The Missionary Review of the World — March 1938
1938
The Present Situation in China . Frank W. Price The Wind Shifts in Mexico By a Resident 0/ the Republic A Visit to Beautiful Formosa George H. Winn Religious Situation in Soviet Russia Nicholas Arseniev A Trip Into Closed Afghanistan J. Christy Wilson The New Outlook in India Alexander McLeish Foreign Mission Appeals Today H. Kerr Taylor ZS Cents a Cop, $2.50 a YeaT
to Ran'ember PLAN NOW to Spend Next Summer's Vacation with Amer-
ica's Greatest Theological Teachers. March 4-World Day of Prayer. March 23-24 – United Stewardship Winona Lake School of Theology, Winona Lake, Indiana Council, Columbus, Ohio. For MinUte…, Teacher., Mla.ionarie., Sunday Sc:hool Worker. and Laymen April 28-General Conference, Meth- 5 0 Courses leading to Regular Theological Degrees – Cost Reasonable July 12 to August 17 – Two Terms 15 Days Ea.ch – Interdenominational Free odist Episcopal Church, South, Bir- Rooms Evangelical Faith and High Scholarship Combined mingham, Ala. Dr. W. E. BiedenroH, Directo. (Ask for free Prospectus, Dr. l. A. H……. D_ May 12-16-Southern Baptist Conven- tion, Richmond, Va.
May lB-22-General Missionary Con- the preliminary conference of the . tion from Princeton Seminary, in 1887, ference of the Woman's Missionary proposed WorId Council of Churches he married Helen M. Pierson, the eld· Union of Friends in America, to be held at Utrecht, Holland, May est daughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. Whittier, California. Mrs. Bertha Arthur T. Pierson, and together they S. Snmpter, Argonia, Kans., Sec- 9-13. … … • sailed for Japan under appointment retary. bJf'tbe Presbyterian Board of Foreign Dr. W. Bruce Wilson has been Missions. They served successively in May 19-General Assembly, Presby- elected Secretary of the United Pres- Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kyoto and terian Church in U. S., Meridian, byterian Board of American Missions Shimonoseki, Japan, for thirty years Miss. to fill the vaenncy caused by the death and ten additional years among the of Dr. R. A. Hutchison, on December Japanese in Korea. Tbey were hon- May 2S-General Assembly, United 11. Dr. Wilson became Associate orably retired in 1928 and made their Presbyterian Church !>f Nor t h home in New Haven, Connecticut, un- Amenea, Cleveland, OhiO. • • • Secretary of the Board a year ago. til the death of Mrs. Curtis. They Professor Kenneth S. Latourette are. survived by a daughter, Miss May 26-General Assembly, Presby- will deliver the N. A. Powell Lectures Grace P. Curtis, formerly a mission- terian Church in U. S. A., Philadel- in the Canadian School of Missions, ary in Japan, and three sons, Pierson phia, Pa. Toronto, April 4th to 9th. The last Curtis, Senior Master in the Stony three series of lectures have been Brook School for Boys; Ralph R. May 31-June 4 – Triennial Conven- given by Dr. Nicol MacNicol, Prof. Curtis of Wilton, Connecticut, an offi- tion, and 50th Anniversary, Wom- D. J. Fleming and Dr. Thomas Jesse cial of the New York Central Rail- an's Missionary Society of the Jones. General Synod, Evangelical and Reformed Church, Akron, Ohio.
June 2 – General Synod, Reformed road; and Gordon A. Curtis, formerly Church in America, Asbury Park, N.J. Obituary Note. . . a missionary in China, now Minister June lS-22-General Council of Con- Rev. Frederick S. Curtis, for forty of Music in the Independent Church gregational and Christian Churches, years a Presbyterian missionary in of Wilmington, Delaware.
Beloit, Wisconsin. … Japan and Korea, died on February Rev. Thomas E. Stevenson, "Par- June 2S-July 2-Interdenominational 6th at the home of his brother-in-law, son Tom," of Boulder City, Nevada, Conference of Missions, Eagles Delavan L. Pierson, Upper Montclair, was killed on Christmas Eve by a N.J. . . car with a drunken driver at the Mere, Pa. Mr. Curtis was born in Norwalk, June 2B-July 3-Twentieth Interna- wheel. He had won a fight to keep Connecticut, on October 11, 1861, the liquor out of Boulder City. tional Convention on Christian Edu- son of David Seymour Curtis and cation, Columbus, Ohio. Isabelle Raymond. After his gradua- … September–G e n era I Committee, World's Student Christian Federa- Bishop Elias Cotgell, 80 years old, a great Negro 1eader, died on .!,mn~ December 4. Bishop Cottrell founded tion, Japan. December 13-30-International Mis- of tbe . colleges in M1ississippi, Arkansas, sionary Council, Madras, India. Alabama and Texas.
… …
Mrs. Courtenay H. Fenn, who went ((bri~tian out to China as a missionary of the Per.onal Item. Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., in Dr. John G. Goucher, deceased, JLife 1893, and was recently honorably refounder and benefactor of Aoyama tired, entered into the life beyond on Gakuin in Tokyo, has just received cA BOOK of wonhip in song, com- February 5th from her home in Upper posthumous honor by the dedication bining a hymnal for general Montclair, N. J. Dr. and Mrl!; Fenn church use, and a song book for evan- gave forty years of loving sernce to . . of a bronze medallion placed in a gelistic purposes. Oilly songs sound China and the Chinese. They passed in the laith and inspirational in char- through the siege of the" Legations at large stone in front of Aoyama Ga- Peiping during the Boxer Rebellion in kuin Theological School. 1900. Even now Dr. Fenn del!ires to return to China to revise his Chitlese … acter induded–.emphasizing Evangel- Dictionary. … * * ism, Missions, and the Deeper Life. Paul Rader, former President of Many of the new—the best of the.old. REVIEWS WANTED the Christian, and Missionary Al- Miss Helen Burns, of Miss Michi liance, and afterwards pastor of the 504 Songs Responsive Readings KawaU's Christian School in, Tokyo, Moody Church, Chicago, is in London would like to have back numbers of for five months, ending in May, to Topical Index Gold Embossed THE REVIEW for the use of shut-ins work at Mildmay Center. In the and for program material for their United States he has been pressing Published in round notes and Roxite cloth missionary society. If any of our readthe claims of the World-wide Witness edition only at $65.00 per l00-an especially low price. Single copy, S5c postpaid. Fellowship. … … …
Dr. Lewis S. Mudge, of Philadel- Write today frw retum4ble .ample copy ers would like to forward their copies phia, has been selected as a repre- CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, Inc. after reading they may be s~nt to Sentative of the Presbyterian and Mrs. G.' N. Pidcock, Box 13, Blooms- THIRD AND REILY STREETS bury, N. J., who will forward them to Reformed Churches of America to be one of America's twelve delegates to HARRISBURG, PA. Japan.
MISSIONARY Please accept my congratulations
the magazine." REVIEW OF THE WORLD MRS. SANFORD E. COBB, Secre- DIllLAVAN L. PIIIIRSON, Edttor tary for Missionary Education, Reformed Church in America, VOL. LXI MARCH,1938 No.3 New York.
Publication and Business Olllce– *** Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. "THE MISSIONARY REVIEW brings Editorial and Executive Olllce– to me much of inspiration and guid- 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. ance." Entered as second-class matter at MRS. PEARL JOHNSON SCHIND- Post Olllce, Harrisburg, Pa., under LER, Linton, N. D. Act of March 3, 1879. A CORRECTION-DR. SA'EED The great white Empresses hold 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. every speed record to and from Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. KURDISTANI the Orient. 10 days direct to Published monthly, except August. Yokohama by Empress of Asia All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. In our December REVIEW (page or Empress of Russia. Or only British agents – Marshall, Morgan 569) there was a picture of Dr. Sa'eed three days more via Hawaii by and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, Kurdistani, the Kurdish Christian Empress of Japan, largest and London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, physician of Teheran (not Isfahan). fastest on the Pacific, or Empress 10 shllings a year. Due to inaccurate information, the of Canada. Connect at Honolulu statement was made, under the por- from California ports. MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- trait, that the Doctor had been im- LISHING CO., INC. prisoned by the Iranian Government From Vancouver and Victoria "for his Christian faith and courage." to Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, BOARD OF DIRECTORS He was imprisoned but Dr. J. Christy Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila. ROllERT E. SPEER. President Wilson writes that this is an error. Details from YOUR TRAVEL A. L. WARNSHUIS. Viae-President Dr. Sa'eed Kurdistani was taken into AGENT or Canadian Pacific.: WALTER McDOUGALL. Treasurer custody "for having written a letter 41 offices in U. S. and Canada. DELAVAN L. PIERSON. Secretary of condolence to the family of a Kurd- ish chief who had died in his home in PAUL J. BRAISTED Teheran, where he (the chief) was SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT required to live lest he stir up trou- D. J. FANT ble among his people. Dr. Sa'eed MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD Kurdistani made the remark in his WM. B. LIPPHARD letter that it was fortunate the chief ERIC M. NORTH had died in his own house rather than SAMUEL M. ZWEMIIIR in jail, like some others. This letter was read by the censor and the police Editorial Chat thought there might be some political implications in what he had written, The annual meeting of the Mis- whereas he meant it merely as a letsionary Review Publishing Company ter of sympathy to the bereaved famwas postponed on account of the lack ily. The good Doctor was held in of a quorum; the date on which it custody for several months but friends will be held will be announced later. were allowed to visit him. He was finally released when his son sent a *** long telegram explaining the whole affair to his Majesty Riza Pahlevi Many articles and requests are re- himself." ceived for the pUblication of articles on such topics as Peace, Race Rela- PARENTS … tions, Social Justice and Law Enforcement. Althougoh we sympathize In the F01'eignMission Field with these movements we do not deal to any extent with these topics, un- Endorse Calvert School less they are directly related to world Home Study Courses evangelization and training for Christian service, because we are con- for Children vinced that Christ deals primarily with the spiritual need of all man- Calvert School, through its Home Instruckind, the need of each individual for tion Department, will give your child a spiritual regeneration and whole- superior elementary education •.• by mail, souled surrender and obedience to regardless of where you may live. Mod- Christ as the only Saviour and Lord. ern, approved courses from this famous Other remedies are only surface school are being used by parents all over treatment of symptoms and do not the world with outstanding success. eradicate the disease, the sin that is destroying mankind and is disrupting Give your children the advantages of these homes, communities and nations. interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, and attractive materials. Instruction is *** under the personal guidance of teachers in Calvert's prominent and successful private Here are some comments on the day school in Baltimore. REVIEW, recently received from our readers: Write today for booklet of complete in- "THE REVIEW is proving of great formation. Costs are low. value in the work of our Department. t CALVERT SCHOOL The articles are to the point and help 180W. Tuscany Road us in the various phases of missionary education needs. I am especially Baltimore oQo Maryland advertising the "Moslem World" issue in connection with our church study of Arabia on account of the Fiftieth Anniversary of our Arabian Mission.
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TODAY. SUNRISE PRAYER MEETING AT A YOUNG PEOPLE'S CONFERENCE
GRADUATING CLASS' IN A MISSION KINDERGARTEN AT DAILOTEI SIGNS OF THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY IN FORMOSA
NARY
REVIB ORLD VOLUME LXI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 3 MARCH,1938 Topics of the Times RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CHINA preparation of all citizens for participation in national defense is being inaugurated. By REV. FRANK W. PRICE, Shanghai The end of the war seems far off. Japan's peace Missiorwry of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. terms have been reported to include the follow- ing: collaboration between Japan and China in During December and January the area of war, an anti-communist policy; demilitarized zones devastation and suffering in China greatly wid- and Japanese garrisons in China; an economic ened. The Japanese captured Nanking (Decem- agreement between China, Manchukuo and Japan ber 13) and Hangchow (December 24). Fight- on Japan's terms; war indemnities. A missioning has now extended near Hangchow, around ary writes from central China, "We do not yet Wuhu and north and northwes~t of Nanking. In know of any real hope for middle ground between Shantung province, Tsinan was captured on De- the sweeping Japanese intentions and the Chinese cember 27: Since then the Japanese armies have determination to hold some degree of independpressed toward the vital railway junction of Su- ence. Meanwhile misery reigns in much of China, chow near the Kiangsu-Shantung border. Chi- and the problems of the future pile up for both nese forces have been massed in great numbers countries." to defend the 150-mile-wide corridor traversed by the east-west Lung Hai Railway. The closing of "I feel that we individually and as a race have the gap between the two invading armies would to suffer much more before there may come a put Japan in a position to attack Hankow, the better day for us," wrote Dr. Wu Yi-fang, presiimportant city on the Yangtse. However, guerilla dent of Ginling College for Women as she left operations by mobile units are continually har- Nanking to join a group of teachers and students rassing the invaders' lines of communication and in Wuchang. But the leaders and people of China have slowed up the Japanese advance. About have already demonstrated that they can meet half of Shansi province has been occupied but the danger and suffering with marvelous fortitude. Eighth Route Army (former communist army) Not only have soldiers shown courage; thousands has successfully resisted further penetration. In of workers on the railways and in postal and telesouth China, Canton has been under strict martial graph offices have carried on under fire. Mails law. Japanese air raids upon cities of Kwang- have been delivered with remarkable efficiency ;tung and upon the vital Canton-Hankow Railway except in some areas now occupied by the J aphave been increasingly severe. anese army. Boy and Girl Scouts have risked their lives in rescuing wounded civilians. The In spite of critical defeats in the Shanghai- women of the nation are organizing for relief Hangchow-Nanking triangle, the government and people of China seem determined to continue the work. Schools have moved to central and west struggle for a long time. Generalissimo Chiang, China and teachers are serving for mere "living in six broadcast messages to the nation, has urged allowances." Millions of the common people, greater effort and sacrifice until freedom has been driven from their homes, have accepted their won. Visitors report that he is "full of confi- hardships bravely as part of their sacrifice for dence, physically fresh and buoyant." He and the nation. other leaders see hope of ultimate victory th~ough a protracted war which will wear out Japan "China is bleeding upon the thorns of this inthrough the costliness of an extended occupation. vasion," writes Dr. E. Stanley Jones. Missions A great program of "mass mobilization" with and the Christian Church are bleeding too. But the Christian witness has been a bright star in [115 ]
0, • the night of suffering. "As I leave China," con- out news and messages of encouragement to tinues Dr. Jones, "I want to pay my tribute of Christian workers all over China. gratitude to the Christians of China, both missionary and Chinese, who are holding so steady In East China War Zone and true in this time of national calamity. I am proud to belong to such a band. There is a tough- The destruction of property in the region beness of fibre in them that is the result of years of tween Shanghai and Nanking has been appalling. facing crisis after crisis. The missionary enter- Air raids, fires from incendiary bombs and shells prise has faced many a crisis in China and has and finally the burning of property by retreating grown under each one of them. It will come Chinese troops have laid waste the once great and through this one, too, perhaps purified." populous cities of Soochow, Wusih, Changchow, Chinkiang, and Sungkiang. Hundreds of smaller In the Shanghai Area cities and towns have been ruined. Much mission and church property has. suffered. All the mis- "In an area of but six square miles, that nor- sion buildings of the Presbyterian Church, U. S., mally cared :for a population of nearly two mil- in Kiangyin, hospital, schools and missionary lions, utterly destitute refugees are now numbered residences were burned. Sections of the Presbynot by tens of thousands but by hundreds of thou- terian and Methodist Hospitals in Soochow were sands. To us has come the sudden challenge to burned. In Kashing a Roman Catholic orphanage save this flotsam." More than 175 camps have was bombed resulting in the death of 86 children. been established in Shanghai, to house 150,000 Hospitals, schools, churches and missionary homes people. The Nantao Safety Zone, under the di- in most of this area have been looted. The beaurection of Father Jacquinot, has 250,000. Includ- tiful city oof Hangchow has been spared the tering destitute refugees living with relatives or rible destruction visited on other places, but the friends there are about three-fourths of a million city has now only one-fifth its former population. in need of food. Many missionaries living temporarily in Shanghai have been giving full time Property losses have been estimated at $500,- to help in the refugee camps. 000,000. The life of nearly twenty million people has been tragically disrupted. They have been People are returning but slowly to the devas- driven to the four winds before the invading tated sections around the International Settle- armies and when ·they return it will be to desolate ment. Chapei is a city of desolation. A few homes or to farms without animals and seed. One missionaries have been permitted to visit their news dispatch from China said that not even in former centers of work. At the Southern Baptist the World War was there such widespread desocompound in Hongkew "the condition is terrible." lation. The dormitories of Eliza Yates School were shelled, the classroom building burned and resi- Many missionaries refused to leave when the dences have been demolished and looted. The fighting raged in east China. The North China University of Shanghai property is occupied by Daily News said oof the missionaries in Soochow, Japanese soldiers and all faculty residences have "From the beginning of hostilities this intrepid been looted. Margaret Williamson Hospital was little band with their able Chinese assistants, have destroyed after the fighting had- ended. The ex- carried on without cessation." Dr. Mason Young, tent of other damage to mission and church Miss Lucy Grier, a nurse, Rev. Charles McDaniel buildings is not yet fully known. and others took wounded civilians and patients from a hospital foor the insane to an island in The University of Shanghai, St. John's Uni- Lake Tai, and stayed with them for weeks. Other versity and twenty Christian middle schools are missionaries stayed with Chinese Christians in continuing their work in the International and villages and were noot heard of for weeks. Rev. French Settlements. Churches are full on Sun- D. F. Stamps and Miss Mary Demarest of the days. But Shanghai, formerly a nerve-center of Southern Baptist Mission in Yangchow were remission work in China, has been cut off :to a large portted missing for nearly two months. A misextent from the inland. Missionaries have with sionary doctor wrote, "The future is very dark great difficulty secured military passes too inspect and this whole section may be swept clean before their stations even near Shanghai. The Japanese it is over-we can only live day by day trusting rure evidently working for control of the Interna- in Him." Twenty-eight missionaries stayed in tional Settlement and censorship on cables and Hangchow and fourteen in Nanking through the mails has been tightened. The economic future siege and capture of those cities and with them of Shanghai is very dark. But the Christian many fearless Ch~nese Christian workers, caring forces are undaunted as they seek to minister for thousands of refugees in "safety zones." with the love of Christ to those in need. The Christian Broadcasting Station continues to send The missions which have suffered most heavily in the lower Yangtze region are the Southern
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
Methodist, Northern and Southern Presbyterian, year. A provisional government was set up in Northern and Southern Bap.tist, Disciples and December, staffed by corrupt pro-Japanese pup- London Mission. Fighting now presses in upon pets. So far no outstanding, able Chinese has stations in north Kiangsu and southern Chekiang. been willing to coopera.te with the Japanese in their plans for an autonomous north China. Dr. Robert F. Fitch, of Hangchow, writes, "The repercussions will be f~lt everywhere in east Christian educators are determined to carryon, China; cold and hunger will be experienced by not to falter in their program, to conciliate where millions of the poor. For several months to come, necessary but not to give in on questions of prinperhaps into the late spring and summer there ciple. The Japanese officials are seeking to conwill be an overwhelming need for further aid trol the schools and all references to nationalist from outside sources especially from the Christian China have been deleted from the textbooks. The churches of the West." Confucian classics have been substituted for so- cial sciences and ethics. Slogans everywhere The Fall of Nanking ex:tol the aims of the Japanese army. Chinese students have been compelled to join parades cele- The story of the fall of Nanking and the sub- brating Japanese victories. There have been sequent weeks of terror has been graphically told raids on libraries and offices of teachers, and some in news dispatches from China. A. T. Steele re- teachers have been arrested. Japanese is to be ported in the New York Sun, "The fall of Nan- the main foreign language in the universities. king would have been infinitely more frightful if However, four middle schools in Peiping and not for the courageous efforts of a handful of Tungchow have an enrollment of 2,350, only one American missionaries and German business men thousand less than last year, and Yenching who stayed throughout the siege." But these (Christian) University now has over 500 stubrave fourteen ran risks which nearly cost them dents. The strain on principals and teachers is their lives once and again. severe. "Do you wonder," one writes, "that our educators, Chinese and foreign, are growing A cable from one of the missionaries who had grayer each month now than in five years prehelped to maintruin the safety zone, received on viously?" January 18, said, "University of Nanking sheltering thirty thousand refugees. This service from The Japanese advance into southern Hopei has December 13 has been tenaciously maintained caused widespread desolation. One missionary amid dishonor by soldiers, murdering, wounding, estimates that seventy per cent of ,the people of wholesale raping resulting in violent terror. In- north China evacuated. "Many of our mission stitutional losses moderate. Majority residences stations were completely wrecked, and the vilpartly looted. Staff splendid despite injuries, lages were almost empty of inhabitants. Crops danger, unspeakable distress. Ginling College were left rotting in the fields, unharvested. The situation comparable. Christian Hospital service whole countryside was lifeless." The invasion unique. Relief needs dominate city." was accompanied by constant foraging, looting and raping. "It is all more cruelly ruthless than Included in the Safety Zone, and hence spared anything in the American press descriptions," the material destruction inflicted upon the rest of another missionary wrote. Paotingfu suffered Nanking, were the University of Nanking, Ginling especially during and after the siege but mission- College, Nanking Theological Seminary, Wome,n's aries of the American Board and Presbyterian Bible Training School, Ming Deh PresbyterIan missions have continued to serve there. School for Girls and many missionary homes. In the area occupied by the Japanese, evangelis- In spite of the sudden advance of the Japanese tic work is going on. "Chinese Christian leaders," armies both the University of Nanking and Gin- one report says, "are everywhere showing a faith, ling College were able to move their staffs and courage and determination which no obstacles .so considerable equipment to central and west far apparently can defeat. These men are an lll- China. The government also succeeded in mov- spiration to their missionary colleagues. The ing 19,000 out of the 20,000 cases in which it had Church in the north does not intend to abdicate." packed the art treasures from the National Mu- At the county seat of Chowchow an evangelist seum. and his family and other Christians, total of sev- enteen, were killed by a bomb in one church yard. Nanking is at present little more than a Jap- "The Chowchow experience," a missionary writes, anese armed camp, subject ,to raids from Chinese "brings to me forcefully the realization that the airplanes. The city and surrounding region have Church, the real Church is a fellowship. Organonly a small fraction of the former population. ization, property and programs may disappe~r, The Safe.ty Zone is daily feeding 50,000 of the but little groups of Christians who are one WIth most destitute. Christ in God will continue."
The War in North China The people of Hopei province have been ex- periencing the force of Japanese rule for half a
The Church of the Brethren mission field in students. The churches are active and a new ex- eastern Shansi was first to feel the eff'ect of in- tension service to rural churches is proving very vasion. A woman missionary from this region fruitful.
writes that the countryside was ravaged bare. "I "We will go ahead as long as possible," writes have spent weeks in the midst of hell. When one one missionary. Most of the missionary women thinks of :the great areas of this country of which and children have left the province.
this is a fair example, it is too awful to contem- South and Central China plate." Several members of the Brethren Mission have been reported missing. The New York Kwangtung has suffered from incessant air Times of February 2 carried a report, through raids, the objectives apparently being the de- Hankow, that three missionaries had been shot struction of government-owned property, the by a Japanese sentry: Rev. and Mrs. Alva Harsh terrorizing of the ,civilian population and the of Petersburg, W. Va., and Miss Minerva Neher, prevention of sea-going commerce. Casualties Laverne, Cal. have been high, especially among civilians.
The Japanese lines at one time reached as far The churches and schools have tried to consouth as Fenchow and Taiku in the American tinue, many with emergency programs. Hospitals Board Mission field. The Oberlin-Shansi School have rendered courageous service. Many Chrisat Taiku moved first to Yuncheng, Shansi, then to tian institutions have organized first-aid corps. Shanhsien, Honan province. It may move further The Union Theological and Bible Training schools inland. The Ming I School at Fengyang moved in Canton have had one hundred per cent atto Tsishan in the southwest of the province where tendance. The College department of Lingnan the China Inland Mission has strong work under University has been maintained at Canton, under Chinese leadership. Many missionaries are re- the leadership of the new president, Mr. Lei Yingmaining in Shansi and also in Shensi to the west. lam. True Light and Pui Ying Schools moved to The Japanese are said to have about 140,000 Hongkong. The Union Normal School and Mei troops in Shansi alone. Wa School were bombed on December 31. The dining hall of Union Normal and the main build- In Suiyuan and Chahar provinces the Japanese ing of Mei Wa were severely damaged. The Ma army holds the main points but, in all the north- Kwong Home for the Blind was removed to ern provinces, irregular Chinese troops and local Macao. defense organizations are making the garrisoning of the area more difficult for the invaders. Relief Hainan Island has been fairly quiet in spite of needs are serious in Peiping, Tientsin and all the some bombings and the constant fear of attack conquered territory. by gunboats.
Shantung was spared war until late in Decem- One report from south China gave high praise ber, but Governor Han's vaccilating policy left to three women missionaries of the English Presthe province without a plan of defense and J ap- byterian Mission who had stayed on at Swatow anese occupation was rapid. Part of Tsinan city and helped to maintain morale among the Chriswas destroyed but the buildings of Cheeloo Uni- tian leaders and people there. versity have escaped damage, according to latest word. Fighting around Tsining, an important "I cannot close this letter," writes one missionmission center, has been especially severe. Suf- ary, "without giving expression to the evidence fering in Shantung has been accentuated by a of the wonderful spirit of our church leaders in flood last summer which made two million people this time of national crisis, especially in their dehomeless. termination to keep the spiritual side of the church uppermost and at the same time express Many missionaries, sojourning at Tsingtau, their loyalty to their country. Chinese church have left for Shanghai or other ports. A con- leaders have not been heard to preach hate; their siderable number, chiefly men, remained at their prayers always include a petition for Japan, espestations. cially the Christians of Japan." "Don't worry about us missionaries," writes another, "but pray In Chekiang and Fukien for the poor Chinese people."
Southern Chekiang and Fukien have been least The biggest battle of the war is now raging in touched by war of any coastal region, but Amay Central China, northern Kiangsu and Anhwei has felt the hot breath of attack. and in Honan province. More than 500 mission- Professor E. M. Stowe, of Fukien Christian aries normally live in this area. Several mission- University, writes that the University and Chris- aries of the United Church of Canada returned tian schools of the province have been carrying to their stations in Honan after furlough only on as usual, "a seemingly miraculous oasis in a two months ago, and a great number of mission- sea of chaos and blood." The new Union Theo- aries in the fighting zone will carryon at their logical College at Changchow has opened with 26 own risk.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
The Yangtze River below Wuhu is blocked There are 60 mISSIOn centers of 16 mission sowith booms. Since the capture of Nanking and cieties and more than 430 missionaries in the Wuhu there has been a considerable exodus of great area. Since the chance of Szechwan ever missionary families from Kuling but a number being occupied by Japanese armies is very small remain and the schools for foreign children are the strategic importance of this province from being maintained. The school at Chikungshan the standpoint of the Chinese government and has closed. defense and from the standpoint of Christian work and planning for the future cannot be over- The Wuhan cities (Hankow, Wuchang and estimated. Hanyang) have been bombed many times and air raids have reached as far up river as Ichang. But Government universities have moved to Chungotherwise the provinces of Hupeh and Hunan kiang and Chengtu. In one city 24 temporary have been quiet, and Christian work has suffered buildings were erected in 40 days. The Univercomparatively little. The effect of the great mi- sity of Nanking has moved to Chengtu and will gration from east China is felt everywhere and cooperate with West China Christian University. many cities have increased rapidly in population. Cheeloo Medical School has also moved from Hospitals are crowded and Yale's Emergency Shantung to Szechwan. Hospital in Hunan has prepared to receive 2,000 wounded soldiers. Chinese National Organizations Plans for mass mobilization and education of The National Christian Council continues its the people in self-defense are being promoted ac- office in Shanghai but is working more through tively in these central provinces. Hunan prov- regional organizations especially in central and ince is being made an important area in agricul- west China. The National Christian Council has tural experiments and rural reorganization which issued a "Call to a Forward Movement," suggestwill increase its productivity as a source of food ing a threefold emergency program for the supply. churches: relief, spiritual uplift and cooperation of the churches with other agencies in service to Dr. W. Y. Chen, of the National Christian the people. Christians are being urged to give a Council, wrote, after a visit to central China, "The cent a day to relief work. spirit of the people in the churches is simply wonderful." Many inland stations write of the help A Y. M. C. A. leader in China writes, "We need which Christian leaders and their families from your continued undergirding. All are determined east China have brought to them in their work. to stay though positions dangerous." Mr. George The churches are active in relief work and stu- Fitch at Nanking, Mr. Eugene Turner at Hangdents of Christian schools are participating in chow, Mr. R. S. Hall at Tsinan, and Mr. Edward many service activities. Lockwood at Canton are rendering notable serv- ice in places of peril. The National Committee of The railway from Wachang to Canton is still Y. M. C. A.'s has organized emergency service open despite repeated bombings. The new motor for soldiers in 28 cities. One hundred full-time road from Changsha to Kweilin will be completed secretaries have been allocated to this work while soon. The Eurasia planes still fly from Hong- two hundred are carrying on the regular Associakong to central and west China and carry mails. tion program where possible. The Peiping Y. M. C. A. has cooperated with the Red Cross in In West China relief work and recreational ac:tivities for wound- ed soldiers. Through hut work, soldier clubs, serv- Bishop Ralph A. Ward, of the Methodist Church ice to wounded in hospitals, help to soldiers at in Szechwan province, writes, "The rapid and railway junctions, travelling units, a work comsweeping changes in national life are affecting parable to that of the Y. M. C. A. during the World great changes in Szechwan. Thousands of stu- War is being done and with very limited funds. dE:mts and teachers, business and professional people and government officials are bringing a The Y. W. C. A. has organized its women membroader outlook, many material things and crea- bers into many forms of service and is helping to tive power. Many of the newcomers are Chris- train civilians in first aid, health work, and the tians. Most of them are at least awakened spir- meeting of emergency needs. itually. The local Christian communities need adjustment to the new opportunities, not to speak Interruption of Educational Work of their need for more vital Christian faith and life for themselves." Such is the unexpected new Fifty per cent of the Chinese colleges and uniopportunity in west China. versities have been closed or forced to suspend. The Ministry of Education has established two Szechwan is larger in size than the British Isles temporary universities, one at Sian and another and contains a population of over 70,000,000. It at Changsha. Nankai, Gentral University and has some of the most fertile farm land in China.
Futan University have new quarters in Chung- cans in China and :the Advisory Committee of king. Tsinghua and National Peking University China Famine Relief. are now located in Changsha. The new location of some Christian colleges has been noted. College The International Red Cross is taking over adstudents and graduates are not being encouraged ministration of a large number of refugee camps yet to join the fighting services but at least one- in Shanghai and is extending the "Morris plan." half of the 45,000 college students are engaged in The Salvation Army has been most successful in war-time studies. Many have joined the War- conducting clean camps and in feeding the refutime Students' Service Corps. gees wholesome food at very low cost.
The Christian colleges are playing a noble part Christian relief committees everywhere are in the National life during the crisis. Yenching, most active in helping. "The least that Christian as has been mentioned, carries on in Peiping with organizations can do under circumstances like an enrollment of over 500. Cheeloo University these is to make the-maximum contribution to ease medical students have been transferred to Cheng- pain, to heal the wounded and create channels tu, other students to various institutions. Ginling for the love of our Lord, Jesus Christ, to find ex- College is operating in three units, at Shanghai, pression in the midst of carnage and strife," at Hwa Chung College and at Wes:t China Union writes one Christian group. The National Chris- University. The University of Nanking has moved tian Council has sent out flying squads to survey to west China. Soochow University suffered heavy needs in devastated areas and give help where losses to its property and is still closed. The Uni- possible. versity of Shanghai continues work in temporary quarters in the French Concession and St. John's The outstanding service of the Christian hos- University carries on. Hangchow Christian Col- pitals everywhere has won high praise from all lege has not suffered damage to property although classes of Chinese. The work has been carried Japanese guns are now located nearby. Some on often in great danger and frequently without teachers and students transferred to a small town sufficient medical supplies. One missionary from in Anhwei province. Fukien Christian University north Kiangsu went 1200 miles to Hankow and and Hwa Nan College, Foochow, have been able to back in order to secure needed drugs. In some keep going without serious interruption. Lingnan areas Chris,tian forces have joined with govern- University, Canton, has 460 students on the ment forces in medical service. Christian field campus. The opening enrollment of Hwachung hospital units are being planned. College, Wuchang, was fifty per cent above normal due to admission of students from other schools. The Chinese government and army were utterly West China Union University, Chengtu, has an unprepared to care for such large numbers of enrollment twice that of last year. Classrooms wounded soldiers. Dr. A. R. Kepler after a tour and laboratories are utilized in successive shifts. through eight provinces reported, "I return to All the colleges are incurring serious deficits this Shanghai from my journey with the wounded solyear, although operating costs have been reduced dier as my most poignant memory. I can't get to bare essentials. him out of my thoughts. He is the most pitiable person in China today. The chances are that he The Need for Relief Work must eat all the bitterness of the refugee, inade- quate clothing, insufficient nourishment, no pro- Never have the Chinese themselves done so tection from rain and· biting north wind, wounds much for their suffering fellow-countrymen as festering through lack of surgical care." It may they are doing today. Chinese doctors have volun- be days or weeks before he gets from the front teered in large numbers for medical service, one line to the medical centers at Nanchang, Sian, hundred going from Shanghai alone. The Shang- Wuhan or Changsha. Dr. Kepler continues, "The hai Chinese churches contributed $40,000. Local war was unwanted by China. The government relief committees have been formed in a large was not prepared to face so formidable an enemy, number of cities. But the need is so great that and one so thoroughly prepared and equipped outside help is imperative. with every conceivable modern missile and instru- ment of destruction. These poor wounded men The Federal Council of Churches, Foreign Mis- are a summons to the Christian forces in China sions Conference, China Famine Relief, Inc., and and throughout the world to come to their rescue other organizations have appealed for relief funds and set agencies in operation which will look after with limited results. All mission societies have their needs." He urges a Christian Medical Auxilmade special appeals. The American Red Cross iary to work in close cooperation with governin September authorized chapters to receive funds ment medical units. but initiated no campaign. Funds will be administered through a committee of prominent Ameri- One missionary, after visiting the vast camp for wounded soldiers and war viotims at Sian, wrote, "It is the largest mass of suffering human-
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
ity I have ever seen. Yet there was no groaning nor has the Church ever before stood out so clearor complaining even from stretcher cases who ly as a minister of good will and helpfulness to were borne past me by tired Boy Scouts." our suffering people."
The danger of epidemics will increase as spring BATES COLLEGE PROJECT IN ARABIA and summer come on, and all kinds of medical supplies will be needed. Eight Bates College students came back to Christians all over China have been contribut- campus after the Student Volunteer Convention ing to relief funds and women have been making garments for wounded civilians and soldiers. One at Buffalo in 1932, and had decided to adopt a misgroup made 1600 wadded vests and in each sewed sionary project suggested at the convention. a printed Scripture verse and message of comfort. Missionaries and Chinese Christian workers have Through personal sacrifice they volunteered to been visiting camps of wounded soldiers to give send to Dr. W. Harold Storm in Arabia fifty dolcomfort. To one missionary who was on his way to this service Madame Chiang Kai-shek said, lars for his medical work. Interesting letters and "And do not forget to ,tell them of the One who pictures came back as a result. An emergency suffered more than they." operation on the desert sands, an eye disease en- The Outlook and the Opportunity dured for years, cured, a child made over in the hospital-such incidents graphically described President Wu Yi-fang of Ginling College, Chairman of the National Christian Council, held the students and heightened their interest. wrote to friends in America, "In regard to the general situation in China, I don't see any possible Later the so-called Student Volunteer group lost improvement immediately and we must face the probable result of withdrawing to Szechwan, Yu- its identity by merging with the Christian Service nan, Kwangsi and Kweichow provinces. As to how long this process may take, no one can tell. Club. Just as Dr. Storm was about to sail back to I sound, I am afraid, very pessimistic, but in fact I am qui,te confident of the ultimate triumph of Arabia, Dr. Rayborn Zerby, adviser to the Chrisright over might." tian Association on the campus, suggested that President Francis C. Wei, of Hwa Hung Col- Dr. Storm be invited to return to the campus lege, now in America, said recently, "Wheth.er China is defeated or victorious the need for ChrIS- again to interest the Christian Association, comtianity and for Christian higher education will prising all the students of the College, in support be greater than before. If China shall be victorious, she will have all the greater need for of his project. Christianity to use wisely her new position and power. If she should be defeated, she will need The invitation was accepted. Dr. Storm was Christian courage and wisdom in dealing with the problems that will confront her." due to appear at chapel. His train was late.
A missionary leader writes, "As soon as hostili- Chapel began. There was a long hymn. The ties cease, under restrictions and difficulties such as we have never before experienced, we are going President prayed longer than usual. As he turned to have a tremendous opportunity to preach and teach our Christian faith." Af.ter his two months' to sit down, Dr. Storm appeared breathless. "A preaching tour in central and west China, Dr. E. Stanley Jones declared that China presented the storm has burst upon you," he began, and he truly greatest challenge to Christianity of any land in the world today. carried by storm the student body that morning.
Finally, this message from the Executive Coun- In the evening a large number of students came to cil of the Methodist Episcopal Church in China, may be taken as an appreciation and an appeal see pictures of his Arabian friends, of diseases from all Christians in China today: and operations, of desert travel and to hear his "Never before have the loyal confidences and intimate cooperation between the Chinese and the story of healing body and soul. He showed armissionary groups of our church in China been so plainly evident nor so distinctly stimUlating, ticles used in Arabian tent life: the mat for dates -and these articles he presented to Bates College as a permanent Arabian exhibit.
Since that time annually in the Bates Chapel the work of Dr. Storm has been presented and an offering has been made by students and faculty.
The Y.M.C.A. purchased and sent to Dr. Storm an "eye kit" such as was used during the War by field surgeons. This kit accompanies him on his desert trips.
The adoption of Dr. Storm by Bates students has been peculiarly fortunate because he has a personality which appeals to students; because his work carries with it so much of the humani- tarian appeal; and because he has made such a successful effort to keep in touch with the campus.
Here is a means of widening horizons of college students that means a deepening of the religious faith of those who appreciate the spiritual side of such missionary work. MIRIAM: B. MABEE.
WHAT IS IN A NAME IN CHINA?
By GEOFFREY W. ROYALL "What's in a name?" Forty million Chinese would answer, "Chang," another thirty-five million would reply, "Wang," and a paltry thirty million would bow and say, "My unworthy name is Li." In other words, approximately one hundred million, or almost one quarter of the people of the Dragon Kingdom answer to the name of Chang, Wang or Li. Suppose they all had telephones!
Try to visualize the name of every third American being identical; or imagine everyone in the British Isles, with perhaps the exception of Wales, having precisely the same surname. Such a proposition literally knocks the imagination down and out. The above staggering state of ~ffairs actually exists in Cathay.
The "Four Hundred Million Customers" ,that Carl Crow has introduced to you of the Oc- cident~ have but five hundred surnames among them all! The Smiths, Joneses and Browns that jostle us in the telephone directory have their unique counterparts in the Changs, Wangs and Lis of China. The word Chang has several meanings, the best of which perhaps is "stretch" ; Wang means "king"; Li is translated "plum." The fourth most prevalent name in this cus- tard-colored kingdom is Chao meaning "hasten."
Originally the Chinese had but four hundred thirty-eight surnames. These were tabulated by a scholar in the early Sung dynasty and appear in booklet form under the title Pai Chia Hsing-"All the Clan Names." These surnames are printed in groups of four which enable the native student to memorize them more easily. The average school boy is able to quote the whole list of four hundred thirty-eight by memory and to write them on demand!
China is a kingdom of villages. Their name is legion. Every walled town has mush- roomed about it between five hundred and two thousand hamlets. Very often the natives of a whole village will have the same name.
Ten centuries before Christ, when the family system had not yet come into prominence, marriage in China was not under the strict ethical code of the sages as it was later at the advent of Confucius, Laotzi, and Mencius. At that time there was no definite system of sur- names. Men and women mingled more or less freely together so that often a child was born without the mother being sure of the father's identity. During this comparatively early period in Chinese history (known as the To Fu Ch'ih) a child was generally gIVen its mother's name and not that of its other parent. As Oriental civilization progressed the family gradually be- came the strong link that held society together. A man had one wife and when he wished to leave his property to his son, he insisted on the latter taking his name and propagating the family interests. However, it was not until ,the time of the Chan-Kueh (the Warring States, 403-221 B. C.) that family names began to take on any semblance of permanency. Even then they were subject to change.
Chinese surnames and their English meanings are undoubtedly as brimful of human in- terest as our Occidental names are to them. After a careful study of the clan names I have translated and arranged the most interesting into groups.
The majority of us are acquainted with such family names as Green, Brown, White, Black, and Grey. While the Middle Kingdom has a White family, she has no claim to any Browns, Blacks, Greens or Greys. However, true to the Oriental love of bri&1ht colors, China has a Mr. Blue, Mr. Yellow, Mr. Red, Mr. Crimson, and even a Mr. Colour.
The West has a group of animal surnames. such as Bear, Pig, Fox, Wolf and Lyon. Be- sides the Bear family, China boasts a Mr. Ox, Mr. Camel, Mr. Goat, Mr. Dragon, a Mr. Horse, and also a Mr. Cart!
Before China became a Republic the arranging of weddings was an affair that bristled with superstition. This is still the case in the rural districts. The Mei-Ren, or Middle Man who had the delicate task of choosing a wife for his client, first learned the name of a likely maid before he enquired about her appearance and ability. Supposing the young man's family name were "Ox" and the girl were a member of the "Red" family, the parents of the young lady would object to such a match on the grounds that after the marriage Mr. Ox might "see red"! It is very doubtful if Mr. Cash and Miss Waste would make a good husband and wife. For similar reasons the Fish family, unless they belonged to the New China, would never marry their daughter to young Master Hook! On the other hand the parents of Miss Water might favorably consider the son of the Well family as a son-in-law. . . .
Are you acquainted with the Happy and Sing families? No? China is! Time and sand meet in other places than the hour glass, for among the mustard-colored sons of Han there is actually a Mr. Time and a Mr. Sand! . . . Perhaps the most unique galaxy in this remarkable constellation is Mr. Season, Mr. Summer, Mr. Warm, Mr. Autumn, Mr. Winter and Mr. Cold!
Winds Shift in
-··<tli{l!;;11===B=y=a=R=E=S=ID=E=N=T=O=F=TH=E=RE=P=U=B=LI=C==~I~ T HREE years ago. a mighty spiritual cQnflict Then suddenly the tide turned. NQt a missiQn- was being waged here in Mexico.. It was a ary Qr pastQr cQmprising the praying grQUp critical hQur, fQr cQmmunism was sweeping dQubted fQr a mQment but that GQd had laid bare Qver the land. The aggressive atheism which His Almighty Arm and had wrQught a miracle. streamed daily Qver radio. channels was blasphe- The mQst radical members Qf the cabinet were mQUS and deadly in its purpQse. The whQle edu- dismissed. It was nQthing shQrt Qf a revQlutiQn.
catiQnal system Qf the cQuntry was being re- The natiQn was shaken. Since that hQur there vamped fQr the purpQse Qf prQpagating atheistic has been a steady shifting Qf the winds. To. what cQmmunism. SchQQI teachers, agents Qf the gQV- extent Satan has been bruised under the feet Qf ernment, were being murdered in every state by the saints, if I may use the ApQstle Paul's lanthe rebelliQus "plebe." Children in public schQQls guage, will be indicated by this simple circum- were being taught to. march to. the tune Qf Uno, stance. On Christmas Eve, I heard brQadcasted dos.. no hay Di6s- (Qne, twO.; there is no. GQd). frQm a GQvernment statiQn, the Christian hymn, One was almQst afraid to. mentiQn the name Qf "Little LQrd Jesus Asleep in the Hay." As the Jesus. MissiQn schQQls were clQsed. All rQads wQrds "I IQve thee, LQrd Jesus," came sweetly were leading to. Russia. Qver the air, my thQughts went back to. the prayer cQnflic.t and I remembered the blasphemy Qne was This is the fact withQut gQing into. many re- lated questiQns. The type Qf RQmanism which WQnt to. hear frQm such statiQns three years ago.. fQr centuries had dQminated the land and which All are cQnscious Qf the marvellQus shift in the fQr gQQd reaSQns had fallen into disrepute, had winds in Mexico.. Heavenly breezes are taking prepared the SQil fQr the anti-religiQus sentiment the place Qf the deadly arctic blasts that had been that was nQW grQwing so. rapidly. This and Qther blQwing. NQwevery day brings fresh cQnfirmaquestiQns Qf a similar nature we will nQt discuss tiQns. DQQrs fQr the Gospel are Qpening so. rapidhere. ly that Christian wQrkers are nQt able to. enter them all. FurthermQre, we are seeing that all A grQUp Qf Evangelical pastQrs and missiQn- things wQrked tQgether fQr gQQd, God causing aries, deeply cQncerned, decided to. meet daily fQr prayer. FQr eight mQnths every mQrning at 6: 30 even the wrath Qf men to. praise Him. Unfruitful they literally bQmbarded Heaven. It was a tre- branches Qf Christian service in which there mendQus cQnflict waged in the heavenlies. There seemed to. be no. evidence Qf Divine life, were was no. mere saying Qf prayers-it was agQnized wiped Qut, and there has CQme a return to. vital intercessiQn; it was a case Qf thrQwing dQwn the evangelism. If we stand firmly with Chris,t and gauntlet to. the "prince Qf this wQrld," and then Qbey His cQmmand to. go. into. all the wQrld and fighting it Qut with his demQniacal fQrces; it was preach the GQspel, then when stQrms and flQQds wrestling with "principalities and PQwers" that CQme, Qur hQuse stands firmly Qn the Rock. prevail in this wQrld's darkness. The fQrces prQ- The shift in the winds is evident in a thQusand moting atheism were nOot merely gQvernment Qffi- ways. The head Qf the Bible SQciety tells me cials Qr a few radical members Qf cabinet; it was that they have just clQsed their best year. The nQt due Qnly to. the influence Qf Russia. Satan Y. M. C. A. has infQrmed me that they had never himself was marshaling his fQrces; the CQmmu- had such a fruitful year as the Qne just ended. nistic "ideQIQgia" was but an instrument in his Evangelical pastQrs, missiQnaries, cQlpQrteurs, hands. There was a feeling of QPpressiQn, SQme- deacQnesses, Christian wQrkers Qf every kind have . thing indefinable that stifled Qne's spirit. Only a new gleam in their eyes. Heavenly breezes are GQd CQuld turn the tide. FQr eight mQnths the blQwing. thrQne Qf GQd was besieged by this devQted and determined grQUp Qf intercessQrs. They felt them- It is true that missiQn schQQls, abQlished three selves whQlly dependent Qn GQd. He alQne CQuld years ago., are still clQsed, but Christian fQrces fQrmerly given to. educatiQn are nQW wQrking hurl back the infernal fQrces that were taking alQng definitely evangelistic lines, and WQuld nQt cQntrQI Qf the land. With dQgged persistence return to. the Qld Qrder if they eQuId.
they prayed and refused to. be discouraged. If the letter Qf the law is still in many respects [123 ]
unfriendly to the Christian Church, at least to the the winds of such a revival are now beginning to Roman Catholic Church, even here the law is be- blow no one can doubt. On all sides there are the coming more and more a dead letter. There is a fragrant heavenly breezes. Christian workers, new spirit abroad. Officials all over ,the land far from being discouraged, are on the march recognize the difference between Evangelical work with eager, wistful looks upon their faces. True, and the old Roman Catholic order. Though their the Roman Catholic Church has received a blow enmity to the latter, for reasons clear to even the from which she will never recover. But in her most superficial observer, is not abated, and prob- place the Sun of Righteousness is ari.sing with ably will not decrease, their friendly attitude to- healing in his wings. We covet the prayer of ward Protestants becomes ever more pronounced. Christian people everywhere that God may raise up laborers. "The harvest is plenteous but the To illustrate: For a year or more the Gospel laborers are few." has been preached in the Mexican Federal Prison. Then suddenly the door was closed. This led to a TO TRAIN MISSIONARIES TO MOSLEMS call to prayer that God who had opened the door would keep it open. After much prayer the case The Henry Martyn School of Islamic Studie'S was presented to the head of the Federal District, who expressed real satisfaction because of the One-seventh of the world's population is Moswork and iss.ued an order that the workers be per- lem. To lead a Moslem to Christ, without a knowlmitted to go ahead unmolested. Hundreds in this edge of the teaching and practices of Islam is like great prison have accepted Christ as their per- trying to lead a Jew to Christ, without having an sonal Saviour and are eagerly studying the Scrip- adequate knowledge of the Old Testament. But tures. how is the average missionary and Christian worker going to wade through the voluminous A recent experience with the firemen of the city writings of Moslem apologies and the replies by reveals the hunger in men's hearts for the Word Christian scholars to their declarations that the of God. A casual call at the Central Fire Station, Bible is corrupted, the Koran abrogates the Bible, with' a New Testament, elicited such a fervent Christ was a mere human prophet, Christ never response that in a short time Bible classes were died on the Cross, there is no need for the atoneorganized in all four stations. The chief, a thirty- ment, no resurrection occurred, and other obsecond degree Mason, was eager that his men jections? should be acquainted with the Bible. Some two hundred Testaments were given out and it was a One answer to this great need for a training joy to sit with these men about a great table in center for missionaries and Christian workers is their station library, and to read and expound the the Henry Martyn School at Lahore, opened in Word of God. Unfortunately, Police Headquarters 1930. It was appropriate that such a center are in the upper stories of the same building occu- should be opened in the Punjab in the heart of pied by the Central Fire Station. When the police eighty millions of Moslems. learned about the work among the firemen the result was a suspension of the Bible classes. As- The most remarkable feature of this School has surance has been given, however, that after the been the training of Moslem converts and Indian storm has blown over, the classes will be resumed. workers who have felt the call to bring the Gospel Not all depar,tments of the Government are aware to Moslems. Workers representing twenty-one of the shift in the winds, as this incident reveals. different missionary societies have already taken advantage of the course in Lahore, some having A mighty Salvation Army movement is under come from as far away as Kashgar, Chinese way in the Federal District, under the guidance of Turkestan and Inland China. ' the Spirit of God. The work was begun by a Mexican government inspector, who had found Twenty-seven Extension Courses have been Christ and began witnessing to the "down-and- conducted throughout the length and breadth of outs" of the worst section of the city. Without India, which mean that hundreds of Indian Chrisany knowledge of the Salvation Army, this con- tians have been given a new vision for work vert, Sr. Guzman, developed a work with an evan- among Mohammedans. gelistic emphasis even stronger than that which is found in the Salvation Army today. Sr. Guz- The School, with all its great opportunities, has man and a group of his Christian "soldiers" re- been threatened by the possibility of having to cently attended a Salvation Army Congress in close because of the lack of $2,500 required an- Atlanta, Georgia, where he received the Army flag nually for running expenses. Such a far-reaching from General Evangeline Booth herself, and was work run on such a small amount of money is officially adopted into the Army. remarkable; to close the school would be a catas- trophe.* The eight months of intercession had as one of its objects a spiritual revival in Mexico. That • Subscriptions may be sent to the Treasurer, The Henry Martyn School, 9 Masson Road, Lahore, India.
SYNOD OF THE PRESBYTE'RIAN CHURCH IN FORMOSA-1937
A Visit to Beautiful Formosa –eel I By REV. GEORGE H. WINN, Seoul, Chosen I )it- ~==========================~ A PORTUGUESE sea captain, beholding the Mackay. He was my interpreter for part of the beauties of the island, called Taiwan by the conference. Japanese under whose government it has We docked at a modern wharf at Keelung and been for forty years, exclaimed in Portuguese went to the home of Miss Adams in Tamsui, the Ihla Formosa – "Beautiful Isle" – and that has most beautiful of the Formosan mission stations.
since remained its English name. After Sunday at Tamsui we went on south to For many years we have desired to see For- Tainan by an all-day train journey to attend the mosa. As a little boy I had taken from my fa- conference of Christian workers. The Japanese ther's bookshelves the story of Dr. George Leslie train service is excellent and at numberless sta- Mackay's lif,e and had read it with interest, so it tions side lines branch off to huge sugar plan- was a great thrill to go to Formosa and there take tations.
dinner in the home of his son, the Rev. George Many pushcars are used where the energy is [125 ]
provided by two men who ride down hills and and the coffee bean grow in the mISSIOn comsometimes pole the car at five or six mnes an hour. pounds; at Tainan the compound contains many In addition to the coastal line on which we rode rose-apple trees from which they gain an income there was an inner parallel line through the moun- of about 200 yen. Brilliantly-colored wild shrubtains, but an earthquake damaged that line so bery abounds everywhere. Many of the mimosa greatly that s,eventy-five million yen would be have flowers of a greenish yellow, instead of the necessary to restore its tunnels and bridges. One pink to which we were accustomed; trees, similar train had just gone through a tunnel when the to the acacia in foliage, bloom in brilliant reds and earthquake came and destroyed the tunnel behind yellows. Banyan trees are common and at the it and the bridge ahead. Only this f'lpring, two railroad stations are trained and trimmed to spell years later, did they manage to get the train out out the names of the stations. of the predicament. The soil is exceedingly fertile so that two, and Water buffalo are everywhere in the rice fields; occasionally three, crops of rice a year are haras they plow and harrow, the driver pours water vested. Sugar cane is abundant, and the world's supply of camphor comes from Formosa. Bamboo is present everywhere, being planted around the villages to protect them from typhoon winds.
Many tons of bamboo are shipped to America. Coal is also abundant and petroleum, gold and silver are found.
At Tainan we had a unique experience-a ride in a bamboo boat. Some twenty large bamboo poles are bound together in a curved raft. With sails set, the raft slips along, the water rushing through the cracks from one en~ to the other. To keep passengers out of the water, tubs are pro- vided; and in them we sat high and dry with water all around.
In Formosa are the aboriginees of the moun- tains, driven there when the Chinese invaded the island some four hundred years ago. They are of Malay descent and were head hunters. The more civilized tribes remained in the nlains and intermingled with the Hakkas from China. The Amoy Chinese are the largest element of aU, and there are some 300,000 Japanese who have ruled the land for forty years, since the Treaty of Shi- monoseki. Our chief interest in the people was in their relation to Christ. There are four mission sta- tions, two in the north, two in the south. The Protestant church, mostly Presbyterian, numbers about 50,000, making one Christian in a hundred.
ABORIGINES AND AN EDUCATED FORMOSAN WOMAN The Roman Catholic group is very weak. The Presbyterian churches number about one hundred over the animal with a long-handled dipper. If and seventy, served by forty pastors. Although they are dry their skin cracks. Everywhere flocks graduates of the Theological Seminary are more of ducks with their keepers are to be seen wad- numerous than that, they must work on probation dling in the water along the roads, their keepers for three years, studying and taking examinations strolling after them in leisurely manner holding before they are ordained. No church is built exumbrellas aloft. It is amusing to observe the cept by approval of a committee of Presbytery haste with which the ducks automatically seek the who pass on plans and see if sufficient funds are side of the road at the sound of the honk of an available. The church is practically self-supportauto. ing and self-governing.
The island reminds one of Hawaii. The lux- The missionary conference had an attendance uriant flora of the tropics greeted the eye, and the of some 140 pastors and unordained. workers. The fragrance of the same flowers used for the Ha- latter are seminary graduates, largely young men waiian lei gr,eeted the nostrils. Banana, papaya and forward looking, with a zeal for Christ. It
A VISIT TO BEAUTIFUL FORMOSA
was a real inspiration to be with them for the a Women's School. Church Kindergartens have week. been added recently and are a powerful 'agency in linking the homes with the Church. The First church at Tainan has one of the best organized Sunday schools I have seen, made up Presbyterian missionary work in North Forof some four hundred children and young people. mosa is conducted from two centers, Taihoku and One hundred .of the young folk are .organized into Tamsui. The work in South Formosa is under preaching bands and go out from Sunday to Sun- the Presbyterian .Church of England. day to preach. There were five hundred Christians present at the morning worship service. The MacKay Memorial Hospital was built at Outside many stood around the doors and win- Taihoku to carryon medical work and is filled to dows, while others sat in the shade of the trees to capacity. There is a leprosy clinic for out-palisten. It was a well-dressed audience and seemed tients, closely identified with the Happy Mount largely composed of the business and professional Leprosy Colony. To the patients in every hosclasses, though some in coarse work clothes were pita;} department the story of Christ the Great not ashamed to come in with them. The singing Physician is made very clear. was hearty and accurate in pitch, and I was interested to note a blind man in front singing and General evangelistic work is carried on among following the service in the Braille. the Aboriginal tribes to build up an indigenous, self-governing, self-supporting and self-propa- The second service of the day, instead of being gating church. The native Christian churches at night was in the afternoon, at the Peaceful have their .own governing body, the North For- East Gate Church, which has a membership of mosa Presbytery, which, with that of the Presbyseven hundred. That service also was well at- terian Church of England in South F.ormosa form tended in spite of a heavy downpour. The pastor the Presbyterian Synod of Formosa. is a strong leader, a convert from the Plainsmen. The orderliness and quiet reverence of the wor- The evangelistic work is promoted byaggresship in that church created a truly spiritual at- sive teaching and preaching. A three-year movemosphere. ment was begun by the native Presbytery which seeks t.o quicken the whole church life through Let me tell the story of a Formosan magistrate. prayer, Bible study and various forms of service. He loved the savages and did his best to keep Revival services have been held by Evangelist them from coming down on head-hunting expedi- Dr. Sung of China. Thousands attended; huntions. They, on their part, respected him and dreds were converted and several hundred preachknew that he was a true friend. One day they ing bands were formed, the members pledging said they must have one more head for a great festival. In vain did the magistrate protest. themselves to testify to Christ at least once a Finally he asked whether they would make this week. Thus the whole spiritual life of the church their last such raid. They made an agreement to has been quickened. so do, so he said, "At early dawn I'll send a man dressed in red. Take him." Sure enough a figure The spirit of Christian youth in Formosa was in red appeared. He was shot and his head taken evident at the conference of 1936 when two hunin high glee, but soon their savage rejoicing was dred delegates, men and women, testified of their turned to mourning for they found that this man joy in Christian fellowship. The first Preachers' in red was none other than their best friend, the Wives' Conference of North Formosa was held in magistrate who had given himself for his people. Tamsui for three days, attended by forty-three The people saw the evil of their ways and re- preachers' wives. Definite w.ork among the pented. From that time head hunting has not women and girls of congregations was planned. been practiced. This man's stone memorial stands The Formosan Women's Missionary Society has at a spot near where he gave his life. now over 400 members and is actively interested in the work of the Bible women who receive excel- *** lent training in the Women's School at Tamsui.
PRESBYTERIAN WORK IN FORMOSA Japanese Government regulations n.ow require that all missionaries in Formosa use the Japanese Evangelical missionary work in North For- language instead of Formosan Chinese. This m.osa is conducted under the auspices of the Pres- change has placed a heavy load of language study byterian Church in Canada and has followed the on missionaries, but they are finding that the two general plan outlined by the pi.oneer missionary, languages will be of value in evangelism. Dr. George Leslie MacKay. He undertook to give the Formosans the best possible Christian educa- Changes in the educational situation have left tion in order to train them for life and service. our missionaries free to devote themselves to teaching the Gospel and training Formosans to There have been established a Boys' Middle carryon the work so that in time to come native School, a Girls' School, a Theological College and Christians may assume the responsibility of evan- gelizing their own people, and native homes will become centers of religious Ufe.
Situation in Soviet Russia*
By NICHOLASARSENIEV, Warsaw, Poland Professor of Theology in University of Warsaw .nA..NY investigation into the religious situ~tion accordingly. I.t seems as if events were pressing in Soviet Russia is met wth baffling difficul- towards a spiritual issue and this makes the pres- . ties, but in this intricate and seemingly ent moment a significant one from the religious confused panorama certain facts stand out clearly. point of view.
(1) There seems to be an increase of religious A Closer Survey of Facts feeling and of religious energy among the people. Possibly it is the manifestation of this, rather In spite of every eff.ort on the part of the Bolthan the feeling its·elf, that has increased. sheviks, it was found impossible to strangle all religious life by persecution. This very persecu- (2) Methods of anti-religi.ous propaganda' and tion has had the opposite effect and religi.on has, of religious persecution have, to a great extent, in many cases, been strengthened and driven more failed, and there is disappointment among Bol- deeply than ever into the lives of the Russian peosheviks as to the results of their struggle against ple. Every n.ow and again this religious convicreligion. tion seems to spread in ever-widening circles, sometimes among the most unexpected elements (3) The Bolsheviks had to adopt some changes of the population. in their handling .of the religious question. These changes are mainly of a tactical, not of an essen- Let me quote from an interesting article by E. tial character. Most of them are only means of Yaroslavsky, the leader.of the League of Militant concealing the real state of things. Alth.ough Atheists.1 In reply to his questi.on: "Who goes these "veils" or "screens" are transparently to church-people belonging to what strata of the clumsy they have proved effective, and friends of population ?" the following is the answer: the Soviet Government in foreign countries accept them, with no wish for further investigation. In At the factory Fmser (in Moscow) quite a number of other words, these changes (t.o a great extent only workmen are missing from work on church holidays. In fictitious) represent a policy of deceit, built on a the religious organizations of the province of Gorky (pregigantic scale and used by the Bolsheviks to mis- viously Nijny-Novgorod) four per cent of the presidents lead public .opini.on in foreign countries~ of parish councils are workmen. . . . There is a railway village, Kbstych, where 10,000 workmen live. Among the (4) Religious persecution c.ontinues in Soviet communists this village is known as the 'priest health re- Russia, although there are some changes in its sort,' more than fifty priests live there. In Petrozavodsk application. in the parish councils of the churches Onejskaya and Neglinskaya workmen predominate. Let us take the (5) In the main, the general picture .of the offi- Church of the Transfiguration in Irkutsk: there are, on cial attitude to religion in Soviet Russia is much the whole, 911 believers in the community, among them the same as it has been for five .or six years. The 866 women of whom 40 per cent work in factories. Ijevsk difference lies in the greater religious activity of is a factory town. In 1936 the local priest Pletzky was a the Believers and in the collapse of many of the former workman. . . .
methods of anti-religious propaganda. In the railway village D.oobliantchina, the The collapse of anti-religious propaganda, due church choir consists of fifty singers, many of to lack of c.ollaborators, becomes more manifest them young people; the majority are railway day by day. This, however, does not mean a workmen. In the village Ilovay-Rojdestvenskaya change in the attitude of the Government. One (near the station Brigadirskaya), inhabited string of its bow, that of anti-religious propa- mostly by railway workmen, the church has re- ganda, is broken, or rather damaged; ,the .other, cently been restored.2 The miners in the Donetz that of vi.olent destruction of church-buildings and district, having obtained from the authorities ma- objects of religious art and the putting to death terials for building their homes, handed them over of bishops, priests and many Believers, continues for the restoration of the churches and chapels.
to functi.on. Bolsheviks are realizing more and Children are again being baptized. Before the more the unabated power .of religion and hate it • Condensed from Wo.rld Domini,on (London), January, 1938. 1 Anti1"eZigiosnik, No.6, 1937. 2 Communist paper Goodok, quoted in the Warsaw paper Slo1}o, 28th August, 1937.
[128 ] entrance to dangerous coal mines public prayers The growth of religious life is especially conare said.3 spicuous in the country, notwithstanding the col- lectivization of the peasant classes. In collective There is a remarkable spread of religion among farms it is not uncommon to find priests celethe young people, who are especially the object of brating religious services in a barn or shed which anti-religious propaganda in Soviet Russia, and has been turned into a chapel.lO In the province even among the c.omsomoltzy (members of the of Nijni-Novgorod the peasants have started "con- Youth Communist League). The Review of the secrating" their huts, which means that they ask Youth Communist League, the Comsomole Truth, a priest to come and conduct a short service and gives a picture of the growth of religious feeling sprinkle the hut with "holy water." In some vilamong the young generation in the province of lages even the village authorities (themselves Voronej. The girls have founded a "secret mon- peasants, although members of the Communist astery"; fifteen girls from two kolkhose (i.e., col- Party) are being influenced by the general relilectivized villages) joined it immediately. Boys gious awakening and make no objection to and girls go to communion, are wedded in church processions or to public prayers being said churches, observe church fasts and religious rites. by the clergy in the village schools at the opening Young married couples baptize their children. In of the school yearY Church holidays – special spite of all this these young people continue to be Days to St. Nicholas, St. John, St. Peter, St. Paul, numbered among the Coms.omoltzy.4 St. Elija, and our Lady of Kazan, are celebrated by the peasantry, and especial reverence is paid The Bolshevic Review, Socialistic Agriculture, to the feasts of Transfiguration and Assumption. speaks of groups organized by the young people In the small town of Alexin (formerly province for the reading of the Bible.5 In the district of of Toula) religious funerals of the faithful take Zaslavsk (province of Vinnitza) three Comso- place. In the .community of Boorilovsk (district moltzy have signed the request for re-opening the of Efremov) numbering 1,300 inhabitants, all church.6 In Beresovsk very early in the morning families baptize their children, with the exception people may be seen gathering in a churchyard, of five or six.12 where priests are celebrating. (This means that there is not a church left in the locality.) The This enhancement of religious activity seems to Oural Workman writing of this adds: "It is sad be backed up and fostered, much against the aims that many young persons are in the crowd." In of the Bolsheviks themselves, by the new constithe province of Nijni-Novgorod the leader of the tution of Soviet Russia, passed in 1936, by which local board of instruction was entrusted with an the right of citizenship (i.e., the right to vote) investigation into the state of the schools. He has been restored to ministers of religion. The found that boys in primary and secondary schools Believers seem sometimes to consider these "conwere singing in church choirs. In smaller towns stitutional changes," which are meant, in the and villages schoolboys might be seen asking a main, to remain a dead letter, as something which clergyman's blessing when they met him in the might improve the religious situation in Russia. street. 7 In dealing with local authorities they often appeal to these changes, as giving them a new legal stand- A Bolshevik journalist, Kosharev, tells us in the ing. They sometimes feel sufficiently emboldened Soviet paper Pravda that the Comsomoltzy go to to present petitions to the Government for perchurch, are wedded in churches and baptize their mission to re-open churches. These petitions, acchildren: Soviet students take part in church cording to report, are signed, not only by members choirs in Penza and Ulyanovsk. At the thirteenth of "collective farms," but even, here and there, by Communist Party conference in Kiev much was members of the Communist Youth Organization. said about schoolboys and girls buying small icons and crosses in the churches. Yaroslavsky tells usS The review Antireligioznik13 tells us that the that in the Gorky province in twenty-two districts priests try to explain in their own way paragraph there are 182 members of church parish councils 124 of the New Constitution: of Comsomol age, that is, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Bishop Silvester was In many places, even in the province of Moscow, the recently arrested in Torjok. He had great in- faithful celebrated in the churches solemn services of fluence on the young people. As a protest against thanksgiving for the promulgation of the new Constituhis imprisonment some of the Comsomoltzy threw tion. In their sermons priests praised its authors and away their Communist certificates.9 expressed their gratitude to God. In the province of Yaroslav the peasants of the collective farms talk of the 3 Bolshevik paper Trood-. Compare Slovo, 5th and 12th September, necessity of re-opening churches,14 1937. 10 Slovo, 4th April, 1937. 4 Slovo, 3rd October, 1937. 11 The Bolshevic Review, Socialistic Agriculture, 1937. • Siovo, 10th October, 1937. 12 Antireligioznik, No.4, April, 1937. 6 Antireligiosnik, No.4. April, 1937. ]3 Antireligioznik, No.4, April, 1937. • Siovo, 6th June, 1937. 14 Socialistic Oulture, quoted in the paper Pravos/avnaya Russ, 8 Bolchevic, No.4, 1937. Vladimirovo Tchecho-Slovakia, 10th July, 1937. • Slovo, 5th September, 1937.
Even the village authorities are telling members of the The redoubling of persecution shows that these anti-religious propaganda movement that Believers and "friendly hints" fall on fruitful soil. The Soviet ministers of the cult are now in possession of the same Government can be thankful te these informers. rights as other citizens.15 We, too, have reason to thank them, for, through the rage and hate of these collaborators of the The movement for re-opening churches seems to spread Soviet executioners, out of those very reports through many parts of Russia. In the district of Zaslavsk which are meant to be weapons of persecution and three Comsomoltzy have signed a request for that pur- which have already sealed the fate of many bepose.16 lievers, how be;autifully there shines forth the religious fervor of the humble clergy and the The Meaning faithful people.
These reports are brought out as a charge It is interesting to note the response to the reagainst Believers. Names are given where they quests for the re-dpening of churches. There seem are available. The Bolshevik authorities will prob- to have been occasions when the results were faably see to it that such happenings shall not be vorable. The Kharbin papers contain the memrepeated, and that the persons in question shall oirs of a certain Mrs. Kravtchenko-Kostenko, who be punished. The following may be read, for in- left Soviet Russia in March of this year. She stance, as a distinct denunciation: tells of a terrible drought in the Volga region in – the summer of 1936. The people became restive The parish council of the church Neglinskaya (in Petro- and demanded the re-opening of the St. Elija zavodsk) has for its chairman the carpenter Kijin, a work- church in the town of Balashov. A petition was man from the Onega factory. The workmen Frolov and sent to Stalin himself who at once complied with Anookov are members of the same parish council. The the request by a telegram, being afraid (accordpresident of the parish council of the Zaretzkaya church ing to Mrs. Kravtchenko) of troubles among the is also a factory woman, Arifmetikova. We could quote peasantry. The general attitude of the Soviet many similar examples. . . . When a religious funeral of Government towards such questions, however, is a workman of the Onega factory took place, seventy-five clearly stated in a decree in the "religious" secworkmen of the factory were present. Neither party or- tion of the G.P.V., which alone has the authority ganization, nor Comsomol nor communist trade union cared to grant such petitions. Four requirements are in the least that church people should use the funeral of necessary for the re-opening of a church: (1) It a workman for a religious demonstration. must be proved that the people asking for this are politically trustworthy; (2) the church in ques- It would be astonishing if hints such as these, tion should not be situated within less than onegiven by spies of the Soviet Government, should quarter-of-an-hour's walk from the nearest school remain unnoticed by that Government. We may (this condition alone is enough to make all these be sure that the workmen of the Onega factory applications worthless); (3) there must be no had to pay dearly for their participation at a reli- "founded" objections from the local godless league gious funeral and in parish councils! 11 to the re-opening of the church!
The informer of the paper Ouralsky Rabotchy As to the promises of the new constitution, they says: are meant, to a large extent, to deceive public opinion outside Russia. The effect produced on This year the church "Fathers" have developed an un- Believers seems to have been unexpected by the precedented activity. In the district of Voroshilovsk, under Government. The religious tide has been strengthcover of "divine words," the papers are making counter- ened. That explains the cry of rage that fills the revolutionary propaganda against the most important Bolshevik periodicals for the year 1937 to a measures of the Government. In March of this year the greater extent than before. They are doing their priest Slavtza, of the church of Gorodistshe, threatened best to restore the balance, by redoubling the govfrom the pulpit those among the Believers who would allow ernmental support of anti-religious propaganda their children to be educated under atheistic teaching. on the one hand and by pursuing the line of phys- The sermon of the priest was directed against the Soviet ical suppression on the other. The reports in the methods of education. Bolshevik papers that we have quoted are pre- liminary steps pointing out the enemy to the In the village Lenktva the priest Kotchetkoff has com- authorities. The sequel is often exile or even the posed a special prayer for pacification of the church. The death-sentence for the victim. prayer was directed against the collective farms and tended to excite dissatisfaction against the Bolshevik au- Anti-Religious Propaganda thorities. This holy priest took special "care" of tlie atheistic youth. The activity of the priests does not limit The inner impulse of the anti-religious propaitself to the precincts of the church buildings. At the ganda movement is dying out. The breakdown of station of Oosolskaya men and women from the collective the Godless Movement is a fact to be reckoned farms may often be met, talking "peacefully" on religious SUbjects. In the village of Eskino the ex-priest gathers the people in the evenings in his room for prayer. (This means that the church has been closed and taken away from the Believers.) Every evening the singing of a choir may be heard from the house of this holy father.
Such information provides a most efficient and terrible weapon for the suppression of religion.
15 Socialistic AgricuUure, See Slovo,. 16 AntireZigiosni/(;, No.4, 1937. 17 Unhappily this proved to be true.
RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN SOVIET RUSSIA
with (the Godless policy of the Soviets, of course, on relentlessly? Here we come at last to the true still continues). In sixteen provinces of the Sovi~t nature of things.
Union the leagues of the Militant Godless have The Metropolitan Peter, the real lo.cum tenens ceased to exist. Some of them, before dissolving, of the vacant Patriarchal Seat of Russia, died last handed their archives over to the councils of reli- year in exile under terrible conditions. His lawful gious communities. The records of the atheistic successor, Metropolitan Cyrill of Kazan (ap- league of Vyshni-Volotchok, for instance, are in pointed twelve years ago by the Patriarch Ty- the custody of the local Evangelical community.l8 chon) is condemned to forced labor, which means The General Secretary of the League of the Mili- an awful death – slow, painful, in dirt, stench, tant Godless, Olestshuk, gives a survey of the state hunger, exhaustion and humiliation, eaten by ver- of utter decadence and inner dissolution of the min and covered by wounds and loathsome rags.
organizations throughout the country.l9 In Mos- What has become of the many bishops and in- cow there was not a single active godless member numerable thousands of priests and Believers still among the workmen of Moscow factories who in the labor camps (death camps would be a truer could be invited to take part in a conference dedi- description) of the G.P.U.? 24 A Bolshevik official cated to the problem of improving and heightening statement gives the figure of 9,126 "ministers of the activity of the League.2o cult" in these terrible camps of compulsory The Constitution and Religion work.25 This figure is clearly an underestimate: added to these there are numbers in exile in the The wording of the paragraph of the new con- wildest parts of northern Russia and Siberia. The stitution concerning religion runs as follows :21 destruction of churches continues. There was a In order to secure full freedom of conscience to the pause in the destruction of the well-known "Pascitizens of the Union of the Soviets, the Church is sep- sion Monastery" (Strastnoy) in Moscow, but it arated from the State and the School from the Church. has been renewed with energy.26 The famous The liberty of practicing religious cults and of anti-religious propaganda is vouchsafed to all citizens. Vydubitzky monastery near Kiev, dating from 1070, has been quite recently destroyed.27 During The former text (May,1929) stated that liberty the first half of 1937 no fewer than 612: churches was acknowledged by law to "religious confessions have been pulled down in Soviet Russia.28 Orders and anti-religious propaganda." The 1918 text have been given for the destruction of a further was worded, ". . . liberty of religious and anti- 2,900 churches and 63 monasteries.29 Many of the religious propaganda." It can be seen that there big towns have not a single church left.
is no vital difference between the texts of 1929 and A fierce campaign against the Orthodox clergy 1936, and we know that the quite liberal and tol- has resulted in many executions. In the rooms of erant wording of the 1929 text did not protect the former theological academy of Moscow a High Believers from the most atrocious treatment, it School for Atheistic Culture has been opened.30 merely served as a sort of screen to cover the in- In August, 1937, tWe'llty-nine clergymen were sencreasing religious persecution.22 tenced to death and shot in east Siberia. In Kras- noyarsk, as a penalty for influencing young peo- What guarantee is there that the nearly iden- ple towards religion, five Orthodox, three Roman tical text of 1936, restated solemnly as part of the Catholic priests and ten Baptists were sentenced new constitution, will make things easier? to ten to fifteen years in SovieJt concentration camps.31 Of greater interest are paragraphs 135 and 136, restoring the right to vote to the clergy.23 It is Where is the liberty, the tolerance, proclaimed our prayer that this will really mean an improve- by the Soviet Government? Let us try to sum up ment in the religious situation. A Christian's at- the religious situation in Soviet Russia in a few titude towards the Soviets depends ultimately on words. It is dark indeed, and stained-and sancthe latter's real (not fictitious) attitude towards tified-by blood and suffering, but there are rays religion. How can this "restoration" of clergy of hope. In God's good purpose there is a rising and Believers to the full right of citizenship (in tide of spiritual life in the country which has been passing, it may be remembered that this right strengthened by the very means destined by goddoes not mean very much in Soviet Russia) be less men to stamp i.t out. reconciled with the persecution of religion going 1.8 See the Bolshevik Review, Oommunist O,/Jtwre, Slow, 6th June, •• Descriptions of Ilfe In labor camps may be found in Prisoner ot 1937. the O.G.P.U., by George Kitchin (Longmans, London, 1935), and 19 Antireligiosnik, No, 7, August, 1937. AU8 dem Lande der Stummen, by Alexandra Anzerowa (Bresla.u, 2Q See Slovo, No. 37, 1937. 21 Paragraph 124. Bergstadverlag, 1936). 25 S. B. Sove, Die Orlhodoxe Kirohe in Sowjetrubkf,nd und in der 22 See my article in the German Cathollc monthly Hoohland, seP- Emig,ration (Eine Heilige Kirohe, 1937, Heft 1/3). tember, 1936. 26 Slovo, 30th May, 1937. 23 The text of paragraph 135 runs: "All the citizens of the U"S.S.R., 27 SZOvo, 18th April, 1937. 28 Dei,. Riell. Komme, September, 1937. having attained the age of eighteen, have, independently of their 29 La Libre Belgique, 3rd July, 1937. race, nationaIlty, confession, and social origin, the right to partake 30 Prawslavnaja Rus8, 25th September, 1937. at the elections of deputies and can themselves be elected, with the at. Slo1)o, 19th September, 1937. exception of lunatics and of persons who have been condemned by Tribunal to be deprived of right of election."
A Trip into Closed Afghanistan*
A Vacation Trip with the Expedition of the American Institute of Iranian Art and Archteology, Visiting Meshed, in Southeastern Iran, and Visiting Herat, in Afghanistan By the REV. J. CHRISTY WILSON, D.D., Tabriz, Persia Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A ..
W E LEFT Meshed in the afternoon and Afghanistan, it would no doubt be a most difficult drove 150 miles to the Iranian border cus- and, at first, a field of very small apparent results. toms at Yusephabad. The director of cus- When the changes come, however, which have so toms was a former student of the Alborz College affected other Moslem lands and are bound sooner in Teheran. A concrete monument marks the or later to reach Afghanistan, it would be won- boundary of Iran and Afghanistan. derful to have Christian representatives already The border post is at Islamgaleh, where our established on the ground.
passports were inspected. Everyone speaks Per- The head of the national hospital told me that sian but Pushtu has recently been made the official there are only two qualified doctors and several language. others with some little private training for a city After leaving the border, we followed a made 60,000 to 75,000 inhabitants. This doctor promroad with crushed stone surface, but in places ised to invite Dr. Hoffman, in Meshed, or Dr. heavy sand had drifted over the highway. The Cochran to come to Herat to consult on the build- Afghan legation in London had warned Mr. Pope ing of a new government hospital. This may dethat it might be best to avoid night driving, but velop into an opportunity for establishing close we were overtaken with darkness in the desert relations between the medical work of our mission and drove on for about two hours to Herat. The· in Meshed and Afghanistan. distance from the border post to Herat is about The fabulous country of Afghanistan is very eighty miles. We were entertained at the hotel operated for foreigners by the Afghan Govern- much like Iran of yesterday. The men all wear white turbans, with one end dangling down the ment. There is entirely a different spirit among the back or over a shoulder, which caused my servant, Ali, to remark, "It appears that all the men are people of Afghanistan from that which we see in mullahs up here." We found that roving bands Iran today. All the enthusiasm for the new and novel and for progress is lacking, except in a few of Afghan raiders are not fiction, for there was a wounded Iranian officer at Turbat-i~Sheikh Jam individuals. There seems to be great religious conservation and fanaticism. The women are who had received a long bullet wound through the upper part of his led in a fight near the border on tightly veiled in costumes that were prevalent in Iran thirty or forty years ago. ,.Some of the the previous day. We fitted one of the spring beds in the back of our truck as a hospital cot, with women wear white or colored "charshabs" in the street, though the majority are black. When we plenty of mattresses and quilts, so that he could lie down at full length. We had come up in three were taking pictures from the roof of the J ami' Mosque men were sent ahead to cry out a warning . and a half hours, but it took six on the return trip lest by chance there should be women in some with our wounded officer. The road was rough, and even with careful driving it must have been near-by yard who might be seen even from such a painful trip for him, though he said he was very a distance by our profane eyes. comfortable, and expressed his appreciation to I gave out a few Christian tracts and Gospels, Donald Wilber and me by drawing us down to his where there was evident desire for them. Should an opening come for the missionary occupation of bed, after we had delivered him safely to the mili- tary hospital in Meshed, and giving us each a re- • Condensed from The Presbyterian. sounding kiss.
[ 132]
New Outlook·in
By ALEXANDER McLEISH, London, England Survey Department of the World Dominion Press A RECENT visit to India and careful study of foreigner will come into right relationship with the work of many missions has produced his Indian brethren. Almost any work can be some strong impressions concerning. the carried on which the group agrees to do; there mIssIOnary situation. Just at a time when the is practically no limit to its possibilities. In view response to the Christian Gospel is at its greatest of the great incompleted evangelistic task before the missions are hard pressed to maintain the us every talent can be pooled and utilized.
work. The additions to the Evangelical Christian The need of India must be approached realisti- community are between 200,000 and 250,000 a cally. At this stage of the Christian enterprise, year, and the problem of shepherding them, train- for the foreigner to repeat the experience of the ing pastors and teachers, and pressing forward pioneers of 120 years ago and to bury himself in to meet ever-increasing opportunities for evan- an unevangelized area, as if there was no heritage gelism, is increasingly difficult. There are prob- of the Christian faith and experience in India ably not less than 4,000,000 Evangelical Chris- upon which the newcomer could build, seems to tians in India today, and the witness of many of many observers a foolish policy. Every newcomer .these is the main factor in the great increase of should surely become fully aware of this accumu- the Christian community. This fact must greatly lated experience, and should not repeat the mis- affect all future missionary policy. takes of the past, nor neglect the opportunities Our objective is the evangelization of all India, that have opened on every hand.
and in this the individual Christian witness has To adjust oneself to a new outlook may be diffiproved the most potent factor. It, therefore, must cult, but it must be done if we are to preserve be our great aim to make that Christian witness precious lives and to utilize aright the financial more effective. How can this be made effective? resources, acquired with difficulty. There is great The first necessity is the organizing and equip- waste of both these resources today in India; ping of the Indian Church as the primary evangelizing agency in its own land. In this the for- there is a call for collective action on the part of eigner need no longer take up alone pioneer work missions in dealing with the opportunities and which can be better done by the Indian himself or needs of their respective areas, and for the estab- through effective cooperation with Indian work- lishment of a new relationship on terms of equal- ers. The missionary has the more difficult work ity with Indian fellow workers. Workers of the of undergirding the Indian Church, contributing type who could fulfil this position, do exist but, to tasks still beyond its power, such as the train..: for the most part, they are not being effectively ing of pastors and teachers, the support of pioneer used by missions. Many are working "on their evangelists, and all that will help the Church to own," or have gone into secular professions and discharge its evangelistic task as effectively as business. Meanwhile missions employ workers possible. All this the foreign mission can do with- on srnall salaries, who are not the best kind of out pauperizing or destroying the self-respect of leaders for the Christian community which they the Church and its leaders. serve. There is no solution to this situation from There are many young people who feel the the point of view of the mission; the true solu- claims of the Indian mission field today. The diffi- tion is to accept the viewpoint of the Indian culty in regard to these is to know. what to advise. Church which in these matters must be served by Some things stand out clearly. The first is that both Indian and European in full and generous any new work should be done in cooperation.with cooperation.
Indian leaders of the right stamp. Everywhere Experience has shown that a Church built up by ashrams, or brotherhood fellowships, are spring- foreign effort remains an exotic or conglomerate ing up, and this is one of the ways in which India entity which fails to fit into the community life.
herself is pointing to the solution of co-working Further, continued foreign control of the grow- with the foreigner. The ashram, or fellowship ing Church is unhealthy. All this denotes that team work, insures from the beginning that the there is need to revise our policies and ask whether [133 ]
the mission-centric plan of work is wise and in complete fellowship with them. Only in this whether we can find a better way. I am convinced way can the great and growing response to the that there is a better way, more difficult certainly, Gospel be met. yet the only way to build the Church of the future in India. An example of what is here urged can be found in the work of the Diocese of the Bishop of Dor- There is in India an average of only nine mis- nakal where a large Indian staff under Indian disionaries to each 1,000,000 people in India, and rection works with a few Europeans who do just there are as a result great unoccupied fields con- that special kind of work for which they are spetaining many millions of people. There are 670,- cially fitted, namely, training teachers and pastors 000 villages, of which Chdstians certainly cannot for the Church of the future. There are other be found in more than 70,000. These many vil- examples Of the new order in India, but they are lages can never be reached by foreign enterprise; it is, therefore, imperative that plans be made de- a still all too few. Qld traditions and practices are liberately to reach them through the Indian Church. The task at the moment is to find Indian dying slowly, but new day has dawned on the leaders and to associate with them kindred spirits Christian enterprise in India, and it behooves us from Christian lands who will be prepared to work to realize this and plan our part as foreign mis- sion workers in the evangelization of that great continent in a new spirit and with a new humility.
Rethinking Missions With Moslems -e{ I By S. NEALE ALTER, Hama, Syria (1921-) I ~.- ~==========================~ ONE of the great ancient Greek philosophers social, political and industrial tenets, must bring has given us the three steps for rethinking. all people into the Christian fold by a strong These are: careful statements of a thesis, world-wide missionary propaganda. By this the- the antithesis, and the synthesis. Following these sis Christianity makes a direct antagonistic attack three steps we shall state briefly the thesis for on Islam. This attitude has been justified by the missions during the last century, the antithesis following claims: to this from the point of view of the thoughtful First, the only true form of monotheism is Moslem and finally we shall consider a new syn- found in Christianity – unity in Trinity. The thesis of missions to Islam. When one attempts to "rethink missions" with monotheism of Judaism is considered inferior be- cause too primitive, while the monotheism of Moslems one needs to take into account the atti- Islam is judged to be a perversion of that of tudes and opinions of Moslems who really do some ,Judaism and Christianity and therefore even less genuine thinking. While these represent less than tenable. two percent of the Moslems at present, they are the ones who will determine the future course of Second, Christianity claims to possess the one Islam. The unthinking masses do not acknowl- and only doctrine which guarantees salvation from edge that there could be any true thesis for Chris- sin and entrance into Eternal Life. This doctrine tian missionary work among Moslems, and a new has been developed by the Christian Church and synthesis would be considered as the rankest form reduced to creeds.
of heresy-a compromise with the devil himself. Third, modern Western civilization is held to With the thinking Manodslepmr,esheonwtsevaern, the situation be superior to all others, and is a direct result of is quite different encouraging Christianity. This civilization has usually in- challenge for both missionaries and Moslems to cluded the political, social and industrial orders do some real rethinking, preferably in joint con- current in the countries from which missionaries ferences. are sent. Western civilization is introduced by The Thesis; In brief the Christian thesis for promoting modern education and by supplanting missions to Islam has been somewhat as follows: the less ideal social, industrial and political orders, Christianity being the only true religion, holding by those prevailing in the West. The expansion of the one true form of monotheism, possessing the Christian political and industrial imperialism of one true doctrine of salvation and having superior the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have
RETHINKING MISSIONS WITH MOSLEMS
made this claim seem to be important in the eyes on a much higher plain of physical, cultural and of the "sending groups." spiritual well-being than similar workers in the Moslem Near and Far East, but that Western in- Fourth, the Christian Church, as an institution, dustrialism, democracy and culture are the endeavors to absorb into itself all people of the panacea for all the ills of mankind, the thoughtful world. The great weakness to this project has Moslem is no longer as naive and ready to accept been the fact that there have been so many com- this claim as he was twenty-five years ago. The peting forms that the Church has taken. Each thoughtful Moslem will continue to look West inbranch of the Church shows an unwillingness to stead of East for material inspiration but he is make serious modifications in its particular doc- not willing to accept everything without many trines and forms of worship. As numerical gain serious reservations and modifications. has been too often considered as the measuring rod for success; different missions have even Thoughtful Moslems also disagree with the often been in strong competition with each other, claim that Western civilization is entirely the reand with the national faiths of other Christian sult of the Christian religion. They claim that groups among whom they were working. many factors, such as modern science, secular edu- cation, mechanical inventions, imperialism, and Fifth, the claims as to Jesus have often made it change of itrade routes, have also played very im- portant parts in Western progress. necessary for a convert to accept all the implica- The fourth claim that the Christian Church tions, interpretations and creedal statements of should absorb all the people of the world is rejected since the thoughtful Moslem sees little the particular sending group. It was seldom that evidence of its realization. He makes serious objections to the results which he sees in the even minor modifications were permitted among effect of absorption on some of the individuals who have been taken into the Christian Church. new Believers. . But to the claim, that one must accept the his- The Antithesis to this thesis for missions, torical creedal statements about Jesus, the brought by modern thoughtful Moslems may be thoughtful Moslem takes the greatest exception. stated as follows: Moslems claim that the Chris- Missionaries go to Moslems to make Jesus Christ tian form of monotheism is not superior to all known to those with whom they come in contact. others but that their simpler form is better. In There is no greater need than this since Moslems fact many thinking Moslems feel that many do not really know the Jesus as He is revealed in Christians believe in three Gods, since it is diffi- the Gospels. The statements in the Koran about cult to recognize their complicated belief in the "Aisa" are often far from correct. Trinity as true monotheism. Thoughtful, well informed Moslems do, however, recognize that many After coming into contact with missionaries Protestants hold a true monotheism. Some even who make Jesus Christ known, many thoughtful go further and acknowledge that the modern Prot- Moslems are willing to correct the false historical estant conception of monotheism would have a statements of the Koran and accept the Gospel good influence on Islam, since it would vitalize rather than the Koran as the true history. Also the austere desert deism of Islam. But most Mos- many are willing to admit that Jesus Christ must lems would prefer austere deism rather than any- have a superior place to Mohammed, and some are thing that seemed to them to be a compromise even willing to accept Him as offering the true with polytheism. way of salvation, but they reject some of the dog- matic interpretations that do not seem to be . As to the second claim that Christians have the proved conclusively in the Gospels. Koranic interonly true doctrine of salvation, the. reply is that pretation has become such a fine art that those life in all its fulness of past, present and future skilled in tafseer can prove anything by an appeal cannot be reduced to any short dogmatic formula. to the Koran. When a thoughtful Moslem has Islam claims to have reduced this process to the given up these interpretations he is not anxious minimum in teaching that one may obtain salva- to accept a new set of interpretations that seem tion simply by repeating with serious intent the to him to be speCUlative. formula, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet." When Christians pre- The Synthesis. We can only point out a few sent to thoughtful Moslems a new set of dogmatic observations as to factors which must be taken formulas, they do not receive a very enthusiastic into account in a new synthesis. response. Dogmatics have ceased vitally to interest them. First Islam should not be classed with poly- theistic heathen religions but should be recognized To claim that Western civilization is superior as one of the great monotheistic faiths. The task to all others, thoughtful Moslems reply that there of the missionary is not to destroy such faith but is no objection to the claim that modern medicine is much superior to the quack practices of Moslemsheikhs, and that the agricultural and industrial methods of the West enable workers to live
"to fulfil" on any and all occasions. Moslems who club. A true synthesis takes into account all the come into contact with him on the basis of under- facts and issues or difference between the two standing, impartial research, and good-will should points of view, in order to see where these differ- not be pressed into a new spiritual bondage of ences may be brought into agreement without dogmatism, but should be brought into the fuller sacrificing the truth or essential issues; finally liberty of Christ. the purpose is to make a clear statement of the Second, Christian missionary methods should essential variations which cannot be brought into avoid controversy as far as possible; instead there agreements. The new synthesis will thus show should be direct, simple and positive presentation that Christianity and Islam have many very vital of the Scriptural message of Jesus Christ, relating differences, such as the austere desert deism as it to modern life. We should emphasize beliefs contrasted to Jesus' teaching of the Fatherhood and practices which Christians and Moslems hold of God. To recognize such a vital difference is not in common and be tolerant in matters where we sufficient to clear ,:pp the issue, since there are do not agree. Anyone familiar with Islam will some who will choose the austere deism, just as realize that there are many differences of opinion there are those who choose to live in the desert and that there is not much danger of compromise. rather than among the most beautiful gardens.
Third, Christians should cease to measure suc- Islam also differs from Christianity in that cess in terms of numbers brought into the church. Islam knows practically nothing of that spiritual It may be better to make it difficult for a Moslem freedom which we have in the Gospel of Jesus to make a formal break with his own community Christ. The spirit-controlled life is of more im- in order to join the Christian community. This portance than assent to dogmatic creeds or ritual- might be done not by placing obstacles in his way, istic deeds performed to obtain merit. Moslems but by placing the responsibility for such a break have much to learn in this respect from the life on those who wish to make the break with Islam. and teaching of Jesus Christ. Moslems should This policy may seem to some missionaries un- recognize that there is a very vital connection be- fair, since there are already so many difficulties tween the high ethical demands of the Gospel of for a convert, but this course would avoid many Christ and the cultural and educational develq,p- of the unfortunate situations which now arise. ments in the West. For instance modern science Such an announced policy would also go far to- demands an honesty similar to that required by wards eliminating the misunderstandings with Jesus. Satisfactory government administration thoughtful Moslems over the matter of proselytiz- and international relationships, which are so de- ing from their group. This might also lessen the pendent on right attitudes towards others, un- prejudice against Christian missions. selfishness, brotherhood, and truthfulness, cannot Fourth, we should allow the freedom provided be developed by ,the compromising ethics of Islam.
for in the New Testament to every Mosle.m who Christian nations have only partially realized this is willing to extend a fraternal spiritual fellow- fact since they still use the same compromising ship to Christians. At present Jesus and Mo- ethics as those taught by Mohammed.
hammed are in direct competition, and Islam has But the greatest difference between Christianity developed a system of dogmatics regarding Mo- and Islam is in the Way of salvation. Islam de- hammed which is similar to the historic dogmatic pends almost entirely on the formal acceptance of theology of the Church. A thoughtful Moslem dogmatic creeds, and the performance of meri- who has recently rejected these dogmatic claims torious deeds prescribed in a ritual. Islam knows for Mohammed is not usually prepared to accept little or nothing about those deeper spiritual reali- without question a new set of dogmatic theological ties of salvation secured through Jesus Christ statements. Yet many wish to accept Jesus as the which offers the abundant life here and hereafter.
New Testament reveals Him. An Indian Moslem A new synthesis will make this difference more is reported to have said: "India wants your clear to all.
Christ but not your Christianity." Many thought- A comprehensive synthesis, such as is here sug- ful Moslems are anxious to enter that spiritual gested, will require time. Conferences are needed fellowship in Jesus the Christ, but do not want between spiritually minded, thoughtful Christians the trappings of Western doctrines and practices. and Moslems who are willing to do good, honest Fifth: When we speak of a new synthesis of rethinking, instead of merely rationalizing and missions to Islam, we do not mean a compromise seeking new defenses for their much loved and in which we attempt t~ bring the truths of the honored dogmas which may no longer offer a vital thesis and the antithesis into acceptable agree- way of life. Such a synthesis has become a vital ment, as is the case often in the political sphere. necessity in order that we may find and keep a Neither can we "soft-pedal" differences and imi- vital reality, in regard to life and faith, in the tate the "hail-fellow-well-met" spirit of the Rotary face of modern materialism.
Post Office Christian
-01§{ I By REV. B. G. LOVELACE, General Secretary, London 1}!Ie– W HAT is the P.O.C.A.? It is a work built men and women gather to hear the heaven-sent up step by step thrDugh over fifty years, message from men of God. Here, toO', pDstmen a WDrk begun and continued in God, and have come for rest and refreshment, specially set having but Dne aim, to' extend His Kingdom and apart for their use. The ,testimony of one was: glDrify His Name. "If it were not for this place I should gO' to' the *** public-house or sit on the curb." Weekly meet- ings drew many, and as the men passed on to In the year 1875, Miss Annie Hodgkin, then a other districts and others took their place, numyoung girl, was staying at BDurnemDuth, and be- bers were blessed. Times have changed; the postcame interested in the work of Miss Whiteway, men nDW having better duties, the rest rooms are who sought to help policemen and postmen by no longer needed, but the meeting room remains, means of Christian literature sent through the and there the weekly Prayer Meeting still holds post. Four years later Miss Hodgkin, with her its own. Again and again have the prayers offamily, settled at Surbiton, and there this interest fered there been abundantly answered. was deepened. She tried to touch the postmen of Kingston in the same way, also arranging meet- A worker in the Central Telegraph Office, Lonings for them, and fDllowed up these efforts with don, was so moved by the daily life testimony of practical interest. This small beginning proved a colleague, herself a P.O.C.A. member, that he to be the start Df a life-work. was led to make the great surrender, and ere long the purpose was formed to devote his life to the Another seed was in preparation. In Central telling forth of the Glad Tidings. He came into London a group of Post Office men were keenly the work as Home Evangelist, and is, after but a feeling the need of the deepening of their own few years in the Baptist ministry, with us today spiritual life and fuller facilities for helping their as General Secretary, and, with all his knowledge colleagues in things spiritual. To this group came of official life behind, has from the first proved tidings of the work at Kingston. They got into indeed to be sent of God. As Home Evangelist, touch with Miss Edmonstone, who had taken up Mr. LDvelace was able to' make tours and open up the work, and together they planned in the Lord. many Provincial Offices. This was the definite start of the Association as such. Two simple aims were: Other activities multiplied. Miss Edmonstone was led to ask for the use of a rODm for work 1. To band together in prayer and fellowship amDng the boys of the Savings Bank Department. the Christians of the Service; The Ladies' Branches also came intO' being, for soon the Money Order, Returned Letter, Clearing 2. To seek to win their fellow-workers for House, and later on the Telephone Departments Christ.
The P.O.C.A. has never swerved from loyalty had each their Dwn branch.
to the whole truth of God as set forth in the Scrip- At one of the early meetings at Kingston-on- tures; the Word of the Cross has ever been its Thames a member prayed fDr God's biessing on final ultimatum. *** the work in its beginnings and that it might grow and spread all over the world. This prayer was The work marvellously grew. An Institute was never forgotten, and was destined to be wonder- opened in London and found its home in one build- fully answered.
ing after another, until it finally settled at the India-To the meetings for the ladies of the present Headquarters, 62, Bartholomew Close, Savings Bank came, among others, one whose which have been occupied for some twenty-five heart was already Christ's, and who soon became years. There in narrDW and sDmewhat dark a staunch member Df the branch and a help in rooms the light of God shone, and memories of seeking others. The desire for missionary service hallowed hours spent there are still precious. To- was born, and at a Keswick Convention, where day, "62~' has become a familiar password. Here she was Dne of a P.O.C.A. party, Miss Hale of- counsel has been sought and counsel given; here fered herself to God f.Dr work abroad. Ih the [137 ]
meantime, the prayer seed had been maturing the work. Time fails to tell of the sacrificial givin another direction. Some members in Dublin ing, of the P.O.C.A. Boat, and of the souls and Belfast had been travailing in prayer for reached. Now other workers have gone out; India, and through their gifts and initiative, first Bible classes are held, a Gospel paper is circulated a Gospel paper was started and then a native widely, correspondence is largely used, and the evangelist appointed to work in the Post Offices Scriptures are distributed. of Ceylon. It was not long before Madras was touched, then the Punjab, Calcutta and Bombay. South America – A young girl, entering the The work of the evangelist at Gujerat revealed office, was invited to a P.O.C.A. meeting. Brought the need of a lady worker for the families of offi- up in a Christian home, its godly influence was cials, and at a Keswick Convention the call came with her, although as yet religion had not seemed to a P.O.C.A. worker who was at the time Hon- very attractive. But she accepted the invitation, orary Secretary for Belfast. She went out to and at one of the first meetings the message of the India the same year. We have now besides, a na- friendship of J~sus Christ so came home to her tive worker, Mr. Mathews in the South, and a that she received Him as Saviour and before long Gospel paper, "Bright Echoes," is circulated the desire for service in the regions beyond was through the country. implanted. South America became the object of. her prayers and Miss Goldsmith had the definite Japan-Some years before Miss Hale's call to call to South America. She went out, and has India, Japan was touched with Gospel literature labored there now over twenty years, editing the through the voluntary work of missionaries of paper "EI Correo," a magazine for Spanish-speakother Societies. At present advance is greatly ing countries, aided and encouraged by her husneeded, and will be made as funds and helpers are band, Mr. Curtis. Through the influence of their given. The Savings Bank had given of their best work, branches have been started in Brazil and for India, the P.ostal and Telegraph Staffs were Mexico, helped by voluntary workers in those to point the way to China, and eventually to send parts, and Peru and Venezuela are also being also from their ranks to that country. touched in a similar way.
China-At a time when there was no effort for A Postmaster in North Argentina noticed a China, suddenly one day a Scotch postman sent little packet of "Correo," the P .O.C.A. Gospel "Ten shillings for China." "After many days" paper, in his office. Attracted by the name, which this little seed bore fruit. The need was contin- means "The Gospel Mail," he opened the paper, ually remembered before God at the Central and for the first time in his life he read of the Prayer Meeting and by many interested else- Good Tidings of life. It awoke in him a deep where, and prayer was answered in a remarkable thirst for further light, a Bible was obtained, Gosway. pel meetings attended, and finally the man became a sincere follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hard At the time of the Boxer troubles the Empress by his office he built a little preaching hall as a of China had a telegram sent all over her empire, token of his gratitude to God for the blessing rethe wording of which was as follows: "The for- ceived, and there he conducts a Sunday School and eigners must be killed, the foreigners retiring other meetings. must still be killed." This telegram fell into the hands of two telegraphists, not Christians, whose South Africa-The Provincial Branches were hearts were so touched with the desperate plight slowly increasing, and a good deal of spade and of the foreigners that they put the word "Pro- trowel work had been going on. One member tected" for the word "Killed." Swiftly the mes- spent his holidays touring "on the wheel" on besage ran over the wires from town to town: "The half of the work; another visited Germany, which foreigners must be protected, the foreigners re- was opening up. This work was shared by the tiring must still be protected." Before the mis- Scattered Branch, which came to include members take was noticed hundred~ of lives were saved. not only in the then United Kingdom, but also in The story quickly spread to England, and it came many Colonies and Dependencies. The South Afas a challenge to the P.O.C.A. to send the Gospel rican Branch grew out of the Scattered Branch. A to their Chinese colleagues. Prayer became more member up-country wrote telling of the deep need definite, and when the Chinese Imperial Post Office of himself and those working with him for spirwas established it was felt that the time was ripe itual help. "I have longed," he wrote, "to live as for a start. It was arranged to send out Bibles a Christian should, but the life here is deadly and Testaments to all the Post Offices in China, monotonous; the loneliness of the veldt has got then numbering only 1,000, with greetings from into my soul." A seed of longing desire from a their comrades in this country. The response was troubled heart became the means for a definite so wonderful that Mr. James Heal, then of the work in South Africa, and another life was sur- China Inland Mission, was led to give himself to rendered that the purposes of God might not fail.
THE POST OFFICE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
Mrs. Goslin, of the South African General Mis- have heard the call of God and put themselves at sion, gave herself for this work. With Cape Town His disposal, to witness and serve while still as a centre, touch was soon made with offices and carrying on the daily round. The Association calls individuals up and down the country, and today loudly today for more such surrendered lives. many are blessing God for the P.O.C.A. in their What could not be done if God had such a witness midst. The present Hon. Secretary, Miss Findlay, and one or two of the first members are still in every Post Office in the land? * among the chief helpers. A Post Office influenced for Christ is not only a Egypt-The work in Egypt, where an Arabic receiving station but a distributing centre. So paper circulates, began with a few scattered mem- often the life of a little community in various bers, and now reaches Post Offices in a fairly wide countries centers around the Post Office. The area and numbers many members. On one occa- work of the P.O.C.A., which commenced over fifty sion the village postman took Mr. Upson to see years ago, has now become world-wide in its the Postmaster. For a long time after supper scope. Every fresh advance has been born in they discussed the Gospel, and finally the Post- prayer and its foundations laid in the distribution master brought his family for evening worship. of the Word of God. Thus country after country has opened to the work through its missionaries Europe-In Europe we have the same story to and workers, and Gospel magazines are regularly tell; the seed of prayer sown and the purpose of distributed to postal officials in over thirty-three God worked out through those whose hearts were countries. At the present time the response from touched to respond to the call. The work in Italy inquiring souls is growing greatly and the hand arose through the prayers of a Scotch postman, of God is upon work and workers in manifest and and the first year's issue of the quarterly Gospel growing blessing. It would be of strategic impaper was made possible by the gift of a whole portance for the Kingdom of God if He graciously year's rise of salary by a lady in the service. This raised up a fellowship of service among the Post work showed the best method of touching other Offices of the United States on behalf of the great European countries, i.e., through Gospel papers work yet to be done among Post Office employees specially prepared and distributed widely through throughout the world in leading them to a living the post. France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Ice- faith in Christ. In some instances this work is land, are all reached in this way. One other line being done on virgin soil as in Portuguese Guinea, of work used is the distribution of the Scriptures; Goa, and Timor, where there is neither missionthese have been widely circulated in Russia, and ary nor Christian missionary work of any kind. are still being given in Esthonia. In the Euro- Yet the post is wide open, and this constitutes not pean work every fresh country entered has been only ari opportunity but a challenge. Each of our the result of some individual appeal for prayer Gospel magazines contains an offer of a free copy for an open door in the land. of the Scriptures, and in this way contact has been made with thousands of men and women in the There remains much land to be possessed. The Post Offices which has led many of them to faith perusal of even one copy of the "Quarterly Mail," in Christ. the official organ of the Association, will show the world-wide nature of its activities. Very early in MISSIONS AS A OAREER its history John Wes'ley's motto, "The world is my parish," was adopted, and today the P.O.C.A. Charles M. Sheldon, the author of "In His Steps," tells is working in every continent. For many years the Society was known as the International Postal, of a university class reunion, where one alumnus asked: Telegraph and Telephone Christian Association, the present title having been more recently "How do you account for Manley's going as a missionadopted as more concise. ary? He was the most intellectual and brilliant man in *** our class. Now it has been years since I have heard of It will be evident that such a work as here described could not have been maintained by the him. Poor fellow! A great career lost!" Service alone, unless by support from a very large percentage of its members. The Christian public The speaker was the head of a corporation and had has greatly helped, and their gifts and interest have been a distinct boon. And this is not out of spent all his life since graduation in piling up money. His the way, for does not the Post Office serve all? 'And any Gospel work on a sound basis will appeal companion, a distinguished journalist, replied: "I have a to the people of God. letter here from Manley enclosing a little circular. His There have been and still are Christians who work includes a great hospital for surgical cases; a preaching circle of fourteen stations and outstations; a publishing house that ranks among the first in the East, and a boys' training school with an attendance of 500 students. He has twenty-seven assistant workers in vari- ous departments." The big businessman replied: "I apologize to Manley; I did not know what a great career a modern missionary has. By the side of it my own is small." -Watchman-Examiner.
• Gifts for the work should be sent to the General Secretary, the Rev. B. G. Lovelace, Post Olllce Christian Association, 62, Bartho- lomew Close, London, E. C. 1.
Mission Appeals
By the REV. H. KERR TAYLOR, D.D., Nashville, Tennessee Foreign Missionary Educational Secretary, Presbyterian Church in the United States W HETHER we now call it "Foreign Mis- ", sions," or "International Christianity," or quaintance with religious and mission matters is "World Christian Community," or just the quite aware of this. Kingdom of God, our problem remains to raise the eyes and the interest of Christians at home to the If, however, we are convinced of the integrity outlying, less-favored areas of the world that of the missionary enterprise, what remains in the know not the Good News of the incarnation of light of changed conditions, of our missionary the Son of God. Certainly for a few more decades appeal to the people in the home churches? What at least this is a task ,that must derive its support are the vital facts that make legitimate an emfrom Christian churches and societies in Western phasis in the present-day call for money and men churches for people in area6 overseas. and deep concern for the areas of earth overseas? We believe that the integrity of the appeals of the A generation or even a decade or more ago the former days carryover with much of their appeal for interest and support was concrete. strength into the world situation today, and that Those overseas lands were called "heathen" lands, the newer conditions, born of the very success and still unopened and untouched with the Gospel. values of the cause of Christ in the world, only The religions and cultures there were admittedly emphasize and underscore the reality of the abidnon-Christian. The soul-stirring appeals of those ing missionary need and the claim of these needy days were effective: the untouched fields; the areas on more privileged communities. millions in total darkness who were going into eternity at the rate of so many every minute; Missionary appeal has always been most effecheathen concepts; ,the prevalence of cannibalism, tively made along the lines of a real need, of a polygamy, slavery, infanticide; the degradation great opportunity, and of the results that such of woman and the universal practice of idolatry. work may legitimately be expected to produce.
Today the emphasis has changed; so has the It is necessary to put in the very forefront the basis of appeal for interest and support. The stupendous need presented by an unfinished task. task to some extent has lost its pioneer appeal. As one recalls the mighty appeals of a generation The coastal areas and river and railroad towns in ago for untouched areas of the world and its peothe mission fields have been reached to some ex- pIes, one thinks of the exceedingly small number tent with the Gospel story. Great independent of cities and towns and villages that have been churches now stand in the cities of Tokyo, Shang- effectively reached today by the messengers of the hai, Canton, Calcutta, Bombay, Cairo, Johannes- Gospel of Christ. There are hundreds of millions burg, Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City. Multitudes of human beings who still are in exactly the same of voices in lesser known cities and towns in these condition as were those of whom we were told in "non-Christian" fields praise the one God and former days. Something must be done to reach Father of us all even though they have not all ac- these people. They continue to live and stumble, cepted Christ as the only Saviour. to question and die, without a knowledge of the truth of God. Think of the tens of thousands of The world, too, is shrinking in its size. Life in villages in China, Japan, India, Africa and other any land is not nearly so provincial and primitive lands into which has never yet gone a messenger as once it was. Steamships, Clipper planes, ra- with the Gospel. Here is a condition that we negdios, telegraph, telephone, commerce and interna- leet at peril to ourselves. The newer and more tibnal dependence and conflicts have brought that advanced problems and policies at home and about. In the whole world Christian community abroad cannot ignore it. This was a major apthere has come a corresponding shift from a peal for an awakening Church a few decades ago. purely personal and devotional emphasis to a ,But consistency in our attitude requires that fuller recognition of the social implications of something must yet be done to overtake these Christianity. Anyone with even a passing ac- same great needs that exist today.
Loyalty, to the service of Christ, and the sacri- [140 ] fice of those who have served in these hard places for the expenditure of life and money. Men are urges completion of the task so nobly begun. It encouraged by dividends – material or spiritual. is obviously wise to build now on foundations Young workers looking to foreign service wish to so well and so sacrificially laid, that the task may be assured that, as a return for the giving of their go on without interruption. The missionary task lives to such service, there is offered a reasonable has rarely in any field reached a final stage. The promise of definite and worth-while achievement. typical Protestant congregation in the Far East, it has been said, is a group of about fifty Chris- There is much to say on this point. The church tians surrounded by 25,000 non-Christians. The should be informed of indigenous church growth, same thing is true in other fields. Here is the of well-planned occupation of the field, of virile possibility of a strategic advance. In terms of native church leadership and effective movements military strategy the Church should bring up its of advance. reserves. There is nothing more appealing and convinc- Present-Day Opportunities ing than reports and illustrations of strong per- sonalities, indicative of the reality and vitality of One recalls the appeals once made for men and the church in fDreign lands. How great is the enmeans and united prayer that doors then closed couragement that has come through Toyohiko might be opened. There are few such closed doors Kagawa and Bishop Azariah, T. Z. Koo and multoday. It is exceptional today when a missionary titudes of others in every mission field. cannot stand and preach or teach or heal in the Name of Christ in any place on the earth's sur- The Church at home needs to realize the great face. The fact that God answered these prayers service and influence that the missionary enterand Dpened the doors should nerve us to a renewed prise is exerting on the field. Such a book as "Beeffort to occupy the openings now before' us. We yond Statistics," by S. J. Corey, presents a most prayed for the opening of doors into great geo- convincing argument. In social uplift, in health graphical areas. That prayer was answered. measures, in education, in the creation of good Life areas, too, of every kind stand open today. will, in the ameliorating of such great evils as The field of service for properly qualified foreign unbridled prostitution, intemperance, use of narworkers remains wide and the opportunity is cotics, unchecked causes of famine and plague, ours. The messenger must be well prepared, in- mi'ssiDnaries have rendered outstanding service. telligent and of sympathetic heart, but the field As Dr. Corey says, "NDbody but an intellectual fDr such a worker is almost unlimited. provincial, a moral agnostic, ,or a dDgmatic quack can be cynical about these great results of mis- The missionary message is fresh and vital; it sions." has a universal background; it personalizes, as it were, an ecumenical conception of what the The Protestant Christian enterprise has abun- Church of Christ is. There is experience to meet dantly proved its essential relation to the world's a difficult task. There is needed on mission fields life. It has fought its way to its present position those who can bear witness to the universal char- of commanding influence in a world in spite of acter and claims of the Christian faith. It is too pronounced and strong opposition where there easy for the growing Church to conceive of itself should have been alliance. The missionary cause, as a separate entity with little or no relation to a as it has been carried on, has little Df which to Christian world fellowship. Provinciality is al- be ashamed; it has much fDr which it may be ways a curse of Church life. For health and in- thankful and to which it can point with pride. spiration the newer churches need association with older and more experienced churches. There is less provincialism in our day than there was when the missionary enterprise was born. Never was the experience of the Church needed For that let us thank God. World events and namore than on mission fields tDday. There is no tional interdependence have forced us to think in necessity for the younger churches to make all the more inclusive modes. Foreign service is not mistakes that have for decades weakened or made merely so "foreign" as it once was. It has come futile much of the effDrt of churches in other closer home. lands. The mDdern missionary, with trained mind and heart, and with vital contact with President Roosevelt, standing in Chicago in Oc- Christ, can mediate the best in Christian expei'i- tober, 1937, made a clarion call to men of all races ence; from his peculiar position he can guide to. return to and live by the principles of the past pitfalls in church policy and life. Prince of Peace. Here was truly a nDtable em- phasis on the work of the missionary. FDr how Convincing Results shall nations believe and live by the principles and life of One of whom they have not heard? The supporters Df missi,onary work wish to And how shall they hear without a preacher? feel that there are encouraging results to show And how shall they preach except they be sent?
Christians everywhere need to waken to the reality, the ,opportunity and the success of a di-
vinely appointed task well begun. Foreign mis- new faith and courage. Every church and every sions have weathered a perfect siege of side-line church member true to Christ must face the criticism. Weare more than standing unshaken claims of this world enterprise which has successin a world whose current philosophy has led it into fully stood the test of time. a cheapened over-concern with the mere tinsels of life. We need to have faith and courage and Move to the fore! God himself waits morale strengthened in the thought that God is And must wait till thou come. with us and that the task well begun has been Men are God's prophets, carried forward to its pre'sent magnificent stage. Though ages lie dumb. While we cannot point to a service that has not Halts the Christ Kingdom had its mistakes and while we yet have many With conquest so near? things to learn, we have much for which to praise Thou art the cause, then, God. We need to go on with the enterprise with Thou man at Jj.he rear- M.ove to the fore!
When a man receive's the Lord Jesus Christ he also receives the power of God to pass through all his being, and to be exhibited in the world for the glory of God and for :the salva- tion of others. The principle and practice of self-sacrifice should control him at every point so that, exactly following in the steps of his Redeemer, as a faithful imitation of Christ, the man should be known as one who, by his life, recommends Jesus Christ to others.
PREB. H. W. WEBB-PEPLOE.
SOME WORLD SUNDAY SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENTS IN 1937 1. In the Apostolic Church of Armenia, Sunday school work, well established in Syria and Palestine, has been extended for the first time to Egypt, Cyprus and Iran (Persia), under the leadership of Levon Zenian.
2. Secretary Newell S. Booth, of the Belgian Congo, has published an indigenous manual, "Serving God in the Sunday School," which will have wide use among Sunday school workers throughout Africa.
3. Sunday school work in Brazil has been greatly advanced through the call of an associate, Sr. Jose Del Nero, to serve with Rodolfo Anders, general secretary.
4. The indigenous program in China for training leaders for voluntary service in the church, in spite of the outbreak of hostilities, has made remarkable advance.
5. The ancient Coptic church in Egypt is vigorously promoting the formation of Sunday schools and is working in close cooperation with the other churches in Egypt.
6. The ZOE movement w,ithin the Orthodox Church in Greece has been accorded official approval by the (Greek Church) Holy Synod to include Sunday school classes for girls taught by women teachers.
7. In spite of decrease in Japan, bo,th in the number of Sunday schools and in enrollment of pupils due to the growing spirit of militarism, the National Sunday School Association i,s steadily pushing forward its work.
8. In Korea; many outstanding Sunday school leaders have been imprisoned becaus,e of their unwillingness to worship at Shinto shrines and so place government 10Yialities before their loyalty to Christ.
9. The conviction among evangelical leaders in Mexico has deepened that the Sunday school d'S the best- agency to meet the needs for religious education since such education is now restricted by law ,to homes and registered church buildings.
10. The holding of a seoond annual general Sunday School Convention for the Bantu (natives) in. the Union of South Africa has resulted in a decided advance in Sunday school work ;among Bantu children.
11. Puerto Rico has the largest Sunday school enrollment in any Spanish-speaking area in the world.
12. In Turkey, the churches are maintaining Sunday schools as "Children Worship Services," in order to comply with the law which prohibits the conduct of schools without govern- mental supervision.
Ways of
crested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home i EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO '~I"==~=========================================== Ministers and Missions-in Re- sermon, and having a church Number 3: In addition to hav- geared for departmental mis- ing a membership well organized lation to the Local Church sionary study, I depend mainly and manned for missions, gives upon the dynamic of frequent up his evening service for six The key man to the missionary en- contact with live missionaries weeks, beginning on the first terprise in America today, the one (live in all senses of the word) Sunday in November, to a school who will determine more than anyone who not only speak from my of missions in which every deelse the attitude of the church to the pulpit but meet integral church partment (except the Primary, movement, is not the board secretary, groups-such as the young peo- which has its instruction at the or the foreign missionary, but the pas- ple's society-and also as many regular Sunday school hour) has tor of the local church. He it is who of the membership in their its own group session under the stands before the congregation every homes as practical. Weare a most competent instructors- Sunday morning as the expounder of missionary church. (This an- largely college professors-meetthose things which are held to be of swer is satisfactory, but we ing at the opening for a fifteentranscendent value in human life. . . . should also like to have heard minute assembly period in which Christian missions is not thought of of a correlated, integrated plan stereopticon slides, moving picas a one-sided operation in which we through which the missionary tures, brief dramatic sketches or are the active ones while they (the machinery in the church reaches talks by authoritative speakers non-Christian world) remain recep- its maximum efficiency and de- are presented. This has proved tive, but rather a reciprocal interplay velopes its full potentialities. such a success that after the first of influences between two foci. . . . But far be it from us to criticize year or so the other denomina- The minister must be reasonably cer- any plan that works.) tions of the community united in tain with reference to the attitude the effort, and thus an advance which he should seek to develop in Number 2: Had an outstand- has been made not only in mishis people. From now on, attitudes ing innovation in the way of a sion study but that of the denomare the main thing which America Men's Missionary League in inational comity-which must lie can contribute. What is required is which the masculine members at the foundation of the eventual that the attitude within should be kept pace with the feminine in church unity of which many of made to correspond with the facts in definite mission study and con- us dream. the changing world without. . . . Re- served the special efficiency of ligious history is being written rapidly business and professional men Number 4- has had six or eight in these days. The details are con- in the undertaking of actual successive Family Church Nights fusing and must be left to those con- field projects, in community, beginning in the autumn, in cerned. The really prophetic ministry country-wide and foreign work. which the mid-week service is will discover the major trends and given over to an all-church suppresent these to his congregation in (What a splendid group to turn per-substantial but simple and such a manner that their attitudes loose in the special Civic and Peace inexpensive enough to be within may keep abreast of the times and projects stressed in this year's plans the reach of most of the memtheir support may be continued to an in all the denominations! See THE bers. The ensuing meeting inenterprise which is doomed to change REVIEW, page 155 of the March, 1937, cludes a devotional period and so long as it is alive. issue for picture and an article on this missionary presentations in the endeavor.) way of the mission study books, This declaration of an out- addresses, dramatic sketches, standing Christian thinker is so This league holds meetings in pictures, lively programs sponcentral in the present mission- other churches, puts out a pam- sored by the various missionary ary situation that the Depart- phlet with full directions for or- organizations, and even lively ment Editor asked a number of ganization and work. social features, of a homogeneous pastors what their policies and nature. This works well in his practices were in the matter, (Published by Board of Adminis- membership and is looked forwith the following results. Be- tration United Presbyterian Church, ward to eagerly each year. hind each numeral there stands Publication Bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa.) the name of a bona fide clergy- Number 5, whose plan apman: Its leader, Rev. G. A. Brown, peared in the January, 1938, is- 238 Princeton Ave., Elyria, Number 1: Taking missions Ohio, will give help to any into be an essential part of the quirer who will enclose postage warp and woof of a Christian for reply. life, I do not preach occasional missionary sermons but, using [143 ] missionary facts and illustrations in the normal course of any
sue of THE REVIEW, uses the the church at home is visibly suf- Japan – p I a y let, "Let's be midweek service over a definite fering from "marasmus"? Send Friends." China – description period most profitably by hav- us your own or your pastor's of China. Have some one impering a School of Broadening Hori- plan to pass along to those poor sonate missionaries. They might zons-for the children's groups preachers of an anemic Gospel. wish to introduce a couple of during the church worship hour, Chinese children. Play some and for the young peoples' and Another key man in mission- deck games. Africa – be sure adult groups during the B.Y.P.U. ary teaching is the Sunday and point out the Southern Cross hour. The mi.ssionary prayer school superintendent. The De- and other constellations (use partment Editor is especially suggestions from Chapter 1, meeting at the midweek service anxious to get helps from and Congo Crosses, to give atmosis held once a month for eight for him. Write to the address phere); visit mission stations months. Four meetings are to at the head of this Department there; meet missionaries and be on the Moslem world and four if you have any suggestions. learn about work. on the rural theme. Three progressive rural pastors, alive to More Briefs from Our Homeward B 0 un d: Group present-day problems, are to singing; reading-"Two Roostcome in and speak on outstand- Exchanges ers" or "The Pig and the Hen" ing points in their work. A or "The North Wind and the The following Around the Sun"; special music; New York stereopticon lecture on colpor- World Cruise is an adaptable Harbor – song, "America the tage work will climax the pro- plan taken from The EvangelVcal Beautiful"; Negro spirituals. grams on rural life, while a mov- Missionary World: Kentucky-just in time for the ing picture on the Mohammedan missionary meeting; devotiontopic will complete the series. Take in all points of interest, als; brief business meeting. but especially concentrate on Much earnest work and thought our mission stations. Leave Home A g a in: Farewellswere put upon this plan in order from San Francisco and stop at hymn of parting. to coordinate comprehensively Japan, China, Africa, dock on the eastern coast and visit Ken- A Missionary Picnic was anall the features of the work. tucky. other usable plan. Last June the Baltimore district of the Evan- Number 6 takes a study book Supplies necessary for the gelicals met for a picnic, groups for six successive mid wee k journey: Boat-can be made by gathering from all directions meetings and has the subject arranging chairs in the shape of from early morn to the sunset a ship with crepe paper around hour which climaxed the day. matter briefly and attractively the outside. Then in the center, Everyone was ready to contribsummarized by some speaker by using a long table, crepe ute something to the success of paper and cardboard, you can the day – races, contests and who can be held within his time fashion the smoke stacks; Gas- games for the children. A mis- -a different speaker for each energy; Oil-enthusiasm; Goal sion band gave a demonstration chapter. Accompanying stere- Chart-maps; Tickets-dues or and an original song. A debate opticon or moving pictures ought fare; Passport-your baby pic- on "Why I Believe in Missions" ture; Schedule-program; Ko- was very interesting. Towards to be used wherever possible. dak-an inquiring mind and its evening girls came from their On an average, the services thus pictures. places of business and mothers gave them supper from the picutilized are the best attended in Organization: Pilot – presi- nic baskets. Then all sat on the the entire year, especially on dent; Chief mechanic-program hillside facing the setting sun picture nights; and incidentally, chairman; Hostess – meeting and the girls held an impressive hostess; Purser – treasurer; sunset service. Scripture readthe problem of What to Do With Recorder – secretary; Guide- ing and prayer were followed by the Prayer Meeting Hour is person in charge of tour or the two beautiful mi.ssionary stories. solved for the time being. advisor; Red Caps-entertain- "Abide with Me," sung by the ment committee; Fruit seller- company, closed the service. The Number 7 – and the name dispenses f r u its, sandwiches, Spirit had drawn us into one back of that numeral is Legion candy, etc.; Newsboy – litera- large, happy family. -number 7 has no plan or con- ture committee – dispenses all sistent practice or definite policy church periodicals. A Convention with the BirdiS whatsoever, stating all un- furnishes a picturesque meeting Invitations in the form of cir- attraction even to those not yet ashamed that the handling of culars announcing the date of interested in missions: missions had been left mostly to tour and rates: C r u i s e- "the sisters," as they had the "Around the World Cruise" ; Invitation Ship-Goodwill; Shipping Comtime and seemed to be better in- pany-Evangelical lines. Come, let us go to birdland formed and more interested than And see what they can tell the rest. "0, a few missionary Suggested Schedule: Song- instrumental or vocal (Star About the work of Missions illustrations are occasionally in- Spangled Banner) as the ship Which we should know so well. troduced into a sermon but the leaves port; Explanation of tour congregation didn't seem to care —'Guide; Group Singing; Brief The meeting will be held (date and Description of Japan; Touring place). for that sort of preaching." And yet these otherwise worthy men are under commission to preach the whole Gospel in which the winning of the world for Jesus Christ is fundamental! Is it any wonder that missions lag and
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
Decorations home life necessary to the wel- a coordinated plan of missionary fare of young girls in a city. promotion. The following ele- If possible, make this an outdoor meeting. If it must be held indoors Another problem is that of ments are suggested for incluat night, try and make the room as finding wholesome recreation in sion: suggestive of the out-of-doors as pos- most cities. . . . Con g est e d sible. Bird nests, bird baths, stuffed streets and cheap motion picture 1. The preparation and distribution birds and even a few canaries will houses form their places of help to make you feel closer to God's amusement. Out of these come of missionary materials and nature. hundreds of girls and young supplies. women with vicious tastes and Devotions low ideals to make up a group 2. The promotion of missions through of undesirable citizens. Our in- institutes, conventions, assem- Call to Worship–Read Mat. 6: 26. terest in Christian Citizenship blies and like gatherings. Solo by Canary (one dressed in yel- should lead us to do the follow- ing simple ,things in our several 3. The propagation of the mission- low)-"This is my Father's communities: World." ary cause through church pe- Scripture Promises (read by different 1. A group of white women in each riodicals and church school members)-Isa. 40: 31; Ps. 103: city should get first-hand information literature. . 5; 91: 1-5; Mat. 10: 29-31; Deut. on how the Colored women in the 4. The promotion of special mission- 32: 11, 12. lowest economic class live in their par- ary days and periods. ticular city. The group should work Program – Take a bird's-eye with a housing committee, or if none 5. The deputation and itineration of view of certain mission stations. exists it should form one for the pur- missionaries on furlough. Have members give word pic- pose of bringing to the attention of tures of activities upon the sev- the privileged people their responsi- 6. The cultivation of the Christian eral fields as seen while soaring ~ilit~ for seein~ to it that Negroes WorId View among student life. high above them. These word hve m surroundmgs that will produce pictures will be based upon facts, good citizens. 7. The regular and -systematic culbut the presentation will need to ture of pastors in the missionbe largely imaginative in order 2. A committee on employment and ary idea. to secure the best effect. employment standards should be found to work with the Negro women who 8. The building of a program of mtis- The Evangelical Missionary must labor long hours for little pay, World is replete with practical and who as a result cannot care prop- sionary education and promosuggestions. erly for their homes and children. In tion in the local church. the long run it might be possible to 9. The enlistment of the annual cO?!.- Problems that Confront build up public .sentiment for paying ference missionary societies for heads of families wages sufficient to active participation in this pro- Women and Girls reduce the number of such Negro gram.' women. 10. The complete correlation of this An address by Lucy Dean Slow, Dean of Women in Howard 3. A committee should be formed to program with that of all other University, may well be pon- find out what opportunities exist for agencies affected thereby. dered by us all. It appeared in caring for girls during their leisure The Evangelical Missionary time. . . . The Church could be of "Peace ,on earth, goodwill to World: service, for their own lecture rooms men." Shall we help our boys and parish halls could be used as cen- and girls to cultivate an attitude In discussing some of the ters of constructive recreation. of International Peace? . . . problems of Colored women and girls precipitated by their con- 4. Finally it seems to me that all How about Christmas gifts that tact with city life and their at- of us need to be aware of what is go- will suggest thoughts of Peace? tempts at adjustment to it … ing on in our cities to this group of … From the Women's Interwe find that all of them have people. . . . With the economic prob- national League for Peace and their roots primarily in the eco- lem solved, it will be easier to solve Freedom, Pennsylvania branch nomic condition of the people. the social and moral problems, . . . Many very serious prob- at 1924 Chestnut St., Philadellems face these newcomers (in A Comprehensive Outreach phia, you may obtain a list of the exodus from farm to city), the most serious of which is Dr. Carl Heinmiller, Field Sec- toys which can be purchased in maintaining a home. All too retary of the Missionary Society four of the leading stores of frequently the bulk of the Negro in the Evangelical church, in his Philadelphia. Names of the population is forced to occupy annual report, says ,this about a manufacturers will be sent upon alley dwellings and old houses comprehensive outreach: request to those wishing to .order deserted by better paid whites. through local stares. The list Often these are lacking in sani- I would like to share with this consists of board games, card tation and are located irr sur- body a growing conviction of the games, handwork sets, maps, roundings not con d u c i veto imperative need for a more com- puzzles, pictures, indoor games, wholesome living. . . . When prehensive program of missionyou consider that approximately ary education by this Board, in dolls and figures, and the prices 51 per cent of the Negro married order that we may effectively are stated. Send for the leaflet, women are employed as against confront our constituency with The New Patriotism Is Peace; 22 per cent of the white married the "planetary dimensions" of Building the International Mind women, you can realize how diffi- the Gospel. I am wondering if through Toys. . . . Are you cult it is to maintain the proper the time has not come thoroughly thinking of books for your young to study our present procedure for the purpose of formulating friends? From our literature headquarters you may secure Broken Guns, Ship East – Ship West, Victories of Peace, each 50 cents in paper, one dollar in cloth.
This suggestion from The Evangelical World is of great importance. The books mentioned may be secured from any mis- sionary literature headquarters; and the gifts will be just as appropriate on birthdays and other gift-giving occasions as on Chrlst- mas.-EDITOR. .
BULLETIN
Council of Women for Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE,NEW YORK, N. Y.
J =============================I~ Study Quietness "I Stand Amid Eternal Ways" "Time out now to bury the dead"; "Who's this fellow? Here's his head;" Paul, the pastor and mission- -Burroughs. A man lets out a piteous cryary, true to his understanding of "I'm going to the Lord on high!" the unique Way of Christ, wrote ==;=~–~ to the Thessalonian Christians, Another dying man looks roundconcerning love ,of the brethren; Photograph by Dorothy L. Webster "I guess – I'm going neath the . . . ye yourselves are taught of "SPIRIT OF PEACE" God to love one another; for in- ground": deed ye do it toward all the Peter Colonn&, aged 15, hears So it is both day and night, brethren that are in all Mace- The Call to Battle Everywhere its "Fight, fight, fight!" donia. But we exhort you, None will miss you in your grave; brethren, that ye abound more Hark! The bugle's triumphant sound They've gQt their own lives to save. and more; and that ye study to Throughout the dismal woods around; be quiet, and to do your own Dig your trenches firm and steep, I think now you'll understand business and to work with your Get a place where you can sleep. War's not music and a band; hands . . . that ye may walk Hark! The sound of marching feet- Nor a uniform neat and trim, becomingly toward them that The enemy we're going to greet, But tragedy both stark and grim. are without, and may have need "Come on, boys, we'll make a charge"; of nothing. "Gee, that cannon sure is large." Is this "Call to Battle," heard I hear a whining close at hand; by a schoolboy, in any way the Does quietness really accom- "Duck! A shell's about to land"; responsibility 0 f Christians? plish all this? All night long the shelling. goes, What shall we do about it? While in the trees a soft wmd blows; When? Peaceful Change "What's the use? I'm going to die." "Keep on; make another try." Shall We Cure War? "Do you remember, Little Boom! Boom! Boom! The cannons Chipmunk,what the Spider Armistice 1918! First Con- Woman told the Children of the roar, ference on the Cause and Cure Sun when they started out to Why this killing and this gore? of War, 1925. January 1938, subdue the enemies?" "That thing once was Johnny Jones, the Thirteenth Conference on Now's a mass of blood and bones; the Cause and Cure of War had The old man with his face still Billy was my friend and true, for the theme, "A Present-Day serene after years of hardship Now he's dead and buried, too." Program for Peace." smiled at his Little Chipmunk. [146 ] From the Call to the thir- "Repeat the words I have teenth Conference, we find the taught you. Repeat them every positive emphases that "Our morning when you greet the sun. business at the Conference will Repeat them now." be to reinforce our knowledge, to refresh our courage, redouble Na Nai said in a low voice- our efforts, and reaffirm our be- liefs, having in mind that saying Put your feet down in peace. of President Masaryk's-"Noth- ing kills an idea that is really be- Put your hands down in peace. lieved in."
Put your head down in peace. The implication in the Call is, if enough Americans believe in Then your feet are peaceful.· the idea of preventing the use of Then your hands are peaceful. war as a national policy in set- tling disputes with any govern- YQur body is peaceful. . ment on the face of the earth, then "the present-day program Your mind is peaceful. for peace" will be given a chance to develop in our home communi- Your voice is peaceful. ties. By such efforts, our coun- For, my children, remember this, The trail is beautiful-Be still.
-From . Laura Adam.s Armer: Dark Circle of Branches. By permission of Longmans, Green & Co., New York.
BULLETIN: COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
try may finally become peace- Henry Adams' idea that if he others who attended the Thirminded and peace-acting in all and two friends returned "say, teenth Conference on the Cause relations of life. This will not in 1938-their centenary-they and Cure of War agree with mean absence of struggle or lack might see the mistakes of their Mrs. Harper Sibley who closed own lives made clear in the light the program with the consideraof force, but the field of action of the mistakes of their succes- tion of "War and Religion," will be in the scientific and sors; perhaps then for the first namely, that there is a dynamic moral realms, and also in the re- time since man began his edu- strength in the Christian faith ligious field. cation . . . they would find a in the Fatherhood of God which can and may soon triumph over Felix Morley said early in the world, that sensitive and timid all opposition to the present-day Conference, "If we want to build natures could regard without a program for peace. machinery for peace out of our shudder." True, they find it not! vast store of knowledge, it must It is quite clear that education Carrie Chapman Catt, invinbe built by a group of like- for peace must include practise cible soul and inspiration of all of new ways by the present gen- peacemakers, spoke unforgetminded people." He presented "four points of achievement" of erations. table words: "there is a new the "late" Brussels Conference. way. Anyone who feels inclined In this 1938 Conference such might add this new one to the He gave other indications from subjects as World Economic Co- old. . . . Just how ashamed are present events of the beginnings operation, Raw Materials and you of War history, and of the of a new world order. Colonies, Trade Barriers and Currencies, American Capital, years the human race has The responsibility of powerful Labor, and the Farmer, became wasted its brain power in innations for world peace was the personal affairs of those at- venting new armaments to kill, urged by most of the speakers. tending. Doubtless these mat- instead of trying to find a way The discipline needed to walk ters will become more and more the common possession of our to stop war. If you are not the road of world peace must be citizens in their present pursuit ashamed now, ask God to make accepted by an increasing num- you ashamed. It would be the ber of persons and groups. The of livelihood and happiness. If greatest blessing that could discipline for peace will be it is not happening where you come to you. When you have costly, perhaps greater than the live and work, send straightway to the National Committee on become ashamed, work to make cost of the World War. It seems your family, your friends and to be a matter .of responsibility the Cause and Cure of War, 1622 on the part .of the people, mean- Grand Central Terminal Build- townsmen ashamed likewise. I ing ourselves. The choice neces- ing, New York, for the report of long to s,ee a great army of the sitates positive and steady con- the Conference and the Mara- ashamed, marching up Capitol victions as to the means used to thon Round Table material. The Hill to our Government, in order achieve peace. National Peace Conference, 8 that, together, we may make a West 40th Street, is in the midst gigantic apology for man's war The Conference program did of a fifteen-month campaign for record. . . . It is not from argu- "reinforce our knowledge" on ments that peace will come, but World Economic Cooperation. an international scale. There The Conference frankly poses it wHl arise out of the purified was a review of the ways used this question to the public: "Are souls of men who have put internationally in opposition to you willing to make as the price morality above immorality." for peace a fraction of the sacwar, the plans for the interna- rifices you would make for My mind and heart turn to tional peace campaign, and a war?" possible international pol ice the observance of the World Day John Donald Adams, in the of Prayer, on March fourth, for force. There was the considera- January Atlantic Monthly, con- which the people are preparing. tion of American policies to pre- tends that "personal conscience vent war, such as Neutrality, The Day is .observed annually in the United States has fallen the first Friday in Lent by Concerted Action as in Boycott to a new low in our history as a and Sanctions, our Country's nation." "Where personal con- Christians round the world. Far-Eastern Pol icy, and the science dies, there is no free- The theme is "The Church – A Reciprocal Trade Agreements dom." He is positive and help- World Fellowship." The civil strife in our own country and which seem to be basic to the ful in his emphasis that "the new world order. There were personal conscience is nourished the use of queer methods of fili- Round Table discussions on the and sustained by faith, and by bustering and the like, increased Far East, an International Po- the ready assumption of individ- armament and show of giant lice Force, Spain in Europe, force give us deep concern over Danger Spots in Eastern Eu- ual moral responsibility for in- dividual acts." With Christians, the public welfare. rope. Able leaders opened the it should not be necessary for "Justice brings us peace and subjects which were then fur- Mr. Adams or anyone, "to con- quiet; honesty renders us sether explored by folk who care, tend" this point. cure; my people shall have and who will, not only to be edu- homes of peace and rest in cated for peace but to be effec- The church women and many houses undisturbed. (Isaiah 32: tive for world p€ace. 17 Moffatt.) In a Christmas letter sent to This Issue of the Bulletin has been pre- pared by Miss Anne Seesholtz. former editor. the writer, a friend quoted
AMERICA sions, asserts that our Govern- Itinerating in
ment's use of the term "good Literary Cooperation in neighbor" carries with it impli- , Rev. H. A. Martin, Presby- Mexico cations of tremendous responsi- terian minister in Lageado, Mat- bility. "If America is going to to Grosso, Brazil, has lived in Evangelical writers h a v e be really a good neighbor nation this interior for 20 years, 2,000 formed a Union, by means of it cannot be that in any super- miles from the seaport of Sao which all engaged in evangeli- ficial way," thinks Dr. Odell. Paulo. Most of his time is spent cal publication will have a way "It must be the result of an im- traveling among the natives by of exchanging articles, arrang- pulse within. We must be a mule train. He does most of his ing unified statements on mat- Christian nation if we are going sleeping in hammocks strung ters of general interest, and to carry into effect in any real between two trees in the jungle. generally becoming better ac- way a good-neighbor policy. He says: "If we slept on the quainted with similar work in And we cannot do it if we expect ground, huge black ants would other denominations. It is hoped something in return." descend on us in armies, and that all petitions for help in con- would infect us with fever from struction of churches, Christian Dr. Odell emphasized that their bites." centers and other kinds of en- there would be no fundamental terprise iss u e d by various worth to any neighborly policy Since Brazil is a country withchurches of the country will by our government "unless mo- out fences, the mission party has have a greater publicity as a re- tivated by something genuine in something of a problem to keep sult of this Union. our hearts." its mules from straying while it encamps overnight. With each -World Dominion Press. Colombia a Backward Land mule train there is a horse known as the "godmother" of Bibles for Nicaraguans Colombia is one of South the pack. At night the mules America's most difficult mission are allowed to roam free, but The American Bible Society fields. After· more than eighty the horse is hobbled and a bell is printing 3,000 Miskito New years of occupation there are is affixed to its neck. Because Testaments for the Moravian now only twenty-six national of the strange affinity which the Mission in Nicaragua, of which ordained workers, serving forty- mules have for horses they never a portion have been shipped. six organized churches with a stray far away. The demand for Miskito Scrip- membership of 1,196. The Suntures has grown with the in- day-school enrolment is 2,245. Mr. Martin supervises. the crease of adult literacy. This Many new missionary societies mission work in Matto Grosso, language is spoken by almost are entering this field, most of and in addition to evangelism 25,000 people of Nicaragua and them of the independent and has under his care a training Honduras along the east coast, faith groups. In one year the school for teachers at Burity. and for about 25,0 miles up the total number of missionaries has He discreetly refrains from com- Coco River. It was reduced to jumped from 87 to 113. There menting on the policies of the writing by missionaries over is an open struggle in Colombia new government of Brazil. ninety years ago, and the whole between church and state. While New Testament has been avail- religious conditions are back- Drive Against Liquor in Chile able since 1905. It was revised ward the country is making rapand published by the American id development in many other The present government in Bible Society in 1926. ways. This is particularly true Chile is whipping up sentiment in means of transportation. to restrict the sale of intoxicants. -Bible Society Record. There is even a proposal to de- Among the aggressive evan- stroy many of the vineyards. Implication in Term "Good gelical missions are the Presby- The president and his advisors Neighbor" terian, U. S. A., the Christian warn that the future of the na- and Missionary Alliance, the tion will be imperiled unless Dr. E. A. Odell, Secretary for Gospel Missionary Union, the drastic action is taken to curb the West Indies of the Presby- Cumberland Presbyterian and the drink menace. The brewers terian Board of National Mis- the Scandinavian Alliance. say, as they say in the U. S., that the problem is one for education, [148 ]
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
not for legal handling. But open, an organization known as be given by teachers that have left Chilean women want to see some the Union Evangelique Interna- the churches. In exceptional circumaction, along with education. tionale D'Etudiants is seeking to stances special instruction can be fur- They have, to produce action, "buy up the opportunities." It merged ten organizations, in- nished for children remaining in the cluding the Feminine C i vic Christian Church by teachers who Party, the Pro-Emancipation of is estimated that there are 45,– are "ecclesiastical professionals." Women Movement, the American Women's Club, the Feminine 000 young men and women -The Living Church. Evangelical Club, the Chilean Women's Association, the Club studying in Paris, about 8,000 de Professores, the Woman's Federation, and the Methodist of whom are from other parts Finland-Protestant Bulwark Feminine Federation. of Europe and overseas. The Union has an attractive club- Religiously, Finland is the -Christian Advocate. room, converted from an old eastern outpost of Protestant- coach stable, and conveniently ism, facing Greek Catholicism of EUROPE situated in the heart of the Uni- versity Quarter. Here meeting;;, yesterday and militant atheism An Achievement in Giving Bible-study groups, and social of today. The Finnish Church gatherings are held each week. forms the shock troop of Lu- To secure local gifts of £10,- The president is a French teach- theranism against the onslaught 500 in two weeks to restore a er, the vice-president a Chris- of persecution and a propaganda church in Wolverhampton, Eng- tian Japanese student. No fewer of godlessness that has· almost land, is probably a world record than 20 nationalities are reprein rapid fund raising. The sented in the meetings. destroyed the Church in Russia, mayor launched the appeal for Ukrainia and elsewhere east of £10,000; 28,000 letters were A new venture in 1937 was a the Baltic. m a i led to householders; a Young People's House Party, short film, in which the mayor held at Vennes, Switzerland. Lutheranism was brought to appealed to the town, was shown The daily program included con- Finland through Swedish influin nearly all the cinemas; the versational Bible study, fol- ence, a change that developed in church was floodlit every night, lowed by a season of prayer. Alopen until 10, and visited by together more than 1,000 young a conservative and gradual manthousands in groups escorted by people attended the four camps. ner. Although Finland has felt guides; the local newspaper gave daily support of the cam- -The Christian. the influence of various cross paign. currents and religious move- ments which have affected Prot- A change of mayors. took place estantism, it has been remarkduring the period, and the new one took up the appeal at once. ably free from internal schisms Fourteen days to the minute from the start of the appeal, the Plan to Subjugate Church and separatism. Ninety-eight mayor went to the church steps per cent of the entire Finnish and announced the total received. A service of thanksgiv- A December issue Qf the population of three and one-half ing followed. Schwarze Korps, a Nazi period- million people, are members of ical, announces a "program for the Lutheran Church. It is not Paris Evangelical Student the future German Church" noticeably affected by the insid- Union which seems to offer little to ious forces of atheism and Bol- choose between exile or martyr- shevism that continually seep About four-fifths of the popu- dom for those who remain Chris- through its borders. lation in France have drifted fro m all religious mooring. tian. Here is the "program" : AFRICA French Protestants n u m b e r scarcely more than a million, (1) Germany proclaims a State remost of them in the south where ligion to which all citizens, without today are evidences of revived exception, are obligated. This new Sunday Schools Imperative interest in Bible study. religion is based on the "revelation For some time the Egyptian Although opportunities for of God in nature, and in destiny, life Government has been working evangelistic efforts are becom- and death of the peoples." on a program of compulsory eding fewer in several European ucation, and it is now being put countries, there is still complete (2) The churches will be permitted into effect. One of the serious liberty for Gospel teaching in to exist as purely private institu- Republican France. Realizing tions if they subordinate themselves that the door may not remain in sermon and teachings to the basIc problems confronting the Chris- doctrines of the general State re- ligion. tian community is that of the re- ligious lessons in these compul- (3) The State refuses all coopera- tion with the churches. It removes sory schools. These lessons are its protection from them and refuses in the Koran and Islamic teach- the financial support hitherto paid ings. While the children of to them. Christians are not required to (4) The State confiscates all attend these religious lessons, it church property on the grounds that "this property was created through is inevitable that much of the the joint cooperation of all citizens, and in a period when State and Moslem teaching given to other Church were still an entity." Con- children will be imbibed by vent schools and institutions and mon- Christian children. Further- astic settlements will therefore be more, these children are without disbanded. (5) Religious instruction in the religious training unless the churches Will be conducted in the Christian community is suffici- service of the State religion, and will ently large to make some spe-
cial provision on its own ac- said; "I do forget so." As they yet be the grave of Italy; and to count. It is therefore most repeated to him the story of the have ordered his son, living in important that an effective Sun- Cross his face lit up, and he said, Jerusalem, to pay no attention to day school program be main- "Oh, now I begin to remember! any invitation from this same -So S. Times. tained. Sheikh Metry Dewairy 'fell me more." source.
has a large· part in promoting A young man who had op- Locusts, and a Revival this work. posed the Gospel put his hand Aggressive Evangelism in on the old man's shoulder and Bolobo is a town of about Morocco 5,000 inhabitants, on the river said to the missionary: "This is bank about 450 miles from the The Southern Morocco Mis- mouth of the Congo. In its large sion attains its jubilee this year. the only one in the village in hinterland an extensive evan- whose heart your words have en- tered." -Life of Faith.
In this fanatically Moslem land, New Ohristians gelistic work has been carried on a staff of 25 missionaries carry > for nearly fifty years, and a on educational, medical and Results of the preaching mis- large c~urch membership had evangelistic work in several cen- sion in Efulan, Presbyterian been bUIlt up: But whIle the ters. As always where Islam is WbeeysotnAd freixcpaecsttaattiioonn~ went so far church grew m numbers, there in power, the work is not easy. that help was a falling away in quality. Medical work proves a most use- was sought to examine the 642 ~here were plenty of fluent naful means of contact. Those who who publicly confessed Christ, to tlV~ P!eachers, and several evanjourney to the mission for medi- see if it were the real thing. gelIstIc teams, put the he~then cal attention are never allowed After the missionary preached knew that the mner experIence to depart until the Gospel mes- his sermon he told these people of the church members who sage has been presented in some that he did not want them to preached to them was not greatly form. come forward unless they really different from their own.
Mr. Robert Nairn, of Mar- meant it. It was not just to have In 1934, the missionary staff raksh, tells in The Christian how one's name written, but it must called a conference of pivotal the medical work leads to evan- be a real confession of faith in men and women, hoping for a gelistic opportunity. Mission- Jesus as their Saviour. After complete renewal. Far from aries, visiting a village for the that 600 came forward. producing a singleness of pur- first time, sought out two wom- In some parts of this field pose,. th~ deacons. resented t~e en, who, they remembered, had there have been people so afraid ImplIcatIOn o~ faIlure ?~ theIr come from that village to the that they might confess if talked pll;rt .and ~et~hated by ~ItIng the dispensary some time before. The result was that the mission- ttoh~ythkantewthethye would hide when mISSIOnarIes shortcommgs. The personal workers frank discussion proved to be aries were warmly welcomed, were in their town. These were salutary. The deacons declared and at a meeting in the small people who knew they should be that cooperation was impossihouse of one of the women the room was crowded with an at- gCihvreisutpiatnhs~ but who could not ble, and, atfet enrsiot hnr, e etl;meyo nut h~asniof things of this world. increased tentive congregation. Arrange- One man went away from his mously tendered theIr resIgnaments have been made to visit town when he knew the preach- tion. On the first Sunday. of the village each month. Increasing numbers of Jews, ing mission was t ocwomn inog~lya ntdo January, 1935, no CommunIon went to another service could be observed.. Then living in all parts of Morocco, find the mission there, and con- swarms of locusts were SIghted have been visiting the dispen- fessed in that church. near Bolobo. The European offi- cial was instructed by telephone sary in Marraksh. No oppor- to organize beating parties and tunity is lost of testifying to Ohaos in Ethiopia keep the locusts from alighting. them of their Messiah. Scrip- For three days the people weature copies are sold every day. Mussolini has arranged that ried themselves in the effort to Lantern services usually prove the Roman Catholic Prelate of preserve their maize, manioo popular, and provide. excellent Rhodes shall officiate at the and ground nuts, and then the opportunity for presenting the crowning of a Roman Emperor locusts departed without doing Christian message. of Abyssinia. But it is not so any material damage. sure there will be a crowning. A Moor's Fidelity A condition of chaos is reported The coming of the locusts was in Ethiopia, with guerilla war- effectual in bringing within a Here is an example of endur- fare and shortage of food. The week a revival, a conviction of ing faith. A convert of the conquerors move about only in sin and testimony. North Africa Mission in Mo- large companies and protected rocco is over 70, and on a recent by airplanes. Haile Selassie is -The Christian.
visit the missionaries found that said to have refused Mussolini's Native Health Problem his memory was failing rapidly; offer of the Abyssinian throne but his trust in the Saviour was under Italian protection, with Unsatisfactory health condi- Rteadfast. "Tell me again," he the remark that Ethiopia would tions among the natives of South
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Africa is disturbing the Govern- Sabbath in Palestine sionaries and there have been conversions in many pal'lts. ment and public opinion. Gen- Tel-Aviv in Palestine has the distinction of being the only 100 S. M. ZWEMER. eral Smuts is quoted as saying: per cent Jewish city in the world. Last year, a series of Iran Attacks Illiteracy "The natives in this country meetings all over Palestine cul- minated in a conference at Tel- The Boy Scout Movement is are getting rotten with disease Aviv, during which lectures were spreading rapidly in Iran, under given on how to observe the Sab- government support. Eve r y and are becoming a menace to bath in agriculture, industry, town of any size has a troop; it ~tc. This movement is supported is claimed there are 50,000 civilization. Something will III the highest Jewish circles. Scouts in the country. They are organized and directed by an have to be done, the condition is For some time the arrival of American, Thomas R. Gibson. the Sabbath has been proclaimed becoming worse and worse." on Friday afternoon all aroun<l The government encourage- Tel-Aviv by the blowing of the ment of adult education also Agit3;tion . over native physical Shophar, or ram's horn trumpet grows apace. Night classes in of Biblical days. After dark reading and writing are condeterIOratIOn and the serious there blazes from the dome of ducted in all the provinces. Il- the synagogue an electric sign lustrated posters showing the death rate among their children "Remember the sabbath day to' value of education are placed keep it holy." The reformers everywhere. At present, so has been increased by an outcry want to see every Jew in the many people have enrolled in synagogue on Sabbath and pri- these courses that it is taxing from urban areas that native vate motor cars put away. the department of education to provide the necessary teachers servants are carrying wide- -Alliance Weekly. and equipment. The hope is that illiteracy will be abolished in two spread infection into the homes Decline of Islam years. -Christian Century.
of the whites. Tuberculosis and Islam no longer has the INDIA AND BURMA strength and power of 40 years other p~lmonary troubles, per- ago, and gates of brass are be- Training in Evangelism ing opened. Modern Arabia has son~l dlsease~, and. unsanitary a~ area. of one million square Those who know the value of mIles, wIth about eight million college trained women evangelhabIts prevaIl among natives people, and is the center of a ists in America and England feel great non-Christian religion. that similar training should be who are in daily contact with Islam has been bound together available to Indian women stu- by the annual pilgrimage to Mec- dents, in view of the present white people and their cphriledpraern~ ca from all parts of the world. open door for Christian teachand who handle and The Government blue book on ing. This has led to a new ven- the subject shows a shrinkage in ture in one area of the United their food. A demand for com- the number of pilgrims from Church of Northern India. Two 300,000 twenty or >thirty years members of the Bible Women's pulsory medical examination is ago to about 50,000 last year. Institute committee of the Pun- During the last 50 years marvel- jab Church Council were asked being'made, but there are legal lous progress has been made in to make a tour of girls' middle Arabia. The slave traffic has training and high schools and and other difficulties. The root been stopped, the old social sys- the women's college to present tem is uprooted, and it will not the challenge of evangelism and difficulty can be dealt with by be long before Egypt and Arabia Bible teaching as a vocation. follow the example of Iran and The idea was well received and relieving malnutrition and re- Turkey in the emancipation of discussion brought out reports womanhood. Ibn Sa'oud has of actual evangelistic and social moyi~g its source in poverty. been raised up >to develop and service projects being carried on unify his country. Roads have by the various groups. It is ThIs Illvolves the whole economic been made through the desert, hoped that the day will come and the automobile has replaced when Indian youth will have and industrial situation. the camel as a means of trans- their equivalent of the Student portation. Modern developments Volunteer organization. -World Dominion Press. have helped missions, and Ara- bia has now nine hospitals along Another Sundar Singh? WESTERN ASIA the c?ast. Arabs are watching the lIves of the Christian mis- A young sikh is preaching in The Power of Initiative western India, with the result Modern Turkey has coined a new word which means "·the power of initiative." It is on everr tong~e at present. A deputy III parlIament and editor of a monthly magazine, New Education, discusses it in an article.
rower of ~nitiative, he says, can eXIst only wIth freedom. As there was no freedom in the country in the days, of a Moslem theocracy and ab- solutIsm, there could have been no power of initiative. Those who be- lieved everything came directly from God considered it a sin to begin a work on their own initiative. The Sulta~s thought themselves as irresponsIble as God, as infallible as God tal;s1e t hseuhssthiatd~otew of God on earth and of the Prop het; 'these d~d not desIre to have anyone in the kmgdo~ with personal initiative.
There IS freedom, now in Turkey, therefore also the power of initiative.
. . . There is much work which the power of initiative can accomplish by creative science and industry and in !he domain of literature and learnmg.
Fascist government would do well to ponder this. -World Dominion Press.
that the number of Bibles. sold halls each with rooms for 150 Scripture texts in brilliant colors increased from 500 to 12,000 in students and for two unmarried beside the way. Two Christian a year. members of the staff and a cer- hostels have been opened where tain number of tutors. The 450 travelers may obtain a night's This Sikh was converted by or more delegates to the World lodging, hear the Gospel, and reading some literature on a steamer going to Canada. World Missionary Conference can be pass on. In one town an attrac- Dominion says: "He has all the conveniently accommodated. tive newspaper is being produced fire of an apostle. He preaches Christ and Him crucified, and The college moved from Ma- monthly, on the back page of tells Christians that they must dras city to its new home at which a Gospel message is themselves be convicted of all Tambaram six months ago. In printed. sin if they expect to see the non- Christian so convicted. He is the work of the college several Siam Sends Missionaries roving the churches of the Pun- missions cooperate; from the jab as Sadhu Singh used to do. How he lives is a marvel. He proceeds of the "British Colleges. Siamese Christian churches of never asks for money and re- Appeal" a sum of £10,000 was •Chiengmai have recently sent fuses it, except for his railway given last year toward the new out five young people into misfares, and he has no collections at his meetings. He tells simply Tambaram set-up. sionary service. Two of the five how Christ brings. into his life joy which he vainly sought as a The Church in the Punjab are foreign missionaries, having Sikh." gone over the border into Yun- In honor of pioneers who laid nan Province, China. Kiulung- In This Case-Not! the foundations for the Church kiang was formerly a station of of Christ in the Punjab, great the Yunnan Mission of the Pres- Rev. S. P. Hieb, pastor of a groups of Christians poured into byterian Church, but was transchurch in Sholapur, denies the Ludhiana last October, carrying ferred to the Siam Mission bestatement of a recent Ripley banners and singing psalms un- cause, although in China, the "Believe It or Not" cartoon, til two thousand registration language and customs closely rewhich called this-"the Christian badges had been used up, and semble those of Siam. Robbers' Church-the strangest still more delegates arrived for church in the world . . . whose the three-day celebration. One A missionary who attended a entire congregation consists of day the crowd marched through farewell service for them rerobbers from the hereditary the streets of the city, displaying marked that "they are going criminal tribes of India." The Bible verses, preaching, singing, with quaking knees, but going." fact is the church is called "The in a remarkable procession over City of Hope Church." Less a mile long. At a community -Monday Morning. than one-half its membership is supper, 2,700 Christians, gathdrawn from the people of Crim- ered from all walks of life, from Judson College inal Tribes. It is inaccurate to village and city, many former represent that all, or most of the untouchables, ate together in the Judson College, Burma, has "Crims" are joining the church, bond of Christian fellowship. reached the highest enrolment in that people who still have crim- its history – 337 – classified as inal habits are accepted as The Principal of the Theolog- follows: 197 Christians, 75 Budchurch members, or that the ical School, Rev. S. N. Talib-ud- dhists, 48 Hindus, 14 Mohamstigma of their former occupa- Din, sounded the challenge that medans; 117 Burmese, 108 Kation is attached to Christians in inasmuch as America has pro- rens, 70 Indians, 22 European, the church. vided money and leadership, the 10 Chinese, 4 Chins, 2 Kachins, Indian Church must now give 2 Mons, 2 Shans; 102 women, Madras Christian College in money and men and service to 235 men. There are 248 students meet the unparalleled opportuni- in residence, 157 men and 91 New Location ties for the presentation of women. Ninety-nine students Christ in India today. At the receive aid in some form. Tambaram is the new location closing consecration service it of Madras Christian College, was decided to raise during the Two Sunday schools are mainpremier Christian college in In- next five years a Centennial tained for Burmese children in dia. It is 16 miles from the city Fund of ten thousand rupees for a near-by village, with 107 of Madras, but connected by ef- evangelism. pupils and 12 teachers. The Inficient electric railway service. dian Church, which developed The college is built on about 400 -Presbyterian Tribune. from efforts of the college stuacres of land and on the model dents, meets regularly in the of the residential universities of Ways of Working chapel and its pastor has a gen- Oxford and Cambridge in Eng- uinely evangelistic influence. land, and of Harvard and Yale in the United States. It has four -':"'Burma News.
Moravian missionaries in Ti- CHINA bet use various methods of mak- Christ the Only Hope ing God's Word known. One missionary, adapting the method Chinese Christians in North China are praying for Chris- of the Buddhists who carve holy tians in Japan. When a Japa- words upon the rocks for pass- ing pilgrims to see, stencils
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
nese Christian soldier comes Throughout the country there is scene of battle moved from into church the words, "I am a growing recognition of the ab- Chapei to the western district of also a Christian," banishes at solute necessity of honesty in ad- Shanghai, St. John's campus once the expression of strain ministration, and men whose in- was on the very edge of the batand apprehension on the faces tegrity is beyond question are tlefield and it became necessary of the people. An English- being sought to fill positions of for everyone to evacuate. speaking soldier came-an en- trust. In spite of war, a new gineering college graduate and China is being built, and the -The Living Church. a Sunday school teacher in Ja- Christian Church is being asked pan-"What a pity I What a to furnish the ideals. Y. W. C. A. Service pity I" cried a young Chinese teacher. The man talked with The Silver Lining The Young Women's Christhe Chinese pastor and asked for tian Association is rendering a verse from the Chinese Bible, A missionary in P e i pin g valuable service in China during since he was going to the front, writes the Presbyterian Board the present struggle in meeting together with the pastor's auto- of a station prayer meeting in urgent human needs. Refugee graph. He wished to carry it in which a report was given of ex- camps, first aid classes and clinhis hat. The verse given him periences in Paotingfu, when the ics were the first response to the was, "Where there is neither city was taken by the Japanese. situation; a woman's service Jew nor G r e e k, barbarian, The courageous and convincing center has bee n established Scythian, bond or free, but testimony of the Chinese Chris- which combines into one large Christ is all and in all." tians in the face of wounds and unit a refugee camp for unem- death, the equally impressive at- ployed Chinese women, a hostel More than one individual Jap- titude and conversation of Japa- for factory girls already at anese soldier and officer has said nese Christian soldiers under the work, and a vocational training they would prefer not to be in compulsory sway of a military center for those still unable to this war, but "we are under or- system which enrolls all able- return to, or find work; units ders." bodied men for war; and the of industrial girls have gone to evident use of this testimony by the front to aid in helping both An American woman whose the Holy Spirit in the conversion soldiers and civilians. name is known nationally was of many; all demonstrate that no walking along a street in Japan matter how dark the world out- It is gratifying to note that a few weeks ago just before sail- look may be, God's overruling the regular forward-looking proing for the United States. A providence is making even the gram of the association is being Japanese gentleman fell into wrath of man to praise Him. carried on throughout the counstep beside her, asked if she try; some of the national staff were not an American, and St. J ohn:'s University members are remaining at headapologized for speaking to her Carries On quarters in Shanghai, while but said he felt that he must. eight others have gone to Han- He said, "I don't know who you The work of Christian educa- kow to establish a national headare, but you are going to Amer- tion goes on in Shanghai. St. quarters in Central China, and ica and I want you to tell the John's University began its fall to be ready to follow the Gov- American people that we J apa- term five weeks late in a huge ernment if it moves farther innese do not want this war-We office building constructed of land. Every cent of money do not want to fight China. It concrete in the heart of the busi- raised for pursuing the program is only the militarist party in ness district. goes directly to China. control, and we are helpless." The many practical difficulties Movements in Central Asia War and Christianity connected with such a move were met and overcome by the The missionary occupation of A writer in The Christian Ad- acting president, William Sung, Chinese Turkestan has been exvocate declares there never has and the administrative staff in a ceedingly thin, but so long as it been a time in China when an- most efficient manner. Funds was possible to do so, two pioneer tagonism to Christian teaching for the extra expenses such as missionaries, George Hunter and was so rapidly disappearing. rent and the transportation of Percy Mather, traveled up and The work and spirit of the furniture were collected from down sowing the seed of the Church are making themselves the alumni. The enrolment of Gospel in preparation for a harso strongly felt in high places students was greater than ever, vest yet to be garnered. They that they are quietly permeating many universities in China be- sought to reach the most remote the life of the people, breaking ing unable to open at all, and peoples, and succeeded in spreaddown prejudices and removing their students transferring to ing the knowledge of Christ and barriers, which a few years ago St. John's. distributing Scriptures over an seemed immovable. Old super- enormous area. stitions are disintegrating and About half of the staff conopening up an unhindered way tinued to live on the university Meanwhile, on the Western for the message of the Christ as campus which was guarded by side, the Swedish Mission in the Saviour of men from sin. British soldiers; but when the Kashgar, by medical and educa- tional methods, maintained a
steady effort to reach the Moslem he has been speaking night after In his plea for vigorous suppopulation. At present it is not night to packed audiences. It is port of missions, Mr. Castle used possible to report accurately the reported that young people are Japan, the country with which missionary effort of Chinese especially restless and bewil- he is familiar, as an example of Turkestan because of the critical dered at the situation, and are the need for such work. "We political situation, but there has earnestly seeking for the lead hear people say, 'I will not give been advance in that territory which Dr. Kagawa is so capable to missions in Japan.' If they which lies south of the Kara- of giving. feel so bitterly toward Japan, koram Pass. There are plans they should give more freely for new effort at the starting The National Christian Coun- than ever before, since, in their point for all caravans moving to- cil of Japan announces: "One own opinion, the Japanese are ward Chinese and R u s s ian of the primary objects of hold- desperately in need of Christian Turkestan. ing the 1938 World Christian {)tandards of conduct. The use- Conference in the Orient was to fulness of missions is not in the Nothing could be more impor- make it possible for the attend- least dependent on whether we tant than to establish work ance of full delegations from the approve or disapprove the acwhich will influence traders and younger churches." This may tions of the government of the travelers who form these cara- not now be possible, but the country where the missions are vans and supply them with Council reports that it will co- established." Scriptures. There is talk of es- operate as far as possible in tablishing bases from which making the meeting to be held Another speaker, B ish 0 p hitherto closed provinces, such in India in December, 1938, a Tucker, himself a former misas Yasin, Hunza and Nagar, can success. sionary to Japan, defended the be pentrated, and there is hope existence of missions in Japan of occupying an area known as – World Dominion Press. against the criticism of those the Trans-zoji-Ia field which is who hold that Japan's present accessible from the Kashmir Practice in Leadership conduct toward China does not border, and which will greatly justify missionary effort. affect pioneer work in Ladakh A little over a year ago the and Baltistan. Osaka English School decided "Perhaps we do not realize to organize a Sunday school to that Christian nations some- -Mildred Cable. take the place of week-day Bible times do not show evidence of classes. At that time there was Christianity in practical con- JAPAN-CHOSEN not even one student who had duct," he said. ever had the experience of lead- Kagawa's Christmas Gift ing a worship program of any Christian influence in Japan kind, and only three who would "has won an almost complete American friends of Kagawa, lead in public prayer. It was victory" in elevating m 0 r a I have sent him a Christmas gift not easy to plan worship pro- standards of the Japanese in soof $1,000 to continue his service. grams for an untrained group cial, industrial, business and More than 350 persons had a of this kind, who had never be- philanthropic life. While admitpart in this gift. Probably there fore had any connection with a ting that perhaps it has failed in has never been a time in his life Sunday school and who knew regard to influencing the nationwhen Kagawa was in more need little about Christianity. But alistic attitude of the Japanese, of a practical demonstration of gradually the i r interest in- Bishop Tucker said: "I believe Christian brotherhood than the creased, and a few "born lead- the cause may be that as the present. ers" were discovered. Only once Japanese watched the activities or twice has anyone declined to of Christian countries in the Or- Rev. J. Henry Carpenter, 285 take part when asked, and then ient, witnessing certain degrees Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn, N. with good excuse. There is an of aggression, they have not Y., is treasurer of this fund, average attendance of fifty. gathered that Christianity has which has a balance of $100 still much influence on Christian govin the bank, and promises of -World Outlook. ernments;" -N. Y. Times. more to come. Christian Front Urged Aid for China -The Living Church. At a missionary rally last Jan- Here is proof that not all Jap- Difficulties Beset the N. C. C. uary in the Cathedral of St. John anese are militarists. Rev. H. H. the Divine, New York, William Kano, minister in charge of the The National Christian Coun- R. Castle, former U. S. ambas- Episcopal Church's work among cil's United Campaign of Evan- sador to Japan, appealed to Japanese farmers in Western gelism has been slowed up by Christianity to present "a united Nebraska, has sent a gift of $10 the Sino-Japanese crisis. The front against the forces of re- to the China Emergency Fund. thinking of the nation is given action and evil." He branded As further proof, a young J apawholly to the struggle being communism as reversion to the nese artist, son of Yone Noguchi, waged. Only in Tokyo are the primitive, and Naziism and Fas- made a drawing of a Chinese meetings arranged in the Spring cism as enemies of individual mother and child, to be sold at of 1937 for Dr. Kagawa being liberty. a benefit in New York City for carried out as planned. There
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
the Chinese. The drawing was 2. Learning to listen while God always been a matter of uncerpurchased by a Chinese business speaks, and to obey what He says. tainty. Recently the Dutch Govman of New York. When asked ernment has made a thorough why he contributed his work to 3. Telling to other people the good survey of their part of the this end, Mr. Noguchi is quoted results that have come to their lives. island, with the result that the as saying: population is now estimated at There have been surprising results. over a million. Here are num- I give this drawing to make the Many school girls have confessed that berless tribes and races un- Americans understand that the Japa- they have been cheating in examina- reached except as viewed from nese are not all militaristic. I am tion, and have resolved that, at what- the air. They are generally just as distressed for the Japanese as ever cost to their marks, they would known as Papuans (curly). for the Chinese. Whereas in China cheat no more. They have confessed They are black, have curly hair, people are killed and hearts are brok- to the matron that they stole food and in many cases are still proben, in Japan children will be raised and fruit from the cupboard when ably cannibals. Nearly one hunwith hearts hardened to a race next she was not around, and have re- dred Dyak Christians of Borneo to them if they win this war. solved to return or pay for all they have been employed by a gold have stolen. Some have confessed to mining company, and have gone -The Churchman. stealing money and have planned to to New Guinea. Some of the Chi- return it. There is a new conscience nese missionaries of the Chinese Year's Growth in Chosen about obeying the rules of the school Foreign Missionary Union are and dormitory. feeling a call to this island, which Rev. C. A. Clark writes in save Greenland, is the largest Pyengyang News that 1937 was These young people spend an hour island in the world. a remarkable year in the rural or so each day in quiet times together, field. Every church has been listening silently to hear what God -The Pioneer. filled to overflowing; four con- says. The answers they are getting gregations are building new, and are practical, and are resulting in In Dutch East Indies larger churches. As a gesture of such striking changes that everybody sharing, Mr. Clark contributed notices them. The Dutch East Indies is one 10 yen to each; except for this of the largest fields of the Christhe people have met the entire C. E. Jubilee in Australia tian and Missionary Alliance. Recost. cently the Government withdrew The following call has been its objections to the Alliance us- Mr. Clark began work in his issued: "Ninety thousand Aus- ing a hydroplane in one of the field fourteen years ago when tralasian Christian Endeavor- districts of Borneo which is exthere were 21 churches; two or ers affectionately and enthusias- ceedingly difficult of access. The three of these barely started. tically invite their comrades of only condition is that the plane Today, there are 45 churches in every nationality to come to Mel- shall be nominally owned by a the same area. Five women bourne, the entertaining city of Dutch subject. As a Dutch misworkers are paid in full by the the Tenth World's Christan En- sionary was due to arrive on the churches. Each church last year deavor Convention-August 2nd field a few weeks ago, there is had a week of Bible classes. to 8th, 1938. We earnestly ask not likely to be any further ob- that you will make every effort jection. This method of trans- ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC throughout your territory to or- port will save the missionaries ganize a representative delega- much time, and will be a safer Bible Course for Formosa tion and thus kindle fires of con- way of traveling than by the secration, fellowship, unity and swift-flowing river. The Canadian Mission in For- goodwill that will spread from mosa asked for a Japanese Melbourne to the utmost corners The Alliance has a Bible translation of Dr. W. L. Sival- of the earth. . . . school in Makassar, Celebes, len's Bib I e Correspondence where about 170 students were Course, for use among Japanese "Christian youth, 'neath the enrolled during last year, pre- Christians in Formosa. This has Southern Cross, holds out to you paring to preach the Gospel in now been made, making this the ready hand of welcome and the unevangelized parts of the course available in Korean, Chi- affection. A young nation, fac- islands. Nearly 3,000 converts nese and Japanese. The number ing the dawn of a great future, were baptized in 1936, most of now enrolled is over 10,000 and whose people are imbued with these being in Borneo, and those who have finished the the highest instincts of friendli- bringing the Christian commucourse are more than 3,000. ness, invites you to mingle with nity in that island to more than her sons and daughters in for- 11,000. . -The Christian. -Pyengyang News. mulating a covenant-program of world evangelism, world unity NORTH AMERICA The Real Thing and world peace." Our National Leakage Some of the young people in -N. C. C. Bulletin. Dansalan, P. 1., have resolved to Prof. Charles J. Bushnell, of take their Christianity in earn- Unexplored New Guinea Toledo University, and other ines:t by doing these three things: The entire coastline of New 1. Analyzing their lives, getting Guinea has been assigned to the rid of every little sin, and surrender- Dutch missions. Many thouing completely to God. sands have been reached, but the task of evangelizing the interior of that great island is an enor- mous one. The population has
vestigators have recently sup- their signed cards. Among those 1938, in eastern, central and Pa- plied some startling figures in signing were: cific areas. The theme will be regard to crime's economic drain 33 Catholics 1 People's "Presbyterian Young People in on the nation. For example, in 49 Episcopalians the World Christian Communi- Church the time those defaulted war 53 Presbyterians 93 Methodists ty." Each conference will con- 2 Brethren 1 Pentecostal -debts have been running, the ac- 1 Mormon 2 Church tinue for five days, and each will <cumulated crime bill would pay be led by Dr. Harold McAfee for all the wars in history. This 12 Congregation- of God Robinson. College students will alists 3 Swedish appalling drain includes a gam- 14 Christian Mission have time set aside in each for bling bill of $4,000,000,000; $3,- Scientists 3 Greek consideration of their particular 500,000,000 lost through com- 7 Evangelicals Orthodox problems, and to plan for regionmercial frauds, diverting funds 1 Salvationist ,al student organization. 45 Lutherans 6 St. Andrew from legitimate channels; the 4 Disciples Protestant 1 St. Lucas loss from crimes against prop- . 30 Baptists 19 Unsigned Inquiry Into Student Affiliation erty; the half million annual ar- -Po T. L. Quarterly.
rests; the 2'00,000 prison population with an annual turnover University Christian Mission The Episcopal Church has of fifty per cent, the police, made a survey, and announces courts, transportation and insti- The Federal C 0 U n c i I of that 47,729 of the nation's stututions estimated at never less Churches announces a "Univer- dents are Episcopalian, or one than $10,000,000,000 and as sity Christian Mission" to be sixth of all college students. The high as $15,000,000,000. conducted at the invitation of survey also disclosed that a total leading educational institutions of 88.3'1'0 of students in Ameri- If even a fraction of this mon- of the nation during 1938. It is can colleges have a definite reey were saved by preventive a united effort on the part of all ligious preference. These figmeasures, it would stimulate g r 0 ups engaged in student ures are based on information business; and a large propor- Christian work to present the received from 1,340 institutes of tion of the taxes spent on the claim of Christian faith and life higher learning, involving 82'8,- futile turnover of a constantly upon students of America. 071 students. recruited criminal class could be put to constructive purposes- The primary purpose is to Methodists, with 156,423, or 18.89 education, libraries, recreational confront students wit h the percent, led the list of denominations. facilities, health and mental hy- claims of Christ upon their lives, giene. and to lead them to a definite Roman Catholics were second with Christian discipleship. The time 122,786 students, or 14.83 per cent. Let it be noted that this loss is opportune for a new religious is cumulative in its effects, in- movement a m 0 n g students. Other groups in order were: creasing both taxes and cost of Many are seriously looking for Baptist, 99,219. living. a Divine Master in whom they Presbyterian, 88,473. may believe, and for a cause to Congregational and Christian, 48,- Gospels for Evanston, Ill., which they may commit them- 354. Protestant Episcopal, 47,729. Lutheran, 38,339. Hebrew, 32,405. Disciples of Christ, 13,921.
High School selves. The aim of the Mission Christian Science, 12,282. will be to make the strongest Latter Day Saints (Mormon), 11,- Through the cooperation of the possible presentation of Christ, 428. principal of the Evanston High and of what He means for the School, the Scripture League of life of the individual and of the It was found that in nine Evanston placed a Gospel of St. world. The Mission has been or- states it is illegal to inquire into John on the desk of each boy <and ganized under the chairmanship the religious preferences of stugirl in the different assembly of Dr. John A. Mackay, Presi- dents. -The Living Church. rooms, and the matter was dent of Princeton Theological briefly explained to them by the Seminary, who s e influential Mormons on Relief assembly teacher. They were leadership a m 0 n g thoughtful told that the acceptance of the Christians is recognized on all Statements appear from time book must be entirely voluntary sides. to time to the effect that the and that if they did not wish to Mormon Church has taken care keep it they could drop it in a Presbyterian Youth of its own relief problems durbox on their way out of the Conferences ing the depression, and since. A room. Less than 500 of the 3,000 Presbyterian missionary at Wa~ Gospels were refused. After An attempt to do something satch-Logan Academy calls this reading the Gospels through, al- on a national basis about Pres- "publicity" for the Latter Day byterian young people in their Saints, and says that 42 per cent of Mt. Pleasant-about 90 per most 400 signed the P. T. L. relationship to the United Chris- cent Mormon-is on government membership cards and received tian Youth Movement and to the relief; the situation in other their Testaments. The Scrip- Student Christian Movement parts of Utah is similar, or ture League reported that 361 takes form in plans for three worse. The state supervisor of marked "I accept Christ" on conferences in June and July, social work, a Mormon, by the
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
way, says that the Mormon in distant and islated places turn War Resisters Church does very little in this almost invariably to the mission- The War Resisters' Internaconnection. tional is pledged to refuse sup- aries for advice, for interpreters, port ,to any kind of war and to -Monday Morning. for hospitality. Thus the Chris- tian Church has its own sources work for the removal of all The Race Question of information, which on the causes of war. It has members whole are more complete and As a follow-up of last year's in sixty-eight countries, and in study of the American Negro, more trustworthy than any other twenty-five of these there are fifty-two organized groups. The two conferences of church wom- sources dealing with the same headquarters in London reports en have been held, one at Asbury class of facts. The nearest ap- Park, N. J., the other at Evans- proach to a General Headquar- that "open work is now absoton, Ill. Considerable attention ters for the world's Protestant lutely impossible" in Germany, was given to reports from de- churches is the International and that in Italy correspondence nominational representatives as Missionary Council, which deals can only be "erratic and carried to how far their groups had with what would be called in military parlance the expedi- on with great discretion." But progressed in their racial atti- tionary forces of the churches. the Peace Pledge Union in Great tudes, and the specific results of Britain has 127,000 members,- in -Presbyterian Tribune. five hundred groups with its their recent study. These re- own weekly newspaper. In the ports showed long standing in- Some Figures Do Not Lie United States there are 13,000 terest in the Negro, first as an members of the War Resisters' object of missionary endeavor, Churches uninterested in mis- League, and the movement con-. sions eventually die. The Watchnext as the center of a great man-Examin.er supports t his tinues to grow in numbers and moral controversy that split sev- effectiveness. The Bel g ian eral of the denominations, then theory with the following figures. Union Against War, an absolute as a hopeless freedman who In 1832 there were 3,000 anti- pacifist organization, includes needed education and leadership missionary and 3,000 missionary 75,000 members of the Flemish training, and finally the increas- Baptists in one state. Fifty Ex-Servicemen's Association and ing shift from simply doing years later there were still 3,000 things for the Negro to thinking anti-missionary Baptists, while 20,000 members of the Anti-Wal' of him as a fellow human being the missionary group had grown League.-Christian Advocate.
whose help is needed in the to 37,000. In North Carolina, building of a Christian America. Baptists divided in 1840 on mis- More Light on Old Testament. It was reported that Negroes are receiving greater recognition in sions. There were then 1,200 Knowledge of ancient empires: the administrative agencies of anti-missionary Baptists, and and peoples is being enlarged so. twice as many committed to mis- rapidly that facts which confirm most denominations; that equal sions. Fifty years later the the truth of the Bible are being. treatment of racial minorities is anti-missionary group had not required by many denominations increased in number, while the brought to light constantly. In when they hold official gather- missionary group had in their Egypt, Palestine and Mesopo.., ings; but that all these advances tamia, patient archeologists are are only a small beginning to- churches 300,000 members. unearthing information which ward better racial relations. World Preaching Mission renders rationalistic interpreta..
tions untenable. Sir Charles Dr. Jesse M. Bader, Director Marston and Sir Henry Well- MISOELLANEOUS of the National Preaching Mis- come are among those who have sion, announces a World Preach- not only contributed generously Missions-an Information ing Mission, with participation to various archreological expedi.,. Bureau The 25,000 missionaries sta- by all evangelical churches in all tions; but have recorded the tioned all over the world know lands, in 1940. Arrangements findings in a series of books. intimately the facts about the are well under way in some The latest of these is Sir Charles people among whom they labor, countries. Marston's new volume, "The and possess a mass of informa- Widespread interest, as great Bible Comes Alive." One of his tion far greater than that col- as that during the 1936 missions, most striking refutations of lected by news agencies, or by and a marked benefit to the criticism is in regard to the lit- governments. If the League of churches of all communions have erary ability possessed by the Nations, for example, wants to been reported from the eleven Israelites from the time of know exactly what the situation cities visited by the National Moses. He proves that so far is in regard to a mandated por- Preaching Mission last autumn. from being illiterate, they were tion of Africa, it often has to At every center the city's largest far superior to the nations turn to the missionaries to ob- auditorium was used for the around them, and had at least tain accurate and unbiased in- mass meetings, and in most in- three alphabetical scripts. Thus formation. Newspaper corre- stances it was completely filled the theory of oral transmissioq is set aside. spondents covering assignment on one or more days. Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information ~-======~==~~~======~=======I~ China Through a College Window. have yet to discover a portrait Miss Carmichael has the eye By William G. Sewell. 183 pp. of Mohammed anywhere in of an artist, the soul of a poet, a $1.00. Friendship Press, New York. China. • heart of love, the vision of a 1937. We recommend this book as a spirit-filled missionary and the The author of this delightful readable account of the funda- mind of Christ. Her book is mental changes taking place in filled with facts and incidentsbook is a well-known chemist in some grave and some gay-that Clrinese educational circles. Al- the youth of China today. though he gives the fictitious stir the reader and lead to a dename of "Ren I" for his univer- C. L. PICKENS. sire to share in such a vital, lifesity, the book very well describes "West China Union University" Windows. By Amy Carmichael. Il- giving work. The 36 pictures at Chengtu, Szechuan. lustrated. 8vo. 247 pp. Paper, 38. 6d.; cloth, 58. 6d. May be or- are unique and fascinating; the Prof. Sewell, who has been dered from Hope Church Sunday quotations are striking, but the connected with the Friends' School, St. Louis, Mo. 1937. deep impression is made by the Service Council since 1924, says, Real stimulus to faith and de- vastness of the spiritual need of "The sole design of the book is votion comes from this very at- the people of India. When we to portray life as it is lived today tractive, beautifully illustrated, hear the words, "the voice of among Chinese students in the spiritually impressive Dohnavur thy brother's blood crieth unto city removed from the extremes book. In it Miss Carmichael- me from the ground," we realof coastal influences." However, now on a bed of pain-tells how ize that our answer to that cry the fascinating pen sketches of "windows in heaven" have been opened to supply the needs- must be the message of the lifethe Chinese character, both an- giving blood of Christ. cient and modern, as portrayed in actual experience, makes the temporal and spiritual- of the "Ask and It Shall Be Given You." understanding of the changes in family of 700 children and work- By Ida Goepp Pierson. 8vo. 140 new China easily understood. This book gives an excellent ers connected with the various pp. $1.50. Wm. B. Eerdman Pub. view of Chinese life, and is more phases of the work at Dohnavur Co. Grand Rapids, Mich. 1937. readable than Lin Yu-tang's "My Country and My People," and the neighboring villages. Mrs. George P. Pierson was Here we learn much about this for forty years a faithful and which is a little heavy for steady remarkable work of faith and efficient praying missionary in reading. labor of love and its fruitage. Japan. Her husband testified We see rare photographic and that she was a woman of prayer T.he author's summing up of pen pictures that visualize the and knew from experience the the Christian approach to the scenes. We hear why they fact that God answers prayer. needed electric lights-not only Here are her Bible studies on student is commended to others. for the hospital work but to the subject. The book is not a He says: "The spiritual help avoid snakes; thirteen cobras logical treatise on prayer but they need is not gained through caught one afternoon-and rats Mrs. Pierson has gone over Bible study groups and religious -one hundred invaded a single many of the 255 prayers of the bathroom in a few weeks! The Old Testament and the 209 New services alone. What really mat- electric lights were given in an- Testament petitions to discover ters is the quality of life of those swer to prayer. There are many the subjects, the laws, and the who profess themselves Chris- stories of the hospital – "Place power of prayer. She includes tians; for right living is really of Heavenly Healing"; the res- interesting and suggestive obinfectious." cue of the little boys and girls servations on the unanswered from lives of sin and shame; the prayers of the Bible and on the There is one statement which "angel's weekly finance meet- prayers of God and evil people. should be challenged. On page ing"; the gifts offered by chil- It is interesting to note that no 41, Mr. Sewell says, "In his dren; the life in the nursery; prayers are recorded in Leviti- experiences in a haunted house; cus, Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, simple bedroom he (the Chinese satanic attacks; fiery trials; Proverbs or Songs of Solomon. student) hangs pictures, not battles against ill-health; vic- Some books have even no referonly of Confucius and the Bud- tories. ence to prayer. Jesus' example dha, but also of Jesus Christ, Chwant Dze, Mohammed and the great ones of the world." We Any of the books noted In these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on. receipt of price.
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OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
A Definite Experience of Faith and Consecration Is Our Heritage Every Christian owes more to the past than the fact of a Christ who is our divine Lord~ The experiences of redeemed men are our most pre- cious heritage. In their hearts and lives have been demonstrated the evidences of the saving grace of the Son of God.
On May 24th more than 10,000,000 Methodists throughout the world are commemorating the Aldersgate experience of John Wesley, in which he uttered those words cherished by evangelical believers the world around, HI felt my heart strangely warmed."
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and teachings on prayer are will be deeply interested in the brief chapters Dr. Huizenga re- most fruitful. wealth and variety of the facts lates some of the high lights in The book offers an excellent cited and in what was said by the career of this missionary basis for further study. It is delegates from the various counstrictly biblical. tries. It is true that "much leader, and gives some of the water has flowed under the The appearance and clearness bridge" since August, 1936, but tributes paid at the time of his of the volume would be improved if the many Scripture quotations most of the contents of this vol- death in 1936. had been printed in a different ume is of abiding value. Our retype. gret are that it deals with the Going out in 1900, Mr. Brink "problems of the Pacific" as if labored at three strategic points, Tohatchi, Toadlena and Farm- ington, all on the New Mexico side of the broad expanse of the An Ambassador in Bonds. The Story they were solely social, economic Navaho reservation. At Farm- of William Henry Jackson, the and political, and with no ap- parent recognition of the sig~ ington, "L.P." saw "several of Blind Priest of Burma. By May C. Purser. 64 pp. 6d. S. P. G. nificance of the moral and spir- his long-cherished missionary London. ambitions realized . . . his itual forces that are operating translations come from the press The story of a consecrated and and the contribution of the and distributed in the field; his remarkably talented blind young Christian missionary enterprise. first native Navaho evangelist, Englishman, who made his phys- Something more is involved in J. C. Morgan, set aside by the ical handicaps count in service these "problems" than trade and Board for the work of the Lord; for his Master. The story is politics. ARTHUR J. BROWN. saw his proposed chain of mis- written by one who knew him as sion stations to reach all the out- a sister and an associate in The Land of Umbrellas. Lessons on lying Navahos of the reservation work. A missionary of the the Church in Burma. By Ruth accepted by the Synod." Henrich. Is. S.P.G. London. 1937. S.P.G., he gave his life to the Someone has called Brink blind of Burma, created a Bur- A missionary study book for "the Cadmus of the Navaho mese Braille type and estab- Juniors, comprising t wei v e tribe," as he is said to be the lished the school for the blind. studies on the work of the first to put the Navaho tongue Deeply appreciative of Burmese Church of England in Burma. music, poetry and national cus- It includes maps, a picture sheet, into writing. He compiled a toms, he adopted the national leader's helps, much fine illus- grammar and dictionary and translated portions of the Bible dress. The Government of In- trative material, and practical into a language which the Amerdia awarded him the Kaiser-i- project suggestions. While defi- Hind medal. Though living in nitely concerned with the work ican Bible Society designates as perpetual darkness, "there was of the Church of England in "a very complex language, with verb forms that can express an zest and joy in his living, and in Burma, the material is excellent, almost infinite variety of shades his dying there was no room for clearly and attractively pre- of meaning, in sounds that do tears." RUTH WILDER BRAISTED. sented, and would be helpful as not lend themselves readily to source material to any Junior representation in our English Problems of the Pacific, 19'36. Edited group studying Burma. alphabet." His translations by W. L. Holland and Kate L. RUTH WILDER BRAISTED. also included Gospel hymns.
Mitchell. $5.00. University of Today the Navaho youth are Chicl'.go Press, Chicago. 1937. Leonard Peter Brink. By Lee S. learning to read and understand The problems of the Pacific Huizenga. 66 pp. Cloth, 75 cents; the English Bible but they love have become world problems. paper, 50 cents. Zondervan Pub- to sing the hymns in their na- lishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. They are increasingly difficult 1937. tive language. and ominous, and no solution is now in sight. This volume con- . Dr. Huizenga, himself a med- J. C. Morgan, a converted tains a large amount of informa- ical missionary and at one time Na-vaho and recognized leader tion upon certain phases of these in the Navaho field, tells the life among his people, who served problems. It is a summary of story of another missionary, under "L.P." for many years, the proceedings of the Sixth who spent thirty-five years as a gives a fitting tribute to this Conference of the Institute of pioneer among the Navahos, Gospel messenger to the Red Pacific Relations, held in Yosem- and was known to his friends Men: "The great success of his ite National Park, in August, and admirers by the familiar missionary work among the 1936. The sub-title, "Aims and sobriquet of "L.P." Dr. Henry Navahos can be summed up in a Results of Social and Economic Beets, a pioneer in Christian few words: Meekness, kindness, Policies in Pacific Countries," in- work of the Christian Reformed honesty and unselfishness. He dicates both the scope and the Church, writes an Introduction. was never too busy to sit down and talk with the Indians . . .
limitations of the volume. The "L.P." was a veteran of the by the hour, . . . about their "countries" referred to are the Cross, and a constant source of affairs in general, and finally.
United States, China, Japan and inspiration to young and old, to end up with some Gospel mes- Russia. The student of missions Indians and whites. In eight sage." G. E. E. LINDQUIST.
for the
The Federal Council offers this DOES YOUR MINISTER TAKE prayer for mercy, grace and peace: CHURCH Almighty God, our Father, from MANAGEMENT I whom every family in heaven and earth is named, hear our prayer for Thy children in other lands who live in the midst of conflict and death, who UFound in Pro.peroru Churcha" are wounded in spirit or in body by If not, have a subscription entered in his man's inhumanity to man. Have mercy upon them and sustain them in name or the name of the church. their dark hour of trial and tempta- It will pay big dividends. tion. Forgive us our 'indolence and faithlessness in not teaching nations $2.50 per year CHURCH MANAGEMENT a better way than strife. Purge our 2 years, $4.00 Auditorium Building Cleveland, Ohio .own hearts of racial and national an- tagoonGisomdso. f love, draw us all so close the present American Standard Edi- China Through a College Window. unto Thyself that we may be enabled tion of the Bible in the light of the Wm. G. Sewell. 183 pp. $1.00. by Thy Grace to pr'tl. for our enemies resUlts of modern scholarship, this re- Friendship Press. New York. as did Christ himse , to put away all 'vision to be designed for use in public malice, and to subdue the hateful and private worship, and to be in the Eclipse in Ethiopia. Esme Ritchie promptings of evil. So may our fel- direction of the simple, classic Eng- Rice. 124 pp. 40 cents. Marshall, lowship within Thy Church Universal lish style of the King James Version. Morgan & Scott. London. endure in spite of distance, falsehood and bloodshed. The work is :to begin at once, The Open Door in China. A Scrip- Gather us together with all our and will require about five years tural Interpretation of Missio'ns by Christian brothers of every tongue for completion. a Missionary. M. A. Hopkins. 189 and nation beneath the Cross of -Christian Observer. pp. 35 cents. R. C. Annan, 2813 Christ, that in humility we may learn Mary St., St. Joseph, Mo.
Problems of the Pacific. Edited by of Him how to serve Thee in healing W. L. Holland and Kate L. Mitchell. the wounds of a stricken world. En- $5.00. University of Chicago. Chilarge our hearts to respond to suffer- New Boole. cago, Ill. ing and need that we may give and Religion in Central America. 147 pp. not count the cost. "Ask and It Shall Be Given You." $2.00 or 58. World Dominion Press. Ida Goepp Pierson. 140 pp. $1.50. New York and London. May Thy wisdom guide us. May Wm. B. Eerdman. Grand Rapids, Thrilling Voices of the Past. T. Thy power sustain us. And may Thy Mich. Christie Innes. 150 pp. 28. 6d. love keep us ever. Amen.
New Version of Bible Planned Der Arbeitslohn in China (in Ger- Pickering & Inglis. London. The Interna.tional Council of man). Paul Arndt, Djini Shen and The Missionary Education of Adults. Chu-Fen Lo. Paper, -'1.50 RMi; Religious Education is an or- cloth, 9 RM. Hans Buske, Leipzig, John Leslie Lobingier. 182 pp. ganization of about forty Protes- Germany. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 80 cents. Mistant denominations which are sionary Education ~vement. New cooperating in matters affecting Arab and lew in Prophecy and His- York. tory. C. H. Titterton. 32 pp. 6d. Goforth of China. By Rosalind Go- Pickering & Inglis. London. forth. 364 pp. $2.00. Zondervau.
Christian religious education. Pub. House. Grand Rapids, Mich.
In 1929, this Council appointed ~n Unusual GJ'Xew <lIoolr on the Christ the Life. D. M. McIntyre. 93 a committee, composed of well- pp. lB. Pickering & Inglis. Lonknown scholars, to explore the DistinctWe TTUth 0fClaristiani,.,t don. need of a further revision of the text of the American Standard The Resurred:ion of A Black Civilization: A Social Study version of the Bible. It agreed of an Australian Tribe. W. Lloyd that the last forty years has been the Human Body Warner. 612 pp. $5. Harper. New York. 168. Macmillan. Lon- don.
especially fruitful in the discov- by The Christian Approach It,o. I eW8. eryof manuscript materials of- Charles Singer. 30 pp. fering new resources for the NORMAN H. CAMP & Unwin. London. Allen better understanding of the New Testament. They reported: Author of Thinking With God, etc. The Wailing Wall. Olga Levertoss. 136 pp. 38. 6d. Mowbray. London. That we record the conviction that I s CHRIST now living in a human there is need for a version which em- body of flesh and bones? Where? Christian Faith and the Modern bodies the best results of modern Will the bodies of all dead men be State. Nils Ehrenstrom. Tra'ns. scholarship as to the meaning of the raised from the grave? When? Can by D. Patrick and O. Wyon. 2(1).- Scriptures, and expresses this mean- Christians distinguish between truth pp. 68. Student Christian Move- 'ing in English diction which is de- and error? How? These and other ment. London. signed for use in public and private vital questions considered in this timely worship, and preserves those qualities book on the outstanding message of World Peace and Christian Missions. which have given to the King James the early Church. Harold E. Fey. 64 pp. 25 cents. Version a supreme place in English Friendship Press. London. literature. We, therefore, define the Bound in blue cloth, stamped in gold; task of the American Standard Bible 127 pages; attractive two-color jacket; Race Attitudes in South Africa: Committee to be that of revision of 75 cents. Order Your Copy Now! Historical, Experimental and Psy- cholOgical Studies. I. D. MacCrone. The Bible Institute Colportage Association 328 pp. 128. 6d. Oxford Univer- 848 North Well. Street, Chic:ago sity Press. London.
LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN, OF
By ROBERT E. SPEER This is the biography of a very remarkable Christian missionary to India and for twenty years the influential and able editor of the Bombay Guardian. Dr. J. Sumner Stone called him, "The White Yogi."
When George Bowen died in 1888 there was call for a worthy biography but its preparation was . delayed. Later all the biographical material-including his diaries, letters, reminiscences, and the books and pamphlets of which he was author-was turned over to Dr. Speer. This material has now been put into shape for publication and the result is a frank and stimulating picture of the man,-his experiences, unique character, forceful views and methods of work. Here is a life story that is of absorbing interest and will richly reward the thoughtful reader. The book is now ready for delivery.
CONTENTS I. Family of George Bowen. XI. A Decisive Year, 1849. II. Boyhood and Youth. XII. From 1850 to 1855. III. Three Years Abroad. XIII. Ten Years of Independent Work. IV. Life in New York, 1840·1844. XIV. The Bombay Guardian. V. Illumination of a Hopeless Love. XV. Relations with the American Board. VI. Conversion to Christianity. XVI. Association with the Methodist Church. VII. At Union Theological Seminary. XVII. Bowen as a Writer. VIII. His Missionary Appointment. XVIII. Correspondence with Henry W. Rankin. IX. The Voyage to India, 1847. XIX. Closing Testimony. X. Beginning Missionary Work.
This latest work by Dr. Speer may be ordered at $2.50 per copy from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY IS6 Fifth Avenue, New York 11fE MISSIONARY ~RID This illustrated evangelical missionary monthly will keep readers in touch with the need of men for Christ and His Gospel and relates graphically the story. of the progress of missionary work in all lands.
$2.50 a year; 25 cents a copy Among the coming articles are the following: How CAN WE IMPROVE MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION? ………… William Paton THE MOVEMENT FOR WORLD CHRISTIANITY …………… '" ….. Julius Richter ENCOURAGEMENTS IN THE EVANGELIZATION OF MOSLEMS …………. George Swan BLACK AND WHITE IN SOUTH AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kenneth G. Grubb SHOULD THE MISSIONS WITHDRAW FROM INSTITUTIONAL WORK? …. Baez Camargo THE MINISTER AND MISsiONARY EDUCATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. H. Arnup MISSIONS IN A REALISTIC WORLD ………………… , … '" ….. H. B. DAVIES MANSUR SANG-CHRISTIAN DERVISH …………………… J. CHRISTY WILSON PROSECUTING THE GoSPEL IN BRAZIL ……………………….. E. doAmarol LOOKING BACK ON OUR FURLOUGH …………………..•……. Roy Phillips TWO NEW TWELVE-MONTH SUBSCRIPTIO~S WILL BE SENT FOR $4.00 MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa.
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The Missionary Review of the World — March 1935
MARCH,1935
Two Young Missionary Martyrs Editorial Why I Am Returning to China Beatrice Scott Stevenson Tshekedi……Chief of the Bamangwato A. M. Chirgwin Christianity and the World Today Herbert H. Farmer Twelve Years of the Turkish Republic J. Kingsley Birge Fifty Years of Cooperation in Chosen c. A. Clark 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
Weigle to study all grades
WINONA LAKE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY training schools, Bible Schools and WINONA LAKE, INDIANA methods of training voluntary work- ers. -;- ;~ * Evangelical Scholarly Interdenominational Bishop Herbert Welch of Shanghai Courses Almost a score of stutes (besides foreign coun- was one of foul' Methodists to whom English Bible, (J eremiah), Biblical tries) and an equal number of denominations were awarded gold medals by the re- Archffiology, Christian Ethil's, Mod- represented each year, ern Cults, Christian Evidences, cent General Conference of the Korean Hymnology, Biblical Messianism, AdrninistraUol! .' Dr. W. E. BiedlTwolf, Presi- Church. Greek New Testament, Barthian- dent; Dr. J. A. HulTman, Dean. ism, *** Faculty.' Dr. .1. A. Huffman, J )1'. tiamucl ,1. Two Ue'mesters oj 15 days each.. Zwemer, Dr. Harold Paul Sloan. Dr. Leslie Ray The Rt. Rev. Dr. M. T. M. Hard- July 9 to August 11, Work lead- ~Iurstoll, Prof. RoIlin Pease. j )1'. Howard T. ing, Bishop of Qu'Appelle, has been ing to regular Theological Degrees, Kuist, Prof. Mable McQueen Weir. For 11Tin'isfersJ Teachers, JUs8ion- elected Archbishop of the diocese of aries and Laymen, Send for l~-page Pl'osvectu:-; at once to Rupert's Land, and Metropolitan of DR. J. A. HUFFMAN, Dean the province of Rupert's Land. He Marion, Indiana succeeds the late Archbishop Stringer who died October 31.
Dates to Remember Personal Items *** March 1·2-Christian Youth Confer- Dr. John R. Mott, and Mrs. Mott, Rev. Frank P. Parkin, D.D., Secre- ence of Pacific Northwest, Interde- sailed from San Francisco on Febru- nominational, Seattle, Washington. ary 22d to spend a month in Japan tary of the Atlantic Agency of the and Korea, a month in China, and a March B-World Day of Prayer. shorter time in the Philippines. They Pennsylvania Bible Society, has re- expect to be back in America June 5th. signed after 17 years of active service. March B·lO-Youth Conference under The object of this trip is to further the Auspices of the Greater New service of the International Mission- ;~ * * York Federation of Churches, River- ary Council by conferences with the side Church, New York. various National Christian Councils. Dr. Charles E. Maddry, Executive May 2·5 – Young Men's Missionary * * :;:- Secretary of the Foreign Mission Congress under the auspices of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, Dr. Ivan Lee Holt, newly-elected Board of the Southern Baptist Con- Chicago. President of the Fedel'al Council of vention, and Mrs. Maddry, with Dr. Churches, has sailed for China to fill J. B. Weatherspoon, of the Southern May 2l-23-National Council of Fed- a three-weeks' visiting pastorate in erated Church Women. Annual the Community Church of Shanghai. Baptist Theological Seminary of Meeting. Rochester, N. Y. He expects also to visit Australia, and Louisville, Ky., are spending seven Japan. May 26-Rural Life Sunday. months in the Orient to make a de- *** If you use tailed study of Southern Baptist work Dr. Robert P. Wilder, recently sec- in Japan and China. Dr. and Mrs. PRINTING l'etary of the Near East Christian Council, has sailed for England to Maddry plan to return to the United YOU will profit from an ac- spend some months among the British States in July in time to be at Ridge- quaintanceship with us. We University students, holding meetings crest, N. C., for Foreign Mission do the job complete in our own under the auspices of the "Inter-Var- plant, whether it be large or sity Fellowship." Week, August 11-1R. small. * * :i;. * oj; While our specialty is Books, Maga;zines and Pamphlets, yet David R. Porter, who has been act- Archdeacon Briggs of Ugogo, Tan- we have a variety of modern ing-headmaster of Mount Hermon equipment to meet all the re- School, Mount Hermon, Mass" since ganyika, has received the "Order of quirements of your particular the tragic death of Headmaster Elliott the British Empire" award. He has job. You will find our service Speer last September, has been elected prompt, careful and courteous. Headmaster. He was born in Old been working in East Africa for the Town, Maine, in 1882. After gradu- Church Missionary Society for more Will you allow us to estimate ating at Bowdoin he was a Rhodes on your next printing? We be- Scholar at Oxford. Since then he has than forty years. lieve you will be delighted with worked among students as a Y. M. our product, price and service. C. A. secretary. He is the author of * ~; The Church in the Unive1'sities. The EVANGELICAL PRESS Dr. G. O. Teichmann, a Baptist *** missionary and senior doctor of the Printers of Chandraghona Hospital, Bengal, has Dr. Frank C. Laubach, an American The Missionary Review of the World Board missionary in the Philippines, received the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Med- is returning to America this summer PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE on furlough by way of India, Egypt, al. Third and Reily Streets Harrisburg, Po. Syria, Turkey, Spain and Portugal. He is spending three or four months *' in India studying the situation and attempting to help adapt his teaching Dr. A. J. Hunter, who is doing vali- method to the Indian languages. ant work as a medical missionary *** among the homesteaders in the pioneer Dr. Luther A. Weigle, of Yale, has settlements of Manitoba, has been gone to China for six months of in- tensive service in connection with the awarded the M. B. E. medal by King World S. S. Association. The National George V. Committee for Christian Religious Education in China is anxious to have *** made a study of the problems of train- ing for church leaders and has asked Dr. H. J. H. Cox, of the Church Missionary Society, who has charge of the Peshawar, hospital, Northwest Frontier, has received the Kaiser-i- Hind Gold Medal. Mrs. Starr (now Mrs. Underhill) was matron of this hospital when she rescued Miss Mollie Ellis from Afghan brigands. The great grandfather of Dr. Cox was the first white missionary to preach in Bangalore, India.
* * ;(.
Rev. A. C. Pelly, has recently re- turned to England from India where he has been principal of St. Andrew's College, Gorakhpur, since 1916. He has received the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal. * :j: 'i: Dr. Dandeson C. Crowther, Arch- deacon of the Niger Diocese, has re- ceived the "Order of the British Em- (Concluded on page 97.)
MISSIONARY "THE MISSIONARY REVIEW fills a
REVIEW OF THE WORLD need which is not being met by- any other printed page in America. May DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor it continue for many years."
VOL. LVIII MAR., 1935 No.3 AMELIA D. KEMP, Executive Secretary, Women's Publication and Business Office– Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. Missionary Society, United Lutheran Church. Editorial and Executive Office– 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. *** Entered as second-class matter at Plans are being made for the spe- Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under cial mission study topic numbers of Act of March 3, 1879. THE REVIEW for the coming year (1935-36) . The Home Mission topic 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. will be "Winning America for Christ" Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. -to appear in June. The Foreign Published monthly, except August. Mission topic is "The Gospel in Latin All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1935. America"-to appear in October. British agents – Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, DO NOT MISS THEM. London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, 10 shillings a year. *** MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- Our good friend, Dr. Frederick G. LISHING CO., INC. Coan, formerly of Persia, writes as follows to correct a slight misstate- BOARD OF DIRECTORS ment in the story of the Life of Dr. ROBERT E. SPEER, President Sa'eed Khan which appeared in our WM. I. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President January issue. Dr. Coan says: ,VALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary "I have known Dr. Sa'eed for many SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT years . . . When he went to Hamadan MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD he was never obliged to work as a stable boy. This is the most menial WM. B. LIPPHAIW position a man can take … Mr. J. W. Hawkes, of the Persia Mission, had a ERIC M. NORmI great deal to do with Dr. Sa'eed after JESSE R. WILSON he reached Hamadan . . . He is the greatest Kurd in history and a very A. L. W AlL'ISHUIS great power for God in Persia today." SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Editorial Chat The annual meeting of THE REVIEW Personal Items SPEEDWAY TO ORIENT was held on F<:!bruary 15th at 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, at 3 p. m. (Concluded from second cover.) YOKOHAMA IN 10 DAYS •. . fastest, shortest Pacific crossing .•. by the Dr. Robert E. Speer presided and pire." He is an African, son of the sister-ships Empress of Asia or there were present a number of first native Anglican Bishop in Afri- Empress of Russia. Or via Honofriends of the REVIEW, including a ca. Although past 90 years of age, he lulu in 3 days more on the Empress quorum of the Directors and Stock- is still an active and enthusiastic holders (in' person or by proxy). The worker. The honorary degree of D.D. of I apan (largest, fastest liner on Treasurer presented his annual re- was conferred on him by the Archport for the year 1934 showing the bishop of Canterbury (Dr. Davidson) the Pacific) or the Empress of operating income $5.00 in excess of fifteen years ago. Canada. expenses, which have been reduced to ~EDUCED ROUND·TRIP FARES … luxa minimum. The Secretary presented *** urious First Class, excellent Tourhis report, revealing some problems ist Class. Also, 10w-costThirdClass. and encouragements met in editing Cannon Pyfrom, Curate in charge FREQUENT SAILINGS ••• from Vanthe REVIEW. An inspiring annual ad- of St. Paul's Church, Bahamas, a na- couver (trains to ship-side) and dress on some world conditions was tive missionary to his own people, has Victoria. Orient fares include pasdelivered by the President; sugges- received the M. B. E. award. sage to and from Seattle. California tions and messages of cheer were sailings connect witlr "Empresses" brought bv Mr. D. J. Fant of the *** at Honolulu. Orient ports-oE-calI: Evangelical Press, Mrs. Charles F. Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Shang- Wray of Rochester, Dr. Arthur J. Frances Hatton Eva Hasell, Hon- hai, Hong Kong, Manila. Brown, Dr. Courtenay H. Fenn and orary Organizer of Caravan Work in • Also • •• low-cost World Tours. Wm. M. Danner. Miss J. H. Righter Western Canada, was awarded the BOO K LETS, information ••• from presented the report of the Nominat- M. B. E. in ·the .King of England's YOUR OWN AGENT, or any Canaing Committee and the directors were New Year Honours List. A story of dian Pacific office: New York, Chiunanimously re-elected for the ensu- courage and adventure lies behind this cago, San Francisco, and 34 other ing year. Mr. Jesse R. Wilson, Sec- award. Miss Hasell, after doing Sun- cities in tlre United States and retary of the Student Volunteer Move- day School work in England for a Canada. ment was elected a Director in place time, decided to start the Sunday of Dr. Milton Stauffer, resigned. Miss School habit in the remoter parts of Constance Brandon, American Secre- Western Canada. Fifteen years ago tary of "The World Dominion Move- she bought a motor caravan and spent ment," led in the closing prayer. a summer with another woman, trav- eling among the isolated communities. *** Wherever she found children without religious privileges, she held a Sunday Among the recent encouraging School class, and then she persuaded words from readers of THE REVIEW someone in the community to carryon are the following: the work, left books for their guid- ance, and went on to the next place. "I save the REVIEWS for a year to Wherever she went she also enrolled use in our programs and find it one new members of the "Sunday School of the most valuable sources of infor- by Post Movement." mation we have." Now Miss Hasell has 17 caravans, MRS. DANIEL E. MILLER. and each is "manned" by two women Fargo, N. D. (a chauffeur and a teacher). When the road is too bad for driving, they walk or borrow a horse from a farmer.
[97 ]
courtesy of OMna's Millions. Copyrighted by Keystone Views
HELEN PRISCILLA STAM – "THE MIRACLE BABY" ELIZABETH SCOTT STAM AND JOHN C. STAM, who were killed by Communists in Southern Anhwei, December 8, The three months' old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Starn was left for 30 hours In an abandoned Chinese house, until 1934. Photograph taken at the time of their marriage, found by Mr. Lo and taken to Wuhu. October 25, 1933.
Copyrighted by tlw Keystone Views 00. HELEN PRISCILLA STAM, CARRIED IN A BASKET FROM. MIAOSHEO TO SHAN CHENG Mr. Lo, a Chinese Christian, with his wife and child, and a Chinese coolie who carried the orphaned baby about 100 miles from Miao- sheo to Wuhu. They traveled on foot for the first 75 miles, and the remainder by railway train. From left to right those in the picture are: Mr. Lo, the Christian colporteur; Charlotte Haia; the coolie, who carried the baskets; Mrs. La; Rev. George Birch, of the C. I. M., and Dr. Robert E. Brown, of the Mission Hospital, Wuhu. Helen Priscilla and Mrs. Lo's four-year-old Chinese baby occupy the two rice baskets. REVIB ORLD VOLUME LVIII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER THREE MARCH,1935 Topics of the Times HOME MISSIONS NOT OUT OF DATE or by a division of territory; to the evangelization of those who have never yet had any adequate op- It requires no argument to prove that the peo- portunity to know Christ and the power of His pIe of the United States owe many and great bless- Gospel- these include many unevangelized Inings to the home mission enterprise which has dians, some Eskimos, the Jews, Mormons and been carried on for three centuries by devoted Orientals; the underprivileged in the Southern Christians. It was they who, as the early settlers, mountains and in other impoverished areas. won the friendship of suspicious and hostile Indians and led many of them to Christ. They The home mission problems before the Church helped to build up and maintain the morale of the today have to do with the evangelization of the pioneers as they pushed into the interior; they godless rich and the unchurched masses in our were instrumental in establishing the schools and cities and rural districts; the more adequate colleges for the training of the youth; they helped Christian training of youth; the rescue of multito make the laws of the land; they established and tudes of boy and girl tramps and the migrant kept alive churches and Sunday schools for re- workers of America; the reaching of criminal ligious instruction, for the worship of God and classes; the more effective presentation of Christ service to man; they welcomed and helped to to atheists, agnostics, and materialists who are assimilate the newcomers from Europe and Asia seeking to destroy Christian institutions and and Mexico. They have been leaders in promoting ideals. The Christ of the New Testament must righteousness and the spirit of brotherhood; they be lifted up in such a way as to draw those who have done an incalculable service in giving the have been following ignorantly a false and caricaolder, more wealthy and established churches tured Christ, or none at all. There is still need an inspiring, unselfish and Christlike objective to evangelize and revivify some of the churches through the home mission enterprise. by the Spirit of God, not by organized human effort. Perhaps the largest and most difficult But with the development of the country the problem before the Church is how to bring indusopportunities and the problems of the work have trial and political activities, social and domestic changed. Today there are not the same vast pio- life, education and the press, under the sway of neering projects in unchurched territory; there Christ and in harmony with His ideals-that is a is not the great need for new independent educa- task that calls for the union of human service tional institutions; multitudes of new and unas- under Divine leadership and power. similated Americans are not now flocking to our shores. But there are still challenging problems But there are in America many reasons for enthat face us today in the task of giving everyone couragement. The signs of God's working are not in America an opportunity to learn of Christ and lacking though our knowledge of them is limited. to apply His teachings to every phase of life. Some Many thousands of churches from coast to coast of these problems and a few of the cheering en- stand true to Christ and are being widely used in couragements were presented in our February winning men and in training and enlisting them number by home mission executives. Other prob- in His service. Most of the Protestant denominalems will occur to many. These relate to the tions report an increase over last year. In every strengthening of existing churches rather than to city Gospel missions, street meetings, prison, home their multiplication; to the elimination of rivalry and hospital visitors-unknown to the world but and duplication by church union and cooperation, known to God-are sacrificially and effectively carrying on the work of Christ. In the midst of [99 ]
the flood of pernicious literature, of indecent films the anti-religious atmosphere of Soviet Russia. and plays, of objectionable radio programs, there Arthur von der Thur, in the Allgemeine Evanare thousands of uplifting, spiritual books and gelisches (Lutheran) Kirchenzeitung reports that radio Gospel messages. The Bible is still by far there is an abating of the denial of God and an the best seller and the Pocket Testament League increase in belief in a Supreme Being. These reand School Bag Gospel League are leading many ports are not based on hearsay of visitors to Russia thousands to accept Christ and read the Bible for but on the statements found in atheistic Russian spiritual light and strength. papers. Several leading anti-religious periodicals have suspended publication for lack of support. It is encouraging that reports of evil deeds are The Bezbozhnik shows evidence of lack of support still regarded as news. Unheralded good deeds, and acknowledges that atheism is not having a normal Christian home life and spiritual activity clear field. in the churches often pass unnoticed because they are not news. There is ample encouragement to The local committee of the Communist party of faith and victory is assured but there are enough the city of Gorky (formerly known as Nizhni Novserious problems to engage all the powers of mind, gorod) and of Molokoff, calls the attention to the body and spirit of the Christian forces in America. necessity of strengthening their anti-religious We must advance on our knees with the realiza- work, not only in the region about Gorky, but in tion that the solution of home mission and other all lands and free states of the U. S. S. R. "The problems depends not on man but on God who success of the first Five Year Plan and the fact condescends to work through man. that the U. S. S. R. has entered the period of an attained socialization, tempts many comrades to RELIGION NOT DEAD IN RUSSIA believe that the anti-religious propaganda has be- come a matter of the third rank. That is a false Christmas was celebrated by large crowds of idea, which in practice leads to an underestimate worshippers in Russia last year, according to a of the fight against religion and to a discharge of correspondent of the New York Times. There is anti-religious propaganda, i. e. to a weakening of plenty of evidence that religion is not dead and the fight against Kulaks and sectarians." will never die in Russia. Some forms of religion may die and the State and individuals may be As to the positive growth of religion, this is without signs of spiritual life. Religion is the noticeable both in the evangelical sects and in the cultivation of a relationship between man and the old Orthodox Church. Christian colporteurs are power of the unseen world, and may be expressed carrying religious literature and their activity in many forms-good and evil. It may be based makes it possible for pastoral letters to reach such either on fancy or on reality. Mankind as a whole of the population as are not in touch with is apparently incurably religious, as history has churches. In many instances priests succeed in beshown. Persecution cannot stifHe religion though coming members of the communistic Kolkhozes materialism may suppress its expression. But and preach and teach within them. Beside the there are so many mysterious phenomena in the anti-religious Kolkhozes there are pure Christian world that men are constantly seeking an explana- collectives. The missionary activity which has tion in the realm of the superhuman. been begun in many places bids fair to become very effective. If religion cannot be annihilated in Russia much less can Christian faith and life be exterminated. Not only do the elders abide by the Christian It may be banned by the State but Christ cannot faith but the younger generation shows a desire be uprooted from hearts where He has already to deny the atheistic views of the leaders. While formed a home. We have His word for that and the Orthodox Church has lost much of its former His Church is immortal. Even the simple unen- influence, the Protestant sects, especially the Baplightened form of Christianity found among the tists and Adventists, are finding a favorable soil. Russian peasants has too much vitality to be They start schools for the illiterate and sewing stamped out by Soviet laws and persecution. courses, they attend to the education of the After seventeen years of communist domination younger generation and enter in where governthe masses of the people refuse to reject what they ment efforts fail. They have started a large numhave learned of Christ as the revelation of God ber of private village schools which are Chrisand His Way of Life. tian and maintain themselves in spite of persecu- tion by tlfe authorities. But there are also thousands of evangelical Christians in Russia whose spiritual life may be The true Church of Christ may· and will pass hidden as in the days of the Maccabees and in the through times of persecution. These will not Dark Ages, but it will not be uprooted. The light destroy but only purify it as a flail separates the may shine in obscurity without being extin- wheat from the chaff. Christians in Russia are guished. Already there are signs of change in suffering and where faith is burning brightly they are experiencing the· way of the Cross-as
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
many can testify. Christians in other lands can life that most deeply interest even serious minded help them with their sympathy and their prayers, folk are revealed by a questionnaire recently sent keeping their own lamps burning and their ma- out by the National Economics League. The an- terial and spiritual resources ready to help when swers show that by far the largest number of opportunity o:ffers. voters are most interested in politics, taxes, mone- tary policies and administration measures; next THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND MONEY in order come how to combat organized crime, the administration of justice, international affairs, Figures have been published that should cause world peace and national defense, economic and industrial problems (including unemployment). Americans to stop and think and seek to change Then follow problems of transportation, public utilities and the conservation and use of national the trend of the times. In 1927-during years of resources; housing, mortgage relief, public health and education. Religion and philanthropy as such unprecedented prosperity – $680,000,000 w ere have no place in this list of subjects most occupy- ing public attention. May not this be the cause spent by the United States Government to prepare of our distress and the reason why the incomes of practically all religious and philanthropic agencies for war with our neighbors, while $833,000,000 have fallen off even more rapidly and extensively than private incomes? Jesus Christ, who knows was used in religious and philanthropic activity. mankind and the laws of the universe, has given us the solution of the problem when He said: In 1933, when depression had gained almost a strangle hold, we increased the amount spent di- rectly on the Army, Navy and air force to $788,- 000,000 (an increase of $100,000,000 or 15%), ro ). while benevolences had shrunk to $550,000,000 (a decrease of nearly $300,000,000 or 60 In the thirty-three years between 1900 and 1933 the Fed- eral Government expenses increased from half a "Seek ye first the Kingdom (the recognition of the billion dollars to five billion a year, or $13,700,000 sovereignty) of God and His righteousness and all a day. War and Navy expenses increased from these things (necessary for our material welfare) about $400,000,000 to over two billion a year-a will be added unto you." fivefold increase; while all gifts to benevolences were not even doubled. The population of the ENCOURAGEMENTS IN THE WEST INDIES country increased fifty per cent in the same pe- riod. Do not Christians need to rededicate to God Mission work in the West Indies has reached a and His service themselves and their possessions stage where the outstanding things to a casual ob- -of which they are only trustees? The need for server may seem commonplace. The national Christian benevolence at home and abroad was leadership is settling down to a more serious never greater. Many wish they had given away understanding of the needs of their own countries.
what they have lost in the past five years! In the unsettled political conditions in Cuba and But the United States is still the richest country under the strain of the present financial depres- in the world-in assets, in average income, in com- sion, the national church has set itself not to be forts and in the average scale of living. Govern- moved by these conditions and to contribute in ment officials now talk in billions of dollars now every possible way toward the stabilization of life.
where they used to ask millions for public appro- Recently a two-day meeting was held in Havana priations. Americans talk poverty and over of the representatives of all evangelical denomina- twenty-five million people are dependent on the tions doing work in Cuba. These men from all Government payrolls—.:either as employees, pen- parts of the island formed a union that seems to sioners or recipients of the dole. Taxes are being mean far more than an organic union. They increased to pay these growing expenses-and the definitely committed themselves to preaching the end is not yet. In the meantime pastors, mission- Gospel of Christ throughout Cuba. This seems to aries and other Christian workers as well as teach- bespeak a new day in the Evangelical cause for ers and other professional workers, trades people, that republic. The national leadership in the clerks and most employees in industry see their Protestant Church is convinced that the only solu- incomes decrease, while taxes and expenses in- tion to the fundamental problems of Cuba is found crease-and there is, humanly speaking, no relief in the Gospel of Christ.
in sight. Consequently gifts to church work, mis- Another encouraging development has been an sions and other benevolences decrease and the organization of Christian students in the Univer- work of God-meaning the work He wishes done sity of Havana. A group of boys has rented a for underprivileged men and women-suffers. house and established a Protestant center. They But there is no lack of money in America, if we are without funds and the accommodations very can judge by the amount spent on amusements, humble, but it is their own and a friend intends theatre, sports, cosmetics, tobacco, strong drink, to help them as much as possible because they are pleasure automobiles, and fiction. The phases of willing to undergo privation for the sake of hold-
ing together those who have similar high ideals on national "Crime Institute" was proposed-a sort faith and daily life. These things are significant of "West Point" training school-where Federal and back in many of the churches from which agents can study the best methods of dealing with these students oome there is reflected a new seri- crime and law-breakers, and where criminal rec- ousness about the development of their work. ords will be available to all.
The days of prosperity are not always the best Third: more strict Federal regulations are days for the Church. needed to govern the sale, possession and use of While there are many reasons for encourage- firearms. Attorney-general Cum min g s also ment in Puerto Rico, unemployment, inadequate called attention to the evil effects of narcotics and schools and general living conditions all help to alcoholic drink, the abuse of parole, the evils of create for the Church an atmosphere that is ex- lax law enforcement and the weakness of present ceedingly difficult. There is, however, consider- forms of criminal procedure. "The whole move- able activity along evangelical lines. For example ment against crime has been too sporadic and in- the Presbyterian mission has been carrying on a effective."
program of tent evangelism in villages which the What have the churches to do with this probgeneral public neve.r visits. After six weeks of lem and how can Christians help in crime preservices the whole town and country round about vention, in law observance, and in the reclamation seem to want to come into the church. Such in- of criminals? stances are duplicated in all the surrounding country. 1. Our whole educational system must recognize Representatives of various mission boards hav- the importance of moral and religious education.
ing work in Puerto Rico are now holding a joint The subject should be wisely emphasized in text- conference on the island to study conditions and books and on the platform; only teachers of high to propose ways for closer cooperation and more moral character and influence should be employed effective work in evangelism, the development of to train youth.
self-support, improvement of the Uniqn Seminary, 2. The Church must unite with all forces ·for the literature program, women's work, and sec- moral betterment to undertake more seriously the ular and religious education. E. A. ODELL. reformation or elimination of extra curricula edu- cational factors – such as the unwholesome mo- THE CURE FOR CRIME AND CRIMINALS tion pictures, demoralizing tabloid press and other pernicious literature. Prof. Thorstan Sellin, of the University of Penn- 3. Must we not give more attention to the moral sylvania, recently stated that there were 1,300,000 major crimes committed in the United States in and religious training of parents – to persuade the year 1933. Only one in four of the perpetra- adults to set a good example to youth-in the obtors of these crimes were ever brought to justice! servance of traffic and other laws, in the adoption of higher moral standards, in abstinence from in- The crime situation has evidently become so toxicants, in discountenancing all forms of gamserious in the United States that Federal and State bling and by the adoption of higher ideals in all Governments, as well as municipalities, are study- forms of amusements. ing ways in which to combat the trend and to make it more dangerous and less profitable to murder, 4. There is also need to return to the Christian steal and betray a trust. The cost of crime in ideals of marriage and the home; to emphasize lives lost, in money, jewels and other property the responsibility of parents for the training of dishonestly acquired, and for law enforcement and children, teaching them the arts of peace rather dealing with criminals, has mounted to an alarm- than glorifying war, and instilling ideals of truth, ing extent. purity and unselfish service.
Recently the Attorney-general of the United 5. The Church and State, working together, can States called together some six hundred Federal, do much more to redeem criminals, to clear slums, State and local officials for a conference in Wash- providing proper housing facilities, and improvington. They finally proposed to state legislatures ing public health and recreation, with better soa program with the following suggestions for combating crime and dealing with criminals. cial and economic conditions. 6. The Church must herself be purified and strengthened to make her more attractive, educa- First: a number of recommendations were tional and influential, both to young and old.. The made looking toward improvements in court pro- real solution of the crime, and of all other moral cedure so as to speed up the course of justice and problems, is after all the regeneration of the indi- to make trials by jury less cumbersome and more vidual. This can only be accomplished through satisfactory. the Spirit of God but Christians are responsible Second: suggestions were made for better co- for proving that Christ does save and give power operation between State and Federal officers. A to overcome evil with good.
Young Martyrs in
The Testimony of Mr. and Mrs. John Stam Who Witnessed to Christ by Their Death at the Hands of Chinese Communists EDITORIAL T HE story of John and Elizabeth Starn is one Mr. Lo, a pastor of the China Inland Mission, was taken of heroic Christian faith and inspiring cour- captive by the communists on their arrival in Miaosheo, age. At the threshold of their missionary but was released when they learned that he had only arservice for Christ in China, these two young mis- rived the day before. He fled to the mountains with most of the townspeople when he learned that two foreigners sionaries were put to death by communists on De- had been killed. He came back to investigate and see if cember 8 about one hundred miles south of Wuhu, he could be of any help. This was a dangerous thing to do. Anwhei. The only reason for the murder seems to He learned that the baby was still alive. The people were have been resentment against all foreigners be- afraid to give information, but finally an old lady pointed cause their governments are siding with the Chi- in the direction of a certain house, where he heard the infant crying and found it after traversing many court- nese against communist activity. The tragic story yards and rooms. It had been left alone without food or care for over twenty-four hours. He took the child out is briefly told by Robert E. Brown, M.D., a mis- and found a Chinese mother who volunteered to nurse the sionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church and baby. He then went to look for the bodies of Mr. and superintendent of the Wuhu General Hospital, Mrs. Starn and found them still lying exposed except for where the Starn baby was born last September. a few handfuls of grass which had been laid over them.
Wuhu is about eighty miles from Tsingteh, the As all local officials had fled to the mountains, Pastor Lo mountain mission station of the China Inland Mis- offered to take charge. sion, where Mr. and Mrs. Starn and their baby were located. Dr. Brown's account, taken from The Chinese pastor found that Mrs. Starn had made pro- vision for the little one to the best of her ability, hoping eyewitnesses, is as follows: * that someone would save it. A ten-dollar bill was found wrapped in a piece of paper among clean napkins between On December 6, 1934, the communists made a surprise the baby's blankets. On the table was an empty tin of attack and entered the town of Tsingteh.. After looting powdered milk, a little sugar, and some crackers. The the place they carried off the Starn family and a number pastor then gathered his own family together and started of Chinese. Early the next day they marched rapidly on a forty miles' journey to Kinhsien, the nearest large fifty li to Miaosheo, and the Starns were left at the post city toward Wuhu. office while the town was being taken. The postmaster offered them fruit and tea and Mr. Starn took advantage Chinese mothers were found ready to nurse the baby of the moment to write a letter which he left with the as they walked the forty miles and so no doubt saved the postmaster. Someone asked Mr. Starn where they were child's life. They arrived in Wuhu, Friday, December 14, being taken and he replied, "Weare going to Heaven." the baby having been in the sole care of Chinese friends for nearly a week. When seen by the members of the The next morning they were led through the streets, and mission hospital staff, the baby was in perfect health and the people of the town who had not fled to the mountains smiled from her little crib, all unconscious of the tragedy were called to witness the execution of the foreigners. It in her life.
is reported that they walked with an appearance of un- A later word from Dr. Charles E. Scott says: shaken courage and calm assurance, probably conscious: of Another walking with them. At·the head of the main "When the Reds forced the people of Miao Sheo street on a hill the communist officer addressed the crowd, to witness the murder of Betty and John, the explaining that the foreigners were hurting China by help- Christian Chinese knelt and pleaded for the lives ing Chiang Kai-shek and the Nanking Government, as of their beloved friends. As a result they were demonstrated by using the people's money to build new themselves led away to torture and death. Even roads throughout the country; therefore they should be non-Christians knelt and pleaded in vain." killed. When they ordered Mr. Starn to kneel down for the knife a number of people, including some non-Chris- The Associated Press has published a dispatch, tians, were daring enough to speak in behalf of the Amer- as from Rev. W. J. Hanna, of the China Inland ican mIssIOnaries. They were rewarded by kicks and Mission, who brought the child from Wuhu to curses. One Christian Chinese fell on his knees before Tsinan to her grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Scott: the executioner and begged for their lives, finally asking, if they would not spare both, at least to save Mrs. After the execution of Mr. and Mrs. Starn the com- Starn. For his persistence he was accused of being one munist captors were on the point of killing the child to avoid the trouble of taking care of her, but a man who of them and was bound and taken away. We have since had only just been released from the village prison by heard that he was killed. Such Christian courage and Communists, pleaded for the infant's life. loyalty deserves the highest praise. Mr. Starn addressed the crowd. What he said is not known, but it was prob- "Who are you?" a Communist officer asked. "Why do ably a Christian testimony. While he was speaking he you intercede for the baby?" was killed and his wife was then executed. The prisoner replied that he had no connection with "these foreigners," but begged that the baby's life be • Account taken from The Chri••tian Advocate, January 31, 1934. spared and volunteered to forfeit his own life to save the [ 103]
child. He was killed on the spot but the baby was saved. John and Elizabeth Starn were members of the This account was amply authenticated by Chinese wit- China Inland Mi~sion and for academic training, nesses who said that the martyr "gained great heavenly favor" by his act. strength of character and Christlike spirit were among the most promising and attractive mission- This baby girl, Helen Priscilla Starn, was born aries that ever went to China. John Starn was at Wuhu on September 11 just three months be- the son of Rev. Peter Starn, of Paterson, New fore her parents' death. Alinost on the same day Jersey, and was a graduate of Moody Bible Insti- on which the press dispatches reported the cruel tute, Chicago. "Betty" (Elizabeth Alden Scott) tragedy, a letter was received in the New York was born in China and was a graduate of Wilson office of the REVIEW, containing a two-years' sub- College, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. She was a scription for Mr. and Mrs. Starn. It was sent by gifted and beautiful girl. Her life motto was in- Dr. Charles E. Scott, of Tsinan, Betty Starn's fa- scribed on her photograph: "For to me to live is ther, who wrote at the same time, telling of the Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1: 21). In marriage of another daughter, Beatrice, to Dr. the farewell meeting in Philadelphia, before she Theodore Dwight Stevenson, of Princeton, and sailed for China, her last words were: "Whether their sailing for mission work in South China. living or dying, I am the Lord's." Her testimony, , – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – , composed when she made her decision to be a missionary, is as follows: And shall I fear That there is anything That men hold dear Thou wouldst deprive me of, And nothing give in place? That is not so, For I can see Thy face; I hear Thee now: "My child, I died for thee; And, if the gift Of love and life you took from Me, Shall lone precious thing Withhold to all eternity- . One beautiful and bright, One pure and precious thing, withhold- It cannot be."
John Starn, in his farewell message be- fore leaving America for China in 1932, said: God in His infinite grace sometimes virtually pushes us into His way for us, if we are unready to learn in other ways that His will is always good and acceptable and perfect. So He did with me.
I thank God for Christian parents, a Chris- tian grammar school, and a pastor who taught the Word book by book and verse by verse. I thank Him for bringing me to Himself under deep conviction of sin. As a self-righteous young man I needed to see myself as a sinner hope- lessly lost and on his way to an awful hell be- fore I could at all realize my need of the Saviour.
I should have gone right out into active Chris- tian testimony, but to my shame I must write that fear kept me from boldly witnessing for Christ. God in His mercy shook me out of such a condition through a challenge given by my own father. One summer when I asked why our -group hadn't started street work, he 'replied, "Well, why don't you go ahead?" It staggered me-but I went ahead. I had to. God blessed those first half-hearted efforts, ridding me of the fear that old school friends might see me and smile, and filling my heart with joy and bless- By courtesy of "China's Millions," Philadelphin.; photo by John C. Stam. ing in the work. In a few years I found my am- A SCENE J'US'I OUTSIDE ONE OF THE GATES OF TSINGTEH, ANHWEI, bitions to make a success of myself in the busi- THE CITY FROM WHICH MR. AND MRS. J. C. STAM WERE TAKEN TO ness world beg•mnm• g to lose ground, and dl.S- MEET THEIR MARTYRDOM AT THE HANDS OF THE OOMMUNISTS
TWO YOUNG MARTYRS IN CHINA
covered to my own surprise that my chief interest had What could be more glorious? The manner in which they shifted to the work of the Lord. were sent out of this world was a shock to us all, but At the Moody Bible Institute and in its student mis- whatever of suffering they may have endured is now past, sionary activity I was brought face to face with my own and they are both infinitely blessed with the joys of responsibility to heathen millions. The Lord laid China Heaven.
upon my heart, and slowly the conviction deepened that I, It was our desire that he, John, as well as we, should for one, would have no valid reason to give my Lord if I serve the Lord, and if that could be better done by death did not go where the need was so great. God's Word it- than by life, we would have it so. The sacrifice may seem self, prayer, and a study of conditions in China, and my great now, but no sacrifice is too great to make for Him own circumstances soon left no room for doubt that the who gave Himself for us. Lord was assuredly leading. A great volume of prayer was going up for their release It is blessed to know for the future even when we are from their communist captors. We need not feel that these fearful of failing Him, that "He will not suffer his faith- prayers were unanswered. Betty and John were released. fulness to fail." We need your prayers. Pray for us. They were released from the pain and toil of life, and One of the last letters from John Starn to the brought into the presence of the Saviour whom they loved China Inland Mission in Shanghai on December so dearly. 6, shows the caliber of the man and his faith. Weare earnestly praying that it will all be for God's glory and for the salvation of souls. How glad we shall be My wife, baby and myself are today in the hands of if through this dreadful experience many shall be won to communists in the city of Tsingteh. Their demand is the Lord Jesus. How glad we shall be if many dear Chris- twenty thousand dollars for our release. tian young people are inspired to give themselves to the All our possessions and stores are in their hands, but Lord as never before, in a life of sacrifice and service. we praise God for peace in our hearts and a meal tonight. We were honored by having sons and daughters minister God grant you wisdom in what you do, and us fortitude, for our Lord among the heathen, but we are more signally courage, and peace of heart. He is able–and a wonderful honored that two of them have received the martyr's crown.
Friend in such a time. Dr. and Mrs. Charles E. Scott, who have been Things happened so quickly this A. M. They were in the city just a few hours after the ever-persistent rumors missionaries of the Presbyterian Church in China really became alarming, so that we could not prepare to for nearly thirty years, write that Romans 8: 28 leave in time. We were just too late. expresses their abiding conviction. Their only The Lord bless and guide you; and as for us, may God be glorified, whether by life or by death. desire is that the "will of God may be done on In Him, JOHN C. STAM. earth as in Heaven." Dr. Scott has sent us a ,poem which was a favorite of both Betty and The last letter, written in Miaosheo, was given John. It was written by E. H. Hamilton, a misto the postmaster with the request that it be sent sionary and a friend of the Scotts and was inon. Mr. Starn said to the postmaster, "I have no money to pay the postage, but please send this spired by the fact that when bandits asked the Presbyterian missionary, J. W. Vinson, if he were for me." As the mail leaves only once in five afraid, he replied : "No; if you shoot, I go straight days, the postmaster gave the letter to Mr. Lo to to Heaven." His decapitated body was found post at Kinghsien. When he and his wife and later and the incident was told by a little Chinese child set off with the baby for Kinghsien, they girl who was present. took with them the letter which is as follows: Afraid? Of what?
MIAOSHEO, ANHWEI, To feel the spirit's glad release?
December 7, 1934. To pass from pain to perfect peace, CHINA INLAND MISSION. The strife and strain of life to cease?
DEAR BRETHREN: Afraid-of that?
Weare in the hands of the communists here, being Afraid? Of what? Afraid to see the Saviour's face, taken from Tsingteh when they passed through yesterday. To hear His welcome, and to trace The glory gleam from wounds of grace? I tried to persuade them to let my wife and baby go back Afraid-of that? from Tsingteh with a letter to you, but they wouldn't let Afraid? Of what? her, and so we both made the trip to Miaosheo today, my A flash-a crash-a pierced heart; Darkness-light-O Heaven's art! wife traveling part of the way on a horse. A wound of His a counterpart!
They want $20,000 before they will free us, which we Afraid-of that?
have told them we are sure will not be paid. Famine Re- Afraid? Of what? To do by death what life could notlief money, and our personal money and effects are all in Baptize with blood a stony plot, Till souls shall blossom from the spot? their hands. Afraid-of that? God give you wisdom in what to do, and give us grace "Here is a good tonic for timorous Christians; and fortitude. He is able. something to hearten the saints; a challenge to Yours in Him, (Signed) JOHN C. STAM.
The parents of the martyred couple show a like faith and fortitude. The Rev. Peter Starn, of the Door of Hope Mission, Paterson, New Jersey, writes: Our dear children have gone to be with the Lord. They loved Him, they served Him, and now they are with Him.
us to put more spiritual vim into the blood," says With thousands of missionaries living in isolated and Dr. Scott. defenseless stations throughout the whole of China the Betty Scott went out to China, before her mar- problem of ransom is of the greatest importance. If the brigands found that the missionary societies were willing riage, in 1931, and John Starn followed a year to redeem their workers for money, the capture of mislater. They were married in the home of the sionaries would immediately become a lucrative employ- bride's parents in North China and were appointed ment. No one would be safe. The perils of the missionary to the town of Tsingteh, a pioneer mountain sta- community would be immeasurably increased, and the scale tion, where they planned to begin their work of of captures would very soon make ransom impossible. The love and mercy. ransom of a few would imperil many hundreds. There is no deliverance along that road. The only wise way is to A letter (dated January 2, 1935) from the act in such a manner as to cause the brigands to learn that it is not a profitable business for them to take cap- Rev. Howard Van Dyck, of the Christian and tive those who are among them as friends, and not as rep- Missionary Alliance Mission in Wuhu, throws resentatives of wealthy corporations. What may appear some light on the character of Mr. Starn and the hard is in truth the greatest kindness, and some missiontragedy that closed his earthly career. aries, even when in captivity, have asked that no personal We have just returned from a sacred spot which, in sympathy for them should cause their friends to take the days to come, may well be visited by many a Christian false step of payment with worse consequences to follow. pilgrim. It lies at the foot of Wuhu's highest hill, con- In principle all missionary societies are agreed in this trasting sharply with the bare brown slopes, a little matter.
square of living green, a grove of trees and shrubs that The Moody Bible Institute Monthly calls attenmutely testify of tender care. It is the Wuhu Foreign tion to the fact that from the first year of the Cemetery. There today, under leaden skies and in a Christian Church the story of the faithful witness drizzling rain, a solemn group of Chinese and foreigners, gathered around an open double grave and reverently and of disciples of Christ is like a manuscript illumlovingly committed to this quiet resting place the bodies inated with sacred blood. "During the first three of China's latest missionary martys, John Stam and his centuries it is reported that at least 1,000,000 folwife, Elizabeth Alden Stam. lowers of Jesus Christ suffered death at the hands of persecutors. In the forests of pagan Europe, The murder of the Stams reveals dark depths of human depravity. Committed by one of Kiangsi's red armies so loudly praised by foreign admirers of Chinese communism, in India or China, and before the onrush of fanat. this crime is its own commentary upon the nature of that ical Moslem hordes, countless thousands died movement. Led by youths known to possess moder~ rather than deny their Lord. And the story of education, it warns against the fatal folly of filling un- modern missions is another chapter in relentless regenerate wine-skins with the strong wine of economic experimentation. The whole incident demonstrates that persecution. To mark the martyrdoms of only the greatest need of 20th century humanity is the un- the past century on a map of the missionary world changed power of the first century Gospel. with crosses of red would present a picture of startling significance. Not one mission field has That transforming power, a Christian fortitude worthy of Nero's arena, and a remarkable series of divine provi- dences are the high lights standing out against this dark been occupied without the price of the Cross. background. But the blood of the martyrs has ever been the seed of the Church. When the world courts and The roll of martyred missionaries in the China flatters the Church she becomes effeminate and Inland Mission now numbers seventy-four, be- spineless; but the fires of persecution purify and sides thirty missionary children. To this list must produce strength, fidelity and courage. Will the be added the names of hundreds of native Chris- youth of the Church in the homeland feel the thrill tians who have sealed their testimony with their of an hour like this, when challenge and call ring life's blood. so clearly from that ripened harvest field in In regard to the ransoming of captured missionaries, China's Millions says: "The demand for ransom by the captors of Mr. and Mrs. Starn China 1"
did not reach the Mission's headquarters in Shang- The martyrdom of th~se two young missionhai until after their death. The communists who still hold Mr. Bosshardt and Mr. Hayman in cap- aries has created a profound impression in many tivity have demanded an exorbitant ransom in lands. Not only have a multitude of expressions military supplies or in money from the Chinese of sympathy come to the bereaved families and government. In view of the widespread interest to the Mission, and many have offered to adopt in these cases and of a possible misunderstanding Helen Starn, but a number of volunteers have ofof the whole question of paying ransom, some ex- fered to go out to China to take the place of the planation of the position taken by the Mission, martyred missionaries. These offers have come and indeed by the missionary body in general, we not only from the United States but from England cannot do better than to quote part of an editorial and Shanghai. God is able to make this witness note in the December issue of the British edition of His servants, sealed with their blood, abound of China's Millions. to the glory of Christ and blessing to the Chinese.
I Am Returning to
By BEATRICE E. SCOTT STEVENSON, Canton, China A Presbyterian Missionary Mrs. Stevenson, a graduate of Wilson College and of Biblical Seminary, New York, is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs.
Charles Ernest Scott of the American Presbyterian Mission at Tsinan, Shantung Province. She was married last year to Dr. Theodore Dwight Stevenson, a physician, the son of Dr. J. Ross Stevenson, of Princeton Seminary. They will be settled in Canton. Mrs. Stevenson wrote this paper (which is reprinted from The Presbyterian) while she was a student at Biblical Seminary, New York, and before she had become engaged to marry Dr. Stevenson. Her sister, Eliza- beth, and her husband, John Starn, missionaries of the China Inland Mission, were recently murdered by communistic bandits in Anhwei Province. Mrs. Stevenson's article reveals the true missionary call-not merely a philanthropic impulse to serve others. Dr. Charles Scott writes: "It seems as if this article by Beatrice were written under the clear guidance of the Holy Spirit, not only in the general argument but in the very choice of words. There was no thought of the publicity it has gained or the wide usefulness. It has been owned and honored of the Lord-the only article Beatrice has written for publication outside of college magazines. She decided to return to China to lead edu- cated Chinese girls to Christ, and this was in the face of alluring offers to work in America." EDITOR.
PEOPLE have always expected me, as the self wanted more than anything else in life, I saw daughter of missionaries in China, to return then that God expected a good deal more from me there some day-but that is not why I am than a mere complacent endorsement of Chrisplanning to be a foreign missionary. I was born tianity. He wanted a hunger in my heart that in China, and learned from childhood to love the would respond to His will for my life; He wanted East, with its antique culture, its picturesqueness, a personal consciousness of Christ and a burning its calm, happy-go-lucky people – but that is not love for Him which would motivate all my living why I am hoping to return. My own home is over and make me long to "be about my Father's busithere, and the two people I love most in the world ness." And He awakened both in me, by letting -but even that is not what ultimately draws me. me see the selfish, conceited person that was my- For it takes something stronger than home-ties or self, and then showing me by contrast, how altothe spirit of adventure or a sense of duty to make gether lovely is Jesus Christ, and how much better a missionary and keep her on the field. I would qualified than I to run my life. The whole experinever dare set myself up, even as an embryonic ence was a beautiful outreaching of God to me one, if something had not revolutionized my whole that I never deserved and certainly never soliclife first, and given me my first true call to mis- ited-too proud and too blind to see how lonely and groping and dissatisfied I was without Him. sion work. St. Augustine has told my whole story for me, This was a personal experience of the presence of a living Christ in my own life. It came to me, more clearly and beautifully than I could ever quite undesired, shortly after I had reached Amer- hope to do, when he wrote: ica for my college education. I believe I was a Christian before then, but certainly a very nom- And behold Thou wert within, and I abroad; and there inal one, sliding through life on my parents' re- I searched for Thee; . . . Thou wert with me, but I was ligion rather than living in intimate friendship not with Thee. Things held me far from Thee, which, with a .personal Saviour I knew. Yet the experi- unless they were in Thee, were not at all. Thou didst call, ence was not one of my seeking, for there was and shout, and didst burst my deafness. Thou didst flash nothing in the world I thought I needed less. I and shine and didst scatter my blindness. Thou didst was a Christian; I came from a Christian home; breathe odours and I drew in my breath and panted for I had had religious training at home and at school Thee. I tasted, and I hunger and thirst. Thou didst all my life. What more could God ask or want of touch me, and I burned for Thy peace (Confessions 10: me? His answer came, too forcefully to be 27). ignored, in a small Gospel mission in the heart of Chicago. I had gone, chiefly out of curiosity, to My Second Reason In the light of this new experience of Christ, I was able, for the first time, to apply to myself Christ's commandment, "Go ye into all the world."
see how drunken bums "got religion." Suddenly I am willing, of course, to go anywhere He wants I realized that they had what I had never really me to go (if He will only show me the way had, what God wanted me to have, and what I my- clearly); but, naturally, my thoughts swing back [107 ]
with renewed interest to China, my beloved "na- background and knowledge of conditions, if I did tive land," where I have personal acquaintance not cooperate with Him in His great plan for the with the language and the need. That first-hand world, to the best of my ability. knowledge of conditions constitutes, I believe, my second big reason for returning to the foreign Finally, there is a third reason why I am refield. As I look back now at poor, superstitious, turning to the foreign field, and that is-I want war-torn China, I realize that she is not getting something really worthwhile to live for. Like what Christ died to bring her-in spite of what most young people, I want to invest this one life "broad-minded" churchmen today may say. I can of mine as wisely as possible, in the place that see, in the eye of memory, picture after picture yields richest profits to the world and to me. This that was impressed on me as a child walking about may be in China, or in India or Africa, or the with my nurse – a woman weeping loudly at a squalid slums in New York. But, wherever it is, I small grave, without comfort because of the black- want it to be God's choice for me and not my own. ness of death around her child; unwanted girl- There must be no self-interest at all, or I do not babies eaten by dogs on the village commons; a believe God can reveal His will clearly. Certainly procession of idols, with their sightless eyes, car- Paul never saw his vision of the man from Maceried out to view the dry, parched fields; walls donia by looking in his own mirror. I know very and high doorways and crooked alleys, to hinder well that I can never realize the richest, most the ever-present evil spirits in their progress; satisfying life Christ meant for me, if I am not war, disease, hate, fear. China, like so many giving my own life unselfishly for others. Christ countries of the world, is "an infant crying in the said: "He that would find his life shall lose it," dark, with no language but a cry." There is only and He proved the truth of this divine paradox at one solution and that is the Gospel of Christ, Calvary. I want Him to lead, and His Spirit to which (for some strange reason I cannot yet fill me. Then, and only then, will I feel that my fathom), God has left to us – you and me – to life is justifying its existence, and that I am realspread. I would certainly be a quitter, given my izing the maturity in Him that Christ meant for all men, in all parts of the world.
/, THE FIRE OF GOD* A Poem by ELISABETH A. SCOTT, Recently Martyred in Central China Depth And height, All was night. From the mystic holds Of the starry worlds Issued forth the pure white flame Which was called "The Light" by name; And, God being good, the black deep fled From the white fire glowing red-white, red. And the flames grew vast, unfed by fuel above; For the Lord blew gently upon them the breath of love; Till the prophets known to God, whom the Holy One did inspire, Distinguished the form of the Son of God in the flames of fire. Oh, the tongues of the lapping flames about him were scarlet and hard and hot; , But the Son of man with the eyes of God loved the world and faltered not. And the flames of wrath by the will of God have curled themselves into a heap of a cross, Wheref the hate of myself for the love of God was pinning that Figure – Oh, terrible loss To the .will of men! to the pride of men! to lust and conceit, as my sin and the cross are seen! Now the world is cold; but the hearts of men who received the Fire have been burning warm and clean. And, see! on the fringes of earth and heaven, how the flame is a golden wave of tongues that ripples and runs; From the sea of crystal mingled with fire – golden, purple, scarlet, and white – that enfolds the suns.
• Reprinted from The Moody Bible Institute Monthly.
Chief of the
By the REV. A. M. CHIRGWIN, M.A., London, England General Secretary of the London Missionary Society TSHEKEDI'S country is situated between the The Bamangwato, in common with the other Union of South Africa and Northern Rho- Bechuana tribes, are not a conquered people. desia, and is occupied by a scattered popula- They are not British subjects but are a free peotion of cattle-owning people. Like all the Bantu ple, who willingly and by treaty placed themselves they are a friendly, well-mannered folk. Tshe- under the protecting care of Britain. They hold, kedi's own tribe, the Bamangwato, has been more with proper pride, that they have the right to than commonly fortunate in treat direct with the British its recent rulers, and his fa- Sovereign or his Ministers of ther, Chief Khama, was prob- State. The population is ably one of the greatest rulers sparse, being only about one Bantu Africa has yet pro- per square mile, but it is not duced. as sparse as at first sight it Khama was succeeded, after appears. Little villages of a reign of over fifty years, by round mud huts are scattered his eldest son Sekgoma. It over the veld. In the old days was during Sekgoma's Chief- of tribal warfare the African tainship that the present learned the necessity of hid- Prince of Wales vi sit e d ing his home as far as possible Serowe, the capital of the from the eyes of his enemies, Bamangwato, to unveil the and, like the wild t h i n g s tribal Memorial to Khama. around him, he took advan- On Sekgoma's sudden death tage of color protection, build- the hereditary Chieftainship ing his hut with walls of mud fell to his little son Seretse, and roof of grass.
then a child of five or six. A The first time I visited one Regent was necessary, and of these villages it impressed the choice fell on Khama's me as a higgledy-piggledy youngest son Tshekedi, then a place, entirely lacking in any student at a mission school in plan, as though the huts had Cape Colony. grown up as daisies do, any- Bechuanaland is a British how. But I learned later that Protectorate, and makes up, a Bechuana village has a lay- with Basutoland and Swazi- out as clear as that of New land, the three High Commis- TSHEKEDI AND SEMANE York, only different. In the sion territories of Sou t h centre, like the hub of a wheel, Africa. This single area, as large as France and is a large cattle-pen or kraal, where the cattle are Germany put together, is occupied by five Bantu driven at night for safety. Ranged round this tribes, all related and all speaking the same lan- cattle-krall, as it were on the rim of the wheel, are guage, the Bamangwato being by far the largest the huts of the members of one family-group who and most important of them. jointly own the cattle. This ring of huts is the The London Missionary Society, through such unit, and a series of such units makes up a native men as Robert Moffat and David Livingstone, has township.
played a large part in the history of Bechuana- The Bechuana look upon their cattle as their land. It was missionaries of this Society who in- most precious possession and their attitude to troduced Christianity into Bechuanaland over a their cattle has an almost religious quality, point- century ago. ing back, perhaps, to some kind of earlier belief [109 ]
in a mystical connection between the life of the gestions of his advisors in regard to marriage. tribe and the cattle that they own. The Bechuana He determined to marry where he would, and he hoard cattle as a miser hoards gold. dared to seek his wife outside the clearly-defined circles of the tribal aristocracy. Semane, whom But what impressed me most about the people he took as his bride, was not only a young woman of Bechuanaland was their unfailing courtesy. of education and bearing, she was the best Sunday They have a natural dignity of bearing and are school teacher in the tribe. She is today a woman rarely ill-at-ease. I do not recall ever having seen of queenly presence, and carries on still the proj- a single discourteous act, except amongst those ects that were dear to her husband's heart. She who had gone off to the towns and picked up the is a deacon of the Church, a teacher in the Sunday rather casual manners of the European. school, the leader of a large Women's Bible Class, and the president of the Women's Christian Tem- Serowe, the great native town which is the cap- perance Union. In her home and in the Church, ital of the Bamangwato, with its 30,000 people, is she always impressed me by her competence and probably the largest native town in Africa south leadership. She shares with all Bechuana women of the Equator. a love for striking colors. The last time I saw her she was wearing over her shoulders a bright prim- The Chief asked me if I would come to the rose-colored shawl embroidered in orange, and an Kgotla at dawn and preach at the annual "Plough- emerald-green handkerchief knotted round her ing Service" of the tribe. I found some six thou- head. These colors, which no white woman could sand people awaiting me in the Kgotla the next wear, seemed somehow to suit her chocolate skin morning. In the old days it was customary for and royal bearing. the Chief and his sorcerers to arrange for a pagan service just before the people began their plough- Tshekedi was educated at Lovedale, the famous ing. The object of the pagan rites was to secure institution of the Church of Scotland in Cape Colfertility from the spirits of the earth and air. ony, where so many chiefs have been trained. Thereafter the Chief gave the word and the people were free to start ploughing as soon as the Tshekedi's Government rain should fall. Some of the rites were indecent, but at the same time the whole thing was rooted The administration of justice in Bechuanaland, deeply in the tribal life and certain elements were so far as the native people are concerned, remains worth preserving. When Khama became Chief, largely in the hands of the chief and headmen of and the time for ploughing drew near, the head- the tribe, though certain cases go before the men asked him to arrange for the rites as usual, European magistrate. When an offence is reso that the people could begin on their lands. ported, the chief and the headmen gather in the Khama's reply was that if they wanted their rites Kgotla with any adult males of the tribe who are they could have them, he would not interfere; but interested to attend. The accuser and the defendas for himself and the Christians in the tribe, they ant make their statements, the elders of the tribe would have a meeting for prayer in the Kgotla. give their view of the case, often at great length, From that day the "Ploughing Service" has been and then it is open to any man in the assembly to baptized into Christ, retaining the good and drop- speak. The Bechuana are excellent speakers and ping the bad features. Without any disruption of debaters, and make their points in a clear, logical the tribal life the whole course of an old custom way. When the matter has been thoroughly dishad been changed; the pagan rite had been filled cussed, the chief sums up the general sentiment with a Christian content. After the service was of the assembly, and pronounces sentence. He is over Tshekedi rose and gave the word for the thus not an autocrat, but the mouthpiece of his ploughing to begin. The next moment three people. The punishment meted out is generally mighty, long-drawn cheers went up from six thou- either flogging or a fine of two or three oxen. sand throats – "Pula! Pula! Pula!" (literally, "Rain 1 Rain 1 Rain 1"). This Bechuana word for Tshekedi seemed to me to be a hard-working "Hurrah" is significant of the place rain occupies chief who took his duties very seriously. He apin the mind of the people of this dry and thirsty peared to have no relaxations; indeed sometimes land. seems to be too serious and too absorbed for a man of his age. He scorns delights and lives la- Khama, Tshekedi's father, was perhaps the borious days. I found him considerate ·and apgreatest son that Bantu Africa has yet produced, preciative. When an old woman fainted at a a man of strong intellect and stronger character, meeting Tshekedi helped to render first aid and ,who set himself to prepare his people to take their afterwards drove her home in his own car. proper place in the life of the new Africa, and in fact led them a long way along the road from It may be that there are still chiefs in Africa pagan barbarism to Christian civilization. Khama who wear feathers and skins, who live in the was a big enough man to brush aside the sug- midst of either squalid superstition or barbaric
TSHEKEDI, CHIEF OF THE BAMANGWATO
splendor, who are hard-drinking, overbearing, un- For an outside authority, therefore, to remove a tutored polygamists. Tshekedi does not belong to Chief or even to encroach seriously and suddenly their set. He is an educated, quiet-mannered, upon his functions is to deal a blow at the whole competent Christian young man who neither poise and equilibrium of tribal life. To disturb drinks, smokes nor swears. He may not have his the status and functions of a chief is one of the father's stature or commanding presence or surest ways to bring about detribalization, that powerful mind, yet he has courage and persist- worst malady of African life. Tshekedi feels that ence, with, maybe, a touch of obstinacy, combined his main task is the maintenance of his chiefly with unwavering devotion to his tribe. He seemed prerogatives, and he is robbed thereby of the freeto me to be cautiously progressive. He is a dom of mind necessary to think constructively on church-member and a regular worshiper at the the needs of his tribe or to frame a progressive great church his father built, and would certainly policy for them. be a deacon of the church, were it not that both he and the missionaries in Bechuanaland agree The Status of a Bechuana Chief that it is probably not in the best interests of the church or the tribe for a chief to hold office. From the first Tshekedi has taken his duties There are morning and afternoon services every seriously. His guiding principle has been to main- Sunday in the vernacular for the people of the tain the main lines of Khama's policy, and to pretribe in the great Khama church, and whenever serve the prerogatives of the Chieftainship intact the missionary is in Serowe on Sunday evenings and hand them on unimpaired to Seretse when he conducts an English service for Europeans in the latter comes of age. It was to defend the the tiny church which has been built for their use. status of a Bechuana Chief and to prevent the ab- On the Sunday evening when I preached there the sorption of the Bechuanaland Protectorate in the Government doctor played the harmonium, one of Union of South Africa, that Tshekedi came to the traders gave out the notices, and another took England three years ago, and there won many the collection, which, by the way, was on behalf friends by his quiet, courteous, friendly ways and of missionary work. by his courage and competence in standing for the rights of his people. He speaks English fluently, Bechuanaland is a Protectorate, and there is lives in a European type of house, and has a reatherefore a dual authority. The Bechuana are sonable knowledge of English law as well as a ruled both by a European Administration and by thorough understanding of African tribal cusa Native Chief. This situation calls for states- toms. Like most African chiefs he strikes those manship and tact if friction is to be avoided. It who know him well as a trifle secretive, in spite is obvious that with the spread of European cul- of his friendliness of manner. He has not the ture the inevitable tendency is for the Adminis- powerful mind or personality of Khama, and when tration to encroach upon the functions and privi- hard pressed he tends to become obstinate. His leges of the Chief. The powers of the Chief have policy in general is cautious, and is regarded by been considerably reduced since the death of some people as being conservative. He believes Khama, and it looks as though it is intended that profoundly in education, and he himself studied the process shall continue. It is natural that up to the matriculation examination at school. Tshekedi should view the tendency with concern, He maintains at his own expense a school of 700 and that he should offer all the opposition he legit- children in Serowe, and he has spared no pains imately may. He is only the Regent or Acting or money to make it one of the model native Chief, and will therefore be expected, both by his schools of South Africa. He has moreover been nephew, the real Chief, and by the tribe, to hand contemplating for some time starting an instituon the prerogatives and functions of the chieftain- tion of a higher standard for the training of teachship undiminished. ers and for the giving of education of a more ad- vanced character than anything at present pro- But there is something deeper than that in the vided by the Government. Tshekedi is forwarddisquiet with which Tshekedi views the frequent looking, but he is at present engrossed in the infringement of his functions. The Chief in a maintenance of the status and prerogatives of the Bantu tribe is looked upon as something more Chief as against the inevitable encroachments of than a political personage. He is regarded as the European administration. Given a clear and gathering up in himself the whole life of the tribe. acceptable definition of the rights and functions He is a religious symbol of the tribal existence. of the Chieftainship Tshekedi would be free to He has an almost spiritual significance. More- initiate a progressive policy for the Tribe. The over, an African tribe carries subtle nonmaterial Administration would likewise be free to help him elements in its life. It is, in fact, a singularly in its realization. delicate organism, and its balance can be destroyed much more readily than it can be restored. There are one or two elements in the tribal'lif€.
that are not favorable to Tshekedi. Intrigue ing of the women, known as the duduetsa. Then thrives under tribalism. But with the vast ma- an old, old woman of the tribe rose from the jority of his tribe Tshekedi is personally popular ground and went to meet the Chief. She turned and officially respected. The people know that he and preceded him, executing a curious native seeks to maintain their rights as a free people dance. As the Chief reached the front of the under the wing of Britain's protection. They give gathering the great company as one man rose and him their regard and confidence and are making greeted him, with renewed cries of "Pula!" As good progress under his leadership. the cheering died down Semane, the Queen- This was demonstrated in an unmistakable mother, rose from her seat and advanced towards fashion on his return from England. A crowd of her son; she bent her knee,· took his hand and nearly ten thousand men and women gathered in drew it to her lips. In a great stillness Tshekedi, the Kgotla, or place of tribal assembly in Serowe, with tears in his eyes, raised his mother to her and the welcome they gave him demonstrated feet. He had come home; the welcome was com- their loyalty and affection. The great gathering plete.
sat with their eyes turned expectantly towards the Between mother and son there is a perfect shoulder of the hill round which the Chief and his understanding, and as Tshekedi remains unmar- horsemen would appear. It was like watching for ried Semane has many public duties to perform, a king returning from the wars. Presently a but she is none the less friendly and approach- great shout went up as a cloud of dust began to able. Both mother and son are members of the rise and move towards the town. In a few min- Christian Church; both are on friendly terms utes the whole cavalcade galloped round the stock- with the missionaries and other Europeans in ade of the Kgotla, where the Chief dismounted and their town; both are keenly interested in tem- walked slowly up the avenue between his people. perance and in the Boys' Brigade and the Girls'
From thousands of throats rose up the Bechuana. Life Brigade; both are seeking to lift the moral hurrah, or greeting of respect, "Pula! Pula! level of the Tribe and to maintain the best tradi- Pula!" immediately followed by the strange ululu- tions of a free people.
Opportunity-The Way of the Lord By JEAN KENYON MACKENZIE Formeriya Missionary of the Presbyterian Church in West Africa W HO has not wakened in the night to hear ing of the stranger-and all because in a dark a bell strike in the heart-and it is now hour our Lord spoke to us, waking us from sleep, too late to do what we have planned to do, calling us back again into his service. Not as he for we have dallied? called the child Samuel, who must rebuke the faithless with the glitter and dew of his young The child is now grown, the friend is now gone, faith-but as He calls His tried,servant who must the harvest is now passed, the night has now come now bear the heat and burden of the noon and winter seals the door. Across the heart's dark hour. . . . there is a flooding light that reveals with a strange clarity the very path we missed, and we had For this is the Way of the Lord. By much passvowed to take it on a day that passed. ing it is made straight, and those who go there are the caravans of the Future. It is for these jour- How sweet it is then if a friend knocks at the neys that the Head of the caravan has called you door and begs from us three loaves of bread! It again before it is yet day, giving you an hour for is not then we fail to rise and give him. It is not remembrance and repentance before you shall on the morrow of such dark thoughts that we deal arise "renewed to your works, and charity, and stonily with our children, or begin, with our min- service, and faith, and your patience, and your ister, to make delays and excuses. On the morrow works"; and the last-by his mercy-to be more of such a night we are up early to fill the lamps than the first. with oil; we search our purses then for whatever coin may be there; we fill the cup against the com- -From Women and Missions.
and the World To,Day*
By the REV. HERBERT H. FARMER, M.A., -.. ~ Hartford, Connecticut Professor in the Hartford Theological Seminary To ANYONE who believes that God savingly present age is really another way of facing the revealed Himself to mankind in Jesus Christ question what our essential Message is. If we in a final and unique way-and can anything believe that God speaks to the world through the be properly called Christianity which has not that Church we must also believe that He speaks to the belief in one form or another at the heart of it?- Church through the world, challenging it, thrust- Christianity is not more relevant or differently ing it out of its thoughtless and treacherous acqui- relevant to this age than to any other. Its rel- escences in styles of life really alien to Christ and evance is that it is the saving word of God to now receiving God's judgment in the outward mankind and that mankind is confusion and the inward de- mankind. Jesus Christ the same spair of mankind. The subject yesterday, today and for ever, Here is are mar k a b I y of this talk, in fact, could as and mankind, though in a dif- thoughtful paper, read at the well be the relevance of our ferent sense, pretty much the recent Foreign Missions Con- present world for Christianity same yesterday, today and for- ference. Dr. Farmer deals as the relevance of Christianity ever. The point is not unim- with the spiritual as against for our present world. portant, for so soon as we try the material, the eternal as Some years ago an anthroto adj ust our preaching of against the temporal, the di- Christ to the results of our own vine program and power as pologist of international repureflection on its relevance to a against human ideas of social tation, widely travelled, observvast and complex world situa- progress. He shows how the ant, sensitive, cautious in all his tion, the whole work and wit- revelation of God in Christ statements, said in my hearing: ness of the Church is thrown is the only basis of hope for "In my opinion the most iminto the utmost jeopardy. The the rescue and regeneration of portant and disquieting feature men from the inequalities, the of our time is the increasing prime motive of Christian mis- failures and the destruction sense of the futility of life sions must always be the com- caused by the ignorance and which is to be observed in alpelling touch of God upon our sin which are so prevalent in most every section of human own hearts and lives through the world today~ Here is the life." I have thought much Christ, and we should be bound about that statement. One is to obey that compulsion, even Christian philosophy which the more disposed to believe it though the relevance of what underlies the missionary en- true when one can see that there we have to say to the world sit- terprise. God, the loving have been at work in human uation should not at the moment Heavenly Father, has come in life over a long period of years be very apparent. That is to the person of His Son, Jesus certain tendencies of thought Christ, to reveal the value of the individual soul, and to say, our judgment of the rel- make it possible for man to which were bound in the end to evance of Christianity must al- look forward to an eternity produce that sense of futility ways be in a measure a judg- of fellowship with Him. which the observer referred to ment of faith, and not of sight. discerned as deeply underlying Though we must beware of the modern temper.
altering the Message to suit our own superficial In this connection I venture to state categor- judgments as to what the world needs, yet ft may ically two propositions.
happen that certain aspects of the Message are Impor.tance of the Eternal more relevant to some ages than to others and should be proclaimed with special" clarity and The first is that human nature is so made that emphasis and practical endeavor. To ask our- only the awareness of a factor in existence which selves what is the relevance of our Message to the is eternal can give man a sense of permanent meaning and direction and worth-whileness in his en:e;Ot9~5~sed from an address given at the Foreign Missions Confer- life. Without that the sense of futility, though it [113 ]
may be temporarily smothered in the distractions futility. No eternal, no unconditional; no uncon- of business or pleasure, always comes back like a ditional, no meaning; no meaning, nothing in the slow stain spreading from beneath through a end but a hollow sense of futility-that is an un- closely-woven fabric. The hunger for the eternal changeable law of the human heart.
I take to be as certain a fact of man's response to How unchangeable this is is shown by events his world as his hunger for food, though it is not in the world today. I am thinking particularly of so immediately obvious. It arises indeed inevi- the terrific outburst of nationalism tending to tably from the fact that he is self-conscious, and absolute dictatorships and the totalitarian state.
yet at the same time both his own being and all Many causes doubtless have contributed to bring to which he puts his hands are under sentence of these things about, but the deepest one I am con- death and dissolution. vinced is just the hunger of the human soul for an The second proposition is that the living sense absolute, an unconditional to give permanent of the eternal as distinct from armchair philo- meaning and, direction to life. It is pathetic sophical reflections, if it comes to the human soul witness to the emptiness of the human spirit when at all, always comes in the form of an uncondi- it has lost the sense of the vertical, the eternal, tional imperative addressed to the will. By an and merged itself horizontally in the process. It unconditional imperative we mean one which is the nemesis of naturalism. One of two things cla:ims the whole man, one which in principle asks always happens, as Heim has said: either the the surrender of life itself rather than to be diso- process itself gets deified, as in Marxian mate- bedient to it. Just because it is felt to claim life rialism, or one item in the"process, as in the Marx- itself it is felt to transcend life, or rather, what is ian doctrine of the proletariate or the Nazi doc- the same thing, to transcend death, to have the trine concerning the Nordic race. It is all very quality of the eternal. G. K. Chesterton has point- pathetic. Man creates his own pitiful eternal in ed out that whenever men contemplate the total some mythological Nordic race which shall go on giving of themselves they always talk the language forever and conquer all things; his own little tin- of eternity. Leonidas at Thermopylre does not pot deity of a Lenin or a Hitler or a Mussolini; say to his fellow Greeks: "Friends, I think that his own puerile sacraments of swastika banners all things considered Prof. So and So is right when and uplifted arms, and to them he is ready to give he suggests that Greek civilization is preferable himself-ready if need be to die. They are substi- to Persian; therefore I beg to move that we stay tutes for the unconditional eternal. And the here and die fighting." No, he cried, we may sup- strength of these movements is youth, youth pose, with a look up into the sky, "Athens (or which in its relatively unspoiled nature wants Sparta) forever." something to give itself wholly to, and is not able We reach then the familiar proposition that, in to find it. Those therefore who discern in these the long run, men cannot find anything worth liv- modern movements something of the lineaments ing for unless they can find something worth of religion are right. It is substitute religion.
dying for, and they cannot find anything worth The Christian Message dying for unless they can find something which transcends death, something eternal. Whence, What then is the relevance of this to Christian- clearly, the hollow sense of futility which has in- ity? The answer I propose to give is along two fected so much of modern life. For a variety of lines: the first concerns more the content of our reasons modern man has lost the sense of being message, the second more the manner of our wit- related not only, so to say, horizontally to the nat- ness to it.
ural order, but also vertically to something or First concerning the content. I am convinced some one which transcends the natural order and that a very large number of Christian thinkers which alone can make it other than a tale told by and preachers have been deeply infected (without ail idiot signifying nothing. Far more deeply their knowing it) with the prevailing monistic than we have ever realized the modern man has naturalism of this age, and so long as that is so become naturalistic in his whole outlook; he has they will have nothing to say in this present age.
become monistic-that is to say, he has lost the They think of God vaguely as a "life force" run- sense that there are two orders, time and eternity, ning through the processes of nature and history and has tried to live in one only. There is there- and somehow producing what they call values of fore no true unconditional for his will, for his will truth, beauty and goodness. Yet what is that "but is, only part of the ongoing natural process and the horizontal look, the deification of process?
we can all do what we like, seeing that natural They are very hesitant about speaking of God in process makes us like it. Because there is no un- personal terms, as a transcendent will addressing conditional there is no meaning, such is the human the will of man in unconditional demand and ask- heart, but only a growing sense of emptiness and ing for critical decision. How often have I heard
CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORLD TO-DAY
sermons which have not mentioned the word God makes a difference every bit as unmistakable and at all. What is talked about is religion, cultivat- costly as the difference which Communism has ing the spiritual life, integrating the personality wrought in Russia or Hitler in Germany, or Mus- with what is vaguely called life, and being our- solini in Italy, then men will pass it by and go selves as I heard a preacher only last Sunday say, alusting after false gods. I want the young peo- "bits of divinity." Anything approaching the ple of the world to be challenged as absolutely prophetic word, "Thus saith the Lord, the Holy with Christ as they are being challenged by Com- One," to your will asking utter obedience even munism and Fascism, but of what power is the unto death is absent. The same appears in what challenge on the lips of those in whose manner is said about Jesus Christ. There is little sense of of life there is little evidence of the presence of a an absolute, unconditional final approach of the Divine Dictator whose will at any cost is obeyed?
Eternal to the human soul in him. On the contrary Here we touch on something really important; He is looked upon as just a bit of the process, a it is precisely that accusation against Christi- product of evolutionary forces for which we may anity which Communists are continually making, be thankful and which we may as well try to copy; namely, that taken as a whole it has preferred to but He may be superseded at any moment and if establish itself on the comforts of the old order you like Buddhism or Confucius or Karl Marx and has consciously or unconsciously refused to better as the basis of your religion, you are per- make any really cos~ing sacrifices or brave any fectly entitled to adopt one of them and we wont risks for a better way of social life. It is evident worry you with Christ. After all, it is said that that mankind has reached a stage in its history all religions seek the same end; in other words when something radical must be done about life.
they are all part of the one ongoing process. It is surely not without significance that our mod- If that is all a man can genuinely say about ern dictatorships are strongly tinged with social- God and about Christ he must not, on peril of his ism. Communism is the whole thing in an ex- soul, try to force himself to say more. But let treme form, but Nazism and Italian Fascism are such an one remind himself that that sort of thing professedly also attempts to create a juster social is not historic Christianity; if it had been then unity and cooperation. Young German Nazis be- Christianity would long since have disappeared. lieve they are fashioning a new society, and for That sort of thing is pitifully inadequate to the that they are ready to surrender themselves and present situation, being indeed a surrender to make sacrifices.
those very untruths which have produced the A Christian message which is not backed by a present situation. I want a modern Christianity manifest willingness to set right the wrongs of which, without ceasing to be really modern, shall our hideous capitalistic order and to pay the cost recover the sense of God as personal Will, and be of so doing, is irrelevant today.
bold in the preaching of it, shall recover the sense The Dictatorship of Love of God as absolute unconditional demand, which shall really enthrone Jesus Christ as the revela- The witness of the Church on these matters tion of that demand to the sin-darkened spirits of must be distinctively its own, and it is becoming men. I want the Christian Church to set up its increasingly clear what the distinctive Christian Dictator against these other tawdry substitutes witness fundamentally has got to be. It must be which are walking the earth, not in word but in a much more deep-going, uncompromising, costing deed. If we cannot have a Christianity which affirmation of the principles of love, a much more does that we cannot have one which is relevant deep-going, uncompromising, costing manifesta- to the modern world. I want a Christianity that tion of the fact that we stand under the dictator- has emancipated itself from monism and takes ship of love and intend to obey and take all the its stand on the dualism of time and eternity, of risks of obedience. What then do we mean by love?
the divine will demanding, and the human will We mean at lea~t this, an intense passionate sense which must obey. of the value of every individual life because we The Christian Witness see resting on it none other than the eternal love of God with which we dare not and cannot trifle.
This has involved me in the second point, This is intensely relevant to the world situation namely, the manner of our witness to the Chris- today. You have noticed what a shockingly low tian Message. To preach God as Holy Will, save valuation of the individual personality is mani- as our own will is humbled before it, is worthless festing itself. There has always been such in the and pernicious, and never more so than today. world, but today it is peculiarly blatant and un- Unless in actual Christian living there is mani- ashamed, and, curiously enough, it is manifesting fest an austerity of the unconditional Word of itself in connection with the building of what is God, the willingness clearly evidenced that Christ regarded as a new social order. In Germany,
Russia, Italy, Turkey and elsewhere the individual but hardly a.n ideal for man as revealed by the counts for nothing or little, and that not as the God who has shown His face to us in the love of outcome of transient excitement but as a deliber- Christ. The Christian ideal is a fellowship which ately professed theory of human life. The indi- is achieved only as love, that is to say, only as a vidual must be sacrificed ruthlessly to the sup- unity amid the richest individual difference.
posed needs of the whole. This is the theory of Nothing other than that can be the ideal which the the totalitarian state: the state is all, the indi- Christian is seeking to achieve. There is, how- vidual is nothing. ever, one place where it ought to be fully achieved, This seems to be as direct an assault on the and can be fully achieved if we dedicated our- Christian message as anything could well be, for selves to it, namely the Christian Church. The if it is valid then the doctrine of God as love is relevance of the Church today to the world situa- phantastic nonsense. It is indeed inevitable that tion is to show forth a conception of fellowship, we should meet what we are meeting today in this a way of the solution of social problems, which is frightful devaluation of the individual. The based on the keenest awareness of the value of things that have been happening in Germany, every individual in the sight of God. A Church Russia, Italy, are but a violent symptom of some- which reproduces in itself the racial cleavages, thing which is widespread in humanity and is the gross financial inequalities, the caste distinc- very manifest in America, though here it is kept tions, the perverted values which set more store partly in check and driven underground by a on the trappings of the altar and the choir than on stronger tradition of liberty, a liberty which has loving mercy and doing justly and walking in been far too much in the nature of license to flout awed obedience to a Holy Will of love at any cost, the very principles it professed to preserve. in view of the terrific forces which are sweeping This has its roots once again in the loss of the the world today, is an impotent irrelevancy. . . .
sense of the eternal as Holy Will, and the merging I do not see that a Christian message can enter of man in mere ongoing natural process. Never the modern scene with really powerful relevance was there a more pathetic and stupid fallacy than except it is prepared to be frankly eschatological that of humanism which supposes that you can in its outlook, as the New Testament is. By being exalt man by denying God;' in the end man be- eschatological in outlook I mean briefly what comes just an item in process and nothing mote" comes to expression in the epistle to the Hebrews to be treated as such by any tyrant who can win where the writer having exhorted his readers to power and persuade himself that the process is stand firm and absolute in their obedience to for the moment incarnate in himself. If I do not Christ come what may, adds: "for we have not derive my existence from God and my significance here an abiding city but we seek one which is to from His love, then I derive it simply from race, come." This again would be to escape from mon- and race can annul me whenever it wants. The ism into the thought that there is a Divine Will decapitations in Germany and shootings in Russia which, whilst it meets us in history, none the less are perfectly logical. But, mark you, the same transcends history in its ultimate consummation; attitude is to be observed in America, and in the wherefore we can commit ourselves wholly to it in churches. Many Christians take precisely the absolute obedience, no matter what folly it may same attitude to the execution of criminals; they appear to be in the eyes of the world.
feel great satisfaction that society "has been rid God's Concern for Man of such vermin." That is the same attitude at bottom, though in a more restrained form, as What a tremendously significant thing it is that of Goering and Stalin. A less polite name for after all, for you and me to affirm that God is it would be the "swat that fly" attitude. holy, personal, fatherly love, with an individual The Question of Social Reform concern for the personalities of all men and women, and on the basis of that affirmation to The relation of all this to social reform is that call upon one another to walk the way of love, we must take our choice between dedicating our- taking all the tasks, even unto the death of the selves to a Christian idea of social fellowship and cross. What folly it looks on the surface! Sit another idea which is opposed to it. Only we down and read history. The endless procession of must dedicate ourselves to it with the same abso- the generations, millions and millions of individ- lute devotion as the young Nazis. Christian Nazis uals born, suffering, dying; earthquakes, famines, have been surprised when I have pointed out that pestilences, men and women and children wiped a beehive or an ant hill is a perfect social unity, out like flies, Attila and his Huns sweeping across similar to the unity of Russia and Germany and Europe, Ghengis Khan and his bloody massacres, Italy, and doubtless a wonderful work of nature sin spreading a corrupting blight from generation
to generation! Look at the world today, say men it was not necessary to say how; for the moment of the world, and then tell us that God is love, and love was apparently defeated, but what is the ask us to live by love. moment? In His deep awareness of God He knew that in eternity, in the beyond of history, God's What can we say in reply? Only this, that we love was not defeated, that with Him alone was do not claim to understand or to justify the eternal the victory. So with quiet conviction He says: purpose of God in terms of what we can see hap- "hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man, the Crucipening on this narrow, transient stage of time. fied, sitting at the right hand of power, and com- God's purpose is too vast in its scope, too profound ing on the clouds of heaven." Do not let us miss in its meaning, too transcendent in its ultimate the deep meaning of that, because of the imagery glory to be measured by what we can see, or what in which it is expressed. It is the deep assured this world can hold. We have not here an abiding vision of one who sees right through the appearcity, but we seek one to come. Here we "see as in ances of terrestrial events to the transcendent vica glass darkly." If we can live by love and take tory of God. I do ask you to share the vision and all its risks and all its apparent defeats with a to have the peace and the power and the steadfastquiet mind and an unaltered loyalty, it is because ness which that vision alone can bring. Only as we live in the power of a world to come. Thus it we do so shall we be able to stand steadfastly for was with Jesus when He went to the cross. What the way of love in this troubled world; only so utter defeat that was to all outward appearance, shall we be able, if the call comes, to go forth to what triumph of the coarse insolences of worldly Him whom we call Master and Lord, without the power over the weakness of love! Yet Jesus knew camp, to Calvary, bearing His reproach, yet sharthat the victory was not with the crucifiers but ing also His joy. with the Crucified; He could not have said how; THE NEED OF THE HOUR* In the face of a world that is literally sliding towards hell with accelerated speed what shall the righteous do? How can the followers of Jesus Christ bring His spirit and His person to this sin-cursed generation? There is no short way. But the task now faced by the Church can never be done unless it is clearly recognized that there are thousands upon thousands of Christians who are such only in name. They do not believe and have never believed in the way of love even unto the Cross. Only a remnant believes this and upon that remnant God has placed the burden. But God's arm is not shortened in this day any more than it was in the days of Gideon. He can save by many or by few.
But it is not the many or the few that will do the saving. It will be God working through them. The great responsibility now upon these disciples of Christ, who see that this world with all its boasted science and humanitarianism is lost, is to bring Christ into the personal lives and the institutions of men. Only He can take away the lust for possessions and the lust for power which are the basic cause of all tyranny. Only He can give the drive and the courage to fight institutionalized wrong. Only He can give the ethical wisdom to penetrate all the sham and hypocrisy of the social order about us.
"Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of?" asked Jesus. Those early disciples said they could and to their eternal credit they did. But they drank of that cup, and His followers today can drink of it, only if their spirits are continually renewed by waiting upon God. This age is lost unless Christians are raised up who constantly renew their spirits in prayer. Spiritual strength demands spiritual discipline. The task is altogether too great for any man in his own unaided strength. But any man may be a vehicle for the Almighty.
The world can be saved if every Christian who sees the crisis of this civilization will face it with the utter consecration shown by the early Christians as they faced Rome. We know that it is only as we daily and systematically commune with the ever-living God that we can find strength and wisdom for the mighty task before us. To live creatively and triumphantly we must wait upon God. Those who seek the Kingdom will never find it unless they wait upon Him.
• Condensed from The Presbyterian Tribune, New York.
Years of the Turkish Republic*
-ell By the REV. J. KINGSLEY BIRGE, Istanbul, Turkey O N THE 29th of last October the Turkish was natural to leave the affairs of this world, as people celebrated the eleventh anniversary well as the next, to Him. Man's efforts to build of the founding of the Turkish Republic. his own world riot only seemed not worth while, No country has ever made as many revolutionary but even definitely irreligious.
changes in a similar period of time as has this On the other hand, there was the powerful influ- new Republic. ence of the more or less secretly organized dervish, In Turkey at least, the importance of the rela- or religious lodges.. Counting their members by tion of Christian missions to the present world the many thousands, an attitude of reverence for conditions can only be understood in the light of the miraculous powers of the grandmasters of the meaning of these changes. Even the past two these lodges led to a widespread belief in magic months have seen a social development in Turkey and superstition. Admirable as was the devotion of so radical a nature as to make the friend of of many earnest seekers after reality in these Turkey not only feel respect for the leadership lodges, the mental attitude they developed of su- being exercised in that land, but also cherish an perstitious belief in tombs and sacred places, of expectancy that anything may happen there. dependence upon unseen powers of a world of To understand the significance of the recent magic, made them hardly adapted to the social events in Turkey it is necessary to glance into the needs of the twentieth century. Back in the middle more distant past and note the state of affairs of the last century an Ottoman holding high office shortly before this interesting Republic was born. in the state made this remark to a friendly for- For centuries Turkey suffered under an abso- eigner: "Depend upon it, our ministers are laborlute monarch. The dynasty of Osman, beginning ing in vain and civilization will never penetrate with a succession of brilliant rulers, ended its into Turkey so long as the dervish lodges and the absolute sway with the thirty year's reign of tombs (of their holy men) remain standing." t Abdul Hamid. During those thirty years the The point of all these facts is that religion has rights of the people were in every way suppressed. in the minds of many of Turkey's leaders demon- Education was discouraged. Science, particularly strated its social ineffectiveness, even its positively all that was involved in the use of electricity, was harmful influence on human progress. viewed as positively dangerous. Not only the Born into such a world, under the able leader- Christians, but in some respects the Turks, suf- ship of Gazi Mustafa Kemal the Republic of Turfered under the absolutism of Abdul Hamid. key has attempted in the course of less than one When today the Turkish Republic is represented generation to bring about changes which western along with Greece, Bulgaria, Jugoslavia, Rumania Europe and America took centuries to effect. The and Albania in the Balkan Union, Turkey, in imposing array of reforms will perhaps be the common with the other nations feels she has won more impressive if I mention them as they ocher independence from the sway of the old Otto- curred year after year. In 1922 the Sultanate was abolished. man Empire. In those old days the part religion played was In 1923 the Lausanne Treaty was signed grantnot calculated to commend itself to the progres- ing the Turkish people a degree of equality with European nations which had never before been sive leaders of today. On the one hand were the recognized. In October of that year Turkey was teachings of orthodox Sunni Islam. A sublime declared a Republic. conception of one God, breeding a devotion both of belief and worship that is the admiration of the In 1924 two revolutionary changes took plac,e. friendly observer, served also to cultivate a fatal- The medressehs, or Mohammedan religious schools istic attitude toward all life, with a consequent were abolished, and the mekteps or schools mod- stifling of individual initiative. Since God was elled on the schools of the west, took their places. the all-powerful, creating both good and evil, it The Caliphate was also abolished, and the royal family was banished from the country. * An address delivered at the Foreign Missions Conference, Garden t Ubicini: "Letters on Turkey," 1856. I 108, City, New York, January, 19.15.
[ 118] The year 1925 saw three innovations each of a bridge the gulf between the city dweller and the kind to cause a complete revolution in the mental- peasant, an organized social attempt to get the ity of a large majority of the people. The fez, educated interested in the underprivileged man of long identified with their religion, was discarded, the remote village. and men were required by law to wear the headgear of the western world. The tekkes, or dervish In July, 1932, the Society for the Investigation lodges were closed, as were also the tombs which of the Turkish Language was organized, a society had in the past been objects of pious visitation. whose labors for two years are now making them- The calendar and system of keeping time were selves felt in Turkey in one of the greatest literary also changed to conform to the custom of the revolutions any nation has ever seen. European civilization. The fall months of 1934 have brought still more In 1926 complete new legal codes were adopted. reforms. The language has begun to change to a civil code influenced by Swiss laws, a penal code an unbelievable degree, as Arabic and Persian based on the Italian system and a commercial words are cast out and old Turkish words taken code taken from Germany and Italy. In 1926 the in their place. All titles of special respect have first statue in Turkey was unveiled. That began been abolished and a common title "Bay" for Mr. a new era in which the picture for the first time and "Bayan" for Miss or Mrs., have been adopted began to play its part as an influence in school for all, preceding the name, as with similar titles and home. in the west. A recent law has forbidden the wear- ing of clerical dress anywhere except in the place In 1927 the railroad from Ankara to Cesarea of worship, and this last month the constitution was opened, beginning a period of great railroad was amended so as to permit women to share on expansion under government control. Each year absolute equality with men in both voting and has shown progress in the efficiency with which standing for election as members of Parliament. these railroads are run. Two Basic Turkish Ideas In 1928 the constitution was amended to strike out the clause that said that the religion of the Hiding behind this very formidable array of State was Islam. Henceforth in theory, and in- reforms, each with its interesting possibilities, creasingly in practice, a complete separation was are two very basic ideas. One is that if Turkey to exist between religion and the State. In May is to take her place among the leading civilized of 1928 the international numbers were adopted, nations of the world she must somehow or other and in November the incredibly radical move was cast off, not so much the clothes of the past, as made of substituting for immediate use in all pub- the complete mentality of the past. In place of lications of a new phonetic Turkish alphabet the religious mentality of the past with its tendmodelled on the Latin alphabet of the west, and ency toward fatalism and consequent quietism in taking the place of the difficult Arabic alphabet its highest expression, and toward superstition of the previous centuries. and magic in its cruder manifestation, there must be spread abroad the new mentality of the West, In 1929 national schools were opened for adults a belief in natural law and in man's capacity to and the whole nation gave itself to the Herculean shape his own life. task of learning to read in the new Turkish letters. Apparently inconsistent with this almost whole- In 1931 all elementary education was limited sale taking over what they conceived to be the best to Turkish government schools. The law was an of western civilization has been operating all the expression of the belief that education of the time the second great basic force, namely, nationyoung was a primary duty and opportunity of the alism. Itself an importation from the west, na- State. It was also a witness of the great progress tionalism has established itself in Turkey as that had been made in what is perhaps the Turk- strongly as in any country. Peaceable in its forish Republic's most fundamental aim-the edu- eign policy, desiring no aggression toward any cation of all the people. foreign power, Turkey is nevertheless very deter- minedly equipping herself for adequate self-de- In April, 1931, a new law inaugurated the use fense. In her development of a more purely of the international system of measurements by Turkish culture she is turning her eyes to the meters and kilos, although this law was only fully ancient past. Convinced that the earliest civiliapplied in 1934. zations came out of Central Asia, her own home- land, the Turks are being educated to feel that In April, 1931, the People's Party took over the they should be leaders, not so much in war as in full responsibility for operating all over the coun- the civilized ways of peace. . . . try People's Houses, Halk Evleri. The social and recreational needs of the common people were The Turkey which I have tried to sketch briefly thus recognized. One of the encouraging features is the background against which we must try to of these houses was the Department of Village Life, which was organized in them, an attempt to
understand modern Christian missions in this day, is not calculated to make him place the Chris- country. The probability is that the virile leader- tian religion among those useful elements in ship being offered the world today by Turkey will western civilization which he desires.
be followed in many respects by other countries The picture, however, has its brighter side.
as well, especially of the Moslem world. The Foremost is the undoubted fact that Turkish lead- situation in Turkey therefore is of peculiar sig- ers are eagerly studying our civilization to find nificance. every socially useful element in order that they From the missionary point of view there are may import it into their rapidly-awakening land.
two sides to the picture. The dark side shows a . The second factor on the bright side is there only resentment springing from their nationalism if an affirmative answer can be given to a question against every effort by foreigners to influence that strikes at the very heart of our faith: Can their way of living. Any attempt to convert them the religion of Jesus Christ function through mod- tends to defeat that purpose, for it sets people ern missions in such a way as to give expression against what, if left alone, they might have looked to absolutely disinterested goodwill? Is Christi- upon with favor. A second element on the dark anity Christianity only when it is taught by word side is that religion has gained for itself in Tur- of mouth, or is Christianity truly expressive of key a bad name. Mohammedanism has shown Christ's own spirit when, under conditions where itself as a reactionary force, and what the aver- propaganda will defeat its purpose, it seeks to live age Turk has been able to see of Christianity, as in self-forgetting abandonment in service of God's it has worked in Europe and America, not only in children as with very great sincerity they search the Crusades but in the recent World War and in the surface of the earth to find what forces will the social disorders and inj ustices of the present build a better Turkey?
TERSE TRUTHS ABOUT STEWARDSHIP When a man becomes rich, God gains a partner or the man loses his soul. *** Stewardship puts the Golden Rule in business in place of the rule of gold. *** Not how much of my money will I give to God, but how much must I use for myself? * * .* "I will place no value on anything I have except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ." *** The Kingdom of God can never be established by "raising money," but it cannot be ex- tended without sharing money.
*** Give, not from the top of your purse, but from the bottom of your heart.
*** He is no fool who parts with what he cannot keep, and so obtains what he will not lose.
*** The unconsecrated wealth of Christians is the greatest hindrance to the progress of Christ's Church.
*** Jesus teaches that a man's attitude to the Kingdom of God is revealed by his attitude to his property.
*** Diligent earning makes an industrious man; wise spending, a well-furnished man; pro- portionate saving, a prepared man; Christlike giving, a blessed man.
Little children, in a spasm of generosity, often give to those whom they love some posses- sion, and take it back again; or use it without reference to the ownership they had conferred. It is thus that too many Christians act towards Christ. They ask Him to consider all their. possessions as His; but within an hour they spend as if they were as much their own as ever. They determine how much to give to some Christian cause without once asking Him what He desires them to give.-THE REV. F. B. MEYER.
-Sayings from many sources quoted by the Laymen Company, Chicago.
Years of Cooperation in Chosen*
By the REV. C. A. CLARK, Ph.D., D.D., I~- Pyengyang, Chosen ~==============================~, THE last hundred years have been preemi- groups of Methodist missionaries and believers nently years of competition throughout the into one great Korean Methodist Church, the world, in business life, national life and movement which was consummated in 1930; secchurch life. There are undoubtedly many advan- ondly, the growing together from the beginning of tages in competition in stirring men to do their the work of the four Presbyterian missions into very best, and the world is full of good things their one National Church, fully organized in which we would not have obtained except for com- 1907; and the third item, the territorial divisions petition. We have discovered by hard experience, between the two churches consummated in 1909, however, that with men constituted as they are just twenty-six years ago.
and as selfish as they are, unrestrained competi- Those three are the greatest movements. We tion often means the crushing of the weak, and the may add to them the various specific items of taking advantage of accidentally acquired rights union or cooperation in various movements and to deprive others of even their natural rights. Be- institutions. Among those we may mention the cause of these things the world today seems de- following: termined to abolish competition or, at least, to 1. As TO MOVEMENTS: put it under severe restrictions, such that we may get from it its benefits and not have to take its Cooperation in the production and distribution of evils. Literature.
I suppose that there is no place in human ac- The Presbyterian and Methodist Councils. The Federal Council.
tivity where unrestrained competition is more in- The National Council. excusable than between two churches, where each Early movements for making Educational work is equally evangelical in its teaching. We have seen that illustrated all over America to an aston- uniform-the Senate. ishing extent, five or six churches sometimes in Work for Koreans in Japan. Sunday School and other Religious Education work.
a town of less than 1,000 people, or half a dozen Union Medical Association and the Nurses' Assochurches in a city, all with palatial buildings, all ciation.
within a block or so of one another, all half empty II. As TO INSTITUTIONS: and all living at a poor dying rate. Korea has The Chosen Christian College in Seoul. been wonderfully blessed from the beginning in The Union Christian College in Pyengyang. having relatively so little destructive competition The Severance Union Medical College.
of this type. The Ewa College for Women, Seoul. The Union M. E. Theological Seminary in Seoul. When we speak of cooperation in Korea, we The Union Presbyterian Seminary in Pyengyang. necessarily refer to Methodist-Presbyterian coop- The P'ierson Memorial Bible Institute in Seoul.
eration. Other denominations, with one excep- The Christian Literature Society.
tion, did not come into the country during the first Union Hospitals in Seoul and Pyengyang. quarter century of its missionary history. It is a Tai Wha Community Center, Seoul.
matter of deep regret that, when they did come, A. Territorial Division.
none of them were willing to consider territorial To my mind the greatest step ever taken on division or to join the Federal Council or like ac- cooperation lines, as between our two great detivities. It is a matter for great thankfulness, on nominations, was the territorial division of 1909. the other hand, that they did not feel called upon, I do not believe that very many of us here realize except in a few and somewhat recent cases, to what a marvelous thing that has been for all our carryon distinctly competitive activities. work during all of these last twenty-five years. I visited a mission field a year ago where sixty de- As to Methodist-Presbyterian cooperation, the nominations and organizations are at work, with outstanding items for all of the years have been scarcely a vestige of comity or cooperation, and three: first, the gradual combination of the two • From The Korea Mission Field, October, 1934. my heart wept for them. There are over 100 de- [121 ]
nominations in China working with relatively few merely Methodists and Presbyterians that watched comity arrangements. The actual total available their step when they met one another in those force of Christian workers in those countries is early days. I've heard the fathers of our work large enough to quit€ fairly cover their whole tell how, when they were forming their first orfield if all the force were used unitedly and co- ganizations, even Presbyterians looked at Presbyoperatively. As it is, possibly a third or even a terians and Methodists at Methodists to be sure half of the force's vitality is used in duplicate or that something was not being put over on them. competitive activity. What a lot of suspicious folks we are anyway! God has been good, however, and, within our sev- When division of mission territory in Korea eral groups, at least, we have gradually come to was actually signed, we could meet one another trust one another absolutely, and the two groups without automatically putting ourselves mentally have also grown together a long way. in an attitude of self-defence. We could rejoice heartily in every victory of our neighbors across C. Council of Protestant Missions. the dividing lines, for their work and ours were one in the most practical possible way. We speak Dr. H. G. Underwood used to tell how in Janof dividing lines but a better name would be uary, 1886, only a few months after he and the "unifying lines," for real heart' unity became pos- Appenzellers and Scrantons arrived, all of the sible through this division of the field. When I two groups met in a prayer service and asked God am willing to trust my brother with half of the to give them souls that very year for their hire. field and believe that he will evangelize it in as Missionary cooperation in Korea began in the one good or better a way than I could, that is real way which will always be effective, cooperation on unity. If we had tried to force organic union we our knees before the Throne. might have secured an external superficial union, with no real union of hearts. As the work developed, there were many in- stances of cooperation between the two Churches. Many times in the last twenty-five years our As early as 1893, there was a set of Comity Rules Korean brethren on each side of the lines have drawn up as a general guide. In 1905, we form€d wanted to break through. The grass outside the the General Evangelical Council. It looked as pasture always appears to be sweeter than any- though there would be almost at once one single thing inside the fence. We've had very few such union Church in Korea. Our Committees wrote breakings forth and they have always been for us a possible Polity and a suggested Creed. quickly corrected. It is a marvel that we have Then the two Korean Churches were founded and not had a hundred times more breakings through. our hour of opportunity was gone. And yet what possible excuse could any of us have given to our Lord if we had broken through when We've had our Federal Council, however, for everyone of us had within his own boundaries far nearly twenty years and it would be difficult to more than he could ever evangelize within his life over-estimate what it has done for us all. Sometime? times, when we come to this Council, there are not very many live subjects up for debate, and we As these recurrent movements for breaking wonder if it is all worth while. We've already down our division lines have come from time to cut down our voting membership because we time, I have trembled a bit for what might happen thought that it cost too much. If we ever stop some day. A new generation is with us which this Council I believe that it will be a disaster to has nev€r learned the wastefulness and the heart- all our work. We can learn to like people and breaks that go with unrestricted competition in work with them only if we know them. Wholly religious work. I do not think that there is any apart from the many important actions which we greater service that our missionary body can do take here year after year as a body, in relation to our Korean Churches than to teach and reteach, to the Government, or in connection with social to emphasize and reemphasize, what the Lord has or educational or evangelistic movements, the done for Korea on territorial division lines. Only Council pays enormous dividends in making the evil one himself could possibly get an atom, friendships and bringing mutual understandings. of profit from the breaking of those lines. D. The National Council of Churches. E. Organic Union. This Council was our next large venture in co- The second important step that we have taken operation, and it ought to do for our Korean in cooperation was the gradual gathering together friends what the Federal Council has done for us of the two Methodist groups in their Council and and more.' Many of us have not given of ourthen into organic union, and the similar gathering selves enough as yet to make that Council what it of the Presbyterian groups in their Council and ought to be. For the last two or three years, in then in their self-governing Church. It wasn't spite of the many useful actions which that Coun-
1935J FIFTY YEARS OF COOPERATION IN CHOSEN
cil has taken, the groups seem to be growing same time show the benefits of all forms of coop- apart. We need to get into that Council in the eration. Briefly, those benefits as I see them, are spirit of Dr. Underwood's prayer of 1886, and as follows: must do it at once or that Council will fail. 1. There has been a great saving in working E. The Work for Koreans in Japan. force through territorial division. Each Church having but half the field to cover has not needed This work is now being reported to the Na- so many workers and ha~ been able to work its tional Council but it existed long before that field more intensively, with a smaller force.
Council was thought of, and is one of our out- 2. There has been an immense financial saving standing adventures in cooperation, in evangelism. in salaries and buildings and other forms of equip- The work began as a united work in 1912 and has ment.
therefore been running for 22 years. The six 3. There has been an immense increase in effi- Missions in Korea and the two Korean Churches. ciency for every active worker caused by the realong with the Canadian Presbyterian Church's lief from tension which everyone used to feel Mission in Japan and about ten of the Japan Mis- when he had to be on the defensive all the time sions, have cooperated in this work. During this against his brethren. last year three missions have been compelled to withdraw their support and all cooperating 4. There has been a great increase of mutual agencies have diminished their gifts, so we've had confidence and love and we've been able to pray to recall two of our three men there and diminish unreservedly for one another as we could not do the work by 50%. That work could never have before we had the divisions. begun except for cooperation. It would have been a crime to have put two denominational churches 5. Each of our great Churches has been able to there in the early years and to have each of those work out its own unique policies unhindered and ten Japan Missions running small groups of local then each has been able to share with his neigh- Koreans in each of their several neighborhoods. bor the benefits of his free experimentation. By uniting we have built up a strong Church of some fifty congregations, and we have ten pastors 6. Each of our groups has been able to use disthere and a dozen or more other salaried workers. cipline in the work of training the believers, and It is easy in that Church to see the benefits of thereby maintain standards and ideals of conduct cooperation. which would otherwise have been impossible.
7. Each of our groups has been able to develop its own theological standards and to adapt them to this Eastern world without interference.
F. Cooperation in Religious Education. 8. Each group has had the spur of brotherly competition across the line where our activities In the 1925 National Sunday School Conven- have run parallel, and each in his own field could tion it was reported that we had 121,000 enrolled try to excel the victories of his brother without in all the Sunday schools of Korea. In 1929, taking anything from him. 254,000 were reported, a gain of over 100%. In 1933, 369,000 were enrolled, again a gain of over 9. Each group has had the advantage of disin- terested brotherly criticism from across the line 50 %. It is not difficult to see the benefits of co- when he has grown slack in his activities.
operation. These are a few of the great benefits coming Two years ago the subsidy received by the from the sorts of cooperation which we have had in Korea. We should give thanks every day for Korea Sunday School Association from America these blessings which the Lord has given to us. was largely withdrawn, so that each of our denominations has been thrown upon its own resources and we have had to set up denominational Boards tl of our own. For a large part of the work, how- KAGAWA',S WISH, , ever, we stin have cooperation, as to lessons prep- I want to be ever a chHd. . '.' aration, conventions, the Children's Magazine, etc., and we hope that the new arrangement may I want to feel an eternal friendship flf>tthe rainnot imperil the many benefits which we have al- drops, the flowers, the insects~ the. srtowflakes.
ready received. I want to be keenly interested in everything, with mind and muscle ever alert, forgetting my G. Cooperation in Institutions. troubles in the next moment.·, , The benefits of cooperation in colleges and med- The stars and the sea, the ponds and the trees, ical work are too obvious to catalog. I think, however that we can realize especially what the the birds and the animals are my comrades. benefits 'are that have come from territorial division. In indicating those benefits, we at the Though my muscles may stiffen, though my skin may wrinkle, may I never find myself yawning at life. '
and Communism in Japan*
By HELEN TOPPING Secretary to Dr. T oyohiko Kagawa TAST year a granddaughter of the famous attitude, but not fully understanding the Christian L Prince Iwakura was imprisoned on a charge way, she came again to be taught. Dr. Kagawa of communism. After her release she com- told her of a young man, employed in one of the mitted suicide. In happy contrast to this tragedy University Students Cooperatives, who had also is the story of the young woman whom I found been arrested and imprisoned as a communist sus- talking with Dr. Kagawa. She had been waiting pect. He came to report his complete change of since early morning to see him, for a stream of heart and to apologize for having caused Dr.
callers had occupied him. She wished plenty of Kagawa such embarrassment. Many young peo- time, and he intended to give her all she needed. ple go through the same experience. Dr. Kagawa For she had recently been released from more said: "The Christian way is very unpopular with than a year's imprisonment for communism. She the young people because it does not have revolu- was arrested when about half way through her tion in it. But this is the way that all must come course at the Woman's Higher Normal School. As to eventually for real economic reconstruction.
a day pupil, she had been very useful to the com- There is no other way."
munists' organization in carrying communications to and from the school. Even her younger sister, though quite ignorant of what she was carrying, WE ARE MAKING GOD'S NEW WORLDt was expelled from her school because she had a By REV. JAY H. SMITH, Belgaum communist paper in her possession which she had been asked to deliver. The elder sister was also Come forth, ye men of every race and nation! converted to communism through her Normal- We are making God's new world for all the sons of men; Our hearts unite in daring expectation, School sister and was imprisoned for a time, then· For the matchless Lord of Life doth tread this earth again. Behold, He comes as first He came released because of her recantation. The father To write upon the hearts of men in words of living flame is an agriculturalist with a doctor's degree. He His Spirit of Heroic Love, raises dahlias, but the dahlias have not been sell- That one redemptive purpose through this age may move! ing well recently and the family had great hopes of this brilliant daughter when, after graduation, Awake, 0 sons of privilege and power, she could earn a good salary as a teacher. They For the dispossessed of earth to God for justice cry! were making every sacrifice to help her through Let eager hands restore their rightful dower her education. When she plunged them all into Lest the clamour of our greed His Providence deny. The last, the least, the lost are ours; such dire distress, the mother came in tears to Mrs. To their emancipation we devote our ardent powers.
Kagawa who gave her Dr. Kagawa's books to read While they are bound can we be free? and told her to tell the two sisters in prison that The knights of service choose the nobler liberty.
there was a better way of solving social problems We build a world of justice fired with love, than through communism. When the elder sister Where the common good inspires the deep concern of all; was released, Mrs. Kagawa arranged for her to go Where Christly spirits through our markets move, to Dr. Kagawa's Farmers' Gospel School near And all our councils own His Kingdom's sovereign call; Kobe where she helped with serving the meals. A world of truth, a world of good, The girl returned transformed, saying she had A world where beauty's symphony is crowned in brothernever in her life had such a happy time. Now, hood; For this we live, for this we die, through Kagawa's introduction, she is serving at And blending strength with Strength Divine we bring it nigh. the Imperial University Y. M. C. A.
The second sister was not so easily converted. Though lust of power may shake its sinews gory She told Dr. Kagawa that even though her mother We hold ourselves for Thee all loyalties above.
did tell her, while in prison, of the Christian way Though storms of hate may rage in empty glory of saving society, she had been stubborn and not In the splendor of the Dawn we see Thy cross of love. impressed. Since her release, however, she has With healing rays it gleams afar, been attending church, and having personal con- And radiates its deathless hope from star to flaming star. tact with Dr. Kagawa. A change has come in her We march with Thee where martyrs trod, Till all the sons of men become the sons of God.
• From The Kagawa Fellowship Bulletin. t Reprinted from The Baptist MiSSionary Review, India.
[124 ]
Present,Day Problems in Missions*
-..ufll By DELAVAN L. PIERSON llJie– PROBLEMS, difficult problems, are among the teaching and products. But there is one cause . factors that make life worth living. Even for encouragement – we are not content with great disappointments may prove to be God's things as they are, even in America, and we are appointments to point out the way He would have trying with God's help to solve our problems and us go. Every age has its problems, its crises and to better conditions. its critics who think everything is wrong and doomed to failure, unless we follow the critic's Christian missions, in America and overseas, advice. There are today problems in interna- have always· presented an abundance of difficultional affairs and in national life, the youth prob- ties and problems, and never more so than today. lem, crime wave problem, marriage problem, We will consider only a few related to foreign church problem, economic and social problems, work. Home missions have equally important missionary problems. They are a sign of life and problems and difficulties of their own, which are make life interesting. worthy of special study.
Some of our difficulties and failures are due to Fifty years ago there was a recognized crisis in ignorance, some to lack of energy, some to narrow foreign missions. This was due to the fact that views, or the fact that we are too much occupied there were many and great unevangelized fields, with petty, unimportant activities. For the solu- while the forces to occupy them were woefully inion of any great problem we need a clear vision of adequate. At the same time there was prospect God and His will for mankind. We also need a of rich harvests if we could take advantage of comprehensive view of the world-its needs and open doors. The opposition of most non-Chrisopportunities; we need a true conception of the ti,an governments and the hostile attitude of nongoal toward which we are working; and we should Christian religious leaders also called for earnest know how to use the forces available. What a prayer and generous support to overcome the wonderful help it would be if, in the midst of the difficulties. There were few volunteers for forstruggle, we could sometimes detach ourselves and eign service and funds were lacking to carry on view the conflict from the outside to gain perspec- the work. There was great need to arouse the tive and proportion and a right estimate of values! Church at home before it was too late. There were then less than 10,000 Protestant missionaries and In Benares, India, I went through the bazaar the total money given annually to the work abroad with the Rev. J. Chadwick Jackson who has mar- was not more than ten million dollars. That crisis ried an Indian wife and has become as an Indian was met with Christian courage and devotion. to the Indians that he may win them for Christ. The Church was aroused to pray and give and We stopped at a shop to look at some trinkets and send. In answer to prayer and faithful witnessthe Indian shopkeeper recognizing me as a stran- ing new doors opened, hostility decreased, the ger, asked Mr. Jackson (speaking in Urdu which number of volunteers multiplied, the Student Vol- I did not understand) : unteer Movement was organized, and the foreign missionary force more than doubled. Later the "Where does this man come from ?" awakening of the laymen caused gifts to flow into "From America," replied Mr. Jackson. mission treasuries so that the annual receipts in- "Oh, that is hell," said the shopkeeper. creased more than fourfold. New interest was "Why so?" asked my friend, wondering how awakened and spread throughout the Church as clearly the Indian understood conditions in Amer- a result of increased knowledge disseminated ica. through the Ecumenical Conference in 1900. "Well," said the shopkeeper, "they tell us America is down there" (pointing down), "and hell is Today we face a new crisis, and a different also down there, so they must be the same." series of problems in foreign mission work. Some At times we are tempted to think the Indian of these are due to changes at home and others to was not far wrong and we can see why, holding changes on the fi·eld. Let us look at only four or this view, Indians may hesitate to accept our five.
be: t9;~3/ead at the meeting of Philadelphia Presbytery. Novem- 1. There are still unevangelized fields such as the large areas in Central Africa, Central Asia, [125 ]
the interior of South America and the great island particular task. Any talent or training that better of New Guinea. The number of non-Christians fits a man to win others to Christ is desirable.
is greater today than it was fifty years ago, though Others are of doubtful value to a missionary. If the proportion of Christians is larger. But the there is ever a choice between sending out Christ- greatest problem today is how to evangelize the like Spirit-filled evangelists who are not highly un-Christian areas in the life of every nation and trained technically, or sending as missionaries every individual. How are we to bring Christ those who are well equipped mentally and with into control of politics and education, business technical skill, but who lack in spiritual qualifica- and pleasures, social life and the home? Even the tions, we do not hesitate to say that the former Church, in many cases, needs to be evangelized. are far preferable and more effective. In fact the This can only be done through the regeneration latter should not be sent in any case. If a man has of the individual. Godless communism, socialism not experienced the "new birth"; if he has not and other misguided philosophies are today clos- clearly heard the call of God to witness for Him; ing doors that were formerly open to Christian if he has not a true love for the souls of men and evangelists. We need, not less evangelism, but a keen sense of their need for Christ as Saviour more than fifty years ago. New conditions pre- and Lord, then we have no business to send such sent new problems and call for earnest prayer a man, no matter what the need or what his other and sacrificial devotion to the cause of Christ, qualifications. But we occasionally met well-edu- with a clear conviction of men's need for Him. cated missionaries on the field who seemed to feel The Problem of Personnel uninterested in meeting with other missionaries for prayer and some confessed their failure to 2. Linked to this is the problem of how to en- speak to non-Christians about their need for list more adequate missionary forces for the work. Christ as Saviour. In one mission college, an The quality of the personnel is always a most im- earnest Indian Christian was asked about the in- portant factor in any enterprise – commercial, fluence of the missionary teachers in winning stu- business or religious. While the number of work- dents to Christ. He replied: ers is still woefully inadequate for the task, the "The former president did much personal work, greatest problem is to secure young men and for that was his chief aim in life. He made a women spiritually equipped for the work. The practice of speaking to each student at least once Student Volunteer Movement and other agencies' a year, tactfully presenting the claims of Christ.
have rendered remarkable service and yet forty The result was seen in the attitude of the faculty ye~rs' study of this subject, and observations at and in the whole student body. They thought that home and on the field, convince me that undue if this meant so much to the president, whom they emphasis has often been placed on the need for honored for his learning and his loving service, specialized intellectual and vocational training for then it must be very important." The president particular phases of the work and too little em- who succeeded him was very capable but was so phasis on the prime need for spiritual equipment busy with organization, with finances, and with and experience before workers are sent to the field. lectures and surveys and reports, that he had little On the foreign field I met missionaries of over or no time for personal Christian work. The re- twenty-five denominational boards and independ- sults were manifest.
ent societies. One – not a Presbyterian – when Thank God there are many mission colleges like asked about the spiritual results of the work, an- those at Teheran, Persia, and Pyengyang, Korea, swered rather impatiently: "I have nothing to do that still put evangelism and Christian training with that. I'm not an evangelist; I am an edu- first where it belongs, while educational standards cationalist." are not neglected. There are many mission hos- Thank God, I believe this feeling is not general pitals, like that founded by Dr. William Wanless but it is present in some whom the churches at in West India, where the doctor's first interest is ,home have sent out as messengers of Christ. We in the eternal welfare of his patients, while at the believe that a missionary doctor should be a same time he lovingly and skilfully ministers to 'skilled and devoted physician and surgeon, and their physical needs. Would to God that this that a missionary teacher should be as good a could be said of every mission hospital and every teacher as possible for the pupils under his or her educational institution! How to make our institu- care; but the great problem today is to find and tional work truly Christian and at the same 'time send well qualified doctors, nurses, teachers, and effectively evangelistic is one of the present-day social workers who are at the same time and pri- problems.
marily effective evangelists; whose first and high- 3. Another present-day problem is presented in est aim is to win people to Christ by life and per- the development of indigenous churches on the sonal witness, as well as by serving at their own mission fields. Fifty years ago most of these were
PRESENT-DAY PROBLEMS IN MISSIONS
young, feeble and struggling; almost none was tional mission work. There has been a tendency self-supporting or self-governing. Their prob- in the past quarter of a century to build up large lems were problems of infancy and childhood. and more or less elaborate institutions that ap- Today they have grown in numbers, strength and peal to large givers at home and to the governinfluence. Many are independent. But with ments on the field but that sometimes tend to comgrowth have come new problems-,–the problems of promise and are not effective as evangelizing youth. They desire independence but are with- agencies. On our recent world tour, we visited out the experience and training to make that bene- over one hundred and fifty missions of forty difficial. Many of their leaders ask to be supported ferent societies in twenty-eight countries. We by foreign funds but wish to control their own saw some mission institutions built like palaces affairs. With increased membership, factions at great expense-an evidence of faith and genhave asiren to divide the churches. In South India erosity on the part of the founders, but of doubt- -and even in the north-some congregations have ful wisdom from a missionary point of view. perpetuated the Hindu caste system. We were They put American missions in the limelight, and told of one congregation of low caste Christians their equipment compares well in some respects that refused to allow their pastor to serve con- with similar institutions in America but they are verts from the "untouchables." When a request too far above the level of the people they serve was made to allow "outcaste" Christians to use and could not be maintained by them if foreign their church for worship, the caste members set funds are withdrawn. fire to the homes of these outcastes by way of protest. Even in Korea, that banner field, there is When missionaries first went to these nontoday a growing division between the Presby- Christian lands they offered the only opportunities terians of the Northern and Southern Missions. to the people for modern education. Schools were Each desires control. This is not a simple prob- established to teach people to read the Bible and lem and can only be solved when the Spirit and to prepare them for service. Today the national Mind of Christ have full sway. schools and universities are offering high grade secular education and missionary institutions are Correcting Our Mistakes required to meet government standards. In order to do this, and to receive government subsidies, We realize that mistakes have been made in most of the higher educational institutions, and producing and perpetuating on the foreign fields some lower grade mission schools, are obliged to denominational organization, ideals, ritual, and employ a majority of non-Christian teachers, to methods that have their roots, not in the New fill their rolls with non-Christian students, to in- Testament, but in Occidental lands. We recognize crease expense for up-to-date equipment, and the foolishness of having an American-Chinese- even to compromise in their missionary purpose Dutch-Reformed Church and we all cherish the and Christian teaching. Many of these educational ideal of one United Christian Church. Yet union institutions are so largely made up of non-Chrisand even close cooperation – on the field or at tians that they can with difficulty be recognized as home-present their own problems, when efforts missionary projects, though the Christian spirit are made to unite all churches in a given field, the of helpfulness clearly actuates their Christian basis of union sometimes leaves out what many teachers. Some of the short-term workers sent believe to be important elements of our faith- out from America have proved a positive handicap such as the final authority of the Christian Scrip- from a missionary point of view since they are tures; the necessity for the atonement of Christ not primarily actuated by the missionary motive. on the Cross; or the regeneration of the indi- One Chinese Christian wrote home from the vidual. The present-day problem of the church Christian university he was attending: on the field is the problem of maintaining sound, intelligent faith in a harmonious body, with true "Pray for me. This pla,ce is so comfortable that evidence of spiritual life and growth. How.to I am being spoiled for the hardships of Christ's cooperate with other Christians – without com- work in the interior. There is so little prayer here promise-this problem must be solved through that my spiritual life is in danger of being acceptance of the Bible as our standard of faith starved." and practice, with earnest prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and by faith working through We do not quote this incident as typical but it love. Formal organic union without spiritual illustrates the problem. unity is worse than useless. This is sometimes proved in individual churches and presbyteries at Today the governments of China, Turkey, home. Japan, Persia, Mexico and other lands are threat- ening to take over all educational work, bringing 4. Related to this problem is that of institu- the mission schools and colleges under national control, obliging them to omit religious instruction (certainly in the lower grades), ;:1.nd in some cases
positively requiring them to teach non-Christian 5. How to awaken and maintain missionary in- or anti-Christian ideals and doctrines. In Mexico terest in the home church is another great prob- every building used for education is declared to lem today, as it always has been. Formerly only be government property and the work conducted those Christians most vitally concerned with spir- therein must conform to government standards, itual things, and with the eternal destiny of the which are increasingly anti-Christian. We can human soul, had any interest in foreign mission- see where this will lead when governments are ary work. When missions became more popular, communistic and anti-religious. It is a modern the philanthropic motive was emphasized, many problem. Has not too much money been expended young people responded to the call to go to the and are not too many workers and too much mis- field to train men's minds and save their bodies sionary energy put into large institutions on the without much reference to their souls. The early field. They seem to have absorbed strength that missionaries-like Carey and Morrison, Verbeck should be put into the primary work of making and Livingstone-did not overlook the need for Christ known and in training Christians for His saving the whole man, body, mind and soul, both service among their own people. When a cut in for time and eternity, but to them the soul was the mission budget is necessary, the evangelistic supreme. The change in theological views at home work usually suffers most because the institu- is largely responsible for the change in the main tional work is more complicated and more difficult missionary motive and the lessening of mission- to curtail. ary interest. How can we secure and send out Equipment VS. Life consecrated missionaries, eager to win people to An example of the relation of evangelism to Christ and depending on the leadership and power elaborate institutional programs is illustrated in of the Holy Spirit, when some colleges and even the case of two missions working in the same ter.. seminaries in America teach that regeneration is ritory-one denominational and one independent not necessary, that Jesus is divine only in a larger -and plenty of room for both. A denominational degree than other men, that there was no necesmissionary wished to reach out to evangelize more sity for Christ's atonement for sin, and that after unoccupied territory. His board – which is not all the Bible is a series of human documents, far extravagant – replied that no funds were avail- from an infallible guide; that human judgment able for additional workers and new stations:, must decide on what is true or false. Why should The missionary resigned, joined an independent people at home make sacrifices to go or send if mission on a lower salary and soon went out to the they do not believe in Christ as their Saviour and field with nineteen new missionaries to establish Lord and also that He is the only hope for sufferten new stations. Is there not a temptation to ing and sinning humanity? The Church at home spend too much money to "dig in" for the sake of must be convinced as to the infallibility of the Word of God if we are to have any enthusiasm what we consider permanency? While it is im- about sending out messengers to give the essential portant to establish some strong centers and to Good News to others. How can we expect the men do thorough work, we are too often inclined to of our churches to be interested in missions if they insist that denominational work shall be done on are not fully surrendered Christians and if they too elaborate a scale, sometimes with equipment are not informed Christians. Many of them do and salaries that do not call for enough sacrificial not even hear one missionary address a year and service. Are we not in danger of making the mis- read no missionary books or magazines! They takes of thinking that substantial equipment rep- are simply ignorant on the subject and read more resents permanent and substantial work-both in our churches at home and abroad? The building anti-missionary stuff than tpey read articles that of a new and elaborate church building too often are well-informed. The same is true of the youth. is coincident with a decline in spiritual effective- The communists today, though misguided, set us ness. The one thing most essential for perman- an example of devotion to their cause by their conence and strength in mission work is spiritual vi- viction and passion and self-sacrifice. They study tality. Without that any work is dead; with that, and go out to propagate their views even at the and the guidance and blessing of God, any work, risk of their lives.
however small and poorly equipped, is worthwhile One church in America which, when it was and is sure to succeed. The first Century missions small and- growing and worshiping in a small were conducted with the most primitive organiza- chapel, undertook to support a missionary at a tion and equipment and at a minimum of expense, real sacrifice. Their pastor was a missionary- and yet the results show the power of God and the minded leader. They prayed and studied and gave wisdom of God. The present-day decline in mis- generously. God blessed them. When under a sionary income has, in many cases, proved a real new pastor they built a large church and their spiritual blessing. budget for local expenses increased fivefold, their
missionary ardor cooled and some began to say, the relation of foreign mIssIOnaries to national "we give too much to the heathen, we need to look workers, and problems of how to develop an inafter our heavy expenses at home." The Church digenous Christianity that will be vitally Chrisbecame sick and weak and showed their need for tian in faith, spirit and activity, but unhampered "the missionary diet." If we are not interested by foreign paraphernalia. in saving others we are scarcely worth being saved. There is a church in Cleveland, with a The early Church had its problems and made pastor who has no stated salary and receives about mistakes. Every Epistle of the New Testament, $2,000 a year, but that church supports twelve as well as the Acts and Revelation, deals frankly missionaries and most of the money comes in small with them, but the Apostles of Christ were not gifts from people who are poor in this world's discouraged-neither are we for, like them, we begoods but rich in faith and love and good works. lieve in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour; we believe in the Holy Spirit as our Guide and *** Helper, and we believe that in proportion as we are "steadfast and unmovable, always abounding We might mention many other problems were in the work of the Lord, our labor is not in vain there time. There are the problems of missionary in the Lord." administration, at home and on the field; the problem of how to develop a missionary minded- (The second part of this paper deals with ness in the rising generation; the problem of the "Some Present-Day Encouragements in Foreign relation of missions to governments; problems of Missions." It will appear in our April number.) SOME JAPANESE IDEAS OF CHRISTIANITY In a Japanese magazine, edited by a Japanese Congregational minister of Tokyo, two questions were asked: 1. In what points is Christianity superior to other religions?
2. What is the greatest mission of Christianity to modern Japan?
Here are some of the answers, mostly to the first question: Naoshi Kato, editor of the Kuristikyo Sekai (Christian World) says: "Christianity emphasizes the value and dignity of personality. Religiously, morally, politically and literally, we lack this emphasis."
Professor Keiji Ashida, of Doshisha College: "We lack today a strong religious faith with ethical colors, and a strong idea of personality. Christianity must supply these."
The late Bishop Honda, of the Methodist Church: "The belief in God's fatherhood and man's sonship."
Masanori Oshima (not a Christian), editor of an educational review: "In doctrines, Christianity is not superior to Buddhism. But Christianity is far more ethical and practical than the latter."
The Rev. Seizo Abe, a Congregational preacher: "The unparalleled personality of Jesus Christ."
Professor Tomeri Tanimoto (not a Christian), of the Kyoto University: "The revolutionistic spirit of Christianity, and its emphasis on human personality."
Dr. Eun Mayeda, an eminent Buddhist, and lecturer at the Tokyo Imperial University: "The practical social work of salvation and help. Buddhism is learning this."
The editor sums it all up, the following points of Christianity being looked upon as superior: the transcendent and yet immanent idea of God; the value and dignity of human beings; the highly ethical and social nature of Christianity (morally, especially the purification of motives); the Christ-centric idea. Some more commingling of thought with it may be necessary for us. The future Christianity of Japan will be something different from that of the West, without losing its fundamental character.
*** These Japanese replies are far from complete or satisfying to the Christian who takes the New Testament view of Christianity. None of these Japanese point out the fact that Jesus Christ is the only adequate and true revelation of God and that He offers the only. salvation from sin and the way of life eternal. Through Christ only comes the power to live the life of victory.-EDITOR.
Lepers With a Chinese Doctor*
-4111 By LADY HOSIE IIJ;o- W HEN she lived in India Lady Willingdon en-who respected and looked up to them. One became greatly interested in a Leper Asy- of the men had been a professional acrobat, and lum, which is called by her name. Later on our arrival he gave a display of his prowess, she was interested in a leper hospital that British standing on his head and doing somersaults for missionaries founded in Hankow, China. While our entertainment. The doctors encourage all pos- others went looking round the hospitals and sible muscular activity, as it helps the lepers schools there, we went to visit this Leper Asylum morally and physically. Lady Willingdon, with a with Dr. Duncan Main, its founder and mainstay. kind word, dropped gifts into each leper's hand.
It is one of the few asylums for lepers in China Meanwhile I made the acquaintance of Dr.
and Lady Willingdon wanted to compare it with Wang, Dr. Main's assistant. He was a man of others she had visited in India. The Prince of about thirty, clad in the long grey Chinese schol- Wales said that he might forget the grown-up ar's gown; of no great physique, but with an lepers' misery, but he could never forget the look amazing sweetness and serenity in his quiet eyes.
on the leper children's faces. He is now the Pres- A sort of heavenly candor shone in him, a spir- ident of the Leper Relief Society of the British itual illumination which nobody could mistake. He Empire. told me something of the treatment of leprosy. If I had never seen a leper and my heart failed a leper comes to the hospital before his leprosy me at the thought of visiting them. To her, lepers has been developed seven years, the doctors can were like many other fellow human beings, to be check the disease. The injections will not restore cheered by a little attention from the outside a finger or nose, or bring elasticity back to a world; liking small kindnesses as do other sick solidified joint; but the disease can be arrested- folk, and especially entitled to them considering at least for some years, perhaps longer. There is the awfulness of their affliction. She sent to a hope that the day may come, with research, when Chinese confectioner's for packets of sweet cakes the patient can return to life in the community.
and dainties, wrapped in the gay red paper proper In China, as yet, there has been no law making in China, one packet for each of the seventy lepers. any disease notifiable. Public Health is only be- There are two homes connected with the hos- ginning to be a matter for public attention. We pital, one for men, the other for women, on the in the West have had more scientific doctoring hillside overlooking Hangchow lake, with its boats than the Orient and more understanding of the and white sails and curving parapeted bridges. dangers of infection. When Chinese become lep- Dr. Main thought lepers should have lovely sur,- ers, they usually seek the neighborhood of temples; roundings, even more than other folk. One of the they lie on the temple paths exposing their sores accusations brought against him by the ultra- and misery to move hearts of the compassionate Nationalists was that he, a foreigner, had bought and draw a coin. How else can the leprous father up the best sites round the lake.. They were waste of a household keep his family going? When a land before, and are now being used for hospitals patient came to the hospital on whom the dreadful and convalescent homes and leper asylums. But disease was discovered, Dr. Main had not the Hangchow nowadays is developing into a summer heart to send him away. He determined to grapresort for rich Chinese from Shanghai-and 10, ple with the problem. Hence the asylum. Yet it the lepers have the finest views. is of their own free will that his patients remain The lepers, knowing of our coming, had put on under its roofs. Many of their fellows cannot their clean clothes, and those who could awaited bring themselves to give up lying about the temple us on the veranda. Even among lepers, social precincts: the free life a beggar, though it means distinctions weigh. Two of the women had put on rags and pain and lack of attention, is a more fresh tunics of silk. They came from genteel paying proposition.
homes, and spoke differently from the other wom- Unspeakably bitter must it be to leave wife and child and human intercourse and enter for ever, • Quoted from "The Portrait of a Chinese Lady" by Lady Hosie. confessedly a leper, into a segregated colony. It Published by William Morrow and Son, New York.
[ 130 ] speaks much for Dr. Main's influence that there looked so clean, so wholesome. I put my head were no unscaleable high walls or locked gates to against the bricks and wept.
that asylum and the lepers rarely disobey the ad- The others had gone up the hill, to the Tuber- vice not to go beyond a certain point lest they culosis Sanatorium at the top. Dr. Wang waited bring harm on those outside. It is an appalling beside me, looking at me weeping. I tried to sidelight on Chinese poverty, and Chinese igno- murmur apologies for breaking down. He quietly rance about disease, that poor folk from the peas- stood by and looked at me. Then presently he put antry around have climbed over the asylum wall his hand on my arm. He broke the silence, and and stolen lepers' clothing. this is what he said: "T'a,i T'a,i: only Christ can It was evident that the lepers loved Dr. Main help those poor people. But he does help them." and Dr. Wang. One of the difficult symptoms of I took his hand, English fashion, and from the leprosy is that the moral sense, owing to physical bottom of my heart answered: causes is apt to become perverted. Lepers, for "And you are truly His disciple."
instance, in Africa, are subject to ungovernable He gave a little smile, and we went on to see fits of black rage, which sometimes lead to mur- his tubercular wards. They were not easy to visit der in a leper colony. Yet here were these Hang- for many of the sufferers had come to hospital chow lepers living peaceably together on the far too late.
whole. Ah, but a large proportion of them had I have heard of Dr. Wang. Three months after become Christians! Two were baptized that very our visit his wife died of typhoid, and he was Sunday morning of our visit. left with two children.
We came to a ward where one elderly man, "My poor friend is in sore grief," wrote Dr. with a fellow-leper sitting beside to help him, lay Main who himself retired to England soon after semi-comatose. The footsteps of Dr. Main and this, for he had reached the age of seventy. Lady Willingdon had roused him, and he was raising his head with its sightless eyes an inch from "The lepers came to see us off at the station," his pillow. One glance at his face, and I knew he told me later, "those that could walk the disthat his spirit was loosening its bands. Dr. Wang tance, men and women." Once more they put on stopped and told him, for he was wondering evi- their best clothes, and, keeping in a little band to dently at the footsteps, that some foreign guests themselves, walked through the streets and on to had come to pay a visit and bring gifts. Then Dr. the station platform. The medical school, pastors, Wang looked seriously at me and whispered, school boys and girls, all were there in flocks to "Speak to him. He is dying. Soon nobody will see off this man they loved and his wife whom be able to do anything for him." My heart nearly they loved also, for she had been an equal worker. failed. What could I possibly say? This was beyond speech. But the Chinese doctor kept his "The last people we saw when the train left eyes earnestly on me. That Eastern Christian, so were our lepers," he said. "There they were, wavshort a time a Christian, took it for granted that ing their stumps of arms, the tears running down any woman from the West, with its long tradi- their disfigured faces. Tears ran down my cheeks tion in the Faith, would answer to his call. too. And Dr. Wang was standing by them, look- ing sorrowfully after us." So I steadied my voice, and lifting my head called to the dying leper, with the politeness which When the Nationalists first came to Hangchow, China teaches: they took down the Ten Commandments from the Lord's Table and put up the portrait of Sun Yat "Elder Brother, art thou at peace?" Sen instead. They earmarked the mission hos- pitals for special rigor. They made some attempt And from that frame almost unrecognizable as to keep the Leper Asylum going: but a number human, with an affected tongue and from a lipless of the lepers, fearing them, fled to their homes, mouth, came a voice back to me, cracked yet stead- taking their disease with them. Those who refast: mained wrote sad letters of the treatment which "Yea, at peace, at peace. And I shall soon see they were given.
my Lord." One of the complaints which the lepers in the "The Heavenly Father support thee!" I called asylum made at the oncoming armies was that again. they were forbidden not only to hold services but Unconquerable, wonderful spirit of man-truly to sing hymns. They would quaver away now and a candle lit by the Lord! Exult, oh dust and then, to keep their courage up. "Jesus Christ,"
ashes! said one poster in the streets of Hangchow during I went out with Dr. Wang, clattering down that period, "was born in Palestine, which is some wooden steps. The sun was shining. We under British mandate: and therefore He must came to a gate and a boundary wall. The bricks be a British Imperialist." Another informed the
citizens that Christ and Plato, on whom Western China. The first thinks greatness means possescivilization was built, died two thousand years sions and power, which must be maintained by ago: so what had Western civilization to give to show of military capabilities. The second is char- Modern China? Nay, one poster ran, "Down with acterized by suspicion, of every other nationality, Heaven! It is a dream"-in which case lepers and is susceptible to every imaginary pin-prick: certainly should not be permitted to sing about it. this sort is pervaded by race-consciousness, as the modern parlance has it. The third has discovered And the lepers' second complaint was: "They that the only measure of greatness is the measure have ringed us around with barbed wire!" So of service rendered to the world: that there is they wrote, and wrote again and again as if in no other greatness at all in any nation except that tears. which says, "I am among you as One that serv- eth." Barbed wire! Ah, what it has meant to this generation! Dr. Wang belonged to this last class. It is not so small or select as one might imagine. That Dr. Wang, because he had worked under a mis- barbed wire has been taken down now, and he is sionary society, was a Christian, and remained back with his lepers again, Dr. Wang-the leper steadfast to his foreign friends, nearly lost his doctor of Hangchow. I suppose he has his faults life, and had finally to flee to Shanghai. Yet Dr. and deficiencies, but I did not see them. Wang is a NationaIist. It seems there are three classes of Nationalists· in the world-not only in JAPANESE CHRISTIAN WORK OVERSEAS* The Japanese Government in 1932, reported 760,000 citizens of Japan residing in other countries. Besides 335,685 Japanese in Manchukuo (out of a population of 33,500,000), there were 120,908 in Hawaii, 100,128 in Continental United States, 20,989 in Canada, 5,832 in Mex- ico, and 19,572 in the Philippines. There were 116,647 in the coffee~producing provinces of Brazil, and 20,535 in Peru. In the Straits Settlements there were 6,833, and in the Dutch East Indies, 6,369. In China proper there were 54,965. In most of these countries, except the United States and Canada, there has been a considerable increase since 1932.
The Japanese Christian work for J apariese in foreign countries began about thirty years ago. Though the number of churches in other lands established through the direct efforts of Christians in Japan is small, most of these churches are successful and self-supporting. There have been many Japanese churches established as a result of mission work undertaken by Christians in the United States and Canada, (87 in Continental United States, 30 in Hawaii, and 12 in Canada). Churches established by the Japanese Christians for the benefit of their nationals overseas include the following: In Korea, 59 Japanese churches; in Manchukuo, 32; in Formosa, 34. The first church organized by the churches of Japan for Japanese abroad was in Tientsin, China, in 1903. At present Japanese Congregationalists are carrying on work in Tsingtau, China, Peiping and Shanghai. Rev. M. Furuya, long pastor of a Japanese church in Los Angeles, is the pastor of the Shanghai church. The Japanese churches in China have been almost self-supporting from the beginning. There is also a Japanese church in Hong- kong and one in Singapore.
More than 120,000 Japanese had emigrated to Brazil before the Brazilian Government stopped the rapid inflow of Oriental settlers. One church has been organized in Sao Paolo, with two ministers for that compact Japanese community. The twenty thousand Japanese in Peru have only one lay Christian worker and his wife.
The. newest and most successful work of the Christian churches in Japan for their nation- als oVer&eas is in the Philippines. It is about three years since a Japanese evangelist began work at Davao. In a year and a half he had baptized sixty persons and built a church.
Apparently the only Japanese work among non-Japanese which has been very success- ful has been that in the mandated South Sea Islands, where the Japanese Congregationalists have been carrying on the work formerly under the American Board and a German mission ever since 1919. Within the boundaries of Ponape, a former American Board field, there are 13 native evangelists, 2,100 Christians and 9 congregations. In the Summer Islands of Truk there are 18 native evangelists, 3,392 Christians and 19 congregations. In the Autumn Is- lands of Truk there are 7 evangelists, 1,248 Christians and 7 congregations.
In the effort to extend the Christian work among Japanese overseas, the Christians in Japan have recently organized a Mission Board for Overseas Work.
• Condensed from an article in the Japanese Christian Year Book, 1933, by Rev. M. Kohayashi, formerly executive secretary of the Japanese Interdenominational Evangelistic Association on the Pacific C(}ast.->George W. Hinman.
A Witness for Christ in
A letter from A. MAIR, Chinkiang, Kiangsu Missionary of the China Inland Mission, 1907- My FRIEND, Hsieh Meng Tseh, is unique. strenuously resisted the invitation, but on learn- I have never met another man exactly like ing that no foreigner would be preaching but only him, nor has anyone else. To know him one of his fellow countrymen he reluctantly is a tonic. Meeting him casually one might fail agreed to go. The Chinese evangelist who spoke to find anything specially striking about his per- to the handful of people little realized that the sonality; but listen to him, watch his face as he seed sown that day would, in the coming years, speaks of the faith that is in him, and you realize result in a rich harvest in every part of China.
that you are in the presence of a man of extraor- "God is love," was Mr. Hu's text and message. It dinary force of character – a man of God. If was an absolutely new idea to Hsieh. Was it there has been any attempt to standardize Mr. possible that God could love human beings? He Hsieh, he certainly will have had a quiet chuckle had read of a Supreme Being in the writings of over it. He is a man with a single purpose-to the sages, but somehow they seemed to know little witness for Christ among his own people and win about Him, and never was He represented as a them to the life which he has proved to be life God of love. Here was light indeed-a conception indeed. that invested life with new meaning! He was His call to this ministry reminds us that God's gripped as he had never been during the course ways are totally different from man's ways. "God of his thirty years.
hath chosen the weak things of the world to con- Many a talk had Hsieh with the evangelist dur- found the things which are mighty; and base ~ng the following days and countless were the things of the world and things which are despised questions he had to ask. There was one matter hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not of vital import which puzzled him and seemed al- to bring to nought things which are." Until he together beyond his understanding. Why was it reached the age of thirty Mr. Hsieh was without necessary for God to send His only Son to this hope and without God. Life to him had always world to suffer such a cruel death on the Cross?
been a serious matter, yet somehow it seemed The evangelist insisted that this was the supreme wholly without aim or meaning. There was some- demonstration of God's love to mankind, but Hsieh thing lacking, and although this seeker after could not fathom the meaning of such a statement.
truth yearned for a revelation somehow beyond "For a whole year," he said, "I pondered the his ken he seemed to get nowhere. meaning of the Cross but seemed to get nowhere.
Ho-Yueh-Chow, a small island town situated on Then one evening God revealed His Son to me.
the Yang-Tsi River, was the place where our I have no explanation as to what happened; I friend first heard the Gospel. He was a money- simply state the facts. In a flash, as it seemed to lender, and his profession brought him into con- me, my room was flooded with light and before tact with all sorts and conditions of people. He me a Cross was upraised, and upon that Cross was heard in a vague sort of way of a strange religion the Son of God. With eyes of love He looked at which foreigners were seeking to propagate me and said, 'I suffered this for you.' When I throughout his native land and, while resenting came to myself I found my face wet with tears; such a palpably foolish proceeding, felt that it and from that hour I have never had the shadow did not concern him in any way. But who could of a doubt as to the necessity of Christ's atoning dream that the foreigners were to come to Ho- death on Calvary for my redemption and the re- Yueh-Chow from Anking, secure a house, and demption of every sinner."
preach every day to crowds of people? Strangest Shortly after this striking revelation which of all, there were folk belonging to the place who changed the current of his life and made him a seemed willing to stake everything on the truth of man with a message and a mission, Mr. Hsieh re- this new religion, and found a positive joy in do- moved to Anking, the provincial capital of Anh- ing so! What did it all mean? wei. His testimony was already proving effec- One day an enquirer asked Mr. Hsieh to ac- tive, for both his wife and mother had become company him to the Gospel Hall. At first he believers in Christ. What he would do in Anking [133 ]
had not yet been decided, but it was clear to him in that wonderful school of faith and service. In that God had a plan for his life, and that resi- Mr. and Mrs. Westwood, Hsieh found understand- dence in Anking formed a necessary part of it. ing friends, and was greatly helped by their kindly He rented a house near the mission compound so encouragement.
that he might have constant opportunities of fel- A Man of the Book lowship and service. But what a cramped, dilapi- dated-looking building was that first home of his! The Scriptures have meant more to Hsieh than Yet he and his were as pleased as if it had been a pen can describe. He has always been a man of palace! A joy unspeakably sweet had come to one Book; and his methods of study have been abide with them and life had become wonderful. peculiarly his own. Commentaries or "helps"
Then came a real testing of faith. Hsieh had con- have never appealed to him. Others might use served as far as possible the money brought from them, but he left them severely alone. "Would it Ho-Yueh-Chow, but it gradually dwindled away not be wise," he was asked on one occasion, "to until little or nothing was left. Although the know what interpretation the commentaries New Year was at hand-China's time of feasting give?" "I like to make my own commentary,"
-this family, for a number of weeks, lived on was the characteristic reply. His method was what was practically pig's food. He spread the simply that of meditation and prayer. He be- needs of himself and his family before the Lord, came steeped in the Scriptures; six or seven and believed that provision would be forthcoming hours of study was his daily routine. His medi- in the right way and at the appropriate time. At tations in the Word of God were to him a matter New Year the Chinese, according to long-estab- of life and death. He believed that God was in lished custom, paste on their doors strips of red need of men with an experimental knowledge of paper bearing suitable mottoes or quotations for Himself through the Word so that they could be the year they have entered. Hsieh expended part ready for anything. The pages of his Bible were of his remaining coppers on red paper, and the covered with notes-the results of his prayerful words written on his cracked and battered door meditation. He was greatly helped by Evangelist were singularly significant – "The House of a Tong, his closest and most understanding friend.
truly rich man." He was able to testify later how He was a man of prayer and, in a rare degree, wonderfully the Lord provided for him during versed in "the deep things of God." The Word of that testing period. God was Tong's very life, and those of us who Soon he was taking part in street chapel work, knew him were keenly conscious of this fact. Un- and here his genius in attracting and influencing like his friend Hsieh, he was always on the out- individuals was early perceived. He was genu- look for books and tracts, written by men of spir- inely interested in people, and those with whom itual insight and experience. How he revelled in he spoke were immediately aware that here was a the biographies of Luther, Miiller, Moody, Spur- man with a truly vital message to impart. Not geon and a host of others! They belonged to a only had he rare understanding of their ordinary fellowship which he joyfully realized was also his, everyday needs and problems but also a peculiar and to view the truth with them from some new insight into the feeling, desire and condition of standpoint was to him a sheer delight. And every their hearts. Sin was ruthlessly exposed and con- fresh discovery became doubly precious when demned and the sovereign remedy invariably pre- shared with his friend and fellow-worker. Thus sented: "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh Hsieh's life became enriched and enlarged away the sin of the world." There was no falter- through fellowship with one who communicated ing in his proclamation of the truth; he himself what he himself had learned of the grace of God had received the revelation, and his supreme pas- from the life and witness of others.
sion was to lead others to the Crucified Saviour. During those early. years Hsieh was truly a Gradually the scope of his service began to "son of Thunder." Full of zeal, and himself widen. He accompanied the missionaries in long wholly consecrated to God, he was amazed when and arduous itineraries in the districts lying others who named the Name of Christ lightly re- north of Anking, and "south of the River" (the garded His claims, and lived as if their own af- Yang-Tsi-Kiang). As they journeyed they dis- fairs were of primary importance. His denuncia- tributed portions of Scripture and tracts, and tions were scathing in the extreme; sin was ex- everywhere-at the wayside, on the ferry-boat, in posed in all its hideousness and utterly condemned.
temples full of idols, inside and outside country Some resented such plain preaching-especially inns, in farmhouse and shop-the Gospel was pro- when the application was of a somewhat personal claimed, and signs followed. Years afterwards, nature-but he fearlessly proclaimed his message, when his name was known in every part of China, believing it would be owned of God in the convic- he used to speak of the priceless benefits received tion and conversion of sinners. I recently heard
A WITNESS FOR CHRIST IN CHINA
him express the opinion that perhaps he was too small in comparison. He was a man who realized fiery and unsympathetic at the beginning of his that the supreme need of his country was a spir- . ministry. Time, however, had given him a larger itual message, and he himself had proved that understanding and a deeper love. And yet in the only effective message to meet the crying need those days he was utterly true to the light that he of every heart, and the problems of every compossessed. His opinions and judgments were munity, was the knowledge of a Crucified Saviour, clear-cut, either white or black, and woe betide the risen and exalted, who could: one who thought otherwise! And yet there was nothing little or mean about him; rather was Break the power of cancelled sin there something unusually arresting-something And set the prisoner free. that marked him as a man who would not falter in his witness for Christ, cost what it might. He During the subsequent years I was privileged to did not toy with opinions; he expressed convic- be in almost daily contact and fell0.wship with Mr. tions. Hsieh. These were for him years of preparation and deepening experience for a wider ministry. ANew Experience He had many difficult lessons to learn but these contributed in no small way to make him the man At this time Hsieh received a new experience he ultimately became. His extraordinary indeof the unsearchable riches of Christ. Dr. Jona- pendence in thought, word and act made it at than Goforth was holding special meetings in the times-especially for the uninitiated-rather diffinorth of China and reports of the marvelous cult to work with him. Those who knew him, and workings of the Holy Spirit in that district appreciated his real motives, were more than willcreated a desire in many hearts throughout China ing to stick to him through thick and thin. His that the work would spread. Hsieh accompanied eldest son, a lad of about ten years of age, con- Mr. Westwood to the province of Honan, and tracted spinal trouble, and the father's tenderness there God met him and spoke to him. From that as he daily carried him into our compound and time there came to him a new accession of power, looked after his comfort was beautiful to see. Sufand his message was charged with fresh unction fering love charged his independent spirit with a and urgency. The awfulness of sin was revealed new sympathy and thus he became the more fitted to him in a new way. He saw men and women to .tell others the message of Calvary. stricken down by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and crying to God for pardon. He wit- Going Further Afield nessed those same people changed by the transforming touch of God's Spirit, testifying to the Gradually there came to him the realization that possession of a priceless peace which the world God wanted him to go further afield. His centre could not give. Hsieh yielded himself to the Lord would remain Anking, but he would be ready to -body, soul, and spirit-for anything, and thus go wherever the Lord directed. The church at there commenced for him a new spiritual epoch. Anking held a peculiarly sacred place in his heart as it had been to him a spiritual home since he Never shall I forget Hsieh's return to Anking first knew the Saviour. He began to dream of a and its sequel. Trouble had broken out in our city. revival society within the churches, and soon he We were on the eve of great political happenings, had in mind a number of schemes which he longed and it was feared that Anking would be within the to see carried out. It was about this time, while fighting area. Our friends returned from Honan visiting the Province of Hunan, that he met Genjust in time to enter the city before the gates were eral Feng, the Christian General. Feng had evishut. An hour longer and they would have had dently been impressed by the sincerity and indeto wait outside for several days. The following pendent bearing of Hsieh, and invited him to call day was for many a time of acute anxiety, but at his camp that they might have a meal and talk Hsieh was not troubling about it in the least. together. "We had not any grand fare," said Firing began in the evening, and nobody seemed Hsieh to me, recalling the event, "the food was as to know what the outcome was to be. That same plain as it could be-in accordance with the Genevening Hsieh was addressing a gathering of eral's invariable custom-but after dinner we had Christians, and never shall I forget the intensity two hours of Bible reading." Feng was so pleased of feeling with which he spoke of the things which with Hsieh's visit that he pressed him to visit he had seen and heard. His words were punc- him daily while in that locality that they might tuated by the crack of rifles, but he was so ab- study the Word of God together. So for a month sorbed in his subject, and the desire to make or two they met every day, and after each meal known the wonderful vision which had dawned Bibles were produced and Hsieh spoke to the Genupon him, that the events taking place outside- eral of the things of God. Feng fully sympathized events which were the prelude to the fall of a with him in his· desire to commence a school for dynasty and the setting up of a republic-seemed the training of workers in evangelism and offered
a large donation for that puropse. The conditions he was assured that the time had come for his attached to the offer did not satisfy Hsieh, and visit to those country churches. For seven years so the matter was allowed to drop. Years after- he was away from home proclaiming his message wards I heard him express the conviction that in all the Northern Provinces. He arranged his God restrained him from carrying out the project time-table as the Lord directed. Here he would he had then in view as he was not meant to settle spend a few weeks, and there a month or two, down in one place; his parish was to be the whole holding daily meetings for Bible study, and helpof China. ing believers and enquirers by personal talks. In those country places, at certain seasons of the The Revival Society really came to be Mr. Hsieh year, the farmers have little or nothing to do, so himself. In course of time invitations to conduct Hsieh gathered companies together in numberless special meetings reached him from districts far districts and faithfully sowed the seed which has removed from' Anking, and thus began his mis- already brought forth a great spiritual harvest. sionary journeys throughout his. native land. He had not the slightest doubt as to God's leading in His supreme desire is to see Christians wholly the matter; the call came and he obeyed. But he surrendered to the Lord, and his Bible talks are had a wife and family and what of the where- directed to this end. He usually plans to have wit~l for their support? Hsieh's reply was clear these meetings daily, and seldom speaks for less and final: "The Lord is sending me; He will be than an hour and a half. There is nothing speresponsible "for the supplies." Arrangements cially attractive about the delivery or style of his about money received for his work have been emi- address, yet all sorts and conditions of people nently sound and sensible. I have met with no simply hang upon his words. They know that he one anywhere with less desire to use money for is dealing with spiritual realities which he himhimself and his own plans than Hsieh; nor have self has experienced, and his illustrations are so I met anyone more careful of money for the Lord:s apt and to the point that even the unlettered have work. He himself did not personally accept con- no difficulty in grasping his meaning. But it is tributions for his work, but requested that such his spiritual insight and power which draw peogifts should be sent to Pastor Hu at Anking to ple to hear him. I have in mind now a talented be entered in the Revival Society account. Once young Chinese teacher, extremely up-to-date and a month the pastor gave Mrs. Hsieh a fixed a staunch nationalist, who had listened to several amount for household expenses, and as Mr. Hsieh of the most outstanding preachers in China; yet had given instructions about the matter it is al- he felt there was a quality in Hsieh's message most unnecessary to add that the amount given which met his deepest need, and satisfied him as for this purpose was certainly not more than ade- no address had ever done. The Lord has used the quate. Often did he say, "the money is not mine; life and the message of His servant in various it is the Lord's." In every possible way he sought parts of China to lead many to dedicate themto curtail personal expenses in order that he selves to the preaching of the Gospel, and scores might have more to use in the Lord's work. On of Christian workers have been inspired by his one occasion he informed me with a smile that on example of whole-hearted, unremitting zeal in the returning to Anking from a certain down-river service of Christ. port he had traveled fourth class. This I could scarcely credit as the lowest fare on any steamer When he was at Anking about three years ago is third class. Hsieh explained that on certain it was learned that he intended giving a series of steamers there is accommodation somewhere be- Bible talks to the members of his family who were low for beggers traveling from one port to an- at home during the summer. He thought that in other, and he had availed himself of the oppor- this way he would be making up to them in some tunity to travel with them. "But," I enquired, measure for the long periods when he was away "was not such a proceeding rather risky? Did from home. Several friends suggested that others none of your neighbors make off with your be- might be permitted to attend as well as the memlongings ?" "Oh, no," he replied, "it was the bers of his family, and that the meetings might safest place on the ship; no one dreamt I had any- be held daily in the church. He agreed, and every thing worth stealing, otherwise I wouldn't have afternoon during the extreme heat of the summer been there. The important thing about it," he an eager company gathered for the study of God's added, "was that I had an opportunity of preach- Word. At each meeting there was an atmosphere ing the Gospel to those poor people." of keen expectancy. Not a few regularly attended at no small sacrifice to themselves. Hsieh sug- About 1916 he received pressing invitations to gested the study of one of the Gospels, taking a visit a number of outlying districts in the North chapter a day. He requested that all of them of China, and, as for some time he had been con- should prayerfully study the chapter and be pretemplating such a journey and praying about it, pared to say a few words on one of the verses.
Few could have conducted the meetings on those be absolutely sincere, and he will assuredly meet lines so naturally and effectively as this veteran with us, and give exceeding abundantly above all Christian worker. At each meeting over a dozen we ask or think." people, some of whom had never spoken in public before, commented on verses of Scripture. As The keynote of those meetings was reality, and day succeeded day it was remarkable how their the working of the Spirit of God was truly eviwords gained in clarity and effectiveness. Hsieh dent in our midst. What must be the cumulative summed up after the others had spoken, and his result of thousands of similar meetings held by comments were always helpfully suggestive and Hsieh among all types and conditions of people to the point. He then gave his own special mes- throughout China? He continues to preach and sage bearing upon the chapter' and had any of teach with unabated zeal. I bade him goodbye at our Western commentators been there they would Anking two years ago as he set out on a preachhave marveled at the typically Chinese coloring ing tour to the Western Provinces. God has been given by him to certain passages of Scripture. It mightily using him, and I have heard from variwas clearly evident that he was steeped in the ous quarters of lives having been won and trans- Word of God, and that his chief delight was to be formed through his witness for his Saviour and God's messenger to others. One evening when requesting several to lead in prayer, he said, "Do Lord. not make a prayer, please, but speak to God, and Pray that men of like spirit may be raised up ask Him for what you really desire. We need to to carry the message of Life to every part of this great and needy land. Only in this way can China be won to Christ.
"I LOVE JESUS"
In the stillness of a schoolroom where the American Indian children were studying, a child's voice rang out like a Christmas bell: "I love Jesus."
"What does the child mean?" thought the teacher who looked into the shining eyes and the glory-glinted face.
The child had heard the story of God's great Christmas gift to the world. Christ had come to dwell in her heart and she bubbled over in her joy because of His gift to her. There in the sunlit schoolroom sat the little Indian shepherdess, her heart flooded with the heavenly Light such as crowned the hills near Bethlehem more than nineteen hundred years ago.
Before Christmas seventy-eight boys and girls enrolled in the Tuba City Indian Government School, came to the missionary with these same words – a song on their lips: "I love Jesus."
Jesus is all the world to me; I want no better friend.
. I trust Him now; I'll trust Him when Life's fleeting days shall end.
A thrill stirred the air in the little mission chapel when they sang the song on a Sunday afternoon when these young people came before the congregation to be baptized. Later they sat at the Lord's Table, in company with "believers in Jesus in Navajoland," and partook of the broken bread, emblem of His broken body, and of the fruit of the vine, emblem of His shed blood.
Thanks be to God for the unspeakable joy He gives to those who are his voice in proclaim- ing His Christmas gift to an impoverished, heart-famished world! "I love Jesus." Our hearts unite in the song of gratitude that this timid shepherdess sang so that comrades and teacher were startled in the silent schoolroom.
Danny-A High..-Grade
~-tijf I By F. A. ROBINSON, Ph.D., Toronto, Canada I)ilt— N o OTHER home in the district was avail- honor of sleeping with the minister was scarcely able for the visiting preacher so there was worth the ordeal his mother's suggestions in- no help for it, he had to sleep with ten-year- volved. old Danny. The shack contained three beds and there were eight to be accommodated. It was use- Two or three hours later the preacher did his less to make any other suggestion for the little best to get Danny out of his monopolistic position prairie home contained no lounge nor even chairs across the bed, and lay alongside .of his soundly that could be used as a possible excuse for sleep- sleeping little bedfellow. It was not long ere the ing separately. Danny's usual berth was with his mother's prophecy was being fulfilled, and Danny father and mother, but the coming of the preacher was "snuggling" up to the preacher with much necessitated a general change. more enjoyment to Danny than to his bedmate. The dirty little arms and tousled head seemed to "Danny's a bit restless," said his mother, "but vie with one another in getting into the immediate he never wakes up when he strikes the pillow, and vicinity of the preacher's nose and mouth. he's as good as one of those hot water bottles. Early in the morning the curtain was pushed We can't keep a fire going all night, and after it aside and a tin bowl containing warm water was has been out a while, it gets a bit frosty along the placed on the rough box that served as a table. logs. It was twenty below most nights last week. "I thought you might like warm water to wash in. When it gets that way Danny snuggles up real Danny, you come out now and bring your clothes close." so's the minister will have room to dress." Danny The last bit of information did not add to the was scarcely wide enough awake to heed his preacher's enthusiasm over his bed fellow. mother's command. After a few minutes he Danny's general appearance was not encouraging. pushed back the hair from his forehead and be- Facilities for keeping clean are not many in the came intensely interested in w a t chi n g the kind of shack occupied by the Wiggins family and preacher. Danny really had no use for "facilities." He washed his hands and face only under the utmost At last his surprise at the intricacies and myspressure, and a bath in winter-time was an un- teries that were involved in the preacher's method of dressing could be restrained no longer. With thought-of thing. When the "slough" was warm something akin to a sigh, he said: enough, it was difficult to keep him out of the "Say, Mister, how often do you wash yerself water; but to Danny's type of boy, a swimming hole and a wash-bowl are as different as Paradise like that?" and Hades. His tousled hair looked as though it With a smile came the answer, "I don't often had never come in contact with a comb. In the shack his coarse shirt and semi-long trousers were do it just like that, but I like to have at least a all he could be persuaded to wear. The latter good sponge off every morning. Water is a bit were so large and ill-fitting that they gave no in- scarce out here, isn't it?" dication as to whether Danny was coming or going. Evading the question, Danny asked, "Say, Mis- ter, how often do you pull that there black thing Shortly after supper on the night of the preach- through yer hair like you was doin' for sich a er's arrival, the mother got Danny behind the spell?" curtain, where the crudely-made and unpainted bedstead stood. Danny had to listen to a number "Well! I'm afraip my hair often gets rough, of "don'ts" that also reached the ears of the Danny. I carry a comb in this little pocket, see, preacher. "Now, don't you sit on the bed with then I can comb my hair whenever it needs itthem dirty pants of yours. No! you can't get in maybe half a dozen times a day." bed that way! Now, Danny, you undress properly! You're going to put on your Sunday shirt Danny's face had on it an expression of mingled pity and disgust as he said wearily, "You must be an awful pile 0' trouble to yerself, Mister."
Breakfast with Danny revealed the fact that he was "just an appetite with a skin pulled over now that you're sleeping with the minister." him." Not until that morning had he ever been Danny's answer was in a tone that suggested the present where family worship was conducted.
[138 ] The reading was of the lad's small store of loaves the cow stable. With his face on his arms as he and fishes and the preacher had Danny look on leaned against the logs in a dark corner, the little the Testament with him. It was something new lad was shedding many tears. "I don't want you for Danny to kneel down, and he went about it to go away, never!" was his only response to the rather awkwardly as though uncertain what came kindly touch of his preacher friend's hand. A next. few farewell words of confidence in Danny's fu- ture and the preacher hurried to the big box In the approach to the Father of us all, strange, sleigh. Wrapped in well-worn blankets and with deep yearning for Danny came into the preacher's a carpet of straw, they started on their cold jourheart and he saw more than an untidy, tousle- ney across the prairie. As the preacher turned to headed boy. That yearning led to efforts to gain get another look at the shack that had been his Danny's confidence. He helped him to carry in home for the past three weeks, he saw the little the wood and chopped through the ice for the lad with the coarse shirt and baggy trousers gazdaily water supply. Then there were ways of ing wistfully in the direction of the sleigh. A adding to the lad's fun. A few old boards were little hand responded to the farewell wave and fashioned into a sleigh that did quite well on the then the boyish figure disappeared-perhaps to go snow-covered slope after the preacher had shov- back to the dark corner again. elled the snow so as to make a surface across which they could easily glide. Within a week the *** two were good friends and Danny accompanied the preacher whenever allowed. He was permitted Twelve years passed. Many new settlers have to go to two of the evening meetings conducted come to the foothills district where once stood the by the visitor and especially enjoyed the music. Wiggins shack. In the same district stands a small church in which there is a Sunday school Within two weeks Danny was showing more superintendent whose name is Danny Wiggins. concern about his hands and face and hair, and And two thousand miles away a preacher gives was following the preacher's example in a number thanks to God for the strange little chap who, of ways. An illustrated edition of a pocket Testa- twelve years ago, shared with him the bed behind ment, in which the preacher had printed the boy's the curtain in the log shack on Windy Plains, and name in full, was the first gift of any value that who has so grown in the knowledge of the Lord Danny had received and his pride in its possession Jesus as to be leading others into paths of rightwas manifest. eousness.
On the last evening of the preacher's stay in the SILVESTER HORNE'S LAST CONVERT* lonely settlement he had a talk with Danny. "I believe you are going to be a fine boy, Danny. I Silvester Horne, the great English preacher, shall be a long distance away from you, but I am died on a St. Lawrence steamer. The captain of going to count you as one of my friends. Every that steamer told the story and its sequence: day I shall be reading from a little book like the one you have, and I shall be thinking of how my It was on this very boat. I chanced to see him fall and friend Danny is reading from the same book, and ran toward him. His wife holding his head called out in it would be one of the biggest disappointments I agony, "Are you dead?" An instant later she turned to could have if my Danny was not true and brave me and said, "Captain, is my husband really dead?" I and clean. You remember about the boy who nodded my head, and ordered some sailors to carry the brought all he had to Jesus. You are doing that, body into the cabin; but that was not the end of the tale. aren't you, Danny? You are going to let Him Mrs. Horne came in and immediately knelt down beside count on you to help make this world a bit hap- the body. She turned to me and commanded, "Captain, pier. You won't go back on me, will you, Danny, you must kneel." I was altogether indifferent to religion, because I want you for Jesus." The little lad with but I hesitated only a second, then knelt. Her prayer was the coarse shirt and baggy trousers looked up into the simplest, most beautiful and most natural prayer I the preacher's face and said with a bashful smile: ever heard. She mentioned all the children by name, the "I'd like to be jes like you and preach." church, and various causes that had been dear to her hus- band's heart. I have never been able to escape from that "God bless you, Danny, my boy. I'm not anxious prayer. It brought me to Christ. Whenever I can I you should be like me, but I want you to be like attend the little church of which I have become a member. Him, like Jesus. He was so good and brave and I was Silvester Horne's last convert. kind." The radiance of that life has continued to shine, When the sleigh came early next morning to and we have no doubt that a great many who knew take the preacher to the railway station, twelve him and loved him were brought to Christ as they miles distant, Danny was not in sight. There was remembered his thrilling words. But the capno response to the calling of his name. The tain was brought to Christ as much by Mrs. preacher hurried around the little shack and into Horne's marvelous courage and trust as by any- thing that Silvester Horne had ever said or done.
• From The Watchman-Examiner. Effective Ways of Working 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~========================~======I New "Tools in Type" A MEN'S MISSIONARY LEAGUE boys' mISSIOnary society. The boys' work shall be supported and directed BULLETIN NUMBER Two One of the foregoing plans by the League. may well commend itself to Readers of THE REVIEW will every pastor. It was the ideal of With all due honor to the the Rev. George A. Brown, of recall that some months back the the United Presbyterian Church faithful women who have so long Professional Advisory Section of Elyria, Ohio, to develop a mothered boys' missionary or- men's organization which, in inon Missionary Education of the terest, activity and spirit, would ganizations in the local church, International Council of Reli- equal any woman's missionary your Department Editor vengious Education brought out a society. The resulting league tures the opinion that this move bulletin giving a bird's-eye view has for its object the "promotion toward "fathering" is a distinct of best methods among all coop- of an intelligent, active interest erating denominations. Weare in missions on the part of the advance. glad to report that the wide- men and boys of the church" inspread appreciation of that first volving the following particu- OUTCOMES OF STUDY CLASSES effort has led to the issuance of lars: Bulletin No. Two, which is over- In the setting of the subject flowing with stimulating sugges- 1. The recognition of the privilege tions for all departments of and duty of sharing the Lord Jesus matter in this Department last church life, including that of the Christ with the world through the enpastor. This is mimeographed tire missionary enterprise. month, Bulletin items under the and may be obtained at cost price of twenty-five cents, from 2. A comprehensive educational pro- above heading are particularly Miss Ruth Heinmiller, 2969 gram for the thorough missionary in- West 25th St., Cleveland, Ohio. struction of the men and boys of the apropos. The contributor, Mrs. Some idea of the contents may church. be gained from a few of the lead- Phillip H. Waddell Smith, of ing topics, such as: Reading 3. The practice of definite, intelli- Suggestions (detailed informa- gent prayer for missions in general Princeton, N. J., tells us that tion as to the best missionary and especially for the missionary books available for all ages, five agencies of our own church. when her church studied "The large pages being devoted to this a Ion e); Missionary Movies; 4. The actual support of some spe- Church and the Community," Young People's Work; Mission- cific missionary project which we will ary Education in a State Denom- have as our own and for which we will the text was taken seriously so inational Program; Group Cor- be personally responsible financially. respondences (keeping in contact that a playground for children with definite mission stations) ; 5. The rendering of definite, per- Children's W 0 r k (excellent sonal missionary service as we may of the streets was started with plans); Men's and Women's have opportunity and ability. Work; General Suggestions and one paid worker and daughters Promotion (plans of various de- All men over eighteen years nominations for effectively fur- of .age are eligible to member- of interested parents as helpers. thering work in the whole field ship. Included among the comof missionary education). Such mittees is one to select, supervise The project still continues as a live, usable material as is cov- and handle the correspondence ered by the foregoing outline of some definite project for ac- Summer Bible School with atshould be in the hands of every tive participation. The article local church worker. It repre- in the constitution headed "De- tendance increasing each year. sents literally a "League of De- partments of Service" reads: nominations" under the leader- Children enlisted in the earlier ship of the Prince of Peace. In order for the full realization of the final objective of the League, which years have become, themselves, is that of a growing likeness to Jesus Christ in life and service, the follow- competent helpers, branching ing things shall be emphasized: Bible study and prayer for personal spirit- out into service at homes for ual development; faithful church at- tendance; personal evangelism; Chris- crippled children, and in other tian stewardship; welfare work; Christian fellowship; the work of the projects. At first supported en- [140 ] tirely by women in Mrs. Smith's own church, the enterprise was eventually taken up in coopera- tion by other churches until it now has three paid workers and many volunteers. Each year the handwork is displayed in the show windows of one of the lead- ing stores. .
Another year the problem of the rural church was studied with the result that the women of the Princeton church volun- teered their services in helping near-by country churches, either
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
by leading their meetings or 'The Way of Holiness.''' The oring new members, a. Guide helping them plan their work. mottoes are, "I am the Way," Post of "Keep to the Right," One year a summer school was and "In all thy ways acknowl- Proverbs 4: 11-18, with the started and a worker was paid edge Him and He shall direct warning, "Danger! Cur v e s for on condition that mothers of thy paths." Between these two Ahead !" Two guides conducted the country children provide the Scripture verses is their poetic the program. entertainment for her during correlate: November brought the year's her term of service. To every man there openeth study topic, "Japan," with a The study of the Caribbean A way and ways and a way. "Highway Tea Garden," a problem eventuated in making The high soul climbs the High Way, "Cross Road Guide Post"-Luke 24: 13-32-and a topic of "Highsupplies for victims of the hurri- The low soul gropes the Low Way, ways and Byways of Japan," cane in the Dominican Republic. That project, also, still lives on And in between on the misty fiats with guides as in all other meet- The rest drift to and fro. But to every man there openeth in service to mission hospitals in A High Way and a Low, ings of the series. And every man decideth the region. Which way his soul shall go. The December meeting was in charge of the World Wide Guild A NEW MISSION STUDY PLAN The poem for the year is, and continued the study of Ja- The First Presbyterian church "When We Walk with the Crowd pan, with "The Dinner Gong," of Berkeley, California, decided in the Road," by Walter J. Gres- a Guide Post of "Safety First"- under the leadership of their ham, and the Travelers' Song, Psalm 119: 117-and "Youth pastor to assign to each organ- "It Is Glory Just to Walk with Glimpsing New Roads" for the ization and Sunday school de- Him." At the head of each de- program, the guide being a partment a given field or coun- partment is also a stanza of an young woman. try in which the denomination appropriate poem, such as this Burma was the theme for the January session. There were a maintains mission work, in or- for the Missionary: Dak Bun g a low Luncheon, der that old study books, letters, Through desert ways, dark fen and "Grades and Curves" for the pictures, etc., may be examined deep morass, for information. Twenty-three Through jungles, desert ways and Guide Post-Luke 3: 4-6-and a mountain pass, program on "Mountain Trails in assignments were made, some- Build ye the road, falter not nor stay; Burma." Prepare across the earth the King's times more than one group co- White Cross (mission hospioperating on a topic. The study Highway. tal) work was under way in Febculminated in early December in a three-days' exposition, turning And for the Worlef Wide Guild ruary. Luncheon was served at the entire church into a "world" (young women's organization) : "The Wayside Inn"; the Guide Post was "The Emergency Staand displaying the returns from And where the vanguard rest today tion," Luke 10: 25-37; with "Sathe study in booths, pictures, The rear shall camp tomorrow. maritans on the Road" as the graphs, talks, pageants, etc., arranged by different units in the This organization has its peri- subject of the missionary seschurch. Research like this will od of industrial work in the fore- sion. often yield more than cut-and- noon, its luncheon, its business In March the topic is "Chris- session with ensuing song serv- tian Education." Luncheon is dried textbook material. ice, its devotional periods, and scheduled to be served at "The A GOOD UNIFIED PROGRAM finally the missionary program. Half-Way House," with school Your Department Editor re- The luncheons are all shaped up seniors as guests. The Guide ceives repeated requests for in motifs, decorations and menus Post is "One Way Road"-John series of programs, all ready to to the theme for the day: the 14: 6. "A Skyline Drive" will use with adaptations. We are song service is called, "Songs be featured in the program. glad to present a fresh series Along the Way," and the devo- Home Missions will be taken from the woman's society in the tional period is designated the up in April, with a "Roadside First Baptist Church of Santa "Guide Post." At the September Cafe" for the meal, a "Winding Ana, California. It evidences meeting, a box luncheon was Road" Guide Post-Isa. 30: 21careful thought, research and a served as the tourists began, and "Easterners on Western mind to give the very best of "One Year's Journey," and the Roads" at the formal service. one's endeavor to definite King- Guide Post was entitled, "Stop! In May "South India" will be dom building. The subject is, Look! Listen!" with Isaiah 55: featured. There is to be "A Pad- "Christ of the Beckoning Road" ; 6-9 as the keynote. Then fol- dyfield Luncheon" at which rice and as an artistic, faintly lowed the program on "Blazing will undoubtedly be the piece de sketched background for every the Trail." Any pioneer mission- resi'stance. The Guide Post printed page there appears a ary work or the early features of reads, "Dangerous But Passbeautiful highway leading up- endeavor at one station would able," 2 Cor. 11: 24-33, and the ward past a wayside cross. The fit in, with the program leader topic is "Jungle Paths." motif on the first inside page is: termed the Guide. An Americanization meeting "And an highway shall be there, In October came a civics pro- comes in June, the luncheon be- and a way, and it shall be called gram, with a picnic dinner hon- ing termed "Curb Service," the
Guide Post, "No Left Turn"- (dramatization of a month's is- This unique correlation be- Josh. 1: 7, 8-and· the program, sue of the denominational maga- tween program and social fea- "Courtesies of the Road." zine, Missions); "A Study in tures is worth trying and lends itself to much ingenuity, espe- The series closes in July with Darkness and Light" (address cially in communities where the the annual meeting, luncheon to by missionary worker); "Keep- church needs to be the social as be served at "An Alpine Tav- well as the religious center. ern," the Guide Post appropri- ing the Home Fires Burningately placed "At the Summit"- The Annual Campfire and Busi- THE DAY OF PRAYER 2' Tim. 4: 7, 8-and the meeting ness Meeting"; "Candles of the termed "The End of the Trail." March 8th marks that impor- Lord-a Memorial Service for tant event. While ready-made The final poem among the Past Leaders"; "The Farther outlines furnished by denominanumber in this beautiful pro- Lights-a Meteor Shower" (re- tional as well as undenominagram booklet is : ception of gifts for some mission tional organizations render de- station according to ascertained tailed plans in this Department I do not know the road o'er which unnecessary, we wish to stress My feet must run the race, needs). Leaders of these several the importance of more than a meetings were designated as Dis- perfunctory observance. Prayer But I do know though rough it be, furnishes not only our guidance Though steep in many a place, tributors of the Light, Lamp but our dynamic. "Only men Lighters, Projectors, Heralds of and women in personal relation- That He has said: "Sufficient the Star, Torch Bearers, Path- ship with the Holy Spirit receive Is my grace" finders, Bonfire Builders, Search His teachings, feel His power As I go on. Lights, Service Lights, Star and become His effective agents …… Neither plans, however Your editor has no intimate Dust, etc. The officers were clever, nor organizations, howdetails of this series, although listed as Headlights and the cir- ever efficient, can accomplish she knows personally the caliber cle leaders as the Cluster Lights. spiritual results unless they are of the activating membership; spiritually conceived, inspired but it is quite possible that the Mrs. Maude Rose Wellman, and supported." corresponding secretary, Mrs. Charles A. Harp, 419 West the social chairman, writes of Prayer is the tide for which the vessels Washington St., Santa Ana, Cal- the correlated meetings: wait ifornia, might be willing to let her light shine a bit farther if an At the opening birthday rally the Ere they can come to port. And if occasional request were made ac- social feature was termed "Following it be companied by a stamped, self- the Gleam to Our Natal Day," each addressed envelope. entrant being given a symbol indica- The tide is low, how then canst th()u tive of the month in which she was expect COORDINATING SOCIAL AND MIS- born (sketches of snow flakes, fire crackers, roses, etc.) which furnished The treasure ship to see? SIONARY a clue to lead her to the table assigned to that month and decorated corre- Thousands of our invalid or In the woman's society of the spondingly. Appropriate songs and elderly folk may carryon their Granville, Ohio, Baptist Church, jingles for these months were inter- former work by way of the a social hour follows the mis- spersed with the luncheon. Throne, by enlisting as "prayer sionary program; and this year partners" of some efficient misthe unique plan of linking up Some of the other coordinated topics sionary worker, interceding conthemes for the two sessions was were: Following the Gleam over Land stantly for work they have devised. The general topic for and Sea (exhibit of curios from a num- adopted as their own. "Shut-in the year is "Light." The suc- ber of mission fields with demonstra- But Not Shut-out" is the unique cessive missionary programs are ti()ns by costumed hostesses); Through title of a leaflet dealing with this entitled "The Lights of Home- the Orchard (guessing games with method of restoring the joy of Autumn Rally and Luncheon"; fruits); To High Lights of History service to earnest souls in life's "The Searchlight of Christian (character guessing game); Into Erin sidelines. Patriotism" (evening meeting (celebrating St. Patrick's Day); Into jus t before November elec- the Mission Fields; Through a Treas- "Money-that is what I want tions) ; "Oriental Lantern Bear- ure Hunt (for hidden parcels brought to learn from Him above allers in America" (dramatiza- for the donation of gifts), etc. money the cause of so much tion); "Rays of Light from the temptation and sin and s9rrow Sunrise Kingdom" (dramatiza- At the meeting where Japan was and eternal loss; money as it is tion of the study book, "Japa- the topic, "Following the Gleam into received and administered and nese Women Speak"); "In the the Garden" was carried out in the distributed at the feet of Jesus, Light of the Christmas Star" following manner: Leaves were cut the Lord of the Treasury, be- (cantata or dramatic sketch, fol- from paper of an appropriate green comes one of God's choicest chanlowed by social for the Sunday and each leaf bore a letter in the name nels of grace to myself and othschool); "T h e Festival of of some Japanese flower or fruit. To ers."-Andrew Murray. Lights" (all-church dinner in group the letters ()f one word, the reevening, with elaborate program verse side of each letter in a given honoring missionaries and their word was inscribed with a number. families); "The Torch of Wis- For instance all the letters in the word dom-a L i v i n g Magazine" "chrysanthemum" bore the number one on its back, and so on. The groups having the same number worked to- gether to guess the word. After these names of flowers were completed, Jap- anese games were provided-Gomoku, a game similar to our logomachy; Jan Kim Po and a Japanese fish game. The rooms were decorated with Jap- anese lanterns and cherry blossoms made from crepe paper and attached to twigs to suggest a Japanese garden.
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BULLETIN OF The Council of Women for Home Missions ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~'~I ~~==~========~====~~ " … of Such an Astonishment" viduals, classes, races, and na- ines he is somebody, he is deceiv- tions. ing himself, for he is nobody; let VVhosoever on ye night of ye In the United States of Amer- everyone bring his own wor,k to nativity of ye young Lord Jesus, the test-then he will have somein ye great snows, shall fare ica the VVorld Day of Prayer thing to boast about on his own Offerings will, unless specially account, and not in comparison forth bearing a succulent bone designated, be divided equally with his fellows. FOR EVERYfor ye loste and lamenting among four missionary projects, ONE WILL HAVE TO BEAR hounde, a wisp of hay for ye namely, Christian literature for HIS OWN LOAD OF RESPONshivering horse, a cloak of warm women and children in Mission SIBILITY.
raiment for ye stranded way- lands, VVomen's Union Christian -From Letter to Galatians, farer, a bundle of faggots for ye colleges of other lands, Religious Moffatt Translation. twittering crone, a flagon of red VVork among students of U. S., ". . . of Such Astonishment" wine for him whose marrow Indian day and boarding school~, withers, a garland of bright ber- and Christian service among MI- Except the.Lord build the house, ries for one who had worn grant laborers and their chil- They labour in vain that build chains, gay arias of lute and dren. [The offerings may be sent it: harp for all huddled birds who directly to the editor for distri- Except the Lord keep the city, thought that song was dead, and The watchman waketh but in divers lush sweet meats for such bution.J babes' faces as peer from lonely It is well for us as we enter vain. And it shall come to pass that windows-to him shall be prof- upon this world-wide prayer and fered and returned gifts of such service to read the excerpt from the mountain of the an astonishment as will rival the St. Paul's letter to the church in Lord's house shall be eshues of the peacock and the har- Galatia from which the theme is tablished in the top of the mountains, and shall be monies of Heaven, so that taken- exalted above the hills though he live to ye greate age- Brothers, you were called to and all nations shall flow into it. when man goes stooping and be free; onl11 do not make your Except the Lord build the house querulous-yet shall he walk up- freedom an opening for the flesh, They labour in vain that build it. right and remembering, as one but serve one another in love. For the entire Law is summed whose heart shines like a greate up in one word, in, You must love star in his breast. you r neighbor as yourself -Source Unknown. (whereas, if you snap at each , Bringe ye all the tithes into the other and prey upon each other, World Day of Prayer for take care in case you destroy one storehouse Missions another) ….. . That there may be meat in mine the First Friday in Lent The harvest of the Spirit is house, March 8, 1935 love, joy, peace, good, temper, And prove me now herewith, The theme for the day's medi- kindliness, generosity, fidelity, saith the Lord of Hosts, tation and prayer throughout gentleness, self-control: – there the world is "Bear ye one anoth- is no law against those who prac- And prove me now herewith, if er's burdens." Together the I will not open you the world on this day will be pray- tice such things . …. .As we live windows of heaven and ing for the missionary enter- by the Spirit, let us be guided. by pour out a blessing that prise and for all who share the Spirit; let us have no vamty, therein; for a quickened con- no provoking, no envy of one an- there shall not be room science toward the world's bur- other. Even if anyone is detected enough, that there shall den bearers; for courage to in some trespass, brothers, you stand for the right and willing- not be room enough to reness to accept the sacrifices in- are spiritual, 'you must set the of- ceive it. fender right in a spirit of gentle- .Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse ness; let each look to himself, in And prove me now herewith case he too is tempted. BEAR saith the Lord of hosts.
volved for us all in the building ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS, The above scriptural song, written of a better world; for justice AND SO FULFILL THE LAW by James G. MacDermid, is published and understanding among indi- in two keys by Forster, 218 South OF CHRIST. 1/ anyone imag- Wabash, Chicago. 40 cents. , [143 ]
MIGRANT CENTER BASEBALL TEAM WAITING TO BE FED I found the little fellow in an old dark stall. I could just make out his DEAR FRIENDS: the active cooperation of State form lying in bed. The father brought out an old kerosene lamp which helped. Those of you who are meeting Departments of Education and I could see he was critically ill and on this WorId Day of· Prayer are Health. that if he made the long 35-mile trip among the best friends of the over the mountain to the hospital, it migrant children. Much has At the Christian centers in might be too late, but that was his been accomplished in Migrant many camps, hundreds of chil- only chance. This suggestion terrified Work this last year. Your gifts dren not only were protected the mother. "But he too sick; I'm on the last WorId Day of Prayer afraid he die! Only two months ago, helped tremendously. Cooperat- from exposure in the fields and little Mary die with pneumonia while ing on State Labor Standards the dangers 'of cannery machin- we are 'in cots.' " Committees, and through the ery, but they grew stronger Federal Children's Bureau and physically and spiritually. You Finally she consented. Typhoidsimilar bodies, the Council of cannot imagine how we have pneumonia was the diagnosis. For Women for Home Missions has days the doctors held out no hope for worked on various phases of the struggled to carryon within the his recovery. Then he began to imsituation, such as hours, wages, budget. It has meant volunteer prove slowly and soon was out of danand child labor. Those employed service on the part of many ger. Surely a loving Father watches in agriculture are still unpro- young women and the doing over and cares for these little wandertected by the codes that have be- ers. come effective in so many lines without much needed equipment. of work. Carrying a program for 40 or 50 Faithfully yours, While at work on the problem children, ranging in age from in- COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR fancy to 9 or 10 years, through- HOME MISSIONS. itself, the Christian social serv- out a 12-hour day, is not easy. Our youngest was 21 days old! *** ice has gone forward with rather remarkable success in 30 fields In the evenings and on Sundays, DEAR FRIENDS: in 11 states, with increasing co- the young people and adults need operation of employers and local leadership. A visitor at a center Please remember me, toogroups in migrant areas. We Indian American Youth. have in mind one field in particu- marveled at the accomplishlar. Three years ago we entered ments and her comment was, REBECCA EVANS the Connecticut Valley tobacco "So much with so little " Miss Winner of the Health and Beauty Contest, situation when many leaders in Barnes, who is known as the that area declared there was no' "angel of the cotton camps," Indian Presbyterian, U. S. A., MisSion, need for work. Last summer writes: Ganado, Arizona these leaders not only recognized the need but provided for a pro- Late one afternoon as I was hurry- We of the Church whO work gram on four plantations instead ing home, some one stopped me. In an with the Indian American are of one. In two states this past old barn a short distance away; a little learning that ours must be a year, for the first time, we had boy was very ill. With a sigh of relief ministry to the whole personal- the mother greeted me for we had met ity. Our pattern is "the beauty the year before "in peas." "My little and grace of the Lord Jesus boy, he have too much fever and talk Christ." too much at night. He been sick ten days. We took him once to doctor but have no money to take him back. The doctor say he too sick, should send for him earlier but we have no money."
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1 OUf W orld~wide Outlook ~1,1, ~-, A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events ~ NORTH AMERICA WJBK-Detroit, Mich. Isaacs, retired clothing manufac- Need for Home Missions WIP-Philadelphia, Pa. turer, left about $875,000 out- Let those who assert there is right to sixteen Catholic, Jewish KQV-Pittsburg, Pa. and Protestant welfare agencies WPRO-Providence, R. I.
WHBF-Rock Island, Ill. WIL-St. Louis, Mo. no need for home missions pon- which is divided between the folder the following: The Home WTNJ-Trenton, N. J. lowing institutions: Federation Missions Council recently re- WOL-Washington, D. C. for the Support of Jewish Philported that there are 10,000 vil- WIXBS-Waterbury, Conn. anthropic Societies; Brooklyn lages in the United States with- These programs will inform Federation of Jewish Charities; out a church of any kind. There and interest people in the world- Catholic Charities of the Archare thirty thousand villages wide program of Christianity. diocese of New York; Federawithout a resident pastor. There Internationally known men and tion of Protestant WeI far e are more than thirteen million women will speak out of their ex- Agencies; New York Guild for North American children, under perience of Christil:m work all the Jewish Blind; Hebrew Natwelve years of age, who are not over the world and outstanding tional Orphan Home; The Cath- missionaries and Christian na- olic Guardian Society; Associain church or Sunday school. tionals of other lands will give tion to Aid Crippled Children; Kentucky Mountaineers vital messages, news events, and New York Institution for the In- answer questions. Comments struction of the Deaf and Dumb; Clear Creek M 0 u n t a i n and suggestions on these pro- Young Men's Hebrew Associa- Springs, Inc., with Dr. L. C. grams will be heartily welcomed. tion of Borough Park; Camp Kelly of Pineville, Ky., as Presi- Inquiries should be addressed to Sussex, Inc.; Harlem Home of dent, is an organization designed your nearest station. the Daughters of Israel; United to help mountain people of Ken- Jewish Aid Society; St. Pattucky. (See page 232 May RE- A Forward Movement rick's Home for the Aged and VIEW.) During the past summer Infirm; Society for the Relief of a school was held which reached Plans for a forward movement Half Orphans and Destitute in 1,200 people. A camp for boys of sweeping proportions, aimed the City of New York. had an attendance of 185, and a to revitalize and invigorate the camp for girls had an attendance missions of the Protestant Epis- A Children's Church of 145. For four weeks a moun- copal Church, were adopted at a tain preachers' school brought meeting of the Joint Commis- An i n t e r den 0 min atogether sixty ministers, from sion. The movement aims to re- tional church, with its memberfifteen district associations. vitalize the spiritual life of the ship made up exclusively of church in every branch of its children, has been organized at -Watchman-Examiner. work. the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home in Xenia, Ohio. Missions on the Radio Each church member will be It is believed to be the first of urged to live up to his full re- its kind. Chaplain C. C. Haukins Through the courtesy of the sponsibilities as a Christian dis- has spent ten years of research American Broadcasting System ciple, by regular prayer and in planning its organization. the Foreign Missions Confer- meditation, sincere repentance, ence of North America is spon- unfailing attendance at worship, A committee of chi I d r e n, soring a 15 minute program on outpouring of money and serv- guided by Chaplain Haukins, Friday afternoons at 3 o'clock, ice. No new organization is to wrote the Constitution of this Eastern Standard Time, known be set up; the work will be "Community Church for Chrisas the "World of Missions." This through existing departments. tian Youth," and it will be afprogram is available on the fol- filiated with the Community lowing stations: -The Churchman. Church Workers of the U. S. A.
WMCA-New York City. Unusual Jewish Bequest The executive secretary of that WABY-Albany, N. Y. organization, Richard E. Shields, WCBM-Baltimore, Md. Protestant, Catholic and J ew- has given personal attention to WHDH-Boston, Mass. ish charities r e c e i v e d their the development of the plan and WEHR-Buffalo, N. Y. largest Christmas gift when the was present at the installation WJJD-Chicago, Ill. will of Reuben M. Isaacs was probated December 24. Mr. of officers. More than 100 chil- WFBE-Cincinnati, Ohio. dren are charter members. WDEL-Wilmington, Del.
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Medical Missions Conference sider Christian missions as a sep- on the opening Sunday, preached arate project, without any par- by a visiting minister, was on Under the auspices of the For- ticular relationship to the local "How Large Is Your World?" eign Missions Conference sev- parish program but no church this being a background for enty-five doctors and nurses can remain vigorous in a spir- eight nights' study of "Christ in from more than twelve foreign itual sense and surrender its Our Modern World." Ruth T. countries met for their fifth bien- vision of its world-wide mis- Fulton, in a statement sent to nial Medical Missions Confer- sion." the Missionary Education Moveence in New York City, Decem- ment, says: ber 13-15. Papers were pre- Islam' in America sented on tropical and oriental At 4: 30 p. m. the curtains of our diseases, preventive medicine The Moorish Science Temple small world and individual prejudices and the health problem of wom- of America is a national organ- were pushed back to welcome to the en candidates and missionaries. ization, founded by Noble Drew Home a colored girls' quartet (brought The way in which different gov- Ali with religious, social and hu- from a near-by school) who had come ernments view the missionary manitarian purposes; among to give our opening program at night physician ranges from definite other beliefs they maintain that at the School of Missions. Langdon restrictions, as in Turkey, to ap- Noble Drew Ali was a prophet girls for the most part erased lingerproval with financial coopera- descended from Mohammed and ing and long-felt race feelings, evition, as in Congo BeIge. Resolu- guided by his Father God Allah; denced by the desire to meet these tions adopted by the conference that colored people and Moors girls of a duskier skin and eat with called for a concerted effort to descended from ancient Moab- them. There were still, however, bring church members to a ites, who left the North Western those who emphatically said, "My deeper appreciation of the "min- and South Western shores of Af- mother taught me never to associate istry of healing"; of the impor- rica; that the names colored with them," or, "I certainly don't tance of establishing more med- folks, black people or Ethiopians want to eat with them"; and so these ical colleges to train native phy- and Negroes are misnomers, be- looked with rather disapproving wonsicians, because of the decrease ing names applied to slaves by der upon our upper classmen who ate in the numbers of Western doc- slave holders; that Friday is a with the interesting guests. tors entering the service; of the holy day of rest; that love, advisability of having hospital truth, peace, freedom and j us- At the ensuing evening church management trend toward local tice must be proclaimed and service the small town turned control and of the necessity of practiced. out almost en masse to hear the having the Christian Church concert, at least a hundred peomaintain its leadership in for- The organization has more ple standing for an hour and a eign hospital work. than 100,000 members in this half listening to "naIvely worded country who pay 50 cents a and strongly rhythmical spirit- Some Impressions in Mid-West month to local temples, and 25 uals." So warm was the wel- cents a month to the national coming feeling that even the girl Rev. Wilbur S. Derning re- body. Trouble recently arose in who quoted her mother's advice cently paid a visit to the Con- Moorish Science Temple number said, the following morning, "1 gregational Christian Churches 10 in Newark, N. J., over the don't have any race prejudice of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin payment of contributions to the any more." All the girls had and Missouri, speaking in 71 "reincarnated" Noble Drew Ali felt their world enlarge greatly. centers. He enumerates in Ad- when it was asserted the prophvance some of the impressions et "departed from this life in Crowds came so early to the received. The first impression the year 1929 and his return to study classes that a preliminary concerned the effectiveness with this earth is impossible in that song service had to be arranged which state organizations are short space of time, according to to fill the time of waiting. A working. He also found unity recognized conceptions of the grand pageant closed the school in the midst of diversity. Some Moorish Science T e m pie of on the eighth night. The total churches minister to rural, oth- America." -Moslem World. enrolment had been 429 (in a ers to urban and suburban small place) with an average atareas; some struggle with in- Mission Study Downs Race tendance of 308 over 175 the dustrial problems and shifting Prejudice year before. "Denominational populations, yet there was a high walls crumbled at least to common Christian fellowship At Mt. Vernon, Kentucky- the place where we can stand on and Dr. Derning was greatly im- the seat of Langdon Memorial foundations and join hands in a pressed by the sympathetic hear- Home, maintained by the Pres- completely united effort to face ing given to the missionary mes- byterian Board of National Mis- common world problems tosage. "I am fully convinced," sions for girls of the surround- gether and begin our practice of says Dr. Derning, "that the spir- ing region attending school at brotherhood in our own comitual health of a church and its Mt. Vernon-a c omm u n i ty munity." mISSIOnary horizon are closely school of missions was held last connected. Some may still con- year which had most valuable LATIN AMERICA corollaries. The morning sermon Putting Pressure on Mexico Three Protestant denomina- tional papers recently made
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
stern protest against persecu- they could not read. Occasionally an ligious and social field; and (c) tion in Mexico. The Christian enemy was found. Anything which the Council of Religious Educa- Advocate, of the Met hod is t took the mind away from work did not tion, whose end is to promote co- Church, South: "The govern- meet with the supervisor's approval. operation, especially in the ment has struck hard at the One of our converts, a tall Guaiqueri sphere of religious education. Church, with the result that re- Indian, told me of his experience in ligious freedom and education Maracaibo. He was almost over- Leper Colony in Paraguay are imperiled. . . . Any nation whelmed one morning as he saw the which limits the freedom of reli- sin and vice on every hand, following Paraguay has set aside 2,500 gion and of education to teach in the wake of the oil boom. Later he acres of land about 75 miles the truth, and establish moral noticed one of his countrymen pass by from Asuncion to be used as a principles in the minds of the with a Bible and hymnal in his hand leper colony. Initial plans call people turns back the clock of and saw him enter the Evangelical for the construction of 36 cottime, and invites the return of Church. He thought of the times tages. For this work and for the Dark Ages." when he had buried his arms in de- the cleaning up of the land the cayed oysters in an old hull and government is at present using The Lutheran: "Lutherans of brought up shining pearls; so these Bolivian prisoners. Plans pro- America will not approve the en- human gems, he thought, are reached vide also for the construction of forced displacement of the Chris- by Christ's arms and are brought up a general hospital, a laboratory tian religion by atheism. . . . out of the corruption of sin. and other necessary buildings. We have sympathy for the vic- This will furnish refuge not only tims of Mexican politicians and Federation in Brazil to the lepers in Paraguay, of we believe a godless government which perhaps there are more a dangerous neighbor of our own Progressive efforts tow a r d than 5,000, but also to the many nation." Protestant cooperation have been others on the continent who may made in Brazil during the last 30 be able to go there. The New Outlook, Un i ted years. In 1903 the Brazilian Church of Canada: "A fanatic Evangelical Alliance was organ- Dr. Webster E. Browning, strain marks the group now in ized; in 1910 the Evangelical after a careful survey, estimates power at the Mexican capital, Council of Religious Education that there are more than 75,000 and it is doubtful whether the was formed. As a result of the lepers in South America, not protest of the outside Churches Panama Congress in 1916, the more than 5,000 of whom are will have any salutary effect at Brazilian Committee on Coop- cared for in any institution. the moment. . . . The ineradi- eration in Christian Work was The new colony is under the gencable religious impulses of the formed, one of the most effective eral direction of the council of human heart will ultimately pieces of constructive work yet the medical faculty of the Namean the restoration to the done in Brazil. The Federation tional university, and Dr. John Catholic Church of the free of Evangelical Churches was or- Hay has been named director. exercise of its rights and teach- ganized in 1931. Almost the last ings." work of Rev. Erasmo Braga who -The Christian Century. died in 1932 was to outline in Other periodicals – Rom a n clear terms the sphere of serv- Birth of an Indian Church Catholic, Hebrew and Protestant ice for each of these organiza- -have also voiced vigorous pro- tions. A plan was submitted in The Inland South America tests. December, 1933, to all cooper- Missionary Union reports prog- ating societies, embodying a con- ress in evangelizing the Forest Pearl Fishers of Venezuela stitution for "The Evangelical Indians of South America. Bur- Confederation of BraziL" Five ity is a colony of 400 Terena In- Rev. Donald Turner, of the of these denominational bodies dians, and two years ago Mr. and Orinoco River Mission, has been met in 1934 and approved the Mrs. William Hunrichs spent working among the pearl fishers plan. The two Bible Societies, seven months among them. of Venezuela, with the help of the British and Foreign and the Later, a school was organized. the National Bible Society of American, and several cooper- Except for occasional visits, the Scotland. In the Quarterly Rec- ating societies and foreign mis- work is now in the care of naord of that Society he gives a sion boards likewise gave their tive pastors from Bananal, 100 glimpse of this work. approval. On June 19, the body miles away. was definitely organized. The In the Dio8 Te Salve we sailed for constitution provides that "the This embryonic church is a the pearl fishers' huts along the coast three departments of the Con- missionary force and the memof the Carribean. We had not been federation are as follows: (a) bers have been preaching among out long before we appreciated the The C 0 u n c i I of Evangelical the scattered white farmers, meaning of the boat's name, "May God Churches of Brazil, for the pur- many of whom have accepted the save you." The sailors sighted several pose of publicly representing Gospel. One man, a leader of sharks, one almost as long as our boat. Protestantism and treating of evident strength of character, Soon we landed at Las Maritas. As matters pertaining to inter-ec- tells an amazing story of sufferwe went from one palm hut to another clesiastical relations; (b) the ing from witchcraft and demon offering Scriptures we were given va- Council of Cooperation, whose possession from which he has rious receptions. Some took the litera- object is to attend to general in- been entirely liberated since acture eagerly, saying that they had terests of cooperation in the reread such before and liked the Gospel. Others were indifferent, and said that
cepting the Gospel, brought by ders have been busy planting preserved and continue to funcone of the Indians from the col- tion. ony of Burity. Oriental branches of their or- Because of the difficulty of get- -Amazon Valley Indian. ders. These have adopted the ting money out of Germany to the foreign mission fields, the EUROPE eastern ritual, a thing which is Executive Committee was re- quested to notify the Church German Missions in Difficulty unique in the history of the through the press not to send any gifts for foreign missions to The annual report of the Leip- Catholic Church. Novitiates on Germany. American contribuzig Mission: tors may send gifts to Dr. Ralph the Russian border of Poland H. Long, Director of the Na- "The great changes in State tional Lutheran Council, 39 East and Church in Germany cannot are holding themselves in readi- 35th Street, New York City, and for long leave the missionary so- friends in non-German countries cieties untouched. They too will ness for the coming work in of Europe may send to Dr. Alhave to undergo changes in cer- fred T. Jorgensen, Vendergades tain aspects. With this in mind, Russia. Table lessons are read 28, Copenhagen, Denmark. the leaders of the German missionary societies are endeavor- in four Slav languages by turns The third Lutheran WorId ing to prepare the way for great- Convention will be held in Paris, er unification of the missionary and in the chapel the mass is in October 13-20, 1935. life, but this will not be possible until the Church itself has found Russian, as well as the calenda"r. Protestants in Italy a fixed form. In 1930 the conversions had Protestants, who are also "In a quiet way the Leipzig called Evangelicals, in Italy are and the Neuendettelsau Missions mounted to 300. C. T. B. not so weak numerically as many have taken an important step to- may believe. The government ward closer cooperation at the Lutheran World Convention census of 1911 estimated their home base and to divide all gifts number as 123,000. Since that received for both corporations The annual meeting of the time no religious census has been on the basis of a fixed ratio so as Executive Committee of the taken, but at present one may to prevent rivalry. It is hoped Lutheran World Convention for safely estimate the number of that by means of this collabora- 1934 was held November 12-20 Protestants as 200,000 communition the love of the Bavarian at Munich, Germany. Luther- cants. If we include catechumens, congregations for missions may ans of Munich declared that the sympathizers and other friends, be strengthened. mere appearance of the Execu- this number would be much tive Committee at this time for larger. "The missions are grievously a meeting in Germany was a affected by the contests now tak- source of helpful moral support Mussolini has written to all ing place in the Church and educators in Italy, according to there is danger that the missions to them in view of the issues the Watchman-Examiner, recomwill be ground between the exist- they have to meet. Enthusiasm mending the use of the New ing antitheses." shown by students and profes- Testament as follows: sors at a meeting of the Commit- Roman Catholic Methods tee at the University of Munich All professors and teachers shall attested the support of academic read the New Testament, shall ex- The Evanglisiches Missions- circles; while the farmers of plain this divine book to the children, magazin (Basel) reports on new Bavaria showed where they and see to it that they memorize the missionary methods employed stand when they sent a delega- best passages. This wok shall not be by the Roman Catholic Church. tion to Berlin to confer with Hit- missing in any school library, for it is F. X. Schrenck discusses the ler about pending issues, to ever new throughout the centuries. It question of a coming union be- whom unafraid, they said: "If is the greatest of all books, the most tween the Roman Catholic ''and the choice is between party and necessary of all books, because it is the Greek Orthodox Churches. ' church, although we have hither- divine. The national government de- to been loyal members of your sires by it tQ capture the children, and Pope Benedict XV founded a party, we choose the Church, for through them the soul of the Italian -p a par congregation separate we must obey God rather than people, for the discovery of the sure from the Propaganda, for the man." way which will lead the Fatherland Oriental churches. Next, Pius to the worthiest and truest greatness. XI founded the "Oriental Insti- The physical and spiritual distute" for the cultivation of ori- tress of Russian Lutherans, and Peasant Youth Movement ental sciences. In 1928 occurred the crisis upon Austrian Protesthe founding of the Russian Col- tants were considered. Other Last summer, in a small Eslege in Rome, the school for fu- vital problems were the plight of thonian village, the first conferture missionaries. minority Christian churches in ence of the Student Christian Rumania, and of most churches Movement in Esthonia was or- The most striking recent de- in the smaller countries border- ganized for the Russian peasant velopment is that occidental or- ing on Soviet Russia, from Fin- youth of that country. land on the North to the Black The response was extraor- Sea and Rumania on the South. The success of the Protestant movement in Ukrainia, already mentioned in the REVIEW, was ground for real encouragement.
Important missions i'n India, China and Africa, f 0 u n d e d through Lutheran Missionary Societies in Germany, have been
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
dinary. There were about 70 Symbolic Substitution year before. So it proved, when members present, of whom If present plans mature, by all the gifts came in. more than 50 were Russian -Woman's Missionary peasants, boys and girls, who 1937 ltussia will have a colossal Magazine. came from various parts of Es- symbol of the substitution of the thonia. Subjects discussed in- religion of communism for the Missionary Becomes an cluded: the Soul of the Russian religion of Christ, and of the Ethiopian Nation; Religion and Culture; the Life and Beliefs of Youth in deification of Lenin for the wor- Dr. Tom Lambie, well-known Soviet Russia, and Science and ship of God. Ground was broken medical missionary of the Sudan Religion. Daily church services last summer and construction Interior Mission, who worked were attended by large numbers was begun for the "Palace of the among Ethiopians for 30 years of peasants. Soviets," in Moscow, to occupy under the United Presbyterian Church, has decided that he can As a result of this conference the site where formerly stood the best present the Christian mesa Russian Christian Peasant world famous Cathedral of the sage by becoming an Ethiopian Youth M 0 vern e n t has been Saviour. It was demolished by citizen. Accordingly he has created, which has as its object: dynamite by government decree taken the oath of allegiance to shortly before Christmas three years ago. The structure will 1. To help its members to build their house the Soviet Congress, vari- His Majesty, Heila Selassie. private lives and the life of the Community on the foundation of Christian ous departments of government "Because of my love for Ethitruths. and two immense amphitheatres. opia," says Dr. Lambie, "because The building is planned to rise to 2. To organize missionary w 0 r k of my sincere desire to help her, among the unbelieving peasant youth. a height of 1,100 feet, 112 feet and because I believe that ac- 3. To assist one another in spiritual higher than the Empire State quiring Ethiopian citizenship is and cultural development. Building, so as to form a mighty the best thing I can do to further pedestal for a statue of Lenin the ends for which I have On the Polish-Russian Frontier that will rise 260 feet higher. worked for nearly 30 years, I do -Missions. now voluntarily become an Ethi- Rev. K. J. Jaroszewicz, as a opian citizen. representative of the Union of AFRICA Churches of Christ, spent the "I realize that there is an elepast summer in Poland and on Blind Evangelis,t's Faith ment of risk; that no matter what happens to me, I cannot apthe Russian border. The 40 con- Maallim Aziz, a blind evan- peal for American protection or ferences held were great evan- gelist in Assiut, Egypt, who died assistance, even in a matter of gelistic gatherings at which 100,- last year, was a man of unusual life or death, but I am prepared 000 heard the Gospel. Hunger character and influence. His work was akin to that of a Bible- to take that risk if it might be for the Word is best described woman; being blind, he could true, that to the Ethiopians I by the following incident which visit in the homes, and visit he might become as an Ethiopian, was a typical experience. that I might win the Ethiopians Arriving at Pinsk very late Satur- did with great faithfulness. He to Christ. day night, the local preacher tried to had a singular disregard for "To our friends in America hide us from the crowd which was al- money. One family was so apready on hand for the meetings of the preciative of his work that they and elsewhere, I need hardly add next day. He told the people that insisted he should make them a that I venture the hope that rethey could remain in the chapel over weekly visit for which they lationships •with them will be night, to sing, pray, talk and read the would pay him a dollar a month. even closer than ever. It will Bible, and that the first meeting would After a while he felt he was not not prevent visiting America start early in the morning. free to follow God's leading in whenever we wi.sh. As Paul the use of his time owing to this writes to the Philippians, our We went into the barn on the hay engagement. "I am a poor citizenship in in heaven from to try to get some sleep, but by the man," he said. My communion whence also we look for a Savtime we had nicely fixed ourselves the with God is the only treasure I iour." visitors discovered where we were. have. I cannot afford to give it These exclamations followed: "We up for a dollar." -United Presbyterian. have been waiting so long for you. It is not right that you should lie down In 1932 it seemed impossible A Missionary's Interruptions in sleep .while we have been waiting that the 'Assiut Thank-Offering three years for you!" There was noth- could equal that of the previous Those who offer prayers for ing to do but to climb out of the hay year in view of the financial de- missionaries should petition that and go to the chapel and preach to they may keep their poise in the them. When our host came in the midst of interruptions. A mismorning to call us we were in the chapel still. He took us home and gave us a little breakfast and about two hours of rest. The first service pression, and plans were made sionary in West Africa who sat started at 8 a. m. and closed at 1 p. m., for curtailing the work. Then with a full hundred converts. Aziz asked that such plans be down on a "normal" morning to type a letter home mentions the Everywhere one plea stood held in abeyance, saying he had following interruptions which out above the rest. It was for long been praying that the of- occurred before the letter was Bibles and missionaries. fering would not be less than the finished:
(1) An old faithful Christian comes out assistance from the Church WESTERN ASIA to discuss the boundary of his farm; Missionary Society. the local king is not settling the ques- The New Palestine tion as he should. (2) Two sawyers New Church in Tanganyika who have supplied timber for the While ancient Palestine may crafts come for payment and haggle The town which is, or will soon still be seen, a new Palestine for half an hour. (3) A deputation become the most important town with modern roads, farms and comes twelve miles to discuss the sit- on the east coast of Africa is factories is gradually emerging, uation caused by the death of the late Dar-es-Salaam, seat of govern- a transformation due to the comchief, and the difficulties arising from ment of Tanganyika Territory. ing of Jewish immigrants from the three claimants to the office. (4) The Episcopal Mission forces Europe and America. The J ew- A smaller deputation wants to know have just com pIe ted a new ish popUlation of Palestine has why their pupil teacher has been taken church there, for which the doubled in ten years. There are away, and requires proof that one can- Bishop of Zanzibar has been col- today more than 150 Jewish setnot have what one does not pay for. lecting funds for many years, tlements. Agriculture is being (5) I am called to the District Officer's from both Europeans and Afri- modernized, commerce stimucourt, where a young teacher is be- cans. The new church will be lated, and factories are built. ing prosecuted for libeling another used by both groups, in separate The country now claims fourth teacher. (6) The head master of the services, English and Swahili. place in the world market for lower middle school comes in with a The opening service was at- oranges. The Jordan's rapid question. (7) A youth who complains tended by the Governor and waters supply the country with that he is ill has to have his tempera- many other dignitaries, English electric energy, and even the ture taken and a dose administered. and African, and the form of Dead Sea yields through a scien- (8) Two ladies come to stay the week- service was printed in two lan- tific exploitation of its chemicals end, and to hold meetings. guages. Zanzibar is one of four a yearly income of millions of dioceses making up the field of dollars. The great majority of -C. M. S. Outlook. the Universities Mission to Cen- these Jews have little or no in- tral Africa. terest in religion; many openly African Enterprise declare their radical atheism. "Dorkasy" Society The story of two instances of – Watchman-Examiner. initiative comes from Kabete dis- The woman of Madagascar trict in Kenya. A school was has attained wide freedom; she In the Land of Bashan burned by a man who had op- reigns in her home, equally with posed the teaching of the Gospel. her husband, who often seeks her Mr. Arthur T. Upson who has Work was suspended for only advice. She also holds the fam- had a long experience in distribone day; on the second day it re- ily purse. uting Christian literature, espeopened under the trees where cially among Moslems, is now livfor some weeks school and serv- Attached to a I m 0 s t every ing in Nazareth. He recently ices were held. Meanwhile re- church is a Dorkasy, which is made a trip to the territory of building started almost at once. what the name suggests-a sew- Og, king of Bashan, lying in The Christian elders of the ing society. M e e tin g s are eastern Syria. In his account of church each offered what he usually held once a week to sew the trip he says: could towards the rebuilding- and work for the poor, and to one offered to give wattle trees, prepare for an annual sale of I preached in Arabic ten times in another stone, another nails, work, quite an elaborate affair. all, and in the various villages made others free labor. They then At these weekly meetings a short careful distribution of portions to sent a letter to all the other service is frequently held. These selected persons. On arriving at the churches in the Kab.ete district, societies each have their own house in a Druze village where the asking for help by work and by president, secretary and treas- meeting was to be held we found a gifts. In six weeks they had urer. Besides the weekly pay- very large room which easily accomraised a fund of over £15, suffi- ment which each member is sup- modated our audience of 60 or 70 percient to guarantee a better build- posed to pay, there are many sons. In the old Syrian style, a whole ing than the original. items of expense to be entered house consists of one such large room. week by week. Each Dorkasy No chairs, bedsteads, etc., are to be In another district there was is responsible for the expendi- found in these villages. Preacher and no church or school nearer than ture of its own money, and many hearers alike recline on rugs, some about six miles. A Christian causes receive assistance_ from supporting themselves on the right elder gave a plot of land and all them. The native missionary so- arm which rests on a pile of cushions. the wattle trees necessary for a ciety is helped twice a year; The audience formed three sides of a school-church, and undertook there are twenty-two native mis- square, facing us on the fourth side. full responsibility for the Sun- sionaries in the heathen parts of day services as soon as the the island, and the native church In one town, where three services church should be built. Every has supported this work for were held, a descendant of one of the school in the district gave its many years. -The Chronicle. old high Syrian families-now a fairly services and helped to build, and poor man-was given a copy of the when it was ready to be opened "Way of Salvation." Next night he there were sufficient funds in came again and told us he was sick of hand to equip it with a teacher a sinful life and wished to find the for one year. Both these proj- way of salvation. After the service ects were carried through with- we talked and prayed with him and his wife. At our third visit–a few days later-he told of his new joy in
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
finding Christ and that he now offers Great Britain's Inter – Varsity menial tasks, such as tending to a little family prayer with his wife. Fellowship, with two Indian the cattle, pounding the grain graduates, is m a kin g a six and sweeping the house. But -Scripture Gift Mission months' tour of the colleges, not she was a real Christian, and News. to start branches of the Fellow- these high caste people watching ship in India, but to share with her, were won by her faithful- Armenian Bible Centenary the students the experience of ness. The young woman who students in other parts of the led them to Christ and the girl A unique celebration among world who, having come into of the caste family have just enanniversaries and centennials vital touch with the Living tered the Bible Training School was held in New York City, De- Christ, are putting their shoul- in Nellore to train for definite cember 9. The year 1934 is re- ders to the missionary task. service. The caste girl is about garded as the 1500th anniver- twenty years old. She was marsary of the translation of the Proportion of Missionaries ried at the age of seven, and her whole Bible into Armenian. In husband died when she was nine. 434 A. D., two vigorous Arme- The United Church Record She is in the school, eating, sleepnians, Mesrop, tea c her and gives the percentage of mission- ing and living with those of the priest; and Sahak, a Patriarch, aries to the population of India. depressed classes." with the help of others, completed this first translation. BOMBAY PRESIDENCY: – Watchman-Examiner. They also inspired the translation of other works, stimulated One missionary to every 37,575 In- Pasumalai's Growth education, and brought about a dian population. renaissance of national religious Lloyd Lorbeer, manager of the and intellectual life that has in- UNITED PROVINCES: Congregational Training School fluenced all the varied history of at Pasumalai, writes that enrol- Armenia and the Armenians. One missionary to every 66,956 In- ment increased to 912 last year, The recent celebration was spon- dian population. and the increase was largely sored by the American Bible So- Hindu and Moslem. Parents ciety. -The Living Church. CENTRAL PROVINCES: appreciate more and more the home for their children where INDIA One missionary to every 42,639 In- they are surrounded twenty-four dian population. hours a day with a wholesome re- Need for Forward Movement ligious environment; there is no PUNJAB: caste or communal distinction. Red terror which oppresses Girls are increasing in numbers China is not lacking in India. One missionary to every 60,690 In- and in participation in school af- The Central Government has dian population. fairs, and eight of the forty-five warned provincial authorities to teachers are women. More boys take swift and stern action, and BURMA: are working to earn part of their Calcutta leads with mass demon- expenses, and work is being strations to strengthen the hands One missionary to ev~ry 37,700 In- looked upon more as a privilege. of authority. A more urgent, dian population. An ever larger portion of the evangelistic presentation of financial support is coming from Christianity to meet India's pres- MADRAS: Indian sources and the school ent need is the subject of impor- has become thoroughly indigetant articles in the Indian press. One missionary to every 41,124 In- nous. -Missionary Herald. Mass movements also are crit- dian population. ically surveyed, and the conclu- Roadside Dispensaries sion is reached that unless the CEYLON: converts receive systematic in- In a radio address, Dr. Ida struction and Church care after One missionary to every 32,973 In- Scudder told of the roadside disbaptism their value to the dian population. pensary work undertaken by the Church is largely negatived. At medical force in Vellore to meet Landour, the United Church of RAJPUTANA: the great need of neighboring Canada, American Presbyterian villages. This was begun in Mission, and the Methodist Epis- One missionary to every 14,363 In- 1909. copal Mission have been in con- dian population. ference, discussing the principles The people had been informed that of the indigenous expansion of CENTRAL INDIA: at an appointed time the following the Church. Practically all In- week medicines would be dispensed dian missions are grappling with One missionary to every 75,171 In- and anyone needing medical help the problem of bringing Indian dian population. would receive it-but the person must Christians to a realization of be along the roadside and hold up a their responsibility for evangel- However, these figures do not bottle if help were desired. The folizing their own people. tell the whole story, since half of lowing week we started forth in a the missionaries are engaged in one cylinder motor car-the only one Dr. Howard Guinness, of medical, educational and indus- at that time in our vicinity. The road trial work, thus giving to each was lined for its twenty-eight miles evangelistic missionary twice the number of population above specified.
Servant Wins Caste Family "On the Vinukonda fie I d, South India, there is a Kamma family which became Christian about two years ago, and are proof of the power of God," writes Florence Rowland, Bap- tist missionary of Ramapatnam. "They had had in their home an outcaste Christian, who did the
with the sick stretching forth their They readily grasped the essen- tion of a more Christian organbottles. In one way it was amusing, at the same time very pathetic. It tials of orderly debate. ization of the Chinese economic The chief problems w h i c h system, missionaries in Nanking showed the distress and the necessity for such help. After that trip, nine faced the conference were (1) are undertaking a new experi- stopping places were planned under the supply of the Tibetan min- ment. Silk weavers, thrown out great over-spreading trees where the sick could gather and wait for the istry, (2) the augmentation of of work by changing conditions, medical motor car. Now each week the staff of evangelists, (3) the are being taught to weave wool; the blind, the lame, the diseased of all reestablishing of the West Hima- and in addition to the technical kinds and the lepers are waiting for laya Local Board, (4) the revi- training a cooperative society of us. They come in hundreds, and the sion of rules and regulations the workers is being formed to days are filled with extreme activity. which grew out of past experi- share the profits. A further de- ence gathered since the last field velopment of the cooperative We meet diseases, the description of which do not seem to appear in our medical books of the West. Often conference of 192'0. idea was the organization of slight operations are done along the roadside-even to the extent of giving The growth of the church ih ricksha men, resulting in a chloroform for the worst cases. The the direction of a keener sense greatly improved e con 0 m i c very sick are treated and told to wait of responsibility, the desire for status for these lowly workers.
until evening when the ambulance will a workable machinery of church When the kind of organization return and take them to the hospital. So urgent has been the demand for government, and the urge for best suited to each situation has greater unity in church life off- been worked out on a small scale, this medical aid that at present we are covering four roads instead of set the meager numerical results it can be duplicated all over one. of long years of strenuous work China. It will be an effective Aged Convert in Mysore among these people. The keen challenge to Communism. The interest, and intelligent partici- program is to get college grad- Mr. Neilson, of Mysore City, pation in the debates, and the uates, men and women, to give unity of purpose among Tibetan tells of an Indian Christian from Christians presented a hopeful two years or more of their lives Dehra Dun, United Provinces, outlook for the future. eighty years old, who testifies to to going into these areas and livhaving been a convert from Is- -Moravian Missions. lam for the past fifty years. He ing very close to the people to Malayan Mission Jubilee was formerly a cloth merchant, find out their needs and then reand gave up his business in order Methodists in Malaya cele- brated the Jubilee of Methodist port higher up. From this exto travel through India preach- periment it is hoped a more ef- fective Christian civilization will emerge. -World Call.
ing and singing the Gospel in work in Singapore, Straits Set- Communists Active Urdu. Several opportunities of tlement in January. This miswitnessing for Christ were afforded him in Mysore. His re- sion was founded by Bishop A recrudescence of commumarkable memory, so abundantly James M. Thoburn. Bishop W. nist trouble is reported from the F. Oldham, the first Anglo-Chistored with Scripture verses (in nese School in Singapore, the diocese of Kwangsi-Hunan. The fact he claims to have memo- pioneer of a group of schools situation became so threatening that the Chinese clergy of the rized the entire Bible in Urdu) which now enroll 15,000 pupils has earned for him the title of C. M. S. asked all missionaries "Hafiz-i-Bible," w hi c h means was founded by Bishop W. F. (to leave for a time. Similar "One who has the whole Bible by Oldham who was pastor of the heart." His preaching, inter- first Methodist Church in Ma- troubles in Fukien prevented spersed by snatches of song, was laya, which now numbers 132 some missionaries from returnenjoyed by s eve r a I indoor churches. A forthcoming his- ing after their holidays. At groups; and it is hoped that this, Loyuan the hospital was looted, and his street message will find tory of Methodism's development and in the country districts a place in Moslem hearts. in Singapore will cover various phases of the work, including the around Lienkong the bishop -Fellowship of Faith for generous cooperation of the Chi- says, "A regular Soviet govern- nese; the devoted labors of In- ment has been set UP, with Sov- iet stamps, etc., and the redivi- Moslems. dian and Chinese pastors and sion of the land has actually been laymen; the missionaries who carried out. It may be some West Himalaya Field have carried the Good News to time before normal conditions laborers on distant rubber es- are restored."-The Christian. The future of the Moravian tates, to the Sakai aborigines, Mission in Western Tibet was and to thousands of Asiatic Eng- The General Tours the discussed at a field conference at lish-speaking people. Provinces . Leh last August. In recent years -The Christian Advocate. Tibetan Christians have devel- General Chiang Kai-shek and oped a keener sense of constitu- CHINA Madame Chiang have recently tional church government, so that they are in a better position New Task for Missions made an extensive itinerary, fly- ing to the widely scattered prothan formerly to legislate for the Feeling that the cooperative vincial cap ita I s throughout future church of Christ in Tibet. principle is one step in the direc- China, and other cities of com-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
mercial and strategic impor- ological Seminary. It has grown a victrola with both Western and tance, in order to form closer under his leadership until there Chinese records is very popular contacts with the people. Five is now a congregation of 1,000 and the game of skittles is their years ago this would not have who meet every Sunday morning great delight. Reclining wicker been possible; the fact that the for an hour of reverential wor- chairs furnish a place to relax or general can now travel all over ship. All are earnest, eager stu- sleep, and a Chinese nurse looks China, without a bodyguard to dents from as many as six of the after the simpler medical needs. defend him against assassination schools in Swatow. Not only are In addition, "Thousand Characby rival war lords, is evidence of they deeply interested in this ter" lessons are provided, enprogress. They were enthusias- hour of worship, but they gear abling the coolie to lift himself tically received wherever they their religious enthusiasm to va- to the possibility of a better powent, and showed a deep interest rious projects to help Christian- sition. in the Christian movement. ize the community life. They explicitly sought to enlist -The Presbyterian Banner. An unforeseen development Christians in the "New Life has been the influx of children Movement" which is seeking to National Churches who come to listen to the music. enlist China's 400,000,000 people To keep the Shelter freed for the in a program which is in har- The National Christian Coun- men, the workers have contrived mony with Christian ideals, al- cil of China issues a Bulletin a Children's Hour with Bible though it makes no definite men- which gives some up-to-date fig- stories, music and games. tion of Christianity. ures in regard to Chinese Chris- tians. There are four national -The Living Church. -The Presbyterian Banner. churches: Anglican with 32,390 communicants; Lutheran with Women's Practical Service The Christian Drive in 1934 23,930; Presbyterian with 22,- 701 and Church of Christ (Un- The Women and Girls' Mis- The Chinese Recorder sums up ion) 119,746. In addition there sionary Service League has the achievements on evangelistic are numerous mission stations branches in the eleven dioceses lines during 1934. In general, maintained by missionary soci- of China. It was started about there have been many cam- eties whose headquarters are in thirteen years ago and is similar paigns of evangelism throughout Australia, England, America, to the Mothers' Union, with parthe churches. There has been an Canada, Germany, Nor way, ticular emphasis on the winning indigenous revival movement in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. o f non-Christians. Eve r y Shantung,-a movement within The China Inland Mission has Wednesday afternoon the M. S. Christian circles in China. The 77,277 baptized Christians; in L. members meet for Bible read- Bethel Band, a group of Chinese the missions of the British, Ca- ing and prayer, with a social evangelists, visited between Au- nadian, American and European hour. Requests for prayer and gust, 1930 and January, 1934, 91 Societies there are almost 400,- praise are given out and encourlarge cities, including the largest 000. The Lutheran Church in age many to pray and to witness. in population. In the same peri- China, known as "Sin I Hui," These meetings are attended by od they organized a total of 777 has 63 stations maintained by church workers, Bible women, Gospel teams throughout the ten churches and societies in oth- and volunteers; they are open country. Though linked with a er lands. In these missions there to any church member, whether foreign mission group the work are 326 missionaries, 58 Chinese rich or poor, educated or not edis thoroughly indigenous; its clergymen and 23,390 communi- ucated. leaders are all educated, its in-' cants. fluence is growing. The Oxford Each member is invited to Group Movement in China has Adventure in Brotherhood contribute at least one article to registered large growth in 1934. the annual sale usually held a Its main promotors have been The j inricksha coolie has a month before Christmas. This missionaries, although Chinese bitter lot. Underfed, exposed to sale realizes from $1,000 to $2,- are responding in many places. extremes of weather, exploited 000, and the proceeds are divided The Five Year Movement, clos- and despised, it is small wonder among the most pressing needs ing in 1934, has helped deepen his average life of service is only of the diocese, such as rent of the con sci 0 usn e s s of the 15 years. Unable to remain in- mission hall, training and supchurches as to their mission. different to the hard lot of these port of Bible women, and care of Lastly, In 1934 a Christian cam- men and boys-some begin at the sick. . paign for spiritual and moral the age of 10-the Protestant upbuilding among the youth of Episcopal Mission in Auking One League member holds a China was launched. opened a Ricksha Shelter a year children's service in her home ago to provide recreation, shel- once a week; others go into Chinese Youth Church ter, and rest to many tired men. heathen homes and teach the In winter a coal fire is provided Gospel. -C. M. S. Gleaner. S w a tow has a "Youth where the men can dry their wet Church," built up by Dr. D. H. garments and warm themselves; Suppom for Christian Colleges Zi, a graduate of Hartford The- hot tea is theirs for the asking; The China Colleges is the name of a new pUblication put out by the Associated Boards for
Christians Colleges in China. In ship and all the neighbors, in- ,JAPAN-CHOSEN its second issue it describes the vited and uninvited, drop in, too, way in which the Chinese are be- to see the excitement. By this A Positive Attitude ginning to share in the support system the family and friends at of Christian colleges. least discover what "family wor- Rev. L. C. M. Smythe was ship" is like. From this the cus- deeply impressed by two special For some time the national govern- tom has grown up during the meetings which he attended in ment has been quietly making a study last two years that any special Tokyo, and records the impresof all the universities and colleges in occasion be celebrated with a sion in the Christian Observer. China, apart from the government in- special meal and a family worstitutions, to determine which of them, ship service. It has increased These meetings were not nearly as in this time of economic stress, are very much the interchange of in- large as many I have seen here, one most worthy of public endorsement vitations among the church being of about 600 people and the othand support. A few weeks ago it an- women, and drawn them closer er perhaps half as many. But they nounced that it would this year grant to one another in the common were one hundred per cent; Japanese, $720,000, silver, to a selected list of purpose of penetrating more ef- and local. No missionary had anythirty-two institutions. All the uni- fectively their own homes and thing to do with getting them up, nor versities and colleges in the Associ- neighborhoods with the Good was any outside financial help or outated Boards are included in the list, News. side speaker obtained; the local and together will receive $232,000. churches and local pastors did the The National Government has recent- Children's Day in Soochow whole thing. Each meeting was adly turned over to the University of dressed by five men, pastors or lay- Nanking the first half of its gift of China has a National Chil- men, each speaking twenty minutes. $200,000, silver, for a new library dren's Day, and last year schools, Every man had something to say and building, and will soon be paying the churches, cit y organizations, said it. These were all Christian remainder. Nanking also receives shops, theaters, banks, news- speeches, from a Japanese viewpoint, from Chinese sources about $80,000 a papers, orphanages and factories without any compromise, declaring year for the support of its work in in Soochow-all did their best to that Christianity was Christianity and agriculture. make "Happiness for Children." not to be changed and accommodated to prevailing national needs; one man Revival in Shensi The program emphasized two declaring that Japan's mission to the phases of child life, public enter- world was to let Christianity work in The general secretary of the tainment and home life. In con- Japan, leaven the Japanese spirit, and Church of Christ in China, Dr. sidering the former, the question then give that to the world. One man C. Y. Cheng, with a team of as- of movies was the first to come brought out the fact that the Kingdom sociates recently concluded a re- up; a committee called on the of God is international and universal, treat in the far interior province manager of the Soochow Theater that no one nation can be saved withof Shensi among the churches of and was able to get the promise out all the others being saved, and the synod in that province. In of three performances for a very that when the Kingdom comes the one of the centers, 700 have been small cover charge. There were world becomes a great family of God.' baptized during the last 12 twelve hundred children packed months and 600 enquirers are at in for each performance on each Campaign for Aoyama Gakuin present in the course of training, of the three days. The Bureau preparatory to baptism. The of Public Safety sent six extra A year ago Aoyama Gakuin in membership has increased in policemen to protect the children Tokyo set out to raise 500,000 that one place 1000/0. During the from the traffic jam. yen, of which America was to three days conference, everyone supply 200,000. The Japanese of these 700 new communicants For the other phase of the soon found that in addition to and 500 old timers, 1,200 in all, program, "The Child in the their own three-fifths, they must were in attendance. Home," there was a complete ex- raise the American quota as well hibit at the Kong Hong Church -and they resolved to do it. The -The Presbyterian Banner. open each afternoon from two manager of the campaign was a to six o'clock, with lectures from Y. M. C. A. secretary, who gave Lunch and Family Prayers three to four. The child's desk, 'up a better salary to do the job. bookcase, magazine rack, books, He was a skillful organizer, but The typical Chinese woman of pictures, curtains, the well-se- the secret of his success was his the lower middle class has her lected toys and a place to put unceasing and importunate social contacts, except those in them, the games, a blackbeard prayer. The Christian Advocate the family, entirely with wom- to catch the marks that often reports that four-fifths of the en, as the man has his with men, mar the walls, blocks, tables, total has been pledged, mostly in the tea shops and in the rear and chairs – all gave valuable by Japanese, and there was a of small stores. The "Five-Year suggestions to the hundreds of fair prospect that the campaign Movement" has emphasized the parents seeking helps in develop- would go over the top with nuimportance of "family worship" ing their children into the best merous SUbscriptions, large and in the home. Many women can- of citizens. -World Outlook. small, from Japanese business not bring their families to see men who attended the school; a the value of this, so they begin fact which reveals the lasting inby inviting in a few Christian fluence of the school upon the friends for lunch, after which lives of its students. everyone gathers for family wor- Morale Must Be Maintained The usual amount for repairs allowed by business firms in J a-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
pan is three per cent of the prop- two or three children's relief in- resenting many local societies in erty value. The Episcopal Mis- stitutions in the famine district, the churches of the Province, sion in Kyoto tries to get along and in addition to find as many adopted a constitution and with six-tenths of one per cent Christian families as possible agree to work for an extension for repairs, because of reduced who will take in girls in danger of information and interest in appropriation. But the moral of being sold into a life of vice. every church. Seventeen of the effect of neglect and delay is fifty places of worship reported. serious. "You know the spirit of -The Christian Century. Many important plans were the people here," one missionary made, looking toward deeper wrote after the last typhoon. Survey of Korea's Christian spirituality and larger service. "Repairs begin the moment the Population earthquake stops and the wind – Watchman-Examiner. falls. There is no despair. Anti- Korean Christians reported Christian papers are telling of the following figures at the jubi- Revising the Register America going communist and lee of the Presbyterian Mission churches going out of business in Korea: A recent checking was made and foreign missions b e i n g of the parish register for St. stopped; so we must show that Korean m e m b e r s of all Anne's Mission, Besao, and its we mean to go on." churches outstations, in the Philippine Islands. The staff devoted the Church for Deaf and Dumb Oriental Missionary Society. . 2,332 school vacation period to going Seventh Day Adventists …. 3,084 over everyone of the 2,027 Mr. K. Takahashi, graduate of English Church Mission …. 6,548 names on the register and ended North Japan College, has taught Salvation Army ………… 6,927 with but fifteen unidentified aftfor 20 years in an Osaka school Methodist Church ………. 19,555 er combing twenty or more surfor the blind, deaf and dumb. Presbyterian Church ……. 103,302 rounding villages for informa- Ten years ago the school was di- tion. Native names are readily vided, and Mr. Takahashi was (73,657 connected with N. P. Missions) changed, and the same child may made principal of the school for sometimes, innocently appear the deaf and dumb. About 300 Non-Roman Total …… 141,748 twice for baptism. Deaths were children are enrolled. A church Roman Catholic ………… 127,643 not always reported. Parents has been erected adjoining the were usually not Christian, godcampus, where preaching is done (Including Baptized Children) parents were sometimes inacby signs, and singing by posture. tive, and the numbers were too It is the first and only deaf and Total …………….. 269,391 many for the few pastors to care dumb church in Japan. for In addition to this communi- Mr. Takahashi is one of the cant membership there is the Besao church people are now most prominent Christians in great body called "Other Adher- being card-indexed as well as Osaka and is in demand as a lec- ents" which includes catechu- registered, and as the staff of naturer before teachers' and par- mens, who are enrQlled and re- tive catechists slowly increases, ents' meetings. He keeps in close ceive regular instruction; bap- the work will become more satistouch with the parents, as well tized children, also enrolled and factory. as with the children after their under instruction; also those graduation from the school. He who, while not on the roll, are They Use Their Heads often arranges marriages for known as Christians-most of them. -Outlook of Missions. them members of the families of Enrolment at Damaguete Bi- those already enrolled. In 1932- ble School is larger than ever, Christian Work for Children 33 (the 1933-34 figures are not and scholarship standards stead- yet finished) they numbered, in ily rise. From the mountain One of the most outstanding the Methodist and Presbyterian tribes of Luzon, once head-hunpieces of public service yet Churches, 218,565. While there ters, have come two students to undertaken by organized Chris- are not so many in the other the Dumaguete Bible School, tianity was that decided upon by bodies, their total must be well Philippine Islands. Both were the National Christian Council over 230,000. We therefore have high s c h 0 0 I valedictorians. on behalf of destitute children in Korea today, in a population When they finish they will rein the famine area of Northeast of roughly 20 millions, not less turn as the first Christian pas- Japan. This was at the sug- than half a million known Chris- tors to their people. Seven jungestion of Mr. Kagawa, whose tians. There are thousands iors in this school are doing trial original pro p 0 s a I was that more, once identified with the work out in the country. They united Protestantism place a Church, who have moved to vil- are meeting all sorts of opposithousand children in Christian lages where there is no church tion, says Miss M. Alice Towne. homes throughout the empire organization, and yet they are One lad after working hard to and support them for a period faithful. -Stanley Soltau. get a chapel had it broken into of from six months to one year. and desecrated. Two girls are in It was later decided to establish ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC the mountains living on $1 a month, plus a little food. Often Philippine W. C. U.
During the summer of 1934, the Women's Christian Union of Iloilo Province, P. I., was organ- ized. More than 250 women, rep-
they have only rice and corn to Java. After allowing for Chris- sionaries of the Am e ric an eat. One teaches first grade with tians in Java who have come Board. About 1,000 people as- a single book. They fill every from outside, such as Chinese sembled about the monument minute of the day and evening Christians and those of animis- which marks the spot where with activities in the village. tic origin from Celebes or other these men laid down their lives -American Board News. islands, there remain in Java for the Master. 60,000 Christian church mem- A representative of the Dutch Practical Peace Proposal bers who are all of Islamic ori- Government, expressed fine ap- gin. Either they or their fathers preciation of the influence of From the Philippines comes a or grandfathers were converts Christian missions. single peace proposal. The suggestion is that nations pair off from Islam. Of these, rather Seven men who are descendtheir citizens and exempt them ants of the village group refrom fighting in any war which more than two-thirds are con- sponsible for the tragedy a hunmay be declared between two nected with the Dutch Protes- dred years ago are leaders in the nations, as legislators on oppos- tant and Calvinistic Missions, Batak Christian church. ing sides of a bill pair off when they prefer not to vote. and the remainder with the Ro- -Missionary Herald.
The idea was born on Armis- man Catholics. MISCELLANEOUS tice Day, 1933, at a meeting of A new venture, the result of Moslems and Christians held to Dr. Grenfell Meets Dr. pray for peace. Among the sign- a carefully thought out policy, Schweitzer ers are twelve Sultans, and nearly two hundred Sheiks, Hadjis, was tried at Malang, where ten In Edinburgh last November, Imams, Panditas and guros as years ago there were no Chris- Sir Wilfred Grenfell of Labrawell as over a thousand other dor and Dr. Albert Schweitzer Moslems. There also appear the tians. A hospital, schools and a of Equatorial Africa met at a names of 200 Christian Filipi- theological school were built. A luncheon arranged by Dr. G. F. nos, 20 Americans, 18 Chinese, Barbour Simpson. Everyone and four Japanese. This propo- considerable number of Chris- present felt the dramatic elesal has been sent to kings and tians migrated there, especially ment in the meeting of these two presidents of forty-five nations, as workers in the hospital. The Christian pioneers. Dr. Simpson and to Pope Pius XI. afterward remarked: "I could number of Christians in Malang only compare the occasion with -Missionary Herald. and the neighborhood has now that famous meeting between Livingstone and Stanley." Dr. Sturdy Christians in Samoa reached 500, and there are about Schweitzer and Sir Wilfred fifty adult baptisms every year. talked together for two hours, Evangelistic work is carried on, under the direction of the mis- sionaries, by Javanese pastors and by students of the theologi- cal school. -Nation Christian Council Review.
The Church in Samoa, insti- The Dyaks of Borneo each growing enthusiastic about tuted by the London Missionary the other's work in such differ- Society, is a great missionary C. R. Deibler of the Alliance ent climatic conditions.
organization. Two hundred Mission writes in The Pioneer: Samoans are ordained ministers During the last four months I have "I Want a Christian Injection" in charge of churches in which there are 8,000 members and had the joy of baptizing 628 Dyaks, At. the annual meeting of the 30,000 other adherents. Samoan the privilege of establishing three new Mission to Lepers a missionary people are habitually lavish in churches, the opportunity of preach- told of a woman who was willing sharing their possessions. They ing to hundreds of Dyaks who heard are exceeded by none in sponta- the Gospel for the first time, and the to walk twenty miles to a misneous generosity, contributing realization of a cherished desire to sion station and twenty miles not only to the support of the witness to the Dyak of the heart of back to get her injection when home church, but to other mis- Borneo. Besides these, I have had a she could have had it near where sions also. regular ministry among the Dyak she lived. "I want a Christian Christians, and now the joy of begin- injection," was her remark, and A· joyous celebration of the ning construction on the first Dyak Centenary in 1930 included the church building. However, what has you know there is a difference dedication, free of debt, of a new already been accomplished is as noth- between an injection adminischurch costing £7,000. ing compared with what is yet to be tered by a Christian and that done. Dyaks come in canoes to convey done by someone who is merely -The Chronicle. me to their villages to teach them of paid for it; a difference in the Christ, and often I must send them back with a promise to come as soon touch and the hand that is be- as possible.
Christianity in Java Honoring Christian Martyrs hind it, animated by a heart that is radiating the love of Christ.
J ava's population is over 40,- The Rhenish missionaries in That woman had come twenty 000,000 and with a few excep- Sumatra held an impressive me- miles and was willing to walk tions all are Moslems. Until the morial service on the centenary twenty miles back in order to get last few years, a third of all the of the martyrdom of Samuel a "Christian injection."
pilgrims to Mecca came from Munson and Henry Lyman, mis- -Conquest by Healing.
'~II====~========================~I'~
Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information Recent Developments in German through the deviations from Lu- Japanese freely opened their Protestantism. By Otto Piper. 48. hearts to him, and officials and Student Christian Movement Press. ther's theology, through the war- people respected and honored London. 1934. him. After forty years of serv- time experience of Germany and ice he and his equally devoted The Church Controversy in Germany. wife returned to America in By Andera Nygren. 28. 6d. Stu- the post-war reaction. He then 1928 as honorably retired mis- dent Christian Movement Press. sionaries of the Presbyterian London. 1934. interprets the theological cur- Church in the U. S. A. In this small but important book, which The courageous struggle of rents in contemporary Germany, he says is "no disguised attempt at biography," Dr. Pie r son German pastors against coercion emphasizing the new under- vividly describes the experiences by the State has won the admira- of an evangelistic missionary in tion of thoughtful people around standing of Luther and the new Japan. The principal character, the world, but the deeper mean- "Andrew Strong," is "an ideal, ing and import of the conflict are interest in the social outreach of a composite of several rural misgenerally not clearly understood. sionaries"; but this reviewer, For those who desire to get be- the Christian Gospel. The in- who knows Dr. Pierson's life and work in Japan, has no hesineath the surface of the German fluence of Karl Barth is a part tation in terming the author scene, these two little books are himself a fine example of the invaluable. The first, written by of the picture, as is also that of "ideal" which he modestly disa young German theologian who claims. Those who do not know was removed from his chair at Paul Tillich, whose "critical the need of rural evangelism in the University of Munster by the Japan, and how richly fruitful it Nazi authorities, gives a thor- realism" is regarded as of great is, should read this book. ough analysis of the theological significance for the thinking of ARTHUR J. BROWN. and historical background of the German Protestantism of today. the younger generation. India's Social Heritage. By L. S. S. The second, written by a profes- O'Malley. 194 pp. $2. Oxford sor in the University of Sund, The rise of the so-called "Ger- University Press, New York. 1934. Sweden, is a narrative of what has happened during the present man Faith Movement," which The author, a retired member struggle. of the Indian Civil Service, gives has gained force as a rival of a simple statement of the prin- As analyzed by Dr. Piper the cipal features of the social sysmaj or issue in the German strug- Christianity by magnifying the tem of India. Successive chap- ters deal with caste, the degle is not one that concerns Ger- old Teutonic myths and the pressed classes, the frontier many alone but is of significance tribes, tribes of the interior, the for the whole world. It is this: spirit of racialism, is also por- village community, the family, To what extent can Christianity marriage, the purdah system, attain a national form without trayed. It is conceived, in part, and social changes in modern losing its universality and ab- times. He makes very little mensoluteness? This, it will be read- as a protest against a theology tion of the work of Christian ily seen, is a question of vital im- missions, but the book could be portance, especially for the for- that was too detached from the used as supplementary reading eign missionary movement. Dr. on the topics discussed. The active life of the Church and the treatment is factual, with refer- Piper shows that theological ac- ences to older authorities. tivity in Germany has, from the experience of the people. In the D. J. FLEMING. outset, been animated by a desire present situation in Germany the to give to Christian truth an expression adapted to the charac- chief aspect-as Dr. Piper sees teristics peculiar to the Germans. He traces this development it-is that the true meaning of through the medireval mystics of Germany, through L u the r, the Gospel is so obscured that "nationality has been placed above evangelical values."
Prof. Nygren's little book tells the story of the struggle of the protesting pastors, now organ- ized in the "Confessional Synod,"
down to September of last year.
It is a vivid and an inspiring story. S. M. CAVERT.
Let Us Go Into the Next Town. By George P. Pierson. 93 pp: $1. Revell. New York. 1934.
Dr. George Pierson is the type of missionary that one loves to know and read about. As a mis- sionary in Japan for forty years he presented a sound evangelical message, tirelessly, faithfully, tactfully and persuasively. The Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[157 ]
Financial Recovery for the Local Ploughed Under. The Story of a to an African to live on a white Little Lover, told by Amy Car- man's plantation and reports Church. By Julius Earle Crawford. michael. A Dohnavur Book. 12 mo. some of the injustices suffered 204 pp. $1. Cokesbury Press, Nash- 155 pp. 68. 6d. S. P. K. London. under British laws, which may ville. 1934. (Obtainable in America from Hope have been imposed with the best Church Sunday School, Semple and of intentions. The chapters on This book, by one who is ex- Cote Brilliante Aves., St. Louis, Life in Kenya and on Education ceptionally.qualified to deal with Mo.) are e s p e cia 11 y illuminating. Africans of the Kikuyu tribe so complex and so vitally impor- Few books are so fascinating who have not changed their retant a theme, is the outgrowth of as this rarely beautiful story- ligion believe that God has two extended practical experience. true and told in a charming forms, white and black, and they In constant contact with the style. A little Indian child began pray to both. They have great churches throughout the South to ask questions that his Hindu faith in charms, incantations for years past, Dr. Crawford father could not answer: "Who and witch doctors to cure dis- is the greatest god; the god who ease, break drought, and to undo brings clarity of vision and san- made things; the god who can the evil wrought by sorcery. ity of judgment into well bal- change people's hearts? Where They have definite moral codes anced treatment of this problem do dear little children go when and customs which should not be they die?" None of the child's discarded unless replaced by betwhich just now affects prac- relatives could answer her desire ter. The period of change from tically every church. for knowledge. The story de- old to new is especially difficult scribes her search, her struggles, and calls for wisdom. Dancing, Starting with a comprehensive her finding, her sufferings and drinking, marriage, slavery and her joyful experiences in the methods of tribal government all view of the church's chief pur- Dohnavur Fellowship of service. require careful study in order to "Star of Grace" (Arulgi Tara), do away with the evil elements pose, her message, program and as she was called, gives us an in- and to preserve the good. timate view of Hindu life, beachievements, the author leads liefs and customs as met in One of the greatest obstacles South India. We see the thorny in the way of the educated on directly to a swift survey of road that those must travel African accepting the Christian there who would follow Christ. religion is due to the humiliating several typical plans of support The story also reveals the work- un-Christian race and class dis- ing of a prayer hearing and tinctions – especially as shown as followed first in Jerusalem, prayer answering God. We by British and Americans – in- come into deeper understanding cluding missionaries. Antioch and Corinth. The au- of the Dohnavur Fellowship in the work of rescuing and train- Mr. Mockerie's book offers a thor finds their common denom- ing for Christ Hindu boys and good tonic to anyone planning to girls. Here we see depicted the work among Africans. inator in the application of the great need of India and the only Power that can and does meet The Ideals of the East and W'est. By fundamental principles of Chris- that need. Kenneth Saunders. pp. 248. $2.50. tian stewardship, which he pro- Macmillan. New York. 1934. ceeds to set forth succinctly An African Speaks for His People. and interprets compellingly. By Parmenas Githendu Mockerie. The author dedicates his book Then he presents the premier Foreword by Julian Huxley. 8 vo. to the Gaekwar of Baroda, at leadership required from the 95 pp. 38. 6d. Hogarth Press. whose suggestion it was written. pastor, indispensably sup p 1e- London. 1934. It is a study of the ethical ideals mented by the enlistment of the of various peoples which the auentire body of laity, men and Here is a clear and striking thor says "does not aim at comwomen. In such a combination, picture of how the educated pleteness or claim originality." ample support of the Church, African black man looks on the The ethical ideals which are conand of her far-reaching enter- white man and his civilization. sidered are those of India, the prise throughout the world, fol- Mr. Mockerie a young Kikuyu, Chi n e s e, the Japanese, the lows inevitably. Her building trained in Kenya, British East Greeks, the Hebrews and Chrisrequirements are also met with- Africa, was sent to England to tianity. It is interesting to note out resort to questionable meth- represent his people and lived that the ethics of India are dealt ods. Then there looms up clearly, two years in Europe. He de- with under that title but the and in due proportion the King- scribes his visit to the strange ethics of the Chinese, the J ~pa dom of God, the great objective white man's country and tells nese, the Greeks and the Hetoward which all lines of ac- frankly what he thought of brews under the name, not of the tivity should converge. European ways of life. He also land but of the people. In the pictures life in Kenya, interprets case of Christianity it is not the The remaining chapters, VIII the tribal customs and shows the land or the people that is dis- faults and advantages of foreign cussed so much as the system as to XII, deal with detailed plans rule and education. For in- construed and interpreted by Dr. stance, he shows what it means for raising the local Church budget and the enlisting of the membership as a whole in the entire program of the Church, the author gives some inspiring concrete illStances drawn from the actual experience of the Church. The general reader's in- terest may lag, when it comes to the minutia necessary to work out successful plans, but church officers will find here what con- stitutes a compendium of real value. DAVID MCCONAUGHY.
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
Saunders. Each chapter is fol- baptized Prote,stant Christians which knowledge is superseded, number 243,077 and the total but rather a discipline akin to lowed by brief excerpts from the Christian community at least meditative prayer by which all 600,000 or about one per cent of the powers of our being are conreligious literature of the people. the population. Miss Koto Ya- trolled and concentrated for the mamoto tells of the "Forward vision of the highest." The Christology of the chapter Movement A m 0 n g Japanese Women"-political and social, R.E. S. on Christian ethics is not the educational and international, industrial and rural. She deals Das Buch der Deutschen Weltmis- Christology of the Christian with movements rather than sion. In Verbindung mit den Evan- with leaders and the record is gel i s c hen Missionsgesellschaf- Church, and one may be sure one which girls have reason for ten. Herausgegeben von D. Julius encouragement. Unfortunately Richter, D.D. 331 pp. 138 illus. that the last critical judgment the chapter on activities of wom- Gotha: Leopold Klotz Verlag. en in the church was not rethat will be formed with regard ceived in time for publication. This is an extraordinarily in- teresting contribution to the litto the New Testament will not In Formosa only two societies erature of missions, due to the are at work, with a foreign staff indefatigable industry of the be the judgment assumed in this of 49 and a native staff of 290. compiler with the cooperation of book. The Aborigines who number fifty-three others who represent 200,000 are almost wholly neg- the leadership in German mis- As the title indicates, the book sions at home and abroad. As lected. an encyclopedia of German misdeals with ideals rather than sions, an art gallery of mission- The Katha Upanishad. By J. N. Raw- ary history, and a tribute to the with practices and does not at- son. pp. 242. $5.00. Oxford Uni- heroes and martyrs of the Ger- versity Press. New York. 1934. man church in many lands, the tempt to appraise the extent to book will appeal to a large pub- This "An Introductory Study lic. But it is more than popular. which the ideals of Asia have in the Hindu Doctrine of God There are a dozen papers of a and of Human Destiny," by the scholarly character on the presbeen already profoundly modi- Professor of the History and entation of the Christian mes- Philosophy of Religion in Ser- sage to primitives, Hindus, Mosfied by their contact with Chris- ampore College, India, is a book lems, etc. There is also an equal for the scholar rather than for number ()n the missionary printianity. There is no chapter on popular reading. Principal Das- ciples that should control evan- gupta of the Calcutta Sanskrit gelical education, the problem of Mohammedanism or the ideals College writes of it: "This is race, and our attitude toward something quite new in the way politics and foreign cultures. of Islam, although a Mohamme- of Upanisad Commentaries and should meet a real need. It gives These introductory chapters dan trader appears in the Epi- a clear, readable exposition, bring us to a series of historical which should be intelligible even sketches regarding each of the logue. R. E. S. to those who know no Sanskrit, German missions, and finally we and should be of interest to all have biographical sketches of The Japanese Christian Yearbook. students of the history and phi- outstanding missionaries, such Edited by Roy Smith. 8 vo. 401 losophy of religion. At the same as Nommensen of Sumatra, Kag- ;pp. Yen. 2.50. Kyo Bun Kwan. time it impartially supplies the awa of Japan, Aggrey of Af- Ginsza, TokIo. 1934. Sanskrit student with all the ma- rica, and others. Dr. Martin terial needed for forming an in- Schlunk contributes a carefully No one who wishes to keep in- dependent judgment on the in- prepared and annotated bibliogformed on the progress of Chris- terpretation proposed." raphy, while Dr. Richter gives tianity and of missions in Japan the latest statistics of German can afford to ignore this annual. There is a general introduc- missions. Fifteen Japanese Christians and tion discussing the Upanishads and the beginnings of India phi- Altogether this is a book alive twenty missionaries contribute losophy in the Rigveda. Then with the missionary passion, the thirty-eight chapters,. re- follows a special introduction to true to the great fundamentals ports and other features. The this theistic Katha Upanishad, of our faith, and opening a door first fifty pages are devoted to and then the text, the transla- to portions of the world field tion and the commentary, with with which American Christians describing "Japan Today"-its a number of appendices, closing are often unacquainted. In a international relations, its eco- with some discussion of the na- day when German Christianity nomic condition and intellectual ture of Yoga, setting forth that is passing through a crisis, when progress. Then 150 pages are the Katha Upanishad means by their souls are in the furnace of Yoga not "the production of an affliction, it is good to have such used to describe the Christian hypnotic trance or ecstasy in testimony of missionary faith activities and outlook-in Sunday schools, rural areas, the unevangelized districts, the social welfare work and religious education. Formosa is given two chapters; there are reports from various communities, statistics and a missionary directory. Here is a rich feast and a storehouse of information.
Dr. Kagawa writing on "Unevangelized Fields" says that 11,123 cities, towns and villages are still untouched by the Gospel. Of these places over 600 have each a population of from 10,000 to 30,000 people. Evidently Japan is not yet evangel- ized, although 58 mission boards and societies are working there, with 1124 foreign workers and 5000 on the native staff. The
and ardor, with such an outlook stormy night, and at the gay known mISSIOn authority, Dr. on the future as displays an in- fiesta. The story makes an atdiscourageable hope. tractive gift for junior boys and Julius Richter, who reviews the girls and the author writes from S. M. ZWEMER. first-hand knowledge. present conditions in foreign The Cambridge Shorter History of The Translated Bible. 1534-1934. mission lands. There are other India. By J. Allan, Sir T. Wolseley Edited by O. M. Norlie. 8 Vo. 222 Haig, and H. H. Dodwell. Edited pp. $1.00. United Lutheran Pub. timely articles by leading Ger- by H. H. Dodwell. Pp. 970. $4.00. House. Philadelphia. 1934. Macmillan. New York. 1934. man missionary authorities, a One of the most important Four of the six volumes of the events in history, since the first summary of German missions in great Cambridge History of century of the Christian era, was India were edited by two of the the translation of the Bible by the world, together with other authors of this Shorter History Martin Luther into the language which is in three parts: First, of the German people. This tabulations and a fine missionary Ancient India; second, Moslem event, four hundred years ago, India; and third, British India. which gave them the open Bible bibliography edited by Dr. Mar- It is a political history, very dif- is fittingly celebrated this year, ferent, for example, from particularly by the Lutherans of tin Schlunk. The pamphlet is Green's "Short History of the the world. They now number English People," it being a his- 20,000,000 members. Recently filled with useful information on tory, not of the people of India, 100,000 of the 1534 Martin but of the political rulers of the Luther Bibles have been circu- the subject of German world country. It does not deal with the lated. Dr. Norlie includes in this social, or the intellectual, or the anniversary volume twenty-two missions. C. T. BENZE. religious history, although there chapters by twenty authors. They is one chapter on education as deal with the life of Luther, an An African Prophet. W. J. Platt. related to political development account of his Bible work, the Illus. 12 Mo. 157 pp. 28. 6d. Pain the years 1858 to 1892. There story of different versions, the per cover. Student Christian Moveare more references to Curzon in work of Bible societies and the ment Press. London. 1934. the index than there are to relation of the Bible to missions. Buddha, and Sir Philip Francis This volume will be of interest William Harris was a remarkfills a far greater place than not only to Lutherans but to all able, unlettered African evangel- Gandhi. As a political history, who realize something of the ist of the Ivory Coast about ten however, the story seems to be great part the Bible has played years ago. Thousands of people accurate and as complete as pos- in human history. left their primitive way of life sible in the space available. and began to worship God. To God's Unspeakable Gift. By H. A. many Harris himself was almost There are specially interesting Ironsides, Litt. D., 12 Vo. 192 pp. worshiped and many were the chapters on Alexander, Asoka, 28. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. Glas- stories of his wonderful faith- Akbar, and his successors until gow. 1934. healing and casting out of dethe end of the Mogul dynasty. mons. It is an impressive story The chapters on Warren Hast- The well-known pastor of the as told by a missionary. Harris ings and the India Mutiny are large Moody Church in Chicago built up churches but the movealso interesting, although John gives here twelve addresses on ment was largely emotional and Lawrence and the men who evangelical themes. These in- has died down. But it has left broke the Mutiny would have clude simple practical, and its impress on the people and written a somewhat differently powerful messages on the Gos- prepared the way for more inbalanced account of its causes. pel, the Son of Man, salvation, telligent Christian teaching. The love, the cross, the resurrection prophet lived to be over three ROBERT E. SPEER. and the second coming. Those score years and ten, an impres- who are seeking light on the sive, dignified, white-bearded old Pablo and Petra-A Boy and Girl of Gospel, or looking for sugges- man who went about preaching Mexico. By Millicent H. Lee. Illus. tions on how to present it effec- and doing good. The story is by Leslie W. Lee. 8 vo. 152 pp. tively to others, will find help impressive and worth reading. $1.50. Crowell, New York. 1934. here. Yasu-Bo and Ishi-Ko-A Boy and The Crowell friendship series Jahrbuch 1935. Die deutsche evan- Girl of Japan. By Phyllis Ayers of books deal with boys and girls gelische Heidenmission. Herausge- Sower. Illus. 8 vo. 143 pp. $1.50. of Japan, China, Siam and geben von Professor D. Julius Rich- Crowell. New York. 1934. American Indians. Pablo and ter. 120 pp. Publication House of Petra are just a boy and a girl the German Evangelical Mission- Boys and girls of America in a strange land, wearing dif" shilfe, Hamburg. will like this story of boys and ferent clothes, with some strange girls of Japan with their kimocustoms and ways of speaking, This Annual is published by nos, obis, sandals, rice cakes, but American boys and girls will the United German Mission Con- lanterns, flowers, inc ens e, understand them. They have ferences and edited by the well- temples, rickshas, banners, and adventures in market places, on many strange sights and curious the road, at the mill, in the customs. It is not a missionary story but will make for under- standing and friendship with our neighbors across the seas. Mrs. Sowers is already well known for her stories of chil- dren in China and Siam. She has lived in the Orient and can therefore be trusted for her facts. Her sister, the artist, has illustrated the book attractively.
Books was traveling secretary of the Student School for Creek Indians at
Volunteer Movement and was married Church Growth in Korea. Alfred W. in 1915. Three years later they went Indian Territory, superintendent of Wassan. 175 pp. $1.75 cloth, $1.40 to China as missionaries of the Amer- paper. I. M. C. New York. 1934. ican Board but ill health compelled Oak Hill Industrial School and later, her to return in 1922. She was a di- Chant of the Night. C. Kuipers. 213 rector of the China Colleges and a Sunday School missionary among the pp. $1.25 cloth, $1.00 paper. Zon- member of the Ginling College com- dervan Pub. House. Grand Rapids, mittee. Dr. Smith is Executive Sec- Indians in Oklahoma. Mich. retary of the American Section of the Universal Christian Council and of *** Church and State in Latin America. the European Churches Committee of J. Lloyd Mecham. 550 pp. $4.50. the Federal Council of Churches. Robert Fletcher Moorshead, first University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, N. C. *** medical secretary of the Baptist Mis- sionary Society, died December 4, Desires of the Heart. Joan Geisel Rev. Edward G. Haymaker, mis- Gardner. 218 pp. $1.50 cloth, $1.00 sionary among Indians, died Decem- 1934, in England, at age of 60. When paper. Zondervan Pub. House. ber 1, at Winona Lake, Ind., in his Grand Rapids, Mich. 76th year. He had been assistant su- the Auxiliary celebrated its semi-jubi- perintendent of a Home Missions Divine White Right. Trevor Bowen. lee 60 doctors and 56 nurses had been 309 pp. $1.75. Harpers. New York. sent to the field and an annual income of £24,000 had been reached.
Dr. K. G. ** *Scottish medical Fraser, missionary in the Southern Sudan for the past 14 years, under the Church Missionary Society, died recently.
Obituary Notes How We Assist The Rev. Dr. Lapsley Armstrong Denominational Work McAfee of Berkeley, Calif., former Moderator of the New Mexico and vVe are sometimes asked as to whether or not our work conflicts with the California Synods of the Presbyterian work of denominational churches. Our reply is that our Sunday-schools Church, died after a heart attack on in the rural areas of the land arc confined to sections and communities that January 18th, while visiting missionR are unreached by the programs of regular church organizations. in Dumaguete, Philippine Islands. Dr. McAfee was seventy years of age Ve welcome changes in social and economic conditions which may make and had been a delegate from America lJossible the establishment of a congregation and regular services of wor"hip to the fiftieth anniversary of the in any of our Sunday-school constituencies. '1'housands of denominational founding of the Presbyterian Mission churches owe their origin to our work. The majority of the"e cases were in Korea. related to the work of the Society during the first century of its work. The record for the first twenty-five years of what may be, if God wilis, another Dr. McAfee in 1925 and 1926 was a century of labor for the American Sunday-School Union, indlcates that candidate of the conservatives for the 1,045 churches were organized from Union Sunday-schools under the direcoffice of Moderator of the General Assembly. tion of our missionanes, divided among the denominations and in the number listed below. A native of Ashley, Mo., Dr. Mc- Afee was a son of the founder of Park }Iethodist …..••…… 338 Lutheran ……………….. . 23 College, Missouri. He was graduated Baptist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2~7 Peutecostal ………..•……. 3 in 1885 from what is now the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Chicago, Presbyterian . • • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . 09 ~'ederaLed …..•…•….•.•••• 7 and held pastorates in Parkville, Chl"lstlan ••••……………. 53 Mellnonites ……………… . Ariz., 1888-98; Phoenix, Ariz., 1898- 3 1905, and Berkeley, Calif., from 1905 until his retirement in 1931. He was Brethren •……………….. 29 Commulllty ……………… . 1:< a brother of Dr. Cleland B. McAfee, 4 secretary of the Presbyterian Board Evangelical …..••••……… 22 Disciples ……………….. . of Foreign MissionR. Nazarene. ..••…•.••…….. 20 .l;;piscopal ………………. . 1 Albert Alexander Hyde, .founder Church of God •..•..•……… 15 Christian and Missionary Alliance 3 and chairman of the board of the Congregational ..•..••.•…… 37 Friends ………………… . 5 Mentholatum Company, and a very generous supporter of mission work in Holiness ………..•…•….. 14 Reformed ………………. . 4 many lands, died of heart disease at linion (Interdenominational) …. 72 Free en urch …………….. . his home in Wichita, Kansas, on Janu- 2 ary 10th. He was eighty-six years old. CllUrch of Christ …….••….. 11 Moravian •………………. 1 Mr. Hyde was born in Lee, Mass., These and all other churchcs organized following the work of our missionon March 2, 1848, the son of Alexan- aries were turned over to the church leaders of the various denominations der Hyde. indicated.
Mr. Hyde was widely known as a These figures indicate only a small measure of the direct assistance renphilanthropist, giving liberally to the um'ed to denominational churches. Each year, many of those who confess American Missions in China, and the Christ in our Sunday Schools, Daily Vacation Bible Schools, Evangelistic Omi Mission at Omi-Hachiman, Japan. }leetings and Young People's Bible Conferences, are led to active memuer- He was a member of the International ship in churches in ncar-by towns and cities. Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association, a trustee of Fair- '1'he most significant fact relative to the assistance we are rendering to the mount College, Wichita, and a warm regular denominations of the land is that we are performing a task in the friend and supporter of the REVIEW. otherwise unreached sections of America for which organized Christianity is responsible. In a very real sense, we are the representatives of the church at * * ;.i: large in our particular field of effort.
Mrs. Eleanor L. Cory Leiper, the 'vY0 are seeking in every ,Yay possible to administer this work in a manner wife of the Rev. Dr. Henry Smith tha t will meet with the approval of every well informed churchman. Our Leiper, died at her home in Leonia, chief concern is that we may have the "well done" of Him in whose Name N. J. on January 30th.. Mrs. Leiper and for whose glory we labor. was born in Englewood, N. J., fortyfour years ago. After having been The Department of Missions graduated from Smith College she AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION 1816 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Gospel For Moslems JAPAN—A
The walls of opposition are tumbling down OR A CHALLENGE in many Moslem centers, as the walls of Jericho fell in days of old before the ad- Dr. Charles W. Iglehart, who has been a missionary in Japan for twenty-five years, sees vance of God's army. Today the Gospel the problem presented to Asia and to Amer- ica. He also sees the challenge and the in Print is being used to break down preju- present opportunity. dice and to win Moslems to Christ. Will you accept the challenge and mdke You can help by sending a contribution use of the opportunity? to supply this Christian literature to som~ Send for copies of Dr. Iglehart's leaflet and of the millions of Moslems yet unreached. distribute them in your church, your club, your social circle. Dr. Iglehart draws a stir- Will you do it? Send your gift to ring picture—one to hold the attention dnd stir to Christian action. The American Christian Literature Society for Moslems An American layman was so stirred by this message that he provided for the publication 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK of a limited number of these leaflets—with WILLIAM I. CHAMBERLAIN, Ph.D., President the confident hope that you will help distrib- ROBERT E. SPEER, D.D., Vice-President ute them. (Special price, 50 cents a hundred.) SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, DD.D.D., .,5ls ecre t' JAMES M. CANTINE, (Send t() dries The Missionary Review of the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Acting Tred5urer Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa .
_- …. . . . . ~.. – – – – . . "-~'~-~" -~ -.-.-~~ AGENTS WANTED CUTS FOR SA~ !
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 udble for local or denominational papers. Vivid as our Agent in your church or pictures of life allover the world. community? You can advance the cause of Foreign Missions, American Highlands and at the same time can earn American Indians Africans···Heathen and Christian A Liberal Commission China···Old and New Japan and Korea • India's Idols and Christians Results in Moslem Lands Address···Circulation Manager Savages and Saints The Missionary Review of the World ., The Pacific Islanders Third and Reily Streets cf)end to Harrisburg, Pa. The Missionary Review of the World .__ . ____._ _.._.._ ……. __~_..____.. ___.J Third and Reily Streets Harrisburg, Pa .
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1935
1935
Robert Laws of Livingstonia D. R. Mackenzie Problems and Encouragements Robert E. Speer John R. Mott Robert P. Wilder Robert H. Glover Stephen J. Corey C. Darby Fulton A. C. Snead The Present Situation in Missions Julius Richter New Cooperative Advance at Home Charles E. Schaeffer When a Kurd Becomes a Christian Delavan L. Pierson Mrs. E. E. Olcott-An Appreciation Samuel M. Zwemer
to Remember Obituary Notes widow,Mary Wentworth McConaughy
January 2-4-Annual Meeting, For- The Rev. Henry C. Velte, D.D., two brothers, one of whom is Dr. eign Missions Conference, Garden missionary in India for the past fifty4 David McConaughy, expert on stew- City, N. Y. two years, died at Saharanpur on N0- ardship; by a sister, a daughter and vember 19th. He was a highly hon- January 6-12-Universal Wee k of ored missionary of the Presbyterian two sons, one of whom is Dr. James Prayer. Church, U. S. A., and for 20 years was at the head of Saharanpur Theo- McConaughy, President of Wesleyan January 7-ll-Annual Me e tin g s, logical Seminary. Five years ago he Home Missions Council and Council was elected Moderator of the United University, Middletown, Connecticut. of Women for Home Missions, Phil- Church of Northern India. The situa- adelphia, Pa. tion changed greatly during his mis- The Rev. Al*ber*t * Fulton, D.D., sionary career and Dr. Velte was born January 22-February 16-C 0 r nell in Wertheim, Germany, in 1857, and A. School for Missionaries, Cornell, was educated in Hopkinton, Iowa, and N.Y. McCormick and Princeton Theological for 42 years an honored miSSionary of Seminaries. He is survived by his FLORIDA CHAIN OF MISSIONARY wife Charlotte Haduth Velte and a the Presbyterian Board of Foreign ASSEMBLIES son, the Rev. F. Mowbray Velte, who is a missionary in India. Missions, died on December 10th in For further information, write to Miss B. Louise Woodbud, 930 23d *** Pasadena, California. Dr. Fulton was Ave. N, St. Petersburg, Fla. Mrs. Wallace J. Anderson, a mis- born in Ashland, Ohio, in 1849 and January 26-30-0rlando. sionary of the Presbyterian Church, January 27-30-Deland. died in Seoul, Korea, of peritonitis, after being graduated from Princeton January 30-February I-Palm on November 30th. Mrs. Anderson College and Seminary, was appointed (nee Lillian E. Beede) was born in a missionary to Canton, China, in Beaches. Charleston, Nebraska, and was edu- February 2-7-Miami. cated at Occidental College and the 1879. He was preeminently a pioneer February 7-S-Bradenton. University of California. She went February 7-S-Fort Myers. to Korea as a missionary in 1917 and missionary, est a b lis h i n g many February 9-1S-St. Petersburg. was engaged in educational work in February 10-13-Clearwater. the Girls' Academy and Bible Insti- churches and preaching halls in South February 13-1S-Tampa. tute, Seoul. She is survived by her February 17-19-Lakeland. husband and two young daughters. China. When he went to China there February 17-19-Winter Haven. was strong opposition to Christianity February 19-21-Gainesville. *** and almost no railroads, electricity or February 23-26-Jacksonville. other modern improvements. The Dr. David S. Oyler, former mis- Presbyterian Church is almost the II If you use sionary of the United Presbyterian only agency to carry the Gospel to Church in the Egyptian Sudan, died 8,000,000 people of Kwangtung Prov- PRINTING in Monmouth, Illinois, November 19th. ince. Dr. Fulton was honorably re- Dr. Oyler was born in Nortonville, tired in 1922 and returned to America. Y OU will profit from an ac- Kentucky, January 11, 1881, and after quaintanceship with us. We graduation from Sterling College and Mary Halse* Gr*igg*, wife of Rev. do the job complete in our own Xenia Theological Seminary, Ohio, plant, whether it be large or went to the Sudan in 1910. After Ernest Grigg of Burma, died October small. seventeen years of service in Dolieb 15, 1934, after more than 40 years of Hill, he was obliged to return to service in that country under the Bap- While our specialty is Books, America for health reasons and be- tist Foreign Mission Society. Her Magazines and Pamphlets, yet came pastor of the United Presby- work was carried on among Chins, we have a variety of modern terian Church at Cutler, Ill. He is Chinese, Indians and Shans. equipment to meet all the re- survived by his wife, the former Lil- quirements of your particular lian Picken, and four children. *** job. You will find our service prompt, careful and courteous. *** The Rev. and Mrs. John C. Stam, Will you allow us to estimate Rev. James E. East, D.D., formerly American missionaries under the on your next printing? We be- a Negro missionary to Africa from lieve you will be delighted with the National Baptist Church of Amer- China Inland Mission, and their 10- our product, price and service. ica, died in Philadelphia last October. J ames East was born in Alabama, weeks-old daughter, were captured on The EVANGELICAL PRESS fifty-three years ago and in 1906 December 10th by Communist bandits went to South Africa, and was sta- in Southern Anhwei Province, China. Printers of tioned at Ganda, Middlerift, where he The Missionary Review of the World did notable work among the Bantu, Mr. and Mrs. Stam were murdered helping to found over forty native but the baby was allowed to live and PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE Farmer's Associations and coopera- was restored to her grandparents. Third and Reily Sireet. Hlrrlsburg, PI. tive banks. Then Dr. East was called back to America to become secretary Mr. Stam was 27 years old and was of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, with the son of Rev. Peter Stam, pastor headquarters in Philadelphia. of Star of Hope Mission, Paterson, Dr. James M*cC*ona*ughy. of Phila- N. J. Mrs. Stam was a daughter of delphia, for some years secretary of the Rev. and Mrs. Charles E. Scott, the American Sunday School Union, American Presbyterian missionaries died in his home in Germantown, Pa., on December 6th at the age of seventy- at Tsinan, Shantung, China. seven. Dr. McConaughy was for- merly a teacher of Bible in Mount Her- Mr. Peter Stam and family, in a mon School for Boys and did a notable work as Bible teacher, author, editor telegram to the C. 1. M., give clear and executive. He is survived by his testimony to the victorious spirit in which they received the heart-rending news: "Sacrifice great but not too great for Him who gave Himself for us. Experiencing God's grace. Ro- mans 8: 28." (Concluded on 3d cover.) Sunday School Supplies J'ouoo:, spliiltml ~i1osofk WI'IlJ,JUI'-I"''' I-fIotirlIe/rInII6ktlHiM!tngifnIeflrIsiHMIss
MISSIONARY look well on any library table in the post-war experience. Recently
REVIEW OF THE WORLD country." WILLIS CHURCH LAMOTT. has been a good deal of building and I am not certain that 'eight in a room' DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor Tokyo, Japan. would still stand true."
VOL. LVIII JAN., 1935 No.1 *** "As to my own expense fund, I re- ceive $5.00 a month while I am at Publication and Business Office "Each issue of THE REVIEW brings K. H., and it should be added that my Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. a vast amount of very helpful infor- travel in England, postage, phone ma.tion, and I have been enjoying to calls and medical attention are pro- Editorial and Executive Office the fullest extent this splendid mag- vided free, so that I am well cared for. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City azine." REV. MERLE ApPELGATE. My own annuity fund is operated Entered as second-class matter at solely by the working people of the Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act Christian Church, Los Angeles, locality and provides 'home helps" for of March 3, 1879. California. families where a crisis leaves the 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. mother in need of help." Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. "The October*RE*VIEW* , with its chal- Published monthly, except August. Personal Items All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1934. lenging and informing array of ar- British agents, Marshall, Morgan ticles on Japan, surely ought to be a The Rev. Alex. Harsanyi, Pastor of and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, valuable number for supplementary the Hungarian Presbyterian congrega- London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, use in the foreign missions study pro- tion of Yonkers, N. Y., a descendant 10 shillings a year. jected for the current year." of a Hungarian Protestant martyr family, was honored and feted re- MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB· WILLIAM B. LIPPHARD, cently by his people and his American Editor of "Missions," New York. friends at the fortieth anniversary of LISHING CO., INC. his ordination to the ministry. As TWO CORRECTIONS organizer of a number of Hungarian BOARD OF DIRECTORS congregations, as author, editor, and RoBERT E. SPEE'R, President Dr. E. W. Koons, of Korea, calls at- pastor he has rendered great services WM. I. CHAMBERLAIN, Vloe-Presldent tention to an error in the September to the cause of Christ among his coun- WALTER MCDOUGALL, Treasurer REVIEW (page 395) where the title to trymen. Mr. Harsanyi is Nestor of DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Seoretary the picture of the "public notice the Hungarian Protestant ministers SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT against foreigners" should be cor- of this country. MRS. BO.RRLIlNPPHRA. RJUDDD rected to read: WM. *** "This tablet containing public no- ERIC M. NORTH tice warning Koreans against for- Martin L. Harvey, a young Negro MILTON T. STAUFFER eigners was made in 1866 and was set of Hempstead, L. I., has been elected up by the Tai-wun-Kun in the center president of the Christian Youth A. L. W ARNSHUIS of Seoul in 1871. The translation by Council of North America. He is the SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Dr. L. G. Paik, reads: When foreign first of his race to fill that position. barbarians invade the country we Editorial Chat neither wage war nor make peace *** with them. We warn our descendants Have you recommended THE REVIEW for 10,000 years." Dr. Frank C. Laubach expects to to your pastor and friends as an up- visit India some time after March, to-date and delightful way to keep in *. * * 1935, to demonstrate his method of touch with the progress of the work teaching which has been so successful of Christ throughout the world? Some Miss Muriel Lester, of London, in reducing illiteracy in the Philipof your friends would appreciate a writes that there are some slight in- pines. gift subscription and their interest in accuracies in the article on "Voluntary missions would be stimulated. Poverty in Action" which appeared in *** our November number. Miss Lester Here are the recent comments of says: "It was my grandfather, not Samuel Coles, agricultural missionsome of our readers: my father, who went to work as a ary at Galangue, West Africa, under bricklayer at the tender age of 8, the American Board for twelve years, "A friend of mine expressed the con- when his father had been press has been loaned for a period of three viction that if all the magazines in the ganged to fight in the Napoleonic years to the Booker T. Washington country would follow your step in de- wars. Again, overcrowding in the Institute of Katata, Liberia, to supervoting an issue to the cause of Chris- East End of London was much worse vise their building program. He is tian missions among other races, the than 'eight in a single room' in my very enthusiastic over the possibilities problem of racial understanding would in this new field. not be such a difficult one. I agree USED CUTS with him." – Jose G. Deseo, Pastor- *** Director, Filipino House of Friend- Plates and half tone illusship, Stockton, Calif. S. Franklin Mack, Publicity Direc- trations used in THE tor for the Presbyterian Board of * * *. Foreign Missions, is now engaged in MISSIONARY REVIEW making a three-months' tour of Latin "We appreciate the service rendered American countries to take motion through THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF during the past two years pictures and secure other publicity THE WORLD, and are trying to pro- material. The itinerary calls for a mote its circulation." for sale from 25 cents up, visit to Peru, Chile, Argentine, Brazil, Venezuela, Guatemala and Mexico. MRS. S. L. V. TIMMONS. plus postage. The material secured will be widely Director of Educational Dept., used in connection with the mission The Missionary Review study of Latin America, projected for Women's Work, Presbyterian 1935-36. Church, U. S. of the World *** *** THIRD AND REILY STREETS HARRISBURG, PA. Dr. Robert P. Wilder. formerly "The material in the June issue is General Secretary of the Student Volan excellent exposition of American [1 ] unteer Movement and later Secretary Oriental life and I hope the magazine of the Christian Council of Northern will receive wide circulation." Africa and Western Asia, is now in America but plans to go to England GRANT K. LEWIS; Secretary, United Christian Mis- (Concluded on 3d cover.) sionary Society.
*** "Let me congratulate you on the Japan number of THE REVIEW. It covers the field so thoroughly that I am wondering what else mission study classes will have to study! I like the make up of THE REVIEW. It would
FOR PRACTICAL INDUSTRIAL TRAINING IN LIVINGSTONIA
A GThOUP OF AFRICAN PASTORS PREPARElD TO EVANGELIZE THEIR OWN PEOPLE TRAINING CHRISTIANS IN LIVINGSTONIA, CENTRAL AFRICA REVIB ORLD VOLUME LVIII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER ONE JANUARY, 1935 Topics of the Times BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR the direction and help of Almighty God and by A man's character is largely indicated by the men and women filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. way he closed the old and begins the New Year. It is fitting then that again, at the first of the While New Year's Eve an'd New Year's Day are year, Christians be called together to observe the "Universal Week of Prayer" (January 6 to 13). widely and variously observed all over the world, This custom was organized by the Evangelical Alli- ance nearly ninety years ago (in 1846) and has some observe them by hilarity, drinking intoxi- been observed annually ever since, not only in America and Europe but now all over the world. cants, by feasts and ente~tainments; others ex- Great things are accomplished through prayer, not only subjectively in those who pray but objectively change friendly greetings, or join in Christian by the working of the Spirit of God to bring har- mony to the "good and acceptable and perfect Will Watchnight services with prayer and song. It is of God."
a time to take account of stock; to settle old debts This year preachers everywhere are asked to co- operate by preaching and leading prayer groups on and complete unfinished tasks; to prepare for new the following topics so that a world-wide circle of joint thinking and prayer may unite Christians undertakings and seek fresh visions for larger everywhere. The world situation at home and abroad calls for this more than ever. There are service. To some the New Year season is one of grave dangers that face church and home and State, but there are also reasons for good cheer and waste and frivolity, while to others it is a time of encouragement. The following are the main topics suggested: sobering thought, prayer and preparation for a new advance.
The old year is gone-irrevocably-and we can- not undo the mistakes we have made or all the harm that has been done. There has been waste and folly; gossip and unfriendly criticisms' self- ishness and greed; thefts, murders, oatdhuerltsemriaes~ blasphemies and other sins. We and suffer because of the mistakes and follies of the past but we can learn valuable lessons from them if we will. With the New Year come new oppor- tunities to learn, to grow, and'to achieve what is Sunday, January 6, 1935. TOPICS FOR SERMONS: worth while. There are new opportunities to pro- Trust in God-John 14: 1; Mark 11: 22, 24; 1 Tim. m?te peace on earth in place of war; to do away WIth race and class prejudice; to develop and ap- 4: 1~ . ply the principles of economic and social justice in place of unfair rivalry and oppression; to estab- Fellowship with Christ and Other Disciples-1 John 1: 3, lish honest politics and the true and equal observance ?~ laws, in place of political chicancery and 7; John 17: 21.
Service of Man in the Name of Christ-Mat. 25: 40; Mat. 28: 19-20; Mat. 24: 14.
Hope and Its Basis-Acts 26: 6; Rom. 8: 18-25; 1 Thess. 1: 3, 9-10.
favorItIsm; to promote education that develops Monday, January 7. NEED FOR REPENTANCE.
character rather than a system of fads and un- Thanksgiving for God's loving provision for all human tried theories; to express religion in deeds not need; that Christ finished the work of man's redempmerely in· words; to furnish the money and life tion and committed to us its proclamation to all men. needed to give the Gospel of Christ to all men without rivalry or prejudice, rather than spend money Confession for our failure to respond to human need' a,nd effort on luxurious church equipment and for our selfishness, pride, indolence, and lack of faith, rItual at home. Here are achievements worthy of for our hardness of our heart that hinders true reour best effort-but they can only be attained by pentance.
Prayer that God may open men's eyes and soften their hearts, bringing repentance and forgiveness. That [8]
the burden of the need of others may be felt by His from the outcastes and primitive peoples of India, children everywhere. Africa and other lands; for a revived interest among Christian statesmen in the cause of minorities. Scripture Readings-Rom. 3: 1-26; Gal. 5: 1-26; Ps.51. Confession of the growth of anti-Semitism in many na- Tuesday, January 8. THE CHURCH AND NEED FOR FAITH. tions; of the slow response to the needs of oppressed and persecuted peoples. Thanksgiving for the Church which includes peoples of every nation; for increasing opportunity and power Prayer for a keener sensitiveness to the needs of the to witness; for evidence that the GQspel is the power oppressed and helpless; for a fresh vision of Christ, of God unto salvation. who, without respect of persons, welcomes men and women of every class and nation. Confession of lack of faith and enterprise in completing the world-wide work; for lack of humility and for Scripture Readings-Rom. 11; 1 Cor. 1: 18-31; Rev. 7: failure to interpret truly Christ's spirit and message. 9-17.
Prayer for a new vision of our spiritual resources in Sunday, January 13. SPECIAL SERMONS ON CHRISTIAN Christ; for a deeper faith in God's power to establish UNITY, WITH C,QMMUNION. "That they all may be one His Kingdom through faith and obedience; for a vital …… that the world may believe that Thou hast sent spiritual quickening of the Church today. Me." John 17: 21.
Scripture Readings-Acts 2: 1-21; Mat. 16: 13-28; Col. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE SPIRIT* 1; John 17: 9. An interdenominational fellowship of Chris- Wednesday, January 9. THE NATION'S NEED FOR FELLOW- tians has been formed to unite those who seek a spiritual reinvigoration of the Church, with new SHIP. power and enthusiasm; along Apostolic lines. It is similar to the First Century Christian Fellow- Thanksgiving for forces which restrain men's selfish am- ship – or Oxford Group Movement -with em- bitions; for all that nations have to give one another. phasis on Gospel witness, soul-winning, regenera- tion and enduement with power of the Holy Spirit. Confession of national self-seeking, suspicion, and jeal- ousy; of intolerance and suppression of freedom of Dr. William Carter, the Chairman, issues a speech and conscience. challenge to the churches to awake in these days of adversity. He says in substance: Prayer for a new sense of the nature and possibilities of fellowship; for wise leaders in national and inter- Times of prosperity affect us adversely just as much as national affairs. That each nation may contribute its times of adversity. Speaking of the rich, Job says: "They peculiar gifts to build up the Kingdom of God. spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; Scripture Readings-Rom. 12; Isa. 2; Isa. 52; Micah for we desire not the knowledge of thy way. What is the 4; Rev. 21: 1-7, 23-27. Almighty that we should serve him?"
Thursday, January 10. WORLD EVANGELIZATION. Times of adversity come and wealth is swept away; affluence becomes indigence; assurance becomes despair. Thanksgiving for a world-wide awakening to the pri- Then it is that some "Job's Comforter" comes crying: mary need of evangelism in Christian service; for na- "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and tional leaders who are calling their fellow-countrymen die!" Many do both! The whole trouble with the Church to widespread evangelism; for the growth of self- is that we have joined altogether too much with the world support and of extension among native churches. instead of trying to win the world to Christ.
Confession of the narrow outlook of many Christians; Thank God, the material and physical crises cause some of the lack of sensitiveness to the need of the millions to turn to God, and these become the leaders not of a for- who have not yet heard the Gospel; of our reliance on lorn hope, but of a victorious advance. When Pentecost human resources rather than on the power of the had fully come, Peter turned from his cursing and denials Holy Spirit. of his Lord; James and John turned from their seeking for preferment; Thomas turned from his doubting to un- Prayer for a realization that every Christian is called alterable faith and love for his Lord and Master and all to be a missionary everywhere and at all times; for commenced, boldly, to preach the unsearchable riches of the realization that Christ and His Church can meet Jesus Christ their Lord. The cult of cowardice was the spiritual needs of this generation. changed into the cult of courage. These men crossed the seas, braved martyrdom and still preached, even to their Scripture Readings-Mark 16; Isa. 61; Acts 1: 1-11. jailors and persecutors, the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ, their crucified Redeemer. Friday, January 11. YOUTH MOVEMENTS. No class, no condition, no age is kept from the blessing Thanksgiving for Christian homes, Sunday Schools, and if they watch and pray earnestly for it. Every day may all movements for the spiritual welfare of youth; for be a Pentecost to those fulfilling the conditions. Are we the new earnestness among the youth. looking for Pentecost? Do we want the same blessing? The godly Joseph Neeshima, of Japan, in a time of great Confession of failure to give youth a larger place in Christian enterprise; of neglect of the family as the • The chairman Is Dr. William Carter, a Presbyterian clergyman, chief means of Christian training. formerly of Brooklyn, New York; the secretary Is the Rev. Frank E. Simmons, of Brooklyn, New York, and other members of the gen- Prayer that the youth of this generation may surrender eral committee Include William A. Harbison, Hugh R. Monro, Dr. to God in Christ; that teachers of youth may utilize Don O. Shelton, Dr. Will H. Houghton, President of Moody Bible their opportunities and realize their responsibilities; Institute, and Rev. Daniel A. Poling, President of the World's So- that the enthusiasms of youth may be directed into Ciety of Christian Endeavor. The headquarters are 1421 Madison right channels. Ave., New York.
SC'npture Readings-1 Sam 3; Joel 2: 18-32; 1 John 2: 1-17.
Saturday, January 12. RESPONSIBILITY TO THE JEWS AND TO OUTCASTE AND PRIMITIVE PEOPLES.
Thanksgiving for the increasing response to the call of Christ among Jews; for large accession to the Church
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
stress said to his Christian followers: "Brethren we must This evangelical movement among Italians was advance, but we must advance on our knees." This is a great need of the Church today-to pray. To be effective, not the product of the missionary societies, but prayer must be personal, importunate ….. . came rather from the faith and passion of two The Church is needing another Pentecost. The President, his helpers, governors, mayors, and leaders in gen- Italians converted through American friends. A eral, are urging people to strive to solve these present national and international difficulties by moral and spir- little more than fifty years ago Antonio Arrighi itual means. The phrase most upon their lips is: "The Life more abundant," which means, in ecclesiastical terms, began his work on the lower east side of New the life that is hid with Christ in God. Evangeline Booth in her farewell address urged the nations, that had tried York which has continued in the far reaching everything else in their depression and anxiety, to "Try religion!" The Presbyterians of New York have inaugu- ministry of the Broome Street Tabernacle. Later rated a "Spiritual Crusade" and a "Covenant of Reconsecration." All of these are signs of what is expected of Michele Nardi, a talented young Italian padrone the Church and that the Church is getting a larger view of its duty to the perishing souls of men. in a mining camp, was given a New Testament The Fellowship of the Spirit stands for: (1) A recog- which so gripped him that he gave up his mining nition of the Lordship of the Holy Spirit in lives and hearts of men; (2) A whole Bible as the Word of God; and began the life of a missionary lay preacher. (3) A place for prayer in daily life; (4) A witness for God to others who need Him; (5) Individual sacrificial Italian churches in Pittsburgh, Chicago, New service to save the individual, the nation and the world, from itself, to God. A practical experience of these things York and other important cities trace their origin will revitalize the Church, stabilize society and change the world. to Nardi's flaming evangel. A report made to the This movement is only one of many that reveal Presbytery of New York in 1907 shows his influa hunger in men's hearts today and a sense of need for God and what He alone can supply. It ence by the following report: "During the past is evident not only in America and England but on the continent of Europe and in many parts of year two new Italian missions have been estab- India, China, Africa and other lands. But it is still a very difficult thing for human nature to lished and have been blessed with almost phenommake full surrender and then to follow the Way as revealed by the Spirit of God. enal results. The one in East 106th Street in the EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT AMONG colony known as Little Italy, with the noted evan- ITALIANS gelist, Mr. Nardi, in charge. He labors without compensation. From the first the room which accommodates only 114 has been crowded to over- flowing." Later, the city mission and denomina- tional home missionary societies gave their sup- port to the movement. Christian mission work of a very distinctive sort will be required for many years in the more congested and poorer Italian colonies. The continued need of these people de- mand the continuing interest of the missionary societies, but the responsibility for the conduct of the churches and for the direction of the work must reside in the Italian language churches and their leadership. W. P. SHRIVER.
A national interdenominational conference, SHALL WE ABANDON MEXICO?* which may well mark a new epoch in the evan- gelical movement among Italians in America, was Recent events in Mexico have prompted some held in New York, the first and second days of to question the worthwhileness of carrying the November, at the suggestion of the Italian Evan- Gospel to a people who are promoting education gelical Ministers Association. The conference was along nationalistic lines and seem to want no reconvened under the auspices of the Home Mis- ligion at all. When the liberal Constitution of sions Council and Council of Women for Home 1857 was adopted by Mexico and the Reform Missions, and began with a fellowship dinner, Laws promulgated, a section of the Mexican peowith over four hundred present, to celebrate the ple availed themselves of the privilege of religious contribution of Italian life to America. The ad- liberty and formed an independent evangelical dress was given by the Hon. Eduard Corsi, Di- church. When the Constitution of 1917 was rector of the Department of Public Welfare of adopted, all the provisions of the Juarez Constitu- New York. A united service of the fifty Italian tion were embodied. Church property was nacongregations of greater New York later brought tionalized and religion became a matter of govtogether an audience of nearly two thousand ernmental regulation. Moreover in Article 130 which filled the auditorium of the Fifth Avenue of the Constitution each State was given the right Presbyterian Church-a most unusual gathering. to decide how many clergy are to officiate within A fine spirit of unity prevailed throughout the its borders. Very little effort was made to enconference and the Home Missions Council was force these severe provisions during the years of asked to create a permanent committee to foster continuing cooperation in evangelical work among • Extracts from a statement prepared by the Rt. Rev. Frank W. Creighton, who was Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Mexico from the four and a half million Italians in America. 1926 to 1933.
reconstruction following the active period of the King Dormitory and Gymnasium were destroyed; Revolution. In fact not until 1927 was there any Junka Hall and the Dining Hall were badly dam- enforcement act passed by Congress. aged and other buildings suffered severely. The In spite of difficulties, evangelical Christians in total damage is estimated at Yen 123,578 but for- Mexico are doing an effective and helpful piece of tunately there was no loss of life.
work and are growing stronger in numbers and The Doshisha was started in 1875 with eight in zeal. Two articles of the Constitution of Mex- students. Today it has a total enrollment of 4,456 ico, as well as parts of others, deal with the ques- students (1,184 girls and 3,272 boys), 302 protion of religion. One of those articles grants en- fessors and instructors, with 12,591 alumni. The tire religious freedom under the law and one sec- Doshisha now consists of a Girls' Academy, Boys' tion of the Department of Interior is charged with Middle School, Woman's College, Semmon Gakko the duty of religious administration. Mexico is (a professional school of junior college grade), still very much concerned about religion, but is College of Commerce, Preparatory College, and very insistent as to the kind of religion to be University. It has always maintained the Christaught and how it shall be practiced. Mexico's tian principles of its founder, "for the advanceis a one-party government and any opposition is ment of Christianity, and the furtherance of eduanti-government agitation. When the Roman cation, to train men of living power for the serv- Catholic Church finds itself opposed to practically ice of true freedom and their country." every ideal of the Revolution and says so, the issue becomes clear. Protestants are not antagonistic The typhoon is also said to have greatly affected to the Government but suffer because of the con- Japan's political currents so as to force their actinuous strife. But the followers of Christ can- tivities into new channels to repair the damages. not either run away from difficulties or abandon An extraordinary session of the Diet was called the field because difficulties are acute. Such a sit- to meet the demands of the situation. The rice uation tries our mettle and steels us to go on. crop has been very seriously damaged and imme- Mexican Christians need our prayers and our sup- diate relief was required. The silk industry, on port as they go forward to make the living Christ the other hand, has been suffering from over-proreign in Mexico. We must respond to the crying duction, due to lack of foreign demand. This sit- uation and the need for relief have called for a need for the Gospel. decrease, rather than an increase, in appropria- The editor of World Dominion says: tions for the army and navy.
Mexico is making gigantic efforts to build up an original, THE FEDERAL COUNCIL LOOKS AHEAD genuine and national culture embracing all aspects of human life, without trying to copy or to be dependent upon The annual meeting of the Federal Council of other cultures and countries. The Indians are sharing the Churches of Christ in America was held in Dayresponsibilities of government. ton, Ohio, December 2d to 7th. Dr. Ivan Lee Holt, pastor of St. John's Methodist Episcopal Mexico is emphasizing, more than any other country in Church, South, of St. Louis, was elected president Latin America, the need of a school which will be coherent to succeed Dr. Arthur W. Beaven of Rochester. from the very beginning with the whole life of the Mexican The new vice-president is Dr. George W. Richnation, basing it more on life than on theories, more on ards, President of the Theological Seminary of the doing than on learning, and adapting itself to the daily Reformed Church in the United States, at Lanlife of the average Mexican-particularly the Indianmaking the schools, the text and the teaching to promote more a better life than general knowledge.
EFFECTS OF THE TYPHOON IN JAPAN caster, Pa.
The most terrific typhoon ever experienced in As in many other groups, the need for evan- Japan in modern times swept over the Osaka- gelism-the personal salvation of men through Kyoto district last September and destroyed or the Gospel of Christ-was emphasized, rather damaged many mission schools and churches in than the need for new methods of social service Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and elsewhere. Approxi- and more money for education. A national mismately 3,000 people were killed and 14,000 in- sion to reach the "unchurched" was proposed, with jured. Eighty thousand houses were demolished, daily open-air evangelistic meetings in as many 350,000 were flooded, and 300 primary and sec- cities of the United States as is possible. Plans are ondary schools collapsed. Of 60,000 factories in being made for a ten-weeks' tour of twenty-five the Osaka district, 22,000 are reported damaged metropolitan -centers, with a team of some ten or or destroyed, causing merchants, artisans and twelve speakers. peasants to call for relief. The Federal Council stood strongly against One of the Christian institutions which severely traffic in alcoholic drink and in favor of all efforts suffered is the Doshisha University, Kyoto, to promote social and economic justice and interfounded by Joseph Hardy Neesima in 1875. The national peace and goodwill.
A VILLAGE ON THE SHORE OF LAKE NYASA – MT. WALLER IN THE
Robert Laws of Livingstonia By the REV. D. R. MACKENZIE, Edinburgh, Scotland IF ONE had to put into a single word his im- years, it is justly regarded as an outstanding ex- pression of Dr. Robert Laws, the first impulse ample of Christian progress in a heathen land. would be to say "massive." He was like a great block of Aberdeen granite, firmly rooted in the Pioneering soil congenial to his soul-the soil of the Kingdom of God. But "massive" after all means little; and David Livingstone died at Ilala in 1873. While Laws meant much over a wide area of human life the great traveler was pursuin,i his epoch-making in Central Africa. He did more for that great discoveries, his almost equally great spiritual sucland than any other man, of whatever rank or cessor was preparing himself for the task soon to occupation. He was a man of wide vision and far be placed in his hands. This was the task of givseeing wisdom; of purposes firmly held in the ing continuity to the work and shape to the asface of difficulties and opposition; of unfailing pirations of the Blantyre lad who had become the skill in the use of whatever materials lay to his world's hero. hand; and of sagacious adaptability in entering doors which either stood open or which, more fre- Robert Laws was born in Aberdeen in 1851 and quently, he was the means of opening. Add to this began to work as an apprentice in his father's a staunch courage, often called upon in those days shop, learning cabinet-making; but he was nursof the beginnings of his work, and always equal ing in his soul higher ambitions. Through the to every emergency. Equally massive are his difficulties and hardships which many another achievements. The Livingstonia Mission, under Scottish lad has overcome, he finally emerged, a his wise guidance, moved from one great success fully qualified physician and minister, a carpenter, to another until today, after a history of sixty with some knowledge of building, and a general handiness that never lost its skill in all the half century he was to spend in Africa. When the [7]
news came that Livingstone had died, Laws was guage had to be learned, houses and other buildready; and prosperous Christian men in the great ings to be erected, communication with the outer cities of Scotland formed a committee and estab- world to be maintained, and the health of the staff lished the Livingstonia Mission, now famous all cared for. It was a task for strong men, and over the Christian world. strong men had it in hand.
One watches in imagination a band of young Lengthened Cords and Strengthened Stakes Scotsmen, with Laws as one of their leaders, start out on the twelfth of October, 1875, to make their The tribes around Lake Nyasa shared to the toilsome way into the heart of Africa. Up the full the superstitions and beliefs of the Bantu great Zambesi River, with its age-long romance, peoples to whom they belonged. Witchcraft spread its baneful influence. The poison ordeal weeded out the enemies of the witch-doctor and the chief. The, spirits of the dead, always of- fended, were believed to send disease and death. Dangers lurked everywhere; for lions and leop- ards, controlled by evil men whose power was never doubted, sought the enemies of those who hired them, and killed or mauled them. Hunters went to the forest, and fishers to the river, guarded and reinforced by charms and magic medicines. Sickness was rampant and knowledge small of how to deal with it. To all this add the horrors of the slave trade, "the open sore of Cen- tral Africa," and inter-tribal warfare with its WHERE MARRIED APPRRiNTICES LIVE IN LIVINGSTONIA INSTITUTE they traveled into the hitherto little known Shire, A PARTLY COMPLETED NATIVE-BUILT CHAPEL its huge tributary. At last, in their tiny steamer, the "Ilala," rebuilt after passing the Muchison terrible toll of human lives and you have the ma- Rapids, they sailed out into the mighty waters of terials for a picture of what Laws and his com- Lake Nyasa, Livingstone's proudest discovery. panions were facing. And one listens, still in imagination, as these young men fling their challenge to the winds of a They faced it with a message of the Love of continent: "All people that on earth do dwell, God, and with a Book in which that story was sing to the Lord, with cheerful voice." Was it a told; but it first had to be translated into the lanchallenge, or was it merely a glad recognition that guage of the people. at last the end of their long journey was in sight? The winds carried the words three hundred and The first five years at Cape Maclear were years sixty miles up the Lake; then over hill and plain of toil and death. It was evident that if real progto what is now Northern Rhodesia; far out east ress was to be made a change must come. In and west to Zanzibar and the mouth of the Con- 1881 the headquarters were moved up the Lake to go; and in all that vast region there was none to Bandawe, in the land of the Tonga people. From join in the song, and none to whom the words, that time the development was rapid. Schools even had they been understood, would have con- were opened and teachers trained; men were veyed any real meaning. taken into the carpenter's shop for instruction; At Cape Maclear, famous as the first station of the Mission, the party settled down to work. Slowly the years passed; men came and went; or they came and stayed until death claimed them, and there they lie, witnesses to the compelling power of Christ, and to the strange tenacity of His servants in every land and every age.
Laws made voyages of discovery in the little "Ilala"; he undertook long overland journeys, establishing contacts with leading chiefs up and down the lake shore. An utterly unfamiliar lan-
ROBERT LAWS OF LIVINGSTONIA
others were taught bricklaying, printing, book tions were formed, with Kirk sessions and minbinding, and agriculture. The whole region was isters and evangelists, and schools were spread explored, and Dr. Laws, in such intervals as he all over the land. The Livingstonia Mission could command, took up his great task of trans- reached out into Northern Rhodesia at Ilala, at lating the· New Testament, preparing school Lubwa, and at Mwenzo; the people thronged to books, a grammar of the language, and dictionary the schools, eager to seize every opportunity for the use of new members of the mission who placed before them. were now coming to his aid. Under the direction of the Rev. A. G. MacAlpine a great mother The mind of the African race was being slowly church was built up, slowly other congregations reformed by many methods. Into the now safe were formed and other stations were opened world they went far from their home to work in throughout the land. Teachers, doctors and nurses the gold mines of Rhodesia, the copper mines of were sent out from Scotland and the Mission The Belgian Congo, and to other enterprises as was fully established.
Reforming the Africans But trouble arose. The wild and warlike Angoni, an offshoot of the fierce Zulus of South Africa, swept down from their high- land plateau and harried the unhappy Tonga people, burning villages, killing the men, and carrying off the women and children. Robert Laws went up into their country where he met the great warrior chief, Mombera, and the two strong men formed a friendship which was never broken. As a result of this conference Dr. Elmslie went to Ngoniland, and, after adventures that would have satis- fied a Knight of the Round Table, he won over the people and Christian progress was assured.
Meanwhile other events were happening.
Laws had long foreseen that the British Gov- ernment must take control of the country and, after a preliminary blunt refusal by Lord Salisbury, this was done in 1889. A great impulse was thus given to the forces of progress; peace was assured; the postal service united the country from end to end; roads everywhere began to be made; magis- trates administered the law, and numerous ancient feuds died out. Other missions were coming in. The Church of Scotland had long had its headquarters at Blantyre; the Church of England Mission established itself on Likoma Island; while the Dutch Reformed Oopyright-MoUat, Edinburgh. ROBERT LAWS OF LIVINGSTONIA Church of South Africa was working in the southern parts of Nyasaland. The Roman Church far as Zanzibar, and Durban. The homecoming also took up work, as well as the Baptists, and of these far traveled individuals brought new others. ideas to the villages, with new clothes, new ameni- The transformation of Africa was proceeding ties of civilization, new sources of wealth.
apace; and Laws, now a recognized authority in All this brought fresh problems to the mission- all matters concerned with mission work, was the aries, but Laws and his colleagues were equal to guide and counsellor of all. His advice was sought the demands made upon them, though often at by government, as well as by the heads of the new great cost to themselves in loss of health, and industries with which the country was being de- occasionally in loss of life. The problems of suc- veloped. Most important of all, the native Church cess took the place of those of failure. The great was growing with amazing rapidity. Congrega- crowds attending church and school had to be or-
ganized and shepherded. In 1894 it was decided In 1908 the Scottish Presbyterian Church be- that a central institution for training and educa- stowed on Dr. Laws, now grown famous, the high- tion must be established, and as a result the Ov- est honor in its power: he was summoned home ertoun Institution was founded, with Dr. Laws as to fill the Moderator's chair of the General As- principal. The Home Committee responded with sembly of the United Free Church. Already uni- funds and men and, as the years passed, this great versities had conferred degrees upon him, D.D., institution came to be regarded as the most im- M.D., LL.D.; the Government bestowed upon him portant educational work between the Zambesi the C.M.G. (Companion of the Order of St.
and the Congo. Students flocked from far and Michael and St. George); The Africa Society near, all keen to seize the unique opportunity pre- gave him the African Medal, which so very few sented to them. The Overtoun Institution trains have received. In the United States, which he teachers, ministers, evangelists, doctors, as well visited more than once during his furloughs, he as carpenters, bricklayers, book printers and bind- made many friends and highly esteemed support- ers, agriculturists, engineers, tailors. Today one ers. There were few to dispute with him the title, can see there, as now elsewhere in Central Africa, from which he himself would have shrunk, of the the sons of men who knew of no implement but greatest living missionary; for the Livingstonia the hoe and the spear, controlling complicated Mission was now, under his inspiring leadership machinery at the mines, on the river steamers, one of the greatest epics of the Church of Christ.
and in motor cars; the fathers knew nothing but But the years took their toll. In 1927 he was war; the sons preach the Gospel. The fathers asked by the Mission Council to meet the Gover- heard the drums beat for vile dances, the sons nor of Nyasaland, along with other leaders, to hear them summoning the people to worship God. discuss the question of Government assistance to An Independent, United Church education which had become of first rate impor- tance. But his health suddenly failed and he The story now runs with great rapidity. The sailed for home where he underwent a severe operchurches of the Presbyterian Missions, Scottish ation. He lingered on, still vigorous, and taking and Dutch, combined their presbyteries to form an active share in the concerns so dear to him, one United Synod of the Church of Central Africa until August, 1934, when he passed to his reward. Presbyterian. The natives wholly supply the funds of this church and draw nothing from Great Brit- Mrs. Laws was the great wife of a great man. She was great in herself; a great linguist; a great hymn writer, whose hymns nourished for a generation the native Church which· her hus- band did so much to establish. Indeed her history is so much the history of her husband, that it is difficult to think of any activity of his in which she was not his efficient and loving helper. She was, too, a woman of wit and wisdom, ready at repartee, a famous housekeeper and hostess, and the willing friend of all her husband's colleagues.
Men are great, not merely in virtue of the great -deeds they did in their own proper persons, but they are great because others have contributed to that greatness. Livingstone had his Laws; and Laws had his great lieutenants: Elmslie and Stuart who brought in the wild Angoni; Mac- Alpine, who built up the great Mother Church at Bandawe; Fraser, beloved at home and abroad; MacMinn, whose linguistic work is bringing fame to .Livingstonia; Chisholm and Moffat, who A CiHll:Ral-IS~T-IA-lN-FA-M-I-L-Y-I;N;"-L.;:aIo"V".I:oN:;;G:;;.;s'-TO-N-I-A—…&. brought in the tribes of the north and west. The history of the Livingstonia Mission will never be ain. There is a native Central Fund Treasurer; fully told until the great deeds of these great men the Clerk of Presbytery is a native minister; and, have had their full count of credit. So long as so far as possible, they are encouraged to manage the Church can find such men, and send them out their own affairs, but always with the mission- and support them, the fame of Robert Laws will aries to guide them where that is necessary. The go on and that for which all great servants of Church in Central Africa is standing on its own Christ stand-the evangelization of the whole feet, subject only to its Divine Head. world-will suffer neither eclipse nor collapse.
Problems and ,Encouragements
As Seen by Some Foreign Mission Executives T HE difficulties of the present hour are so many and so obvious that we are sometimes prone to be discouraged and to overlook the encouragements. In the home and foreign mission work the prob- lems were never more numerous, and sometimes they seem baffling. They clearly call for earnest study as to their causes and solution and they require faith and greater dependence on God rather than on human wisdom and power.
In response to a letter sent to a number of missionary leaders in America replies have been received to the following two questions: 1. As you see it, what are some of the special present-day problems that we face in the foreign 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 hQme 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.
The answers received-somewhat condensed-throw much on the present situation. An editorial presentation of the problems and encouragements will appear in the next number of the REVIEW.
EDITOR.
I. SOME PRESENT-DAY PROBLEMS 1. The need for taking the whole subject of cooperation far more seriously than at present is ROBERT E. SPEER being done, judged by the results. There is im- perative need of our Christian forces entering Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions more promptly and thoroughly, having counted the full cost, upon what I call the third stage of Among the problems we face in the foreign mis- cooperation. By this stage I mean not only for sion enterprise today I would name the following: chiefly the pooling of knowledge and experience, but more specially pooling of plans (before they 1. Problems arising from false nationalism. A are made or entered into), personalities, money, true nationalism is inherent in Christianity and names, administration. in the missionary idea. Weare seeking to help each nation to achieve its own true personality 2. In almost every field and in almost every and accomplish its own mission of service in the board there is need of re-stating and revising proworld and we are doing our best to build up in- grams, looking ahead for a period of five years. digenous Christian churches to serve in the fullest I would find it difficult to name a half dozen agenway the true interest of the national life. The cies which have done this and have their program difficulties of the problem lie in the spread of a or plan in a form to be submitted, and have it false and unworthy nationalism. generally understood and accepted by their lead- ers near and far. This is very serious. 2. The problems which secularism and the naturalistic view of the world and of life present to 3. There is need for the creation of a deep and the Christian Gospel. We must have missionaries unshakable conviction on the part of the leaders eqUIpped to deal with these problems both by rea- and other discerning members of the churches son and by love. that the missionary enterprise has by no means attained. It is a shocking, tragic fact that with 3. The problems of devolution as it is called, reference to totally unoccupied mission fields (by meaning thereby the transfer both of control and which I mean those in which there are no misof responsibility from the foreign mission to the sionaries, or almost none), we stand just about national churches. where we did at the time of the Edinburgh Con- ference in 1910. In the partially and even largely 4. The problems arising from confusion and occupied fields we have, in most cases, only encontroversy among the Christian forces, absorbing in internecine conflict the energies which are needed for the work of aggressive evangelism of the New Testament type.
JOHN R. MOTT tered upon the period of high specialization, and, in my judgment, have still to render many of our Chairman of the International Missionary Council most distinctive and critically important services Among the most pressing major problems of in the work of evangelism and the training of the foreign missionary enterprise, as I see them, Christian leaders.
are the following: 4. The catching of the imagination of a new [11 ]
generation with such vividness, with such appeal keener sense of responsibility for the evangelizato the heroic, and with such compelling force as tion of the world in this generation. There is to ensure beyond peradventure a tremendous re- also the problem of finance, which must be solved sponse. In this respect the Church of Rome just if the work is to be carried on adequately.
now is putting us to shame.
Basically these and all other problems that are ROBERT HALL GLOVER pressing upon us will not be solved until we make much more ground than we have been making in Home Director of the China Inland Mission for North America recent years in solving our problem of leadership, 1. As related to the work of the mission in among missionaries, indigenous churches, and China there are the following problems: mission boards and their auxiliary agencies. a. The continued communist menace in several provjnces of Central China. The present situation ROBERT P. WILDER in Kweichow and Szechwan is particularly seri- ous. Two C. I. M. missionaries in Kweichow have Formerly Secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement,. been in the communists' hands since October 1, Recently Secretary of the Near East Christian Council and two others have recently been killed.
1. Some of the present day problems in the for- b. The difficulties confronting the Chinese churches in their efforts toward full self-support eign mission enterprise are the problems due to and taking a larger share in the work of carrying the Gospel further afield. I refer especially to the non-Christian religions, humanism, secular- exhorbitant taxation, burdens imposed by milita- rists, and heavy losses through communist banism, nationalism and the growing power of com- munism. / 2. Among indigenous Christians are the prob- lems due to persecution, especially on the part of ditry and calamities such as flood, famine, and fanatical Moslems and caste-ridden Hindus. pestilence.
There are also the problems of indifference. Often c. The cruel persecution of Christians among among indigenous Christians, the second and third several of the aboriginal tribes of Southwest generations have lost some of the glow and radi- China, notably the Lisu in west Yunnan. Bitter ance which the first generation possessed. This persecution is being meted out there by greedy is sometimes shown in diminished evangelistic and unscrupulous officials, because of the Chriszeal, in less of the prayer spirit, in doubt as to the tians' refusal to grow opium, and because of the full trustworthiness of God's Word, less reliance steady shrinkage of the whiskey trade due to the upon the power of the Holy Spirit, and less time rapid increase in the number of Christians. given to Bible study. 2. As related to the enterprise in general- 3. Among missionaries we find at times it is a problem to establish a firm conviction about the Undoubtedly the greatest problem, far more necessity of maintaining the devotional life serious than the financial depression, is the loss through giving an adequate time each day to Bible or weakening of conviction on the part of so many study for personal spiritual growth and private in the home churches, ministers in particular, reprayer. Work presses in, especially when the mis- garding the great essential truths of the Christian sionary staff is depleted owing to the financial faith. "Modernistic" teaching in seminaries and crisis. preaching in many pulpits are directly responsible for this. The inevitable and obvious results are 4. Some missionaries seem not to realize fully the waning of missionary interest and the dehow essential it is to know how to do personal crease of missionary giving among those thus work with individuals. Some are strong in pre- affected. senting the claims of Jesus Christ to an audience, but weak in helping an individual to take the de- If the missionary work of the Church is really cisive step in definitely accepting Christ as per- a divine enterprise, and not a merely humanistic sonal Saviour and Lord. project, then how can God's blessing be expected upon it, if ~ny are harbored in its ranks who are 5. It is not always easy to warn young mission- disloyal to His Word and reject the truths that aries against an assumed superiority as belonging lie at the very heart of the Gospel which we have to a better race than that to which the people been commanded to take to the whole world, and belong, among whom he labors. The Christian if "another gospel" is substituted? It is idle to a't- Gospel is one of love and should always produce tempt to make the economic depression wholly rein a missionary the right attitude toward other sponsible for the falling off of missionary support races and religions. when at least part of the cause clearly lies else- where. The ,cure cannot be effected until the 6. In the churches in America, we find the prob- cause is acknowledged and removed. lem of how to secure a deeper spirituality and a
PRESENT PROBLEMS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS
STEPHEN ]. COREY during the past three years that there is danger American Secretary of the United Christian Missionary Society lest we lose our capacity to be distressed at the injury to the work. The depression attitude has The problems, as I see them, include: already become a habit with some people, and 1. An exaggerated feeling that personal and lo- while many are in genuine want, others have been cal problems eclipse all else, although this is not too ready to avail themselves of the excuse af- as evident as a year ago. A sort of "pernicious forded by the psychology of the times.
localitis" effects both interest and giving. Anxious to prove to their constituencies that 2. The difficulty of maintaining interest when every economy was being practiced, boards have so many missionaries have returned from the vied with one another in making reductions in fields. We have been too slow in building interest their budgets and it has actually been true that a around Christian nationals and churches. We board which could show the most drastic cutting must press this point hard. They are our children has gained the highest approval of the Church- in the faith and greatly deserve and need our and this at a time when the need of the world for prayer, interest, and our support when necessary. Christ is so desperately apparent!
3. There has been too much dependence upon 3. In certain quarters there has been a relaxa- loyalty to organization and not enough on the tion of those basic Christian convictions that con- inherent necessity of the missionary enterprise stitute the very premises of the missionary enter- as an inevitable and inescapable part of an ade- prise. The nature of sin and its consequences, the quate Christian program. depth of man's need for Christ and the indispen- 4. The ideals of internationalism and world sability of Christ as the Saviour of the world, are brotherhood have received a severe blow. This elements in the missionary imperative that have has slowed down missionary interest in some either been challenged or rendered indistinct by quarters. the humanistic philosophy that has accompanied 5. The ideals of Christian stewardship have modern "liberalism." These basic Christian prem- slipped somewhat in recent years, due ises are essential to a vigorous missionary attitude a. To the excessive burdens taken by American and program.
churches in more prosperous days, with new build- 4. The spiritual condition that we confront in ings and equipment. The churches now find them- the world today is more difficult to reach than selves taxed to the utmost to amortize and stabi- were the simpler forms of paganism of the past.
lize their capital investments. While millions still cry vainly to gods of wood and b. To the tendency to be satisfied with paying stone, other millions have merely exchanged idol- taxes for relief in substitution for church and atry for godlessness. Surfeited with the super- individual efforts of love and mercy. The first stitions of the past from which they feel them- is necessary, but people forget the wider interest selves emancipated, they have turned violently of the church in a Christian program which state against all religions, and have become repudiators and municipal help can never reach. of faith, haters of God. Professing no God of their own, they deny freedom of worship to others, C. DARBY FULTON and are working to bring the world into one united Executive Secretary, Executive Committee of Foreign Missions, blasphemy. The difficulty of reaching these is immeasurably great. Presbyterian Church in the United States First of all, may I share with you some of our A. C. SNEAD problems: Foreign Secretary of the Christian and Missionary Alliance 1. The most obvious problem is due to the fifty per cent decline in financial support, from $1,248,- In the twenty mission fields of The Christian 000 in 1926 to $611,000 last year. Despite these and Missionary Alliance three problems stand out rather desperate figures, we have not had to recall as of major importance. any missionaries, though sickness, age, death and retirement have reduced our missionary personnel 1. In a number of the fields, particularly French from 516 seven years ago to 403 last year. Cuts West Africa, French Indo-China, Netherlands amounting to about thirty per cent in missionary East Indies, southern Philippines, and some provsalaries and stipends, and even heavier reductions inces of China, many' peoples and tribes give eviin appropriations for the work have had to be dence of being moved by the Holy Spirit to a made. Reserves possessed by institutions or by recognition of their need for Jesus Christ as Savmissionaries individually have been used up so iour and Lord when they first hear the Gospel. that we are now face to face with the time when This is so marked in some tribes that the number the work must depend only on its present support. of missionaries and native Christian workers is much too small to properly present the Word of 2. We have become so accustomed to reductions God to interested inquirers.
2. Another problem, met especially in Borneo 5. The widespread interest in evangelization and a French West Africa is that of shepherding and the breaking out of remarkable evangelistic the new converts who have been baptized. For movements in so many parts of the world, also in example, 628 were baptized by one missionary in the raising up of new and mighty evangelists, as one month recently in a district in Borneo, yet to well as apologetic writers and lecturers, within teach these converts and the more than 1500 other the past one or two decades, both among mission- Dyaks baptized during the last three years there aries and nationals. are available only one missionary and two or three native workers. ROBERT P. WILDER 3. A third problem has to do with government Some encouragements, as I see them, are: opposition in some areas, the imposing of an income tax and an increase in property taxes by 1. A growing desire for a religious awakening some governments, thus diverting funds from the missionary work. at home and abroad.
II. PRESENT-DAY ENCOURAGEMENTS 2. A greater spirit of cooperation among re- ROBERT E. SPEER ligious bodies, as seen in the work of the Christian Among the encouragements we see in mission and Missionary Councils and International Miswork today one would suggest: sionary Council; also in the movements which 1. The spirit of the young men and the young women who want to give their lives to foreign look toward church unity, as in Persia and South mISSIOns. A number of first-grade candidates have been earning their way by giving transfu- India and the recent conference of missionaries sions of their own blood. and indigenous Christians on evangelism, Chris- 2. The evidences of the working of God's spirit in individual and collective life, as, for example, tian education and on the production and circulain the baptism of Brahmans in India and the movement in the upper castes. tion of Christian literature. There are also signs 3. The increasing acceptance of the moral au- of closer cooperation between Oriental and Occithority of Christ in non-Christian lands. This is not enough but it is something and it represents dental Christians, as in the Fellowship of Unity a great advance. in Egypt, and in the work of the World's Sunday 4. The reality of the rootage which Christianity has taken all over the world and its indestructibil- School Association. ity by the most hostile forces, even in Russia. 3. The recent growth in the membership of in- 5. The steady growth of the churches on the mission field, in autonomy and self-dependence. digenous churches, as in India where there are 6. The increasing evidence that there is no hope now 6,296,763 Christians; in China' where the for man save in Christ; that the evil forces of the world cannot be conquered except by His Five Year Movement, from 1929 to 1934, has repower. sulted in stimulating the Christians to a deeper JOHN R. MOTT spiritual life and shows a willingness on the part Among the greatest encouragements in foreign missions today I would name: of the Chinese Christians not only to win others 1. The evident growth in conviction among dis- to Christ, but also to shoulder a larger proportion cerning Christian leaders as to our shortcomings and sins of omission. of the financial load carried by missionary soci- 2. The multiplication of fruitful and very re- eties. The Forward Movement in Japan has rewarding pieces of experimentation in missionary methods and practices, covering a wide range in sulted in 50,000 having signed cards, signifying the missionary program. their purpose to follow Jesus Christ. Though all 3. The growing interest in cooperation, notwithstanding failure to take the whole subject of these have not yet joined the Church there is more seriously. increasing evidence that Christians in Japan are 4. The fact that doors are open today, as at no time in the past, to the friendly and constructive recognizing their responsibility to evangelize their ministry of the Christian Gospel. fellow countrymen in Japan and overseas.
4. Another encouragement is found in the work of the Bible Societies. The Bible is still the best seller.
5. It is said that while Latin America has large- ly turned away from organized Christianity a speaker presenting the Christian message, as a new and vital challenge, can always get a sympa- thetic hearing. In Buenos Aires, Santiago and in student centers in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela there have been eager audiences to hear the Gos- pel. – ROBERT HALL GLOVER 1. We of the C. I. M. are greatly encouraged by the sustained interest of our constituency of friends at home, as evidenced by their many let- ters, and also by our contacts in the autumn con-
ferences in the East and the West. Our Prayer Japan, China, India, and Africa all face great Union membership, composed of those who ex- issues and are in expectancy.
press the desire and purpose to pray regularly for 5. The penetration of Christ's influence, far China and the work of the Mission, is steadily beyond what we can count in statistics or mem- increasing. bership in the churches, is a matter for great 2. There has been a steady succession of appli- encouragement. The New Life Movement in cations for service in China; the number during China, based largely on Christian ideals, is an the past year has been particularly large. We illustration. It would be hard to find among edu- sent twenty-six new recruits to China in 1934, and cated and religious nationals anywhere in the non- we must have dealt with three or four times that Christian world, one who would not hail Jesus as number of applications. the ranking ethical teacher of the ages.
Eighteen new workers have also been sent from Great Britain and twelve from Australasia last C. DARBY FULTON year. Over against the problems and difficulties that 3. There has been a steady and substantial ad- face us today one could set a long list of encour- agements that far outweigh the difficulties. I vance of our Forward Movement on the field, with mention three that seem to stand out strikingly ever increasing visible results in conversions and in the missionary picture: baptisms. The opening of nineteen new main centers of work, and the baptism of 7,221 con- 1. The increasing open-heartedness of the peoverts, during 1933, made that a record year in ples of the world to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. the history of the Mission. This is not inconsistent with the fact that many governments seem to be slowly closing to religion. 4. There has been marked blessing attending In the time of Christ, just when the chief priests the special services on many of our stations for and the rulers of the Jews were seeking to destroy the deepening of the spiritual life of the Chris- Him, the common people were hearing Him gladly. tians, and the stirring of them to increased zeal A missionary writes: and effort in behalf of the salvation of souls here at home and the spreading of the Gospel farther "The doors for Gospel advance are flung wide as never afield. Chinese workers and foreign missionaries, before. The church in Brazil faces an unprecedented op- have conducted such services with blessed results. portunity. Crowds everywhere, as reports come in from Special encouragement has also attended the far and near, are willing to hear with attention and symholding of short-term Bible Schools throughout pathy the call of God to repentance and faith in Christ. our mission field, with the object of increasing The day of march has come!" the knowledge of the Word of God among the Writes another: "God evidently wants Africa, for never was the Holy Spirit more manifestly present there. At rank and file of our Christians, and fitting them Luebo Station alone we baptized this year 2,548 adults, and the church is aflame with zeal for Him." for more effective soul winning, and some among From another missionary comes this message: "There them for full-time preaching. During last year 329 such schools were held with a total of 11,500 is a mighty tide sweeping through China. It is the tide enrolled, in addition to our regular Bible Schools, of God's spirit moving upon the hearts of men." for the fuller training of Chinese pastors, evangelists, and Bible women. Dr. Stanley Jones declares that China presents the greatest evangelistic opportunity in the world. Dr. George Truett, returning from a South Amer- STEPHEN J. COREY ican tour, says the supreme challenge is there. Surely God is at work in all the world!
As to encouragements I see the following: 2. The new fervor for evangelism is one of the 1. An increased wistfulness on the part of min- most encouraging factors in the present mission- isters and others for the realities of religion. ary outlook. Despite the limitations that falling 2. Increased cooperative effort on the mission income have placed upon the work, our mission- fields. aries and their fellow workers are everywhere 3. Humility on the part of Christians in the manifesting an eager desire to extend the work recognition that as a church we have not come into unreached territories. In some fields this abreast of Christ's ideals in America and that centrifugal instinct of our missionaries is quite we must go to others depending upon Him and conspicuous. It is interesting to compare the lat- not on our own superiority. est reports of work in Brazil with those of fifteen 4. The great issues that face us abroad bring years ago and see how the names of stations and stirring challenges. The tides of secularism, na- outstations of former years are being replaced tionalism, and communism, call Christian people, from year to year by new towns and communities.
as never before, to take the message and life of The older ones are not abandoned but they are Christ to the whole world. The distress and dis- being brought to self-support as rapidly as pos- quietude of mankind summons us. Also lands like sible in order to release money and personnel for
the work of extension. It is gratifying to note that remains to be finished; there is even more that in several fields, despite every discourage- that yet remains to be begun. ment of the depression, new work has been opened and is being successfully sustained with most 4. The world has always needed Christ. Her gratifying results. need of Him today in the face of her complexity, bewilderment and sin is more apparent than ever. But it is the native leaders themselves that offer the most conspicuous examples of this evan- 5. In some lands, governments seem determined gelistic fervor. One needs only to mention the to close the doors against Christian missions. Kingdom of God Movement in Japan, the Five Year Plan in China, the evangelistic movement 6. The young life of the Church is ready to go that is sweeping certain sections of the Belgian forward. Applications from volunteers are pour- Congo under the leadership of Tshisungu Daniel ing in to our offices from some of the choicest and others, and the quiet revival of prayer and young men and women in the Church, who are personal work in Korea, as examples of such zeal. prepared to answer the need. The significant thing about these movements is that they have not been born in the initiative and 7. When in ~:very sphere of life the peoples of leadership of missionaries, but are the expression the world are being reminded of their mutual of the evangelistic fervor of native sons who have interdependence and responsibility, shall the set their hearts upon the winning of their own Christian Church forget her responsibility to people for Christ. every man or allow her sense of world mission to be dimmed? Dare we forget that our Lord's 3. Where two such movements as the foregoing, command has never been revoked and still conthe eagerness to hear on the one hand, and the stitutes the marching orders of the Church? eagerness to tell on the other, are found parallel, things are bound to happen. And things have A. C. SNEAD happened. The past year has been the most fruitful results in all the more than 70 years of our In presenting the problems I have already made foreign mission history. Outstanding among the results of the year is the record number of 8,383 mention of some encouragements in the fields. added to the church on profession of their faith 1. The Alliance is privileged to preach the Gosin Christ. It is granted that we cannot always measure spiritual results by statistical standards. pel and to have a share in building the Church However, it is a cause for great joy and thanks- of Christ in more language groups today than giving throughout our Church that last year in our foreign fields the number who stood before ever before in its history. The Church in the fields the world to acknowledge their sins and receive is taking over territory formerly under mission Christ as their Saviour exceeded by more than 2,000 those who took this stand in any previous responsibility and the Mission and the Church year. together are going forward into new tribes and To summarize, it is our feeling that the time new areas where the Gospel is thus being preached has come when a call to advance should be sounded for the first time. among the churches of America. Today the whole world situation is like one vast syllogism every 2. Despite government opposition in Cambodia, premise of which leads to but one inevitable con- the results during 1933 and 1934 are more encourclusion, namely, "Forward again in missions!" aging than at any time since the field was entered 1. The openness of the hearts of men and wom- in 1923. In a few fields the work of translating en around the world to the message of Christian the Bible into tribal languages is being steadily missionaries, attested by the letters that come carried forward and last year one of our mission from every field, constitutes a clear call to renew presses printed over 25,000,000 pages of Scripture our missionary advance. portions and Gospel literature.
2. The unparalleled productivity of mission 3. Both in the home church and on the fields work, yielding richer returns than ever before, there is evidence of the gracious working of the encourages us to move forward. Holy Spirit in causing believers to humble them- 3. Vast untouched areas await a new venture selves before God and definitely seek for a revival. of faith. With national churches gradually taking 4. Twenty-six new missionaries were appointed up the burden of the work we have been doing, it should become more and more our missionary for our Alliance fields in 1934 with the expectation aim and purpose to press out into territories where Christ is not known. There is much work of their sailing during the year or in the early months of 1935.
5. We praise God for increased missionary in- terest evident in many of the home churches and for the missionary zeal shown in the younger churches in -the mission fields. .
I believe that, despite every hindrance that Satan brings, we are facing a day of marvelous opportunity for evangelization in many parts of the world and we are encouraged to press forward in the name and by the enabling of Christ our Lord.
Situation in
As Seen by Dr. Julius Richter of Berlin I N THE Neue Allgemeine Missionszeitschrift, is the well organized propaganda such as that of Dr. Julius Richter of Berlin deals with a num- Agha Khan in the Tanganyika territory and oth- ber of present-day problems which are so im- ers. portant that they deserve close study. The first problem is that presented by the world- The fifth consideration is that to which we are forced by the world-wide propaganda of Bolshewide depression, which demands an adjustment vism. Its soil is amazingly well prepared by the to the shrinking incomes of all mission groups. unworthy and in many instances impossible con- This question in the background of all "recent dis- ditions of obtaining a livelihood among the procussions of missionary problems is "How can the letarians of the earth, as for example the 30,000,- important part of mission work be preserved even 000 unemployed and the abysmal poverty of though many related developments must be cut hundreds of millions of peasants in Imlia, China down ?" Can the present retrenchments of the and Japan. The great strength of this kind of sending bodies be made fruitful by granting the propaganda can hardly be over-estimated. new national churches in the mission field a greater measure of independence, and by urging great- Sixth, there looms the awakening, floodlike and er self-support in view of the diminished income powerful influence of an increasing nationalism. from the home boards?" These efforts of the Hand in hand with it, we observe the awakening younger churches on the mission fields are oc- of the national religions and sometimes the recurcurring at the time when they too are affected by rence, as in Germany, Turkey and Persia, of earlier and forgotten religions, which oppose the world depression. Christianity as being irreconcilable with the new Many factors have altered the position of Prot- ethic.
estant missions since the end of the World War. Changes Since the World War The first factor is the enormous loss of prestige Such conditions are entirely different from the which Christian nations suffered by the disillu- sionments which have befallen the non-Christians. views which prevailed before the war. It was These matters are too well known to need discus- then held that occidental civilization was either sion. identical with Christianity, or at least closely con- Second there is the growing gap between Chris- nected with it. This was the great time for such tianity and some views of modern science. All splendid movements as the Student Volunteers, nations want modern sciences and arts; but they the Missionary Education Movement, the Lay- are very reticent about any desire for Christianity men's Movement and for such slogans as "Evan- or the Christian Church. If we meet within the gelization of the World in this Generation." In body of Christendom such a thing as Bolshevism, Germany, in this period, the great colonial expan- with its radical hatred of all religion, and even in sion gave an impetus to missionary undertakings.
a country like Germany see a decided self-asser- Now, however, many churches are passing tion of a new German paganism on a nationalistic through an era of an ebbing of interest, a reac- basis, need we wonder at a holding back from tion! This reaction is to be deplored. During the Christianity on the part of non-Christian peoples? time referred to there were in most of the fields Third, we should earnestly consider the sur- efforts at work which were to crown the preceding prising progress made by the Roman Catholic efforts, by leading the young churches toward a Church in Africa and the Dutch East India, with complete self-support. But such aims demanded an expenditure of men and money such as the time for maturing. The highly developed conduct combined Protestant missions cannot equal. In of Protestant missions contained within itself an French, Belgian and Portuguese countries this inclination toward institutionalism, such as the Papal church may count on a far-reaching assist- founding of colleges, universities, hospitals, Y. M.
ance from the colonial authorities. C. A. buildings, publication houses. In the case Fourth, in the last few years before the World of even a great lessening of the supply of men War it seemed as if the progress of Islam had and means, there arises a danger of freezing up been retarded. Now we observe that in equatorial the assets of such enterprises. The men and Africa and in Further India, this religion is mak- monies necessary for the work of evangelization ing its power of assimilation felt among the prim- and the growth of the missionary enterprise leave itive peoples within its reach. A decisive factor too few means available for the magnificent enter- [17 ]
prises which have already been called into being. There is the hope that these young churches Dr. Richter thinks that there should be a new will develop a sufficiently large and strong initia- consideration of the work of missions but he de- tive that they will be able to take care of the non- clines such a study on the basis of some sugges- Christian masses surrounding them. We point tions in "Rethinking Missions." There should not with great hopes to the Five Year Plan of Cheng- be any reduction of the Biblical message of salva- chin-yi, the Kingdom-of-God Movement of Kaga- tion. Neither can there be any "moratorium" of wa and can well rejoice in what they have the missionary obligation on account of urgent attained. But as yet, the new churches, notwith- demands at home. The all-obliging missionary standing their excellencies, have not acquired the command, the royal authority and the divine missionary attack that is needed. Besides, we promise are sufficient for all believing Christians. can hardly compute the comparatively enormous What May We Expect? expenditures of effort and means required to carry on such work asthe occidental churches can carry, What may we expect as the fruit of our mission owing to the momentum acquired through the work? Dr. Richter enumerates answers to this centuries.
question, based upon experience gained in many 3. This places us before a great and difficult ages and many countries. task. At present many free missions are hunting 1. There are in Christian history three typical for unoccupied fields for their activity. Most of developments: First, the permeation of the Ro- them fail. The result is that Protestant missions man Empire by the Christian spirit and the Chris- tend to degenerate into aimless guerilla warfare.
tian Church in its competition with Oriental Besides, when we consider the many costly un- mystery cults, then the century of effort to realize dertakings carried by the sending churches, such "One Church-One Empire," and a failure of all as the establishment of such institutions as were these efforts since the rise in the fifth century of mentioned above, how can we expect these young- various separatistic churches. er churches to undertake work of such dimensions, Secondly, in the Germano-Slavic middle ages without abundant assistance from the sending the passing over of entire tribes and peoples under churches?
the leadership of their rulers and then a very slow 4. In the last century the missionary enterprise and very gradual penetration of these peoples with found open doors everywhere. Dr. Richter shows the Christian spirit and ethics. Thirdly, in the by the example of the missions in Africa that, Spanish-Portuguese national or state missions of while then one could be of the opinion that paganthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with ism would soon collapse and what was most Church and State in close alliance, the setting-up needed was to gather the new Christians into of a hierarchy with state subvention. Modern churches, this is far from being true today. Modmissions offer few parallels to such work as the ern civilization is entering Africa by the three christianizing of the South Sea Islanders, largely channels of Protestantism, Catholicism and Islam under the influence of their rulers. and these forms are fighting each other tooth and 2. Nowadays the attention of Protestant mis- nail. However the Protestant churches today face sions is focused on the development of Christian the task of gathering the Negro peoples, so far as groups, with the aim of making them National possible, into Christian churches and train them Churches. It is generally thought that, when this into a real Christian life.
aim is attained, there will be no further need than 5. In Asia the strata first reached by the new to assist such churches in the case of emergencies. influences were the cultured circles. This may be Is such an expectation justified? First of all, in traced most easily in the case of three leading most mission countries the Protestants constitute countries. In Japan, the Samurai were the real only a small percentage of the total population. light bearers of culture. They have also given the For instance, in China two-thirds of a million church some outstanding leaders, such as Neeamong 500 millions, in Japan, 200,000 among 65,- sima, Ouchimura, Kagawa. In India, broader 500,000, in India five millions among 350 millions. areas were more quickly reached, but the caste In none of these countries is the Christian increase system stood in the way. In China the literati less than the increase in the number of births, so that the ratio is constantly shifted. Secondly, in were the on£s who hindered the spread of the all these countries we cannot fail to notice two incoming religious influence, but in more rece'nt peculiar characteristics, the one tending to isolate times there was being prepared a notable change the Christian bodies, the other to absorb them here too. However, since the war, the condition completely. We are not yet advanced to the point of things has changed surprisingly. The greatest where we may be sure that the present day Chris- difficulties today come from the growth of nation- tian groups will escape a similar fate. alism, which in most cases has become a violent
PRESENT SITUATION IN MISSIONS
passion and proves a considerable hindrance to 9. A noteworthy fact is seen in the circumstance the spread of Christian missions. that early Christianity faced a world in the proc- ess of dissolution, while the modern missionary 6. The question arises whether we might not finds that ancient systems are becoming more conhave some other means of reaching the great solidated. This is eminently the case with Hindumasses of Asia, aside from the natural work with ism and Confucianism and only in the case of individuals. In the world of Islam, most mission- Islam in Turkey is it possible to observe a general aries still feel that they must observe a waiting breaking down of the old. attitude before closed doors. But we still have the tried means of entering wedges, such as medical In early mission work in Europe, the bearers of work, schools and colportage. In Japan the work the Gospel found fresh youthful masses that were of Kagawa seems to find access to the masses. In not influenced by any great civilizing movements. India the efforts among those not in the castes We meet such a condition now only in Africa and seem to be gaining in influence. In China we face the South Seas; but in Asia the missionaries have a catastrophe in civilization, and that of colossal had to face ancient cultures, and their initial sucdimensions. Two overpowering influences are at cesses were gained mostly among the lower strata work through the collapse of the ancient Manchu of society. Today the problem is to reach those power. This involves not only the whole ruling who are the possessors of higher culture. In the system with its prestige and its cultural forms, attitude so far observed among such peoples, many but also the break-down of the old Confucian missionaries have had the feeling that all doors system of scholars and men of letters. Three were closed and all seats occupied. Now there are great forces are now entering the country: an indications that catastrophic changes are impendun-religious science, communism and Christianity. ing. Bolshevism is a new force which is present- China and Africa present the greatest missionary ing an aggressive front all over the world and problems in the Christian Church today. people are weighing the claims of Bolshevism against those of Christianity. Here the mission- 7. Christian leaders are sure that foundations ary faces not only a challenge, but an opportunity. have to be dug deeper along three important lines. The first field is the ethical, and spiritual. The 10. Since Lausanne, Christians have come to an problem shows itself most clearly in Africa. There understanding of the definite and essential conpaganism appeared under six forms, ancestor wor- tent of the Christian message. In this there has ship, magic, tyranny of chiefs, polygamy, slavery been a decided gain for the preaching of the and tribalism. Since missionaries were convinced Gospel. that these conditions were impossible among Christians they very properly proceeded to exter- 11. Dr. Richter says that great spiritual moveminate them. However it was frequently over- ments usually pass over peoples like great waves. looked that in the conditions that had matured for He thinks that all countries are at present not on centuries, there might prevail aspects that could the crest of any such waves, but in the depressions be used for the implanting of that which is truly between them. He refers once more to the great Christian. In many cases the African was con- losses which the world has incurred in recent sequently so denationalized that there remained years, such as the collapse of the church in Russia, nothing that could be done, except to ingraft a the liquidation of Panislamism and the Caliphate, life that was really foreign. Now the problem is and the breakdown of Confucianism in China. seen under the aspect of so anchoring the Chris- He mentions also the stop of great Christian movetian church in the native life, that the strength ments in the United States, and similar collapses that actually inheres in it may be used to make its in Germany. powers helpful to the Christian development. A careful study of present-day conditions and Three methods have been held proper in India. resources must give us the conviction for our faith The Roman Catholic Church acted as if paying no and a guidance for our conduct as follows: attention to caste. The Leipzig Mission regarded caste as a social and civil order, which merely That the living God is quietly building His Kingneeded to be purged of non-Christian extrava- dom through all the confusion of the peoples and gances. The Anglo-Saxon missions in the main that this is the end of the ways of God. regarded caste as a satanic perversion that must be utterly exterminated. That the person of Jesus Christ is central for all Christian proclamation and that all mission- 8. A similar problem arises from the conditions of language. At present it is being more fully ary preaching must have its start and goal in it. recognized that the language of a people contains peculiar elements of power that may be fully util- That Jesus Christ and His salvation is the final ized and thus become of great help in the develop- and deepest answer to all questions of human bement of a people. ings and that it is our task to hear the questions that arise from the depths of men and to give the true answer to them.
IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE* By REV. W. H. Moss, M.A., B.D., HYTHE, ALBERTA, CANADA Do you sometimes plan what you would do if you suddenly became a millionaire? I am do- ing that today after spending two days of pastoral calling in a homesteading part of my parish. I parked my car near the highway and borrowed horse and buggy for the bush trails. Later I parked horse and buggy in the bush and walked more than two miles to visit a lonely bachelor on the far side of a muskeg over which horse and buggy could not travel. Incidentally I got my feet wet. My friend served dinner-fried potatoes, fried eggs, fried meat. (How do their stomachs stand it year after year?) As I was going from place to place, I was wishing I had money. If I were to become a millionaire, I think I should do some of the following things: 1. I should ask for Divine guidance in the discharge of such a responsible mission as the wise handling of so much money.
2. I should give at least one-half to the Missionary and Maintenance Fund.
3. I should continue to be a home missionary.
4. I should, as long as possible, let no one know that I had money, lest I become the prey of those who would besiege me with requests for help and so interfere with my regular work.
5. I should payoff the debt on the local church and relieve my people of the almost intol- erable burden of paying eight per cent interest and thus put new heart into them for complet- ing their place of worship.
6. I should send to Edmonton for a hundred-dollar violin that was sent in by a new settler for repairs two or three years ago and is being held there until the bill of thirteen dollars is settled. Thereby great joy would return to this music-loving homesteader who really needs his beloved instrument for the good of his soul.
7. I should take a pair of shoes to the cobbler and have patches put on the soles.
8. I should accede to the unusual request of one man for certain drugs for the treatment of bedbugs. He says he can't abide them.
9. I should buy school books for a girl. The grade desired is being taught in the local school and all she requires to continue her education is about eight dollars for books.
10. I should send a most promising young man to university in order that he prepare him- self for the Christian ministry.
11. I should buy organs for three log schools where I hold services.
12. I should provide a home in this village under the care of a Christian matron, so that several girls in the surrounding district might go on to school. Their people can supply meat and vegetables; what is needed is a place to stay and that place ought to be under reliable supervision.
13. I should build a hospital here, for the nearest at present is forty-five miles away and difficult to reach when roads are blocked in winter. I should have free medical service for the poor. Then there would need to be no babies born in crude shacks without a doctor in attend- ance.
14. I should give to every minister on a home mission field a year's leave of absence once in seven years and pay all expenses while he and his family visited their friends and he took a term at college.
*** But as I am not a millionaire, I pray that I be not like the Irishman who had a needy friend and said that if he had two cows he would give him one; and yet he did have two pigs and would not give one of those.
• Adapted from the United Ohurch Record and Mi88io,nary Review.
Cooperative Advance at
By the REV. CHARLES E. SCHAEFFER, D.D.
President of the Home Missions Council; Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, Reformed Church in the United States I T SEEMS anomalous under existing conditions These Christian leaders felt that a new social in the Church today to be speaking of an ad- order, new conditions territorially, religiously 1l.nd vance. The organized forces of Christianity ecclesiastically required a new strategy and a new are almost everywhere sounding the note of re- approach to the whole problem. Consequently treat. The slogan along the whole battle line is they launched "The New Cooperative Advance." that of retrenchment. Nearly all the home mis- If the advance of former days had spent its force, sion boards are either marking time or have re- a new advance would have to be made, so that called a large part ·of their forces from the field. home missions might always be true to its real Whole areas which were once missionary ground genius and spirit.
have been given up and the financial pressure has This new advance was to be along three distinct been such that curtailment of effort has become lines.
imperative and has caused grave concern among 1. The old home mission advance was on de- missionary leaders. nominational lines and the early religious history The heart and kernel of the work of home mis- of America was based largely upon denomination- sions has always been the pioneer spirit. The alism. This was practically inevitable when home mission forces have always constituted the America was new and young. Denominationalism advance guard of the Church. They have blazed had its rise in national, social, lingual, creedal, new trails, opened up new highways, discovered new areas and have always marched breast for- and racial peculiarities. I ward at the van of the procession. That is the very genius of this great movement in the bosom Some of these were an importation from the 'old or world, and some grew out of the religious soil ill America itself. But whatever their origin of the Church. A little more than a century ago historical basis, these denominations were per- the religious forces of North America were cen- petuated and extended into other sections of the tered in the eastern part of the continent. Then country. This has resulted in an oversupply of when the various denominations became auton- churches in many communities and has become the omous and indigenous, there followed a wave of chief target of the critics and of the cynics. It missionary expansion such as has never been wit- has resulted in the multiplication of churches of nessed in any age or in any land. Impelled by an many stripes and names, of sects, some of which onward urge the forces of Christianity pressed are so small as to be mere insects. This has been into the virgin lands and into the frontiers of our the scandal of Protestantism in America. Some country. The results were astounding. Churches churches are so small that they have no ability to and schools and colleges sprang up like Jonah's function effectively in Kingdom building. They gourd overnight and dotted the land with religious have a struggle for self-preservation. They be- a,nd educational institutions. All this was accom- come ends in themselves and thus they obscure plished practically within the space of a century the real mission of a church in a community.
and a half. Then suddenly, as though a hand had The new home mission advance now shifts the reached down, this expansive program of the emphasis from denominationalism to interdenom- Church was arrested. It halted along the whole inationalism. It does not advocate undenomina- front until today we are compelled to take an in- tionalism but it espouses interdenominationalism.
ventory of stock and make a fresh 'appraisal of It believes that there are foci points where denom- our task. Noone so keenly sensed this change of inations can join hands and where united effort conditions as did the home mission leaders. About becomes more effective, if not more economical, ten years ago they began to see which way the than single handed denominational activity.
wind was blowing and undertook to set their sails 2. The second new line of advance is that of in the right direction. They who walked late on cooperative effort. The old home mission enter- the deck saw strange lights rise and fall and they prise was inspired largely by the competitive prepared to meet the new situation when once it spirit. Each denomination tried to outrun, out- confronted them. strip, outdo the others. The law of the jungle [21 ]
prevailed. The Nietsche law of the superman in activity. Even this is better than unfriendly rivreligious circles dominated almost every situation. alry and un-Christian competition, but it by no Consequently there was a rivalry for place, pres- means exhausts the meaning of comity. There is tige, power. The rivalry was not always friendly. a positive aspect which involves not merely keep- The Kingdom of God suffered violence and the ing out of each others' way, but also means muviolent took it by force. There was a regular tual support and aid. Comity involves the idea stampede to occupy territory first, to erect the of the "big brother" on the part of denominations. most handsome, most costly edifice, and to secure Thus when a given field is allocated to a denomthe largest possible membership. Proselytism was ination the other denominations should say not practiced beyond measure and the church that had merely "Go to it-God bless you," but they should the pull and had the preacher and had the purse, come forward with their treasures, their money, got the lion's share and the others had to take the their members and pour the same into the allohindmost. Many a poor, discouraged minister had cated field so that the denomination that has asto be satisfied with the gleanings in the corners sumed responsibility for it can meet the situation of the field which had been neglected by the har- adequately. This can be done far more readily in vesters who reaped the full harvest. And all this new than in old communities. In new communitime the established Church in the East kept pour- ties local loyalties and traditions have not yet had ing money into these "mission fields" which were time to take root and develop as is the case in old largely competition centers. and well-established communities.
The wastefulness, the extravagance, the sinful- Certainly such principles of comity could be ness of this sort of ruthless rivalry in due time readily worked out among foreign-speaking comlaid hold upon the consciousness and conscience munities. Already much progress is being made of missionary leaders. They saw what a violation along many lines. I name only a few. There is this was of the spirit of the Christ whom they the matter of Religious Work Directors in Govprofessed to serve. And they said among them- ernment Indian schools. There is the work among selves, "This thing must stop!" There must be a the Mexicans, where nine denominations are cosubstitute for competition. There must be an end operating in work among Mexicans and Spanishto ecclesiastical rivalry. And happily they hit speaking Americans. There are the Summer upon the word cooperative, and declared that the Schools for rural ministers; there is the Chrishome mission advance must be along cooperative tian Approach to the Jews; there are definite lines. They set up committees on Comity; they local projects such as at Radburn, New Jersey; advocated the organization of State and City Boulder City, Nevada; the Tennessee Valley Councils, and projected programs of united action. Project; the work in the West Indies, in Puerto This involved a change of the whole psychology Rico and Santo Domingo. There have been set up of the churches but this cannot be effected over Denominational Community Churches, Federnight. Prejudices and policies are too deep seated ated Churches, Undenominational Community to be immediately supplanted by something else. Churches and Affiliated Churches. It is evident A long process of education is required to change that the home mission forces are on the advance people's mental and moral attitudes. Today no in Comity and Cooperation. one can question the rising tide of interest in comity and cooperation throughout the Protestant 3. The old home mission work centered its ef- Church. This growing interest proceeds in part forts almost exclusively upon individuals. The from practical considerations. Our Home Mis- work of making Americans Christians has been sion and Church extension agencies are financially only a partial success, as statistics sadly reveal. embarrassed and sheer necessity is compelling Out of 125,000,000 people, at least 70,000,000 rethem to pool their forces and resources with main outside of any organized institutions of reothers if the task is to be completed. This interest ligion. The National Home Missions Congress in springs also from spiritual considerations. Minor Washington, 1930, stated the task of home misissues which divide us are being put into the back- sions as involving "the winning of men and women ground and major issues which unite us are thrust to discipleship of Jesus Christ and to unite them into the foreground. The clearer vision of the with other disciples in the fellowship of the Chrismeaning, and the mission of the Church is serv- tian Church." ing as a great unifying and cooperative impetus among all right thinking people. This is only one phase of the task. The Con- gress went on to say that the task is also "to bring But comity has both a negative and a positive the Christian impulse to bear upon the broad, aspect. Negatively, it means not interfering with social and civic questions of our day." In other the plans of my Christian neighbor. It is the easy, words the new cooperative advance includes em- "let alone" policy in the field of denominational phasis on the social application of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the christianization of all of life as
NEW COOPERATIVE ADVANCE AT HOME
well as of every life. It insists that all relation- and unified promotion of all the interests of the ships of life must be brought under the dominant Church. control of Christ. Here we face a task of tremendous proportions. This is a real job and the 2. An Advance in Promotion. This involves: task remains unfinished until every area of life (1) The bringing to the Protestant Church of is thoroughly christianized. Horrie missions today America a new vision of its entire task. (2) A is as nect!ssary and its opportunity is as great as thorough coordination of all the agencies of the ever in the history of our nation. The enterprise Church in an inclusive program in order that their somehow must recover its ancient passion and essential unity may be adequately expressed. (3) power. To the Church there must be restored a Not only to express this essential unity but at the sense of urgency and obligation in christianizing same time to contribute to the efficiency, the econ- America. But this task must be done not in the omy and the goodwill of the total task. haphazard, helter skelter fashion of pioneer and frontier days, but along well planned and defi- In the language of Dr. Henry W. A. Hanson, nitely constructive ways. The program must be President of Gettysburg College and Chairman of along educational and inspirational lines, based the Special Committee on Review and Forecast: upon sound ethical principles involving construc- "If Christianity is to make an impress of any contive methods of comity and cooperation. sequence, it will be done by a cooperating Church. The time has come for suspicions and misunder- The Home Missions Council and the Council of standings, based largely on superficial differences, Women for Home Missions have planned this co- to be put into the background. The great task of operative advance along two fronts: putting Jesus Christ into the life of our age will be achieved only by a cooperating Christian 1. An Advance in Program. (1) This involves Church. Will the Church be equal to the opporan adequate occupancy of every community with tunity of the present hour? If we fail in this the Christian ministry. (2) The avoidance as far as possible of all duplication of effort and of com- hour, the opportunity will be gone and we shall petition. (3) The setting up over the whole field of interdenominational organizations, in regions, stand condemned as unprofitable servants who states and cities, for the purpose of church planning, comity adjustments, cooperative activities have failed in a great crisis."
In the language of Dr. E. Stanley Jones: "We cannot go further unless we go deeper."
Satisfied I do not ask that I may see all of the road But if my groping hand can find Thee close beside My feet must press from day to day. Me, when the darkness closes round; I do not pray that all the burden of my load, If o'er my heart Thy love flows like a tender tide From off my heart be dropped away. When heavy burdens press me down; I do not wish that all the stones that bruise my If I can feel Thine arm about me when I fall feet Because the path is rough and steep; Be flung from off the path I climb. If I can lift my tear-stained face at Thy sweet I do not want the sorrows that my soul must meet, call Changed to some ecstasy sublime. When torn by pain and sorrow deep.
Then will the wounds I bear more precious be than gold, Or any treasure I can gain.
Then sudden shock or conflict fierce will find me bold To stand for Thee, nor heed the pain.
Then with Thy tenderness my brother's head I'll raise, And walk his faltering steps beside; Rejoicing in Thy love and at Thy smile of praise. And .0-1 shall be satisfied. -Don C. Carver, in The Christian Intelligencer.
a Kurd Becomes a
The Remarkable Story of a Moslem Mullah of Kurdistan -~I J; ;I ;;;;;;PI;;;;;;E"""RS_O;;;;;;N=====!.III~ ====B"""Y"""D"""E"""L;;;;;;A;;;;;;V;;;;;;AN=;;;;;;L;;;;;;.
ISLAM is proverbially the impregnable rock or religious dignitaries, and his father, Mullah which defies the advance of Christian mis- Rassul, was a distinguished Moslem theologian. sions. Raymond Lull, the early apostle to Mos- The boy was brilliant in mind and devout in spirit. lems, declared that he would die content if he At six years of age he could read the Koran and could see one follower of Mohammed truly con- soon mastered the Persian classics and Moslem verted to the Christian faith. Of all Moslems theology. When he was thirteen his father died there are probably none more fanatical and bit- and Sa'eed, a student of Moslem law and theology, terly antagonistic to Christianity than the Kurds became a teacher in the mosque school. He ad- of Kurdistan. These people are hardy mountain- vanced rapidly in religious and literary circles, eers, living in the territory of western Asia, a was considered a brilliant theologian, a master of t~rtitory extending from Lake Van and Mount Persian literature and a pious worshipper in the Arttrat to Kermanshah in Persia. They are fierce mosque. He was initiated into the mystic and fighters and many are brigands. Dr. Isaac Yonan powerful Naksh-Bandi order of the Sunni sect of'/(jrumia calls them generally "illiterate, crafty, and was looked upon as the rising star of Senneh.
wild, fanatically religious, warlike, lazy, treacher- While he was still in his teens people came from ous, cruel, hospitable, independent and remorse- far and near to ask him to write prayers, to be less robbers ….. To a Kurd a rifle of any new sewn in their clothes or hung in their houses, to European model is worth more than a wife, and ward off sickness and misfortune.
a good horse is worth more than a wife and two While Sa'eed was still in his early teens, he first concubines!' These people are all blindly fanat- came into contact with Christianity. Two of his ical members of the Sunni sect-those who strict- private pupils were sons of a Roman Catholic ly follow Moslem tradition. merchant and in their family he saw the use of Can one of such a race, and with such inborn strong drink which is very obnoxious to orthodox prejudices and wild ways of life, be persuaded to Moslems. A copy of the New Testament in Per- forsake his people and religion and become a true sian came into his hands through a student but follower of Jesus Christ? It is certainly impos- he could not understand it and a Catholic priest sible through any message or philosophy'recom- whom he ·consulted could not explain passages mended in the Laymen's Missionary report. that puzzled him. So he cast the book away in But that such a transformation is possible disgust. Image and picture worship, both ana- through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is clearly thema to Moslems, which he saw in Catholic homes proved in the story of Sa'eed the Kurd, of SennElh' .a.nd.:cliurches, jed~himto believe that all Chris- who became Sa'eed, Khan, the Beloved Physician tians were idolaters and gewors (heathen). He of Teheran. His experience is one of the most gave thanks that he was a Moslem and determined remarkable and thrilling in the annals of mission- to do all in his power to bring infidel Christians ary history. The man is today an answerable to the true worship of.Allah as revealed in the argument for the power of Christ and the worth- Koran. .'~ whileness of Christian missions.* Thus he became~till more studious and devout Sa'eed was born seventy years ago in Sen- in his observance' of all the requirements of his neh, a city of some 60,000 inhabitants, with the Islamic faith. – reputation for being the most fanatical in Eastern At about this time an Assyrian Protestant Kurdistan. It has more mosques than any other Christian, Kasha Yohannan (Pastor John) of city of its size. Sa'eed came of a line of mullahs, Urumia came to Senneh, sent by the American –;-;rhls remarkable life-story is told In "The Belo·ved Physician of missionaries as an evangelist. He inquired for bTuerhyeraPnr,e"ssb, yNDasrh. vIisllaea,c TYenonneasnseoef. Pe$r1s.i0a0.. Published by the C<>kes- some one to teach him Persian and was referred [24 ] DR. SA'EED KHAN, THE CHRIST'I'&N KURD, AND HIS SONS to Mullah Mohammed Sa'eed as he was then called. controversy was an eye-opener for Sa'eed and Finally an agreement was reached whereby the created in him a genuine admiration for his mullah would teach the pastor Persian in ex- Christian teacher. change for lessons in Syriac. They used the Psalms and the Gospels in Persian and Syriac as At this time the elder brother, Kaka, the head a basis for their study. At first Sa'eed would not of the family, became disturbed over the growing give a "Salaam" (peace be on you) on entering friendship, and forbade Sa'eed to continue assothe house of this unbeliever so he deceived him by ciating with the gewor. But when the young man saying "Sahham" (may the sword come upon explained that his purpose was to expose the unyou). While the Prophet Mohammed indorsed tenable position of Christians and to lead them to both the Old and New Testament, Moslem tradi- the true faith, Kaka was persuaded to withdraw tion teaches that the Bible of the Christians is a his prohibition. The brilliant youth continued to hopelessly corrupted form of the original text. visit and argue with the older pastor who dis- Pastor John's prayers were not formal but sin- cussed with him patiently the relative merits of cere and included confession of sin and petitions Islam and Christianity, comparing the Bible and for friends and enemies alike-something abso- the Koran, Jesus and Mohammed. Sa'eed began lutely foreign to Islam. The pastor was a man to see that the Pastor understood the Bible and of tact and loving spirit. He did not criticize also the Koran. They read together the Sermon Mohammed or the Koran but lived a Christian on the Mount and the Gospel of John, one prelife before his pupil-teacher and so won his con- senting the social principles of Christianity and fidence and respect. the other presenting the evidence of the deity of Jesus. The Psalms and Isaiah brought to light Christian work among Moslems being pre- the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah-all scribed in Senneh, Pastor John started his mis- points of controversy between Moslems and Chrissionary work among the Jews. One day a group tians. Sa'eed's interest deepened from day to day. of young Jews challenged him to prove that Jesus He compared the prophecies, the birth and life was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. and death of Jesus with the history of Moham- Sa'eed happened to be present and, as a neutral, med. The explanations of Sheik Imam J umeh was asked to act as judge. Later Sa'eed wrote: were not satisfactory, while those of Pastor John "Pastor John, throughout the discussion that last- showed knowledge and honest reasonableness. ed three hours, impressed me with his unpreju- Sa'eed had been taught that Old Testament prophdiced honesty and remarkable knowledge of the ecies referred to Mohammed not to Christ but Old Testament. I often had to rebuke the Jews as he read the forty-second chapter of Isaiah and for their stupidity and hardness of heart." This other passages he could not fit them into the his-
tory of the prophet of Mecca. The one was the Finally Christ conquered. Sa'eed says, "In the embodiment of love and purity and peace; the twinkling of an eye the raging sea was hushed, other was the prophet of the law, of compromise and peace flooded my soul. I could not have ex- with the flesh and an advocate of war. Sa'eed plained why I loved Jeesus but I was simply began to study Hebrew so that he might find out charmed." It had taken two years to reach this if the Old Testament had ,been accurately trans- decision and Sa'eed had counted the cost. He knew lated. Later he said: that apostasy was looked up'on among his people "The things that impressed me most and caused as a crime worthy of death.. ,' His bigoted brother the light to come into my soul were the beautiful and uncles and the whole clan would be enraged life of Pastor John, his truthfulness, his wisdom at the thought of one of their number-a mullah- and knowledge of the Scriptures. As I compared becoming a renegade. It was a gigantic battle this with my own life and the lives of great Mos- for a youth of eighteen, but he felt convinced that lem ecclesiastics I said: 'Surely there must be in God was with him. Soon after this Pastor John Christianity something more sweet and powerful was obliged to.1eave Sennah but before leaving he than there is in Islam.' ….. One day I asked the baptized Sa'eed behind closed doors.
pastor plainly: 'What do Christians think of Mo- For some time the young convert continued to hammed?' He hesitated and then said, 'Jesus said teach in the mosque and to perform his duties as that false prophets would come after Him. The a muezzin five times a day. Then one day, as he life and character of Mohammed are such that read the words of Christ, "Ye cannot serve two we do not think he is a worthy prophet to repre- masters," he seemed to hear a voice saying to sent the Holy God.''' him: "Sa'eed, you are trying to serve two mas- But Sa'eed was not ready to yield. He was ters. You do not believe in what you testify in angry and returned Pastor John's Bible, ceased the muezzin call that 'Mohammed is the apostle his visits for a time and devoted himself more of God.''' That evening he compromised and in than ever to the Koran, to his religious duties, to place of calling out, "ashad-inna" (I testify) he his religious teaching and to his work as a muez- used the words "astakh-/er-Allah" (God forbid) zin (giving the daily calls to prayer). But he that Mohammed is the apostle of God. But this could not escape from Christ. One day the thought did not long satisfy his sense of loyalty to his came to him: "What, after all, if Mohammed was Master. One day when he was sitting in a vine- an imposter?" The shock was so terrific that yard, reading the story of the crucifixion and men- Sa'eed began to buffet himself saying, "0, cursed tally picturing Christ's death on the cross for him, fellow. Satan has got hold of your heart." He he had a desire to celebrate the communion.
sought cleansing and peace by ablutions and Opening his handkerchief he took out the bread prayers, but in vain. He was in agony and con- for his luncheon squeezed grapes into the palm tinually sleepless. One night he jumped up de- of his hand and partook of them in memory of termined to atone for his blasphemy against his Christ. "The vineyard became a temple and the prophet. He branded his legs with live coals, common meal a sacrament." New strength came making two deep scars to remind him that he was into his soul and he decided that he must deny a Moslem and that he must never again converse himself, take up his cross and follow Christ. That on religion with a gewor. night there was no muezzin call from the minaret.
Still peace did not come to the soul of Sa'eed. His kinsfolk noted the silence of Sa'eed's voice As the scars on his legs healed the burning in his and feared that he might be ill. When the young heart grew more unbearable. The. more he studied and taught the Koran, the more he discovered its man came home he found members of the clan errors. One night, as he returned from the mosque gathered and he handed his brother a letter which he stumbled and fell. Lifting up his voice he read: cried out, "0 God, make plain to me the right way and I will follow it. Otherwise I will go insane." In the nu'/11./l of one only God My Brother: The dangers to my life grow greater day by day. I am a Christian and confess it to you openly. If you will murder your brother my life is in your hands. I cannot escape-yet death will be gain to me. If you In an instant he says, "I felt lifted up and made spare my life, I will be thankful and will serve you as up my mind as to what I should do." much as I can. My wish is to leave here so that you Again he began to visit Pastor John and spent may be in peace. Your brother, Sa'eed. hours each day in study of the Bible, memorizing the Sermon on the Mount. He was particularly A bomb exploded in the midst of the company impressed by the book of Isaiah, the Gospel of could not have created greater consternation.
John, some of the Psalms, and the narrative of Women pulled their hair, beat their breasts and the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ. the men shouted "Ka/ir" (blasphemy). Kaka, his At the same time he studied and compared the brother, laid his hand on his dagger with the im- Koran and the Moslem commentaries. . pulse to slay the renegade who had become an
WHEN A KURD BECOMES A CHRISTIAN
infidel. The uncles urged delay and suggested that was called to their homes all over the city, night Sa'eed was deranged and that he be given an op- and day. Later he visited England to perfect portunity to recant. That night while the family himself in surgery and in the treatment of eye, were asleep on the roof the young man left his nose and throat. When he returned to Hamadan home determined to flee to Hamadan and there he specialized in eye surgery and word of his won- take refuge with the missionaries. He was over- derful kindness and skill spread to every part of taken and beaten. When his brother threatened Persia.
to kill him Sa'eed calmly said, "My brother, do During an insurrection he was called upon to not kill me-not for my sake but for your own." accompany the army of Ain-Douleh, son-in-law The Moslem's rage subsided before the gentleness to the Shah, to minister to the soldiers. In this of the Christian; the spirit of Christ was vic- campaign his private tent was next to that of the torious over the sword of Mohammed. As the general on whom his humble Christian life and brothers returned home Sa'eed began to tell his unselfish service made a deep impression. In rec- brother why he had determined to follow Christ ognition of his services, Sa'eed was given a yearly but Kaka only cursed him for his blasphemy. allowance for life and the honorary title of Khan.
Murderous threats followed from the fanatical He became for a time private physician to Ain- uncles. Again at night Sa'eed fled and again he Douleh with whom he had many private conversa- was followed and brought back but the third time, tions on spiritual themes. When one of the favor- by avoiding the highways and traveling at night, ite wives of the Shah, Muzaffar-AI-Din, was taken he reached Hamadan weary and famished. Here ill Dr. Sa'eed Khan was chosen, instead of any of Dr. Alexander, the Presbyterian mission surgeon, the foreign doctors, to perform the operation. He gave him food and shelter and after hearing his prayed earnestly to God for strength and the oper- story put him to work at the menial task of ation was successful. Thus Dr. Sa'eed Khan, the stable boy. persecuted and despised apostate Moslem, one- Now began a new period of Sa'eed's life. As time stable-boy in the American Mission, became the young man thought of his Master born in a one of the high dignitaries of the Persian Capital, manger, the stable became a sanctuary where he in great favor at the Shah's court.
could read his Bible and worship God without At one time he was called to the bedside of an fear. His family gave him up for lost but as the influential Moslem ecclesiastic who had been bit- news of his apostasy spread, all Kurdestan was ter in his hatred for the apostate doctor. The case stirred with rage; bazaars hummed with gossip was discovered to be beyond the help of medicine and decrees were issued by leading sheikhs sanc- or surgery. This was explained to the patient and tioning his murder. Dr. Sa'eed asked his consent to carry the case in Another Assyrian Christian from Urumia, Pas- prayer to the Great Physician. Now Sa'eed the tor Simon, who was living in Hamadan, soon dis- doctor became Sa'eed the intercessor. Taking the covered in Sa'eed a true Christian and a scholar cold hand of the mullah he kneeled down by the whose talents and training were too valuable to bedside and prayed, be devoted to caring for horses. He engaged the "0, blessed Jesus, our only hope for the recov- young man as a teacher of Persian language and ery of this Thy sinful creature is in Thee alone.
literature, while in his spare time Sa'eed studied Thy power and mercy are without limit. If it be English and medicine under Dr. Alexander. Be- according to Thy Holy will, wilt thou restore him fore long Kaka came to visit Hamadan, in search to health again."
of his brother, and was so impressed by his joy As he prayed, the tears rolled slown his cheeks. and beauty of character that he too became a The effect was startling-his courage, his sym- Christian. pathy, his honesty and his sincerity made a deep The Christian Doc.tor impression. The patient recovered and became the After a period of preparation Sa'eed became an life-long friend of the doctor.
assistant in the mission hospital and seven years But while friends increased, his enemies were later began his own medical practice. He also still many and bitter. At one time he desired to gave public adresses in Christianity to patients visit Urumia to see his wife's relatives and to meet and students. On all his visits to patients, both again his old friend and spiritual father, Pastor rich and poor, he carried his Bible and never John. His road led through Kurdestan which was missed an opportunity to speak to them of sin, its in turmoil on account of an effort to rescue a girl consequences and its cure and of the Great Physi- who had been taken by force into the harem of a cian of souls. Thus, in a remarkable way, he ef- Kurdish chief. The roads were unsafe and Dr.
fectively combined ministry to the physical and Sa'eed was urged not to pass through Kurdestan, spiritual needs of his patients. His fame spread the stronghold of his enemies who had sworn to so that hundreds crowded his dispensary and he kill him. After prayer, however, he decided to
trust in God's protection and to take the journey. begged to be excused from this liberal hospitality He went through the hostile country, ministering and settled at the home of Shamasha Shumel everywhere to the sick and giving medicines to all (Deacon Samuel), who was the native missionary in need. His courage, courtesy, kindness and from V rumia. An hour later a secretary of the skill disarmed the hostile Kurds and they became Governor appeared with four or five servants his friends. bringing a few cones of sugar, a quantity of tea, But Dr. Sa'eed's heart still yearned to help his some candy, and two young lambs for our supper, own people in Senneh, who were still bitter in as well as a letter of invitation to dine with the their hatred of the apostate who had disgraced Governor the next day. Our visit with the Gov- the family name. Since he himself could not re- ernor was most pleasant. He embraced Dr. Sa'eed turn home, he finally persuaded Dr. Jesse Yonan, very cordially for the two had become acquainted an Assyrian physician who had studied in Amer- when Zafar VI Mulk was Governor-General in ica, to go to Senneh to serve his people as a Chris- Hamadan. After dinner we met several of the tian physician. Dr. Sa'eed accompanied his sub- high dignitaries who all knew Dr. Sa'eed by repu- stitute for some distance on the journey. On the tation, as an apostate from Islam.
way they met a noted brigand who came to consult Many of the mullahs were anxious to meet Dr.
the doctor on prevalent diseases and their treat- Sa'eed for a religious controversy, and they ment. Learning something of the doctor's fluency crowded into the large living room at Shamasha in speaking and writing in Turkish, Kurdish, Shumel's. The doctor met their questions with Arabic, Syriac, Persian, and English, the chieftain such clear, uncompromising statements that Jesus asked him to write something that he could keep. is the only Saviour and gave such evidence of his In response the doctor wrote John 3: 16 and superior knowledge of the Koran and his ac- signed his name. The brigand was astonished to quaintance with the Bible that the audience was find that the name was Kurdish and when the greatly impressed. Instead of challenging him, doctor confessed that he was a Christian a change as had been their intention, they were spellbound came over the visitor and he said: "It is a pity under his earnest exposition of the Bible. After I have accepted your hospitality so that I cannot listening for more than an hour these men were kill you." Without another word he withdrew. changed from enemies to friends. Two "men"
At another time the doctor was waylaid by from Senneh who had vowed to kill him, ap- brigands but when they found that he was a physi- proached Dr. Sa'eed. They had been boyhood cian they only asked about the treatment of cer- classmates in Senneh and everyone expected them tain diseases, received a supply of quinine and to attack him; but as soon as they neared the boric acid and then sent a guard to accompany the doctor they embraced him most affectionately. The "Honorable Doctor" to his next stopping place. occasion was very solemn and made a profound Dr. Yonan, his companion, writes: impression upon all those present and the would- "Monday morning, before starting out, we were be murderers departed with love in their hearts.
warned by the Rev. Benjamin Labaree, not to go When Dr. Sa'eed and Dr. Yonan left Souj- through Souj-Boologh, because he was informed Boologh more than one hundred and fifty people, that two men from Senneh had come to Souj- most of them Kurds, from all walks of life, came Boologh and were waiting there to meet and kill to see them off and the two men, who had come Dr. Sa'eed. We hesitated and then the doctor with murder in their hearts, wer·e the last to say said: 'All of yesterday and today we have been good bye. No miracle could have been greater preaching to the people about the presence of God than the change from assassins to kind, and brothand about His p~otecting power; now we are dis- erly friends.
playing our own lack of faith in that power.' We Some twenty years ago Dr. Sa'eed received a decided at once to take the route through Souj- very urgent appeal to come to the help of a Kurd- Boologh and started out much encouraged. The ish sultan (or great chief) who lived at Awraman, city of Souj-Boologh is the seat of the govern- eight days' journey on horseback from Hamadan.
ment and is situAted on a mountain slope. The The danger was great and the Doctor's friends Governor's palace was in a most commanding strongly opposed his· risking his life among wild position, from which the Governor could observe, and fanatic Kurds many of whom were brigands with his field glasses the movements of the travel- and one of wbose sheikhs had issued a "decree of ers on the main road leading to the city. He evi- sanction" to murder Sa'eed as an apostate from dently saw our caravan long before our arrival Islam. The Kurdish sultan sent an armed escort for we were met by a deputation sent to inform and promised to be responsible for the Doctor's us that the Governor was greatly pleased to know safe return home, so after laying the matter be- of the presence of Dr. Sa'eed, Khan, and desired fore God in prayer, Dr. Sa'eed felt it was his duty us to be his guests at the mansion. Politely we to go. He reached Awraman safely, performed
the operation that successfully restored the sul- Dr. Sa'eed was teaching his regular Bible in his tan's eyesight and ministered to many other pa- home in Teheran, a man entered with a few of tients. The hostile sheikh, realizing that he could his followers. It was Mahmood Khan Sanni, the not kill the doctor while he was under the sultan's notorious Kurdish brigand. He had been capprotection, endeavored to win him back to Islam tured by Government troops and brought to Teby sending a large delegation of the mystical heran as a hostage. Now, conscience-stricken, he Naksh-Bandi, the society to which Sa'eed had fell on his knees and kissed the hem of the docformerly belonged. The doctor describes the tor's robe. Then he sat down and heard the good scene as follows: physician expound the passage from Romans 5: 8-10, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for The court was packed as I entered and the sheikh wel- us." "If, when we were yet enemies we were comed me in the name of all, and showed me a place to reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much sit by his side. After a~ exchange of formal greetings, more, being reconciled we shall be saved by His everything became very quiet. As I looked around the life." audience, what a sight! Every eye was fixed on me. I could see blood and hatred, violence and vengeance, in At the close of the Bible study, the former brigthose serious and gloomy faces. A feeling of anxiety for and made a humble confession, and received a a moment depressed me and I prayed in my heart, "0 Bible and religious tracts. Since then the peni- God, I am in a lions' den. Be as close to thy servant as tent sinner has been a frequent visitor in the home thou wast to thy servant Daniel." of the doctor and he and his men have received hundreds of dollars worth of medicines and treat- At a sign from the sheikh all the audience at ment free of charge from the one whom he once once began to sing and chant, at first in moderate tried to kill. Once more Christ-like love has and subdued tones, then slowly growing louder proved itself more than conqueror over hatred and wilder. When they were well warmed up, and murder. reason gave way to emotional excitement; they beat their uncovered breasts and faces, shouting The captain of the sultan's band that escorted and howling like madmen. Their mouths were Dr. Sa'eed on his perilous journey was a devout foaming, but they still repeated the word "Allah" Moslem and a descendant of the prophet. On the until they had lost their voices. When they had journey he saw Christ and the Christian religion reached a high pitch of excitement, slowly they so clearly exemplified in the Doctor's life and in began to lapse into a state of hypnotic insensibil- his testimony from the Word of God, that he too ity. Dr. Sa'eed wrote: later confessed Christ as his Saviour and Lord. He visited Hamadan to learn more of Christ and took The sheikh had arranged this performance with the back with him Bibles in Persian and Arabic and idea of warming my cold heart, and to make me return tracts to distribute among his people. to the true faith. But as I listened and observed, how my soul bowed before Him, the Son of God who had sev- Can Moslems be converted? Can a fanatical ered my chains and had set me free from this wild slavery. Kurd become a Christian? Is Christ greater than Tears came to my eyes and I had difficulty in keeping Mohammed? Is the Word of God more powerful them back lest they should fall at the wrong time and than the sword of Islam? Who can doubt it after carry a wrong impression. Did not my soul tell him, reading the history of Dr. Sa'eed, Khan, the Be- "I have more understanding than all my teachers: for loved Physician of Teheran? He is now over thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more seventy years of age and has been a Christian than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts?" (Psalm for over half a century. He has grown daily in 119: 99, 100.) Christian experience, has reflected Christ in his daily life and in his medical service. Without During the performance, which lasted over two slighting the requirements of his medical prohours, the doctor was a quiet listener and ob- fession he has been a true evangelist. He has server. When the meeting was over, he expressed been a constant student and teacher of the Bible, his thanks and returned to the sultan's house. and his faith and COlll"ag-e and love have never failed. Thousands of Kurds, Persians, Jews, The sheikh, seeing that his "spiritual perform- Turks, Assyrians, Armenians and others of all ance" had accomplished no result, wrote and stations and conditions-high and low, rich and asked for another private interview but the doc- poor, learned and ignorant-rise up to call him tor wrote him a letter, quoting verses from the blessed. Can anyone estimate the result at home Koran and traditions, and concluded by inviting and in the mission fields if ('very Christian would him to become a Christian. so reveal the spirit and power of Christ in char- acter and dailv jifp? What Jesus Christ can do The hostile sheikh, defeated in his purpose, for a converted Kurd, He can do for men and hired a notorious brigand, Khan Sanni, an enemy women of any other race or nation. of the sultan, to waylay the doctor and kill him on the road at night. This plot was discovered and the sultan sent the doctor and his escort by another road. After the brigands had waited in ambush for five days, they returned "like whipped dogs" to report their failure.
Fifteen years later one Sunday afternoon, when
Eben E
.If Devoted Friend of Missions and Missionaries _~I.L.._=R=E=V==.=AS_AnM_AU=EppL_rM_e._ZCiW_aEtM_iEoR_,n_D_b.yD=.t,hP_rei=n=c=et=o=n=,;N;;.!]J.il~~._ W HEN Kate Van Santvoord Olcott, of New ficial benevolence were all to one end, the advance- York City, fell asleep on Thanksgiving ment of the Kingdom of God. Day, November 29, in her eightieth year, Since 1901, Mrs. Olcott was a faithful member the missionary enterprise lost one of its most un- of the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions of the selfish, most loyal, most devoted friends. The Reformed Church in America. She became corworld's needs were always on her heart. Her responding secretary for Arabia the same year practical love and intelligent sympathy stretched and continued in that work until 1930. For all across all frontiers. An those years she carried on earnest Christian from her her heart the burdert of the earliest youth, she walked pioneer work in Arabia (at with God for eighty long that time a land of neglect years. To all who knew her, and darkness, of fanatic opher well-ordered life was a position and hope deferred) constant example of the with the intimacy and tender beauty of holiness and the solicitude of a mother. She calm of a life centered in was friend and counsellor, and source of spiritual en- God. couragement to each worker, U ntH the very day of her always eager to give prac- tical help where opportunity departure, Mrs. Olcott was arose. Every member of the about the King's business. Arabian Mission thinks of Like Moses, faithful in all her with deep affection and her house, she wist not that loyal devotion. To all memher face shone with a light bers of the Mission she was never seen on sea or land. an example of Christian self- At the funeral service held in the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas no one in the lessness and faithful stew- great gat her i ng of her ardship.
friends needed a reminder When Mrs. Olcott retired that the two hymns rendered KATE VAN SANTVOORD OLCOTT from her secretaryship she by the soloist were an inter- wrote a tribute to the unflag- pretation of her life. Her "walk was close with ging zeal of the women of the Mission with whom God, calm and serene her frame." And Whittier's she had had "the high privilege of close associa- poem on the life "without strain or stress"-like tion for nearly thirty years."
that of the Master's by Lake Galilee-seemed a A nobler band of consecrated Christian women never full-length portrait of her who had fallen asleep. lived, and they have held on in the midst of great discour- Indeed her daughter found her early in the morn- agement-in "persecution often," in sickness, in separaing with the latest issue of the MISSIONARY RE- tion from loved ones and even unto death! VIEW OF THE WORLD turned open at Dr. Latourette's article, "The Evangelization of the World in Great will be their reward in heaven, and even now they are reaping a faint measure of it in the high esteem in which they are held by those among whom they are work- This Generation." It was the last thing she read. ing. Their homes have been veritable Light Houses amidst No student volunteer ever lived out the spirit of the gross darkness of Islam, and their family lives have the watchword more faithfully than Mrs. Olcott. shone out in contrast to those about them!
Her study of the Scriptures, her prayer-life, her "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so reading, her talents of administration and counsel, shall his share be that tarryeth by the baggage; her indefatigable correspondence, and her sacri- they shall share alike." This is true of all who [SO]
MISSIONARY DOGS AND AIRPLANES
work at home for the foreign field. But great was always eager to send out all the money in the David's Greater Son has a far better promise, ful- treasury to meet urgent needs on the field. Her filled in her life: "Give and it shall be given unto thoughtfulness for others and her self-forgetfulyou; good measure, pressed down and shaken to- ness included long waiting at the steamship piers gether and running over, shall men pour into to welcome returning missionaries or to bid fareyour bosom." well to those who sailed. Her generous hospi- tality was proverbial and genuine. She had a In 1905, on the occasion of the Jubilee of the spirit like Nathaniel in whom there was no guile. Arcot Mission in India, Mrs. Olcott visited the for- Loyal to her own Puritan principles, she was eign field. Not only Arabia, but India, China, and tolerant of those who differed from her and had Japan shared her personal interest. For many a mind open to receive new truth. The center and years she supported her own missionaries, con- goal of her life was Jesus Christ her Lord and tributed to the regular work of her denomination, Saviour. The Bible and the place of prayer were cared for the Jacob Chamberlain Memorial Band the secret of her strength and beauty of character of Evangelists in India, had her share in the es- -a river of influence that made glad the city of tablishment of the Woman's Union Medical Col- God. lege at Vellore, as well as in many other union enterprises and efforts at home and abroad. In Mrs. Olcott's words were few in mission gath- 1911, Mrs. Olcott was one of the delegates to the erings for she was ever modest and retiring, but Edinburgh Missionary Conference and was an en- when she opened her mouth to speak it was with thusiastic supporter of its findings. She was one wisdom, and her tongue was ruled by the law of the charter members of the American Christian of love. All who knew her rise up to call her Literature Society for Moslems and its efficient blessed, and her own works praise her in the gates. Treasurer until the day of her death. No treas- May God raise up many others who will follow in urer was ever more faithful in securing and ad- her footsteps and emulate her character and ministering funds. A generous giver herself, she service.
Missionary Dogs and Airplanes By BISHOP P. T. ROWE, Seattle, Washington Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Alaska W HEN I went to Alaska, in the spring of dogs I pioneered the great interior of Alaska and 1896, the white population was estimated made a journey of 2,000 miles each winter. There to be 2,000. The conditions were much as were no road houses to spend the night in. You they had been under the Russian Government. simply camped for the night in the snow, what- There were no roads and no trails. Having in- ever the temperature, and the temperature went spected the southern coast, which meant Wrangell, as low as 78° below zero at times. Juneau and Sitka, I headed for the interior and crossed the mountains via the Chilkoot Pass. In For thirty-four years my winters were spent in doing so I hauled my own sled. Dogs were not traveling with the dogs. In doing so I not only obtainable. When I reached the interior and traversed the inland of Alaska but reached the winter approached, I got dogs from the Indians. Arctic coast and began work among the Eskimos. These dogs were maImutes and of wolfish descent. I had to train them and while doing so trained The use of dogs and travel, such as I have demyself so that I could meet the severe cold and scribed, is still a demand in Alaska, though not to travel on snowshoes without going lame. the same extent. Having grown old in the service requiring dogs and snowshoes, it is a happy I had also to cook beans, then freeze them, so change to use airplanes and to look down on places that I would have food for months of travel. For where you had terribly hard sledging, and fly in the dogs I had dried fish. The dogs drew the sleds comfort over the same. The airplane in Alaska loaded with my food, sleeping robes, and the dried is a commercial boon. It is also a boon for people fish. It was not possible to ride on the sled as the who are seriously ill or have met with an accident. snow was deep and you had to "break trail" for The airplane has come. I welcome it, and, though the dogs. Were you to ride you had to dress in I did much work by and through the dogs, I am furs, unsuitable for snowshoeing. So with the glad to take the airplane in their place. Effective Ways of Working I 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~'=I= = = = = = = = = = = =_________'I~ NEW WAYS FOR NINE- sionary activity and study, after meeting to which the missionary careful survey of Sunday school, .. committee, all officers and chair- TEEN THIRTY-FIVE young people's work, etc. Is the men of standing committees, A New Year's greeting to pas- work coordinated or haphazard, Sunday school teachers, etc., are tors and church leaders 1 What advance are you planning over each department on its own?) personally invited, and formuthe means and methods of last 3. Report from the Lookout at late a plan to gear every departyear? Is your church thoroughly aroused, informed and geared the Mast Head; or a Bird's-eye ment of church activity into a for missions? Don't rest back View of What Other Churches comprehensive missionary proupon an active group of women (bless them 1) plus two mission- Are Doing. (Cast your eye over gram. For such an endeavor, ary sermons a year to qualify you under the Great Commis- the Methods Department of THE read carefully the articles on sion and the Crying Need. Start the New Year right by a mission- REVIEW for-say two years past "Plans for Pastors and Church ary "arousement" which will stimulate the life currents in -and give a summary of what Leaders," February, 1933, page every department of church activity. How about devoting an impress you as the best plans 99 in THE REVIEW; also "Plans especially advertised mid-week meeting – or maybe an all- for mission study, children's, for Fresh Beginnings," Septemchurch evening dinner-to some such program as the following, young people's, women's, men's ber, 1933, page 452, these arusing either the plain or the fanciful titles according to con- and Sunday school work; for the ticles indicating the ideal comditions, but remembering that a touch of fancy in the presenta- field has been carefully covered position and functioning of the tion of a theme creates relish and so receptivity? and only such plans as have been basic church missionary commit- tested in reliable use appear. If tee. Abundant suggestions for you have not kept your files of implementing details are scat- THE REVIEW, let this be a lesson tered all through the year.
to you: and if you are not al- ready a subscriber, send in your STEWARDSHIP DECLAMATION subscription at once, as you can- CONTESTS not afford to limit yourself to Mrs. Carter Wright, South- brief surveys of the copy in the wide Stewardship chairman for public library. Articles through- the Woman's Mission Union of out the magazine afford ready- the Southern Baptist Conven- to-hand material for activating tion, and Miss Juliette Mather, many of the plans.) its Young People's Secretary, "Go YE-INTO ALL THE WORLD" 4. The Importance of the Log have brought out plans and ac- Book; or the Prime Place of a 1. Sailing Orders; or the Live Missionary Magazine that tivating material for a series of Place of Missions in the Church Records Daily Progress in the contests which should go far to- Program-Occasional or Perma- Kingdom of God. (Exploit your ward training a generation of nent? (Not as an adjunct to the systematic and proportional givwork but the Church's supreme own denominational organ or endeavor without which it has organs, and THE REVIEW which ers. no justification for considering "Few projects," they say, itself more than a club or fra- gives a world-wide view afforded ternal organization. Missionary by no other missionary publica- "have grown in favor and popuendeavor constitutes a test of the tion. Plan for follow-up work in larity as rapidly as the Stewardreality of our professed faith the way of solicitation of sub- ship Declamation Con t est s, and loyalty, for the very heart of scriptions w hi I e interest is delighting both the young parthe Gospel is missionary. Mis- warm. If you wait to draw the ticipants and the admiring audisions now have a strategic op- net, you may lose many possi- ences attending the contests. portunity, for they must save bilities.) Everywhere people speak of the the world from the tragedy of value of the contest in teaching human selfishness which has al- 5. Setting the Sails to Cateh the Wind; or Seeking the Dy- tithing and developing a real most wrecked it.) namic. (Season of earnest prayer sense of stewardship. The decla- 2. Taking the Reckoning; or mations present stewardship of for the Spirit's motive power What Our Own Church Is Doing. and guidance.) tithes and offerings, that the (Accurate statement of all mis- emphasis be clearly given this At the earliest possible oppor- difficult phase of stewardship.
tunity after this service, hold a The W. M. U. understands that [32 ]
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
stewardship includes more than American Life" appeared in part market or bake sale to which tithes and offerings, but in the in our September issue, sends each woman takes a basket of contest this is the theme." the following suggestions in the fruit, vegetables or other food capacity of her position as Mis- whose value equals her annual Sunbeam Band members (the sionary Education Secretary for dues and which, when sold, entiny tots) are asked to memorize Illinois under the Baptist wom- ables her to pay in full at the one of the two series' of Scrip- en's organizations. start. Call this a Dues sale. Use ture verses in a given leaflet, a Blessing Box, each person such as Gen. 1: 1; Psalm 24: 1; 1. Have each member of your young dropping in a penny whenever Job 41: 11; Psalm 50: 10; Hag- people's group read at least two books she has occasion to be thankful. gai 2: 8; Lev. 27: 30; Mal. 3: on the year's themes-Home and For- Or have roll call at each meet- 10, 11 and 2: 2; Lev. 26: 2, 12. eign. "Gold Mountain," by Payne; ing, members coming forward The second test is the Parable of "Lim Yik Choy," by Shepherd; "Ty- to pay, or answering to their the Rich Fool, as given in the phoon Days in Japan," by Spencer, names with "paid" or "unpaid"! twelfth chapter of Luke. and "Japan and Her People," by Hughes, are especially recommended. BUILDING THE NATION Junior organizations each se- BEAUTIFUL lect one of the talks furnished in 2. Present a play or pageant deala leaflet, memorizing and pre- ing with the themes, such as "The A Christian Americanization senting these at the contest, Color Line," "The Cross Triumphant," Pageant memory counting for 50%, enun- or original dramatizations from such ciation for 25%, posture for books as "A Daughter of the Samu- A summer survey of the new 10% and expression and inter- rai" and "A Daughter of the Narikin.' missionary literature revealed, pretation for 15%. among other things, that most 3. Present a debate on a topic ap- denominations are responding to Intermediate age groups select propriate to the year's themes, such the plea for more dramatizations and write upon a topic from a as: "Orientals in the United States as effective vehicles for both given list, some of which are: should have the same citizenship priv- information and inspiration. "Tithing Pays"; "Is the Money ileges as do other foreign-speaking Outstanding in artistry and im- Ours or God's?"; "Non-Tithers' residents"; "J a pan's geographical pressiveness is one arranged and Excuses Answered" ; "Obedi- limitations justify her expansion pol- directed by Mrs. T. J. Hopkins, ence the Master's Test." Essays icy." of Wayne, Pennsylvania, and as delivered are limited to five given at a Christian Americanminutes. 4. Have at least three meetings on ization meeting of the Woman's each of the themes, preferably basing American Baptist Home Mis- The Young Women's organi- them on current study books. Recom- sionary Society, at Washington, zations give original talks not mended for such use are "Out of the D. C. While couched in feminine. exceeding seven minutes in de- Far East" (Hunter) and "WorId terms in adaptation to its immelivery, based on such subjects Tides in the Far East" "Mathews). diate purpose, it is easily transas: "Owners-or Stewards"?; latable into the masculine or "My Partner's Portion"; "In Ac- 5. Have a creditable proportion of mixed terminology to be used in count with God" ; "Giving a Part your membership in a mission study a young people's group as well of Worship"; "The Tithe-God's class, in a school of missions if possi- as among their elders, and would Preventive of Covetousness." A ble. be very effective among pastors speaker exceeding the time lim- for· an evening service. The acit in delivery is penalized by a 6. Service activities: (a) A per- tion, costuming and staging are deduction of five from the sonal friendship with one or more so simple that groups of limited judges' final grade for each min- Oriental Americans; (b) A carefully resources would find it available ute's excess. All contestants are arranged visit to Chinatown; (c) A with a minimum of rehearsal. presented by number only until public program embracing all of your after the judges' decision is an- denominational agencies among Ori- The Master of Ceremonies nounced. entals in the U. S.; (d) A similar pro- states by way of introduction gram for Japan; (e) An international that Christian Americanization Awards (such as missionary forum with representatives or imper- work lends itself to the beautifybooks) are optional, but some sonations of Orientals, to discuss ing of the nation, for it is truly small token to each winner is "What are the next steps in interna- beautiful only as it is Christian. both stimulating and delightful. tional cooperation?" (f) A Japa- -A guest is expected. Here she The contests begin in the local nese festival; (g) Sending of desired comes now! church, progress through their supplies to a mission among Orientals. winners to the association, then Enter a woman called Mrs. the district and end in the state POLICY POINTERS FROM SUMMER Uncle Sam, or Mrs. U. S., competition. Is not this plan dressed in full red skirt with worth trying, either partially or CONFERENCES white stripes and close fitting in its entirety? waist of blue. Accompanying Programs are not the sole end her is a woman dressed as a PRACTICAL PROJECTS FOR and aim of our planning. The scribe and carrying a book made following excerpts from the of heavy 11×14 paper with the YOUNG PEOPLE Methodist women's meetings at Lakeside, Ohio, furnish policies Mrs. B. P. Heubner, whose in a nutshell: Begin the year outline study for "Orientals in with the sketch of a bare tree as a symbol of the local organiza- tion, and paste on a leaf for each new member. This year substi- tute cherry blossoms. Have a demonstration at the opening of the year to show what the mis- sionary dues and other contribu- tions do, using impersonations and dramatics. If commercial methods are unavoidable, hold a
American flag drawn on its cov- the Key Stones in the structure. next speaks to the Guest, hoping er. On the several pages are in- The Master Builder tells of the the purpose of Americanization work has been made clear and scribed in bold lettering the es- foundation in Jesus Christ (see mentioning the rare gifts of the sential points of the program, Isa. 28: 16 and Eph. 2: 20, 21) foreigners themselves: the Ital- and introduces several Ameri- ian love of music; the Armenian "Foundation," "Keystone," etc., canization workers to give brief with his steadfastness of purthese being displayed at the ap- pose; the Japanese-lover of propriate poi n t to reinforce talks on their work. children; the Chinese, devoted through eye-gate the coincident The Master of Ceremonies to the family; the Mexican with his gaiety; the Pole-strong of messages through ear-gate. The next describes the need for Mas- body and willing of spirit; the Master of Ceremonies introduces ter Craftsmen, and introduces Greek with his art, etc. A blend- Mrs. Uncle Sam saying she has one to speak on "Materials for ing of these gifts in the Chris- tianized foreigner will help crebeen invited to the gathering to the Superstructure" – stones ate the Nation Beautiful. record the essential points of the such as human life, men and work and then to carry back to women of varied gifts and a na- Mrs. United States then asks the women of the nation the idea tive love of the beautiful, "ma- permission to speak; and turn- terials of great price; folks with ing the pages of the great book of its worth and magnitude and one by one, she recapitulates the tell them the part it plays in souls as precious as our own, points made (which appear in building our "Nation Beautiful." bought with the blood of Christ." large lettering) and promises The guest responds suitably, She appeals to the Guest of the that this plea for Master Buildpromising to catch the spirit and evening to broadcast a plea for ers, Artisans, Master Craftsmen and Artists shall go from coast have the proceedings faithfully greater interest in the foreign to coast. She bids Godspeed to recorded in the book by her woman, a closer touch with her all the assembled group of mis- longings and needs with a view sionaries and volunteer workers scribe. The two latter are then to transforming her into choice and wishes them success. seated at a table on a platform slightly higher than that of the material for the Master Archi- Thanking the Honored Guest Master of Ceremonies. tect's use. for this promise, the Master of Ceremonies closes with the fol- Three stanzas of "America the The call for Craftsmen's Tools lowing poem and the singing of Beautiful" are then sung, after is next sounded by the Master of the last stanza of "America the which the Master of Ceremonies Beautiful" : makes the opening talk. She Ceremonies-the human materistates that the words just sung al (foreigners) becomes more To each one is given a marble to give inspiration to go out from carve for the wall: the meeting and engage in a beautiful after certain influences are brought to bear through the A stone that is needed to heighten Kingdom enterprise of nation- implements wielded by the Arti- the beauty of all: building; for making the nation sans, one of whom will now And only his soul has magic to give Christian is a vital part of the speak. it grace; 'missionary endeavor because it The Artisan tells of the use And only his hands have the cunning means Christ in the hearts of of the Book as the Rule, English to put it in place. men, women and children. Nehemiah of old, returning to re- lessons as the Mallet to drive Yes, the task that is given to each one build Jerusalem, set the people away ignorance and misunder- no other can do, at their tasks by groups made up standing, Friendliness as the of families, one building by the Level to straighten out the rough So the errand is waiting-it has wait- places for the foreign folk. ed through the ages for you. East Gate, another by the Fountain Gate and still another by One thing more is called for And now you appear: and the hushed the Sepulcher of David. We do by the Master of Ceremonies- ones are turning their gaze our missionary work by groups, Cement to hold all portions of the building together firmly- To see what you do with your chance one by the Good Citizenship and the speaker impersonating in the chamber of days. Gate, one by the White Cross Gate (hospital supplies, gar- this element makes a strong plea -Edwin MU1·khum. ments for the needy, etc.), an- for more Prayer to make the weak efforts of man into a USING SCREEN PICTURES other by the Literature Gate, mighty power and force. while Christian Americanization Harry S. Myers, of the Baptist workers build the portion by the "A building becomes beauti- Stereopticon Bureau, writes: Foreign Gate. The Master Architect-God Himself – supply- ful," says the Master of Cere- "The Religious Motion Picture monies, "through the skill of Foundation, 140 Nassau St., ing plans for the Nation Beauti- Artists who m a k e possible New York City, is an invaluable ful : under Him a Master aid in arousing interest in mis- Builder to carry out the plans. stained glass windows, frescoes, sions. The School of Missions in blended colors in tapestries and past years has been a consider- The first concern of the Master walls. Mrs. B-, who is one of able user of this material. The Builder, to have a secure founda- these Artists, will reveal the pos- missionary offering of 0 n e tion. Mrs. A- (Christian sibilities of music among our church was increased many Americanization superintend- times by its utilization." ent) will now give a glimpse of foreign friends." This Artist sings, "Come Ye Blessed of My Father." The Master of Ceremonies The Council of Women for Home Missions ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~=~==~===============~ EPIPHANY OR "REVELATION Church, Honolulu, the editor guese Evangelica, Mr. Talmage FESTIVAL" learned that churches, once be- longing to the foreign mission writes: -Chinese Christian. enterprise, have under the direc- tion of the Board of the Hawaii- In 1891 it was felt necessary to or- "They offered him gifts" an Evangelical Association ad- ganize work among the Portuguese of vanced into the cooperating, Honolulu. The Portuguese group, at "Praise the Eternal, 0 families of the coordinating stage of Christian that time, as now, was largely Roman nations fellowship. Catholic, but there were many children who were being entirely neglected by praise the Eternal for his glory and After many years of leadership in any church. his might! the missionary work of the Hawaiian Islands, during which time the Board A young man, Mr. A. V. Soares, praise the Eternal for his open glory organized its work by committees, was called to the Islands from the enter into his courts with an offer- representatives of Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese colony in Illinois. After Portuguese, Hawaiian, Filipino, and some years of constructive work, Mr. ing." English-speaking races, the Board in Soares and his assistants built up a "Let the skies be glad, let earth re- 1933 made what was felt to be a for- substantial small church. ward step, by placing all of the work joice of these various committees under one In 1926, Mr. Soares became ill, and let the sea and all within it thunder interracial group. it seemed an opportunity to make some Let the land and all it holds exult, radical adjustments for the church. let all the trees of the forest sing Up to that date each one of these The older people, all of whom spoke committees had been composed of the their mother language, decided that for joy, Anglo-Saxons and representatives of it should be an English-speaking at the Eternal's presence-for he the particular language group. church as soon as possible. After some months of supply preachers comes, Beginning 1933 these various races from the Hawaiian Board, the present he comes to rule the earth, were combined with the Anglo-Saxons pastor was called. Since that time, to rule the world with justice for the conduct of the church work aside from one Sunday School class and the nations faithfully." of the Board. for elderly people, and the rare use From Psalm 96-Moffatt translation. of a Portuguese hymn, the work has Whereas, in the past, the individual been carried on almost entirely in MODERN MISSIONS IN committees meeting once a month, had English. HAWAII been tending toward isolation, now it is impossible for any race to consider The encouraging thing in the From Rev. T. Markham Tal- itself alone. change from a foreign – speaking mage, pastor of the Pilgrim church to English was the fact that Of necessity our agenda is appall- the old people, who dearly loved their ing in length and often concerns in- church in their mother-tongue, made tricate situations, but there is a very the decision for the change to English. great gain in having our various races sit as advisers to determine the poli- When it was realized that this cies of all. Further, authoritative ac- meant for many of them, giving up tion is cumulative, as the races are the services of worship that they forced to act upon each others' prob- could understand, and around which lems. had been built their whole life, it seems to be one of the most beautiful This committee has now been work- and sacrificial offerings growing out ing for a little over a year, with some of our mission in the islands. This definite gain. It is exceedingly diffi- change was made because of the real- cult, but those who worked with the ization on the part of the older people committees in their old form, know that the church worship could not be that that plan also had its difficulties. vital to the younger people if carried on in a language which they could not Under the old arrangement, the understand. The older people took present chairman of the Churches upon themselves the situation usually Committee was the chairman of the demanded of the younger. Japanese Committee, and a member of the Portuguese-English-speaking Com- A YOUTH COUNCIL AT THE mittee. He can see no lessening of friendly interest from the Japanese ANNUAL MEETING OF group, due to the change. THE HAWAIIAN EVAN- This committee has under its leader- ship 91 churches, of which there are GELICAL ASSOCIATION 62 Hawaiian, 16 Japanese, 6 Chinese, 6 Filinipo, 1 Portuguese. Our church gatherings in Ha- waii, like our political cam- Concerning the church for- paigns, are very colorful. The merly known as Egreja Portu- Annual Meeting of the Hawaiian [ 35 ] Evangelical Association is a big event in the lives of the delegates. It means travel between So we had a conference and we them, customs have grown up the Islands, a week of splendid called it a "youth council." When and have been unchallenged for meetings, excellent Hawaiian it was all over, we found that years, and here as elsewhere we food, meeting of friends and 204 persons had registered and must keep gilding the monu- relatives, flower leis, music and attended at least one of the three ments of the past. Something lots of aloha. morning sessions, and 42 church- happens to the religious interest This year the 112th Annual es had been represented by them. of young people when they enter Meeting of the Association was The choirs were from Hawaiian high school age. It does not held in Hilo, Hawaii, June 23-27, churches only. Hence the major- seem to be a loss of religion.
1934. Hilo is the home of the ity of the young people were of Rather is it a change of values.
boarding school founded by Gen- that race. Yet we had Japanese, The reevaluation process goes eral Armstrong, who 1ate r Portuguese, Chinese, and Fili- on in relation to all of youth's founded Hampton Institute. Ha- pino representatives also. beliefs at that time. He becomes waii is the "Big" Island with its The Association gave official an explorer, and sometimes he two mountains Mauna Kea and recognition to the council and al~ seems to explore too boldly in Mauna Loa, both over 13,000 feet lotted two and a half hours each the sacred areas of religion. He high. On this island is the vol- morning for a meeting. becomes critical of the church's cano which has been very active It was the first major attempt program, its preaching, its mem- recently, always in a friendly of the great gathering of dele- bership. But he still expects the manner. The churches on four gates to give a real place on the church to be an institution deal- of the five main islands of the program to young people and ing with religion. The Christian group sent delegates by steamer. their problems. The meetings be- way of life, the unselfish and One whole ship was devoted to gan with a worship planned and gracious Christ, the ideals of them and they overflowed into conducted by the young people. Christian living, all make their another one-a happy, singing, They found Augustine Smith's appeal to him. Unless the church friendly crowd, most of them "New Hymnal for American meets him at this age and goes wearing wreaths of flowers Youth" very helpful for this with him into adult life, he tends called "leis." purpose. to become material-minded.
Hilo provided a royal welcome. They were very much inter- So the practical question More than 500 delegates partook ested in the discussion groups, arises, how to bring the church of three meals a day, cooked and which had about one and a half nearer to this group and this served by the volunteer helpers hours each day, to consider the group nearer to the church? of the entertaining church. They needs of their own churches. Our council decided that the were provided with beds and They asked and answered the first thing is to create clear unblankets and linen. They were question, "What does the church derstanding in this area, and the entertained at evening parties expect of the young people ?" second thing is that th€y should attended by over 700 people. and summed it up in the word choose their own representatives to sit as full voting members on And a notable choir contest was "Loyalty."
held the first night. In this con- They tried to determine what the official board of the church. test seven choirs ranging in num- young people expect of the Upon the s e representatives ber of members between twenty church. It may surprise us that should rest the responsibility to and sixty competed before a they decided that the church explain the attitude of the young great audience, singing in Ha- should be primarily concerned people, to see that the young peowaiian words Mozart's "Twelfth with religion. There was clear ple and their organizations are Mass," arranged by the leader of thinking on this subject. They given adequate consideration and the Hilo church choir. There is knew the church felt called upon to carryover to the young people probably nothing like this choir to develop activities. But they the high and broad principles contest. Memorized music, with- felt that there were enough ac- upon which the church operates, out instrumental accompani- tivities in school and community to see that the church calendar ment, a little pitch pipe in the life. They expected the church of activities is free from conhands of the leader to start them to be "a flaming torch leading us flicts in dates and plans. In fact off, and yet – and yet – music on to greater and higher things, they are to be ambassadors of whose chords and timing, timbre but today the church is like an goodwill. and phrasing and balance are so ambulance travelling behind, perfect that listeners tingle with Some of us who were privileged to appreciation and excitement. picking up the wounded." work with this group throughout the Then they spent some time sessions, felt that a very important It was this choir contest which with both feet on the ground try- step has been taken. made the conference of young The Association has officially rec.ogpeople possible. Many of the ing to devise practical ways nized its obligation to its own children. whereby the church might serve It is not starting a new organization. choir members are under 30 the youth of these Islands. They It is welcoming them, and acknowledgyears of age. The contest was felt that there is too great a dis- ing them as sons and daughters in held at the very beginning of the tance between the young people the Christian Church.- NORMAN C. meeting. After that the choir SCHENCK, Associate Secretary of the members had very little to do. and the older people at present. Board of Hawaiian Evangelical Asso- Language barriers separate ciation.
NEWS William Martin, well known as student cannot busy
editor of the Journal de Geneva, with his books in the face of Future of Christianity says in a recent article: "Never present threats of war…. It is Dr. Cleland B. McAfee of New speak of the 'next war'-for in this world of mass influence York, secretary of the Presby- nothing is more dangerous. Wars terian Board of Foreign Mis- become fatal at the moment and mass movements that the sions, says that if Christianity when people believe in them; keeps on its present rate it will that is, when they begin to per- claims of Christ have to be become the world's majority re- suade themselves that war is in- -Far Horizons. ligion within fifty years. This evitable. There is no such thing made." opinion was expressed recently as an inevitable war! There will in an article in the Portland, be no next war if the people do Russian Asks Christian Unity Oregon, Journal. Dr. McAfee not want it." who has given 46 years of his A plea for united, universal life to active Christian service, If "the people" want peace Christianity was given by Serobserved that he had seen the enough to work for it, to take as gius Bulgakoff, dean of the facbottom fall out of things several their slogan, in place of "War is ulty of the Russian Orthodox times before in his long life, and atrocious and futile, but," "War Theological Academy, Paris, at finds nothing in the present is atrocious and futile and-it the New York Cathedral of St. world economic upheaval to wor- shall not be!"-then we may see John the Divine, Sunday, Octory him in so far as the Christian fulfilled the prophecy, "From ber 7. religion is concerned. He is now on, war by governments equally positive that the Church shall be changed to peace by "Both spirits, that of the Tower of must supply the leadership in peoples." -World Outlook. Babel and that of Pentecost, have this time of need. He is confi- influenced the life of the Church durdent that: "We have reached Handicaps to Study ing her history," Fr. Bulgakoff dethe day when we are going to clared, "but the prevailing spirit have to have a better spirit in Dr. Visser 't Hooft, Secretary until now has been the schismatic the world, because we are living of the World's Student Chris- one. Fortunately, we are now able closer together than ever before. tian Federation, in a recent to notice a remarkable change. A We must learn how to live to- speech in England mentioned an new message sounds through the gether and the Christian Church Indian professor who said that world, a new spirit is breathing, the is the one institution able to give twenty-five per cent of his stu- spirit of Pentecost, the message of this message and program to the dents were in prison, twenty-five universal Christianity. world." per cent were engaged in politi- cal propaganda, twenty-five per This ecumenic spirit is now awak- Promoting Peace cent were spying on the others, ened as a first realization of the and the rest were doing a little Church's catholicity in our days. In- studying. He referred also to a stead of mutual exclusiveness and thousand Shanghai students haughtiness there comes a desire for mutual acquaintance and understand- ing in the spirit of peace and love. This change has already begun, as the representatives of many different confessions meet now with one an- other without feeling their own orth- odoxy endangered.
Fr. Bulgakoff pointed to two Dr. Mary E. Woolley tells us who asked for a special train to causes of separation between what we can do to promote Nanking in order that they Christian bodies-differences in peace. 1. Assure the President might express to the President creed which should not be evaded that you will support in every their views on the Manchurian in the effort for reunion, and difpossible way a program for situation. Their request re- ferences caused by provincialism "practical pea c e, permanent fused, they sat down in a body and narrow-mindedness which peace, real peace throughout the on the tracks so that no train should easily be overcome. -The Living Church. world." 2. Do not hide your light was able to enter or leave the under a bushel as far as your station. They got their train! EfTective Preparation senators and representatives are In Nanking they stood in a concerned. Rather, set it upon a freezing temperature before the In Basil Matthew's biography hill-that they may not fail to palace for forty-eight hours of John R. Mott, he gives the see where their constituencies until a deputation was received notes made for Dr. Mott's per- stand on this momentous ques- and promises of action given sonal guidance in preparation tion of international cooperation, them. for conferences.
versus national isolation. 3. Do Dr. 't Hooft, continuing his Personal: not join the "defeatist group." address, said: "The European Keep the Morning Watch.
[37 ]
Spend eight hours in bed; also The Elyria League has already of New York City by the Times take nap in afternoon. undertaken a specific work-the Square Mission. The record for support of a native evangelist in September indicated that more Take drive each afternoon. India. The Women's Missionary than 23,000 attended the open- Take time for preparation before Society has also taken on new air meetings. This only included all public work. life as a result. persons who stayed as long as Plan each day. twenty minutes. Many raised Before each address and confer- A College Student Church their hands for prayer and many ence remind oneself of the need of remained for interviews. Forty the Holy Spirit and definitely claim Last October Dr. Hutchison, thousand tracts and Gospels His help for the work at hand. President of Washington and were distributed, and 95 hours Be mindful of the things of others Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, were filled during the month -especially associates. presented to presbytery the with these outdoor meetings on Avoid: church letters of 44 students, one of the busiest corners of Sins of the tongue. with a request that these men be Broadway. The mechanical versus sense of vo- made the nucleus of a fully accation. credited Presbyterian Church on The Cost of Crime Content with small results versus the college campus. Dr. Hutchivery great, i. e. real spiritual results. son explained that none of the Not every one knows that Expect large results: present methods of providing re- Remember that there has been an ligion for students has proved crime costs us 25 % of the naadequate cause from which great re- successful, because the students sults may be expected, namely, the have had no responsibility for tion's income. Here are some long preparation, the self-denial, the the form or expression of their figures that came recently from prayers of many all over the world, religion. Under this new plan a Senator Copeland: the working of the Living, Almighty church will be organized entirely God. of students. Not even professors Losses through frauds. $1,270,000,000 of the college may belong. Elders Property losses and eco- "Spirit of Missions" will be ordained, all other church offices will be filled by students. nomic value of 12,500 Centenary The pastor will be Rev. Cameron m u r d e r s (annual Ralston, director of religious ac- toll) ………….. $1,160,000,000 At the end of 1934 The Spirit tivities for the college. Law Enforcement …. $4,000,000,000 of Missions begins its one hun- Waste involved in dealdredth year of continuous serv- Signs of Church Life ing with crime …. $6,503,000,000 ice. One can read in almost any In the first three months of The Protestant Episcopal paper that the Church is about 1934, four-fifths of all those ar- Church's only official periodical to die, but Dr. Herman Weber, rested were under 30 years of is entering its second century editor of the Year Book of age and many were only 19. Of with confidence and enthusiasm. American Churches has a differ- 12,000 murders during the last It will continue to depict the ent opinion. He says: few years, 4,000 were caught mission fields in America and and sentenced; only 153 paid the her possessions, afar in the Ori- More than 30,000,000 Americans, extreme penalty. It seems that ent, in Africa, in India. More attend services in Protestant and one may murder with a 3 to 1 than 4,000 missionary workers Catholic churches, and Jewish syna- chance of not being punished at have spoken through its pages. gogues every week. The churches all, or a 1 to 80 chance of paying are gaining members at the rate of the death penalty-a little less -Circular. 750,000 a year. Church buildings risky than going swimming! have increased sevenfold in number NORTH AMERICA in the last 75 years. The last census Hartford Mission Fellowship showed 232,154 houses of worship in A Men's Missionary League the country, and the church debts What do the young people of amount to only 11 per cent of the this decade think of foreign mis- A "Men's Missionary League" value of church property." We are sions? Are they responsive to has come into being in the First also told by Dr. Kieffer, president of the world's need of Christ? A United Presbyterian Church of the Association of Statisticians of group representing six denomi- Elyria, Ohio. The League began American Religious Bodies, that ap- nations has been formed in the with 16 men, including the pas- proximately one half of the popula- Hartford Seminary Foundation. tor, Rev. George A. Brown, on tion of the United States is definitely Twelve mission boards were con- October 20, 1933. The present related to some church. While the sulted, and the outcome was the membership is 37. After a full population of the country increased appointment of a Committee of year of experience the men and 22 fold between 1800 and 1934, church Nine to guide the training and their pastor, have a deep con- membership in the same period -in- activities of the group. This viction that they should give creased 80 fold. Hartford Mission Fellowship their testimony to the Church. has presented its message at A leaflet entitled "An Adventure -Presbyterian Banner. twelve student conferences and in Masculine Missions" has been several churches, and it is hoped sent out to leading men through- Times Square Mission to continue to reach colleges and out the denomination. The leaf- preparatory schools as far as let contains the Constitution and A notable piece of evangelistic possible. By-Laws, and, condensed, a ser- work is being done in the heart mon preached by the pastor on Men and Missions Sunday, "Missions-A Man's Job."
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
The group is seeking to go as 3. To stimulate older Christians in courses offered are training prayer and service. graduates to meet these needs. a unit, without stated salaries, 4. To instruct Christian workers to A religious education club, orand take up work in some unoc- ganized by students, is studying cupied mission field like Tibet, make their ministry more effectual. 5. To combat the error and evil problems of rural churches, con- centrating on methods, materi- Mongolia, India, Africa, Japan and deliver those who are being en- als, organization and equipment or China. Recently the group snared. for all ages which can be used has decided to concentrate its study on China and surrounding 6. To provide worth-while employ- ment for those who wish to serve Christ. 7. To furnish Gospel sermons and successfully. territories. Bible teaching to those communities which do not have a resident minister. The Farm School, N. C., has a New England's Student Gospel Team, numbering 35, Movement Nearly 400 different titles, with a waiting list. The team covering a wide range of sub- visits mountain communities On October 19, 20 and 21 students from all over New Eng- jects, are published today, and within a radius of 125 miles but land gathered at Northfield to 57,692,350 books, booklets and has concentrated in four near-by form a new united Student tracts have been distributed. settlements as an entering wedge for an intensive study to see Christian Movement, made up of representatives from 41 colleges, A Notable Work whether Farm school can put on an all around extension program and including both adults and Many useful organizations are there. Agricultural aid, health students from Y. M. C. A., Y. almost unknown and receive lit- work and recreational leader- W. C. A., S. V. M., and church tle recognition. A century ago ship, in addition to religious acyoung peoples' societies. the "Female Moral Reform So- tivities are possibilities under The"Aim and Purpose" are as ciety"-later the "American Fe- consideration. follows: male Guardian Society" was -Presbyterian Banner.
The Student Christian Movement founded in New York by a group Methodists Celebrate is a fellowship of students, men and women, who are challenged by the of women, who after years of More than 1,200 delegates replife and teachings of Jesus to seek enduring ridicule, secured legis- resenting the various branches for themselves the sources of His lation to punish abduction, and of Methodism and coming from power and to manifest, in all the re- by other laws to protect young all parts of the United States, lationships of their lives, His rever- boys and girls. The society later ence for personality and truth. started nine industrial schools Canada England and Australia A committee of 22 adults and for poor children, and initiated gathered recently in Baltimore 30 students was appointed to fresh air work. It provided a for the principal celebration of carry out the purposes of the sewing machine fund, which admovement. One of the aims is vanced money to poor women so the sesquicentennial of Amerito merge activities of church that they might pay for them in can Methodism. Practically groups, the Y. M. C. A., the Y. installments, and pioneered oth- everyone of importance in Meth- W. C. A., and the Student Volun- er forms of relief. Its various odism was present, as well as teer Movement in New England. orphan homes are doing effective various leaders in other denom- A similar movement was organ- work and 37,000 children have inations. An oratorio, "The gone through its institutions. At Evangel of the New World," and ized in the Middle Atlantic re- a pageant, "The Spreading gion last summer, and a national least one well known Presbytericommittee is studying the possi- an minister and editor, John Flame," were presented. bilities of cooperation through- Bancroft Devins, was brought up in a home of the Society and An interesting historical sumout the nation. the manager of the Tribune mary of the beginnings of. Meth- odism in this country was Issued, Forty Years Colportage Work Fresh Air Fund. with a message especially pre- -So S. Times. pared for the book by E. Stanley The Bible Institute Colportage Studying Mountain Needs Jones. Society of Chicago, founded by -The Christian Century.
D. L. Moody, celebrated its 40th At the Asheville, N. C., Nor- Lutheran Anniversary anniversary on November 15. mal and Teachers' College the This agency was started for the junior class is studying a typical Observing the 200th anniverpurpose of publishing and dis- sary of the landing of the Luseminating, evangelical books mountain community, to discov- therans in America at Savannah, er the number of regular church Ga., and also the 400th anniverand booklets, Scripture portions, attendants, standards and re- sary of Martin Luther's tran!'la- sources of religious, sodal and tion of the Bible, the Umted and Gospel tracts. economic life, number and type Lutheran Church in America The Association has kept sev- of schools, distribution of wealth en objectives in mind: 1. The salvation of lost souls who as shown by types of homes, and held its biennial session in Saotherwise might never be reached vannah early in November. The with the Gospel. manner of living. The students convention moved to bring about then turn to the school's curric- a union of all Lutheran bodies in 2. To establish young Christians in ulum to see how concretely the the faith and to develop fruitful lives.
America and created a commit- ard of the Indian Bureau, fed- After Sixteen Years ~ee to work out a plan for mergmg. eral policy toward the aboriginal "Mission Folks and Facts," a leaflet on Baptist home mission There are seventeen branches Americans was such that more work, says: In 1918 the Baptist of Lutheranism in the United Home Mission Society sent out States and Canada. Replies to a than 50 per cent of them "ceased its first missionary to Nicaragua. questionnaire sen t to every Beginning with a small group of clergyman of all these branches to be Indians and failed to be- less than fifty believers, he built up a Sunday school, trained show that 89 % favor a merger come whites." The Indian's en- teachers, and opened out-sta- tions. At the same time the into one Lutheran Church. If tire life was organized on a woman's society sent out its first this union should take place, it missionary teacher and founded would form a church of 4,381,- group basis. He could not suc- a primary school. The primary 094 members, with 15,469 con- school has developed into an ingregations. The L u the ran cessfully compete in white soci- stitution embracing all grades Church is now the third largest through high school, and now en- Protestant communion in the ety which is based on the indi- rolls over 400 boys and girls. The country, following closely upon church of 400 members has the Methodists and Baptists. vidual. In half Shaepacredn,tutrhy~ grown to be one of the largest according to Mr. in all Latin America, with a Sun- American Lutherans, with day.school of 425 and an evening Lutherans and evangelicals Indians lost 91,000,000 of the audIence of 600. The pastor is a throughout the world, oppose the native Nicaraguan. A Christian efforts of the German reich- 138,000,000 acres of land in the community has grown up, and skirche to force pastors of Ger- ~rained .l~aders in the ministry, man Evangelical Churches to original allotments. A few, the m medicme and teaching have support a political program at been sent out. the expense of their fidelity to Pueblos among them, which conthe historic confessions of the Church. tinued their communal traditions Large Home Mission Field lost little or none. Under the old In a block comprising all of order, the majority of the red Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico, and part men saw their own culture deof Colorado, Idaho and California, there is but one Protestant generate and were unable to ac- Christian colI e g e-Westminster, in Salt Lake City. quire that of the white man.
Westminister College has a Hence grew the unfair assumpthreefold task: to maintain a high standard of scholarship in tion that they are lazy and a Christian atmosphere; to provide college courses for Protes- worthless. tant young people in the Mormon are~;. and to offer this type of One of the Bureau's innovatrammg to young Mormons. Ten years of enlarging buildings tions is the training of Indian and equipment, followed by five years of depression, have left a teachers to work among their deficit of $75,000, which the management is now seeking to own tribesmen. secure in a three-year campaign. LATIN AMERICA EUROPE New Chance for the Indian Bitterness Toward Religion Salva..tion Army Work The Government is giving up the attempt to make the Indian A law was passed in Mexico On November 1st a great farea white man. Instead, he is be- two years ago forbidding the well was held in Royal Albert ing encouraged in self-govern- teaching of religion in all Hall, London, for General Edment, in his own native arts and schools, and since then there has ward J. and Mrs. Higgins. The is being provided with modern been a gradual increase in the sanitation and the comforts of rigor of enforcement. Control Duke of York, who acted as civilization. of education and the press is an- chairman, said: other government policy. Since 1887, says Ward Shep- The Salvation Army makes a great The present situation is one of bitterness, suspicion and confu- claim upon the regard not only of sion. An amendment to Article III of the Constitution, which members of the Royal Family but on has been passed by congress but not yet submitted to the states, all sincere and thoughtful people …. I requires that all education shall be socialistic, excluding all reli- believe there is today more mutual gious doctrines. Teachers in pri- vate schools must agree with sympathy and understanding, nation- these requirements. Religious all~ and internationally, and the Sal- corporations, ministers of reli- vatIOn Army, among other religious gion, and societies connected di- rectly or indirectly with the and philanthropic bodies, has had a propaganda of a religious creed, are forbidden to take part in pri- full share in bringing that about. mary, secondary or normal schools, or to give them economic Men of many faiths, some of them support. leading representatives of those faiths It is impossible to foresee the -Angli~an, non-conformist, Catholic, full effect of all this on Protes- tant mission work. Jew, Hmdu, Mohammedan-meet in glad accord to show their apprecia- tion of the retiring general, and thus pay ther tribute to the work of the Salvation Army. .
General Higgins reviewed the widespread activities of the a.rmy, which include the opera- tIon of 89 main hospitals, seven for lepers only; 18 separate col- onies for placing poor families on the land; 120 homes for de- tsheertperdovaisnidonoorfp3h4a,n0e0d0,0c0h0ilmderaeln~' in a year for the hungry poor;
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
139 labor bureaus, and 224 Russia; while the American under the Italian law and coop- workshops; work in 172 slum Christian Committee for Ger- erating with the Foreign Mis- areas in the large cities of the man Refugees, which is endeav- sion Board of the Southern world; the preaching of the Gos- oring under the chairmanship of Convention. The new president pel in nearly 17,000 mission Dr. Cadman to aid in caring for of this Italian Convention is Rev. halls, of which over 6,000 are in the non-Jewish refugees from Ignatius Rivera, pastor of the non-Christian countries; and Germany, is finding great diffi- church in Florence, who finished the direction and control of 45 culty in arousing any general his education in Glasgow, Scot- training colleges for officers. land, and is a well trained realization of the situation. It preacher. The Boys' Brigade is said that one in five of these refugees is a Christian. De- – Watchman-Examiner. In 1883, William A. Smith, a scendants of the Huguenots in Sunday-school superintendent of France have shown, perhaps, the Gipsies in Austria Glasgow, was faced with the problem of holding boys past 11 most concern. Jewish generosity There is still in Europe one years of age with two other men, toward Christian refugees has people who know almost nothing 'and 30 boys, he formed the been remarkable. -Advance. of God, and of His salvation "Boys' Brigade," a movement through Jesus Christ. This is which has spread throughout the Jews Turn to Christ the small nation of gipsies, rov- world. Within three years there ing, despised, often persecuted. were 61 companies in and The Maranos of Portugal are Many who formerly lived in the around Glasgow and later the Hungarian territory known as movement reached such propor- Jews who were forced into Ro- Biirgenland, have now* through tions that Mr. Smith gave up his the Treaty of Versailles, been business to devote all his time to man Catholicism by the Inquisi- transferred to Austria. Thou- the Boys' Brigade, until his sands of them are living in death in 1914. In 1909, King tion. They have retained Jewish closed settlements of miserable Edward made him a knight. mud houses. Isolated settle- customs and forms of prayer, ments are also found in Carin- There are now companies of thia and Upper Austria. To the Brigade in Canada, India, and have kept themselves from bring the Gospel to these gipsies Australia, New Zealand, Africa, is a task undertaken by a lay West Indies, Ceylon, Newfound- intermarriage with Catholics. worker, Walter Miiller, a former land, U. S. A., China, Latvia, student at the Bible School for Denmark, and now in Malaya. Orthodox Jews have been at- southeast Europe in St. Andrae, The object is, "The advancement near Villach. He reports: of Christ's Kingdom among boys tempting to win them back to and the promotion of habits of A gipsy invited me to come to his Obedience, Reverence, Disci- Judaism, but they are unwilling house, telling me that the thirty New pline, Self-Respect and all that Testaments I had forwarded to him tends towards a true Christian to return to a Christless syna- had arrived, and that they had been Manliness," and the motto "Sure reading them till 10 p. m. In that and Stedfast." gogue. So a Hebrew Christian room I found thirty gipsies assem- bled, and I was asked to speak of Relief for Evangelical Alliance of Portugal has been Christ. The gipsies sat with crossed legs on the floor listening devoutly Churches formed by a number of Portu- and eagerly, while the audience stead- ily increased. Thus I found that An important meeting of the guese Christians of Hebrew these despised people are open to the Central Bureau for Relief of the Gospel, and it has been. a joy to me Evangelical Churches of Europe, race,-teachers, ministers and to see their eager response to the now identified with the Ameri- message of Salvation. I am finding can Section of the Universal business men, to bring them into many open doors and many new coun- Christian Council, was held re- try places which up till now have cently under the chairmanship evangelical Christianity. On the been visited by no one with the pur- of Dr. William H. Foulkes. pose of circulating the Word of God. Plans were made for continuing badge of the new organization the important services which An Anti-Christmas Campaign this agency has been rendering are the letters XN. In the six- under the leadership of Dr. According to the New York Adolf Keller in Geneva. As teenth century Maranos, when Times, anti-religious efforts have fast as tthe situation improves so slackened and Christian or- in one European country, new signing official documents, were ganizations are so increasing problems arise in one or two their strength in Russia that the others. Many challenging situ- obliged to append these initial executive committee of the ations confront the churches of League of Militant Atheists have letters with their names. They issued a call for a "Christmas campaign" against religion, to stand for Christao Novo ("New begin November 25 and continue two months. The whole Soviet Christians"), in contradistinc- tion to Christao Vetno ("Old Christians," that is, Roman Catholics) . Mr. Pereira, the vice-president of the new Alli- ance says: "we are not ashamed to own that we are New Chris- tians of Jewish descent who have accepted Christ as Lord and Master." -So S. Times.
Italian Baptists There are in Italy about 3,000 Baptists organized into fifty-one churches and sixty out-stations, under the supervision of South- ern Baptists. Now the Italian National Baptist Convention has been organized with a board of directors legally incorporated
network-the Young Communist Mission, gave some pertinent sionary thinks he is sharpening organization, trade unions, agri- facts about that part of Africa his bush knife on the Lord's Day, cultural advisers, village teach- which are perhaps not generally but finds that the little hut is a ers and the movies, radio, press known. The Sudan is almost as Christian prayer house where and clubs is asked to mobilize to large as Europe, with an esti- the Ndali people hold evening push back the rising tide of wor- mated population of 32,000,000. services. Some people are passship. The northern portion is chiefly ing with hymn books and Testa- Mohammedan, the southern ments. Striking the stones was Reports to the central head- mainly pagan. There are over in imitation of church bells. quarters of the militant atheists 600 distinct tribes. For many indicate that there is some rea- hundred years it was closed to Inside the church were several son for the atheist league's dis- evangelism; now it is practical- little seats, consisting of forked quietude. In many villages not ly open throughout. limbs stuck in the ground and only are there no actively pro- supported in the fork a limb on fessing atheists but Communist Twenty-one missions are at which the people could sit. The party members are winking at work, with 180 stations and 672 speaker had a little stand conthe practice of religion or even missionaries, whereas thirty- sisting of a board resting on engaging in it. Most churches three years ago there was but three sticks of wood and behind that have not been turned into one station in occupation. Only it a firm, little bench. The movie theaters, warehouses, or about 50 per cent of the people church measured only six feet demolished, are f r e que n t I y have been reached so far. Some by twelve and the windows were crowded with worshipers. sixty-three languages have been mere openings in the walls. The reduced to writing sufficiently gardener made a short prayer, AFRICA for some portion of Scripture to the people then revently sang a be issued therein. There is no hymn; the gardener read Luke Covering Large Areas overlapping of missionary effort. 14, with much stuttering, giving his own original explanation. Nearly 30 years ago, Lord -The Life of Faith. He said: Cromer, then High Commissioner for Egypt, invited the C. M. S. Leper Work in Nigeria "The banquet which the King to enter the southern Sudan. In Himself cooked, and offers to us, 1905 the first party went in. The work of the Mission to that is the word which we hear Owing to climatic and other dif- Lepers at Garkida is beginning every day." ficulties all but one of that party to solve the tremendous leprosy had to retire, the present arch- problem in Northen Nigeria, Donald Fraser Hospital deacon who is still at work there. where there are at least 3,000 The C. M. S. has sole responsi- cases. There are 500 under August 16 the Donald Fraser bility for a vast area, compris- treatment at the Garkida colony. Hospital was opened at Sibasa. ing many tribes and tongues, Aid from the Nigerian govern- This event marks a further stage and it is in order to occupy the ment is promised in increasing in the development of the mediwhole territory that the eleven measure; gifts from the Ameri- cal mission established at Gooldstations are spaced about 100 can Mission to Lepers are ville in 1930 by the Church of miles apart. At each station ex- matched by the government. It Scotland. The hospital has been cept the newest, Ler, there is a is hoped that this whole area built and equipped from funds native church growing up. At may be rid of leprosy. raised in South Africa, and is Yei, the growth has attained the the first and only hospital in an proportions of a mass movement. -Without the Camp. area with a population of 150,- During the past year, between 000. At present, there are only 2,000 and 4,000 people have as- Small East Africa Church twelve beds, but it is hoped to sembled monthly for special add an additional ward very gatherings for the deepening of From time to time mention is soon. spiritual life. One of the leaders made of very small houses of here is a young chief from Yam- worship in which the spirit of The appreciation of the native bio, who secured leave of absence God is at work, and where men people was shown by the large frbm his small chieftainship for are led to Christ. European mis- numbers who gathered at Gooldtwo years and volunteered for sion journals give a description ville on the day of the official this service. This young church of a small church in East Africa opening. Early in the morning at Yambio contributes toward which shows under what varied the church was filled with those the work in other sections. circumstances the Spirit of God who had come to give thanks to is at work. Moravian Missions God, and to seek His blessing on -C. M. S. Gleaner. gives us the following account: the new hospital.
In the Sudan Missionary Gemuseus, comIng -South African Outlook.' to a congregation in the little vil- At the World's Evangelical Al- lage of Ndali, East Africa, hears Revival in South Africa liance reunion in London last a clear sound. On approaching, October, Mr. Gilbert Dawson, he finds a gardener crouching Under direction of the Move- Secretary of the Sudan United before a little hut, striking one ment for World Evangelization, stone upon another. The mis- Rev. Lionel B. Fletcher, who has
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
been conducting a six months' ing in some weeks more than understood by all he must exevangelistic campaign in South Africa, reports a spiritual awak- 2,000 people in Beirut and neigh- press himself in no less than ening which amounts to a sweeping revival. He was greatly boring parts of Syria. Last four or five languages – Arabic, pleased to find that converts won during his campaign twelve year's eleven graduates are scat- Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and years ago have made marked progress in the Christian life. tered in Bulgaria, T u r key, Assyrian.
One man had deliberately com- Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus A pastor-at-Iarge is greatly pacted to sell himself to the devil, and had actually served the and Palestine. Students conduct needed to cover the entire field devil for sixteen years. By what some people would call coinci- a Sunday service each week at until organized churches can be dence, his saintly parents came from a distant part of Africa to Lebanon Hospital for Mental established. attend one of the evangelistic -Syria News Quarterly. meetings, not dreaming that Diseases, attended by all who are their wayward son, for whom they had prayed through the well enough to be there. It is one years, would be there. Their joy was unbounded as they saw this of the things to which patients New Ideas in Sidon son and his wife walk up and testify that God had saved them. look forward, and seems to bring Teaching in Sidon Girls' solace to their troubled minds. School is not in vain. One class -Life of Faith. studying "Home and Commu- -Syria News Quarterly. Opportunity in Near East American Press Centenary nity" was asked to write on the Dr. Charles R. Watson, Pres- topic: "What Have I the Right ident of the American University at Cairo, says that the Last year the American Press to Expect from My Commudegree to which old ideas in the in Beirut celebrated its hun- nity?" Here is a composite of Near East have yielded to sci- dredth anniversary of Arabic eight papers: ence is almost unbelievable. The changes have affected profound- publication in the city of Beirut. "I have a right to expect from my ly intellectual life, social life and The Press is actually 112 years community safety, clean streets, pure even political life. The auto, the movie, travel to Europe and the old, but the first twelve years water, good roads, electric lights, ice modern newspaper have been were spent in Malta and Smyrna. made from pure water, clean markets, factors in widening the horizon Several hundred million pages of of the rising generation. Educa- meat screened from flies, and the tion is advancing by leaps and religious literature have issued examination of milk and meat. bounds. Feminism is another movement of unusual signifi- "I expect the community to collect cance to lands that have hitherto kept women veiled and secluded. from it in half a dozen different garbage, care for sewage, isolate peo- In Egypt, unlike Turkey, the fez languages, and have been scat- ple who have infectious diseases, and is still worn by men and the veil tered all over the Near East and to punish dirty people; to pass laws by women, but many free social to keep the health of the people in relations between the sexes are even in China, India, South good condition, to open schools so that permitted. Africa and the Americas. the people may be educated, to use the Dr. Watson believes that with money I pay in taxes in the right way. this new day that has dawned To help defray expenses, all comes an opportunity for serv- sorts of commercial printing is "I expect the community to drive ing these people such as Chris- turned out. The present equip- out child labor. I also look for a good tianity has never had before. position and respect for women as WESTERN ASIA ment has been running contin- well as for men. These things will uously for 30 years. cost me a great deal, they will cost me Near East School of Theology courage and ability to work, for it is -Caravan Trails. not enough to see and say, and not to A glance at the field work program of the Near East School do anything. They also cost me time, of Theology indicates that its influence is very extensive, reach- Al Jazireh and this time, energy and money I should save by planning everything at Al J azireh is an island-like home. I should follow the laws of the community, pay my taxes on time and portion of Syria, lying between . be a good example." the two rivers of ancient history -the Euphrates and the Tigris. These ideas were put into Its missionary interest centers practice in a preliminary sani- in five villages, each having a tary survey of Sidon community. small, but earnest group of Under impressive police escort Christians. In Haseecha there groups 'of girls inspected the is a church building, and the men's p r is 0 n, the women's twelve Protestant families are prison, the public bath, the anxious for a school. Am- slaughter house, the meat, vege- moudah is a thriving wheat table and milk markets.
market, seemingly oblivious of When the girls were ready to the depression. The town's present their report they invited most distinguished citizen is a the honorary members of their Protestant. Kamishlie has 81 club, a group of Sidon women, Protestant Christians; they have and a representative of the purchased a site for church and Women's Club in Beirut. With- school. Aleppo station is help- in two weeks the Sidon Women's ing to supply a preacher-teacher. Club came into existence, stat- There are about fifty Protestants ing as its purpose: "The Im- in Ain Diwar, the most hetero- provement of Family and Com- geneous group to be encountered munity Life." Three committees anywhere. If one would be have been organized, the prison
committee, health committee and ing its influence felt in India suIts will be made, and plans outa committee to help the poor. also. Under the influence of lined for future work. INDIA some of the Roman Catholic pre- The initial expense is covered Evangelistic Week in Dornakal lates in India branches of this by a gift received through Dr. The Bishop of Dornakal believes that rural India is ready, league have been formed in cities E. Stanley Jones, whose work as never before, to receive the Gospel. Nearly 12,000 baptized like Calcutta, Madras and Bang- with the higher classes in India Christians were voluntary witness bearers during evangelistic alore. A public meeting was makes him appreciate the possiweek last May in Dornakal diocese. During the campaign held· in Madras under the aus- bilities of reaching in this way in the Kistna area nearly 5,000 people definitely decided to be- pices of the Catholic Social Guild large numbers of educated, but come Christians, and 21,000, of whom 12,000 were caste people, to protest against the unwhole- heart-hungry men who have stated that they wanted to know more about Christ. some cinema films shown in that little direct touch with Chris- -C. M. S. Outlook. city. Protestants and some non- tians.
What About Ceylon? Christians took a prominent A changed viewpoint has be- part in this meeting. In India, . Missionary Coordination come rather prevalent in Ceylon, expressed concretely in a book it is very rarely that Catholics Representatives of ten misby an English professor, "A and Protestants cooperate. sions met in Bombay September Buddhist Pilgrimage." The idea is that when a backward people -The Christian Century. 5 to discuss the question of eshave been lifted by a degree of western civilization they should tablishing a joint business office be left to work out their own des- Appeals for the Colleges in Bombay. The views expressed tiny. All religions are good, but for the Singhalese none is better Advisory committees on Chris- indicate that there will be many than Buddhism. tian higher education in India advantages arising from a joint office. The sale of American The C. M. S. has a large share have been set up in Great Britain in upholding a belief in Christ in and in North America, and in drafts will be facilitated and Ceylon, but there are only 30,000 India a Central Board of Chris- other items of business, par- Christians of the Anglican ticularly those that have to do Church in a population of over tian Higher Education has come with transit and shipping, will 5,000,000. The Anglican Church into existence. The object of has been renamed "The Church these bodies is to see that the be handled much easier from a of Ceylon"; it is the first fruits recommendations of the Lindsay central office. There will also be of 100 years' work. In nearly a a considerable saving in office hundred villages schools are Commission are carried out by staff· and equipment when the staffed with Christian teachers· the colleges, and to help the oran urgent need is that of,keeping ganizations connected with these work of ten or more societies can the faith of these teachers at a colleges to give effect to the be carried on through one office. high level, since even they are in It is recognized that at least two danger of succumbing to the recommendations. An appeal missionaries will be required, axiom "Buddhism for Ceylon." for £130,000 for Indian colleges and possibly a third to make At least a third of the 147 teachers are Christians of ten years' was launched last March; and provision for necessary furstanding, or less. However, in the colleges which are run by loughs. There would be one or many villages there is real prog- American missionary societies more permanent office assistants ress, and a steady flow of those have asked the American Ad- in addition. If this experiment who are "added to the faith." visory Committee to appeal for is made and proves successful, it -C. M. S. Outlook. Rs. 1,500,000 for helping the de- is quite possible that other mis- velopment of colleges like For- sions will wish to share in the Legion of Decency advantages of such a joint. office. man College, Lahore; the Chris- The Legion of Decency started tian College, Allahabad; the -The Indian Witness. in America on the initiative of Christian College, Lucknow; the Roman Catholic bishops is mak- American College, Madura; the CHINA Isabella Thoburn College for Women, Lucknow, and the Chris- New Broadcasting Station tian College, Indore. The largest broadcasting sta- Experiment in Press tion in Asia, and the third Evangelism largest in the world, has recently been opened by the Chinese Gov- Newspaper evangelism, al- ernment in Nanking. A circle ready a tested and successful with its wavelength as a radius means of Christian work in and Nanking as the center in- Japan, is being introduced in cludes Irkutsk, Chita, Delhi, Cal- India. Dr. James E. Manry, of cutta, Burma, Sumatra, New Allahabad, writes that during Guinea and the Caroline Islands. the coming winter it is planned Just what are we likely to hear? to insert articles on Christianity The program from 8: 00 a. m.
in a number of the best Indian till 9: 00 p. m. includes the news dailies, both English and ver- (broadcast in Mandarin spoken nacular. After a four-months' with a South China accent), lec- experiment, a check-up on re- tures and musical numbers.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Both Ginling College girls glee from the God of its fathers! It is the literature, and forming personal faith of the Pilgrim Fathers that club and the girls of Methodist made America great." contacts with men and women in Hui Wen High School have pro- the towns and villages in their -The. King's Business. districts. -Chinese Recorder. grams. A Professor of Nanking Theological Seminary has spoken A Model Parish Government Aid for Colleges on the topic "Educational Foun- dations of World Peace." At Pastor Tien Li Kung has made There are encouraging signs the invitation of the Chinese Government, messages from sev- his parish a model for the whole of cooperation between Chriseral Christian institutions are country. This out-of-the-way tian conferences and governbeing sent far and wide. church had been going down hill ment schools. A youth workers' -Woman's Missionary Friend. until only five members were conference, for instance, was held on the campus of the pro- Press Literature Prizes left, but Pastor Tien threw his whole energy into his task and vincial college at Wusih. A Two prizes were offered by the preached for 50 nights in the young people's conference in Presbyterian Chi n a Council, with a view to stimulating the street, organized two day schools Honan was held on the campus production of Chinese Christian and four night classes, all taught of a provincial rural normal literature. One prize of $300 by volunteers. In each of these school. Mutual understanding was awarded to the author of the centers he conducts a weekly best original production of preaching service. Difficulties and appreciation was one result. Christian literature in Chinese This is one aspect of the very published during the year 1934. which fill others with consterna- Another prize of $150 was tion only rouse him to action. cordial relations now existing awarded for the most effective between Christian and other intranslation of Christian litera- Pastor Tien's example has pro- stitutions in China. The Univerture into Chinese published dur- voked both the county normal sity of Nanking has during the ing the year 1934. The name school and the higher boarding "Press Literature Prizes" has last year received more than a been given in recognition of the school to zeal for the under- quarter of a million dollars service rendered by the Presby- privileged. For the first tim~ in (silver) from various public orterian Mission Press. their history they are conductmg ganizations, among them the na- tional government. Yenching -Chinese Recorder. classes for those who cannot read or write. Twice recently University, also, received about students from the latter institu- $60,000 (silver) from the minis- tion have paraded the city ex- try of education.
horting the illiterate to enroll in -The Christian Century. night classes. The results have Oriental Views America been commendable. New Mohammedan State -Christian Advocate. Chinese Turkestan is a poten- A distinguished Chi n e s e Friends' Work Strengthened tially rich land commanding the leader, Mr. Leland Wang, of Honkong, who paid a visit to A real strengthening of the trade routes that connect India, America recently, was educated Russia, Mongolia, Tibet and in three Chinese Naval colleges, Friends' forces in China has China. It has a large Chinese and at the time of his conversion Mohammedan population. Genin 1918 held a high position in been made by the return of five the Chinese Navy. Later, he re- eral Ma has now declared the signed his position to devote his missionaries from furlough, and state independent of China and time to evangelism. He has wit- given it the name of Islamistan nessed to his profession in al- the sending of two new ones. most every province of China, (the realm of Islam). Accordand in other lands as well. Re- Friends in England have made ing to reliable private informaturning from his visit to Amer- tion, "no Christian will be tolica, he has made various obser- this possible. In the two la~ge vations: erated in the State of Islamistan, cities of Szechwan, Chungkmg and Christian refugees are be- "We have traveled over eleven thou- ginning to trickle down through sand miles in three months, besides and Chengtu, each with over taking about one hundred meetings in the Northwest frontier into different places. One of my impres- 5s0ha0~0e00wiinthhaboitthaenrts,chFurrchi eesn ds India." There have been murder, sions of America is that there are too in imprisonment and torture in the many automobiles here. It is a nation on wheels." evangelistic and educational ef- small Christian community, and the reports declare that there With keen spiritual insight, forts. At the city of Chungking, will be exile for all survivors. Mr. Wang views America's real need as well as that of the whole Chinese Friends maintain the This son of an English manu- work unassisted. In Central facturer in London, a convert to Mohammedanism has assumed Szechwan, a large district with the title "King of Islamistan."
Tungchwan as its center, Friends are the only Christian represen- tatives. Further south, there has been a successful year in hospital work at Suining; while in the Tungchwan and Suining districts the workers have de- world, when he says: voted much time to what one of Inaccessible Turkestan them terms "old fashioned evan- "How sad it is to see this country, gelical work," h?ldin~ m~eti~gs, About the most inaccessible which puts the inscription 'In God preaching, teachmg, dlstrlbutmg spot in the world is that strip of We Trust' on its dollar, departing
territory stretching along the Pan-Pacific Buddhist has appointed pastor F. L. Ching northern side of Tibet through Conference and his wife to open work in which runs the age-long caravan A Pan-Pacific Buddhist Con- these islands. They are the first route from the Mediterranean ference was held in Kyoto last missionaries to enter this field. to the Pacific. Last year a com- July, attended by nearly 700 del- The prevailing religion among pany of six young men under the the island tribes is a mixture of egates representing Buddhism Mohammedanism and animism. direction of a veteran mission- all over the world. A message -The Evangelical Christian. ary entered the territory via the was sent to the Conference by Gobi Desert on two motor trucks. Mr. Gandhi, from which the fol- Jubilee in Malaysia One of the group writes of the lowing is taken: way this large, unevangelized It is impossible for Hindu India to- Malaya Methodists celebrate district is being reached. this month the fiftieth anniver- day to retrace her steps and go be- sary of the opening of the work On Sundays we hold services in our guest room, singing simple hymns and hind the great reformation that Gau- in Malaysia by William F. Oldgiving out gospel message to those tama effected in Hinduism. By his immense sacrifice, by his great re- who come. Quite a number of men nunciation and by the immaculate ham, now Bishop, who is planand school boys have come to listen, purity of his life he left an indelible ning to be present with Mrs. and a goodly number of people, both impress upon Hinduism, and Hinduold and young, just stroll in to see ism owes an eternal debt of gratitude Oldham. They will be guests of what is going on, attracted usually by to that great teacher. . . . .. Wherever the conference. Miss Sophie the sound of my little organ. We have the Budha went, he was followed by Blackmore, who opened the had many visitors from the various Woman's Foreign Missionary peoples that live here–dhinese, Tun- and surrounded not by non-Hindus gans, Turki, and others – and have but by Hindus who were saturated Society work in 1887, comes had opportunities to talk with them from Australia as guest of the about the things of God. . with the Hindu law. But the Bud- As there are many sick and suffer- dha's teaching, like his heart, was alling people here without proper medical aid, the traveling missionary expanding and all-embracing, and so Woman's Foreign Missionary always carries his medicine case, as it has survived his own body and Society. Bishop Badley will rep- swept across the face Qf the earth. resent the Board of Bishops. well as Bibles, gospels and tracts. Buddha never rejected Hinduism but Thus we have found it helpful to do he broadened its base. He gave it a A pageant entitled "The Morna little dispensary work for two hours new life and a new interpretation. every morning. During the last month Gautama was a Hindu of Hindus. ing Light," prepared by Mrs. E. or so we have seen some three hundred sick people, and have been able -The Christian Century. F. Lee, will be presented in Victo relieve much suffering. We hope toria Hall, Singapore. The hisin this way to show forth something ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC tory is given in a book entitled Religious Education Library Malaya Rejoices.
-The Christian Advocate.
of the love of God in Christ, and win In response to an appeal made Fijian Friends the confidence of the people. by Secretary Enrique C. Sob- repefia of the Philippine Com- It seems to be characteristic of -Moody Bible Institute the Fijians that when a new Monthly. mittee of Christian Education JAPAN -CHOSEN that the Philippine Islands be thing takes their fancy they put made one of the religious educa- amazing enthusiasm into it. The Professor Becomes Evangelist tion library centers, one hundred observance of Mothers' Day is choice books on religious educa- one instance; children do all the Here is a bit of early Chris- tion have been shipped to Manila work on that day to give their by the World's Sunday School mothers a rest. Sons send gifts, tianity in modern Japan. Mr. Association. These books will Suzuki, formerly teacher of form the nucleus of a circulating and students go home for the Physics in the Imperial Univer- library for use by religious edu- week end. Fijian women have cators in the Philippines and in linked up with the rest of the sity, has taken up a small farm Malaysia. in a mountainous region of world in the celebration of the northwest Japan, and built for Advance in Dutch East Indies Women's World Day of Prayer, himself a home from which, as a West Borneo, South Sumatra and attach tremendous imporbase, he engages in evangelism. and the 200 islands lying be- tance to it. They conduct their tween, a field comprising from He was once an agnostic, but his seven to eight million people, meetings in a fine, devotional contacts with the Omi Mission brought him to Christ. He fin- spirit. -The Missionary Review ished his scientific studies and (Australia). then mastered Greek and Hebrew in order to search the must be classed as unreached Scriptures in the original. Even- territory. These islands are in" WHY DO YOU GO?
tually, he felt called to give his habited by Chinese and Malay- Some go to church just for a walk, whole time to Christian work, speaking people in a proportion Some go there just to laugh and talk, and chose.this remote and unat- of about fifty-fifty. The Chinese Some go there the time to spend, Foreign Missionary U n ion, Some go there to meet a friend, tractive region. He has an as- Some go there for speculation, sembly hall in his own house which has seven Chinese mis- Some go there for observation, where he holds meetings and sionaries working in pioneer Some go there to doze and nod, Sunday school. -So S. Times. areas of the Dutch East Indies, Some–how few-to worship God.
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1 Our Missionary Bookshelf j Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information ~,=====–==============~=,~ The Living Religions of the Indian carried on its great work result- able. The pages, too, show an ing from Stanley's call and the enthusiastic admiration for People. By Nicol Macnicol. Pp. beginnings by Hannington and China. The illustrations are Mackay. The book is a careful vivid and most attractively done. 323, 10 shillings, 6 pence. The study of the social and economic No child can read the book with- structure of the Baganda people out coming away with a warm Southern Christian Movement Press, as affected by European in- appreciation of the Chinese and fluences which have pressed in with something of a knowledge London, 1934. upon them. The writer is sym- of the sweep of Chinese history pathetic with the ethical prin- -and it is to be hoped with a The six chapters of this book ciples of Christianity and in the desire to know more. In what main with its social influence. appears to be its primary purwere presented in connection He thinks that missionary effort pose the book has been very suc- "would be infinitely more val- cessful. with the Wilde Lectureship in uable if its emphasis was trans- ferred from its present objects It is, however, easy for the Natural and Comparative Reli- to the advocacy of ethical ideals." To him it is conceivable that specialist to criticize a book of gions at the University of Ox- "ideals of altruism in which the this kind. Obviously it is writ- strength of Christianity has al- ten by one with no particularly ford (1932-34). They deal with ways lain might come to be re- garded as not necessarily insep- expert knowledge of China. The Hinduism, India Islam, J ainism, arable from a code of sexual morality which no European so- literature on which the book is the religions of the Sikhs and the ciety has in fact ever followed." based is good but does not in- clude enough modern works on Parsees, and with Indian Chris- In other words, he thinks that history to incorporate the re- Christian missions should lay sults of the best recent scholartianity. They are a temperate less emphasis on theology and be ship. The author apparently satisfied with their social and knows nothing of the fascinatand restrained study both of the moral influence, with an adapta- ing glimpses which within the tion of moral ideals to the old past two or three decades archrehistorical background and of the African social organization. The ology has given of the begin- evidence is complete that west- nings of Chinese culture, and present situation in the case of ern civilization is going to mod- still narrates simply the time- ify radically the life of the honored story of early monarchs each of the religions of India. African people whether for good who at best are probably only or for evil. The problem for myths. Lao Tzu is spoken of as They represent an attitude of Christian missions is as to how an historical personage, and no much they can contribute to the doubt seems to have troubled the great fairness, not to say of change for good and how little author's mind concerning his au- to the change for evil. thorship of the Tao Te Ching. tenderness, in dealing with the S 0 m e noteworthy characters ROBERT E. SPEER. who might well have been made non-Christian religions of India, very attractive, such as Wang The Pageant of Chine.s,e History. By Mang, Wang An-shih, and Chu but there is no question with Dr. Elizabeth Seeger. Illustrated by Hsi, are not even mentioned. Bernard Watkins. New York, Long- The romanization is frequently Macnicol as to the place of mans, Greene and Company, 1934. Pp. xvii, 386. $3.00. of the type which is not in ac- Christ and no equation of Him cord with the most generally ac- The author has avowedly writ- cepted usage. Moreover, the with any other. Dr. Macnicol is, ten for children, and most de- modern period is dealt with en- lightfully she has done it. The tirely too sketchily to introduce of course, thoroughly equipped style is vivid and eminently read- even children in any adequate fashion to the stirring events of with knowledge and understand- ing for his task and this is a good book like others which he has written. There is a slight slip in the footnote on page 160 in placing Kerbela in Persia in- stead of in Iraq. R. E. S.
An African People in the Twentieth Century. By L. P. Mair. Pp. 300, 12s., 6d. George Routledge & Sons, London. 1934.
This thesis, by a lecturer in Colonial Administration in the London School of Economics, is "A study of the influence of European civilization on the structure of African society and of the practical lessons to be learned in the shaping of colonial policy."
The people studied are the Baganda of East Central Africa -the people among whom the Church Missionary Society has Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
r 47]
the late decades or to an under- A History of Religion. By Herbert observe the distinction between standing of the China of to-day. H. Gowen. 8vo. 698 pp. $3.50. facts and the author's opinions. Nor does the author seem to Morehouse Publishing Co. Mil- Noone can prudently challenge know much about missions; the waukee. 1934. the authority of the professor of only mention of them in the nine- history in Harvard University teenth and twentieth centuries is Dr. Gowen, Professor of Ori- when he makes statements of by way of semi-disparagement. ental Studies in the University fact, but his opinions are in a of Washington, and the author more debatable category. For It is, therefore, a pity that a of several volumes on the sub- example, the fact that Mark bebook which in many ways is ex- ject, writes as an historian lieved that Jesus claimed to be cellent should not before going rather than as a theologian or the Son of Man is coupled with to press have been perused by missionary but his viewpoint is the opinion: "I do not think that experts and so have been able to avowedly Christian. His pur- Jesus can have meant Himself" avoid some of the defects which pose is to trace God's purpose (pp. 42-43). Anyone with the now are obvious. and method of leading men from New Testament in his hands can darkness to light and from judge of that. K. S. LATOURETTE. death to life. The untranslated quotations do not tend to make There is much in the book that A Bosporus Adventure. Istanbul the book suited to popular use. is fine but throughout the Bible (Constantinople) Woman's College, and Jesus (the term Christ is 1871-1924. By Mary Mills Patrick, Dr. Gowen begins with primi- avoided) are discussed from a Stanford University Press, 1934. tive religion, discusses ancient thoroughly rationalistic view- Pp. 284. Price, $2.25. and modern religions, and closes point. He frankly declares: "I with an attempt to look into the do not believe in the existence of Here is the story of a great future. He finds some difficulty any creator, and when I use the adventure in education for the in defining religion; "Man's word God, I mean the totality of womanhood of the Near East by faith in an ideal beyond him- values, not a person or a personal the president emeritus of Istan- self" is too broad a definition being" (p. 85). The reader is bul Woman's College. Dr. Pat- for it would include those who told that "Paul's teaching difrick went to Constantinople as a have no religion. The same ob- fered seriously from the teachteacher in 1875, four years after jection holds with regard to the ing of Jesus" (p. 75), and that the founding of the school. She author's treatment of Judaism the Christianity which will surretired in 1924. During this pe- and other religions, which he de- vive is neither St. Paul's teachriod the college grew from a scribes as "designed to prepare ing about Jesus, nor that of any girl's school of forty pupils to an men's minds for the dawning of one else, not even of Jesus himinstitution with several hundred a new spiritual day." If this self, but that which is freshly students, in modern buildings was the design, all except the evoked in each generation by the and on a campus of seventy Hebrew religion have failed to spirit which animated Jesus and acres. fulfil their purpose. He accepts Paul in theirs." We wonder the historicity of the Old and whether the students who heard The story is told in accordance New Testament but does not these lectures realized that what with the periods of Turkish rule, seem to recognize the Old Testa- they were getting as "modern before and after the Revolution. ment as a special divine revela- scholarship" was simply old in- Conditions under the reaction- tion to prepare the way for fidelity in a new dress. ary Sultan Abdul Hamid and un- Christ. He accepts Christ as dider the new republic are strong- vine Lord and Saviour but does ARTHUR J. BROWN. ly contrasted. The aut h 0 r not pronounce on such matters sketches the dark days of op- as virgin birth, the miracles and Ein Christ auf den Strasen der Welt. pression, the struggle for free- the resurrection. Das Leben des Dr. John R. Mott. dom, and the atmosphere of old By Basil Mathews. Herausgegeben Turkey as the background for The book has an immense von Professor Julius Richter (Berthe new day in modern Turkey, amount of information on the lin). Berlin: 1m Furche-Verlag. which she believes is one of the different r e Ii g ion s and is Price, R. M. 4,80. Pp. 347. most progressive of republics. adapted to discerning students She pays tribute to the noble rather than to the general read- Dr. Mott and his world-wide women who were her colleagues er. There are numerous refer- circle of friends are to be conon the field, and not less those ences to source material. gratulated on t his excellent who contributed of their substance so liberally for the build- translation of his life-story through the indefatigable pen of ing of the College and its endow- Paul, His Heritage and Legacy. By Prof. Julius Richter of Berlin. ment. We are surprised that Kirsopp Lake. The Mary Flexner there is almost no reference to Lectures on the Humanities at Bryn Islam, until recently the state Mawr College. 153 pp. $2.00. Ox- The original work by Ba'sil ford University Press, New York. Mathews was reviewed at length religion of Turkey.
An excellent bibliography, a This is not a biography of in this Magazine. It will suffice list of publications by the Amer- Paul but a general discussion of therefore to note that the trans- ican members of the faculty, and Jewish and Gentile Christianity, lation is unabridged, except for a good index add to the value of with Paul viewed as a "bridge" the omission of the maps and il- the book. S. M. ZWEMER. between them. Readers need to lustrations. S. M. ZWEMER.
and the Cosmos. By Theodore Missionary Facts from W orId Fields. Apolo, the Apostle to the
Graebner. pp. 352. $3.00. Wil- 18 pp. 15 cents. Baptist Board of Wm. J. W. Roome. 95 pp. 1s. liam B. Erdman Pub. Co., Grand Education. New York. Marshall, Morgan & Scott. London. Rapids, Michigan. 1934. The Omi Brotherhood in Japan. Wm. Church and State in Latin America: This author, a professor of Merrell Vories. Illus. 180 pp. A History of Politico-Ecclesiastical $1.00. Omi Brotherhood. Omi- Relations. J. Lloyd Mecham. 550 plIilosophy in the Concordia Hachiman, Japan. pp. $4.50. University Press. Chapel Hill, N. C. Theological Seminary in St. The Responsibility of Success. W. Wilson Cash. 92 pp. 1s. C. M. S. Shintoism: The Indigenous Religion Louis, calls his book "a critical London. of Japan. A. C. Underwood. 126 pp. 2s. 6d. Epworth Press. Lonanalysis of atheism." This is a The Re-Discovery of the Spirit. Wm. don. Owen Carver. 160 pp. $1.50. Retrue characterization. The vol- vell. New York. Zoroastrianism. J. W. Waterhouse. 134 pp. 28. 6d. Epworth Press. ume is a cogent and vigorous Something Happened. Mildred Cable London. and Francesca French. $2.00. 320 and, to the unprepossessed mind, pp. C. I. M. Philadelphia. Jesus Christ and Primitive Need: A Missionary Study in the Chrisa convincing statement of the in- Southern Baptists in the Great Ad- tian Message. C. P. Groves. 260 venture. T. B. Ray. $1.25. 201 pp. pp. 6s. Epworth Press. London. validity of any theory of life and Baptist Sunday School Board. Nashville. Problems of the Pacific, 1933. Prothe world based on materialism, ceedings of the 5th Conference of Stories of Hymns We Love. Cecilia the Institute of Pacific Relations. mechanism or atheism. There is M. Rudin. $1.00. 50 pp. John Edited by Bruno Lasker and W. L. Rudin & Co. Chicago. Holland. 490 pp. $5.00. Universa great wealth of quotation from ity Press. Chicago. Stories of Indian Saints. The Late an immense mass of reading and Justin E. Abbott. Rs. 3. 500 pp. Personal Items United Theological College of Westthe material is presented so ern India. Poona, India. (Concluded from page 1.) clearly and simply that any Peace by Revolution: An Interpreta- in January to conduct meetings under tion of Mexico. Frank Tannen- the auspices of the Inter-Varsity Stuthoughtful person can follow the baum. Illus. 317 pp. $3.50. Co- dent Christian Fellowship. lumbia University Press. New argument. There are some ty- York. *** pographical errors which should Sixty Years of Service on Behalf of Dr. Ju Sam Ryang, general super- Lepers and Their Children. 94 pp. intendent of the Korea Methodist be corrected in another edition. Mission to Lepers. London. Church since 1930, has been reelected for a second term of four years. Dr. It would be well if the authori- A History of the Church in Vene- Ryang is a graduate of Vanderbilt zuela-1810-1930. Mary Watters. and Yale Universities. ties quoted were more fully 260 pp. $3.00. University Press. Chapel Hill, N. C. *** dated as some of them also are Rebel Destiny: Among the Bush Ne- Rev. John W. Nichols, D.D., was perhaps outdistanced and sev- groes of Dutch Guiana. Melville J. consecrated Suffragan Bishop of and Frances S. Herskovitz. Illus. Shanghai, November 1st. eral authorities still living are 366 pp. $3.00. McGraw-Hill. New York and London. •*• quoted in terms to which they Malekula: A Vanishing People in Sir Wilfred Grenfell, who is nearmight justly take exception. But the New Hebrides. A. Bernard ing three score years and ten, plans to Deacon. Illus. 789. 42s. Rout- retire from active work in Labrador no such mass of material as this ledge. London. and Newfoundland but will continue to promote the work for people to could be assembled without some The World Wide Church-1934-5. whom he has devoted his life by help- 130 pp. 1s. Church House, Press ing promote the work of the Internaqualification, and the book can and Publications Boards. London. tional Grenfell Association. He has 1934. been for more than forty years a big be heartily recommended as a Christian brother to the people of The Case for Missions in Modern Labrador and the Newfoundland coast. straight out, plain spoken, well India. E. C. Dewick. 25 pp. 3 as. Palghat Mission. Palghat, South informed statement of a positive India.
Christian view of God and the Africa and the Making of Books: Being a Survey of Africa's Need of world. R. E. S. Literature. Margaret Wrong. 56 pp. 6d. International Committee New Books on Christian Literature for Africa. Obituary Notes Donald Fraser of Livingstonia. By China's First Preacher, Liang A-Fa, (Concluded from 2d cover.) Agnes R. Fraser. 7s. 6d. Hodder 1789-1855. G. H. McNeur. Illus. & Stoughton. London. 128 pp. Mex. $1.50. Kwang Hsueh The Archbishop of Rupert's Land, Pub. House. Shanghai. Jesus Christ and Primitive Need. By Rt. Rev. I. O. Stringer, D.D., died Charles Pelham Groves. 6s. Ep- Builders of the Indian Church. worth Press. London. Stephen Neill. 159 pp. 3s. 6d. suddenly in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Hodder & Stoughton. London. Das Buch Der Deutschen Weltmis- his way to take part in a parish meet- sionen. Julius Richter. Illus. 332 Sadhu Sundar Singh: A Personal Mem- pp. Leopold Klotz. Gotha. oir. C. F. Andrews. 256 pp. 3s. ing. Since 1892, Bishop Stringer had 6d. Hodder & Stoughton. London. China's Problems and Their Solution. ministered to dwellers in the Arctic Wang Ching Wei. $2.50. China Aggrey the African Teacher. Wm. J. United Press. Shanghai. W. Roome. 94 pp. 1s. Marshall, wastes. *• * Morgan & Scott. London. Christianity Tested. Oscar Macmil- Dr. Marcus C. Mason, a retired lan Buck. 255 pp. $2. Abingdon Press. New York. pioneer missionary to Assam, died in The Daughter of Abd Salam. Flor- East Aurora, N. Y., October 15, 1934. ence Mary Fitch. Reprint. Illus. For fifty years he worked among the 75 pp. $1.50. Bruce Humphries. Boston. savage tribes of the Garo Hills. His Ein Christ Auf Den Strassen Der first task was to reduce the Garo lan- Welt-Dr. John R. Mott. Basil Matthews. 348 pp. Rm. 4.80. guage to writing, and it is due to him Furche-Verlag. Berlin. and to Dr. E. G. Phillips that the The Faiths of Mankind. William Pa- Garos have the Bible in their own ton. Second Edition. 156 pp. 2s. 6d. S. C. M. P. London. vernacular. THE MOSLEM WORLD SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, Editor SOME ARTICLES IN THE JANUARY NUMBER: Unitarianism and the Gospel …………………………… Archbishop of York The Study of the Koran Text ……….•……………………… Arthur Jeffery Does the Bible Speak of Mohammed? ………………………. James Robson A Baha'i Pontiff in the Making ………………..•………… Albert E. Suthers AI Madina: Arabic or Aramaic ….•…….•…..•………….. Eric F. F. Bishop Moslems in the United States ……••.•….••..••…………•… G. H. Bousquet Christianity and Islam in Lanao ……..•..•.•.•…………….. Frank C. Laubach To Whom Will Ye Liken God? ……………………….. Laurence E. Browne A Moslem Shrine in Buda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " …….. Ladislaus Draskoay The Moslem Doctrine of Revelation ……………………………"Orientalist"
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The Missionary Review of the World — October 1934
OCTOBER,1934
SPECIAL JAPAN NUMBER JAPAN~ A PROBLEM-OR A CHALLENGE? . Chas. W. Iglehart JAPANESE VIEWS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS .. E. C. Hennigar INFLUENCE OF CHRIST IN JAPAN . ……. .S. H. Wainw.right SOME JAPANESE CHRISTIAN LEADERS . …… . H. W. Myers THE UNFINISHED TASK IN JAPAN …. .Gordon K. Chapman THE YOUTH OF JAPAN-WHITHER? .. Willis Church Lamott FACING A CRISIS IN JAPAN . ………… Toyohiko Kagawa THE KINGDOM OF GOD MOVEMENT ……. William Axling THE VALUE OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION ……. L. J. Shafer SOME EFFECTS OF OVERLAPPING . ……… William Vories PRESENT-DAY RELIGION IN JAPAN ……. A. K. Reischauer TWENTY-FIVE BOOKS ON JAPAN . ……… Willis G. Hoekje IMPORTANT FACTS AND FIGURES ….•…… …. Editorial
to Remember Dr. Robert Laws, the famous her Society Mrs. Goodman made
Scotch missionary to Livingstonia, September 30-0ctober 3 – Ninth Bi- trips around the world, a journey ennial Convention of The Women's died in London on August 6th. He through Africa, and attended the Missionary Society of the United was in his 84th year. In 1875 the Lutheran Church. Dayton, Ohio. Jerusalem Conference. !lata, a little steamer brought from September 30-0ctober 7 – Religious the mouth of the Zambezi, entered * '" '" Education Week. Lake Nyasa; of the eight persons on Susan Reed Howland. 57 years a missionary of the American Board in October 2-3-0ne Hundred and Fif- the boat Laws was one; in Nyasaland Ceylon, passed away July 25th, in tieth Anniversary of the founding of New Brunswick Theological Sem- he made his home and laid the founda- Claremont, California. She was born inary, New Brunswick, N. J. tions of a great church and mission. in Ceylon in 1849, and was graduated October 4-13 – General Conference In common with all Scottish ministers, from Mount Holyoke College in 1872. Evangelical Church. Akron, O. he had a thorough preparation, being not only a theological graduate but She served for 52 years as principal October 6-Sunday School Teachers of the Udivil Girls' Scfihvoeoly, eJaarfsfnaa~ Recognition Day. also a Doctor of Medicine. As a mis- Ceylon, and then for sionary he was a practical preacher missionary evangelist in connection October 10-14- Sesquicentennial of the Methodist Episcopal Church. and administrator. Like Stewart of with Udivil Hospital. More than a Baltimore, Md. Lovedale, he laid great stress upon in- thousand girls passed through the October 10-20-General Convention of dustrial training. When the jubilee Udivil school during Miss Howland's the Protestant Episcopal Church. Atlantic City, N. J. of the Livingstonia mission was cele- administration. brated, Laws was still at his post. He October 16-Institute on the Church had lived to see the one convert of * * '" and Social Relations of the Con- 1881 become 10,000. He was modera- necticut Council of Churches and tor of the United Free Church in The Rev. Elliott Speer, Head Religious Education, Hartford Sem- 1908. In 1923 for his public services inary Foundation, Hartford, Conn. Master of the Mount Hermon School in Africa he was made C.M.G. In for Young Men, was murdered on Sep- October 16-21-International Conven- 1927 he left Nyasaland for Edin- tion, Disciples of Christ. Des tember 14th by some unknown person Moines, Iowa. burgh, where to the last his days were spent in the service of Africa. and without any conceivable reason. October 17-United Lutheran Church Mr. Speer was in his study at Mount in America Convention. Savannah, *** Hermon, Massachusetts, when a shot Ga. James H. Ingram. M.D., an hon- was fired through the window, strik- October 17-Seventy-fifth Anniver- orably retired missionary of the ing him in the chest and causing his sary of Hartford Seminary Founda- American Board, formerly connected tion, Hartford, Conn. death. Mr. Speer was born in Engle- with the hospital of the North China October 25-27-National Council of Union Medical College, was killed by wood, N. J., in 1898, the son of Dr. Young Men's Christian Associa- bandits on June 15th, while at his and Mrs. Robert E. Speer. The school tions, Statler Hotel, Cleveland, Ohio. summer bungalow near Peiping. Dr. was prospering under the leadership Ingram was graduated from the Uni- of. t~is beloved. and ~onored young November 5-Annual Spiritual Ad- versity of Pennsylvania's Medical De- prmcIpal. He IS surVIved by a wife vance Conference, Philadelphia Fed- partment, and sailed for China in and three young children. eration of Churches. 1887. He was first located at Tung- A SECURE INCOME November 1S-Men and Missions hsien and did pioneer medical work. Sunday. In 1919 he was active in relief work (431 to 9 per cent) in Siberia and took under his care a December 4-7 – Federal Council of transport with fifteen hundred sick To you and your dependents the Churches of Christ in America, Szechs. He was an authority on the Biennial Meeting. Dayton, O. derivation of Chinese words, was co- Regular author with Geo. D. Wilder, of the Obituary Notes "AnalYSis of Chinese Characters," and Generous translated a number of medical books Dr. R. B. Teusler, founder and di- into Chinese. He was one of the sur- Guaranteed rector of St. L~International vivors of the Siege of Peking in 1900 Hospital in Tokyo, di~on August and was loved and honored by the Unvarying 10th of heart disease. Dr. Teusler Chinese and by his fellow-missionwas born in Ro~, Georgia, 58 years aries. Your gift on the ago. After receiving his medical degree from the Medical College of Vir- *** ANNUITY ginia in 1894, he practiced in America PLAN and was a professor in a medical col- Dr. William C. Terril, who died lege until he went to Tokyo in 1900 May 4th in Portuguese East Africa, will provide it for you and make as missionary of the Protestant Epis- you a partner in telling the peocopal Church. He founded a small will be remembered for his pioneer ple of the world about Christ. clinic which in 30 years has grown work in cleansing the lepers. It was to be a five million dollar hospital. ————— This was opened on June 5, 1933, in at Inhambane Camp, founded by Dr. ERNEST F. HALL. Secretary the presence of the brother of the Terril, that the first help was given DEPARTMENT OF ANNUITIES Japanese Emperor and other officials. Presbyterian Board of It has beds for 500 patients and a to African lepers. Foreign Missions College for Nursing, accommodating 156 Fifth Annue. New York. N.Y. 200 students. It is operated under the Rev. Penn E*. M*oor*e, Baptist mis- Please send full informaauspices of the American Protestant tion about your annuity Episcopal Church but is directed by sionary in Assam for 30 years, died gift plan. an interdenominational committee. at Pinehurst, Florida, May 3, in his Name ………………….. . Aaares. …………•….•.•.. 79th year. He had only two fur- loughs in these 3'0 years. After his retirement he collected and sent large sums for the support of the work in Assam.
*** Miss Frances E. Crooks, appointed to Burma by the Baptist Woman's Foreign Mission Society in 1906, died suddenly of a heart attack July 1st ' at Bassein, Burma.
Mrs. H. E. '"Go*odm*an, long presi- dent of the Woman's American Bap- tist Foreign Mission Society, died in Chicago, July 31. While president of
MISSIONARY Church (U. S. A.) as a furloughed 10 DAYS TO YOKOHAMA •
missionary from Teheran, Persia, I shortest Pacific crossing . • . by REVIEW OF THE WORLD have repeatedly urged people, espe- sister-ships, Empress of Asia and cially ministers, to subscribe and read Empress of Russia. Or via Hono- DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor THE REVIEW." lulu in 3 days more on the Pacific speed queen, Empress ofJapan, or VOL. LVII OCTOBER,1934 No.10 REV. IVAN O. WILSON, Dayton, Ohio. on Empress of Canada.
ThirPdubalnicdatRioenilyanSdtsB., uHsianrersissbOufrfgic,e Pa. *** Luxurious First Class, excellent Editorial and Executive Office TouristClass, low-costThird Class. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City "The June number on the Orientals FREQUENT SAILINGS .•. from Van- Entered as second-class matter at was perfectly great and I shall be couver (trains to ship-side) and glad to have the October issue." Victoria. Orient fares include pas- Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act sage from Seattle. Orient ports-of- of March 3, 1879. MISS ALMA J. NOBLE, Executive call: Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Secretary, The World Wide Guild. Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila. 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. Reduced round-trip tares Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. *** Booklets, information … from your Published monthly, except August. local agent, or any Canadian Pacific All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1934. "THE REVIEW is so admirable in agent: NewYork, Boston,Chicago, every respect I do not see how anyone St. Louis, San Francisco, Montreal, MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- can resist it. And how it is needed in Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, LISHING CO., INC. these troublous times!" and many other cities in United BOARD OF DIRECTORS States and Canada. MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD, Brooklyn, ROBERT E. SPEER, President N.Y. Go "Empress" .•. choice of two routes WM. I. OHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer *** DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd., MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD Publishers, 12 Paternoster Buildings, WM. B. LIPPHARD London, E. C. 4, are now the British ERIC M. NORTH agents for THE RIDVIEW. Subscrip- MILTON T. STAUFFER tions may be sent to them at the usual A. L. WARNSHUIS rates (10 shillings a year plus 2 shill- SAMUEL M. ZWEMER ings for foreign postage). Copies of current num,bers may also be obtained Editorial Chat from them at one shilling per copy.
Here is our special number on *** Japan. When you read it will you also recommend it to mission study A correction should be made in the classes and others interested in Japan personal item regarding Bishop John and its progress? McKim, D.D., which appeared in our September issue. Bishop McKim was A few articles, planned for this bishop of North Japan and has offered number, are necessarily held over un- his resignation, which has not yet til November. Among them is one by been acted upon. Dr. Albertus Pieters on "Present-Day Shinto"-a most interesting and valu- "There Go My Glasses!" able contribution; another is on "The History of Omi-Mission" – a very Save your eyes and your money unique self-supporting work. A third by using the is the fascinating story of "The Gospel in the Japanese Press"-the story K&M AUTOMATIC of newspaper evangelism; and there EYEGLASS HOLDER are others you will not wish to miss. Your Best Protection *** Against Loss or Breakage What will you do to help extend the Especiallv valuable to Missionaries and usefulness of ·THE REVIEW? Some others away from the base of supplies. friends are giving subscriptions, loaning copies, recommending it to others, Beautiful Designs. 75 cents to $2.00 each. using it in churches and societies. Will Guaranteed against defects. you help? Here are what some readers have to say: Write today for circular, or order a holder now from your dealer or from "May I telI you how very much I like the REVIEW and appreciate having [433 ] it come to the house every month. I admire it and enjoy reading it for its lack of controversy, its attention to things specifically Christian and religious, and its simple, clear evangelical tone. I am not exaggerating in the least when I say that I get more out of it than all of the other religious, or so-called religious, periodicals I read. After some of the others have left me tired and weary, I can pick up THE REVIEW with delight to restore a pleasant taste. I am recommending it to all my friends who have not yet known the pleasure of reading it."
REV. W. SHERMAN SKINNER, Beth- lehem, Pa.
*** "I have long admired THE MISSION- ARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD and in my promotion work for the Presbyterian
of Japan TouriRIt
A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION AT THE AOI FESTIVAL IN THE IMPERIAL PALACE GROUNDS, TOKiYO A CHRISTIAN DAMP FOR JAPANESE BOYS~WHERE BODY AND SOUL ARE STRENGTHENED Two VIEWS OF RELIGION IN JAPAN TODAY
NARY
REVIB ORLD VOLUME LVII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER TEN OCTOBER, 1934 Topics of the Times THE IMPORTANCE OF JAPAN more interesting. None can deny that they are Few Americans clearly understand the Jap- well educated, intelligent, ambitious, energetic and anese. Many distrust them, some fear them, influential. They are intensely artistic and yet others admire them, but few understand them. they are practical. They are philosophical and And yet it is increasingly important that we know scientific and have a keen sense of humor. Their their place in the life of the world, that we know history, customs and religion are worthy of careful something of their history and their character- study.
istics, that we understand them and cultivate 3. The history of Japan is unique and fascinat- friendly relations with them. ing. Japanese claim to be descended from "the The coming year is set aside by the Interdenomi- . Gods" and their present dynasty goes back 600 national Mission Study Committee for a general years. Eighty years ago they were isolated and study of Japan and the Japanese. It is ten years exclusive; the masses were ignorant and super- since this has been the foreign mission study topic stitious. The government and civilization were and great changes have taken place since then. primitive and she exerted no influence outside of It is eighty years since Commodore Perry effected her own small islands. Today Japan is the most a treaty with Japan, opening the country to for- literate country in the world. In eighty years she eign commerce and residence. The large number has made progress in government and commerce, of valuable books, pamphlets and articles being in education and industries, in science and social published offer a golden opportunity for the study reform such as required three hundred years for of this land and people of the Rising Sun. Here the nations of Europe. She has become the great- are some reasons for making the most of this op- est force in Asia and her influence extends to all portunity. lands. Japan is America's neighbor across the 1. The country of Japan is one of the most in- Pacific-for good or ill-and we cannot ignore teresting and picturesque in the world. It is an her if we would. There is no people with greater island empire, like Great Britain, and has a geo- loyalty to recognized government and ideals and graphical relation to Asia, similar to that of Great none more ready for self-sacrifice for honor or Britain to Europe. While the whole territory of loyalty. Japan proper comprises only about 150,000 square 4. Japan's religions are important and interestmiles or one-twentieth that of the United States (not including Alaska), the population numbers ing. Here is a people that profess three religions over 60,000,000 or 400 per square mile-ten times at once-Shinto, Buddhism and Confucianism. the density of population in the United States. All are worthy of study for they have truth and And yet 80 per cent of the land in Japan is not fit beauty. In Japan Buddhism has assumed its for farming. Of necessity the Japanese must be purest, most philosophical form. And yet these an industrial, an industrious and a colonizing or religions or philosophies have no clear revelation expanding and emigrating people. of the Eternal God, no adequate moral law, no Gospel of forgiveness of sin or sure promise of 2. The Japanese themselves are intensely inter- immortality.
esting and virile. That they are different from 5. The progress of Christianity in Japan has Americans and British, in their psychology, their been remarkable. In spite of fierce opposition in manners and customs and religion makes them still the early days, the number Qf disciples has grown [435 J
until there are some 260,000 evangelical Chris- pioneer missionaries and the spot where the first tians. Many of these are leaders in governmental Bible classes were held. From these small seedpositions, in education, in business, and in social lings there have grown today many great churches, reform as well as in moral and religious advance- schools, hospitals, Bible Institutes, a Christian Litment. Most of the churches are self-supporting erature Society representing an extensive work, and Christianity is now considered as an indige- and many thousands of Christian homes, as well nous religion. as Bible Society work and the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. activities. 6. Japan has a future. She is "leading the Orient-but whither?" Already she has extended In our next number of THE REVIEW we expect her mantel of authority over Korea, Formosa, the to publish a full account of this celebration, writ- Caroline Islands and Manchuria. Everywhere she ten by one of the special representatives from goes Japan takes modern education, equipment, America, Dr. Francis Shunk Downs, of Berkeley, industrialism and commerce. Japan is now a mili- California. taristic nation, depending on a strong army and navy to protect her citizens and commerce and to The "Findings" of this Golden Jubilee Annicarry out her program. But the Japanese people versary reveal the aims and principles that have are a peace-loving race ready to be friendly with characterized this Presbyterian Mission; they other nations. It is worth while to cultivate their show the solid foundations on which the work has friendship and to promote understanding and co- been built and some of the secrets of success. operation. These findings are, in brief, as follows: 7. Finally and firstly, the Japanese are potential 1. The Place of the Chdstian Scriptures. We record Christians. They have souls made for immortal- the conviction that the unique and dominant place given ity; they are men and women for whom Christ tQ instruction in the Scriptures has been the outstanding died and to them He calls His disciples to declare factor through these 50 years in the evangelization of His Gospel of Love and Life. Unregenerated the Korea. Our commission being to proclaim the superna- Japanese may become the greatest menace to the tural revelation of God's plan of salvation from sin, reworld's peace; regenerated they may become the demptiQn through grace, the mission believes that the most loyal disciples and the greatest missionaries Bible should have the preeminent place in all our work. of Christ that the world has known. They may become human mediators between the East and 2. Biblical Instruction. The very large development the West, between God and men. of the system of Bible classes and conferences and the short term Bible institutes in every station have been a It is worth while to study Japan and the Japa- prime factor in the conservation of the Church and in nese. It is more worth while to win them to its extension. Christ and His service. 3. Self-support. It has been accepted that the estab- SECRETS OF SUCCESS IN KOREA lishment of the Church as the God-given instrument for the proclamation of the Gospel is the responsibility of One of the outstanding examples of effective the mission, but that the financial support of the Church missionary work is that carried on for the past is the responsibility of the Church itself. Self-supPQrt half-century in Korea. Both American Presby- is a basic factor in the establishment and proper developterians and American Methodists have been in ment of the Church and its institutions. that field for fifty years and have had remarkable spiritual results. The Presbyterian Church has 4. Standards of Christian Living. We believe that recently celebrated the beginning of Protestant Scriptural standards of Christian living should be asserted missions in Korea by special anniversary meet- and maintained and that those coming short of standards ings. The early history of the work in the "Her- should be dealt with sympathetically but without IQwermit Nation" was reviewed, the remarkable prog- ing the standards. ress was noted, the ideals and forces were revalued, and plans for the future were proposed. 5. Every Missionary an Evangelist. We believe that The keynote of the celebration was "What God every missionary should have a distinct evangelistic as- Hath Wrought." Besides the Korean Christians signment of work. and the missionaries, there were visitors from America, Japan, Manchuria, China, Siam and 6. Missionary Spirit in Korean Church. We believe India. The historic spots, made memorable in that the missionary spirit in the Korean Church should the history of Christianity in Korea, were visited be stimulated and that the whole influence of the memand the early persecutions, sacrifices and tri- bers of the mission should be exerted in maintaining umphs were recalled. These sites included those foreign missiQnary activity. of the first chapel, the original mission hospital, the first Christian book shop, the homes of the 7. Mission Educational Work. We believe in the prin- ciple of "The Gospel for the people and education for the Christians," as a guiding principle helping to de- termine the purpose and purview of mission educational work, which is to be Christian education for the Church, not secular edu<,;.ation for the public.
8. Mission Medical Work. We reassert our convictioh that medical work should be continued and should be of a high professional order. We record the conviction that all of our hospitals should continue to make provision fQr bringing the Gospel message to all patients, and also for encouraging the whole medical and nursing staff to do personal work in presenting the Gospel, they having unusual opportunities to make· a plea for acceptance of Christ.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
9. Christian Literature. The mission regards the pro- lavish; institutions were large and growing, and duction of a well-written, strongly evangelical, up-to-date, were looked upon as evidences of real power or Christian literature as of primary importance in the pres- of spiritual fruitage; approval of men was misent stage of development of the Christian movement in taken for the approval of God. There was need Korea. to stop and think; to examine the guide book, 10. Social Service. The mission, realizing the seri- ousness of the many and far reaching social problems we the sign posts and the road; to check up on the are facing throughout the land, suggests that the mem- machinery and on our relation to the Source of bers in each station seek to acquaint themselves with Power. The recent and present dangers that these problems and endeavor to awaken the Korean threaten the work have caused caution; a slack- Church to a sense of its responsibility for more active ening of pace has been accompanied by more effort to remedy these conditions.
11. Christian Religious Education. We recognize the prayer and a closer study of the essentials of importance of religious education, the content of which safety and progress. should be distinctly Christian. In the inception and development of the Christian life we would emphasize the Some missionaries, executives and supporters responsibility of the Christian family. of the work of Christ have always emphasized the 12. Women's Work. Deploring the inferior position prime importance of prayer, of dependence on accorded Oriental women, we believe in distinctly wom- God, of acceptance and study of the Bible as the en's work for women in order that they may receive ade- Word of God, of faith in Christ and His atonequate instruction and opportunities for leadership. ment for sin as the Gospel message, and of sacri- ficial Christ-like life and service. Other workers 13. Comity. We believe that our efforts in comity have at home and abroad have allowed secondary aims resulted in the elimination of strife, competition and waste. We reaffirm our belief in the great advantage to the work of the division of territory between the de- and activities to obscure the primary. The period nominations. of "depression," with all its hardships has thus led to a reemphasis of spiritual aims and realities 14. Devolution of Mission Institutions. Rejoicing in -these include personal evangelism, Bible study, the independent self-government of the Korean Church prayer, loyalty to Christ, spiritual unity and and its response to the principle of self support, we recognize that more and more the government, control and support of the mission institutions should become the Christlike living. Mission Board executives are responsibility of the Church, and we record our readiness today emphasizing this need; so are the missionto transfer these institutions to Korean control just as aries, and many well informed supporters of the rapidly as proves to be possible and wise. work. Weare beginning to realize more than THE NEED FOR SPIRITUAL EMPHASIS ever that what we need most is new spiritual life, before we can have spiritual power and As long as the road is clear and smooth a driver growth.
is inclined to speed and to congratulate himself With this conviction in mind – more or less on his ability to control his machine. When the clearly-a National Committee for Religious and road is dark or rough, or when danger is threat- Welfare Recovery has recently been formed which ening, a wise man drives carefu,lly. At any time it is hoped will reach out and enlist members in he will do well to make sure that his gas, his every section of America. The committee pro- oil, his battery, his brakes are all right while he poses to launch a campaign which has for its pri- looks out for others as well as himself, and obeys mary objective a mobilization of the religious and the rules of the road. welfare forces. Every religiously inclined person In missionary work, as in personal life, when is urged to attend a religious service on October the outlook is encouraging, when income is steady 7th, which is designated as Loyalty Sunday. Its and sufficient, when health is good and the whole slogan is "Turning to God."
organization is running smoothly then those at Walter W. Head is chairman of the committee the wheel are tempted to be over-confident, believ- of more than 200 nationally-known leaders of re- ing that their aim is true, and their methods are ligious, educational and character-building organ- beyond criticism, and that the results will be satis- izations. On the list are 31 pastors, priests and factory. But danger may lie just ahead and a rabbis, 20 college presidents, educators and editors, breakdown may be imminent. The Psalmist con- 79 national officers of church benevolent boards, fesses: "In my prosperity I said: 'I shall never and 45 prominent laymen of the Catholic, Protes- be moved.''' But he was wrong. tant and Jewish faiths. The program for strength- In days when incomes were increasing, new ening and undergirding the moral and spiritual workers were being sent out, and mission work forces of the nation include "Fellowship Mon- was advancing, then, too, many Mission Boards day," when all pastors, priests and rabbis, church yielded to the temptation to be over confident. and welfare leaders in each city and community, Activity was mistakenly thought to be a sign of will be expected to meet and discuss how this ob- vitality, confidence was considered an indication jective may be attained. In "Mobilization Week,"
of wisdom and strength, bigness was confused (October 1-6) every welfare organization will be with success. Expenditures were inclined to be asked to support the campaign for 100 per cent
church attendance on October 7. From December political implications. The views expressed were 9 to 16, International Golden Rule Week will courageous and definite but the requirements of have as its goal the practical application of the courtesy were observed in all discussions.
Golden Rule by every church member and citizen, The Congress furnished an opportunity for prosacrificing some of the customary luxuries to give moting better understanding. German Baptists help to the needy at home and in other lands. have been wounded by the tone of certain com- Our convictiop is that this program is too gen- ments upon them by their brethren abroad. eral and too shallow to be effective. Wholesale A resolution of the Executive Committee was "cures" and half way measures are disappoint- adopted as follows: ing and inadequate. Repentance for sin, a real The members of the Executive Committee rejoiced to turning toward God by faith in Christ, and spirit- . hear that, in the present conditions of Germany, German ual new birth are essential for individuals and for Baptists have not compromised on essential Baptist prinorganizations, if there is to be an abiding change ciples, but have steadfastly maintained their witness to in the present conditions-individual, ecclesiasti- the spiritual freedom of the Church of Christ and the cal, national and world-wide. We need to learn duty and privilege of the Church to serve all men of by practical experience the meaning of obedience whatever race or nationality for whom Christ died.
to the two Great Commandments: "Thou shalt Reichsbischop Mueller invited a number of the love the Lord thy God with all thy heart …. ; and delegates to meet him in order that he might thy neighbor as thyself." These understood and make the following statement (summarized): put into practice will make a new world. But "There is no question of a compulsory incorporathis is impossible without new life from Christ tion of the Baptist churches in the Reichskirche." and an experience of constant guidance and power from the Spirit of God. Therefore spiritual em- German Baptists are a comparatively small phasis is needed, and spiritual regeneration if we and poor people, but they showed evidences of are to have success in the work of God. true hospitality and Christian strength.
Resolutions adopted at the Congress included THE BAPTISTS IN BERLIN those on The German Baptist Movement, Re- ligious Repression in Russia and The Russian The Fifth Baptist World Congress was held in Famine; also resolutions on Peace, and on Charles Berlin, Germany, August 4 to 10, and was a not- Haddon Spurgeon, whose birth occurs this year. able occasion. The attendance was larger than A resolution on Racialism emphasized the fact the gathering in Stockholm, in 1923, the gather- that despite all differences of race, there is in ing was eminently successful in spite of the fact Christ an all-embracing unity, so that in Him that many thought the disturbed conditions in it can be claimed with deepest truth there is Germany made such a congress there inadvisable. "neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncir- cumcision barbarian scythian, bond nor free, but The impression was profound. German news- Christ is all and in all." Another resolution papers published many articles on Baptists but was adopted on The Church and State, expressdid not discuss the present issues. Such news- ing the conviction that "any interference with the papers as the Tageblatt, the Deutsche Allgemeine freedom of the Church is an intrusion between Zeitung, Der Tag, and others had much to say God and His people and that to limit the liberty of Baptists whose distinctive message was not of the Church is to hinder the working out of ignored. They were not wholly inarticulate in God's purpose of redemption for mankind through respect to the resolutions passed and it was more his people. a matter for surprise that so much was freely printed rather than that so much was suppressed. Dr. George Truett, of Dallas, Texas, was elected The radio was open on two occasions, one for a president of the Baptist World Alliance, the nation-wide broadcast which included addresses vice-presidents of which include, Dr. A. W.
by Dr. Truett and Dr. Clifton Gray, Dr. J. H. Beaven, of Rochester, and Dr. Simoleit, of Ger- Rushbrooke, a Chinese Baptist, an East Indian, many; the Rev. B. A. Nag, of India; the Rev.
and a South American. Manoel Avelino,of Brazil; Mr. J. A. Packer, There was no governmental interference with editor of the Australian Baptist; Principal Nord- the program which had been drawn up nearly strom, of Stockholm and Dr. L. K. Williams, rep- three years ago before the National Socialists resenting the Negro race. The ex-president of came into power, nor was there any suggestion the Alliance, Dr. John MacNeill, was also re- of modification though it was obvious that on such tained as an officer of the Alliance; Dr. J. H.
subjects as Nationalism or Racialism, or the re- Rushbrooke continues as secretary, and Dr. Clif- lations of Church and State, an international Bap- ton Gray as honorary associate secretary. The tists Assembly would express opinions which had next Congress is to be held in Atlanta, Georgia.
a Problem-or a Challenge?
-..ai By the REV. CHARLES WHEELER IGLEHART, D.D.
Tokyo }54-.- Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church O F ALL the problems in our modern troubled have their place, while the history of twenty cen- world Japan stands in the forefront, at turies is telescoped before our eyes. The build- once the most civilized and the most pro- ings, the means of communication, the dress of vocative, the most perplexing nation in the East. the people, the art, the music, the literature, the medical science, the standards of ethics, the re- She is a problem to the countries of Asia. China ligious symbols-everything is in the melting pot, seems to confront her at every point where a and the product is both East and West, and not dawning national life desires expression. Russia quite either the one or the other. has once faced her in battle and appears to be preparing for another encounter. Korea has gone While this is of engaging interest to the tourunder her yoke. As for the other countries of the ist, to Japan it is nothing less than a spiritual Orient, they all look to her with a disillusioned crisis involving life and death. Many times in the fear. Thirty years ago not a liberal leader from past she has had to assimilate one after another Manila to Cairo but turned to Japan as the com- of the cultural streams that have come eastward ing champion of a new Asia to save the tinted across the world until they stopped at her shores. peoples from the oncoming dominance of the Her history has been a long succession of periods Western "powers." Today they fear as they see of receptivity to new ideas and then of incubation her join the West;-a power herself-adopting until she has made them her own. The last of its grim philosophy of arms and of national ex- these periods, during which she achieved national pansion in what they deem the great apostasy of unity from a clannish feudalism, was abruptly the East. brought to an end by the sharp prows of Com- modore Perry's fleet-our act of coercion which Japan is a problem to the West, as well. Re- resulted in all the dizzy changes of life and luctantly accepted as our peer in many fields, she thought that make life the problem it is for Japan is yet an enigma. Her reactions are different; today. her thinking seems remote from ours. Her economic competition is touching every exporting She thought to save her life by taking on the and importing nation on earth; her shipping, her protective defenses of the West; to learn the manufactures, her international banking-all secret of power by science, education, and con- have their repercussions throughout the world. stitutional government; and to keep all her own The American people, too, view Japan as very best culture while adding what she might choose from the spiritual wealth of the world. But who much of a problem. She is our nearest neighbor among the sons of men has wisdom sufficient for to the west, but we do not desire her as a neigh- such a task, and where in human history has any bor. She is most close to us in her organization nation changed the course of fifteen hundred of society, her development of material civiIiza- years' growth within the span of a single lifetion, and in her view of life, yet of all the peoples time? What has happened is that with the conof the East we like her the least. Racially she fusion of the new and old, the East and West, all chafes us; economically she both serves us and standards are in danger of being lost, and the irritates us with her cheap goods. Politically she splendid Japanese character, noblest of all the puzzles us; and she is looked upon by many as gifts of the past to her, has disintegrated. the "enemy" of our pyramiding naval defense. The demands of an industrial life are exacting, But if Japan is a problem to the rest of the -and Japan with her population half the number world, how much more of a problem must life be of ours crowded into her chain of rocky islands as it presents itself to Japan herself! The visitor the size of California cannot escape the fate of a to that island empire finds himself fascinated by city, manufacturing civilization in the years the life everywhere about him. The East is there, ahead. But the resources for this, the iron, coal but it is interpenetrated by the West as well. and oil are not to be had at home. Thus there has Life is modern, to be sure, but it is medireval, and grown up the Manchurian myth, of a life or death it is ancient also. In the intriguing medley of a dependence upon the undeveloped physical wealth Tokyo street all the cultures of the earth seem to [439 ]
of the mainland next door. And for this Japan, tion of this idol worship in America is Japan's who in all the two thousand years of her history first challenge to us. never once fought a war against her neighbor Not only are we a pattern for Japan, but we China, has now in the last four decades three share in the causes of her troubles and her sins. times taken up arms. Today in her policies she is We need not dwell on the effect of our discriminadaring the condemnation of the world, but she tory tariffs. Quite legal they are, but by them sees no alternative if she is to live. millions of Japanese silk-raisers and laborers are thrown into a state of confusion and economic de- Furthermore, her problems are not all at home. spair; as a resldt social disorders arise with She was invited into an open world by us eighty which their government is powerless to deal. years ago. Today the world is closing. Trade barriers, immigration laws, price wars, and po- By our immigration exclusion policy we relitical alignments in the West are a chilling nega- buffed an unoffending friend and flung her back, tion to the expansive mood which we then asked stinging under legislation that was viewed as an her to share. Her head is swimming and fear insult, to a more determined accomplishment of clutches at her heart. "destiny" on the mainland of Asia. Our naval expansion-nearly one billion dollars having been To the Christian every problem is a challenge, voted this year-has left the entire world breathand Japan is a conspicuous example. Just because less with amazement, and has driven Japan to a she so completely and extremely typifies the prob- frenzy of fear, in which state of mind she is lems of modern life she offers us a challenging ready to go into bankruptcy through over-taxa- tion rather than leave herself the possible victim of our power. Our Atlantic and Pacific fleets have remained in the waters of the Pacific for three long, provocative years, with no apparent cause, except Japan. Can anyone doubt our share in the causes for Japan's militarism?
And Japan, whatever may be her sins in Asia, has yet to make her first move of disloyalty or unfriendliness to her neighbor-nation across the Pacific. The second challenge, then is that of Christian good sportsmanship. Let us lay aside our unworthy suspicions, and our haughty pride, and ourselves exhibit that trust of others coupled with inner integrity which we are asking of Japan. Here is a task at home worthy of the ST. LUKE'S INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, TOKYO mettle of every true follower of Christ.
This work was begun in 190-0 by Dr. Rudolf B. Teusler, a Mis- A further challenge is for us to cease thinking sionary of the American Protestant E:piscopal Church. He began of Japan in impersonal national and political in a one-room shack and in two years built a small hospital. Last terms, and hold out to them arms of human year the large Medical Center was opened. friendliness as individuals. If we would do that our harsh judgments and our fears would disapsummons to solve them. By this we mean, the pear, for we would find them as lovably human as challenge to look within our own hearts, and to any people on earth. Missionaries in Japan rate set our own house in order that we may be an high in life insurance actuaries, and very few example to her. For if we think we are spectators have died a violent death. In fact they are usually in this Far-eastern struggle we are making the treated as guests and kinsfolk from the day they terrible mistake, caused only by ethical blindness. arrive until they lay down their work, many of The pattern of American life is more creative of them to spend their last days in simple homes standards in Japan than all the sermons preached built from the slender funds of loving Japanese by missionaries. friends as a testimony of loyal gratitude.
The noblest Japanese spirits are grieving over their people's worship of false gods. These are not the harmless, picturesque Shinto deities of Touching stories of kindliness from neighbors, mountain and glen and sky, but a modern trinity and even from strangers could be multiplied from of gods of death-Moloch, the lust of the flesh; the experience of almost any American Christian Mammon, the lust of the world; and Mars, the worker in Japan. We are convinced that this lust of power-have pushed the other objects of same almost romantic outburst of loyalty would worship aside. Is every altar to this composite be the reward of all American people if they were Anti-Christ torn down from our own hearts or to make an investment of initial friendliness to from our own society today? A general repudia- the Japanese nation. If we won their hearts we
JAPAN, A PROBLEM-OR A CHALLENGE?
might save them from the madness of their pres- Can we leave these Japanese Christians unaided ent course. by our comradeship in service and prayer?
And when we come to the Christian scene the In 1923, when Japan was broken by earthquake, whole situation is challenging. Christ is walking we cast across the Pacific a bridge of silver gifts. in Japanese society today just as surely as He is It has never been forgotten, and today challenges on the Indian road, or treading the highways of our commonwealth, and He is torn asunder when The late Dr . R. B. Teusler , h ead of St. Luke's Hospital, Tokyo, our hearts are turned away from His brothers of s howing H . R. H. Prince Takamatsu of Japan, and the American the East. There is scarcely an area of life or Ambassador, the new Medical Center EqUipment. thought in Japan where His words and deeds are not making their creative imprint on character. us to a greater feat. It is nothing less than the No one can count the unknown Japanese disciples flinging of a golden span of personal love and who love Him in the quiet, or perhaps in the timid- sympathy and sacrifice across the yawning gulf ity of their inner hearts, and who yearn for that of suspicion, fear and selfishness that divides us. evidence of loving fellowship from the West that Across such a bridge alone can our Lord move to would confirm their hopes that He is indeed the win the world. divine centre of a brotherhood that shall take in the whole world. THIS IS THE CHALLENGE OF JAPAN.
Of all the challenging voices from Japan, the The Burden of Japan Macedonian plea from the Japanese Church rings loudest in our ears. We pause to let pass before A Prayer our memory the panorama of Japanese Christians whom we have known all these years and have By TOYOHIKO KAGAWA admired for the purity of their lives and the rich- Take ThQU the burden, Lord; ness of their faith. They flood upon us-sweet- I am exhausted with this heavy load. faced little children, manly young lads, gentle maidens, young mothers, strong men on the farm My tired hands tremble, and in the office and in the school, and many And I stumble, stumble, ripened saints who came into the faith before we did, and whom we shall never overtake in our Along the way. soul's pilgrimage toward the City of God. Oh, lead with Thine unfailing arm Think of the challenging gravity of their task. Again today. Insignificant in numbers-they enroll but a half Unless Thou hold me, Lord, of one per cent of the total population-they know The road I journey on is all too hard; themselves to be the leaven of Japanese society, Through trust in Thee alone the "city set upon a hill." They must maintain Can I go on. their own experience of Christian redemption Not for self thus do I groan; against a pagan environment. And how deeply My country is the load I bear. they meditate, how fervently they pray, how joy- Lord, hear my prayer. ously they sing and how bravely they serve in May Thy strong hand their Church life! Strike off the chains of my loved land. God, draw her close to Thee! Beyond this these Japanese Christians feel a sense of mission to save their people. Particu- -Translated by Lois Erickson. larly does the Kingdom of God Movement undertake this colossal task. As the churches of the Protestant bodies swing into line under the challenging motto: "Thy kingdom come! In my heart; in my world!" the pulses of Christians in America who number half our total population and have not yet struggled our way up to that banner -must beat more quickly. Such daring calls us too to become heroes for Him. Kagawa, the Godappointed leader of the Movement says: "I call myself God's gambler, for I have staked my all on Him; and I can not lose."
In rural communities, and also in city factory lif~, the Japanese church is moving on to the conquest of poverty, degradation and sin by loving service and by the testimony of faith in the Christ.
INTERESTING FAOTS ABOUT JAPAN* AREA-Japan proper 152,357; total area (including Chosen, Taiwan, etc.) 265,129 miles (about size of California and Washington). 47 prefectures with 104 cities, 1,700 towns and 10,109 villages. 5 large islands-Hondo, Kiushiu, Shikoku, Hakkaido, Taiwan (Formosa).
POPULATION-83,456,929 (including 19,500 in Chosen and 3,993,408 in Taiwan, of whom 70 % live in rural districts. 22 cities with over 100,000 inhabitants each. The Japanese population is about one-half that of the United States.
RELIGIONS: Shinto-Native religion, with Emperor Worship. 13 sects with 49,567 principal shrines, 62,883 minor shrines and 14,804 priests. This religion combines nature worship, with an- cestor and hero worship. Buddhism-Entered 550 A. D. 12 sects and 56 sub-sects; adherents, 49,500,000; 71,329 tem- ples and 35,048 minor shrines; 54,650 priests and priestesses. Confucian ethics are accepted by most of the educated higher classes. Christianity-with 1,522 churches and 2,895 licensed Japanese preachers of Protestant, Ro- man and Greek Catholic Churches. Protestant Christianity enrolls about 230,000 mem- bers in some 3,000 Churches.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONs-First Catholic mission, 1549, by Frances Xavier.
First Protestant Mission, 1859. First Japanese Protestant Church, Yokohama, 1872. First Greek Orthodox work begun 1861. Protestant communicants in Japan proper; 185,387.
64% of the missionaries labor among 82% of the popUlation, while 93.60/0 of the foreign workers are stationed among 18% of the population-those living in cities.
PROTESTANT PROGRESS (In Japan-not including Korea, Formosa and the Mandated Islands) : Missionary societies, 60. Missionaries, 1,130 (ordained men, 276; single women, 465). Japanese force, 4,807 (ordained pastors and evangelists, 1,495). Stations, 108; outstations, 764; organized churches, 2,2'05. Communicants, 185,387; added in year, 15,510; total constituency (including Roman and Greek Catholics), 350,000. Contributed by Japanese Christians (in 1932), Yen 2,364,148. Sunday school enrolment, 225,303. Christian school enrolment, 42,800. Roman Catholics, 79,983. Greek Orthodox Church; 38,104 adherents.
GENERAL INFORMATION: Mythical period, "Age of the Gods." Empire founded 660 B. C. (Timeof Manasseh, King of Judah). Legendary Period, 660 B. C. to 480 A. D. Portuguese discovered Japan 1542 A. D. Xavier came in 1549. Persecution of Christians began in 1617. Japan opened to foreigners by Commodore Perry, 1853-1854. Constitutional government instituted Feb. 11, 1889.. Edicts against Christianity promulgated, 1682; renewed in 1868; repealed, 1873 Currency-The Yen (100 sen) is normally worth about 50 cents.
• Compiled mainly from the "Statesman's Year Book" and the "Christian Movement in Japan."-EmToR.
Views of
Achievements, Failures, and Present Opportunities of Missionaries as Seen by Japanese Christians A Symposium Arranged By REV. E. C. HENNIGAR, Tokyo, Japan Some Remarkable Achieve.. operation. It does not necessarily come into con- ments flict with racialism. But racialism is often apt to degenerate into isolated nationalism and also By REV. S. IMAI aggressive imperialism. It can only be saved by ethical ideas. Pastor Central Tabernacle (Methodist), Tokyo Protestantism has been in Japan for little more T HE Japanese history, after the Restoration than 70 years. When we think of the time ele- of Meiji, can be divided generally into three ment, we should not mention failures-the achieve- parts: ments are really the wonders. It is remarkable to First: Meiji era ……. 1868-1912 see that so many of the present leaders in Japan Second: Taisho era …. 1912-1926 have received some sort of moral influence from Third: Showa era …… 1926- missionaries in their lives. But, what will be the possible failure? For this, we might say that mis- The chief characteristic of the first period was sionaries inevitably brought the nationalized an uncritical attitude in imitating Western civili- Christianity with them from the countries whence zation. This expressed itself in economy as capi- they came. Many Japanese did not feel at home talism; in politics as democracy; and in religion with it. This can be seen not only in Christianity as Christianity. Under such conditions, the thing but also in political and social institutions as well. which represented and promulgated the Western Dress specially made for an adult does not fit chil- civilization most effectively in this country was dren, and the dress made for Western people was none other than Christianity. The Meiji era is too big for Japanese, in the beginning. very significant as a rebirth of Japanese civilization. The leadership which came under the influ- Missionaries are, of course, missionaries of Christian churches. But, at the same time, they ence of missionaries, in that period, was a strong naturally represent the countries where they come one. For this Japan can never be too thankful. from. Consequently, the vicissitudes of the civili- In the second period-The Taisho era-we find zation in their home lands can not but influence that, after the outcome of the World War, Japan their actions. Therefore, whether the mission- began to take a more criUcal and sceptical attitude aries can contribute to the future problems in towards European civilization in general. Conse- Japanese lives depends greatly on the condition of quently, average minds in this country lost their their own countries-how strongly the Christian uncritical attitude which they had maintained all spirit is influencing the political and economic life through the first period towards the work of mis- of the country.
sionaries. This may be one of the chief reasons If each country in Europe and America were why the work of missionaries showed an appear- Christianized to its heart, the effect of missionaries ance of decadence in comparison with that of the from those countries would be multiplied. preceding period. Japanese consciousness, or, shall I say "Japanese The third period-that is, the Showa era-is a spirit," at present, shows rather a militaristic apself-conscious period. This is a time when we feel pearance. But 58 per cent of the people in Japan as though we have learned what we can from the are farmers, and the farmers want peace more West, and Japan of the past finds its positive self- than anything else. The philosophy of Japanese assertion. Naturally, in all phases of our lives, farmers is a philosophy of peace, and their relithe racial mind is in ascendancy. gion is that of peace.
It can be seen that one of the most general dan- The thoughts and practices of Ninomiya Songers, in such a time, is a tendency towards racial toku, who is still the idol of worship of Japanese egoism as well as racial exclusiveness. The inter- farmers, are one hundred per cent pacifism. It is national expression of Christiantiy is world co- a mistaken assumption to regard the Japanese [ 443]
mind as essentially militaristic. Militarism is one form a Board which would unite the Mission of the evils which they have learned from the Boards of the sending churches and the Japanese West. The true Japanese mind which is essen- Mission Board. Going one step further, let the tially peace-loving, longs for cooperation with the missionaries work under the Japanese Church, messengers of peace in Western countries. We leaving the control of both personnel and finances need a missionary-a true prophet who would entirely with the Japanese. In a word, the mis- criticize Japanese militarism without fear and sions should cease doing something from the out- who would, at the same time, open his own eyes to side and should cooperate from within.
the egoism as well as to the militarism rampant in all countries in the world in the present age. The Future Policy Japan needs the rea:l cooperation of the West! By REV. YUGORO CHIBA, D.D. One very effective method has been that of English teaching. Many young men and women of this country have come in contact with the per- President of the Baptist College, Yokohama, and Chairman of sonalities of missionaries through their English the National Christian Council of Japan studies and have had their eyes opened to Chris- I T IS only seventy years since the Christian tianity. But, all through the three periods, the churches beyond the seas opened mission work most effective element of the missionary work has in Japan. The great influence that Christibeen the personalities of the missionaries them- anity has achieved in our country is a real source selves. In other words, the thing which Japan of wonder today, an influence not at all measured wants most at the present time is the personality by the number of churches or number of church which is itself burning with the real spirit of members. Christianity has driven its roots down Christ. deep into the thought and life of the people. Not only has it had a great influence of the general Success and Mistakes culture of Japan but it has touched and stimu- lated Buddhism, Shintoism and the other religions By REV. WATARU SABA of the country. .
Pastor of Omori Presbyterian Church, Tokyo, and former To take one illustration near at hand, it is said Moderator of the General Assembly that no less than fifty members of the Imperial Diet are either now active church members or have T HE success of Christian missions in Japan is been connected with the church in the past. Fifty due to the fact of the superior personality of out of over four hundred is no small proportion. the early missionaries and their ability to Also in the business world, the educational world, make a great contribution to the culture of the in science and art not a few leaders are Christians.
then only half-open Japanese Empire. We still remember that four or five years ago three Among the mistakes or weaknesses of missions of the five Imperial Universities had Christian we have to note that although the culture of this presidents. Judging from this, if within the next country has advanced until it stands on a par with few years the overseas churches were to withdraw the culture of other countries, and has thrown up their missions from Japan, while there would be some great personalities, the quality of the mis- some delay in the work and even retreat on some sionaries who come to these shores seems to be, if fronts, there would be absolutely no danger of we may say so, rather deteriorating than other- Christianity dying out in our country. Christi- wise. In view of this, :it is only to be expected that anity has driven its roots deep into the national the range of the activities of the missionaries, soil and has become a national possession.
handicapped as they are by language and customs, The primary reason for such a phenomenal ad- will naturally shrink. Missionaries also find great vance in so short a time lies, of course in the na- difficulty in this day in attempting to do a really ture of Christianity itself. It must also be recog- strong piece of work, standing as they do between nized that the early missionaries were very wise the Mission Boards of the sending countries on in their policy. They did not limit their activities the one hand and the Mission Boards of Japan on to merely preaching the Gospel in person. They the other. set up a strong program for the educaJtion of a One feels acutely, therefore, that the missions- Japanese ministry. They selected the most prom- since by their aid the Japanese Church is ap- ising men for study abroad and then used them proaching the place where it can stand alone- widely in the work of evangelism. Certain bodies should with a gr.eat decision attempt a reorganiza- where the early missionaries limited their activi- tion. Throwing aside a system of cooperation that ties to direct evangelistic work and put Christian is cooperative in name only, not standing apart education definitely in second place show little from or ignoring the Japan Church, they should progress.
JAPANESE VIEWS OF MISSIONS
As to the wisest policy for the future-in the cially of girls, and social philanthropic work, which evangelistic work the missions should gradually is said to have been enormously developed in redecrease the subsidies given to the Japanese cent years in Japan, have practically all been startchurches. This will be in the interest of self- ed by Christians. The idea of brotherhood, the support and self-propagation. In the educational recognition of the proper place of women and chilfield, unless we are willing to abandon the high dren in the social order, the idea of monogamy and standards set up for Christian education, one of the number of international peace movements, all two things will be needed, either the overseas of which are advocated by the majority of Japachurches must continue their support for a period nese today, are also of Christian origin. of time or else a way must be found to make the schools independent by securing an adequate en- 2. Splendid as missionaries' achievements are, dowment. At present our Christian schools are there are yet some mistakes in their work. Japan forced into a weak pos·ition by stress of economic is one of oldest countries in the world. lIt has a circumstances. They are compelled, in order to history of three thousand years and its own civilisecure income from fees, to take in too large a zation at its back. Without studying these things number of students (one school of middle grade and knowing the fundamental thoughts and ideals takes over 1,000 students, over 60 in each class), of the people it is imprudent to preaoh; that is like and secondly, because they cannot give adequate sowing seed without adequate know~edge of the salaries to teachers they are letting down their nature of the soil. Most of the missionaries I have standards. In this way the schools are becoming known have made this mistake. This seems to be commercialized and are departing from the high one of the reasons why Christianity has not penestandards of Christian education. We hope that trated the heart of Japan, and why there are many the overseas churches, who have given so self- backsliders among converts. sacrificingly of men, money and prayer for the evangelization of Japan, will carefully study how A feeling of superiority on the part of missionthey may best crown their great contribution to aries as to race, wealth and civilization is another our country. hindrance in approaching certain classes of Japa- nese. The material help which is so generously The Past, Present and Future given by them and welcomed by some people is often the cause of dislike and opposition to others. By RT. REV. P. V. MATSUI 3. Japan still needs missionaries, whatever may Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Tokyo be the impression otherwise. The nature of their work has changed with the growth of the Japanese THE missionary enterprise in Japan has proved Church, but it does not follow that the need for to be a great success. Since the coming of the them has diminished. first missionaries, nearly fourscore years ago, nearly three thousand churches have been estab- Let me mention some of the spheres of work in lished, most of them now self-supporting. There which missionaries are still needed. They are are 1,608 ordained ministers and 901 lay workers, needed, both men and women, for work among while there are about 200,000 Protestant Chris- students. Hostels for stUdents in the universities tians. Yearly gifts to church work from native of the great cities are greatly needed and Chrissources have amounted to Y 2,810,000. A large tian hostels are the best. Then they are needed part of these achievements are due to missionary as school teachers, teaching English, for which efforts of Christians in America and England. there are opportunities open in all parts of Japan. Their services in establishing self-supporting, self- An earnest Chris·tian teacher is a great power. controlling and self-expansive indigenous churches Also a limited number of specially prepared men have been invaluable. They have prepared the are needed for the theological colleges. Christian ground for the future evangelization of the whole missionary doctors are needed for the work of hoscountry. Moreover there are a number of native pitals and dispensaries which should be opened in Christian leaders whose learning, knowledge and many parts of Japan outside the great cities. personality far exceed that shown by men and Women missionaries are~till very greatly needed. women in other communities, and because this is In connectiop with the churches, especially the so remarkably the case Christianity in this coun- newer ones, there is a great sphere for district try is honored and looked up to by the Government evangelistic work by women only. The opportuniand the public as a trust-worthy religion. ties for personal work and teaching are in most cases more than one missionary can fill. The high It should also be noted that Christian influence educational standard now open to the girls and upon the thought and idea.ls of the nation has been young women creates a wonderful sphere and opremarkably great. Education, for instance, espe- portunity for Christian evangelistic work among them.
There is always work in connection with the churches in both town and country, to which all
missionaries can lend a hand. The ordained mis- 3. They have been wonderfully successful, more sionaries can act as ministers-in-charge in the than in any other thing, in producing the promi- younger and less developed churches, which as yet nent leaders by their professional contact, leaders ~annot support a Japanese pastor. They can direct not only in Christian circles but also in the wider much of the church work and evangelistic efforts, sphere in every branch of social activity. We often and be real missioners in the district. try to imagine what a different world this would Every part of the field in the whole country have been if the missionaries had not followed up needs men and women of deep spiritual experi- the conquering military powers and the commer- ence and broad outlook, who are ready to come in cial forces of exploitation!
the spirit of Him Who "came not to be ministered It is rather an easy matter to point out mistakes to but to minister." Men and women are needed arid even to criticize the work of others done in who will reveal Jesus Christ. the midst of many hardships and dearly bought at great cost. We do not want what we say here to be taken as cold criticism. We all learn by mis- Some Missionary Readjustments takes and nothing under the sun is perfect. There has been some mistakes made by missionaries Needed which it would have been far better if they could By REV. AKIRA EBISAW A, Congregational Pastor have been avoided.
Let us frankly call attention to some hindrances General Secretary of the National Christian Council of Japan standing in the way of success. We shall summa- N o ONE can doubt the achievements of the rize them in the following items: missionaries in bringing about the. Chris- tian influence upon the national life in (a) Theological controversies and intolerance among workers. Japan. But it seems there are prevailing some doubts (b) Personal and denominational pride and iso- lation to the ignoring of the importance of in regard to the future function of missions. We united efforts. know that the time has already come for us to stop and think because the rapidly changing social situ- (c) Racial prejudice affecting the minds and ation and the growth of our national life make it customs of some workers, which deprive imperative to re-examine our plan and program in them of real personal respect. the light of the new situation. Broadly speaking, there are two fundamental motives which necessi- (e) Too much evaluation of work in terms of tate and invite readjustments in the methods and numerical and material standards on the policies of the missionary enterprise; i. e., the part of the Mission Boards in the mistaken new discovery of the indigenous genius and the limitation of capitalistic investment. appreciation of the psychological differences between different cultures. We believe that the mis- (d) Too much secularization of the Christian sionaries will have a wonderful opportunity for activities, alienating them from the real the next fifty years provided the new adjustment Christian way. is consummated intelligently before it is too late. (f) Absorption in trifling things and the lack It goes without saying that Japanese Christian of wide vision and far reaching insight. churches would not be in existence at all unless the missions have been working in this country giving (g) Such a lack of appreciation and knowledge so many men and women and so much funds dur- of the cultural heritage, social customs and ing the last seventy-five years. We admire and ap- psychological differences as to pass a supreciate the wonderful work of the missionaries, perficial judgment on all things expressed judging from the results achieved by their pro- in the vernacular. ductive and creative work. (h) Lack of real Christian internationalism. 1. It is generally recognized that they have (i) Un-Christian behavior of the so-called Christian nations and some merchants in their dealings with international, political, economic and military policies, thus repu- diating the ideals of Ohristianity.
helped to enrich the national culture with invalu- Of all the various cultural movements-politi- able ·contributions through scientific, philosophi- cal, industrial, social, educational and communica- cal, ethical and religious thinking, all based on tional-now- pervading the world, the Christian Christian civilization. missionary enterprise stands as a prominent light- 2. They ,have had wide influence in raising the house, commanding the whole world with its glo- living standards of the nation and in purifying the rious light. No other movement can compete with social customs, through their daily life which set this enterprise in its extent as well as in its intent.
the standard for Christian life even among those The methods and policies might be modified but its who are not professed Christians. value must not be minimized. The time for the
ARE !.lORE MISSIONARIES NEEDED IN JAPAN?
denominational mISSIOns attending to their own sociations, the Woman's Christian Temperance work with the duplication of the similar kinds of Union and the Sunday School Association. staffs and facilities may have passed, awaiting for a speedy readjustment. (b) Cooperation in the rural work. There lies a large field as yet almost untouched by the Chris- There is a wonderful opportunity before the tian forces. General economic depression makes it missions for more concentrated, coordinated plans doubly necessary to reach the farmers in their and a more unified program, all in cooperation urgent need for spiritual guidance. The work has with the indigenous c h u r c h e s. The Japanese been initiated by the Council and the missions; churches must strive for their own maintenance but it will need the mobilization of all the Chrisand expansion until the Kingdom is firmly estab- tian resources in order to fully meet the responsilished; and while they may go that way for next bility. hundred years, the missions should have their large part in working along the lines on which (c) Cooperation on a big scale with church work hitherto they have been successful. for residential sections. The missions can render a great contribution under their united capacity (a) Cooperation wit h interdenominational in opening a well equipped institutional church agencies. They should have tremendous future if work to exert a strong influence over the multithey cooperate with the indigenous international tudes morally, socially and religiously, on so large agencies like the National Christian Council, a scale as to appeal to the imagination of the citi- Young Men's and Young Women's Christian As- zens.
Are More Missionaries Needed in Japan?* By DR. WM. MERRELL VORIES, Omi-Hachiman, Japan I N THE old and generally accepted sense,- ties to usurp special authority and assume the rOle of teachers, merely because of their race, or re- . that a missionary is a foreigner temporarily ligion, or possession of funds. Mission Boards sent to supervise a movement from abroad; should not send out men and women to the cultured nations on the same basis as to backward peoples. possessing authority because of his position (not to say race), regardless of his abilities being su- Not all missionaries of the past have been of perior or inferior to his native associates; living the objectionable type. Far from it. Many, in a life aloof from the community; using his mother spite of the possibility of exercising authority and tongue chiefly; always looking forward to even- of living luxuriously, have from their own innate tual return to his land of birth; and in general sense of propriety and their Christlikeness of remaining a "foreign" element in the work,-the character refused to be bishops or bosses or to in leaders among Japanese Christians consider ad- any way exalt themselves above the Cause. But ditional missionaries not only undesirable, but this was often due to their personal virtues rather even detrimental to the establishment of a Chris- than to any virtue in the system. tian Church in Japan. It is a different proposition to have a fellow- We agree 'with them in this, and we would go worker from a foreign land, who brings to the farther and believe that it might have been better Christian movement some positive contribution of for the Cause of Christ in Japan if that type of ability, training, experience, devotion, or personal missionary had never come. worth-and brings it without self-seeking or sec- tarian motive; who comes to a work ready to give It is hard for some American or the British sup- his life to it-expecting to become a part of the porters of traditional missions to conceive of the community; asking no special privilege or considactual conditions in the "mission fields" today. eration for himself; demanding no provision for Too many of them see no difference between illit- his own comfort or security which is not available erate savages and cultured peoples of Asia when for the rest of the staff; ready to adapt himself to it comes to attempting evangelistic work. As a local conditions. matter of fact the culture developed in ancient China, and that spread over a large part of east- This kind of missionary is welcome anywhere. ern Asia, was, and in some respects still is, far in There will always be a place for such-so long as advance of that developed in the West. Christianity is true to its essential supernational- ism. It is presumptuous for persons of inferior abili- • Condensed from The Omi llIu8tard-Seed.
of Christianity in
By the REV. S. H. WAINWRIGHT, D.D., Tokyo Manager of the Christian Literature Society W E GRATEFULLY recognize the hand of Polygamy in the form in which it existed in God in the modern life of Japan. The Japan, is dying out. The newer day has an illus- Christian religion, in the course of half a trious precedent in the Imperial Court life. The century, has become one of the recognized reli- Shintoists have adopted the Christian custom of gions of Japan. It was prohibited and COll- performing the marriage rite in the presence of demned by public notices when the first mis- the deity. The Woman's Christian Temperance sionaries arrived in 1859. Now Christianity is Union began a work which is now taken over alrecognized by the Government, by the traditional most wholly by the national organization which religions and by the people. The property for calls itself The Customs Reform Society. This churches and schools, for mission residences and Society does not limit itself to temperance reform, hospitals and for other Christian uses is legally , but conducts powerful campaigns for the abolition held and incorporated under Japanese law. The of other national evils and is one of the liviest or- Christians, along with Buddhists and Shintoists, ganizations in the nation. The same may be said have their share of chaplaincies for prisons and of the National Temperance League, perhaps the other State institutions. The Home Department most powerful and effective temperance organizaof the Government has called together for confer- tion in the world.
ence on a number of occasions the representatives Along with the reform of customs, Christian in- of the three religions – Buddhism, Christianity fluence should be credited with the inauguration and Shintoism. Fifty years ago the three religions of social service and philanthropy, neither of would have been Buddhism, Confucianism and which had any place worthy of mention before Shintoism, but since then Christianity has re- Japan was opened to modern Christian missions.
placed Confucianism as a positive religion. The Salvation Army, conducted for the most part In visible results of Christianity statistics have from England, has done noteworthy work in the a place. When t went to Japan, there were 23,000 Protestant Christians. There are now 232,000, field of social service and receives an annual grant not to mention the Roman and Greek Catholics. from the Imperial Household. Dr. Kagawa, by Since I arrived in Japan the Protestant commun- his life in the slums, has interpreted Christ's mind ion has gained by a tenfold increase while the towards unfortunate members of society. He and population has doubled. It might seem discour- other Christian leaders have been in close touch aging to be able to report only 232,000 Protestant with the labor population and have done some- Christians while the population has increased by thing to impart to the labor movement an appre- millions, but the rate of increase is much greater ciable Christian influence.
with the church than with the nation. The pop- All sorts of Christian charities have sprung up ulation increases about one and one quarter per and, unlike the wooden thousand hands of the cent per annum, while the Protestant church Goddess of Mercy (Kwannon), bring relief and membership increases about five per cent per blessing to the leper, the Eta class, the unem- annum. A mass movement may occur at some ployed and other needy members of society. St.
future time when great numbers will be admitted Luke's International Medical Center in Tokyo is into the church. an outstanding enterprise of tlie Christian move- Great changes have taken place in the national ment.
Japanese customs under Christian influence. Philanthropy is an increasing expression of the Sunday has been made a legal holiday. Christmas mind of Christ though practiced by many who are is observed as a festival of giving by thousands not identified with the Christian movement. The in the great cities. There was a time when Christ- most outstanding recent instance is the thirty miImas decorations were sold only by the Christian lion yen foundation established by the Mitsui Literature Society but now the smallest neigh- family. Benevolence in the Confucian sense is borhood shops in the big cities put them on sale. essentially a paternal virtue, and is exercised to- . The Christmas story has a fascinating appeal in ward inferiors in the social organism. It does the Orient. not feel compassion upon the multitudes, nor does [448 ] it m~ke the weak a burden of the strong as a broad the new Japan and is the answer to its deepest principle running thqmgh all society. need. All that Buddhism has been able to do in Christian influence has contributed much to the adjusting itself to the new order of things is to State, including converts i~'Cresar's household. struggle against its own decadence and to copy The wives of five of the Ministers of the present the methods of the Christian propaganda in its (Saito) Cabinet, including the wife of the Pre- own present-day activities.
mier, and some of the Cabinet Ministers them- Mission institutions, which now occupy an es- selves were trained in mission schools. Parlia- tablished place, are organs of the new Christian ment, since its organization in 1889, has. not been spirit. Christian Educational Work, the Christian without Christian leaders and Christian judges Literature Society, and St. Luke's Medical Center, have been members of the Supreme Court. A have a national prestige, a wide patronage and a wide knowledge of the Scriptures in Japan is fruitfulness which no one would deny. Their posi- shown by quotations from public speakers and tion is secure and they are the instruments by writers. Japan's great Finance Minister, Junno- which the new Japan is being formed. These but- suke Inouye, in a speech at the Peer's Club just standing institutions are deeply permeated by the before his assassination, made use of Scripture Christian spirit and if they should suffer decline when he said, "And whether one member suffers, through lack of funds the loss to Japan wO'uld be all the members suffer with it." He referred to irreparable.
the world depression and the new dependence of The Christian Church is becom'ing increasingly the nations, each upon the others. Not only th,e, independent. It is far advanced in self-support Scriptures but Christian history is widely known and possesses the spirit of initiative and apostolic among the Japanese. Augustine and Calvin, Lu- zeal for the spread of the Gospel. It possesses a ther and Wesley, are familiar names and some- spiritual quality as is revealed by early morning thing is understood about their place in history. pray~r meetings and other gatherings for the cul- Striking a little deeper, one will find, in the less tivation of the spiritual life. The Japanese Church obvious realities, the deep impression Christ has cannot yet carry the load of institutional Chris- made upon the thought life of Japan. The dic- tianity, created by the foreign missions. Out of tionaries and encyclopedias reveal this transform- its own reSQurces, it cannot meet the requirements ing influence. An intelligent Japanes~ man will of the vast field of rural evangelism; nor can it refer to "personality" as if the term had been afford at present to be cut off from the body of used traditionally by the Japanese, while as a mat- Christ in other lands.
ter of fact Jts vogue is of very recent origin. One In contrast to other Asiatic fields Christian suc- cannot acquire in the shops pure specimens of cess in Japan has been with the middle and intel- Japanese ceramic ware if of recent manufacture. lectual classes. The creation of the new Japan is All the current styles betray the touch of the West to be credit~d very largely to middle class intel- upon the artist's designs. So it is with current lectual population from which its leaders have ideas. Nothing is purely Oriental. A distin- come, in politics, in business and in education, as guished Shinto teacher in the Tokyo Imperial Uni- well as in the Christian movement. It is no acci- versity expounds Shintoism as if the Kojiki were dental circumstance that Christianity has dis- a Hegelian masterpiece! placed Confucianism for the Christian triumph As regards the deeper influence of Christianity has been largely with the Confucian population.
upon modern Japan, the substance of the present The Confucian background is more like that of situation was recently expressed by the former the Old Testament than any other in the non- Minister of Foreign Affairs Baron Shidehara, Christian world. Hence the response to Chris- who said that as Buddhism formed the spirit of tianity has its source in a traditional background.
the Heian period, so Christianity was the moving The national system of education had its origin spirit of the recent period in Japanese history. with the Confucian population in Japan, though Christianity possesses a great advantage over the projected on a nation-wide and popular scale with traditional religions which are bound up with a open doors to all classes. Christianity has been passing order of society. The new Japan has preeminently successful in winning converts from created forms of national life according to West- among the student classes. Indeed Christianity ern molds by means of which Christianity finds it in Japan is highly educational though not without easy to give expression to its message. In the past the fervor of evangelism. The new slogan of the the Christian religion has been a determining Church is significant, sounding as it does the call factor in the formation of those molds so freely to rural evangelism. At present the cities are the adopted by Japan as a nation. To try to bring centers of Christian activity and Tokyo, the cap- Christianity and the traditional religions together ital, is probably more Christian than was the city in any syncretistic enterprise would be a hopeless of Rome in the third century after Christ.
undertaking. Christianity has a deep affinity with The depth of Christian influence consists of
progress through more stages, owing to close con- greater depths in prayer than in preaching. In tact with higher education than any other mission the prayer life of Japanese believers Christianity field, the higher education not only in Japan but has reached its highest level. One often hears an in Western countries, resulting in a maturity of extraordinary prayer by a pastor, full of spiritual mind scarcely reached elsewhere on the mission depth and fervor, followed by a very dull sermon. fields. The work has passed through a greater The vocabulary of prayer, molded largely by the number of stages, both in thought and practical Scriptures, and especially by the Psalms, is bound methods, than elsewhere owing partly to the quick- to be different from that of preaching in which ened movement of general progress 'in modern the language of the people is used with its tradi- Japan. The Japanese Christian mind in a true tional coloring, in the use of which the Buddhists sense is one with the Christian mind in the West are more effective than Christian preachers. The and quickly reflects changes in Western thought younger generation readily understands Chrisand movement. tian preaching and its phraseology becomes fa- miliar to them in the schools of Japan where Eng- The Buddhist religion controls the masses of lish is the major study. The Christian movement population and it is into this field that Christian- has, however, among its preachers a few whose ity n(),}V proposes to enter. The fervent evan- word is with power. gelism permeating Christianity from the beginning in 1859 is in part owing to the influence of Christian influence has produced a greater op- American missions but also in part is accounted portunity in Japan and in other Asiatic countries for by Japanese reaction, expressing a deeper re- as well, than it has as yet fulfilled. The youth ligious consciousness than that of the Confucian trained in the schools are more open minded and mind. This may have its source in part at least are in a better position to understand Christian in Buddhist mysticism. It is an interesting fact preaching than the first generation to which the that the Japanese Christian ministry exhibits far appeal was made.
Your Church – A Clock or Dynamo?
Some churches impress me as being first-class clock-towers. They have a certain amount of good machinery and some power to give a useful message. You can depend on them to tell the time and the seasons. They tell the time for Sunday services, the hour for the Women's meeting and the Men's Club. The seasons are indicated: Easter, Christmas and even the Saints' Days. They have a minister (servant) to wind them and see that they keep going and tell out the correct time.
We would lose something if the minister stopped working or if the clock or the church were removed. We need them to help us lead well regUlated lives. But the clock-tower church exists largely for itself; its wheels go round and round, year in and year out, but they never move from their place to help others. Their range of usefulness is small. Stationary churches, with pastors satisfied with the duties of winding and oiling the works, seem never to get any- where. They may be orthodox but they have very little power and a narrow field of service.
I grow impatient with this type of church and am in search of one that is a dynamo– charged with power to do things. A dynamo does not exist for itself but in order to make ma- chinery accomplish some task worth while. Placed in a powerhouse it sends forth heat, light, and power through wires for long distances in every direction. It is a missionary force.
We may live in a town far away from the powerhouse so that we do not see it or hear it, yet we are ever conscious that it is there, working night and day to help by giving light, heat and power for all kinds of service. It may be stationary but the power that is stored up is constantly released for the benefit of the thousands all around. Its motto is "Not for self but'
for others."
Other dynamos are placed in ships, electric locomotives or automobiles. They are con- stantly on the move, conveying passengers and goods; hauling loads, distributing the necessi- ties of life to other places, near and far. Their usefulness may react to the uttermost part of the earth. They are missionary dynamos. _ The clock in the church-tower is useful but if we must choose between the clock and the dynamo, who would hesitate for a moment? Why be satisfied with clock-tower churches?
Shall we not pray that the Spirit of God may make dynamos of our churches so that their spir- itual power to help, to enlighten, to comfort, to save and to invigorate may be felt far and wide among all classes of people, not only at home but in other lands where there is need.
-Adapted from W. E. Gordon, in the "Sahayah-Patrikai" (India).
Japanese Christian
By the REV. H. W. MYERS, D.D., Kobe Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, u. s.
Won by a Christian Woman The Salvation Army Leader H I IRoSHI HATANAKA was born in Oka- F A great orator is one who can grip and hold yama in 1885. He was sent to the primary an audience, win them to his beliefs and influ- school and went as far as the third year in ence their lives, then few men have a better the city high school, when the death of his mother claim to this distinction than Col. Gumpei Yama- wrought a crisis in the boy's life. His mother, muro of the Salvation Army in Japan. He was though not baptized, had been a Christian be- the eighth child of a mountain farmer and was liever, while his father was definitely hostile to adopted by a relative who was better able to pro- Christianity. After Mrs. Hatanaka's death, Miss vide for him. When his new father refused to M. E. Wainwright led the boy into the Christian send him to Tokyo to school, the boy ran away life, and later took him to live as a son in her home.
He went to Kyoto and finished his high school course in the Doshisha College.
From Kyoto Kiroshi went to America to study in Oberlin College and Seminary. While studying at Oberlin, Mr. Hatanaka helped to pay his way by acting as janitor and office clerk. In the sum- mers he worked on farms, on the railroad, in the kitchen of a hotel and at anything he could find, and in this way earned money for his education and gained a wide knowledge of men. Later he worked for two years as Secretary in the Boys' Depart- ment of the Y. M. C. A. in the mill district of Pitts- burgh where he had a good deal of experience with the rough neck element. When one young- ster had to be dragged home by main force, his parents upheld the young Japanese Secretary who won the friendship of the family.
Returning to Japan in 1914, at the age of twenty-nine, Mr. Hatanaka served for a year and a half in the Osaka Y.M. C. A., spent a year in the army, and seven years as pastor of a Kyoto church. In 1923 he became President of Kobe College, but resigned this position after two years to become pastor of the Osaka Congregational Church, one of the greatest of all Protestant churches in Japan. He was thus the successor to the great Mr. Miyagawa, who had been pastor of COL. GUMPEl YAMAMURO this church for forty-three years.
A thorough scholar and an eloquent speaker, with the intention of working his way through the with brilliant mind and a lovable personality, Mr. higher schools.
Hatanaka combined social, intellectual and spir- Gumpei was converted to Christ in an out-door itual gifts. He is one of the most influential citi- meeting' when sixteen years old and immediately zens of the great city of Osaka with its three mil- became an ardent Christian worker. He would lion inhabitants. sing over and over again the only hymns he knew: "Stand up, stand up for Jesus," and "Bringing in It was the love and the prayers of Miss Wain- the sheaves," and sing wherever he could get anywright that first won him to Christ and then won one to listen to him. With little outside help he him to the Christian ministry.
[451 ]
worked his way through a Christian college-on a preacher of righteousness, a social reformer and several occasions nearly dying of starvation-but a friend of the poor. Many will rise up to call in thi,s student period he won for Christ a number Col. Yamamuro blessed. of young Japanese who later became eminent Christian workers. Mr. Kameshichi Nishiyama Shortly after the opening of Salvation Army MANY poor country boys leave the farm and work in Japan young Yamamuro met some of the move to town to go into business and make Army workers and read the books they gave him. a fortune. Till he was thirty-five years of He was deeply impressed with their spirit and age, there was little to distinguish Kameshichi methods, and asked to be allowed to join them. In Nishiyama from thousands of other middle-class the course of time was made an officer, was given business men in Japan. Shrewd, industrious, charge of the training of new recruits, and was sober, economical, and keen on making and saving later made editor of the Japanese War Cry. This money, he was just another ordinary, good busimarked a new era in his life. ness man, with neither time nor inclination for religion, and a special dislike for Christianity. In his earlier work, Yamamuro distributed tracts among friends who complained that they An annoying attack of rheumatism that would could not understand them. So he went to work not yield to ordinary treatment was the means to prepare tracts and books that people could understand, and has written many that are intelli- KAM;ESHICHI NISHIYAMA gible, interesting and impressive. For many years he was the most prolific Christian writer in used to bring. him to Christ. The Japanese all Japan. The most famous of his numerous books know that for rheumatism or a crick in the back is "The Common People's Gospel," of which many there is nothing quite equal to a good massage. hundred thousand copies have been sold since it One of the commonest sights in the country is to was first published in 1900. Some years ago in a see a dutiful small boy pounding vigorously on the Korean city I met a godly Japanese judge, con- aching shoulders of his old grandmother. The verted through reading this book before he had best masseur in Kochi was a man named Okamura, ever met a Christian minister or entered a church.
As a preacher Col. Yamamuro has mastered the art of bringing from his treasures things new and old. Bits of poetry, apt proverbs, quotations from Chinese classics, burning statistics, humorous experiences, joyous conversions all help to carry the Gospel message home to his hearers.
Perhaps Col. Yamamuro's most spectaCUlar work has been on behalf of the girls virtually en- slaved in the licensed quarters. The system today is bad enough, and its supporters are fighting a losing battle; but up to the year 1900 it was especially iniquitous. Recruiting agents would scour the country to find attractive daughters in homes of the poor; they would promise pretty clothes, good wages and easy work as waitresses, and lend the parents a few hundred yen, to be repaid from the wages of the daughter. Charges for medical service and new clothes and interest kept the debt up to its original figure, so that the girl was kept as a virtual slave as long as she was profitable. Sometimes in desperation these girls would run away; but the law was on the side of the keepers, and the police would aid in returning them to their "duty." In those days almost any morning paper would have an account of an exciting chase of the police in capturing some escaped girl. More, perhaps, than any other man, Col. Yamamuro worked and fought till he won for these wretched girls the legal right to leave their prisons, debt or no debt.
He is a man of prayer, an eminent soul-winner,
SOME JAPANESE CHRISTIAN LEADERS
a devout Christian, called the happiest man in meted out to him was to stand for an hour with Kochi, whose bright smile and bicycle are as well a cup brimful of water in one hand and a stick of known as his skill in rubbing out aches and pains. lighted incense in the other, till both arms fairly When Mr. Okamura was called in, he began by ached. No Japanese teacher is ever allowed to explaining that it was a part of his treatment to slap a pupil or inflict corporal punishment, hence talk of Christ while he worked. At first Mr. Nishi- they devise various ingenious substitutes. Late yama would have none of it, but when rheumatism he became an honored and enthusiastic alumnus became worse, he decided to take the treatment- of his Christian alma mater, Aoyama Gakuin of Christianity and all. For days Mr. Okamura lit- Tokyo. erally rubbed and pounded and talked until he had led his patient to a living experience of salvation On completing his college course he secured a in Christ. position in Osaka at a salary of ten yen a month This was about fifteen years ago, and from that GINJIRO KiATSUDA time Mr. Nishiyama has been a power for righteousness in the city and in his church. He is a till the company went bankrupt, when he went to wholesale rice dealer, with oil, sugar, fertilizer Kobe and found a similar position. After two and automomiles as side lines, with an annual years he went into the shipping business, where he business running into the millions. His eighty soon found himself on the crest of the wave of employees work six days in the week and are paid prosperity. He made a large fortune which he for seven days on condition that they attend spent with generous abandon; among his gifts is church Sunday morning and evening. As a result the beautiful "Katsuda Hall" and the principal's all of his men are Christians, and the business has residence at Aoyama Gakuin. been greatly prospered. A large, beautiful room in his building is set aside as the chapel, and every Mr. Katsuda served many years in the Kobe morning the entire staff gathers for a half hour of City Assembly, in the House of Commons and in worship beginning at five o'clock in summer and the House of Peers, and last year, at the urgent at six in winter. One of the employees is given insistence of the Kobe Assembly became Mayor of the oversight of the religious needs of the men. the city. Unpretentious, friendly and genial, Mr. Katsuda makes friends and holds them, and is es- Mr. Nishiyama's partner, Mr. Yokota, started teemed as a public servan.t who can be trusted. life as an errand boy whose entire capital Such men though they are not baptized are the amounted to two sen. He became a Christian best justification of the Christian college in misthrough Mr. Nishiyama's influence, and is now a sion lands. wealthy man, whose entire family are devout Christians.
Mr. Nishiyama is an elder and treasurer in the great Kochi church. He is a systematic tither, and a generous free-will giver as special needs arise. He is universally loved and trusted, and is one of the best business men as well as one of the best Christians in all Japan.
When the Wright brothers were making their historic flights at Kitty Hawk they were pestered by newspaper men eager to get a good story. One of the brothers put them off with the remark that among all the birds the parrots were the best talkers but the poorest flyers. Mr. Nishiyama is the most modest and retiring of men, and would sooner fly than tell the story of his life for publication.
A Christian College Graduate GINJIRO KATSUDA was born in 1873 in Matsuyama, in the Island of Shikoku. He recalls with amusement how he hated to study, and was scolded and punished by his teachers for his laziness. One of the punishments
Christian Women Leaders* en city problems to her. Over seven thousand would-be suicides have come to her after reading By ELIZABETH H. KILBURN, Sendai her sign boards: A BoUT one-half of the population of Japan WAIT A MINUTE. GOD IS LOVE are women, so bringing in a new order in Japan is certainly a woman's problem too. IF You MUST TAKE YOUR LIFE The following women are recognized as taking a COME AND TALK IT OVER FIRST very important part in the Christian Movement in WITH NOBU Jo (giving the address) Japan. These signs have made her famous throughout Furuta Sensei-A Religious Leader the length and breadth of Japan, for the response to them has been unbelievable. Not only those Miss Furuta, is an example of how one woman who had decided to end all through suicide, but encourages devotion to God through Christ in all others who were unhappy and did not know where whom she meets. It would be interesting to know to turn, having seen the signs, came for help. how many young people and women this one ear- "Wives cast out by concubines, girls running nest Christian has so far led to Christ during her away from brothels to which they had been sold, ministry. children kidnapped by shows, women beaten by drunken husbands wives displaced by the jealous One winter's night, when the home in which she mother-in-law, girls hiding from the police, the was rooming was totally destroyed by fire, the wives and children of murderers, pickpockets and home of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander, Miss Furuta es- thieves"-scores come for help and comfort, and caped, Mrs. Alexander did not. As she was escap- find Christ. ing, she heard a voice saying to her distinctly, "Your work in the future must be evangelistic." Nobu J 0 has established a home where the girls From that time there has been no uncertainty as and women can be provided for and protected. to her call. She has filled various positions since There are some eighty living with her all the time. then but always with the evangelistic purpose. Within the last few years her work has received public and government recognition, and now wel- Miss Furuta is at present national secretary of fare organizations other than Christian are using the Woman's Board of the Japan Methodist these sign boards to prevent suicides. Church, and also conference evangelist. She is also superintendent of women evangelists of the In Japan there are certain popular suicide Tokyo and Kevanto districts of the church, and spots, such as a sharp turn in a railroad track or gives counsel and strength to these younger evan- certain volcanoes. Hundreds of girls and boys gelists. She is also superintendent of the asso- throw themselves, often several in a day, in Mount ciation of Tokyo Christian women and is superin- Mihara. Within the last two years there has been tendent of the evangelistic department of the a great increase of suicides in Japan, especially of Japanese W. C. T. U. (both interdenominational young men. Many suicides occur out of protest groups). against their country's marriage customs or their government's recent activities in world affairs. Last winter a very unique opportunity to do The police have tried to stop the tide but they newspaper evangelism opened up to Miss Furuta. seem to be powerless. One woman cannot do it The women's section of a popular morning news- all. We need many more women like "Noble J 0." paper introduced her through their columns as an experienced religious leader, inviting the readers Mrs. Kubushiro, a Purity Worker to correspond with her if they had any problems or burdens on their hearts. The many answers She tells her own story: that came in response to this showed that there "My father was a Christian minister and so were many people in Japan who had a longing to was my husband. In 1906, at the time of the San know Christ, the One who can solve problems and Francisco earthquake and fire, refugees came to remove burdens. Oakland where I was living, and among them came Chinese who were accused of setting up Nobu Jo, Representing Service gambling dens and Japanese, accused of starting brothels. I was asked to interpret for Dr. Charles Here is a woman whom one can never forget. Brown and the chief of police who were to inves- The graceful lines of the kimono cannot hide her tigate the matter, and I saw for the first time strong, almost masculine figure but she has a most Japanese girls who were in that kind of business. gentle mother-heart. Her strength can always be What an impression it made on my mind! The relied upon by a poor, weak, fugitive prostitute, newspapers and magazines were using this to stir and her good judgment is recognized by the Kobe up anti-Japanese sentiment. 'Why? Why?' I police for they bring many of their girl and wom- asked. 'Japenese women and girls are generally to be trusted. When millions are living most • From the Woman's Missionary Fj·iend.
worthy lives, why do they urge Japanese exclusion their support cooperatives would be a failure. because of the few?' Then the answer gradually Realizing this, the Federation of Cooperatives has came to my puzzled mind. Prostitution, in Japan, put in a very able woman, a Christian, Mrs. Maruis treated as a matter of course. The moral stand- oka, as head of the women's department. Her husard is unequal. 'Chastity' is a word only for wom- band worked in the Ohara Social Problems Reen and all laws are made by men. So they legalize search Bureau. She says: and make profit from this vice. We must cut at the very root of the evil-legalized prostitution. "I studied cooperatives, and as a housewife For over ten years this question burned within me realized keenly that we women, the buyers, must and hardened in my soul like gunpowder, till it have consumer cooperatives. I have been travelexploded. Then suddenly a call came to work for ing about the whole country, for the women's side the National Woman's Christian Temperance of the development of the cooperatives has become Union in Japan as its general secretary and I ac- very vigorous. Rural cooperatives have grown cepted." greatly lately, and the rural women need practical domestic science. Their understanding and co- This brave, determined woman is not working operation must be won; they must be called out alone. There is a strong force of Christian wom- and organized." en who come from all the different churches, and they are working together with the Purity Asso- There is no necessity for the periodical depresciation (a men's group) for the abolition of li- sions as the capitalistic world knows them. It is censed prostitution and also against the licensed because our economic life is unchristian that we sale of liquor. Already seven prefectures have have these periods of suffering and also the ridicuentirely abolished the prostitution system and lously unequal distribution of wealth. Christian eight more have passed resolutions to do so. women must take their responsibility in this im- There are forty-eight prefectures in Japan so portant part in bringing in the Kingdom. there is still much to do. Mrs. Kora-a Peace Leader "The central government is also moving and the home department is making up its mind to abolish Mrs. Kora lost her position as teacher in the it. But the abolition of licensed vice is not the Tokyo Women's University (non-Christian) beabolition of vice itself. We must work even cause of her peace activities. She told me someharder if that should ever be accomplished. We thing that made me hang my head with shame, for must look after the army and navy, the young had not we Westerners almost two thousand years people in rural districts, students, boys and girls. of Jesus' teaching as a backgro.>md for our ac- We must study the question on a national scale in tions? "I entered Columbia Unh:ersity just at the special reference to its rescue work problem and time when America was entering the World War. sex education. Young people must be protected, I must have been very innocent before I went to they must be given healthy amusements, mar- America, for I thought all Christians were paciriages must be arranged early. Sex morality must fists and that all thought war was wrong. The be firmly established and deeply grounded into the first Sunday I went to a large New York church national life, just as filial piety and loyalty to and heard a very famous Christian preacher. To country have been established." my amazement ~e urged his audience to go to war, 'For this is a war to end war,' he declared. I Mrs. Maruoka and Ohristian Economics was disillusioned. I felt crushed. A light had gone out of my heart. If at that time I had not The business of getting a living is a very im- come in contact with a small group of Christians portant part of human life. It seems strange that who were not afraid to be called cowards because Christianity has neglected, to the extent that it they were pacifists, I should have lost my faith has, this very important human interest. Many forever. Christians have accumulated great wealth through manipulation of stocks, etc.,. while their brothers "I am facing the same thing now, only in some have received very little for the long days of toil ways it is so different. There are so few of us with their hands. Christians have started many here, and our whole background has been so difgreat social reforms; why have they not faced ferent. Our government is different, too. Durthis question fearlessly? Competition has been ing the World War, if an American could prove the keynote of all business in the so-called Chris- that he was a conscientious objector, he was extian world for centuries. Kagawa declares, how- cused from active service. But in Japan no one ever, that as Christians we cannot recognize the is excused. If we could feel that by sacrificing our necessity for cut-throat competition but that "co- lives we might help the cause, it would be an inoperation" should be the guiding principle of all centive to resist. But we should be given no pub- Christian economics. Women are the buyers in lic trial at all, in such a case-just be quietly put Japan as well as in the West, so without enlisting out of the way…. However, we must be true to our Leader, the Prince of Peace!"
of Overlapping in
By WM. MERRELL VORIES, LL.D.
Omi·Hachiman, Japan 11— Founder 0/ the Omi Mission, 1905 THE only force that will bring the world to our province, so as to work there intelligently?
. Christ is "faith working in love." The first Do you realize that the capital is a small city and and most fatal indictment of sectarian over- the only place in the province in which overlaplapping in the mission field is that it repudiates this force and exhibits, on the contrary, rivalry ping already exists? It has unfortunately half working in competition. In short it is a misrepresentation of Christ. a dozen struggling sectarian groups, none of them The second indictment is that overlapping in able to be self-supporting." evangelical missions is not fair to the supporters of missions. There may be certain givers who "But our mission policy," calmly replied this deunderstand that their contributions are designated for denominational aggrandisement, but the termined gentleman, "is to place a church rank and file of conscientious and constant givers -many of whom make real sacrifices to give- in every provincial capital." nearly always make their offerings to give the Gospel message to people who otherwise would Within the past three years the same mISSIOn have no means of hearing it. To spend such gifts to maintain duplicate ~fforts in communities al- has started one of its churches in another small ready being evangelized by some other Christian agency is to come close to being guilty of misap- city of Japan already having three other Protespropriation of trust funds. tant bodies. Most Christian people deplore overlapping and many believe that the practice has long been aban- Some years ago a survey of the situation in doned. Unfortunately it still exists in many parts of the field. Japan is no exception, though the Japan was made by a committee appointed by the majority of cases are doubtless left-overs from the former days of noncooperation. It seems almost Federation of Christian Missions. If the question impossible to persuade the promoters of any once established work to withdraw from a field, no had not been a vital one, the report of that commatter how flagrant the overlapping. This shows a spirit unworthy of the representatives of Jesus mittee would have been really funny. The com- Christ. Some denominational leaders still hold to definite policies of sectarian expansion regardless mittee men belonged to the missions who were of overlapping, and without much apparent concern for the neglected districts. guilty. They solemnly reported that after exam- Not long ago an official of one of the largest ining all the circumstances they considered no missions said to me: cases of overlapping then existed; but-and here "We are planning to enter your province" (at the time our mission was the only one here). came the amusing naivety-they added that were I replied that since there were more than a any new churches to be started in any of the cities thousand towns and villages in this district still unmanned by Christian workers they would be a already having from one to five or six denominawelcome reinforcement, and I offered to help them discover the most needy and strategic location. tions, it would constitute overlapping! Thus if A "Oh, no," he explained, "We expect to go into had six competing sects at work and B had only your capital city." two, the addition of one society in B would con- "But," I asked, "do you know anything about the situation there? Have you made a study of stitute overlapping, whereas A with six would be guiltless!
A definite standard should be agreed upon as to what constitutes overlapping and how to avoid it if the will to cooperate is present.
Even in the largest cities more than one de- nomination generally confuses the situation if they do not cooperate.
If the local people, in any city, of their own choice desire an additional denominational church they can have it by paying for it-in complete self- support. But it should not be supported by mis- sion funds. – i .
The neglected rural field in Japan continues to wait for men and means, while churches in cities work in rival duplication.
An honest elimination of overlapping in mission work would not only release men and means for neglected areas, but would stimulate more sup- port for the entire Cause of Christ.
[ 456]
Unfinished Task in
il By the REV. GORDON K. CHAPMAN, Kobe in_d_ry===~~Ja- -<l§f,.!,;;;;===p_r_ol.e.s;;;;s.o.r=in=th;;;;e=c.en.;;;;t.rd..l..T..h..e.;;;;ol_O.8.'.'C.d.l.;;;;s;;;;e.m…
"IS OUR distinctive missionary task in Japan (2) Increased respect for labor. completed ?" (3) Growth in democracy. This question is often asked these days and (4) Development of parliamentarianism. (5) Growing respect for human life and personality. a variety of answers have been given. Obviously, (6) Consideration for the former outcaste classes. the answer will depend largely upon one's view (7) Widespread philanthropy, so that even the Budwith regard to the aim of missions. Most so- dhists are imitating Christian social enterprises. cieties have found their chief inspiration in the Great Commission of Christ to His disciples. Has Dr. Kagawa also stated that "Christianity has the Gospel been adequately proclaimed to the laid the foundations of personal purity and mo- Japanese? One of the larger missionary societies nogamy; has cultivated the spirit of service, the states that its controlling aim "is to make the spirit of love and universal peace; and has given Lord Jesus Christ known to all men as their Di- basis to the labor movement." Missionaries were vine Saviour, and to persuade them to become His the forerunners in social reform, and many of the disciples; to gather these disciples into Christian conspicuous leaders in the matter of social leaderchurches which shall be self-propagating, self- ship and thought guidance have been Christians. supporting and self-governing…… " Has this aim been fulfilled in Japan? If not, there is still The influence of Christianity upon social policy the unfinished task. in Japan has been very great indeed. Although Christians only represent four-tenths of one per Measured by any standard, it must be admitted cent of the population, a list of influential men that the progress of Christianity in Japan has in Japan shows 5% professing Christians. The been slow. This does not mean that the influence labor movement was born in a Christian church of the Christian religion upon the life of Japan and Christian leaders are still conspicuous in the has not been great. This has been over and above unions and federations of laborers and farmers. the influence attributed to that common world cul- While the influence upon industry has not been ture which, though perhaps Christian in its or- great there are conspicuous examples of execuigin, is not now necessarily a product of Christian tives who are seeking to humanize the industry missions. over which they have control. There are some 246 Christian social service institutions in Japan. A The Christian movement in Japan is vastly number of Christians are employed in the Governlarger than the actual church membership. Many ment social service system which embraces over prominent people, while not listed on the roll of eight thousand institutions with a wide range of any church, either claim to be Christians or ac- activities, including social settlements, clinics, cept the Christian ideals. "A Study of Japanese lodging houses, pawn shops, semi-public housing Attitudes Toward Christianity," published by the experiments for the poor, institutions for the re- Institute of Pacific Relations, reports that Chris- habilitation of the crippled and the handicapped, tian influence was recognized as very strong in pub I i c restaurants, markets, employment exthe movements for temperance and against li- changes, etc. censed prostitution; in social welfare and relief work; in the peace movement; in child welfare The original movement for the improvement of work; in the development of health agencies and agriculture was Christian in its initiation and sanitation; and for woman suffrage, for the edu- some of the outstanding men today in agricultural cation of women and for greater freedom in so- economics are earnest believers in Christ. The cial fellowship between the sexes. Government maintains an elaborate system of ag- ricultural extension which has done much to solve Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa asserts that Christianity the problems of production and marketing. Over has produced seven great social changes in Japan: eight million farmers are enrolled in the various societies and with over eleven thousand advisers (1) Transformed home life. Concubinage is dying out and technicians are employed so that all of the vaonrdceprraotsetiitsutdioencreiassignrgadanudallwyombeeinngandabcohliislhderedn. arTehbeeidnig- ruraIsecf IOnsf 0 J apan are benefited. Christian leaders have been instrumental in the organizing respected.
[457 ]
of the "Peasant Gospel Schools," ninety-four of Christians, while in one metropolitan area, at least which were held last year in thirty-four prefec- half of the students expressed a religious prefer- tures. These are modeled after the Folk Schools ence in favor of Christianity.
of Denmark and are intended to select and train While Christian influence is strong in Japan, promising young men from the villages in a new yet if one surveys the situation either as a whole program of rural development which includes, or in detail, it becomes evident that most of the economic, social and religious features. The co- efforts lack the spiritual vitality which would operative movement, which now includes over make them effective. This is not hard to under- 14,000 organizations has received much of its in- stand when we realize that the vast majority of spiration from Dr. Kagawa and other Christian the people are still believers in the old religions leaders. which have held their allegiance for generations.
Without doubt, it is in the field of education If the Apostle Paul were to visit Japan today, he that the Christian enterprise has had its greatest would undoubtedly still be stirred to see the formative influence. Mission schools were the masses of the people given over to idolatrous prac- pioneers in popular education and thus enabled tices. The Japanese are essentially pantheistic, Christianity to find a place of respect in the eyes and thus the various works of nature-mountains, of the nation, and did much to off-set the earlier rivers, rocks, animals, trees-are constituted ob- prejudice against this religion. It has been said jects of worship; even the fox comes in for a that "Christian schools pioneered in the essential large share of propitiation. Like the Athenians basis of culture and set high standards which have of old, the people are so religious that they try to had great influence in shaping the educational give all gods the worship which they believe to be system of Japan …… " Mission schools were their due. There is constant danger that even also the pioneers in education for women and Christian workers will succumb to that tempta- thereby were partially instrumental in securing tion which presented itself to Paul when he vis- for womankind ·that full recognition to which she ited Athens. Well kept temples and shrines is entitled. When one thinks of the magnificent abound everywhere and are eagerly patronized by system of Government education with its 47,408 the masses; even the intelligentsia are faithful in schools of all types, with over 260,000 employed the performance of the various ceremonies con- teachers, it is possible to realize partially the sig- nected with the respect and worship shown to nificance of this contribution. Illiteracy has prac- ancestors and national heroes.
tically been banished so that the Japanese people Japanese Buddhism claims over forty million have become a nation of omnivorous readers. Of adherents, with 71,310 temples, 6,982 preaching the 145 Christian secondary and collegiate insti- places, and over 150,000 professional religious tutions in Japan, half are located in two great workers. Under the influence of Christianity, metropolitan areas. In addition there are 468 modern Buddhism is undergoing a revival and Christian kindergartens scattered throughout is now imitating Christian social service. Sun- most of the prefectures. Of the educational insti- day schools, the Salvation Army, and even uses tutions in Japan conducted by the various reli- Christian methods and language in its new propa- gious sects, fully half are under Christian au- ganda. No less formidable is modern Shinto, spices. While these institutions were originally which must be distinguished between State Shinto evangelistic, it must be admitted that this purpose and Sectarian Shinto. While State Shinto is said has now become but subsidiary, so that most of to have its roots in the original religion of Japan, the students refrain from becoming professing in modern times it has become more theistic and Christians. One Christian leader asserts that is now chiefly associated with ancestor worship "the students are only being inoculated with a and patriotic idealism. It has thus become the mild form of Christianity which makes them im- religion of patriotism which heads up in the lofty mune to the real thing." With the Government sentiment of the people toward the Ruling House, so fully meeting the educational needs of the Jap- which is regarded as divine. By placing this type anese, it becomes a grave question as to whether of Shinto under the regis of the State and by fi- the time has not come to withdraw from the gen- nancing and controlling its activities, the State is eral field of education, continuing to maintain only taking part in a religious movement. However, a few Christian schools that can make real contri- for convenience sake, it is declared to be "not a butions. Could not more effective service be done religion" or "something above religion," and pil- by concentrating on the evangelization of the stu- grimages to the shrines are fostered in the in- dents in the Government schools, as well as seek- terests of patriotism. The Government recognizes ing to win their teachers to Christ? There are 111,339 shrines with 15,199 priests in charge.
great possibilities in this field of effort as is While it is true that certain modern thought shown by the fact that in one Imperial University movements are tending to undermine the belief thirty or forty of the teachers are professing in the supernatural and cause particularly the
THE UNFINISHED TASK IN JAPAN
student class to forsake all religion, yet it is also Japan are now fully self-supporting, 250/0 are true that new religions are spreading rapidly helped by the national home mission boards, while among the common people. These sects claim to have 14,269 places of worship, 101,597 teachers only 43 % are aided by foreign missionary soand over eighteen million followers. This is part of the religious situation in Japan where the Lay- cieties. In numbers and in financial strength the man's Commission stated that there is no longer Japanese Church is still relatively weak but in need of Christian missionaries to do evangelistic ethical, literary, political and industrial life and work. in social reform movements, its influence is very much greater than might be expected. The Japanese Christian Church is not yet strong enough to evangelize its own land. In- An analysis of the membership of the Christian cluding Catholics, there are probably not more Church reveals that it is in the main made up than 280,000 Christians in Japan, two-thirds of from the middle class; the majority of the memwhom are Protestants. To every thousand per- bers are students, clerks, business men, officials sons there are only about four believers, half of belonging to the various professions. Only 160/0 whom are said to be "non-resident members." of the members are from the industrial class of Eight prefectures have less than one Christian in farmers and laborers. The huge farming popua thousand of the population; twenty-one pre- lation of over 27 million, the laboring population fectures have less than two per thousand; seven of over five million, and the fishermen, numbering have less than three; four prefectures less than a million and a half, constitute the major unfour; three have less than five and three less than reached classes of Japan. Their evangelization six believers per thousand. Over eleven thousand constitutes the unfinished missionary task. There towns and villages of less than 10,000 population are desirable modifications in the programs of the are reported to be without Christian churches, churches which will enable them better to reach and of the towns and villages of ten to twenty these classes, and at the same time to hold such thousand population there are still 323 which groups as the students and other young people for have no Christian churches. Christian efforts have whom a suitable youth program is desperately tended to concentrate work in the cities and larger towns in order to d eve lop self-supporting needed. churches. While fewer r u r a I churches have While it is rather difficult to determine how reached full self-support, it is claimed that 70- 750/0 of the believers and workers have originated fully the missionary force, both Japanese and forin the country districts. Of one denominational eign, is adapted to carrying out aggressively the group of 1,314 churches reported by the National penetration of the unreached areas of Japan with Christian Council, 801 are urban while 513 are the Gospel, there are certain factors which are rural. Thirty-two per cent of the churches of evident. For one thing, during the last ten years, the missionary force has been decreasing. But the reduction has had little effect upon the work of the various educational and social institutions, for their staffs remain about the same. The tend- JAPANESE .sTUDENTS IN TRAINING FOR EVANGELISTIC WORK. THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, KOBE Dr. H. W. Myers is in center of first row; Mr. Chapman is at extreme left, second row.
ency has been rather in the direction of eliminat- will make it their aim to press forward to occupy ing qualified ordained workers who were chiefly all the villages and towns of Japan for Christ. engaged in direct preaching of the G 0 s pel. The call of the hour is for evangelism, and the Through retirement, one large mission had a net peril is that the Church may substitute something loss of thirty workers in ten years. Practically else in its place. As one of the Japanese Christian none of these workers were replaced, although the leaders has said: "It would have been better if educational institutions of that mission maintain the emphasis of Christianity on the social gospel a full staff of foreign teachers. Comparatively could have been delayed until Japan was a little few missionaries are able to give their full time further along in her church development, until we to pioneer evangelistic work. The Japanese work- had become more thoroughly trained on the side ers are mainly occupied with the work of existing of personal religion …… There is a great danger churches and institutions and it is the exceptional that the churches of Japan may attempt to build man who is engaged in distinctively rural evan- a house without a foundation." gelistic work. Of some 1,013 missionaries, residing in 113 different places, only 86 are classified Another Japanese leader put it: "No amount as rural workers. While the number of Chris- of social regeneration and improvement can save tians is increasing, when it comes to the occupa- Japan. What is needed is a spiritual reformation tion of new territory, and the founding of which only Christ can give." As Dr. John R. Mott churches in hitherto unreached places, the enter- once said: "We are producing Christian instituprise is certainly in a state of arrested develop- tions faster than we are producing Christian ex- perience and faith; the discipline of our souls and ment. the deepening of our acquaintance with God are Many circumstances favor the spread of Chris- not proving sufficiently thorough to enough of us to meet the unprecedented expansion of opportutianity. Socially the Japanese are a homogeneous nity and responsibility of our generation." people, and there is an absence of strict caste divisions. They are a highly literate people with a A group of Japanese leaders connected with the voluminous press and literature. Japan is a land National Christian Council has stated that it is of order and safety which makes for stability of their conviction that the Christian forces of the life. Religious liberty has been granted and the indigenous churches are today insufficient to un- Government is exceedingly tolerant toward Chris- dertake the task of evangelization and Christianitianity. Transportation and communication fa- zation of the whole nation with its vast unoccucilities are highly developed so that all parts of pied areas. They continue to call upon the the country are easily accessible. But what is churches in western lands to send evangelistic lacking are properly qualified workers, who, re- missionaries to fellowship with them in this task; lying upon the equipment of God's Holy Spirit, the unfinished missionary task in Japan.
A VERY UNIQUE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL Under the influence of the late Pastor Uemura, Mrs. Moto Hani decided that a school with Christian principles would best promote her ideals. With a handful of young girls she started such an institution, and within twelve years Jiyu Gakuin, or "Garden School of Freedom" has become a model school for experiments in new educational ideals. Girls come there from all over Japan, but Mrs. Hani limits each class to forty. Her school is unique 'in Japan and, in some ways, in the world.
The 1933 commencement presented a record in graphic form of their daily school life- health statistics, school management, time and labor-saving devices, cooperative system and rural settl~ment work of the alumnre, dresses both foreign and Japanese, experiments in ap- plied art, mural painting, book illustrations, musical compositions and self-government evi- dent everywhere. The school has had no cook, no janitor, no office-worker from the begin- ning-all the work is done by the girls.
Mrs. Hani started a magazine, devoted to information for wives and mothers, called The Housekeeper's Friend, which later became The Woman's Friend and is today the most educa- tional and uplifting periodical for women, with probably the third largest circulation among women's monthlies in Japan. It covers the whole field of everyday home life.-Japan Chris- tian Quarterly.
and Non..Christian Forces in
DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIAN FORCES IN THE PREFECTURES BUDDHIST TEMPLES, SHINTO SHRINES; GOVERN- MENT AND CHRISTIAN EDUCATIONAL OF JAPAN AND WELFARE WORK (Protestant work only) ~~ o§ e;., =gj .., ~S~ 6 =S=…. $00 = 0 oo~ …. ~~ _~§:-o3 'Ogj …=~;+~~> ,,~ …,gj .'J.:::: Se<1·_!)'!g·:>2~ ~=g'" "0p'o.0'=0" :;l~ Prefectures z§6 0", …. .= "il< 0=~…. ~-a .'g.",j 00 !l ~oo~ .~.g .~ ;; .=00 .~~ ,3!: ~~ .g~ 'J:: :S=a gj ~ 'c) p., p., zS.,e"3 'ge. 00 f 0 P< 0 0 0 -:-1-:- —:- —–:- -:- 1—– Hokkaido …………………….. 1 2,997,900 – 8,905 .29 102 – 67 – 22 1,071 972 483 254 2,136 325 16 — –78- -:- –1 Tohoku: — — – — — Aomori ……………………… 1 919,500 1,471 .16 25 17 7 grs I ~g l,ro!
Iwate ………………………. . 1,020,000 1,108 .11 22 16 6 677 I 549 ~~ 1,~~~ ~~~ 1~ ~ Miyagi ……………………… . 1,201,200 5,390 .45 64 Akita ……………………….. ' 1,018,100 57 48 1,307 317 835 120 5 4 649 .06 20 18 5 Yamagata …………………… 1 1,111,200 3 1,546 i 1,217 1,187 .09 36 24 2,278 513 881 80 1 1 Fukushima ………………… .. 1,549,900 .14 55 6 1,613! 9'ZI 4,138 455 1,415 198 9 1 — — – – – 2,2M – – 38 – – ———————- I Kanto: — Ibaraki ……………………. .. 1,533,300 1,683 .11 42 33 9 1,337 865 2,742 380 1,195 89 8 Tochigi ……………………. .. 1,172,100 989 .09 43 20 4 974 696 3,312 269 832 82 4 Gumma …………………….. . 1,225,900 2,707 .22 30 32 6 1,217 827 1,276 200 695 112 10 4 Saitama ……………………. . 1,497,600 1,110 .07 Ohiba …………………….. .. 1,512,100 1,663 .1 42 29 1 2,244 1,449 2,312 372 943 265 10 Tokyo …………………….. .. 5,954,900 27,005 .45 48 29 8 3,262 1,827 4,741 306 999 85 8 12 312 250 303 2,543 2,046 1,847 423 1,737 1,250 122 107 – – – – Kanagawa ………………….. . 69 -4-7 Hokuriku: 1,739,600 6,900 .4 – — – 54 – 1,563 1,308 1,254 215 706 – 439 23 15 – — – – – – – – – – – – . – – – – – — — – – – 1 596 1,700 172 6 …… Niigata …………………….. . 1,982,700 1,480 .07 29 15 7 2,993! 2,383 5,391 Toyama ……………………. . Ishikawa ………………….. .. 796,500 453 .06 15 11 4 11,,243690 1 11,,023233 2,663 160 684 126 10 Fukui …………………….. .. 760,400 1,656 1,360 1,912 630,100 1,037 .13 14 10 11 208 743 126 9 -….-..3 1,682 179 633 191 766 .12 23 14 7 – -7 ———– Tozan: Yamanashi …………………. . 649,000 Nagano …………………….. . l,769,1OU 2,233 .34 36 17 6 11,,563597 1 11,,203472 1,603 175 581 60 3 2,985 .17 71 41 27 3,349 Gifu ……………………….. . 1,205,500 343 1,215 227 18 1 594 .05 21 16 10 2,192 1,860 4,714 286 1,146 136 5 2 ———– —— Tokai: Shizuoka ………………….. .. 1,872,700 Aichi ……………………….. . 2,714,100 3,223 .17 87 57 16 32,,683210 I 1,966 3,291 459 1,193 211 20 5 4,014 .14 70 51 34 3,295 3,517 472 1,278 350 21 2 – – – – Miye…… .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .
Kinki: 1,186,800 2,381 . 2 – 21 – 17 – – 3 2,250 1,876 721 – – 538 – 935 – 162 4 — — 1—, 1 — – – — – – – — — — Shiga ………………………. . 708,900 1,105 .15 27 18 8 3,1881 2,457 1,917 319 590 96 14 4 Kyoto ……………………… . 1,639,500 8,274 .5 41 73 53 42 32,,708790 122'4,25312 2,708 386 872 331 37 12 Osaka …………………….. .. 3,824,300 13,210 .35 126 101 662 Hyogo …………………….. . 2,759,700 9,367 .33 119 393 1,011 518 43 20 Nara ………………………. .. 603,600 94 130 3,055 2,468 4,810 443 1,401 383 44 16 649 .11 15 9 17 1,764 1,181 1,519 312 638 102 4 Wakayama ………………… .. 856,300 1,624 .18 25 14 9 1,778, 999 474 233 828 67 6 Ohugoku: Tottorl …………………….. . 499,300 628 .12 15 10 3 423 385 850 222 502 51 5 2 Shimane …………………… .. 749,600 384 .05 18 12 1 1,317 1,077 1,371 506 570 74 1 Okayama ………………….. .. 1,310,900 3,602 .27 50 28 5 1,499 1,064 5,012 492 1,149 173 8 1 Hiroshima ………………… .. 1,736,200 2,142 .12 55 41 26 1,412 1,201 5,308 428 1,471 191 15 3 yamaguchi ………………… .. 1,160,000 2,084 .17 30 24 12 1,271 1,157 862 335 901 162 7 1—-1— ———– ——————– Shikoku: I Tokushlma ………………… .. 732,400 1,080 .14 17 12 7 595 472 2,714 219 679 72 2 1 Kagawa ……………………. . 752,100 833 .11 18 13 10 619 542 2,498 186 500 40 2 1 Ehlme ……………………… . 1,169,200 3,492 .29 53 34 7 1,089 855 1,333 419 962 174 1~ ….. 4 301 738 Kochi ……………………… .. 736,300 2,886 .39 14 9 5 252 186 4,658 III Kyushu: Fukuoka ……………………. 2,660,500 5,799 .22 92 70 28 1,659 1,428 5,002 468 1,166 258 17 Saga ………………………… 695,500 405 .06 11 8 4 999 795 1,852 177 426 68 2 Nagasaki ……………………. 1,274,400 1,653 .13 27 20 17 466 402 1,420 246 839 146 8 3 Kumamoto ………………….. 1,388,300 2,407 .17 27 21 10 1,056 795 4,289 288 1,141 86 14 7 . Oita ………………………… 963,300 1,228 .13 25 22 8 1,304 1,030 2,121 324 874 72 4 Miyazaki ……………………. 801,500 1,386 .17 24 15 3 207 190 743 271 505 74 3 1 17 —:21—u -,w-i— —-m- Kagoshima ………………….. 1,606,700 1,163 .07 25 4 178 154 1,571 Okinawa ………………………. 1–58-9-,3-00-11–1,-2-41- 387 1,009 51 2 –1-1 ~ —-;;) 9 —7- –38- –1- ~ 1—-1———— – – – – ————– ………… ………. …… …….. …….. …….. 6,982*…….. 14,269t 101,597t …………………….. ..
———–1—-·1— ———– ——————- 67,238,600 196,965§ .29 2,036 2,518~ 1,013 78.292 64,904 125,608 116,796 47,40811 8,442 613 246 * Other Buddhist preaching places. t amrches of various Shinto Sects. t Workers of various Shinto Sects. ~ PIuS' other evangelists.
§ Plus others, locality not designated. II Plus others, locality uncertain. nata regarding the number of OhrIstians, churches, Japanese workers are from the Yearbook of the National Ohristian Oouncil for 1934; data regarding missionaries from the Japan Ohrlstian Yearbook, 1933; data regarding population from the Im~rial Oensus Report, 1933. Data regarding Buddhism Ihlld Shinto, social and educational iIlBtitutions, are from the Imperial Oeusus Report for 1933; data regarding Ohristian irutltutlons are from the N. O. O. Yearbook for 1934 and the Japan Ohrlstian Yearbook for 1933. N.B.-Educntional Institutions include all from Kindergarten through the University.
[461 ]
Youth of Japan-Whither?
By REV. WILLIS CHURCH LAMOTT, Tokyo Author of "Suzuki Looks at Japan"
.n.A S IN few other countries the youth of Japan ing the steps and motions of the traditional dances are continually, and defiantly, in the public of the countryside, but singing modern words, eye. As this is being written a group of such as, young men are being tried for a series of assassi- Are those swallows flying in the sky? Ton to se no se! nations. Brooding over the wrongs of the de- They are airplanes, patriotic airplanes, don't forget them! pressed farming classes and the futility of Government efforts to offer relief, they accepted a And the crowd joins in the clapping of hands and "mandate from heaven" to purify the state. News the singing of the "ton to se no se" (tra-Ia-Ia).
just released tells of a similar plot discovered and The whole country seems swept by the contagion foiled by the police last December. Imagination of this union of traditional music and ultra-na- calls up the stories of other youths who, discour- tionalistic words. Yet not entirely; on the other aged and baffled by the decadence of the times, side of the street the modern boys and girls pass have assumed the roles of patriotic assassins. by disdainfully on their way to the cinema, the Another group of young men-scions of noble dance hall, or the latest third-rate musical show families and students or graduates of the Peers' that has been expelled from America to corrupt College-are being punished for their connection the morals of Japanese youth.
with communism. Distressed by the stagnation of The Youth of Japan-whither? Viewed from political life and the slowness of social reform, the outside, Japanese young men and women are they espoused the cause of a proscribed movement bent on going nowhere, or rather are bent on which aims not only to overthrow the peerage breaking forth in defiant and often tragic protest system of which they are a part, but also to over- against a social system in which they have not turn the very foundations of the Japanese Em- yet found their place. These outward manifes- pire. During the past three years, tens of thou- tations, including as they do only the more ex- sands of persons, all young, most of them students treme cases, are symptomatic of the inner conflict of exceptional or superior ability, have been de- which is going on in the minds of all Japanese tained by the police because of their connection youth.
with the communist movement. Born near the beginning of the great European Six young people today threw themselves into war modern Japanese young men and women have the crater of Mount Mihara on the island of witnessed the success of the great effort of na- Oshima in Sagami Bay. Two of them were stu- tional reconstruction begun by their grandpar- dents, afraid to face their families after their ents; they have passed through two periods of failure to pass the entrance examinations of a feverish industrial activity and material pros- certain higher school; two were a youth and his perity; they have been educated at a time when sweetheart, whose marriage had been forbidden the influx of Western ideas, theories and social by their families; one a discharged clerk in a customs has almost inundated traditional Japa- hardware store; one a boy of fourteen, who did nese culture. Japanese education, geared to pro- not want to be a burden to his family. All were duce men skilled in the science and art of the under twenty-five. The number of suicides last West, rests upon the naive assumption that these year exceeded twenty-five hundred. could be retained and the explosive ideas and the- From outside my window come the lilting meas- ories of the West sloughed off, that the external ures of a pseudo-folk dance, the third of a series aspects of Western life could be acquired and the of such that have swept the country this past year. old moral underpinning of Emperor Worship, filial A great crowd has gathered to view the move- loyalty and the feudal virtues left intact. This ments of a company of young men and women has not proved to be the case. Under the bom- (mostly of the lower classes) dressed in tradi- bardment of new ideas-individualism, democ- tional costumes, who are dancing to the music of racy, the class struggle, self-expression-and the a gramophone set up in a highly-decorated shrine- attractive presentative of Western manners and like booth. Around and around they go, perform- customs through the media of magazine, news- [462 ] paper, cinema, and music, the old moral controls the race that will supply this impetus to youth? and sanctions of Japanese youth have begun to "Bushido, our inherited moral code," answers an give way. All too late the Government a few intelligent young Japanese physician, "brought us years ago began the impossible task of "control- this far, but it can carry us no farther." He voices ling" thought and morals. the convictions of thousands of Japanese youth. A new ideal is needed. An all-encompassing devo- The fact remains that the great mass of Western tion that will take up the traditional moral ideals, ideas, manners, abilities, and methods which Japan relate them to life as it is now lived in a real world, has acquired cannot be moved by the traditional transform them by bringing them into clear commotive power. The patient oxen-whose shoul- parison with other ideals which have been proved ders have carried the burdens of Japan for cen- by experience to be valid. . turies-strain as much as they can, will not be able to budge the magnificent bulk of Japan's crack Intelligent Japanese youth realizes that the express train-the Swallow. No more can the ultra-nationalistic program will result only in cutgreat mass of Western civilization which Japan ting off his own country from the life of the world; has adopted be moved by the simple morals of a that communism is too great a menace 'to the culfeudal age and sustained by the rationalization of ture and genius of the Japanese people; that even myths which place Japan at the center of the uni- democracy, which thrilled his father, must wait verse and endow the Emperor with the aura of until the demos, the great mass of Japanese comdivinity. mon people, attain greater self-consciousness and develop a real desire for self-expression in govern- Youth, conscious of the tension, responds in ment. He realizes also that there stretches out bevarious ways. A lad, in true moving picture fash- fore him a time in which Japan must find its soul ion, finds a sweetheart. Their families refuse to again, must achieve an idealism adequate to susconsent to marriage. Then begins an illicit rela- tain and support the weight of its material accomtion which all too often ends in double suicide- plishments, must sift the true from the false in the the easiest way out when the self and the family hastily adapted civilization of the West, and blendcome into conflict. Another lad seeks to learn ing the best from the Occident with the best of the more about the social movements of the world. traditional culture, form a civilization that will be He is told that he can study so far and no farther truly Japanese. -and at the end he either closes his eyes to facts, or becomes a cog in the underground machinery Youth in few countries has been faced with so of communist intrigue. Another accepts as gospel challenging a task. The intelligent young man or truth the nationalistic theology taught by his pri- woman realizes that to face it adequately some mary school teacher-and following it logically new idealism must come into Japanese life. Conthrough to its conclusion is driven later to assassi- sciously or unconsciously he realizes that he must nation or to suicide as a protest against the "trea- :find a religious philosophy of life. A few-a very son" of internationally-minded statesmen. Others few-young people today are turning to the old escape from the tension by joining the cult of religions. The makers of New Japan, flushed with pleasure and slavishly aping the manners and the utilitarianism of their day, despised Buddhism customs of the West as depicted in motion picture as a superstition, and their children and grandmagazines and heard in the talkies; still others children find in it little more. "What are the perseek refuge in the ton to se no se of traditionalism. manent values of Buddhism that you can retain to help you in finding your philosophy of life?" The Such examples account for only a few, but indi- teacher puts the question to a group of college stucate the state of mind of the many. They are lost dents. They flounder. Buddhism teaches kindin confusion. For Japanese youth is idealistic- ness to animals. It has a deep philosophy. It is incurably idealistic. He is seeking something to comforting to the ignorant and the old. The live for-something to die for. He is seeking in teacher does his best to open the way for a fair his own way to serve his country as did the leaders treatment of this noble but superseded expression of the Restoration. The great national efforts of of man's faith. Some one laughs-"Why, sensei, the past half-century produced great men, great you know more about Buddhism than we do!" personalities, men worthy of being compared with Such scenes are often repeated when Christian the outstanding leaders of any race. Now that missionaries and ministers deal with modern Japa- Japan has become great, youth asks, "Where does nese youth. true greatness lie for me? What ideal shall I live for as my father and grandfather lived and la- For, to Japanese youth of today, religion means bored for the ideal of a unified nation modernized Christianity. When religion is mentioned, Chrisin organization and meeting on an equality the tianity is forthwith called to mind. This is one nations of the West?" reason why men like Toyohiko Kagawa never fail to have a hearing, even though the growth of the Is there nothing in the inherited moral ideals of
Church is not so rapid as might be desired. This In the Christian schools of Japan thirty-seven is one reason why, outside organized Christianity, thousand boys and girls, young men and young there exists in Japan today an unnumbered multi- women are enrolled, receiving an education based tude whose thoughts have been influenced and on Christian principles, in the midst of a Chriswhose ideals have been molded by Christian prin- tian environment; in the government schools ciples. are other thousands of students from Christian homes, from Christian churches, Bible classes, and In a peculiar way the men who compose the study groups, "graduates" of kindergartens and present super-party government of Japan are Sunday schools; out in the world are thousands more of their elder brothers and sisters at work SPElkKING TO TWELVE' HUNDRED GIRLS IN A COTTON MILL, building Christian homes, conducting business on WHERE CHRISTIAN WiORK IS CARRIEID ON EFFECTIVELY Christian principles, standing for social ideals, working in the church. To this great number, products of early Christian activity in this coun- and to others in the churches, in the Christian try, for many of them in their youth came in touch associations, in Christian groups connected with with the great Christian leaders of the past, and factories and shops, Christ has brought the revivare connected, directly or indirectly, with present- ing idealism which is necessary if Japanese youth day Japanese Christianity. Youth is not slow in is to find itself in the modern world. There are drawing its conclusions. The idealistic youth of problems, of course. Not all who profess to follow Japan are turned toward Christianity. Christ will cast their lot with the church; not all will openly confess the One whom they claim as Master in their hearts; not all are willing to face the acid test of carrying their Christianity into actual life. But taking all this into consideration, the Christian Gospel is the only answer today for the unsatisfied yearning in the heart of Japan's youth.
Japan today is a land of defiant youth. But the communist youth, the reactionary youth, the de- cadent youth, the hopeless youth-these do not tell the whole story. Japan is the land of ideal- istic youth, and the idealistic youth of Japan face toward Christ THE NEED FOR OHRIST IN JAPAN By TOYOHIKO KAGAWA The so-called Christian nations are but fifty per cent Christian. So when Christianity came to the Orient we had two kinds of people: some were angel missionaries, who belonged to Heaven, and some were pirates who belonged to the Roman Cresars. It was because the white races set the example, that Japan became a student in the school of the pirates.
The Orient is having a terrible time because Japan is not Christian. Our nation has com- mitted a terrible mistake toward China and inflicted many wrongs upon her. Christians of Japan have issued strong protests against the actions of their government. I wrote in my own magazine twice about peace between China and Japan, and have been warned that if I wrote again I should be punished severely by imprisonment. Such opposition has been de- void of result, however, because our militant pacifists are so few in number.
Our Gospel today must be made effective to move society. Just as the missionaries ask re- pentance of individuals, we must demand repentance of the nations. We must repent and ac- cept the principles of Jesus Christ. Mere preaching will not get us anywhere by itself; we must put ideals into action. Like electricity, the cooperative movement is a discovery, but even this movement must be based on Christian character. And the basis of Christian character is Redeeming Love. Apart from that there is no permanent peace.
The one assurance of peace is the triumph of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, both in indi- vidual lives and in organized society. It is imperative that more efforts be put forth to make Japan thoroughly Christian.
a Crisis in
Why the Kingdom of God Movement Was Started -~I~I=-=-=-~B_Y~T~O~Y_O_H_I_K_O=-K_A_G_A_~_A_'_T~O_kY_O=-=-=-~II~ T HERE are three reasons why we had to start We prayed for a million souls to be won to Christ . the so-called Kingdom of God Movement in so that we might have indigenous Christianity Japan. First, we had terrible Communism. when the missionary forces withdraw. With only Nowhere in the world is there so much Commu- two hundred thousand Protestants we could not nism, outside of Russia, as in Japan. Thousands be able to maintain an indigenous Christian of books on Communism are published every year. church.
Second, we were facing a crisis in the Christian After the Jerusalem Conference we started a Church, because some missionary forces were Central Committee of the Kingdom of God Move- withdrawing rapidly. ment, and a hundred local federations of churches Third, our church membership was decreasing. each elected district committees. A Central Com- To counteract these three conditions we started mittee was formed and decided to divide the the Kingdom of God Movement. When we take Movement into three parts: (1) Evangelism, (2) the offensive, we can win the victory. Education, (3) The Cooperative Movement. They The Kingdom of God Movement had to deal agreed to begin with the evangelistic movement, with three aspects of the situation: 1. Against for which purpose we started mass meetings, Communism it had to lay emphasis on the love of preparation of literature and conferences. I went Christ; showing that the love of Christ is not around speaking at mass meetings for about three only preaching, but that one must realize the love years. My friends found that I had probably of Christ in our individual lives-our social lives, preached to altogether more than a million people our ethical lives and our political lives. We needed and decision cards, recording a desire to be Christo make an immediate start in the practical evi- tians, were signed by about 65,000. Many could dence of Christian love in action. But the churches not be followed up but there were some nineteen were not prepared to do this. thousand additions to the churches per year. If We have 2,205 Protestant churches, of which we could have done more follow-up work, the . nearly eight hundred are self-supporting Japanese results would have been larger.
churches. Of the three leading denominations, the For literature we published the Kingdom of Presbyterians are the biggest, the Anglicans are God Movement News, at one time thirty thousand second, the Methodists third. These are self-sup- a week at one sen per copy. We did not lose any porting indigenous churches, and eighty per cent money and the united paper was agreed upon by of the Christians of Japan belong to these three all the Protestant churches. We: also planned to bodies. There are also 439 independent churches sell the New Testament at ten sen (five cents) a of the Oriental Missionary Societies. copy, and one of my books "New Life Through Missionaries are usually pioneers. When a God," for the same price. We also printed more church becomes independent they give it to the than three million leaflets which Christian mer- home church and they go to the front and do more chants were willing to distribute free. pioneer work. Since the Communists were draw- We did not pay the evangelistic speakers but ing away the young men from the churches, and provided only traveling expense and incidentals.
missionaries were withdrawing from the older During the world boom when I went around lec- fields, and communicants were decreasing, it was turing, I had found it advisable to charge 50 sen a most critical period. admission to lectures on Christianity, and Quring About ten years ago we organized a society the economic depression we charged ten sen in called the Friends of Jesus, as a service band to the city and five sen in the rural districts. If we help any chu,rch. Since I happened to be baptized do not charge people they are apt to think the in a Presbyterian church, I do not want to change meetings are not worth while; so we charge but in America when asked what church I belong enough to pay the rent of the auditoriums used.
to, I say: "To the New Testament church." The churches were not big enough to hold the The Christians realized that we must be re- crowds, and many non-Christian people feel more vived in Japan, and so started prayer meetings. at home in theatres. When we pray, they kneel [465 ]
down, and when we pass decision cards, many grafting will make trees good fruit-bearers. The sign them. last book in the New Testament-Revelation- describes a river on both sides of which are trees, We prayed especially that we might reach the bearing fruit each month. So in the New Jerusacountry people. After seventy years of Christian- lem, the trees of life are regained for Paradise ity in Japan, the members of the churches are which was lost. mostly middle class in the large cities. There are very few in the smaller towns and almost none In Central Africa six million people live on in the villages. It is very necessary to have bananas-in the morning bananas, at noon, ba- Christian leaders in the rural districts. nanas, at supper, bananas! If you analyze the nutrition in one banana it is almost the same as a Educating Rural Leaders meal of rice. In Japan if we eat polished rice we get beri beri; if we eat bananas we do not get It is also necessary to have educated rural lead- beri beri. Therefore when you must live very ers. For this reason we started an educational cheaply eat bananas! Then there will be no need movement to train Christian lay leaders. There to ask the ravens of Elijah to feed you. Instead are two thousand Christian preachers in Japan, of the ravens of Elijah dropping bread from and about two thousand Christian teachers in heaven, you can eat bananas. In tropical regions mission schools. How can we reach sixty-four there is no fear of starvation, but in most parts million people with only two thousand preachers, of the world, especially in Japan, you will find when one million people are born every year! life very· difficult unless you learn to utilize the We need more workers and especially since the mountains and poor soil. We need to use the milk missionaries are withdrawing from Japan. The of goats, chickens, fruit, honey, bananas, cushi more the missionary forces withdraw, the more nuts, and pili nuts, as well as rice. That is the we need lay leaders. So we started Gospel schools. way for lay leaders to manage. Most of the graduates of the theological seminaries in Japan forget to be practical. It is necessary We teach Biblical agriculture in a hundred to have Gospel schools to show the way to prac- Farmers' Gospel Schools.We have also started tice the message of Christ in daily life. We have Laborers' Gospel Schools in the cities. In Tokyo, started revival schools of two kinds, for the the churches of all denominations sent delegates farmers, and for the city dwellers. These schools and we had a conference. The reason why we are teach four main subjects: New Testament, the very poor in the country rural districts of Japan history of Christian brotherhoods, biblical agri- is that we do not trust each other. In the cities culture (for farmers), and the cooperative move- we have many people coordinating in factories, ment. with machines, in the use of capital, and in the division of labor; but in the country there are no We teach the New Testament thoroughly, some- factories, no machines, no capital and only nipa times spending 72 hours in teaching three chap- houses! So the country people are very poor. ters. We do not teach the history of doctrines, nor the history of schisms and persecutions in the The farmers are poor because they are by them- Church. We teach how the grace of God mani- selves, each one isolated. If they coordinate, like fested itself in the brotherhood movements of the the fingers on my hand, they can drive autos and Christian Church. have machines and do everything. That is the meaning of the Cooperative Movement. Without In Genesis we find that God gave permission to Christian brotherhood in rural life, there is no Adam and Eve to eat the fruits in the Garden. If profit. we want real cultivation of the soil today so as to eat the fruits of toil, it is necessary to use the There are seven kinds of cooperatives: Promountain sides everywhere, and plant trees on ducers, Utility, Marketing. Producers must sell the mountain slopes. If we analyze the pili nut as a body, for when they compete, the middle man we find there is more nourishment in it than in seizes the profit. We need Consumers Cooperarice. But people think pili nuts are only for cake. tives and Credit Cooperatives because money is We are tempted to eat too much polished rice, required when someone in the family is sick, and therefore we get beri beri. What we need is to for other emergencies. There is need of the eat more fruits. Civilization requires the use of Credit Cooperative, instead of borrowing from a the surface of the earth in more civilized ways. bank at a hiKh interest. Through Mutual Aid Co- We learn much about farming in the Bible. In operatives we can have physicians and hospital Proverbs there are many stories about farming- service by paying one yen each month. In Nakano with honey, bees, weaving, etc. In Isaiah there three thousand have joined the Mutual Aid Coopis the restoration of desert land, and in the New erative, and have one big hospital under the lead- Testament Jesus tells us many things about how ership of Christian brothers. We need Insurance to plant seeds, how to sell land, about growth, Cooperatives so that the money in the rural disabout seed-selection, etc. In Romans we learn tricts may remain in them. If there is a panic or
RESULTS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD MOVEMENT
depression, we need Harvest Insurance, Health wishes the carpenter to build a building and the Insurance, Sick Insurance, Stock (cattle) Insur- carpenter in his turn prays, send us timber, nails, ance. The seven kinds of cooperatives are based iron frames, cement. But if the carpenter should on Christian economic morality. But so far our begin to pray to the proprietor for cigarettes and church leaders could not adopt the Cooperative whiskey, that is not true prayer, that is self-de- Movement, so I started Medical Cooperatives. But sire. We confuse self-desire with God's purpose. it is impossible to have successful cooperatives When our desire can be harmonized with God's without Christian leadership. purpose, that becomes true prayer. Therefore we must pray for personal piety, for full devotion to Officially the Kingdom of God Movement will God, for absolute service to God, and for the realend this year, but though the churches stop the ization of God's purpose on earth. Without prayer movement officially, we shall carry along this we amount to nothing. Without united prayer movement till we die. We must practice the love there is no success for the Kingdom of God Moveof Christ on earth, then there will be hope for all ment. For this reason we ask people to prepare nations. Practice the life of Christ and the teach- for six months before hand by prayer. When that ing of Christ in your heart and in your body. has been done, there is some success. When they do not pray, we fail. There are six petitions in the Lord's Prayer. Prayer is like the occasion when the proprietor Results of the Kingdom of God Movement By the REV. WILLIAM AXLING, D.D., Tokyo Author of "Life of Kagawa"; Director of the Tokyo Misaki Tabernacle T HIS organized Christian crusade is drawing movement. Approximately 750,000 of these were to its close. Toyohiko Kagawa, its inspired non-Christians. Of that number over 30,000 pub- dreamer and spearhead, launched the move- licly enrolled themselves as inquirers seeking ment in January, 1930, to run for a three-year further instruction and guidance in the Christian period. At the close of that period an All-Japan way. It is difficult to know just how many of Christian Conference was held for the purpose of these have definitely allied themselves with the evaluating the work of the movement and to de- Church. It is significant however that since this vise methods for conserving its results. movement was inaugurated the annual baptisms throughout the Empire have increased eighty to It was unanimously voted that the most effec- ninety per cent. tive kind of follow-up work would be a two-years' extension of the movement itself and in January, Not only has the movement been a great evan- 1933, this crusade entered its second period, with gelizing force, through the messengers it has sent the main objective of bringing the work to a full, up and down the land during this period, but also rounded close. through the printed page it has carried the mes- sage where its messengers could not go. It is now possible to evaluate some of its results. Like every spiritual movement there are impon- Six million, five hundred thousand copies of the derables which lie beyond the range of any hu- Kingdom of God weekly paper have been pubman yard-stick. These are built into changed lished and sent into every part of Japan. Many, hearts, redirected lives, revitalized personalities, if not most of these copies, have been read by a new life goals, homes redeemed, and communities number of readers. Some 50,000 copies of the lifted to higher moral and spiritual levels. special "Kingdom of God Movement" issue of the New Testament have been sold. Hundreds of The goal of one million Christians, which thousands of copies of other special Christian Kagawa feels that the Church in Japan must have publications have also been sold and distributed. before it can become a molding, directing force in the total rife of the nation, has not been real- Opening Up New Areas ized. He had no expectation that it could be realized within so short a period. This is his goal for One of the most significant accomplishments of an on-going Kingdom. of God Movement which the movement has been the blazing of pioneer shall know no time limit. paths into large sections of the hitherto untouched rural field. In recent years the industrialization More than one million people attended the evan- of Japan has been carried forward fast and gelistic meetings held under the auspices of the
furiously. This has caused whole blocks of the have been characterized by tendencies and events population to trek from the farms to her fast ex- which have rocked the nation's very foundations.
panding cities. Many of these have been unfriendly to the things Forty-four per cent of the population is how- for which Christians stand. Moreover such anti- ever still rural. The Kingdom of God Movement Christian tides as Communism, Fascism, and anti- from the beginning set up as one of its goals the religious propaganda have swept across the driving of a wide entering wedge into this long nation.
neglected area. Under Kagawa's leadership it During this period of unprecedented strain and adopted the strategy of trying to capture the na- . stress the Kingdom of God Movement not only tion's -11,000 rural villages by evangelizing and kept the Church steady but also kept her per- training potential village lay leaders. One hun- sistently pressing forward toward fixed goals.
dred short-term "Peasant Gospel Schools" have This kept her morale on a high level and enabled been held in 25 different prefectures, either under her to ward off attacks from many quarters.
the direct auspices of the movement or with its Moreover, this period was characterized by the assistance. Each of these schools has gathered withdrawal of many missionaries and wholesale some twenty or twenty-five young men and women reductions in grants of aid from abroad. With- from as many villages and has given them a week out the stimulus of this movement the Church or ten days of intensive training for Christian would have found it most difficult to have held leadership in their respective villages. her own. It helped her to face the storm unmoved Over 2,000 rural young people have been en- and unafraid and to hold her line intact.
rolled in these schools. Most of these have gone ANew Conception of the Task back to their villages and started something – a Sunday School, a Bible Class, a Reading Circle, a The Kingdom of God Movement has brought to Recreational Center, a Better-Farming Lecture many Japanese Christian leaders a new concep- Course-anything to give Christ a chance in their tion of their mission. The need of winning the village. individual for Christ has lost none of its emphasis The industrial centers with their mushroom or urgency. Early and late the movement has pled growth are also largely unreached territory. Here with individual men and women to get right with 10,000,000 people live and labor. The movement God.
has endeavored to adapt the technique of these Many Christian leaders have however, through Gospel Schools to the needs of these industrial Kagawa and this movement, discovered a larger areas. This effort however is still in the experi- Christ than they had formerly experienced. They mental stage. have found a Christ big enough to save not only The movement has conducted two Conferences individuals but also the group, the community with on Industrial Evangelism. One of these confer- all its varied problems and relationships, a chaotic ences was held in Tokyo and the other in Osaka. unjust social order, and a world that has lost its Representatives of 115 factories and 72 interested way. With a new sense of mission and an en- Christian workers attended these two gathering~. larged vision they are praying: "Thy Kingdom These conferences with factory owners and man- come, Thy will be done, as in Heaven so on agers considered not only the question of evan- Earth."
gelizing the industrial areas but also the all-im- The movement has also demonstrated that the portant problem of Christianizing the industrial Christian forces in the Empire can be mobilized order, especially as related to the relations be- and move out as a unit toward a common goal.
tween the employer and employee. Out of the experience of the past five years there During the last year and a half the movement has been created among Christians of every name has also made a special effort to reach the student a new sense of solidarity and a new readiness to centers. Speakers specially qualified to speak to cooperate. A devisive denominationalism is by students and to counsel them regarding life prob- no means dead but the yearning on the part of lems have been sent to 122 educational institu- many to destroy the barriers that separate has tions and 60,000 students attended the meetings deepened and is becomi~ more and more in- addressed by these speakers. sistent.
Noone can review the past five years in the life The King<i<>m of God Movement has not realizl;!d of the Japanese nation and fail to be impressed all the goals which it set up but under God it has with the evident fact that in the mind of God this tided the Japanese Church in triumph over one of movement was meant to meet an emergency not the most critical periods in her history and opened only in the national life but also in the history of a new era for the Christian advance in this Em- the Christian movement in this land. These years pire.
Value of Christian
By the REV. L. J. SHAFER, Litt.D., Yokohama, Japan Principal of Ferris Seminary, Reformed Church in America MR. HOMMA, one of Japan's great Chris- need Christ. The ordinary school in Japan is tians, whose per~onal advic.e is .constant~y purely secular and the atmosphere is very often sought by the highest officials III Japans anti-religious and anti-Christian. Mission schools government today, remarked recently to a friend carryon education in an atmosphere that is Chris- that if there were no Christian schools in Japan tian and here men and women are being led to the country would go to pieces. Mr. Homma is Christ.
not a product of these schools and holds no brief In order to hold religious exercises on school for them; he is an impartial ob- property and teach the Bible in server of wbat the schools are the curriculum our schools have actually accomplishing. been compelled to accept a dif- Dr. Kagawa, a graduate of the ferent type of registration from Meiji Gakuin in Tokyo, remarked that of the public school where once to the writer, after one of religious exercises are forbid- his campaigns covering many den by law. Some few mission parts of the country, that the schools have preferred to give Christian community is strong- up direct religious teaching in est in the centers where there the regular curriculum but most are Christian schools. A case in have accepted the special type of point is a church in Hirosaki recognition. This is a disad- which has sent out more than vantage for our schools have 120 young people into full time been classed with those of in- Christian service, as preachers, ferior scholastic requirements.
women evangelists and other For about ten years Japanese workers. Most of these were Christian educators have been students in the two Christian agitating for a change in the schools of that city. law to permit the teaching of Japan has a marvelous educa- religion in private schools so tional system with a very high that this disability may be re- percentage of literacy – one of moved. Last year the National the highest in the world. If the Christian Educational Associa- aim of Christian schools is to tion decided to discontinue this give education to those who agitation on the ground that it would not otherwise be educated was a real asset for our schools there is little need for them in to be regarded as "different" be- Japan. There is an efficient MISS KANAMORI cause of our Christian teaching. slehsrsinweelblu-orregaau.niiznedJatepmanp,lecs,ouanntd- A Christian graduate. This marks a very significant change. A regulation which was well-managed organizations for inculcating cer- once viewed as a disability is now regarded as a tain life ideals among young people. Why main- valuable means of calling attention to the dis- tain Christian churches in the midst of this tinctive character of Christian schools. This new highly organized religious and moral activity on attitude is so significant that it might be said to the part of this ancient and highly civilized mark the birth of Christian education as a dis- people? tinctive type of education in Japan. Christian The reason for establishing Christian churches schools are needed because they are Christian and continuing to maintain our schools is the and for this reason it is necessary to maintain same. There is no reason for either activity if we them if Christianity is to have a permanent foot- do not believe that men and women everywhere hold in Japanese society.
[469 ]
Christian schools are being more and more them the drive of a Christian constituency de- valued among the Japanese for what they are- manding a greater efficiency and a truer Chris- with Christianity at the center of their educational tian impact. In uris movement for self-support theory and practice. Christian educators are get- this factor should be given careful consideration.
ting a new perspectlve which makes it possible What Results Are We Getting? for them to welcome a rating that calls attention to their Christian character. It is a curious irony In the first place, much is being done to break that just when Christian education is coming to down opposition to Christianity. At the recent its own on the field, certain sections of the sup- opening exercises of Ferris Seminary the mother porting constituency in America (see Rethinking of a fourth year high school girl came with tears Missions, pp. 151-2) should be suggesting pro- in her eyes and said: "Three years ago I put my gressive withdrawal from our schools. daughter in your school. My husband and my Has the time arrived when these schools can father were both strongly opposed to my doing it be put on a self-supporting basis? The financial because they were not in sympathy with Chris- straits in which the Boards now find themselves tianity. Now I have just entered my second are actually operating to accelerate the movement daughter in the first year class. My father is still for self-support. A recent study of the situation unconvinced but my husband says, 'The only place shows that out of 31 girls' schools, 20 are either for our daughter is Ferris.' "
without mission grants or are definitely planning Much is being done in character building. As to become self-supporting within the next ten- Dr. Schneder writes, "We hear often that our year period. Out of 11 boys' schools all but four graduates are 'different' from those of other are well on the way to independence. The plans schools. They have higher ideals, better defined for self-support include increased income from principles and are favorable to all that is good." fees through enlarged enrolment and the securing One of Dr. Schneder's students in the Tohoku of endowments. Thirteen schools are now engaged Gakuin writes just before graduation, " 'What did in raising permanent endowment funds. Aoyama you learn during your college years?' I'll answer Gakuin, for example, has a campaign to secure at once, 'The Spirit of Christ I caught.''' When Yen 300,000 of which Yen 190,000 is in hand at Government commercial schools were having diffithe end of the first year of the campaign. culty in getting positions for graduates, schools These facts seem to be encouraging. If our aim such as the Meiji Gakuin had little difficulty in is to establish indigenous Christian institutions getting commercial positions because their grad- ought we not to rejoice at this growth in self- uates could be counted upon for business integrity.
support? Two or three things, however, need to But we cannot be content with this leavening be taken into consideration. The Commission on influence alone. Are young men and women in Christian Education pointed out the undoubted our schools giving their lives to Christ? Does our need for strengthening the existing schools both school worship, our Bible teaching, our personal on their scholastic and on their Christian side. interviews, our Christian atmosphere commend This present movement for increased enrolment Christ to these young people? We asked a num- in order to secure larger income is not likely to ber of educators to take the graduates of their improve the quality of the work. Furthermore, schools for a ten-year period, beginning twenty to push the schools to self-support now will mean years ago, and tell us how many were today ac- the shifting of the burden for the support of our tively identified with the Church. If any who long Christian schools from the sending Churches not to bring men and women to Christ are skeptical to the new Churches on the fields but to quite in- about the value of Christian education they should dependent foundations drawing much of their see the letters received from teachers and leaders support from non-Christian groups. The history in our schools who have this burden upon their of church schools in the United States tells us hearts. Of 298 graduates of a girls' school be- enough to make us think twice before forcing tween the years 1914 and 1921, 13 are engaged in these schools to secure support from other than some form of Christian work and 121 are in active Christian sources. Prof. Latourette, of Yale, in connection with the Church; another school with discussing the Christian College in America, says: 424 graduates reports 167 active Christians to- "A third cause of secularization is in the sources day, 15 of w110m are teaching, six the wives Qf of the institution's financial support …. " Sup- ministers and one a Secretary in the Labor De- port is sought from (those who) …… care little partment at Geneva; out of 137 college graduates or nothing for the religious side of the college's of this school 111 are Christians. A boys' school life …… In the long run those who pay the piper with 700 students has 20 groups in special en- call the tune." Christian schools have a mission quirers' classes, each group under the leadership to perform in Japan so long as there is behind of a Christian teacher with two or three of the
THE VALUE OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
older Christian boys to assist. This school sends teaching English in a school in Kobe, is working two or three graduates a year into the ministry. as a volunteer probation officer. At times she has Another boys' school which is not yet twenty years had as many as seven waifs in her charge. A few old has nine graduates in the active ministry with of our schools are carrying on settlement work to three others now in the Seminary. One mission- train students for this and other forms of social ary writes, "I went over the names of our grad- betterment work. Mrs. Yamamoto, of Baiko J 0 Gakuin, is making her influence felt throughout the City of Osaka, an example of what so many are doing through the Christian homes which they have created. In her home are held special men's discussion groups,' young women's classes and church meetings, and her home is known as a center of Christian influence throughout western Japan.
We are sometimes upbraided for having to take second-rate pupils in our schools. Miss Kanamori, of Kwassui, at twelve years of age, took her first train journey to take the entrance examination AT THE MABlE SCHOOL (KANTO GAKUIN) to the Girls' Normal School in Nagasaki. She SETTL,EMENT, YOKOHAMA failed and for a month refused to go out of the house feeling that she had brought disgrace to Here are workers and families, with Prof. K. Tomoi. Students her family. Then she heard of Kwassui through who help in the work are at the back, center and extreme left.
uates for the twenty-four years up to 1914 and her older brother who was a student in Steele found 30 names of women whom I know who have Academy. She became a Christian and has clung served faithfully and effectively as wives and to her Christian purpose in spite of all opposition. often as 'better halves' of pastors or evangelists." When her brother-in-law became head of the household she steadily refused to serve sake to What sort of Christians are these? Do they him or to his guests and he came finally to redare to stand for their convictions? The only spect her decision. She is now head of the large member of the Japanese lower house who voted Household Science Department of the Tokyo against the recent large budget for military ex- Y. W. C. A. influencing hundreds of girls for penditure is a graduate of Tohoku Gakuin. Christ. Had she succeeded in passing the gov- Are they leading others to Christ? Miss Nishio, of WiImina, is us,ing her talent as an evangelist.
She has recently spoken in every large town in Wakayama Prefecture at the special request of the Governor and by his arrangement.
Mr. Ishikawa, a graduate of Tohoku Gakuin, has organized a "Christian Club" consisting of about fifty employees of the Mitsui Trust Company where he has a leading position.
A graduate of Koran has brought into the faith first her sister and brother-in-law, then her mother, then her grandmother; then her children and her sister's children were baptized, and finally her husband.
A graduate of Toyo Eiwa has brought up four sons in the love and fear of God; one is the super- intendent of the Sunday school and another, a high officer in the Navy, the teacher of a Bible class and FERIMS SEMINARY STUDENTS IN YOKOHAMA a strong advocate of peace. These girls were recently ba,ptized as Christians. Five or six In the grad1llating class who were baptized had left school before the Many graduates are engaged in some form of photograph was taken. Christian service. One man has been principal of a public deaf and dumb school for ten years. He ernment examinations she would undoubtedly have has gathered about him four other graduates of been a teacher in a government primary school his own school and they have established a deaf without the knowledge of Christ.
and dumb church just outside the school com- There are hundreds of other witnesses to the pound. Miss Hasegawa, of Kobe College, while real worth of the Christian school in Japan.
Prese1!t,Day Religion in
By the REV. A. K. REISCHAUER, D.D., Tokyo, Japan Executive Secretary of the Woman's Christian College, and Lecturer in the Japan Theological Seminary JAPAN is a land of religion in a rather unusual stantly replaced by new ones, often by structures way. We are so accustomed to picture present- of a new type better adapted to the needs of the day Japan in terms of modern industry and as rising generation. a powerful military state that we are likely to for- To be sure, religion in Japan has had its evil get that Japan is at the same time the repository days. In- fact, it is a doctrine of Japanese Bud- of Asia's religions and cultures. dhism that there are periods when the "Law is It is in Japan that Buddhism, originally a reli- . Destroyed" and men fall away. It would be easy gion of India, had its finest development and is to illustrate t~€ truth of this from Japanese relitoday in its most vigorous state. Confucianism, gious history. One might characterize the Meiji China's age-long ethico-political philosophy and Era (1868-1912) and several centuries preceding now thrown into the discard by China's modern this era as a time when real religion was none too leaders, is still held in high regard by enlightened vital to men. Undoubtedly from the standpoint of modern Japanese. Shinto, Japan's native reli- the conservative Buddhist and Shintoist the whole gion, though primitive and crude when judged by trend of modern Japanese life seems to be away its early literary deposits and though frequently from religion. The major interest of men, espe- overshadowed by the more advanced religions and cially of the progressive elements, seems to have ethical systems imported from the neighboring centered on education, scientific knowledge, indus- continent, nevertheless has persisted down through trial transformation, the modernization of Japan's the centuries and today shows a vitality in certain army and navy, and, in short, the transformation of its sects which is amazing. This land, that has of a medireval, feudal people into a strong modern been so hospitable to the religions and cultures of nation able to hold its own in the family of nations southern and eastern Asia, has been equally open- which Japan after centuries of seclusion was prac- minded to the culture of the religion coming from tically forced to join. Modern Japan has been so the western world in more recent years. It is true terribly busy with getting on in the world that that Christianity was persecuted when first intro- there has been little time for the quiet and leisurely duced in the sixteenth century and rigorously sup- things of religion as the Orient has been accuspressed for about 250 years but this was due far tomed to think of religion. Men have been tre- more to fear of political complications than to any mendously concerned with the enrichment of life real opposition to Christianity as such. At any along such lines as modern science and industry rate, in present-day Japan Christianity is being makes possible. This enrichment was conceived of widely recognized as one of the "Three Religions" largely in terms of the national life and not merely indigenous to Japan. Until recently the tradi- in terms of individual gain, and to that extent tional "Three Religions" meant Shinto, Buddhism there was in it all a certain idealism. In fact, this and Confucianism. Today Christianity takes the enthusiasm for making Japan over into a strong, place of Confucianism, this latter never having modern state was the real driving power of life been really an independent religion in Japan but and constituted a sort of religion, namely, the rather a system of ethics incorporated with Bud- Religion of Patriotism, in devotion to which many dhism and Shinto, and as such it still remains. a Japanese leader showed a spirit of unselfish serv- In short, then, Japan has been for centuries a ice that would be worthy of the devotee of true repository of the religious and cultural inherit- religion.
ance of many peoples; and not only a repository In a sense this religion of patriotism is still the but on the whole her people have made this inher- chief driving force in the life of many, if not most itance their own and to this day regard this in- Japanese. Even when religion in its true sense is heritance with real respect. In many parts of the major interest, the religion of patriotism is Asia the shrines and temples of religion are fall- always a close second in the heart of every J apa- ing into ruin, but not so in Japan. Here they seem nese. But after making due allowance for this to be in good repair and old ones are being con- ever-present element and after recognizing the [ 472] fact that just now there is a peculiarly strong In short, Japan which during the Meiji Era had spirit of nationalism abroad which threatens to reached out eagerly for the things in western civi- warp every other spiritual interest-as is the case lization that pertain to material prosperity and also in many other lands today-we nevertheless military strength, has during these later years maintain that there is in present-day Japan a real been seeking also for the secrets of a true culture interest in a religion which is more than mere pa- of the spirit. What a tragedy it is that during this triotism. It is rather a growing recognition of same period the so-called Christian nations of the the fact that the very foundations of a nation's West to whom Japan turned with such an open strength and greatness rest upon certain qualities mind, have themselves been so chaotic in the things of personal life which ultimately spring from reli- of the spirit and have so largely spurned their own gion, and also that there are deep needs of the spiritual inheritance! It sometimes seems as if individual human being which can never be fully there were in present-day Japan a truer reverence met simply by his being a citizen of a great and for and appreciation of the great cultural and reli- victorious state but only by his becoming a citizen gious inheritance of the western world than there of an eternal kingdom, the Kingdom of the Spirit. is in these lands themselves. We say this in spite A New Attitude Toward Religion of the fact that there is just at present a reaction- ary mood in certain quarters in Japan tending to This recognition of the place of real religion and exalt things distinctively Japanese and having at the whole range of values for which religion should , its objective an exclusive nationalism.
stand, including also the welfare of the state as one A second way in which the recognition of reli- of these values, is manifesting itself in present- gion is manifesting itself in present-day Japan is day Japan in several ways. the actual rejuvenation and transformation of the There is first of all a change of attitude towards non-Christian religions, Buddhism and Shinto. religion on the part of statesmen and leaders of Both these religions show more vitality than they thought. During the Meiji Era ending in 1912, did either during the Meiji Era or during the two religion was looked upon as an out-moded thing- or three centuries preceding that era.
something which may give consolation to old peo- New Activity in Buddhism ple who have retired from life but hardly a real force in the life of men and women who were doing In Buddhism this is manifesting itself in a the work of the world and who were trying to rather wide range of activities some of which are make their nation strong. That Japan was achiev- definitely inspired by the influence of Christianity.
ing this goal of national power seemed to be indi- There is an enormous literature being produced cated by her triumph over Russia, supposedly a not only along the lines of antiquarian interest, representative of the western world. But hardly such as the numerous pUblications issuing from had the flush of victory passed when Japan awoke the universities, but also numerous books and mag- to the fact that in spite of this outward strength azines calculated to reach the average man on the there was inner weakness and rottenness as re- street. Buddhism today has its Sunday Schools, vealed in the corrupt practices of men in high Young People's Societies, Ladies' Aid Societies places. The great ideal of the Meij i Era, univer- and the whole range of activities characteristic of sal education and enlightenment, was seen to be a modern Christianity. The Y. M. C. A. has its one-sided ideal and failed in producing men and counterpart in the Y. M. B. A. Some of the new women of real character. This awakening to the temples being built look far more like Christian need of moral qualities expressed itself strikingly churches than the traditional Buddhist temples, in the very name chosen for the new era begin- and even temples which stick to the beautiful Budning in 1912, namely, Taisho, Great Righteous- dhist architecture of the past in their outward apness. The World War made a mockery of this pearance adapt their interiors to the needs of a ideal but Japan was hardly to blame for this. generation educated along modern lines. A strik- More significant than this name of an era was ing example of this is a monstrous temple in Tokyo the growing respect for religion shown by the where the architect reached back to the most an- leaders of thought. This manifested itself, on the cient Buddhist architecture of India for his style one hand, in the renewed study of Japan's ancient in outward appearance but where the interior sat- culture and religion and in the numerous publica- isfies the latest demands of the present semi-west- tions which made the values of Japan's spiritual ernized generation. This modern structure in inheritance known to the present generation. It steel and concerte, blending the old and the new, showed itself, on the other hand, in the numerous is but symbolic of what progressive Japanese Bud- translations of books dealing with the culture and dhists are attempting in the realm of spiritual religion of the West. The classics of Christianity values. A leading exponent of Buddhism wrote were made available to the average man in Japan. 'recently that "Japan stresses the practical phase 474 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [October of Buddhism and attaches importance to the actual themselves in difficulty when they are required to life of faith. Buddha's teaching is regarded in take part in the ceremonies conducted at these terms of human life and is not identified with shrines. either the doctrines expounded by Gautama or their meanings." By this he probably meant to Our purpose here is, however, not to discuss this say that present-day Japanese Buddhism, though question of "Emperor worship" but rather the relicalling itself Buddhism and in general being true gious vitality in Sectarian Shinto. These sects to the spirit of traditional Buddhism, nevertheless naturally make the doctrine of loyalty to the throne gets the real content of its message for men today an integral part of their teachings and they find not from the teachings of the founder but from no difficulty in worshipping at the state shrines other sources, probably from present-day life. In since they have always worshipped at these shrines fact, it seems quite plain that at least the progres- long before the present official distinctions were sive elements among Japanese' Buddhists draw made. But the interest of Sectarian Shinto goes their inspiration and the content of their message beyond this and centers more frequently upon the far more from our modern world culture than problems and needs of man as an individual human from the teachings of traditional Buddhism. And being who seeks help from God, or rather the gods. as this world culture is in a large measure a product of modern science and Christianity, it is not To the western student of religion perhaps the strange that many an enlightened Japanese Bud- most interesting of these thirteen Shinto sects is dhist is far nearer in his general outlook on life to Tenrikyo, the Heavenly-Reason-Teaching. It is the average modern Christian of the West than he often comp~red with Christian Science and has inis to his own Buddhist brother who still thinks in deed much in common with it, for it is a religion terms of the old. which puts stress on Faith Healing. Faith Heal- ing in Tenrikyo is, however, not so much a matter The Growth of Sectarian Shinto of a change of mental attitude in the individual suffering from a malady as a faith in the miracu- What is going on in Shinto circles is in a way lous. The individual does not so much heal himeven more striking. There is fiI1st of all the phe- self by right thoughts as call upon the deity to nomenal growth of so-called Sectarian Shinto. work a miracle of healing on his behalf. Also There are today thirteen Shinto sects, most of them where Christian Science draws its adherents of comparatively recent origin and several of them largely from the privileged class, Tenrikyo has its counting their adherents by millions; Taisha and following among the underprivileged, especially Tenrikyo each having upward of four million. among the peasants. The striking thing about this What is significant about the growth of these sects sect is the large number of religious workers who is that they stand more definitely for the religious usually without remuneration are working for the needs of the individual than does the so-called propagation of their faith. They hunt out espe- State Shinto which, according to official interpre- cially the sick and afflicted, and even though they tation, is not supposed to be a religion at all but may fail in working the desired miracle of healing only a Cult of Patriotism to which every citizen of their unselfish service and sympathy wins many a Japan should be loyal be he Shintoist, Buddhist or new adherent. It may puzzle the student of reli- Christian. The heart of this cult is loyalty to the gion to explain why it is that in modern Japan throne and the state; and a vi'sit to one of these where medical science has made such strides in state shrines, according to the official interpreta- recent years a religion that places its chief emtion, need not be regarded as religious worship but phasis on Faith Healing should win its adherents simply as showing loyalty to the throne and rev- by the millions. The explanation is probably that erence to the heroes of the nation-something like the suffering individual realizes through his physithat which goes on in the heart of a loyal Ameri- cal suffering that there is also a sickness of the can when he bows to the flag or takes off his hat spirit which even modern medical science cannot at the Lincoln Memorial. Unfortunately Shinto cure and which finds more help from the sympathy religious tradition is so bound up with the doc- of a friend or from faith in a power other than trine of sovereignty and the Emperor's divine de- man that can heal all man's infirmities. scent, and these shrines of the state cult of Patriotism have for so many centuries been the very One of the striking things about Tenrikyo and leading shrines of Shinto as a religion that the several others of these modern Shinto sects is present official interpretation is not understood their changing conception of "that power other by the people. And furthermore, the ceremonies than man." As is well known, Shinto has always conducted officially at these state shrines of pa- been grossly polytheistic. The conception of the triotism have definitely religious elements in them. divine has been rather crude and still is in the Thus both earnest Buddhists and Christians find minds of the masses, both among the Shintoists and the Buddhists. The writings of the founder of Tenrikyo also exhibit exceedingly unworthy conceptions; in fact, in so far as they have any or Buddhists. It is naturally from this large circle clear meaning they represent a hodgepodge of that Christianity wins most of its adherents since popular Shinto and Buddhist beliefs which could many of them are already adherents in spirit if make little appeal to the intelligent mind. But the not in name. very obscurity of meaning in these writings lends itself to "Re-interpretation" and this reinterpre- From what we have said thus far about the re- tationis going on today in the most astonishing newed interest in religion manifesting itself in way. Thus in a volume by a recent apologist of present-day Japan the reader might get too san- Tenrikyo we read that while this religion affiliates guine a picture. Th.e situation is on the whole itself with traditional Shinto it constitutes in real- rather encouraging, especially to anyone who ity "a religion quite new and independent, without knows what was the attitude towards religion in savouring in any way of Shintoist creed." We Japan some twenty to twenty-five years ago. But are also told that though in its creed it does not in spite of this more favorable atmosphere today rej ect belief in the myriads of gods of old Shinto religion still has an uphill fight. Japan is in the it reduces their number to ten original gods; and stream of modern life. There is here, as there is then the apologist explains that these ten gods are in America and Europe, a preoccupation with so but "ten attributes" of the divine. All through many things in life that religion often does not -the volume the writer speaks of "Kami" God, get a real hearing. There is also that ignorance rather than of the various gods.. And more sig- about what religion might mean to an intelligent nificant is the fact that the content of the word modern man, the assumption being that religion God is taken far more from the Christian concep- must necessarily mean what it meant to one in tion of God than from the old Shinto conception. childhood and what one naturally outgrows. Then in Japan there is the adqitional difficulty that even The Widening Influence of Christianity though there are progressive elements in the old religions the vast majority of the adherents of A third major index of present-day interest in these religions are the more or less backward ele- religion is in the steady growth of Christianity ments of the population, thus confirming the and its influence far beyond the circles of profess- thought that religion is necessarily identified with ___ _ ing Christians. What we have just said above something which the enlightened man outgrows. about the transformation that is taking place in On the other hand, religion in Japan has an advanthe non-Christian religions of Japan is itself elo- tage because of its connection with the old which quent testimony to the tremendous influence of it has not in the western world; for Japan, in Christianity on modern Japanese life. This is spite of her open-mindedness for the new, still openly acknowledged by leaders in these religions shows a remarkable reverence for the experience and is self-evident to anyone who, with an open of the past, including man's religious experience. mind, looks at what is taking place. If, then, Christianity can, on the one hand, give Organized Christianity in Japan is still rather a message of life that has met the needs of men in weak when measured in terms of numbers, con- the past and yet, on the other hand, formulate this stituting less than one-half of one per cent of the message in a way that will be really intelligible to population. However this small Christian church modern men it will get an increasing hearing and is now truly indigenous to Japan. It stands on its following in present-day Japan. Critics of J apaown feet in a way that can hardly be said of the nese Christianity point out its preoccupation with young church in any other land outside of Europe doctrine and its failure to apply Christian princiand America. The leadership of the church is in- ples to the actual problems of life. It is true that telligent, truly pious and thoroughly Christian. there is perhaps too much interest in mere doc- In actual Christian quality the church in Japan trine but it should be remembered that in a land compares favorably with the church in any land. where there is such a mingling of things new and Then beyond the organized church is a large circle old and where Christians come into close contact of so-called "non-church" Christians. Many of with adherents of other religions it is important these are of the finest Christian type. And beyond that men know clearly what are the great essenthese "non-church" Christians is a much larger tials of the Christian Faith. A religion of mere circle of people who do not call themselves Chris- activity might only add to the confusion of thought tians but.who are nevertheless truly religious and which is already too characteristic of the modern religious in the Christian way rather than other- world. The religion Japan needs is the religion wise. 'Their whole outlook on life is in many ways the world needs, a vital faith in the Living God that of the average Christian, and if they would known supremely through Jesus Christ, and a call themselves by any name they would rather faith that expresses itself in service to one's felcall themselves Christians than either Shintoists low man in the spirit and manifesting the love of Christ.
Twenty–Five Books on
Recommended by REV. WILLIS G. HOEKJE, D.D., Tokyo, Japan Missionary of the Reformed Church in America Not since 192'3-24, the year of the great earth- closes with an appeal in the words of one of the quake, has the foreign mission study of the Amer- younger Japanese Christian pastors and eduican churches concentrated on Japan. The accom- cators. panying list of books, chiefly of later date, is intended to serve study groups and their leaders, WORLD TIDES IN THE FAR EAST discusses the and to contribute to deeper understanding of the leading factors and tendencies in the spiritual life Japan of today, her development and her needs. of Far Eastern lands, and presents the claim that their quest can only be satisfied by Christ.
A. THE STUDY BOOKS. B. GENERAL REFERENCE BOOKS.
For Adults: 6. Japan Christian Year Book. Published in 1. Suzuki Looks at Japan. By Willis Lamott. Japan. Available from Foreign Missions Friendship Press, New York. 1934. Conference, New York. 1934. 2. Christ and Japan. By Toyohiko Kagawa. Friendship Press, New York. 1934. 7. Japan. By Inazo Nitobe. Charles Scribner's 3. Japanese Women Speak. By Miss Michi Kawai Sons, New York. 1931. and Mrs. Ochimi Kubushiro. Central Com- mittee on the United Study of Foreign Mis- 8. The Romance of Japan Through the Ages. By sions. Cambridge, Mass. 1934. J. A. B. Scherer. Doran, and the Hokuseido, Tokyo. 1933. The first four study books listed are alike in their effort to present the point of view of J apa- 9. The Tinder Box of Asia (Manchuria). By G. nese Christians rather than that of onlookers or E. Sokolsky. Doubleday, Doran, New York. 1932. outsiders. They may with profit be compared with the still noteworthy study books of 1923: Fisher's 10. Laymen's Foreign Missionary Inquiry Reports: "Creative Forces in Japan"; Axling's "Japan on Volume VI, Japan. Fact Finding Group. the Upward Trail"; and Miss De Forest's "Women Harper and Brothers, New York. 1931. and the Leaven in Japan." 11. Christian Education in Japan. Report of Com- SUZUKI LOOKS AT JAPAN is a thoroughgoing dis- mission, International Missionary Council, cussion of the outstanding aspects of the Christian New York. 1932.
movement in Japan, set against the related back- 12. Japanese Customs: Their Origin and Value. grounds. The writer employs the method of try- By W. H. Erskine. Bethany College Book ing to state his conclusions very much as would a Store, Bethany, W. Va. typical, thoughtful head of a Christian family in 13. The Faith of Japan. By Tasuku Harada. Japan. Macmillan, New York. 1914. CHRIST AND JAPAN, by the most widely known THE JAPAN CHRISTIAN YEAR BOOK, published Japanese Christian, discusses the crucial facts and annually by the Federation of Missions with asthe unsolved problems which reveal his people's sistance from the National Christian Council, gives a resume of recent significant events, a sur- vey of the immediate situation, and other up-to- date information, including statistical material and a list of missions, mission stations and mis- sionaries.
supreme need of Christ. Dr. Inazo Nitobe, Japanese internationalist and Two outstanding Christian women of Japan col- Christian, before his recent death wrote on JAPAN in one of a series of books on the world's nations. laborate in JAPANESE WOMEN SPEAK, to present This is a comprehensive discussion of the essential a survey of the activities and aims of Christian facts, developments, and interests of the life and women in Japan; and in doing so they introduce history of his people. us to many of their notable colleagues.
For Young People: THE ROMANCE OF JAPAN THROUGH THE AGES 4. Typhoon Days in Japan. By Robert S. Spencer. is suggested as offering an understandable outli1).e Friendship Press, New York. 1934. of Japan's entire history, although other books 5. World Tides in the Far East. By Basil Math- serve much the same purpose. Dr. Scherer inter- ews. Friendship Press, New York. 1934. estingly records the special characteristics of the A missionary of the second generation, writing successive historical periods, and of their repre- TYPHOON DAYS IN JAPAN, describes for America's sentative cities.
Christian youth the questionings of modern young The Laymen's Inquiry FACT FINDERS' REPORT Japan, and its desire for understanding. He ON JAPAN presents the fruits' of the survey of [476 ] 1930-31, in an interesting variety of source mate- devotion to Christ, son of the God of Love. A rial, partly interpreted by graphs, etc. book that will help is LOVE THE LAW OF LIFE. CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN JAPAN is the report of the Commission which carried out a full survey What the missionary is doing, in close associaand study of this educational work a few years ago. American and Japanese Christian educators tion with Japanese colleagues, is set forth for cooperated in preparing this authoritative summary of their findings. evangelistic work in the brief sketches included in An approach to the interpretation of JAPANESE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF JAPAN. A recently CUSTOMS from the viewpoint of comparative religions and culture is illustrated in Dr. Erskine's developing movement of rural evangelism and work, which is always thought-provoking, even when entire agreement is not won. The same ef- Christian service is outlined and its importance fort of missionaries to get at the essence of the religious forms and customs about them is evident strongly emphasized in THE OTHER HALF OF in Brumbaugh's "RELIGIOUS VALUES IN JAPANESE CULTURE," recently published by the Christian Lit- J APAN. The gratifying success of the method erature Society of Tokyo. known as Newspaper Evangelism is set forth in Within the faiths of Japan there are several common religious conceptions, almost universally THE PRESS AND THE GOSPEL. ' held and understood. Dr. Harada's presentation of these in THE FAITH OF JAPAN will be found sug- A unique method of Christian service, the work gestive, although not an adequate substitute for detailed study of religion in Japan. For those who of a lady missionary among prisoners, is introwould go deeper, one might mention as of recognized worth, though not always readily available, duced to us by the account of A GENTLEMAN IN Reischauer's "STUDIES IN JAPANESE BUDDHISM" and Holtom's "THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF PRISON. Such life stories take their own' worthy MODERN SHINTO"-books by missionaries. place as fine apologetics for Christian missions. C. POPULAR BOOKS. Japan's womanhood is introduced to us in THE 14. Kagawa. By Wm. Axling. Harper and Broth- ers, New York. 1932. DAUGHTER OF A SAMURAI, "very charming auto- 15. Love the Law of Life. By Toyohiko Kagawa. biography of a Japanese Christian woman." We John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia. 1929. must not, however, forget the new world in which 16. Highways and Byways of Japan. By Mrs. Lois J. Erickson. Fleming H. Revell Co., New many of her sisters live, something of which we York. are told of in Dr. Faust's NEW JAPANESE WOMAN- 17. The Other Half of Japan. By Edward M. Clark. Evangelical Press, Harrisburg, Pa. HOOD.
18. The Press and the Gospel. By W. H. Murray- D. FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND CHILDREN. WaIton. Student Christian Movement Press. London. Available from Missionary Educa- 21. A Japanese Grandmother. By Mrs. Emma G. tion Movement, New York. 1932. Lippard. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York.
19. A Gentleman in Prison. By Miss A. C. Mac- 22. Japan and Her People. By Ethel M. Hughes. donald. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. Friendship Press, New York.
20. The Daughter of a Samurai. By Mrs. Etsu 23. Japanese Here and There. By Margaret E. Inagaki Sugimoto. Doubleday, Doran & Forsyth and Mrs. Ursul Moran. Friendship Company, New York. 1925. Press, New York.
One biography that must be read by up-to-date .' 24. Kin Ghan and the Crab. By Mrs. Bertha H. students of Christianity in Japan is Axling's Converse. Friendship Press, New York. KAGAWA. It is sympathetic, orderly, passionate, and revealing. Well worth mentioning is blind The theme of Japanese family life is portrayed Prof. Takeo Iwahashi's brief autobiography, in A JAPANESE GRANDMOTHER. Mrs. Lippard's "LIGHT FROM DARKNESS"; also Dr. Hiromichi ability to present attractively things Japanese is Kozaki's "REMINISCENCES OF SEVENTY YEARS," further illustrated in her FLORAL CALENDAR. with its comments upon evangelistic and educational policies. Both are published in Tokyo. Some would include among the study books JAPAN AND HER PEOPLE, JAPANESE HERE AND Once introduced to Toyohiko Kagawa, one will THERE, and KIN CHAN AND THE CRAB. Prepared wish to abide a little longer under the spell of his as they are respectively for Intermediates, Juniors, and Primary groups, they are intended not merely for reading or consecutive study, but also as sug- gestive for projects and other activities.
E. PICTORIAL.
25. Japan, a Pictorial Interpretation. Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan. 272 pages. 3 Yen.
Various mission study materials aiming at visu- alization are available upon application to denomi- national Boards. Among these may be mentioned copies of the monthly, "The Christian Graphic," published in Tokyo, Japan. The last book of our list, a popular, not religious publication, will also aid beyond measure in visualization of Japan as a whole. JAPAN, A PICTORIAL INTERPRETATION, all in rotogravure, covers many subjects.
Studies on
Prepared by REV. C. W. IGLEHART, D.D.
I. Japan, the Land and the People. Location. doms. Temptations. Moral tests. Marriage cus- Reef. Skirting Asatic mainland. Islands. Moun- toms changing. The city. Swift migrations to fac- tainous, forests, volcanoes, earthquakes. Nature tory life. Overcrowding. Slums. Bad laboring varied and beautiful. Contacts with China and conditions. Poverty. Sickness. Vice. Exploita- Korea. Natural isolation. Size. The people. tion. Despair. Social movements. Communism.
Whence immigrated? Northern Mongols; South Both laborers and farmers. Students. "Danger- Sea Islanders. But not homogenous. Their homes. ous Thoughts." Fascism. Worship of emperor Food: rice, fish, tea. Industries: silk, cotton, and State. Army and Navy espouse cause of com- manufactures. mon people against financiers. Materialism.
Reading. "Japan" in Encyclopedia Britannica, Troubles abroad. War with China 1895, with Rus- or Clement: "Handbook of Modern Japan," La- sia 1905, World War. Manchuria and the loss of tourette: "The Development of Japan." world sympathy. Meaning of the struggle. The Discussion Questions. 1. What is the difference panic of fear over security. Access to basic neces- in outlook of people who live on islands and those sities. Overflow.
who live on a continent? 2. What is meant by Reading. Same as I. Also Matthews: "World "race"; and how may they be distinguished? 3. If Tides in the Far East," or Brown: "Japan in the we were overcrowded, how should we solve our World Today," or Eddy: "Challenging the East."
problem? Discussion Questions. 1. What did Japan gain, II. THE JAPANESE, Their Civilization and and lose, by accepting the modern ways? 2. What Spiritual Heritage. Original stock. Lovers of na- makes Japan militaristic? Nationalistic? 3. Has ture. Worshippers of sun, mountains, trees, etc. America truly renounced war? Have you? .
Buddhism comes to China. Its teachings, worship, IV. THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN JAPAN.
literature, art, music. Confucianism. Philosophy. First missionaries. Their contribution. Reli- Ethical code. Ancestor worship. Family system. gious freedom. Wide diffusion of Christian ideas. Feudelism. "Bushido." Chivalry. Medireval art, Influence upon leaders. Present work. crafts, disciplines. Folklore. Legends. Some The Kingdom of God Movement. Kagawa. His Japanese heroes. "Japanese spirit." Life. His work. The Movement. 1930-1934. Indi- Reading. Same as for I. Also Nitobe: "The vidual conversion. 12,000 meetings. 50,000 deci- Japanese Nation," or "Bushido," or Mitford: sions. Rural regeneration. Farmers' institutes.
"Japan's Inheritance," or Brinkley: "History of Social salvation. Employes and labor conferences.
the Jap." Lay workers' training schools. Christian "Inter- Discussion Questions. 1. In what respects is our nationale."
cultural heritage different from that of the J apa- Reading. Fisher: "Creative Forces in Japan," nese? Better? or worse? 2. What values do we or Matthews: "World Tides." Axling: "Kagawa."
see in Buddhism? Confucianism? Shinto? Also literature from M. E. M. or Bd. of Foreign III. MODERN JAPAN, Transformation and Missions. Otis Carey, "History of Christian Mis- Problems. Opened by Commodore Perry, 1852. sions in Japan" (2 volumes). Accepts modern ways. Political changes. National Discussion Questions. 1. Is it easier for a youth government. Communications. Transportation. to be a Christian in Japan or America? 2. What Roads. Social classes abolished. Universal pub- is the secret of Kagawa's power? 3. How defi- lic education. Health and sanitation. Armyand nitely are we applying the Kingdom of God Move- Navy. Merchant marine. Commerce. Industry. ment motto, "Thy Kingdom Come-in my heart, Growth of cities. Confusion today. Eastern and in my world!"
Western traditions side by side. Houses. Archi- V. FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS, Our Share in Sav- tecture. Art. Music. Dress. Drama. Movies. ing Japan and the East. America's initiative in Literature. Personal traits and ideals. Moralob- opening Japan. Helpful and creative influence for jectives. Religious beliefs and organizations. fifty years. Change since Russo-Japanese War. Critical problems at home. The farmer. Lack of Present negative trends. California agitation.
land. Low price of crops. Taxes. Mortgages. Immigration exclusion. Newspaper war propa- Tenancy. Backward conditions. Isolation. Dis- ganda. Censure regarding Manchuria. Navy content. Break-up of the family system. Sons building program. Dislike. The Challenge to going into industry. Daughters, also. New free- Christians. (1) To be friendly, intelligently criti- [478 ] cal, understanding, sympathetic. Thus creatively resourceful, competent, and have a large capacity help Japan through American public opinion. for leadership. Their feudal history has developed (2) To influence public policy. Must allay Japan's in them intense personal loyalties, and their na- fears. Find peaceful security for all nations. tional tradition continually calls forth amazing (3) Correct evils in America that we condemn in responses of self-sacrifice.
Japan. Become pattern Christian nation, thus Today, the Christian constituency is still small; lead Japan. (4) To maintain missionary link with but out of all proportion to its number is the in- Japanese Churches, and assist them in winning fluence it exerts on the life about it. The Koku111Jin Japan for Christ. Shimbun, one of Tokyo's great dailies, this year Reading. Recent magazine articles. Apply to listed six hundred people as the foremost leaders Missionary Education Movement or Missionary in all walks of life. Among these it included Research Library, New York. thirty-two Christians-ten times their ratio to Discussion Questions. 1. List all unfriendly acts population. It is these people, and the other of Japan toward us in the past 25 years. List our church members behind them, who are Japan's friendly acts toward her. 2. Are missions less hope in leading her away from a worship of mam- needed or more in an increasingly complicated mon or Mars, to the humble but victorious path- world? 3. What alternative is there to an inter- way of the Cross of Christ.
national Christianity in solving modern world Need for Missionaries in Japan problems? 4. The need of Japan and all nations for Christ. Are missionaries really needed in a country like Japan where law and order are well' established, Some Japanese Problems Japan stands at a pivotal point in the world's where the people are civilized and intelligent, and history, full of potentialities for good or for evil, where the Christian Church is already planted?
challenging the efforts of Christians within her 1. There are ten thousand villages in Japan borders, and the prayers and friendship of Chris- where the Christian message is never heard. Not tians in America. Her problems are legion. They all the Japanese evangelists during this genera- are the problems of growth and unfolding life. tion can get around to them. There is a crying She, therefore, faces in exaggerated degree, and need for the help of missionaries in pioneering with inadequate preparation, all the difficulties evangelism.
common to the other advanced nations in this 2. The rural community-serving church would modern world. exactly suit the present needs if adapted to the Japan also has her unique problems in her peo- country people in Japan. The Japanese church ple's struggle for a bare subsistence. With the feels the need but is lacking in trained leadership modern knowledge of health the population is in- for this field. She is calling for missionary help.
creasing by a million a year. Under basic strains 3. Rapid city developments with their industrial like this a people are likely to give way to a panic problems have shown the place of the neighborof fear, with consequences which they never in- hood church, and of service for laboring people. tend. Every other country has its own troubles, The church in Japan longs for expert guidance in so that they have made it harder for Japan by this area of need. closing their doors to her people, by raising trade barriers, and by agreements among themselves. 4. In the past, missionaries have done effective work not only in evangelism and the development The lot of the farmer in Japan is well-nigh un- of churches and in education, but in the field of endurable. He is the nation's strength, but he public morals and reform. There never was wider cannot get a living for his family from his two- opportunity for such tasks than today. and-a-half acre farm, much less fill the mouths of the city people. So debts are piling, mortgages 5. Every school is a seed-plot in which missionare strangling him, and his children are leaving ary teachers find unlimited scope for shaping the the old home for the city. The swift industrializa- ideas and ideals of large numbers of young people. tion of Japan has sucked her people into the cities 6. Professorships in the theological seminaries faster than social or moral adjustments can pos- offer places of creative influence on the Japanese sibly be made. These two fields-the farmer in church leaders of tomorrow.
the rural community, and the factory worker in 7. Individual work for individuals, and the use the congested city-are white unto the harvest, of the home for personal contacts will always re- calling to the Christian Church for laborers. main the central task of any missionary. With Notwithstanding their problems and difficulties, only one Japanese in two hundred a Christian, and the Japanese are sound material on which the yet with almost everyone ready to listen, a mis- Spirit of God may work. Adversity has trained sionary may exert Christian influence in many them to industry and thrift. They are dependable, directions and be effective. Effective Ways of Working 'Tested Metlwds for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~'==========~I~ Fellowship Plans for Better it sounds a call for Japan and paper animals, etc. This book is Service America to join hands in work- a child's treasury of delight. ing for peace. (Cloth, $1.00; ($1.00 and 75 cts.) "Little Kin No more profitable and cer- paper, 50 ets.) Chan" (75 cts.) and "Mitsu; A tainly no more picturesque sub- Little Girl of Japan" (50 cts.) ject could have been chosen for Junior high school pupils will this year's foreign mission study find fascinating reading in "Ja- are delightful reading books for than that of Japan-the pic- pan and Her People" ($1.00 and the smaller tots. turesqueness deriving its value 60 cts.); "Young Japan" (25 not from "art for art's sake" but cts.); "Our Japanese Friends" Not included among the books rather from its lure to lead from (50 cts. and 35 cts.) the resthetic to the evangelistic. of the United Study Course are The happy coordination of home "Friends in Nippon" is the several charming supplemental and foreign topics enables each outstanding book for juniors. Its to furnish background and at- stories were prepared especially volumes. "Leaves from a Japamosphere for the other and so with a view to establishing nese Calendar," by Emma G. enrich the entire program. The friendship between the boys and Lippard, (special price 35 cents) effort should not be to emphasize girls of Japan and our own land. differences in manners, customs, It is well adapted for program is a fascinating book for juniors social conditions, etc., but rather work, worship services or use in of which the introduction by a to seek an understanding of the week-day meetings. (75 cts. and Japanese ambassador says: Oriental heart and find therein 50 cts.) Its leaders' book, "Jathe basic needs and hun g e r panese Here and There," is par- The splendid response attending which Christ alone can satisfy, ticularly valuable in its many your efforts in missionary activities whether in East or West. suggestions for activities, discus- warrants you in placing first hand sions, etc. Any intelligent person knowledge of the children of Japan In the abundance of material can handle a group with its help. before every American child. May for study displayed at summer ($1.00 and 50 ets.) "If I Lived they learn the truth about the land of conferences, your Department in Japan" is a valuable supple- the cherry blossoms and come over to Editor is at a loss how to choose mentary book imported from the few that can be exploited in England. (40 cts.) see us someday. The book is said to the space available. Send to your be "a most accurate, clever, natural own denominational headquar- "Kin Chan and the Crab," for and up-to-date account of our chilters for the specific publications primary children, is invaluable. dren's life and their ways of thinking. with which to augment the fol- The first section contains stories The information is absolutely accurate lowing; but in one way or an- for the little folks, while the sec- and the words and expressions the other, conserve the values of ond has background notes cover- most natural and adequate ones for the united effort by using the stand- ing all important details of J apa- respective circumstances, which shows ard mission study books either nese life, and "specific notes on the author's wonderful command of for study or as a basis for pro- each of the stories furnishing our language." grams. full teaching details." Section 3 is rich in outlines of materials, Each chapter stands for a Jap- Glimpses of the Literature plans, devices, games, pictures, anese month, dedicated as they suggested activities, projects are to special flowers, thus: [The Mission Study books are also noted (inclusive of that for making a on pages 476-47,9'.] village), songs and worship serv- 1. Taro takes his age in the Month ices. "Notes from a Teacher's "Japanese Women Sneak" will Notebook," in the last portion, is of Pine. be quite generally used by wom- full of directions for trips to mu- 2. The Great Cold comes in the en's societies. It is "a message seums, dramatizations, puppet from the Christian women of shows and such like devices. The Month of the Plum. Japan to the Christian women of final folder has designs for trac- America," and on a background ing off patterns of friezes, dolls 3. The girls have their festival in of what has been accomplished and their wardrobes, silk and by and for the Japanese women, the Month of the Peach. [480 ] 4. Taro starts to school in Cherry Blossom Month. 5. The boys' festival in the Wis- teria Month. 6. Rain and fireflies in the Month of Iris. . 7. Summer festivals in the Month of Morning Glory.
8. The Great Heat in the Month of the Lotus. 9. Grandmother begins to learn in the Month of the Seven Grasses. 10. The Emperor's birthday in the Month of the Maple.
11. The Emperor eats the new rice in the Month of the Chrysanthemum.
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
12. The Price of Peace in the Month The invitations may be real Japa- is always served. Make Japanese flags of the Camellia. nese cards or sketches copied and tint- and stick one in the top of each nap- ed. The wording conforms to the kin. As a final course, pass around a "A Japanese Grandmother," J,apanese custom of humbling hostess tray on which are pieces of crystalby the same author, introduces and exalting guest, such as: lized ginger, around each piece being us into intimate family life by wrapped a fact about Japan. These way of a keen, capable, sacrifi- "We invite your noble self to con- should be read in quick succession. ciallittle grandmother. (75 cts.) descend to be present at our humble "Beautiful Japan"-a solo with cho- Still another good story by Mrs. Japanese 'At Home,'" with date, time rus, will be furnished with words and and place following. music for three cents. Lippard is "s e con d Hand," The program is heralded by the In the "Program Plan Book" used which portrays in a Japanese set- playing of Oriental music at the piano. by the same national society, Alma ting the story of an American Then the person in charge gives a young man working out his dif- greeting to the assembled guests ex- Palmer McKibben gives valuable helps ficult life problems and his ulti- plaining that the Japanese, in their for those using the children's book, mate decision for Christ and mis- extreme politeness use phrases which, "Friends in Nippon." (Price, 5 cents.) sions. (75 cts.) when interpreted into English, sound She states that while the textbook may very strange, such a'S: "Your un- be used as a story book, "It will be of "The Monologue of a Japanese worthy sisters of the – – – Society, infinitely more value if it comes to the Bride," by Mrs. Lippard, is a which they represent in so inconsider- children in the midst of activities and three-page leaflet of graphic able a fashion, welcome you, their dis- experiences which make the Japanese word picturing, adapted for a tinguished guests, to this wretched children real people rather than story memorized impersonation by a Japanese party. It is a contemptible book characters." "Japanese Here and girl in native costume, and makes hospitality which they offer you in this There" (mentioned among books cited good program material. (2 cts.) shabby room; but they rejoice greatly in a foregoing paragraph) is strongly Still another exercise by this that you have so graciously honored writer is an excellent adaptable the unrivalled persons who organized recommended to effect this transforprogram for a thank-offering our unexcelled Society as to be pres- mation of subject matter. meeting entitled, "Japan Gives ent this evening. The insignificant Thanks." It contains devotional, ladies who offer you these paltry greet- Miss McKibben urges that the active impersonative and dramatic ma- ings implore you to hang your pre- cooperation of all the children should terial, with full directions for eminent selves upon the meagre seats be enlisted in the entire program of action, stage settings and cos- and kindly receive their inferior ef- activities of the group, making them tuming. (10 cts. Mrs. Lippard's forts to entertain your most superior feel that the organization is their own leaflets and books may be ordered selves." in every sense of the word. from the Literature Headquarters, The United L u the ran A song and pantomime by two lads The monthly programs may well be Church in America, 723 Muhlen- in Japanese costume may well follow. planned with reference to the special berg Building, 1228 Spruce St., The boys look at each other scowling Festival Days of Japan, a poster Phila., Pa.) and then wonderingly at the audience: stressing each day and decorated with its flower symbol being displayed well Programs Oh, dear! what can the matter be? in advance of a meeting falling in the Dear, dear! what can the matter be? same month. (See citations of chap- The following outline, abbre- Oh, dear! what can the matter be? ters in "Leaves from a Japanese Calviated from a program in "Com- endar" in foregoing text, for the fesplete Program Outlines for Aux- Strange is this land of Japan. tivals.) iliaries," a pUblication of the Woman's Foreign Missionary The rooms they first dust to make The November Thanksgiving pro- Society of the Methodist Episco- ready for sweeping; gram fits well with "The Month of the pal Church, B 0 s ton, Mass. Chrysanthemum," as the Emperor al- (price, 10 cents), shows how On hard wooden pillows and quilts ways eats his first new rice and gives textbook subject matter may be they are sleeping; thanks, which is followed by a general used for popular meetings. It is Thanksgiving in Japan. "Perhaps the called, "A Japanese 'At Home.''' With funny old clogs what a racket children can bring rice and fruits to they're keeping; be distributed to the needy, as this is Japanese atmosphere is created by a custom prevalent in both countries." abundant decorations of crepe paper (Shuffling noise with feet.) The story. for this session should. be wisteria, plum and cherry blossoms Things are oddly mixed up in Japan. the second chapter, "Little Thmk fastened to tree branches, pine boughs, paper lanterns, miniature Japanese He begins at the end when he reads Nothing." gardens displayed here and there, etc. his queer paper; The platform or a corner of the as- The third chapter about "The Ricksembly room is arranged as in a Japa- He draws his plane toward him-an- sha Man" fits in with December celenese home-few, simple furnishings, other odd caper; brations in Japan and America, the matting or rugs on the floor, low stools text being used to guide the children for tables, cushions to sit on cross- He builds his roof first-what a funny to an understanding of the meaning legged, and at one end a tokonoma or house-maker- of stewardship-the sharing life. place of honor, a step higher than the rest of the room, with flowers arranged What upside down ways in Japan. "The Strange Little Girl," in the in native style upon it. It is the place (Motions illustrate each line, whirl- fifth chapter, fits in with the flower where special respect is shown to any- ing the hands around for the last one.) and the New Year's festivals in both thing placed on it or anybody invited countries, the children using the greetnear it. Japanese Women at Home: The ings and salutations of their Japanese leader introduces this part of the pro- gram with brief statement of the po- friends. sition of women in the home, using material from this year's textbook, Chapter 6, with its story of "The pages 132 and 158, last paragraph to Old Plum Tree," adapts itself to the end of chapter. She then presents February meeting "in the Month of the those who are to impersonate in cos- Plum." Since this festival marks the tume Japanese women, for which see birthday of the hero, Jimmu Tenno, it textbook (1) p. 145; (2) pp. 141-143; falls in nicely with our own hero (3) p. 139. month. Other Japanese heroes, like Kagawa and Neesima, may be intro- A Japanese tea ceremony or a pan- duced. tomime, "Froth of the Liquid Jade" (price, 10 cents), may follow. Re- In March, which features the girls' freshments may consist of small sand- festival of dolls, the story from the wiches, wafers, cakes,. candies, nuts, book might be omitted and descriptive etc., putting one portion of each kind matter from other sources substituted. into a white paper napkin,. bringing "The girls might each bring a little the four corners together and fasten- ing securely by twisting or tying. Tea
doll and these could be arranged on Should citizens be asked to promote "Cruise with Christ" and its shelves as the Japanese girls arrange international welfare at the expense program theme, "Starting on their dolls, a tea party served in Japa- of their own national welfare? Our Queen Esther Cruise," City nese style ending the day." Missions being featured. Oc- If you were a Japanese Christian tober brings Citizenship, "Cruise April features are the reading of would you send your son to a Chris- with Christ," and the considerachapter 7, an outdoor meeting similar tian college in view of all the circum- tion of migrant work on the first to the picnics held by the Japanese stances? port of call. when everyone goes out to view the beautiful cherry blossoms, etc. Should every denomination in Amer- November has Stewardship, ica or Japan have its own theological with thank-offering features and Quite full details for .use of text, seminary? a program topic of "The Negro" handwork and specific program devel- as the port in view. opments in each month of the year are Should we ignore other religions althus given in the pamphlet. Its group together and confine ourselves to the In December there is Worship, projects include: Arranging a Japa- presentation of Christianity? and the port is any point where nese room, making a miniature Japa- a mission hospital is under the nese garden, kiites, paper flowers, Should we look forward to the decay direction of the Women's Home kimonos, wall friezes, scrap books for and disappearance of other religions? Society. Japanese kindergartens, collecting things made in Japan, taking a trip Or shouW we look forward to their January majors on Friendship to a Japanese store, practicing flower gradual transformation until they and the beginning of the textarrangement, sending flower seeds to eventually pass into Christianity? book study on "Out of the Far Japan, dramatizing a day in a Japa- East" and "Gold Mountain," the nese home, a doll festival, etc. Cita- Should we study other religions cruise being considered as adtions are given for directions in carry- carefully in order to attack their weak venturing in Christian friending out the activities. points and expose their inconsisten- ship with Orientals. cies? Helps for Pastors and Leaders February continues the mis- Or should we study them in order to sion study, directs the cruise to Do you want material for understand what in Christianity will Spanish-American ports and feas t ron g, challenging presenta- make the greatest appeal? tures payment of the budget to tions that will link them up with the Island Possessions. the world situation and com- Should we cooperate in efforts to mand the respect of thinking reform other religions? March deals with "Friendmen and women, whether they ship." The textbook study is think they favor missions or not? Think over the whole situation in rounded up by touching at the Read "Suzuki Looks at Japan," Japan and decide on something definite Indian's port and studying him the study book by Willis Lamott, that you will do to help. in his native surroundings. and then let its subject matter filter through t hat analytical ALL ABOARD WITH THE In April "Discipleship" afpamphlet, "What Do You Think fords opportunity "to test our about Japan?" Here the mean- METHODISTS own discipleship as we visit the ings and implications of the J ap- Oriental after our three months' anese situation are brought into This is nautical year among study of him." the spotlight and the immediacy the Methodist women, the theme of a major world problem stands for their home missionary year In May, "Kinship" takes the out. In addition to true-false being "Fellowship," with protests for class work, s t ron g gram features developed under passengers to far Alaska to statements of national and inter- that figure. The Queen Esthers study child life. national problems and keen anal- (the girls' organization) are yses of con d i t ion s we have definitely going on a cruise to In June, "Workmanship" is glossed over, there are many visit all the places listed on their questions for discussion that de- budget. Their declaration of tested as the year's study and mand the severest soul-searching purpose says: work near their close, this venand honesty. How would you ture involving a landing and a answer such as these? Life is a great ship loaded with a trip overland to the National rich cargo of many things to be de- Training School at Kansas City. How do you explain the fact that so livered to many people in many places. large a share of the earth's surface is God is the owner of the ship and I July and August are given to under the control of the white races? am the captain. Everything I have Comradeship, in vacation expe- aboard-my talents, capacity, person- riences with a purpose. The Because Japan started late in the ality, privileges, my money, my time- summer camps furnish "Optionrace for colonies, should she. be de- is a cargo to be delivered. God has al Trips." Incidentally, a fiveprived of her share? intrusted it to me for his children in dollar award is offered for the every place. I do not own what I best digest of study books or an Has Japan as good aright to con- possess. lowe it. God made me the original daily prayer or a new trol Eastern Asia economically as the capta;in of the. ship and it is my job United States has to control Latin to brmg the ShIP to the right port and design for the cover of "The America? discharge the cargo. Queen Esther Guide."
Is there any difference between Jap- In the list of the year's cargo What a fertile motif this anese expansion in Manchuria and are the textbook and auxiliary year's theme furnishes for im- European expansion in Africa? literature, the special depart- aginative young folks! ments in the woman's home mis- What foreign policy do you think sion magazines, certain leaflets The foregoing plan was ex- Japan should pursue in view of her and demonstrations, etc., promincreasing population and limited sup- inent among which is "The Of- ploited and illustrated in a conply of food and raw materials, and in ficial Log Book." ference of Queen Esther girls at view of the exclusion acts and tariff barriers of other nations? Each monthly program is Lakeside, Ohio, last August. fascinatingly developed in har- mony with the dominant figure. Thus: September topic is Member- ship, its devotional keynote is BULLETIN OF The Council of Women for Home Missions ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY,. 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~'=I~~~========~~====~~H~ An Experimental Utopia in Hawaif PROBABLY THE EARLIEST OF THE FIVE KAW.AIAHAO CHURCH BUILD- The present Kawaiahao church INGS. THE PRESENT BUILDING OF STONE IS SOMETIMES building was erected by the men THOUGHT OF AS HAWAII'S WESTMINSTER ABBEY of the congregation, who worked as volunteers in five groups, each Together in Worship iloko a ka Zuni), St. Paul and all group working one dav a week. missionaries like him would be The coral blocks of stone which Praising God is not dependent moved to adore "the Father, make up its walls were hewn on language forms. When the from whom every family in from the reef near the harbor Kawaiahao congregation, the heaven and on earth is named.'" entrance. The church was six oldest Hawaiian church in Hono- years in building and is the fifth lulu began the morning services On April 19, 1820, a mission of church buildings. It was dediwith, Hoonani ika Ma Kua Man band of ten workers, with the cated in 1842, "to Jehovah our (Praise God from whom all five C ham b e rIa i n children, God, forever and ever." It is blessings flow) and continued the bravely began housekeeping in sometimes referred to as "Hapraise with Ku lou i ke Lii, ke thatched huts in Honolulu. On waii's Westminster Abbey." In Lii Malu na e (0 Worship the April 24th, the first Sabbath was the regular Sunday morning King, all glorious above), the observed "to bring to the notice services there is a short English white persons present worshiped of the people the sacred day of message (Haiolelo Haole) folalso, for truly God is a Spirit to God." The message was based lowing the Hawaiian sermon be worshiped in spirit and truth. on "Fear not, for behold I bring (Haiolelo Hawaii). The interior Likewise, when the congregation you good tidings of great joy is impressive in the beauty of its prayed, E kai oe, e I ehova (Guide which shall be to all people." It simplicity. A beautiful white me, 0 Thou Great Jehovah) and was probably interpreted, al- cross dominates the spacious, united in the prayer which unites though the missionaries had quiet interior. all followers of Jesus Christ, studied the Hawaiian language namely "Our Father who art in during the one hu'ndred and On Sunday, August 5, 1934, Heaven" (E Ko Ma Kou Makua sixty-three days journey from the English message concerned Boston. Several educated Ha- the visit of Nicodemus to Jesus. • The title Is copied from one at the head waiian youth had accompanied Nicodemus went because Jesus of a different article written by Dr. F. G. them. It is' of interest that be- Himself was a miracle to him. Krauss, Director of Agricultural Extension fore leaving Boston the church We today can be miracles as Service of the University of HawaII, and body or congregation had been Jesus. Why go over the world appearing In The Friend, January. 1934. organized. to seek God when He is within The Friend is the oldest newspaper West of each of us? "Get down on knees, the Rockies. Published once a month since [ 483] seek the inner man within our- 1843. selves, and bring forth the God expression of each of us, to be made perfect like Jesus."
The Church of the Crossroads, begun over ten years ago in Hon- olulu, has served youth of both the student and the past student groups. Young married people of the community, unaffiliated with other churches, have become members. The Covenant in which each member joins as his decla- ration of faith and loyalty, fol- lows: We believe in one God, the Father, BIRTH RATES AND DEATH RATES IN HAWAII 1931-1932 through Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord and Saviour. We believe in (Births Classified by Racial Stock of Child Born) the Lord Jesus Christ as the revelation of the loving purposes of God for Population Births per Deaths per Rate of Increase all men, and we are united in seeking, 1930 1,000 1,000 per 1,000 by the power of fellowship with him, to make ourselves more abundantly 12,592 Popu.lation Popu.lation Population useful in the service of our common 780 Master: Asiatic-Hawaiian 78.1 13.2 64.9 15,632 We therefore covenant together to 139,631 All others 57~ 33~ 24~ uphold this Church of Christ for worship, for mutual helpfulness in Christ- 6,671 Caucasian-Hawaiian 49.7 13.8 35.9 like living, and for more effective serv- 63,052 Japanese ice to our fellowmen. 27,179 30.3 7.2 23.1 Porto Rican The Church of the Crossroads 6,461 Filipino 28.9 12.5 16.4 is the outgrowth of the convic- 27,588 tion of young people of Oriental 44,895 Chinese 23.3 8.5 14.8 ancestry for services conducted 22,636 Korean in the English language. The 22.9 12.1 10.8 Religious Education Committee 1,219 Portugese of the Hawaiian Board of Mis- 22.6 10.1 12.5 sions desirous of seeing whether Other Caucasian such a religious group would Hawaiian 21.7 9.1 12.6 pro v e permanent launched a Spanish "Young People's Service." In 17.8 8.4 9.4 1923 forty persons requested the formation of a church and a full 16.5 23.7 -7.2 decrease time pastor. Galen R. Weaver, was called June 1, 1923 to work 11.9 10.3 1.6 as full-time pastor of the congregation. There are two classes of 368,336 Total all Races 28.2 9.7 18.5 membership, namely, resident (1920) (1921-22) and affiliated. There were 77 39.3 14.3 25.0 charter members of whom twelve 255,912 Total all Races were adults or non-students. Today there are Chinese, Japanese, is principal, is a public school. To day Palama's $200,000 Anglo-Saxon, Filipino, and other The children are all American budget brings medical, dental, races in membership, and the citizens but of the varied ances- nursing, recreation and health children are in the C h u r c h try indicated above. The teach- education to some 50,000 indi- School. The majority of mem- ers a Iso are a cosmopolitan viduals. The Settlement as a bers are originally from non- group. The school does not be- voluntarv agency stands ready Christian homes. little the importance of subject as always to assist the official matter. The objectives of the governmental agencies in the Playing Together program of t his "laboratory adequate performance of their school may be stated in terms of tasks. The above chart of "Birth The school pupils, in their com- social or character education, in Rates and Death Rates in Hamunity, interested in playing to- terms of vocational education, waii" will indicate "the togethgether are not hindered by dif- and in terms of cultural educa- erness" of the task of having ferences in color of skin, dress, tion." The teachers constantly people dwell happily and wholeor language. They understand evaluate their work in terms somely together. each other and playas well as such as health, initiative, restudy together even though there sponsibility, whole-heartedness, A not her illustration of tomay in a group of forty pupils cooperation, and open-minded- getherness in worship, study, be Hawaiian-Chinese, Hawaiian- ness. The occupational activities play, and service can be found in Japanese, Hawaiian-Caucasian, are planned to do three things; the activities of the federation Hawaiian-Puerto Ric a n, Chi- "first, to supply those conditions of business girls' clubs of the nese, Japanese, Filipino, and most adapted to developing gen- Y. W. C. A. Four hundred young others. No adult might fully un- eral social insight and responsi- women of the different nationaliderstand the mixed language bilities; second, to enable the in- ties in Honolulu are bound tospoken on the playground; in dividual to find himself vocation- gether by their common needs, the school hours they speak Eng- ally; and finally, to lay the foun- interests, and enjoyment of life. lish. dations for competence in some specific vocations." Paradise of the Pacific Studying Together The curriculum all must center Jesus said to the neighboring The Kawananakoa Experi- around real needs of the pupils. thief on the cross, "Today thou mental School, Honolulu,of The big aim of (the new educa- shalt be with me in Paradise." which Robert M. Faulkner, M.A., tion) is to bring about a fuller The territory of Hawaii is often and more intelligent living, right referred to as Paradise. This now." title quite obviously applies to climate and natural beauty of the Together in Service islands, and to a discerning ob- server, Paradise might refer to In the heart of Honolulu's the actual dwelling together in most congested district, Palama one place of national groups who Settlement, founded thirty-six in other places misunderstand years ago as Palama Chapel by each other. True, the term "par- a few courageous exemplars of adise" does not necessarily im- Christian service, today wields ply 100% perfection. It does an influence throughout the is- connote much that is desirable. land of Oahu. It is in fact a great It implies successful social ex- public health and social welfare perimenting and a possible center. "utopia in Hawaii."
OUfM!~~~'!::!~feCuS~~~?ok
~'-'=-=-=====-=====-=-==-===============-==~I~' —-: JAPAN -CHOSEN sion sisters will work among the Tokyo Y. M. C. A. dealt with girls employed in factories and camp leadership. Camping in- A Fontune Put to Work native helpers will work among creases in popularity. men. What may be the result in Anniversary of St. Paul's Japan if men of wealth and vi- The Bible by Radio University sion surrender wholly to Jesus Christ and His service may be The first Bible Society broad- St. Paul's University and Midseen in the following statement cast from Tokyo took place last printed in the Indian Witness: March, when Dr. Ibuka spoke on dle School, Tokyo, founded by "Deeply impressed by the work "The Bible and Its Moral Influof Nishida Tenko, a noted Bud- ence." A few days later, a Chris- Bishop Channing Moore Wildhist social worker in Kyoto, a tian lawyer – a teacher in the son of K. Okazaki, Japan's larg- Imperial University, and a pop- liams in 1874, is celebrating est bicycle manufacturer and ular and earnest Bible expositor millionaire politician, decided to -spoke six mornings in succes- its sixtieth year. Alumni and leave home and spend three sion on the cardinal points of years in service to others. He Christianity. As one result of friends are marking the event traveled over the country doing this broadcasting there have all sorts of menial tasks for the been increased sales of Bibles, by an effort to secure additional poor, without thought of remu- and many letters are received neration. During this period he daily. local gifts. The school began wore a band about his shoulders proclaiming his belief that the Sacrificial Service with six little boys in a rented inheritance tax in Japan should be doubled. At first his attitude Mr. Kurihara, Rural Secre- house. Now there are about greatly troubled his family, but tary for the Japanese National finally Mr. Okazaki was com- Christian Council, completed his 2,000 stUdents, boys and young pletely converted to his son's first year of service last March. view of life, and has, as the first During the year he visited fif- men; 254 were graduated last step in his project for social teen prefectures and rendered service, placed 1,000,000 yen at valuable assistance in the Peas- spring from the university, and the disposal of a committee com- ant Gospel Schools, by conferposed of Yoshida Tenko, Col. ences anO addresses on rural 200 more fro m the middle Gumpei Yamamuro of the Sal- work. The Council's budget vation Army, Mr. Tokutomi, a would have made it impossible school. Full government recog- Christian newspaper editor in to continue this work had not Tokyo, and Dr. Toyohiko Kag- Mr. Kurihara sacrificially de- nition was accorded twelve years awa." clared his readiness to carryon regardless of a 68 per cent cut ago. -The Churchman. A Novel Mission in his salary allowance. Korean Boys Accept Christ The Liebenzell Mission began Leadership Training its work only five years ago The Rev. Bliss W. Billings, among the country people in J a- Japanese Christians are stress- missionary in Seoul, spoke durpan. In 1933 the first forty-one ing leadership training. Recently ing five days' visit in the city of Japanese were baptized in four several conferences have been Hamheung, at the Y. M. C. A., stations. The method of work conducted, one of the most out- the Christian Boys' School, and consists in street preaching and standing being under the aus- the Higher School for Girls. At the sale of Christian literature. pices of the Kingdom of God the boys' school he had an audi- A novel feature for reaching the Movement in Tokyo. It discussed ence of about 300. This is in a people of the country consists in the following problems: Chris- district where there has been a Gospel wagon drawn by a cow tian education, literary evan- much communistic talk, and and carrying a tent. The mis- gelism, industrial evangelism, there was fear that the meetings sionary travels from village to social reconstruction, rural re- might be disturbed. village with this model equip- demption, and international coment, preaching the Gospel. Mis- operation. Another interdenomi- "At the close of my meetings national institute held at the on Monday morning we had a decision service for the boys," writes Mr. Billings. "Two-thirds of these boys came from non- Christian homes, but one hun- dren and fifty-four promised to accept Christ as their Saviour and follow Him. One hundred and seven who were already Christians dedicated their lives anew to His work. One hundred and eighty-four promised to be more regular in church attend- ance. Only four out of 276 boys turned in blank papers."
-Christian Advocate.
[485 ]
ISLANDS OF THE SEA NORTH AMERIOA shall become operative in this and in other questions which now confuse our Missions on Bali Questionnaire on Union thought and action.
The work begun a few years A large partial union of Prot- -Presbyterian Survey. ago by the Chinese pastor, Mr. estant churches in the United Tsang, among his own people, States, embracing nearly three- Federal Oouncil's Movie is progressing in a most encour- fourths of the present Protes- Pledge aging way. To the 105 baptized tant church membership, is en- Chinese and natives of Bali, 130 visaged by Dr. H. Paul Doug- Before October 21, when a more have been added and the lass in a report of church unity concerted registration of views pastor is instructing 300 in- movements in the United States. on the motion picture industry quirers. But recently great ob- The study, which has taken be- is sought, the Federal Council stacles are put in the way of this tween three and four years to will send to all Protestant paswork. Many Christians are boy- complete, is based on replies tors, copies of the following cotted. Hindu landowners are from more than 20,000 persons pledge: refusing to rent land to the con- to questionnaires. These were verts and are cutting off their designed to test prevailing senti- I wish to join with other Proteswater supply and even refuse ment for or against church union tants, cooperating with Catholics and burial to the dead. in the United States. The re- Jews, in condemning vile and un- plies came from church leaders, wholesome motion pictures. I unite Rural Work in Philippines ministers, church officials, and with all who protest against them as the rank and file of the member- a grave menace to youth, to home life, In the face of retrenchment, ship of many different denomi- to country and to religion. I condemn the American Board is develop- nations. Of 16,355 persons re- absolutely those salacious motion picing new and effective methods. plying to a ballot on church tures which, with other degrading One is the approach to the rural union, two-thirds stated that agencies, are corrupting public morals problem, initiated jointly by Dr. they favored union of some sort, and promoting a sex mania in our Frank C. Laubach and the mis- either federal or general, while land. I shall do all that I can to sion churches. The latter em- one-third preferred separate de- arouse public opinion against the porploy a rural life expert, Am- nominations. Nine out of ten of trayal of vice as a normal condition brosio Torres, B.S., Iowa Agri- those voting favored the union of affairs, and against depicting crim.- cultural College. Half his time of related denominations. Al- inals of any class as heroes and is spent among the Mohammed- most exactly twice as many re- heroines, presenting their filthy philan Moros, the remainder in lead- plies favor union in some form osophy of life as something acceptable ing a group of Christian work- as favor the continuance of the to decent men and women. I unite ers who understand the needs of present denominational system. with all who condemn the display of rural folk. Theory is combined suggestive advertisements on billwith practical field work in a -The Churchman. boards, at theater entrances and the way to give a new conception of favorable notices given to immoral religion.-Missionary Herald. Declaration Against War motion pictures. Considering these evils, I declare my purpose to remain Outposts and Hotp.e Ohurch The Young Men's Club of away from all motion pictures which Broadway Tabernacle Church, offend decency and Christian morality. One of the little known, far New York City, has framed the I will try to induce others to do the distant outposts of Christianity following declaration: same. I make this protest in a spirit is the little Episcopal Church at of self-respect, and with the convic- Zamboanga, P. 1. The congrega- I have quietly considered what I tion that the American public does tion is made up about equally of would do if my nation should again not demand filthy pictures, but clean English-speaking people, either be drawn into war. entertainment and educational fea- American Army officers or Eu- tures ropean business men and their I am not taking .a pledge, because families, and of natives of Min- I do not know what I would do when School System Arraigned danao and Chinese. English is the heat of the war mood is upon the the language used in the serv- country. But in a mood of calm con- Prof. Walter B. Pitkin, author ices. Since Bishop Brent began sideration I do today declare that I of "Life Begins at Forty," says: work at Mindanao about 30 cannot reconcile the way of Christ years ago, between 50 and 60 with the practice of war. Almost everything we have done in Americans have been confirmed, the United States in education, and and many of these have con- I do therefore set down my name to especially in higher education, has tiued to be faithful church mem- be kept in the records of my church, been wrong. Recently I looked up the bers on returning to their own so that it will be for me a reminder educational record of several of those land-an evidence that the mis- if war should come; and will be a financiers who have ruined others in sion may reenforce the Church solemn declaration to those who .hold the past few years. Most of them at home.-Spirit of Missions. to this conviction in time of war that were either college graduates or the I believe them to be right; and I do recipients of honorary degrees from desire with my whole 1nind and heart our American colleges. I cannot be that I shall be among those who keep proud of an educational system that to this belief. turns out guilty barbarians.
I set down my name to make concrete Warden Lewis E. Lawes; of my present thought upon the question Sing Sing, has this to say: of war, and declare my purpose to think and talk with others about it, There is no moral force in the class- that my belief in the Way of Christ room. The prisoner boasts of a com- plete public school record and in many cases has reached high school and even higher institutions of learning. The failure of our schools and gen- eral educational methods is filling our
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
juvenile homes, our reformatories and Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Missis- convert of a revival a year later our prisons. There is hardly a juve- sippi and Louisiana, numbered nearly in Godthaab, largest town in nile institution that is not a crime in- 4,000, and at present the number of Greenland, felt the call, and soon cubator. students is only a little below the he and his wife were on their average for the past ten years. The way. Here is the sequal: A re- -School Executives Magazine. attendance at farmers' conferences cent Danish paper, Kristeligt and other specialized activities run- Dagblad, says: "The last heathen Capital Well Invested ning from a day or two to a week or more has actually increased, so that Eskimo in Greenland was bap- The 53 colleges and academies more than 10,000 Negro adults and tized on Whit-Sunday." This affiliated with the Presbyterian young people have received either Church have a total capital in- limited or full term instructions dur- tribe numbers 300. vestment of $94,931,847, of ing the year as compared with about -Alliance Weekly. which endowment funds consti- 9,000 during previous years. In adtute about $48,000,000; and dition to the actual school and con- LATIN AMERICA grounds, buildings and equip- ference work specially trained teachment about $46,000,000, an in- ers are sent to homes and cross-roads Perpetual Revolution vestment which during the year far back in the country districts, for 1932-33 benefited 24,831 stu- community service and school exten- In Mexico City a new monudents. Of the 46,476 graduates sion work. In this way definite in- ment is being erected which of all these schools, the number structions in home-making, sanitation, bears the inscription: To THE of ministers is 4,290; of mis- canning, agriculture and better living REVOLUTION – YESTERDAY, Tosionaries, 878; of full-time re- of every kind is conveyed to many ligious workers, 465; of work- thousands too remote, or too poor to DAY AND FOREVER. ers in the field of religion, 5,653 ; come to the schools. of workers in the field of edu- The National Revolutionary cation, 13,298;. of workers in -The Living Church. Party, which controls the presother fields of service, 27,525, ent administration, has dedicated according to statistics published Opium Smoking in U. S. itself afresh to the cause of soby the Presbyterian Board of cial reformation. Mexico is defi- Christian Education. Opium smoking is increasing nitely developing a large meas- in the United States to such an ure of federal control over all Bank Becomes a Church extent that Federal officials are departments of life. A recent alarmed. Stuart J. Fuller, Ameri- issue of a Mexico City news- can delegate to the sessions of paper carried these significant the League of Nations advisory headlines: committee on traffic in opium, A Mexican Baptist Church in shows that opium is smuggled "COMMISSION TO REGULATE "THE into the United States chiefly PRICE OF MEDICINE." Chicago meets in a building for- from China and Manchukuo. He says: "PROPOSAL FOR THE NATIONALIZAmerly a bank, but closed by the TION OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY." The opium smoking vice, hitherto depression. Where the riches of on the decline in the United States, "PROPOSAL TO UNIONIZE THE PRO- has undergone a marked recrudes- FESSIONS WHERE INDIVIDUALS MAY earth were once closely guarded, cence. Over twice as much smoking PRACTICE AND WHAT FEES THEY MAY opium was seized in the United States CHARGE." the riches of heaven are now in 1933 as in 1932, and the first three months of 1934 showed seizures befreely passed out to the spirit- coming more frequent and quantities It is confidently expected that increasing. ually needy. In this church the this year an amendment will 8th Annual Spanish~speaking Triumph in Greenland pass both branches of the Mexi- Baptist Convention of the North In northern Greenland, a prim- itive tribe of Eskimos, as re- can Congress, 'which will require was held last April. Registered cently as 1904, lived entirely on raw meat and were clad only in that the Marxian type of socialdelegates numbered 171. Two bear skins. Two Danish ex- plorers who visited them that ism be taught in all schools. To new Mexican Baptist churches year to study their customs met an aged Eskimo who said to quote the language of the prowere recognized at Pontiac and them: "If you can give us a better religion which can help posed bill, its purpose is to free Flint, making a total of 22 us to live rightly, and give us peace with the spirits and with the country from religious prejchurches and missions scattered ourselves in this world and the next, please give it to us." udice and dogmatism, and to from Wichita, Kansas, to New Returning to Denmark, these provide a culture based on scien- York City. -Missions. explorers roused the church to answer this appeal, but while the tific truth, and to orient the church was willing to assume re- Kingdom Building for Negroes sponsibility, no one volunteered ideals and activities of the youth to go. A young Greenlander, The American (Protestant in the ser'l)ice of the collective Episcopal) Church Institute for Negroes reports valuable work body. Under this law it will be during 1933. impossible for any evangelical In spite of drastically reduced income, the Institute, which maintains school to continue. However, nine church schools for Negroes, has succeeded in paying every dollar there are no limitations put upon promised its teachers and other employees, and in discharging all finan- the distribution of Bibles or cial obligations of every kind incurred for the maintenance of the schools. tracts. There is also liberty to The total enrolment in the Institute's schools, which are to be found in teach children and adults in North and South Carolina, Virginia, church buildings. This opens be- fore the evangelical churches of Mexico an effectual opportunity to Christianize the rural masses which are at the base of the na- tion's life. -Missions.
One Man's Effort pel message. A petition signed it; I will strive to make it every- by men in ten Quicha villages where and always impossible." Here is the result of a Baptist begs for instruction in Chrisveterinary surgeon moving into tianity. An Australian mission- -The Christian Century. the town of Banes, Cuba. A ary, who visited them reports: new church with 65 charter Revival in France members was organized in this The Indians came in to end their city of 15,000. The veterinarian quarrels over land, and to give each A group of pastors in the dedicates a part of his income the right of neighborly good will. valley of the Drome, southern to rent a gospel hall and con- Fifty or sixty women and children sat France, are leading a revival ducts the services. Once a month on the ground, and standing round throughout the whole country. a Cuban pastor visits them. The them, in ranks four to five deep, were While the Protestant population achievement was without finan- the men. Nothing could exceed their of France is only two per cent, cial help from the Baptist Home eagerness in listening. Then they pre- there has been going on in that Mission Society – an organiza- sented a paper, written by Marcelino country for some years a movetion which supports four mis- Quespi, the one baptized Indian in the ment comparable to the Welsh sionary pastors. village and signed by forty-two men. revival. The Drome is an old In this they declared their united pur- Huguenot country, and the "good – WatchrJW,n-Examiner. pose to obey the teaching of the Lord seed" has been thoroughly sown Jesus Christ." through this region. Led by their Salvation on Devil's Island pastors in repentance, confession -So S. Times. and reconsecration, the congre- The French Government has gations followed, and a great inpermitted the Salvation Army to EUROPE crease in spirituality was noted, carryon Gospel work among the first in the lives of individual French criminal deportees of William Carey Centenary pastors and then in their flocks. Devil's Island, which is off the Conversions have followed in east coast of French Guiana. The 100th anniversary of the every village save one where this The Scottish Bible Society has death of William Carey was re- group has conducted meetings. recently sent 500 New Testa- cently commemorated in many Church attendance has doubled ments and 3,000 Gospels to the villages of England. At Moul- in many places, sometimes inisland. ton, where he was a pastor for creasing fivefold. Among the four years, two bells were added Christians there has been a re- Another "Christ of the Andes" to the parish church, one of them vival in spiritual life, in prayer, bearing his name and the other and in Bible study. Another statue similar to the the heads of his famous sermon. famous "Christ of the Andes," In other places where he had -Alliance Weekly. is being erected high in the dreamed his great dream "Carey mountains of South America on Sunday" was observed. This German Evangelicals Seek Aid the boundary line between Chile learned cobbler missionary masand Peru. The original statue tered thirty languages in India, The Protestant churches of of bronze stands 26 feet high on and superintended the transla- the world, represented at the ana granite pillar ~n the border tion of the Bible into all of them. nual meeting of the Universal between Chile and the Argentine He wrote grammars and diction- Christian Council in Fano, Den- Republic. Here it was placed 30 aries of these languages. He mark, were requested to send a years ago to mark the peaceful also farmed, ran an indigo plant, special emissary to reside in settlement of a boundary dispute built a printing press, estab- Germany for a few months. This that had disturbed the relations lished schools and colleges, evan- represents the desire of insurof the two countries for more gelized, visited the sick, and as gent orthodox German pastors than half a century. The new pastime, engaged in botanical to have a spokesman for the rest statue will commemorate the end research. of Protestant Christianity on the of strained relations between scene to help resist Reichsbishop Chile and Peru that began with Manifesto Against War Ludwig Mueller's determination the war of 1870 and ended in to place the entire German 1929 with an arbitration in The Christian pacifist groups church under the yoke of his which the United States had an of the British Isles, under the swastika dictatorship. important part. – Methodist chairmanship of Canon Raven Protestant Recorder. and Rev. Henry Carter, have is- Accompanying this proposal sued a manifesto, which con- will be one that all churches that Indians Respond in Peru cludes: are members of the Council di- rect their clergy to read from The Melbourne, Australia, Bi- We dare not go on pretending that the pUlpit periodically a report ble Institute, with a student body the ways of war are the ways or the on the condition of Protestantof 80, and the Perth, Australia, Father of all men. Nor dare we any ism in the fatherland of the Ref- Bible Institute have sent mis- longer tolerate the continuance of po- ormation. The press will be resionaries to Bolivia, where In- litical systems that, leading inevitably quested to give more publicity dians are responding to the Gos- to war, frustrate the will of God. A to the Reichsbishop's persecu- world that in its governments flouts tion of his opponents. God is blindly preparing for itself disaster ….. Each of us is bound in loyalty to say: "Because war is against the character and purpose of God, I will not only take no part in
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Children in Spain pressure of the times required the converts number more than three giving more self-government to hundred, including two village chiefs The new government in Spain the native churches. There was -the first Gbari chiefs to confess tries especially to take care of much discussion of the financial Christ. Seed sowing in this southernchildren where the mortality un- stress (which was not caused most part has been done mostly by der one year of age had reached merely by the economic pressure converts visiting near-by villages, and 115 per thousand as compared of the times, but even more seri- in the space of a few weeks the 'Jesus with 70 in other countries of ously by the religious agitations ~ews' has spread and the people have Europe. In Madrid alone there which were unsettling the faith Joyfully responded. The converts inwere over 1,000 children street of Christian people). On the clude several very old men. In the beggars and in other cities the background of the trends in na- town farthest south, a young man percentage was little better. The tional thinking, the strain be- heard there were Christians in places government has now increased tween nationalism and the world to the north and came to Karu (a the number of public schools by wide nature of missions, received round trip of about 250 miles), to 7,000 in its fight against illit- an unusual amount of attention. find out if the Jesus news was true. eracy, and plans to add 5,000 It was agreed that un-christian He joyfully accepted Christ, and his yearly until there shall be 27,000 and unbiblical things must be whole village, including his father new schools. excluded as much as at all pos- who is the chief, have now turned to sible, but that the nationalistic ~he Lord. Two villages recently joined Lutherans in Denmark and racial tendencies are to be III one group, and spent the whole more fully considered in the night singing hymns. Denmark's established religion building of new churches. is the Lutheran. The national Love's LaboT Not Lost church, or iolkkyrkan, has over AFRICA 3,000,000 members, or about 98 Rev. Daniel Hastings, misper cent of the population. The The Bible or Death sionary of the American Board s~ate church has 2,393 congrega- in Bailundo, writes of seeing tIOns, 1,276 parishes, 90 dis- The Bible Society Record tells 4,000 people worshipping totricts, 1,564 ministers. of a robber chief in Egypt who gether; most of them first gen- stole a Bible from a colporter. eration Christians. A new church Other adherents numbered 67,- No Moslem could read it to him. was needed, and a call was sent 459, according to the census of At last he heard of a Copt who out to every adult Christian 1921, distributed as follows: could read it, and, throwing the church member to give four Book into the Copt's lap the rob- days' labor. This meant 11,000 Roman Catholics …….. 22,137 ber commanded him to read it people giving four days' work Greek Catholics ……… 535 to him. each – more than was needed, Methodists ………….. 4,858 but since all wished to help, they Baptists ……………. 6,989 "Oh, no, I cannot." were given that privilege. Adventists ………….. 2,622 "Why not?" Quakers……………. 13 "The Coptic priest would ex- In the Quipeio division, 100 Followers of Zwingli ….. 3,459 communicate me." miles from Bailundo, 75 new Reformed …………… 1,164 The robber chief brandished members have been received, and Anglicans. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 409 his club, and bade the man take after a series of conferences in Unitarians ………….. 195 his choice, to be excommunicated Omungo, 124 new members. Other Protestant Churches 1 762 or killed. So the Copt read. The Other Christian Churches '196 robber became interested, sought -Missionary Herald. Mormons …………… 487 out missionaries, and later was Jews ………………. 5,947 converted to Christ. Calling his Open Door in the Congo Otper Religious Faiths .. 3,942 robber band together he said: WIthout Any Designation 12,744 "I have always dealt squarely A medical school of the Eng- with you. Don't be afraid I will lish Baptists at Yakusu, turns -Lutheran News Service. squeal on you. But from now out boys who can stand up to on I don't know you, and you an hour's oral medical examina- Continental Conference don't know me." He became a tion in French by two visiting Christian elder, and helped to government doctors, and come This conference which was build a Christian church. through with 80 per cent. There founded in 1866 met this year are now 15 Christian boys in in Bremen. There were 70 rep- In Southern Nigeria training, and six have already resentatives of 35 mission so- gone out with the school's dicieties. They came from seven A spiritual awakening among ploma. Dr. Clement Chesterton, states of the European continent the Gbari tribe in Southern Ni- who has devoted several years and represented a total of 2,500 geria is noted in the Moody to building and equipping this missionaries. All reported finan- Bible Institute Monthly. Mr. hospital and school, has now cial difficulties; all were deter- Oliver, of the Sudan Interior been asked to organize complete mined to carryon, in spite of mission, .says: and regular visitation of two hindrances caused by the· active provinces, all traveling expenses encroachments of Islam, the in- A great advance has extended to being paid by the government. creasing propaganda of Rome the banks of the Niger River, and He writes: and the irresistible advance of Western culture. All reported Weare to arrange for treatment that doors were wide open every- of the sick, by erection, equipment where; but that the increasing and staffing of village dispensaries such as we already have in operation.
Organization and discipline of the WESTERN ASIA INDIA, BURMA, SIAM staff are to be entirely in our hands. Then and Now We have already accepted half the Turkey's Educational Advance area offered, and shall be receiving In spaking of the changes in from the government about £600 in According to the 1927 census, India, Canon Holland says: "I cash per annum and £4,000 worth of only 10 per cent of the Turkish cannot help but contrast the drugs. This means the sole provision population could read. At pres- series of meetings held by E. of medical aid to over 150,000 in- Stanley Jones with the series I habitants in an area of over 10,000 ent it is estimated that half the arranged for John R. Mott 25 square miles. people are literate. This prog- years ago. He spoke to that au- ress is chiefly due to evening dience for three nights and dared -So S. Times. schools for adults, introduced not mention the name of Jesus Why Change the Class Hour? four years ago. Education in Christ until the fourth night, the army has done much to di- Two women in Nairobi, East minish illiteracy. Primary edu- and when he did the whole meet- Africa, who come in from the cation is obligatory, and many ing broke up in confusion; the country every week to attend a a Turkish village school com- leading Hindus stalked out. The class in an English mission in pares quite well with similar in- East Africa asked recently if name of Jesus Christ stood for the class might begin and end stitutions in Western countries. everything that they hated. Now one hour earlier. The reason they Education is free of charge and gave was that the lions along even in government boarding you begin with the name of the way were getting trouble- Christ as your first word; you some, and even before sunset schools no fee for the mainte- nance is made. interpret Him for them in the light of their need; they sit here were prowling the roads. The Press in Persia night after night and want more -The Living Church. of it; I am astonished at the Livingstone Enshrined Political propaganda, espe- difference." cialy that of a communist type, – Watchman-Examiner. Overlooking the great cataract, has led the Persian Government Interest or Conversion? to issue strict rules as to the which he was the first European publishing and importing of lit- An Indian Christian who gradto see, a statue to David Living- erature. For a time no religious uated from St. Augustin's Colstone was unveiled on August 5, pUblication of any kind was per- lege, Canterbury, writes from 1934, on the brink of Victoria mitted in Persia, but permission Madras: was finally secured to publish a "Since my return to India and Falls. The ceremonies were pamphlet on Bible study by Dr. being in the thick of it, I have Robert P. Wilder. This is the become strongly convinced that broadcast to hundreds of thou- first formal recognition of the sands of listeners in Africa, right of the Persian Church to this is no time to draw attention publish literature in Persian for to what is good and noble in England and America. Former its own nurture-a milestone in Hinduism, but to emphasize the Premier H. U. Moffatt of South- the progress of religious liberty. A Christian dervish, Mansoor fundamental difference between ern Rhodesia unveiled the me- Sang, has kept up his great work our philosophy and theirs. The of scattering literature in outmorial in the presence of the of-the-way places, and the steady former method doe s make use of books and tracts by indi- friends for Christianity, particlargest crowd ever assembled at viduals continues.-Intermission Literature Committee of Persia. ularly among the Nationalistthe falls. The statue is so near minded youth of the country, but Persecutions in Turkestan we simply are not getting conthe thundering water that it will The Swedish Mission in Chi- verts. There is friendly curibe covered by spray during the nese Turkestan, which works osity, but not conviction of sin rainy season. The voice of the among Chinese and Moslems and or the need of a Saviour. The Premier was almost drowned in has its field of labor next to the heart still remains untouched the roar of the mightiest of mission of the Moravians in the and will remain untouched as cataracts as he said (in part: Himalayan country, has suffered long as we give the impression, "While Lincoln freed 4,000,000 inexpressibly through the col- however unwittingly, that one slaves in North America by a lapse of the Chinese rule in those religion is as good as another; stroke of the pen, David Living- that is to say, that Christianity stone in Africa struck at the at the most is only a crown and roots of the evil by exposing to fulfilment of Hinduism, and not the world the horrors of trade something essentially and radiin human beings, and he may cally dissimilar ….. The results well have saved an equal number."
This fitting tribute to one of the greatest of modern mission- parts. According to travelers of making a compromise with aries will immortalize for generations to come the life which and fugitives the mission has paganism are all too apparent brought the Light of the world been almost exterminated and and healing to Africa. many native Christians have in this area among Roman Cath- been cruelly put to death on ac- olics who are losing converts by – World Call. count of their faith. the hundred on the question of caste."-The Living Church.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Progress in Morals years has swelled the number of A Look at Burma Christians from about 10,000 to Under the Bombay Children's 90,~00. The dynamic principle Seven different languages are Act of 1924, 75 destitute children were rescued in 1933 and WhICh has contributed to the re- used by the Methodist Church in ~ent to the new Children's Home sult is expressed in the motto of m Umkerkhadi. In two cases the Medak Boy Scouts: "A clean its work in Burma. There is at the children were rescued from h~art, ~, clean home, and a clean prostitutes' houses. Under the vIllage. Some years ago a Hin- le~st one organized congregation ~ombay Prevention of Prostitu- du shopkeeper had been drawn tion Act of 1923, there were 196 t~ Christ by a piece of paper in wIth a regularly appointed pascase.s dealt .with according to hIS waste paper basket that con- ~ectIon 3 WhICh refers to solicit- tained the words "Blessed are tor for each language group. The mg. Of these, 195 resulted in the pure in heart,' for they shall cor;viction and only one in ac- census shows that there are q~Ittal; 28 cases were also dealt see God." When he heard that wIth under ~ection 5 for living it came from the Gospel of St. about 14,600,000 people in Buron the earnmgs of prostitutes, Matt~ew he bought a copy and and of these, 19 ended in con- read It through. Finding there ma, of whom about 10,000,000 viction, five in acquittal and four cases are still pending. These were other similar books in what are Burmans; but of the 33ce1~0s0u0s facts show that while the new was called the New Testament Christians listed in the laws to purify Bombay city op- he bought and read them all, and er~te .slowly, yet they are surely t~en ~sked the searching que~ report for 1931, only about 11 – brmgmg about a purer Bombay ~IOn, . Are .there any people livand are rescuing India's young mg.lt~e thts Book?" Becoming 000 Burmans are numbered. ' people from the grip of vice. a dIscIple of Jesus he did volun- tary Christian work so well that The Chinese-Indian District -Dnyanodaya. he was set apart for the min- combines in one administrative Sarda Act Evaded istry, and when he was ordained unit five language sections of There is g row i n g concern he preached for his ordination throughout India over the way sermon from the very text that ~or~ among Chinese and Indian the "Sarda Act" of 1929 (for ~ad led hi.m to Jesus, impress- ImmIgrants. t~e prevention of child mar- mg the Hmdus who heard him r~ages) has been systematically by his message on the clean The educational program is clrc.umvented. During the brief perIOd between the passing of heart 3;s the only remedy where- varied, racially. About 3 200 tth~eousAacntdsanodf Iintds iaennfuonrdceerm-eangt~ by IndIa can gain that vision of gIrls. were married, with the boys and girls have been redeivconmvance of Hindu priests. God which is India's goal. Money penalties were so light as -Dnyanodaya. ing Christian education in a systo be considered merely as an additional dowry. Women's con- tem of schools ranging all the ferences all over India are now resolved to create a healthier ,":ay from small, unregistered public opinion. While other religionists are not guiltless, vIlI~ge schools to high schools among the greatest culprits in the matter are the orthodox Hin- WhICh prepare candidates for dus. At a recent Sarda Conference, resolutions were passed university entrance. to the effect that marriages should be null and void that are -Christian Advocate. contracted in contravention of existing laws, that district mag- The Church in Dornakal Winning a Hold in Burma istrates should be empowered to prevent such marriages, and At a meeting of the Andhra .E.. Carroll Condict, Baptist that the age of consent should mIssIOnary dentist, writes that be raised.-Dnyanodaya. Christian Council it was shown he extracted 78 teeth for Bur- ~ans, Chinese and Indians dur- Living the Gospel that .there were 25,000,000 peo- mg a seven-hour visit at Kama. He feels that in no other way Methodist work in the Nizam's ple m the Madras Presidency could he have done so much to dominions during the past 25 prepare ~he way for the Gospel, and the Nizam's Dominions. Of and that It was a splendid object lesson in helping others. He re- these 818,699 nuarmebeCr hwreisrteiaRnos~' p.ort~ a movement toward Chris- 85,760 of this tlamty among Southern Chins. The 372 baptisms in 1933 was a man Catholics, i. e., about four- d?zen m.ore than double the pre- YIOUS hIghest number baptized teen per cent. The growth during m a year, which 'was 180 in 1932.-Burma News. the decade in the Christian com- munity in the Telugu districts w.as fifty-two per cent as against Another Boon Itt nmeteen per cent only in the non-Telugu dis t ric t s. The One of the results of the for- growth in the Madras – Telugu ~ati?n of the Church of Christ districts during the last forty m Slam was the withdrawal of years may be shown thus: m.issionaries from the city of No. of Christians: Pltsanuloke, 250 miles north of 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 B~ngkok. The name of Boon Itt 136,122 288,689 348,604 455,766 693,692 Percentage wIll always be associated with of increase 112% 21% 31% 52% the founding of Christian work Chr:istians have increased five- in this city in 1897. He was the fold smce 1891. The increase in the Hyderabad State during the first Siamese to study abroad last ten years was 142 per cent. and return to his own land for -C. M. S. Outlook. Christian work. He died in a1f9t0er4~ from cholera. Not long
ward the Boon Itt Memorial In- year-has just reached maturi- The services of Buddhists and stitute was founded and served ty, so to speak. Its growth has Taoist priests shall be dispensed with. as a center for young men until been slow but steady, a growth taken over by the Y. M. C. A. with a great purpose always in All superstitions in connection with Today there is another Boon Itt the foreground, that of giving the funeral shall be disregarded. his son, at Pitsanuloke. Dr. S: aid both spiritual and physical B. Boon Itt is a graduate of to those afflicted with leprosy. Finally the hope is expressed "that Silliman Institute and the Uni- all . farsighted people can combine versity of the Philippines. For On January 29th, the anni- theIr efforts to break down extravaseveral years he has had an im- versary celebrations took place. gant customs." portant government position in Foreigners, officials, 1e a din g Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. He merchants, church members, stu- Flood and Drought Losses has now resigned to take charge dents, all who could make the of the mission hospital at Pit- trip to the islands were invited. An official report represents sanuloke with the aim of making H. E. the Lord Lieutenant of it self-supporting. No mission Bayab Circle was the principal China's flood and drought losses doctor has been resident for sev- speaker. It was His Excellency's eral years, and the need is great. father who was largely instru- as in excess otwf o$-1th,0i0rd0,s00o0f,0t0h0~ That the son of the founder of mental in securing the island site and covering Christian work there should join for its present use, and it was with other national leaders in his father who opened the first nation's area. The drought has an all-Siamese program is a permanent buildings in 1913. hopeful sign that the new church affected 343 counties in four- CHINA will succeed. teen provinces; the floods 112 -The Christian Century. A Needed Reform counties in thirteen provinces, Paul Whang, an observing Ch~nese with a Yale background, and the locusts 68 counties in belIeves that one of the principal causes of poverty among his eight provinces. countrymen is due to the enor- mous sums they expend on mar- It is believed the death list in riages and funerals. He calls this "atrocious improvidence." Antung exceeds 600, most of In Shanghai it is common for $20,000 (Mex) to be spent on a these being Chinese in the poor- single wedding or funeral. In marriage it is the fashion that er section of the town. Prob- spacious halls must be rented for the occasion, dinners of no less ably 30,000 persons are home- than thirty courses must be given, and noted actors and ac- less. The Manchukuo Govern- tresses must be engaged to en- Getting Into Operation tertain the guests. ment has rushed aid to the area.
In the first General Assembly "In case of a funeral a costly -New York Times. native or imported coffin must be of Siam's National Christian procured for the deceased, and Opium Problem Again Church, representation was not a long procession, with the parconfined to church officers; there ticipation of hundreds of Bud- The National Christian Counwere women delegates, teachers dhists and Taoists and other par- cil has recently appointed a comand evangelists. While the newly aphernalia, must parade through mittee on narcotics in order to organized church is of Presby- as many busy thoroughfares as find out what the Church can do terian background regarding or- police permit. with regard to China's rapidly ganization and doctrine, groups growing drug menace. State that had other forms of baptism An Association for Marriage monopoly in Manchukuo and the are to follow their own custom. Reform has adopted a number emergence of clandestine fac- Three major standing commit- of regulations, among them: tories in China present a new tees were formed-Evangelistic phase of the problem. A Chris- Educational and Medical, and That all wedding gifts and dowries tian conference held in Manthese in turn were subdivided to of the bride must be Chinese native churia decided to get in touch embrace every phase of activity. goods. with the Japanese churches to see what could be done about the The churches are grouped into That banquets given on the wedding uncontrolled nature of the traffic day shall not exceed $4 for each table. in that territory. Since the narseven districts, or presbyteries, cotic traffic in China is now so six according to geographical di- That no wedding gift shall exceed largely involved with militaristic vision and the seventh consisting the value of $1. interests, what was once mainly of Chinese churches and groups a moral problem for the church wherever they may be. They are In regard to funerals it is proposed is now an intricate political that: problem.-Christian Century. as follows: The cost of the coffin shall not be Chiengmai Province; Chiengrai and more than $200.
Lampang; Nan and Prae; Pitsanu- loke and Bangkok; Nakawn PSrraittoammae~ Bible Discussion Group Ratburi and Petchaburi; Rev. Lyman V. Cady, of Cherat and Trang; the Chinese churches. 100 School of Theology, writes in the Missionary Herald of a General Assembly is to meet Bible discussion group formed once in three years, with ad in- largely from the faculty of the terim business assigned to a new 1y organized Shantung Provincial Medical School. On council of fourteen members. that faculty are two Christian -Siam Outlook. doctors, one of whom especially was an eager witness to his Leper Home Silver Anniversary Chiengmai Leper Asylum has just passed its twenty-fifth
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
faith. Mr. Cady, who was asked of Christ in China. Over 50 per planation of the origin of all war to lead the discussion, writes: cent of the Shensi church mem- and human strife. This is that bers were found to be illiterate, most human beings eat meat of Dr. Chow, whose daily Christian the percentage of learners un- one kind or another. This necesliving, charming persol1ality, and able to read being as high as 75 sitates the killing of the animal Christian enthusiasm had outworn all per cent. It was thereupon eaten. After death, the soul of derision and criticism of his col- agreed that the first essential the slain animal is born again in leagues, had brought the president of was to organize literacy classes, a human body; but the soul the college, the dean of studies, four to require that the voluntary su- maintains its hatred of the huother faculty members, and a number perintendent and teacher should man that killed its former incarof nurses and students. We talked be found locally; students to pay nation, and in the body of the freely, had typically skeptical Confu- for their own books and writing human it seeks revenge for the cian reactions to spiritual things, and materials; and a suitable build- past wrong. Thence comes all the reflection of Western materialistic ing, with tables, forms, a black- human strife, bitterness and scientific training which these men board and chalk, to be provided hatred into the world. To beg had been through; yet there was locally. For each class conform- forgiveness for having eaten an open-mindedness, and a readiness ing with the above regulations meat is thus to ask mercy at havfor discussion. a grant of $6 would be given. ing wittingly created hatred and strife. We have passed from the question Rev. A. Keith Bryan writes: of whether tqere is a God, to the MISCELLANEOUS closer and more personal one of "How From the way in which their eager Can I Know God?" Weare now com- faces lit up when we made known our Men and Missions Sunday ing to the heart of things in "Draw- proposal, it was evident that the suging Near to God in Jesus Christ." gestion met a real need, though in Sunday, November 18th, is rec- Each time we use our New Testa- some cases it was difficult to find a ommended for the observance of ments. Some teachers come from suitable building, and in others to find "Men and Missions Sunday," in other government schools; wives of persons willing to undertake this piece all churches. Last year this was faculty members; two trained agri- of service as teacher or superin- observed by Christian leaders culturists from Cheeloo Experimental tendent. In others there was fear in 837 cities and towns. The Farm; two lawyers from the city. that the grant would be insufficient churches need some plan by The enthusiasm and the personal work to cover necessary expenses. Next to which the responsibility for the of Dr. Chow is the living center of the eager way in which those unable missionary task might be shoulthis whole enterprise, and he con- to read and write welcomed the idea, dered by the men of the church. tinues to draw men into our group. the most pleasing thing was the will- The women have a Women's Mis- ingness of some people to undertake sionary Society-but only where A Steady Growth this voluntary service. In a few cases exceptional leadership is avail- the difficulty was not to find a teacher, able is there a Men's Missionary In the Paotingfu field of the but to select a teacher from the five Society or club. American Board there are 90 or six people who were all eager and organized churches and 17 vil- willing to teach. A missionary-minded pastor lages which have regular wor- will not find it difficult to enlist ship services. An important The Buddhist View of War the cooperation of some of his phase of the work is the reli- laymen in planning for an apgious education in these village Chinese Buddhist seers and prc,priate service once a year. churches. Classes have been held the Lamaists have prophesied a An interdenominational commuin 87 of them this past year, world war of unprecedented pro- nity men's missionary supper with a total of 2,070 men and portions which is to break out may be arranged where the lay- 533 women enrolled. More than this year. Just now 108 Lama men of one church may encourthree quarters of that number monks are chanting prayers day age the men of other churches are under 30 yers of age. In the and night for 108 days that the or communions to take their Leaders Training classes 2'35 world may be saved from such a missionary obligation more serimen and 21 women were en- catastrophe. There are alto- ously. rolled. From these classes in- gether 170 monks, 60. of whom creasingly better material is are snatching brief periods of An attractive manual entitled found for the work in the local rest while the 108 continue their "The Hope of the Nations," has churches and classes. chanting. This is happening in been prepared by the Laymen's the chief Lama Temple of Pei- Missionary Movement, 19 South -Missionary Herald. ping. The ceremony is said to be LaSalle Street, Chicago, giving most impressive. The prayers suggestions and material which Mass Education in Shensi are being offered to bring man- will be of help to any who wish kind to cease their strife and to assist in this nation-wide pro- The Christian Church in Shensi hatred. They express repent- gram. has been stirred to attack the ance on behalf of humanity for literacy problem within its own having eaten meat, and promise Money, received and administered borders, and success has fol- never to do so again. The Pei- and distributed at the feet of Jesus, lowed the effort. A Shensi ping Chronicle gives an explana- becomes one of God's choicest channels Synod of Religious Education tion of this: "This rather pecul- of grace to myself and others.-An- Board was formed in 1933, to iar way of praying for peace drew Murray. coordinate the branches of reli- springs from the Buddhist exgious education already existing in Shensi, and to develop them along lines advocated by the General Assembly of the Church Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information The Other Half of Japan (A Rural pire. There is rich illustrative who was born in Baghdad near Perspective). By Edward M. Clark, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament material for ministers, class the very spot "where the last of Exegesis and Rural Evangelistic Problems in Chuo Theological Sem- teachers and friends of mis- the 'Abbasid Califs surrendered inary, Kobe, Japan. 198 pp. $1.50. Evangelical Press, Harrisburg, Pa. sions. Incidents of heroic Chris- to the Mongol conqueror." In six 1934. tian pioneers among the J apa- chapters we have the story of Here is a valuable piece of nese, facts revealing need be- Harun better known from the work. Dr. Clark's double appointment is an interesting one yond any thought of casual Arabian Nights than from the and the book reveals both aspects of his interest. A typical American Christians, plans for historic sources on which this bisentence on page 73 refers to "the full Gospel, of which good approaching these great rural ography ought to have been health must be admitted to be part." In similar fashion Dr. areas, description of the Rural based. Clark warns us that "nothing is Community Parish, of which The author first sets the stage, to be gained by assuming too pronounced an attitude of sym- 1,000 are needed in Japan, and then portrays his hero in golden pathy with these fine old religions. They are fine and they a score more of vital matters' prime, followed by the tragedy are old but they have not the dynamic which Jesus portrays have their place. Readers will of Barmak, a stain on his otherand which He alone can give learn many things in this book wise great career, and closes through faith. The prevalent superlative attitude of friendli- which they never knew before with an account of the aftermath ness toward the old religions seems to reveal either a lack of but need to know if they are to and retrospect. experimental knowledge of the help Japan most rationally. power and value of the Chris- S. M. ZWEMER. tion religion or little more than a book knowledge of the older re- The average farmer's family Chrisltian Missions and a New World ligions." Culture. By Archibald G. Baker. lives on 1,044 yen a year and a S vo. 321 pp. $2.00. Willett, In this definitely Christian yen is worth just now 30 cents mood, and with no harsh terms, Dr. Clark discusses the rural with normal value of 50 cents Clark & Co., Chicago. 1934. problem in Japan, using the factual material from the Japan American money. Dr. Clark This book is an attempt to volumes of the Laymen's Inquiry and many other documents proposes the "planting" of a ru- deal with a very real problemwhich authenticate or illustrate his theses. The Danish Folk ral group on a small plot of the relation between religion and Schools furnish a background for part of the discussion, but ground to maintain a full Chris- culture. It deals in particular stress is laid on Farmer's Gospel Schools for Japan. The tian witness, showing how farm with the relation between Chris- Harima Mission, a project under the eye of Dr. Clark him- life can be lived nobly, self-sup- tianity and a universal culture self, is a large begining of such a movement but it appears in porting, helpful, expressive of of the future. The volume conmany other sections of the Em- the total Gospel of our Lord. tains very interesting descrip- Foreign agencies, like missions, tive data of the psychological may become sponsors for these and historical forces which de- rural projects so long as they termine the relationship between need such aid. The whole scheme culture and religion, but it does involves a 40-year project, of not seem to us to deal basically which the first five years would with the true problem of either.
be preparative, the next five ex- Two main impressions are left pansive until at least 100 Par- upon the reflective reader after ishes are under way, followed by he has gone through these pages.
a 30-year continuous program. The first is the naIve lack of It appeals to the imagination realism in dealing with the cul- and to Christian common sense. tural problem; the second is the CLELAND B. McAFEE. strangely naIve affirmation of Harun Al Rashid. By H. St. J. B. religious naturalism. Philby, C. I. E. 159 pp.; 5. Pub- How extraordinary that a book lished by Peter Davies, Limited. like this could be written at a London. 1933. time when its underlying as- This remarkable little book is sumptions of an immanent law by the well-known explorer of of progress in human affairs, Arabia. It was written at Mecca and of the autonomy and self- and is dedicated to his daughter sufficiency of man, are being AllY of tile bools lloted in these colllmns will be sent by the I!,EVIEW publi~hers Qll receipt of prIce.
[494 ]
1934J OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
rudely challenged by contempo- against the affirmation of a cos- Yonan, was for some years rary events and thinkers. We mic Power, which is supremely professor in Urumia College, can detect in these papers no Process, stands a living God in Persia. audible echo of awareness that whose power all process is plas- tic. Above and beyond Jesus, Japanese Women Speak. By Michi something very revolutionary as the "center of reference" for Kawai and Ochimi Kubushiro. 12 has taken place in life and mo. 204 pp. Paper, 60 cents; cloth, thought during the last two an incomplete culture in search $1. The Central Committee on the decades. No one can adequately of an apex or a soul, stands United Study of Missions. Camface the problem of culture with- Jesus Christ, the center of his- bridge, Mass. 1934. out facing Albert Schweitzer's tory, the meaning of life, the This mission study book is in- tended also for collateral readcontention that in our time there Seeker and Saviour of men. J.A.M. ing. It is charmingly written by is no such thing as a true "cul- these two exceptional Japanese ture" which can be shared with The Belo,ved Physician of Teheran. Christian women. Miss Kawai anyone, because modern thought By Isaac Malek Yonan. Illus. 12 and life are informed by no is sometimes spoken of as "the mo. 117 pages. $1.00. Cokesbury greatest woman leader in Jagreat ethically signIficant idea. Press, Nashville. 1934.
A basic discussion of culture to- Here is a truly remarkable, pan," and Mrs. Kubushiro is at day cannot escape the reexami- and remarkably true story of a the forefront of all movements nation, whether to justify it or for helping girls and women. In reject it, of the whole conception Moslem Kurd of Persia who be- the course of the book more than of autonomous personality which came a great Christian physi- forty Christian Japanese women cian to his own countrymen. and their special work are deis the cultural ideal accepted in Sa'eed was the son of Mullah scribed in some detail. In addithis book. Moreover, in dealing Rassul, a devout Kurdish Mos- tion there are frequent lists lem of Sanneh, Persia. The boy which go into fewer particulars. with cross-fertilization and the was unusually bright and after It ought to be a reassurance to interchange of ideas, it becomes studying law and theology be- anyone regarding missions in necessary to take into account, came a priest and an approved general and the Christian move- ment in Japan in particular. what has been overlooked in this teacher at the age of fourteen. Just this time when the military book, that ideas have a much In two more years he was recog- forces in Japan are so much in more than academic or mild cul- nized as a brilliant and pious evidence it is refreshing to have tural value; they have, also, an Moslem theologian, a master of revealed the quieter but more uncanny demonic value, as Paul Persian classics and the Arabic enduring forces brought to sight grammar. so clearly. The book should re- Tillich would call it; a fact ceive a wide reading among both which is demonstrated in the Later he came into contact men and women. Much of the crusading movements of our with a humble Assyrian evan- social system of Japan has been gelist with whom he studied disturbed or destroyed; here are time. It is this demonic quality Syriac. This man's Christian life the women and the faith which of ideas which is apt to upset and character and his knowledge will establish a new system, usall the predictions of academic of the Bible and the Koran fi- ing all the values of the old but thinkers on culture and which nally led to Sa'eed's conversion. making it new in Christ. makes one smile sadly that in His life was often threatened this time, above all times, Chris- and he escaped to Hammadan C. B. McAFEE. tian missionaries should be where he studied medicine in the The Story of the Brethren Movement. asked to curb their euthusiasm mission hospital. The story of By Thomas Stewart Veitch. 8 vo. within the sedate frontiers of 108 pp. 28. 6d. Pickering and deliberation and so leave all per- his life is of thrilling interest. suasion to the apostles of the He became not only a highly new crusading faiths. honored physician but a great As to the question of the in- terpretation of religion and a Bible teacher and personal Inglis, London, Glasgow, Edinphilosophy of missions, it moves worker. His escapes from those burgh. 1933.
one to sadness to find such a who plotted his death were many The author describes his book shallow and passionless interpre- and remarkable but still more as "a simple and straightforward tation of Christianity as this wonderful was the way in which account of the features and failvolume contains. We submit that he won his enemies to Christ. ures of a sincere attempt to whatever may be the theological Today Dr. Sa'eed, Khan, is liv- carry out the principles of Scripinadequacy of the first four chap- ing in Teheran, 70 years old, ture during the last one hundred ters of the Laymen's Inquiry, honored by all and still active as years." It is the story of the they sprang out of a warm, ro- a Christian physician. Those Brethren who became known as mantic idealism-Neo-Hegelian, who think Moslems cannot be Plymouth Brethren because of if you like. This book brings converted, or that the age of the large early congregation out of a cold Chicago positivism, miracles is past, should read this which grew up in the city of to which the author strives to stirring story. It is a strength- Plymouth, England. The movebe loyal, but of whose essentially ener of Christian faith and a ment began with a little company superficial character we do not stimulant to more sacrificial of Christians in Dublin in 1825 believe he is fully aware. Over service. The author, Prof. Isaac who met together in unorganized
fellowship and worship on two Personal Items has been elected head of the Moody principles "the oneness of the Bible Institute, Chicago, to succeed Dr. Nicol MacNicol, who served Dr. James M. Gray who is 81 years of Body of Christ," "the absence of for many years in India, and was one age. Dr. Houghton is the first Bapa clerical caste in the New Testa- of the secretaries of the National tist to hold this position, although Christian Council, is to give a course many evangelical denominations are ment Scriptures, and the un- of lectures in the Kennedy School of included in the faculty and student scriptural character of the man- Missions, at Hartford, Connecticut, body. ordained ministry." during the present school year. The Rev. D*r. W* il*liam Decker, a It is tragic to read this story Dr. Alton L*. *Mi*ller, prominent widely known missionary serving in and to see how a movement Baptist layman of Boston, has been China, has been chosen to succeed the which began with such a prin- elected Chairman of the American Rev. James H. Franklin, of East Baptist Foreign Mission Society, suc- Orange, as Secretary of the Baptist ciple of unity should have de- ceeding Dr. H. J. White, of Phila- Foreign Missionary Society. Dr. veloped into one of the most delphia. Franklin has accepted the presidency of Crozier Theological Seminary. schismatical and fissiparous *** movements in history. Under New Books Darby, and the various separa- Rt. Rev. Heber J. Hamilton, retir- ing bishop of Mid-Japan and first The African Today. Diedrich Westertions and excommunications of Canadian missionary bishop in Japan, mann. 343 pp. $3. Oxford Unithe "Exclusive Brethren," rup- has given 42 years of service. He has versity Press. New York. returned to Canada. ture followed rupture until in Administering the Young People's later years there were solitary *** Deparment of the Local Church. Brethren who could fellowship Cecil Daniel Smith. 219 pp. 85 Dr. and Mrs. Silas F. Johnson for cents. Pilgrim Press. Boston. with no other Brethren. forty years missionaries in the Cam- Well would it be if this book eroun country, West Africa, have re- The New Chain Reference Bible. cently been honorably retired by the Compiled and Edited by Frank were read by all of our present- Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- Charles Thompson. Illustrated. day groups who disfellowship sions and have returned to America. Kirkbride Bible Co. Indianapolis. Their daughter, Mrs. Joseph McNeill and denounce as unsound in the continues in service in West Africa. Check Book of the Bank of Faith. faith all other Christians who do Dr. Johnson has done remarkable Charles H. Spurgeon. 170 pp. $1. not agree with them. medical work in Africa and he and his Baptist Sunday School Board. wife have ministered to many thou- Nashville. Mr. Veitch quotes with ap- sands with the Gospel. They are proval, as the lesson taught by greatly beloved by the Africans. Education of Primitive People. Al- bert D. Helser. 316 pp. $3. Revell. the Brethren's history of the *** New York. Standards of the Relief Church of Scotland (alas, a dissenting Dr. E. J. Pace, the Christian car- The Great Commission. Henry W. toonist, has been in England since the Frost. 47 pp. 25 cents. China In- Church) two hundred years ago: middle of June and on October first land Mission. Philadelphia. plans to leave for the continent of On the subject of communion, it is Europe to meet engagements in Insights into Modern Hinduism. of importance to inquire whose table France and Belgium. In December Schermerhorn Lectures No.2. the sacramental table is? This is a he expects to sail from Marseilles to Hervey DeWitt Griswold. $2. 284 question so plain that a child of eight Casablanca, Morocco, from thence pp. Holt. New York. years old could answer it, and yet its traveling to West Africa, the Sudan, import is unknown to thousands ar- Belgian Congo and South Africa. Japan and Her People. Ethel M. rived at the state of manhood. It is Later he expects to spend some months Hughes. 145 pp. $1.00 cloth; 60 in India and French, Indo China, the cents paper. Friendship Press. m.ean, unworthy prostitution 0/ this Philippines, China and Japan. New York.
Table to call it the tale of a party. *** Japanese Here and There. Margaret It is the Lord's Table. For',whom is E. Forsyth and Ursul R. Moran. the Table covered by the generous Bishop Hiram Hulse, since 1915 the $1.00 cloth; 75 cents paper. Friend- Entertainer? Is it covered for Burgh- representative of the Protestant Epis- ship Press. New York. er or Antiburgher? for Church peo- copal Church in Cuba, was one of the ple or for Relief people? for Inde- survivors of the terrible tragedy of Japanese Boys and Girls. Based on pendents or Episcopalians as such? the Ward Liner Morro Castle, on Sep- "Friends of Nippon." Handbook No. For whom then? For the chil- tember 8th, off the coast of New Jer- for Leaders of Junior Groups. Inaaren of God, not as they belong to any sey. With Mrs. Hulse he was return- belle G. Coleman. 26 pp. 10 cents. particula,r denomination of professors, ing from Cuba when the vessel took Sunday School Board, Southern but as they are His children in reality fire, causing the death of 156 pas- Baptist Convention. Nashville. and rnppear to be so by their deport- sengers and members of the crew. ment. It is the most daring presumJp- Bishop and Mrs. Hulse were rescued Kingdom Come. Hugh Redwood. 128 tion in any to deny the children's from the water, not seriously injured pp. $1. Revell. New York. bread to the children of God. but deeply affected by their expe- rience. Kagawa in the Philippines. Friends Yes, or to break the Body of of Jesus Library No.4. 90 pp. 25 *** cents. Can be obtained from Galen Christ or usurp authority as the M. Fisher. Pleasantville, N. Y. Evangeline Booth, daughter of sole arbiters of sound doctrine. General William Booth, has been Our Priceless He~itage. A Study of elected General of the Salvation Christian Doctrine in Contrast with The Bible belongs to all Chris- Army. She thus succeeds her father, Romanism. Henry W. Woods. 204 her brother, Bramwell Booth, and the pp. $1.50. Marshall, Morgan & tians, and no man, but the Holy recent commander, General Higgins. Scott. London. Miss Booth will leave America, where Spirit alone, is its authoritative she has been Commander of the Army Suppressing Communist Banditry in in the United States, and will make China. "China Today" Series. interpreter. R. E. S. her headquarters in London.
NOTE:-The Institute of Social and Dr. Will Ho*ugh*ton*, pastor of the Religious Research has transferred their list of publications (33 active Calvary Baptist Church, New York, titles) to Harper & Brothers, New York.
by T'Ang Leang-Ii. 110 pp. 40 Cents MARSHALL'S 40
$1.50. China United Press. Shang- hai. MISSIONARY STORIES The Translated Bible. O. M. Orlie, for BOYS and GIRLS Editor. 222 pp. $1. United Lu- theran Pub. House. Philadelphia. Each book contains three stories of intrepid Missionary adventure and the undaunted self- The World Mission of the Christian sacrifice of pioneers, attractively written for Religion. Wade Crawford Barclay. young readers. Beautifully produced, printed 301 pp. $1.25. Gokesbury Press. on antique wove paper, and profusely illus- Nashville. trated with colored Frontispiece, half-tone plates on art paper and line drawings. The Why God Became Man. P. B. Fitz- jackets have been specially drawn by John F. water. 79 pp. 60 cents. B. I. C. Campbell and each represents a scene from the Assn. Chicago. life of the Missionary reproduced in full color. Attractively bound in illustrated full cloth Southern Baptist Handbook – 1934. boards. A splendid series of Reward Books. E. P. Alldredge. 414 pp. 50 cents. Southern B apt i s t Convention. ".•. brightly written … substantially bound … we unreservedly com- Nashville. mend these books for Sunday-school libraries."-Baptist Times.
On Five Continents. 97th Annual "Sunday-school workers will nnd them invaluable."-New Chronicle. Report, Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Chureh, U. S. A. 94 Heroes of the Cross Series ONE pp. 25 cents. New York. DAVID LIVINGSTONE : ROBERT MOFFAT APOLO & THE PYGMIES The Japan Christian Year Book- 1934. $1.75. Committee of Refer- Heroes of the Cross Series TWO ence & Counsel. New York. PANDITA RAMABAI : : : MARY SLESSOR The Beloved Physician of Teheran. Isaac Malik Yonan. $1.00. 117 pp. RASALAMA & HEROES IN MADAGASCAR Cokesbury Press. Nashville. Heroes of the Cross Series THREE Biblical Backgrounds. J. McKee Adams. $3.75. 482 pp. Baptist S. WILLIAM BURNS GILMOUR OF MONGOLIA HUDSON TAYLOR S. Board. Nashville. Heroes of the Cross Series FOUR The Bible at the Bar. W. M. Robert- son. 18. Pickering & Inglis. Lon- JOHN WILLIAMS JAMES CHALMERS ABEL OF KWATO don. Heroes of the Cross Series FIVE The Bible and Evolution. H. R. Kin- dersley. 32 pp. Marshall, Morgan JAMES HANNINGTON : : MACKAY OF UGANDA & Scott. London. AGGREY: THE AFRICAN TEACHER Chinese Ethical Ideals. Frank Raw- linson. 122 pp. College of Chinese Heroes of the Cross Series SIX Studies. Peiping. DR. FREDERICK BAEDEKER : : HORACE UNDERWOOD Church Unity Movements in the United States. H. Paul Douglass. ARTHUR NEVE OF KASHMIR 576 pp. $3.00. Institute of Social and ReIigious Research. New York. Heroes of the Cross Series SEVEN Experiences in Witnessing for DAVID BRAINERD : : : DR. WILFRED GRENFELL Christ. George Irving. 52 pp. 50 cents. Association Press. New McCULLAGH AND THE RED INDIANS York. Heroes of the Cross Series EIGHT Escape from the Soviets. Tatiana Tchernovin. 320 pp. Dutton. New DAVID HILL : SAMUEL POLLARD : DR. APRICOT OF "HEAVEN BELOW" York. Colored Wrappers! Illustrated Cloth Bindings! "Eye to Aye." Paul H. Graef. 127 pp. $1.00. Christian and Mission- Colored Frontispiece! Four Pages of Photographs! ary Alliance. New York. Numerous Black and White Illustrations! A History of Religion. Herbert H. Gowan. 698 pp. $3.50. Morehouse for PRIZES……finest value obtainable Pub. Co. Milwaukee. "Lovely books-exciting adventures-thrilling tales."-Methodist Times. India's Social Heritage. L. S. S. O'Malley. $2.00. 194 pp. Oxford MARSHALL, MORGAN & SCOTT, LTD. University Press. New York. London and Edinburgh Liang A-Fa, China's First Preacher. Agents for the United States: Geo. Hunter McNeur. 126 pp. 75 THE ZONDERVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE cents. Kwang. Hsiih Pub. House. 543 Eastern Avenue, S. E., Grand Rapids, Michigan, U. S. ~ Shanghai.
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Paul, His Heritage and His Legacy. Kirsopp Lake. $2.00. 153 pp. Ox- ford University Press. New York.
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LONDON TIMES says: "First as a missionary teacher, then as a companion to the mar-
tyred Chalmers, then as director of the mission station Abel spent forty years in transforming cannibals into Christians."
CHARLES W. ABEL of KWATO By RUSSELL W. ABEL THE RELIGIOUS BOOK CLUB BULLETIN says: "The story of thrilling life in a little- known corner of the world. Abel was known in the United States as well as in England. His life, strangely and tragically enough, was terminated by a motor accident, in quiet England, but the story of his astonishing and peculiarly successful career will travel the roads of the world for years to come." Illustrated, $2.00 EDUCATIONof PRIMITIVE PEOPLE BACK OF THE MOUNTAIN By ALBERT D. HELSER By MARY BREWSTER HOLLISTER A revelation of what education among a primitive people The author of "Mai-Dee of the Mountains" has given us essentially is. Becoming one of the community, sharing the another engrossing and informative story of child-life in life of the people, respecting their traditions and their ways China and the effect of missionary influence upon it. A of working, the author helps them to help themselves. Any- book of real value and genuine interest for missionary gath- one interested in getting a glimpse of African mission-work erings, reading circles and affiliated spheres. $1.25 today will be delighted with this book. Introduction by Prof. Mabel Carney. $3.00 N,EW BIBLE EVIDENCE A JAPANESE GRANDMOTHER By SIR CHARLES MARSTON, F.S.A.
By EMMA G. LIPPARD From the 1925-1933 Excavations The author of this attractive and informative little volume "Christians everywhere ought to read Sir Charles Marsis the wife of Dr. C. K. Lippard, who, for more than thirtythree years, has labored as a foreign missionary in Japan. ton's book. It is a deep mine of rich lore . . . contains Mrs. Lippard portrays everyday existence as it obtains among many facts which corroborate the truth of the Bible, and upper middle-class people in the Island Empire. Illustrated, Boards, 75c confute the vagaries and inventions of unbelief, which should be widely known."-S. S. Times. Illustrated, $2.00 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 158 Fifth Ave., New York AT ALL BOOKSELLERS DO NOT MISS THE MOSLEM WORLD SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, Editor SOME ARTICLES IN THE OCTOBER NUMBER: Behold the Lamb of God I (Frontispiece) …………………. Samuel M. Zwemer Mohammed and Previous Messengers ………………………….. Richard Bell Modern Persian Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dwight M. Donaldson Islam in North Africa …………………………………. Joseph J. Cooksey The Moslem Minority of Bulgaria ………………………….. Irwin 1. Sanders The Apology of John of Damascus (Translated) ………………. John W. Voorhis The Nestorian Church of China ………………………………… Sten Bugge Financing Religious Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . Paul Erdman A Christian-Moslem Calendar Current Topics …. Book Reviews …. Survey of Periodicals …. Index for the Year SUBSCRIBE NOW « 50 Cents d Copy. $2.00 d Yedr (postpaid) In combindtion with THE MOSLEM WORLD THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City $3.50 d Yedr. (Foreign Postdge, 50 Cents) British Agents: MARSHALL, MORGAN a SCOTT, 12 P.temoster Buildings, London, E. C.
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