but the Japanese Christians long for one grand, national church; and they will have it if foreigners do not interfere.
Em Oriente lux. Very probably the problem of union, at which the chutches of Europe and America are toiling, will receive its solution from the minds and hearts of more far-off Eastern Christians. That ought to humble the haughty West; but all of us, we trust, would heartily rejoice in the result. When we speak thus, we dream that there will be one grand united church holding the principles of the Reformation. The Roman and Greek churches will doubtless remain apart from this, and from each other, in Japan as in other places.
The new constitution of Japan gives full tolerance to Christianity, and the Gospel may now be preached over the length and breadth of the empire. Are the two old religions-Shintoism and Buddhism- likely soon to pass away? Some have answered yes; but we fear not. Shintoism is a vague, colorless creed, and one naturally leaps to the conclusion that it cannot long contend against the Gospel. But it is the old, ancestral faith; nearly all the vaunted glories of Japan are connected with it; and, probably, it will die slowly, as did the religion of Rome, even after Constantine's profession of Christianity.
How difficult to forget the national traditions handed down for more than two thousand years; how difficult to throw off the religious ideas they embody! Buddhism is an alien faith, though in itself more definite than Shintoism; but it may not perhaps survive its rival.
Confucianism has been the creed of many of the higher classes, and its worldly, cold philosophy may content them for a good while longer-all the more readily, because it can easily combine with the ancestral Shinto worship. • KOREA comes next-the'" hermit nation," as it used to be called; "the land of the morning calm," as it calls itself. Korea had very little distinctive religion. Shintoism was little known; Buddhism was proscribed; Confucianism influenced only a few among the higheF classes. Vague, confused superstition was all in all. But Korea happily has an easy alphabet, and multitudes, even of women, are able to read.
The beginnings of Protestant work in Korea are due to the Rcv. John Ros~, missionary of the (Scottish) United Presbyterian Church in Manchuria. He tra~slated various portions of the Scriptures illto Korean, from the year 1873 onwards. These were circulated in Northern Korea, and the result was truly remarkable-indeed, few things in mission history have been more so.* Then came the Ameri- can Mission, in 1884, being begun by Dr. Allen, a medical missionary, • See Report of Foreign Missions of (American) Presbyterian Church for 1890. In a spirit which does them much honor the Americans speak most war..lIy of the labors of the Scottish Mission, which preceded their own. whose professional skill was greatly valued in the highest quarters. An Episcopal Methodist Mission has followed, and recently an Angli- can one. Two laborers from the General Assembly of Victoria, in Australia, co-operate with the Presbyterian Mission. So far a mar- velous blessing has rested on the work. The opening of Korea has . been more sudden, and more complete, even than the opening of Japan.
CHINA.-In connection with China the eye first naturally fixes on the late Missionary Conference held at Shanghai. It was very large, very harmonious, very earnest and very hopeful. Of the arousing call to the Church of Christ to send China a thousand missionaries within the next five years we have already spoken. Especial stress was laid on the work of women. Dr. Williamson, since then, to the great loss of China, deceased, said that the permanent Christianization of China depends on the women, and that the women can be reached only by women. The conference did not take any narrow view of Christian work, and one of its solemn declarations was: "We hear a loud call to the Christian Church to supply Christian educationists for China." Lastly, it came to a most important resolution regarding the translation of the Scriptures into Chinese. Hitherto there have been rival versions, and interminable disputes aA to the rendering of im- pOl·tant words (even the name of God among them), and when the conference met, agreement on long-contested points seemed utterly hopeless. But the" great mountain" became" a plain," and satis- factory means were proposed for the preparation of versions in the high classical language, the colloquial :Mandarin, and an intermediate dialect. In addition to these there is a considerable number of local '. dialects, and arrangements were entered into by which versions into these will be made, or, if already made, harmonized. Had the Shanghai Conference achieved nothing more than this, all the labor and expense connected with long journeyings and a session of more than a fort- night would have been richly repaid.
SIAM.-Buddhism is the established religion in Siam; but here, as elsewhere, the name veils a mass of childish superstitions. The chief mission here has been the American Presbyterian, which began its work in 1840. Its operations are carried on mainly in the northern part-Laos. Some twenty years ago there was a severe persecution of the Christians; but, for some years past, opposition on the part of the government has completely died away. Education and medical work receive decided encouragement from the king and the high officials. All the missionaries seem to be full of hope.
NETHERLANDS, INDIA.-The Dutch possessions in Eastern Asia are so called by the Hollanders, though they have no connection with IIindustan. (They are part of Indict extra Gangem.) Until of late the Dutch authorities discountenanced missions, if they did not actively oppose them. '1'0 this day religion is at a low ebb among the Dutch inhabitants of Eastern Asia, and the clergy are often ,avowedly rationalistic. But the missions have done much faithful work, and the blessing from on high has rested on them. We give some remarkable figures in a note. * We understand that the oppo- sition of the authorities to missions has entirely ceased. They admit that the native Christians are visibly superior to the heathen (incluiing Mohammedans) in industry, cleanliness and morality. The owners of plantations in Java prefer native Christian laborers to all others. Let it be observed that, though the Mohammedans are zealous in proselytizing, yet the conversions from Islam to Christianity have been very numerous, especially of late.
INDIA. t-In this great field the battle between the Gospel and heathenism becomes hotter every day: "All reports of religious affairs are growing in urgency and interest."! 'l'he next Decennial Missionary Conference takes place two years hence, and the proceedings may be expected to be of absorbing interest.
There are vast diversities between different parts of India. Even the languages spoken amount, according to the census report, to 106, and some have reckoned as many as 132. The diversities among the inhabitants are astonishingly great. To use Lord Dufl'erin's words: "At one extremity you have the naked, savage hill-man, with his stone weapons, his head-hunting, his polyandrous habits, and his childish superstitions; and at the other extremity you have the Europeanized native gentleman, with his refinement and polish, his literary culture, his Western philosophy, and his advanced political ideas."
Even a lifetime barely suffices to supply a full, comprehensive idea of India. We are, therefore, continually in danger of drawing too general conclusions from particular facts. And hence come such ,conflicts of opinion as to the state of things in India. Some already tell us they can hear the wailing cry that" great Pan is dead"; § while others declare that, as yet, he has received no serious wound. We, therefore, entreat the friends who pay a cold-weather visit to India, and then rush home to proclaim the conclusions they have reached, to specify the part of the Indian Continent which they have studied and think they understand. On the other hand, we must request the men who knew India ten or fifteen years ago to remem- *Christians in Java (1873)….. …..•….• 5,673 " (1889) …………….. 11,229 in Snmatra (1873). .. .. .. . ….. 2,500 (1889) . .. .. .. .. …. 12,000 in all Dntch India (1873) …… 168,672 (1889) .•.••.250,000 ~ an increase of 66 per cent. nearly.
These figures are given by Inspektor Schreiber, of Barmen.
t Many of the principles we state regarding missions in India will apply to missions ,generally. :j: Last report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 184. § Ibid, p. 185. bel' that change now proceeds rapidly, even in what used to be called the" unchanging East."
The accessions to the Church of Christ in India continue to be chiefly drawn, as heretofore, from the races generally called abori-.
ginal-such as the Kols, Santals, Garos, Khasias, etc. (as in Burma from among the Karens). It was high time that missions should exert . themselves in behalf of these tribes; for, ere long, they would cer- tainly have been merged in the general Hindu population; the ab-.
sorption was steadily going on. We lately noticed an assertion by a high Indian official to the effect that Hinduism is gaining rather than losing ground. Quite true, in a sense. Uncivilized races are influenced by the civilized races near them; their vague demon wor- ship gives way before the more definite Hindu mythology, and their marriage and funeral rites fall gradually under the control of the Brahmans. Races that live apart eSyape this influence in a great degree; but those that have intercourse with the Hindus become more or less Hinduized. True, they are not received into the Hindu com- munity-they are not taken into caste; they are, so to speak, tied on to the great mass, not ingrafted into it. Other races, such as the Dhers, of Gujarat, or the Mhars and Mangs, of Maharashtra, no longer live apart from the Hindus; they are attached to the villages-permitted, not indeed to live in them, but around or near them. Among such races the progress of the Gospel is not much slower than among the more sequestered aborigines.
It is cheering to watch the steady elevation of these hitherto down-trodden races. The Brahmans, of course, sneer. Often have we heard them say, "We are too wary to swallow your bait, and so you go to those wretched outcasts." In truth, the missionary goes to all; but the proud Brahmans, as a rule, despise the message; while, in many cases, the poor and despised do not. And the reception of the truth raises and refines; the very expression of the countenance is changed. Then, when the children of converts are carefully taught and trained-and that this should be done is a most pressing, sacred duty-they compete, on no unequal terms, even with the intellectual Brahmans.
Thus the wrongs of ages are gradually becoming redressed; a social fabric, based on a new foundation, is slowly rising; and, by and by, the Christians will be not only the men of light, but the men of leading, too. .
Among the middle and higher classes the visible progress of the Gospel, as shown in the number of baptisms, is much slower than among the races we have just referred to. Hitherto it has been very difficult to reach these classes except through schools and colleges.
This is still true of India generally; but there are already exceptions to the rule, e~pecially in the largest cities. If evangelistic addresses were attentively listened to only when delivered in English, one might fear that the language, more than the meaning, formed the attraction; but earnest appeals in the vernacular, when the speaker wields it with any power, are also becoming acceptable. The change is immensely important. Educational missionaries ascribe it to the influence of Christian education, and we think they are right in doing so.
Attacks on educational missions continue to be made, as they have been for fifty years; but we see no new argument advanced. ""Ve suppose they will be repeated; but the missionaries will patiently toil on-aye, no kind of mission work is so toilsome as theirs, and assuredly it is not from a love of ease they take to it-and while they heartily rejoice in the extension of all kinds of missionary effort, they cannot, in faithfulness, give up their own. Education, both lower and higher, has become a necessity in India. Who is to give it? Government is disposed to withdraw more and more from its higher institutions, and (in a spirit which does it much honor) is expressing its belief that only those in which religious instruction is given can meet the necessities of India. Are Protestant missionaries to abandon the work?
Hoc Ithac1l8 velit, et magna mercentur AtridaJ. Nothing would delight the natives more; nothing would delight the Romanists more. The moulding of the higher thought of India would then be in the hands of these two classes. We hold that too much has been conceded already to the cry of " preaching, not teaching." The Cathedral Mission College, in Calcutta, in connection with the Church Missionary Society, founded by Bishop Cotton, was given up in 1880, under the impression that there were needlessly many colleges in Calcutta; but the demand for higher education has greatly increased since then, and the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society regret the closing, and for this reason, among others, that they now cannot get into touch with the influential student class as they used to do when their college was in existence.
Some people talk of educational missions as if they were merely educational. Is there one such mission in all India? We believe not. People who criticise what they call" Dr. Duff's system" should try to understand what that system was.
The fullest examination of this question with which we are acquainted is contained in the" Revised Special Report of the Foreign Missions Committee of the Church of Scotland on Educational Missions in India." The document comprises 213 pages, and embodies the opinion of eighty-four persons, connected with various churches, who were deemed well qualified to pronounce an opinIon on the important question proposed; and it shows that, after most patient and prolonged inquiry, the General Assembly of the Church resolved to maintain its educational efforts. The report deserves to be studied as a valuahle rer,ertory, not only of opinions, but of facts. We read that wheu the apostle and his companions were tossed up and down ill Adria, they "cast four anchors out of the stern and wished for the day." When some one rejoicingly pointed to the first streaks of dawn on the Eastern horizon, we wonder whether he re- ceived the chilling rebuke: "The dawn is nothing; we are waiting for the sunrise." But so speak many now. They do not believe in pro- cesses and preparations. They expect the sunrise immediately to follow midnight. Each of the higher religions of India covers as large an area as it did before; and many sorrowfully ask what im- pression, then, the Gospel is making on them. 'Ve reply that the Gospel never comes into real contact with heathenism without affect- ing it, and the influence exerted is in direct proportion to the com- pleteness of the cOlltact. The moral teachings of Christianityap- peal to natural reason and conscience; they carry with them their own bright evidence, and are acce})ted without much delay. The deeper mysteries, such as the divinity and atoning sacrifice of Christ, are, it may be for a long time, vehemently opposed by many; nor need we wonder at this, seeing that ., no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost." But when the Gospel is fully and faithfully proclaimed, it is never long proclaimed in vain. The truth is revealed to some; and these profess their faith, and, if need be, are prepared to suffer for it.
Now, in India, the higher religions are being shot through by the arrows of light; that is to say, the moral teachings-and much of the teaching regarding God contained in the Gospel is st.eadily penetrat- 'ing the mind of heathenism. The professors of heathen religions may deny that they borrow from Christianity; they may not be aware that they do borrow, but that does not alter the fact. One of the most noteworthy proofs of what we now affirm is supplied by a statement lately made by the high priest of the chief division of the Bombay Zorastrians, to the effect that the attributes ascribed in the Avesta to Ahuramazda are the same as the Old Testament ascribes to Jehovah. The statement is far from correct; but the high priest honestly believed what he so strongly affirmed. The wish was father to the thought.
We need hardly dwell longer on this. Every student of church history will see in it only a repetition of what occurred during the first three centuries. Heathenism was then compelled by the presence of the Gospel to remodel itself. "Reformed heathenism adopted features borrowed from Christianity, and even grew to be an imitation of it."* It thought to save itself by so doing. But by and by, as the lamented Liddon expressed it: "Conversions came with a rush."
Our readers must have been surprised to hear of the late sugges- * Uhlhorn "Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism," Bk. II., ch.3. tion, made by at least one man of influence, that the Bible be added to the Hindu sacred books. A very natural proposal, in the mouth of one who recognizes the steady onward march of Christianity, and would fain come to terms with it before it is too late. But the pro- gress of the truth is still more fully proved by the alarm that is so widely professed and the vehement efforts to oppose it-Hindu tracts,.
Hindu preachers-these are now sent forth in great numbers; and the Gospel is mercilessly attacked. The large society called the "Arya Samaj," gives in to Christianity so far that it surrenders po- lytheism, idol-worship, caste, and child-marriage, and permits the re-marriage of widows. It falls back on the Vedas as the sole author- itative scriptures, and, by torturing Sanskrit terms, it finds Christian and modern ideas in them. It is ienscpreecaisailnlgy.a f"rIafi d•woef cCohnrt iins tuiea nt oscshl eoeopls, ". Its propagandism is zealous and it cries, " our temples will soon be Christian churches."
But it is in vain that the Arya Samaj has abandoned three-fourths of Hinduism in order to save the remainder. Christianity is, so to speak, in the air.* It affects all the religious thinking of India; and its influence is seen in the remarkable attempts at reform which are happily becOI~ing so frequent. People may call these only social re- forms; but in India what is social is also religious. The Rajputana chiefs, bolder than the British Government, have limited marriage ex- penses and fixed the minimum marriage age for men at 18, and for women at 14. This is a stupendous change; and it involves stupen- dous consequences. The persistent efforts to encourage the re-mar- riage of widows; the refusal of the barbers of Bombay to shave the heads 'of widows; the formation of a social reform association, which held its third annual meeting in December, 1889, where it was noted with interest that several Hindu ladies were present; these and similar movements are, to anyone that knows the people of India, full of interest and promise; and, we repeat, that they are traceable, directly or indirectly, to the influence of Christianity. We spoke above of ideas changing; but there is also, though to a less extent, a change of institutions.
We have been Ilpeaking of Hindus. But the Mohammedans in India are also moving. Their antipathy to vVestern education is con- siderably mitigated. That enlightened man, Sir Synd Ahmad, tells us that his college at Alighar is flonrishing. If so, Moslem bigotry is proportionally declining.t Meantime, the uneducated Mohammed- ans-note especially what has happened in the north at Peshawur- * Since this was written, we find the same expression quoted in the Church Missionary Society Report. p. 172.
t A high Indian official, Sir Auckland Colvin, has said: "An Alighar col- lege man has become synonymous with a man of liberal ideas, advanced edu- cation and independent character." We have seen this college. We have ob-· served that its alumni are Mohammedan in little more than name. are as greatly terrified at the progress of Christianity as is the Arya Samaj among the Hindus. Zenana mission teachers are objects of especial dread to Mohammedans, as well as to Hindus. Let our sisters thankfully and strenuously persevere; their work is telling greatly.
[To be continued.] THE Church of God cripples all her mission boards and mission work by a selfish withholding of money for the Lord's cause, and then wonders at the slow progress of missions in fields where retrenchment makes all advance impossible. This absurd contradiction reminds us of the wars of Arminius (Hermann), Prince of Cherusci (16 B. C.- '16 A. D.) The Germans bored holes in the tongues of the Roman lawyers and judges, and then said, " Now, rattle away /"
ONE of the McAll workers in Paris was very much affected at finding a poor working woman, already in a dying condition, who bad strayed into one of the salles and there for the first time heard of Christ as the Good Shepherd of souls. She was trying to recall and put together in an intelligible shape the few hints she had picked up at that meeting, mere fragments of gospel truth, and when she found one at her bedside who could give her the whole truth about this great Saviour her joy was so great that she forgot even the agonies of dying! And yet there are literally millions of souls in France hungering for just such a Gospel.
MATERIALISU, like other forms of infidelity, has a basis of insincerity. At a meeting in Liverpool an evangelist publicly said: " I do not believe there is an honest man ill the world who really believes that we are all simply matter and go out of existence at death. If there is a real materialist in this audience I would like to see him." A man rose up and shouted: "Well, here is one." "Come up here," .said the evangelist, " I want all these people to see a man whose mother died like a dog, and that was the end of her." "You are a liar," shouted the man, " she was one of the best women that ever lived, and she's in h.eaven to-day /" The fellow was fairly. caught in his' own trap. He quite forgot for the moment his own creed!
THE efforts of churches which are not evangelical and which lack all true missionary spirit to found mission enterprises, simply to appear aggressive and seem abreast of other professed believers-in other words, to save themselves the humiliatio.n of a significant contrast-have always ended in disastrous failure. Often, instead of Christianizing the helthen, they themselves become heathenized. Those impulsive spurts in the direction of missions remind us of a significant phrase in the psalms, in which, referring to the triumphant passage of Israel over the Red Sea, the sacred writer adds, "which the Egyptians, assaying to do, were drowned /"
MISSION OF THE AMERICAN BOARD IN NORTH CHINA
A CONDENSED SKETCH OF THE MISSION OF THE AMER- ICAN BOARD IN NORTH CnINA.
HEXRY BLODGETT, D.D.
The history of the North China Mission is closely connected with that of the Shanghai Mission, and through that with the history of the Canton Mission, the first of the American Board, and of the American churches in China.
Mr. Bridgman, the first American missionary to China, arrived in Canton in the year 1830, twenty-three years after Dr. Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to this empire. In 1847 Mr. Bridgman , went to Shanghai as a delegate of his missionary brethcrn to assist in the translation of the Bible. This resulted in his permanent residence in that city, where he died in the year 1861. The translation made by Messrs. Bridgman and Culbertson into the written language of China is still in use, while the twenty volumes of the Chinese Re- pository, edited by Dr. Bridgm;tn, remain as an invaluable thesaurus of matters relating to China and the far East. .
In the year 1854 Messrs. Aitchison al,ld Blodget were sent out by the Board to join Dr. Bridgman at Shanghai, thus forming the Shanghai Mission. Mr. Macy joined the mission in 1858, making the fourth ordained missionary.
During the years in which the mission was continued at Shanghai, Dr. Bridgman was engaged in translating, also taking the pastoral care of the church connected with the boarding-school of girls, under the charge of Mrs. Bridgman. The three younger members of the mission were engaged in the usual work of teaching and preaching, as they were able, both in the city and the outlying country. 'rhe rule established soon after the opening of the" Five Ports,"
of twenty-fonr hours absence only, from one of the ports, was soon broken at Shanghai, and before long became a dead letter, Mission- aries made frequent tours into the interior. In the autumn of 1858 MassI'S. Aitchison and Burdon (now Bishop Burdon of Hong-Kong), after many journeys in the country together, took up their residence at Ping Hoo, a city of 100,000 inhabitants, seventy miles southwest of Shanghai. Here Mr. Aitchison remained for the winter, but re- turned at length to Shanghai in hope of commencing a mission in the llorth of China.
Such a movement seemed very desirable both to the Board, and to the memhers of the miRsion. Shanghai being the northernmost of the fi ve ports then opened, various European and American Societies had designated their missionaries to this city, so that, before the open- ing of China in 1860, more than thirty lahorers, representing as many as ten or eleven bodies of Christians in different countries were con- gregated there waiting for restrictions to be removed as a signal for advance to all parts of China. The year 1859 was one of sore trial to the Shanghai Mission. Mr. Macy died in April; Mr. Aitchison accepted in June a place offered him in the American Embassy, then about to proceed to Peking, in the hope that it might result in fixing his residence in the Northern Capital. He had only been eight days in Peking when he was taken ill, and after eleven days of suffering, died August 15th en rm£te to the .seaboard. He was buried in the Gulf of Chihli. In the autumn of the same year Mrs. Blodget was compelled by failure of health to re- turn to the United States.
In the following spring, 1860, Mr. Blodget for a like reason was forced to quit Shanghai. He went first to Japan, and, after two months at Kanagawa, embarked on a British transport, bound, for Taku to join the fleet about to rendezvous at that place. The ship ar- rived at her destination August 19th, just one year from the time, when, near the same spot, Mr. Aitchison was lowered to his watery grave.
A few days after her arrival the Taku Forts were taken, and in a short time all North China was open to the missionary and the mer- <lhant. Tientsin became an entrepot of foreign trade, and Peking the place of residence of the ministers of the various treaty powers of the West.
Early in September, of this year, Mr. Blodget landed in Taku, and on the 8th of November took up his residence in the city of Tientsin, being at that time and during the following winter the only Protestant missionary in this newly opened province.
The city was then garrisoned by the allied English and French forces. A lodgment was readily obtained in the barracks of the British soldiers, ana Christian work was commenced at once, both among the soldiers and the thronging multitudes of Chinese, who received with great friendliness the newly arrived missionary.
In April of the following year, 1861, Mr. Blodget had the happiness of welcoming to this field the Rev. J. Innocent, of the English Methodist Mission, and in May the Rev. J. Edkins (now Dr. Edkins), of the London Mission.
A journey to Peking in the month of May showed how entirely the country was open to travel, and to Christian effort; nor was any objection offered to passing about freely within the walls of the capital, even to those in no way connected with the legations.
During this month a chapel and houses for residence were rented within the city of Tientsin, and the Sabbath services were removed from the temple court, in which they had been held, to this place. Blind Chang, the first convert, was baptized in June, 1861. He was a 'veale man in humble life, but there is hope that he died a Christian.
Several journeys were undertaken, in this and the following year, for the exploration of this new field, as also for direct missionary ef- 'ort. These journeys extended to Teh-chen, in Shantung, on the South; to Pao Ting-fu, the capital of Chihli; to Tai Yuan-fn, Ta T'ung- fu, in Shansi; to Chang Chia K'eu (or Kalgan), on the Northwest;. also to T'ung Cheu and other cities east of Peking.
The Rev. J. Doolittle, of Fuhchau, spent the winter of 1862 and 1863 in Tientsin assisting in the work of the mission. Mr. Blodget spent the greater part of the winter in Peking, but returned to Tient- sin in view of the departure of Mr. Doolittle for Fuhchau. The mission was reinforced in 1863 by the arrival of the Rev. C. A. Stanley in March, and the Rev. L. D. Chapin in May. They took up their residence within the city walls, in houses which had been pur- chased the previous autumn through the aid of the late Dr. S.. W. Williams. Subsequently, on the ground of health, the residence of the missionaries was changed to the settlement, southeast of the city.
The principal labors of the missionaries have been in preaching the Gospel, and in the distribution of Christian books, both in the city and in the country. A day-school of boys has generally been maintained, and at times a few boarders have been taken in and cared for. The project of a higher institution of learning at Tientsin, in which the English language should be taught, has often been before the mis8ion, and has met with much favor.
The work of this station received a great impulse in the years foll0'Ying the famine of 1877. At that time the missionaries, furnished with funds to the amount of $10,000, more or less, by the liberality of Christian nations, threw themselves unreservedly into the work of famine relief, in which they were assisted also by members of the station at 'l"ungcheu. Their principal labors were in the region of P'ang Chuang, the central place of their work in Shantung. ~Iultitudes of the starving people were relieved in their distress. In this and the following years the missionaries found open doors and open hearts to the preaching of the Gospel. Several hundreds turned to the Saviour. The church was greatly enlarged, and a new station at P'ang Chuang was the result. The life of MI'. Smith, at one time greatly endangered by famine fever, was spared, and his labors are continued at this new station.
The importarice of Tientsin as the port of entrance, not only for Northern and Western Shantung, but also for Northern Ho Nan, for Shansi, Chihli, and inner Mongolia cannot be overestimated.
The station at Peking was formed in 1864. Though frequent visits had been made to this city by Mr. Blodget since May, 1861, it was not until February, 1864, that he took np his permanent residence here. Through the timely assistance of Dr. Williams, the present mission premises were purchased in March, and a chapel was opened in one of the rear buildings almost immediately for public preaching. This was a new departure for Peking, and one which attracted crowds of curious listeners. The pr~mises had been purchased from the Chinese for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; but that Society, being cramped by its own laws, was unable to take them over, and allowed this advantageous location to pass into the hands of the American Board.
On July 1st, Mrs. Bridgman arrived in Peking, having left New York when only partially recovered from a dangerous accident, and narrowly escaped the Alabama on the way. Mrs. Bridgman at once set herself to establish a girls' boarding-school, which has been continued ever since that time, and is now known as the" Bridgman School." She also gave to the Board the entire sum which had been expended for houses, lands and school buildings, amounting to not less than $5,000. In 1868 she left Peking, broken down in health, and spent the remainder of her days in Shanghai, where she died, in 1871. While in Shanghai, though in feeble health, she laid the foundations of a boarding-school for girls, and a dispensary, which, by her will, have passed into the hands of the Woman's Union Mission of New York.
The mission force in Peking was increased in November, 1864, by the arrival of the Rev. J. T. Gulick and Mrs. Gulick; and again, in August, 1865, by the arrival of the Rev. C. Goodrich and Mrs. Goodrich. A month before their arrival, in the early part of July, Mr. and Mrs. Gulick left Peking for Kalgan, to open a mission station in that city. The next reinforcement was by the coming of Mr. and Mrs. ·P. R. Hunt and Miss M. H. Porter, in 1868.
Miss Porter very soon took charge of the Bridgman School; Miss Chapin joined her in 1872. Under the efficient management of these ladies, and of Miss Haven, who arrived in 1879, t}Jis school has maintained a high character, and has been of the greatest service in training up young women suitable for wives for the native helpers, able also to take some part in Christian work. This school has formed the nucleus for efforts for women, botb in the city and in the country.
Mr. Hunt after twenty-seven years of service in India, came to Peking with the enthusiasm of youth to establish a mission press, and also to take charge of the financial affairs of the Mission. The press he established in 1869. It was at the time, and still remains, the only press of Protestant missions in North China. The money used for this purpose was supplied by the indemnity fund received from the Chinese Government after the burning of the mission press in Canton in 1858, and was originally given to the Board by the Bleecker Street Church, in New York, for the establishment of that press. Mr. Hunt was a skillful printer. vVork done by him was well done, whether in the establishment of the press, or in printing the books which issued from it.
During the nineteen years in which Mr. Hunt and Mr. Noble, who succeeded him, had charge of the press, there were printed on it, for the American Bible Society, the version of the New Testament, in Mandarin, prepared by the Peking Committee, that of the Old Testa- ment, also in the Mandarin, prepared by Bishop Schereschewsky, the Psalms and various portions of the New Testament; for the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, the four Gospels, with notes on the same; for the Church Mission Society, the book of Common Prayer; a series of Sabbath-school lesson papers and other works, for the North China Tract Society; a treatise on theology by Mr. Sheffield; several editions of a hymn book by Messrs. Blodget and Goodrich; a geography by Rev. L. D. Chapin; a smaller work on geography by Rev. L. W. Pilcher; a treatise on physiology by Dr. Porter; tracts and books by Miss M. H. Porter and l-Iiss M. E. Andrews, and, in addition, a con- siderable list of tracts and books not here enumerated. From the first this press has done a select work for local convenience-rather a large work for distant parts of China.
In commencing chapel preaching in Peking Mr. Blodget was assisted by the late Rev. VV. C. Burns, whose memory is still fragrant in the minds of some who heard the Gospel at that time. Subsequently Messrs. Goodrich, Holcombe and Roberts, each during the time of his connection with this station, labored in evangelist.ic work, both in the city and in the country. These are now succeeded by Messrs. Ament and Aiken. A good degree of success has attended these efforts, and frequent accessions in the city and at the country stations indicate a, constant growth in the membership of the church.
The boys' boarding-school in this station was discontinued in 1869. Two day-schools for boys have usually been maintained in the city, and at present there is one day-school in the country. There is also a day-school f~r girls in the city.
Perhaps there is no large city in Europe, or even in the whole world, more open to every sort. of evangelistic and educational labor, and to all the eleemosynary institutions of the Christian church than is Peking at the present time..
'rhe Kalgan station was opened by Rev. and Mrs. J. T. Gulick in the summer of 1865. Great difficulties were encountered in the early days of this station in renting houses and procuring suitable places for mission work. In the end unwearied patience, combined with great skill and prudence and unbounded charity in caring for the sick and needy, secured the desired result.
This station was reinforced in 1867 by the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Williams, in 1868 of lIr. Thompson, in 1870 of Miss Diament, and subsequently, after Mr. and Mrs. Gulick had left for Japan, by .iYlt-. and Mrs. Sprague, and Mr. and l-Irs. Roberts and Miss Dr. Murdock.
Healing the sick and a boys' day-school were from the first carried on jointly with evangelistic work at this station. After the coming of Dr. Murdock, a hospital and a diRpensary, including an opium refuge, were opened. A girls' boarding-school was established by Mrs. "Villiams, which is now under the charge of Miss Diament. The buildings for the school were erected largely by funds contributed by one of the mission families.
The Yu Cheu Valley, seventy miles southwest of Kalgan, has hitherto been the most fruitful part of this field, and in the city of Yu Cheu it is now proposed to estahlish a new station. Kalgan and Yu Cheu are solely in the charge of missionaries of the American Board. Other societies are not likely to enter this field.
Kalgan is located at a pass in the great wall. It has an outlook upon the rolling pasture lands of Mongolia. The roving Mongols are often seen in the streets of the city, and pass through in numbers on their way to Peking, or in their pilgrimages to Wu'l"ai in Shansi. The missionaries have often proposed labor for these sons of the desert, and something has been done among them. One convert to the Christian faith has been baptized in Kalgan. It has been suggested that one missionary should devote himself to this work.
The station at T'ungcho was opened by the Rev. L. D. Chapin in 1867. No serious difficulty was experienced in securing' residences. The people in 'l"ungcho have from the first been friendly to the missionaries. The station was reinforced in 1868 by the arrival of Miss Andrews, and in 1869 of Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield; Miss Evans reached T'ungcho in 1872; Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich, after their return from the United States in 1872 spent a year at Yu Cheu, and thence removed the following year to 'l"nngcho. Dr. Holhrook arrived in 1881, Mr. 1nd ]frs. Beach in 1883, Dr. and lVirs. Ingram in 1887, and Miss Miner in 1888.
The boarding-school for hoys, early established by Mr. Chapin, has been enlarged, and expanded by the efforts of Mr. Sheffield and others, so that it has now become the Mission High School. To this pupils are sent from all the stations of the mission to go through with a thorough course of study, in the hope that many of them will enter the Christian miuistry, and that all will hecome helpful in one way or another to the cause of Christ.
The course of study embraces a thorough knowledge of the Chinese classics, learning to compose in the written language, a familiar acquaintance with the Bible, including the study of Bible history and geography, and the committing to memory of quite a number of the books of the New Testament, also some of the more impo]·tant branches of gClleral knowledge and Western science, such as geography, mental and written arithmetic, algebra, geometry, chemistry, mechanics, phy~iology, geology and astronomy. It is de8iglled to extend the course and introduce higher branches as fast as the needs of the sehool and the circumstances of the mission make it expedient. The high school is to become the college. Connected with this high school is the theological seminary of the mission, designed for those who are prepal'ing to enter the ministry. Here the various departments of exegesis, systematic theology, church history, sacred rhetoric and the pastoral charge are attended to, so far as the attainments of the students and the circumstances of the case will allow. A great and an increasing amount of medical work has been done at this station from the first.
Through the energetic labors of Dr. Holbrook a hospital and dis- pensary were opened, the work in which is now vigorously carried forward by Dr. Ingram. Dispensaries are also opened at two country stations not remote from T'tmgcho. It is proposed that medical instruction shall be given to some of the students at this station.
General evangelization, both in the city and, to some extent, in the country, has been carried forward at thif station, in connection with the work of teaching, with hopeful results.
T'ungcho is the port of Peking, twelve miles distant from that city, with which it is soon to be connected by rail. Its accessibility by water and its abundant accommodations have made it to be chosen as the place for the annual gatherings of the mission.
The station. at Pao Ting fu was opened by Mr. Pierson in 1873. At no other place has so great difficulty been experienced in obtaining suitable residences for mission familieR. For more than a year Mr. Pierson lived in a Chinese inn, and until the present time he has occupied rented houses in a crowded ,part of the city. It is only within two years that the desired plot of ground has been purchased, in the southern suburb, upon which buildings have been erected to accommodate one or two families. Happily there has been no collision with the authorities or with the people. By uniform kindnessand prudent management all causes of offense have been avoided.
Here, as in Kalgan and T'ungcho, medical aid, though administered by unprofessional hands, has from the fhst been a most potent agency in removing prejudice and opening the hearts of the Chinese. After the arrival of Dr. Peck, in 1880, this branch of the work fell to llis care. Large numbers of patients flocked to his hospital and dispensary from the city and the surrounding region of country. Under the care of Dr. Merritt, who arrived in 1886, this useful work is still continued.
A school for boys, and one al.so for girls, in each of which there have been some boarding pupils, have been maintained at this station. "Vork for women has been carried forward b~r Mrs. Pierson and Miss Pierson. Colporteurs under the direction of 111'. Pierson have labored extensively in all that part of the province.
Pao Ting fu, as being the provincial capital, is a place of much political importance. Its situation at the head of river llavigation renders it a commercial emporium for grain, salt and various kinds of merchandise. All missionaries for Shansi pass through Pao Ting fu. This is the highway for officials passing from the capital to the south- western provinces of the empire. The place is well chosen as an im- portant and convenient centre for missionary labor.
The station at P'ang Chuang was the outgrowth of the work ~t Tientsin. Mr. Hou, a man whose name is held in loving remem- brance by the Christians of that region, heard the Gospel in P'ang Chuang from a native helper, and went himself to Tientsin to learn more of this new way. In the Gospel he found the truth for which he had elsewhere sought in vain, and was baptized in 1872.* "Within a few years he became himself a helper, his house the headquarters of the missionaries at every visit, as well as the centre of the famine re- lief work, and his village was afterwards chosen as the residence of missionaries designated to the Shantung station of the American Board. From the year 1872 the work in this region graduallyex- panded until, at the end of 1877, the annual additions brought the membership up to forty-three, representing twelve different villages." 'rhen followed the long to be remembered famine of 1877, and the famine relief, and the subsequent enlargement of the church, in view {)f which the mission resolved, in 1880, to open a new station at P'ang Chuang.
It has been usual in China, in all the missions, to locate mission- aries in large and important towns and cities. P'ang Chuang is al- m08t, if not quite, the only case of a mission station established in a rural district quite away from any city 01' great mart of trade. Yet the missionaries here have a great work on their hands. They are in the midst of a very populous region of country, so that within a radius of six miles there are approximately 150 villages and hamlets, {lontaining 60,000 inhabitants. In more than sixty of these villages they already have church members, and the lines or" their efforts are constantly reaching out into the outlying villages, towns and cities which are not distant from their central station.
The fact is, moreover, to, be remembered, in considering the location of this station, that in China the reverse is true of that which took place in the Roman Empire. There the villagers, or pagani, were the last to embrace the Christian faith. In China they are the first.
The greatest success of Christian missions in China have been thus far among the country people. Not only are they more simpleminded, but they have also less to fear in becoming Christians from loss of wealth or position, 01' of the means of earning their daily bread. The most independent man in China is the small farmer, who owns a few acres of land, and by daily toil earns his daily bread.
After some delay in the purchase of land and erecting houses, and * "Skellches of a CountryPal'ish," by Rev. A. H. Smith. further delay, occasioned by the opposition of a recusant magistrate, happily overcome by the friendly aid of the United States officials, the missionaries took up their abode in P'ang Chuang, in 1882, with a most cordial reception, and lively demonstrations of affection and gratitude on the part of the people. These kindly feelings have con- tinued, for the most part until the present time.
The labors of this station at the present time are the oversight and instruction of the native helpers, the care of the churches and dayschools, teaching the scriptures to men and women, and the wider range of evangelistic work. There is daily preaching to the dispensary patients, and regular preaching both at the central station and at the six outstations.
The medical work begun by Dr. Porter, and now carried forward by Dr. Peck, has been as in other parts of Ch,ina, of the greatest value to the. Christian name. The hospital, established largely through a gift of the late Dr. Williams, bears the name of this early mis8ionary of the Board, and devoted friend of the Chinese. Its fame has extended to regions far and near, and brings to the village of P'ang Chnang patients from all grades of society, some of whom have come hundreds of miles, and even from other provinces, to be healed of their diseases.
A commodious and tasteful chapel has been erected at this central station wholly by the offerings of members of the church, and of other churches in the mission without any assistance from the funds of the Board. Some of the outstations, stimulated by this example, are now moving in the same direction.
The field of labor set before the missionaries at P'ang Chuang is immense. Fifteen miles north is the city of Teh Cheu, with its surrounding towns and villages. The southern part of the province of Chihli, the northwestern part of Shantung, and the northern part of Ho-nan, all densely populated and covered with walled cities, tOWIl8, villages and hamlets, are easily accessihlo from this central station, and all invite the labors of Christian missions.
One step forward into this unoccupied region was taken in 1886, by the occupation of Lin Ching, a Department city forty miles southwest of P'ang Chuang, by the Rev. F. ~I. Chapin. The following' year premises were purchased for mission residences, and, ill 1888, Messrs. Chapin and Perkins removed their families to this new station. A kindly reception to the missionaries has been given by the people. The medical work of MI', Atwoo(l, who labored at this station for a time, and later by ~lr, and :;HI',", Perkin~, has heen, as ellSewhere, rno~t helpful' to the evangelistic work. Should the day evo!' come when the Chinese are as eager for the Gospel as they now are for the medicines of the foreign physician, the conversion of the Chinese will be at hand. The mission in North China is of recent origin, but it has been abundantly blessed of God. After more than thirty years of labor in Canton the American Board had but one station and several tens of converts. This was in the early stages of the China missions. In North China the Lord has given us in twenty-eight years five stations in the most important cities of Chihli, two stations in the western part of Shantung, and in these seven stations more than 1,000 converts. '1'he work laid upon the mission is great. The encouragements- to its performance are also gl·eat. The outlook for the future is full of promise. If the mission and its supporters go forward in humble trust in the ever present Saviour and in patient endurance of labor and trial, they will have the honor of being used by God, with other branches of His Church, to establish the Kingdom of Christ in these populous and powerful regions of China, into which ill His providence they were the first among Protestant missions to enter.
A PRIEST, finding a young Irish lad in his parish in possession of a Bible, att~mpted to take it from him on the plea that it was the prerogative of the spiritual father to feed his spiritual babes with " the sincere milk of the Word." " Your ri verence," replied the lad~ "I would rather kape the cow mYAelf."
A CLERICAL wag says that where denominational and sectarian feeling gets the upper hand in a community, even the church bells become intolerant and get a sectarian twang in the ears of the people. The Presbyterian bell seems to peal out, " Or-tho-doxy-orthodoxyl" the Episcopalian, "Con-fir-ma-tion-confirmation I" the :Methodist, "Come to the al-tar-come to the altar!" the Congregationalist, "Inde-pend-ence-independence I" and the Bapt5st, " '1Vant to be dipped-want to be dipped 1"
THE Island of Sumbawa (Sunda series) has the Tomhoro volcano on the north side. In 1815 was a terrific convulsion lasting over three months. '1'he sound was heard 1,000 miles off at Snmatra; the sky was dark with ashes at Java, and the sea covered with them to a depth of two feet for many miles. Awful whirlwinds swept over the land and sea, and out of 12,000 persons only 26 survived.
And yet, even such distress and desolation imperfectly represents, as in a figure, the awful destruction carried to body and soul by the prevalence of heathenism and paganism. Vice is deified and cruelty enthroned. Read Alexander Mackay's just-published memoirs, and get a glimpse of the atrocious cruelties of heathenism. It reminds us. of Java's Valley of Death, half a mile in circuit, where the prevalence of carbonic acid gas makes impossihle the survival of either animal or plant life. The JlIuseo Borbonico, at N aples, ~uggests that Pompeii lay in such a valley.
BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY
BUDDHISl{ AND CHRISl'IANIl'Y-A CRUSADE WHICH MUST BE MET.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
On the 9th of November The New York Herald published an article of four columns and a half, over the signature of Baron Har- don Hickey, a professed Buddhist and missionary chosen to promul- gate Buddhist doctrines in the United States. To an interviewer of another paper Baron Hickey has expressed the belief that America is a peculiarly favorable field for the spread of Oriental doctrines.
The design of the article referred to, which was plausible and rather ably written, was to prove that the history and doctrines of the early Christianity were largely borrowed from Buddhist sources. A reply which was sent to '['lte Herald was refused admission to its columns, but inasmuch as this crusade is being waged in all parts of the United States where it ought to be met by the defenders of the Christian faith, that reply is herewith given in the columns of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW. "While well-established Christians and friends of miRsions are not to be disturbed by slich assailment~ as those of Baron Hickey, it is to be remembered that there is a vast border- land lying between the Christian church and the infidel associations of the country, and that it embraces millions of people, especially of the young, and' so long as our weapons of defense are so numerous snd so potential, it is not wise to leave this broad, neutral territory to the mercy of the enemy. The fact that many of the most influential and extensively circulated of our secular papers discriminate in favor of skepticism and irreligion, as being more sensational, renders it all the more necessary that the Christian church should be alert, and that through every legitimate avenue, the clear and convincing truth of Christianity should be as widely circulated as are the manifold errors of our time.
The assumption that Christ became a follower of Buddha is not new. There lies before me, a Buddhist Catechism, by Subhadra. which makes the same allegation. It declares that" the fundamental tenets and the personal character of the founder of Christianity are of Buddhist origin"; that "Jesus was an Arahat and attained Nirvana." Hardon Hickey goes farther and calls him the Maitreyeh whom Buddha predicted. There are a few truths mingled with Baron .Hickey's statements which should be distinguished from his erroneous conclusions. It is true that a limited intercourse was established between India and Greece by the conquests of Alexander, 327 B.C. A few references to Indian customs are found in Strabo, Arrian and Pliny, but it is the wildest assumption to claim that an influence which was so faint even in the great commercial marts, reached and moulded the peasant population of a J udean village, or that the influence was distinctively Buddhistic. Again it is true that asceticism prevailed throughout the East; but that th~ fasting of Christ was borrowed from Buddhism is absurd. ·Moses bsted forty days in Sinai centuries before Buddha was born. Besides, Indian asceticism belonged to Brahmanism and not to the Buddha. It was, indeed, practised by the Essenes, as it was also by the ancient Druids, the Peruvians, the },Iexicans, and even the Hottentots. Among the Jews there was an ascetic school of prophets at Gilgal centuries before Buddha's time.
The field of controversy on which Baron Hickey draws his sword has beeu fought over for the last hundred years, and the parallels which he presents have been exploded over and over again. A century ago Lieutenant Wilford espoused the theory that the entire civilization of Egypt, Palestine, Greece and Rome, including Christianity, had come from India. He importuned the pundits to search for manuscripts, and for a consideration they met the demand. He filled the magazines of Europe with his discoveries. But at last he was constrained to confess publicly that he had been the dupe of Brahman fraud.
A Frenchinan by the name of J acolliot has made a similar attempt in our own time, aiming to show that the life of Christ was a plagiarism upon the story of the Hindu Krishna. He, too, collected manuscripts and translated them; but Professor Max Muller has honeycombed his pompous displays of Oriental learning, and remanded him ~o the same category of dupes with Lieutenant Wilford. In volume V. of "Chips from a German Workshop," he says: "Much of the socalled Sanskrit is not Sanskrit at all, and J acolliot's ancient Vedic quotations are not Vedic and not ancient; they simply belong to the last half of the nineteenth century."
Ages ago Porphry adopted the same tactics, alleging that many things in the life of Christ had been anticipated by Pythagoras; and Julia Domna, wife of Severus, prompted Philostratus to work up a life of Apollonius of Tyana, which should match the history of Christ. (Uhlhorn's" Conflict," etc.) The very latest charge of plagiarism against Christianity has recently been made by the Aryas of India, who allege that the Westminster catechism has stolen its doctrinal statements from them.
Baron Hickey leaves us a little in doubt as to whether the copying from 13uddha is charged upon Christ and his immediate disciples or upon the "creed-mongers of Alexandria" at a later day, or whether all were concerned in the fraud. He thinks that there is no doubt that Christ studied Buddhism and became a disciple, and that Buddhist influence widely prevailed in Palestine. This implies that the Gospel history was in the outset strongly colored by the Buddhist narrative, and that Christ Himself adapted the events of His life to the Buddhist story. The emphasis, however, is put upon the plagiarism of the Alexandrine "creed-mongers." In replying as briefly as possible to Baron Hickey, I "hall endeavor to cover all these im- plications : In strong contrast with these cheap assertions of Alexandrine {lorruption and plagia)'ism is the frank admission of such keen critics as Renan, Yeiss, Volkmar, Schenkeland Hitzig, that the Gospel story as we have it was written during a generation in which some of the companions of Jesus still lived. Renan says of Mark's GORpel that "it is full of minute observations, coming, doubtless, from an eye-witness," and he asserts that :Matthew, Mark and I"uke were written "in substantially their present form by the men whose names they bear." These Gospels were the work of men who knew J eSUSj Matthew was one of the twelve; John, in his Epistle, speaks of him- self as an eye-witness. They were written in a historic age and were open to challenge. Thcy were nowhere contradicted in con- temporary history; they tit their environment and their age.
How is it with the authenticity of Buddhist literature? Oldenberg says: "For the when of things men of India have never had a propel' organ;" and Max Muller declares to the same effect that" the idea of a faithful, literal translation seems altogether foreign to Ori- ental minds." He also informs us that there is not a single manuscript relating to Buddhism ~'hich is a thousand years old, and scarcely one that can claim five hundred years. For centuries after Gautama's time nothing was written; all was transmitted by word of mouth. Buddhists themselves say that Pali canonical texts were written about 88 B.C.
Any fair comparison of the two histories should confine itself to the writings which are regarded as canonical and whose dates can be fixed. No more importance should be attached to the later Buddhist legends than to the "Apochryphal Gospels," or to the absurd "Ohristian I"egends," which appeared in the middle ages. The Buddhtst canon was adopted by the council of Patna, 242 B.C. The legends which Baron Hickey compares with the canonical story of Ohrist are not included in that canon, or, at most, very few of them. 'rhoy are drawn from certain poetical books written much later, and holding about the same relation to the Buddhist canon that the" Paradise Lost" and" Paradise Hegained," of Milton, bear to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Who would think of quoting "Paradise Lost" in any sober comparison of Biblical truth with the teachings of other religions?
Even the canonical literature, that which is supposed to contain tlIe true history and teachings of Buddha, is far from authoritative, owing to the acknowledged habit-acknowledged even by the author of the Dhammapada-of adding commentaries, notes, etc., to original teaclIings. Not only was thi8 common among Buddhist writers, but (lven more surprising liberties were taken with the narrative. For example, the legend describing Buddha's leave-taking of his harem is clearly borrowed from an earlier story of Yasa, a wealthy young householder of Benares, who, becoming disgusted with his harem, left his sleeping dancing girls, and fled to the Buddha for instruction. Davids and Oldenberg, in translating this legend from the" 11aha- vagga," say, in a note: "A well-known incident in the life of Buddha has evidently been shaped after the model of this story," and they declare that" nowhere in the Pall Pitakas is this scene of Buddha's leave-taking mentioned."
As another evidence of the way in which fact and fiction have been mixed and manipulated for a purpose, one of the legends, which has of-ten been presented as a parallel to the story of Christ, repre- sents the Buddha as repelling the temptation of :Mara by quoting texts of "scripture," and the scripture referred to was the Dhamma- pada. The blunder here is amusing; first, because the Dhammapada was compiled hundreds of years after Buddha's time, and second, there were no "scriptures" in Buddha's time, for nothing was written till two or three centuries later; and third, Buddha is made to quote his own subsequent teachings, for the Dhammapada clai.ms to consist of the sacred words of the" enlightened one." l10st of the legends of Buddhism were wholly written after the beginning of the Christian era, and it cannot be shown that any were written ill their present form until two or three centuries of that era had elapsed. T. Rhys Davids says of the" Lalita Yistara," which contains a very large proportion ofthem, that" there is no real proof that it existed in its present form before the year 600 A.D." The" Romantic Legend" cannot be traced farther back than the third century A.D. Oldenberg says, "No biography of Buddha has come down to us from ancient times, from the age of the Pali texts, and we can safely say that no such biography was in existence then." Beal declares that the Buddhist legend as found in the various epics of N cpaul, Thibet and China, "is not framed after any Indian model (of any date), but is to be found worked out, so to speak, among Northern peoples, who were ignorant of, or indifferent to, the pedantic stories of the Brahmans. In the Southern and primitive records the terms of the legend are wanting. Buddha is not born of a royal family/ he is not tempted befo1·e his enlightenment/ he works no miracles, and he is not a Universal Saviour."
The chances are decidedly that if any borrowing has been done it was on the side of Buddhism. :Mr. Hickey's assertion that 30,000 Buddhist monks from Alexandria once visited Ceylon (and he giyes this not as a legend but as a historic fact) is absurd on the face of it; hut that a Christian colony settled in 11alabar at a very early day is at tested by the presence of thousands of their followers even to this day. Christianity has always been restrictive and opposed to admixtures with other systems. It repelled the Neo-Platonism of the "creed-mongers" of Alexandria (they borrowed from Plato, not from Buddha), and it fought for two or three centuries against Gnosticism, Manichaeism and similar heresies; and the assumption, in the face of all this, that the Christian Church went out of its way to copy Indian Buddhism, must be due either to gross ignorance or to reckless misrepresentation.
On the other hand, it is in accordance with the very genius of Buddhism to borrow. It has absorbed every indigenous superstition, and entered into partnership with every local religious system from the Devil worship of Burmah and Ceylon to the'raouism of China and the Shintoo of Japan.
In its long-continued contact with Christianity it has changed from the original atheism of Gautama to various forms of theism, and in some of its sects, at least, from a staunch insistence on selfhelp alone to an out-and-out doctrine of salvation by faith. This is true of the Shin and Yodo sects of Japan. :From recognizing no God at all at first, Buddhism had, by the seventh century A.D., a veritable trinity with attributes resembling those of the Triune God of the Christians, and by the tenth century it had five trinities with one Supreme Adi-Buddha over them all. Each reader must judge whether these late interpolations of the system were borrowed from the New Testament Trinity which had been proclaimed through all the East many centuries before.
Buddhism is still absorbing various elements through the aid of its various apologists. Sir Edwin Arnold has greatly added to the force of its legends by the Christian phrases and Christian conceptions which he has read into them. Toward the close of the "I"ight of Asia" he also introduces into the Buddha's sermon at Kapilavostu the teachings of Herbert Spencer and others of our own time.
Even the" analogies" of the Buddhist legends, as a late apologist calls them, are undergoing a rapid development. Professor Seydel was ingenious enough, with the help of fact and fancy, to make out fifty-one" parallels" to the Gospel history; Baron Hickey has up to date" one hundred." Doubtless still more are to follow.
In discussing the specific charge of copying Buddhist legends in ~he Gospel narratives, we are met at the threshold by insurmountable improbabilities. To anyone who nnderstands the spirit of Judaism and its attitude toward heathenism of all kinds, it is simply inconceivable that the Christian disciples, whose aim it was to propagate the faith of their Master in a Jewish community, should have borrowed old Indian legends, which, by the very terms of Baron Hickey's supyosition, must have been widely known as such. And our Buddhist friends must admit that it is a little strange that the Scribes and Pharisees who were intelligent, and 3S alert as they were bitter, should never have exposed this transparent plagiarism. The great concern of the Apostles was to prove to Jews and Gentiles that Jesus was the Christ of Old Testament prophecy. The whole drift of their preaching and their epistles went to show that the Gospel history rested squarely and uncompromisingly on a Jewish basis. Peter and John, Stephen and Paul constantly" reasoned with the Jews out of their own Scriptures." How unspeakably absurd is the notion that they were trying to palm off on those keen Pharisees a Messiah who, though in the outset at Nazareth he publicly traced his commission to Old Testament prophecy, was all the while copying an atheistic philosopher of India.
It is equally inconceivable that the Christian fathers should have copied Buddhism. They resisted Persian mysticism as the work of the devil, and it was in that mysticism, if anywhere, that Buddhist influence existed in the Levant. Whoever has read 'l'ertullian's withering condemnation of Marcion may judge how far the fathers of the Church favored the heresies of the East. Augustine had himself been a Manichean mystic, and when after his conversion he became the great theologian of the Church, he must have known whether the teachings of the Buddha were being palmed off on the Christian world. The great leaders of that age were men of thorough scholarship and of the deepest moral earnestness. Many of them gave up their po!'sessions and devoted their lives to the promotion of the truths which they professed. Scores of them sealed their faith by martyr deaths.
But even if we were to accept the flippant allegation that they were all imposters, yet we should be met by an equally insurmountable difficulty in the utter silence of the able and bitter assailants of Christianity in the first two or three centuries. Celsus prepared himself for his well-known attack on Christianity with the utmost care, searching history, philosophy and every known religion from which he could derive an argument against the Christian faith. Why did he not strike at the very root of the matter by exposing those stupid" creed-mongers" who were attempting to playoff upon the intelligence of the Roman world a clumsy imitation of the far-famed Buddha? It was the very kind of thing that the enemies of Ch:'istianity wanted. vVhy should the adroit Porphyry attempt to wor~.;: up a few mere scraps of resemblance from the life of Pythagoras and why should the wife of a Roman emperor employ a man to trump up precisely such a story as our baronial friend now asks us to believe, when all they had to do was to lay their hands upon familiar legends which afforded an abundance of the very articles in demand?
But altogether the most stupendous improbability lies against the whole assumption that Christ and His followers based their" essential doctrines" on the teachings of the Buddha. The early Buddhism was atheistic. This is the common verdict of Davids, Childers, Sir Monier Williams, Kellogg and many others. The Buddha declared that "without cause and unknown is the life of man in this world," and he recognized no higher being to whom he owed reverence. The "Buddhist Catechism," to which I have already referred, shows that modern Buddhism has no recognition of God.
It says (page 58): "Buddhism teaches the reign of perfect goodness and wisdom without a personal God, continuance of individuality without an immortal soul, eternal happiness without a local heaven, the way of salvation without a vicarious Saviour, redemption worked out by each one himself without any prayers, sacrifices and penances, without the ministry of ordained priests, without the intercession of saints, without divine mercy." And then, by way of authentication, it adds: "These and many othel's which have become the fundamental doctrines of the Buddhist religion were recognized by the Buddha in the night of his enlightenment under the bodhi tree."
And yet we are told that this is the system which Christ and His followers copied! Compare this passage with the Lord's Prayer or with the discourse upon the lilies and its lesson of trusts-I appeal not merely to Christian men, but to any man who has brains and common-sense-was there ever so preposterous an attempt to establish an identity of doctrines? But what is the evidence found in the legends themselves? Several leading Oriental scholars, and men not at all biased in favor of Christianity, have carefully examined the subject, and have decided that there is no connection whatever. Professor Seydel, of Leipsic, who has given the most scientific plea for the so-called coincidences, of which he claims there are fifty-one, has classified them as: (1) Those which have been merely accidental, having arisen from similar causes and not necessarily implying any borrowing on either side. (2) Those which seem to have been borrowed f~om the one narrative or the other, and (3) those which he thinks were clearly copied by the Christian writers. In this last class he names but five out of the fifty-one.
Kuenen, who has little bias in favor of Christianity, and who has made a very thorough examination of Seydel's parallels, has completely refuted these five. (See" National Religion and Universal Religion," page 362.) And, speaking of the whole question, he says: "I think we may safely affirm that we must abstain from assigning to Buddhism the smallest direct influence on the origin of Christianity." He also says of similar theories of De Bunsen, "A single instance is enough to teach ns that inventive fancy plays the chief part in them." (" Hibbert Lectures," 1882.) Rhys Davids, whom Subhadra's "Buddhist Catechism" approves as the chief exponent of Buddhism, says on the same subject: "I {lan find no evidence of any actual or direct communication of those ideas common to Buddhism and Christianity from the East to the West. " Oldenberg denies their early date, and Beal denies them an Indian origin of any date.
Let us now ctmsider Baron Hickey's analogies seriatim: 1. "The genedogies of both Buddha and the Christ are traced from their fathers, not their mothers." This parallel would fit }Iohammed as well as Buddha. The whole argument rests upon the assumption that the mother of Buddha was a virgin, which is con- trary to canonical Buddhist history. The Sacred and Historic Book of Ceylon translated by Edward Upham, tell us that Buddha was born in wedlock. The late King of Siam, in a sketch of the Buddha, says that "he was born of natural generation." Subhadra in his Catechism says that "his parents were King Suddhodana and Queen Maya." Even the wild J ataka legends of Ceylon declare the same. 2. Baron Hickey declares that the conception by the Holy Ghost, announced by Gabriel, corresponds with Maya's dream of the white elephant. But his story of the white dove is manufactured for the purpose; no such myth was ever held by any Christian sect. 3. He compares the coming of the wise men with frankincense with the Brahmans who hastened with congratulations to the palace of Suddhodana. There is no canonical authority for the latter, though it was a common custom, and would have no significance. 4. "As Herod was afraid of the child, so King Bimbasara told his ministers to search the land to find whether any famous child had been born." Herod meant murder; Bimbasara, according to the Jataka legends, merely sent to inquire about the great teacher and his doctrines. 5. "The Simeon of the Bible corresponds with the Brahman Asita, an aged man who came to see the thirty-two marks and the eighty signs of the Buddha." This is a clumsy after-thought. How should anybody be looking for marks of a Buddha on a Hindu baby thirty years before Buddhism had been thought of? 6. "The presentation of Jesus in the temple is similar to a corresponding one in the childhood of the Buddha." This is one of Professor Seydel's" evident cases of borrowing." But such presentations of children were required under both the Jewish and the Hindu systems, and the claim of any particular parallel is weak. 7. "In his twelfth year Jesus was found in the temple, discoursing with the doctors, so, also, the father of Buddha found his son in the wood, surrounded by sages, etc." This does not agree with the Sinhalese legends, which say that the Buddha's youth was given to pleasure, and that his zenana contained 40,000 dancing girls. 8. "The Buddha bathed in the stream N aranjana, and J esu~ was baptized." This bath occurred when Buddha resolved to abandon his Brahmanical asceticism; he no longer regarded dirt as a means of grace. Whoever has seen a Hindu fakir besmeared with wet ashes will realize the significance of Buddha's "j:>ath, and, there- fore, of Baron Hickey's parallel.
9. "The forty days' fast in the wilderness is· common to both teachers." If any borrowing were required it would have been done from the life of Moses, who fasted forty days in Sinai. Buddha. never fasted forty days. The" Mahavagga" tells us that after his "enlightenment" he passed twenty-eight days i'njoyou8 meditation. His "Middle Path" shunned fasting as one extreme. He had begun to eat. He received his enlightenment on a full stomach-the first in six years.
10. There is no real parallel in the temptations of the two, though both are said to have been tempted. Buddha was tempted, according to Southern legends, several times and in respect to differ- ent things, but not at the beginning of his ministry.
11. "The heavens opening and the voice from heaven proclaiming the teacher are to be found in the Buddhist scriptures." Where?'
12. As to Buddha's Sermon on the Mount, high and breezy summits were often resorted to, especially the Vulture's Peak. It· was an incident of a hot climate in both caseS.
13. "The first disciples of Jesus, and even Jesus Himself, were at first followers of John the Baptist. The number of disciples in both accounts was at first five, afterwards sixty. "(?) As a matter of fact, Christ's disciples were not graduates from the school of John, but were called from their fishermen's boats. Instead of being a teacher of Jesus, John felt unworthy to unloose His shoe latchet.
14. "Both performed wonders." Buddha particularly disclaimed miraculous powers: the miracles were subsequent embellishments.
1.5. The incident of Buddha's walking on water needs a more particular statement with time and place and authority.
16. That both he and the Christ had a presentiment of death is very probable.
1 7. It is quite possible, also, that, among the thousands of Buddha's converts, were courtesans; but that the rich and brazen Ambapali who invited the Buddha and his disciples to dine, was the model after whom the Gospel narrative 'formed the picture of the crushed and penitent Magdalene, is far-fetched.
18. As for triumphal entries into cities-if a crowd of followers is meant, both, probably, had many-Christ at Jericho as well as at Jerusalem. Buddha is said to have been followed on one occasion by twelve hundred people, and King Bimbasara is said to have interviewed him with 80,000 of his overseers! 19. (( Both systems were missionary religions from the start." This is true; but how paltry is the notion that a mere motive of imi- tation prompted the wide-spread evangel of Christianity!
20. Weare told that (( Buddha fed the hungry," instead of which he was a mendicant and carried a beggar's bowl, and never performed a miracle.
. 21. As to the question asked of Jesus by the by-standers: (( Did this man sin or Bis parents that he was born blind?" If metempsychosis was in their minds, they could have borrowed it from the Greeks who had held it from the days of Pythagoras.
As to the general question, there seems to be little need of assuming that these shadowy coincidences denote borrowing on either side. Many of them are merely fanciful and are the work of modern apologists. Many others are such natural correspondences as might spring from similar causes. If incidents have in any case been borrowed, the chances are much greater that all-absorbing ever-changing Buddhism has been the copyist.
New York, November 25, 1890.
[The editor is constrained to add that the article which is printed above is, as he thinks, the most painstaking production that Dr. Ellinwood has, perhaps, ever written. It is felt by many who have seen it before it appeared in these pages that it ought to be put in some permanent form. Rev. Dr. Paxton, of Princeton Seminary, has pronounced it "a perfect rejoinder." vVe make a great mistake if we assume that merely ignoring and" pooh-poohing" at the active and aggressive movements of error are going to meet the case. The war is upon us. The old fathers of the early churcn did not confine themselves to pious denunciation. Think of Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Origen, how they fought with the beasts of Ephesus, and how magnificently they conquered the haughty heathenism of Greece and Rome. This paper will undoubtedly be reprinted in tract form.] WE often speak of ourselves as only" instruments in God's hands." It is our privilege to think of ourselves, if we are truly His servants, as agents. An instrument is a dumb, senseless, lifeless thing, which has no active, intelligent power even to co-operate with him who handles and uses it; but an agent (ago) is one who acts)· however, in behalf of, and under control of, another, yet acting intelligently and individually, as Aaron spoke under Moses' dictation. Even the ox and ass yield a voluntary, intelligent obedience, and are far above the plo}V they drag or the goad by which they are urged on. Weare God's agents, and He worketh not only by us, but in us, both to will and to work. (See Greek of Philippians, ii., 13.)
THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF'THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
II. THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH.* BY PROFESSOR HENRY WOODWARD HULBERT.
It would be difficult to point out a scene of more dramatic historic interest than that laid in the upper room of prayer at Jerusalem in the year 30 A.D., between Thursday, May 18th, and Sunday, May 28th. The Master had gone, never to return to quiet again the doubt of a Thomas with a material argument. He had left them unexpectedly, but His parting words contained a promise and a command. The little, trembling church, ~he muscles of whose lips had hardly ceased articulating the question: "Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" was waiting with breathless expectation to be clothed upon with power. There sat restless Peter, the echoes of whose blasphemies had hardly died away. There were John and J ames and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of J ames. There were the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and his. brethren and others, swelling the number of names to one hundred and twenty-one hundred and twenty poor, weak men and women in the midst of a rich and powerful civilization with as many millions. The minute hand in the great clock of destiny was rapidly nearingthe critical point. The child of many promises, the dream of patriarchs and kings and prophets, the only tangible outcome of the life and death of Jesus the Messiah-the fate of all seemed to hang in the balance. The whole future of the world-its wide-spread lands, its. unnumbered billions (present and to come)-lay in the prayers of a few broken-hearted, yet believing souls. 'Vho could have predicted the result?
Let us notice, in a cursory way, the geographical conditions. which surrounded this little church of six score members on May 28th,. 30 A.D. Putting aside very largely the profounder conditions, moral and intellectual, we ask: What were the natural, political, commercial, linguistic and racial features of the known world which were to compose the environment of the primitive church as it commenced its conquest of the globe? An answer to this question will involve a study of (1) the extent of the known world at that era, (2) the character and extent of the Roman civilization, (3) the commercial and' military relations of this civilization to outlying barbarism, (4) the spread of the Latin and especially the Greek languages, and lastly (5) the wide dispersion of the Jewish race throughout the world.
Take an ordinary school globe and cover up on it all that portion unknown to the geographers, 30 A.D., and we are at once impressed with * For article I. of this series see MISSIONAl!.Y REVIEW OF THE WORLD, Jan- uary, 1890, pp. 26-32. the small extent of the known world. It seems like a mere toy as contrasted with the great bustling earth of to-day. As far as civilization was concerned that was nothing more than a Mediterranean world. A stretch of three thousand miles east and west, and of fifteen hundred miles north and south contained it all. Britain was still unconquered. The fierce Parthian, hardly weaned from his pastoral life in Central Asia, was the greatest organized enemy of Rome. He had learned a little bit of the lesson of civilization from the conquered Persian, but he was still essentially barbaric. India was superficially known by navigators, and far-away China was reached by caravan routes. Travelers occasionally brought in reports of strange lands an.d peoples; captives struggled back to the confines of civilization with marvelous tales of Hyperborean paradises, and one-eyed monsters; but all about this confined areaof terra cognita lay the great, impenetrable cloud-land of terra incognita. The Pentecostal church prayerfully faced the Roman civilization, but what of the vast stretches of sea and land still veiled from their eyes, but included in their }faster's last command? In spite of ignorance, which they shared with the wisest of antiquity, the apostolic leaders were able to grasp the thought" every knee shall bow and every' tongue confess to God." Their faith was wider than the known world. They were assured that there could not be " Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman, but Christ is all and in all." Peter's vision on the housetop at Joppa, teaching the impartial love of God to every human soul on earth, was the most comprehensive social lesson the world ever received. The apostles and the earliest evangelists are supposed to have done missionary work far outside the limits of the empire, going as far as India and Sonthern Russia.
But the immediate task before Christianity was the conquest of the centres of civilization-the Roman Empire. Let us notice the geographical characteristics of this Mediterranean world as related to the company of Christian believers in J ernsalem. (1) It was an empire of cities. Rome began with a city, she conquered cities, and from beginning to end her genius was municipal. In the East this was not so strictly true as in the West. The nomad life of the Orient could not be so easily brought and held together; but Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt were honeycombed with thrifty cities. Christianity must needs then handle cities and their thronging population. As the apostles looked out upon the Roman empire they found from four to five thousand cities to be reached. For three or four centuries Christianity was destined to be municipal in its methods, and this gave a determining bent to the whole future of the Church. (2) The tideless }:Iediterranean furnished easy access by water from city to city. It was covered with sails employed ill a thrifty commerce. The Roman fleet swept the pirates from the seas and gave security to the humblest craft. A great number of the cities were situated on or near the sea, and a map of the coast looks like a string of pearls broken only at the Bosphorus and at Gibraltar. (3) Splendid Ro- man roads connected all parts of the empire so that news was carried rapidly and power was quickly concentrated and distributed. From Jerusalem one could walk over these superb roads, a few years later, all the way to Scotland, with only the narrow bodies of water to cross, a distance of 4,080 Roman miles (3,740 English). Along these highways trudged the messenger of the Gospel, from city to city, counting the mile·stones as he went, and wondermg, perhaps, whether the words of the prophet were not fulfilled: "Cast ye up, cast ye up: prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people." (Isaiah Ivii~14.) (4) Over one hundred million people were thus by land and water ways compactly drawn together in a territory containing less than two million square miles. Geographically considered, no portion of the globe furnishe.s so interesting a bat~le·field for religious conquest as the territory of the old Roman empire.
Roman civilization spread itself outside its own regions by two methods-commercial and military-and Christianity must needs follow in the track of merchants and armies. Caravan rontes came streaming in like rivers into the common basin of the Mediterranean, through the trackless Sahara from Central Africa, down the Nile from the Great Lakes, from Yemen along the Red Sea, from the Persian Gulf through the Syrian desert, and from Mesapotamia, where was centred the trade of Central Asia. To this husy mart on the eastern border of the empire, came pouring in the treasures from the Persian Susa, from Hyrcania and from Bactria, which in turn drew npon China through Statio Mercatorum and upon Hindustan and Farther India through Clisobra.
Turning from the land trade to, the sea, the routes are no less numerous or patronized. The whole coast of Southern Asia was familiar to the merchants and regular routes by sea were open, find· ing their natural termini in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Along this extensive seaboard on the Indian Ocean the rude craft crept timi,lly without the compass, but the markets of Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome were well stocked with the dainties of the far East. Another thrifty line of commerce found its way from the great river systems of what is to.day Russia, down through the Bosphorus. Still 3nother line came pouring into the outlet of the Mediterranean from distant Britain, and daring navigators pushed along the coast of the North Sea, and even penetrated the Baltic lands in search of trade. If a little later we find Christianity firmly planted in far-away places let us not be astonished. The door was providentially open and the missionaries of the early church could easily enter. A very large portion of the earliest evangelists were merchants, and the laity from the first have furnished the main agencies for the spread of the Gospel.
Garrisons of Roman soldiers were stationed all along the borders of the empire. These military barracks soon became centres from which Christianity could spread outside the civilized world. The new religion took easily to the Roman camp and these isolated spots along the Rhine, the Danube, the Euxine and the Euphrates became points of light. Tracing the legend of St. George back to the facts of which it is a distortion, we find that he was one of these Roman soldiers. When the armies pushed beyond the boundaries of the empire Christianity was sure to go with them. Christian soldiers captured and enslaved by barbarians were the means of converting whole nations.
Another geographical condition of the greatest importance to Christianity was the wide extent of the territory over which the Greek and the Latin languages were spoken. The administration of civil and military government was through the Latin. The language of business, science and literature was the Greek. At the opening of the Christian era Hellenistic Greek was the lingua Franca of the Roman world. Greek colonies had been established all around the :Mediterranean, and these had determined the language of commerce-there has never been an instance in history where the language of commerce has failed finally to win its way to every station of life. It is a truism that Greek letters and arts conquered Rome more effectually than the legions of the Republic had overcome the Peninsula of Hellas. The New Testament was composed in this universal language, and all through the early centuries Christian churches were Hellenistic. Later on the Latin tongue took the supremacy in the 'Vestern world and still remains the liturgical language of the majority of Christians.
But more important to the Christian Church than any of the conditions mentioned was the geographical distribution of the Hebrew race. Everywhere synagogues were the early preaching-places of the apostles, and the majority of the Christians of the first century were of Jewish extraction. Christianity, as the fulfillment of the Old Testament religion, naturally turned to the be,lievers in that Revelation. Providentially, it seems, these seven millions of people, with their monotheism, their nobler conceptions of God and their purer ethics and life had been scattered broadcast over the Roman world and even beyond its boundaries. The Sibylline oracle says that "every land and every sea" was filled with them. Strabo, writing of the century before Christ, says that the Jewish people had already come into every city and that it was not easy to find a place in the world which had not received this race and was not occupied by them. Josephus, Philo, imperial epistles, as well as the Acts of the Apostles, tell the same story. Forcibly torn from their country, frightened away from Palestine, the battle-ground of the Asiatic world, enticed away by flattering offers from Ptolemy, Seleucidae and Roman governors, lured to the most distant climes by the hope of gain-this race started out on the most singular career history can show us of a nation keeping its nationality without a national terri- tory.
Let" us notice more particularly their whereabouts in the year 30 A.D. There were three centres about which the Jews were gathered in masses-Syria, Egypt and Mesopotamia-although some parts of Asia Minor and Cyrene in Africa might almost be ranked with the three·mentioned. At the time of which we are dealing there were, according to the latest and best authorities, four million Jews in Syria from the Taurus range to the Sinaitic peninsula-a population twice as large as that occupying that same region to-day. Jerusalem, Damascus and Antioch were the centres; but we may suppose that every city and village in Syria had representatives, and that houses of prayer were found everywhere.
In Egypt Philo (an Alexandrian Jew born about 20 B. c.) estimated that there were one million Jews out of a total of nine million inhabitants. The city of Alexandria had several quarters occupied exclusively by this race. Prayer-houses were found all over the city. Jews were scattered overthe Delta and up the Nile we know not how far. The Falashas of Abyssinia to-day indicate a powerful Jewish influence on the upper Nile at an early period. The Jewish sect of the Therapeutre had their chief seat on Lake Maroetis. The influence of the Alexandrian Jews was all out of proportion even to their great numbers.
There were one million Jews in Mesopotamia and Babylonia, on the very b,:mier of the empire. These were the descendants of those members of the ten tribas and of the Kingdom oi Judah, who had been carried away in captivity and had not returned. In fact, after the so-called return from captivity these eastern communities seem continually to have grown by accessivns from all parts. J osephud count:'! these colonies of his people not by thousands but by millions. The Talmudic schools of Babylon were equally influential with the western schools. Elsewhere it is estimated that there were scattered one million Jews, making seven millions in all. They seem to be living everywhere in Asia Minor. Strabo divides the inhabitants of Cyrene into four classes-citizens, agriculturists, metoikoi andJewsshowing that this race, so troublesome to the Roman authorities, was numerous there. We find traces of Jews all along the north coast of Africa. In Thrace, Macedonia and Greece we know from the Book of the Acts that they were plentiful. Agrippa's epistle to Caligula. also gives ample evidence. At Rome and Puteoli there were large colonies of Jews-Cicero, Suetonius, Philo and Josephus are our witnesses for Italy. They were found in Spain and Gaul in all the cities. 'Herod Archilaus was banished to Vienne and Herod Antipas to Lugdunum (I,yons) both in the Rhone Valley. Outside the Roman empire we know there were Jews in Ethiopia, Southern Arabia, Ar-' menia, Iberia, Chalchis, Crimea, II.):rcania, and even in distant China.. In fact, it is difficult to mention a district of the known world at the date 30 A.D., which did not have representatives of the Jewish race.
These, then, were the more important geographical conditions that faced the Pentecostal church of six score members. There was the Roman empire with its roads and harbors and languages. All about this lay unknown lands and tribes with theil' unnumbered millions. Scattered all over the known world were the Jewswho furnished just so many open doors to the religion ,of the Messiah. It will be the object of succeeding papers to show how the little church threw 'itself fearlessly into the conflict, and won province after province for the kingdom of its. Master, and to show how we have entered into their labors.
THE RAPID GROWTH OF ASIATIC POPULATIONS.
. This is written you from one of our inland stations, one of ~ group of a dozen villages right round about. The one thing that always strikes me in a Chinese town or village is the number of small children that are running loose all around. One thing is certain, the population of this already overgrown empire is certain to be kept ur.
More than that, it is growing within the past twenty-five years with increased rapidity. One estimate puts it now at a yearly advance of four millions. We dwell on the growth of our own population at home, but China is advancing nearly three times as fast. Forty millions in ten years is enough to start and stock a new nation.
Japan, too, is growing rapidly in numbers. A few years ago the people were estimated at thirty-seven or thirty-eight millions. Now the government puts them at forty millions. India, too, shows remarkable results. The census is taken there with great care by the British government. The last census was taken in 1881. Since the previous one taken along from 1867 to 1872 in the different provinces, the gain had been 15,010,304. In all these cases the population is by natural increa~e, and not, as in the United States, by immigration.
These are solemn and impressive figures taken in their 'bearing 011 Christian r'nissions. It will not do to wait till the Jerusalem folks are all converted. ""V. ASHMORE. Swatow, Ohina.
ARE WE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST?
ARE WE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST?
[FOR THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.] " 'Vhosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."-Luke xiv: 33.
"One thing thou Iackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me."-Mark x: 21.
" But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet."-Acts v: 1,2.
Examining ourselves, as individuals and as churches, how many disciples of Christ can we find, according to the criterion He has es- tablished in the explicit rule and the explicit injunction above quoted?
No dodging! Let us not get behind the pretense of a heart forsaking, while our hands tenaciously grasp the bulk of our possessions. Let us at least not mock God and" lie unto the Holy Ghost," by saying, "Yes, Lord, I give all to 'fhee," while we actually give nothing, or a dole, or a tithe; lest we join ourselves with Ananias and Sapphira.
in infamy as well as perdition. " Itwere better not to vow."
But all of us members of evangelical churches have thus vowed.
We have all made the profession, or pretense, of Ananias and Sap- phira. 'Ve have consecrated ourselves and all that we have-our persons, our possessions and our children to the Lord. WHERE then are the proceeds? Are they fully laid at His feet, according to the profession? Or is a " part" of them" kept back"? Is it an honest profession, or a lying pretense like that of those two dreadful monu- ments of the Lord's indignation at hypocrisy in the Church? 'Ve do not know how large a part Ananias and Sapphira kept back. Proba- bly it was a small proportion, such as they thought would not be noticed. How many modern Ananiases and Sapphiras are agreeing together to tempt the Spirit of ~he Lord, while joining in the com- muniun of His supreme self-sacrifice, by keeping back, not a minor proportion, but NEARLY ALL, of that which they have solemnly and Imblicly dedicated.
Far be it from us to judge one another. But let us remember that there is a Judge, and that if we would judge ourselves we shoald not be judged. Let us not flatter ourselves, or each other, with vain hopes in Christ that are explicitly excluded by His own reiterated warnings. Can sinners hope for heaven Who love this world so well ?
And are not the ministers of Christ themselves derelict if they €ncourage, even tacitly, the assumption of discipleship on the part of those who give no evidence of a bonafide assignment of so much as thcir pr-operty to the Lord that bought them?
W. C.
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS. 12::>
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK.
-De Macedonier gives the following statistics for Java: 'Vest Java, 11 missionaries, 21 congregations, 20 helpers, 1,963 souls; Bagalen, 4 missic;maries, 60 congregations, 2helpers, 5,937 souls; Salatega Mission, 5 missionaries, 18 congregations, 6 helpers, 534 souls; East Java, 9 missionaries, 27 congregations, 54 helpers, 6,276 souls. Whole number of souls, 14,710. In 1886, 10,979. Increase, 3,731; yearly rate, 11i per cent.
-De Heidenbode, the organ of the Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Zendingsvereeniging (Netherlands Reformed Missionary Association) says very pertinently: "When the sigh ascends from the churches to heaven: 'Lord, the 1,000,000,000 souls of the unchristian world have no bread,' whatis his answer? The same as in the wilderness to his disciples: 'Give ye them to eat.' He was compassionately willing to feed the hungering multitudes, yet he sent down no bread from heaven, and brought up no fish from the sea. The disciples were to give them what they had, and this He blesses, so that there is enough and to spare. Even so, He does not preach the Gospel to the nations through angels, or send down Bibles from heaven in all the varying tongues of earth. We are to give them what we have, and He will add the blessing. "
-The Journal des Missions for September, 1890, gives account of the baptism at Thaba-Bossiou, in Lessuto, of 90 adults.
-The following letter of welcome from King Lewanika, on the Zambesi, to M. Adolph Jalla, is not a bad letter from a heathen king: "To the new missionary, health! Come soon with the peace of thy God. I thank thee for thy letter. I too would fain see thee and salute thee soon, new missionary! I shall soon rejoice to see thee with my eyes. Health, health, it is I who love thee.-LEwANIKA."
-The Journal des Missions, .speaking of the efforts making by some governments to decoy the missionaries into the service of their particular interests, says: "Woe to the herald of the good news of Christ's free salvation who lets himself be enticed by a worldly master, under the cover of promoting civilization, into the service of colonial interests! Here, as elsewhere, everything goes to show that no man can serve two masters, that the church and the world are two distinct domains, that the salvation of souls and the supposed interests of colonists are the most often mutually incompatible."
-The definitive recognition, by England, of Madagascar as under the protectorate (a polite way of saying under the dominion) of France, has led to well-founded apprehensions concerning the London Society's missions there, which have Christianized the ruling tribe of the Hovas. We remember only too well the declaration of the Protestant Guizot: "France abroad means Catholicism." To be sure, the treaty expressly provides that" in the island of Madagascar the missionaries of the two countries shall enjoy a complete protection, religious tolerance, liberty for all forms of worship and for religious instruction are guaranteed." But who believes that if the Jesuits once more came to govern France they would allow it to keep this treaty except evasively? And England is not now the England of Cromwell, or even of Chatham. However, the Protestant steadfastness of Queen Pomare and the Tahitians will doubtless be emulated by Queen Ranavalona and the Hova churches. It is a matter of great thankfulness that the Protestant mission of our French brethren on the Zambesi is likely to be rescued from the ignoble clutch of Portugal and assigned to the benign guardianship of England. The inroads of the children of Mammon, unhappily, cannot be restrained by any power. " Never," says the Journal, "has the world witnessed a partition so gigantic. Whatever may come of it, He that sitteth in the heavens (says yet) I have set my Ki.ng upon my holy hill of Zion."
It is not to be understood, of course, that all the French colonial officers are hostile to Protestant missions. Some are themselves Protestants, and others are friendly to every elevating influence abroad, Protestant or Catholic. M. de Brazza, the great agent of extending the French authority along the right bank {)f the lower Congo, has himself urged the Societe des Missions to establish its mission on the Congo, and promised it his best support. And, although since the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, the French Protestants are only some 600,000 out of 38,000,000, yet their greater mental freedom, more earnest religion, and higher moral standard, make them an antagonizing power manifold greater than their numbers against both atheism and ultramontanism.
-Dr. Warneck, in the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, in answer to a deprecatory remark of Major Wissmann, that Protestant missions ought not to shrink from criticism, observes very pertinently that Protestants criticise their own missions rather too much than too little. Roman Catholics, possessed as they are with the instinct of infallibility, do not criticise theirs at all.
Major Wissmann puts the Roman Catholic missions in Africa above the Protestant, as putting the labora before the ora (which they would hardlyacknowledge), declaring that the Protestants reverse the order. Dr. Warneck replies that they do neither the one nor the other, but, as commanded by Jesus Christ, teach faith in Him, which then becomes the inner principle of both prayer and labor. Dr. Wissmann, like most of such men, seems to regard the Africans only in one light-their relation to the labor market. But, as Dr. Warneck remarks, the Catholic missionaries have bought children (doubtless with the most benevolent intentions) over whom they have power. The Protestants exhort to industry free people, over whom they have only influence. The immediate industrial results, therefore, are more noticeable on the side of the former. The lasting results will turn more largely to the credit of the latter. Even now Major Wissmann acknowledges that, industrially, the Livingstonia Mission equals the best Catholic misl!ions. The trouble with the Catholic missions is, that however benevolently they treat their converts, in so many cases they do not teach them how to go alone.
Dr. Warneck remarks that, although where the Roman Catholics, as in China, have been laboring for three centuries, they have naturally an absolutely greater number of converts, yet they seldom have relatively so large a number if we compare time, outlay, and number of laborers, and that in fields where they and the Protestants have both labored for nearly the same time, the absolutely greater number of converts is almost everywhere on the Protestant side, excluding the European immigrants whom the Catholic reports count in, and whom the Protestant reports count out. Even in East Africa, to which Major 'Wissmann principally refers,the Catholics (not including Uganda.the statistics of which are undetermined) only claim some 2,000 converts, over against some 4,500 of the Protestant missions.
"The present Protestant missions proceed simply in theway of the apostolic missions, when they put their confidence, not in the forms of outward worship, but in the power of evangelical truth. And to-day, also, we do not find that this confidence puts us to shame, as is shown by the results of our missions, e.g., in the South Sea Islands, as well as in West and East Africa, where we have gathered fully a million of free Christians from among the heathen into well organized, and in part already independent, churches. We may well allow that the outward worship of the Roman Church has a certain share in the results of her mission; but much more are these owing to other outward means, e.g., purchase of children, concession of temporal advantages, employment of the civil power, connivance with heathen irregularities, etc."
-In' view of the sharp national animosities, which have attached them- selves to the relations between the Anglo-American Stanley and the German Emin Pasha, the following judgment of Stanley, founded on his latest book, from the great German missionary magazine, is of much value. The Zeit- schrift, has throughout, while genuinely German, held itself clear of all exag- gerated nationalism, in matters which concern universal.humanity and the kingdom of God: "This book leaves no doubt that in Stanley we have to do not only with one of the most heroic, circumspect, enduring of travelers, but also with a warm friend of mankind, a great student of human nature, a wise dealer with men, and a conscientious performer of the commissions assigned to him. He is not lacking in self-consciousness, and the energy with which he is wont to act sometimes verges on recklessness; but without the inflexible firm- ness, which ever and anon degenerates into harshness, he would never have overcome the absolutely gigantic difficulties which lay in his way, and never have attained his end. But Stanley is by no means merely a valiant man of iron will, he has also a warm heart, is full of motherly carefulness, fidelity and devotion to his friends, white and black, nor is he wanting in humility and a sound feeling of piety." He would hardly be a Welshman if his sense of religion were not strong.
-The Societe Centrale Protestante d'Evangelisation, in its forty-third an- nual report, that of 1889, says: "It has a faith, and it confesses it. In this re- gard it has gone beyond the Synod of 1872. It used to be said, as it still is: Why these doctrines? Is not life enough? Bring near the prophets, remove the doctors; inflame the heart and take no care about the head. Inflame the heart with what? The heart, too, has need of reasons, and the reasons of the heart are the very doctrines which you reject. According as these doctrines are pre$ent or absent, religious fervor increases or declines. History teaches us that in all times moral is closely connected with doctrinal relaxation. Why, then, should we separate the prophets and the doctors, as if they did not belong together? They imply each other, they do not exclude each other. Let me only cite three names: St. Paul, St. Augustine, Luther-three glorious prophets and three illustrious doctors. But for the doctrines which it has adopted and propagated, the Central Society would not have done what it has done, for it would neither have felt nor kindled the same confidence."
-" France is divided into two camps, of equal passion, if not of equal strength. The religious society anathematizes the civil society; the civil society anathematizes the religious society, and ever and anon the one point on which they seem to agree is that it is the duty of each to murder the other. Lost in this tumult of battle, what are we doing, we, French Protestants of every denomination? We maintain religious faith and bless social progress. We show France how she may be at one with herself, and be at the same time Christian and liberal. If, weaned of their bitter and resultless struggles, civil and religious society are minded some. day to make peace, they will make it, not under our name, indeed, but on our territory. The triumph of Protestant principles, whether under Protestant forms or not, is the religious future of our country, and of every country." Free religion, not in the infidel but in the Christian sense, as against the compelled religion of the middle ages.
-The Danish churches raised for missionary purposes in 1888, about $24,000. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN EXTRACTS.
-The Church Missionary Gleaner for October reports as ready to go out six university men, six clergymen from the Islington school, nineteen single ladies and four others. Adding the wives-" whom we must never leave out of account "-and there is a total of ninety-one new missionaries. "But the day is rapidly coming when that will seem quite small."
-It seems that, as with the ark of old, each African tribe has been afraid to keep the bones of Bishop Hannington, being persuaded that the wrath of heaven has attended each attempt to detain them, until at last they are given to an Englishman who comes from the coast "by the route which Hannington" in his last moments, declared that he died to secure!"
-Miss Ridley, lately gone to China, says in the Gleaner: "I do not do much else but study. I am standing, as it were, on the brink of a wonderful ocean –this difficult, interesting and fascinating language-just playing with a few of the drops."
-It is known that the aborigines of Japan are the Ainos, or Ainus, now mostly found in the northern island, Yezo. They are very degraded, but are said to be rather of our type of race than of the Mongolian. It has been questioned whether they have retained any religion. But the Church Missionary Society missionary to them, Rev. J. Batchelor, writes in the Gleaner, that " they firmly believe in a God who is the life giver and benevolent sustainer of all, and they thankfully and dutifully acknowledge His gifts and mercies."
-It is known how highly the Church of Scotland, both Established and Free, values education in India. It is now, in the Established branch, engaged in reviewing this whole question, and corresponding widely with authorities in Indian affairs. Some of the answers deserve reporting: Sir Charles U. Aitchison, late lieutenant-governor of the Punjab, is very sure that if the chasm now yearning in Hindu belief is filled up by an unchristian theism, the church will have all the sapping and mining to do over again. He mentions the American College at Lahore, as one of the types of schools that ought to be multiplied through India, giving university training, together with the steady personal application of Christian truth by cultivated men. "God forbid," he says, "that I should undervalue preaching and evangelizing. I believe India is only waiting for some native St. Paul to turn by thousands to the Lord. But the more active you are in your schools the better you will be prepared for that day when it comes." Even now, he says, the most and the best converts are from the schools. f Sir William Wilson Hunter says that a Christian government cannot give anti-christian, and, in India, cannot give Christian teaching. The result is deplored, deservedly, by the natives of India. Missionary schools alone can make good the lack. Such schools the government feels free to aid. " It would not do," he says, "that just as Hinduism and Mohammedanism are entering the field of education more largely, Scotland should withdraw from it. Alexander Duff and John Lawrence," he remarks, " went to India in one fear. One saved India for England; the other rescued Christianity from sinking again into such a degradation as that into which the uneducated' Portuguese Christians' had brought it."
Sir William Muir, Sir Henry Ramsay and Sir Richard Temple give similar testimony.
The Rev. Robert Clark, of the Church Missionary Society, thinks that there are friendly Hindu and Moslem teachers whose influence is positively better than that of some nominally Christian teachers. He calls them "Hiram's Carpenters. " It is an error to suppose that the Scottish Establishment in India spendo chiefly for schools. £2,492 is spent for them; £5,488 on evangelistic work.
The Rev. D. Mackicham, D.D., of the Free Church, remarks that there are fewer conversions now at such schools than at first. This he attributes (1) to the great modifications of Hinduism, giving a temporary resting-place to many; (2) to the religious indifference of the age; (3) to the stronger political life awakening in India, carrying off much moral force–all temporary causes, but operative at present.
The Rev. A. Clifford, of the Church Missionary Society, says that "Dr. Duff's converts are the backbone of the native church in Bengal." Few, but mighty.
Bishop Caldwell and Mr. Sharrock declare that these higher schools are the unly way of reaching the higher castes. The Roman Catholics, moreover, are waking up to the importance of education, and the question is, into which scale enlightened India shall be thrown.
James Wilson, Esq., twenty-five years missionary in India, says that the condition of India, that is, especially of Hinduism, with iis compact society and overmastering religion, is unique. Individual conversions cannot be there, at present, the main end. India is a mighty rock to be tunneled, and educa- tion is the process of tunneling. The rate of conversion among the aborig- ines, who may be called the soft rock, does not at all give the rate among the Hindus, who are emphatically the hard rock. As yet, no method of labor has gained many conversions from Hinduism proper. That mission schools have not, therefore, is not against them, while for ultimate results we may well re- gard them as an indispensable agency.
The Hindus are beginning to be alarmed at the absence of ethicai teaching from the government schools. One Hindu journal, quite independent of direct missionary influence, calls for the introduction of a little book, called" The Precepts of Jesus," compiled by Rajah Ramahun Roy, the original leader, I believe, of the Brahmo Somaj. Says Mr. Wilson: "I have nothing to say against other methods of spreading the truth; but I, for one, have no regrets that so many years of my life were spent in India in diffusing among the young people of that country knowledge of any and every kind, including that knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation."
Judge Roberts, of the Punjab, brings like testimony to the grievous decline of morality and integrity which has followed the divorce of religion and education. The Rev. S. S. Allnutt, M.A., late of Cambridge, nowof Delhi, says that this system starves the HiNdu conscience, already weak, and leaves the intellectual to struggle with. the animal nature, aggravated by an English propaganda of atheism, "rampant, vaunting, undisguised." The vile Bradlaugh has recently, we remember, visited India, partly to prosecute this apostolate of hell. Even the Mohammedans, it appears (except the heretical Shiites) disdain to acknowledge sin before God, or profess repentance of it. Mr. Allnutt wholly condemns the too usual practice of allowing heathen teachers to give formal instruction in Christain doctrine. _ The Rev. John Paton, formerly chaFllain in Bombay says: "Convert all the aboriginal types and leave the Brahmanical castes untouched, and you have only touched Hindu religion by the fringe. Neglect neither Aryans nor non- Aryans, nor the methods best suited to the genius of either. A mighty citadel (and no citadel of heathenism compares with Hinduism) must be besieged with infinite patience and manful use of every form of appliance." Principal Miller, of Madras, says that the Jesuits have a broad outlook, and the Protestant missions, as yet, a narrow one. Shall educated India, he asks, be Jesuit or Protestant? He strongly condemns the helter-skelter mutual emu- lation of Protestant schools. One-fourth of their revenues, he says, have been spent in paralyzing another fourth.
Mr. Mozumdar, the Brahmo Somaj leader, says that he knows mission school graduates above others by their superior moral principle and greater firmness of character.
A Hindu jurist, callmg for religious education in government schools, de- clares it better that a few should embrace the faith of Christ than that all should become practical atheists.
The Rev. John Monson, B.D., of Calcutta, says that if Protestants do not want Protestant Christianity in India to be absorbed by Roman Catholicism, they must not relax, but intensify, their efforts for the higher education.
The Rev. Johr. Crawford, B.D., says: "Christ has gained, because natives have seen men of all Christian creeds in Britain establishing Christian colleges."
The Rev. Herbert J. Thomas remarks: "The best that the natives of India can say of the English Government is that it is without religion; and they think no better of the English on that account, as their newspapers abundantly show."
On the other hand, various eminent authorities, among them Sir Monier Williams, speak doubtfully as to the results of these schools.
In 1863 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland decided that its higher schools in India should be deeply modified, in the direction of much fuller instruction in religion. Thus modified, it appears to be the mind of the present Missionary Committee, that they ought decidedly to be maintained, as being a needed counteractive to the irreligion of the government schools, and as peculiarly agreeable to the Scottish genius. The General Assembly is yet to take action on the report of the committee.
The Colonial and Continental Church Society, an Anglican institution, formed "to send clergymen, cathechists and schoolma:sters to the colonies of Great Britain and to British residents in other parts of the world," is important among those many semi-missionary societies called into being by the peculiar nature and relations of that dominion" on which the sun never sets." Its total income for 1889-90 was £35,668, of which £17,600 was raised at home, the remainder in the colonies and on the continent. The society takes a part in the Indian missions of British America. It also aims at commending to the French-Canadians a purer form of the Gospel. It appears to represent principally the evangelical school of the Church of England. We observe that the Marquis of Salisbury is one of its subscribers, and that his eminent competitor is not. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel seems to do the same work for the High Church party, although it is an extensive, and in various places rather an interfering, foreign missionary society.
-The Church Missionary Intelligencer for October, 1890, remarks: "The British Empire at the present time is five times larger than that of ancient Persia under Darius; it is four times larger than that of Rome under Augustus; and it is one-eighth larger than all the Russias put together; it is three times the size of the United States, sixteen times that of France, and forty times that of Germany, if we leave out of account her recently acquired territory in Africa. Now, if we admit that God guides the affairs of men, surely there must be some sufficient reason fot placing such. vast popUlations under our control, and when we remember that all these pos~essions have come to us since. the Reformation, it seems as if we had in this fact a hint as to what the reason is!"
-The same number of the Intelligencer, warning against expectations of what may be called a tumultuary movement of conversion in India, says: "In very truth there is no possibility in India of such a thing as a popular movement. There is no public opinion-how could there be in a body of 250,000,000 of people, of divers races, speaking a great number of different languages, and disintegrated by the cleavage of caste, by no means conformable to the strata of society? The conversion of a whole caste would render that of the next above it none the easier, rather all the more difficult. The ocean of Indian thought has been for ages stagnant; there are in it neither tides nor prevailing currents. But the w~ter of life is pouring into it, and creating, at all events, local eddies, which go swirling onwards steadily, spite of their back-waters, towards the throne of Christ."
-The Intelligencer quotes from two organs of·two branches of the Brahmo Somaj the two following declarations: "Christ Jesus. . is as much necessary in this age and in India as He was 1,800 years ago in Judea. As sinful children of men, we, the people of India, are as much in need of the Living Son of the Living God as the people of Judea were in days gone by." "In Christ, humanity, possessing nothing, not even a stone to lay its head upon, declared nothing good but its Father in heaven, surrendered itself wholly to His will, was tortured and killed, and finally was raised to eternal glory and everlasting blessedness. Humanity was reconciled to divinity, and the earth witnessed the rare spectacle of a divine humanity reigning over her." The editor remarks: ,. There is something of a perverse current there, a tendency to philosophize away the realism of Christ's redemption, which is characteristically Indian. But let the Indian mind take its own course-it will be guided at last to the personal acceptance of Christ."
The Rev. Worthington Jukes, of the Afghan Mission of the C. M. S., speaks of a baptized convert of ten years' standing, Hazrat Ali Shah, as being a lineal descendant of Mohammed. He has given up his government appointment to devote himself to mission work.
-The Intelligencer, complaining of the abundance of orthodoxy and the lack of moral feeling in the negro Christianity of West Africa, remarks: "It is not a Luther that is wanted; it is a John the Baptist." Yet it remarks that there is enough of the right spirit to be making a visible impression on the Mohammedans.
-It is known that there is a difference of opinion among missionaries, here and there, as to the use of the native instead of the European dress. There can be no doubt, however, as to the wisdom of Dr. Harford-Battersby's course on the Upper Niger. He says, in the Intelligencer: "For the first time adopted the native dress. Found it very comfortable, and well adapted to the climate. The turban, I believe, is far the best protection from the sun; the tabe, or gown, which is very loose, admits of free ventilation, and at the same time can be modified to suit almost any change of the weather except rain. Below we have the loose trousers and sandals for the feet-very comfortable. It is delightful altogether to have discarded boots and socks." Elsewhere it is remarked how pleased the people are to have the white men condescend to dress like themselves!
-The Intelligencer for October gives from the Matin the following statistics of Roman Catholic missions, mostly French, in Central Africa. The Catholic Missions of Lyons have in the Kingdom of Benin 6 stations, 1 college, 10 schools, 8 orphanages; on the Gold Coast, 6 stations, 3 schools and orphanages; on the Niger, 2 schools and 2 orphanages; in Dahomey, 8 stations,4 schools and 5 orphanages. The Brethren of the Holy Ghost have in Cimbabasie 4 stations, schools and 1seminary; in Gaboon, 6 stations, 3industrial schools; in Senegambia, 15 stations, 1 seminary, 1 printing office, 16 schools, 1 industrial school, 1 orphanage and 1 asylum; at Sierra Leone, 2 stations and schools; in French Congo, 7 stations, 5 schools; in the Lower Congo, 9 stations,l seminary, 5 schools; in Zanzibar, 11 stations, 6 schools, 2 hospitals, 1 industrial school. The White Fathers (Cardinal Lavigerie's missionaries) have in Nyassaland 2 stations, 3 orphanages, 4 schools; in the Sahara, 7 stations; in Kabylia, 1 station; in Nizab, 12 stations, 8 schools, 2 seminaries, 8 orphanages; Upper Congo. 2 stations, 4 schools; in Unyanyembe, 2 stations; at Zanzibar, 1 station; at Tanganyika, 3 stations, schools and orphanages.
-The Intelligencer remarks: "India is becoming more and more visited in the cold season, not only by politicians, and litterateurs, and students, and sportsmen, but by the messengers of Christ. The' missioner' is becoming as distinct a variety of them as the' missionary.'"
-The Bishop of Lahore, at a recent C. M. S. meeting in India, referred to the noble work opening in Kashmir. He said that many converts had recently been gathered in, and all over the district congregations of seventy or eighty met in the simplest of little churches for worship. These churches had not cost more than a rupee per sitting, if he might use that term, for, with the exception of the Bishop, for whom, in consideration of his infirmities, a chair was provided, sittings there were none [laughter]; the people all sat on the ground. The simple service was conducted and joined in with great fervor, and his heart was much touched by a beautiful cUdtom they had of repeating Jai Prabhu Yesu (Victory to the Lord Jesus) as they rose at the conclusion of their service.
STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT.
Mr. Max Wood Moorhead writes that: " A Conference of the Student Volunteer Movement is to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, February 26th to March 1st. "The objects are: (1) To bring volunteers and secretaries of foreign mission societies into personal contact; (2) to acquaint the Church with the character, scope and purpose of 'the movement'; (3) to stimulate and arouse to action student volunteers. Christian citizens offer to entertain a thousand guests, and volunteers in hundreds will probably avail themselves of this hospitality. "Such a convention will give secretaries of various boards in the United States and Canada opportunity to confer with candidates, and define the relation which should exist between them; and societies will communicate their spirit and their methods. "The following societies have been invited to send representatires: Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the American Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance, the Canadian Inter-Collegiate Missionary Alliance, the United Society of Christian Endeavor, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, the Epworth League, etc. From many missionary agencies comes the cry of' Debt!' 'Retrench!' The Church seems largely indifferent to the Master's appeal for laborers. We earnestly hope and pray that this gathering may result in a renewed spirit of obedience to the command of Christ, and, consequelitly, the actual sending forth of many laborers. "Foreign missionaries, now at home on furlough, from' every quarter of the globe, will be present. "Will the readers of THE REVIEW pray that all prepartions may be in conformity to God's will, and that all who participate in the coming Conference may be led by the Holy Spirit?"
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND· CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Editorial Items.-[J. T. G.] mission agents, whether English or It will be gratifying to the friends African, that are, in their jUdgment, "vessels meet for the Master's use." of humanity everywhere, to know Earthen vessels they may be; we do that at the last Holland signed the not look for perfection in human in- agreement of the Brussels Confer- struments or instrumentalities; but .ence, authorizing a tariff for revenue ~ve do deeply feel that true missionary work is the Getting forth of the Lord in the Congo Free State, to raise a Jesus Christ both as Saviour and as special fund for the suppression of the King and that this work must be slave trade. If she had held out in done 'by those who, however feeble in themselves, do know Him as their her refusal to concur, the entire Brus- Saviour and obey Him as their King, sels Conference would have been a and who seek, by the power of the failure, as it required unanimous con- Holy Ghost, to be examp~es ': in w<,>r?, in conversation, in chanty, m spInt, sBeenrtlinofTtrheeatysio~f-na1t8o8r5y, powers to the in faith, in purity." to make it ef- -It would be amusing, if it were fective in this modification of the free not so serious, to note the present con- troversyabout mission comity. Here trade clause of the original constitu- are the Baptists criticising the Method- ists for entering Rangoon, and the tion. Lutherans in turn criticising the Bap- tists in. Guntur because they "im- -It is time the good people of this mersed several of their teachers under discipline for irregular conduct." Then country gave a half-hour to the man- we have the Church of England Mis- sionary Society complained of by the ner in which the United States Gov- Presbyterians in Persia, for interfer- ing with their constituency, and so on, ernment is made to play the part of sometimes with cause, and, possibly, sometimes without cause, for we do procuress in the case of Chinese w0n;ten not claim to pass judgment on any of these cases. And all this comes on us at San Francisco. We are not saymg when the brethren are reading essays and making addresses on missionary a word now in favor of letting the comity. We printed in May last an able paper read before the Calcutta Chinese in, nor about our disreputable Missionary Conference on this subject by Bishop Thoburn. That met with a violation of treaty with China; but rejoinder in the same conference by Rev. Mr. Clifford, and now the subabout those who are let in, and the ject is treated in the December num- ber of The Church Mis.'lionary Intellipurposes for which they are admitted.
No Chinese can be landed without a writ of habeas corpus from the district court of the United States. Eleven thousand of these have been issued in order to land Chinese men and women, and ninety-nine out of every hundred of these women are known to be brought hither for the vilest uses of white men as well as Chinese. The President and his Cabinet ought not to allow the majesty of law to screen slavery and lust after this fashion.
-Here is a model utterance by the gencer. The writer concludes by Church of England Missionary Society saying facetiously: "The American in connection with some administra- missionary, though often a magnifitive difficulties in one of their West cent specimen of a Christian gentle- Africa missions, which might well be man is, nevertheless, to the end an adopted as a manifesto by all mis- American, given to going ahead, and -sionary societies: not absolutely beyond the temptation of filibustering. And the English The Committee are solemnly deter- missionary is apt to be ineradicably a mined in humble dgeivpeentdheenSc~eciuetpyo'ns Divine' strength, to support only to mission agenCies and John Bull, accustomed to dwelling on an island, and with no particularpen- next ten years, and hence it is now chant for being interfered with by two-hundred-fold greater than it others." But during the while in was at the beginning of the present which these various brethren discuss century. and re-discuss the modifications nec- essary in the mission co-operative Mr. Gladstone says we have not only policy of the past, a writer in the Har- multiplied wealth in a ratio that is un- vest Fieldsuggests some modus vivendi precedented in the world's history, that the work be not hindered. but we have multiplied the variety of pleasures which wealth commands, What About Our Surplus Wealth 7 also, in a correspondingly unparalleled degree. The New York World recently pub- lished a list of the richest people ia the Archdeacon Farrar is credited with United States, with a rough estimate the statAment that the working-classes of their wealth. We say rough esti- of Great Britain are saving annually mate because when one of these five hundred millions of dollars, and gentlemen, in a legal proceeding, tes- the British nation fifteen hundred miltified, as is asserted, that he could not lions. tell within ten or twelve millions of dollars what his fortune did amount The Japan Mail some while ago to, he only represented the rest of the said there was wealth enough in a very wealthy persons whose fortunes single block of warehouses, between are in part in more or less fluctuating Cornhill and Regent streets, in London securities. It is not assumed there- to buy up the whole of Yeddo, Japan, fore, by us, that the article referred and possibly five times over. It is disto presents precise knowledge, and tinctly the Christian nations that are in some cases may be grossly incor- adding in geometrical ratio to their rect. surplus wealth.
Nevertheless, the outline stands sub- Allowing all this to stand for the stantially representative of the facts moment, take another factor, as well in the case. Here are the names, then, established as careful and consciof seventy-five individuals whose for- entious computation can make so intunes are estimated at more than five definite a propo~ition. It is stated millions of dollars. It includes three after careful examination that the inmen thought to be worth over one crease in the wealth of the Protestant hundred millions of dollars each, and Christians of the United States equals thirty-five individual fortunes which five hundred millions of dollars anexceed ten millions of dollars each. nually. That amounts to the assertion that every three years Protestant The leading statistician of Great Christendom in this country accumu- Britain is made responsible for the lates an aggregated surplus fortune, statement that the increase of the equal to the total estimated fortunes world's wealth between the years 1800 of a hundred and twenty-five of the and 1870 was greater than that of the wealthiest persons in the land, or that eighteen hundred years preceding each year Protestant Christians in this century; and, still further, that the United States lay by a fortune the increase of the wealth in the equal to the sum total accumulated world between the years 1870 and through many years by the Rockefel- 1880 was equal to that accumulated lers, Astors, Goulds and Vanderbi~ts, between 1800 and 1870. In other as estimated by the World's table. words, the world doubled its wealth in the first seventy years of this cen- Now, we have not a word, at this tury, and added an equal sum in the writing, to say about the special dan- gers to any community, in any coun- try or century, of such vast augmenta- tion of wealth. Mr. Gladstone has done well to point out that it is indi- economies; after-we repeat the sumrectly a fertile source of the negative mary-after it has used all it needed, religious tendency of our day. But given all it would, and wasted most we do not propose to moralize about wantonly, it yet has a reserve of unit in one way or another. What we spent fortune reaching the enormous write to accomplish is this: to press sum of $500,000,000 annually! home on every Christian in the land who has any surplus, who one year And this is not supposed to be thE> with another, or after an interval of "saving" of the irreligious or ignorant, ten years, finds he has accumulated but of the very best type of Christian some" savings," the question: What commonwealth. What ought we to are the special obligations growing do with this surplus? What account from savings? will we render of it at last? Not one- sixtieth of so much as these' , savings" If annually the Protestant Christians is given to save the world outside of of this land are accumulating five our country, adding what men give times the wealth of the few men who while living and leave after death. own a hundred millions of property after a lifetime, or as the accretions of We cast no reflections. We read no more than one generation, what is homilies. We prescribe no action.' this same Protestant Christendom pro- We only put an interrogation point posing to do with these five hundred before one part of the Christian millions of annual surplus? It must Church in the richest and most luxube borne in mind just what the charac- riant land on the globe over against ter of this is. It is not what these the increment of its savings. Christians now want. It is what is left. After our Protestant Christen- J. T. G. dom has supplied all its wants, catered as far as it pleases to all its whims, The Press in Heathen Lands. spent on its viands all it cared to indulge in, wornjust" as good or expen- BY J. T. GRACEY. sive raiment as it has pleased to buy, indulged itself in art and literature The area of the reading population and travel, spent on the education of of the worla has been vastly extended chilUren all it could be induced to within the century, and in heathen spend, made merry the Christmas and lands as a direct result, in large part, of other holidays, indulged ~n all lawful, the modernmission. In India the Hindu possibly some questionable amuse- and Mohammedan readers are increasments, hospitably and socially enter- ing at present at the rate of a million tained friends and neighbors; after it and a half a year. Before the translahas, besides all this, generously spent tion of the Bible scarcely one-thirtieth in charity and benevolences, sustained part of the population of Bengal could all the churches, built all the colleges, read, and at the beginning of this cenand subscribed as liberally as it could turythat vast province and its Bengalibe induced to subscribe for missions speaking millions had no prose literain this and other lands; after it has, ture; now it is extensive and rapidly in a word, been as public-spirited as increasing. it pleased to be in forwarding all humanitarianism and religion while What we say of Bengal is but typiliving, and bequeathed all it would to cal of the rest of India and of other be spent or given away after death parts of the Moslem and heathen -spent, donated, squandered, be- world where the mission has entered. queathed; and after it has wasted untold thousands, being reckless of Not to delay with further illustra- tions in heathen lands, though the literary vaulting of young Japan is a tempting theme, let us take a single illustration from Moslem literature. That we will select, not from Delhi or Lucknow, which furnish most start- publishes newspapers in a dozen oJ' ling and arousing facts of recent liter- morelanguages,would ofitselfindicate ary ventures, but from the dead-line the relation of the mission to literary of the Moslem intellect in the coun- activity. Butthe intent of this present tries lying on the eastern borders of paper is to call attention to the use the Mediterranean. We pass by the which is being made by the press of twenty millions of pages of Arabic some heathen lands in antagonism to literature issued in Beirut in 1889 by Christianity. Illustrations are abun-' the Presbyterians, because it is Chris- dant in Japan and in Moslem lands. tian, and even the great dictionaries, We will, however, limit ourselves to grammars and chrestomatics in Ara- selections from India. bic, of the Roman Catholic press at Beirut, for the same reason. All of the six hundred native news- papers of India, except a half-dozen, The Moslem literary stir is indicated may be set down as inimical to Chris- by the officially reported pUblications tianity. In all the larger Indian cities in Constantinople in three months of there'is a fair proportion of youths 1889, of which 143 were Turkish, 3 who have received an English educa- • Arabic, 2 F re~, and the others tion, many of whom are bitterly hos- in Armenian, Neo-Greek, Bulgarian, tile to Christianity. There is an abun- Servian, French and Italian. dant supply of imported European infidel literature sown broadcast Egypt is not a country to which one among these young men. But not is likely to turn to find the freshest only is the newspaper turned against literature. But the presses of Cairo us, but organizations modeled after are turning out works of vast impor- our Christian tract societies have been tance. The Turkish, dictiona~y, established and are in active operation. "Kamus," and the "Tag-al-aurus," The" Free Thought Depot" in Madras the great dictionary of classical Ara- issues a list of 124 separate works, in- bic, seven volumes-of the total ten- cl_ding 34 publications of Bradlaugh, of which have been issued in rapid suc- 19 of Mrs. Besant, 16 of Ingersoll, and cession, and which will cost, perhaps, others of Paine, Voltaire and other forty dollars, mark anything but a well-known infidel publicists. Inger- Dead Sea or a. low Nile of literary soll's lectures have the largest sale. interest. Some of these have deceptive titles. "A Bible Hand-book for Mission The modern newspaper has become School StUdents and Inquiring Chris- a power in these lands. Beirut pub- tians" and " The Bible Dissector for lishes eight political and four literary the Use of Mission School Students" and religious periodicals. Damascus, are illusive titles. The" Elements of Aleppo, Jerusalem and Bagdad have Social Economy" is said to be a most their newspapers. demoralizing advocacy of free lust, in which marriage is denounced. This We have said the missjon was the tract literature is being circulated by source or occasion of much of this benevolent contributions like those literary culture in all the lands where made to our own tract societies. Edu- it has entered. That might go with- cated natives are paying monthly sub- out the saying, but that we wish to scriptions of ten dollars to disseminate fasten responsibility on the mission to these tracts and books. One rajah in foster and direct, if it cannot control, Bengal is known to have subscribed the agency it has created or awakened ten thousand dollars for this object. into energy. That a single American Others are spending great sums for missionary society should have re- the purpose of printing literature in duced, through its agents, perhaps advocacy or defense of their own twenty languages to writing, and have published approaching three thousand writings in fifty or more dialects, and religions. Some of them are appeals of Jesus, and make a great pretence of humility. But inwardly they are to their own people to arouse them- saying: "Alas, has it come to this, selves because of the aggressions of that we should be beaten by these the Christain forces. people !" The famous poet, Shakspeare, Some of these tracts and booklets has' said: "Good wine needs no push." He means that if a thing really posare rejoillders to Christian books. sesses worth it needs not be puffed. Rev. Dunlap Moore's tract entitled For instance, a spicemonger, when "An Examination of Jainism" is an- his goods are worthless, makes a great swered in "A Reply to an Examina- display of them, and ostentatiously in- vites everybody whom he sees, saying: tion of Jainism, " or, in native words, "These are good spices; come and " a slap on the Christian face." Some buy." Not so the man who has really are curiously mixed. Here is one on good ones. People go to him wherever " A Warning to the Cow Protectors and he may be. Now you see missionaries going about. They say that the Bible, an Answer to Christians," one part de- which is impure and has not a grain fending cow killing, the other part of truth in it, is the word of God, and filled with sneers and taunts at the they shout in every street: "Come, missionaries. A Christian tract, " The brethren. This is an excellent religion, Choice of a Guru," claiming that Jesus a good caste." Why do they thus Christ is a world teacher, is answered shout? Because if they do not, not one person will go to them.
in another tract, "An Examination ***** of Jesus." Christians cast suspicion upon the More curious, however, is the cate- story that Hanuman (the monkey- -chism of the Hindu Tract Society, god) leapt over the sea to Ceylon. But an equal objection lies against the with sixteen questions and answers story of Christ walking on the sea. By bodily from the Westminster Cate- holding hi,. breath a person may leap chism, including the definition of God. an immense distance; but no amount of suppression will prevent a man All this is done because it is "good, and from drowning. To say that it will is Christianity borrowed it from Aryan- a lie. From incidents ,like these it is ism, which is chronologically the pre- clear that the Bible is the work of decessor of Christianity." man and not the word of God, and that But others are bitterly and blas- even Jesus Christ was only a man phemously antagonistic to Christianity like the rest of us. itself, and contain most wanton attacks on the Bible. This is illus- ***** llilissionaries say hat idolatry is child's play. But surely the worship trated in a wildly blasphemous Aryan of the cross is a superstition worthy of tract, published by the Hindu Tract scorn. It is only on a level with the Society, entitled "Jesus Christ a play of children who put up broom- Fool." It is said by the editor of the sticks and call them soldiers. These people put one stick across another Harvest Field to be too shocking to and worship it because Christ died on such a cross. They call our worship be translated for English readers. He, idolatry: we may well call theirs stickhowever, presents two ".mild" para- worship.
graphs, as he styles them, to show Now, there is really in all this the animus of the publication. We nothing to discour~ge, however it,may copy these for the same purpose: shock. We have long been familiar There are many sects in this world, with attacks like these from much and usually each sect contents itself with the practice of its own religion. better brains, and have learned how But it is not so with these Christians. futile they are.
They are bound to increase their num- But othertracts show still a different bers, and so they sent out missionaries, while they themselves remain quietly vein. Here is an extract from one published by the Arya Samaj, transat home. Is this just? These missionaries are ignorant and very covet- lated from the Tamil: ous. 'Vhen they are beaten or abused Missionaries come from Britain at or mocked they quote the commands a great cost and tell us that we are in heathen darkness, and that a bundle ing and virtual destruction that are of fables called the Bible is the true imminent. Hence the organization Vendanta (inspired book) which alone of clubs, the publication of tracts, can enlighten us. They have cast pamphlets, and articles in newspapers, their net over our children by teach- the appointment of learned men ing them in their schools, and they among them as preachers and defend- have already made thousands of Chris- ers of the old faith, the relaxation of tians, and are continuing to do so. caste rules and restrictions, and the They have penetrated into the most various other devices that are now be- out-of-the-way villages, and built ing employed to defeat the purpose of churches there. If we continue to the Lord and His people, and prop up sleep as we have done in the past not an effete and decaying system. And one will be found worshiping in our it is no small tribute to the value of temples in a very short time; why the the agency that we employ that our temples themselves will be converted opponents have taken a leaf out of the into Christian churches! Do you not Christian book, and are, in many know that the number of Christians is places, sedulously imitating our exincreasing and the number of Hindu ample. We engage evangelists and religionists decreasing every day? pay them; so do they; and when the How long will water remain in a well available local talent is not sufficient which continually lets out, but re- they look elsewhere, as is evidenced ceives none in? If our religion is by an advertisement for preachers incessantly drained by Christianity that has recently been appearing in without receiving any accessions, how the Bombay daily papers; the publican it last? When our country is cations of the several tract societies turned into the wilderness of Christi- are sought to be refuted by tracts and anity will the herb of Hinduism grow? leaflets, well written both in English We must not fear the missionaries and the vernacular, published and because they have white faces, or be- circulated under the auspices of a cause they belong to the ruling class. Hindu tract society; and Christianity There is no connection between the and its teachings are steadily maligned government and Christianity, for the and misrepresented with an ability Queen Empress proclaimed neutrality and an earnestness worthy of a better in all religious matters in 1858. We cause. must, therefore, oppose the missionaries with all our might. Whenever In 1786 the youthful Spaulding they stand up to preach, let Hindu preachers stand up and start rival wrote to F. H. Jacobi that he had preaching at a distance of forty feet from them, acd they will soon flee heard Biester say: "We must not reaway! Let caste and sectarian differences be forgotten, and let all the lax our efforts, and then in twenty people join as one man to banish Christianity from our land. All possi- years' time the name of Jesus, in a ble efforts should be made to win back those who have embraced Christianity, religious sense,will be no more heard." and all children should be withdrawn from mission schools. That was in Germany, and since then The Missionary Herald, of the Pres- Germany has furnished a large pro- byterian Church in Ireland, review- portion of the most intelligent and ag- ing the report of the Hindu Gujarat gressive missionary force in the world.
Tract and Book Society, says: But the stern fact remains that we The Hindus ha,e at last realized have created an agency for the adthat there is something in Christianity itself, and in well-directed Christian vancement of Christianity, which the effort, that is not to be repelled by any of the rough-and-ready methods heathen are turning against us; and, hitherto tried; Christianity is to-day felt to be an aggressive power, mov- worse, which we are not using ouring with an ever-increasing force, which must in some way be resisted, selves with anything like the I:;kill or and its influence counteracted, if Hindu society is to be saved, and the in the proportions that we should do. antiquated fabric of Hindu religious and social life is to escape the remouId- We have created a vast reading community of Christians also without giving them anything like an ade- quate supply of their literary needs.
We have not utilized the press at all commensurately with its place, power and opportunities. This is a field where the societies might combine for co-operative work much more largely than they do. There should be a great by that time India would adopt her pan-mission council on the subject reform. A few friends and organizaof missionary literature distinctively tions pledged her $10,000 annually. for non-Christian lands and for Roman Of $25,000 required for a permanent Catholic countries. There might be building, $18,000 have been raised. economic distribution of the material which would help to make much Of her work for the school in Bommore of the funds already contributed. bay, Ramabai writes as follows: It is a subject demanding special consideration by specialists.-J. T. G. "Besides visiting families, I have found it necessary to gather women Pundita Ramabai's Work. together and acquaint them with my The cultured little Hindu lady, work. I have, therefore, now and Ramabai, is carrying on a unique then, to invite ladies of the high castes, work against great odds, and we de- get up entertainments for them, leclight to note her success. A conversa- ture on different subjects, and encourtion which a missionary had with her age and implore them in various ways some time since was thus reported in to take an interest in women's educathe Bombay Guardian: The missionary tion and progress. They will not asked and she answered as follows: listen to me if I begin at once to talk " Are you saved?" to them about my school and its ob- " Yes." jects. They have been taught to dis- " Do you believe in Jesus Christ as like widows and look down upon their your Saviour? " education. So we have very carefully "Yes." to approach them, show them the " Many people believe in Christ in beauties of intellectual pursuits, make their heads and not in their hearts. them realize the superiority of en- Do you believe in Ghrist with your lightened life to one of perpetual heart 7" ignorance, talk to them about the "Yes." blessedness of useful life, and thus "Are your sins forgiven through gradually teach them to look upon Him?" themselves and the widows as beings "Yes." who have more value than cats, dogs, " Praise the dear Lord." or mere puppets in the hands of men. It will be remembered that she More opposition to our work is to be opened the school for Hindu widows met from women than from men in at Bombay in March,1889. We so- certain quarters. Many women of licited from Miss A. P. Granger, the Bombay are now beginning to take secretary of the Ramabai Association, a interest in our school, as they have contribution relating to the work that been several times invited and enterhas since been developed, and we now tained here." have the pleasure of making extracts from Miss Granger's reply. Miss Granger favors us with the fol- In March, 1890, one year from its lowing statements: opening, the school numbered twentyseven pupils, twelve of them being " In view of its ultimate dependence high caste child-widows. Five child- upon Hindu support alone it was dewidows have since been added. In- cided to move the school to Poona, on struction is given in Marathi, English the 1st of November, the objections and Sanskrit, and also in sewing, etc. first made by the Advisory Board to Ramabai asked the assistance of this its establishment there, having been country for ten years only, belieying removed. The larger expenses of an English city like Bombay, and the su- perior advantages of Poona as a stronger hold of Brahmanism, are the two most important reasons for this C'11anJ:0. " Ramabai's first idea of the location the Uriion, in this country, whose ad- of the school for Hindu widows was dress he knew. Poona. On many accounts she felt it would be wiser to place the school The library of the International there. She was, however, overruled by others and the school was opened Missionary Union is as yet an experi- in Bombay. The officers of the asso- ciation do not hesitate to state that it ment. This little sheet is sent out, has been fully as successful as they anticipated. It is not on that account after some unavoidable delays, to all that a change is now being made. A suitable building with ample grounds the members whose present address have been secured for the Sharada Sadan, at a moderate rent and wise can be ascertained, chiefly to test the arrangements made for the conduct of the school and boarding depart- question of the call for such a library. ment. On account of her approach- ing marriage, the teacher who went We have pleasure in presenting a list out from this country has resigned her position but an efficient successor of such books as we have thus far se- had been found. It was expected that all the boarders would go with Rama- cured, with an approximate indication bai to Poona. of the postage on each. Whoever " In view of this change we would ask more earnestly than ever before wishes to take out one of these books for the sympathy, support and prayers of the American people, and will close is requested to send this amount of . with Professor Max Muller'stribute to the character of our head: 'I have postage to the librarian, and after never been in India; but I have known many Indians, both men and women, keeping the book one month to return and I do not exaggerate when I tell you that some of them need fear no it by post, prepaying the amount comparison with the best men and women whom it has been my good necessary. A book may be renewed fortune to know in England, France, or Germany. Whether for unselfish- if desired a second month when not ness or devotion to high ideals, truth- fulness, purityand real, livingreligion, asked for elsewhere. I know no better hero than Keshub Chunder Sen, no heroine greater than Any donations of books or pamph- Ramabai; and I am proud to have been allowed to count both among my lets or money for the library will. be best friends.' " thankfully received; also any sugges; International Missionary Union Notes. tions as to how lt can be made more Circulating Library.-The librarian of the incipient circulating library of useful to the members. the International Missionary Union, is the Rev. James Mudge, East Pep- POSTAGE. perill, Mass. He recently sent the fol- lowing circular to all the members of Our Indian Mission, Gordon………….. 2Oc. London Missionary Conference, 2 vols, .. " 15c. Indian Evangelical 'Review, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5, 1874-1878……………. _………. " .. 14c. Romance of Missions, Miss M. A. 'Vest … 14c. Siam and Laos, Dr. House and others……13c. Decennial Conference, Calcutta ………. 120. Missionary year-Book……………. " .. 12c. Among the Turks, Dr. Hamlin………… 120. On Horseback in Cappadocia, Barrows…. lOc. Two thousand Miles in Mexico, McCarthy. lOc. Letters from India, Bruce……… …… 8c. Great Value of Missions, Liggins…. ….. 7c. India, J. T. Gracey …………………… 7c. Woman's Medical Work, Mrs. Gracey….. 7c. Ann H. Judson………………………. 7c. Sarah B. Judson………. ………… 7c. Memorial Papers of the Marathi Mission .. 30. Natural History of the Marathi Bible.. …. 30. Africa in a Nutshell, Thompson …. ,…… 20. China, J. T. Gracey …………………. lc. Open Doors, J. T. Gracey……… …….. 1c. Moravian Mission in Alaska, Hamilton … lc.
Also THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD for 1888, 1889, 1890 in separate numbers, anyone of which can be ordered as above, postage four cent.s, thus enabling any member to refer to any article or articled. Most of the papers read before the Union in these years are to be found herein. The next meeting of the Interna- when the pressing claims of India, tional Missionary Union will be held at Clifton Springs, New York, June 10th China, and especially of Africa, were to 17th. We give the notice thus early that missionaries in this country may the subject of conversation, resolved be the better enabled to make preparations to attend; and that those abroad to memorialize the Society with refermay know when to send their greetings, their suggestions, or their papers. ence to a great forward movement. Essays and letters are solicited from members now on the foreign field as That memorial seems to have prothey constitute the" Outlook Committee." All such papers or correspond- duced a profound impression upon the ence should be sent to Rev. J. T. Gracey, 161 Pearl Street, Rochester, committee of the Church Missionary N. Y., or to Rev. W. H. Belden, Secretary, Bristol, Conn. Society, and they have caused the -The members of the International memorial to be printed and widely Missionary Union, will note with active interest, we trust, the appeal that circulated with the earnest desire that Rev. Arthur H. Smith and Dr. Henry D.Porter, both members of the Union, they may be guided by the Divine make in the December number of the Missionary Herald for aid for the Spirit in their deliberations on· the Chinese suffering from flood and famine, over not less than 4,000 square matter. It is stated that the Church miles of the Chihli Province. Thousands of families are homeless. The Missionary Society is supported, even Famine Relief Committee in Shanghai, after giving $60,000 for relief of nominally, by less than a third part of the sufferers has closed its books, but the distress still continues. No two the Church of England, and it cermen within our knowledge could more judiciously distribute the few tainly is a courageous thought to add thousand dollars they ask for than to its present staff of European misthose two brethren,and we are quite sionaries one thousand within five or sure, the need will continue for some six years. Yet such is the proposal. while yet. Send money to Mr. L. S. The memorial makes certain sugges- Ward, No 1 Somerset Street, Boston, tions as to these reinforcements, es- Mass pecially the following: 1. That evan- gelists should be sent into the mission One Thousand Additional Mission- fields in groups, each group being as- aries !" sociated under a leader. 2. That the services of lay-workers should be used The English Church Missionary So- much more than hitherto. 3. That ci€'ty presents a scheme for the send- mechanics and working men and ing forth, within the next five or women whose hearts God has touched six years, from the Church Mission- should form parts of these groups. ary Society alone, one thousand ad- The suggestion of such an increase in ditional missionaries. At the Kes- the working forces is startling simply wick Convention, in July last, mem- because it is such a sudden increase bersof the Church Missionary Sodety to the present numbers. That portion gathered at the house of a friend, of the Church of Englantl which operates through the Church Mission- ary Society is amply able to provide the money, to provide the workers and the supplies for such an advance, and the need is imperativ€'. And what is true of Christians in England is true of Christians in America. The forces might be and ought to be doubled and trebled. There are abundant means of support in the hands of those who bear Christ's name. Young men and young women are in training, and a large portion of them have already pledged themselves to this work. Shall not the Christian churches of America, and the Consti- tuency of the American Board espe- cially, anew and at once "attempt great things for God, and expect great thingR from Him?" It is time for a grand forward movement. There are men enough and wealth enough in our churches to respond to the present call for an advance, if there is a will to do so.-The Missionary Herald.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
IH.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
-After much painstaking in proof- of population not later than October, reading, the electrotyping process is 1892.
chargeable with a bad blunder in the -At the recent meeting of the January issue of the REVIEW. The American Board, in Minneapolis, the top line of page 5f belongs on page 5f) "Committee of Nine" reported that If readers will make a marginal note contributions to missions have not kept on the page to this effect, it will avoid pace with those to other benevol.
confusion. ent causes. No explanation was at- -The year 1892, which marks the tempted but they implied that the dis- 400th anniversary of the discovery of cussions and division of feeling as to America, also marks the centenary missionary policy, might account for of the formation of the first great this relative decline of receipts for missionary society of England, whose foreign missionary work.
distinctive purpose was the evange- The meeting presented many at- lization of the world. It was on the tractions and not a few wholesome second day of October, 1792, at Ket- lessons. Dr. N. G. Clark's paper on tering, that William Carey and his "Higher Christian Education as Re- brother Baptists formed the now lated to Foreign Mission Work ;" Dr.
famous Baptist Society, and laid thir- G. K. Alden's discussion of " Mission- teen pounds, two shillings and six ary Motives;" Dr. Judson Smith's pence on God's altar, as the beginning paper on the" Missionary Outlook,"
of the great enterprise of organized and Dr. Storr's address as President, foreign missionary work. were among the most notable features It is our deep conviction that it of that great annivprsary. The papers would be a great mistake if this referred to, must be read to be appre- memorable era were allowed to pass by ciated. Dr. Clark pleads for higher without another great 'Vorld's Con- Christian education in order to pre- vention, such as was held in London, serve and turn to account the religious in 1888. If such a gathering could sentiment of the people among whom begin at Kettering, in Andrew Ful- we labor; and for the sake of a native ler's old' chapel, with a consecration ministry adequate in character and in meeting in the house of Widow Beebe numbers to meet the intellectual and Wallis, which is still standing, and spiritual wants of their countrymen where that society was formally or- and to share with missionaries in the ganized, what an inspiration would responsibilities of establishing such such a beginning afford for an un- Christian institutions as shall secure paralleled series of missionary assem- the success of the missionary enter- blings! The end of a century seems prise. He holds that the " men must an appropriate time for the gathering be reared on the ground." Dr. G. K.
up of the results of missions in all Alden sets forth as motive forces: (1) parts of the world, and the projec- "Profound convictions as to this pres- tion of new lines of enterprise and en- ent sinful and perishing world and its deavor for the century to come. Is great need. (2) Profound convictions it too much to hope that this next as to the superabounding riches of century of missions may not have divine grace in Jesus Christ, the great passed Ulatil the whole world shall provision. (3) Profound convictions of have been acquainted with the Gos- the personal command, the personal pel? 'Ve hope that at an early day trust, and the personal responsibility the leaders of missionary enterprises to bear the good tidings at once to all in all parts of the world will co- men." Dr. Judson Smith says Chrisoperate to call such a world's con- tianity is becoming the dominant revention in some of the great centres ligion of the world; communication between all parts of the world is be- -In the August number for 1890, coming easier; the world, with only the statistics are given for Protest- here and there an exception, is ac- ant missions in China, which are re- cessible to the Gospel; and that mod- peated in the December issue, page ern missions are successful. At home 934, as the strength of the United missionary contributions are being en- Presbyterian force. Of course, the lat- larged; the supply of missionaries is ter is an error. It should read: "As increasing, and the church is com- furnished by the Presbyterians." mitted to mission work as never before. -The late Dr. Alexander William- son, of China, was identified for some -In Scotland the question of dis- 30 years with the London Missionary establishment has produced no little Society, then with the National Bible excitement. It seems almost certain Society of Scotland, and the United to come before the next Parliament. Presbyterian Church. As a translator There is certainly a religious interest and distributor of religious literature among the Scottish churches. The in the Chinese tongue, he filled a attendance upon church services is, we unique position, and to these labors -venture to say, better than in any was singularly devoted. His extensive other country in the world. The travels, researches, grasp of missions, number of praying men, and especially passion for a more economic distribupraying young men, struck us with tion of the working force, made him peculiar force in recent visits to Scot- an authority. His" Journeys in land. We cannot conceal our pro- North China," ranks as a standard found solicitude for the progressive work. His late wife, a most gifted theology which is moving many, we woman, wrote "Old Highways in fear, away from the old landmarks of China." Dr. Williamson died of nethe faith. No doubt there are many phritis, possibly due in part to his arwho are interested in these questions duous toil in thfl recent Shanghai intellectually, whose hearts are per- Conference. His prodigious activity fectly loyal to Christ and the truth, is rivaled by few of the most devoted but we fear the flffect of this ad- workers in the Middle Kingdom. vanced theological opinion upon the younger clergy of Scotland. At the -China owes to Christian missionsame time so deep is the interest in aries a great debt for information on a missions in this land of martyrs and vast range of topics. But a little while missionanes, that the practical work ago, the Chinese were wholly depend. of the churches, both at home and ent on the Peking Gazette; now they abroad, is largelyantidoting the influ- have some twenty-eight publications. ence of this skeptical opinion. The missionaries have supplied an enormous number of translations of We can never more speak or write of European booksonscience, geography, Scotland without the feeling which a history, mathematics, philosophy, etc. son would have for his mother. We They have translated the Bible into add the words of Dr. W. M. Taylor: not less than twelve Chinese dialects, "I say without any hesitation that and are now busy at fifteen more. when interesting foreign missions are Dr. Legge's investigations into the maintained in a church to the normal ancient systems of the Chinese phipoint, all other activities and agencies losophers are embodied in Professor at home will go of themselves and as Max Muller's" Sacred Books of the things, of course, while, if there be a East," and American authors have lack of devotion to that noble enter- given the world the "Middle Kingprise, nothing else will be prosecuted dom," and the" Chinese-English Dicwith either enthusiasm or success." tionary." So writes Mr. Johnston, of These are true words. Bolton.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
lJy J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
China. –.:.. China is a vast field. many centuries they have been in full That is a statement that grows by enjoyment of them, and on every side· every line of comparison we can lay. the evidences of long-established Here is a late attempt by Rev. Dr. wealth and commercial enterprise are· B. D. Gray, in the Foreign Mission observable.
Journal of the Southern Baptists (see " From the great wall to the frontier December number; it is published at of Tong-king, and from Thibet to the Richmond, Va.): . China Sea the country is dotted over "A single province of hers con- with rich and populous cities, which verted would be equal to the conver- are connected one with another by sion of whole nations elsewhere. Con- well-trodden roads or water highways.
vert anyone of her eighteen provinces In these busy centres of industry mer- and you would have more than all chants from all parts of the empire Brazil and Mexico. Anyone of a are to be found, who are as ready to dozen of her provinces would be more deal in the fabrics of the native looms, than the conversion of all Italy. As porcelain, tea and other native pro- goes China, so goes Asia. She is to- ducts, as in cottons, metals and day the citadel of paganism. Secure woolens of Europe.
her to Christ, and you secure all her " The rivers and canals are crowded dependencies, as Thibet, Turkistan, the vessels bearing silks and satins Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea. from Cheh-kiang .and Kiang-su, tea Break down her idols and you de- from Gan-hwuy and Ho-nan, and rice throne the greater part of heathenism from the southern provinces to parts at a stroke! " of the empire which give in exchange CHINESE EMIGRATION. for such gifts the corn and other pro- Dr. R. H. Graves says: ducts which they are able to spare."
"There are 50,000 of these in the. In the matter of the language, Dr.
Philippine Islands; 50,000 in the Eng- Douglas says: lish colony at Singapore, where they " By means of their three classes of own four-fifths of all the real estate; characters, the hieroglyphics, ideo- 50,000 more in the Malay Peninsula; grams and phonetics, the Chinese 1,300,000 in Siam; thousands in Cochin have been able to express and pre– China. and thousands more in Borneo, serve the thoughts and sayings of theit Java and Sumatra. The colonies greatest and wisest writers through a founded by the Spaniards, Dutch, series of centuries which dwarfs int« French and English are being rapidly insignificance all Western ideas of filled up by Chinese. In the Sand- antiquity. For thirty centuries China- wich Islands there are more Chinese men have been accumulating stores of men than men of the native race." literary wealth, which are of them- China is a fertile region. Professor selves sufficiently important to attract Douglas, at University College, thus the attention of scholars and to stir described it: the literary ambition of students, and "From one end of the country to which do so in almost every country.
another the land blossoms as the rose, But by the fresh discoveries of Messrs.
and yields to the diligent and carpfu} De Lacouperie and Ball, not only is a tillage of the natives enough and to new interest added to the language, spare of all that is necessary for 'the but it is brought into close and inti- comfort and well-being of man. Nor mate relation with the tongues spoken have these advantages become the by the great civilizing nations of the.
recent possessions of the people. For world." Great changes are taking place in every form and righteousness too.
China. Rev. Young J. Allen, D.D., The doctrine of mediation is recog- LL.D., read an able paper before the' nized.
Shanghai Conference on this topic, in 4. They have some knowledge of a which he classified these changes as: true and living God, a power on whom (1) Compulsory, or those necessitated cOu.;}try, family and individual pros- by force or treaty obligations. The perity depends.
compulsory occupation by the allies, 5. They possess an implied knowl- in 1860, of the imperial capital was edge of immortality. Their emperors followed by a treaty which gave com- never die, they ascend.
merce and missions the right of un- 6. There is a providential prepara- molested access to the entire land. (2) tion. China is open from end to end.
The semi-compulsory changes, or At the Shanghai Conference this was those initiated with a view to adjust- called in question as to Ho-nan, but ments. The Chinese knew that the Hudson Taylor said it was politically treaty must be fulfilled, and that in open, though persecution and oppos- reorganizing their government they ition were great.
could not do better than copy the OBSTAOLES AND DIFFICuLTIES.
strong points of their late adversaries. 1. To the heathen becoming Chris- Hence, the innovations of foreign tians. No one can state the ca.'le of military camps, arsenals, customs, the Chinese better than the Chinese, schools, coast surveys, etc. (3) Spon- and so we "let a native Chinese taneous-voluntary changes. Inter- Christian minister state the point of national relations become cordial. The the difficulties of the native Chinaman press is callEJd into requisition, news- in learning about Christianity.
papers and books are translated. China Rev. Y. K. Yen, speaking at the has become conscious of her wants, a Shanghai Conference, said: mint, banks, post.offices follow. (4) "We must understand the peculiar Imperial, or those which define the character of the Chinese. (1) They position and policy of the country. have hazy ideas about gods. A Chi- ADVANTAGES AND HELPS. nese who went to the United States Rev. Dr. Williamson pointed out was written to by his father that his some while ago, in Evangelical Chris- sixth mother was well. What can a tendom, that there is a providential man who has six mothers know of a preparation in China for the reception mother's love? (2) The Chinese have and spread of the Gospel. hazy ideas about sin, which they con- 1. There is an educational prepa- found with crirpe, treading on one's ration. They say: "The mind is the toes, being late to dinner-the same man." The competitive examinations character for all. (3) They have hazy have quickened theinteUect of China. ideas about a future life. At a This gave rise to schools. Hence the Chinese death-bed there is never a large percentage of readers. Then word about future happiness, but only there is one written language for the about mourning and money. If they whole empire. There is asocial prepa- did Rot think the gods could affect .
ration. Through the observance of men's bodies the temples would be filial obligation has trained the nation deserted and ancestral worship would to subordination to law and order. decline. They are not to blame. It is There is no communism nor nihilism their misfortune and not their fault.
here. Divine authority can be easily The Chinese cannot see Christianity as taught. we see it."
3. There is a moral preparation. This is jUtlt what Rev. Judson Smith, The heart is recognized as the seat of D.D., has said in other language and on morals. Benevolence is urged in an opposite side of the globe: "It is not simply the greatness of anity yet they can be reached. He the population of China that makes her evangelization difficult. It is said his church in Monkdon included rather the institutions of the Chinese; it is the Chinese character; it is the in its members five or six Mandarins, Chinese history inwrought into insti- tutions; instinct in the life of the men with literary degrees; that many people. Making them a nation of themselves, exclusive, caring not, others of the Mandarins are at heart knowing not, heeding not of aught that goes on in the world outside of Christians, and many more very them; not desiring the arts we are so ready to bring them; not wishing the friendly. institutions that we would gladly see thrive among them; scorning the The mission schools are becoming a faith that we deem their life and their salvation." power for good in China. One would 2. To native Ohristians. The same fancy that there would be great preju- Christian native, already quoted (Rev. Y. K. Yen), said again at the great dice against the teaching of Christimissionary conference last year some very sensible things about the difficul- anity in connection with secular eduties to the mission work growing out of the conservatism of the Chinese. cation, but it is amongst the marvelous He said that "the Chinese Christians are not in the same favorable circum- providences of God that in scarcely stances as Christians in other lands. The former have fifty generations of any heathen country does this long heathenism behind them. They have much to contend with. We should prove an obstruction. not expect the same enterprise, activity and piety as from from foreigners. The teaching of Christianity does Missionaries often speak disparagingly of Chinese Christians. This, consider- not inure to the disadvantage of the ing the circumstances, is unreasonable and unjust. Western civilization is mission schools in China. We can furmarked by diversity. Eastern civilization by uniformity. Chinese are nish no better evidence of this than is not active physically, morally and spiritually. If I were active physi- found in the report to Government in cally I should not have this queue today. If any other Chinese would cut Hong Kong, made in 1889: off his hair and shorten his skirts I would do so too. They have a load Referring now to the 7,101 scholars upon them. All Chinese worship is who attended, during the year 1889, for selfishness. They have no knowl- schools under the· supervision of the edge of God; no recognition of being education department, there were as His sons." many as 4,814 attending voluntary schools, where they received a Chris- All classes are reached in China. tian education, whilst 2,293 scholars Rev. John Ross said at the London attended government schools, receiv- Conference that while the literary ing a secular education. The secular class in China are opposed to Christi- government schools are, as a rule, bet- ter provided for than the voluntary religious schools as regards money matters, house accommodation, school materials, staff, organization, and dis- cipline, and when charging fees, keep their fees far below the rate charged in voluntary schools of a correspond- ing class. Nevertheless, the voluntary schools, which freely teach Christian- ity without the restraint of any con- science clauses Whatever, and are in every respect conducted as denomi- national mission schools, receive from the public double the amount of pat- ronage bestowed on government schools. This clearly shows that parents of children, in Hong Kong, as Europe. prefer, on thewhole, religious to secular education, even when the latter is cheaper.
This was made by Dr. Eistel as in- spector of schools. It only confirms the judgment of Dr. F. Stewart, who was inspector of schools, but who died recently, who said: The advance in education is one of the most gratifying features in the progress of the colony. There is yet twenty-eight, is introduced at court much to be done, and female educa- by Lao-tse, is appointed chief magistion is only in its infancy; but the trate of Chung-too, introduces praclines on which the system is moving tically ajury system; for thirteen years seem to be correct, and time alone is becomes a homeless wanderer, and required to reclaim those portions of henceforth abandons himself to letters the field which remain untouched. and religion, and wanders from court to court to obtain converts to his ideal THE RESULTS ARE ENCOURAGING. government. He died, having prac- tically remained unrecognized us a The statistics at the Shanghai Con- successful reformer. After his death ference last May, showed: Of foreign his teachings became powerful. Every missionaries, men, 589; wives, 390; year 66,000 animals are now offered single women, 316. Total, 1,295. Na- in sacrifice to this sage. Here is the tive helpers, ordained, 209; unor- chorus chanted in the great sacrificial dalned, 1,260; female helpers, 180. ceremony to him: Medical work, hospitals, 61; dispensaries, 43; patients in 1889, 348,439. "Confucius, Confucius I How great is Con- Churches, organized, 520; wholly self- fucius! supporting, 94; half self-supporting, 22; one-fourth self-supporting, 27. Before Confucius there never was a. Confu- Bible distribution, Bibles, etc. Total, cius; 665,987. Communicants, 37,287; pupils in schools, 16,816. Contributions by Since Confucius, there never has been a. Connative churches, $36,884. fucius; MEN AND WOMEN ARE WANTED. Confucius, Confucius I How great is Con- fucius! " Ministers and laymen are called for. The Shanghai Conference asks soberly The emperor himself offers this for 1,000 men in five years. Their ap- prayer to Confucius: "I, the emperor, peal was published ,far and wide. offer a sacrifice to the philosopher Then there have been specific appeals. Confucius, the ancient teacher, the The mISSIOnaries of the Baptist perfect sage, and say, 0, teacher, in churches in America, now in China, virtue equal to heaven and earth, have appealed to the Baptists of whose doctrines embrace the past America alone to send 100 men. time and the present. . . • in reverent observance of the old statutes, with Oonfuoia.nism and Oonfuoius. victims, silks, spirits and fruits, 1 carefully offer sacrifice to thee. Mayst "Great men have short biogra- thou enjoy the sacrifice." (See Duphies," says Carlyle. The rule is not Bois's" Dragon, Image and Demon," broken in the case of Confucius. The p.l24.) outline of his biography can be given in a paragraph. He was born in the " If the Chinese," says an author, State of Tsow, B.C. 551, of noble an- "pay divine honors to any being in cestry whose record reached unbroken heaven, or on earth, or under the for over two thousand years backward earth, it is to Confucius." from his cradle. His father was a soldier of great prowess and of daring CONFUCIUS AS A FOUNDER OF A bravery. He was married at nineteen, rose from keeper of the public stores, RELIGION. to the cnarge of public lands. At twenty-two he taught letters, ethics, Fairbairn says, in his "Studies in devotion of soul and truthfulness. He the Philosophy of Religion and Hisearly became cosmopolitan: "I am tory," that" without Confucius China a man who belongs equally to the had been without a native religion." north and the south and the east and the west." He studies music at Dr. Legge, in his "Religions of China," boldly corrects this erroneous statement. Religion in China does not date from Confucius. His grand- son asserted that Confucius only "handed down" and "displayed" the ancient teachings and took them of etiquette, taking the place of ethics: for his model. Confucius himself said a skeptical denial of any relation be- he was a" transmitter, not a maker" tween man and a living God, taking of the doctrines of the ancients. Cer- the place of religion, while there is tainly the "transmitter" gave color encouraged a sort of worship of human to that which he transmitted. China genius, combined with a set of des- does not owe its national religion to potic political theories. But who Confucius. But if he did not originate can honestly call this a religion? " it, neither did he discountenance it or alter it'in any sensible degree. But Over and over we are told that Con- Confucius did emphasize the moral fucianism is not a religion, only a duties as taught or implied in the system of morality. This needs large religion of the ancients as of first im- modification. So far as the element portance and of much easier compre- of worship enters into the element of hension than the speculative side of religion it is distinctly, pervasively, theology or the religious superstition penetratingly, a religion. about the unseen. Dr. Faber pointed this out with One thing has been plainly pointed emphasis at the late General Conferout as to the effect of Confucius' large ence of Missionaries at Shanghai. "Religion," he says, "pervades every emphasis of practical duties. Dr. movement of official life in China. Matheson (St. Giles Lecturer) says: A glance at the Peking Gazette will convince the most skeptical of the "Since the days of Confucius the truth of this statement. We find there speculative element has declined and mentioned not only worship of ances~ the Chinese mind has sought truth tors, of Confucius, of innumerable almost exclusively in the path of deified worthies, but also of the duality morals." of heaven and earth, of sun, moon, stars, wind, clouds, rain, thunder, the Much has been written about Con- ocean, mountains, rivers, the four fucius in relation to the "Golden regions, the four seasons, the years, Rule." He is credited with being the months and days. Astrology, selection originator of this. But Dr. Legge, of lucky and unlucky days, omens, than whom he has no stouter cham- charms, exorcism and other superstipion, says here he tarnished a doc- tiQlls are sanctioned by imperial trine of the ancients rather than pro- authority." (See The Messenger, Shanghai, June, 1890.) claimed it. Confucius is said to have CONFUCIANISM AS A THEOLOGY. advocated the negative side of the Golden Rule: "Do not unto others This same Dr. Faber, at another time, what you would not that they distinctly pointed out some of the should do unto you." But the ancients aspects of absolute negation in Conwe~t further than that. Lao-tze fucianism as a religon. He says: taught: "Return good for eviL" But Confucius said: "What then will you 1. "Confucianism recognizes no return for good? Recompense injury relation to a living God." with justice, and return good for good." How nearly this shades, how- 2. "It makes no distinction between ever, to the Christian teaching! the human soul and body, nor is there any clear definition of man, either IS CONFUCIANISM A RELIGION? from a physical or psychological point of view." The China Review contained years since an article in which the writer 3. "All men are said to possess the said: disposition and strength necessary for "Confucianism pure and simple is, the attainment of moral perfection, in our opinion, no religion at all. The but the contrast with the actual state essence of Confuciani"m is an anti- remains unexplained." quarian adherence to traditional forms 4. There is wanting in Confucian- have no rights in relation to their ism a decided and serious tone in its parents; subjects are like children; of treatment of the doctrine of sin, for, human rights there are none-first with the exception of the moral retri- and last there are only duties. Po- bution in social life, it mentions no lygamy is sanctioned and presup- punishment for sin. It is devoid of a posed, so is polytheism. Filial piety deep insight into sin and evil. extends even to worship. In ordinary life the son must" manifest his rever- 5. It "knows no mediator, none ence, in his nourishing of his parents, that could restore original nature iJi in his endeavor to give them pleasure; accordance with the ideal which man when they are ill he feels the greatest finds in himself." anxiety; in mourning for them, when dead, he exhibits every demonstration 6. "Prayer and its ethical power of grief; in sacrificing to them he dis- finds no place" in his system. plays the utmost solemnity."
7. There is, with the exception of Confucius taught the supreme value ancestral worship, which is devoid of of personal character. The" charac- true ethical value, no clear conception ter of Alexander of Russia was worth of the dogma'of immorality. a constitution," says Colton. Confu- cius would make every character a 8. "All rewards are expected in constitution and by-laws besides. To this world." be and not to appear is the correctest thing. The wise man will assail his Confucius plainly held that these own vices and not another's: "I am are things beyond the grasp of human not concerned that I have no place; I intelligence. You cannot figure to am concerned how I may fit myself yourself the nature of God. You for one." The substance of three cannot certainly know that there is hundred pieces of the "Book of any point of contrast between His Poetry," says a recent author, may be nature and yours; hence prayers and expressed in: "Have no depraved sacrifices are of doubtful utility. All thoughts." this lies in the region of imagination; it may represent truth; it may not. "The man who, in view of gain, Neither can be demonstrated. Yet he thinks of righteousness, in view of did not forbid worship. "Sacrifice as danger, is prepared to give up his life, and who does not forget an agreement if your sacrifice were a reality; wor- however far back it extends-such a man may be reckoned a complete ship Shin as if Shin were really man. . . . "Man is born for uprightpresent." But meanwhile your chief ness. They who know the truth are concern is with the visible and palpa- not equal to those who love it, and ble nniverse and with the homely they who love it are not equal to those tasks of life. The opposition to Chris- who find delight in it." tian points of theology is entire and fundamental. But the rule of right is not indivi· dual conscience, but rather the uni- CONFUCIANISM AS A MORAL FORCE. versal conscience of mankind. Man must do all this without any help, hu- In what way and sense is Confu- man or divine. He fails, and Confucianism a moral force? There must cianism does not attempt to account be something in it by which it has for the failure. It only stands alongheld sway for these centuries. Espec- side of the failure and says man was ially in the face of sundry marked born to be good. It does not even furdefects in its ethical teaching. It con- nish an example. founds ethics with ceremonies and politics, it asserts that certain musical The sceptre of authority, of all pomelodies influence morals; its system of social life is tyrannous: women are slaves, and may be bought and sold ·as sheep in the shambles; children litical power, hence the centre of all guised as a Thibetan, accompanied by political government is morals. a Sikkim Lama, who was a sub-in- spector of schools employed by the "Withal," Mr. Edkins says, "Confu- British government. cianism has not made the Chinese a moral people. They exhibit a lament- Yet, it is not true that we do not able want of moral strength. The know much about the country and standard of principle among them is the people. The" Cyc10predia Britankept low by the habits of the people. nica" has a quite elaborate article, in They do not appear ashamed when which a great deal of information is they are discovered to have told an condensed, and there are many sources untruth." (See Edkin's "Religion in of information about this land. China.") We summarize from sources,learned Archdeacon Hardwick says: "How and popular, too numerous to name, many are the points in which Con- in the following statements: fucian tenets are opposed to Christianity, it were superfluous to enumer- THE COUNTRY. ate. The opposition in respect of doctrines is entire and fundamental. Thibet, or Tibet-for there seems no It is the opposition of nature and of preference in the spelling-or to use grace, of unregenerate and regenerate the native name, Bodyul " The counprinciples, of sight and faith, of earth- try of the god," or Bhotiya, or lyand of heavenly, And how vast Bhoots, is a section of table lands ten will, therefore, beth~ revolution in the to sixteen thonsand feet above the moral nature of the Chinaman if he sea, stretching from the Upper HimashaH ever learn to practice the un- laya Mountains and those of Yunnan, worldly lessons of the Gospel." (See on to the mountains of China in one " Christ and Other Masters," p. 57.) direction, and to those of Turkistan in another. It is difficult of access in all Confucian conservativism is essen- directions and equally difficult to travtial and inherent. It is the greatest erse. The world owes the Jesuits a obstruction to all progress. debt here as in so many other places for the earliest maps, though here as Thibet. elsewhere those made early in the It is quite the fashion to dismiss eighteenth century were crude and Thibet with the statement that very often misleading. There is no exact little is known of this country and its survey had, except in Western Thibet people. That is only true in a very where, as in Kashmir, it is the most qualified sense. The ordinary student complete. may not have a hand-book, as he has of Bavaria or Switzerland, and the The Britannica is full enough on casual reader may not be easily re- climate, products, industries and ferred to anyone or two volumes many other common matters to have from which to find at a glance what it suffice t-o refer our readers to that he wishes to know of what is known, source. and only now and again has any European been permitted to make any THE PEOPLE. personal investigation by actually traversing the country, as did Alexan- The most probably correct estimate der Csoma de Koros, who made his of the population is from a Russian way from Hungary to Thibet on foot; source which puts it at six millions. or as an enterprising Hindu, Sarat Chandra Das, who, it is alleged, re- The people themselves are worth n.. cently made a tour in Thibet dis- fuller note than a mere reference. The Turanian family of races separate into two great divisions-the Northen~ and the Southern. The Northern com- prehends the Tungus, t,he Mongol, the Tartar, and the Finn branches. The Southern includes the Malay, the Bhotiy,a and the Tamil races: The represent the Chinese government in Indo-Bhotiyas are in the northeast Thibet. These direct exclusively the countries of India, on the Himalayas foreign and military administration and in the valleys of the Brahmaputra. of the country. The civil and relig- The stronglanguage of affinitybetween ious government is left in native these tribes in Burmah and in Thibet hands. The number of Chinese troops is manifest if the chain of gradual rarely equals 4,500 men. modifications from tribe to tribe is followed. But the original Bhotiya The Dalai Lama is the supreme race are Thibetans, and they live in authority in civil government. He Thibet, not alone, but with Mongoli- resides in the famous temple palace of ans who are supposed to have been Potala near Lhasa. He is an incarsettled there since the days of Genghis nation of Buddha, and his soul passes Khan. from him into another body when he dies, in order that there may be a per- The HoI' or Horpa occupy the west- petual incarnation of Buddha at the ern part of Northern Thibet, and ex- head of the Thibetan affairs. They tend into Chinese Tartary or Little do not shout, but they might, with pe- Bokhara. They are nomads, not culiar propriety: "The king is-dead; agriculturists, and more Tartar than long live the king!" for the Dalai Thibetan in their habits. They are Lama never dies. He only disappears mostly Buddhists. But some of them in the form of one man to reappear are Moslems even within Thibet: at the same instant in the form of Turks in blood, Bhots in language. some infant born at the moment of In Ladak both the creed and the liter- the apparent death of the king. They ature are Buddhist, but in blood and search the land to find this childlanguage they are Bhot. Ladak's po- Buddha, place him on the throne, and litical relations are with British India run the Government through a vice. and Kashmir. The Bhot element in roy till he comes to maturity. His its distinct type can not be seen but duties are simply to sit cross-legged in in Chinese Thibet. his temple, and from time to time ex- tend his hand in benediction on his In appearance the Thibetans re- worshipers. semble the Chinese and the Mongols, though, according to Hodgson, many This joint headship of state and of the mountaineers differ entirely church has inhered in the Dalai Lama from the Turanian, and approach the since 1640. There are many other Aryan type. No absolutely white grand lamas, but they are subordinate skins are seen, but often a very pale to the Dalai Lama who is at once brown complexion with red hair and emperor and pope. Below these still gray eyes, and a good deal of bloom are monk-lamas, who act as scribes, on the children's faces. In appearance physicians, sorcerers, etc. It is frethey resemble Chinese and Mongols, quently the case that the correspondnot Hindus, and are more athletic ences of Lamaism with the Roman than either. They are of the same Catholic form of Christianity are overfamily as the Burmese, and their emphasized, at least very incorrect languages are like. Yet Thibetans inferences are made from these. The have no tradition or notion of a pro- Lama ceremonies of baptism, confirgenitor of the human race. There is mation. The ecclesiasticism of pope no caste, yet the social habits are and cardinal, archbishops, priors, Hindu in most r~spects. Polyandra monasteries and nunneries, abbots, prevails, and Polygamy obtains. etc., are all here. But these similar- ities are often strained, and the differ- Since 1720 Thibet has been a depend- ences in them are very great. ency of China, under the Viceroy of Sze-Chuen. Two imperial delegates Lamaism is a compound of Shamanism, Sivaism and Buddhism. The But Thibet was not without a re- Thibetan form of Buddhism is, how- ligion till it imported Buddism and ever, wholly unique. Writers are Sivaism from India. It had an earlier constantly saying this is the strong- creed, though but illy formulated till hold of Buddhism without any ap- Buddhism came. It is known as the parent discrimination. Buddhism in Bon Religion. Eighteen principal ,"ods Burmah is one thing; in Ceylon it is are enumerated. Originally it was a another thing; it is still another sort of nature worship, mixed with thing in Thibet. It is not in its ori- a superstitious element; later on, ginal purity in Thibet. It is strongly adopted from Shamans and the Sivamodified by surrounding religious ites of India, and now further mixed notions. It was born in Thibet contem- with Buddhist ideas. poraneously with the Sikh religion in the Punjab and with the Lutheran CHRISTIANITY IN THmET. Reformation in Europe. In its monasteries in Thibet are preserved heaps The Roman Catholics nave tried to upon heaps of Buddhist literature, the introduce Christianity on the Chinese language Thibetan, but the alphabet border. They began this in 1846, and being Indian, and they may date from made some inroads till 1865, when the second century. They differ in their mission property at Bonga was their language much from the spoken destroyed by fire by the Thibetaus. language of Thibet to-day. Again they endeavored to work, but in 1887 were again driven out, only For much of this class of informa- two of their nine centres being untion one must search ethnological and touched. philological works, like Brace's "Races of the Old World," " Latham's On the west the Moravians have Philology," Hodgson's great works, sought to enter the country, but have and other books like Cunningham's had to stay in British Lahore. They Ladak (the title has gone from us just commenced this mission at the sugnow). gestion of Gutzlaff, in 1853, by send- ing Messrs. Pagell and Hyde, two Max Muller, too, will often let in laymen, who endeavored to reach light, as for instance, in his" Chips," Thibet by way of Russia, but were deetc., where he says: feated in the attempt, and then tried the -India route by way of Simla, in "People have complained of the 1854, to Kyelang in Lahore, and eslength of the sacred books of other tablished a mission house 10,000 feet nations, but there are none that ap- above the sea, and at Poo, in Kunaproach in bulk to the sacred canon of war, in 1865. At this latter place they the Thibetans. It consists of two col- number forty converts. They have lections, commonly called the Kanjur done a large amount of translation of and Tanjur." Scriptures, grammars, etc., into Thibetan, and sent these into Thibet, The Kanjur consists in different where it is said all the lamas can editions of 100, 102 or 108 volumes read, and the lamas, remember, folio. It comprises 1,083 distinct number eighty thousand! works. The Tanjur consists of 225 volumes folio, each weighing from -Father Agostino, a preaching four to five pounds in the Peking edi- friar, has been addressing flocks of tion, which edition was sold for $3,000 people in Rome, and among them by the Emperor Khian-Lung. A copy even skeptical scientists. He is an of the Kanjur was bartered for 7,000 impassioned orator, and has been oxen, and a copy of Kanjur and called the "modem Savonarola." Tanjur together was sold for 1,200 Nevertheless, he is an ignorant Romansilver roubles. (See Vol. XX., ist and worships the Virgin. " Asiatic Researches.")
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
-Mr. H. W. Frost writes that the Missionaries employed, 121; days inundation in the region about Tient- labored, 23,182; stations supplied, 710; sin, in province of Chihli, was caused miles traveled, 200,443; sermons by very heavy rain-falls in the moun- preached, 12,029; Exhortations and tains: The waters spread with unex- other religious addresses, 6,587; total ampled suddenness. Mud villages sermons, 18,616; baptized into mission were completely dissolved, and swept churches, 1,893; received by letter away with their inhabitants; some and restoration by mission churches, who escaped with life lost ~he crops 2,267; total received by mission Dn which they depended for the eight churches, 4,160; professed conversions, months to come. Probably 4,000,000 2,619; churches assisted in organizing, Df people will depend on charity, in 103; prayer meetings assisted in orthis province alone, until May next. ganizing, 405; Sunday-schoolsassisted Active relief committees are at work, in organizing, 250; prayer meetings ascertaining the extent of the calam- led, 3,224; elders or bishops assisted ity, and devising means of help. The in ordaining, 43; deacons assisted in government is repairing the embank- ordaining, 98; pages religious literments, and has issued an imperialre- ature distributed, 522,789; reliigious script ordering Tls.60,000, to be dis- visits, 28,611; church houses built in tributed among sufferers. All this, connection with labor, No. 39, cost, however, is inadequate to raise the $29,965.00; books, Bibles, etc., distrirecipients above the bare preservation buted, No. 2,406, cost, $1,061.03; colof life. Rev. G. W. Clarke, of the lected for State missions, $35,357.77. China Inland Mission, writes, that to keep these people from November 15th -The Dutch Reformed Church of to March 15th, at two cents a day for Cape Colony, which has 175,555 bapadults and one cent for children up to tized white members, is coming, says twelve years, would cost $9,000,QOO. the Rev. Charles Starbuck, under Even now famine is upon the people Scottish and English Stimulus, to who can get but one meal, and that show a much more animated missionvery poor food, every twenty-four ary zeal. "Stellenbosch, with its theohours. Here is a chance not only to logical institute, is very especially a help the starving, but to reach them focus of missionary zeal." Among the with the b.read of life. The judicious others, the Wesleyan Missionary Sohelp given in 1871, 1878, 1888, re- ciety is most prominent. It has (in the moved many prejudices against mis- west) 9 stations, 6 missionaries, 96 na. sionaries and resulted in soul-saving:. tive helpers, 1,476 communicants, 1,467 scholars. The South African If any feel moved to contribute, a Wesleyans are quite independent of draft on London, England, sent to the the British conference. In the whole Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Cor- Colony they have 71 stations, 156 poration, Shanghai, China, or a post- churches and chapels, 55 clergymen, office order or New York draft, sent to 1,198 native helpers, 16,840 communi- Mr. H. W. Frost,No. 30 Sheeter Street, cants, 88,000 baptized adherents, 218 Toronto, Canada,will be forwarded to schools, 310 teachers, 13,803 scholars. the relief of the suffering millions. "But no other British society laboring in South Africa compares with the -Mr. J. B. Cranfill, superintendent Scottish societies as respects' capabilof missions, incloses summary of ity, sobriety and diligence, combined Texas (Baptist) mission work, from with true evangelical piety." The Free September 30,1889, to September 30, Church of Scotland has 9 stations, 10 1890: ordained Europeans, 2 ordained na- cational and industrial training. The tives, 23 native helpers, 4214 commu- United Presbyterians have 11 stations, nicants, 12,113 baptized adherents, 12 missionaries, 60 native helpers, 2,307 3,510 scholars. Their institute at Love- communicants, 8,080 baptized adherdale (largely assisted by the colonial ents, 43 schools, 1,735 scholars.-Illu8government) is a great force for edu- trated Weekly.
Foreign Mission Notes, by Rev. James Johnston, Bolton, England.
The Missionary Death Roll. secrated in Edinburgh on All Soul's Bishop Callaway.-At the close of Day, 1874, he settled at Umtata, March last, in his seventy-third year, around which grew up a small town, passed away the Right Reverend a pro-cathedral, a theological training Henry Callaway, D.D., first bishop of college for natives, schools for native St. John's, South Africa. Born in and European boys and girls, a hospi- Crediton, Devonshire, on the 17th of tal, and other institutions. Through- January, 1817; he early attached him- out his wide diocese he toiled with self to the Society of Friends. He inexhaustible zeal. On the failure of pursued the medical profession with health, in 1886, he formally resigned marked distinction, in London, and returned to his native land. True though his interest in religious ques- to the apostolic spirit, he devoted all tions and pre-eminently his strong his property to Spring Vale when he convictions on missions ultimately in- withdrew, and subsequently gave to duced him to join the Established the Established Church a sum of Church. On the formation of the £2,000 on his retirement. Bishop Cal- See of ~atal, he responded to Bishop laway will rank with Africa's most Colenso's call and was ordained laborious and enlightened missionary at Norwich Cathedral, August, 1854. heralds.
After a voyage of fourteen weeks to Mr. A. M. Mackay.-By the death Port Durban, he was appointed in the of this eminent missionary a lament- capacity of priest, in September, 1855, able blank is created in the Uganda to St. Andrews, Pietermaritzburg, the Mission. Most probably this event oc- first church erected in Natal. He ClIrred at Usambiro, on the southwest speedily became a conspicuous worker of Victoria Nyanza, 750 miles inland.
among the heathen and in the study Mr. Mackay was born at the Rhynie of the Kaffir language. Three years Manse, Aberdeenshire, in 1849, where later he obtained a grant of 3,000 acres his father was a noted Presbyterian of land, a day's journey from Rich- minister. Educated partly at home mond, where he founded the famous and at the Northern University, he Spring Vale Station, a prolific centre later went to Berlin in order to follow of Christianizing influence. He as- the profession of engineering. There sisted in reducing the Kaffir language he won no inconsiderable reputation to written form, and chiefly in trans- for ability and accomplislmIents. Mr.
lating nearly the whole of the Scrip- Stanley's historic letter, inviting mis- tures and Prayer Book. In this sionaries, in 1885, to the dominions of tongue, followed by a literal transla- Mtesa, moved the young engineer in tion in English, he wrote a book en- Germany to offer himself for service titled, "Zulu Nursery Tales." On the as an artisan missionary to the Church Scotch Established Church founding Missionary Society. He was readily in 1873, the Bishopric of Independent accepted, and on the 27th of April, Kaffraria, lying between Natal and 1876, sailed with the first party.
Cape Colony, Dr. Callaway was of- His desire to go forward on landing fered and accepted the. charge. Con- was frustrated by a serious illness. During his months of waiting by the classes. A pamphlet named "Times seaboard he made important surveys of Refreshing in Spain," recently pub- and laid out a useful road as far as lished in Glasgow, contains a bright Mpwapwa. When the news of the narrative of his toils for the better tragic deaths of Lieutenant Shergold school accommodation of the families Smith and Mr. O'Neill on Victoria Ny- connected with the Rio Tinto Com- anza came to hand, he resolved at pany, and increased facilities of wor- every hazard to join the lonely re- ship. He was equally esteemed by maining missionary, the Rev. C. T. the officers and seamen at the ship- Wilson. In December, 1878, he ping port for whom he opened a res- reached Mtesa's capital. Through a taurant and readiug-room, and as ~uccession of hardships, perils and ca- steadfastly sought their spiritual wel- lamities, he displayed the highest de- fare.
votion and splendid fortitude. House Rev. T. German Jones.-By the and boat-building, implement-mak- unexpected decease of this notable ing, teaching agriculture, managing mISSIOnary, the Welsh Calvanistic the printing-press, and proclaiming Methodists are bereft of one who held the message of eternal life, occupied a foremost position in the mission his nights and days among the tribes cause in the East. An overworked of Uganda. Under threat or in cap- system compelled him to sail from tivity he tarried within Uganda Ter- Calcutta, with his wife, on the 17th of ritoryuntil he was driven forth by the last March. The relatives and friends Mohammedan revolt in 1888. At his who repaired to Gravesend to await temporary abode, Usambiro, every the incoming steamer were terribly one knows how faithfully he succored shocked to learn on her arrival that the followers of Stanley and Emin on the home-voyaging missionary died on their coastward march. His decease the previous day, April 14th. In many robs the Church Missionary Society of respects his career was a remarkable its most conspicuous foreign agent,and one. A native of Anglesey, he was the whole missionary world of one of employed for some years as a working the most energetic and successful mis- quarrier. On completing his studies sionary pioneers of modern times. in Bala College he was called to the Rev. James Lundie, M.A.-To ministry of the Welsh Calvanistic the deep sorrow of the English and Church. His foreign labors began at Spaniards at Huelva, Spain, this be- the mission station of the Khasia loved missionary died unexpectedly Hills, India. By an unremitting en- on the 21st of March. At Edinburgh thusiasm he was witness to abun- University, where a few years past he dant spiritual harvests. His services received the Master of Arts degree, to the British government at the time two of his brothers on that occasion of the Indian mutiny were the means had the same honor conferred upon of averting a general rising in the them. One of the latter, Mr. Marsh- neighborhood. All through the awful all Lundie accompanied him to Spain cholera plague in India he labored un- and there ultimately succumbed in flaggingly, e5pecially in bearing the the Master's cause. The third of the stricken to the crowded hospitals.
brothers, the Rev. John Lundie, re- For his devotion on successive famine presents the Scotch United Presby- outbreaks he won the public thanks terians in Kaffraria, in which capacity of the Indian authorities and the he is sustained by a genuine mission- grateful affection of the poorest classes.
ary partner. The subject of this me- With fine literary tastes he combined morial notice was on the eve of com- an extensive and profound Oriental pleting special work for the benefit of scholarship. A large concourse of the English residents and the native mourners and spectators attended the funeral at Smithdown. Cemetery, here. My church, after many years Liverpool, on April 18th. of imancy and adolescence under another, and a part of the time under United States. my ministry, is giving signs of growth. New Orleans, June 30, 1890. EDITORS OF THE MISSIONARY RE- My church is a missionary church, VIEW:-As chairman of the Assembly'S and our young members are being dili- Standing Committee of' Foreign Mis- gently trained as soldiers for the war, sions, at Chattanooga, it was my duty and I hesitate not to declare that the to shape and present the favorable re- Church is so essentially missionary in ,sponse to an overture from the pro- her constitution, that to neglect or to fessors of our colored institution at do slackly this work, is to forfeit the Tuskaloosa, to begin a mission in the charter received from the King. Dark Continent. ,Two missionaries, -one white and the other black, are Yours, in our dear Lord, now on their way to Africa, and our R. Q. MALLARD. Assembly, at its late session in Ash- ville, resolved W reinforce them with Lutherans in all Languages. four additional laborers as soon as the means could be realized. In order to The Lutheran is a church of many deepen the interest of our people in languages. The latest statistics show this new mission, and stimulate that of her baptized membership greater generosity and prayerfulness, throughout the world 32,000,000 speak I sent the article enclosed, entitled, German, 5,300,000 Swedish, 2,500,000 "Wheah's Appeal," to our organ, The Norwegian, 2,300,000 Danish, 2,048,- Southwestern Presbyterian. Possibly 000 Finnish, 1,250,000 English, 1,113,- it might he made of larger service in 000 Hungarian, 624,000 Livonian, 480,- awakening interest in the evangeli- 000 Courlanish, 272,000 Esthnian,70,000 zation of a land long neglected, but French, 70,000 Icelandic, 48,000 Bohetoward which the eyes of the whole mian, and that in every other civilized -civilized as well as Christian world are tongue she is well represented, num- bering in the world 28,406 educated now being turned.* ministers, 38,381 church edifices, and 50,061,280 baptized members. This Your REVIEW, which I have only of church, though taking its origin in late been able to take, is invaluable to Germany, seems to know no fatherme in the preparation of missionary land or mother tongue. She is at sermons, and in the monthly concert home everywhere. of prayer, which I have always observed in my ministry. It is of great Wesleyan Missionary Society.- value in keeping my own soul stirred The society is reported struggling -on the matter which engaged the last against financial difficulties, for the thoughts of our dear Master before He relief of which an earnest call is made. mounted the throne. Your REVIEW Notwithstanding a carefully admin- ~nables the soldier of the Cross to istered expenditure, the current inmount occasionally above the dust and come does not keep pace with. it. smoke of the battle to the serene Possibly for the decrease the embitmountain-top, whence he can, at a tered controversy with Dr. Lunn and glance, survey the entire field of con- Mr. Hughes may be partly accountflict, only to descend with heightened able. The majority of the older courage to his place in the host. British missionary organizations re- gard the obstacles in the way of rais- Allow me to thank you warmly for ing their necessary incomes as multithe help you are giving m~ in my work plying rather than diminishing. The birth of numerous modern societies • We regret that space compels us to omit largely explain this dilemma, for they this strong appeal.-ED. draw upon supporters identified with " Word has been received from the long-established agencies. illustrious Department of Instruction The Salvation Army derives a at Constantinople, addressed to the princely income from the Christian government guarding the interests of public, whereas, General Booth does Syria, to the effect that there has been not aid any other organization, even issued an imperial order in favor of those traveling on corresponding lines Mr. Henry Jessup, a subject of the to his own. honored American republic, based Interest was shown at the Man- upon a statement and petition ad- chester Auxiliary of the Wesleyan dressed by him, permitting him to Society, attended by the Rev. W. H. publish the Weekly Neshra, which Findlay, M.A., of Negapatam,and the had been previously suppressed, this Rev. Professor Patterson, of Madras, permission being granted on the con- in the presence of two old-time Wes- dition that the paper shall not treat of leyan advocates of missions. One of· any political matters, nor of any oc- the veterans, who presided, Mr. Oeo. currences whatsoever which may taktf Cussons, was within a few days of place within the empire or outside its completing his eighty-eighth birthday; borders, but shall treat solely of re- the other patriarch, Mr. John Napier, ligious, scientific and moral questions.
has already entered on his ninetieth But this permission is restricted by the year. The occasion was made deeply condition that nothing shall be printed memorable by the masterly defence in it which directly or indirectly of educational work amid the great opposes any of the religious beliefs centres of population in India. Pro- current in the governments ruled and fessor Patterson held that the policy guarded by the Sultan, and also by the which had been maintained for many condition that a copy of the contents years by the Protestant missionaries of the paper be sent before it is in regard to this phase of activity was printed and published to the govern- wise and justified by its results. ment censor that he may sanction its printing and publication after he has -Liberty of the Press in Turkey. ascertained that in no respect, in The Neshra, an Arabic newspaper single words or in sentences, has there published by the American mission in been any infringement of this condi- Beirut, Syria, was suppressed without tion. The exalted local government cause, months ago, by orders from will inform him of the nature of this Constantinople. Efforts have been concession. "
made, by interviews with the local Turkish soldiers, hemmed in by authorities and by petitions to Con- bayonets and cannon, shout at the stantinople, by the intervention orthe close of their daily reviews, "Long United States consul and of the am- live the Sultan!" American Chris- bassador, to secure permission for its tians interested in the redemption of resumption, but all in vain until the Turkey will wait for further proofs of pre~ent time. the fostering care of the Sultan's gov- An Arabic paper from Beirut, re- ernment before heartily echoing this ceived here recently, publishes the fol- prayer.-Church at Home and Abroad.
lowing notice of the Sultan's gracious edict, from which our readers can Jews.-Baron Hirsch gives $10,000 judge of the nature of the " liberty of a month toward the relief of the Jews the press" in Turkey, and of the re- exiled from Russia and seeking homes strictions to which the missionaries in the United States. The American are subject in their work. This is a Hebrew says: literal translation of the Arabic "A census of the district south of copy:' Houston street and east of Broadway shows Russian and Roumanian Jews were clothed with different clothing; far in excess of one hundred thou- and were of different habits and ways sand, and the average increase by im- of life. Yet I never realized the one migration is about twenty thousand ness of the human family more than I per annum. The committee propose did that day. The poet says, "One using the Hirsch fund in educating touch of nature makes the whole world these people so as to become self-sus- kin." But one touch from the hand taining by entering trades or occupa- of Christ can do far more than that. tions which are new to them, and to It can abolish all differences, makes enable them to amalgamate rapidly us feel that we are the children of a with the people among whom they common Father, saved by a common work or dwell. Classes have been Saviour, heirs of a common inheriopened for teaching children sufficient tance, pilgrims to a common home.- English to prepare them to attend the Samoa, Past and Present, by Rev. public schools; for instructing adults Oharles Phillips. in English, in American history, methods and customs; for fitting girls Monthly Bulletin. for other occupations than tailoring, for making men handy with tools, -A Chinese society of Christian whereby they can more rapidly obtain brethren, organized in East 39th renumerative employment. It has Street, New York City, has, on the first been proposed to teach them various floor, a room for religious meetings, trades, and put some at agriculture, and, on the second, apartments for and so scatter them in different voca- the sick and homeless. It began with tions. With the aid of the employment twenty-six members, who paid $70 bureauofthe United HebrewCharities, per month for the house. positions have been found for a large number of men, the Hirsch fund pay- -A school for the Chinese, opened ing the expense of transporting them at Kelley's, North Carolina, called the to the points where they are to work, " Oriental Academy," began with and in some cases tools have been seven pupils direct from Canton, and given them." is on a farm, and the system is indus- trial. It is designed for Chinamen Samoa. – A South Sea Com- wishing to be educated, but prevented munion. At the close of a service by race prejudice or lack of funds several hundreds remained to com- from entering an American school. memorate our Lord's death. For bread The school is non-sectarian, is under the natives have often only the kernel the auspices of leading Chinamen, of the cocoanut, and for wine only the and will offer opportunities for selfmilk of the cocoanut, the natural support. bread and wine of the country. The scene was very striking. Only four- -In the Sabbath-school of the teen years since the mission ship first Clarendon Baptist Church, in Boston, approached the island. Then they whose pastoris Rev. Dr. A. J. Gordon, were only a herd of naked savages. is a class of one hundred of native Now" clothed and in their right Chinese. They support three of their minds," numbers of them gather countrymen as preachers in their own around the table of the Lord. There land. seemed hardly any point of resemblance between preacher and people. -A united prayer-meeting in con- We were of different races; spoke nection with the week of prayer, for different languages; were of different woman's work in the mission-field, coloring; ate different kinds of food; was held in Exeter Hall, Friday, January 9th, at 3 P. M. Representa- tives of various zenana societies were present and took part in the proceed- said that not until the end of the ings. seventeenth century did the popula- tion number more than 60,000,000, If -A converted Chinaman on our so, what remarkable growth has Pacific coast sold himself as a coolie characterized these last two centuries, in New Guinea, for the sake of work- notwithstanding famines, droughts, ing among his own countrymen. pestilences and wars. Within the last Before he died he was the means of two centuries has occurred the two the conversion of two hundred of his notable reigns of Kanghi and Keincompanions. lung, each lasting nearly sixty years, and were characterized by tranquility -The statement is again made that and good laws. The educational Mr. C. F. Studd, one of the China system also stimulates the increase of Inland missionaries, placed his for- population. The cultivation of silk tune of $500,000 in the hands of the engages a large number of persons, trustees, the interest of which is to go from the tending of the mulberry to the mission, while he shares the trees to the last step in the production common lot of missionaries. Whether of the fabric. About one in nine of this statement is true or not we are not the people is a washerman, one in ten able to say. is engaged in the cultivation of the soil, one in 100 is a bricklayer, or a -Laotsze Yaotze Nahtsze, a cele- stonemason, or a carpenter, and one brated philosopher of China, founder in 120 is a tailor, while one in 140 is a of the Tabu Sect, or Sect of Reason, blacksmith. was born 104 years before Christ. His name means" old boy," because -France is now much the largest he is believed to have been eighty land owner in Africa. Her territory years old at birth. will extend from the Mediterranean almost to the Gulf of Guinea. Even -Forty societies are at work in the great Sahara will now be under China, with between eight hundred French control. and nine hundred missionaries and teachers: -From mid-China we have news of a remarkable revival, great numbers -Dr. J. G. Kerr, of the China Mis_ being brought out of the darkness of sion, read a paper at a meeting of the heathenism. The Rev. George Clark Medical Missionary Association, at has preached to audiences numbering Shanghai, on May 20th, last year, his 4,000. Even the intensely cold weather subject being "Medical Missionaries did not prevent the people from in Relation to the Medical Profession." coming night after night. Stanley He lays great stress upon the moral Smith reports two hundred and ten value of the work of those who, to- baptized at one time and as many gether with the healing of the body, more inquirers. offer to the people that religious faith which has produced the best men and -A missionary home and business women, husbands and wives, citizens agency has been established at No. 8 and neighbors, and governments upon Seward Road, Shanghai, of which Mr. the face of the earth. Edward Evans writes: -Canton is a real Chinese city, but "It is designed as a halting-place Hong Kong is simply:a British settle- for all arriving and departing missionment. aries, of which there is now a large travel through Shanghai, which, with -The population of China is be- the exception of Hong Kong, is the port lieved to be, according to the most re- of entry for all China for Europe and liable statistics, 380,000,000. The America. The China Inland Mission people show a marvelous energy in multiplying. They thrive upon what others regard as starvation diet. It is has recently erected a beautiful and you can lift first the children of the commodious place, costing over rising generation. $50,000, for its own missionaries. The American Presbyterian is the only -At a recent session of the SociaL other society, of all who are repre- Scientists in Saratoga, N. Y., Dr. T. sented in China, who have any home W. Couthers advocated a practical for its missionaries in Shanghai. method of treating drunkards. He' All the more need is there for a Chris- would put the inebriate on the plan of tian home to welcome and shelter and the small-pox patient and put him into pass on new arrivals, often suffering quarantine till he recovers. He would after sea-sickness' of a long voyage, take away his personalliberly, declare and bewildered with the new and him both incapable and irresponsible, strange sights and conditions they are and so strike a death blow at' the entering. The missionaries in the saloons with the pauperism and crime interior have need also of some one to that proceed from it. receive and forward supplies sent them from home, and purchase such things -Samoa has recently attracted'. as they require for home use. The much attention. A large proportion agency is designed to meet this need. of the Samoans are Christians, and a The home is not supported by any missionary says that he would be denomination or society, and is a willing to match any twenty men, simple effort of an independent women and children that he might worker. It is to be carried on so as to meet there against any twenty met at just cover its expenses." random in this country as to their knowledge of the Word of God. -Rev. Dennis Osborne (India) baptized over 500 persons last winter, -In Africa the number of missionand hopes for similar success this sea- aries exceeds five hundred and the son. number of converts four hundred thousand, increasing by about twenty- -Count Campello is addressing five thousand a year. During the very large gatherings in Italy, urging past five years Africa has furnished his hearers to renounce Papacy and more than two hundred martyrs. affirm the infallibility of none but Jesus Christ. He presses the Gospel -A Missionary Reading Circle remessage upon the careless and skepti- cently organized at Columbia, Mo. cal, but his preaching is not unmixed It is an endeavor to unite young with politics. people in a systematic course of read- ing upon the subject of missions. The -Rev. John McNeil, who succeeded course will cover about three years, Rev. J. Oswald Dikes at Regent Square and those who engage in it will be Church, London, is to be relieved examined and certified as graduates from his evening service, that he may upon the completion of the course. proclaim the Gospel in destitute The course for the first year covers regions in London and round about. the lives of Judson and Livingstone, Mr. McNeil has very remarkable gifts Dr. Strong's charming book, "The as an evangelist, and it seems as Missionary Review and the Crisis of though he should not be confined Missions." The admission fee is fifty within the limits of anyone church. cents per annum. We would be glad if such reading circles might be estab- -The motto of Dr. Guthrie's whole lished in every part of our country. Ragged School work was " Prevention Information is what is particularly better than Cure." It is impossible to needed to awaken missionary con· raise the lower classes in towns unless science,