The Missionary Review of the World — June 1892
THE SCOURGE OF AFRICA
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 6.-01d &ries.–JUNE.–VOL. V. No. 6.-NeUI Series.
THE SCOURGE OF AFRICA.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, BOLTON, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND.
Quite recently a contributor to the leading British newspaper endeavored to show that the Arab in Africa was a maligned person, who was far from heing the slave marauder which he had been so often protrayed. Readers of the article would be induced to suppose that the Arab's" hand" in slave dealing was either a thing of the past or much exaggerated. That both of these suppositions are false there is conclusive evidence to demonstrate. It is freely and sorrowfully admitted that the native races in many parts of the Dark Continent prey upon their fellow-Africans, and are frequently as brutal as the Arabs in their deeds of bloodshed. But in nowise can or shall this screen the Arab, the arch slave. hunter in every quarter of Africa; and although slavery is doomed, please God, in this generation, the Arab at the present hour, roused by the encroachments of European explorers and commercial enterprise, is showing' a revival of savage energy throughout Central Africa in the perpetration of atrocious crimes against humanity and a huge sin before God. Let a survey of his tracks be taken.
In North Africa the slave trade shows little diminution. As a base of operations Tripoli has an unenviable name. From that province young Arabs, as of old, make it their ambition to go on the grand tour of twelve hundred miles southward to Kuka, weilt of Lake Tchad, to exchange the products of semi-civilization for ivory, skins, ostrich feathers, and especially slaves. Their caravan either returns along the same route to Murzuk, where the slaves are distributed over the Nol'thwestern States, or an east.. northerly route is chosen via Baghirmi. through Wadai, the rival State to Bornu, Abeschr, Ogila, terminating at Benghazi, in the north, on the Mediterranean coast. Though a British consul is stationed hepe, the slaves are unaware or afraid of exercising their right to claim liberty. This path, said a missionary, lately returned from the mission field of Tripoli, to the writer, may be traced for hundreds of miles by the white, rotting bones of slaves, the victims of thirst and slaughter. Their awful suffering on these forced marches, chained and heavily laden, is hidden entirely from the eye of the civilized world. Turning to the northeast of Africa, there is a comparatively open seaboard, in spite of blockade precautions, between Tajurah Bay and Cape Guardafui, whence a regular debarkation of slaves is in full swing. Emanating from the African coast via Southern Arabia and the Persian Gulf eastward, the Indian papers say that" unabated vigor"
characterizes the slave traffic. Major Talbot has just stated that" many of the Omani boats fly the French flag and carry French papers, under cover of which they are able to practise their trade in slaves with impunity."
The news is welcome that various suggestions are being considered by the residents and goyernors for the purpose of stopping effectually the abomina- ble traffic. .
Within French protectorates in the extreme Western Soudan the slave curse reigns. In a current volume, "Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee,"
recounting exhaustive geographical research, the author, Captain Bin- ger, describes an extensive and fertile country, "often depopulated and devastated by war and slave-raiding." More terrible records of the pursuit and capture of slaves are furnished in another contemporary work, by Dr. Wilhelm Junker. Over an enormous tract of .country, having Meshra-el-Rek on the north and the Wel!e-Makua to the south, peopled by the Niam-Niams, the Mongbuttus, A-Madi, and smaller tribes, native -raids are prevalent, while all the races are preyed upon by the " Arabs," who gained a footing in the country at the time of the now de- funct Egyptian rule. Since the King of the Mongbuttus was assassinated, disorganization and slavery exist over the whole region watercd by the western feeders of the Nile, intensified by Arab sway and the tremendous advancing tide of Mohammedans from North Africa. It is very disap- pointing that Dr. Junker, whose services to geography, and particularly ethnology, are appreciated, should countenance a modified form of slavery, compulsory labor, and the administration of the courbash to promote the development of the African in regard of work and civilization. Possibly familiarity with Russian methods of government or contact with barbarous cruelties has suggested this kind of reformation. Of course other travel- lers advocate what the German paper, the Reichsanzeiger, urges to be in harmony with the" social and domestic conditions" in Africa. Such a procedure will have to reckon with the enlightened conscience of Europe and the United States! Again and agaiu distinguished men have said that in the principal slave provinces free labor never has had a rational trial, be- cause slave customs have prevailed from time immemorial. Humane methods of redeeming the negro are feasible. In some measure this has been shown in the diamond mines of South Africa, in the British West Coast colonies, in the coffee plantations south of Lake Nyassa, on the Shire highlands, and, notably at Blantyre, in the erection of the finest ecclesias- tical edifice between Egypt and the Cape, which the natives have built voluntarily for wages, under the direction of white men. Testimony like- wise to this effect comes from such African experts as Mr. Stanley and Sir Francis de Winton, who assrrt that a settled form of government, based on European principles, can be established, to whieh the natives in thousands, and millions even, will be easily amenable when their respect and confidence have been won by just treatmpnt. Combated by the resources of a benefi- ceut civilization and permeated by Christianity, the horrors of slavery will be most speedily checked and extinguished.
But whatever plan is proposed for slave abolition, it is imperative that the attention of the nations should be fixed on the slaughter roll in the Dark Continent. By the nobly organized African Association at Cologne, revelations of a dreadful character, scarcely paralleled in recent times, were published last December. That the atrocities now disclosed occurred upward of a year ago is a [foof of the backwardness' of civilization in Africa, and the need of communication and opcning np of the country. The shocking details brought to light at Cologne are. copied from the diaries of German missionaries stationed in the vicinity of Lake Tanganyika, the authority of which is fully verified.
When it was learned, on November 19th, 1890, at the German mission station that a notorious slave hunter named Makatubo had arrived with about two thousand slaves at I{irando, two days' journey south of Karema -within the German" sphere of influence"-Father Dromaux left at once to rescue, if possible, some of the prisoners. Nine days later he returned with sixty-one-bought and liberated. Many of their companions had died of hunger at Kirando, and a large number could not long survive. From the ransomed slaves and followers of the expedition the missionary had appalling accounts of the cruelties inflicted and fearful slaughters by the wild hordes of Makatubo in Marunju and Kizabi. The diary states: " When Makatubo set out on his march back he wished to get rid of all those who might have impeded the march; and at Lusuko, therefore, he had a great number of captives-old women and little childrendrowned. The caravan was now to advance with greater haste; but a large number of captives who were completely exhansted formed a fresh hindrance. Massacres, of which one can form no idea in Europe, followed. A Mgwana who belonged to the expedition assured us that daily ten, twenty, thirty, and even fifty were killed. In spite of this, about two thousand captured slaves arrived at Kirando. "
"The last pathetic fact makes it plain," says the London Daily News, in commenting on this shocking' waste of human life, " that the slaves per· ish by blows, by hardship, by starvation, and by the most devilish cruelty in every form;" proving, too, that while thousands reach the slave markets, a greater proportion die on the journey thither from the villages sacked. The British Commissioner in Central Africa, Mr. H. H. J ohnston, observes that" not perhaps a tithe of the captured slaves live to reach the slave market;" corroborated by Dr. J linker, with the remark that for every native captured ten are slain. Humanity in Africa is, indeed, of small value.
These harrowing statements are confirmed in letters from the mission station of Mpala, the missionary adding, respecting Captain Joubert, whose civilizing rule extends three days' journey from the station, that he " sent for fifty of our people to support him in defence of his station against Arabian slave hunters. They caught hundreds of slaves, and have killed a very great number and burned their villages." A fmther confirmation has arrived, of date January 9th, 1891, from Father Josset, of Karema, regard- ing Makatubo's return from his last slaving expedition with" no less than two thousand slaves of every age and sex." He thus continues: " They were chained together in groups of twenty to twenty-five, and looked like living skeletons. As there was a great scarcity of food in Kirando. they were forced to dig up and eat wild roots which wild animals refused to touch. Wasted away by hunger, fever, and dysentery, they were sheltered in huts which afforded no protection whatever against the weather. Father Dromaux told the writer that he had seen prisoners in a roofless hut: while next to it their masters' goats had a roof over their heads. Every morning corpses were dragged out of each hut and thrown to the hyenas. During the long march through Marunju, when a slave was too exhausted to follow the caravan, they killed him with cudgels."
In such grim fashion proceeds the recital of wrongs against a longinjured Africa, and now the question will be asked, and persistently be asked, " Is Germany, in whose' sphere of influence' these infamies are being enacted, allowing them through inadvertence, or is she incapable of stopping them?" For the nations which have given their adhesion to the Treaty of Brussels adequate provision is made both for the prevention of slave marauding and the mterception of slave caravans, and alsu of the strict. examination of these at their inland destinations and on the coast routes.
From this ghastly picture one turns with feelings of intense gratitude to the telegrams forwarded at the end of December, 18!H, and early the month following, announcing that the Commissioner of British Central Africa, Mr. H. H. Johnston, and Captain Maguire, in Nyassaland, have been delivering what appear like final blows to the iniquitous slave traffic in that region. For months and years the letters of Dr. Laws, Dr. Kcrr Cross, Bishop Smythies, Archdeacon Maples, and the ReI'. "'.V. P. Johnson have supplied terrible revelations of the scenes which they witnessed (ast and west of Lake Nyassa, which consequently invests the current news with special interest. The two British offieers and their forces surprised in October last a slave-trading caravan from Lindi buying slaves at Oponda's, on the Upper Shire. As the tradcrs refused to free the slaves the town of Mponda was stormed and captured, one hundred and three slaves released, and Oponda compelled to send the slave-traders out of his country, and to agree to the entire abolition of slavery in his dominions. This success was followed up by activc measures against other slave-dealers, and after severe struggles, in which the assailants had most r~markable escapes, some one hundred and sixty-three slaves were freed, making two hundred and sixtynine free in all. As the raiders in quc~ti()n had come from Kilwa, Kivinge, and Lindi only in July last, and knew of the pruhibition of slavery, they were tried and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Arriving at . Makanjira's, at the eud of October, in chase of a third slave.raiding caravan, their steamer was fired on by the attacked, who vigorously defended their town. After two days' fighting capitulation was made by the chiefs and agreements signed. From this point the expedition sailed to the opposite side of Nyassa, where a number of ~lave·raiding chiefs agreed to abandon slavery and to rekase their newly caught slaves. The chief of the slave- hunting Yaos, of whose doings Livingstone used to write heart-rending let- ters, was made to pay a heavy indemnity. It ought to be mentioned that the Commissioner had valuable co-operation in his movements on the lake from the African Lakes Company's steamer, the Domira, identified with the transit of goods, etc., belonging to the Livingstonia Mission. All this unexpected intelligence of the overthrow of slave strongholds is a sign that a brighter day is dawning at least on the leafy shores of Lake Nyassa, wh~re henceforth freedom's flag will wave.
Toward the extinction of the slave trade, which the English statesman Pitt declared to be "the greatest practical evil that ever afflicted the human race," there are in several directions encouraging indications. Even European powers are more sympathetic, and at length the Brussels Anti- Slavery Convention, for which Lord Vivian, the late British Minister at Brussels, rendered invaluable aid, will shortly eome into operation. Very recently a number of influential English philanthropists had in London a conference with leading natives of West Africa upon. the best means of circulating information respecting the progress of vVest African affairs, and of other parts of Africa, and also the widening of English sympathy with the native races and the protection of their rights.
That a protracted crusade lies before the friends of the negro in Africa is admitted, and were it not that one half of Christendom lacks imagination, the miseries of the slave would not be greatly prolonged. Nevertheless, manifold agencies are in league against this gigantic iniquity; and what was said of Wilberforce, that he had shared in "the most glorious battle that ever was fought by any human being," may become the honor and the crown of the humblest worker in every land prepared to serve on behalf of the complete emancipation of Afric's dusky race.
The Episcopal Church in England has 34 bishops and 24,090 other clergymen; in the United States, 61 bishops and 3800 clergymen; in Ireland, 13 bishops and 1807 other clergymen, and in Canada, 24 bishops and 1300 other clergymen; in Asia, 13 bishops and 713 other clergymen; in Africa, 13 bishops and 350 other clergymen; in Australia, 21 bishops and 269 other clergymen, and in Scotland, 17 bishops and 280 other clergymen; in scattered dioceses 9 bishops and 1:10 clergymen-a grand total of 189 bishops and 32,729 other clergymen. This is certainly a strong array of working force; with increased devotion to Christ, its evangelical power would be vastly multiplied.
'l'HE GREAT CALL OF GOD TO HIS CHURCH
TIlE GREAT CALL OF GOD TO HIS CHURCH.
BY TilE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
We have sought with increasing diligence to find by searching what is God's plan or purpose concerning the Church and the world. Certain we are, at least, of this, that He wills the largest and promptest proclamation of the Gospel, the presence of witnessing believers and a witnessiug Church everywhere, even to the uttermost part of the earth. Beyond this we are sure of nothing sa~ e this, that His Vord will not return to Him void, and that our labor will not be in vain in the L(lrd.
To all believers the Divine cOlllmand is, that they outgrow babyhood, cease to be mere objects of care, and become care-takers j and enter into that Divine plan which takes in the whole Church, the whole world, and the ~hole age. We must be satisfied with the hope that has its anchorage in Scripture promises, do our duty, and leave results with God j undertake a world's evangelization, and not be disheartened if we find that to the end of the age there is only an outgathering of the elect Church, and that, as in the apostolic age, some believe the things which are spoken, and some believe not. The stress of the command of Christ lieR on occupation, evangelization. A loyal servant or soldier simply obeys implicitly orders which are explicitly given. Here are our" marching orders j" and to follow them is to win what is better even than apparent victory-the approval of Him who will say, " WELL DONE, good and faithful servant."
Now, of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: Every saved soul is called to be a herald and a witness j and we are to aim at nothing less than this: to make every nation and every creature in every nation acquainted with the Gospel tidings. This is the first and ever-present duty of the Church j it is the heart of the whole missionary plan. God will give us souls as our hire and crown; large results in conversion of individuals, and the transformation of whole communities will follow, as they always have followed, a godly testimony. But we are not to wait for reBults; we are to regard our duty as never done, while any region beyond is without the Gospel. Let all men have a hearing of the Gospel at least j then when evangelization is world-wide, we may bend our energies to deepening the impression which a first hearing of the Gospel has made. But, again, let it peal out as with a voice of thunder, to be heard wherever there are believers; the first need of the world is to hear the Gospel, and the first duty of the Church is to go everywhere and tell every human being of Christ, the world's Saviour. To stop or linger anywhere, even to repeat the' rejected message, so long as there are souls beyond that have never heard it., is at least unjust to those who are still in absolute darkness. . Instead of creating a few centres of intense light, God would have us scatter the lamps until all darkness is at least relieved, if not removed. And if to any reader it appears that this is emphasizing a distinction that is of little consequence, let such an one stop a moment and consider what would be the result if our Lord's plan were followed. There are, we will say, about forty million members of Protestant churches, and at least eight hundred millions yet in entire ignorance of the Gospel. Let us suppose that the whole Church, under some mighty baptism of fire, should undertake to bear the Gospel message to every living soul at once. If every Protestaut. believer could so be brought into active participation in this work as to be the means of reaching twenty of these souls, now without the Gospel, the work would be done. All cannot go, but all can send. Let us suppose, again, that Protestant churches should sena out one missionary teacher for every four hundred communicants, we should have a missionary force of one hundred thousand; and by distributing this force in the entire field, each teacher would have to reach but eight thousand souls in order to evangelize the world. Allowing twenty years for that work, each laborer wopld have to reach but four hundred of the unevangelized each year.
We must push this work as we never have done; let men call us fools, fanatics, madmen; we can afford to bear it for the sake of doing the will of God. When Judson had buried himself in Burma, and teu years' work . could show but eighteen converts, he was asked, " vVhat of the prospect?" His heroic answer was, "Bright as the promises of God." When John Wesley proposed to go to Georgia as a missionary to the Indians, an unbeliever ridiculed him. "What is this ~ Are you one of the knights errant ~ How, pray, got you this Quixotism into your head 1 You want nothing, have a good provision for life, and a prospect of preferment; and must you leave all this to fight windmills-to convert American savages 1"
vVesley calmly replied: "If the Bible be not true, I am as a very fool and madman as you can conceive j but if the Bible is of God, I am soberminded. For He has declared, ' There is no man who hath left house, or friends, or brethren for the kingdom of God' 8 sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.' , vVith such heroic missionaries as Adoniram Judson and John Wesley we are content to follow our Lord's leading without regard to apparent results. The command is plain: "Go ye also into the vineyard j" and the promise is sufficient: "Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." God is a liberal rewarder, and He always exceeds His own promise. That workman is surest of blessing who does his Lord's work withont the mIsgivings of unbelief or the exactions of a carnal spirit. The path of the missionary is the way to Calvary, but beyond the cross shines the crown.
In a circular from Staunton, Va., "it is proposed to find two million Christians in the Ullited States willing to give one dollar, in advance per month for ten years, prayiug that God will raise up preachers and teachers and physicians to carry His Gospel to the heathen, and gO to bless their labors and o·ur gifts that the native converts shall be able thereafter to carryon the work through their home missions without additional help from foreign lands."
CASUISTRY OF BUDDHISM
CASUISTRY OF BUDDHISM.
BY REV. GEORGE L. MASON, GRANVILLE, O.
[This paper is designed by the author as an important addition to a former article.-EDIToR.] In the article" Buddhism and Romanism," in the September, 1891, number of the REVIEW, Buddhism was said to be without any authorized system of casuistry by which vices are explilined away. But if there is no authorized Rystem of casuistry, certainly the spirit of Jesuitism pervades the moral writings of the Buddhists of Ceylon, as translated by Spence Hardy in his" Manual of Buddhism." In that very keen critique, which every missionary in the far East should read, " Edwin Arnold as Poetizer and as Paganizer," Professor VY. C. Wilkinson quotes at length from Hardy. Many of the evasions and excuses framed by Buddhists for the evil-doer anticipate the very subterfuges planned by Roman Catholic moralists many centuries later. For example: "When a command if' given to take the life of a particular person, and that person is killed. it is murder; but if another person be killed instead, it is not murder." This sounus quite like Liguori, the highe~t ethical authority of Romanism, who maintains that" he who kills A, meaning to kill B, is not bound to make com· pensation, because the homicide is casual and inadvertent as regards B ;" and that if a man intends to burn the house of an enemy and by mistake hums that of a friend, the incendiarism is a very light offence. When time, place, method, and various circumstances must all be just as the evildoer intended or else his act is not a crime, there will be plenty of loopholes through which the Buddhist or Romanist criminal may disappear.
Says Professor "Vilkinson : "Christian morality at least does not confuse itself, defeat itself, first with absurd exaggerations and then with absurd extennations of rEquirement, or perhaps with subtle qualifying clauses. " But this is the Buddhist method. Among four things neces· sary to constitnte a lie, " there must be the discovery by the person deceived that what has been told him i~ not true. " That is to say, it is not a lie unless you are found out! Authorized Romau Catholic teachers make similar terms for the expert liar. When a crime is " altogether hidden"-that is, known only to the criminal and one witness-the witness is not merely permitted, but is actually bound to say that the accused did not commit it (Liguori, Theologia Moralis, iv. 152 sq.). This low ethical aim-not to prevent sin, but to prevent its discovery-appears also in the discussion of theft. If one stealfl fifty dollars at one time it is " a grave sin,' '. for it might be discovered; but if at many different times one steals small sums, amounting to fifty dollars in all, each single theft is " a light sin" (Theo. logia MoraIis, iv. 54).
The more one studies Buddhism and Romanism, the more he sees the mongrel character of each system, each containing many elements in common, whose origin can be fairly traced only to the father of lies.
AFRICAN THEOLOGY
AFRICAN THEOLOGY; OR, THE ZULU'S CREED, AS SEEN IN HIS FOLK-LORE.
IIY REV. LEWIS GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
If any new encouragement or incentive to mission work among the Zulus were needed, it would seem it should be found in their earnest yet futile study for all the ages to find the light without the Bible. Their religious speculations, theories, notions, erroneous and absurd as they often arc, indicate thoughtful minds and an eager desire to solve the many physical, providential. and spiritual problems with which, like other heathen, they have ever been solemnly confronted.
The Zulus constitute a large element in the Bantu raee, a race that is only just now beginning to be known in its fulness and importance. It extends from the Orange River to about the fifth degree of north latitude, and numbers about fifty millions of people. The language spoken hy this widely extended Afriean family is virtually one, though among the different tribes there is much dialectic variety. Doubtless the best, most perfect representative of the family in respect to speech is the Zulu; and the same seems to be true also of their folk-lore, of which till late little or nothing has been known. In the extended specimens of this language, which the writer gathered some years ago from the lips of their more intelligent men, as they had no books from which to prepare a Zulu grammar, were included many of the myths, legends, fairy tales, and songs of this people. Similar collections were afterward made by Dr. Callaway, to whom the writer is here glad to acknowledge much indebtedness for aid in these studies. The number of what may be called Zulu legends and fairy tales seems almost without limit. Like other people in the midst of their development, the Zulus have ever been greatly delighted with excursions into the realms of myth and fancy. To them all things in nature are peopled with spirits of one kind or another. Wizards and witches, giants and dwarfs, are found everywhere. Their mythical stories, legends, traditions concerning the origin of men and things, their notions concerning the cause and cure of evil, the reason why men die, their ideas concerning the spirit land, or the realm to which the departed have gone, their objects and modes of worship-all testify to the vigor of their imagination and the earnestness of their bewildered efforts to solve the mysteries of life.
From some of their traditions we learn how their ancestors believed that not the dry land of earth alone, but the waters also, and the heavens above, are the abode of manlike inhabitants; while other traditions tell how their friends and all who have departed this life are occupying a subterranean region, and still engaged in cares and labors not unlike those they had here on earth. A mere outline of one story on this point is that, once on a time, Umkachana rose in the morning, he and his dogs, to go a-hunting. Presently they started a buck, which the dogs drove till it went and entered a cavern. Then in went the dogs and he too. On and on he went till he came to where the underground people dwelt, and there met with some of his old friends; but they charged him to return and go home. So he returned and reported to his friends at home where he had been and what he had seen. And now hIS friends at home, who had been wondering where he had gone, asked him: "Is it really so, that you saw men like us there in the underground region?" And he said, " Yes," and went on to give the names of some of them, and told how they had sent him back.
In another legend we have the story of another visit to thosc who dwell below, more minute and extended, which begiw'l with telling how a man started out one morning, in the dew, to follow the trail of a porcupine that had wasted his garden. Being much excited, angry because of the los8 he had suffered, when he came to the hole into which the porcupine had entered, he rushed in, saying, "I will go till I find it and kill it." Weapons in hand, yet without his dog, on and on he wcnt. At first it was dark; but when his eyes had got used to it he could see very well. At length he came to a pool, which he passed with some difficulty by the edge, and went on. When night came he lay down and slept till morning, then woke and went on, never doubting that if he persevered he would succeed and be satisfied. At length he came to a river, which he crossed, and continued his journey till, fiually, he saw it began to grow light in front. Presently he began to hear dogs baying and children crying. Passing on, he came to a village, and saw smoke rising, and said: "Hau! what place is this? I must have come to a settlement." Whereupon he returned, walking backward, returning upon his path, and saying: "Let me not go to these people, for I do not know them; perhaps they will kill me." So he fled, and went, day and night, recrossing the river and the pool he had crossed on his way inward, till finally he came out of the hole he had at first entered. And now he is greatly astonished to find that all things at the place where he has been are like to those here above-mountains, precipices, rivers and all. On going home, his appearance was an occasion of great surprise. His wife smote her hands together and cried. His neighbors rushed in and wondered, and again they shouted the funeral dirge. The woman said, " I have buried your kilt, pillow, dishes-everything that belonged to you save your mat and your blanket, and these I have burned, supposing you were dead." So he told them how he had been on a long journey to the" Abapansi," subterraneans, or those who dwell below-what he saw there, and why he came back.
These fanciful imaginings of the untutored Zulus remind us of the more studied productions of Virgil and Dante. They may not be so poetic or classical, but for a natural, truthful correspondence with their surroundings, mode of life, or mental and moral condition, it is not easy to see wherein the fonner would suffer in being compared with the latter. Dr. Callaway's suggestion is at least plausible, if not probable, that here, in these and other Zulu tales of a like character, we find the relics of an old belief, clothed after a new fashion-a belief having a common origin, probably, with that which, in other countries whose inhabitants have been in different circumstances and had a different development, has formed the basis of morc exact theologies or of such fanciful tales as the Arabian Nights' "Jullanar of tne Sea," Fouque's "Undine," or Longfellow's " Song of Hiawatha."
The folk-lore of the Zulus, their myths and legends respecting the source or orgin of men, animals, and other earthly objects, are numerous and original, and yet in some cases not wholly unlike what we find in other lands and races. Ask them in respect to the origin of man, as in the question, " Who made man? Whence came the race?" and the sum of their llsual answer is, " They burst from a reed," or, as some render it, " They broke off from a reed," as a shoot from a stem, or a bulb from a parent bulb. Bursting iuto life in this way, as the story goes, the first human pair, Unkulunkulu (the great·great one) and Umvelinquangi (the first comer), walked along the fields, fell in with grain, ate it, multiplied, and peopled the earth. Another legend makes U nkulunkulu himself the first man and great author of all. Having himself broken off or sprung into being, as the story goes, he broke off the rest. "He it was that made the first people, the ancients of long ago. These begat others, and these others, and these others. And so it is that we have heard about the origin of men, generations, and nations. It was our ancestors who told us." Still another legend, or another form of the foregoing, is that men sprung originally from a rock, which U nkulunkulu split, and they came out. In this we are reminded of the simile which the prophet used in his address to the Jews: ". Look to the rock whence ye are hewn . . . look unto Abraham your father."
As to the difference in color, an old man said: " When I was a little child, I heard from the old men of my boyhood that there were at first two mothers, one of whom gave birth to a white man, the other to a black. But how or where this happened we of to-day have no knowledge. When we were children, we, the offspring of the men of old, we were not like those of the present time, who worry themselves with finding out knowledge. For our parts, we used not to que~tion a great man; when he told us a tale we used just to listen. We now see how and why we ought to have inquired, but did not because of our great simplicity and respect for age. "
Onc of their legends would seem to have had its origin in some shadowy idea of the scriptural account of the first and second Adam. The sum of it is that there were two U nkulunkulus, one from beneath, the other from above. He from above came in a fog, and wa'l altogether white. When the people saw him they were afraid; but he said: " Why do ye fear, since I too am a man?" They say cattle were slaughtered for him at the place of llis advent j but he did not eat of these j he ate only of that whieh he brought with him. After a long stay on earth he disappeared in another fog, and they saw him no more.
Some of their legends give the order in which men, animals, and all things came into being. They say, " We black men had the same origin as you white. All came from out of the earth-we, the blacks, first. and after that the whites. But we did not bring much with us-only a few cattle, a little corn, spears, picks, fire to cook with, potter's clay, and just wisdom enough to help ourselves when we are hungry, and to know the time of digging, so as not to die of famine. And yet we thought we had all things, were wise, and that there was nothing which we did not know. But when the white men made their appearance wearing fine clothes, able to perform wonders, driving big teams, and bringing with them every kind of goods in great abundance, we saw how verily we black people came forth without a single thing, utterly destitute because wc came firbt and in a hurry, while the white people waited for all things, and delayed that they might sc~ape out the last bit of wisdom. And then as to the order in which men and things made their first appearance, we used to hear it said by our fathers, they too having heard it from others, that the first to come into being was a man, next a woman, then a cow, then a dog, then all the little animals, then elephant~-all in pairs-then corn." This part of the untutored African's story reminds us of some of Milton's words: " The earth obeyed, and straight, Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limbed and full grown."
And so the sacred Scriptures, where we are told that God said: "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so." Nor is it otherwise than natural. and in a sense correct" to refer the origin of all things secondarily to the earth; since from this it is that the elements of the material organism of all living things are derived."
In our day we hear not a little about the development of one species from another, as of man from the ape; but the Znlus have a legend which makes the transmutation go the other way, so that man is not an elevated ape, bnt the ape a degenerated man. The story is, that the chieftain of a certain idle tribe, too lazy to grow their own food, told his people to pack: up, take their picks and all, and follow him far away into the wilderness. So they took their effects-picks, pick-handles, and other things-binding these handles, withal, upon their backs. And so it was that in some way -we know not just how-these handles became caudal appendages; hair made its appearance on their bodies ; their foreheads became overhangiug ; and so they became apes, went to the precipices, and had their abode among the rocks. A Mussulman legend is to the same effect. It says that on one of Soliman's trips from Jerusalem to Mareb he passed through a valley inhabited by apes which dressed and lived like men, at which he was greatly astonished. But upon inquiring as to their orlgm and their many points of likeness to men, he was told that they were descended from men, being the remnant of a Jewish community which, notwithstanding all admonition, continued to break the Sabbath until Allah cursed them and turned them into apes.
Another Zulu legend hints, like the former, at the folly of idleness, by explaining how it came about that the monkey has such a long tail, while the rabbit has almost none at all. "Long ago," as the story goes, " a certain king sent for all the animals to come and receive their tails. Now the day on which t.hese were to be distributed being cloudy and wet, the rabbit, not liking to go out in the rain, called to the monkey as he was passing by, and said, 'See here, my good neighbor; when you get your tail, will you please ask for mine and bring it to me ?' The monkey said he would; but on his way home he managed to join the rabbit's tail to his own, saying, ' If he is too lazy to go himself for what he wants, I shall not encourage his idleness by waiting on him; he may go without his tail.' So the monkey has a long tail, and the rabbit scarcely any at all." Hence the common saying among the Zulus: "Remember the rabbit; and if you want anything done, and done well, do it yourself; and not trust to others. "
Having noticed several Zulu legends concerning the origin of man, we close with one concerning his end, or why he dies. The sum of it is that "Unknlnnkulu sent a chameleon, saying, 'Go and say, "Let not men die.'" The chameleon went, went slowly, loitered by the way, and stopped to eat the fruit of the Ukwebezanc, a kind of mulberry. Then at length the Great Being sent the quick-running lizard, saying, 'Go and say, "Let men die.'" So the lizard ran; and when he had arrived he said, 'I have to come to say, " Let men die.'" Then the chameleon came and said, ' I have come to say, " Let not men die.'" But to this the people said, ' Oh, we have already received the lizard's word, by which it is settled that men must die! '" This tradition would seem to have had its origin in the scriptural account, to which Milton refers when he sings: " Of man's first disobedience and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
And so it is that both of the above-named animals are looked upon by the Zulus much as the serpent is by manyin Christian lands. Both are hated, hunted, and often killed; both are charged with having been the cause of men's dying-the one from having been so slow, the other from having been so quick.
But no complete idea of the Zulu's creed can be had without a brief notiee of the object and mode of his worship. In his way the Zulu is one of the most religious of all people. lIe has, naturally, a broad, deep. religious susceptibility. The Great-great One, as we have seen, is his Maker, the Author of the race to which he belongs j but the object of his worship, the divinity that has power over his destiny, is the shades of the dead-the amahlozi, or amatonga, the departed spirits of his kindred and of the great ones of his race. For a Bible, a prophet, and a priest he goes to the inyanga, a fellow-man well versed in Delphic art. He admits that he is a sinner, believes in prayer and in the need of an atoning sacrifice j that" without the shedding of blood there can be no remission."
When som ecalamity, as sickness, comes upon him, he goes or !Sends a deputation with a cow or other present to the inyanga, to Jearn the cause and cure of his sufferings. After much inquiring of the shades, he it! told that they are offended at his neglect j it is long since he has made an offering of any animal to them j and now, if he will recover, he must slaughter that best cow of his for them. He accepts the answer, admits his negligence, says his prayers, brings out his spear and cow, gives her a stab in the side, and if she shows signs of distress, he says, "Yes, that is good j just what an animal for the gods ought to show j let hcr cry and drive away the evil." He then sprinkles the blood and gall upon his per- son and premises, puts the beef away in a hut by itself, and in the morn- ing professes to believe that the divinities have been there, had a taste of the blood and beef, and been satisfied. And now his hungry neighbors gather at his kraal, bring out the beef, roast and consume it, pronounce the sacrifice a good one, and express the hope that the sick man may soon be well and out again. If so, that priest is praised j if not, he is denounced and called a fraud j and the sick man, resorting to another, goes through the same process again, and perhaps yet again, till finally either health or death ensues.
Another somewhat noted article in the Zulu's creed-the last we name -is his belief that departed spirits sometimes come back and appear to men for a time on earth, especially to their kindred and friends, in the garb of a snake. Hence it is that rept.iles of this kind arc always looked upon with a kind of sacred awe, and never in any way harmed, lest some great calamity befall· those who maltreat them. When questioned on these points, and especially as to whether they really worship the snake, the Zulu says: "No j what we believe is, that we are mortal; that between us and the spirits of the departed -the amatonga-there is a broad chasm j and that the arnatonga are of two kinds-some good, some evil. Those of our families which have an interest in our welfare are able to take on the appearance of a snake, and by that means not only form a link between us and the world of spirits, but in this guise of a snake they are permitted to watch over us. We do not believe in the snake as a snake, but in the amatonga, the spirit or spirits which the snake represents."
From these few specimens of the Zulus' folk-lore stories, and a comparison of these with the like stories of other races and nations, we are impressed, for one thing, with the manncr in wbich they help to show the common brothE)rbood of men. We see this in the common faith of all in
THE J.AST OF THE COMBERS
some superior power or .livinity, to which all are subject, and on which all are dependent. ,Ve see this common brotherhood in the general interest which all take in the great problems of life, such as the origin and end of man, the cause and cure of evil, and in the general belief which all have in another life.
These folk-lore stories help also to show the great value of the light which the Bible throws upon all these problems, and, indeed, upon every question that we really need to have solved for us in the present state. We see, too, what cause we have for gratitude that our lot has fallen to us under the hallowed teachings and influence of the Gospel of Christ, and what obligation we are nnder to help extend a knowledge of these great blessings to those who grope and suffer for the want of them.
THE LAST OF THE COMBERS.
SIX LIVES SACRIFICED.
The death of Rev. Percy E. Comber from the terrible African fever terminates a pathetic episode in the history of the Congo Mission. Three brothers, one sister, and two wives-six in all-bearing a name ever to be honored and revered, have now found a grave beneath the palms. We question whether a similar example of family devotion to the missionary enterprise ean be found in the entire annals of the Christian Church. In the beginning of the year 1878 Thomas, the eldest brother, left Cameroons with Mr. Grenfell for the preliminary expedition to San Sahador. these two being the first Protestant missionaries to enter the Congo country. The following year, after a home visit, Thomas Comber returned with his hride, but the happy companionship was to last hut three brief months. Sidney, the doctor, who had distinguished himself at Edinburgh University, and from whose medical attainments helpful service was anticipated, was the next to fall. Referring to his brother's death, Thomas wrote: "Twenty years ago our dear mother, after eommitting us all to the care of our Heavenly Father, was called away home. One after another we have all given ourselves to mission work in Africa. My brother Sidney and I were on the Congo, my sistrr in Victoria, and Percy, my youngest brother, is preparing at Rrgent's Park College for the same work."
In 1886 the sister Carrie died on the West Coast; the next year Thomas himself, and now Percy has passed away, surviving his young wife only some twelve months. Very touching are the few words written in haste by one of the missionaries, teIling how he was ,mgaged in placing the memorial stone sent by loving friends from the home country over the wife's grave on the very day the widowed missionary had rejoined her.- The Christian.
WILLIAM CAREY
WILLIAM CAREY, THE MISSIONARY ORGANIZER, PREACHER, AND TEACHER.-PART II.
BY GEORGE SMITH, LT".D., F.R.G.S., EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
The same hand of God, in history, which guided Columbus to America, when he set ont for India, led William Carey to India, when he had desired to go to Tahiti. So, three qnarters of a century later, David Livingstone determined to be a medical missionary to the Chinese, but God kept him for Africa. The" fulness of the times" came in India, as in Great Britain, America, and France, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. 'Vhen Carey was mastering seven languages, as he sat on his cobbler's stall at Hackleton and Moulton or among his flowers and birds opposite his chapel in Harvey Lane, Leicester, the surgeon of an East Indiaman, John Thomas, was rudely trying to convert the natives of Calcutta and Bengal. He had no scholarship. and little common· sense, but he yearned for the souls of men, and in his three voyages he had learned the local facts. Filled with these, he met Fuller, Ryland, and Sutcliff-the three to whom, as the executive of his own Baptist Missionary Society, Carey had offered himself. He met Carey also, when they embraced each other with tears of joy, and Bengal was chosen as the scene of the mission. Carey and Thomas went forth, two together, one an ordained and tho other a medical missionary, with their families and £150 a year between them, to win to' Christ the Hindus and Mohammedans, first of a province in which they now number seventy-five millions, then of all Northern, Central, and ·Western India, and then of the half of Asia from the Gulf of Persia to the YcHow Sea of China. While we thank God for Carey's faith and love, which the delays of twelve years had only intensified, let us not blame the thirteen ministers who, at Kettering, subscribed £13 28. 6d. wherewith this mighty enterprise was begun. * As with a few loaves and fishes the Son of Man fed the multitudes of Ilis day again and again in the wilderness, so the Risen Lord and Reigning King multiplied the first mites then cast into His treasury, till before he died Carey saw them grow to £400,000 a year. And now, after a century, we reckon them at £2,500,000 a year, and count that all too small. Carey's minimum for" every person" was lOs. 6d. a year, which these poor strn1!gling ministers more than doubled at starting; and if every communicant of the Evangelical churches had given even the minimum in the last hundred years, there would not be • This is the ever memorable list: £ 8. d. £ 8. d. Samuel Pearce, Binningbam. . .. .•…. 1 1 0 John Ryland, Northamptot:. ………. . 2 2 0 Thomas Blundell, Arnsby… …..• …. 0 10 6 William Heighton, Road…………. 010 6 Reynold Hogg, Thrapstone ………… . 2 2 0 John Eyres, Braybrook……. … …… 0 10 6 J oBeph Timms, Kettering………….. 1 1 0 Jobn Sutcliff, Olr.ey………………. . 1 1 0 A Contributor, name not recorded Andrew Fuller, Kettering 110 (Carey?)…. …………… …….. 0 10 6 Abraham Greenwood, Oakham …….. . 1 1 0 Edward Sharman, Cottesbrook…….. . 1 1 0 Josbua Burton, Foxton……….•….. 010 6 a thousand million of human beings alive who know not Christ. It was the poor of Christ's flock who sent forth the first English speaking mis- sionaries, and who have supported their succcssors all through the century. It is still the comparatively poor who deny themselves to raise every year the two and a half millions sterling administered by the missionary churches and societies.
William Carey was thirty-three years of age when, on November lOth, 1793, he landed at Calcutta, and began there the forty-one years of his mis- sionary career. After months of poverty and hardship causing misery Lo his wife, which soon affected her reason, yet himself ever working for his Master among the natives, Carey found himself nominally an indigo-plantcr in the service of the godly Bengal civilian of MaIda, Mr. George Ddny, on £250 a year. No apprenticeship could have been better than the seven years which he spent among the Hindus of the district now known as Dinajpore. He had been ejected from the East India Company's ship in which his first passage had been taken, and had reached Calcutta unobserved in a Danish vessel. As a missionary he would not have been allowed to land, or, having landed, he would have been deported as some of his successors were. As a planter, daily doing missionary work, he was not interfered with, while he not only supported himself at no cost to his society, which he urged to send missionaries to Africa with the old salaries of Thomas and himself, but he gave more than half his income to extend his own mialiian. The self-supporting system was that on which the only evangelical missionary agency then known-that of the Moravian Brethren -was conducted; and Carey and his colleagues so carried it out till they died that they personally gave £90,000 to their mission. Carey's first congregation were the ninety Bengalees and Eurasians whom he employed, and for whose children, as well as those of the otber peasantry, he opened schools. Hi" first convert was the Eurasian trader, Fernandez, who at once a built chapel next his own house, and who acted as a missionary at Dinaj- pore till he died, four years before Carey. The firRt letters of Carey and Thomas were not received by Andrew Fuller, the Secretary, till the end of July, 1'794, and they were little more than a modest record of toil at the languages, of conversations with the natives, of hardships from the climate, and of the hypocrisy of the one Bengalee whom Thomas llad previously attached to himself as a catechuman and interpreter, Ram Bose. But Carey's faith and sacrifice lighted up the whole evangelical world of Great I3ritain- Anglican, Nonconformist., and Presbyterian-when Fuller published No. I. of his Periodical Accounts relative to the Baptist MisRionary Society, following Franke's Pietist example of 1710. Charles Grant, John Newton, and the Clapham men in London, and Charles Simeon in Camhridge, were delighted and resolved to renew their former attempt, which in a few years resulted in the establishment of the Church Missionary Society. Rylaud, in Bristol, called friends like Dr. Bogue to rejoice with him and spread Carey's letters before the Lord, so that the London Missionary Society sprang into being. In the far north Dr. Erskine and Greville Ewing founded the Scottish Mis- sionary Society; and the Haldanes, selling all they had in the beautiful estate of Airthrey, laid £35,000 at the Lord's feet. Every true Christian in the land was moved as successive numbers of the Periodical Accounts appeared, till in the two Quarterlies Sydney Smith scoffed and Southey rebuked him, while even the doubting churches began to deluge Parlia- ment with petitions, which ended in the comparative toleration of the East India Company's charter of 1813.
Carey's own society was not idle, for Fuller and Ryland were its execu- tive who had vowed, by prayer and toil, to hold the ropes while he worked below in the gold m~ne of the unconverted souls of the millions of Southern Asia. Before the' eighteenth century closed four colleagues and their families were sent out to him; but going as missionaries, they could not then sail in a British ship or lan~ on the East India Company's territory without the license or passport refused them. Again the hand of God ap- peared guiding the infant mission. At the very time when Carey's position in the Company's territory was becoming so intolerable that he seriously proposed to cross the Himalayan frontier into Bhootan, Charles Grant, a director and twice chairman of the Company, advised the four to seek the protection of the Danish flag, at Serampore, fourteen miles up the Hoogly from Calcutta. They shipped in an American vessel, the Oriterion, of which a Presbyterian elder of Philadelphia, Captain Wickes, was captain ; he sent them off in boats just before entering the port of Calcutta, and they landed without difficulty at Serampore on the" Lord's day, October 13th, 1799." Next day they were welcomed by Mr. Forsyth, of the new London Missionary Society, who afterward settled at Chinsurah, higher up the river. Next Lord's day the Danish Governor, with his fltaff, worshipped at their first service. Denmalk ever after protected them, and has not ceased to be proud of its trust up to the present Sovereign, although, in 1845, Serampore became British by purchase. Under a Danish passport, Ward, whom Carey himself had chosen when a printer and editor at Derby, went off to Diuajpore to persuade him ~o share the security of such a centre. January lOth, 1800, found the five, afterward joined by Thomas occasionally, united in loving fellowship and toil in what has been called the Canterbury of Asia. America and Denmark combined to save the infant mission from the persecution of the trading monopoly of the East India Company until, in 1813, and finally in 1833, the Christian opinion of Great Britain compelled the directors, by Act of Parliament, to learn full toleration. America thus really provided an asylum for its own sons and daughters when, having in its turn become missionary, it sent forth Adonirllm Judson and his companions, and Carey helped them to found the great Baptist Mission in Burma, and the noble missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Bombay.
Whcn Carey transferred his India mission to the unique and beautiful centre of Serampore he was in the perfection of his life and powers of every kind. Forty years of age; seasoned to the climate; master of the great Hindu languages of East and West, Bengali and Marathi, and having the key of Sanskrit from which they spring; knowing and loving the people of every class, especially the peasantry, artisans, and Brahmans; familiar with their intellectual and economic condition, their resources and agricultural wants; in command of the printing press and all its appliances; having translated the New Testament and written .ernaeular works; above all, yearning for the salvation of every man the more he knew the misery and the ignorance of all, William Carey stands before us at the opening of the Nineteenth Century the greatest-and is he not still the greatest 1-of the thousands whom Evangelical Christendom has sent to the conquest of the world. Of his colleagues we have mentioned the gentle, the accom. plished, the practical 'Yard, of whom we shall see more when we come to the translation of the Scriptures. The other was Dr. Joshua Marshman, of Bristol, who took with him the first' great woman missionary-before Anne Judson, of Burma, and Isabella Vilson, of Bombay, long after-the devoted Hannah Marshman.
For the six missionaries and their families Fuller had promised £360 a year; but Carey had not been with them more than eight days when they took the first steps to form a brotherhood, by adopting" a set of rules for the government of the family." On the early death of three of them, and as the others made the common fund not only self-supporting, but the means of planting new missions, their Agreement took the form of 1805, spiritual and administrative, under which, in loving unity, they sought to win Asia for Christ. Of their eleven" great principles, " this was the first: " It is absolutely necessary that we set an infinite value on immortal souls ;" and this the tenth: " That we be constant in prayer and the cultivation of personal religion, to fit us for the discharge of these laborious and unutterably important labors. Let us often look at Brainerd, in the woods of America, pouring out his very soul before God for the perishing heathen. without whose salvation nothing could make him happy." In the eleventh we again trace Carey's experience and language: "No private family ever enjoyed a greater portion of happiness than we have done since we resolved to have all things in common. If we are enabled to persevere. we may hope that multitudes of converted souls will have reason t<;> bless God to all eternity for sending His Gospel into this country."
Krishna Pal was the first of these" multitudes," ascertained by the India census of February, 1891, to be 2,284,000, or above two millions, if we confine ourselves to natives, besides the millions of reo deemed Asiatics who have joined the multitude which no man can number. He was an intelligent adult only a few years younger than Carey; a carpenter who read one of Carey's tracts as he lay with a dislocated arm; an inquirer whom Thomas healed, and who came, the first fruit of Bible and medical missions, to Jesus. He became a missionary to his countrymen in Calcutta and Assam, and a writer of such hymns as that whirh, in its English version, many besides those who use the Baptist Hymnal are singing this year with peculiar fervor: " 0 thou, my sonl, forget no more The Friend who all thy misery bore: Lilt every idol be forgot; But Oh, my soul, forget Rim not !"
Krishna Pal's baptism, along with one of Carey's sons, in the broad Hoogly River, beside the mission housl1, on the last Sabbath of 1800, in presence of the Danish Governor and his native subjects, was to the long- waiting and often disappointed missionary of eight years' standing an event " of great joy. I had the happiness to desecrate the Gunga (Ganges) by baptizing the first Hindu. . . , I addressed the people in Bengali, having sung a Bengali translation of the hymn' Jesus, and shall it ever be ?' and engaging in prayer after the address, I administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper." Converts followed slowly at first, and then faster from all castes and clasRes-from Brahmans as well as Mohammedar:s j from Eura- ~ians and Europeans j from English soldiers and their officers. Sir Henry Havelock was one of the last class. Calcutta city and its neighborhood became quite as much the scene of his missionary labors as Danish Serampore, for in the mOllt intolerant times Carey, as profe~sor in Lord V~I lesley's College of Fort William, was to the authorities a persona grata, and as the years went on active opposition ceased. Like every wise missionary since St. Paul, and unlike many ignorant critics of missions even in the present day, Carey followed every method, if by any means he might win men and women and their children to Christ: But his twiu methods of evangelizing the Natives and Eurasians were those of teaching and preaching. From the first he and Marshman opened schools-Bengali and English. From the first he and all his coadjutors, English and Bengali, preached Christ in season and ont of season in tl18 country languages. Dr. and Mrs. Marshman's schools for Eurasian children were the finest in the East, and most profitable to the mission. Carey's College, paid for out of his earnings as professor ehiefly, is still the noblest educational building in India since he and Marshman erected it, in 1818. He nel'er depreciated educational evangelizing based on grantsin-aid from the State, which he was the first to take, and he encouraged young Alexander Duff to follow the same method in happier cjrcumstance~ in the metropolis of Calcutta. Would that the successors of Andrew Fuller and John Ryland had been Christian statesmen like them and the immortal three of the Serampore Brotherhood!
For on Fuller's death, 800n followed by Ryland's, Carey'8 Society, in spite of Robert Hall, John Fo~ter, CLristopher Anderson, and the best of the Baptists, led by RylHlld's inexperienced snecessor as secretary, were guilty of so acting that the brothelhood were deprived of their own personal
1892.J THE DECENNIAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE
property, and in their last years the old heroes were wounded to death. There is no one who does not bewa"a the conduct of Dr. Marshman's assailants now. Alas! it is written in history forever, and it has not been atoned for, else would the great college, made over to the Society by Dr. Marshman's distinguished son and successor, not now be neglected. Writing in 1827 of. the "unceasing calumny" of sixteen years, for action of which Andrew Fuller approved almost with his dying breath, Carey and his colleagues of that time dedared: "We confidently appeal from the decision of the present age to the judgment of posterity." Sixty years afterward I republished that appeal, and have found Carey's confidence justified. All the more because this year is a centennial period of thanksgiving is it right to ask the Church and the world to ratify the verdict. 1< THE DECENNIAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.
(1) Place.-The next Decennial Conference will be in Bombay. The daily sessions will be held in Wilson College Hall. A larger hall will be engaged for public meetings in the evenings.
(2) Time.-The Conference will open on the Wednesday following Christmas, DecemLer 28th. 1892, and will occupy a full week, possibly more. (3) Plan.-This Conference will convene on much the same lines as those of Allahabad and Calcutta, and all missionary workers and helpers will be regarded as members. There will be no " Ladies' Day" as such, but men and women will be accorded equal privileges, and be expected to participate freely in the discussion. (4) Papers.-In order to save time for discussion the papers will be printed beforehand. and not read to the meeting. Each writer will be requested to furnish at least 300 copies of his paper for distribution among members II day or two before his topic is taken up. (5) Topics.-Many topics have been sent in by onr friends in India and at home. These have been chosen for the programme, which wili be given to the public after the names of writers and speakers and otber details h'lve been settled-viz., 'Vork for the Depressed Classes and the Masses; Missionary Comity; The Religious Education of the Young; How can our ~liBsionary Schools he Made more Effective as Evangelizing Agencies ? Work among English-Speaking Indians; Special Evangelistic Work for Women; The Native Church in India; The Christian Press; Attitude of Mis,ionaries toward Reform Movements-e.g., The Sabbath, Temperance, The Congre~R, Marriage and Divorce, The Social Evil: Miscellaneous Topics-e.g., 'Vork for Lepers, Statistics in Misgionary Wark, Tbe Relation of Missionary Societies to tbe Management of the Work in the Field, The Relation betwc(m European and Indian Christians, The Influence of the J eSllit Movement on Protestant Missions, Horne Evangelists in India. and 'Vork for our own Countrymen.
* See the principal fnete "nd documents of the Dyer Controversy in the" Life of William Carey D.D., Shoemaker and :lli,,!o!1aI'Y" (2d ed, London, .John Murray, 1887), in which the late Charles H. Spnrgeon wrote. "The He.a."porc mistake is wisely treatecl"
THE ORIGIN OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA
THE ORIGIN OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, O.
From the founding of the first European settlements in the New World somewhat of zeal for the evangelization of the heathen has always existed, and Protestant efforts looking to that end date from the very beginnings of New England. Concern for the spiritual well-being of the aborigines manifested itself in various ways. Appropriations of money were made by the civil authorities, and urgent appeals for financial aid were sent back to the mother country. But much more, labors abundant and truly apostolic were beRtowed by Eliot and by the Mayhews through five successive generations, and were continued in the century following by such as Sargent and Edwards. A school was opened at Lebanon, Conn., for the education of Indians and missionaries, where Orcum, a Mohican, was trained for the ministry, and Kirkland, who for forty years devoted himself to unwearied toil for the Oneidas. As early as 1643 the Gospel was carried in their own tongue to the Mohawks in the vicinity of Schenectady by ministers of the Reformed (Dutch) Church j many were converted, and for their use the liturgy and portions of the Scriptures were translated. In 1741 the Scottish Society for the Propagation of the Gospel established a Board of Correspondence in New York, and sent Horton as missionary to the Indians of Long Island j David Brainerd to the Forks of the Delaware, aud, after his death, his brother John to the same region. The latter was supported almost entirely by American Presbyterians. But, on account of a strange succession of serious hindrance8, no lasting results were secured; and finally, after the close of the Revolution, these efforts almost entirely ceased, At the beginning of the present century the idea of world.-wide missions, the evangelization of the entire race, had not begun to dawn upon the consciousness of American Christians. Though for sixty years the Moravians had been bearing the glad tidings to distant lands j though Schwartz, Ziegenbalg, Carey, and Vanderkemp had been preaching Christ in pagan India and Africa; and though already in Great Britain three missionary societies had heen formed, stillDn this side of the Atlantic, even among the most earnest-hearted, the only heathen who llad any c'aims upon them were the aborigines at their own doors. To not a soul came overwhelming conviction and longing. Hitherto the best efforts had been unsystematic, sporadic, and transient. There had been no attempt at corning together in combination and co-operation to fashion some comprehensive and far-reaching scheme to carry the light far and wide through the lands of darkness. The first signs of something better to come appeared as the result of the call of the Scottish Christians, in 1746, for monthly, public, united prayer for the universal spread of the Gospel. vVhen Brainerd died, his last message to his Indians contained an injunction to observe this day. The Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society was organized in 1802 "to promote the knowledge of evangelical truth in new settlements of the United States, or further, if circumstances should render it proper j" and, two years later, the Massachusetts (Congregational) Missionary Sociely changed its constitution so as·to read: "Among people of newly settled and remote parts, among the Indians, and through more distant regions as circumstances invite and ability admits."
The fact is patent that missions in America were an outgrowth almost direct from missions in Britain, though of course at the same time various causative forces, mighty, though less visible, were operating throughout Christendom, so that William Carey was the father of the former as well as of the latter, In spite of the violent sundering which had recently taken place between the colonies and the mother country, the relations still existing were most intimate, especially upon the intellectual and religious side. Great movements starting across the sea were quickly known and deeply felt here also. When, consequently, in 1792, the Baptists launched forth for their sublime endeavor, and when, soon after, Carey sailed for India, the New World also was looking on with wonder and admiration. In particular, the Baptists of this land were eager watchers. Dr. Staughton, later a pastor in Philadelphia, heard Carey's famous Nottingham sermon; like all the others, was stirred to the depths j into the collection which followed cast II half gainea, borrowed for the purpose, and" rejoiced more over it than over any other sum he ever gave in his life." Letters and missionary reports sent by English Baptists were circulated quite extensively. Since Carey, with all his stalwart faith in God, was also a staunch believer in the grace of vigorous works, and was a most indefatigable letter writer, information and exhortation were poured forth in all directions from his pen. Thus communications not a few reached New England and the Middle States, were read with interest, and, as a result, considerable sums of money were forwarded to Calcutta. In 1806-7 he acknowledges the receipt of $6000, and says: "The Lord has wonderfully Rtirred the whole religious world of every denomination to favor our work and contribute to a large amount j and our American friends have special claims on our gratitude in this respect." And, further, in 18ll, through the action of the Boston Baptist Associati:'n, $4650 were contributed by persons of different denominations in Eastern Massachusetts, to aid in carrying forward his numerous translations of the Scriptures into Asiatic languages. Rence the assertion is abundantly justified that" We are indebted to those pioneers for the example which gave a powerful impulse to missions by arousing the interest and embodying the efforts of all denominations. "
But an impulse vastly greater was imparted three years later when the London Mi8sionary Society leaped suddenly forth into vigorous life. Says Rev. Kiah Bayley: "In 1797 Rev. Alexander MeLean, of Bristol, Me., received from Scotland the sermons of Dr. Haweis and others preached at the organization, was charmed by reading them, and loaned the pamphlet to me. I took it to Newburyport, where it was soon reprinted and read with avidity by various others, and among them by the Rev. Samuel Worcester, who thus caught the sacred flame. And so was started the rill which led to the river." In 1796 a society was formed in New York, in which Presbyterians, Baptists, and Dutch Reformed were united, and monthly meetings were held to pray that" the God of grace would pour out His Spirit on His Church and send the Gospel to all nations." By 1807 five societies had been organized in Massachusetts to propagate Christianity, and similar ones in all the New England States, with some also in the Middle States. During the first five years of the century these periodicals were established, and combined to diffuse miRsionary intelligence from the Old World: the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, the :Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine, the Panoplist, and the (Presbyterian) Religious Intelligencer. In 1804 the Massachusetts Society chose the President of the London Society an honorary trustee. It was during this same period that Melville Horne's" Letters on Missions" and Claudius Buchanan's ., Star in the East" were published, and produced an impression widespread and profound. In addition, the churches began to be moved hy missionary discourses as never before. Upon the General Assembly in 1806 Dr. Griffin" urged the claims of the heathen and the greatness and excellence of missionary work with an eloquence and earnestness seldom, if ever, surpassed." The next year, Parish, before the Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society, dwelt upon " the growing conviction of the value of Christianity; and so it was a good time to send missionaries to every nation." In 1808 the General Assembly appointed a day of fasting and prayer to beseech" God to bless the efforts of His people to Christianize the heathen and to extend the Gospel." The same year, in Cambridge, Holmes hailed the approaching day when idols would be cast to the moles and bats, and all false faiths be superseded by the glorious Gospel of God. Only a few days before the American Board was organized, at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Society, Norton had boldness sufficient to inquire: "Is the expectation visionary and unfounded that the time is not far distant when from the United States missionaries win go forth to every region of the globe, accompanied with the fervent prayers of thousands 1" Finally, as early as 1R06 Norris. of Salem, had given $10,000 to found Andover Seminary, and declared, " My object is the foreign mission enterprise, for we must have ministers if we would have missionaries."
These Were some of the preliminary and preparatory steps, and such were some of the more significant ~igns of the times. Hitherto zeal has been only general and indefinite, destitute of specifi0 object and aim; but now we cOllle upon desires and convictions burning in the bosoms of godly and heroic men, which cannot at all be c(lnt~ined within the realm of thought and emotion, but must Jeap fOlth and incarnate themselves in action. "With such feelings and utterances among the elders it is not strange that from among the young men some should catch the spirit and propose actually to engage in missions." At this point., in the person of Samuel J. Mills, there begins to come into very prominent view one who without doubt may be properly termed the American counterpart of Will- iam Carey. If there were need of proving this affirmation, it wonld be sufficient to set forth the distinguished and essential part he played not only in the formation of the American Board, the Cornwall School, and the mission to the Sandwich Islands, but also of the United Foreign niis- sionary Society, the American Bible Society, the American Colonization Society, and the school in New York for the education of Africans. Like the Hebrew Samnel, from his birth Mills had been lent to the Lord-not to serve in the tabernacle, but to offer living and life-long sacrifices in pagan lands. 'Vhen a child he "accidentally" heard his mother mention to a neighbor this fact of his consecration, and he never forgot it, but was inspired and impelled thereby to his dying day. She often also told him stories of Eliot, Braincrd, and others. Converted in 1802, at the age of nineteen, his controlling purpose was already so clear and so strong that. he could say to his father: "I cannot conceive of any course of life in which to pass my days that would prove so pleasant as to go and communicate the Gospel of salvation to the poor heathen." And even then his longing was to be a mi~sionary, not to the Indians at home, but in some foreign land.
Entering Williams College in 1806, his heart was too mu~h aflame with another passion to allow him to excel in his studies. Soon a few familiar spirits like Richards and Hall were found or fashioned, and at once they began to pray and plan. There is no time to dwell upon the memorable meeting under the haystack, or the secret society with its solemn pledge binding to the foreign work, or their careful canvass of prudent and efficient ways and means for furthering the momentous project they had so fervently at heart. The object of the organization was " to effect in the person of its members a mission to the heathen," and the constitution was drawn up in cipher, " public opinion being opposed to us," and" lest we ~hould be thought rashly imprudent, and so should injure the cause we wish to promote." They made the acquaintance of various clergymen of influence, and opened a correspondence with others. They secured the publication and distribution of various sermons and other works on missionary subjects. They visited several colleges, or wrote thither to kindle the holy flame in the breasts of other young men. Here, surely, was fonnd a remarkable combination of fervent zeal and knowledge of men and affairs. Yet with all their boundless ardor, anything approaching dangerously near to fanaticism would be hard to find. The spirit which lifted them up and bore them onward may be discerned in the reply of Hall, when, later, he was urged to take a pastorate: "No, I must not settle in any pariFh in Christendom. Others will be left who;e hellli h or pre-engagements require them to stay j but I can sleep on the gronnd and endure hunger and hardship. God calls me to the heathen. Woe to me if I preach not the Gos- pel to the heathen."
In 1809 the scene shifts to Andover, the doors of the theological semi- nary having opened for the reception of students only the year before j and the little band from Williams was re-enforced by Nott and Newell, and a few months later by Judson, coming each one from a different college, and each also having arrived independently at the dominant conviction. Judson had read Bnchanan's "Star in the East," and "the evidences of Divine power manifested in the progress of the Gospel in India fell like a spark into the tinder of his soul." "I could not Mtudy j I depicted to myself the romantic scenes of missionary life j I was in a great excitement." A· few months sufficed to bring him to the fixed purpose to devote his life to a mISSIOnary career. And though several with whom he counselled thought the idea was irrational, he would not change his determination, but wrote to the London SOCiety, and so began to move before he knew of any other who was like. minded. The meetings of these young men to strengthen one another in their planning to extend the dominion of their dear LOld has been likened to that striking scene in the chapel at Mont Martre, where, nearly three hundred years before, the seven founders of the Society of . Jesns mct to exchange their vows. Though wholly of one desire and pur- pose, they were as yet also wholly without knowledge as to who would authorize them to go and send them forth, as well as to what particular portion of the wide world they should direct their efforts. Consulting the faculty, and their designs finding favor, a conference with several clergy- men was arranged for June 25th, 1810 j they were advised to petition the General Association to move in the matter, and that body was to meet the next. day. The petition was duly prepared and presented, signed origi- nally by the entire six j but lest the large number should strike some through with terror, two names were taken off. The petition set forth that their " minds had long been impressed with the duty and importance of person- ally attempting a mission to the heathen," and inquired if they could ex- pect "patronage and support from a society in this country, or if they must commit themselves to the direction of a European society." And it was as the direct result of such urgency of appeal on the part of this con- secrated company that the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions came into being, the first of the kind on thi!;l side of the Atlantic, wh08e aim was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Thus, in 1810, American missions were born.
It is affirmed that at this date not less than eighteen or twenty persons had been seriously considering the perRonal claims upon them of mission- ary work, and, of course, more or less of interest had been excited in the minds of many. Bnt even now only a few ministers-and of laymen fewer still-had attained to the fill ness of faith and zeal. The Prudential Committee were thoroughly persuaded that a considerable timo must elapse before they could sUR[ain a mission on a pt'omising scale in any land. One of their number, a Bosion merchant, was oppo~ed to sending out any men unless a fund of at least $60,000 was in reserve for use in case of inadequate receipts; and a fruitless effort was made to raise a large sum for investment, while but one was venturesome enough to insist that ihey should go forward ju~t as soou as an eligible fidd was found, fund or no fund, holding that the Lord's hand was iu the matter, and that the way would be opened if they bestirred themselves. Meanwhile, the young men were counselled to pursue their studies and wait in patience. Recourse was had to the London Society to see if the candidates could not be sent out by the two bodies in co-operation, and Judson was sent to England to con· fer. Fortunately, however, nothing came of that timid project; and so all concerned were compelled to trust to God and their own exertions. And, verily, those wele the days of small things. At the end of the first year the receipts had reached but $099.52, and when the next year was well advanced the treasury contained only $1200. So, with a minimum of sight for a fOllndation upou which faith might stand and plume itself for flight into the unseen, it. is not strange that there was great hesitation abuut making the tremendous venture. But now, without warning, the supreme test of faith was thrust upon them. Word was brought from Philadelphia th'lt in a few days a vessel would sail from that city, in which missiunaries might take passage for India, an opportunity not likely to occur again for a period indefinitely long. Then, a little later, came intelligence that about the same time from Salem another ship would set fOlth for the same region. With this golden opportunity, and with four men ready and waiting, most eager and urgent to be sent, what should be done 7 To add to the sore perplexity, behold a fifth petitioner appears in the per· son of Rice, asking to be ordained and dispatched with the others. The courage of the Committee rose grandly to the height of the great occasion, and they determined to go forward. They stipulated, however, that Rice should himself secure the wherewith for his outfit and passage, and suggested that the four wives would better remain behind for a season to save the extra expense, and further intimated that if the worst came, a portion of the number, or even all, might be trangferred to the London Society. Nor did the outcome fail superabundantly to justify this act of faith. A call was issued to the churches for money, and arrangements were made for the ordination services. Fortunately, too, the day of sailing was postponed for a fortnight. Now enthusiasm began to rise. So Illany hearts wele opened, and so great was the eagerness to gin>, that by the end of three weeks more than $6000 wele in hand, Philadelphia alone contributing more than $1000. Thus it became posRible for wives and all to depart, with salaries paid for a year and a half in advance! On February 19th, 1812, Judson alld Newrll sailed from Salem, and on the 22d, Hall, Rice, and Nott from Philadelphia. In J nne following war was declared against Great Britain, :md for yean! communication with the East was practically closed.
The in~truction!l drawn up in haste for the guidance of thlse pioneer American missionaries, though, on the whole, surprisingly wise, both in what they contained and in what they omitted, have yd some passages which read strangely in the light of what experience has since taught. Thus they were enjoined to adopt as soon as possible" some plan of polity or social order," a sort of family or communistic arrangement such as Carey had contrived. And, still further, "to lighten expenses, apply yourselves to the most eligible ways and means of support, agreeable to the example of the English missionaries, and even of the apostles." But a few years were sufficient to demomtrate that neither of those ideas could profitably be reduced to practice. In those primeval days, as well as for more than a generation later, the conviction was prevalent that to send women to countries heathen and savage was of more than doubtful propriety ; for not only was thc matter of dElicacy, modesty, and even the greatest danger of gross ill-treatment involved, but, since they could not help, they would provc a serious encumbrance! But, somehow, it has happened that the weaker sex to this day has continued to get itself commissioned of God and of men to proclaim in darkest and vilest lands the Glad Tidings.
Ever since the organization of the Board, the two burning questions had been concerning finances and the location of the missions. During the early conferences of the student originators" sometimes we would cut a path through the moral wilderness of the West to the Pacific and sometimes to South America, the object always being the salvation of the heathen." The London Society suggested the Indian tribes and IIindustan. For long months the committee watched eagerly for the 'rising and moving of the pillar of fire. In 18ll they reported that" scarcely sny portion of the world is more important and inviting than Burmah," and that" Providence points to Canada and the Caghnawaga tribe ;" the latter, since they know of a pious native who longs to carry the Gospel to his people, and is getting an education for the purpose. India was looked upon with favor because of the presence there of the English missionaries, though Burmah seemed to be a more desirable fielil, being outside of the East India Company's domain.
When, in November of 1812, the actual beginning of a mission was heralded by the sailing of the first five men for Asia, this is the language employed: "The magnitude of the event, if estimated by the probable consequences, is such as to form an era in the history of the American churches, though the immeiliate consequences may be such as to dii'appoint" -words profoundly wise and prophetic as well. Up to this point the work had been but that of putting the hand to the plough, and now weTe to follow long and weary years of toilsome seed-sowing and anxious waiting for the harve~t. Jnst ahead were in store struggles again~t ub,tncles numerous, multiform, and well-nigh insuperable. The fir6t message wInch came from the migsionaries was to the ('ffect that they, arridng at Calcutta, . had been ordered to leave the conntry at once; and the next, even more crushing, that two of them had withdrawn from the Board and gone over to the Baptists. As was natural, the surprise and con8ternation which fol- lowed this revolution in sentiment was not unmingled with indignation, though, on the whole, the humiliating set-back was borne with commend- able resignation and forbearance. These words appeared in the next annual report: "The committee has no disposition to impeach the sincerity of these men, but they regret that the subject was not examined before so late a day. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. We repose our hopes on this in spite of the instability which we lament to record, bllt against which no human foresight could provide. Let it rouse a holy zeal; and should it be overruled and bring an accession of strength, it will be a joyful event."
In noting the most impressive series of providences which followed, it will be profitablc to transfer ourselves to the foreign field. After a voyage of five months Judson and Newell had arrived at Calcutta June 17th, 1812. At once a command was served npon them to return to America in the ship which brought them, nor would the Caravan be permitted to sail without them. Later it was concluded that they might depart to any region not within thc Company's jurisaiction. Presently information was received which "decisively deterred" them from attempting to enter Burmah; and as no door, either open or likely to open, appeared in that direction, their eyes were turned westward toward Bombay and Africa. On August 4th Newell and his wife took passage for the Isle of France in a vessel which could carry but two, leaving the Judsons to follow as soon as possible. And, behold, only four days later the Harmony arrived, bringing Hall, Nott, and Rice. They too were bidden to be off at the soonest. A passport was therefore procured by the two former from the police, passage was engaged, and their belongings were put on board, when the order came to go to England in the fleet about to sail; but, notwithstanding. they went on board by stealth and made their escape. Judson had already been baptized in Serampore, and Rice had followed him a few weeks later. Meanwhile, the Newells were enduring wave upon wave of trouble and sorrow. For a month they were beaten up and down in the Bay of Bengal. Mrs. Newell being very sick of a fever; and then in distress the ship put in at Coringa and lay for a fortnight. It was November before they reached the Isle of France, and on the last day or that month Mrs. Newell died; and, as the event proved, thus accomplishing far more for the cause for which she exultingly laid down her life than she could have done by the longest term of most devoted service.
After a voyage of eleven weeks, on February 11th, 1813, Hall and Nott landed in Bombay. But knowledge of their movements had preceded them thither, and they were met wit.h a commillid to depart forthwith for England. Appealing to Governor Nepean, fortun~tely a man large-hearted, and thoroughly Christian, he promised to do the best possible for them, and wrote privately to Calcutta in their behalf. 'rhey began at once to study the language. Just now came the news of the war between Great Britain and the United States, and, as was not 8trange, the missionaries became objects of political suspicion. In August they learned that their names were down on a list as passengers in a vessel which was to have sailed at once, but on account of a leak was delayed. In September they asked permi1'sion to depart for Ceylon, where Newell now was; but consent was withheld. A few weeks later, learning that a ship was to start in a few hours for Cochin and go thence to Ceylon, they went on board, leaving Mrs. Nott behind, and a letter for the Governor, explaining why they had left without authority from him. Delayed at Cochin, letters arrived ordering them to be returned to Bombay. On December 22d they must sail for England. As a final effort, a most solemn memorial was addressed to Sir Evan Nepean as a man and a Christian. But preparations were made for departure, goods were packed and labelled, coolies and boats were engaged. As a last step the captain applied for the passage-money at the pay-office, but it was refused; and not long after came a message granting permission to remain in the city. Newell soon joined them, after ten months in Cey- Ion; and at once the foundations began to be laid of the first American foreign mission.
At the annual meeting of the Board, held in Salem, September 20th, 1815, in the sixth annual report, this is the language chosen to set forth most fittingly both the achievements hitherto made and the current situation : "The last two reports had recitations of the pilgrimages and adventures, perils and deliverances, discouragements and consolations of our missionaries in the East, seeking a door of entrance, but obstructed, disappointed, and in continual anxiety and suspense. But thus have been showed the faith and patience, the firmness and prudence, the fortitude and devotedness of the brethren, and proofs, affecting and animating, of the wisdom and goodness, the faithfulness and mercy, the almighty protection and overruling providence of God. This report has less striking narrative and affecting incident, and because they have found an open door and a resting place, though even now they have scarcely commenced their public labors." The glad announcement was also made that, after three years of war, peace had returned.
During all this protracted period of sore trial, so well had the faith and patience of the saints at home endured, that now, a brighter clay having dawned, the way was open for an enlargement of the work. Five men,' who had long been waiting for the opportunity, were now dispatchedsome to Bombay, to re-enforce the mission there, and the others to Ceylon, to break ground for a second station. The year after, various hindrances, which had hitherto prevented, having been removed, a mission was started among the Indians of Northern Georgia. It is in the annual report of 1817 that for the first time ~everal distinct fields could be named. It informs us that $2200 had been sent to Bombay with which to open schools, and that a house of worship was much needed in that city. In Ceylon the Government had granted the use of certain old Roman Catholic churches, with their manses and glebes. Among the Cherokees, Mr. Kingsbury found much encouragement. Also a mission school had been founded at Cornwall, Conn. And this significant item appeared: "The late glorious events at the Society I..lands-particularly at Otaheite and Eimeo-make our hearts burn with desire to witness the same triumphs of the cross at Owyhee and vVoahu [Hawaii and Oahn]. From all accounts this field is white for the harvest."
In 1819 details are given concerning no less than seven missions- Bombay, Ceylon, Palestine, among the Cherokees, the Choctaws, the Indians of Arkansas, and in the Sandwich Islands. "The first only six years ago was struggling for a place and even for existence, the last just ready to embark, and in all extending from east to west more than two thirds around the globe. " In the North Paeific the way had been strangely prepared by the advent into this country of Obookiah, his quasi-adoption by Mills, his conversion and education with other Hawaiian youths at Corn- wall, and their letters sent home telling of the Christian faith; and per- haps even more, by the news carried by sailors that the idols had been cast out in Ot!lheite, as well as by the return of certain Hawaiians after their conversion in the Society Islands. It was a great event in the history of the American Board when, in 1819, Bingham and Thurston and twenty others-by far the largest missionary family that had yet been gathered and sent forth at one time-set sail in the brig Thaddeus, bound for the Antipodes, to tell to the perishing the Gospel story.
Little came directly from the projected mission to Palestine, from whieh so much was fondly anticipated, and about which so much of enthusiasm and fine religious sentiment had gathered; though indirectly and more remotely it led to the opening of the Board's most important work among the Oriental churches in the Turkish Empire. Tl~e Committee wrote: " Western Asia is an interesting region, and has powerful claims upon us. We owe to the Jews a great debt, and they are to obtain mercy. A disposition manifested lately and extensively, and recent successes among them, are indications not to be disregarded. Our minds and hearts have long been drawn toward Palestine in particular, and we determined to send a mission thither as soon as preparations could be made. So Parsons and Fisk were chosen and sent upon an extensive tour among the churches as missionaries to Jerusalem, whereby a wide and lively interest was excited, and a distinguished liberality of contributions was the result." As one says: "The vision arose of a reconquered holy city and an ingathering of the chosen people. They were to go to Zion, view her battlements, and from her towers get views of the land soon to be possessed for the Son 1"
In 1820, after ten years of most careful planning and most arduous toil, this is the summing up of tangible results. The cost in money had reached $200,000. From $1000, the receipts of the first year, the annual gifts rose to $12,266 in 1814 ; fell to $9494 the year after, on account of the war, and then climbed steadily to $37.521 in 1819. At the end of the first decade 110 missionaries in all had been appointed, of whom 62 were men; and of the 88 still in serl'ice or on the way to their fields, 28 were men ordained. Of the entire force 44 were laboring among the Indians, 25 were in the East, 17 in the Sandwich Islands, and 2 in Western Asia. As to fruit-gathering, even yet the report is: ' , We cannot reckon up much of tangible results." The ten years follOWing were devoted almost wholly to the development of fields already occupied rather than to the founding of additional missions.
Thus far we have been dwelling upon the early designs and doings of the American Board and the New England Congregationalists. In fact, for a number of years the bulk, both of money and men, was derived from the children of the Pilgrims. Williams College, Andover Seminary, and Massachusetts General Association were called of Providence to playa most prominent part in arousing and organizing the forces which laid the foundations and began to rear the superstructure of American missions. It was from accident rather than design-was the result of circumstances-that of the first eight commissioners chosen, five were from Massachusetts, and the others were from Connecticut. But no setting forth of the origin and growth of missions in the United States would be at all complete which did not make mention of the hearty sympathy and generous co-operation of various other denominations, and as well of other missionary societies, to which, directly or indirectly, the work of the Board gave rise. We have already seen what liberal contributions were bestowed by the Philadelphia Presbyterians when the first men were sent out in 1812. The same year the General Assembly was invited by the secretary to form a similar society to co-operate with the Board; but that body, in reply, expressed the conviction that foreign missions would be best served by a single organization, and added that their" churches rejoiced in the American Board and would sustain it to the best of their ability." For a generation that pledge was well kept. In order to secure increased 'denominational comprehensiveness, at the second annual meeting an addition of thirteen commissioners was made to the corporation, of whom eight were Presbyterians. In 1832, out of sixty-two corporate members, thirty-one were Presbyterians, twenty-four were Congregationalists, six were Dutch Reformed, and one was Associate Reformed. while the missionaries were chosen in about the same proportion. The German Reformed also assisted with their gifts.
But special mention must be made of a second organized missionary movement, whose beginning constitute" one of the very strangest passages of missionary history, and which came into existence by what seemed to most to be a piece of human frailty.' Out of disappointment and sorrow, out of apparent failure and disaster, came most remarkable success and enlargement to the kingdom. It was evidently the Lord's doing, and even yet is marvellous in our eyes. Of course the reference is to the famous change of opinion with regard to baptism on the part of Judson and Rice, soon after they had reached India. We have seen what impression that revolution iu seutiment made upon the Executive Committee. In their deep perplexity Hall and Nott wrote home as follows: " What the Lord means by thus dividing us in sentiment and separating us from each other we cannot tell. The Lord seoth not as man seeth, and it ill becomes us to be dissatisfied with what He does. We hope and pray that it will not damp the missionary spirit, but that it may burn with a brighter and purer flame. " That hope was well founded, and that prayer was not unheard. The work already begun was not weakened a whit except for a very brief period, while presently an entire denomination was set on fire with zeal for missions, and ever since has felt the tremendous impulse then received. Among the fruits of that earliest" failure" we may reckon the almost unmatched victories of the Gospel among the Karens of Burmah, and in our day among the Telugus of India!
As soon as the decisive step had been taken the two chief actors wrote to the American Baptists of what had come to pass. Carey also wrote, and their letters all reached Boston by the same mail in February of 1813. It will be remembered that Judson, on his departure, had suggested the formation of a ~aptiBt society; but the time was not yet. Now, all unsought, undesired, unlooked for, and of a sudden, they find two missionaries already in the foreign field, joining their fellowship at terrible cost, and fairly thrust upon them for support. Here were straits even greater than those ill which the Board had found itself with five men on its hands, and with a treasury poverty-stricken. Here, too, was a question without a negative. Almost at once a local society was formed, and circulars were soon sent out looking to a gathering to unite the whole denomination. The proposition was made to the Baptist Society in England to receive the two men into its Indian mission, their support being supplied from this side the Atlantic; but Fuller wrote in reply, and how fortunate for the Lord's work in the world: "Late events point to the origin of a distinct Baptist society in America. " "The intelligence spread with electric rapidity, and gave to benevolence and Christian obligation a'depth and fervor never before experienced. One sentiment of deep thanksgiving prevailed. The providence was too plain to be mistaken. The way had been opened, the field had been prepared, and the true-hearted must enter and prosecute that to which they had been summoned." In Maya preliminary convention was held in Philadelphia, attended by twenty-six ministers and seven laymen representing eleven States and the District of Columbia. As yet no meeting had ever been held for any purpose, which stood for all the churches; but now arrangements were made to form the" General Con~ vention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions." Much fuel was added to the flame when, in September, Rice reached home and began to tell what wonders he had seen and heard. "Here was one who had actually stood among the temples of heathendom and beheld the cruel abominations." His was an imagination most ardent, and his pictures were painted in vivid colors. "He reproduced the rapt predictions of the prophets of the Old and New Testaments and the thrilling exhortations of the apostles concerning the kingdom of heaven, and multitudes hung on his lips and followed his footsteps with an enthusiasm seldom known since "'~hitefield." Nothing could withstand the swelling tide of zeal which now set in. Before it indifference and prejudice-for the time at least-were swept away.
In the mean time, Judson, with no human arm to lean upon, but with unswerving confidence in the protection and guidance of his unseen Master, looked forward only to the accomplishment of the work to which he had been called. Ordered to England, he yet managed, by a remarkable train of circumstances, to escape to a ship bound for the Isle of France; after three months, returned to Madras, was immediately ordered to depart, and, as the only possible resort, took passage in a vessel with Burmah as its destination. So it was that July 14th, 1814, thirteen months after his departure from Salem, with his equally heroic wife, he was landed at Rangoon, in a region to which he had been originally assigned, but into which no door of entrance had been visible while in Calcutta. Here we must leave him upon the threshold of his work, the story all untold of the years of incredible toils, and sufferings, and afflictions next to follow, as well as the distinguished successes which even in his life-time began to appear. His name will ever stand high among the names of Christian heroes.
Space remains only to touch very briefly upon the beginnings of missions in the Methodist Episcopal Church, whieh started only at the close of the period to which this view is limited. Here too is found a peculiar ordering of Providence, which lends to the story an element of romance. As so often happens, it was but a commonplace incident, a mere accident, that started a movement of great importance. At Marietta, 0., a drunken negro, Stewart by name, while on his way to drown himself, was arrested by the voice of a Methodist preacher; was converted by the sermon, and not long after in a vision was called to set forth northward and westward to preach the Gospel to the perishing. Making his journey through the forest, he at length appeared among the Wyandots upon the upper Sandusky River, and immediately began to call those pagans to repentance. A revival ensued, the mission was continued, and later, the facts coming to the knowledge of Nathan Bangs and others in New York, their hearts were stirred, and they proceeded to organize a society which should systematize the work of evangelizing the heathen at home and abroad. For years the entire missionary zeal of this Church was expended upon the Indians; and it was not until 1832 that a venture was made in foreign lands by sending Melville B. Cox to Liheria.
The Prote:;;tant Episcopal Church was the next one to organize. The English Chmch Missionary Society as early as 1817 had urged the founding of a society, and in 1820 the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society was instituted ; but not until ten years later were missionaries sent out; then two
THE MISSIONARY AND THE LARK
were despatched to Greece, and, five years later, the mission to China was opened. By this time almost every denomination in the United States had at least begun to heed the command from Heaven to preach the Gospel to every creature. And finally the supreme test of loyalty to Christ has come to be the question: How abundant in labors, how liberal in giving, how earnest in prayer is an individual, or a body of Christians, for the redemption of the world 1 THE MISSIONARY AND THE LARK.
BY HUGH P. McCORMICK, ZACATECAS, MEXICO.
Through leagues of desert sand, from break of day, A weary traveller pressed his lonely way; And though his heart on mission high was bent, His tardy course betrayed a spirit well-nigh spent.
" What worth my journeying ~ What reeks my haste ~ Why sow my life on such a barren waste V My fainting heart by doubt and dangers torn, As are my limbs by cactus and acacia thorn."
Repining thus, he spoke-when his deep sighs All suddenly were hushed in glad surprise; For, perching lightly on an ancient palm Hard by the way, a field-lark raised its vesper psalm.
As water from the rock to Israel's eyes The pleasing sight and sound bade Hope arise Anew within the falling heart, and woke Afresh Faith's dying flame. Revived again, he spoke- " 0 childhood's mate, by what stern duty pressed Hast left thy native hedge, thy meadow nest, For this unfriendly clime 1 And can5t e'en here Forget thyself a fellow-traveller to cheer V " 0 Singing Angel, sent from God! To me Thou hast performed a holy ministry. Within my heart I'll bear thy sermon song, ~nd learn, like thee, to sing the thorny way along.
" Like thee, sweet bird, a missioner I'll be Of joy to spirits faint. My minstrelsy A lightsome one, that all the desert ways My pilgrim feet may tread b~ redolent of praise.
And will press on, o'er thorns and burning sand, With tuneful heart and lips, and helping hand, Till streaming down upon my paling face Shall fall the light of my eternal resting place."
A DYING TESTIMONY
A DYING TESTIMONY.
[From Graham Wilmot Brooke, of the Sudan Mission, C.M.S., who died at Lokoja, on the Niger, March 5th, 1892, perhaps the noblest young missionary of our time.-A. T. P.] He says, in his last letter: " Three great questions must determine our conception of the conditions amid which we work j and these I state, leaving my narrative of facts to supply the answers in some measnre.
"1. Is it part of God's plan that such mighty manifestations of the Spirit's power among the heathen as are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles should be as mnch a thing of past ages, as those mighty manifestations of animal energy which we wonder at in the gigantic skeletons at the British Museum 1 This position is often maintained.
"2. Is it true, as is often maintained, that ferocious and savage tribes have sunk themselves so low that they are no longer able'all at once to grasp the grand outlines of the plan of salvation 1 "3. Is it truP. that the fearful miseries of Muslim invasion tend, as has been often asserted of late, to bring the few survivors more within reach of the Gospel ~ And here I may point out in passing that while Islam prepares the mind to listen reverently to the idea of resurrection and future judgment-ideas quite novel to the pagan-it none the less trains its vota- ]jes to receive with indignation and derision the doctrine of atonement and of the Divinity of Christ.
" Besides these questions, other matters of scarcely secondary importance are constantly engaging the attention of missionaries-great questions as to the principles whil,h ah.mld determine our selection of methods of work. I will just state these questions, and then, without attempting to dogmatize for other fields or other workers, will mention the views which we hold on each point, and the reasons that have guided us to these decisions.
"1. Should we aim at magnifying or minimizing the benefits of civilization Y We carefully avoid praising civilization or civilized powers to the heathen, and if they themselves are extolling civilization, we tell them that they should not set their affections on ~hings below. We tell them that God has commanded kings not to greatly multIply to themselves sih'er and gold (Deut. 17 : 17), but that holiness is just as much at home in their little villages as in great palaces. Of course I use the word civilization in its strict sense. I do not refer to truthfulness or morality. which are far more likely to be found in the wigwam of the converted American Indian than in the halls of the Palais de Justice at Paris.
"2. Should we direct our effo;trs to the children or the adults ~ We preach to all alike; but in practice we find that the adults give more serious heed to what is preached, and work among them has been more en. couraging.
"3. Should we regard education as a pathway leading to conversion, or as a result to spriug from it V In these lands, everyone, from the Sul- tan in his palace down to the little child that scares the birds from the maize fields, can best be reached by the old apostolic fashion of preaching j and nothing in our experience corresponds to what we hear of India, that educational missions are the only way of reaching certain classes. More- over, we note that about 99.5 per cent of those who have been educated by the Niger Mission in past years have turned out very badly indeed, and the only effect of education has been to greatly increase their power for evil in the country. We, therefore, at Lokoja are endeavoring to reduce the education of the unconverted to the smallest possible limits, as the work of instructing genuine inquirers in the Scriptures seems likely to demand all our strength. . "4. Should we aim at getting influence with the natives as a preliminary to unfolding unwelcome truths to them? or, should we at once declare the whole counsel of God in faith that He will be responsible for our influence V It is our experience in this field that influence which is gained at the price of keeping unpleasant truths in the background is not worth having j for it parts like a rope vf sand the moment a faithful attitude is resumed. On the other hand, we have again and again been amazed at the way in which God has supported a message of uncompromising outspokenness, and has suddenly smitten the hearers with conviction, when, humanly speaking, nothing but curS!1S or violence could have been looked for in reply.
"5. Should we adopt in preaching among the pagans the methods prescribed for the evangelization of Palestine in Matthew 10 : 9-lfi V That we should do so was maintained, as many may recollect, in a very powerful series of papers in the Christian,papers which contained so very much that was true and searching that many of us were almost persuaded to adopt the writer's conclusions. Long and careful examination of the question, however, has convinced us all that taking nothing of the Gentiles is the command for us; and so, although free gifts of food are'heaped upon our delegates in all their journeys, we make a point of paying generously for all we receive, in spite of the people's protestations. A great principle underlies this j for all in these lands, even those who still adhere to paganism, have a g'reat idea of making' Sadaka,' or free-will offerings, to the mallams, as an act of religious merit, and with the great mass of the population a gift to a religious teacher is as much a salve to the conscience as five shillings for a mass is to an Irish Romanist. Those who have worked among Romanists will appreciate my meaning. It is, therefore, of no little importance to refuse such gifts, if we wish our words to strike home with undiminished power of conviction.
" For the last five or six months our work has been rapidly developing, almost, I might say, in geometrical progression, and that ill spite of the steady diminution of our nnmbers, and the fact that no European, except Miss Griffin, has had any prominent share in the mission work. ' The people are yet too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. ' These words, the subject of one of our Bible-readings in the end cf September, have sounded in my ears ever since. And now this is being still further carried into effect. Mrs. Brooke has been prostrated for nearly a month by a second attack of hmmaturic fever, followed by a very severe ,md obstinate attack of dysentery, so that a prolonged stay at Lokoja would be quite useless. I may mentiou that this same attack of dysentery was gradually getting worse and worse for more than a fortnight, in spite of every remedy and every care, when we called a special meeting for prayer. vVhen the party assembled the attack was at its worst, but from that hour, literally, all dIstressing or alarming symptoms vanished, and recovery has since progressed at a wonderful rate. And thus we know how near God is to us, even in Ollr seeming difficulties and disappointments. At the same time Miss Griffin has been invited to take up work in another part of West Africa, and we all feel she has done right in accepting. Thi~, while it will diminish our numbers, need not, to judge from the past, diminish our work, and it will set me free to go with the various agents over all the gronnd that has been visited.
" The dispensary work has grown greatly, the patients in the last month being as many as in the preceding half year. But the wonderful efficacy of the native medicines, in the hands of the best native physicians, must always prevent the dispensary work from reaching very many of those who can pay for native doctors. Indeed, in proof of the skill of good native physicians, I may say that, though native medicines are very unpalatable, I would just as soon have a first-class country doctor as a European physician to attend me in any i1Iness with the cure of which the natives are familiar, unless, perhaps, the European had five or six years' experience of the country, which is not very common. * Our dispensary work, how- ever, has been chiefly carried on among the Kakandas, that rude and savage t'ribe of fishermcn who live between this and Egga, whose little huts, now that they have fled in large numbers from Nupe oppression, are crowded along the waterside. These are the only people in all this country from whom we have met with insults or threats of violence, and now, since the district-visitors have been going to their huts, they all receive us eagerly, and flock up the hill-side every morning to bring this or that comrade to have some sore, or cough, or swelling seen to, and to listen to whatever they may be taught. Thus to the poor the Gospel is preached.
* While acting for a short time as medical attendant to the local garrison of R.N.C. Constabu- lary (at that time about 300 men), I alway" consulted with the· native physicians, who became very open, and freely explained to me their dmgs and their course of treatment. Many difficult cases I entrusted to them, and whenever they told me with confidence that they had a specific for the dis· ease in qnestion. I observed that they effected cures which any London physician would have envied. The natives, accustomed to their own very powerful drug~, look upon our mild remedies just as most English M. D.'s do on a bottle of homceopathic pillules.
LIVINGSTONE'S ANSWERED PRAYER
., At the church we are holding special Gospel services daily, to urge decision upon the many who arc now thoroughly instructed as to the way of salvation, and we see many signs that our efforts will be blessed of God.
" Thus closes 1891, the results of the work equalling our most sanguine expectations, for the Word of God has been fully preached over an area equal to Hertfordshire, Middle8ex, Kent, Surrey, and Hants. But the means chosen of God have been different to what we had planned. ' The people . . . are too many for me' was written in large characters across t he record of the first half year, and now, 'The people are yet too many' is written across the record of the last half year. The least we can do is to accept God's will, and not be as the horse or mule. He would se('m to wish that we should give up for a little any feverish attempts to reinforce the work with new men, but jllst wait on Him, and see how many He can turn to Christ with those whom we have already got. 'Come and let us go over, . . . it may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.'
LIVINGSTONE'S ANSWERED PRAYER.
BY MISS LAURA M. LATIMER, ROCK CREEK, o.
" And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer." -Isaiah 65 : 24.
In the year 1866 Dr. Livingstone was exploring Central Africa, in order to discover the sources of the Nile. Ten men deserted him. They made their way back to Zanzibar, and to excuse their sudden return and to obtain money they circulated the report that Dr. Livingstone was murdered by the natives on the western shore of Lake Nyassa. This was believed by his friends in England. He had ordered five hundred pounds sterling worth of goods to be sent him from Zanzibar. The man to whom they were intrusted stole all these necessary supplies and sold them for ivory and slaves. Dr. Livingstone was pursuing his way on foot through wild, trackless forests, wading knee-deep across deadly bogs and marshes, in damp, poisonous jungles, over famine-stricken plains, through broad districts desolated by war, trying faithfully to accomplish the object of his journey, and in total ignorance of the train of circumstances conspiring against him. In the year 1871 he was nearly to the end of the geographical part of his mission, when Ruddenly his men refused to go one step farther. Bribes, coaxing, nothing availed to change their purpose, and he knew that there' was a plot to kill him if he forced them to go on. When he thought of his children, whom he had not seen for six years, the desire became very intense to finish hiR work. But it was impossible, and heartsore and greatly depressed in spirit!!, he commenced the long, weary tramp back to Ujiji on foot, every step of the way in pain. It seemed so unnecessary to him, this long journey back-five hundred miles under a burning tropical sun. But he comforted himself each day of the toilsome way that there would be letters from his family at Ujiji, news from the dear home-land, and plenty of necessary supplies, comforts, and medicine; and he would find faithful men who would return with him to finish his explorations.
He arrived at Ujiji October 26th, 1871, "almost at death's door," and found that the supplies which he had left there for this hour of need had all been sold; the goods sent to him from Zanzibar were stolen. Not a single letter from his friends had reached there. Sick and without medicine, he seemed forsaken; for he knew of no possible way by which help could come to him. He said that he was like the man in the Gospel who fell among thieves; but in his case he was sure that there was no possibility of a priest, Levite, or Samaritan passing that way. Almost on the verge of despair, and in great destitution, he took up his abode in the poorest habitation in Ujiji. This new trial of his faith was very hard to bear, for the thought of beggary among the Ujijians made him very wretched. It was impossible for any letter to reach his friends while the fierce Mirambo was waging such a deadly war with all the tribes between him and the coast.
In the year 1869 Henry M. Stanley, who was in Spain, received a telegram from James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald. It read : "Come to Paris on important business. .. He reached there the following night, and in haste made his way to the Grand Hotel and awoke Mr. Bennett from sleep to learn why he was so hastily summoned to Paris. Mr. Bennett said: "Where do you think Livingstone is~" And he added, " I think he is alive and that he can be found, and I am going to send you to find him." Stanley looked at him in surprise and said, " Do you mean me to go to Central Africa~" "Yes," the young editor replied; "I mean that you shall go and find him wherever you may hear that he is; and perhaps," delivering himself thoughtfully and deliberately, " the old man may be in want; take enough with you to help him should he require it. Draw a thousand pounds now, and when you have gone through that draw another thousand, and when that is spent draw another thousand, and when you have finished that draw another thousand, and so on ; but find Livingstone." That night Stanley started for Central Africa. After a perilous journey of nearly two and a half years, he stood upon a rugged height and looked down upon the great Tanganyika. Below him was Ujiji embowered in palms, the waves of the silver waters of the lake rolling at its feet. Those dark, deadly, fever-haunted forests" with their appalling, intense silence, were behind him, and with our flag flying in the breeze, and with the firing of guns and the glad shout of his men, he marched into Ujiji and clasped the hand of the hero of Africa.
The Herald expedition arrived there just sixteen days after Dr. Living-
NEWS FROM THE SOUTH A~'RICAN MISSION FIELD
stone reached there. Mr. Stanley said: "Had I not been delayed at Unyamyembe by the war with Mirambo, I should have gone on to Manyema, and very likely should have lost him j but I was detained by a series of circumstances which chafed and fretted me considerably at the time, only to permit Livingstone to reach Ujiji a few days before 1 appeared. It was as jf we were marching to meet together at an appointed rendezvous, the one from the west, the other from the east."
The expedition had been kept a secret j for the young editor of the Herald was sending thousands of dollars to Africa to help a missionary whom nearly all the world believed was dead and buried years before. Rtanley himself felt that he was pursuing a shadow, and yet he was on the way more than two years before Dr. Livingstone knew that his supplies were stolen j he was pressing on with all possible speed, "lifting up his head and asking the silent plains around, and the still dome of azure upheaving to inJinity above, Where can he be g" and at last reached him, just at the hour of his extreme need.
NEWS FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION FIELD.
BY WILLIAM J. NEETHLING.
On Friday, February 26th, the minister of Stellenbosch received the following telegram: "Christening on Sunday, 11 A.M., chief, wife, and thirty-one others j pray for us."
This was from Moc;uli (Pilands Mountains, Rustenburg, Transvaal), where Mr. Beye~, the missionary, is working on behalf of our Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Colony.
This is a great event in the history not only of that station, but also of the Mission Society of our Church, that Linque has at last yielded himself to the Lord and consented to baptism.
He has long been favorable to the mission and built a church, but the attractions of heathendom-polygamy and the like-have hitherto kept him back. Now he is corning out openly for his belief, and we rejoice with the missionary and his lady assistants.
On Sunday 28th we heartily responded to the request. In our young men's meeting and in our large gathering in the Church special prayer was offered for a rich blessing on the ceremony, and for further manifestation of the power of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the chief and those around him. All throughout the Sabbath our hearts were full of praise and thanks.
Most likely political troubles will arise from the heathen faction to test the Christian endurance of the king and other converts. They will need special grace to remain steadfast.
"If we Christians," wrote a lady from the mission field, " find it so hard to be spiritually minded how much more they who are undeveloped and in such surroundings!"
NEW MISSION IN AFRICA
Let us then ask for the prayers of Christians who love mission work, that the Lord may send His Holy Spirit into their hearts; that they may grow in grace and in favor with God and man, and lead many of the other heathen to the foot of the cross.
Dr. Laws, of the Nyailsa Mission, has been making a tour through some of our towns in the Colony on his way to Scotland from Bandawe on furlough. He has everywhere delivered addresRes, appealing to the young people to go to the mission field, explaining the needs and nature of the work, and telling us "what great things the Lord had done." He has been greatly blessed in this piece of service for the Master. His remarks are specially interesting for their sober, practical sense. His ideal missionary is to be (1) undersixfeet; (2) slim and wiry, not too much" beef;" (3) he must be a good sleeper; (4) must have good digestion; (5) must be of a calm, untroubled temperament, and more requirements of the same sort. All are welcome, however, provided they have the last (6) qualification-consecration. "Is everyone to have the fever~" "Most decidedly. Just make up your mind to that at once. If the malaria seizes upon you at the start-i.e., if the malaria works outward-you are safe; but if you do not get it within a year, the doctor gets anxious; and if not within two years, he knows that there is small hope of your living more than another year or two."
" Are we future missionaries to go to the mission field married @" Dr. Laws: "No, it would be very imprudent." ," What, are we to remain unmarried 1" "No! You must marry. But don't you see that your wife can follow later on 1 You first go, get a year or two's experience, find her a place, build a house, etc., and then by all means get married."
Such were the remarks he offered. It was to us thrilling when he pointed out the crying need and claims of the heathen, and when he mentioned the few devoted workers surrounded by millions of ungratefnl heathen. Mnch has been done, but oh! how much more remains to be done before we can meet our Master !
NEW MISSION IN AFRICA.
On June 5th last year, Rev. Dr. Stewart, of Lovedale, left this country for East Central Africa, at the request of Sir William M'Kinnon, Mr. A. L. Bruce, and others interested in the welfare of Africa, to found a mission to the natives in the Imperial East Africa Company's territory similar to the mission of the Free Church, Lovedale, South Africa. At Mombasa the other' members of the mission joined him, and thence they proceeded inland. Much difficulty was encountered in procuring the two hundred and . fifty porters necessary for the transport of the goods, and also on their in- ~ land march throngh the Taro desert, where for three days they were wlthout water. The original intention was to place the mission at Machakos.
A little more than half way to that place, however, Dr. Stewart was much struck by a site on the banks of the Kibwezi River. There was good water, good timber, good soil, elevation three thousand feet, and the people so friendly as to invite the mission party to remain with them. It was thought advisable to make a temporary camp there, while Dr. Stewart, ac- companied by Mr. Wilson and fifty native men, proceeded to Machakos to compare the two sites. While journeying to Machakos the chiefs and headmen were visited and friendly relations established. The chiefs were invited to send deputations to visit the white men to se" what they were doing, to study their ways, and to return and report to the old men of their villages. The march for two days was up the bed of a river, that being the only road. Although only the beginning of the rainy season, there was a foot or so of water, which, of course, meant considerable discomfort during the march.
The comparison of the two sites was found to be decidedly in favor of the Kibwezi. Although Machakos is cooler, being five thousand feet above sea level, the disadvantages of the want of a plentiful supply of water, want of timber (the nearest being ninety miles off), and the gWlt distance from the coast entailing so much expense in the carrying of goods-all seemed to outweigh the single ad vantage of cooler climate. A further consideration is, Machakos is situated at the extreme inland side of the Wa-Kamba tribe, while the Kibwezi is on the coast side, this being an advantage in the case of any disturbances arising in the country. Dr. Stewart's intention, however, is to work inland, establishing a chain of stations. Machakos would ultimately serve as a sanitorium for all. The site being fixe<1, on the return of Dr. Stewart and Mr. Wilson to the Kibwezi plans were drawn up, and the party at once set to work to layout the station. Two miles of roads and paths have been made round the station. Seven buildings of strong wooden frames, wattle and daub and thatch, are in various stages of completion. These are the church and school combined, dispensary, workshop, store, and three dwelling-houses. English vegetables have been used from the gardens laid out, and six of the small oxen of the country llave been trained to the yoke. This last item may seem of little importance to many, out in reality it means the ultimate freedom of the Va-Kamba women from being the general carriers and burden-bearers of that country. During the months ending December 22d, 1891, the sen'ices of the medical part of the mission, conducted by Dr. Moffat, included the following: Dressings and attendances, 354 j new cases during the four weeks, 99. Sunday services are held in English for the Europeans; in Swahili for the coast men, who went up ail porters, and remained to assist in the laying out of the station. The larger number of these men, however, are Mohammedans. vVa-Kamba services have also been held j but the natives have yet to comprehend the reason why the white man has come to live in their country. Therefore th~ work among them will be very slow.
Industrial training is also being introduced, and will constitute an important educational factor in the mission. Thus far, therefore, the new mission to East Central Africa may be said to be fairly set a·going j and Dr. Stewart looks forward to a great future for it with God's blessing and wise management. A cablegram received on the 22d instant from Dr. Stewart announces his arrival at Mombasa, whence he sails on the 28th instant for this country.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MAS AFRICA.
-Our French brethren in Basutoland have experienced a hem'y loss in the death of M. Louis Duvoisin, missionary at Berea. '1'he Journal des Missions, speaking of his articles, says: "They enable the readels to ap- preciate all those qualities of style, of penetrating observation, of delicate and sagacious judgmelJt, which distinguished M. Duvoisin, and which stamped him as being, in the true sense of the word, a thinker. But that which these articles do not reveal, and which only his intimate friends and associates have been able to appreciate, are the moral qualities which distin- guished him-that goodness, that sweetness, that charity, that piety which beame! from his countenance, and gave him, above all when he prayed, an expression almost celestial."
-A writer in thc Catholic Review, remarking on the apparent sickliness of the Catholic Church in Southern Europe, is quoted as at-king whether it can be that the instrumentalities of religion have there too much taken the place of that which alone gives them value, namely, the Christian regeneration of the individual. The following remarks of Professor Kruger, in the Journal des jJ/issions, appear to confirm this surmise of the correspondent of the Catholic Review: "The King of Congo is dead. The political journals have said little about it; and more than one reader will perhaps ask who iii this sovereign, mortal like others, but whose death causes so little stir. Dom Pedro V. died February 14th, 1891, in his capital city of Ambassi, better known by its Portuguese name of San Salvador, where he had been reigning since 1859 ; he filled a throne whose occupants once treated as brethren with the powerful Portuguese sovereigns of the sixteenth century. Their court then courted dukes of Sundi, counts of Sonho, marquises of Pango, and of Pemba. Great cathedrals reared their spires toward heaven; processions traversed the capital, upon whose sumptuous sacerdotal ornaments the sun of Africa gleamed resplendent, and above whose ranks floated the standards of white and gold blessed by the Pope. Dom Pedro V. still kept, as an regis, the Standard of the Cross blessed by Innocent VIII. about 1490. This, some crucifixes, some images of saints treated as fetishes, a sonorous and empty title of sovereignty, are all that is left of those Congo missions so much vaunted by the Portuguese Dominican. and the Italian Franciscans of the sixteenth century.
" What a lesson for the missions of the nineteenth or twentieth century! Is it, then, that the monastic orders which preached Christianity in the kingdom of Congo from 1491 until the bishopric of St. Thomas and of Congo was created, in 1533, were wanting in zeal or in sincerity ~ Neither zeal, nor resources, nor successes failed them; their enthusiasm in the sixteenth century is comprehensible, if Christianity consists in ceremonies, if the Church is a passive throng which conforms its movements to a prescribed ritual. That is precisely the germ of death which has killed Congolese Christianity; the outward institution has been accounted more important than the sinners who ought to have been summoned to a personal experience of salvation at the foot of the Cross of Christ; the imposing framework has hidden and smothered the individual; the name has been more than the reality; there were churches, priests, canons, and chapters; there was a fully organized Christian nation-and no Christians. " ARABIA.
-Major-General F. T. Haig, of the British Army, has published an interesting pamphlet entitled" The Evangelization of Arabia." Be remarks that missions in many parts of Arabia, contrary to popular impression, cannot be compared to going forth" as sheep in the midst of wolves," and that, though not destitute of risks, they involve risks far less than those of Paul and his fellows.
-As Islam was born in Arabia, we are apt to imagine that all its people are Moslems. Yet the Bedouins-one third of the Arabs-are for the most part only Mohammedans in name, and many of them hardly even this. They have a strong sense of natural religion, and are wont to pray, " Lord, forgive us in Thy great compassion, and have mercy on our friends that have gone before us," and there they stop. Even of the civic Arabs, those in the East follow all manner of opinions, and are rather hostile than friendly to Islam. In Yemen also, especially near the Britii'h post of Aden, there is considerable opportunity to present the Gospel. The simple, stern, and ferociously Mohammedan Wahabees, in the centre, are, indeed, at present inaccessible. " How such a mi~sion would in time develop it is impossible to foresee; but the Arabs are a noble race, with ~reat capabilities. They once bore the standard of the False Propbet from Persia to the Atlantic, and if fired with a similar enthusiasm for tbe glory of Christ and tbe salvation of men, might yet prove to be a powerful factor in the conversion of the world." There seems little doubt tbat Arabia Felix will soon fall from the hands of the Turks into those of the English.
" The work will be one involving suffering, occasional loss of health, and even risk to life; but it is one which Paul would have chosen and an angel might envy. Can the churches of Christ in Great Britain take it up, or is it of altogether too adventurous a type for our modern Christianity ~ The probability is that the difficulties besetting it are greatly magnified in most minds by ig-norance of the real feelings of tbe Arabs, and tbat those who approach them in a spirit of Christian love and kindness would be met, as the missionaries among the Mohammedan races of Algeria and Morocco have been met, not with fierce hatred and violence, but with a hearty welcome and tbe utmost readiness to listen to the Gospel message. Ve live in a wonderful time; it is the day of the LORD'S power and Abraham's prayer. ' Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee!' has yet to receive its full answer in the conversion to God of his descendants and of the other long-neglected races of Arabia."
-The Church Missionary Intelligencer, speaking of the infamous practice among the Hindu opponents of the Gospel of fitting the most loathsome words to revival melodies, and singing them about the streets as samples of Christian hymns, remarks: "For, failing to revive enthusiasm for the Hindu deities, has Hinduism thus recourse to the Indian Acheron alone. She cites to her assistance, out of the nethermost depths of unbelief, the free· thinkers, the atheists, and tbe agnostics of otber lands. She honors our own country with large orders for such mischievous wares. For these Hindus everything of the foreigner is hateful save his vices and his infidelity. With such Hinduism scruples not to ally itself in closest amity. Anything which is an enemy of Christ is the friend of Hinduism. One of our missionaries describes to us verv touchingly the effect, fatal and instantaneous, of one of these sulphurous shafts of infidelity. A Hindu actually on his way to baptism had placed in his hand one of these missives of atheism. He paused, he read it, his faith was destroyed j per- manently and completely was his trust in Christ uprooted. 'I would give worlds,' was his bitter lament, ' might I again recover Qgain the faith which I have lost.' We believe it is impossible to duly estimate the deadly influence of the scepticism of .the English materialist. We are con- vinced that the persistent assaults of infidelity represented in the coarse and yulgar secularism of the halls of science, or the refined criticism of popular reviews, is efficacious especially in our Indian dependency. We are even of opinion that many of such articles are penned for a far wider circle than our domestic England. Often their contention seems !lot to move in the same plane with the arguments they assail. VI!e have, we believe, detected also an inaccuracy of uncritical statement. a frequent misrepresentation of the most obvious positions of the faith, which seemed to indicate that the writer held not in his view so much the more immediate environment of his educated fellow-c.ountrymen, as the credulous receptivity of a crude, because ill-informed, Indian clientele. These prophets of sceptir.ism are not without honor, but it is not at the hands of their educated countrymen they receive it." .
– " The wilderness hour of this great Society, her time ~f weakness and peril is past. The time when five men in a room in London looked out on the desolate wilderness of the world and asked, 'What shall we do for the heathen g' the time when the power of a Christian State was arrayed not for, but against missions, and for heathendom j the time when to advocate missions was to incur, as its least punishment, the open con- tempt of the wise and prudent and even the good-all this has passed.
Our Society has won her way to a high and honored place; she stands OIl the pinnacle of the .edifice of Christian effort. Let us beware! The hour of prosperity is the hour of trial. When the seed becomes a great tree the fowls of the air lodge in its branches. Remember the promise is still that.
God will be with us only in our appointed ways. Still, the wider our field the greater our success, the greater need of humility and caution j need, in our missionary churches abroad, of wisdom, and power, and a sound mind in dealing with all the difficult questions that arise in new and growing churches j wisdom in avoiding all offence eave the offence of the cross; faithfulness that never shrinks from truth-strict, rigid faithfulness in dealing with errors of heathendom as such j wisdom and gentleness in dealing with the natural prejudices and infirmities of weaker brethren.
Ever as our churches grow will grow their difficulties from these sources.
False doctrines, heresies, schisms, have yet to be encountered. The strug- gle of the earlier Church is for existence j as it grows its trial is to order its life aright."-ARCHBISHOP ~1:AGEE.
-" Not in creeds, not in formularies, not in traditions, not in Bibles even, hut in the hearts of those who believe the creeds and repeat the formularies and read the Bible does Christ dwell. Remember that if He is present to bless He is present among the golden candlesticks to trim or remove the waning light! Let us not he high-minded, but fear. Let us pray to be delivered from self-glorification or party-spirit; delivered by a love of Christ and of His truth from the sin of tempting the Lord our God by spiritual pride and presumption." -ARCHBISHOP MAGEE.
– " The kingdoms of the world are the objects of the lawful ambition of the Church of Christ. To conqu('r them for her Lord is her aim, and her success in that conquest is her true glory. But it must be for her Lord she conquers them i the cities she wins must be called by His name and not by hers; it is His kingdom, and His alone, she is to establish. That kingdom is the kingdom of the Cross, the Cross of Christ. Not the Cross of JesuR, the great moral teacher, with its lesson of merely sublime self- devotion of man for men; but the Cross of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God as well as the Son of man, with its revelation of the infinite love of God for man. Not the Cross as some would have it, whereon hung a patient, loving, self-sacrificing man, whose death distresses us by its cruel injustice, and whose life perplexes us by its inconsistencies and its errors; but the Cross on which was offered up the spotless Victim provided from everlasting for the sins of men. "-ARCHBISHOP MAG:(!;E.
– " The new Christianity shall conquer the world for the new Christ, and all men own the Fatherhood of God, and all men feel the brotherhood of man. Yes! All these will I give thee, and the power over them, and the glory of winning them, if-if only thou wilt fall down and worship, only do homage to the father of all falsehood by yielding the supremacy of truth j only acknowledge that yours is not the true faith, but one of many, all partly true j only bow yourselves to me as you enter those temples where men sacrifice to me, and these shall vanish away, and in their place shall rise a great world pantheon, where your Christ shall still have high place, but others take their place beside Him; only be disloyal to God and God's ttuth, and you shall have the world now !"-ARCHBISHopMAGEE.
-" Be ours the glory of the warfare beneath the Cross. Let His be the glory of the final victory j but never let us be tempted to win the very smallest portion of our Lord's inheritance by compact or compromise with him who has usurped it. No truce in our warfare j no armed neutrality j no alliance, but war, steru, uncompromising, open war, for the truth, for all the truth of God against all the lies of the enemy j and, most of all, against that greatest of all fabehoods, which proclaims his lie to be greater than God's truth, which bids us do homage to the false in order to advance the true. "-ARCHBISHOP MAGEE.
-The Ohronicle for June mentions the Decennial Report of the London Missionary Society, which, however, does not accompany it. It remarks: " Among the many striking facts may be noted: the openings in China for a great extension of country work j that in India whole villages have gone back to heathenism' because, having waited long for teachers, no teachers were forthcoming;' the work of the Native Missionary Society in the Imerina Province of Madagascar, which has raised more than £3000 during the past ten years, and sent out twenty-three agents j the baptism of our first convert in Central Africa at the close of the decade j while the New Guinea decade ends with the arrival of the Rev. W. G. Lawes in England with the manuscript of the New Testament in the most widely used language along the southeastern coast of New Guinea."
-The Missionary Herald of the English Baptists for October, 1891, says: "There can be no perennial freshness in a superficial acquaintance with the Gospel, and if the churches fail to apprehend the end or purpose of the Gospel, then they lose at once its unfading charm. If the truths of Christianity are regarded simply as valuable treasures that are to be kept locked up in a sacred ark, and carefully guarded from all robbers, then we· may expect them to become mouldy and rusty j but if they are regarded as Heaven's coins for circulation throughout the world, or as weapons that have to be used in the conflict against sin and error, then they will always retain their brightness." AFRICA.
-The Free Church of Scotland, in its last report, says: "Almost year by year the Committee has rejoiced to be able, in the good providence of God, to form new and practical relations of co-operation with other churches and societies, as in the case of the Moravians and Berlin Lutherans above recorded. Such relations now exist with the following: With the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in Nyassaland, and to some extent in Kafraria and Bombay; with the Established Church of Scotland in British Central Africa, and-as proposed-in Calcutta; with the Ohurch Missionary Society and the Wesleyan Missionary Society in Madrns; with the Irish Presbyterian Church through the ·Wilson College, Bombay; with the Canadian and Australasian Presbyterian churches in the New Hebrides; with the Dutch Reformed Ohurch of South Africa in Nyassaland; with the London Missionary Society, South Africa, and now with the Moravian and Berlin Lutheran societies. Such co-operation of the different regiments of the Lord's army extends His conquests in a way which amalgamation even if it were possible, would arrest or weaken."
-PerilYdical.Accounts for June (Moravian) has an appeal from Rev. A. G. Hettasch, pastor of Genadendal (Gracevale), in ~outh Africa, which is interesting. He says: "What a church for Genadendal, the mothercongregation of the mission in Africa! I fear the police at home would never allow a thousand people to assemble within those walls, only kept from falling in by solid beams inside and large buttresses without. Yet it is not to be wondered at that this church presents such a miserable appearance, for it is the very first place of Protestant worship ever built for the children of Africa, and is nearly one hundred years old. It is a structure fnll of days and full of honors, but the tooth of time has long been knawing at it, and the process of destruction is far advanced. Genadendal must have a new church."
– " The Incarnation, involving the crucifixion and the present work of the Holy Spirit, is the abhorrence of Islam. Islam seems to make much of the will of God, and does of an external will of God. But its thought is of submission to the will of God, and not of suffusion with the will of God" (" Shall Islam Rule Africa g" by Rev. Lemuel C. Barnes, in Regions Beyond). This is a singularly thoroughgoing article. So also: " In general the fruits correspond to the roots. The result of Islam is stagnation; the result of faith is progression. Islam causes atrophy; faith causes development. There is one refrain on the lips of Muslims always: , There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the apostle of God.' Their thought is of the arbitrary, fixed, mechanical; three characteristic words of Curistianity are • Faith,' 'Ohrist,' 'Life.' They speak of that which is dynqmic /"
-Mr. Barnes remarks that Islam and Rationalism resemble each other in disliklllg the Cross. This reminds us of Mr. Wilfrid Blunt's remark that Islam, strictly speaking, is a rationalistic creed.
-M. George Liengme has been sent out to Delagoa Bay, Southeast Africa, as missionary physician by the Free Church Mission of French Switzerland. He has been also ordained as a minister in the Oratory at Geneva.
~M. Grandjean, of the same mission, writes: "As our mission extends toward the north, that of the Americans of Inhambane will advance to meet it; with them we are always able to extend ourselves, and labor hand in hand."
-M. Junod, of the same mission, remarks: "I am so delighted wheu our blacks preserve their individuality and originality. There is not yet apparent in these converts that varnish of imitation wherewith so many Negro Christians love to decorate themselves, and which in reality disfigures them."
– " A cardinal of the Roman Church sends out soldiers as champions of missions, and hallows their swords, as if Christ had never said: • All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.' These soldiers fail, sword in hand, and are then glorified as martyrs! What a cry would go through the world if any such anti-Christian thing was done among Protestant-above all, among English missionaries! But in Roman Catholic missions everything seems to be allowed, and everything to be extolled_"- Allgemeine If:fissions- Zeitschrift.
-It does seem to be a little late to return to the Crusades. Cardinal Lavigerie, in his speeches addressed to these military monks, blends Christ and France, Gcspel and sword in such an indistinguishable amalgam that it is hard to say what we are to make out of it, except that it is something with which a Protestant Christian of Teutonic race can have nothing to do, and with which we are sure that Protestant Christians of Latin race will have nothing to do. The latter, if they fight for France, will hardly do it under the banner of Rome. Fortunately, they have no temptation, being held altogether unworthy. Cardinal Lavigerie is a man of eminent qualities, but assuredly evangelical simplicity of aim is not one of them, nor even personal simplicity of character.
-The French brethren of Basutoland (Lessuto) have ordained their first native pastor, Carlisle Motobang.
-One of the most self-denying missions in the world is the French Zambesi Mission. After months and years of discouragement, the tide appeared to turn; the brethren were permitted to baptize their first convert; the king, Lewanlka, began to observe the Lord's day, to 0ppoile himself to intemperance, to cruel punishments inflicted on the pretence of sorcery. and to plundering forays against neighboring tribes; hi!! young son, Litia, showed very distinct evidences of a Christian mind, and the schools and the Sunday services began to be more largely attended. But" the clouds have returned after the rain." Malicious whispers have once more gained the ear of the king, while loss after loss has reduced the missionaries, whose comforts at the best have been very scanty, to a peculiar depth of privation. M. Coillard regrets to have had to write the saddest of all his letters home. "But the old soldier of Christ would not know how to linger long over a mood of discouragement. He adds: 'But be of good courage, the bark will not capsize.' "
MISCELLANEOUS.
-The Ceylon Friend (quoted in the India Watchman) says: " We must tell the home churches the whole truth, our failures as well as our successes. There is, of course, a great rage at home for pathetic incidents and striking facts, and they have their use; but when they are so placed before our people as to lead them to suppose that they furnish a correct index of the general character of our work they do incalculable harm; they arouse a momentary enthusiasm, but also hopes which are certain to be disappointed. Our people will never understand our work, appreciate our difficulties, or gain that kind of faith which IS necessary to success unless we place before them the whole truth."
-" According to the papal Osservatore Romano there still live among the mountains of the island of Sardinia descendants of those 80,000 Jews whom the Emperor Vespaslan exiled thither after the destruction of Jerusalem." -Jewish Intelligence.
-The Ohinese Recorder, referring to the abuse lavished by the Lepel Griffins and their confederates on the opponents of the opium trade, quietly remarks; "It would seem rather late in the day to ignore the fact that the conscience of a nation can be aroused, and that there is such a thing as moral stamina among a people." But what can those that have no conscience of their own know about other people's consciences ~ . -Bishop French, of Lahore, who threw up his bishopric that he might preach the Gospel to the Mohammedans, and who died of a sunstroke at Muscat, has been not unaptly likened to Raymond Lull, that illustrious missionary of the middle ages among the Moslems, and like him in fact, though not in form, he died a martyr. His brother, a clergyman, writes of him: "His whole time, from morning to night, was spent in preaching in the open air with varied success. . .. His intervals of time were spent in prayer and meditation, and a translation into Arabic of St. Hilary on the Trinity. His diary reads like an apostolic missive. I never knew a man so humble, so self-sacrificing, so perfectly heroic for his Divine Lord. He was a thorough Oriental scholar-Hebrew, Sanscrit, Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Hindi, Tamil, etc." Such men keep up the succession of saintly witnesses in the wilderness until the time has come to bring Ishmael in.
THE LEVANT.
-The Broossa Orphanage in Asia Minor, at the foot of Mount Olympus -not, indeed, the one venerated of old as the seat of the gods, but the most eminent of its four or five namesakes-being an institution entirely dependent on individual contributions, is deservedly commended to Christian benevolence. Contributions will be gratefully received and acknowledged by Mr. M. Baghdasarian, 303 West Twenty-first Street, New York City. This institution has the warm commendation of Dr. Cyrus Hamlin and of the Prudential Committee of the American Board. Bishop Whipple, quoted in the Spirit oj Missions, says that a new Armenian version of the Bible is now in preparation by a commission consisting cf an Armenia!] priest, a Roman Catholic priest, and a Protestant.
-Secretary Wright, of the Bible Society, at the anniversary of the London Missionary Society said that he felt that the tremendous wealth of influence and power in woman's work had hitherto been neglected. "In Damascus we men preach to the cheerless east wind of the Oriental Bazaars. A woman will go with her smile, and this smile will be answered by a smile. We dare not smile. She goes with this access to all these little springs of love and influence down among the people, into the homes, into the seed place, where the good seed can be sown in the hearts of the women."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Parliament of Religions at the excellent chief of the Liberal Arts De- World's Fair, partment, informs us that the space as· signed to, his division is more than BY BEV. JOHN HENRY BARROWS, D.D., PAS· double that provided at Paris, and more than ten times what was furnished at TOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, the Centennial. But to indicate the in. tellectual and spiritual sources of civ- CHICAGO, ILL., AND CHAIRMAN OF THE ilization, the World's Congress Auxiliary has been organized by the Exposition GENERAL COlllJl'IITTEE ON RELIGIOUS CON· authorities. The congresses provided for will cover the chief departments of GRESSES. knowledge, and will extend through the whole half year during whioh this During the next eighteen months World's University will continue. Hunnearlyall roads will lead toward the Co. dreds of busy men and women are daily lumbian Exposition. The latest WorId's planning for these conventious, corre- Fair will be the largest, the costliest, sponding with more than twenty thouthe most comprehensive. The English sand of the leaders of thought in all commissioners who carefully studied the lands. Religion, the supreme concern situation expressed the conviction that and glory of man, has been excluded, the coming Exposition will far surpass in as an element of discord, from all pre. extent, and eclipse in splendor, even vious world's fairs. In the coming Ex_ the Paris achievement of 1889. At the position, however, it will have a most Exposition Headquarters it is computed conspicuous place, not only in the mao that, by the Directory and th" Commis. terial exhibit, in the Liberal Arts Build. sion, by our National Government, the ing at the very heart of the Exposition, different States and the more than fifty but also in a series of congresses exnations who are to participate in the tending from August 25th through Sep- World's Fair, there will be expended, tember 29th, to be held mainly in the in the preparation and conduct of this great halls of the 'new Art Building procolossal undertaking, a sum not far vided by the Directory. President C. C. short of $40,000,000. The Director- Bonney, of the World's Congress Aux- General is confident that thirty millions iliary, believes that these religious' asof admission tickets to the magnificent semblies will overshadow all the other display will be sold. The vast interest oonventions. They have been assigned aroused in America and in other lands quadruple the number of days given to will increase as the months go by. The any other of the congresses. The meet- Rev. E. S. Williams, one of the special ings of the great churches will occupy a Commissioners of the Treasury Depart- week ; the mission oongresses, covering ment in promoting the World's Fair the whole field of oity, domestic, and abroad, wrote recently: "In Japan I foreign missions, will occupy seven or met almost unceasing ovations. No eight days; a week has been assigned halls would hold the mercurial and en- to the Evangelical Alliance, and three thusiastic people, glad to hear and proud days to the Sunday Rest congresses. that their government was preparing to The Parliament of Religions, to which vote a generous appropriation for the representatives of all the great historic Jubilee of Peace." faiths have been invited, will open the series, and one chief division of this But is the Columbian Exposition to Oongress will be the l'arliameo.t of be chiefly a brilliant illustration of material achievement and mechanical prog. ress? Far from it. No other World's Fair ever provided so amply for educa. tion, music, oharities, religion, and the liberal artl!. Dr. S, H. feabody, tho Christendom, for which invitations are of idols and objects used in ceremonial given to those who accept the moral worship would attract beyond any and spiritual leadership of Jesus. Ac- other. Models and illustrations of the cordingly, one who is able to attend great temples of the world and of the this whole series of meetings, or to read world's history would be in a high dethe full official accounts of them, will gree instructive. Add to these things confront the leaders of the religious the living word of living teachers, and world, will know what is Nported by the whole world may well pause to all its grand divisions, will gain a vision listen." Some years ago President of the supreme importance of religion Warren described an imaginary congress in human development, and will be es- of this sort, locating it in Japan, and pecially impressed with the proofs of giving it as its subject for discussion, the supremacy and the triumphs of an "The Perfect Religion." This interaggressive, world-embracing, evangeli- esting address has been translated into cal Christianity. The venerable Bishop several languages, and presents valuable Weaver, of the United Brethren Church, suggestions to those having the parliawrites: ,. Paul went to Rome, not to ment in immediate charge. Dr. Strong, preach, but to obtain simple justice. Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, God overruled it so that the greatest writes : .' It is in the interest of the possible good came out of it. A word final triumph of truth and of the brothspoken in Rome was like a sound nt- erhood of man that representatives of tered in a whispering-gallery-it could all faiths meet on a friendly platform. be heard throughout the whole civilized Such a gathering will be one of the world. It appears that Chicago is to be most significant as well as uniqne ex made a whispering-gallery, from which hibitions of modern and, I may add, of all nations may hear and know more Christian civilization." Rev. George concerning the kingdom of our Lord_ " Dana Boardman, D.D., of the First Bap- tist Church in Philadelphia, writes: "I Urged to provide plans for religious do not believe that a better tribute can meetings in connection with the WorId's be paid to Christianity than to put it in Fair, the Committee at once perceived fair comparison with other religions." that the religious world in its great his- Dr. Storrs, President of the American torio developments, and not anyone Board, has expressed his admiration of section of that world, should be invited the plan as " certain, if wisely carried to make some representation. Undoubt- out, to attract wide attention, to make edly the Committee believed that the happy and strong impression on a mulbest representation possible by the titude of minds, and to leave behind it ethnic religions would tend to the ex- permanent good effects." The Comaltation of Christianity. But the spirit mittee have been particularly pleased of the most generous human brother- with the responses from Christian mishood a~tuated them in sending out their sionaries and teachers in other lands, invitations and in making their ar- like President Washburn, of Robert rangements for the Parliament of Re- College; President Tison, of the Imligions. They have been delighted with perial Law School of Tokyo; Dr. Miller, the vagt favorable response which so of the Christian College at Madras; and many eminent men of many nations Dr. Henry H. Jessup, of Beirut, who is have given to their Preliminary Address one of the Advisory Council, and who and to their First Report. President has called attention to some intelligent W. F. Warren, of the Boston Univer- and English_speaking Mohammedans of sity, writes: "I am glad to know that Syria, who should be invited to the Parthe world's religions are to be repre- liament. It is well known that the sented at the World's Fair. Were they plans of the Committee have been apto be omitted, the sense of incomplete- proved by statesmen like Mr. Gladstone, ness would be painful.. Even a museum Count d'Alviella, and Professor James portant peculiarities distinguishing the Bryce; by the poets Whittier, Tenny- religions of the wol'ld is not to be cher- son, Holmes, Arnold, and Stedman; 'by ished. Logically following the presenta- Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Ireland, tion of common truths will be the and other leaders of the Catholic presentation of distinctive truths, and Church; by prominent divines of Great no discussion of differences is largely Britain and the Continent; by many useful till men discover what they be- bishops of the Protestant Episcopal lieve in common. It is a matter for Church and of the Methodist Episcopal thanksgiving that a notable gatllel'ing is Church; by leading college presidents to be held wherein men far-sundered of America, leading religious editors, in their inherited and acquired faiths and a score of the best.known teachers are yet to confer in the most catholic in our theological seminaries; by a host and irenic spirit. What a contrast it pre- of stalwart evangelical Christians like sents to those frequent pages of relig- Joseph Cook, Dr. T. W. Chambers and ious history which have been marked Professor Edwards A. Park, and by a by disastrous animosities!
large number of those who have the Since the. General Committee, with conduct of our missionary societies. one exception, are Christians, and since Assisting the General Committee of Six- the summons is sent forth from a Chris- teen is an Advisory Council of nearly tian land, the Parliament may be right- two hundred of the world's religious ly conceived as, in a large and general leaders, who approve the general plan, sense, the invitation of Christianity, ad.
and are furnishing timely and valuable dressed to all the great historic faiths, to suggestions. come and give an account of themselves.
A book has recently been published, The faiths that have been invited, " The Religious Systems of the World," through personal letters, are the Brah- a series of papers and addresses deliv- man, Buddhist, Confucian, Mohamme- ered on successive Sunday afternoons dan, Parsee, Jewish, snd Christian.
in London by expert representatives of Others may be included. The Japanese each. It is something like this school scholar, Morihiro Ichihara, of the Yale for the study of comparative theology, Divinity School, writes: "I dOUbt which the Committee desire to bring whether you can get any English.speak- about, accompanied, however, by sur- ing Shintoists who can competently roundings which will lead men of differ- represent that religious body. Still it ent faiths to a better understanding, seems to me that they should be repre- and to be followed by a Parliament of sented in a meeting like the one you are Christendom, in which the apologetic planning for, and I shall suggest the of Christianity will be set forth by the names of Baron Senge and Mr. Mato- ablest Christian scholars, and in which ori,as the two most prominent Shintoists not only practical problems of ethical at present."
interest, but also the great question of What kind of men are we inviting to the reunion of Christendom, will be speak in the Parliament of Religions?
amply discuesed. One of the many im- Let President Washburn, of Constanti- portant objects aimed at is the brother- nople, answer: ,. You must have able ly conference of religious men, a relig- men, pious men, who have full faith in ious fraternity involving no surrender their own religion and are yet broad of personal conviction and no abate· enough to conier with infidels." We ment of devout faith on the part of have invited such men as Justice Ameer those who recognize that Christianity is Ali, of Calcutta, to represent Moham- widely differentiated from other systems medanism ; Mr. Bunyin Nanjio, a Bud.
by an authoritative and miraculously dhist priest of Tokyo, and former lec- accredited revelation. The temper of turer in Oxford University, to represent indilferentism with regard to tllQ un· Bujdhism; Babu Mozumdar to reprosent th!' Brahmo Somaj of India. Many hear 1" Of course it will only be just names ha ve been suggested to speak for that the Christian faith, which is held these faiths and other3, and the Com- by nearly all the ruling nations of man- mittee will extend invitations after care- kind, should be presented in its argu- ful conference with experts. As the ment and in its historic results by those work adl'ances we are more and more who will speak with the greatest fair- hopeful of securing a good representa- ness, the widest learning, and the most tion from most of the historic faiths. conspicuous ability. Ifit be asked, " In What will the men of other religions be what spirit sheuld the representatives likely to SllY? It is hoped and expected of the great historic faiths be met?" the that they will make the best representa- reply is, " In the spirit of the most cor- tion of their own systems which can be dial brotherhood, attentive kindness, rightly offered. While it is probable and Christian love." It is in our that they will call our attention to the thought to have social conferences, for noblest teachings of their sacred books, example, of the representatives of the and disown the popular and widespread faiths of India. The Rev. Dr. Wherry, perversions of their scriptures, it is also of Chicago, for twenty years a mission- in the scope of our plan to discover what liry in Madura, believes that such social spiritual and other effects their religions conferences will be promotive of per- have produced upon the peoples among manent good, and that the J;epresenta- whom these faiths have prevailed. Chris- tives of the non·Christian religionB tianity has never rejected the biblical should be made practically familiar, by declarations that" in every nation he observation, with the work of the that feareth God and worketh righteous- American churches, charities, Sundayness is accepted of Him," and that schools, endeavor societies, and Young Christ" is the true Light, even the Light Men's lind Young Women's Christian which lighteth every man coming into Associations. the world." It believes that the relig- It is certainly a subject of congratuious nature itself and all its heavenward lation that the time draws near when yearnings are of Christly origin, and representatives of widely different faiths that whatever of truth and goodness will be able to meet in friendly confermay be discovered in the twilight of ence without compromising any per- Asia is a reflection of that original Light sonal conviction. While the Parliament which, in the fulness of time shone of Religions, like the Parliament of amid the hamlets of Galilee and in the Great Britain, is not an assembly whose streets of Jerusalem. The peoples who object is worship, the Committee are have received the ampler Divine radi- planning for the singing of devout ance should disclose the gentlest and hymns of thankful praise; and they most generous spirit to those who have may decide that, as at the Religious groped in a dimmer illumination. Chris- Convention which PreRident Warren tianity will doubtless be forced to face imagined, there shall be moments of thos~ mighty obstacles to misRionary silent prayer. But immediately precedprogress, the monstrous sins of Chris- ing the meetings of the Parliament will tendom ; and it will also be bidden and be daily morning conferences, under a encouraged to tell not only through great variety of suitable leaders, which American and European, but also will enable those naturally affiliated to through ,Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, worship together and to come into a Arab, and African Christians what the more perfect acquaintance. And who Gospel of Christ has wrought for their can doubt that not only will thousands races and nations. Quite as important of earnest hearts be praying to God in as the question, .. Wh!l.twill the Moham- the stillness of spiritual communion medan and the Bul1ilhist have to say," during the sessions of the Parliament, will be the question, " What are they to but also that millions of those who have learned the way of salvation through our own religion, serves only to make us Jesus Christ will, in many lands, offer see more clearly what is the distinctive up daily petitions that this phenomenal and essential character of Christ·s assembly of God's children may be teaching, and helps us to discover the blessed to the furtherance of that king- strong rock on which the Christian, as dom which they believe is yet to cover well as every other religion, must be the earth. The speakers who have been founded." The science of comparative suggested for the opening session of the religions, according to Preaident Fair- Parliament will represent twelve hUll- bairn, has shown the necessity of redred millions out of the fourteen hun- lifjlions to man, and the supreme neces- dred millions of the human race. Sure· sity of the highest of them all. Profes- 1y that will be a great moment in his- sor Legge, of Oxford, speaks for the tory, as Dr. W. H. Withrow, of Canada, Christian scholarship of to-day when he has suggested, " when men who profess says: ., The more a man possesses the the differing religions of the world stand Christian spirit and is governed by side by Ride." The Committee having .Christian principle, the more anxious this enormous undertaking in their he will be to do justice to every system charge fully appreciate the task com- of religion and to hold his own without mitted to them. They are pioneers en- taint or fetter of bigotry." The study tering a new country; they seek light of comparative religion has tended to and wisdom from Ilvery source. They strengthen Christian missionary enthu. desire to accomplish the greatest possi. siasm. Those disciples of Christ who ble good and to unite all tho~e who be· know most intimately the other faiths, lieve that such a congress as has been and appreciate most fully the truths outlined will promote the best interests which they may contain, are augmentof mankind. They desire (to q note ing their unselfish efforts to give to all from the objects of the proposed Par- the world the supreme blessings of the liament, as stated in the forthcoming Christian Gospel. In Christian lands revised edition of the First Report) one chief hindranee to the foreign mis- "to deepen the spirit of human broth· sionary cause is a deep ignorance conerhood among religious men of diverse cerning the non-Christian nations, and faiths ;" to set forth what are deemed a stolid indifference toward those remote the important distinctive truths taught and unevangelized myriads for whom by each religioll; to indicate the im- Christ died. Whatever can be done to pregnable foundatiolls of theism and make the non-Christian peoples le",s unthe reasons for man's faith in immortal- real to the Church generally will be an ity ; to strengthen the forces adverse to enormous gain to Christian evangelism. materialism; to inquire what light each Dr. Ellinwood, of the Presbyterian religion may afford to the others; to Board of Missions, who has widely and furnish an accurate account of the pres- carefully studied the Oriental faiths, ent outlook of religion; to throw all believes that in proportion to the intelpossible light on the solemn problems ligent discrimination which shall be of the present age, and to bring the na- exercised in judging of the non· Christions of the earth into more friendly tian religions, and the skill which shall fellowship. They invite the co-opera- be shown in presenting the immensely tion of all who are favorable to their superior truths of the Christian faith, plan in its grand outlines, and the sug- will the success of the great work of geGtions of all who believe that it may missions be increased; and he thinks be improved in its minor details. Max that a timid attitude "amounts to a Milller has written: "I have never dis. half surrender, and is wholly out of guised my conviction that a compara- place in this age of fearless and aggrestive study of the religions of the worli!, sive discussion. Evidently the one so far from undermining our faith in thing needed to disenchant the false systerns of our time is a clear and accurate the Creator." "That the Influence of knowledge of their merits and demerits, Religion on the Family of Life is to and of their true relations to Christian- make it Virtuous and Pure." "That ity." the Influence of Religion on the Com- I express a deep personal conviction munity is to Establish Justice, Pro- in saying that I believe that the Parlia- mote Harmony and Increase the Gen.
ment of Religions, in connection with eral Welfare." ,. That the Influence of the whole series of religious congresses, Religion on the State is to Repress will bring into glorions conspicuity the Evil, Vice and Disorder in all their supreme power and attractiveness of the Forms, and to Promote the Safety and cross of Christ. While we earnestly Happiness of the People." •• That Con- seek from our brothers beyond the sea science is not a Safe Guide, unless En- a frank and full presentation of their lightened by Religion and Guided by sincere beliefs, which is only possible Sound Reason." "That of a Truth in an atmosphere of confidence, mutual God is no Respecter of Persons, but in respect and affection, we shall speak every Nation he that Feareth Him, and from our hearts those truths which have Worketh Righteousness, is Accepted of come to us from the 'words and the life Him." "That throughout the World of the Son of God. Believing that the Substantial Fruits of Sincere Re- Christianity is not only the complement ligion include the following:. Improved of all other religions, filling out what is Personal Character; Better Citizen- imperfect in them, and correcting what ship; BeUer Business Methods; Nearly is erroneous, but is also a direct, mirac- all the Works of Charity;' Improved ulous revelation centring in a Divine Domestic Order; Greater Public Peace, Redeemer, they who hold this faith will etc." ,. That the Weekly Rest Day is have the opportunity to proclaim it as Indispensable to Religious Liberty, and never before. The religion whose dis- to the General Welfare of the People."
tinctive features are incarnation, regen- "The Triumphs of Religion in all eration, and atonement flings its loving Ages." "The Present State of Re.
challenge to all the world, and has no ligion throughout the World, including fears ! its Marvellous Advances during the Pres.
CHICAGO, April 9, 1892. ent Century." .. The Statistics of Churches as an Answer to the Alleged Prevalence of Infidelity." "The Domi.
nance of Religion in the Higher Institu- Seed Thoue:hts of the World's Congress tions of Learning." "'l'he Actual Hal'. Auxiliary. mony of Science and Religion; and the Origin and Nature of the Alleged Con- The scope of the World's Congress flict between them." .. The Influence Auxiliary is suggestively set forth in of Religious Missions on the Commerce the Committee's report, as intended to of the World," "The Influence of Re· reach a class of information and discus- ligion on Literature and Art." sion indicated by such themes as the following: Some of these topics naturally fall to the Parliament of Religions, of which " The Idea of God, its Influence and the Chairman of the Department writes Consolations." "The Evidences of the in a preceding article. Other portions Existence of God, especially those which will fall to the several Church denomi- are calculated to meet the agnosticism national conventions, and others to the of the present time." "That Evils of Congress of Missions, of which the Life should be shunned as Sins against Chairman of the Committe9 having it God." "That the Moral Law should in charge, the Rev. Walter Manning be obeyed liS necessary to Human Hap. Barrows, D,D" has promised to write piness, anl because such is the Will of in our pages at an early date. [J. T. G,] The OOIDnal'ative Study of Religions. knowledge. Just because the facilities [J. T. G.] for communication with all parts of the world are so exceptionally great, and be- There is in our day a search into the cause there is, as a consequence, a re- religious beliefs of all men, which is markable interchange of thought with popularly spoken of as comparative all quarters of the globe, the spirit of in.
theology, or the science of religion, vestigation becomes unusually active though there is as yet no such thing, and comparisons are instituted in all nor even a tolerable approach to any directions.
such thing as a science of religion or a Persons holding, as do Christians, science of comparative theology. All Jews, and Moslems, that their religious that has thus far been done is to insti. beliefs are the only original, uncorrupt.
tute a speculative and tentative inquiry, ed, and inspired religion, are supposed and an initial experiment as to whether to find it difficult to put themselves in the subject of religion is susceptible of mood for scientific examination thereof.
being in,estigated in the same manner Hypothetically this is to acknowledge as that which has been pursued in the that their religion is one of many, which study of the crusts of earth, by which is contrary to the permanent hypothesis we have the lair beginning of a science of the religion from which they derive of geology; or similar to that pmsued all their spiritual comfort; and most in the case of human speech, by which Christians SpUl'll the perilous principle it may be fairly claimed that we have of Descartes, that in order to be a phi.
laid a foundation of a science of lan- losopher a man must" once in his life guage or of comparative philology. Max doubt everything." Christians of the Miiller doubts whether the" time has most advanced spirituality and of the yct come for attempting to trace, after most profound faith in their religion as the model of the science of language, the one true revelation have, however, the definite outlines of the science of been among the foremost to welcome religion." Yet considerable progress searching analyses of all religions, and has been made in the collection and ar· to place Christianity not so much in rangement of the material of religion comparison as in contrast with all com· after the model alluded to, and there petitors.
are those who hold that" the logic of In a large sense it is incumbent on science is a universal logic applicable to the followers of any religion which lays all subjects of human inquiry." claim to universal acceptance to show " The advance of prehistoric study," that it is universally applicable. But says the author of ., The Dawn of His· this is, in fact, to make a beginning of tory," "has been, during the past few the comparative study of religion. Dr.
years, exceptionally rapid, and consider. Moffat, of Pfinceton College, well said: ing upon how many subsidiary interests "Were there no common principles it touches-questions of politics, of so· pervading all religions, or were all men ciallife, of religion almost-the science as religious beings severally so different of prehistoric archreology might claim from one another that knowledge of one to stand in rivalry with geology, as the man's religious nature could be no guide favorite child of the centmy." to that of other men, a scientific treat- Within thc historic period as well, we ment of religion would be impossible,"
may fairly be said to be in pORsession and we may add that the Christian of information from all quarters of the theory of religion would be seriously globe and of all the centnries, such as undermined.
was never equalled by any people on The very work of evangelizing the earth of any former time. non-Ohtistian world, which has become The natural tendency in all periods so prominent in the last three quarters like our own is to generalization of of a century, has itself thrust upon us the question of the relation of so·called fectly evident that in an age like this we religions to each other, and especially cannot propagate Christianity under to that which we profess. Hence really glass." "There is Christianity in Cal- no persons have been more eager to deal cntta, and there is Buddhism in Boston.
with the material of religions than the The line of battle is the parallel that most aggressive Christians. It is, in belts the globe. It is no time for mere fact, imp08siUe to do the work of a pious denunciation, There must be no Christian missionary without a mastery blundering; the warfare must be waged greater or less of the beliefs which Chris- with weapons of precision, and then tianity seeks to displace, correct or sup- victory is sure." The study of the non- plement. It is possible that the prose- Ch1'istian religions has been too long cution of these investigations may seri- allowed to be a monopoly of anti-Chris- ously modify some of our missionary tian scholars. In the department of methods. It is possible that thereby sociology religions are to be brought to we may find that many systems of reo book, as to their bearing on the condi.
ligious error may be most easily attacked tion of industry which they foster; the from within ; may be best approached Bocial habits of the people; the position through some inherent weakness of of woman and the character of the fam- themselves, and thus the work of evan- ily they are responsible for; the or- gelism become somewhat a work of ganization of Government, and the reformation rather than of religious character of the rulers they inspire; the revolution. Mohammedans, for in- state of public education, and the prac- stance, are bound to accept the Old tical bearing of religious worship on Testament Scriptures and the Gospel of actual life. We will as Christians in Jesus, because the Koran includes these many things have to lay our hands on among the inspired records ,which it is our mouths, bnt if we are shamed to se- obligatory on Moslems to obey; and it cure a freer course for our religion at thus becomes practical to present the home as well as abroad, we can prove acceptance of the Scriptures on the au- that there is in Christianity that which thority of their own acknowledged Sa- will produce it humanity which no other cred Book and prophet. religion among men can produce. Theo- Thus, too, Brahmanism is found to be logically we can show the defect of even weak. Investigation has shown that Chinese ethics as lacking any proper the Shasters and Puranas are but com- relation to God. Dr. Legge says, "I mentaries on the Vedas, and that the have been reading Chinese books for Vedas alone contain the originally re- more than forty years, and any general vealed truth obligatory upon Hindus. requirement to 'love God' or the men- But it is found that the Vedas do not tion of anyone as ' loving Him' has yet teach nor support caste, nor idolatry, to come for the first time under my eye."
nor many other things popularly held in the great Hindu form of heathenism.
The comparative study of religions be- A SIGNIFICANT MovEMENT IN BURMA.- ('omes thus a part of onr work in seek. Professor D. C. Gilmore writes to his ing to bring the world to Christ; awl so father, Dr. J. H. Gilmore, of the Roches- far from shrinking at the seemingly ter University, from Rangoon, under secular search after truth implied in date of March 2d, as follows: "I this comparative study of religions, have glorious news for you; the Bur- through fear lest the comparisons may mans have begun to come. At it village subject Christianity to less reverential near Pyinmana, in the Toungoo dis- consideration, the most progressiye and trict, a pure Burman village, the entire aggressive Christians hold it essential village has united to drive out the Bud- to the universal spread of Christianity. dhist priests and to ask the missionary Dr. Ellinwoocl well says, "It is per- to Bend them a Christian teacher. They've completely cleaned out the week the building was crowded to the priests, and I think- but of this I am door to hear the Gospel preached sim. not certain-that they have torn down ply and direetly to their minds and the monastery. Mr. Cochrane has sent hearts. At the close of this series of them teachers and preachers. services a request was sent to Dr. Pente· cost that those who heard him should ,. Do you realize the significance of be permitted to pay all the expenses inthat move? Such a thing has never curred that week; and at the last meethappened in the whole history of the ing a gentleman stood up, and in the Burman Mission. The Karens have name of all assembled thanked the Doc. come in that way again and again; but tor for what he had been teaching them never until now has a whole Burman vil- and trying to do for them, and he add· lage gone over in that style. It means ed, ., If any man had attempted fifteen a great deal-the first giving way, which years ago to speak in this manner to I doubt not will be followed by a rush. such an audience in Poona, he would It is the beginning of the end. Our have been torn in pieces; but here have hearts are filled with joy aud thankful- we been filling this place night after ness; even the least sanguine ar'! full night for a week, to hear, not lectures of enthusiasm." on secular subjects, but a plain, simple, direct exposition of the Gospel of -We are pleased to learn that it is Christ. This shows how great a change definitely settled that Rev. S. H. Kel. has come over us in Poona." – The Ol,ris. logg, D.D., is to return to India at the tian. close of this summer to act with other able scholars in the revision of the Old New Publications. Testament in Hindi. Weare certainly loath to see him leave this country; [J. T. G.] and the St. James' congregation in To. ronto, the pastorate of which he now reo Everything that increases our in. signs for this more special field, will formation in regard to a country with feel his departure sorely. But the duty which we are so little acquainted as we is plain. Neither America nor Europe are with Korea, .. The Hermit Nation," has a scholar, taken all in all, more should be hailed with pleasure. We are thoroughly fitted and furnished for the pleased to say to our readers that the important task to which the providence Religions Tract Society of Korea has of God now assigns Dr. Kellogg. His started a monthly magazine at Seoul, lectures delivered recently at Princeton called the Karean Repository. The price College, on "Modern Theory of the is $2 a year. It contains articles from Origin of Religion," were of a masterly all classes and nationalities represented order. A more genial gentleman could in the Peninsula, discussing the history, not be found. as an associate in the language, literature, religion, manners labors to which our brother is now ap- and customs of the Koreans, and all pointed under the British and Foreign other matters of interest abont this Bible Society; and we cougratulate his •• Italy of the Far East." The editor of associates in this great work. this department of the REVIEW will reo ceive subscrjptions from Americans as -At Poona, Dr. Pentecost preached showing his interest in this new and in a large theatre. The committee of worthy enterprise. management so arranged it that none but educated Brahmans should be ad. Two very excellent and helpful books mitted, and every night of a whole have appeared recently treating of the religions of the world, very unlike and yet each valilable after its kind. The one is a series of brief addresses given of martyrs, evangelists, and tbilan. in London by recognized able exponents thropists, who, just as the translator of each of the non-Christian religions, renders a word into vocables anll symand of the several branches of the Chris- bols intelligible to the ear of each Afritian churches. It is intended to present can tribe, so by their lives, their utternothing but a condensed, plain state- ances, and manner of dying, translated ment, in the working.man 's vocabulary, into symbols intelligible to the hearts of these several faiths and divisions of of the poor African the great, the eter- Christendom. Its title is "Religious nal and all-sufficient truth that Jesus Systems of the World" (Macmillan & Christ died on the cross for the salva. Co., New York). tion of the whole human race." It is not in our thought to review this excel- A wholly different book, and one of lent survey of the missionary occupa- far greater value to the student of the re- tion of Africa, with its valuable maps ligions of the world, is that of Dr_ Ellin. of every part; but we must make a wood, just issued by the Scribners, en· quotation applicable at this hour, when titled" Oriental Religions and Christian. our Student Volunteers illustrate it : " A ity," which, besides clearly presenting dying world lies at the door of Europe- beliefs of the Oriental world, dis· a world ignorant, but not by their own cusses candidly and boldly the several fault, of Christ's great sacrifice; from questions to which their study gives every rank of the community of the Neo- rise. The lectures were delivered be· Latin races, and of no other, men and fore the students of Union Theological women leap out and cry, 'Send me, Seminary, on the Ely Lectureship send me to my dying fellow-creatures, Foundation. The opening lecture deals dying in body and soul. Never mind with need of understanding the false reo whether their color is black or brown ligions, followed by a lesson drawn from or red or yellow. Never mind whether the _Apostolic Church as a model in the they are cruel, or gentle and tractable.
method of dealing with them. Hindu· Never mind whether they are healthy or ism, Buddhism, and Islam are consid· leprous. Never mind if I die just when ered ; the traces of a primitive theism I land on their shores, or live to Bee them are sought; the ethical tendencies of pass from their barbarous nakedness the Eastern and Western philosophies into the decent form and order of a holy are contrasted, and the divine suprema. church; send me! I have but the desire cy of the Christian religion contended and a few poor talents; the issue is with for. We have no space for a proper re- God.' "
view of this most timely contribution to this class of literature.
The dedication of Dr_ R N_ Cust's -Rev. T. J_ Scott, D.D_, who has been nearly thirty years in active missionary volume, entitled "Africa Rediviva," is service, has made selections from his touching and very suggestive_ It is as contributions to the press from time to follows: "To the memory of Simon of time; and Dr_ C_ C. McCabe's Self-Sup- Cyrene, the first African cross-bearer; porting Missionary Literature Departthe eunuch of Ethiopia, the first Afri- ment, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, has can who was baptized; Apollo of Alex- printed these. The title is "Sparks andria, the first African mighty in the from the Anvil of a Busy Missionary;" Scriptures; Cyprian and Augustine, the the price is twenty-five cents. We first men, and Katharina, Felicitas, understand that Dr. Scott asks no royand Perpetua, the first women who died alty from the publishers. The great for Christ in Africa; Frumentius, the variety of themes, crisply treated, will first tl'finslatorof God's Word into alan- make it helpful to a wide range of read· guage of Africa; and thnt great Ilrmy ers.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
I1I.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
A Letter from Dr. Kerr Cross. Sabbath, at four, besides the English service, a native service at the chief's From Uwundale, Song we Valley, Lake house, nearly 100 present. At first we had few women, but now a goodly num· Nyassa, East Central Africa, Dr. W. Kerr ber. It is amusing to see these rude men standing at the hymns and doing Cross writes : their best with grunts and groans to imitate the tunes. They are getting " Mrs. Cross and I reached our home on, however. Nyembere sits on a stool in the centre, and is all ears and eyes; here October 1st, 1891. I was sent by and when we pmy is most careful that every eye is closed. The idea of God the oomllittee to build on the hills if punishing by fire (hell) is entirely new to him, and he listened with rapt attenpossible before the present rains, Mrs. tion when I had occasion to refer to hell, and when I had finished turned Cross to remain at the central station to the women, saying, ' You women, you hear! if you do bad and don't cook half way up the lake, with Dr. and Mrs: our food, God will roast you in that fire,' pointing to the ashes. Laws till this home should be complet. " The windows and fireplaces of our ed. She did stay a month; but Dr. house are sources of great amusement The natives stare at one another and Laws, being unwell, left fer England, talk. When a fire is put on and the smoke does not fill the house they are and my wife came north. Meanwhile I amazed. Then one stoops and looks up the chimney; anotber explains that the had selected a site and begun building. smoke goes up a hole in the wall and comes out at the top. Out they go to " The country here is worth fighting see this, and explain among themselves how it gets beyond the thatch; then for-the finest in these parts, equally clapping their thighs, they say, ' He! th~ white men! what wisdom they have!' distant from the various settlements of " Our influence is not confined to one white men, English and German as a tribe, but reaches to many. Already we have been visited by several chiefs doctor should be ; from 5000 to 6000 feet and deputations from others. We aim at a large school with youth drawn from above the sea and 3000 feet above the various tribes, to be educated and sent back to open schools in their own counlake. This valley is ten miles by from try. "
three to five, and with aThriechperoepdlesoairl~ Some of the missionary dead of 1891 and abounds in cattle. are thus recorded by the Christian at Work: famed for their garden s. Here are many " Bishop French ascended from Aravarieties of bananas and plantains. bia ; Bishop Boone, having only for a short time been enrobed in the mantle .. When we began work here, Nyem- of bis father, the renowned missionary, died in China ; Newton, 'the beloved • bere, the chief, was at war with a neigh- boring chief, and appealed to me to de- cide on the affair. The discussion was opened' by my reading and explaining the ten commandments, lind assuring them that God was ever angry with war, and that, as white men who obeyed God, we could not but frown on such, etc.
Ny.e. mMbirearseeowfak, eetphiengoonfef thcehriaeif~ accused from his country last year. And so they fought, etc. I decided that both were wrong; and as Mirasewa began the war, he must bring a bull and kill it before me. This was done, and they shook hands and ate together as friends; and so our in- fluence began, and many disputes be- tween chiefs and private men have been deliberated on since.
" We hope soon to have a school and begin more direct spiritual work. Every morning at six we have 150, including workers, for singing and prayer. O~ of the Punjab, was followed to better Cairns had apparently in him the vigor than India's palaces by Winter, of the of his prime. He was born in 1818, and Delhi Mission, who loved his special was but seventy.four years old. His last work more than he did a bishopric. words were, ., Only they who openly Amid the lamentations of thousands identify themselves with the cause of that ' good servant of the Lord,' Bishop God will be victorious and trium- Caldwell, was laid to rest after fifty-four phant." James Calvert was born in years of labor in India for IndIa; Dr. 1813. and was, therefore, seventy.nine ; Luther H. Gulick, the founder of a large he died on Tuesday, March 8th, and Prin- missionary family, went up to the cipal Cairns on Saturday, March 5th. , bosom' of the 'Father of the faith- The two men were in many things ful ;' and dear and great John Inglis strikingly alike, though in others in dropped his finished translation of the marked contrast. But each in his visions of him of Patmos to open his sphere achieved an enviable success, eyes on the beatific vision of the An. and are together in one reward. cient of Days. Redslob, the Moravian sentinel of the outer patrol limit of Born a Savage, Died a Bishop. Christendom on the edge of Thibet, went to know the richer meaning of Those who attended the London 'Nam Thang Song,' and to find it' all Missionary Conference of 1888 will re- bright ahead' forever. Sheshadri, the call the kindly face of the aged Bishop first Asiatic whom America ever honored Samuel Crowther. He died in London, with a doctorate of divinity, found a December 31st, being something over fitting sepulchre in the sea for his body, eighty years of age. He was born, he while his soul went to the 'sea of never knew when, in the Yoruba coun- glass.' Goloknath of Jalander was car- try, one hundred miles inland from the ried to hill burial by 'devout men,' Bight of Benin. He was carried off by and honored by the presence at his Mohammedan slavers In 1819, and was funeral of European officials and a thou- exchanged for a horse. He was treated sand Hindus and Mohammedans." with the greatest cruelty. Again he was exchanged for some tobacco. The slave This list is but partial. Wellington J. vessel was captured by an English man- White's tragic end cannot be forgotten; of-war, and young Adjai, as he was . the Moravian Marx also died at Leh, named, was sent to the church mission and many more, obscure, perhaps, in school at Sierra Leone. In 1825 he was human eyes, but emblazoned on God's christened by the Vicar of Christ Church, immortal scroll. Think of the mis- Newgate, Samuel Crowther. In 1829 he sionaries dying in Africa alone in 1891 ! married a native girl,who had been educated in the same school. He taught The almost simultaneous death of for a while, and accompanied the first Rev. James Calvert, formerly of the Fiji Niger expedition. He then went to Mission, and Principal Johu Cairns, of England and studied in the Church Edinburgh, takes from earth two of the Missionary College. He became a min- most distinguished men of the genera- ister, and went with the second Niger tion-Mr. Calvert, very conspicuous for expedition in 1854. He translated the missionary toils and triumphs, and Bible into the Yoruba language. He Principal Cairns, perhaps the most gift- was set apart as a bishop-the Bishop ed, learned, and really great man in of the Niger territory, in West Africa- Scotland. If auy man survives who in 1864. In May, 1880, the Royal Geo- combined so much mental power with graphical Society presented him with a so much childlike gentleness and gen· gold watch. Bishop Crowther was a erosity, we know not who he is. Mr. ~odl! man, of llU(lh intellectual powerl Q~lvert had fetireq from, wgrk, but Pro ann with a great authority over the na- was already producing a vast social and tives with whom he dealt. He was very political revolution. People were to- highly esteemed in England. His life day taking to heart the suffering and is a striking illustration of the power of misery of their fellow·creatures as they Christianity to uplift the savage races. never did before. They who represent. All that he was he owed to Christianity. ed the London Mission were the illus- trations of that new awakening of ten- When we remember that only ten der sympathy. This movement in Lonyears ago the people of Uganda and Vic· don was the direct result of the" Bit· toria Nyanza' were almost unknown to ter Cry of Outcast London." When the world, it is surprising to read that that remarkable pamphlet appeared a the missionaries recently sold in a few few years ago it tortured the souls of weeks 4000 reading sheets printed in many. They felt it was a veritable the native language. They send word shame that while they were sitting in that they could. sell 10,000 copies at cushioneJ corners of their pews there once if they had them. They say the were hundreds and thousands standing people are most anxious to acquire the under the shadow of their sanctuaries. art of reading, and their eagerness for books is astonishing. "As long as we Christianity is not dying out, but has had a reading sheet or a book left." moved forward until it has obtained a writes one, "a crowd swarmed around marvellous hold among all civilized naus day and night, and hundreds were tions. The .Army Ohaplain states the foldisappointed when the supply gave lowing: "Three centuries after Christ out." there were 5,000,000 Christians. Eight centuries after Christ there were 30,000,- The work in Africa, with all its hin- 000 Christians. Ten centuries after drances, goes forward so rapidly and Christ there were 50,000,000 Christians. with such strides that the records of Fifteen centuries after Christ there were yesterday will be out of date to-morrow. 100,000,000 Christians. Eighteen cen- turies after Christ there were 174,000,000 London Wesleyan Mission. Christians. Now there are 450,000,000 Christians. The followers of the three The London Wesleyan Mission about religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, lind six years since began its work. Atten- Taoism, all combined, are less in numtion was first directed to the East End, ber than the Christians alone. Includand afterward St. James's Hall, in the ing the latest division of Africa among west, and other parts of London, were the European powers, about four fifths made the centres of important mission- of the land of the world is under Chris· ary (,fforts. In addition to the minis· tian control." So much for figures; terial staff, some seventy •• Sisters of but what of the general influence upon the People" and twenty lay agents are society! Of one thing we must beware. employed in the mission, and as the The above figures represent not the conoutcome of their work about five thou- verted disciples of Christ, but those sand persons are .. meeting in class, " identified with so.called Christian commost of whom previously belonged to munities. no church. Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, before a large assemblage in the Free We publish gladly the following cor- Trade Hall, Manchester. observed that rection : nothing wall more remarkable in the present age than the growing sensitive- .. In the MISSIONARY REVIEW for Noness to the amount of pain and misery vember there are some pages of in- for~ation respectins, British foreiRI!, iu the world, ',fhjl! te~derness of heart 464 EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS. [June missions, by Rev. James Johnston, Bol- asked him if he expected to end his ton, England. Respecting' English days in the poorhouse, since he squan- Missions in Canada,' he says: •With the dered his money in that way. .. Ah," translation of the Bible into the Cree said Mr. Carter, ., how little he foresaw language, the Bishop of Moosonee that the time was coming when Robert writes honie that he is making rapid and Alexander Stuart would gi-ve habituprogress.' The writer overlooks the fact ally $50,000 a year to foreign missions that the Bible was translated into Cree and $50,000 to home missions I" Mr. many years ago by the Rev. Henry Stein- Carter, speaking of Robert and Alexanhauer, an Ojibway Indian, but for many der Stuart, says: "They began to give years a missionary of the Methodist small subscriptions to benevolent ob- Church to the Crees, and John Sinclair, jects, which increased with increasing a half. breed of the Cree nation. Tl,J.at prosperity. They first gave hundreds, translation was printed by the British then thousands. then tens of thousands, and Foreign Bible Society, in the syl- and at last hundreds of thousands."- labic characters invented by the Rev. Churchman. James Evans, at that time Methodist mis~ionary at Norway House. The Extract from Christian Ltader, June manuscript was entrusted to another 25th, 1891. Mission field. "Baptist missionary-the Rev. William Mason- Blundering on the Congo." .. In the who subsequently became a minister in Monthly ~JJfessenger of Storie Street, Bapthe Church of England. Mr. Mason had tist Church, Paisley, of which Dr. O. the oversight of the printing, and dis- Flett is pastor, reference is made to an honestly introduced his own name into address lately given by Rev. R. D. Darthe title-page, completely ignoring the by, from the Congo." "The story work of Messrs. Steinhauer and Sinclair. which he told of the privations and He also represented himself as the hardships which he and his companinventor of the syllabics, thus robbing ions had endured was a sad and pitiful James Evans of the honor of the discov- one. His two companions died, and he ery. We are under the impression that himself only narrowly escaped. In the work on which the Bishop of Moo- listening to such a story one cannot sonee is now engaged is not a new trans- help feeling that there is great and lation in the syllabics, but a translitera- inexcusable blundering somewhere. tion into Roman characters of the exist- There is really no need why our mising edition, probably with such im- sionaries should be left in such straits proved readings as may be suggested by for the lack of the common necessaries his knowledge of the Cree tongue. But of life. If the Mission Committee in on this point we have no positive in- London, who are responsible, would formation."-Missionary OuUook. only show a little more business ability in providing for the wants of their A few years before her death Robert agents, no calamity of the kind would Carter called upon Mrs. Stuart, and she be likely to overtake them. The sad drew from a desk an old document, thing is that the lack of proper prowhich she handed to him. It was a vision for the wants of the agents sent call for a first meeting to discuss the out has less or more characterized the propriety of forming a Board of F<Yreign management of the committee from the _Missions. Mrs_ Stuart said that her hus- beginning. The effects of this are band had gone to that meeting, and in shown in the fact that about 60 per cent the enthusiasm of his heart had pledged of the missionaries sent out to the Conhimself to give $500. When he came go district have died. Surely a radical home his mother and his brother Alex_ change in the mode of conducting the ander were full of consternation, and mission is called for !"
1892.' THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF JIUSSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY ,VILLIAM EllENTON GREENE, JR., D.D.
AFRICA. and apes and slaves. The explorations The four evangelists record 0ur Sav. of late years have, however, acquainted iour's activity when He was on earth us with its principal physical features.
in the flesh. Luke, in the Acts of the It has few harbors considering its great Apostles, begins at His ascension and extent of coast. It rises gradually from narrates the continuance of His work a hard beach of yellowish sand; it in the Church by His Spirit for thirty- spreads out into broad plateaus; and four years. It was, however, promised these are traversed by five systems of that the Spirit of Christ should be the mountains, some of them lofty. It is life of the Church. " Iro ! I am with watered by many lakes and large rivers, you alway, even unto the end of the chief among which are the Zambesi on world," said our Lord. It is evident, the east, the Niger and the Congo on therefore, that the Acts must be an un- the west, and on the north the long, finished book. Christian history in mysterious, though historic Nile. It is every age is as truly the story of tho a land of forests, seemingly trackless activity of Christ's Spirit as is apostolic and impenetrable, which yield ebony, history. This is never more conspicu- dye woods, palm-oil, gums, copal, and ously the case than in the annals of india.rubber, and whose clearings pro- foreign missions; and nowhere prob- duce plantains, cassava, tapioca, Indian ably has the work of evangelization been corn, slIgar-cane, much else, so abun- more evidently supernatural, more dantly and readily that industry be- manifestly inspired and guided and de- comes useless and indolence inevitable.
veloped by Christ through His Spirit, At the same time Africa may well be than in that vast and dark continent called the country of the desert. For which, under the name of Ethiopia, is 900 miles along the western seaboard represented in Scripture as about to toward the south there is not a drop of stretch out her hands unto God, and to fresh water and but one fertile spot.
which our thoughts are for a little while An even larger region along the eastern to be directed. coast nearer the equator is dry and Africa is the southern continent of sterile. North of the eqlIator i;; the the eastern hemisphere. Bounded on Sahara or Great Desert, 3000 miles the north hy the Mediterranean Sea, on long, with an average width of 1000 the east by the Red Sea and the Indian miles; its area is almost equal to that Ocean, on the south by the Southern of the whole of our own vast country.
Ocean, and on ·the west by the Atlantic " Its surftlce, lower in many places than Ocean, it has, since the opening of the the Mediterranean Sea, is made up of Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to shifting sand, rough gravel, and barren the Red Sea, become a continental isl- rock, variously distributed, and occa· and. Lying between the 37° of north. sionally traversed by low chains of bare and the 340 of south latitude, it is al. hills. Extensive plains of salt also oc- most wholly within the tropics. Tri. cur. Throughout this sterile region rain angular in shape, its greatest length is is almost unknown, and the heat is ter- 4330 miles; its extreme width, 4000 rific," sometimes indicating, especially miles; and its area, 11,360,000 miles, during the hot wind and stand storms, nearly four times that of the United over 1200 F. in the shade. The western States. portion of the Sahara is the wildest and Until very recently little or nothing the most desolat.e. In the eastern part was known of the interior of Africa, ex- are numerous oases, some of which cept that it was rich in gold and ivory cover many miles of fertile territory. The climate of these oases and of the the ancient Egyptians, and are a mixed forests and rich table-lands of Africa, race, their ancestors having intermarwhich make up two thirds of the conti- ried with Greeks, Nubians, and Abysnent, is very different from that of the Sllllans. Their complexion is brownish desert. Rain is regular and abundant; yellow, their foreheads fiat, their hair the average temperature is about 80" woolly, their lips thin, and their eyes F.; and the thermometer seldom if bent upward like the Chinaman's. ever rises above 98° in the shade. Their home is Northern Egypt. Next we have the Nilotic race, comprising the Africa does not seem to be very rich Nubians in Nubia, the Abyssinians in in minerals. Gold, however, is found Abyssinia, and the Gollos along the in Guinea. Iron and copper occur in eastern coast farther south. These are many of the intertropical places. Seams all strong, vigorous people, often handof coal have been discovered along the some, more or less dark, and standing banks of the Zambesi. Salt is said to between the Berber and the negro. Of be plentiful everywhere. Diamonds of the latter no description is necessary. fine quality and great size have been Suffice it to say, that their home is the found. It is not unlikely that there are Soudan or Central Africa; that they are many mineral treasures yet to be un- very numerous; and that many of them earthed. are partially civili:led. They are found to improve as we penetrate the country, The vegetable wealth of Africa has and there is reason to expect gratifying been alluded to. Its fauna also are nu- developments when we sha1l become merous and highly characteristic. Land acquainted with the vast inland tribes animals preponderate over water ones, of which now almost nothing is known. and many of the quadrupeds are exclu- Nobler far and more characteristic of sively African in their origin. Such Afrioa than the negro is the Bantu race. are the chimpanzee, the gorilla, the dog- Nearly the whole southern half of the faced baboon, the two-horned rhinocer- continent is their home. A recent os, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, and traveller thus describes them: ""The five sixths of the known species of ante- Bantu is a fine, tall, upright man, with lope. It is in a land extensive, varied, delicately small hands and well-shaped productive, and peculiar as this that feet, a fine face, high, thin nose, beard the races live the problem of whose and;mustache. . .. Some of them are perevangelizatiolj. we are about to study. fect Greek statues as regards the splen- did development and poise of figure." The people of Africa may be divided Finally, we have the Gouipine race, into native and foreign. The foreign composed of Hottentots, Korannas, and element, which is numerous, consists Bushmen. ~enoe they originated is of Europeans, Arabs, Moors, Turks, and a mystery. They are thought to resem- Jews. The native element embraces ble the Chinese. Like them, they have six races which are, to a greater or less the high cheek-bones, the oblique eye, degree, allied, and which all spring the thin beard, the yellowish complexfrom the great Indo-Ethiopic fa·mily. ion. They differ, however, in their They are thus a mixture of the pure hair and in the formation of the bones African type with the Asiatic, and they of the pelvis. In height they rarely differ in race characteristics according exceed four feet six inches; and they as the one type or the other predomi- are lively, cheerful, and by no means nates. The Berbers are the descendants wanting in intellect. These six races of the primitive stress of the land. with the foreigners give a total not far a'hey vary in color from blaok to dark from 300,000,000, or considerably more bronze or copper, have high cheek- than four times the population of the bones, thin lips, expressive eyes, curly United States. hair, and athletic forms. Their home is Northern Africa. Then there are the Copts. These are the desQendants of Of the social, moral, and religious African people wherein lies the hope of condition of these millions little that is their future. They are born traders.
good can be said. The northern half They have created a true currency, of Africa has the characteristics of Ara- though not a money one. "In the bic civilization. The people are pas- m"nagement of a bargain," says Stan- toral and nomadic. They have the ley, " I should back the Congoese na- Arab's genius both for war and for tive against Jew or Christian, Parsee or trade, In general, we may say of them Bouyan, in all the round world. Un- that they are restless, fierce, warlike, sophisticated is the very last term I proud, aggressive; in trade, keen, ver- should ever apply to an African child satile, grasping; in morals, grossly sen- or man in connection with the knowl- sual, as the Abyssinians, or proudly ab- edge of how to trade. I have seen a stemious, "s the Nubi"ns, They are all child of eight do more tricks of trade in stamped with the'virtues and the vices an hour than the cleverest European of the Moslem faith. Many of them tmder on the Congo could do in a h"ve heard of the S"viour, but almost month."
none of them have found life in Him or As to morals and religion, the picture even realized their need of Him. is an extremely dark one. Degradation The southern half of Africa is utterly is well-nigh universal. Polygamy is destitute of any civilization worthy of everywhere practised. The idea of the name. The people live in indepen- chastity seems to have been entirely dent groups under the command of a lost. The value of human life is not king, whose slaves they usually are, appreciated. Mutilation and death are As to intelligence, there is a v"st differ- the punishments for the slightest of- ence in different tribes. The Bololo fences. Human sacrifices are common.
people, for example, in the bend of the Cannibalism is prevalent. Atrocities Congo, clear away the forest and raise which among us might not even be crops of maize and mandioc", They mentioned are with them of daily occur- are expert in the working and smelting rence. There is no worship in the of brass. They understand division of proper sense of the word. Religion has labor. Their streets are straight and deg'merated into a superstition called their houses commodious. Of the peo- fetichism.
ple in the Nyassa district, however, It does not come so near to the wor- Professor Drummond gives the follow- ship of God as idolatry does; for the ing description: " Hidden away in the idolater professes to worship God endless forests, like birds' nests in a through the idol, while the African, wood, in terror of one another and of though admitting the existence of a their common foe, the slaver, are small Creator and Father, gives Him no actual native villages; and here in his virgin worship. Sacrifices are made and simplicity dwells primeval man, with- prayers are regularly offered; but there out clothes, without civilization, with. is no confession of sin, no thanksgiv- out learning, without religion, the gen- ing, no praise. Fetichism conRists in'
uine child of nature-thoughtless, care- the wearing of charms or amulets to less, and contented. This man is appal" secure a wish or to ward off an enemy.
ently quite happy; he has practically These charms may be anything-a shell, no wants. One stick' pointed makes a bone, even a rag-that has been con- him a spear; two sticks rubbed together secrated by the fetich doctor, who pro- make him a fire; fifty sticks tied to- fesses to inject into it, by means of gether make him a house. The bark drugs and incantations, a spirit by he peels from them makes his clothes; whom one can be made successful.
the fruits which hang on them make his Ascetic rnles are also to be obeyed. In food." There is, howe,er, one com- a word, the only religion of the native mon characteristic of all the Central is a bondage to fear; and if we except the coast regions, this religion is well- of Belgium, losing his dear son, adopted nigh universal. "In Stanley's journey Africa with her sable children as his of 7000 miles from Zanzibar to Banana, own, out of his royal fortune giving a he saw neither a Christian disciple nor a princely sum annually for her sake. man who had even heard the Gospel What an event was that when, under message !" the presidency of Prince Bismarck. fif- teen nations, by their representatives, What, then, has been the work of the assembled to torm the "International Spirit of Christ for AfrIca? Association of the Congo" I And who are the 'national parties to this most reo He has inspired the explorations by markable compact against the slave which the Dark Continent has been tmde and for civil and religious free. brought to the notice of the Christian dom? Not only Protestant powers, but world, and opened up to the heralds of Papal kingdoms, the Greek Church as the Gospel; but for the patient and represented by Russia, and even Islam heroic forced marches or Speke and as represented by Turkey. When in Grant and Baker and Cameron and the history of the world has there been Stanley, missionaries could not go into such a union of the nations of the earth, the interior of Africa; and, indeed, the not to Ilpeak of different forms of faith, need of them there would not be appre- and all in the interest" of the kingdom ciated. It is significant, therefore, that of Christ? Can we do otherwise than these intrepid explorers, who for the exclaim, "What hath God wrought!" sake of science or adventure gave the Once more, He has developed as well best years of their lives to seeking to as inspired and guided the missions solve the mysteries of the Dark Conti. themselves. If wonderful works are nent, would probably never have seen it needed to prove t.he presence and power but for David Livingstone. Herein is of the Spirit of Christ, these works have the greatness of his work. He was mis- not been wanting. The Moravians taken in many of his geographical the. seem to have been the first in this field, ories, but his mistakes inspired those as in many otbers. In 1737 George who corrected them. He planted no Schmidt, one of their number, sailed missions himself, but his missionary from Holland and established a mission spirit inspired the most effe~tive mis- at Gnadenthal, 120 miles north of the sions in Africa. He did not live to see Cape of Good Hope. Here he labored the results of his arduous labors. After for nine years, gathering a little com· forty attacks of fever he died on his panyof converts numbering 47 families. knees in a grass hut amid the swamps He then went back to Holland to induce near Lake Bangweolo, early in May, others to join him, but was not allowed 1873; but that dying prayer was an· to return. Not until 1792 did the Mora ' swered. With his death began a new vians obtain permission to resume their era for the "Dark Continent." Who work in Africa. Then three humble will say that the Spirit of Christ that artisans were sent to that same place. lived in him did not inspire the explo· There among the first to welcome them rations which his death powerfully stim- was a poor blind woman, an aged pupil ulated, and which but for his life would and convert of Schmidt's, bringing with have been impossible? Again, the her the old treasure Testament which Spirit of Christ has controlled the pol- he had given her fifty years before. icy of empires in the interests of Afri. Who but the Spirit of Christ could have can evangelization. In the words of kept that handful of believers faithful Dr. Pierson, "Perhaps no more won- in the midst of a continent" dead in derful occurrence has been recorded trespasses and sins" ? Was there ever since Pentecost than the Berlin Confer· a more striking illustration of the truth ence, that, in the closing weeks of 1884, that He who begins the good work in met to determine the constitution of the Congo Free State.. King Leopold us will perform it until the day of Jesus tioned anarchy. The different tribes Christ? In 1799 the first four mission- are at war constantly. The same is true aries of the London Missionary Bociety of the different families of the tribe; arrived at the Cape. The Dutch Re- hence, unkind feelings are engendered, formed Church is another of the early and to deal with people so irritated agents in the South African mission '.lalls for unusual patience, prudence, canse. The two great societies of the decision, tact. Another obstacle is in- Church of England, the Society for the dolence. The wants of the natives are Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign so few that they grow up in idleness. Parts and the Church Missionary So- When they profess Christianity, thereciety, were erelong in the field, begin- fore, their change of heart does not at ning their labors, the latter in Abyssinia, once make them diligent. There is the former in South Africa. Egypt has small occasion for diligence. They been successfully occupied by the have, consequently, to be taught indus- United Presbyterian Church of the tries as well as religion. In no field are United States. '.I,'he western coast is lay missionaries, Christian mechanics, the Bcene of very many missions of very and farmers so much needed. many churches. Here we come to Ashantee, where the celebrated native Bish. A further obstacle is slavery. The op Crowther, whose death we have been united influence of the many mission. called on so lately to mourn, labored ; ary societies and the efforts of one and here, too, but farthest down of all Christian nation after another have enwe find Gaboon, and the field well oc- tirely broken up the slave trade, so far cupied by the American Presbyterian as the west coast is concerned. It is, Board, in which field, as in all this re- however still carried on clandestinely gion, the mortality among the mission. on the east coast, and it exists everyaries has been so great that it has been where unrestrained as a domestic instiwell called .. the White Man's Grave." tution. Indeed, slaves constitute the In 1875, a year after Livingstone's laboring class, and hence arises an exdeath, a memorial mission was founded cuse on the part of the free for their infor him on Lake Nyassa, and it has been dolence. In their view work is not very successful. Space, however, would only largely unnecessary, it is also disfail were even the barest enumeration honorable because associated with slaof the missionary agencies now at work very. in Africa to be attempted. Statistics, too, with reference to this field are sin. A fourth obstacle is intemperance. gularly unreliable. Like the maps of The natives have their own beer and the country, they change daily. Ten wine, but they have learned to like the years ago the report was 730 ordained more intoxicating qualities of imported missionaries, 73,000 native communi. rum, gin, and whiskey. 'I'hese are obcants, 250,000 under instruction-prob- tained in abundance at all the foreign ably a million more or less under the trading houses. The testimony of the influences of Christianity; and ten missionaries is that where converts are years ago the Christian Church was just now reckoned by hundreds they would beginning to rouse herself for the evan· be numbered by thousands but for the gelization of the .. Dark Continent." rum trade. "What a record against the Protestant Christianity of Great It should not be supposed, however, Britain and Germany and America !" that the work, because it has been rapid, is easy. It has peculiar difficulties. Polygamy. with its kindred vices and Perhaps no field calls for more of the the moral degradation which result heroism which only the Holy Spirit can from them, is another and most serious inspire. obstacle. 'rhe people have become so debased that there seems to be no moral Among these obstacles may be men- foundation on which to bnild. The climate, too, must not go unmentioned. It has proved singularly, fearfully fatal we account for such apostolic lives as to the missionaries. Now that they Moffat's, as Livingstone's, as Black's, have learned how best to adapt them· as Bushnell's, as Harrington's, as Mac· selves to it, it is less so. At the same kay's, as Crowther's, as those of many time, however, another difficulty has other missionaries that may not now be arisen. The natives cannot understand mentioned, unless the same Christ who why foreigners cannot the as they do ; lived in Paul by the Spirit lived also in and so it often comes to pass that in them? ·Can we doubt that the land in proportion as the missionary takes care which the Saviour Himself is thus diof his health he loses influence in his recting and sustaining the work of evanfield, on the ground that he is too lux- gelization will soon stretch out her urious. hands unto God? Is she not even now beginning to do so? Can we, then, reo That, therefore, the wonderful prog. sist the short and emphatic appeal ad. ress of the past twenty years has been dressed by David Livingstone from the made in spite of all these obstacles is centre of Africa to the Protestant in itself most encouraging. The simple churches of the world, "Coml) on, fact that the Bible has already been brethren !n Friendship for Christ, translated into sixty.six of the Ian. mere loyalty to Him, compels us to do guages and dialects of Africa is a stu- so. Not to be interested in the evanpendous achievement. Great expecta. gelization of Africa is not to be intertions, too, may be cherished with refer- ested in what is conspicuously the work ence to the missionary influence of the of our Friend, who redeemed us with colored people of the United States_ His own precious blood. In number 7,000,000, what might they not accomplish for their brethren over -A testimony to the value of misthe sea if only they themselves were sions is given by Jesse Seligman, the baptized witl~ the missionary spirit? Jewish banker, who is now travelling Can we doubt th.3.t it is God's purpose on the Nile. He says: "I am glad to make them missionaries? Have we, to inform you that the American misthen, any duty more pressing than to sionaries all along the Nile are doing give them the churches and schools splendid work. You can scarcely enter necessary for their religious and moral II single town or village without finding training? Most encouraging,however, one of these nicely constructed school. are the effects of the Gospel on the houses where these Arabs are taught, character of the Africans, who seemed and it would IIstonish you to hear with to have no character. The Pentecostal what pride they say they were taught at blessing has been repeated on the Con- the American mission school… go. In places not a few the people, thieves before, hhve become honest. -The statistics of the Presbyterian Liars before, they have become truthful. missions in Siam and Laos, as l·ecently Indolent, they have become industri- reported, are as follows: Ordained misous. Their idols they have burned; sionaries, 14 ; medical missionaries, 4 ; Christ they have enthroned Lord of all. single lady missionaries, 9; native The Christians in the neighboring isl- preachers, teachers, etc., 54; number and of Madagascar have remained true of churches, 13 ; communicants, 1113 ; in spite of persecution unsurpassed for number added last year, 239 ; boys in cruelty in any age. If the Waldenses boarding. schools, 208; girls in boardare rightly called the ~Iartyr Church, ing-schools, 146; day-school pupils, the believers of Madagascar are fully as 320.-Dr. Ellinwood. worthy 6f the honorable title. Can we explain this save on the ground that the Spirit of Christ sustained them? Can
GENERAL MISSIoNARY UtTELUGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O.
-Under 120 of the wills reported in this country more than 2,000,000 of during last year in this couptry, the be- Slavs; the Poles number 1,500,000 and quests for religious, educational, and the Bohemian~, 350,000. Chicago alon" charitable purposes have amounted to contaius 100,000, Cleveland and Detroit about $7,000,000. are also large centres, while the mining regions of Pennsylvania hold many -The population of the city of New thousands; but llJUong them only a very York exceeds that of North Dakota, slight beginning in missionary work has South Dakota, Montana, Washington, been made. Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming. The PresbyteJ:ians and Congre- -Says the venerable Archdeacon gationalists have only 85 pastors f>t work Kirkby, who in he service of the Church in New York City, while in the eight MiBsionary Society spent 27 years among new States the two denominations have the Indians of Rupert's Land: "There 540 pastors and workers. The Roman is no better argument for Christianity Oatholics have 115 parish churches and than a congregaMon of Indians repeatchapels in New York City, with 300 ing in their own tongue the Apostles' priests and 300 Brothers, and 2000 re- Creed." There are now 10,000 baptized ligious women constantly at work among Indian Christians leading consistent the people. lives, and reading daily the Gospel of Jesus Christ. -Probably the largest congregation in America is that of the Church of St -In mission work the progress of the Stanislaus Kostka, in Chicago, which Methodist Episcopal Church during the has 30,000 communicants. The num- quadrennium has been marvellous. ber of attendants at the several masses Each year the income of the Missionary every Sunday frequently exceeds 15,000. Society has risen to a higher level, The cUl'e of souls committed to its reaching last year $1,228,888.04. The charge requires the services of 12 sum named does not include $263,660.69 priests. It has a parochial school at- raised by the Woman's Foreign Mistended by 3000 children, and these are sionary Society, nor $155,398.54 raised taught by 26 Sisters and 8 lay teachers. by the Woman's Home Missionary So- The church maintains an orphan asylum ciety, nor $311,827.56 raised by the in which about 300 inmates are cared Board of Church Extension, nor $322,- for. 656.44 raised by the Freedmen's Aid Society, nor many thousands of dollars -Five years have passed since the raised by the various city missionary Students' Volunteer Missionary Move- societies. Even more encouraging are ment started, and in connection with it the spiritual fruits. During the past almost 6000 have pledged themselves to year, in a single field (North India Conthe foreign field, if the way of entrance ference), the baptisms of convertedheashall be opened. Of this number about then have averaged at times 500 a week. 70 per cent are young men and 30 per The accessions in that field alone within cent are young women. Not far from the twelvemonth have amounted to 350 have already entered upon their 16,000. work, while some 500 are yet in theological schools, 125 in medical schools, EUROPE. and a far larger number in various colleges. Great Britain.-Seven of the direct- ors of the British East African Com- -It is estimateil that there are now pany-aIl of them Scotsmen except one -have instituted a new mission, to be lire from Peter's Pence; 3,000,000 lire known as the East Afrioan Soottish Mis- from English Consols ; 300,000 lire from sion, and have personally subsoribed various sources. The expenditures ure £10,000 for that purpose. computed as follows: Salaries of car- dinals, 650,000 lire; expenses of the -Rev. J. Hunt Cooke, editor of the Vatican for kitchen and household, in- London Freeman, estimates the total cluding the Guardia Nobile, 2,000,000 gross ineome of the Church of England lire; for legates, diplomats, etc., 1,000,- at £5,750,000 per annum, of whioh only 000 lire; stipends and pensions, 1,500,- 5 per oent is derived from endowments 000 lire; Apostolic palaces, 500,000; made since 1700, and by far the greater for San Giovanni in Laterano, 300,000 ; part is an inheritanoe from the days Archivio Borghese, 250,000 ; monument when the Roman Catholio Church was of Innooent III., 100,000; other exsupreme. The same authority puts the penses, 1,000,000 lire. total value of the endowment at £300,- 000,000, and calculates that this vast -The election of a new General of sum is equivalent to a bag of 100 sover- the Jesuit Order has been set for May, eigns for every letter of the Bible from the Convention to be held in the Gerthe first of Genesis to the last of Revela- man-Hungarian College in Rome. In tion. connection with this announcement the Rome correspondent of the Paris Temps -New statistics of Austria, exclusive gives the latest official statistics of the of Hungary, hllVe been coJIe'3ted. The Order. The Society of Jesus now numtotal population is 23,895,424. Of these bers 12,947 members. Of these 1764 18,814012 are Roman Catholics; 2,814,- belong to Italy; 2863 to France; 3470 012 Greek Catholics; 544,786 Oriental to Germany, Austria, and Holland, Greeks; 315,528 Lutheran Protestants; which three countries constitute one 120,524 Reformed Protestants; 1,148,- province; 2570 to Spain; 2307 to Eng- 506 Jews. land and her colonies.
Germany.-Among the receipts of -The Orthodox Church of Russia is the Basle Missionary Society last year divided into 60 bishoprics. Of these were $58,000 from poor friends of the 48 are in European Russia, 4 in the sooiety, who subscribed one cent a Trans Caucasus, 6 in Siberia, 1 in the week. Collectors obtained the amount Aleutian Islands, and 1 in Alaska with from them once in ten weeks. These the seat in San Francisco. Of these 60 collections are known by the name of bishops 3 are metropolitans, those of the sou missionaire. Kief, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Ac- cording to the latest statistics Russia -The Moravian Church in the for- had 1418 archdeacons, 34,345 priests, eign field has 135 stations and out-sta- 6810 deacons, 42,371 psalm-singers, and tions, 295 missionary agents, 59 native some 6000 unofficial clergymen. missionaries, 1664 native assistants, and 31,480 communicants. The missions -Sweden is the most Protestant are in Greenland, Labrador, Alaska, our country, for out of a population of own country, the East and West In- 4,774,409 only 810 are Roman Catholics, dies, Demerara, the Moskito Coast, Suri- or 16 out of every 100,000 ; and next to nam, Africa, Australia, North Queens- it in this respect is Norway, which is land, and Central Asia. under the same sovereign, and has only 502 Roman Catholics out of 1,818,853 Italy.-The Italia Evangelica reports inhabitants, or 27 out of every 100,000. the papal budget for 1892. The income In both of these countries the mass of is from the following sources: 1,500,000 the population adhere to the Lutheran lire (a lira is about 20 cents) from spir- Church. itual dignitaries and offices and admission fees to the museums; 2,550,000 AFRICA. agents of the British Bible Society have kept step with the Italian soldiers, and –Unoccupied mission territory to the Swedish missionaries have been laborextent of 4,000,000 square miles still ex- ing llere since 1866. In 1877, with the ists in Centl·al Africa, an area larger assistance of General Gordon, they esthan the whole of Europe, says Rev. tablished the station MoncuIlo, near George Grenfell, of the Baptist Congo Massower ; and this iH the first evangeli- Mission. cal congregation in Abyssinia, consisting chiefly of natives. Representatives of -It must not be supposed that all the Basle Society have been engaged British commercial companies ar here for fifty years, but have been exwholly without conscience and wholly pelled several times. The station Mongiven to gain. The British East Africa cu110 has gradually become a village. Company, for instance, in its scheme Among the 60 pupils in the boys' school, for raising revenue within its territories 38 are Abyssinians, 10 heathen Gallas, forbids the growth, sale, and use of and the others Mohammedans. The opium, bhnng, or gnnji. It entirely pro- Swedes have advanced to the mountain hibi ts the passage of ardent spirits into districts inland, and several Abyssinian the interior, and near the coast it places priests have been converted. 'l'he proheavy restrictions upon licensing liquor- tection of the Italian army and the shops. It recognizes the helpfulness of medical work of the Swedes have been missionary laborers, and exempts al'I valuable factors in these successes. ministers from taxation. In a similar Fully 2000 natives come into contact spirit the African Lakes Company is with the mission and the missionaries conducting its operations north of the every week. Zambesi.
– The Belgium Roman Catholics are -The Ovambo Mission of the Finnish pushing their work in the Congo Free Missionary Society, on the west coast State. One order has 5 stations occu- of South Africa, was opened in 1868, pied by a dozen priests, extending from but its work has often been hindered, the coast beyond the last Baptist sta- and several times has been nearly broken tion. The Bishop of Ghent also has a up by wars among the natives. Nine station at Matadi; and the Sisters of stations are now maintained. At a Charity occupy 3 stations on the Lower single one, LanomlB Harbor, 153 per- Congo. A mission steamer of seven sons were baptized in 1891, making the tons is being built for use upon the number of converts 312 at the close of river. The Jesuits and Carthusian the year. An additional missionary has friars are also entering the field; and recently gone to that field, and another on the eastern coast are found the white will be sent during the coming summer. Fathers of the congregation of Cardinal Lavigerie. More than 100 priests and ASIA. novices besides Sisters of Chal·ity have recently entered, or soon will enter, China.-The China Inland Mission that country as missionaries. reports 123 additions to its force the past year, making the whole number -The Italian expedition to Abyssinia now engaged in that work 512, occupyhas had at least the one good result of ing 94 different points. reopening that land to the messengers of a living Christianity. The lowland -Summing up for the year 1891, Secalong the coast has been in possession retary Mitchell, of the Presbyterian of the Italians for some three years, and Foreign Missionary Board, says of the this, the" Erythrean Colony," has been work in China that the presbytery of made the basis of further operations on the province of Shantung, which now the part of the Gospel workers. The embraces 28 churches, 7 of which have been recently organized, has had" the cupied by missions. Mr. Dutt quoted most prosperous year" in its history; some very striking figures from the cen- 760 communicants have been added to BUS returns, showing how rapid the the churches, making a total member- growth of Christianity had been in reo ship of 3392. It is said that there is cent years. In 1851 there were 91,000 but one presbytery in the United States Christians in India; in 1861 there were in which last year" the number of con- 138,000, an increase of 53 per cent; in verts was as large in proportion to the 1871 there were 224,000, an increase of number of ministers as in Shantung." 61 per cent; in 1881 there were 417,000, an increase of 86 per cent. This year India.-Professor Lindsay, D.D., the Christians are reckoned to be 2,000,- speaking at the meeting of the London 000 in number. Missionary Society, thus defined the problem presented by India: "There -A missionary has recently given were a hundred Indias, with a hundred this bit of evidence that the Gospel is different languages, and representing making progress in India: "There is a every stage of civilization, from the very considerable relaxation in the rigor most primitive to the most advanced. of caste bondage. This is true both in Such differences formed a great part of regard to the scope of caste rules, and the problem of mission work. Hindu- to the question of restoration when caste ism included only about a third of the has been lost. It cost a man more than 280,000,000 inhabitants of India; there $100,000 to be reinstated after losing were about 5~000,000 Moslem!!, 6,000,- his caste 70 or 80 years ago, and men 000 Sikhs, Parsees, and Christians, and were known to commit suicide because about 20,000,000 of aboriginal tribes. they failed to obtain restoration on any The number of pariahs–outside caste terms. In recent years it has been pur- -was, he thought, from 40,000,000 to chased by a wealthy man, to the writer's 60,000,000, and these were practically, personal knowledge, for $300. Caste for mission purposes, outside the great will be dear at a dollar after awhile." realm of Hinduism." ~The Indian Home Mission to the -The Rev. Roger Dutt, a Bengali Santals is a Danish organization which, clergyman from Cawnpore, recently ad· however, receives considerable support dressing members of the committee of from England. Its secretary in Den- the Society for the Propagation of the mark is the well.known Dr. Vah!, the Gospel, said that he had been asked author of "The Mission Atlas." The whether the missions in India were fail- stations occupied are in Bengal, the ures, and that he answered that they head station being at Ebenezer. There were certainly not. There is an impa- are 6 missionaries with their wives, tience about missions. People appear 4 Santal pastors, 18 deaconesses, 80 to think that the Gospel has only to be travelling elders, and 5 catechists. Re- . preached, and that then the place where cently there has also been established it is preached will straightway be won; an Assam colony with 1 missionary, 1 but when Christian people are them- pastor, 9 elders, and 3 catechists. The selves so long in their contest with their last annual report shows that the work besetting sins, it should not be expected done during the year has been quite that those sunk in sin in India should successful. The baptisms of converts immediately rise. The conversion of were 201, and there are at present 6300 England occupied centuries. India is baptized members of the community. 2.7 times as large as England, and con- tains 280,000,000, as against perhaps -The popUlation of Burmah is 8,921,- 2,000,000 in England in the days of St. 700 ; Christians, 2.40 per cent; popula- Augustine. Even now only a few towns tion of Rangoon, 180,324; races from and a few chief centres in India are oc- India in Burmah, 356,087. (Half the population of Rangoon now is from India, servants and coolies.) Burmans, Miscellaneous.-The largest univer· Lower Burmah, 3,391,519; Burmans, sity in the world is at Cairo, Egypt, and Upper Burmah, 2,737,577; total Bur. it has 11,000 students. They come from mans, 6,129,096; total Karens, 633,657. every part of the Mohammedan world, The percentage of religions is: Bud. and they Iiltudy Mussulman law, history, dhist, 86 per cent; Nat worshippers, 3 theology, and other branches needed to per cent; Hindus, 3 per cent; Moham· confirm them in the faith of Moham- medans, 4 per cent; Christians, 2.4 per med. They sit on the floor of an enor- cent; others, 1 per cent; Shans, Lower mous court and study aloud, and the Burmah, 94,302; Shans, Upper Bur. Western visitor who calls on them duro mah, 112,492; Christians, Lower Bur. ing study hours thinks that he has mah, 111,982. struck the original site of the tower of -There is no missionary in Afghanis. Babel, and that the confused of tongue tan, wilh her 6,000,000 people. An· haven't i>topped talking yet.
nam, with 5,000,000, has only Roman -An interesting paper has lately been Catholic missionaries. India has one printed by Dr. Schreiber, of Barmen, missionary to 275,000 people; Persia, on the prospects of Islam. He calcu.
one to 300,000 ; Thibet, one to 2,000,000. lates that of the 175,000.000 Moslems 100,000,000 are already subject to Chris· ISLANDS OF THE SEA. tian Powers, and that it will not be long before the remaining 75,000,000 will be -Among the newer work commenced in the same position. As a political by the London Missionary Society is power Islam has already fallen, and the that in New Guinea. There are now loss of its temporal power is crushing 53 stations along the southeast coast, a and ruinous, unlike the effect of the staff of 6 missionaries, over 30 South loss of the temporal power by Rome.
Sea Island tea~hers, and some 20 New n Islam is gaining something in Africa Guineans. More than 2000 children among the negro races, it is losing are under instruction, and there are be· ground everywhere else. The Church tween 400 and 500 church-members. Missionary Society reports 1000 con- The whole New Testament in the Motu verts from Mohammedanism, the Rhen- dialect has also been put through the ish Society,2000, and in Java there are press. Within the first year a new sta· 12,000 Christians, most of whom were tion on the Kwato Island has been oc· formerly Moslems.
cupied by 2 missionaries. -There are 12,000 mission schools Then and Now.-Fifty years ago there sustained by the offerings of Protestant was not a native Christian on the Fiji Christians. They are teaching some Islands; now there is not a heathen. 600,000 children and young people Not long since 40 volunteers responded to a call for 15 native missionaries for dangerous and unhealthy work in New British Foreign Missions. By Rev. Jas. Guinea. Johnston, Bolton, England.
-The Friendly Islands 50 years ago Wesleyan Foreign Missions.-At had not a native Christian; now there length the clouds which have lain on are more than 30,000 church-members, the treasury of the Missionary Society who give from their scanty store $15,000 are lifting, and a brighter prospect is annually for religious objects. before the directors of this influential -The Samoan group has a Christian organization. In making arrangements population of 30,000. In the largest for the approaching anniversary ser- island there are not 50 families that fail vices, the Rev. G. W. Olver, one of the to observe family worship. missionary secretaries, stated that the financial year which had now closed al- perial British East African Company in lowed the officials to congratulate them. their approach t,O and occupation oj' selves on having" turned the corner" Uganda,has lamentably failed, as only with regard to their missionary income. a sum under £6000 has been subscribed. The year's receipts from the home dis- Although the Bishop eloquently urged tricts of Great Britain were slightly in the influence which the railway would advance of the previous year, which exert in checking slavery and extending would warrant the presentation of an the rule of civilization, it is doubted encouraging report to the Exeter Rail whether his project is a wise one. It is gathering. The annual meeting will be remarked that the King of Uganda will invested with additional interest by the be able to point to the bishop's letter as presence of a large contingent of mis. a justification for his oft-repeated asser· sionaries from all parts of the foreign tion that the missionaries have come to field. ., eat up" his country. A supplemen. tary estimate has now been issued by Under the leadership of the Rev. J. H. the British Government for the sum of Bateson, Wesleyan missionary. the Army £20,000 for the survey of a railway route Temperance Association in India, which from Mombassa to the Victoria Nyanza. the Rev. W. L. Glegson established, is making marked progress. The Confer- Some concern is expressed by the ence has released Mr. Bateson tempo. Church Missionary lntelligencerrespecting rarily, to enable him to act as secretary current income. From returns to hand, of the Association. No fewer than it is apprehended that the close of the 17,500 soldiers, or a quarter of the total financial year will show a decrease in British force in India, are now pledged funds, since the receipts to the end of abstainers. Vith one or two exceptions, January, though appreciably above the every corps in India has a branch so· average of the five previous years, were ciety, prominent among which stands nevertheless smaller than those of last the Welsh Fusileers with 535 members. year at the same time, while the expen- Lord Roberts and the army authorities diture was larger. warmly countenance the objects sought. It is said that the Church of England The Church Missionary Society.- Zenana missions have been embarrassed Very shortly an appeal will be issued of late. by the rise in value of the rupee, for more workers on behalf of the Ugan. which. with other causes, had made the da Mission. The greater danger~ and estimates for the year ending March the rougher experiences in this historic 31st, 1891, over £4000 in excess of the mission than obtain elsewhere do not previous year; and unless the regular deter the. enlistment of volunteers. income 'could be raised to £34,000 the Among the friends of the Society, Cen. foreign work, instead of advancing, as tral African missions attrMt special at. was urgently needed, would go backtention. Recent letters from East Afri· ward. ca, in which entreaties are made for more missionaries, add that the Bugan- The Rev. Canon Lloyd, speaking reda are" thirsting for knowledge," mak· cently on the operations of the Church ing the need of teachers as great as at of England in India, observed that, in any previous time. As the Society's 'dew of the more than 288,000,000 peo- English missionaries are greatly out· ple in India, they could not particularly numbered by the French priests, this rejoice in the statement that of this vast filet will lend emphasis to the cry for population only about 1 per cent bere·enforcements. longed to the Church of England. This percentage, however, represented an in· Thus far the plea of Bishop Tucker to creasing number. While the census of the British public for £60,000, says II 1891 showed that the population had in- London correspondent, to aid the 1m· creased by about 10 per cent, those at· tached to the Church had increased by about 20 per cent. India was on the added. In area it is about the size of threshold of a great moral and social England, and there are 13 clergy at revolution which was progressing quiet- work." Any subscriptions in support ly but surely. The natives were rapid- of the good work will be heartily ac- ly becoming Anglicized in their ideas, knowledged by Mr. Lewis Wigram, The and if they did not all study the Gos- Grange, Chislehurst, Kent, England.
pels, vast numbers of them read John Society lor the Propagation of the Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, and sim- Gospel.-Awaiting the publication of ilar writers, which, on the whole, tend- the formal finance statement of the Soed to their good. ciety, it is possible to foreshadow the Zululand.-A vigorous appeal has amount of the receipts for the year 189L been made by the Bishop of Zululand This is stated to have been £116,520 (Dr. Carter) in aid of missions in that lOs., a sum undoubtedly large, yet insphero of service. He writes: "I know adequate for the demands on the Sothat many missions, both at home and ciety from many lands. Though the abroad, have a special claim upon Eng- collections, subscriptions, etc., show an lish people, but I doubt if any people increase of £1100 on the year, there has have a greater claim upon Englishmen been considerabl<;l falling off in the at the present time than the people in amount received from legacies.
Zululand. Ten years ago England con- The Anti-Opium Cl'usade.-An in- quered this country and took away fluential conference of British Members from its people the discipline which of Parliament who voted with the ma- made them in many ways the finest ot jority in April, 1891, against the opium all the South African races. It was un- traffic as a morally indefensible source doubtedly a cruel discipline, and yet the of Indian revenue, has been held in discipline had its good side; and there London to consider what further imme- ill nothing now in its place. Surely the diate action should be taken. A propo- very least that England can do is to sition that the Government should be show them' a more excellent way;' and thanked for its issue of a Blue Book this is what the Church mission to Zulu- was withdrawn, one of the members re- land is trying to do. But we who are marking that renewed pressure was more working here feel that we are crippled called for than gratitude. In postpon- from want of means and workers. The ing any concerted steps this session, it work here was begun over thirty years was resolved to take every opportunity ago, when this country formed a part of of emphasizing in Parliament the view the diocese of Natal, under Bishop already recorded in the journals of the Colenso. The diocese was established House.
in 1870 as a memorial to Charles Mac- So much has been said in Great Brit- kenzie, the first Bishop of Central Afri- ain of late in the way of minimizing the ca. Since then the work has been going effects of the habits of opium-smoking on in spite of many difficulties, the in India that it is desirable to quote greatest of which was the Zulu war in from a report of Mr. E. H. James, an im· 1879-80, when practically every mission partial and well.informed authority, in station was destroyed. At the present the Government service in the Northern time a sum of about £1000 a year is col· Division of Bombay, who clearly distin- lected from private sources, and about guishes between the Chinese vice and £700 a year is contributed by the Society the Indian one. He says: "Opium- for the Propagation of the Gospel, and smoking in India is not, as in 99 cases this is the whole income of the mission. out of 100 in China, a harmless habit, The ,Hocese consists of Zululand, Swazi- like cigar.smoking among Europeans.
land, Tongaland, an(l a certain portion (I can testify to this from my own ob- of the 'fransvaal, which has lately been servations when travelling in the north of China.) In India it is a degrading conditions, she won her way into the vice, the mark of a debauchee; and 99 hearts of the natives. Broken down in out of 100 who practise it are degraded health in 1891, she was obliged to seek and worthless, perhaps criminal per- rest at home. Partially restored, Miss sons. In the ports, no doubt, respect- Hoare promptly returned to Calcutta, able, hard-working Lascars and others but soon died, leaving means, however, are to be found who indulge in it; but whereby her work will be continued. as a rule an opium.smoking native of India, of whatever rank of life he be, is Mr. Eugene Stock, the editorial sec_ vicious and without any self-respect. retary of the Church Missionary Society, The reverse is the case in China." has been invited by the General Com- mittee to proceed to Australia and New Dr. Thomas Smith, of Edinburgh.- Zealand on a special mission, and he will This eminent missionary, author, and sail without delay. It seems that the professor has resigned the professorship visit was suggested by a letter from the of Evangelical Theology in the New Col- Bishop of Sydney, urging the appoint. lege, Edinburgh. He was ordained in ment of a delegate of "tried experi- 1839, sailed for Calcutta to engage in ence" to travel through the British Colomission work along with Dr. Duff, and nies to stir up interest in foreign misfor twenty-one years was his colleague. sionary work. Than Mr. Stock's selec- The state of his health obliged him to tion, no better could have been made return to Scotland thirty. one years ago, either as regards minute knowledge. of when he undertook the pastorate of the Society's vast operations or capacity Cowgatehead Church, Edinburgh, and as a singularly graceful and persuasive in 1878 was called to succeed Dr. Duff platform-speaker. in the chair which he now resigns. As the author of biographies of Dr. Duff Methodist Free Church Missions.- and Dr. Begg, and of many valuable The Missionary Committee reports that works, an expert in mathematics, a mis· two new chapels have been erected in sionary authority, and a leader in eccle- Jamaica. An expedition started early siastical courts, the venerable doctor, last January fo1' the Mundi country, who has reached his seventy. fifth year, lying beyond Sierra Leone. is deservedly honored and revered. Germany and the Slave Trade in Miss Hoare, of Ca1cutta.-There re- Africa.-Information has been sent in cently died in Calcutta a lady whose a letter by one of the English officers in name is beloved in many a remote command of a Central African expedivillage in the Sunderbunds, and in tion, confirming the serious charges those swampy tracts south of Calcutta made by Captain Lugard against the wherein she had lightened the load of Germans with reference to the importamisery and pain which press so heavily tion of powder into Africa. Captain upon the poorest of a poor population. Lugard protested strongly to Mr. Stokes, Miss Hoare devoted a large fortune to the ex-missionary, who is now in the the founding of an educational institu- German service, against his selling tion in Calcutta, and of schools in the powder to the natives, and offered to v:illages. At the same time she exer- buy the entire stock brought by Mr. cised a large-hearted benevolence in Stokes from the coast for the British ameliorating their bodily distresses, and East Africa Company. As Mr. Stokes is for the last fourteen or fifteen years she employed by the Germans, they are had spent much of her time among the morally, at least, responsible for his villagers. Living in their houses, shar· actions. But the message of Captain ing their food, and patiently enduring Lugard is supplemented very strongly the discomforts which a European lady by the letter written from Tanganyika. must of neceijsity experience under such In his journey throngh German East Africa tUe writer states that he encoun_ tered numerous Arab traders who were work. For three years he had been in possession of large quantities of pow_ suffering with consumption, but he re- der, which they were taking into the in. fused to return hOlUe, preferring to die terior. And even more, the Arabs were among his choeen people with his armor actually in possession of written per· on.
mits, signed by German officials on the, Japal).-A Buddhist priest from coast, authorizing them to carryon this Japan, student in the jnnior class of trade. These Arabs carl'y thousands of the University of the Pacific, in Calipounds' weight of powder into the fornia, has recently been converted to Congo Free State, where it is used for Christ. He said: "Since last August I slave raiding. There appears slight have been contributing articles to a doubt that it was from German East Buddhist monthly magazine, published Africa the Mohammedan party in Ugan- in Japan, for $200 a year. It was my da and their ally, Kabrega, obtained the plan to support my school expenses supplies of ammunition which were used with this money; but as I am a Chrisagainst Captain Lugard in the recent tian I shall not contribute any more, troubles. Although the Brussels Act and shall not fail to tell them so by next has not yet come into operation, Ger· mail." many is a consenting party, and is certainly pledged as a civilizing European -The Japan Conference of the Meth- Power to do all that lies within her odist Episcopal Church lately held its scope to protect the African, and sup- annual meeting in Tokyo, and adopted press slavery, or connivance a t it, be- several memorials to be presented neath her flag of " influence… to the next General Conference of the Methodist Church of this coun- try, which will be held next year.
Monthly Bulletin. Among other things, the Japan Con- ference asks for the appointment of a India.-A native Christian hall just bishop to reside in Japan or China, and been appointed Administrator·General the establishing of a branch of the of Madras; and a native Christian girl, Methodist Book Concern in Tokyo.
graduate of one of the Christian colleges, -The freedom of Japan, to reside and has been appointed to the charge of the travel at will through the empire, subpost-office at Mandapasali. ject only to its laws, has been given to -The Pundit Iswara Chandra, who Rev. G. F. Verbeck, D.D., missionary died recently in India, was noted as of the Reformed Church, and his fam- having been more influential than any ily. The case is believed to be unique other single individual in securing the in the history of missions and of Japan.
abolition of the suttee, or burning of By reason of his long absence of forty widows on the funeral pyres of their years from the Netb,erlands, the land of husbands. his birth, Dr. Verbeck has lost his citi- -There was unity of the faith at one zenship in Holland. Not having repoint. A Hindu was asked by a lady sided in the United States for the missionary if there was anything on legally prescribed period after declaring which the differents sects of the Hindus his intentions, he failed to become an agreed, and he replied: "Yes, we all American citizen. He was thus pracbelieve in the sanctity of the cow and tically a ,. man without a country." On the depravity of woman." his return to Japan he made application for a passport to the Foreign Office, -The death is announced of the Rev. stating the peculiar circumstances in :S. Bradley, President of the Methodist which he was placed. A fow months College at Lllcknow (India). He had later, in a very complimentary letter, spent nineteen years in missionary he received from Count Enomoto a passport entitling him and his family to queen, and also the fact that slavery still perfect freedom of travel and residence exists in Madagascar. The pastor of lhe for a year, with the privilege of renewal. church at Androvakely, about twenty. It is alike honorable to the Japanese five miles from the capital, is a slave, Government and to the good doctor and though he has been much hindered himself. in his work by the claims of his master, Madagascar. -A revival is in progress he has done excellent Christian service in Antananarivo, the capital of Mada- in the district. Recently the queen, gascar. The missionaries of the Lon- hearing of the good work he had done, don Society write with great joy of the sent for him to preach in the palace work which began early in May. The church. She was so pleased with him meetings are attended by young men that she paid fifty dollars to redeem and women, many of them connected him. This pastor is not educated, but with the higher schools. An illustra- he is exerting a strong influence tion of the radical change wrought in throughout his district.
some is presented in the following New Zealand.-The Baptists of New story: One of those who attended the Zealand have recently established an meetings was powerfully wrought upon Aborigines Mission for Eastern Bengal, by the Holy Spirit, and came privately with a station in the district of Brahto confess a great sin, and to make man daria, Hill Tipperah, northeast of reparation. He would not confess his Calcutta. The Baptist Missionary Sosin until after prayer, and then he ac- ciety, of England, has stations all knowledged the stealing of some money. around, but this is the first attempt to •• If I could," he said, " I would do like work in the midst of the aborigines, Zachreus – restore it fourfold; but I whose condition is of the lowest. Two have not got the money. However, I missionaries have been on the ground can restore it twofold, and here, there- for some little time, and they have refore, are sixteen shillings." cently been joined by three others.
-West of the capital of Madagascar Samoa.-A communication has reis a tribe of the Sakalava nation num- cently been received from Samoa, bearbering about 1,500,000. Two years ago ing testimony to the demand among the one of the missionaries of the Society natives for the English Bible Society's for the Propagation of the Gospel pen- Pocket Edition of the Bible, of which etrated into this region to find that he few copies were left unsold on the was the first white man ever seen by the island; and urgently asking for a people, who were heathen, with no in- further supply of 5000 copies. In its tercourse with the outer world, and no way, the letter is an interesting illustra. idea of the value of money. He estab- tion of the extent to which the Bible is lished friendly relations with Tocra, the becoming the people's book all the ruling chief, who expres8ed his readi- world over. ness to receive a teacher. In August last the missionaries landed on the west -A clergyman travelling in the East coast, and with the assistance of a writes in the highest terms of the friendly princess, sister of King Tocra, American United Presbyterian Mission they have made their way inland, being in Egypt and Syria. He says they are oHen met on the way by natives bring- gathering the young boys about them in ing their sick for treatment. Many snch their mission 8cho,)ls, and in ten years cases having been alleviated the mis- the tourist will find the villages along sionaries have secured the respect and the Nile filled with hundreds of young protection of the blacks. men who not only speak English well, but who are washed and" clothed in –An incident that has recently oc- their right mind." curred illustrates the ch'1racter of the
The Missionary Review of the World — April 1892
THE DEPAR'l'URE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 4.-0ld f!eries.–APRIL.–VoL. V. No.4.-New Series.
THE DEPARTURE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The giant cedar of Lebanon has fallen, and the crash of its downfall has sent a sound of thunder echoing over the continents. Anchored to the soil by countless and far-spreading roots, who can measure the widespread desolation and devastation which such a downfall of one of the monarchs of the forest leaves behind ~ Look at the institutions inseparably bound up with this marvellous life! A church of nearly six thousand living members, with its vast Sunday-schools and missions; a pastor's college, with more than a hundred students in course of training, and eight hundred scattered over this and other lands preaching the old Gospel; the Stockwell orphanages, with their hundreds of inmates, and thousands more who have now Christian homes or are heads of pious families; the almshouses, with their aged folk; all the thousands and tens of thousands of weekly sermons published in a score of languages, and read not only in homes, but in places of worship, scattered from the Chinese Sea to the Straits of Gibraltar, and still westward from the St. Lawrence to the Pacific, and from Siberia to the Cape of Good Hope and Terra del Fuego.
Has there been anyone death in the century that has left such a vacancy in the world? In March, 1791, John Wesley died, just a little more than a century ago, and history strangely repeats itself. Who can think of John Wesley and Charles Wesley without thinking of James Spurgeon and Charles Spurgeon-in each case two brothers intimately associated in their great work, and singularly fitted to supplement and complement each other's qualities and activities' Wesley and Spurgeon, separated as they were in theology, the one a leader of the Arminians, the other of the Calvinists ; the one a Methodist, the other a Baptist-how strangely do their careers compare and contrast! Wesley was a reformer, an organizer of congregations, a builder of chapels; he appointed lay preachers and set them at work; he formed classes for the instruction and development of converts and the maintenance of strict and orderly discipline j he went about tirelessly exhorting and preaching, perpetually travelling, and holding religious services almosi beyond calculation j delivering from two to five sermons a day, writing works on divinity, ecclesiastical history, biography, as well as sermons, and expending life in an endless rour.d of sanctified activities.
Charles Spurgeon was in all essentials a pastoral evangelist, the organizer of the largest congregation of any denomination in the world; the builder of the greatest Nonconformist chapel; the trainer of lay preachers and ordained ministers j the head of an aggressive work whose outreach no man can measure; the head pastor of a well-ordered and disciplined body of believers; who in one great tabernacle has preached for nearly forty years to an average of 7500 different people each Lord's day; who has published thirty-seven volumes of weekly sermons, written books and tracts by the score, and edited a monthly magazine; who has given sermons and addresses on countless occasions, and in the midst of opportunities for boundless personal aggrandizement and enrichment, has conscientiously and liberally expended his income in works of charity and mercy known only to God Himself. Surely no ordinary observer will dispute the similarity of these two careers, thus separated by a century. Yet there are a few contrasts almost as marked. Mr. Wesley was really, by his own confession, an unconverted man until he was 35 years old j he married at 46, and lived so unhappily that the union was terminated by separation 32 years later. Mr. Wesley had a public career after his conversion extending over 53 years, dying at 88. Mr. Spurgeon was converted and baptized at 16 years of age, was most happily married before he was of full age, and died at 58, having had a public career of about 40 ,years. Who can tell what he might have accomplished had he been permitted to live to be as old as Wesley, or to add to the years of his public life thirteen more, so that he might have enjoyed as long a term of service as Wesley subsequent to 'his conversion ~ As we look at Wesley we involuntarily connect him with his posthumous work. Charles Spurgeon's posthumous work no man can foresee. What a hundred years more may reveal as to the subsequent outcome of his life of faith and consecration God alone can prophesy. We must wait for History to write up her scroll. One thing we already know : not even Mr. Wesley had more unlimited control over his followers than Charles Spurgeon has had over his disciples in the faith and the students he has sent into the ministry. Wesley's virtual rel1Unciation of the Anglican Church, first in his protest against existing abuses and afterward in actually ordaining preachers, and even consecrating a bishop on his own responsibility, reminds us forcibly of Mr. Spurgeon's determined and intrepid stand against the current loose notions of theology, and his bold venture in separating himself even from his own denomination for the sake of what he believed to be the truth.
There is a curious coincidence, also, to which we have referred, in the association of the two brothers Wesley and the two brothers Spurgeon.
A GENEHATlON O~· CIlUI8TIAN l'UOGHffiSS IN INDIA
Rev. James A. Spurgeon is yet alive, and it would be indelicate to say much about him. But in my judgment he has been of much more use to his brother than the public are as yet aware. His peeuliar combination of capacity and sagacity, his more thorough and classical education, his peculiar, business-like habits of mind, his aptitude for organizing and managing great institutions, his umpirical judgment and legal knowledge and acumen, his singular tact and practical uncommon sense-these, with many more cOllspicuous qualities that come not with observation, have done more than most people apprehend or appreciate to make his more" popular" brother the man he was. It reminds one of the association of Moses and Aaron, and their joint work. Mr. James Spurgeon's true work and worth have yet to be written. Close association with him in the work of the Tabernacle for months has revealed that his skilful hand is on the helm of many of the most important interests of which his brother was the visible head. He was content to be in many things a helper of his illustrious and dearly loved brother Charles. All this we have written for a Missionary Review. Four months in the heart of this work havc satisfied thc writer that the head of one of the grandest missionary organizations in the world has fallen when at midnight of January 31st Charles Spurgeon entered the glory. Here is a fountain of home missions and of foreign missions. From this spring a thousand streams go forth to water the garden of the Lord and to turn the desert into the Lord's garden. In fact, the missionary character of this Metropolitan Tabernacle Church so impresses me as to suggest a separate treatment hereafter when the facts are more fully known. But at this time, and before closing this brief article. it mnst be added that such a man as Spurgeon was one of God's missionaries, and himself a trainer of missionaries. Scarce a month passes without either a farewell to an outgoing mi ssionary or a welcome to a returning or visiting missionary; and in most cases it is one who has in this great Church or its college received his first impulse to the field. And what an individual church can do to stimulate everything good and pure and unselfish is abundantly exhibited and illustrated, as we may hope to show hereafter, in the Metropolitan Tabernacle and in its departed, lamented, and never-to-be-forgotten pastor and president.
A GENERATION OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN I~DIA.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F.S.S., LONDON, ENG.
Human impatience frets at what it considers the slow rate of progress in Christian and beneficent enterprise in a country like India; and because we do not see great results after a brief bnt what may seem a tedious effort we are apt to be discouraged ; and if we do not despair and abandon our work, it is carried on in a hllguid and despondent way-a way fatal to all success. JIope and ~vu1iJencc are essential to successful work, especially in spiritual enterpriseR, which are in their very nature works of faith, as well as labors of lovc. Even love grows cold when faith and hope are dead.
Of all countries in the world India is the last in which we should expect rapid results from spiritual labor, for -many reasons-its great extent, t.he numerous and dense population, tbe close and intricate way in which they are bound together by religious and social customs, the practical way in which a degraded and flesh-pleasing idolatry is woven into every act of social, domestic, and personal life j the debasing influence of books regarded as sacred, but filled with accounts of gods and heroes whose cruelty, treachery, falsehood, and lust corrupted the whole moral nature, and almost obliterated the distinctions of right and wrong and of truth and falsehood; while some of these sacred books contain truths so divine and beautiful ail to give a sanction and authority to the whole.
To convert such a people is a task which even the Apostolic Chureh had never been called upon to attempt j and how is it attempted by the Christian Church of our day ~ One or two men are sent out af a time, followed by two or three more at long intervals. They are scattered far apart one from the other; or, perhaps, two or three different missions are set up side by side, with little or no sympathy the one for the other, if, indeed, they do not form hostile camps, to the dishonor of Christ and the perplexity of the heathen i and yet men complain of the slow progress of Christianity in India.
But we are far from admitting that the work of Christian missions in India has been slow or discouraging. When compared with the means employed, the results have been greater than we had any right to expectfar greater than is generally supposed even by the well informed, vastly greater than is dreamt of by the careless and ignorant.
It has been' my privilege to see India at such im interval of time as to allow of a fair and, at the same time, striking comparison-an interval of what may be called a generation, though over the usual time allowed for the average term of life in England and still more over that of India.
I would not attach much importance to even two visits to a foreign country and "Mange people as a means for acquiring accurate information or for drawing reliable conclusions, but to one who has made Indian questions a life-long study they are of great value. It is on this ground alone that I do attach importance to my visits to India in the years 1853 and 1889-90. I shall only give the facts and impressions then received, with a comparison of the results in regard to the purely religious aspects of the progress of the people during the generation which had passed in the interval. I need not say that they struck me much more vividly than if I had been a resident and had witnessed the changes passing gradually before my eyes from day to day. The mere facts could be gathered at home, but the impresRions received and the opinions formed were of far more value than the pure statement figures could convey. RELIGIOUS RESULTS OF THIRTY· SEVEN YEARS.
Mere statistical figures do not give the highest resultR, but they are well worthy of study. I take them from two reliable sources: First, the Gov- ernment Census for 1881, which also gives the numbers in 1871 for com- parison. The census for 1891 is Dot yet published, but we have it on the highest authority that the rate of increase in Christian converts is fully maintained. Second, the elaborate and careful statistical returns prepared e,-ery ten years by a committee representing all the Protestant societies at work in India_ These extend over the three decades 1851, 1861, 1871, and 1881. As another decade has nearly run out, it is easy for anyone familiar with the missionary history of the period and accuAtomed to statistical in- quiries to form an estimate for the year 1890. As the first visit was so near to the returns for 1851, we give these without any estimate for the two years from 1851 to 1853, so that the period will practically extend over thirty-nine years-rather a long generation. The following are the numbers for the Protestant Christians of all India~ without including Ceylon and Burmah: Native Protestant converts, 1851 (from returns), 91,0!)2 ; 1881 (from returns), 417,322 ; 1890 (estimate), 720,000-that is, an increase of EIGHT·FOLD in fort'years, or seven times in a generation.
The estimate is a low one-only at the rate of 70 per cent for the decade.
It was 86 per cent for the previous ten years.
It may be put in the Graphic form, thus: The Native Church in India in 1851 (a small church spire), and in 1890 ______________________________________________ (a tall spire 7 times the height of the other). But what is more important–showing that the increase is not merely in numbers, but is an inward as well as outward growth-is the fact brought out in the tables giving the increase in the number of communicants, which is greater than in the number of professing converts. The numbers were: 1851, communicants returned, 14,661 i 1881, communicants returned, 113,325; 1890, estimated, 215,000. The estimate is based on the low rate of increase of less than 80 per cent in the last decade, while it was 115 per cent in that from 1871 to 1881. This gives an increase of FIFTEEN-FOLD in 39 years, or they have multiplied thirteen time, in a generation.
Rut a higher proof of church organization is seen in the increase of native pastors and evangelists. The former, especially, have multiplied at an astonishing rate, implying an increase of intelligence and character in the members of the Church, and a much greater efficiency in ecclesiastical work. Forty years ago there were only 21 ordained native pastors in all the missions in India. Now they cannot number fewer than 700 or 800. Thus: 1851, native pastors (returned), 21; 1881, native pastors (ro. turned), 461; 1890, native pastors (estimated), 750.
These invaluable agents have multiplied THIRTY-SIX TIMES in 39 year!> -or, say, thirty-threefold in a generation. This is also strong proof of the happy relations in which the foreign and native workers stand to one another, when the former raise the latter to the highest positions of power and honor. It shows also the confidence they place in the converts.
Lay preachers have not increased so fast, but their numbers are also rapidly growing, thus: 1851, lay preachers (returned), 493; 1881, lay preachers (rei.umed), 2438; 1890, lay preachers (estimated), 3000.
Here thl) Church has a cheap and efficient agency for the spread of the truth-cheaper and better far than uneducated men sent out from this country, who rarely acquire an accurate knowledge of the language or of the modes of thought and feeling of the inhabitants, and cannot live long in that climate on native fare and after native habits.
iNCREASE OF CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE.
The place which Christianity holds as a power in India struck me, on my second visit, as far more wonderful and hopeful than the numerical increase of the converts. Christianity is no longer held in contempt. Its position and character are recognized. In Madras they are looked upon as leaders in social movements. They take their place in literary and scientific pursuits, and hold their own in t6e learned professions, and some have risen to high positions under government, with the approbation and encouragement of their unconverted brethren. In Southern India they take the first place in the number of the educated, as compared with their num_ bers in the population, and in the North they come next to the Parsees. I would only say that while the native Christians have multiplied eight-fold and communicants fifteen times during the period covered by my two visits, the influence oj Ohristianity as A LIVING POWER is a hundred times greater in 1890 than it was in 1853.
THE PLACE WHICH CHRIST OCCUPIES IN INnIA.
I close with a word on the place occupied by Christ in India. The change during this generation is wonderful. None but "those who can compare the present with the state of matters thirty-seven years ago can form any idea of its extent. In 1853 the knowledge of Christ was considerable, but there was little idea of Him as a living power or authority, to be reckoned with outside the classes directly under the influence of missionaries. He was not widely looked up to with either love or reverence. Now the knowledge is far wider, and the character of Christ stands out in bold relief against the character of the gods of India. His superiority is generally acknowledged by the great body of educated natives, and the devotees of the old religion tremble for their systems of idolatry and hate the Author of the rl'ligion which they feel is destined to supplant their own; while the enlightened look upon Him with reverence and admiration, and many with sincere affection. In fact, Christ is now the central figure to educated Indians, and these now nQ.mber not fewer than eleven or twelve
BENliY MAliTYN
millions, while their number is being increased every year at the rate of another million as they issue from the schools and colleges. It is a rare thing for the youths who go through the higher schools and colleges to leave without a feeling of admiration for the character of Christ, unless they are so depraved as to hate virtue because they love vice. There is much searching of heart about the person and work of Christ. It is in India as in Judea, Christ" is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. " But that He shall be recognized as the Saviour of India is as sure as the promises of God.
HENRY MARTYN.-PART 1.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFORD, M.A., B.D., ROTHESAY, SCOTLAND.
The life of He·nry Maltyn is one of three or four books which Professor 'Marcus Dods, of the New College of the Free Church of Scotland, .J!:dinburgh, teUs us have had a lasting influence in moulding his mind and character. And this testimony is not a solitary one, but there are very many others in all the churches who have drawn from the simple records of Henry Martyn's pen an enduring inspiration of devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Zinzendorf's motto was, Ohristus crucifixu8 passio mea. A perusal of Martyn's memoir will show that this was also the secret of his life, that wherein his strength lay-Christ crucified was his ruling passion.
The life of Martyn is, like that of Robert Murray McCheyne, of Dundee, a life whose secret was unbroken communion with God, and whose influence, therefore, still lives on like ointment in the hand which bewrayeth itself (Prov. 27 : 16).
,. The thought of God Filled him with infinite joy; his craving soul Dwelt on Him as a feast. "
As is well said by Canon Edmonds, in the Church Missionary Intelligencer for January, 1891, "From first to last men loved Martyn. He kindled their interest. He called out their admiration. He won their regard. His memoir was extensively read. It deserved to be. It was far more a sermon than a manifesto. It went with men into hours of retirement. It was the Sunday book of a considerable period. It sank into the hearts of young men. It kindled with its hallowed fire other fires as burning as its own. It carried across the Atlantic a current of glowing piety, and reproduced there the same gracious effects. In both hemispheres for a long time it is hardly too much to say that, among people interested in the work of missions, two names were written each on a white stone of holiest veneration-the name of David Brainerd and that of Henry Martyn."
The sweetness of his character and the lofty purpose of his life breathe through his well-known memoir from first to last. As Sargent, his friend and biographer, well says, his excellence consisted in a renunciation of himself and a compassionate love for mankind. But yet it Was not always so with him. for in his case there was a marked turning to the service of Christ-a time when, as in the case of Paul, it pleased God. who separated him to Himself and called him by His grace to reveal His Son in him that he might preach Him among the heathen.
Martyn was born at Truro, in Cornwall, on February 17th, 1'781. His father was John Martyn, who, from a humble position in connection with some of the Cornish mines, had risen until he became a merchant's clerk in Truro. Henry, as well as his other brothers and sisters, was of a weak physical constitution; all accounts tell us he was a weak and ailing boy. When he was seven years of age his father placed him at the grammar school of the town, then taught by the Rev. Dr. Cardew, who found the boy to be" of a lively, cheerful temper," and of excellent mental abilities.
At the age of fourteen he offered himself as candidate for a scholarship in Oxford. The fact that he did so at so tender an age shows us (,f how great promise he was. But the prize fell to some one else. Here is his own comment upon this incident, written years afterward: "In the autumn of 1'795 my father, at the persuasion of many of his friends, sent me to Oxford to be a candidate for the vacant scholarship at Corpus Christi. I entered at no college, but had rooms at Exeter College by the interest of Mr. Cole, the snb-rector. I passed the examination, I believe, tolerably well, but was unsuccessful, having every reason to think that the decision was impartial. Had I remained and become a member of the University at that time, liS I should have done in case of success, the profligate acquaintances I should have had there would have introduced me to scenes of debauchery, in which I must, in all probability, from my ~xtreme youth, have sunk forever. " This disappointment that befel him was overruled by God both for his personal advantage and also for the purpose of preserving him to be a witness of the cross in far-off lands.
In 1'797 he entered St. J obn's College, Cambridge. Here he worked with great diligence. Hitherto he had been a stranger to any experimental or personal knowledge of salvation. There is an occasion recorded when, carried away in a fit of passion as he sat at table, he threw a knife at one of his companions who in some way had offended him. Fortunately the knife failed to reach its mark; this painful incident caused him most deep regret and humiliation. A college friend attempted to persuade him to better things. and that even his reading should be with a view to the glory of God. This advice, he says, ., seemed strange to me, but reasonable."
The most powerful of those influences which affected him for the better was that of one of his sisters at home, who lived a consistent servant of Christ. She did not cease to urge upon her brother the supreme claims of Christ. This she took special occasion to do during a visit home which Henry paid at the time of a college vacation. But, as he writes in his journal, he steadily resisted his sister, and paid no regard to his father's counsels. "I left my sister and father in October, and him I saw no more. I promised my sister that I would read the Bible for myself, but on being settled at college, Newton engaged all my thoughts."
Returned to Cambridge, he soon received news of his father's death. The bereavement was bbssed to him. He took up his neglected Bible; but how f~int was the light in his soul may be perceived from what he tells us: "I took up my Bible, thinking that the con8ideration of religion wat-l rather suitable to this solemn time. . .• I began with the Acts, as being the most amusin.q, and while I was entertained with the narrative I found myself insensibly led to inquire into the doctrine of the apostles. It corresponded nearly enough with the few notions I had received in my early youth. I believe, on the first night after, I began to pray from a precomposed form, in which I thanked God in general for having sent Christ into the world. But though I prayed for pardon, I had little sense of my own sinfulness; nevertheless, I began to consider myself a religious man." A copy of Doddridge's" Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," which he read at this time, touched his conscience to the quick and caused him much searching of heart-'-" it appeared to make religion to consist too much in humiliation, and my proud, wicked heart would not bear to be brought down into the dust."
Though this in itself was an unsatisfactory beginning, it was nevertheless the turning point of his career, as he himself writes to his sister: "After the death of our father you know I was extremely low spirited, and, like most other people, began to consider seriously, without any particular determination, the invisib~ world to which he was gone, and to which I must one day go. Yet I IItill read the Bible unenlightened, and said a prayer or two rather through terror of a superior power than from any other canse. Soon, however, I began to attend more diligently to the words of our Saviour in the New Testament and to devour them with delight; when the offers of mercy and forgiveness were made so freely, I supplicated to be made partaker of the covenant of grace with eagerness and hope, and thanks be to the ever-blessed Trinity for not leaving me without comfort."
Another most helpful influence at this time was that he was in the habit of attending the ministry of the Rev. Charles Simeon, at Trinity Church, in Cambridge. Simeon's influence was wholly good, both in the promoting of evangelical religion and spirit.ual life and also in fostering the cause of foreign missions, then in its infancy, so far as England W<.lS concerned. Five Cambridge men, all of them disciples of Simeon, had a most important share in the work of making the Gospel known in India. These were, in the order of tlieir arrival abroad. Brown, Buchanan, Martyn, Corrie, and Thomason. Thomason was Simeon's curate from 1796 till 1808, when he sailed for India, and Martyn from 1803 to 1805, when he left for the same destination. But this is anticipating the course of events.
Martyn's pre-eminence as a student is seen in the fact that in the public examination for his university degree, in January, 1801, before he had completed his twentieth year, the highest academical honor was adjudged to him-that of Senior Wrangler of his year. His college friends would crowd round him with warm congratulations, but his own thoughts were these: "I obtained my highest wishes, but was surprised to find that I had grasped a shadow." As the result of another examination he was chosen Fellow of St. John's College in March, 1802, and soon thereafter took the first prize given to graduates for the best Latin prose composition. In 1803 he was appointed by the authorities of his college public examiner in classics and, in 1804-, examiner in philosophy. At the close of the same year he was a third time selected as one of the examiners in St. John's College.
A renewed sojourn in Cornwall and renewed fellowship with his Rister were greatly blessed to him. "Not till then (1801)," he writes, "had I experienced any real pleasure in religion."
His intercourse also with Mr. Simeon was made of much use to him, under whose fostering care the spiritual life of Martyn's soul continued to grow. And now he abandoned his original intention of being a lawyer, and consecrated himself entirely to God's service in the ministry of the Gospel.
All the members of Christ in all lands form but one body; and it was the perusal of Jonathan Edwards's memoir of David Brainerd, the missionary to the North American Indians, that largely helped to lead Henry Martyn, the Cambridge student, to offer himself for foreign service. The immediate cause of this decision, however, was a sermon preached by Mr. Simeon on the subject of foreign missions, in which attention had been drawn by the preacher to the good effected for the natives of India by the Baptist missionary, William Carey. Brainerd's memoir quite attracted him. He felt a oneness of soul with the young American who, almost at bis own age, left home and the comforts of civilization to enter alone, for Jesus Christ's sake, the dark forest of Indian superstition and sin, and who, like Martyn, finished his course with joy at an early age-be was only thirty-two. Brainerd and Martyn were both intensely introspective; both were fired with love to Jesus Christ and a yearning love for souls. •• Fatigues and hardships," writes Brainerd, " sene to wean me from the earth, and, I trust, will make beaven the sweeter." Martyn read such heart-breathings of the apostle of the North American Indians, and found in bim a kindred spirit. The decision was made; he, too, laid his life at the feet of Jesus, that Jesus might use that life in any way He saw fit.
•, In labors abundant." The successful worker for Christ at home is the only one who is warranted to look for God's blessing abroad. Sargent gives UII a sample of Martyn's work in England. He visited many of the poor, the afflicted, and the dying; he warned numbers of the careless and profligate; often did he redeem time from study, from recreation, and from the intercourse of -friends that he might enter the abodes of misery. Many an hour did he pass in a hospital or an almshouse; and often after a day of labor and fatigue, when wearied almost to an extremity of endurance, he would read and pray with the servant who had the care of his rooms.
He now offered himself to the Church Missionary Society, one of the noblest of all societies at work among the heathen. It was formed in the year 1800, and the name of Charles Simeon is among its founders. Events, however, proved that it was not under the Society's auspices that Martyn was to go to India.
On October 22d, 1803, he was ordained deacon in the Church of England, and in due time began his ministry as curate to the Rev. Charles Simeon, with whom he earnestly labored in Cambridge and the adjoining village of Lolworth until the next year, 1804.
In that year the appointment of a chaplaincy in India was offered him by the directors of the East India Company. This appointment was accepted by him. In March, 1805, he was ordained a presbyter at St. James' Chapel, London, and after the ordination the University of Cambridge conferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Divinity.
" I see no business in life but the work of Christ, neither do I desire any employment to all eternity but His service." In this frame of mind did he look forward to leaving England for India; in this steadfastness of purpose he was conscious that the Lord had called him to preach the Gospel to the heathen.
He set sail from Portsmouth on board the Indiaman, Union. The yesse! put in for a brief stay at Falmouth, and this gave him an opportunity to meet once more-it was their last meeting on earth-a lady for whom he had the strongest attachment-Miss Lydia Grenfell. Only last year- 1890-were extracts published from the diary kept by this lady, and these throw a flood of light upon the relations of those lovers. Mr. Sargent describes her as "one of whom less ought not and more cannot be said than that she was worthy of him." Martyn deeply loved her, and proposed that she should go to India to him; but she declined to do so. Years before she had been engaged to another, and though this individual married some one else, still Miss Grenfell felt bound to her word while he lived. And" thus, to Martyn's heart-break and her own pain, the only woman that he loved never became his wife." However, she continued to correspond with him as a sister, and this correspondence helped to alleviate the loneliness and pain which fell to his lot. Miss Grenfell survived him till 1829. "At nine in the morning," he writes, "I was sitting at ease with the person dearest to me npon earth, intending to go out with her afterward to visit some perRons with her and preach on the morrow; four hours only elapsed, and I was under sail from England." The ships had sailed in haste, and it was with difficulty Martyn reached the Union in time.
A voyage to India in those days was something to be remembered; not as now in first-class steamers, luxuriously filted up like floating hotels, so that an Indian voyage becomes a delightful holiday. Very different was the state of things then. The ship in which he sailed was one of a fleet consisting of fifty transports and five men-of-war, besides the Indiamen ; for England was then at war with Holland and France. Added to all the discomforts of the voyage was the extreme length of it; from the time he sailed until the ship arrived in India was nine months! The disrespect shown to him by almost all on board was a severe discipline for his spirit, but it became a means of grace. On Sabbaths the captain would not allow him to preach oftener than once. He saw, therefore, that his usefulness greatly depended on his private ministrations. He therefore made it his daily habit to go between decks, where he assembled all who were willing to attend, and read to them some religious book and made comments upon it. "Some attend fixedly," he writes; "others are looking another way; some women are employed about their children, attending for a little while and then heedless, some rising up and going away; others taking their place, and numbers, especially of those who have been upon watch, strewed all along upon the deck fast asleep; one or two from the upper decks looking d('wn and listening. " And on Sabbath things were no more encouraging. "The passengers were inattentive; the officers, many of them, sat drinking, so that he. could overhear their noise, and the captain was with them." " I seemed uneasy at the thoughts of calling forth the hatred of the people to-morrow by preaching to them unpleasant truths." But even in so unpromising a field the good seed took root and grew; there were visible resulti of tho grace of God.
It was a most eventful voyage, its chief incidents being an attempt at mutiny by the crew; four days spent at Funchal ; a short stay at San Salvador, in Brazil, where Martyn landed and engaged in conversation in Latin with some Roman Catholic priests, seeking earnestly to lead them to Christ; and the arrival of the feet at the Cape of Good Hope. This formed a remarkable episode, surely, in a voyage to India. The purpose and meaning of this putting in of the fleet at the Cape was that the south of Africa then belonged to the Dutch, and the fleet was conveying British soldiers to fight the Dutch and to capture the place. Martyn, in his capacity as a chaplain, was actually on the field of battle, in which the Dutch were defeated. There he moved among the wounded and the dying, speaking to the wounded of the blessed Gospel and beseeching them to look to Jesus Christ for salvation. As he was thus engaged he nearly lost his life, for a drunken Highland soldier, taking him for a Frenchman, presented his gun at him. Martyn sprang toward him, and told him if he doubted his word to take him prisoner to the English camp, but that he certainly was an English clergyman. This pacified the soldier, and thus Martyn's life was saved.
Resuming his voyage, India was reached at last. The sickness in the ship had been very great. Shortly before reaching the Cape the captain had died, and now there was more ill health than ever. Throughout it all Martyn was ever at the hedside of the sick and dying, adUlinistering to them every temporal and spiritual comfort.
On April 22d, 1806, the ship anchored in Madras roads, and next month arrived at Calcutta. "Oh, if I live," he writes, "let me have come hither to some purpose !"
Mission work in India was at that time carried on under peculiar diffi- culties. Those in power showed the bitterest hostility to the preaching of the Gospel to the natives. If we would understand the devotion of men like William Carey and Hemy Martyn, let us first realize what were the prospects of missionary success while India was ruled by the East India Company. The British flag was the emblem of a determined opposition to prevent the news of salvation from reaching the ears of the Hindus. Probably the met.hod by which India was then held would have squared badly wit!l the precepts of Christ; and those in power seem to have felt this. Carey, :Iarshman, and Ward were not allowed to live in British India at all, but were forced to reside at the Danish settlement of Seram- pore. It is milch to the credit of Denmark that her rulers were in their friendliness to the Gospel so different from the British authorities of that time. Martyn's position as a chaplain gave him certain advantages, for he had permission from the East India Company, as their chaplain, to preach to the English residents; but it had its disadvantages, too, for he was under military rule, and must obey as much as any private in the ranks. The evangelical party in the Church of England was then regarded with contempt and ridicule. Martyn was a representative of that party, and the same scorn which he had met with on shipboard awaited him in India.
Arrived in Calcutta, he was warmly welcomed by the Rev. David Brown, who received him with true hospitality. Here he worked incessantly, acquiring the Hindustani language. It would be impossible for the East India Company to keep this chaplain within regulation rules in regard to not preaching to the natives. " I lay in tears," he says, " interceding for the unfortunate natives of this conntry, thinking within myself that the most despicable soodar of India was of as much value in the sight of God as the King of Great Britain. " The idolatrous rites of heathenism which he now witnessed filled him with horror. A Hindu widow, burning to death on a funeral pile beside her husband, he made an ineffectual attempt to rescue. His heart was pierced with the sound of the cymbals and drums calling the natives to the worship of the idols. And when he saw them prostrate before an idol which was surrounded with burning lights, he was moved with compassion, while he "shivered as standing, as it were, in the neighborhood of hell." As he wrote in connection with another matter, " Let me never fancy I have zeal till my heart overflows with love to every man living."
His ministerial brethren did not relish the new preaching; the doctrine of justification by faith they could not endure. Accordingly, Martyn had
MAWl'YX
to undergo much personal abuse even from the pulpit. "These clergy," writes Martyn, "denied in the pulpit, one by one, all the lmding doc- trines of the Gospel, as well as abused the newly arrived missionary." Martyn was wise enough when he preached not to make the slightest allusion to those philippic sermons.
This is a sufficient glimpse of the determined hostility then at work everywhere against the Gospel, as well as against all who preached and loved it. Spirituality was the one and only thing that was not tolerated.
An appointment soon came, under which Martyn was ordered to proceed to Dinapore, a military station up the Ganges. Travelling up river was accomplished in boats called budgerows. Embarked in one of these, Martyn used the time in the study of Sanskrit, and afterward of Persian, and also in beginning the translation of the Scriptures with the native moonshee whom he had engaged to help him in this work. An in~resting incident occurred as the boat passed Serampore. Mr. Marshman, one of the Baptist missionaries, could not resist coming down to meet Mr. Martyn, and after accompanying him a little way, left him with prayer. This is the true communion of saints.
Going on shore from time to time during this river journey, he found himself on one occasion in the midst of a crowd of Hindus engaged in the worship of idols. With the presiding Brahmin he engaged in earnest conversation, and though he had not yet a sufficient hold of the language, nevertheless he was able to make known the truth of God. His comment upon this incident is: "I learned that the power of gentleness is irresistible. "
The boat arrived in dne time at Berhampore, the first military station, where he landed and visited the sick in the hospital. His journal shows us the kind of reception he so often met with. " Rose early, and was at the hospital by daylight, but after waiting a long time, wandering through the wards, hoping the men would get up and assemble, I went away amid the sneers and titters of the common soldiers. It is extraordinary that I seldom or never met with contempt on account of religion except from Englishmen, and from them invariably."
Resuming his river journey, he worked assiduously at Bible translation, even wearying the moonshee with the labor, and endeavoring to impress the man's heart with Christian truth. He also made it hiil practice to distribute tracts in the adjacent villages, though in this he received but little encouragement from the recipients. The burden of those Christless souls ever lay beavy upon him. "I was much burdened," he writes, "with the consciousness of blood-guiltiness, and though I cannot doubt of my pardon by the blood of Christ, how dreadful the reflection that any should perish who might have been saved by my exertions." At length he arrived at Dinapore, which was to be his permanent residence for a considerable time. Here his immediate objects were three-fold, to establish natiye schools; to attain such fluency in Hindustani as might enahle him easily to preach the
BENRY
Gospel to the natives and to prepare translations of the Scriptures and of tracts.
As he sailed past Patna, the sight of the multitudes in that city almost overwhelmed him, and his own bodily weakness and pain oppressed him here. He was to suffer more and more from this cause until his earthly race was run. The intensity of his soul consumed the earthly tenement in which it lived.
His work among the Europeans in Dinapore was begun under no more encouraging auspices than he had hitherto enjoyed. At first when he assembled the soldiers for worship he was desired to omit the sermon. Many of the European families took offence at his preaching without a writ- ten sermon, alld a letter was sent him requesting him to cease from extem- pore preaching. Though at first inclined to resent this interference, yet in order to conciliate them he complied with their wishes.
Working daily with the moonshee at Bible translation, he tried to do the man's soul some good. One day, speaking of the divinity of Christ, Martyn told him that he should pray that God would teach him what the truth really is. The man said he had no need to pray on the subject, as the Koran was express. Martyn asked him whether some doubt ought not to arise in his mind as to whether the Koran is the Word of God. The moonshee grew angry. Martyn felt hurt and vexed. "If any qualification," he writes, " seems necessary to a missionary in India, it is wisdom operatiJlg in the regulation of the temper and improvement of opportunities. H In his work as chaplain at Dinapore he continued to be grieved by the neglect, levity, and profaneness of many of the English there. In vain he attempted to speak of religion in the houses of the wealthy: "The manner in which it was received damped all further attempt." Still he labored on, sometimes making long journeys in pursuit of his pastoral work j one journey of seventy miles is mentioned to perform a marriage.
On February 24th, 1807, he completed the translation into Hindustani of the Book of Common Prayer, and a few Sundays thereafter commenced Divine worship in the vernacular. " The spectacle," says Sargent, " was a8 novel as it was gratifying to behold two hundred women, Portuguese, Roman Catholics, and Mahometans, crowding to attend the service of the Church of England, which had lost nothing, doubtless, of its beautiful simplicity and devout solemnity in being clothed with an Oriental dress." Soon thereafter he finished a commentary in Hindustani on the Parables. His moonshee's private thoughts on this work may be seen from his remark to Mr. Martyn that, after that generation had passed away, a race of fools might perhaps arise who would try to believe that God could be a man, and man God, and who would say that the Bible is the Word of God. The bitterness and disrespect of the moonshee only made him resolve that in future he would be surprised by no appearances of the same temper in others.
His Sabbath duties had grown in his hands. They now consisted of a
MO'I'IYES '1'0 MfRSIONS AMONG THE HEATHEN
service fur Europeans at seven in the morning, another at two in the afternoon, for Hindus; then he attended the hospital, and in the evening he ministered in his own rooms to those soldiers who were interested in Divine things. Regarding the English service of a particular Sabbath he writes: " I preached on Luke 22 : 22. As is always the case when I preach about Christ, a spiritual influence is diffused over my soul." This patient, unremitting labor for Christ, apparently so barren of result, was yet not allowed to be without fruit. Both among the privates and the officers some hcarts were touched by God's grace, and with these he enjoyed true fellow. ship. ilis heart was refreshed; his lahor was not in vain in the Lord.
(TO BE CONCLUDED.) MOTIVES TO MISSIONS AMONG THE HEATHEN.
BY REV. HENRY E. ROBINS, D.D., LL.D., ROCHESTER, N. Y.
A paper read before the Autumnal Meeting of the AMERICAN BAPTIBT MISSIONARY UNION, at Buffalo, N. Y.
Upon what motives may we rely to incite the people of God to a rigorous prosecution of missionary work among those who are destitute of the light of Christian truth as conveyed to us in the Christian Scriptures?
The real motive of human action is always within the soul, never without. Outward conditions, often in common speech called motives, are only occasions by which the internal motives are brought into play, and can be called motives only in a secondary, nut in a primary sense. Money as external, to me is not my motive in seeking it, whether I seek it for worthy or unworthy ends j it is rather my desire for it, that I may use it to sustain and enlarge and enrich my life and the lives of others; or that I may hoard it to gratify the passion of mere possession, or pervert it to secure power or station or luxury-self-gratification in one or more of its protean forms.
Bearing ill mind, then, that the motive which we seek is within, we are ready to say that God Himself is the foundation of missionary motive. " God," said the Great Teacher, "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life." God loves and desires to save a world of sinners; this fact, declared so impressively in the passage which we have quoted, is everywhere either expressly affirmed or implied by the general tenor of the Word of God from beginning to end. The love of God, not His complacent but His pitying love-to make a distinction upon which the theologians rightly insist-the love of God toward a world of sinners is the one only motive sufficiently adequate in vitality and force, persistent in its energy and comprehensive in its scope, to inspire the Church to her stupendous task of the conquest of the world for its Lord. A plan which the Infinite God only could conceive, He only can execute. A snpernatural work requires a supernatural motive.
But, you say, the love of God for sinners is a motive for His action, not for ours. Let us see.
The love of God found its first manifestation through Him who shared it with the Father from the beginning, even the incarnate Son of God, especially in His atoning death, by which God's gracious relation to sinful men was justified and made possible. The love of God toward a world of sinners was the motive of Christ's action. But, you say, the motive is still within the sphere of the Divine nature. Admitted, but notiee. It is God's plan in making a channel for His love that, by union with Christ, by faith through the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost, sinful men shall become partakers of the Divine nature, children of God, so that the impulse of saving grace which wrought in the Father and in Christ shall be operative in them also-each one of them " No blind, unsharing instrument, But joyful partner of His pu~pose."
Accordingly, our Lord said to His immediate disciples, and through them to ChristianR of all time': "Ye are' the salt of the earth. " "Ye are the light of the world. ~'. They are constituted salt in order that, since it is of the nature of salt to save, they may save the earth. They have been constituted luminaries in order that, since it is of the nature of light to shine, they may enlighten the world. It is of the very essence of salt, as Bengel suggests, commenting on this passage, to have savor and to give savor, to have it in order to give it. If it neither has it nor gives it, it is not salt, and is good for no economic use, fit only to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. So lamps are lighted, as the Great Teacher affirms, not to be put under a bushel, but on the stand, that they may shine unto all that are in the house. In harmony with this teaching of our Lord, God's promise to Abraham, called the father of believers of all time, since in spiritual character they were to resemble their great progenitor, was: "I will bless thee, and make thee a blessing." "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." God's purpose, we see, is not attained when the individual soul is made Christian. A man is regenerated rather in order that, while he himself is" being sa"ed" (Acts 2 : 47), while the process of salvatio,') is going on in him, and ideally inseparable frOID it, he may save others also:); so that, at last, the Kingdom of God in the new redeemed race shall be established. God's ideal plan is that His redeeming love, kindled as a flame in the hearts of Hill redeemed children, shall run like a prairie fire, each ignited blade of grass kindling its npighbor until the burning circle extends the whole horizon round. The Divine impulse of God's redeeming love for sinners within the believer can be limited in its scope only by his ability; howe,'er the envil'onment of immediate duty may restrain him, his love, since it is the love of God, emhraces the world. He is in fellowship, communion, or, as Dr. Hackett used to emphasize the thought, he is in co-partnership with God j what God loves, he loves j what Gcd seeks, he seeks. _In a word, he is a channel of Divine grace, as ChrIst was. We have in this manner disclosed the supreme, the only real motive upon which we must rely, and to which we must make our appeal. '1'he love of God for a sinful world inspiring a regenerate Church in conscious, living union with her Lord is the sole hope of missions among the heathen.
But there is a fact, attested by current observation and Church hIstory, which, carefully considered, puts a strong emphasis upon the truth Fe have discovered-viz., that missionary zeal of a certain sort may De awakened and missionary enterprises may be prosecuted by appeal to motives operative in the unrenewed heart. Destitute of love, a man may bestow all his goods to feed the poor, may give his body to be burned, may compass sea and land to make proselytes. Accordingly, missionary work may be vigorously carried on, but in a loveless spirit, burdened by unconsecrated workers, unconsecrated money, unspiritual methods, and unspiritual ends. You willllllow me to say, my brethren, that it is my conviction that in these loveless helps, in the alien spirit, we find our chief hindrance in our work. A sort of moral paralysis seems at times to steal over us, making our efforts abortive, so that results are far from commensurate with the money expended and the machinery set in operation. I speak as unto men spiritually wise j judge ye what I say.
Passing this important point, deserving a fuller discussion, with this hrief allusion, let me now pass to say that we are to seek by every means to awaken the regenerate Church to her sublime privilege and responsibility, as put in trust by virtue of her regeneration with the redeeming love of God toward a sinful world. And this we may do by making it evident that, since Christ is the God of providence, Head over all things, administering the government of the world in the interest of redemption, all the vast resources of our material civilization are, so far as they are within her power, facilities granted to the Church with the express design to enable her, as trustee of that priceless thing, to make known God's love toward those, the world over, for whom Christ died.
When on one occasion that seer of God, the late Jonah G. Warren, stood watching a company of missionaries standing upon the deck of a steamer just putting to sea, he is reported to have exclaimed, as if at th.ut moment profoundly impressed with the thought: "That is what steamers are for!" Yes, that is what steamers are for in God's intent. The IIleans of transportation, which mark our age above every other which has prec,~ded it, are highways which Christ has cast up fodeet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace j the means of communication of intelligence so wonderful that a whisper may be heard from city to city, and the touch (j.f II child's finger speed a message around the globe j the accumulations of wealth in Christian hands greater than ever since the Babe of Mary awakened to His mission in the manger of Bethlehem; Christian learning wider in its scope, and more profound, and more exact in its acquisitions than ever before; Christian homes larger in number, and realizing the Christian ideal of family life more fully than ever since the Christian calendar began to witness to the Ilupremacy of our Lord j the social and political life of Christendom testifying-I will not say notwithstanding, but even in its conflicts and agitations to the resistless working of the transforming power of the Gospel-what are all these but means which God's love may use in pouring itself £01 th through His children, as Christ poured forth llis blood for the salvation of the world. The Church of preceding times was never so equipped. never had such resources at her command. The providential indications of God's purpose in redemption were never so clear; and hence Christians of earlier times were so far excusable for their misconception of the mission of the Church j but our opportunity is both index and measure of our privilege and our duty. Alas for us if we misinterpret Christ's meaning in blessing us so abundantly, if we fail to detect in the profusion of His gifts to us the yearning of His heart for lost sheep not of this fold. What He has done for us is but a declaration, a vivid portrayal before our very eyes, of what He desires to do for otllers through us. Let us tremble with a holy joy that the world's Redeemer dwells within us ; that it is His love for earth's perishing millions that moves us. Let us iIpprison our Lord no longer. Let us cease to restrain the Divine love that urges us along the pathway of the Redeemer's missiou. Is the printed Word of God a living thing to us, throbbing with the life of tr J living Word ~ Do we shudder with a sort of horror when we consider how darkened and desolate our lives would be without it? Have we seen Christ evidently set forth before our eyes crucified? Have we clearly apprehended the way of salvation through His atoning death? Have we known the holy joy, the sacred peace of forgiven sin? Have we known the sweet sanctity of the Christian home and the innumerable blessings of the Christian state 1 What are these but gifts of the love of the strong Son of God, impelling us by the very richness of these gifts to give ourselves no rest until Christ shall be to all the world what He is to us , May I quote here, as expressing my thought, from Dr. Storr's address, delivered at the eighty-second annual m~eting of the American Board, recently held at Pittsfield: "Our aim," he said, " is to brighten humanity, by maldng the heavenly temper universal among mankind j to make every house on earth a Christian home, and every community a Christian community, a perfect, vital, social organization. • . . It has been the idea in God's mind from the outset that the heavenly life should finally be experienced throughout the earth, until heaven and earth blend at the horizon, and the heavenly Jerusalem be founded on earth." Yes, it is the love of God in us for a world steeped in the guilt and misery of sin that prompts us to pray, taught by the Saviour of men Himself: "Thy Kingdom come j Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." Ollr transcendent privileges and the appalling destitution, both spiritual and material, of heathen nations, in their piteous ignorance of God and Christ, terrified hy the creations of their own darkened imaginations, the dense gloom, the very shadow of death in which they grope their way through life to hopeless graves, are fitted to awaken the Divine motive within us to its uttermost urgency.
Nor can any hope that, on scriptural grounds, we may cherish for the regeneration of individual souls among the heathen in any wise diminish the force of such an appeal to this motive. vVe do, indeed, rejoice in the fact that Christ in His death " is the propitiation for our sins j and not for ours only, hut also for the whole world" (1 John 2 : 2) j that the atonement is as extensive in its scope as human sin; that the ministry of the Spirit, made possible by the death of Christ, so to apply its benefits, is as universal as the scope of the atonement j that the entire race is thus under a real probation of grace, so that the death of Christ not only makes salvation possible for all, but certain for some in all ages and all lands. This, however, is only to say that there is peril of the loss of the soul, whether in heathen or Christian lands, and that whatever motive impels us to preach the Gospel at home has, if right, equal force at least in impelling us to preach the Gospel among all nations. Beyond dispute it is certain that the truths of the Christian Scriptures assimilated by faith, wrought into the life of the soul by the joint action of intellect, sensibility, and will, are essential to the realization among men of distinctive Christian experience, essential to the attainment of Christ-like character, essential to the purification and reorganization of social and political life according to the Christian ideal, and these in their turn essential to the realization of God's plan of the ultimate establishment of HIS kingdom in the heavenly state. The unfolding of the ages is, we all believe, as the Scriptures teach, " according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of IJis will" (Eph. 1 : 11). What we behold, then, of the triumphs of Christian civilization in the world is in fulfilment of that purpose. Reasoning from what we see that God has done, and interpreting accordingly the intimations of the future given in the Holy Scriptures, who will venture to say that the light which has already fallen from the Sun of Righteousness upon our darkened humanity is not the radiant dawn of a perfect day, when the brightest visions of inspired seers shall become accomplished fact 1 At any rate, we are working along the line of the Divine will, as unmistakably declared in the providence of God, when planting in the midst of the peoples churches of regenerated men and women, instructed in the Word of God, we carry to them the force, the only force which can both regenerate and civilize. Regeneration, evangelization first, civilization afterward as its fruit, if God will. God in the truths of Holy Scripture has committed to us the key of knowledge by which we have entered into the heaven of Christian privilege which we enjoy. In this sense, He has made the expression of His love to the nations dependent npon the fidelity of His Church. In this sense, we stand in the place of God to the heathen nations. Amazing responsibility! In view of it, how acute the senlle of our obligation! In view of it, are we not compelled to say that whoever neglects or refuses to obey our Lord's last solemn charge to His Church sets himself to resist rather than to hasten the coming of the day of God, assumes the attitude of an enemy of his race?
Weare thus led to fix the place of the command of Christ to disciple the nations as a missionary motive. A~ external to man, it is a motive only in a secondary sense. It can be a real motive only as addressed to a soul filled with the love of God for sinners. A command can never originate life; it can only guide it already existing. We may galvanize a dead body to a semblance of life by external appliances, but not so can quicken it to genuine activity. We may thunder the commission in the ears of nominal Christendom till doomsday in vain. It will never be heard save by those whose ears have been opened by the Holy Ghost. Quicken the life of God in the 1I0uls of men, and they will run in the path of His commandments, as the vine runs up the trellis, which guides but does not give its life, and covers it with the beauty of its foliage and the lusciousness of its fruit. To him to whom it has been given by Christ dwelling in him, the command to diRciple the nations is nothing less than a transfiguration; it is a summons to a fellowship in the purest, loftiest purpose that ever entered the mind of man. Interpreted by the declaration with which our Lord introduced it, "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth," it assures love shrinking from her great task that thiR shrinking and apparently impotent love is nothing less than the infinite love of God Himself, energized with His infinite power to love in spite of demoniac hate and bitterest opposition, power to love even unto death, power to continue through the centuries to love until a rebellious race has been subjected by self-sacrificial love to her rightful Lord. Lifted, rapt by this Divine passion of saving grace above the possible plane of mere human action, the Pauls, the Coveys, the Judsons, the Livingstones, the Patons, the Cloughs go forth with the cross in their hearts, the cross in their lives, the cross on their lips, never doubting, despite all appearances, that He who inspires them and He who commands them will surely" not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth" (Isa. 42 : 4).
Your time will allow me to mention now only one more incitement to the great motive to missionary effort. That incitement is the fact that there is hidden in the heart of every gift of God to us a meaning and sweetness which only reveals itself when the gift is shared with others. Money hoarded notoriously makes a man a miser, makes a man miserable. Intellectual acquisitionil unused for the benefit of men only increase sorrow. Indeed, the best acquisition is secured in imparting knowledge-a practical wisdom that finds its expression in the proverb, "If you would learn a thing, teach it." And in the highest realm, the spiritual realm, the truth to which we call attention has its supreme illustration. No man knows
A GREAT ANTI-OPIUM MEETING
the possible sweetness of the Gospel until he has instrumentally carried it to other souls. It must be true, indeed, that no man knows anything whatever of the love of God unless he has the disposition, at least, to communicate it. It cannot, in the nature of things, be selfishly possessed. One of the mO<lt pregnant of our Lord's sayings is' the declaration of the principle of universal application. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." It is more blessed, because it is in giving that we get at the kernel of the gift to us. Every parent knows that if he would discover the superlative flavor of a fruit, he must taste it through the palate of his child. The alabaster cruse did not reveal the exceeding preciousness of the ointment which it contained until she of Bethany whose it was poured it forth upon the Saviour's head; then its exquisite perfume was for her and for all that were in the house. God's love for us sinners, His most precious gift to us, has within it, at its heart, a secret of blessing for us as individuals, as churches, as a nation, waiting to be disclosed in richness beyond our highest thought in proportion as we obey the Master's injunction, " Freely ye have received, freely give. "
A GREAT ANTI-OPIUM MEETING.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
On Friday evening, December 4th, 1891, every available seat on the main floor, on the stage, and in the galleries of Exeter Hall, London, was filled, and by one of the best audiences we have ever seen in that great gathering place.
The meeting was called specially to welcome Mr. Cheok Hong Cheong and Miss Soonderbai Powar, who came to protest on behalf of their fellow country people against the opium traffic; and two representatives of the Chinese Embassy were seated in the front row on the platform.
Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe, Chairman, in his opening address, said he was prepared to unite in taking active measures to suppress the growth and sale of opium, except as needful for medicinal purposes; and proceeded to indicate the special linea of argument for the suppression of the opium traffic.
First, as to the financial objection that it is impossible to do without the opium revenue, if a thing be right to do, it matters not what it may cost. If our forefathers faced the cost to rid the nation of the sin of slavery, it is surely duty and privilege to make whatever sacrifice be required to set India and China free from this curse.
Further, there is the moral difficulty, that the consumption of opium invariably demoralizes, degrades, and lowers the tone and pllysique of those who use it. Here the speaker read from the High Commissioner of Burmah, now Sir C. Aitchison, a strong indictment against th9 Government and nation which permitted or encouraged such a traffic to the ruin of their own subjects. But the highest of all arguments is the spiritual. Like a wail of agony there comes to us the cry, "Come over and help us. We are hurrying fast to ruin."
It is impossible to be silent in view of this tremendous issue. Knowing that opium degrades and leads on to inevitable destruction, can we refraic from urging our Government and pleading with our God to deliver us from this dark stigma with regard to our dealing with the people of China and India ~ Cost what it may, we will dare to do righteouRly, and while sending the Gospel to these people, we will not be parties to their destruction for the sake of money.
Mr. Cheok Hong Cheong, Superintendent of Church Missions at Melbourne, Victoria, who is a model of public utterance in the English tongue, told how, in youth, a father's warnings had saved him from the degrading opium habit. Standing by the victims of this terrible poison, he has often been moved to the tenderest sympathy for men, self-convicted of sin against the clearest light, with a yearning to rid themselves of the injurious practice, yet bound by cravings as abject slaves.
The victims themselves say that the only measure adequate to meet the evil is the absolute prohibition of the traffic by Government. For twentyfive years Mr. Cheong has exhorted men resolutely to battle with their thraldom,'but the invariable answer is that it is hopeless to attempt it until the temptation to relapse is absolutely removed. Very rarely, indeed, have men succeeded by strength of will in giving up thi8 fascinating vice. A medical man used it to soothe his cough, and after a frightful struggle with th~ strong desire for continuous indulgence, brought a strong will and antidotes to bear upon the habit, and so escaped j but in other instances men have utterly failed.
A hopeful and intelligent nati ve, becoming interested in the services of the mission and in the Scriptures, broke the habit, but during a subsequent illness again yielded in a moment of weakness, and has had a complete relapse, it being very unlikely that he will have sufficient strength to undergo the ordeal a second time, with all its attendant agony and suffering. Another man of high reputation, when he found himself powerless to break the habit, sought relief for his misery in suicide.
Missionaries in China are convinced that opium has been well named the" great plague of Asia," and unless dealt with in time it may become the great plague of the world. Already two thousand Europeans in Australia, men of good social position, indulge in opium smoking, besides the large number of others who take the poison in the form of morphia.
From representations made to the Government of Victoria the executives have unanimously agreed that opium is nothing hut an evil, and have drafted a measure absolutely prohibiting the traffic. According to the provisions of this measure, no one is to grow or manufacture opium in Victoria except for medicinal purposes. No vessel arriving at any port of the colony is to carry more than fifty pounds' weight. Sellers of the drug, keepers of dens for its use, and opium smokers are to be subject to a penalty of £500, or twelve months' impriRonment.
Mr. Cheong's speech was very powerful. In course of it he compared opium to the octopus, getting hold of its victim and then extending its many arms in every direction throughout his body, mind, conscience, and will, until he hopelessly succumbs to the power of a victorious foe. The address will never be forgotten by those who heard it.
Miss Soonderbai Powar, an Indian Christian lady of Bombay, addressed herself to the task of delivering the many momentous messages which she bore from the women of India as!lembled in public meetings at Poona, Bombay, and Lucknow.
In her native land the drug is readily obtained by the poorest persons, and it is a fruitful cause of infanticide and suicide. Many families have to suffer privation and ruin because husbands and fathers spend the greater part of their scanty earnings in the indulgence of their depraved appetite. Some of the women said: "Tell the Engli!!h people that, if they help us in this time of difficulty, we should be so thankful that we would take the skin off our bodies to make shoes for them. "
In India, with its thirty-three millions of gods, the female idolworshipper!! said : "Tell the English people and Government that if they will stop this trade, we will regard them as our gods. " When missionaries go to the zenanas to preach, they are told : "Go and convert your Christian Government first, and then come and tell us about Christ." It is useless to spend money on missionaries, and to pray daily for the coming of Christ's kingdom, while the promotion of the opium traffic is delaying that kingdom. Some of the poor women said: " We know that all the Government wants is money, money, money. Tell them only to stop this wicked trade, then they may send their soldiers, break into our houses, and take all we have; for we cannot bear the utter ruin which this thing is bringing upon us!" High caste women are not allowed to work for themselves j and if the husbands spend their time in the opium dens, there is nothing for the poor women and children but to lie down in their dark zenana rooms and die.
The wretched sufferers, being unable to distinguish between missionaries and Government, cast the imputation of this terrible iniquity upon Christianity. If a man knocks down another and robs him because the first needs money, the aggressor is sent to prison; but what should be done to a Christian Government which is knocking down, in II very terrible and heartless manner, millions of men and women for the same reason?
While India and China are suffering these things, some persons say that those who agitate for reform are using !trong language j but Miss Powar prof~ssed herself unable to conceive the strength of denunciation which must come from tIle lipE of Him who gave His precious life alf,o for lands beyond the seas. Missionaries are saddened as they enter the filthy opium dens and see indescrihable scenes, living skeletons heaped one upon another, thousands of degraded beings going fast to hell, and the onlookers powerless for rescue. What is the use of preaching to men who have become idiotic? When they do understand tho message that is brought to them, they exclaim: " We don't want your religion~ The Christians have ruined us !"
"Woe to all who smoke opium," said another. "We did not wish for it, but we were coaxed into its use"-referring to the action of license- holders, who, unless they sell a certain quantity of the drug annually, have to bear a heavy fine j and so work hard in their evil occupation, ~ending their emissaries into the cities for the purpose of enticing young men into their dark and foul opium dens. H an Englishman poisoned his neighbor's children he would be hanged, but England, through her Government, is poisoning India and China j and from these countries, where unlabelled poison freely circulates among the people, there must and will ascend to God a continual cry for justice, until Enghtnd is converted from the error of her way.
Mr. A. S. Dyer followed, moving the following resolution: "This meeting,. representing the aroused conscience of the nation, in view of the fact that the traffic in opium carried on by the British Government of India, brings upon countless numbers of our fellow-men in China, India, and Burmah physical and moral degradation, and upon their innocent families unutterable misery and ruin, is a grievous hindrance to the spread of the Gospel, by identifying this professedly Christian country with the sin of propagating an odious vice, and also dries up the sources of legitimate commerce, calls upon the Government to immediately direct the stoppage of the growth, manufactnre, and sale of opium in India (except for strictly medicinal purposes), and its export therefrom, in harmony with the vote of the House of Commons of April loth last, which condemned this traffic as ' morally indefensible.'
"This meeting further expresses its conviction that the people of the United Kingdom will not hesitate to repeat a sacrifice similar to that by which they put an end to negro slavery in British colonies, and to give 8uch moderate temporary assistance to the Indian Exchequer as may be needed to enable the Government of India wholly and at once to dispense with the revenue from the opium trade, without placing any fresh burdens upon the people of that country."
Mr. Dyer said: " We have listened to the representatives of Eastern countries containing a population of more than six hundred million 80uls. Adjacent to these are other lands suffering from the curse of the British Indian opium traffic, of whose inhabitants these guests are also the repre- sentatives. The plea for justice which they have made is, therefore, a plea in the interests of peoples comprising half the population of the globe.
Considering the numbers affected or threatened by the opium scourge, therl:'
has never been a subject of greater magnitude before the public. May God burn it into the hearts of the people of this land, that the nation is re- sponsible for the greatest attack upon humanity that history records or that the world has known. When I first wcnt to India, rather more than four years ago, I had no idea that the British Government in that country wcre propagating the opium vice among our fellow-subjects there, in addi· tion to exportiug the poisonous drug to curse the Chinese nation. The facts in reference to the consumption of opium in India have come upon me as an awful revelation through careful and patient investigation. "
After showing, on the basis of official reporb, that the consumption of the poison had increased in the Bombay Presidency 549 per cent since 1876, while in other provinces it has also sadly increased, the speaker asked: " How was this increase brought about ~ The license to sell opium in any city or district is put up to public auction, or disposed of to the highest bidder, the Government having previously fixed the minimum sale, or the lowest quantity which the successful bidder must sell during the term of his contract.
" The form of license in use in the Bombay Presidency provides that if the holder of the license should fail to sell the stipulated minimum.amount of the poison he must pay (I quote the words of the license) 'penalty at the rate oj Rs. 5 per pound on the quantity oj opium required to make up the said minimum.'
" In the Northwest Provinces and Oudh the license provides that if one fail to buy of the Government the minimum quantity officially fixed to be retailed by him in each month, 'and the collector considers his explanation of his failure to buy the required amount to be unsatisfactory, the collector may resume the lease at once, and confiscate the instalments paid in advance by the lessee as security.'
"During the last three years the number of opium shops in India, instead of diminishing, increased by 1486.
" Preposterous statements have been made as to the increase of taxation that would be entailed if the opium traffic were abolished. But the legitimate revenue of India-i.e., apart from the opium traffic, has increased for a great many years past. During the last five years it bas increased at the average rate of seven hundred thousand tens of rupees per year. A careful estimate shows that all that is required to end the blackest chapter in our national history is a sum only equal to half the amount t!tat was given fifty years ago, with far less resources, to free the negro slaves in our "'Test Indian possessions. A subsidy of ten million ponnds to the Indian Exchequer, spread over a period of seven years, and divided into annual grants on a diminishing scale, would settle this infamous business; and it could be arranged in a manner that would cause the burden of this great act of justice to be almost imperceptible."
Rev. David Hill read an extract from a letter from a missionary brother a hundred miles from Hankow. The writer said: "I have bad news for you. I have seen the first poppy field in this part of the country." In all his travels he had never seen the poppy grown in that province before. Then in Hankow, forty years ago, one would see in every part of
AN UNCANONICAL MISSIONARY IN PALES'l'lNE
the city signboards with two Chinese charaders implying" Sz-chuen rice," that province growing so much rice that it could supply its own needs and send largely to other provinces. Now these letters have wholly disappeared, and in their stead stand two other characters implying" Sz-chuen earth," a Chinese euphemistic way of denominating the drug poil:!on grown in Sz-chuen.
Rev. John G. Gibson Raid: "The cause has been under trial long enough, and we have got a good verdict from an impartial jury, and demand that sentence against an evil work be executed speedily. We may discuss this qu"cstion on the basis of the Word of God, of Blue Books, of finance, of morality. of mercy, or of justice; but on any ground we have a good canse, and have nothing to fear from the fnllest discussion.
" ~~i!sionaries at home must be interested in this matter; for if it be a foul wrong, then we are sharers in it. Under onr system of government we are partners in the opium concern. Our capital carries it on, and our name and honor are by it put to shame; moreover, we have pledged ourselves to Chinese audiences to lift up our voices against this thing. Let us keep high the tone of this discussion. It is a crusade. The cross of Christ is in front. Let us resolve to follow in that faith which sees the end from the beginning, and that prayer which makes all things possible."
Rev. W. R. Winstone, from Burmah, said: "Practically, we find the people of Burmah on their knees praying us not to introduce the opium. We found, when we annexed Upper Burmah some years ago, prohibition the law of the land. Nominally it may be said to be still so ; but it is systematically broken, and with our own connivance. Our officials license Chinamen to sell the opium drug to their fellow-countrymcn in places where there is hardly a Chinaman to be found. and the smallest inquiry would show the plea to be only a pretence to secure the right of selling opium to the Burmese." The speaker concluded with a recital of English heroism at Manipur, and a call to similar determination in maintaining our protest against this national wrong-doing.
These resolutions being put to the meeting, were carried with much enthusiasm.
AN UNCANONICAL MISSIONARY IN PALESTTNE.
BY REV. J. K. WILSON, TAl.:NTON, MASS.
It must be confessed that he is not the typical missionary, either in appearance or apparent function. He is not dressed in ministerial gal b, or, indeed, in much garb of any sort. He was never known to preach a sermon ; he holds no credentials from mi~sional'y boards; I do 1I0t think that he could be made to see that he is a missionary at all, or even to understand what the word" missionary" means. "Vhen I saw him he was simply one of a gang of men, with picks and spades in their hands working on the Jericho road. And yet I am sure that, all unpromising as he may seem, and unecclesiastical as may be his labor, he has a large place in the enlightenment and evangelization of the land, his particular part of the work being. to preach the practical gospel of good roads.
As everybody knows, the word" road" means much less in Falestine than it does in America or in any other civilized country. There it is simply a trail over the rocks; a narrow footpath, worn hard by the trampling of the feet of men and animals for centuries. It is never cared for nor repaired; it has a curious fashion of getting its every inch covered with rolling pebbles,. or sharp, jagged stones; it is uncomfortable to walk on ; it affords often precarious footing for your horse; it is absolutely impassable for wheeled vehicles of any sort.
But poor roads mean segregation, isolation, non-intercourse. The man who lives fhe miles away from you, over a bad road, is not so really your neighbor as is he who lives ten miles down the turnpike, or twenty miles up the railroad. Distance is measured not merely by miles, but also by the difficulties by which those miles are traversed. This is 'ery clearly seen in Palestine. The little villages scattered through the land are cut off from each other by the difficulties of travel, and still more completely isolated from the few large towns and cities from the same cause. When fifteen or twenty miles constitute a day's travel, and when that distance must be covered on foot over rough ways, the average villager is not apt to get far away from his home. As a matter of fact there is very little of that knowledge of and relation with each other that is seen between the people of different towns in a land where communication is easier.
But latterly a change for the better is coming into the road system of the country. The Turkish Government is being forced to take up the work of internal improvement. It may be questioned whether it is the policy of the Turk to do anything to make Palestine more attractive than it now is j whether he would not rather leave it in its present bare and barren condition, lest, drawn by its restored beauty, heightened and increased by the recollection of its wonderful history, the world should crowd in and presently wrest it from the power of the Crescent. But whether he would or not, the Turk cannot well help himself. There is 1 strange restlessness upon the people. It is like the turning of a giant in his sleep. The Government must utilize it and control it, or be overthrown by it. One sign of this is the recent opening of Moslem schools for both boys and girls, 8S a kind of "back-fire" to missionary schools. The demand for better facilities for travel is another such indication. And so, probably more because it cannot help itself than because of any real interest in the matter, the Turkish Government is now engaged in an extensive work of road building. For years there have been excellent roads between Beyrout and DamaRcus, at the nortll, and Jaffa and Jernsalem, at the south. Now highways as good as are the majority of those in the best-kept portions of our own land are completed or are in process of construction between other towns and cities. From Damascus, going southward, you travel for four hours (twelve miles) over a road twenty-five or thirty feet wide. At Tiberias, on the shole of the Sea of Galilee, a road begins and runs for some distancce over the hills; and before you reach Nazareth you find the other end of it, running out as far as Cana (Kefr Kenna), and before long the two ends will be joined. From Nazareth a diligence road leads to Haifa, on the coast, another to Acre, and still another is finished southward as far as the edge of the great Plain of Esdratlon. A road is nearly completed between Shechem and Jaffa. I am not sure, but I think there is also a coast road from Jaffa, northward. In a few months the Good Samaritan might ride from .T€fusalem to Jericho with his coach and pair over a good broad highway j while to-day the traveller goes down into " the south country," and visits Bethlehem and Hebron and Rachel's Tomb, not as the fathers used to travel these ways, on foot, Of on camel-back, but in a modern, nineteenth-century" hack." On the way from Jerusalem to the sea-coast one crosses the roadbed of the new" Jerusalem and Jaffa Railroad." That sounds odd enough, doesn't it 1 But we must get used to it. After years of idle talk and futile plans, the railroad is at last a fact. On the track laid through the orange groves of Jaffa we saw one day last fall, with steam up, all ready for their trial trip, which was to be made that day, the three American-built locomotives, "Jerusalem," "Jaffa," and" Ramleh," sent out by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, of Philadelphia. Just how soon the road will be ready for operation cannot be told with certainty. The French engineer in charge said in my hearing that he expected to run the Jirst train in July, 1891. So far as I know, that expectation has not been fulfilled. Hut it will not be long before the solitudes which have for ages wrapped the sacred hills as a garment will be startled by the engine's shrill shriek, and the watchman on the" towers of Zion" will look down upon that" modern miracle," a railroad train rolling into its depot hard by the Jaffa Gate of the Holy City. It is not hazarding much to prophesy that within five years one may land from his steamer at Jaffa, take the train to Jeruslllem, and thence go by diligence to almost every point of interest and importance in the land j and that he may do it all with scarcely more of fatigue or discomfort than was involved in a tour through Switzerland five years ago.
Now, all this would be interesting to the student of contemporaneous history, as showing the onward sweep of thought and life even in lands hitherto most rigorously secluded. But it means much more to the student of God's purposes-the careful observer of the workings. of His providence. It means the breaking up of the isolation in whic1J these villages and towns of Palestine have been lying from the beginning. It means an easier intercourse, and, by consequence, a quickened interest in and a broader intelligence concerning the things which lie beyond the narrow village limits. It means a progressive enlightenment and civilization for these people by contact with enlightening lind civilizing influences from without. And it means far more than this, too. It is a matter of history that God has a first mortgage on every foot of road made, and every rod of railload track laid. That history will not be falsified with respect to Palestine. The opening up of this land is the opportunity-the" great door and effectual"-of the Gospel. The" casting up of the highway" is the making of a path for the chariots of the Lord's purposes. The human agents and agencies for carrying the tidings of salvation are helped or hindered by whatever helps or hinders contact and association and intercourse. EvelY blow of the pick, then, cutting its way through the lOck has a higher mission than to contribute to the eaRe and comfort with which the casual tourist shall hereafter pass thf()ugh the land j it facilitates the work of evangelization; it hastens the time when 1he herald of the Cross shall be able to come easily and quickly to all parts of the country, and when he shall find awaiting his coming, not the ignorant and self-satisfied stupidity of isolated villagers, scarce knowing that there is anything to know beyond the childish traditions of the little place they call their home, but the quickened and everincreasing interest of people who are beginning to think and to question, and who in even this beginning of a social and intellectual awakening are prepared to hear and to ponder the message he brings.
Therefore I claim for my brother of the pick and spade a place among the missionaries of Palestine. I hail him as one of the forces by which the redemption of the Land of Promise is to be brought about. And I would give him a place among the chief workers and call him one of tbe mightiest forces, too. I am not unmindful of what has been done and is being done in the Holy Land by missionaries working toward distinctively spiritual ends. I am not disposed to undervalue results thus obtained, nor are my eyes closed to the many significant signs of the beginning of a new order of things in that little mountain kingdom. A marvellous change is coming to pass under our eyes. The scattered people are returning to the land of their fathers, and room and place is being made for them there. It is almost startling to read of 5000 Jews coming back to Jerusalem in a single month (August, 1889), the greater part to take up residence there. If you would have your faith in God's Word stimulated, and the prophecy of the olden time made to appear new and fresh-the making of contemporaneous history-take your Bible and go up upon one of the highest housetops within the walls of Jerusalem. Turn to Jeremiah's word: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, t11at the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord." And now close the Book and look down upon that newer Jerusalem which is growing up about the older, and listen while they who have studied most carefully
1892.J A 'rIlIRTEEN MONTHS' BISHOP
into this matter tell you that, so far as human scholarship has succeeded in ascertaining the location of these variou~ points named, the building is following exactly the lines of this Divine SU1·vey. All this means more than we are always willing to think or admit. And yet, considering these things, and conceding all that they can mean, it is my conviction that there is at the present time nothing relating to the opening and evangelization of the land of greater prophetic ~ignificance and importance than the work of road making which is going on under thA authorization of the Turkish Government. In itself, of courst', it is nothing; but in what it makes possible, in what it facilitates, it is much. It is but a preliminary work; but without it the progress of the Gospel in the land would be sadly hindered. It is characteristic of God's methods that they fit into the grooves which men have made for them. The voice of a new John is crying in the wildernesses of Judea and Samaria and Galilee, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God I"~ They who hear the voice are doing the bidding, not knowing whom they obey, or what it is that they do. But soon along these ways thus prepared, the messengers of the Gospel shall run to every city, and every village, and every home proclaiming again in the Lord's own land the Lord's grace and mercy and love. Thus shall He come" unto His own" once more. Will they refuse to receive Him as before!
Work well and faith full y, then, brother missionary of the Society of the Pick and Shovel. Strike sturdy blows; clear from the way all obstacles; make a good broad highway through the land. And be quick about it; for the King is at thy back. ,. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" for Palestine, as for the rest of the world.
A THIRTEEN MONTHS' BISHOP.
BY REV. C. H. MOCKRIDGE, M.A•• D.D., GENERAL SECRETARY OF MISSIONS OF CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN CANADA.
Some men are born with the missionary spirit strong within them. It is an impulse of their nature, and, take with them whatever for!D it may, it must assert itself. Such a man was Charles Frederick Mackenzie, who is brought before our notice first as a fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, at a time when the attention of the people of England was being powerfully drawn to the subject of foreign missions. In 1854 a mission was organized in England for India, the particular point for operations being Delhi, where preparation for the .work had already been made. Two clergymen, Rev. J. Stuart Jackson and Rev. A. R. Hubbard, hoth of Caius College, Cambridge, lp,ft Englaud and undertook the work there. Mr. Jackson wrote back to Mr. Mackenzie urging him to find colleagues for him in England and to send them out to his assistance. Mackenzie undertook the work; but he saw at once that be could not urge others to such a task with- out engaging in it himself. He accordingly volunteered to go, but delays took place, caused chiefly by hIs friends, who seemed very desirous to retain his services in England, and with the delay came a change of design, Africa being chosen as a field of labor instead of India. Soon afterward the terrible Indian Mutiny took place, and Christian people, Ellgli~h people, men, women, and children were massacred right and left and felt the savage power of a revengeful and fanaticro race aroused to the highest pitch of fury. The missions of Cawnpore and Delhi were utterly de- stroyed, and all efforts at evangelization for tne time being were necessarily suspended.
Mr. Mackenzie, therefore, never went out to India; but he did not abandon his idea of undertaking foreign missionary work, for ill the year 1855 we find him in Africa assisting the Rt. Rev. Dr. Colenso, the first bishop of Natal, a name which the orthodox Christians not only of Africa but of the world have had every reason to deplore. Archdeacon Mackenzie, for such was the title bestowed upon him by his bishop, was at the head of a large training institution at Ekukanyeni, or the" Home of Light," and he had as his fellow laborers two men who afterward imprinted their names indelibly upon the missionary work of Africa. One was the Rev. R.
Robertsoq, who afterward labored in Zululand, and the other was a medical man, Dr. Callaway, remarkable in many respects. In him the missionary, the physician, the farmer, the printer, the ethnologist, the philologist were all combined, and in later life he added that of the priest, and a grateful people bestowed upon him the further office of bishop. It is only recently that this wonderful man, one of the greatest on earth, Bishop Callaway, died in England, to which country he went after his physical strength could no longer respond to the suggestions of his gigantic intellect and the mo- tions of his iron yet Christ-like will.
Such were the men who were destined to play an important part in the future work of bearing the Gospel torch into some of the dark spots of darkest Africa.
At that time the master mind of Livingstone was being expended upon that vast and gloomy territory. In 1856 the great explorer, after having labored for sixteen years in Africa, suddenly appeared in England and, of course, became at once the hero of the hour. He appealed powerfully to England on behalf of Africa, and some enthnsiasm, though not to any very great extent, was aroused. Though a Presbyterian, Livingstone felt the power and ancient status of the Church of England, and appealed to her universities for that help which he felt she should give as a powerful branch of the Church of Christ. In 1858 he returned to AfrIca somewhat crestfallen, as his mission seemed to have accomplished but little. Still he had left a f;park of enthusiasm in England whir.h WliS destined to be fanned iuto a flame. Dr. Gray, Bishop of Capetown, a man of apostolic zeltl and fervor, visited England to keep . alive the spark which Livingstone. had ~–~. , ~ kindled. The result was that in 1859 a meeting was held in Cambridge which led to the formation of a mission to Central Africa.
Strange to say, at that very time, quite unannounced anq unexpected, Archdeacon Mackenzie arrived in England from Africa. He had gone there to advise with the home authorities before starting, what he felt ought to be done at once, a special mission to Zululand, and he found that the very society he could have wished for had been formed as if ready for him. Here, then, was the work, and here was the man. The work was that suggested by Livingstone; the man was Charles Frederick Mackenzie, and in every way he seemed thoroughly qualified for it. He was a ripe scholar and popular in his university. To a spirit naturally inclined to missionary work he was now able to add an experience sufficient to promise great usefulness in the future. He had acquired something of the language of South Africa, and knew pretty well the customs of the people, and besides he had wonderful faith in God, so humble and childlike as sometimes to be amusing, and so profound and sincere as to win for him the admiration of all.
The missionary meeting referred to was a large and enthusiastic one. Grand speeches were made, and many boastful things said about the prospects of future tIiumphs for the Church of God-all so easy to talk about and yet sometimes so difficult to achieve. It was easy for men living in sunny England, far away from the darkness of heathenism, to talk of the grand work that was about to be done, but Mackenzie, fresh from the field itself, having been face to face with the foe, could not share altogether the enthusiasm of the hour. In the depths of his own humility he whispered to a friend, " I am afraid of this. Most great works have been carried on by one or two men in a quieter way, and have had a more humble beginning. "
Little did this good soul know at the time how bitterly this prophecy was to be fulfilled! But at all events Mackenzie was the hero of the hour. For nine months he travelled over England, speaking for missionary objects and winning, if not entire enthusiasm for the cause he advocated, at least deep admiration for himself and the work he had undertaken. A man of strong physical power, who had held his own in all manly sports and athletic exercises, commended himself and his undertaking to the ordinary English mind, and this, coupled with 11 deep spirituality of heart, had much influence with those who were full of Christian sympathy and love.
He left for Africa in October, 1859, and was consecrated on January 1st, 1860, "Bishop of the mission to the tribes dwelling in the neighborhood of Lake Nyassa and River Shire"-a title long enough to indicate far more work than the great and good man was allowed to accomplish.
The newly consecrated bishop lost no time in starting for his allotted work. He had with him a small staff, clerical and lay, and with them a laborer and three native converts that had been trained at Capetown. They made their way to the mouth of the Zambesi, and there, at Kongone, they met Livingstone, on whom, it is needless to say, they relied greatly for advice and guidance; but, strange to say, the sagacity of the great ex- plorer seemed to fail him, and the steps advised by him proved singularly unfortunate. He had at the time, for his own use, a small steamer called the Pioneer, which had been lent to him by Her Majesty's Government, and this he gladly pla~ed at the disposal of the bishop and his party, with di- rections to take the River Roovooma, along which, by a southwest course, they might reach Lake NyaHsa. But the river proved too shallow for the amount of water drawn by their boat, and they found that after three weeks' hard steaming they had only gone thirty miles; but at length, on May 1st, they began to ascend the Zambesi, and here the Pioneer had a bet- ter chance, but only for a time, for after a nine days' voyage they began again to encounter shallow water. The account of this voyage is full of interest, but at the same time sad enough. At intervals they had to stop and turn out into the woods to cut fuel for the steamer, which in itself would perhaps have afforded but amusement and diversion for them were it not for the deadly fever which in Africa seems with such terrible clutch to fasten itself upon the white mau. All of the party, more or less, suffered from it, but still they encouraged one another, and kept up their spirits as best tlley could. When, however, they again encountered shallow water they fretted under the delay, and it is little wonder that lonely, depressed feelings stole over them. In this matter Livingstone was again at fault. Two years hefore he had himself ascended the Zambesi, but he had not taken into account that his boat at that time only drew about half the water that the Pioneer, with its present load, was compelled to draw. This, of course, cauRed great delay and much annoyance and anxiety.
After two months battling with sand· banks and shallow water, stirring up the long undisturbed bed of the silent floViing Zambesi, they arrived at a place now known as " Chibisas." And here they determined to abandon their craft and strike inland on foot. Carrying out their intention, they made for the highlands which lay to the northeast of them. On their way they encountered several slaving parties, and took upon themselves to rescue from the slave-dealers their unfortunate victims. Few troubles ever laid upon man by his fellow man have ever exceeded those which the unfortunate African, seized to be a slave, has had to endure on his weary march to the ships that are to carry him away. Weighted with heavy forks fastened round their necks, galled as to their wrists and ankles with the grl/at chains which bind them together, panting and groaning under a hot African sun, goaded by their cruel driver~ into a pace far beyond their strength, left in the forest to die a lingering death if overcome by exhaustion, maimed perhaps beforehand lest freedom should be gained with returning strength, they suffer misery which perhaps is difficult to describe.
Livingstone knew how to deal with these men who thus enslaved and tortured their fellow beings, and, with the assistance of Bishop Mackenzie and his party, rescued the unfortunate creatures from their hands, removed the heavy yokes from their necks, struck off their chains and set them free. Full of gratitude, the liberated slaves joined their liberators and remained with them as their friends.
A friendly tribe of natives also crossed their path. They were called Manganja! and were overjoyed at seeing Livingstone, for they were suffering at the hands of the Ajawa, a hostile tribe who were oppres!ling them. He and the missionary party lent their assistance, and thus reinforced the Manganja effectually crushed their oppressors.
The party at length settled at Magornero. a beautiful place 4000 feet above the level of the sea, and here Livingstone left them to commence their work. It was now about the end of July. The outlook was not of the brightest. They had the slaves that they had rescued as their first material to work upon, and with them they commencid j but they had incurred the h?stility of the Ajawa, who at first harassed them considerably.
They commenced their missionary work by studying the languages of the natives, as the latter were busily engaged putting up huts and doing other necessary work. Daily services were commenced in one of the largest of the huts which, on account of these sacred offices, was called the chapel. Schools were established, and the little community commenced the ordinary Christian life. The natives were much impressed by the enjoined observance of the Sunday. Such order was at last obtained that one of the party wrote home to a friend, "'What a luxury a chair is ! what a rest it is! We have now a table, albeit a very rickety one, and our beds are off the ground-an approach to civilizatiorr which, with the sitting to take our meals, astonishes and delights our bones as much as it does the admiring group of natives. "
Magomero, though spoke n of as a beautiful place and high above the level of the sea, was not a healthy spot, because other places in its neighborhood were still higher than it, and left for it the designation of a " hole." Consequently the deadly fever began again its fatal work. In November the bishop took a journey to Chibisas (already mentioned), hoping to meet Livingstone, and there he met the Rev. H. Burrup, who had recently arrived to do missionary work, little dreaming of the dark cloud be was so soon to encounter. In the month of December the bishop, with Mr. Burrup, started upon another expedition for the purpose of finding, if possible, and conferring with Livingstone. The Ajawa still troubled him and had to be punished for an act of treachery. The journey undertaken was a hard one, and lay through morasses and swamps j nor were they entirely Rure of the route that had to be taken. In fact, after a weary trudge of eight days they found that they had been upon the wrong track and that it would be necessary for them to return to Magomero and start afresh. This they did, and then found that a journey of two hundred miles lay before them. Taking but one night's rest, the energetic bishop determined to make this journey, and in the morning, taking with him only Mr. Burrup and one of the Cape men, he started. They reached Chibisas again and there borrowed a canoe and made their way along the river. On the second night of this fatal journey their canoe upset, and themselves together with their blankets, and a11 things belonging to them, were thrown into the water. No place of shelter could be reached j no one was nigh to render any assistance. They were tired and sleepy, and in their wet clothes, wrapped in blankets which they had rescued from the water, and by no means dry, they passed the night as best they could. The grim spectre of the fatal fever threatened them and at once it commenced its attack. The quinine and other medicines, which must be used continually in that pestilential climate, had been lost when the boat upset, and in abject misery they felt themselves exposed helplessly to a fatal disease. And all too soon it came, and the bishop of God's Church fell a victim to it on a lonely island far away from the haunts of man. The feyer suddenly pulled down his great strength, and he quietly breathed his last on January 31st, 1862, just thirteen months after his consecration. The angels of God were near, no doubt, to see the dismal scene; but the only one in the flesh that was there to witness it was Mr. Burrup, the bishop's companion, who set about the mournful task of consigning the body to the grave. To dig a shallow grave and place the body in it was all that he could hope to do; and when his task was done the sun had nearly set. He was himself weak aud dying, for the fever having taken away the bishop all too easily fastened its fangs upon the priest. By the dull light of receding day he read what portion of the Burial Service he could and then he turned to drag his weary body, if possible, back to the mission-station. No doubt he turned to say a sad farewell to the little mound of fresh earth at the foot of an acaciatree which marked all that was left of the fine, robust Euglishman who had fallen in the wilderness a martyr to his Master's work. And then he turned away, and by painful journeys reached Magomero in time only to tell his mournful tale, when he, too, followed his bishop to the place where" the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest."
ThiE was the end of Bishop Mackenzie, but it was not the end of the mISSIon. The rest of the little band kept up their work as best they could. Some of them died and some were hopelessly shattered in health, but the work faltered not. A new bishop, Bishop Tozer, was sent out from England, and event.nally changed the headquarters of the mission to Zanzibar. Such was the commencement, mournful enough, of the Diocese of Central Africa, in which, however, never since has missionary work flagged or missionary. zeal grown cold. The thought of the lonely grave in the wilds of Africa has ever lent zest to the work, and good Bishop Mackenzie, " though dead yet speaketh. "
A lady, once of much poetic power, on hearing the writer of this paper tell the story of Bishop Mackenzie in public, wrote the following lines, which as yet, it is believed, have never been published, as soon afterward she herself was called away to her eternal hOllie : " On the wings of evening air Fall the sounds of pleading prayer ; 'Neath the acacia words are said For the burial of the dead. Now are past the hours of pain, Scorching sun and chilling rain; From the fever's wild unrest A bishop passes to his rest.
" Then for him there has passed a solemn throng Of the good and true, with their funeral song, And the sands are ploughed with the marks of feet Which have borne the chief in his winding sheet, And a white-robed choir with chant and hymn Have sung him to sleep with their requiem.
" No! one voice alone is heard Breathing forth hope's glorious word; One beside the dead has stood Through the fever and tho flood, Powerless the life to save- Able scarce to dig the grave, Cross the hands and breathe t}!.e prayer For the soldier sleeping there.
c. The death of a soldier, ah ! then will come The mournful throbbings of the mullied drum, And arms all reversed as the bayonets gleam 'Neath banners that over the dead man stream, And men's heads are bowed 'neath the sunset sky Round the loyal dead who could dare and die.
" No! St. Michael's host keep guard O'er the grave with watch and ward, For the march of angels' feet, And the roll of music sweet, And the welcome loud and long To the soul by faith made strong ; Echo in their power unpriced Through the palaces of Christ.
" Oh ! then in thy desolate tomb take rest, Thou knight of the Cross. Though above thy breast No kindred may come sweet flowers to plant, We enroll thy name in our holy chant. One day in seven ten thousands of tongues Arise to the Father in deathless songs, Saying or singing on land and on sea, • The noble army-of MARTYRS-praise Thee.'
" And the faithful men who stood Side by side 'mid storm and flood On the far-off English sod, Once had pledged their faith to God,
ARE MISSION CoNVERTS A FAILUJtlE?
Gave to Him their troth and trust, Shook from out their souls the dust And now in summer lands above Live the life of rest and love."
ARE MISSION CONVERTS A FAILURE 1 BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK.
A series of papers by Rev. Archbishop Turnbull, B.D., Darjeeling, India, appeared in the Church of Scotland mission monthly, which are here presented in substance. This condensation omits much matter intended for Anglo-Indians and for the English, but retains the substance. It does not need to defend the missions on the side of quantity. A hundred years ago Protestant mission converts were 300 j now they are 3,000,000, of whom one per cent are themselves mission workers. How as to quality? Such objections are common: "Colonel So-and-so, home from India, says that our converts are mostly shams." Now, if our converts are mostly shams, our missionaries must be mostly hypocrites. A serious conclusion, which we are not to accept without some cross-examination of our military witness.
We are concerned only with Protestant converts j with these only as a community,. and only with Ind,ja.
I. Assuming the good faith of these military disparagements of our converts, we are not obliged to assume their truth. For instance : A regiment from Benares, passing through Cawnpore, was entertained at dinner there. One of the captains was asked by a lady at the table what the missionaries were doing in Benares. He assured hcr there were no missionaries there. "But I pay an annual subscription for an orphan-house." " 'I do not doubt it–for an orphan-house which does not exist. Do you think I could have lived three years in Benares without learning of it 1" A gentleman sitting by, asked the captain: "Did you go to church in Benares 1" " Certainly-by orders." "But there is no Government chaplain there." " True j but the service was conducted by clergymen who were much beloved by our men." " Strange; you attended services conducted by missionaries, and did not know of the existence of these gentlemen. Now as to the orphan-house. Did you ever see the long building in the street leading by Sigra to Marawaddi f' "Certainly. I once rode into the compound after a fox. I found a heap of little black rascals, who grinned at me. They knew where the fox was, but would not tell me." " Then you were in the precincts of the orphan-house 1" " Indeed! I took it for an indigo factory, or something of the sort. " Now imagine this officer returning to Scotland, and in all good faith, on the strength of his own local knowledge, assuring the discomfited subscribers to Benares missions that there were there neither missionaries nor orphan -houses ! As Dr. Warneck pertinently quotes from Dr. Ellinwood, imagine a London sportsman spending a year in the New York club houses, or an infidel German spAnding a year in the New York hotels. How much would either know of the religious life of the city 1 Enough to echo the contemptuous declarations of his own circle, that the religious life of America is a pure deception, the clergy a band of ragamuffins, and the church-members a flock of hypocrites! But, now, suppose a deputy of the Scottish General Assembly spending only a few weeks in New York.
What a mass of facts as to the religious life of America he would have gathered in that time !
But even such witnesses as tea-planters, spending their lives among the natives, and often friendly with the missionaries, may eailily be no less incompetent. Such sayings as these prevail: "Only vile, lazy fellows be- come Christians." "Let India be Christianized, and good-by to English rule." A native Christian servant misbehaves. "See," says his Chri~tian maRter, " what sort of refuse these native Christians are I" .
Here we see the trail of that universal false persuasion, that the mis- sionaries hold out mercenary inducements to their converts. Now these receive absolutely nothing from them, but are expected to contribute to mISSIOns. The last calculation was one thirty-fourth of their total income.
ImJlgine European Christendom rising to that standard!
We cannot deny, however, that many Europeans in India have met with many native Christians, and have found them "mostly shams."
There will always be the careless or indifferent., who take no pains to pene- trate beyond the soiled exterior of native Christianity. Beyond the narrow path which they themselves have trodden hard, they know nothing, and care little to know anything. Moreover, we have undertaken to be answer- able only for the Protestants; and out of 2,148,228 native Christians of India, 1,600,000 are claimed by the Roman Catholic and Syrian churches.
Most of the Christian servants in India are Madrasis, a majority of whom are Catholics.
Moreover, even the Protestants among them belong to the class most closely connected with the Anglo-Indian community, and most slightly con- nected with the mission churches. The English official has more to do with forming them than the missionary. And their masters are very com- monly so entirely indifferent to their Christian advancement that even when near the church of their conversion, they might as well be a thousand millls away, for all the opportunities they have t.o attend. Outcasts among their fellow-servants because Christians, and outcaRts in their masters' and mistress's view, although Christians, looking in vain for the compassionate hand of the Master in one of His people, they fall back, and are reproached as shams because they are frail men who cannot live a Christian life when all Christian nurture is withheld !
There are, of course, eertain worthless Hindus, or Moslems, who, hav- ing lost the privileges of their old religions, resort to Christianity as a
THE INCUBUS OF' THE KINGDOM
cover. But as English by-ends do not discredit the existence of the genuine pilgrims, nor even prove them a minority, no more do Hindn byends. But let Christian servants have fair play, and there is abundant proof that they turn out as satisfactory converts as any. To be in a real Christian family, under real Christian care, cannot certainly be disadvantageous to native Christians.
II. Now as to positive evidence. 1. Sir William Muir, once Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Provinces, remarking on the ever-increasing ratio of conversions, says: "And they are no~ shams 01' paper converts, as some would have us believe, but good, honest Christians, and many of them of a high standard." 2. The second witness-and after his evidence the case must be adjourned till at least next month-is the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (late Governor of Madras), thus reported in 1883 : " In justice to those natives who had adopted Christianity as their profession in India, he ought not to refrain from bearing his testimony to that which came more especially under the eyes of a governor-viz., their conduct in civil matters, as well as their conduct in religious matters. When they carne to large masses of the people, to whole villages which had adopted Christianity, then it was possible to those in authority to form some opinion as to whether the change of creed had conduced to the good conduct of the converts; and he must not refrain from saying that the tendency of the change had been decidedly for good." It is an obvious corollary to remark that if the character of the native Christian commnnity is satisfactory as a whole, even in the Madras Presidency the character of its members can scarcely be unsatisfactory as individuals.
Is it necessary to say, before closing, that this paper is in no sense designed as an attack on Europeans in India ~ Just as there are converts and converts, so also are there, of course, Anglo-Indians and Anglo-Indians; and among these the writer knows many a tea-planter, merchant, or soldier, whom he has reason to deem a far better Christian than himself, and to whom he owes eternal gratitude.
THE INCUBUS OF THE KINGDOM.
BY W. C. C.
It is generally admitted that the worldliness of the Church is the only obstacle to the immediate evangelization of the whole world. The work is well within our spare ability, and there is nothing in the way of doing it and doing it at once j only the people who profess to be doing it are not doing it, but, as a whole, are devotiug nearly all their time, labor, and money to the pleasures and vanities of this world" as the heathep. do." " The lust of the flesh" (luxury and pleasure), "the lust of the eyes" (refined IIlsthetic indulgences), and" the pride of life" (emulous style in our dwellings, dress and equipage) run all the way throug]! the ranks of Christian people, from the humblest to the highest, according to their several ability. To such things alone do we really give according to our ability; and so we " consume upon our lusts" the munificence of Him who "became poor that we, through His poverty, might be made rich," and have but a beggarly dole to spare for the vast majority of our race who have as yet tasted no share of the blessings purchaAed for them by the precious blood of Christ and entrusted by Him to us for distribution.
The present object in referring to this state of things is not so much to reprove it as to ask the cause of it. Can it be, I ask, that this state of things would continue if it were set before the members of our churches in its true light q In other words, if the theory and example of Christian living set before us by our teachers were essentially better than this our practice ~ Glorious was the Reformation that raised the Church out of dead works to a living faith and opened the Bible to the people. But who does not now see that what we call the Reformation was only a beginning of reformation ; the removal of a condition that made reformation impossible; leaving the great practical reforms to be wrought out by the unfolding principles of a resuscitated Gospel ~ Our thrl:le centuries of reformation have slowly accomplished a large development of the ethical consciousness of evangelical Christendom, and raised with it the standard of godly teaching and example. It is no longer suitable, for instance, to set forth the brandy bottle or to discountenance foreign missions at an ecclesiastical gathering. Far otherwise, indeed; and so of many other enormities that a century ago were not condemned as Church practices. But the fact remains that the worldly living, which the reader has probably thus far supposed to be what is meant here by " The Incubus of the Kingdom," is yet in the full fellowship of our churches and pulpits generally. Show me a Christian, layman or clergyman, who does not Jive up to the general style of his class in the income lists, but devotes more than his superfluity to the kingdom of Christ, and I will show you an exception marked and admired, and sometimes censured, as far as it is known. Show me a pulpit from which the 'consecrated self-abnegation of Christ is definitively enjoined and the lust of the flesh, and the eyes, and the pride of life are plainly denounced just as they are cherished in that particular Church, and you will show me an exception such as I have never yet seen, although I trust that such exceptions do exist.
On the contrary, it was not in a former century, but on a recent occasion that I heard from a very prominent evangelical pulpit, and from a still more prominent evangelical theologian, what I understand, as he did, to be the standard sumptuary doctrine of the Church-give liberally; but live liberally, too, if you can. It is but the unreformed doctrine that has been handed down to us through the comfortably good and pions dignitaries of an easy-going Christianity, but at the present day re-enforced against an encroaching consciousness of inconsistency with our Lord's d·emand of self-abnegation by the four following objections to obeying it, as form~lated by a chief rabbi of the Presbyterian Church on the occasion referred to : 1. You cannot draw the line. 2. It would tend to a rude asceticism. 3. It would impair our social influence. 4. Luxury gives vast employment to labor. As if inability to draw an infallible line between the claims of Christ and self were a reason for satisfying the latter first and at any rate! As if a holy self-denial were less refining than outward elegance, or as if no reasonable mean could be struck between sumptuous salf-indulgence and bare sustenance! As if every church and ministry th~t has been eminently mighty for God in the world, from the apostles down, had not been eminent for plain and humble living, as one great source of their reverence and power in the world! As if the wages paid to the servitors of luxury would not support an equal or greater number in the service of Christ and humanity! As if the Gospel were not the grand creator of and propagator of civilization, wealth, and prosperity wherever its power extends! I heard a Christian millionaire, " whose praise IS in all the churches" for eminent liberality, remark that the plumbing in his new mansion cost him seven thousand dollars. Every thousand that he ga'e to Christian work could have been ten thousand, without being missed as much as one dollar is by many a humble giver. Yet so far from reproof was he that it would be counted sacrilege to pronounce his sainted name in connection with this remark. But I can illustrate this subject with a brighter example-as much brighter as it is less known to fame-an example of consecration that fairly, and, alas! how rarely, translates into practice the literal sense of our Lord's condition of discipleship : "Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath," etc. Possessed of a large fortune, my lamented friend was only" rich toward God." For himself he lived like a comparatively poor man, that he might use all that he had in simple stewardship for his Lord's housein his own house having nothing that could seem suspiciously expensive for a bank clerk with a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. Not everything that might be argued conducive to personal welfare, far less anything dictated merely by the customary style of others in his circumstances, but solely what was necessary for !!imple comfort and simple refinement entered into the measure of his private expenditure; all the rest was, as the former indced was, only less directly so, the Lord's. My first acquaintance with him was by letter, in which he mentioned having been entrusted with some of the Lord's money, concerning which he was seeking the Lord's will ; and in much subsequent experience he was never found to have any other money or any other will concerning it than the Lord's. When the ambassadors of Christ shall dare to preach unambiguously and practice heroically their Master's demand on every disciple as it was .~
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN INDIA
illustrated by this faithful steward, and when their teaching shall be accepted-as that of the Master Himself is not-by those who profess and call themselves Christians, then and then only may the rich and poor clasp hands over the chasm that now threatens to be a bloody one; and for the evangelization of the world, if there shall remain any embarrassmont, it will he from the plethora of wealth and the crowd of laborers pressing into the harvest field.
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN INDIA.
BY JAMES L. PHILLIPS, D.D., SECRETARY INDIA S. S. UNION, CALCUTTA, INDIA.
Some of our India churches have had Sunday-schools for many years. These have been for the Christian community alone. It was counted wellnigh impossible to open Sunday-schools for Hindu and Mohammedan children. The India Sunday-School Union was organized in 1876, and the missions taking special interest in this department of effort united under its auspices to improve and extend our Sunday-school system. Since its organization, barriers have yielded; the prayers of God's people have been answered in the remarkable opening of doors on every side for the Christian Sunday-school. At one Decennial Missionary Conference in Calcutta nine years ago, Sunday-schools received special attention, and thousands of Hindu and Mohammedan pupils were reported in regular attendance upon them. American mis~ions have always devoted much Jabor to this form of Gospel work; but now nearly all missions are coming to see its importance and promise.
There are now auxiliary Sunday-school unions in the principal provinces of India, Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Punjab, Burma, Central Provinces, Rajputana, and the Northwest, all affiliated with the India Sunday-School Union, 80 that our work begins to take shape, and gives promise of large increase. I may say that there are really no serious obstacles now to the planting of Sunday-schools throughout this country. In some cases Hindus have come to our missionaries and begged for Sunday-schools to be opened in their villages. The Mohammedans are more conservative as a rule; but even they are glad to have their children instructed in the Scriptures. There was never so wide an open door, or so inviting, for Sunday-schools in India.
As in America and Great Britain, we have Sunday-school conventions in prominent places for discussing ways and means, for prayer and planning. These are attended by missionaries of all denominations, and other Christians, foreign and native j and this Sunday-school work is proving a bond of delightful fellowship among all disciples of our Lord in India.
I may cite two other good results of this rising interest in Sundayschools here. One is that hidden European workers are coming out into active service. We have not a few in India who were diligent workers in
MODERN INDIA
England, Wales, Scotland, and other places, but have been hidden and inactive since coming out here. For Sunday-school extension we are calling out lustily for volunteers; and I am very thankful to say some of these friends, who in this needy fidd had been idle, are now coming to the front and engaging in hearty effort.
The other good result is one that must greatly cheer all our friends in America and Europe-viz., a rising zeal for Christ on the part of our native Christians. There are things they cannot do and foreign teachers have to dn for them j but Sunday-school work is something they can do, and are learning to do with thoroughness and success. I cannot but look upon our Sunday-school enterprise as a capital school for training native Christians for effective service among their own countrymen. Tokens of cheer in this line already begin to appear.
Let India's Sunday-school workers be faithfully remembered in the prayers of Christians at home, and let special prayer be offered up for the early conversion of the children in our schools, and for their consecration to the Master's service in their own land. I believe that converted and consecrated children have a great work before them in hastening India's complete evangelization.
MODERN INDIA.
Sir William Hunter says: "I have often amusea myself, during my sohtary peregrinations, by imagining what a Hindu of the last century would think of the present state of his country if he could revisit the earth. I have supposed that his first surprise at the outward physical changes had subsided, that he had got accustomed to the fact that thousands of square miles of jungle, which in his time were inhabited only by wild beasts, have been turned into fertile crop-lands j that fever-smitten swamps haye been covered with healthy, well-drained cities j that the mountain walls which shut off the interior of India from the seaports have been pierced by roads and scaled by railways; that the great rivers which formed the barriers between provinces and desolated the country with their floods have now been controlled to the uses of man, spanned by bridges, and tapped by irrigation canals.
" But what would strike him as more surprising than these outward changes is the security of the people. In provinces where every man, from the prince to the peasant, a hundred years ago went armed, he would look around in vain for a matchlock or a sword. He would see the country dotted with imposing edifices in a strange, foreign architecture, of which he could not guess the uses. He would ask, What wealthy prince has reared for himself that spacious palace ~ He would be answered that the building was no pleasure house for the rich, but a hospital for the poor. He would inquire, In honor of what new deity is this splendid shrine ~ And he would be told that it was no new temple to the gods, but a school for the people." -Selected.
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU?
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU 1 BY G. P. T.
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"-Lamentations 1 : 12.
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye- Christians, That millions of beings to-day, In the heathen darkness of China, Are rapidly passing away q They have never heard the story Of the loving Lord who saves, And "fourteen hundred every hour Are sinking to Christless graves !"
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians, That in India's far-away land There are thousands of people pleading For the touch of a Saviour's hand 1 They are groping, and trying to find Him j And although He is ready to save, Eight hundred precious souls each hour Sink into a Christless grave!
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians, That Africa walks in night ~ That Christians at home deny them The blessed Gospel light 1 The cry goes up this morning From a heart-broken race of slaves, And seven hundred every hour Sink into Christless graves !
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians ~ Will ye pass by and say, It is nothing, WE cannot aid them! You can give, or go, or pray; You can save your souls from blood-guiltiness, For in lands you never trod The heathen are dying every day, And dying without God.
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians ~ Dare ye say ye have nanght to do 1 All over the world they wait for the light; And is it nothing to you?
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERI0DICALS.
BY RE.V, C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The Rev. A. Bernstein, of the London Jewish Society, writes from Frankfort-on-the-Main: "One thing struck us very forcibly in all our travels-namely, that everywhere Jews are found who are more or less prepared to enter the Christian Church, and are only waiting for some great leader or event to give the starting impulse. IIJ fact, the Jews in Germany at the present time may begenerally compared to the generation at the time of our Saviour. Like Pharisaism and Sadduceeism then so now the , orthodox' and the ' reformed' parties have exhausted their forces, and as neither will give way to the other there is but a quiet watching and gathering of strength for some momentous event in the not distant future."
-The Rev. Alexander Robertson, in A Voice from Italy, remarking on the special honor which Venice renders to the Bible, says: "The lion is the symbol of St. Mark. This symbol, then, is everywhere throughout Venice. It is on the front of St. Mark's Church, on the clock tower in the Piazza, above tho entrance to the Doge's Palace, and it crowns each of the two great granite monoliths that adorn the Piazzeta. It is stamped on the town official papers, it is emblazoned on the city flags, it is carved on gondoliers, and is painted on the prows of ships. In every instance, too, the lion holds in its paw an open book-the Bible. This exhibition of the Bible throughout Venice was, during its best days, no matter of form. The Bible was in the hearts of the people as well as on their buildings, flags, and papers, and its principles guided their lives. Their contracts were made in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Texts of Scripture were carved above the doors of their houses. They witnessed a good confession. Very unlike some modern Protestants who, a(lcording to Mr. Ruskin, are the only people who seem ashamed oj anything that looks like a profession of their faith."
-As the papal influence grew in Venice (though it always met with much resistance) the biblical very naturally declined. But now the Bible is coming again to its old rights in Venice. Few Venetian families, able to read, says Mr. Robertson, fail to have a part of the Bible, or the whole. It is commonly Martini's. But the superior accuracy of Diodati's version is largely commending that to favor, even in Catholic families.
-The Rev. N. H. Shaw, in the General Baptist Magazine for Jnne, says, writing from Rome: "We have had scenes of bloodshed in our streets, and but a few paces from our doors. The poor workingmen of Italy are among the meekest of earth's children, but misery drives men mad. The condition of tens of thousands of poor people in Rome is pitiable in the extreme. Rent and living are (}ostly, and work there is none. And so it was easy for three hundred anarchists to bring about a conflict between the people and the military. Hence we have had streets barricaded, and knives and revolvers on the part of the people answered by volleys of musketry from the soldiery. It was painful to see groups of twenty-four or fifty soldiers stationed here and there in our streets with bayonets fixed, and an officer at the head of each group with drawn sword, standing the whole night through, ready for action at any moment against their own fellow-citizens. And yet the government goes on spending money in Africa, and in preparations for war at home! When is this wickedness to cease ~ We are living in a powder magazine, and if our rulers do not speedily learn wisdom, only Divine interposition can save us from something much more fearful than the explosion of the 23d ult."
-The Supreme Ecclesiastical Council of the Prussian Evangelical Church having declared that, to young men of regular university training, classical and theological, it would, after five years of foreign missionary service, assure a suitable church living at home, the representatives of the first thirteen of the above-mentioned societies assembled at Halle, in November, 1890, after consultation with a representative of the Imperial Chancellor, to which also Dr. Warneck was invited, unanimously presented to the Council an urgent representation of the injury which such a mea"ure was likely to inflict on the standard of permanency, faithfulness, effiJiency, and purity of motive in the missionary work. What the result has been we do not yet learn. But the overmastering anxiety to make missions a handmaid of colonial conditions in East Africa seems just now to be having a very bewildering effect on the minds of high authorities in Germany. We are happy to attest that it does not seem to move the missionary societies from the sobriety of their judgment. To us the si-ngular injudiciousness of such a proposition appears too plain for argument, although the memorial deals with it most thoroughly and temperately.
-The Rhenish Missionary Society is able to report 3000 baptisms for the last year, and a large extension of its range of labor in Netherlands India, New Guinea, and Africa. Of their 150 laborers (at least two-thirds in the tropics) only three have died within the year. In Netherlands India the government bas decided to give grants in aid, according to the number of children, to the Society's 90 schools in Borneo, Sumatra, and the neighboring island of Nias. M. Eugene Casalis, who bad come to France from Basutoland hoping to find his father, found only his tomb, into which he quickly followed him, of ~n unexpected cerebral hemorrhage. The blow is doubly felt, following so soon the loss of M. Duvoisin.
-The Rev. William Boyd, LL.D , writes in the Free Church Monthly of tbe Waldensian Synod: "The work of the Synod was done thoroughly. A report of the spiritual condition of every parish was submitted and discussed. The work of each of the forty-four mission stations up and down Italy was looked into. Questions of finance were bravely faced. There was a lively debate on the tendencies of some of the churches in the direction of more tasteful buildings, a less antiquated service, the use of hymns and organ!!, and improvement in music. The valley people are very conservative, like our Scotch Highlanders, and deprecate changes j but there is in the Church a progressive party which asks for all lawful freedom. There were no doctrinal points under discussion this year, though, from conversations with some of the ministers and professors I can see that they are quite abreast of the controversies which excite attention in our land. They are, however, too busy in their great work of evangelization to waste time on the debating of spccuJativtl points, which can be wisely deferred till the Gospel hag gained a firmer foot in their country. Two things struck me as characteristic of the Vaudois Church-its missionary spirit and its evangelistic spirit. The people cannot give much for these ends. A.s a rule, they are poor, or at least wit~out a superabundance of this world's goods, but they give themselves. A.lmost every family has furnished ministers, mil'lsionaries, and evangelists, and the supply is only restrained by financial difficulties. Were the gifts for the evangelization of Italy doubled or trebled there could be no difficulty in finding a corresponding supply of able and godly Vaudois to do the work."
-The fact that the Evangelical Alliance met in Florence near the spot where Savonarola was put to death, who is increaeingly regarded among the orthodox Roman Catholics of Italy as a saint and martyr, suggests the question whether this common veneration for the great friar might not be made one point for securing a better mutual understanding. Father Curci (lately dead) was no more a Protestant than Savonarola himself, but he declared that until Italy has once more secured a grasp on Jesus Christ and His Gospel she may perhaps do well to " send her innumerable saints and Madonnas to the right about. " King Humbert, when Crown-prince, remarked to the Rev. Dr. Nevin, of the Episcopal Church in Rome: "If Italy is to have a religion, she must have one that is not so fearfully overdone. "
-The .Journal des Missions J!vangeliques for May has a full and loving tribute of remembrance to its great helper, Edmond de Pressense. Among other things it quotes the witness borne by him, in 1879, to the comprehensive character of the missionary foundations in France: "It has come about, by the rapid course of things here below, that I am now, if not in age one of the deans, at least in seniority one of the oldest members of the Missionary Committee. As far back as my remembrances go they are aSEOeiated with this sacred work. I still see its humble cradle in a then morally desolate quarter of Paris, where it already assumed that character which nowhere is lacking to it, of uniting home with foreign missions; for it is in the modest house of the Boulevard Montparnasse that a number of the most important undertakings of our evangelical Protestantism had their origin, and also the Church to which I have belonged for more than thirty years. • . . At that date, already remote, an upper chamber might have contained all the generous founders of onr evangelical movement. They then knew only one question, the grand, the immortal one-namely, the salvation of souls. . . • Their forces are not divided, but distributed, save at one point. Whenever their minds turned to the work of missions they were only one heart, one soul, one thought."
THE EAST INDIES.
– " Experience shows that a temporary withdrawal of the protection of the English Government, such M occurred in some parts during the mutiny years of 1857-58, so far from extinguishing Christianity, helps to spread it; and candid and thoughtful Hindus are not slow to perceive that even if the English were now to leave India, and were not succeeded by any other Christian power, it would still be impossible to counteract the destructive influences already at work, and that caste, as a system of impassable social divisions, must ultimately give way before the ideas which have taken root during a few generations of contact with Christian Europe."- SIR BARTLE FRERE, in Missionary Intelligencer, Christian Mission Board.
– " Whether in the wilds of Scandinavia, or among idolatrous Teuton hordes, in the cloister, in the camp, in the parliament, or in the guild of medieval Europe-or, in later agel, asserting by speech, by pen, or by sword, the rights and obligations of mankind-the strongest and most successful organizers and constructors, social as well as political, have ever been lllen of the "trong-est, deepest, mos.t earnest religious Christian convictions j differing, it may be, most widely as to particular doctrines of their common faith, or particular practical applications of their theories, but all deriving their inspiration from one common source, and refl'rring, as the ultimate authority for all they do, to one Book, briefer than the scriptures of any other faith, and which inculcates all its moral precepts with a clearness and simplicity which an intelligent child can comprehend as perfectly as the most advanced philosopher. "-SIR BARTLE FRERE.
-Herr Canne, formerly Governor of Westem Sumatra, gives an interesting description of the activity of the Rheni~h missionaries as he had become acquainted with them on his visits: "Scarcely had day dawned when from all sides you would see the sick hastening to procure help and advice. Such as were too sick to come to the house were visited at their own homes. Meanwhile, not only the sick, but all that needed help, came to the missionaries. All manner of disputes were Rubmitted to their arbitration. Their advice was asked about everything. A still further claim was laid on their time for the giving of instruction, ordinary and catechetical. From early morning till late at night they were busy. Their wives gave instruction in sewing and other manual arts. The households of the missionaries were in everything pioneers of culture, and a blessing to thousands."
-The Lutheran Brethren of Madras Presidency (Leipsic Mission) have ordained Samuel, a pariah, the first of this dishonored class whom they have admitted to the ministry. In his theological examination he showed himself the most thoroughly grounded of all the four candidates' for ordination.
-Mr. Larsen, in the J)ansk Missions-Bleld for June, gives an interestmg account of the conferences held in Madras with educated young Hindus, Christian and heathen. Once the subject was "The Ideal Life." A young Christian read a papcr upon it. Then a young heathen, an engaging person and fluent speaker, rose. He declared that one could not lead an ideal life without a visible ideal, and he could find no other than Jesus Christ. To the expostulations of his heathen companions, then and at the next meeting, he made no other answer than that so he thought and so he must speak. To the question now, whether he is about to become a Christian, Mr. Larsen replies :. " He may btl not far distant from desiring baptism, though I do not believe so. But certain I am, he has not a glimmering idea what it is to become a Christian. The distance is heavenwide between owning Christ as an ideal and accepting Him as a Saviour."
– " In the Times of September 21st there was published a very sympathetic sketch of the lives of three eminent Indians-representative types of the scholar, the statesman, and the recluse. It is to the last named only that we would here call attention. Pandit Iswura Chandra Vidyasagara was a Brahmin of the best type. Many years ago he braved the wrath of his order in espousing the cause of the Hindu child-widow. He brought the highest scholarship and an immense wealth of Sanscrit learning to bear upon the lifelong task of creating a healthy public literature for Bengal. But it is for his self-denying endeavor to realize the Brahmin ideal of selfnegation, alms-giving, and eschewing of worldly ambition that he is best remembered. Spending little on his own food and raiment, he gave every Sunday to all who came to his door, and took special pleasure in entertaining the poor j to widows and orphans, needy studentR, waifs and strays, and victims of the caste system, he was an ever-ready benefactor. His favorite form of charity was that of personal service-seeking out the unfortunate in their homes, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, speaking words of consolation, and performing ~he humblest duties for others. Brahmin though this man was in creed, in practice dOCR not his example put many professing Christians to shame ~"-The Christian.
-" It is encouraging to find that in the annual report of the ~farathi Mission for 1890 the number received on confession of their faith was not only larger than in any previous year, but that it is an increase of more than ten per cent upon the whole number of church-members at the beginning of 1890. The statistics show that the rate of increase within the last sixty years has been rapidly advancing. During the years 1841-55 inclusive, the annnal average increase was less than sixteen. . Since ] 855 there have been seven periods of five years each. During the first of these periods the annual average increase was 74; during the last period, 171. The mission may well say that' the foundations of our work are deeper and broader, its influences are more widely extended, and the way is being prepared for a larger success in the future.' "-Missionary Herald.
-In 1890 the renewcd Lutheran Mission (Leipsic Society) of South India had completed its first half century. It has now 14,084 adherents.
-The Harvest Field (Madras) says of Sir Charles EI!iott, Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal: "Sir Charles is, we believe, a decidedly Christian governor, and his courtesy to the people over whom he rules springs out of genuine intetest in them, and not out of any desire to secure personal popularity. There is an immense distance everywhere in India between the rulers and the ruled. It is politically expedient to lessen that distance, apart altogether from Christian considerations, and it will be a happy thing if Sir Charles Elliott shall have. even to a small extent, encouraged in Europeans a sentiment of sympathy, conrtesy, and love toward our native fellow-subjects. "
– " We called attention the other day to the pariah, and the helplessness of the best-meant legislation to deliver him from the disabilities of his painful lot. We pointed out that his hope and remedy for the futnre lay in the Gospel. Here is a testimony as to what the Gospel has done already. A writer in the Madras Times 8tates that twenty-five years ago he baptized a sweeper, and that that sweeper's son is now a successful schoolmaster, and has coached more than a hundred Brahmins and KpshatIiyas through the difficulties of high. school examinations; that sons of sweepers are in Government offices; that they arc pushing their way on the railways; that they are studying law and engineering as well as theology and medicine. Thus, directly and indirectly, for the pariah, 'Godliness hath promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.' "
-The eminent Bishop Caldwell, of the S. P. G. in South India, has soon followed Bishop Sargent, of the C. M. S., to his reward. The first of Tamil Ilcholars, one of the best of administrators, and one of the greatel:!t missionary authorities in India, he leaves a great void; one of his last acts was to confirm 1500 candidates in the Chnrch Missionary Society's district of Tinnevelly.
-In India, during 1891, a flood of blessing came down in Teleguland j a rain of blessing in Rohilcund, Tinnevelly, among the Kols, Marathis, and in Kodakal, in the Baptist. Methodist Episcopal, Anglican, Gossner (Lutheran) American Board, and Basel Missions respectively. Elsewhere, for the most part, remarks the Zeitschrijt, the blessing has only fallen in a slow distillation.
1892.J IXT~RNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GBACEY, D.D.
The Great Pentecost in North India, mountains, and where millions from all India bathe annually. On the south- REV. HENRY MANSELL, D.D., CAWNPORE, east corner is Benares, the Jerusalem of Hinduism. Between these two points INDIA. are Garhmukhtisar, Rsjghat, Bithoor, Dalmau, ILnd six other bathing shrines, Three missions in India for more at each of which hundreds of thousands than a year past have been baptizing assemble annually to bathe in the sacred converts by the thousand. These are stream. Just outside this field, and the American Baptists, in the Telugu now occupied by the same mission, is country, in Southern India, the Ameri- Mutra, the birthplace of Sri Krishn, one can United Presbyterians, and the of the supposed incarnations of Vishnu, American Methodists, in Central and while within is Ajudhia, the birthplace North India and the Panjab. of Ram Chandar, another of Vishnu's incarnations, and Sumbhal, where the In 1890 the Methodists alone baptized Holy Incarnation is expected by the about eight thousand converts; and Hindus. Lucknow, one of the capitals within the past year this same mission of the Muhammadan dynasty, and sevhas baptized about eighteen thousand eral other important cities are within converts. this field. So, with its caravan routes to Cabul, Thibet, and Nepal, Mld its For such a glorious pentecost all Ohris- pilgrim routes to the sacred shrines tiMls ought to thank God, take courage, mentioned, it has more centres of reand go forward; instead of which ligions power and lines of religious indoubts have been expressed and criti- finence than any other spot of equal size cisms made, calling them "hasty bap- in the empire of India. tisms," and the converts baptized heathen. The provinces are very fertile, espe- cially Oude, "the garden of India." It is becausa the sympathy and prayers Wheat, barley, maize, and pulses of Illl of all Ohristians are wanted to help on sorts grow in abundance, as well as cotthis graciouB revival, to the salvation of ton, rice, sugar·cMle, and all tropical India and the world, that this brief his- fruits. It is capable of Bustaining a tory of the movement is attempted. dense population. Oude is, perhaps, more thickly populated than any other The Methodist missions in India were part of the earth. The people are in. founded thirty-six years ago by the Rev, dustrious, but mostly poor, of the lower William Butler, who selected an unoc- castes, and under the heel of the higher cupied field in North India, consisting caste Hindus and wealthy Muhammaof Oude and Rohilkhand on the plains, dans, who are their religions, as well as and two districts, Kumaon Mld Garh. their landlords and employers. This is wal, adjoining, on the lower Himalaya the cradle and real home of Hinduism. Mountains, containing thirty millions Bere also Buddhism was born, and of people, all without the Gospel. This Jainism, and several other religious refis for missionary work a most remark- ormations, all aiming at the death of able field. Lying on the north bank of idolatry, which has been kept alive by the Ganges, India's sacred river, and on caste. So the caste system has enabled the southern slopes and valleys of tha Hinduism to shake off all reforms and lower Himalayas, it contains the two remain strong to this day. most famous mountain shrines, Badrinath and Kidarnath, visited annually Into this interesting field entered Dr. by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India. On the plains is Bardwar, at the northwest corner of the field where the Ganges leaves the Butler, with Joel T. Janvier, a native helpers, and whence colporteurs-ccrried preacher, whom the Presbyterians south Scriptures and tracts to the villages and of the Ganges had given him, with much village schools. Many missionaries valuable advice and information. His preached daily in the bazaars and streets plan to settle twenty-five American mis. of the cities and near towns. Others sionaries in this field was hailed hope- made tours, preaching in the distant fully by all missionaries in India as a villages and melas at the heathen new departure in mission work, concen- shrines. Others still went in circuits to trating effort on fewer people. At that the country bazaars or markets within a time some kinds of mission work, such radius of ten or fifteen miles of the cen· as English schools for high caste natives tral station, preaching overy day to and preaching to European Christians, thousands who were scattered over had been discounted and abandoned by miles of territory, reaching hundreds of the American Board and others; but thousands every month. the broad-minded, large-hearted Dr. Butler, seeing that all kinds of mission Thus the Gospel was preached over a work alone in faith reoeived God's bless· great part of the territory now visited ing, inaugurated all kinds, and planned by this gracious revival. A very intelto put two missionaries in every large ligent native doctor once told the writer city and central station, that one might that the result of this faithful preaching look after schools, ziyats, colporteurs, and teaching was that forty thousand etc., and the other have charge of all of the inhabitants of Moradabad were itinerations, Mela preaching, and strict- no longer idolaters except in name. Yet ly evangelistic work. Before his first most of them and thousands of our reinforcement of two men arrived, the scholars, while believing Christianity Mutiny or Sepoy Rebellion broke out in the true religion, yet are kept, by caste fury. His house in Bareilly was burned and family govflrnment, from accepting and his work scattered. Soon after the it, and they die, leaving idolatry as a Mutiny, when he had stationed mis. legacy to their children. The missionasionaries at seven centres, a whole caste, ries were not left without fruit; but III! the Mazhabi Sikhs, announced that, a result of their faithful preaching and in accordance with a prophecy given by training their converts and native Guru Nanak, a reformer in the Panjab, preachers, they year by year gathered whence they had come, they must all hundreds into the Church from all become Christians. A few score of them classes, especially from the lower castes. were baptized in the Bijnore and Mo- yet they were not satisfied, but cried radabad districts, and had the mis. mightily to God for the baptism of sionaries been able to give them proper power to win the heathen by the thouteachers, thousands might have been sands. made Christians. Rev. William Taylor, now bishop in When Dr. Butler retired for other Africa, had written "Christian Adven. fields, after eight years of successful tures in South Africa." It gave an inwork, he left sixteen missionaries, four spiring account of about eight thousand ordained native preachers, and a number conversions in a few months. He was of unordained native preachers, el(hort- sent for, and much was el(pected from ers, and teachers, with a few hundred his visit. The result was not as expect. converts. Every form of mission work ed. The heathen were not converted by Was carried forward. There were schools the thousand. Only two conversions for the higher as well as for the lower from heathenism happened in all the classes, orphanages, churches, and book- Methodist mission; but what was far rooms where tracts and Scriptures could better, the missionaries and native be had, and inquirers examined and preachers were quickened and baptized prayed with by missionaries and their for the work, the only nominal Chris· tians were really con verted, and tile whole mission prepared for more spe- drias was far more aggressive, winning cific and aggressi ve work. many of his old followers, and gaining aooess to all classes and sects of Hindus. A zealous missionary of another mis- He spent all his time preaching and sion,returning to England for a short visiting the families and neighborhoods furlough, after twenty years' service, of his followers. He recited poems said to one of the Methodist missiona- written by his former teachers, in which ries ; .. I have never seen any real con- idolatry was ridiculed, gave the Bible verts, and do not expect to see any in teaching against idols, and then perthe present generation; we are sowing suaded them to give up idols and false the seed." After Mr. Taylor's visit aU incarnations and accept Christ the true. the missionaries and native preachers Then gaining a partial consent, he believed without a doubt that God would sit down and teach them orally would be pleased to have them convert (as none could read) a hymn in praise the heathen, for" Herein is My Father of Jesus, a short prayer, the Confession glorified that ye bear muoh fruit, so of Faith. then to those who remembpred shall ye be My disciples." Rev. Zahur- well the Lord's Prayer and the Ten ul Haqq prayed at one of Mr. Taylor's Commandments. He often visited from meetings, " 0 Lord, if Thou c~n8t not five to ten villages a day, and then he make me a soul winner, set me aside would go round again and again, asking from this calling and appoint others if they had kept their promiMe to give who will save these millions." Of up idolatry and worship Jesus. He course God honored sllch devotion, and would collect a few together and hold a made him a soul saver. All the mis· prayer-meeting with them, and thus he sionaries and native ministers went fOf- taught all the forms of the secret private ward with greater zeal and faith, teach· and public worship of Jesus. He went ing and preaching in bazaars, melas, on indoctrinating thousands. Other everywhere; itinerating through the native preachers moved on thus in villages, distributing tracts and Scrip- smaller circles, and the work went on tures, and after careful examination and with inoreasing but not marvellous suoinstruction baptizing all who came, still cess until two and a half years ago, hoping to see the non·Christians tum. when this great and glorious revival ing by thousands frOID idols to the liv- began. At that time there were about ing God, and asking for baptism in the ten thousand converts, five hundred na· presence of great crowds of their coun· tive ministers, preachers, exhorters, and trymen. teachers, twenty-eight thousand Sunday- school scholars. and seventeen thousand Some of the native preachers, before day scholars under instruction. All their conversion, had been wandering these, scattered among a population of preachers, proselytizers or teaohers thirty millions, carried on evangelistic among their own people, and knew the work in nearly one thousand centres. Indian methods of making converts. This work was all directed by twenty- One of these, Zahur-ul Haqq had spent seven American and forty· five native years at the Muhammadan mosque as missionaries. Muezin, calling to prayers and in reading and memorizing parts of the Quran The missignaries had learned from in Arabic, preparing to become a Maulvi. Andrias the Hindustani methods of He had learned how to proselytize. making converts, and made their schools Prem Das and Andrias had been propa· for the lower elasses all into Panthsgators of the teaohings of Kabir and i.e., theological schools, where the boys Nanak, and each had hundreds of fol· and young men learn firstall the modes lowers. These for the most part left of worshipping the gods and then learn their leaders, but were followed, visit- to read if they can. Dr. Goucher. of ed, and taught by them as far af< p'''Ri· Baltimore, had given help to establish ble. Prem Das won'a few of hi:>, .none hundted and fifty such schools in vice as well aB the doctrines of Christ Rohilkhand, and Dr. Frey, also of Bal- and the Commandments. Other mistimore, had given money to found eighty sionaries were called out to villages to in Oude. These schools taught thou- baptize converts, till nearly all the missands to give up idols and to sing hymns sionaries in Rohilkhand were evangelizof praise and offer prayer to the true ing and baptizing converts their helpers God in the name of Jesus. All the above had won. evangelizing agl'ncies were in successful operation when the revival began, and The work spread with such rapidity the way was prepared and all were ex- that all the students Dr. Scott, of our pecting fruit all the while. Bareilly Theological School, could spare were Bet to work, and all the teacher- Rev_ Mr. Knowles, of Gonda, had preachers Bishop Thoburn could combaptized a few score at the Ajudhia mand were teaching converts; then he Mela in the presence of thl! heathen. tried to call a halt in baptizing to teach He had ",isited the Tharus, a tribe liv- the converts more perfectly, but all ing in the wet, unhealthy jungles skirt- made answer: .. We cannot stop the ing the Himalayas, and had baptized baptism that way. The more we teach several whole villages; and all the mis- the more zealously the taught tell others sionaries wished such scenes might be and bring them in for baptism." multiplied. " Give us more teachers and preach- The revival, though expected, came ers full of faith and the Holy Ghost '" in an unexpected way. Henry Mitchell, was the universal cry. The .Bishop reo a native ordained preacher, who had ported this work at Northfield, and Mr. been picked up and supported a while Moody gave and collected enough to by the writer, then sent to the Orphan- Bend one hundred preacher-teachers. age and named for the son of his Pre- In one year he reported 1400 converts siding Elder in the Pittsburg Confer- as the result of these Moody schools. ence, was left without an appointment There are many most interesting incito fill a place expected to fall vacant. dents connected with this great pente- He was needed in another place, and cost we cannot recount here. In 1890 ordered by Bishop Thoburn to report at Dr. Wilson, of Budaon, in only 11 Roorkee. On his way he went with two months, baptized 1163. Dr. Butcher, of or three others to visit some of their Bijnore, baptized 583. Hasan Baza friends in a village not far from Roor- Khan, of Kas Ganj, haptized 415. filrakee, where he was invited to tell them him Solomon, a converted Jew, of Fathall about Christianity. He preached ganj, haptized 477. In 1889 there had faithfully, and as a result about seventy been 4000 baptisms. In 1890 there were persons were baptized. They said that nearly 9000, and in 1891 there have hundreds of others of their caste were been about 18,000, while in only a small ready to be made Christians. This part of the field 20,000 are reported a8 caused a great stir among missionaries as ready for baptism. Some villages have well as among tho heathen. sent pitiful letters, saying that for months they have gi",en up idolatry, and Bishop Thoburn, as usual, WbS quick begging the missionaries to come and to see the situation. He appointed .. make us Christians." The greatBst Dr. Parker, an evangelist. who select- enthusiasm prevails among all the naed several native preachers and started tive helpers to save the people. After out itinerating among the villages where these neophytes learn the way more the people were accessible and ready to perfectly, special services are held for receive the Gospel. He went to as them at the Quarterly. District, and Anmany villages as possible, preaching and nual Conferences ant: camp-meetings. baptizing hundreds, and leaving some Missionaries of other churches look on one to teach the converts more perfectly with wonder and praise as t):ley see the forms of Christian worship and serhundreds every day born of the Spirit younger men, many of whom but yesat these great annual Christian melas terday were riding on conservancy and commune with thousands of these carts, sweeping streets, cutting grasR, or saved sons and daughters of India. following the plough; now with clean This work will and must go on till India clothes without and clean hearts within, and the world ate saved. going here and there and everywhere supplant.ing Krishna with Christ, and The Quick Baptisms by North India proclaiming the religion of the Re· Missionaries. deemer iustead of that of Ram. .. But they are low caste." Yes; but they are BEY. T. J. SCOTT, D.D., PRINCIPAL THEO- on their way to high castehood. Did Christ select His apostles from among LOGICAL SEMINARY, BAREILLY, INDIA. the nabobs and milliollilires of Judea and Galilee? The masses of the world Listening to the remarks of those who of India are poor, are common people oppose quick baptisms on general prin- -low caste. Weare after them. Out ciples, one might be led to conclude that upon the misorable snobbery, the exethe whole thing-converts, converters, crable, pharisaical pride that would pass churches from Peter and pentecost by the million reachable and accessible down-was a dead failure, a rash rush- Brahman·Ramanuja, Gaur, or Kulin, or ing in of the impulsive, eccentric, and the self-satisfied MoslE'm, Shia, Snni inexperienced missionary novice who Wahabi, Moghal, or Pathan. does not know what he is about. But that is not in accordance with the facts. During the past two or three months While there may be a few cases where it I have seen practical illustrations of the would have been better not to have done growth of men under the influence of it, in the great majority of cases it has the Gospel that ought to convince the turned out well. What means this great most sceptical of the success of our aggressive army of twelve thousand or work. Take a few facts. On my last more in Rohilkhand, principally in the tour on the Ajmere circuit I met with Bareilly, Budaon, and Moradabad dis- eight men-Madhu, Samuel, Surta, Latricts? Where did these hundreds of chcha, Changa Lal, Bania, Chanda, and preachers, exhorters, teachers, colpor. YUilif–who but a few months ago were teurs, Bible readers, Zenana workers heathens. Now they are exhorters in the come from? The most of them came Methodist Episcopal Church, are full of from among the poor villagers, who, zeal to preach the Gospel, have been bearing the Gospel expressed a desire the means of saving scores of relations, for Christ Ilond conversion, and were ac- friends, and acquaintances, and who in cepted on the spot and baptized at once. a marvellously short time have learned Let us read Church history, not of the the leading facts of the Bible as taught conversion of Europe or of the Chris- in Mudge's Catechism and simpler portianization of Asia Minor, but the Church tions of Scripture. The Rupnagar quarhistory. concrete, progressive, irrepres- ter is a marvel. These men, seated on sible, recording itself all about us in the the ground, face to face with their rude person and work of our strong preachers instrnments, can hold a crowd all night and teachers-converts but a day or two listening to their quaint adaptations of ago from Hinduism and Muhammadan- •• Yisu Masih Mera Prana BachaSa,' '* ism, who now in the thick of the fight and other bhajans. These are the men show gleaming battle axes with blood who, on four or five rupees a month, on them, and ever unfurl to the breezes are to become the pioneers of a new era. the banner bearing the inscription, .•• In What does the clerically.dressed swell Hoc Signo Vinces." Time would fail me catechist on fifty or one hundred rupees to tell of Haqq, and Cutting, and Jacob, and H. R. Khan, and Mahbub Khan, * ".Tesus Christ has saved my soul. .. and Solomon, and Isa Das, and Stevens, and Chimman Lal, or of the scores of per month know or care about the me one of the men ready for baptism! masses surging about-sheep without a His pay is five rupees. The third man shepherd, driven here Ilnd there by is Isa Das, of GobardlUlD. Recently priests? Voracious and cruel wolves, there has been an ingathering at various who would leave them nothing but their sacred centres about lIuttra. On the bones. It is of these men that the ex- morning of June 8th I started at three perienced missionary, who dug them 0' clock in a tekha gari for Gobardhan, out, writes: "These exhorters are reli· thirteen miles distant. Soon after start. able, good men-our own converts; will ing a fearful storm arose. First dust stay with us for life, and work like came pouring in upon my recumbent heroes. They have passed good exami- person until I was almost suffocated. naUons in the Catechism and Gospel, Then down came the rain. The dust and will develop into good workers; in was turned into mud, and darkness covfact, are even now working well and en- ered all from the rude gaze of men. during hardships. Two of them, when But we pushed on. The morning I could not get a gari for my tent, shoul- cleared up. We had a splendid meeting dered it and carried it six miles to the in a native hut and baptized sixteen next village on June 1st last. That will adults, and among them two Bairagi give you an idea of the stuff they are gurus, one of whom is Isa Das. He at made of." I have three other men- once took hold. Has taught a school, living epistles-read and known of all. and has travelled among his friends in Lal Masih lives at Karas, a village near the surrounding towns. He has just Hattras. I found him and his wife at come in and reported a large number of Hattras a couple of years ago, when they inquirers at Digg, an important place were brought to me for baptism. They beyond Gobardhan in Bhartpore terribelonged to the sweeper caste. Imme- tory. We propose to save India through diately after baptism they set to work to such men as these. I am not crying learn to read. Lal Masih's growth was down education, I am only crying up marvellous. He soon was able to teach what the Lord gives us right at hand. a school. His wife also was able in a Let us go where He leads, and follow short time to ttlach the Christian girls hard after every indication of Provi· in her Mohallah. I gave him an ex- dence. horter's license. He sent his wife to the training-school, and she came back For those who do not think there can much improved. He now has charge of be much done in the hot weather in the a work of his own, and teaches a small way of evangelistic work, I would say school. He has been the means of sav- that we have had the greatest success in ing scores of souls. His pay is five the hottest months. Take the followrupees a month, and he never com- ing as specimens: plains. He has a beautiful voice, and great skill in conducting singing. June 8th, at Gobardhan, 16; June 16th, at Mohaban, 19; July 14th, at Masih Dayal is a convert from Muttra Danjee, 14; July 21st, at Hathras, 10 ; City. He has never given us a moment's July 28th, at Khalilganj, 19 ; July 28th, trouble. He first earned his own way at Jaleswar, 26. as a Chowkidar, reading during spare moments; then he was promoted to Upon these it may be remarked that teach a little school, then worked a few three of the ahove places are shrine cen. months in Agra. He now has charge tres, where there never were any con· of the Muttra book.shop, and is active verts before. Not one of these converts in all kinds of Christian work. Recent- come upon the mission for support. ly he accompanied me to Lucknow, and They are aU well looked after by experi. slept on the veranda with the Pankah enced men, and schools are started walas. On the second day he brought among them. It is a mistake to think that we baptize these poor people and let them go. We baptize them and hold on to them. Our policy is to have good an uncle and an only Hister, whom he strong men at the centres. I divide greatly loved. These two events, in my large circuits into sub.circuits, connection with his natural tendency to and put my strongest and most ex· meditate upon religious subjects, led perienced men over the sub.circuits, him to give up the gross idolatry of his then the cheap men under them. So people. He ran away from home to join there is system. "What I say unto you the mendicants and bands of men cele- I say unto all, Watch." The local brated for their knowledge of Sanskrit preacher watches the pastor.teacher. and Vedic lore. He spurned earthly The preacher in charge watches the local riches, and set his heart fully to seek for preacher and all below him. The pre- the true religion by means of a life of siding elder watches the preachers in austerities. When about the age of charge, and the bishop watches UB all. thirty he became possessed of the con- If there is any work in India more in- viction that he should devote his life to terlocked, more systematic, more care- the effort of bringing back his deluded fully planned, and more faithfully prose· countrymen to the pure monotheistic cuted than this I have not heard of it. faith of the old Vedic times, when Hin- Look at the meetings, and conferences, dustan was enjoying her golden age. and conventions held at all times of the year; quarterly, district, and annual His teachings. He taught that the conferences for business; camp meet- Vedas were the ultimate authority, and ings, district leagues, workers' conven- that modern Hinduism was a gross pertions, itinerants' clubs for spiritual and version of Vedic teaching. He deintellectual training; red and blue rib- nounced the early Brahmins as deceivbon, and Kauri armies for reform. ers of the people. Whatever otherR may do, I shall take advantage of all these and push ahead, Idolatry, early marriages, polytheism, believing that that is the direction in and caste are among the many corrupwhich lies success.-India Witness tions introduced by the Brahmins.
Hindu Puritan Reform-The !:rye. He agrees, with Islam, in Monothe- Some.j. ism, but offends Islam by his caricatures of Jesus their prophet. REV. F. L. NEELD, BARElLLY, INDIA. He agrees with Hinduism in holding The Arya Somaj is the most energetic to the Vedas, but strikes at the root of of the reforming Hindu sects. It is or- Hinduism by denying the possibility of ganized for aggression, and is full of en- an incarnation. terprise. His points of agreement with Chris_ The founder of this sect was Pundit tianity are along in the line of its ethics, Dyanand Saraswati, who died t'ight philanthropy, and spirit of progress; years ago. He was the son of a Gujarati but he parts entirely from Christianity Brahmin, and was born in the year 1825. by denying the possibility of an incar- At a very early age he began the study nation, and by holding that there is no of Sanskrit, and to read the Vedas. His forgiveness of sins. father was a worshipper of the great gvd Mahadev, and taught his son the same In his plan of salvation from the pun. worship. As the boy rea4 and observed ishment of sin, he teaches that works he came to th3 conclusion that idols are of merit are weighed against our sins, powerless creatures, and that it was a and a balance is struck. waste of time to worship them. He thereupon gave more time to the Vedas. So far as I can discover, there is no provision for changing the character of At the age of sixteen he lost, by death, the soul. The individual sonl is left to its own unaided powers in working out a salvation from the consequences of sin by works of merit.
What these works of merit may be can be learned from the Vedas; the Vedas are in the Sanskrit language, with him, and announced that Olcott's hence the development of Sanskrit and occult science was a " lie. " a knowledge of the Vedas was a prime neccBBity. His whole sYRtem stands or Although Dyanand was afterward falls with the Vedas. ashamed of himself for having been deceived, yet he had caught enough of In his reformatory movement his first Olcott's spirit to make him more anattack was directed against the Brah. tagonistic to Ohristianity. mins and the corruptions of modern Hinduism. His controversy was with It is now eight years since Dyanand the old conservative orthodox Pundits. the founder died. During that time the He failed to accomplish anything satis· Soml1j has grown rapidly in numbers factory in this line; the Pundits, espe· and influence. cially those of Benares, refused to accept his new and liberal interpretation of the Their forms of operation. They have a Vedas, and reported generally that number of officers and itinerant preach- Dyanand had been defeated in debate. ers who "travel throughout the connec- tion" and thus bring the local Somajes He then attempted to carryon his reo into unity with the genaral movement. form by means of schools. This plan failed. chiefly because he could not get They have their printing presses, teachers that could do his work. His which they use with marked effect. la8t plan was to travel from city to city, From these issue religious papers, books, establishing Somajes (societies) as work· tracts, hymn-books, etc. Their most ing centres. In some respects this is the vigorous centre is the city of Lahore, same method which the most successful from which they send out their leading missionaries had adopted in establish- paper, the Arya Patrika, printed in Enging indigenous churches. lish.
Dyanand came much in contact with They have quite a number of Arya missionaries and their work, and adopt. schools. Many of them are for girls ed some of their best methods of organi- Their efforts to educate their girls and zation ; and the order of worship in their women are worthy of all praise. Sevweekly meetings is partly an imitation eral orphanages have been started, and of Ohristian worship. In his visits to are well subsidized by Government these centres he found many educated gran t-in-aid. progressive Hindus who were longing to get rid of the absurdities of Hinduism; In the management of these agencies and from this class chiefly the Soml1jes they have the advantage which comes were formed; the Boml1j began with from positions of influence. Many of the most vigorous and advanced Hindus. their members are medical officers in the employ of Government; some In Dyanand's writings and in the tem- are members of municipal councils; per of his followers there is much bitter- they are in the judicial and revenue deness against Ohristianity. Very many partments of Government; in fact, so of his objections against the Bible are far as political influence is concerned, very crude, and based upon mistaken they have the advantage of the Ohrisnotions of its teachings. tians. The interests of the Soml1j are well cared for. His style of treating the Bible is very similar to that of Ingersoll. He was un· In view of these facts it is apparent fortunate enough to become associated that we have here a movement with with Oolonel Olcott, and to yield him- vitality in it; a movement which we self to his flattery for a time; but when cannot ignore. he discovered that Olcott was sometimes a Buddhist, sometimes a Zoroastrian, How should we interpret this movesometimes an Aryl1n Som!!ji, but on the ment? Is it, on the whole, to be rewhole an atheist, he parted company gretted, or should it be a source of en· couragement ?
1. I believe it to be encouraging ; it is most likely a result of the enlightenment of Christian truth. Christian Ministers educated in India will con- preaching, mission schools, Christian stitute the very best agency for guiding literature, and Western civilization have this movement toward Christ led them to reject the grossest and the most fundamental teachings of orthodox Hindui8IU. Rev. S. A. Moffett, writing fom Seoul, 2. It is a movement on the part of Korea, December 29th, 1891, says: what might be called the .. laity" of " Will you kindly call the attention of Hinduism, for the purpose of recover- those interested in the suppression of ing from the Brahmins the rights which the opium traffic to the fact that Korea that great sacerdotal caste had usurped. furnishes another argument for its sup- They claim the right of interpreting the pression.
Vedas for themselves. These men can " The class of Koreans who can afford do more to break the power of the Brah- to use opium are already weakened by mins, and to disintegrate Hinduism as every kind of sensual indulgence; and a system, than any other human or- now it appears that this worst of all ganization can. vicious habits is to gain a hold upon 3. Their work has already awakened them.
the orthodox to such an extent that they "I recently spent several weeks in have formed a society called the Dharm the City of Ein ju, on the Chinese bor- Sabha, for the purpose of resisting these der, and found that already this habit disintegrating and progressive tenden- has gained an entrance, and is rapidly cies. spreading, I learn, also, that in the 4. These two parties are in dispute capital and iI), the port of Chemulpo the over the question as to what the Vedas Chinese have established joints, which teach, and" What is True Hinduism?" are patronized by Koreans, while the This dispute has brought to light the number who secretly use it is reported puerility, absurdity, and obscenity of as increasing.
some parts of the Vedas, and will reveal .. With almost every other of Satan's more and more the false pretensions of devices to meet, we missionaries pray modern Hinduism. While this process is that this traffic may be stopped before going on, the missionary can attend more it becomes one of the hindrancel!l to the to the constructive part of his work. progress of the Gospel in Korea. Please What should we do to meet this move- add the voice of helpless Korea to those ment? raised in favor of the suppression of the 1. Get into closer touch with these opium traffic..
struggling men ; they are waging a hard- er and a longer battle than they know; India's Frontier and Missions, they will eventually have to look con- sciously to Christians for help and The Indian Church Quarterly Review direction ; and from these bolder spirits calls attention to the northwest frontier, we may yet receive some of our strong- which stretches in a long semicircular est and most aggressive preachers. line into Central Asia, and brings India 2. The immediate matter for our at- in contact with many countries and tention, in view of all the above, is the some of the most influential races in training of a native ministry. This is Asia. This line of fron tier station. • being done to some extent; but there begins with Kotgarh, near Simla, and are latent resources in our young native runs to Peshawur, and from there to Christian men that can be developed. Kurrachi – twelve principal stations, From the homeland there should be with a number of subordinate stations.
sent sufficient funds to greatly strength- 'rheae are the doorways to Beluchistan, en our theological scm inaries and Chris- Afghanistan, Kashmir, Persia, Turkis- tian colleges. tan, and that imperfectly defined line of country which lies in the very centre have been the beneficiaries of mission. of the continent. The Review says: "The position of these frontier mis- ary effort. With the facilities now existsions is unique, not only on account of their geographical position among so ing for rapid travel, it ought not to be many tribes and races in Central Asia, but because there are, with very few ex- impossible to secure, in connection with ceptions indeed, no Christian mis3ions beyond them. In the countries adjoin- the World's Fair, an Ecumenical Con. ing and beyond them there is nothing to be seen but Buddhism and Muham- gress of Missions. madanism, with all their desolations, which for a thousand years and more The papers and discussions will aim have devastated some of the most beautiful spots on earth. These missions to set forth the results of missionary are beacons of light which look out upon the widely extended darkness of activity in improving the moral and death." The Peshawur Mission, in its report, says that the mission is on spiritual condition of men; in con- Afghan territory, and that the nation which wins and knows how rightly to tributing to their intellectual advancemake use of Afghanistan will win supremacy in Asia. Nor is Afghanistan ment and the betterment of their mateof less importance to us religiously. We see from history how often Afghans rial conditions; in opening new chanhave planted and upheld for centuries the flag of Islam, both in many prov- nels to commerce and new fields to inces of India and in countries beyond it. When they once are Christians they ethnological and antiquarian research. will probably become the most zealous and energetic missionaries of Christian- It will be shown that diversities of race ity of all Asia. have not proved insuperable obstacles World's Oongress of Missions. to that feeling of brotherhood inspired As the missionary motive was one of the impelling forces that led to the dis- by the Gospel of Christ. But doubtless covery and settlement of the New World, one of thtl best uses of this Congress the Columbian Exposition, to be held will be the opportunity it will furnish in 1893, in a city whose first church was for fraternal intercourse and exchange planted only sixty years ago by a home of views on the vital questionll of life missionary, is certainly a fitting occa- and faith. Ilion to set forth the results of modern missions. The Auxiliary, under whose auspices this Congress will be held, has been The World's Congress Auxiliary an- recognized and approved by the Govnounce that to make thill exhibition as ernment of the United States. It has complete as possible, it will be the en- the support of the World's Columbian deavor of those having in charge the Exposition, whose Directory will pro- Congress of Missions to secure repre- vide places of meeting, and in other sentation from every important mission- ways contribute to its success. The ary organization in the world. They new Memorial Art Palace now in procwill also attempt to bring liogether ess of construction on the site of the representatives from the peoples who old Inter·State Exposition Building will be fitted up for the use of this and the other congresses. In addition to the IImaller assembly rooms, there will be two large halls, each holding three thou- sand persons, where popular gatherings may be held. 'I'his Congress will proba- bly be convened about the middle of the month of September, 1893. Societies and individuals interested in missions will makll their arrangements, natu- rally, to visit the World'lI Fair at that time.
Persons seeking fuller information about the Congress of Missions will please address Rev. Walter Manning Barrows, D.D., Chairman General Com- mittee on Congress of Missions, World'lI Congress Auxiliary, Chicago, Ill.
NOTE.-Missionary and other religious societies desiring to take part in the im- portant material religious exhibit, which i~ to be made in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, will communicate with Dr. Selim H. Peabody, Chief of the Department of Liberal Arts, Columbian Exposition,
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
1lI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Y. M. O. A. in India. stand and will understand still better when you get closer to the situation. I Mr. David McConaughy, Secretary' will give you a leaf, though, from yes· Y. M. C. A., writes from Madras, India, terday's experience. Before the Bible_ December 10th, 1891 : class last evening I had a talk with one " DEAR DR. PIERSON: The work here of our Hindu members, who has seemed goes steadily on. The second year has most unli1cely to receive impressions- been better than the first every way. en old student of the Christian college, Our need of enlarged facilities grows filled with ideas of Bradlaugh, Spencer, more and more pressing. We do so and Huxley, well read and keenly logi- need a building. With a paid.up memo cal, and philosophical to some degree.
bership of more than two hundred, our He had disavowed belief in God and im- quarters are exceedingly straitened; in mortality in talking with me ten days •August next our lease expires, and can before ; but to my surprise he opened be only renewed for a long term and at his heart to me last night, and said a rate at least double that we are now something like this: 'I have lately been paying. We know of no other place greatly exercised about my soul. 1 available; but we are led to believe that hoped that by severe and long-continued a building site very suitable might be contemplation I might attain the truth, obtained from Government if we could but I find my heart less satisfied than give assurance of erecting a good build· before. 1 have no faith in Hinduism.
ing. Our Hindu rival has just obtained I have studied Mohammedanism, but a site on the esplanade near by, and find nothing there. I have never read thus furnishes us a valuable precedent. the Bible, although when in college I We believe the Association has greatly had one of the books (1 think it was grown in the esteem and confidence of Luke, but I am not sure). Lately I the people of all classes. Lately we have found myself unaccountably think.
have added to our Board the Inspector. ing much about Christ I know noth- General of Ordnallce and the Assist. ing about Him save what I have gath- ant Adjutant-General, both out·and·out ered from fragments in various books I Christian men, with heart interest in have read. Yet even in my sleep I have the work. At home the International been dreaming of Him; and last night, Committee finds its hands so tied finan· when only half conscious, 1 found my- cially that my appeals for men for Cal. self crying out, " 0 Christ, save me '" , cutta and Colombo (and even for an as- This m~n lives in a Brahman hostel, and sociate here at Madras, to enable me to of late has spent nearly all his time in turn more attention to the Indian Na- our rooms, sitting often for hours at a tional Committee) are held in abeyance. time in a corner of the social room, It is useless for me to app-eal for money looking blankly at the wall, until we to build under these circumstances. feared his mind was going. Hence I Meanwhile, I am pressed overmuch with was the more surprised to find his mind the growing work, local and national, clearer than mine, and the Holy Spirit and still more oppressed by being working mightily upon his heart. Late- obliged to turn a deaf ear to calls from ly he has come within hearing (but out all sides. of sight) of our religious meetings. Last .. Meanwhile, our hearts are cheered evening, for the first time in his life, he by unmistakable signs of the spirit of came to a Christian gathering-the Bible God working with us. We cannot reo trainIng class-where the subject was port spiritual results, nor even say much 'What must I do to be saved?' AI· about them in print, as you call under- ready a change has been remarked in this man's face; and I trust erelong traffic' has grown until its proportions the light of life will be shining clear and have become very great. The year 18110 bright in his heart. saw no less than 160,000 Chinese coolies imported into Singapore from five or "Well, while we were talking to- six ports in China. The large number gether, the President of the Association of English and Chinese agents, both in came rushing upstairs with his face Singapore and in China, who carry on aglow, and said: 'I say, I've had the this vast and organized traffic are comhest talk to-night with S – (a Brah- monly spoken of as ' slave dealers.' man member) that I've ever had in these rooms; and he has opened his heart and "The way in which the coolies are told me that he is determined to follcw secured in China for the Singapore mar- Christ.' That means SO much for such a ket is this: The' agents' give striking man out here. He and my man, Dorais- descriptions of the successes to be obwamy Moodeliar, and three other Hindu tained by leaving China and going to members (one of the latter' a disciple, but Singapore. To millions of Chinese these secretly') were in the Bible class, and we , agents' have ready access. They are had a good hour. We believe we are very poor, and the' agents' agree to going to see' greater things than these, ' pay the passage of the coolies to Singaand that erelong. I have felt hitherto pore, upon condition that each man that what was required was building an signs a contract, which stipulates that association rather than an association the indebtedness to the' agent' shall be building; but now the need of enlarged recognized and refunded out of the facilities presses heavily. Will you not coolie's wages. So far all seems fair take this matter upon your heart and and above board. From the moment, join us in praying the Lord to provide however, the contract is signed, the the means?" coolie's liberty is a thing of the past.
Ooolie Slave Trade in Singapore. "On arrival at Singapore these un· told thousands of nearly naked Chinese The following are extracts from an' are drafted into large receiving sheds open letter addressed to the Marquis of and houses, from which they cannot go Salisbury by Mr. Henry Varley, Evan- away, though the actual indebtedness to gelist, who, having recently visited the' agent' seldom exceeds lOs. to 15s., Singapore, feels it imperative to bring or four dollars Singapore currency. before his lordship's attention the fol- Hundreds of the coolies are crowded lowing particulars. into carts and conveyed to empty houses in various parts of the city. Crowds of Mr. Varley calls attention to Singa- human faces peer through the iron bars pore as an island situated in the Straits of the windows of the rooms into which, of Malacca, and commanding one of the as human cattle. they are driven, in principal highways to China and Japan; which they are imprisoned, and from as a great coaling station and port of which there is no escape. call for hundreds of steamers and sailing vessels. "Tens of thousands of these coolies are, within a few daya, forwarded by He says: "Singapore has grown English steamers, at the will of the rapidly, and is increasing in importance 'agent,' to Java, Borneo, Sumatra, Joevery year. Already it contains about hore, and scorE'S of places in the East- 200,000 inhabitants, and as an Eastern ern Archipelago. Iniquitous and exrepresentative of imperial interests orbitant charges are made by these ranks high. As a great centre to which 'slave dealers,' and until their unjust Eastern produce and commerce con- demands are paid the coolies know no' verge, and into which great mnsses of freedom. The coolie does not hire him- Chinese and Indian life literally pour, self out. It, is the 'agpnt' who sells Singapore has few rivals and no peer. biB services often for a llIiso·l1ble wage.
"The 'Chinese coolie immigration The Chinese are thus committed to a and distrnst the Christian and mission- system of enforced labor, and where ary efforts of Britain.
they have no voice concerning their .. That this English slave trade in position, work, or pay. There are no Chinese coolies, which has existed for Courts of Appeal; and outside Singa- more than twenty years in Singapore, pore there is no English law either to has so seared the conscience of the colo- protect or to deliver the coolie. nial authorities, that the year 1891 sees ., The Chinese coolie immigration more than twelve hundred opillm dens traffic is a system of slavery with a thin in full blast in Singapore! These veneer over it, in order to its conceal- houses have been licensed by the Im- ment and indefinite extension. This perial Government in order to carryon conviction is common in Singapore, but this degrading traffic, and so abnorma.l the infamous traffic is profitable! It has been the growth and spread of this pays, and hence there is criminal silence traffic that nearly three fourths of the on the part of many who should speak total revenue of Singapore for the year out in words of burning indignation. 1890 was received from the licenses and .. A prominent Government official, sale of the deadly opium.
who for several years has had special .. The Imperial Government goes s~ill oversight and inspection in regard to fmther, and licenses a large number of the coolie traffic, admitted that • prac- immoral houses in Singapore. It is tically it is an organized system of slav- possible to.day for any man or wom- ery on a very large scale.' Referring an to apply to the representative of the to the contracts, he said, • I do not Imperial Government for a license to think they are instruments of oppres- keep a house of ill.fame, and it will be sion up to the point of arrival in Singa. granted. Whole streets in Singapore pore. It is after the coolies leave us are thus licensed for purposes of im- and are forwarded to the sugar planta. morality. In some houses from twenty tions, cotton gardens, and places of ser- to fifty girls, many of them mere chil- vice in the various islands where the dren, are kept in stock, and exhihited ,. agents" send them.' Exactly. Be- in their tawdry finery to all who pass yond the ten or fifteen shillings which hy. In the main they are imported from the coolie owes for his short passage China and Japan. Scores of them have from China, the • agent' has no just been bought, and in hundreds of cases claim against him. are the property of the vile men and .. This traffic involves every year the women whom English law has licensed, liberty of 150,000 Chinese subjects. and whose houses the police are in- Were such an infamous system at- structed to protect and regulate. From· tempted in regard to Englishmen in any Hong Kong, notorious for its degrading part of the earth, not only would the traffic in Chinese women, the bulk of civilized world rise in indignant protest these girls are shipped, and the im- against it, but the moral and material moral purpose for which they are forces of the British nation would com- brought to Singapore is perfectly well bine to overthrow and stamp out the in- known. They have been sold for money famous traffic. into a degrading moral slavery more " Can we be surprised at the strained terrible even than the traffic in Chinese relationships between the English and coolies.
the Chinese? That Englishmen should "Is it anything less than appalling to be spoken of as 'foreign white devils' find the Imperial Legislature of the first suggests, in the light of these terrib'e and greatest Empire in the world pro- facts, sagacity and truth, rather than tecting and tacitly recognizing human ignorant prejlldice, on the part of the slavery and slave – dealers, licensing Chinese. No wonder that they snspect opium dens. as also immoral hOllses, the national and commercial honesty, and their degraded keepers ?" [We feel constrained to say that the see their way clear to grant my request. above is one of the most terrible indict- It is not a very great one, especially ments ever brought against a Christian when they have in their hands about nation; and we cannot doubt the Brit- £40,OOO-jubilee collection – only my ish Government will institute an inves- own salary (single man). I have promtigation. – EDITOR.] ised them not to ask anything for build- ings, etc., for the first three years. Letter from Mr. Williams. I shall let you know again the deci- A short time ago I paid a short visit sion of our directors. Something will to the Lushai Hills, and was accom- be done at the General Assembly, which panied by Mr. Aitken, of Calcutta. It will be held in South Wales about the is my wish to go and start a mission end of this month. among the Lushais. I have already written home to the directors of our WILLIAM WILLIAMS. mission about the matter. If they cannot see their way clear to help me, I KRASI HILLS, ASSAM, June 18, 1891. may feel it my duty to go there without any guarantee of their support-simply Captain E. C. Hore, the African misrelying on the promises of Him who gave sionary explorer, will publish about the the great command: "Go ye, therefore, end of March a volume with the title and make disciples of all the nations." " Tanganyika; Eleven Years of Central African Work." It will be illustrated It is my plan to take Khasi teachers with a portrait, and eleven full-page and evangelists with me. Some of the illustrations from the author's own young men of' these hills have made sketches, surveys, and photographs. It great progress in education. One has will be a complete and concise account passed the Calcutta F .A., and is prepar- of the London Missionary Society's ing for his B.A. ; and the number of Central African Mission, accounting for thould who have passed the Calcutta en- each of its members and all its proceedtrance is increasing every year. ings from the commencement to the present time. We believe it will be the The Director of Public Instruction first report of the share that English Intold me the other day that the young dependents have had in tbe opening up men of our normal school were the first of the great new regions of Central throughout the province in mathematics Africa. Tanganyika is the only one of in the last examination ; and they were the great Central African lakes that has under a disadvantage, too – they had to been definitely surveyed, and this has do their work in English, a foreign lan- been done by Captain Hore, who may guage, while the Bengalees and As- be regarded as, in a great degree, the samees were doing it in their own. discoverer of the lake.
If the Khasis who are not Christians It is said that during the nine years can accompany our troops to Lushailand and six months preceding December, as coolies and harlots, surely the Khasis 1884, there occurred in Japan 553 earthwho are Christians can go there to teach quakes, averaging one earthquake for the people the way of life ! every six days and six hours. Professor Milne makes the average even greater The Government will be ready to give than this. He could trace an average of a substantial support toward schools. an earthquake per day in Nagasaki, in Without primary schools, it will be very the extreme south of the Japanese Archidifficult to carryon the work. The pelago. If the statistics were compiled schools have been the backbone of the from the returns of officials from all over mISSIon in these hills. and I do not the country, only those shocks which know how we could get on without caused loss of life or damage to property them. would be included.
I prayerfully hope the directors will
TIlE MO~THLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
India-Hinduism. to-day that are heathen and MQsiem than ever before, because of the birth· India still remains one of the greatest rate increase under the splendid protec- problems for evangelism the Christian tion and father-care of the British Gov- Church has to confront. Its vast extent ernment, the fact still remains that is still not realized by non-residents of there is less of Hinduism. It is greatly that land. It is not a country as one modified and moderated. It is less cruel, would speak of a country of Europe, leilS in force in its worst forms. It is but, rather, it is a continent. From less defended and seen more and .more Peshawur on the north, to Cape Como- to be less defensible; hence there is rin on the south, it measuree, in a really a different sort of Hinduism; straight line, 1900 miles. From Assam and every year sees more and more dison the esst, to Kurrachee on the west, position to find something that shall its extent is equal to its length. Leav- more commend itself to reason. ing out Burma, it is equal in length to the distance from Edinburgh to Con- THE lIOMAN AND INDIAN EMPIBES COMstantinople. Its breadth is equal to a line stretched from Sicily to Moscow. PAllED. Its popUlation now is known to number 285,000,000 of souls-souls for the re- We find in the Missionary Herald of demption of whom Jesus Christ died. the Baptist Missionary Society of Great Bengal has a population so dense that Britain so forcible a contrast between it seems impossible to take it in. It the Roman and Indian empires that we counts 500 persons to the square mile. venture to draw largely from it : The whole of British India counts 233 to the square mile; half the popUlation "Each empire. in a very wonderful of the empire is in the Gangetic valley, where accesil is easy to them. Madras way, grew gradually and inevitably from has more people than Italy aud Belgium; the Panjab has as many as Spain a very small beginning-the village of and Portugal; Bombay has as many as Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Swe- Rome and the handful of merchants in den put together. Of the total population of India perhaps 200,000,000 may India. In extent there is not very be put down as Hindus; 50,000,000 are Muhammadans; 25,000,000 are of the much difference between them. In ruder races, known as the Hill tribes or aboriginal tribes. These are the abo- each case a large number of different rigines of the country. Some of them have become somewhat Hinduized. It nationalities, with different languages, is a hard task to lead one Hindu to Christ; but there are not less than 200,- have been bound together under one 000,000 to bring over to Christianity. But year by year the people are less dis· political rule, and in each case the result posed to defend their own religion. The attendltnce on religious festivals is has been Romana pax, perfect order and less and less. Christian schools are making· a profound impression on the peace. Each military system has had native mind. Even if we recognize the fact that there are more people in India both foreign and native troops: the 'centurion of the Italian band' is, in modern parlance, a 'captain of an English regiment.' The Roman roads are paralleled by the Indian railroads.
The Roman proctor typified the English magistrate, and the principles of Roman and English law are not very different.
A magistrate in India would say: 'It is not the manner of the English to deliver any man to die befor9 that he which is accused have the accusers face to face.
and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.'
And if ssk(ld to interfere in a purely religious dispute between native and native, he would say: 'If it were a matter of wrong Moruwhaimckmedadlaenwsd, nreesas~o0n ye Hindus and would that I should bear with you; but if it be a question of words and nameR and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters.' • King' England. A Brahman named Charlu, Agrippa was evidently an inferior per- of Madras, was elected President of the sonage to the Roman Festus; just as an Congress. We do not know how many Indian Raja, with all his pomp and of the members were native Christians, titles, must be prepareCi to obey any but probltbly a goodly number, as the orders given him by plain Mr. John Congress of the year before had forty Smith, the English resident. The sllch members in it. spread of the Greek language in the l~oman Empire ill paralleled by that of Kristo Samiij.-A Christian conference the English language in India. Other has been held at the place of the meet· points might be noted, but these will ing of the National Congress. Last year suffice to show how much of similarity (December, 1891) brethren from the varithere is bAtween the two empires. From ous provinces-Bombay, BeIl{lal, Cena missionary point of view, however, tral and Northwest- met every morning there afe two important points of differ- at the Free Church at Nagpore. ence. In the first place, the population of India is more than double the estimat- On Tuesday morning Kali Charn ed population of the whole Roman Em- Banerji, of Calcutta, spoke on the Krista pire in the zenith of its power. And, in Samiij movement, and defined the selfthe next place, the religions of India. supporting church as one that can sup. when mission work was commenced ply spirituality on the conservative and there, were not somewhat effete, as was aggressive side, both to build up and the case with the popular religions of extend the Church. The usual idea of New Testament times. but both Hindu- a self-supportmg church was one which ism and Muhammadanism held full sway could pay its own pftStor, but if, instead in the hearts and lives of their respec- of putting the money question in the tive votaries, and to a large extent they front the man question was made the hold full sway still. The one word first thing, the question of self.support , caste' sums up a host of difficulties would be solved. which apostolic workers had not to encounter. The plan of the Krista Samaj is thus, explained by Mr. Banerji : "A number ,. The evangelization of India is, there- of us are banded together; we endeavor fore, a far harder and vaster task than to recognize gifts and utilize them. was the evangelization of the whole When we find a brother spiritually gift- Roman Empire at the time of our Lord. ed, we don't raise humun questions of education, ordination, or whether he n took three centuries to make Rome has passed through a theological course. We do not recognize technical conveneven nominally Christian; let us not be tionalities. A man that has a gift may discouraged if in less than one century be engaged in a secular calling; we do so little comparatively seems to have not allow these accidents to prevent our been done in India." using that brother. No one is accepted as a member of our Samaj who will not NATIVE POLITICAL AND OTHER DEVELOP- engage in personal work. Every disci- ple can do something. We are not sat- MENT. isfied with work by proxy; so when every one works and they do not look It is a mark of favor toward the Gov- for money, the church is self·support- ing. The money question is laid aside ernment of the British in India that the altogether. On the other hand, a per. son cannot claim a spiritual gift and natives should meet in council to debate thrust himself on the congregation. The call must come from the congreganational issues. On December 28th last tion. The great thing before us is to band ourselves together for the evan· the Native National Congress met at Nagpur, the capital of the Central Prov- inces. Eight hundred delegates were in attendance from various pl"Ovinces, and some four thousand visitors were present watching the proceedings. The Chairman of the Reception Committee spoke in the highest terms of the Brit· ish rule in India. He said the keynote of the movement was loyalty to the Crown and attachment to the British people to whom India owes her re-birth.
He declared they were desirous of an everlasting union between India and gelization of the world; we do not care The Opium Question.
to have everyone give up their differ- We have received from Mr. Alfred ences of opinion. Onr idea is to spread Dryer, of Bombay, some statements a canopy over all the tents, thus putting about the opium question, now being so them all under one roof." Surely this urgently pl'essed on the British at home, indigenous movement for unity on the which show that it is not merely a part of Indian Christians should call question of demoralizing China, but forth the active sympathy of all God's India has also come under the curse.
people. There has been a great increase in the Arya and Brahmo Samaj.-The Arya Indian consumption of the drug. Mr.
Sam!tj and Brahmo Samaj are new Dryer says, that "taking the official schools of Hindu thought causE'd by figures, we find thAt the consumption Christianity. Dr. Hooper, Principal of of opium in the Bombay Presidency in the C. M. S. Divinity School in Allaha· the financial year 1876-77, was 24,765 bad, states that a century of evangeliza- pounds. At the end of the next three tion in India has had a vaster effect on years it had increased 72 per cent. At the country than Islam ever bad. the end of the next three years it had "Indian converts to Islam became so increased to 275 per (lent over the total for the sake of the social rise it gave of 1876-77. At the end of the next them. They remained stationary in three years it had increased to 426 per numbers, and had no influence on sur- cent over that total; and at the end of rounding Hinduism. The Gospel, with the next three years to 494 per cent. In its hllif million converts, has almost the following year (1889-90), the last turned Hinduism upside down already." for which a report has been issued, The Brahmo Sam!tj has not gone beyond the consumption of the poison had the Bengllli race. It has intense faith increased to 549 per cent over that of in prayer and in Providence._ It speaks 1876-77. '
with the highest respect of Jesus. Its " In the annual official document en- main tenets are the fatherhood of God titled • Statement of the Moral and and the brotherhood of man. It is Material Progress of India,' issued last loyal to England. The founder of Ary!t May, it is shown that in the year nnder Sam!tj was Dayanand Saraswati, who report, the consumption of opium had died in 1883. Chrjstian missionaries now increased also in the Northwest, Prov- meet with this sect everywhere. By its inces and Oudh; in the Central Prov- name it professes to bonor Indian an- inces ; in Assam ; in Lower Burmah; tiquity. This school wishes to be what in Bemr, the assigned districts of the Aryans were when they came into Hyderabad ; and to a smaU extent in India. It rejects late del'elopments of Madras Presidency.
the Hindu mind. It is theistic, but in 1 Mr. Dryer says, further, that over cold and lifeless manner. It has noth- twenty·three thousand persons in India ing of the warmth of the Brahmo have set their signatures to one form Samaj. It rejects incarnation, atone· alone of petition to Parliament against ment, inspiration. and the miraculous the wrong done the country by the generally. It checks conversions to opium traffic, while nearly one hundred Christianity. At Allahabad in 1884 a newspapers and periodicals have issued convert who was baptized by Dr. Hoop- anti-opium supplements.
er, meeting with this school, apostatized The Great Religious Movements in India.
and never came, to the Lord's table. -We have two able articles in this num- 'fhis Sam!tj carries on its anti·Christian ber of the REVIEW on the great revival attack by preaching, tract composition, in North India. It is a wonderful pen- holding meetings and private conversa- tecost. Indications of the same thing tion-aU of them methods learned from elsewhere are fonnd widely over India, Christianity. especially among low-caste peopleI'. The Indian Witnes8 has the following: you do IJot come. We hltve no idols now, and yet we cannot be Christians. .. The four district conferences in What shall we do? Do come to us, and Rohilkhand – viz., Bareilly, Pilibhit, make us Christians.' Some people may Moradabad, and Amroha, met in joint smile at such a request, and only notice session at Chandausi on Tuesday morn- the ignorance which the request to ing of this week. The attendance was • make them Christians' indicates, but very large and the reports encouraging. for one I feel more like crying than ~'he Rev. P. T. Wilson, M.D., reported laughing when I hear the story. The 3485 baptisms in the Bareilly district. poor creatures are sincere, and their The Rev. Zahllr-ul Haqq reported 1884 ignorance only gives them a stronger from the Amroha district. The Rev. claim upon us. Had such a spectacle J. C. Butcher, M.D., reported 2200 from been seen thirty years ago, all Indio. the Moradabad district, while the Rev. would have heard of it, and missiona- Ibrahim Suliman brought up the rear ries would have competed for the opwith 1143 from the Pilibhit district. portunity of hastening to them with The grand total of baptisms reported help and comfort." throughout the four districts was thus 8712, a number which ought to startle Hinduism. those on whom the re8ponsibility of caring for these converts rests. The large Sir Alfred Lyell delivered one of a audience WIlS profoundly moved by these reports, I}nd several hymns of triumph series of addresses in Londo!]. on the were sung with great enthusiasm."
Referring to Bishop Thoburn's visits various religions of the world, all of which were given at South Place Instito these district conferences it further tute. The religion which Sir Alfred says: treated was Hinduism. It is a master. ly presentation of the complex system, " Since Bishop Thoburn left Calcutta or conglomerate of all systems and no he has attended district conferences at systems which we know as modern Hin- Hathras, Narsinghpur, Meerut, Bara· duism. We cannot even give an outline banki and Chandausi. The sum total of the lecture. In concluding, he said: of baptisms for the year officially re- "Hinduism has always been changing ported at these meetings is over fifteen thousand I"
Bishop Thoburn, writing of this reo more or less, and it will go on cbanging vival, says: faster than ever under the influence of " The whole atmosphere here seems contact with Europe. There has always full of the feeling that a great ingather- been a reforming school of Hinduisming is near at hand. The workers are a a desire to throw off the coarser ('on lowly company, and many of them but ceptions and practices, and to adopt half-taught converts themselves; but things more spiritual and morally better. when I compare them with the men we There have been recently attempts in had around us twenty-five years ago, I this direction ; there has been a desire thank God anew for everyone of them. to prove that the Vedas, the original They know nothing whatever of fail- sacred books, do not sanction the abuses ure or discouragement. They expect of Hinduism; that they may be intersuccess, and expect it upon a scale preted as again the prevailing idolatry, which those of earlier days never and that the real Hinduism prescribed dreamed of. In every direction the by Holy Writ is a much higher and fields are said to be white to the harvest. purer revelation. . . . He says tbat As the repol·ts were made, I at first " the leaf substance and mainspring of asked each man how many inquirers he Indian religion is not polytheism, but had in his circuit. The lowest number pantheism. There can be little doubt mentioned by anyone was two hun- that the whole edifice of polytheism is dred ; and when some began to speak likely to break up and melt off the sur· of thousands I ceased to ask the ques- face of civilized India; that their im· tion. memorial superstitions will collapse be- fore the steady maintenance of peace " Some of the calls which reach our workers are very urgent. Brother Hasan Reza Khan spoke of people who had sent to him, saying: 'Months ago we threw away our idols and sent for you to come and make us Christians; but and law, the advancement of learning roof to offer a hearty welcome to a and the influx of knowledge. . . . The Christian missionary, who has for his air is charged with spiritual enthusiasm, avowed object the pulling down of both so that no one can say whether some Hinduism and Muhammadanism. Had ardent faith may not suddenly blaze up it not been for the education that we in the midst of India that will shatter have received under this Christian Gov.
all the old fabric of religion, and lead ernment, and through missionary labors, away the great Indian multitudes in an I should have to-day been stoned by the entirely new direction." bigoted idolaters of my own religion, "Are We Really Awake ?"-This is the for having committed the most unpar- caption of an "Appeal to the Hindu donable crime of taking such a part in Community, ,. which has been largely cir- to-day's proceedings."
culated in India. We quote from it a A Moslem Convert.-Dr. Clarke, of the single paragraph: C. M. S. at Umritsur, says: " The life-blood of our society is fast .. Some time ago there was a young ebbing away, and irreligion is eating Muhammadan, the son of a great Mu. into its vitals. Looking beneath the hammadan saint and doctor, who had surface, we find the mischief under great anxiety of soul because of sin. He which we Hindus at present labor is read the Koran through and through owing chiefly to the influence of Chris- without finding light, when he found in tianity, brought steadily and constantly it an expression referring to the Old Testo bear on our national mind for ;nearly tament and the New Testament. The thought came into this young man's a century and a half… , The count· heart, 'If I can only get possession of II less Christian missions at work in this Bible, I might get what I need.' Most country, especially in Bengal, are in a wonderfully, two ladies happened to be fair way of achieving their object, not in the district, and he got what he so much, however, by carrying convic- wanted. He began with the Gospel of tion to our hearts about the superiority St. John, and by the time he got to the of their religion, as by slowly and im- third chapter he was a free man, and perceptibly changing our ideas with re- desirous of throwing off Muhammadangard to our moral, social, and domestic ism. When his father heard of it he life. The unflagging energy and the offered a reward of five hundred rupees systematic efforts with which these bodies are working at the foundation of our society will, unless counteracted in time, surely cause a mighty collapse of it at no distant date. "
A Kindly Feeling Toward Missionaries. to anyone who would kill his son, and -Some five hundred persons, among two hundred to anyone who would whom were representatives of all classes bring him the good news. For two of Hindus and Mussulmans, met in one years I had to watch over that young of the cities of India to welcome back a man, and then his father foun.d him, missionary who had been temporarily and with much difficulty we managed out of the country. A native pastor, to keep him lIafe. At last the old man writing an account of the occasion, says went hack with a New Testament. A that the chairman was a Brahman, who, • year after he came again and said that after stating how the people owed he had brought together other mullahs "much of the enlightenment of the and read it to them. He also said: • We present day to the indefatigable exer- have noticed that this ill the New Testa- tions of the Christian missionary," ment ; that shows me that there must said : "As II living instance of their be an Old Testament; and they have success, I point out to you our to-day's sent me to get the Old Testament.' I meeting. What is the scene that pre- had the pleasure of giving him one; sents itself to the eye? Hindus and Mu- and later on, he came with his son, and hammadans – the true descendants of said: • The God of my son, whom I the once Hindu bigot and the Mussul: wished to murder, is now my God; bap- man fanatic-have met under the same tize me too into the faith of Christ.' " .-~o« •o ·oj GENERAL ~1AP OF INDIA.
-On the Malabar coast is a commu- fused to receive an ambassador, but nity called Syrian Christians, who claim said: "Send me the Christian" (mean. to have been convE'rted by St. Thomaij, ing Schwartz); "he will not deceive whose tomb they point out south of me." William Carey and Thomas land- Madras. They number possibly 300,000. ed in India November 10th. 1793.
-The first Protestant missionaries to -The Roman Catholic religion was India were Ziegenbalg and Plutcho, who introduced by the Portuguese, who con· were sent in 1706 by the King of Den- quered Goa in 1509. Thirty years later mark to Tranquebar, on the Coroman. Xavier began an earnest mission work, del Coast. In 1750 the mission was subsequently continued hyothers. Acjoined by Schwartz. When the English cording to the census of 1881, they num· wanted to treat with Hyder Ali, he re- bered tl65,643.
18ii2.J GENERAL MISsiONARY INTELLiGENCE. a11
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work aad Sta.tistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. LeJna.rd, Bellevue, O.
-More than 2,000,000 barrels of beer with 200,000 B-:luare miles, have each were brewed in Milwaukee during last about 18,000,000 subjects; Spain, 115,- year. 000 square miles and 9,600,000 sub· jects ; and Portugal, 1:1000 square miles -The Mennonites, numbering in all and 850,000 subjects. but 41,451, are yet subdivided and reo subdivided into no less than 12 frag- –This is the way it looks to one misments, of which the largest has but sionary, the Rev. Frank W. Warm, Methabout 10,000 members, the smaller odist Episcopal, of Calcutta: "In the tapering off to 471 and 352, while the United States there are about 65,000,000 least, the "Apostolic Mennonites," to souls: and of these there are, according wit, has only 209! The phenomenon to the New York Independent, including must have giv,en a fearful strain to the Catholics, 20,000,000 communicants; risibles of the census-taker. which. with the 'children and those directly influenced, would easily make -Rev. George Grenfell, of the Bap- another 30,000,000, leaving only 15,000,- tist C.:mgo Mission, says that in Central 000 ; and it iii scarcely probable that Africa there is an area of 4000 square there are so many unreached. When miles larger than the whole of Europe one looks home and reads the Methodist still unoccupied by a single mission- Year-Book, an,] finds that for pastoral ary ; that the centre of Africa cannot support, church extension, freedmen, permanently be evangelized by white StlDday-schools, Bolard of Education, men, but the greater p,trt of the work Woman's Home Missionary Society, must be done by the natives themselves, superannuated preachers, church buildand the natives are showing their fit- ing, and local cnrrent expenses there is nesl'! for the task. used $19,678,000, which with the $460,- 000 of the missionary money used for -A pagan testimony and a pagan no- home missions makes a total of $20,138,- tion. Mr. Lawton, one of the China 000 and deducts from that the total given Inland missionaries in the extreme to foreign work of both the parent and northwest of China, on the borders of woman's societies, $686,000, it leaves a the great Mongolian Destlrt, received majority for the home work of $19,452,- from a pagan the offer of a beautiful 000 to do the Methodist part of the work anc"stral hall LJr a C<lristian church. among the 65,000,000 in America; hut Mr. Lawton expressed his surprise at in the foreign fiolds there are of the such generosity, but the pagan an- heathens easily 1,000,000,000 souls swered, "You are doing an excellent starving for the bread of life; and work here, and in helping you with my Christ says: 'Give ye them to eat;' best I hope to obtain a small part of and for these the missionary grant, in your merit." cluding both societies, is, say, $700,000. Brethren at home, if you could live a -Though the vast bulk of Asia is not number of years in the foreign fields exactly .. partitioned" out among the and be conscious of being surrounded potentates of Europe, yet reasonably by hundreds of million>! who know not large slices of territory are possessed by J eSUA, and then look at the Methodist several. Of course Great Britain leads, Church giving $20,138,000 for her part with 2,240,000 square miles and some of the work among the 65,000,000 of 300,000.000 subjects; the Netherlands America, and $700,000 for her part of bear sway over 700,000 square miles the work among 1,000,000,000 of starv- ~nd 30,000,000 suhjects; Russia, with 6,500,000 square miles, and France, ing souls, I think you would learn more the vast evils which spring from this lessons than did Mr. Bultil!lde in source, and of the dire calamities which Dick's school." opium entails upon the Chinese people. Those who live and work among the -Sabbath observance is finding favor people are, alas! only too conversant with the evils to health and wealth, and in an unlooked·for quarter. For even the moral and social degradation which follows the use of the drug. Smokers in Paris a movement is on foot to secure and non-smokers alike condemn the practice; the former wish to be free, the popular observance of Sunday, and and yet cling to the pipe as its slave; the latter acknowledge that interdiction a very strong society has been formed of the native growth would only increase the Indian import and cause still more to further this cause. The honorary silver to flow out of the country. Fifty years ago we had only to contend with president of the society, Senator Jules the foreign import; now we have in addition the large native growth. Then Simon, says: "We desire that our we had probably not over 2,000,000 of smokers; ,now 20,000,000 is probubly workmen may have a day's rest once a not an over-estimate.
week, and Sunday is naturally thfl day " The evil seems spreading more and more every year. It is slowly finding we have chosen. But our undertaking its way into agricultural districts. It is permeating all classes of society, and is is a difficult one, because it runs coun- not looked upon with the same abhor- rence as formerly. The legalization of ter to numerous customs and interests the import did much to spread its use, The growth of thQ poppy is, for the which do not like to be interfered with. same reason, extending also into new regions. At present our factory hands and shop " This gigantic evil pervades all classes. people work not only during the long The habit is particiIlarly common in the opium-producing regions, where, it is hours of every week day, but also on estimated, 80 or 90 per cent of the men above 20 years of age smoke, and 50 or Sundays. We do not wish to forbid 60 per cent of the women, not to speak of many young people in their teens. people from working on Sunda.y if they In the cities the practice is also com- mon. In the non-producing districts, wish to do so, but we aim to prevent the evil is chiefly confined to the cities; the villages are comparatively free. An them from forcing other people to official estimate for the whole Empire gives four tenths for the coolie class, six work." And Leon Say, the eminent tenths for the merchant class, and three tenths for the official class. In Canton political economist and deputy, who is over seven tenths of the officials smoke. In Hunan not one tenth of the same president of the society, says: "Our class are addicted to the pipe. In the 6 Boards at Peking there are very few society is the result of a congress of so- opium-smoking high officials. It is cheering to note, amid such a wide excilll economists held in Puris during the tension of the vice, that the Imperial exhibition of 1889. It was then unani- mously recognized that a weekly day of rest is indispensable to the working classes. We do not ask for legislation, but depend entirely for success on the power of persuasion. Two years ago our society numbered 20 persons; to- day we count over 2500 members, made up of repUblicans and monarchists, Catholics and Protestants, bishops and free thinkers. We have already achi eved some practical results. In the post- office we have got the hours shortened ownithSuthndellrY~ilr-oalnldd we lire now lllboring companies." In Ger- mllny 1I1so a similllr agitation has been begun.
-Says John Dudgeon, a mediclIl missionary at Peking: "The evils of the use of opium in China are everywhere apparent. Every heart that is not dead to the sentiment of pity must be filled with commiseration at the prospect of family, and the high officers of State, the money is spent" in his station. The in the capital and throughout the Em· total transactions for the yearamounteq pire, may be said to be free from it." to about $8500; of this nearly $2000 came from native interest and co-opera- And it further appears from the fol- tion in educational work, a small sum lowing statement, that the opium being secured from outside sources. scourge is by no means confined to The remaining $6550 was charged to Ohina: The Oalcutta Medical Record, the Presbyterian Board. Itemizing this the principal medical periodical in In- he shows that less than $2000 was ex- dia, says: ., Dreadful as are the evils pended for the salaries of missionaries, of alcohol, the pernicious consequences rents, and repairs; $3300 was paid as of indulgence in'opium are more vastly salaries to 36 native preachers and terrible. By it human life is shorn of teachers ; $350 went for the assistance every vestige of nobility and moral re- of 35 boys to enter college and boarding sponsibility. The mind is rendered in- schools; $160 for educating 2 men in sensate to every ennobling desire or the theological seminary; $300 was sentim'lllt, and the moral nature of man spent by the missionaries and helpers is unfathomably degraded to even great- in touring, and $300 more for rents snd er depths than brutishness. Digestion repairs of churches and schools and a becomes steadily and speedily impaired, dwelling in the village, while $140 was and the whole physical sequellre are expended in postage, messengers, medi- those of emaciation, attenuation. and cine, and miscellanies, including stoves, devitalization of muscle, nerve, and benches, clocks, chairs, maps, etc., for brain. Opium numbers its victims by 23 schools and 18 Sunday-schools. The thousands in Oalcutta alone, and every total force supported by this expendi- city throughout the length and breadth ture consists of 2 ordained American of this vast empire of India and Bur- missionaries with their wives, 36 native mah yields a condemning freight of evi- helpers, 3 of whom give all their time to dence of physical suffering, moral deg- preaching and touring, and 21 preach radation, and social ruin, which none on Sunday and teach through the week; but a callous Government steeped in the the remaining are other assistants. The luxuries of an irresponsible bureaucracy preaching is condncted in 19 centres, would dare to despise. Yet this awful and more than 50 villages are visited. stigma attaches to the Government of There are 2 organized churches with 155 India, that it not only freely permits the members, 23 schools, and one book- sale of a pernicious drug, but protects store. Half of the salary of the keeper and encourages the continuance and of the store and the whole of the salary permanency of its ravages among a peo_ of the colporteur are met by the Ameri- ple whom it has been called upon to re- can Bible Society_ Not one cent has generate and save." gone for any purpose except the work of preaching and teaching the Gospel. -" To what purpose is this waste ?" is the perennial exclamation of all such -The following survey of the work of as have little faith and love, and even the Foreign Sunday-School Association less knowledge, concerning missions. is given in the Independenl: Germany But nothing is more certain than that has now more than 3000 Snnday-schools, there is no-waste to speak of" not even with 30,000 teachers and 300,000 much lavish expenditure, bnt about every scholars. So completely has official opdollar is wisely and economically placed. position ceased, that some years ago the Let one case stand for a host: The Rev. highest Ohurch Oouncil of Prussia or- F. E. Hoskins, missionary of the Pres_ dained that all candidates for ordination byterian Board in Zahleh, Syria, gives, should be trained in organizing and conin The Ohurch at Home and Abroad for ducting Snnday-schools. Besides the 'January, an interesting resume of " how Central Oommittee at Berlin, local sonal' , congregations. In addition there unions exist in various parts of Germany are 36 places where public Protestant where teachers meet for discussion of services are held each Sunday_ Of these methods and comparison of experience. 20 are in institutions of various kinds, The first great National Sunday-school the remainder are the gathering places Oonvention ever held on the European of the City Mission Society. In recent Oontinent was the Jubilee of German months 7 new churches have been Sunday-schools, which was celebrated at begun, of which, however, 3 are to Berlin, October 7th-9th, 1888, while take the plac~s of existing churches. commemorative services were held si. Aud in this connection the statement, multaneously in many towns and cities surprising, and almost incredible to pf Germany. American readers, is made that, if it had not been for the personal intervention of France has more than 1100 schools, the Emperor and the Empress probably with 4500 teachers and 115,000 scholars; not a single one of these 7 new Switzerland, 1500 schools, 6522 teachers, churches would now be in process of and 97,890 scholars;· Holland, 1400 erection. Permission to build a new schools, 3800 teachers, and 150,000 church in Berlin can be secured only scholars; Sweden and Denmark in when the proposal is passed npon nearly equal proportion. In Roman favorably by no fewer than 19 offi- Oatholic countries peculiar difficulties cial bodies and persons-an unheard- have been encountered; but Italy, of amount of red tape! Many of these Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the re- bodies and persons, that range from the publics of Oent1"al and South America Emperor down to the sanitary police, are have many faithful teachers, who, with antagonistic to the interests of the the aid of attractive little papers sup- Church, and, if possible, delay or de- plied by the Association, have won the feat such project.s. In this way, only hearts of the children about them, and recently, two of the best building places are doing untold good. 'fhe Sunday. in the city were lost to the Protestants schools on mission ground, though not and secured by the Catholics. 'fhe larg- originated by the Association, have been est of the new churches has a seating largely aided by it in supplies of papers capacity of 2000 and cost 400,000 marks. and hymn-books, and its correspondents are found on every continent. – The" Encyclopredia of Missions" gives statistics of 8 societies doing mis. -The Catholic clergy of France num- sionary work in Mexico. They are ber 55,540 men. Among these are found these, and arranged in the order of the 18 archbishops, 69 bishops, 3420 pastors importance of their work as determined of various ranks, 182 vicars.general, by figures; Methodist Episcopal, South, 31,255 assistants, 7109 vicars, and 700 Methodist Episcopal, North, Presbyte- other ecclesiastics. The Reformed and rian, Presbyterian, South, Southern Bap.. other Protestant clergy number but 720. tist Convention, American Board, Asso- The religious budget-the amount the ciate Reformed Presbyterian Synod, and Government appropriates for the bene- Cumberland Presbyterian. In all, these fit of such denominations as are" recog- societies employ 51 male aud 78 female nized"-for 1892 is 45,057,::'57 francs. missionaries, with 128 ordaiued natives The foreign clergy who hear mOfls in any lind 199 other native helpers. In the other language than French are not paid 201 churches are found 13,263 members, out of the State treasury. and 6363 pupils in the 145 schools.
-Berlin has for its 80,000 Jews, 8 -Rev. M C. Harris, Methodist Epis- synagogues; for its 120,000 Catholics, copal, San Francisco, writes: .. In 1877 . 10 churches and chapels; for its 1,250,- the first Japanese knocked at the doors 000 Protestants, 44 churches and chap. of the Chinese Mission of this city. Dr. els-namely, 32 parochial and 6 •• per- Otis Gibson, superintendent, kindly ad- "During the 81 years that have elapsed mitted them to the evening school. since its organization, the American Kanichi Miyama was the first convert. Board has sent out 2083 men and women. He is now a member of the Japanese The force now in the field numbers 200 Conference, doing grand service for the men and 333 women, distributed over 22 Master. The work has prospered from mission fields in the Turkish Empire, the beginning until now. Within the British India, China, Japan, Africa, and past year 100 were baptized, and 127 re- in Papal lands. The receipts from donaceived into full membership. Conver- tions and legacies aggregate about $25,- sions occur daily. The last month they 000,000, while the regular receipts and have averaged above 1 per day. For two expenditures of the last five years have years there has been a continuous re- averaged not far from $700,000 a year, vival. A church has been formed and exclusive of native funds received and organized for work, and is looking for- expended in the field. No fewer than ward to self-support in the near future. 475 churches have been organized, into The members give gladly of their sub- which have been received on confession stance. In liberal giving it would be of faith not far from 110,000 souls. hard to surpass them. Upward of 20 The missionaries of the American preachers have been sent out from this Board have reduced 28 different lanmission to Japan and the Sandwich guages to writing among the ruder races, Islands as evangelists to their people. In these, and still more in the languages Some 25 more have been called to the of the civilized races among whom misministry, and are ready {or service. sions have been established-as in India, Here is a great opportunity to honor China, and Japan-a missionary liter- God and save thousands. Who will ature has been created, including gramhelp us? For the past six years the Mis- mars and dictionaries, translations of sion has carried on its work in leased the Scriptures, and educational and rebuildings. It is recognized by all who ligious works, amounting to more than understand the situation that a church 2,000,000,000 of pages. Higher Chrisbuilding is a necessity. The Japanese tian education has constituted an im- Christians are deeply interested. They portant agency in the work of the have pledged $5000, and will raise it. American Board, especially during the They are contributing toward this sum last twenty-five years. During this by the month. A goodly sum is already period the number of higher institucollected and invested in the savings- tions for Christian education has inbank, where it is drawing interest. They creased from 18, with 437 pupils, to are mostly poor students, and can give 122, with 7780 pupils. Who can estibut little. The estimated cost of the lot mate the influence of these young men and building is $25,000. We must ap- and yOtlllg women, now brotlght under peal to the friends of the cause in the daily inflllence of cultured Christian America. Who will consecrate some- teachers, on the thought and life of the thing to build a house of God for the next generation of their countrymen?" Japanese in San Francisco?" -The Censns Bureau has recently -One feature at a church entertain- published some intereRting statistics rement in a certain place not long ago lating to the Lutheran Church in the was a native Indian woman engaged in United States. From these it appears basket-weaving; A little maiden, after that this branch of the Protestant comwatching her movements a while, looked munion, upon variolls grounds, is sepaintently at the pleasant, dusky face, and rated into 12 independent synods. The exclaimed: "Why, mamma, she iBn't total of all the subdivisions is 1,199,514 like an Indian at all ; she loves God just members. The Synodical Oonference the same as we do I" numbers 357,153 ; the General Council, 317,145; the General Synod, 164,640; in British Columbia, $4323. The num.
the United Norwegian Church of Ameri· ber of missionaries maintained is 414, ca, 119,972, etc. According to language with 118 assistants, 47 teachers, and 15 employed in public services, the Lu- interpreters-a total force of 594 paid therans are divided as follows: Synods agents. The membership of the mis.
having 454,005 communicants are al- sion churohes is 44,500. In Japan are most wholly German; 232,512 are partly 28 missionaries, a total of 62 paid agents, English and partly German, while but and 1819 church·members.
198,997 are wholly English. Besides, there are 190,154 Norwegians, 88,700 Swedes, 13,674 Danes, 1991 Icelanders, British Foreign Missions. By Rev. JaB.
and 1385 Finns. 'l'his denomination Johnston, Bolton, England.
has its organized representatives in al. Death of Dr. Samuel Adjai Crow· most every State and Territory, Ptmnsyl. ther, Bishop of Niger.-At the end of vania leading with 219,069, Wisconsin December last this well.known colored standing next with 149,071, and Minne· Bishop of the Niger Territory passed sota following hard after with 143,503. away. His connection with the Church -The Protestant Episcopal Church, Missionary Society began in 1822, when through the Spirit oj Missions, keeps he was rescued from a slave.ship. In this appeal constantly before its mem- 1841 he accompanied the first Niger exbers: "Offerings are asked to sustain pedition, and in 1843 he was ordained missions in 13 missionary jurisdictions both deacon and priest by Dr. Blom. and 34 dioceses; also among the Ind. field, Bishop of London. and afterward ians and among the colored people in returned to Africa, where he entered our land, as well as missions in China, upon mission work at Freetown, Sierra Japan, Africa, Hayti, and Greece to pay Leone. For twelve years he was an the salaries of 16 bishops and stipends active missionary at Abeokuta, subse· to 1000 missionary workers, Rnd to sup. quently for one year at Lagos, and, port schools, hospitals, and orphanages. later, he gave seven years wholly to the Five hundred thousand dollars are asked mission in the Niger Territory. On for this year." Of this sum desired and June 29th, 1864, he was consecrated in expected, $246,193 are appropriated to Canterbury Cathedral, Missionary Bish. domestic, and $198,583 to foreign mis· op of the Niger Territory, and in the sions. For missions among white peo· same year received the honorary degree pIe, $118,400 are designated; for mis. of D.D. from Oxford, followed in 1883 sions among the Indians, $41,045, and by a like honor from Durham Univerfor missions among the negroes, $55,950, sity. His bishopric, covering twenty. For the school in Greece, $2300 are set seven years, has been marked by great apart; for the African Mission, $31,700 ; organizing capacity. In Great Britain, for the Chinese Mission, $53,557, and which he visited on ten occasions, for missions in the Haytian Church, Bishop Crowther was a notable figure, $7720, etc. his advocacy of missions and Bible cir- culation on platform and in pulpit being -The Methodists of Canada are, and singularly effective. Among other for eight years have been, wise and works, he was the author of a " Yoruba happy in being thoroughly united in mis. Grammar and Vocabulary," an English sionary toil. By a strong pull all together and Yoruba dictionary, and" Elements they raised last year $243,015, and be· of Nupe Grammar." His translations stowed upon domestic work $88,842; included portions of the Old and New upon Indian work. $42,862 ; upon for· Testaments into Yoruba, Book of Com- eign work in Japan, $26,523; upon mon Prayer into the same tongue, and French work in and about Montreal and a portion of St. Matthew's Gospel into Quebec, $8643 ; and upon Chinese work the Nupe language.• Few men have done nobler missionary service in the A scheme is on foot, writes the Bishop present century. of Tasmania, for the completion of St.
David's Cathedral, Hobart Town. Only English Church Missionary Intelli- the nave and transept are built, although gence. -It is proposed to constitute a the work was begun eighteen years ago.
new missionary diocese in Southeast It is now proposed to erect the choir Africa, to be called the bishopric of Le· and aisles, also a tower and cloister at bombo, which will include South Gaza- considerable expense. With the year land, Delagoa Bay, and the districts of 1892 coincides the jUbilee' of the dio.
Lydenberg and Zoutpansberg, and thus cese, Bishop Nixon having been conse- complete the diocesan organization on crated in 1842. This event has a fur- the southeast of Africa from Cape Town ther interest from the fact that 1892 to Zanzihar and the mainland opposite marks the two hundred and fiftieth an- that island. The Synod of South Africa niversary of the landing of Tasman's ex- will constitute the See as soon as an en- pedition on the island. It is suggested dowment fund of £10,000 has been col- that the laying of the foundation-stone lected ; and happily the Bishop of Cape of the cathedral tower should commemo· Town has already received and invested rate these two events, the ceremony with trustees £7850, chiefly subscribed taking place carlyin the year, and when within the limits of the province of the Australasian Association for Promot.
South Africa. This excellent endeavor ing Science visits Hobart.
to meet the growing responsibilities of The Bishop of Calcutta, on his recent popUlation and empire in things spiro return to India, promised the sum of itual in British South African territory £5000 toward, the endowment of the merits generous support. Lucknow bishopric, provided that the The Bishop of Madras, in referring remaining £2000 required is raised last December to the difficulties relat. within twelve months.
ing to the partition of the diocese by the Concerning African missions the Cor- creation of a bishopric at Tinnivelly, respondence Committee of the Church said that he could not resign a portion Missionary Society have just accepted of his trust committed to him by letters Mr. E. Millar, of Trinity College, Cam- patent except a special Act of Parlia- bridge, for the Victoria Nyanza Mission, ment authorized him. For this reason that gentleman going out at his own he declined to accept the £15,000 which charges. In connection with the Niger had been promised to him by the So- Mission the resignation of the Rev.
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel, F. N. Ellen, late Vicar of St. James's, the Society for the Propagation of West Hartlepool, has been accepted.
Christian Knowledge, and the Colonial Bishoprics' Council, and therefore The Risings in China.-After wished to resign rather than deprive months of unrest and alarm, caused the diocese of that substantial aid. At by turbulent outbreaks in various provo It meeting of the Diocesan Council deep inces of the empire which began last sympathy was expressed with the bishop summer and have been frequent since in his trying position, and a request that date,the Government of Pekin has made to him to submit the matter for satisfactorily endeavored to adjust the the consideration of the archbishops difficulties with the European powers, and bishops of England. There is a chiefly arising from the attacks on for- strong feeling in Madras that the bish- eigners at several points on the Yangtse op's views are sound, morally and legal- River. Order has been restored in the ly, and that the assistance which the affected region. no riots having occurred magnitude of the diocese demands at Tchang since September last. To re- Khould, as heretofore, be rendered by pair the damage done, and to prevent a suffragans. repetitiou of recent troubles, the Chi· nese Government has adopted the fol- a following of 37,287 adnlt native conlowing measures: Indemnities, amount· verts. ing in all to about £100,000, have been paid to the Christian missions of all London Missionary Society.- Aleaf nationalities and to the families of the is being taken from the Salvation Army only two foreigners killed-the mission. book by the directors of the society, supary, Mr. Argent, of the ,. Joyful News" porting a week of self-denial in February, Mission, and a customs official-both to raise the income £30,000 per annum. Englishmen. Severe penalties in the The Rev. J. P. Gladstone, of London, shape of imprisonment and capital pun- the author of the proposal, is sanguine ishment have been inflicted on officials of the result. If the Congregationalists and law· breakers, and stringent precau- who, it is said, number a million in this tions taken to defend the lives and country, and ~ho mainly belong to the property of Christians. The authors of middle classes, take up the idea, there is pamphlets inciting the people against no question of the money being speedily foreigners will in future be condemned raised.
to death, a form of justice already visit- The friends of the Rev. A. N. John- son, of Leicester, will be glad to read of ed on ringleaders of the Kolao·Hui or- his appointment to the important posiganization. The rising in Mongolia last tion of Home Secretary to the London November had no connection with the Missionary Society, succeeding the Rev. ovents in the south of the empire, its E. H. Jones, whose long and faithful object being pillage, without distinction services have endeared him to a wide between Christians and others. This constituency. lIr. Johnson's student fanatical local outbreak has been sup- career at King Edward's School, Birpressed. mingham, at Lancashire College, and Owens College, Manchester, was highly As the Belgian missionaries have suf. distinguished throughout, especially in fered considerably in China, it may be classics. At Trinity College, Cam. interesting to know that these workers bridge, he carried off a first-class in belong to a special congregation, whose the theological tripos of 1881 and other headquarters are at Scheutveld, near distinctions. In Manchester he was Dr. Anderlecht, where they acquire the Chi- Macfadyen'S assistant for a time. nese language, and at the age of twentyfive are despatched to their field of labor. Nyassaland.-News to hand (Decem- About eighty of them are at work in ber 29th) from Dr. Laws, Superintendent China under the superintendence of of the Free Church of Scotland's Nyassa three bishops, two of wl}om afe Bel- Mission, states that he has reached King gians, and the other a Dutchman. Be. William's Town, Cape Colony, on his sides preaching and proselytizing they way home. He purposed calling at render many charitable services to the Lovedale with four natives from Central population. They have opened hos· Africa for training. In the Colony he pitals and schools, and, in audition to will r£'main about six weeks to hold sev. teaching the children the ordinary eral conferences with the leaders of the branches of scholastic knowledge and Dutch Reformed Church at Stellenbosch, training them to trades, they subse- a church which co operates with the quently assist them in the choice of Livingstonia Mission on Nyassa. Dr. husbands and wives. Mr. Alexander Laws hus labored fifteen years in Africa. Michie, of Tien-tsin, whose book on missionaries in China is provoking com· Jewish Migration to the Argentina. ment, says that in China proper the -On authority the Jewish Ohronicle an· Catholics have 530 foreign missionaries nounces that Lieutenant-Oolonel Albert and 525,000 native converts, including Goldsmid will take charge of the archildren, compared with the Protestants, rangements for the colonization of Jews who have 1296 foreign missionaries and in the Argentine Republic upon lands acquired by Baron de Hirsch. Colonel nothing less than Article 31 of the An- Goldsmid hopes that it will be shown glican Liturgy. It is only in the course to the world, after the inevitable troubles of 1891 that the Methodist community, in the first settlements have been over- which has been steadily growing in come, that Jewish agricultural colonies numbers and inftuence in Austria, hall on a larger scale than have hitherto acquired a fixed place of worship been attempted are quite practicable. through the generosity of the Baronesil Telegraphing from Jerusalem, Mr. von Langenau, a convert from Luther.
Scott Moncrieff says that a great snow· anism. Opposition to Methodism ap.
storm fell there on Christmas morning. pears to have emanated from various covering the ground six inches deep. quarters, not particularly the Roman The distress in the city environs among Catholics, and to have been increased the poor Jews, ill clad in wretched gar- by the interest of Sir Arthur Blackwood ments, without warmth of any kind, is in missions to postmen while attending pitiful. Besides the crowd of poor ever the Postal Congress in Vienna, and in a state of chronic starvation there are hence, when a formal application was many famishing refugees. The condi- presented for the recognition of the tion of those" outside the city" is de· Methodist Church, the allthorities were scribed as " dreadful," whose wants the led to examine her statutes, with the re- Society for Relief of Persecuted Jews sult that the chapel was closed and the (Syrian Colonization Fund), Parliament minister, the Rev. Friedrich Roesch, Street, London, is generously alleviating inhibited from preaching anywhere in to the utmost of its capacity. the city. Other conditions of a pecu.
General Booth in India.-On Decem· niary nature which have to be fulfilled ber 28th the" General" concluded his before a church can obtain recognition Madras campaign by expounding the in Austria will readily be met by the ideas of his social scheme at the Ban- liberality of the baroness. Evidently queting Hall before an inftuential gath- the Austrian Methodists are passing ering, which included the Maharajah of through some of the troubles which the Mysore. This was followed by an ad- 1Yloravians and old Catholics have had dress on similar lines to a meeting com. to face and valiantly overcame.
prising 1000 of the leading Hindoos, over which the, Dewan Raganath Rao Monthly Bulletin.
presided. The" General" also opened India.-The Christian Vernacular the Army's new headquarters and hall, Education Society for India has when liberal subscriptions were made, changed its name to the more approone gentleman alone contributing 11,000 priate form, The Christian Literature rupees to defray the mortgage. At the Society for India. Since its organiza- Memorial Hall he addressed the native tion in 1858 it has issued 15,500,000 Christians, and afterward had an inter- books and tracts of all kinds, and 1,000,. view with the Governor, Lord Wenlock. 000 were published last year alone. Its Methodism in Austria.-A vexatious work of providing pure literature for piel'e of persecution has been committed the 12,000,000 readers in India who on the Methodists in Vienna by the have been educated in the Government Public Prosecutor, because an article in schools. is exceedingly important and the Methodist Discipline denouncing valuable.
"the sacrifices of masses as blasphe- -The Church of England Zenana So- mous fables and dangerous deceits" is ciety, working in connection with the regarded as .. an insult against one of Church Missionary Society. though hav- the religions recognized by the State"- ing an independont organization, has, namely, the Roman Catholic. The arti- during the past ten years, increased its, ~le in question, it may be observed, is force of missionaries from 36 to 142, with a large number of Eurasian and and only 4 were HindUd. Among the native helpers. Its income has not, 739 pupils attached to the different inhowever, increased proportionately, and dustrial schools of the Madras Presiit finds itself in financial straits. dency, 357 were native Christians, 75 were Vaisyas and Sudras, 17 we~e Low -The revival of hook.swinging in Caste, including Pariahs, and only 5 Southern India is detailed in a letter were Brahmans. This progress of edufrom the Rev. John S. Chandler, of Ma- cation will eventually give them an addura, and illustrated by two photographs vantage for which no amount of intelin the Missionary Herald for January. lectual precocity can compensate the Application was made to the English Brahmans. authorities to prevent the barbarous exhibition, but they declined to do more -Bombay has always been considered than to discourage it. What that a hard field for mission work. The amounted to is evident from the fact time was when the progress there was that the plan was carried out in the slow and the results were meagre; but presence of more than 10,000 people. that day is past. In a letter written in 1848, it was stated by the Rev. Mr. -Dr. George F. Pentecost gives Hume that during nine years of hard and some interesting figures, in the inde- prayerful work, he had but twice had pendent, from the last census of India. the joy of seeing anyone brought into The English have built and are operat- the Church from the heathen world. ing more than 16,000 miles of railroad Of these two one had already gone back in that country. All the railroads are to heathenism, and the other was then under the supervision of the Govern- an unworthy member of the Christian ment. There are now opened in India Church. At last a change carne, and 26,000 miles of common roads, most of faithful work bore fruit. The number them smooth and hard as a floor. There of churches, of Christians, of schools, are 34,000 miles of telegraph lines, with and of Sabbath·schools, has, during the 116,000 miles of wire. Three milli.on past fifteen years, at least trebled, and in messages are transmitted annually. The some departments the work has multitelegraph lines are also under the super- plied fifty-fold. In giving, in Christian vision of the Government, constituting, activity, in knowledge of and in faithas in England, part of the postal sys- ful adherence to the Word of God, that tem. There are 71,000 miles of post- church in Bombay would be an ornaroads, with more than 8000 post-offices. ment to any city in this country. On There are 95,000 Government schools of the average those Christians give at all grades, in which are more than 3,000,- least 1 month's salary out of the 12. 000 pupils 'of private schools, mostly Almost every member of the Church is missionary. There are, besides, more actively engaged in preaching, in teach. than 40,000, with above 500,000 schol- ing, in Sabbath.school, or in some kind ars. The English language is spreading of evangelistic work. The children and among the people. This, Dr. Pentecost young people are constantly and faiththinks, is one of the greatest missionary fully instructed in the Bible. forces in the country. ~TheArcot Mission of the Reformed , -The conspicuous place in higher (Dutch) Church at its semi-annual meeteducation taken by the native Christian ing in Madanapalle, issued an earnest women of India is illustrated by the fact appeal to the American churches for that of the 19 successful female candi- help for the sufferers from famine in dates for the matriculation examination the Madras Presidency of India. in 1879, 7 were native Christians, while Almost all the 6000 people immediately none were Hindus; of the 234 candi- connected with the mission need assistdates examined for the higher education ance. of women, 61 wero native Christians,
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1891
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– – ""OTt TtU" 5IM'.&.Aft. FC~Tu RE S BUODI/ISM ROMANISM (tth;m deVlhsh.) (Ubi(S d.efectiye) MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIV. No. 5.-0ld &ries.–MAY.–VOL. IV. No. 5.-New Series.
LET US EVANGELIZE THE WORLD IN THIS GENERATION.
[EDITORIAL, .A. T. P.] The supreme question of the hour is the immediate preaching of the Gospel to every creature. When Francis Xavier stood before the 'Walled Kingdom and felt the power of its adamantine exclusiveness and proud se1£- sufficiency, he exclaimed, "0 rock! rock! when wilt thou open to my Master r'
Could that heroic Jesuit of Navarre, whose grave was made at Goa in 1552, after these nearly three hundred and forty yellrs, see that" rock" opened to his Master, and the whole world now flinging wide the long-shut doors; and then see the comparative idleness and indifference of the Church, so slow to enter and possess the land, he would turn to the Church itself and cry again, "0 rock! rock! when wilt thou open to my Master ?"
The great question of the hour is, How can the immediate proclamation of the Gospel to every creature be made a fact? Other preliminary questions have been answered by the very movements of God's providence and the developments of human history. We need no longer to ask how we shall get access to the nations, for the barriers are down; nor need we inquire how we are to reach these uttermost parts of the earth, for the steamship and steam-car will bear us to the limits of the globe in less than two months ; nor need we search for the implements and instruments for the work of evangelization, for the printing-press offers to make the eye the handmaid of the ear in the rapid dispersion of the Gospel message, and science offers to be the powerful ally of faith in the conquest of the world for Christ. Nor is it a question of adequate force for the field, for the evangelical churches could furnish four hundred thousand missionaries, or one for every two thousa~d of the unevangelized population, and yet have one hundred at home to support every foreign missionary. It is not even a question of adequate m,eans to support a great army of missionaries, for the aggregate wealth which is at the disposal of disciples is so great that onetenth of it would amply suffice to sustain half a million workmen in the foreign field and supply all the needed adjuncts and accessories for mission work.
LET UI!! EVANGELIZE THE WORLD IN Tms GENERATION
What, then, is the hindrance f We answer unhesitatingly that the Church of God is trifling with human souls and with her own duty. The time has come for plainness of speech. It is no time to put a veil over the face, or a gag into the mouth. Christian missions have never yet been taken up by the Reformed Church as an enterprise to be dared and done for God, like any othel' enterprise, with promptness and resoluteness. Two texts of Scripture should be the motto of the present age : "Where the word of a king is, there is power" (Eccles. 8 : 4), and, " the king's business requireth haste" (1 Sam. 21 : 8). The command of the King of kings is before us; that implies divine authority back of our commission, and hence guarantees divine ability to fulfil.it. And whatever is the King's business it demands implicit and immediate attention. To submit to His authority, to believe in the ability divinely assured, to attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God, would insure an era of missions so far eclipsing all hitherto done or attempted, that the present activity of the Church would be seen to be like the winking of an eye, or the movement of the little finger, in comparison to the energetic action of the whole body in a ra~e for a prize.
The question is asked, How can the eY"angelization of the world in our generation be made a fact?
God has certainly supplied a material basis for this stupendous achievement. Three things amaze and overwhelm the thoughtful observer: First, this is the age of world-wide openings. From Japan, at the sunrise, acrol!lS the whole track of the monarch of day to his sunset pavilion on Pacific shores, he looks down on scarcely one land that still shuts out the Gospel. 8econd, God has given us world-wide facilities. What implements and instruments! The Marquis of Worcester called the sixteenth century the century of inventions, and Dryden named the year 1666 the annus mirabilis. But the nineteenth century might crowd the aehievements of the sixteenth into a decade, and the years 1858 and 1878 were years that were in themselves as wonderful as almost any century previous to the sixteenth. Imagination can scarce paint any means of travel, transportation, communication and contact, which are not now supplied; end another quarter of a century may see the human race navigating the air as they now do the waters, and telegraphing WIthout wires, and driving mail matter through pneumatic tnbes. Again, this is the age of world-w.ide enterprises. Everything moves with a rapid foot, and time and space are annihilated. With a swiftness, credible only when witnessed, men push to the confines of the globe to find treasures, or to bear inventions. The Church of God alone moves slowly! Kerosene lamps and sewing-machines, parlor organs and glass beads are carried ahead of the Bread of Life.
Now, what is the natural basis of a world's evangelization? What, humanly speaking, constitutes man's responsibility in this work? We answer again: Three factors enter into the problem-men, money, and methods. The Gospel needs a voice-a book will not do. Behind the Bible must be a believer, behind the Gospel a gospeller, or herald. God wants witnesses who speak what they know. These the Church must sup- ply. At present the exact number of missionaries is stated as 5994. But for the native laborers, who outnumber ours almost seven times (35,343), our work would almost come to a standstill, with one missionary, on the average, to 166,000 unevangelized. Again, I say, the Church should robe herself in sackcloth at the remembrance of the fact that, in the nineteenth • century, it takes nearly six thousand Protestant church-members to supply one missionary! At the same rate of supply we should have had but a force of 8000 to 10,000 to bring into the field in the late War of the Rebel- lion!
There is the factor of money-for there is a financial basis of evangeliza- tion. The whole church-membership in Protestant churches of America and Europe raise $11,429,588 a year-less than thirty cents a member-less than one-tenth of a cent a day! These are no new facts, but they need to be beaten in by repeated blows.
Our superfluities and luxuries, absolutely unnecessary, save as made so by a luxurious and extravagant taste, reach an aggregate which is believed to be not less than $4.000,000,000. Suppose that only one-tenth of these was sacrificed. We should have $400,000,000 at once for the Lord's work!
Our comforts and conveniences aggregate fully as much more. Suppose we should give one-twentieth of them to the Lord, we should have an aggregate of $200,000,000 more, a total of $600,000,000. Ana yet we have not supposed our self-sacrifice to touch Qur necessities, which might yield no small percentage, in view of the extremities of the poor and the lost.
Consider what a power would accrue to missions if to-day self-sacrifice, without touching out actual needs. should simply begin by a tithe of our luxuries, and a half tithe of our conveniences! Let us have a new " Order of the Iron Cross !"
Then there is the factor of method. We need a careful and systematic method for districting the field and distributing the force. There is so much ground to be covered, and there is so much material of men and money to meet the need. Well, then, let us so map out the world-field and so divide and distribute all available workmen and contributions, that no part of the world shall be unsupplied. If the workmen are scattered, better one than none; and better to supply the whole field inadequately than leave whole districts absolutely destitute.
But I wish to emphasize that supernatural basis of missions, wherein it is my abiding confidence that the solution of this problem really lies. This work is God's work, and we are simply co-operating with the Father. going into all the world as ambassadors; co-operating with the Son, in the cross-bearing of self-sacrifice for souls; co-operating with the Spirit in w~tnessing to His power to save and sanctify. God'il work may demand haste, but never hurry and worry. And because it is His work it can be done if done in His way and in His strength. If I did not believe this I would give up all effort henceforth. The Church will never do this work until, from reliance on men, money, and methods we rise to dependence on the providence of God, prayer in Jesus' name, and the power of the Spirit.
1. The supernatural basis of missions is the divine command. The Word of the Kmg is the assurance of authority and ability: " Whatsoever He saith unto you do it.' , We have not bread enough for so great a multitude j but, He says, " Give ye them to eat," and our means are permitted to be inadequate because He intends to work a Ilew "miracle of the loaves. " We have not men enough to go into all the world j but He says, "Preach the Gospel to every creature," and He allows the supply to be inadequate that in answer to prayer He may "thrust forth laborers into His harvest. " We have but to go and do as He bids us, and we shall find God i'l with us, supplying all lack both of men and money. Our very deficiencies are a challenge to faith.
2. Again the supernatural basis is found in the promised power of Christ. In missions we bear our cross-not crosses-after Christ. We join Him in self-abnegation. We consent to die that others may live-to be buried that others may be garnered, a harvest for the kingdom. Now Christ is both the Captain of the Lord's host on the battlefield, guiding tlle movements of His army, and on the throne, King of kings, administering government. Hence come two grand confidences : First, that the battle is bound to issue in victory, and second, that Omnipotence is on our side. To open shut doors we need only to appeal to Him-to meet all threatening dangers we have only to rest on His power.
3. Once more the supernatural basis is found in the co-witness of the Holy Ghost. In the mouth of this divine, confirming witness, every word shall be established. The conditions of blessing are plainly indicated in the Word of God: (a) ADointed disciples: "Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you." It is " not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. " Something more than human words and witness brings men to Christ. (b) Scattered vessels. We are the chosen vessels, vehicles of conveyance.
There is here a truth which few seem to have grasped. The Holy Ghost is represented as coming to dwell in and work through disciples, but never as sustaining either of these relations to ungodly souls, who cannot perceive, receive or know the Holy Ghost. It is God's plan that believers shall be everywhere scattered in order to provide avenues of spiritual communication. The Holy Spirit has never yet been known to come down upon and work in a community where there were no believers. In the entire history of missions the intervention of some one or more believing disciples has been the condition of His outpouring. Hence, as water can be conveyed only in vessels or channels, the believer must. become the means of communication, impression, and salvation. Therefore, Christ waits to see
A VOICE lI'ROM THE FmLD
of the travail of his soul, and the Spirit waits to pour out blessing, until the believing Church scatters everywhere the witnesse!! of the cross.
The grand duty of the hour is, to my mind, as plain as an t:nc1ouded Bun at its zenith. Faith in the duty and so the possibility of doing it ; energy of action, courageously and promptly doing the King's business, and prayer for power from above. Give us these, and before the generation passes away the world shall hear the Gospel.
God makes specIal appeal to young men! With many of us life's Bun has passed the zenith and is moving toward its setting, and with not a few the sunset already reddens the sky. You, young men and women, have life before you. Your sun has yet to mount from dawn to zenith. In the age, on ages telling, when into every year is compressed the eventfulness of a century, you are to live. God is marching on ; the signal guns are sounding, the battle grows hot, and the hour is critical and pivotal. Who of you will fall into the ranks and take up the grand march ~ [NOTE.-The above is the substance of an address delivered at Cleveland, 0., before the late Students' Volunteers' Convention, Feb. 27,1891. The following letter, from Dr. McGilvary, will confirm the view here pre- sented.-A. T. P.] A VOICE FROM THE FIELD.
BY REV. n. McGILVARY.
CmENGMAI, N. LAOS MIssION, Oct. 22, 1890.
To The Missionary Review of the World: DEAR EDITOR: You might be interested to hear another voice from the field in response to the standard raised pre-eminently by your REVIEW for a crusade to evangelize the whole world during the present century. The idea is a grand one. Possibly, the faith of but few has reached the standard of Christianizing the whole world during the next decade. We all know it is not beyond the divine power to effect it. It may be doubtful whether it is the revealed will of God that all of any age shall experience the saving power of the Gospel. The number of the saved belongs to the secret things which belong to ,God. There can be no doubt, however, thai it is the revealed wiJI of the great Head of the Church that the Gospel is to be preached to every creature. That command forms the proper foundation of the Church's duty. That it is able, with a tithe of the zeal that nations manifest when their country is in danger, or that the world puts forth in amassing wealth, to carry the Gospel message to every living soul, admits of no doubt. There is latent power in fire and water to move a million-fold the present amount of machinery, but it must be converted into steam. So the great problem is to generate the latent power of the Church into red-hot heat to make i~ effectual. But what trumpet voice is to awaken the slumbering power of the whole Church ~ A pentecostal baptism would do it. That baptism would. surely be given in answer to a universal cry of prayer; but what shall move the Church to prayer ~ What more effectual appeal than the cry of a perishing world open to the Gospel q China's moderate call for five hundred laborers has been echoed by your REVIEW. Japan is a standing appeal and a standing argument to enforce it. Africa has uttered its voice till it is the centre of attraction in Europe. To all of these we heartily respond. Will your readers listen to an appeal for a race that can claim only two or three millions ~ We would appeal esp~cial1y to the Presbyterian Church, some of whom may not see its own excellent organ.
We may assume a general idea of the work in Chiengmai and Lakawn. In these we may regard the Gospel as firmly established. ·When the forces on the way, and those under appointment, reach us, we may hope not to have to draw soon for more foreign laborers for these. With a baptized membership of fifteen hundred, one native ordained minister, a number of valuable assistants and ruling elders, we doubt not that the work would go on were all the foreign laborers removed, while with their aid, which is yet needed, if not absolutely indispensable, we look for great results.
But to perfect the unity and symmetry of our work and design of reaching the whole race, at least two other stations should be occupied, and one of them immediately. In February, March, and April an eV'lngelistic tour of three months was taken by the writer to all the Laos states and cities except Hluang-Prabang, in the extreme northeast. Besides its immediate object, it was designed to take a resurvey of the whole field with 'a view of selecting the next station. Two points called for special attention. One is M-Nan, in one sense the flower of the Laos states. Its territory is as large and populous as Chiengmai, but its rulers are somewhat more conservative. It is open, but not yet so like a ripe apple falling into our hands as afourth one to which I would call the attention of the Church. One hundred miles to the north of Chiengmai is Chieng-Rai, or Kieng-Rai. Fifty miles farther north is Chieng-Saan (or Kieng~Tsan), the northernmost province or state in the kingdom, and to the east is Chieng Kong, both the latter being situated on the great Cambodia River. The rulers in all these are favorable to our work. The Governor of Chieng-Rai was disappointed that we could not occupy a lot previously given this year. There is an organized church of about eighty baptized members mainly the result of God's blessing on native labor. In Chieng-Saan there is another of over forty members. Chieng-Kong is the largest department of the M-Nan state, which closely borders on Chieng-Rai, while to the south is Papaw, with a membership that can soon be organized into a church. With a fair idea of the whole field from previous isolated towns, and an extensive acquaintance and inquiry for twenty years, I was hardly prepared to realize the possibility of reaching the whole Laos race in the next decade by a station to be formed immediately in those three places, with Chieng-Rai as the centre, and a subsequent one in the latter half of the decade in M-Nan. A more promising neld for evangel~stic work could not be chosen for the present than the . former. Providence has opened the door, removed all. obstacles, and planted churches in advance.
Before reaching home a plan was formed of going up to Chieng-Rai in Decem,ber, leaving my family and spending six months, and returning to Chiengmai the latter half of the year. With these bright visions of work, imagine my disappointment on learning that the debt of the Board required retrenchment and not expansion. But still the two stations of Chiengmai and Lakawn have appealed to the Board for its sanction. The last letter from the Board expressed a doubt as to its favorable decision. The only difficulty in the way is the funds. How many churches, how many indi- viduals in the church, could assume the expense of a station for one, three, or five years! Mr. James Lenox gave $3000 the first year to start the Chiengmai Mission. The call seems imperative. Not to adyance is to risk the loss of the best portion of our field. Hluang-Prabang, lower down on the Cambodia, contiguous to French territory, is already occupied by a Catholic mission. If we fail to advance, they probably will. The Govern- ment and the people would greatly prefer our occupying it. It would give a scope to our native workers, and develop as nothing else would the mis- sionary spirit in the native churches. It would furnish a wider field for our literature. There is no obstacle in the way but the want offunds. In nearly every place visited, the complaint was that our stay was too short.
The wife of the Governor of Chieng-Kong could hardly be reconciled, and .begged _for one month to be taught to read our Scriptures by Miss Mc- Gilvary. Three weeks after we had left we were overtaken by three men, who had not heard of our arrival, and who were anxious to study our re- ligion. A head priest in M-Ngow, whom I had formerly met, had read our books, and partially promised to leave the priesthood and come to Chiengmai to ~tudy more. The venerable Viceroy of M-Nan, eighty-four years of age, voiced a common sentiment in regard to Buddhism. When our religion was explained, at our audience, as well as it could be to one so deaf, he replied, "That is all very good. You may preach it to my people; but as for me, it is too late. I have built my temples, fed the priests, made my offerings, and performed my devotions in the only re- ligion I knew. I must rely on my merit for the future." To the sug- gestion that the road to Nirvana is practically endless, he replied: "You say truly. It can only be attained after myriads of transmigrations, but it is too late to enter a new one. You must teach the rising generation."
After myriads of transmigrations. If such appeals from princes, priests, and people touch no chord in the hearts of those who believe that they have themselves been saved by the Gospel, and make no call to prayer, offer no motive to self-denial and effort, what more can be said ~ Only one other voice is stronger, and that comes from the Mount of Olives, from the lips of the ascending Saviour, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and 10, I am with YOIl alway, unto the end of the world.
Amen." Yours fraternally, D. MCGUVARY.
MODERN MISSIONARY MARVELS
MODERN MISSIONARY MARVELS.
THE BASSEIN-ARAKAN MISSION AMONG THE SGAU AND PWO KAREli8.
BY L. P. BROCKETT, M.D., BROOKLYN, N. Y.
Among the forty-two nationalities inhabiting Burmah about twenty be.. long to the Karen family, and are distributed over its entire territory, as well as that of Siam, and are supposed to number nearly 2,500,000 souls. So far as known, none of them are Buddhists or, idolaters; most of them believe in a Supreme Being, who is far away, and takes but little interest in human affairs j they also believe jn Nots, demons, or evil spirits, taking a malicious pleasure in annoying and troubling men, to whom they offer sacrifices of food, to placate them. They have no priests or medicine men. They are brave, honest, and reliable. The northern tribes are great fighters, while the southern tribes are peacllable and quiet. They are generally agriculturists, fishermen, or laborers, and very industrious. Their languages differ greatly, but philologists assert that they have a common root. They differ also greatly in cmtoms, habits, and manners.
Of the .tribes of Southern Burmah the largest are the Sgaus and Pwos, inhabiting the Tenasserim and Pegu provinces, between the eastern and western Yoma ranges of mountains, and extending from the twelfth to the eighteenth degree of north latitude. This includes all the delta branches of the Irawadi and a part of the main river, as well as the lower portion of the Salwen (Sol-ween) and Sitang (See-tong) rivers. In this territory the Tenasserim region was separated from that around the delta branches of the Irawadi by a wide expanse of jungle from one to two hundred miles in breadth.
The Gospel was first offered to the Karens of the Tenasserim provinces- Tavoy, Mergui and, not long after, to those in Amherst, Maulmain (Mohool-mah.een), and Maubee (Mah-oo-bee)-by Rev. George D. Boardman and Rev. Francis Mason, and the faithful assistant (Ko-thah-byu, the Karen apostle and first Karen convert), in 1828, and the following years. Unlike the Burmans, they readily accepted it, and very many were baptized. Many converts were gathered also in Rangoon, and the language was reduced"to writing by Rev. Dr. Wade, then of Maulmain, and some text- Looks and tracts" printed in it in 1831 and 1832. The New Testament was translated into the Sgau Karen dialect, and portions of it printed between 1833 and 1836. But though Ko-thah-byu and some of the other assistants had been very active and successful in carrying the Gospel to their eountrymen in the Tenasserim provinces and the region east of Rangoon, no effort had been made to reach the far more numerous Karens of the Bassein district, the southwestern section of Burmah, occupying the region drained by the delta branches of the Irawadi, and extending for some distance northward between the main river and the western Yoma range of mountains. This district had an area of 7047 square miles (about as large as Massa- chusetts) and, in 1881, a population of 381,419, of whom nearly 100,000 were Sgau and Pwo Karens. The Karen population has largely increased since 1881. The district is fertile, producing rice and fruits in great abundance and large quantities of fish in the rivers. Bassein, its capital, was a port of entry with a large commerce. The Burmans, who were the ruling class, oppressed the Karens most cruelly and had reductld most of them to a condition of peonage.
Light was brought to this people, then sitting in darkness, in a very singular way. In April, 1835, Rev. Thomas Simons, a Baptist missionary to the Burmans in Rangoon, who bad been on a visit to friends in Arakan, then a British province, determined to return to Rangoon overland through Bassein, crossing through a pass in the western Yomas to some of the branches of the Irawadi. His journey by boat and on foot occupied ~everal days. Mr. Simons did not understand the Karen language, but he carried with him many Burmese tracts, some of them written by Dr. Judson. In the villages at which he stopped he distributed these to the Burmans and Karens who came around him, and not knowing that the Burmans had prohibited the Karens from reading or hearing read any foreign books, he told them to ask some of the Burmans to read them to them. Mr. Simons made his way to Rangoon, and the bread which he had cast upon the waters seemed to have been wasted. But it was not.
Two years later Rev. Elisha L. Abbott, designated as a missionary to the Karens in Burmah, after spending a year in Maulmain and Tavoy in acquiring the language, came to Rangoon to commence his labors there. He met with great success and baptized nearly two hundred, mostly in the vicinity of Maubee, thirty miles north of Rangoon. In December, 1837, he left Rangoon to make his first visit to Bassein, in which no missionary had yet preached. He crossed the Irawadi, December 16th, and entered the little village of Sekkau. In the first house he entered he found several Christians, some of whom had visited Rangoon. Very soon an old man came in, and going up to Mr. Abbott said: " Teacher, I want to be bap- tized." On inquiring, Mr. Abbott found that two years before a Burman had come to the old man and offered to sell him two little b(loks in the Burmese language, which proved to be the" Golden Balance" and" The Ship of Grace," which Mr. Simons had given to him. As the old man could read Burmese, he bought them for two large bunches of plantains. He read them over and over again. They told him of an Eternal God and a Divine Redeemer. He was not satisfied, but wanted to know more, and hearing that the Karens in Maubee had received a new religion; he made his way thither through the dense jungle, infested with robbers and wild beasts, a distance of nearly a hundred miles, obtained light and instruction, embraced the Gospel with all his heart, told the story of the cross to his neighbors, some of whom were converted, and for a year had served God . with all his house. Three days later, at a large village on the eastern bank of the Irawadi, he found that a whole village of Karens, nearly a hundred souls, had been leq to embrace Christianity by reading some of these Bur- mese tracts distributed by Mr. Simons, and finding their way to Maubee had learned to read in Karen, and received instruction which enabled them to become very efficient missionaries to their countrymen. These people were not within the technical bounds of the Bassein district. Mr. Abbott ex- amined the~ carefully, baptized thirty-four of them, and organized them into a church, and went his way into Bassein proper. At the large village of Kyootoo, on the west bank of the Irawadi, he preached in Karen, and , among his hearers was a young Karen chief, Shway Weing, a man of re- markable abilities and great influence, but at that time, Mr. Abbott said, " a most ungovernable, wicked, and reckless heathen." Under that ser- mon he was converted, learned to read the Karen language, and began to labor most earnestly for the conversion of his people. Mr. Abbott, as soon as possible' after his return to Rangoon, decided to commence Ii school for young Christian Karens where they might be instructed and trained to be- come assistants in the missionary work. On the 8th of June, Shway Weing sen't him a number of young men to be instructed and baptized, and wrote a most interesting letter pleading that he would come to Bass~in if possible, and bring a great many of the precious books with him. The people of five Karen ~'illages, which he named, he said, "all worship God, every one; but we have no books, oh teacher, that we may fully understand the word of the Eternal God and keep it, and be enabled to distinguish between right and wrong. Weare very anxious that you come again."
On the 10th of June, 1838, Mr. Abbott began his training school with fourteen young men, mostly from Bassein, all Christians, but none of them as yet baptized. On the 20th Shway Weing arrived, with nine other young men, converted under his labors and those of Mau Yay and Moung Shway, two other young converts like-minded with himself. He desired for him- self and his associates that they should be baptized (he could not, he said, return to his village unless he was baptized), and receive a fresh supply of books to instruct those who were coming to him to learn the way of salva- tion. Eight of the young men were received into the school and, after a very careful examination, which convinced Mr. Abbott of the genuineness of his conversion, he was baptized, provided with books, and returned home rejoicing.
Presently there broke upon the missionary, his students, and the new con- verts, both in Rangoon and BaAsein, a storm of the most violent persecu- tion. Personally, Mr. Abbott was safe from violence, but his house was watched, Karens were prohibited from going thither, and any Karen found holding intercourse with him, or having in his possession any of the" white books" was beaten, imprisoned, put in the stocks, tortared, made to work on the pagoda-grounds, loaded with several pairs of heavy iron fetters and, on a repetition of the offence, threatened with death either by beheading or crucifixion. Mau Yay, Htou Byu, and another student, and Shway 1891.] MODEM MtsS10NAll.1' :M:Alt"VEtS. 881 Weing himself, suffered these cruel punishments, but they held firmly to their faith, though as yet none of them, except the young chief, had been baptized. All witnessed a good confession. They were at last released, but only by the decided action of the British Resident. After his release, Shway Weing wished to take more books to his people. "No," said Mr. Abbott, "you have just escaped with your life. If you I,Ire found with books in your possession now, you would certainly lose your head." " Should so much sooner get to heaven," was his reply.
The Burman Government was evidently in earnest to put down Christianity. Burmese Christians were persecuted as well- as Karens, and, as was their nature, the Burman officials gloated in inflicting the most atrocious cruelties. Yet the Karens could not be prevented from coming to the missionaries and pleading for books and instruction in the way of life, and if arrested and imprisoned they boldly avowed their Christianity. The missionaries found it necessary, for the sake of these poor converts, to remove to Maulmain, which was British territory, but their hearts ached for these poor Karens among whom the Gospel was spreading so rapidly through the efforts of these partially instructed assistants. By the first of January,. 1839, it was reported that more than a thousand of them had become obedient to the faith, and the good work was still progressing. Mr. Abbott was greatly distressed at the very small amount of knowledge which the new converts, and even the assistants, whose training had been so scanty, possessed j but he knew that they accepted Christ in simple faith as their Divine Redeemer. Yet, how to reach these humble disciples, to instruct, examine, and baptize them, and organize them into churches, and train up pastors for them, was a very difficult problem. It was out of the question to accomplish this from Maulmain j the journey by water was too long and dangerous, and that by land through the terrible jungle too perilous j and the Burman officials would prevent them from attempting either route, slaughtering them if necessary. The lower Tenasserim region, Tavoy, Mergui, etc., would be eve'll more inaccessible. For a time in the summer of 1839 there was a lull in the persecution, and the Burman Viceroy at Rangoon thought it would be good policy to favor the Americans, and invited Messrs. Kincaid and Abbott to visit Rangoon, return thither, and commence anew their missionary work in that city. They accepted his invitation, remained there forty days, during which they saw many of the Bassein oon- _ verts. They were satisfied of his friendly intentions and went back to Maulmain, intending to remove with their families to Rangoon in October. But the cruel and bloodthirsty royal tyrant, Tharawadi, was determined to crush Christianity out of Burmah, and almost immediately after the missionaries left Rangoon he summoned the viceroy to Ava, stripped him of all his honors, loaded him with chains, and consigned him to the death prison. In his place he appointed one of the most ignorant and brutal of his officers, with instructions to persecute all ChristIans, Burmans, Talaings, and Karens more violently than ever. All the missiunaries were obliged to escape to Maulmain, and the native churches were scattered.
There was now no alternative for Messrs. Abbott and Kincaid. The Bassein disciples could only be reached from Arakan, a narrow sandy strip of land on the eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal, extending to the western slope of the Yoma range of mountains, and having several good seaports. The land was sterile, the climate sickly, but it was British territory. From Sandoway, Ong Khy-oung, Sinmah, and Gwa harbors, on the Arakan coast, it was possible to cross the Yoma Mountains (here from 8000 to 12,- 000 feet in altitude) by three or four rather difficult passes. The mountains, and even the passes, were covered with a dense jungle inhabited by tigers, leopards, hyenas, rhinoceroses, and elephants, and enormous pythons, cobras, and other vcnomous serpents. Many bands of robbers had their haunts here. The plan decided upon was that Mr. Abbott and his family should remove to Sandoway and thence open communication through the mountain passes with the Bassein converts, who could come to Sandoway for baptism, and the most promising yOung men could be received at his house for study and training as native preachers and assistants. Messrs. Abbott and Kincaid and their families, with several Karen assistants, and the venerable Ko-that-byu, sailed for Arakan in February, 1840; Mr. Abbott and his company landed at Sandoway, March 17th, 1840, while the Kincaids went on to Akyab.
In January, 1840, there were in Bassein more than two thousand Christian Sgau Karens, none of whom had yet been baptized (brought to Christ by the zealous labors of Shway Weing, Mau Yay, Myat Keh, and others), who had avowed themselves Christians for the last one or two years, had led exemplary and pure lives, free from any taint" of heathenism or any sinful practices, and who were anxious to be baptized and organized into churches. Behind these were quite as many more who had abandoned all heathen customs and practices, and were disposed, so far as they knew, to become Christians, and accept Jesus as their Saviour and Redeemer. Of these 4000 or more, probably not more than three or four hundred had e'er heard a Gospel sermon, or seen a missionary; all they knew of the way of salvation had been acquired from the books and tracts which had been read to them, and the teachings of the assistants, whose instruction had been very meagre. They were very ignorant, but they had heard of Jesus, and they were willing to trust in Him and, if need be, to die for Him.
Immediately on reaching Sandoway Mr. Abbott despatched his two assistants over the mountains, to invite the young men to come to him for instruction, and other disciples to come for examination and baptism. Within a month 135 Karens had come in, between thirty and forty of them young men who had come to study for assistants. They continued to come in great numbers, though some lost their way and perished in the jungles. Mr. Abbot.t examined all the candidates carefully, and baptized several hundreds, who were organized into churches. Some of them remammg in Arakan, while others, with the best instructed assistants, after organization, returned over the mountains to Bassein, to establish Christian villages there. He was indefatigable in training native preachers, and they generally proved apt 8cholars. There was much sickness, jungle fever, and cholera, both in his own family and among the students, but the teaching work went on. He also interested the British Commissioner, Mr. (afterward Sir) Arthur P. Phayre, in his Karens, and procured grants of land for villages for them, timber for building, and seed rice for planting, the first year. The persecution was so severe in Bassein, the imprisonment so cruel, and the fines and plundering so crushing, that the poor Karens, in sheer despair, were compelled to fly to Arakan. More than a thousand thus emigrated in 1841-42. They had cleared the jungle and built up pleasant villages, with good chapels and comfortable dwellings when, in 1842, a terrible epidemic of cholera swept over both Arakan and Bassein, and more than a thousand of the converts fell victims to it and to the hardships they were called to endure. Many of the colonists in Arakan werl) so terrified by the pestilence, that they attempted to return to Bassein and perished in the jungle. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott were indefatigable in their attendance upon the sick and dying, and they taught the assistants to be active in these ministrations of mercy. The next year the Bassein disciples came over in great numbers, and the villages which had been deserted were made to blossom as the rose. In order to carry out his plan of instructing the preachers and people as rapidly as possible, and retain an oversight of the churches, Mr. Abbott every winter called the pastors (native preachers and assistants) and as many of the deacons and members of the churches as could come, to meet him at one of the frontier towns in Arakan for a conference of three or four weeks, at which he heard reports from each of the churches, advised them in regard to discipline, and instructed them in the doctrines of the Gospel. On these occasions many were baptized. At the conference of 1843, finding that his labors were to,o great for his strength, he decided to ordain two of the native assistants, in whom, from long acquaintance and thorough examination, he had full confidence. These were Myat Kyau and Tway Po. These were the first ordained preachers among the Sgau Karens of Bas~ein. They proved to be most excellent men, and for ten years they served the churches with great fidelity and success. Within about a year after their ordination, Myat Kyau reported 1550 baptisms and Tway Po nearly 600. Both acted as pastors as well as evangelists. Early in 1845 Mrs. Abbott and two of her children died, and Mr. Abbott was attacked with pulmonary consumption and compelled to sail for England and America. He was absent for two yeaIs, and returned with health still seriously impaired. An associate, Rev. J. S. Beecher, was sent to Sandoway by the Missionary Union. The Bassein-Arakan churches had been under the care of the two native evangelists during his absence.
Mr. Abbott and his associate entered upon their work with great zeal, visiting the association, counselling, instructing, and stimulating the churches to higher endeavor, directing their attention to the heathen around them, and in Northern Burmah, and encouraging them to establish the Karen Home Missionary Society, to sustain their own native preachers as missionaries to the heathen tribes. The tyrant Tharawadi was deposed and dead, and as the new king did not like to lose so many of his taxpaying subjects to the English by emigration, orders were given that the persecution should be relaxed. Under this lull in its fury, Messrs. Abbott and Beecher urged upon the churches that they should support their own native pastors i most of them willingly did this, and only about six hundred rupees ($270) was sent from America for that purpose.' An effort was made to establish elementary schools to teach both children and adults to read the Scriptures in the Sgau Karen language. The Pwo Karens, who had bee. neglected because the missiouaries did not understand their language, were now clamoring for books and teachers-a lack which the Roman Catholics were attempting to supply-and a missionary, Rev. H. L. Van Meter and some native preachers were assigned to them. Mr. Abbott made two very strenuous efforts to enter and settle in Bassein, but was thwarted by treacherous Burmese officials in both. His health again failing, he was compelled to remove temporarily to Tavoy and Maulmain, but labored there in the preparation and printing of Karen tracts and text-books. When the long-threatened second Anglo-Burmese war at last commenced, in 1852, he was on the alert (though very ill) to enter Bassein as soon as it was captured, and though unable to be borne on shore for ten days after his arrival, he spent nearly three months in the city of Bassein (August-October, 1852), receiving, counselling, and directing the native pastors and preachers, as well as the members of the churches. At the beginning of the war, January, 1852, there were over five thousand members in the Sgau Karen churches, and nearly four thousand more professed converts not yet baptized j 55 churches and 54 native preachers, of whom five were ordained. When Mr. Abbott was compelled by the pressure of disease to turn his face homeward, in October, 1852, his parting with the Karens was very distressing. They gathered about his couch weeping and anxious to' minister to him, but overwhelmed with grief that they should see his face no more. He arrived in America !Jarly in 1853, and. though unable to labor, except to some extent with his pen, dwelt in the land of Beulah till the day of his release, in December, 1854. Hp. was but forty-five years of age. Thf; Karens had been driven to take up arms against their oppressors, and the Burmese were full of rage against them. For more than a year after the declaration of peace the Burman dacoits, or guerillas, ravaged every Karen Christian village, burning the chapels and dwellings, plundering the inhabitants of all their grain and other property, torturing, outraging and butchering old men, women, and children, crucifying some of the native pastors, till they were captured and slain by the English troops and their Karen allies. Yet the churches reported at the association in February, 1853, 50 congregations, about forty pastors, and 5000 members.
The year 1854 was one of sad visitations of pestilence and famine, three pastors, including the first two ordained-Myat Kyau and Tway Po– had fallen victims to cholera, and 250 of the members had died. About forty had been excluded-mostly those who, in the stress of suffering and starvation, had robbed or maltreated others-but 519 had been baptized, the greater part new converts, and many Burmans had been led by the Christian lives and fortitude of the Karens to become Cbristians. Mr. Beecher had entered upon tbe work the sainted Abbott had laid down, but his health failed from overwork, his wife had died on her way to America, and an unfortunate misunderstanding with the Missionary Board, or rather the deputation it had sent out in 1852-53, rendered it necessary for him to return to America in February, 1855. He returned in 185'7 with a second wife, a noble and excellent woman j but he came back as a missionary of the American Baptist Free Mission Society, and not of the Missionary Union. Messrs. Yan Meter (the missionary to the Pwos) and Douglas (missionary to the Burmans of Bassein) had given their counsel and assistance to the native pastors during his absence, and the mission had not seriously suffered. The Missionary Union had sent other missionaries to take Mr. Beecher's place, but the Karens would only have their old teacher, and from September, 184'7 to 1866, he devoted all his powers to their service. While maintaining discipline and correcting errors and abuses which had sprung up in his absence, and endeavoring to promote a higher spiritual life, Mr. Beecher recognized as the great duty before him the necessity of promoting a higher education and a greater social and industrial progress than the Karens had yet made. They were now free from the Burman yoke, and while in their villages and churches they should be first of all Christians, he deemed it necessary that they should be also intelligent Christians and should make such progress in social life and industries that they might be qualified to hold their own with the Burmans who had hitherto affected to despise them. Mr. and Mrs. Beecher selected a site for their new mission compound near the city and overlooking it; the British commissioner granted them ten acres, and friends sixteen more, and here, besides the necessary dwellings, Mr. Beecher proceeded to erect the " Sgau Karen Normal and Industrial Institute," in which there should be a vernacular high school, an advanced English school, in which native teachers and assistants should be educated, and an industrial department, in which the pupils should spend three or four hours each secular day in the practice of some of the more useful arts and trades. He had previously greatly en" couraged and increased the attendance upon the elementary schools, which now numbered over eleven hundred scholars, had caused the establishment of four academies, advanced, or, as we should say, grammar schools, in the vernacular tongue, and these, as well as his Normal and Industrial Institute, were erected and supported by the Karens themselves. The cost of the buildings was 4000 rupees, and the contribution!> from the Karen churches had risen from 9586 rupees, in 1860, to 20,666 rupees in 1866. In the same time the Sgau Karen membership had increased from 5501 to 6289, the number of churches from 56 to 70, and the preachers to 109, of whom 18 were ordained. There were 22 evangelists or missi(maries in the various fields. Mr. Beecher's labors in the eight and a half years (1847- 66) which followed were herculean. No three men could have performed them aud have lived. He plead most earnestly with the Free Mission Society (as he had done previously with the A. B. M. U.) for an associate in the educational work, but none was sent till the autumn of 1865, when Dr. ·W. M. Scott arrived without knowledge of the language. It was too late. Mr. Beecher had established the elementary schools and furnished teachers for them; had founded several large academies; had built and organized his threefold Normal and Indust~ial Institute, and superintended all the teaching and training; had maintained his school for native pastors; had ordained 14 native evangelists; had impressed his own lofty character for piety and spirituality upon the 70 native churches; he had done all this and more with only the help of his devoteq wife, but the end had come. About April 1st, 1866, he was smitten down with liver disease, and his physicians gave him but a week to prepare for a homeward voyage. His wife, almost an invalid, and his four little children embarked for England, which they reached September 12th and, after lingering about five weeks at Plymouth, England, he was not, for God took him. He had not quite completed his forty-seventh year.
But though the leaders fall the work must go on. Dr. Scott took charge of the Institute and, in a general way, of the schools. The native evangelists and pastors went on with the churches and the native missionary work till February, 1867, when Rev. B. C. Thomas, an excellent missionary from Hentzada, took Mr. Beecher's place; but for him the work proved too great. He was compelled to sail for America in January, 1868, and, in June, three days after arriving at New York, died, having just passed his forty-eighth birthday.
The old difficulty between the Missionary Union and the Free Mission Society was healed, and the property of the society had been purchased by the Union. Mr. Douglas, who had been in charge after Mr. Thomas left, died of bilious fever in July, 1868, at the age of about forty-six and a half years. Mr. Van Meter, the faithful and efficient missionary to the Pwos, after a lingering illness reached America only to die in August, 1870, not having completed his forty-sixth year, and a year later his wife followed him.
The Karens were thus deprived of all their counsellors and teachers in the past, all of them dying in the prime of life, and at a time when they so much needed the helpful influence and superintendence of an able and accomplished missionary. They had known something of Rev. C. H. Carpenter, then a professor in the Karen Theological Seminary, at R.an~oon" who had visited Bassein and was thoroughly conversant with the Karen language, and they had· applied to the Missionary Union to send him, and had also written in September, ] 868, to Mr. Carpenter himself, asking him to come and be their teacher. The Board of Managers, in November, 1868, cabled to Bassein the message (the first they had ever Bent to Burmsh), " Carpenter transferred to Bassein, Smith to Rangoon."
Mr. Carpenter removed immediately to his new field. lIe was about thirty-three years of age, an accomplished scholar, of wonderful tact and executive ability, and the work he accomplished for Bassein in the next twelve years has never been equalled by any missionary in the world. lIe began by visiting nearly everyone of the Karen churches in Bassein and southern Arakan, and ascertaining all the facts respecting their pastors, their spiritual condition, discipline, educational progress, and social attainments. Of course there were many abuses and errors to be corrected; three or four of the pastors (one of them an ordained man) had fallen: others (a few only) were ignorant and inefficient; the discipline was not thorough, the spiritual condition was generally good, though in some instances there ,was a lack of earnestness j a majority of the mem bers of the churches could neither read nor write j only one in thirty had either the Old or New Testament Scriptures, and many of the schools were not well taught. The social condition, though much higher than among the heathen, was stm too low. With the aid of the leading pastors, some of the best men to be found anywhere, Mr. Carpenter set himself to reform these evils, and to bring the churches up to a high standard of holy Christian living; and he was, in the main, successful; but two of the churches clung to their fallen leaders and went to destruction. There was a genuine revival, and many hundreds of new converts were received into the churches. The schools were greatly improved, the academies made great advancement, and the Bassein Institute founded by Mr. Beecher was again crowded with pupils. But the buildings of the Institute, constructed of cheap jungle wood, and covered with thatch, were sadly dilapidated by their eleven years' wear in that climate, and were in imminent danger of destruction from fire. They must be rebuilt and greatly enlarged, and the buildings, to be nearly fire-proof, must be of teak, with iron-wood posts. Mr. Carpenter had already made his plans for an entire reconstruction of the compound, which was to be graded and laid out anew, with the buildings arranged around a park of fruit and flowering trees in the centre, the erection of school buildings, teachers' houses, and dormitories around this park. With this. plan prepared he addressed the pastors whom he had called in consultation and, after stating the need of the school, asked them to pledge their churches to raise the amount needed (about 6000 rupees) in three years. They were evidently taken aback by this proposition. They had raised considerable sums under Mr. Beecher's leadership, but nothing like this j moreover, they were supporting their pastors, their ~chools, and their missionaries. Why could not the American churches help them in this? Mr. Carpenter met all their objections with infinite tact, and at last persuaded them, though with some hesitation, to make the pledges. The. students in the Institute did the grading, laying out and planting of the trees. These pledges were fulfilled and exceeded. Instead of 6000 rupees they had contributed more than eight thousand before the expiration of the three years, and were ready to go on with a new girls' school building. In 1870 Mr. Carpenter urged upon the pastors and teachers the duty of liberal and systematic giving, and a few days later all the pastors and the teachers in the Institute voluntarily signed au agreement to give to the cause of the Lord not less than one-tenth of their income. This pledge has been maintained ever since. More of the pastors were now ordained, till the whole number was twenty-two. But the work was too exhausting and the pace too rapid for Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, and at the end of three and a half years they were compelled to return to America for rest and the restoration of their health. They sailed in January, 1872, and returned in 1874, after an absence of about two years. Mr. (now Dr.) Jameson had come as a missionary to the Burmans in 1870, and could not be induced to change to the Karens, but he rendered some assistance, and Mr. Hopkinson; sent out as Mr. Carpenter's associate, came to Bassein in January, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Van Meter were both dead, and Mr. Goodell had just come as' a missionary to t11e Pwos. There were, therefore, three missionaries who could render some assistance during Mr. Carpenter's absence. On his return, in April, 1874, the Board had appointed him President of the Rangoon Baptist College, but his heart was in Bassein and, convinced that he could ~e more useful and accomplish more for the cause of God there than in Rangoon, he resigned, and in March, 1875, returned to his beloved Karens. At his return he embarked with new zeal on his educational plans. Within two weeks after his arrival the association voted unanimously to raise 20,000 rupees in four years for a large and substantial chapel and boys' school building. The girls' school building, which had cost between 6000 and 7000 rupees (about half of the amount being contributed by the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society), was completed in October j the baptism of the first Karen convert in Burmah (Ko-thah-byu, a native of Bassein) having occurred May 16th, 1828, the Karens resolved to call their new and great building, which was to be devoted to the education and Chtistianization of the Karens, Ko-thah-byu Memorial Hall, and to dedicate it, free from debt, on May 16th, 1878, the fiftieth anniversary of his baptism. It was a great undertaking for a people so lately rescued from heathenism and semi-barbarism, and among whom there was not one rich or even moderately wealthy man, and where the giving implied great sacrifices; but it was accomplished, I.4nd in three years instead of four the 20,000 rupees of the building fund had become 42,342 rupees in May, 1878, and the other charges and expenses had all been met, including the support of the pastors, the missionaries to other tribes, and the schools, and the heavy expense of the support of these boarding schools, and beyond this these Karens had, in 1874, sent 1000 rupees to their famine-stricken brethren in Toungoo j and, in 1877, while threatened with famine themselves, another 1000 rupees to the perishing Telugus across the Bay of Bengal, who, though of another race, were their brethren in Christ.
They had raised in the ten years, 1868-78, for the erection of permanent buildings for their Industrial Institute and its partial endowment, 82,512 rupees, equal to $36,565. The Institute, as completed, had cost about 150,000 rupees, the difference, except the 3300 rupees of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, being made up by friends of the missionaries in Burmah, England, and America. The whole property was made over to the Baptist Missionary Union in trust for the mission.
The whole contributions of the Sgau Karens for mission and educational purposes, from December, 1868, to December,· 1879, eleven years, slightly exceeded 365,000 rupees ($164,250), a sum which, under the circum- stances, was unprecedented in any mission of like extent in the world.
None of the objects they had undertaken to sustain had been suffered to lack j their pastors had been supported, their missionaries among the heathen tribes paid promptly, their chapels rebuilt and kept in good order, the teachers Of the elementary schools, the academies, and the great schools at Bassein, had been supported, and the sustenance for 2.50 boarding schol- ars provided. These schools all received grants-in-aid from the British Government for their excellent teaching, and the blessing of God rested on their faithful work for Him; notwithstanding the defection of two churches, and the dismissal of four others to the Rangoon Association, and the dis- mission of more than five hundrea other members to churches of the same association, the number of churches had increased from 52 to 80 ; of mem- bers from less than 6000 to nearly 8000 (the Pwo churches not being in- cluded as forming an association of their own), and these very largely by conversion and baptism; their preachers and pastors were better educated and were sound in the faith.
To crown their work the Karen pastors proposed to raise an endowment of 50,000 rupees for the Normal and Industrial Institute within seven years, and as usual they exceeded their pledge, raising more than 60,000 rupees in the first three years, and were to make up the amount to 100,000 • rupees by 1890. It can hardly be matter of surp·rise that Mr. and Mrs.
Carpenter were again compelled to leave Bassein, in November, 1880, or that after three or four years of ineffectllal effort to regain their health, he should have gone to a new field in Japan, where, after a year of labor he passed away at the age of about fifty years.
His successor, Rev. C. A. Nichols, is a man like minded with Mr. Car- penter. He has now completed his tenth year of service, and with tho efficient aid of Mrs. Nichols, and four ladies, who are mainly engaged in the ~assein schools, he reports progress along the whole line. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols were compelled to return home on account of ill health, but n in a year and & h1l1f retIJrneq withn~w vigor. hll& been p~ccssar, to enlarge the Ko-thah-byu Memorial Hall and the school-rooms j 400 pupils are in attendance j those who pass the examination for admission have tuition and board free. The village schools have increased to 78, with about 2400 pupils j the churches to 88, with a membership of 8589. (These figures do not include the Pwos, who have 22 churches 'and 1367 members.) There are 79 preachers, of whom 29 are ordained. All the churches, schools, etc., are self-supporting. The contributions of 1889 were *23,000-nearly 60,000 rupees at present rates. The number of baptisms was 404. Of the 100 Sgau Karen villages 83 are Christian villages, with churches and chapels in each. Socially and intellectually, as well as morally, the Sgau Karens are making rapid advances, and are attain· ing to positions of honor and trust. The Government finds them more capable and trustworthy than the Burmans. Such have been some of the results of fifty years of patient and faithful missionary labor. Have we done better here at home Y Canon Scott Robertson has published his annual summary of the funds voluntarily given or bequeathed in the British Isles for the work of Foreign Missions for the year 1889. The calculation shows that the total so given was £1,301,306. Of this sum Canon Scott Robertson estimates that about £670,000, or rather more than one.half, came from members of the Church of England. Although the total for 1889-£1,301,306-is below that for 1888, it is greater than any similar total previous to 1888. The channels of contribution were: Churc!> of England Societies, £523,226 j Joint Societies of Churchmen and Nonconformists, £21'7,963 ; English and Welsh Nonconformist Societies, £364,652 j Scotch and Irish Presbyterian Societies, £185,646 j Roman Catholic SOCleties, £9,819.
The late Henry Thornton, who did not drive from him people who sought subscriptions for mission work as if they were mendicants, as some rich persons are in the habit of doing, in response to an appeal from a visitor, once wrote out a check for £5. Before the ink was dry a telegram was brought to him. He tore open the envelope, read the contents, and turned ' ashy white. He said to his visitor-a clergyman-" I have received some dreadful news. I have lost hundreds of pounds-give me back that check." It was not pleasant to give back the check, and I dare say nine persons out of ten would have cancelled it j but Mr. Thornton, on receiving it back, . altered the" £5" to " £50," saying, " God has just taught me that I may not much longer possess my property, and therefore I must use it well." Did Henry Thornton lose anything by that ~ Did he die a bankrupt 1 No; he continued one of the most prosperous merchants of his day, and consecrated his wealth, his influence, and his time to the Lord Jesm! Christ.- $outh 4mericg,n J(ilflliQnary Ma[lazine. PROTESTANT MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY.
BY REV. DELAVAN L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, OHIO.
Whatever the reason may have been, certain it is that the great Reformers of the sixteenth century, with all their lofty enthusiasm and holy zeal, were possessed of no pervading and consuming desire to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In the multitude of their perfervid thoughts we find no reference to the sublime privilege, the bounden duty, or the possibility even of making Christ and His salvation known to every creature. This was in part on account of the tremendous pressure of such external hindrances as were named in a former article. It came about also in part because of the fact that their zeal was so largely not evangelistic, but polemic instead-anti-catholic, theological, ecclesiastical. Thus, as we have seen, the range of their intellectual and spiritual vision extended only to the boundaries of Christendom. The Mohammedans-" Turks," as the dreadful word was-were thought of only to be feared and hated, while, as for the heathen, they had no dealings with them, or knowledge of them. In addition, it appears to be well established that miC1sionary fervor was smothered by certain eschatological misconceptions. As many earnest souls read the Scriptures and the signs of the times, not only was the world " very evil," but" the times were waxing late." The Gospel had already reached its extreme limit in terrestrial space and the end of all things was at hand. The world was not to be converted, but was soon to be destroyed. And it has even been suggested, though perhaps without sufficient evidence, that in the fact that from 1540 onward, the papacy, through the Jesuits and other similar orders, was propagating itself with such tremendous vigodn all the new-found regions, the Reformers and their successors, in their intense anti-papal prejudice, discovered a sufficient reason why they should undertake nothing of the sort.
The story of wj:J.at was attempted for the salvation of mankind is so brief as to be most painful and humiliating. In 1555, at the request of the great Coligny, Calvin despatched fourteen pious men to Brazil, of whom, however, only two were clergymen; they went out more as settlers than as heralds of good news, and besides the" mission" met with speedy and utter failure. In 1559 Gustavus Vosa (not the Swedish Church or the Swedish Christians) was moved to send the Gospel to the Lapps, and his successors carried on what he had begun. Churches were built, schools were opened, and in later years relIgious books were translated into the vernacular, but only the slightest spiritual results ensued. And the reason becomes evident when 'we are told that all servir.es were held in Swedish, which the people did not understand, and that in the winter months the population was gathered by royal edict to pay tribute and to be indoctrinated into the faith. For those were the days of universal State and Church. And these few lines contain in outline the entire narrative of Protestant missions undertaken during the first century after the Reformation. And it is well-nigh as brief a8 that famous chapter upon" snakes in Iceland."
l':ROTES'1'ANT MISSIONs BEFORE CAdY
And the record of the seventeenth century is not much better, except as in it we discover the promise, the potency, and the preparation for vastly brighter days to come. And what we find of good omens is almost wholly upon the secular side of human atlairs. Tremendous revolutions, both political and commercial, were at hand, destined in due season to open a door for the introduction of a pure Gospel into remotest continents and islands. For a full hundred years after the immortal achie'ements of Columbus and Magellan and De Gama, Spain and Portugal, both wholly devoted to the pope, had enjoyed an absolute monopoly of discovery, colonization, and trade in all the vast and new-found regions. No other nation had been daring or venturesome enough to trespass upon the boundless spaces of the Pacific, or scarcely to land for purpo'les of traffic upon the Eastern shores of the New World. But finally, through the intoleraole tyranny of Philip II., three Protestant nations, aJ.ld almost at the same time, were stirred to rebellion. And the change which resulted is one of the most momentous in the whole range of human history, greater far in its effects than the sending of Solomon's ships to Ophir, or the voyages and settlements of the ancient Phrenicians, a~d in its relation to the spread of the Gospel every way worthy to be compared with Alexander's conquests in remotest Persia and India, and the countless campaigns of the invincible Roman legions. The. first result was in its nature only military, political, commercial. Supreme power simply passed from Catholic to Protestant hands. But the real divine meaning was world-widespread of Protestant ideas, or later and more especially the dominion of God's most highly honored missionary agency, the Anglo-Saxon race.
The Dutch were the first to poach upon the Portuguese preserves in the East Indies. They had maintained their independence against the utmosthat Philip could do, and having united in his own person the sovereignty of the two kingdoms beyond the Pyrenees, and in order'to punish these doughty Netherlanders whom he could not conquer, he forbade their ships to enter the port of Lisbon, then both entrepot and depot for the spices and all other products both of the East and West. The Hollanders had long been ocean carriers for all Europe, and thus were threatened with ruin utter and without remedy. Nor were they long in concluding that if not allowed to purchase what commodities they wanted nearer home, they would procure these in their native clime, and also at first hand. The annihilation of the Spanish Armada in 1588 supplied the golden opportunity. After three unsuccessful attempts to find a northeast passage by way of Nova Zembla, in 1596, the same year in which Van Linschoten, after fifteen years' acquaintance with the Portuguese and their commerce in Lisbon and the far East, had published a book full of information, containing many maps and charts, giving routes, laying down currents, rocks, harbors, etc., the Houtmann brothers doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and a few months later appeared in Sumatra waters. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was organized under a charter which ,slJe£fied as one object to be sought the caITying of the Reformed faith to the heathen. In 1605 Van der Hagen, while en ronte, made a lodgment on the Malabar coast in the vicinity of Goa, the Portuguese headquarters in India, and then sailed on to Am- boyna, one of the Moluccas, and captured it. And now followed almost a century of conquest. Batavia was founded in 1619. By 1635 Formosa had become subject to the States, Malacca by 1640, while in 1651 fell the last Portuguese stronghold in Ceylon, and in 1664 the entire Malabar coast had passed into Dutch hands. Also in 1650 a colony had been planted at the Cape of Good Hope as a sort of halfway house on the road to the East.
But alas! we search almost in vain for any display of zeal in proclaiming Christ to the heathen. The Company was purely political and commercial in its designs, and its desires were fastened on something other than missionaries and converts, on spices, to wit, and like treasures, which would bring large financial returns. Ministers, not a few, were sent out, especially in the early years, and some of them were godly men in earnest to do good. The Gospel was preached to the heathen resident in the vicinity of the colonies and factories. The Scriptures were translated into Malay, and also into Cingalese, and printed at the expense of the company. Pagan temples were closed, and Catholic churches were turned to Protestant uses, while an end was put to the celebration of both Buddhist and Romish rites. And, let what occurred in Ceylon and Java stand for the dominant methods of Dutch evangelization. It was given out by the highest civil authority that no favors whatever could be expected from the Government by any who did not accept the Helvetic Confession and receive baptism. But then, as an easy preparation for this sacrament, it was only required that the neophyte should master the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, and undertake to pray morning and evening, and say grace before and after meals! And behold, eager crowds prcssed into the churches. By the year 1700 there were 300,000 " converts" in Ceylon, which number had increased to 425,000 in 1725. In Java 100,000 received baptism under a similar impulse and upon the same terms, while the process and the spiritual'results were similar in Formosa, Celebes, the Moluccas, etc. And the advance was but slight beyond what the Jesuits had done.
But the best outcome was to follow later. The Dutch conquests in the East made vast populations known to the Protestant world, and eventually' made them accessible to the heralds of a pure faith. Nor in India and the Spice Islands alone, but in the New World as well. For the Dutch West India Company was formed in 1607 ; two years later the Netherlanders made their advent into New York Bay and upon Manhattan Island i early in the same century settlements were planted in Surinam, and in 1621 in Brazil. At l~ast in the country last·named some missionary work was done, for in 1636 an earnest request for eight clergymen was sent home.
In the mean time English sailors also had learned the watery road to the far East and, after long trying in vain to discover a northwest passage, they turned southward, following Magellan and De Gama. In 1577-79 Drake made the circuit of the globe via Cape Horn, traversing the East Indian Archipelago and the Indian Ocean; Stephens penetrated the region of the Spice Islands, 1579-82 by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and Cavendish followed in 1586. The British East India Company was formed in 1598- 1603 under a charter given by King William IlL, and at once sent out the first of a long succession of fleets to trade and to fight, as well as to found colonies. Almost a century followed of warfare with the Dutch for a share of the islands and of the traffic in cloves, cinnamon, and pepper. In 1612 a lodgment was made in India at Surat, whose significance for British do- minion and for the spread of the Gospel did not in the least appear until generations had passed. During all these years English Christians did noth- ing whatever for the introduction of the Gospel into Southern Allia, and even though in the charter of their great Company it was expressly re- quirM that a plentiful supply of chaplains be maintained at all the stations, and it was made obligatory upon these to learn the language, and to give religious instruction to at least such of the natives as were in the Company's employ.
And, in truth, the churches were kept busy at home with vital struggles over kingcraft and episcopacy, or in behalf of sacred liberty both civil and religious. And what slight stock of evangelizing fervor they possessed was expended upon the colonies in the New World.
In the history of modern missions Jamestown and Plymouth will always remain words to conjure with, and the dates 1607 and 1620 will rank with the few which mark the beginning of eras, since they stand for the momen- tous founding of this great Christian nation. In all the early voyages to America under the lead of Raleigh and others, the conversion of the abo- rigines received a mention. Upon the seal of the Massachusetts colony was represented an Indian with extended arms, and the motto, " Come over and help us." As early as 1636 Plymouth took legislaiive action look- ing to the salvation of the pagans living near by. In 1644 the General Court at Boston ordered the county courts "to have the resident Indians in- structed in the knowledge and worship of God," and thus became, in the phrase of a competent historian, " the first missionary society of Protestant Christendom." In 1642 the Mayhews began their apostolic labors upon Martha's Vineyard and neighboring islands, and in 1646 Eliot preached his first sermon to the red men in their own tongue, and by 1663 he had pub- lished his Indian Bible. By the end of the century several thousands had be90me Christian in name, and thirty churches had been gathered. It was in order to aid the New England colonists in these labors of love that twelve ministers petitioned Parliament, and as a result, in 1649, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England was chartered, and for years substantial financial succor was bestowed. There were a few Englishmen of eminence, in that generation, of the spirit and deeds of Robert Boyle, . who for thirty years was pre4!ident of this society, and contributed £300 to its funds, nearly £1000 for various translations of the Bible, and at his death left £5400 "for the propagation of Christianity in infidel and unenlightened nations." It was in this period, too, that Cromwell devised his scheme, which though futile, was yet grand, for uniting all Protestant peoples in an effort to evangelize the entire race, parcelling out the heathen and Mohammedan world among. them.
Two or three almost fruitless attempts on the part of individuals will complete the missionary history of this century. In one of the earlier decades, inspired by Grotius, seven young men of Liibeck were moved to endeavor to rekindle the light of New Testament truth in the midst of the corrupt Oriental churches. One set forth for Jerusalem, but lost his faith while on the journey; another pushed his way into Turkey and seems to have met death by violence, while a third, Peter Heyling, after several failures, is heard of in Abyssinia in 1634, and for years lifted up his voice in witnessing for Christ. Then, in 1664, Von Welz, an Austrian baron, of Ratisbon, his heart burning within him, published two impassioned pamphlets in which he called upon Christians to rise and make haste to seek to save the lost, and proposed"to form the Society of the Love of Jesus. But he excited only ridicule and opposition in Germany, and so took his departure for Holland, gave up his title, was ordained, and sailed for Surinam as a missionary, where he soon died.
And thus two hundred years of Protestant history passed with only these attempts, so few, so feeble and sporadic, to carry the glad tidings abroad. The missionary dawn was yet almost a century away, but presently a few cheering tokens of the morning were to appear. Just now, and for forty years to come, Denmark is the centre of missionary activity, and with its King Frederick IV. to lead. Ai seems probable, it was' by his chaplain Liitkens that this monarch was moved to send one message of salvation to various dependencies of the Crown. Searching for fit persons, when none could be found at home, recourse was fortunately had to those godly men Francke, at Halle, and Spener, at Berlin, and at length two young men were found willing to go. Great opposition was met with in Germany on the ground that missions were neither necessary nor proper, and so difficult was it to establish their orthodoxy before a court of Danish theologians, that the candidates were ordained only at the imperative command of the king. But finally, and after a tempestuous voyage of forty w~eks, in July of 1706, these pioneers of the Gospel among the millions of Hindostan, Ziegenbalg and Plutscho, began their arduous labors at Tranquebar. Incredible difficulties awaited them, and not only from the nations, but even more from godless Europeans, and from the local authorities, by whom they were thrown into prison. But in spite of all they held on, mastered the language, preached without ceasing, and translated the Bible into Tamil. King Frederick never failed them, but sent an annual allowance of £300, which later was increased to £450. In 1709 came a reinforcement of three more from Halle, and the London Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge sent a printing-press as well as a liberal donation of money, the first gift of a long series. Before the death of Ziegenbalg, in 1719, Schultz had come to India, another man of God as gifted and devoted, to take up his work, and in 1750 Schwartz made his advent, who possessed not only gifts and graces truly apostolic, but the powers also of an accomplished scholar and statesman. By him and his helpers the work was enlarged upon every side, and it is estimated that by the end of a century not less than 50,000 converts had been made.
In 1714 this same Danish king established a college of mi!!sions. Two years later he opened a mission is Lapland. And it was during these same years that in northern Norway the soul of Hans Egede was pondering a great question night and day. For thirteen years the Macedonian cry had sounded in his ears j he longed to undertake something in behalf of the perishing in Greenland, and sought eagerly for means to betake himself thither. He petitioned Frederick for aid, and in 1717 resigned his pas- torate is Waagen and made his way to Copenhagen. And finally, by sheer persistence having conquered every obstacle, he set forth in 1721 and en- tered upon a fifteen years' course of spiritual and physical suffering, with but slight measures of success attending.
And now the Christian world was to behold yet another notable step forward in the sublime march of missionary progress. And this al~o was closely connected with Denmark, King Frederick, and Francke. The Renewed Moravian Church had been in existence at Herrnhut only ten years, and numbered but some six hundred souls, when Zinzendorf, who had felt profoundly the influence of the pietistic movement which centred in Halle and Berlin, paid a visit to Copenhagen at the coronation of Christian VI. While there he heard that the settlements which had been maintained in Greenland, being financially unprofitable, were to be broken up and the missionaries called home, and. he also saw two Eskimo converts whom Egede had baptized. Moreover, it came to his knowledge that the sister of a negro whom he met was a slave in St. Thomas, and with other wretched beings was famishing for the Bread of Life. This tiny mustardseed had fallen into soil most fruitful, and was destined to bear a plentiful harvest. The story was repeated. in' Herrnhut, and in a few months five heroic messengers of peace were ready and eager to endure all and risk all for Christ, whether at the frozen north or under the tropics, and in the latter case expecting success only at the cost of suffering themselves to be sold into life-long slavery, and ready to die if only able to save a single soul! And such was the inspiring and most remarkable genesis of Moravian missions. Nor has the spirit changed, nor hass halt been called from that day to this. This little church went on in faith and love to start" more missions in twenty years than all the Protestant churches together had in two hundred." Dr. Warneck justly deems Francke and ·Zinzendorf " the fathers of the modern mission to the heathen." And further, he declares of the latter that" He is the first in modern times on whose heart lay day and night the desire that all the ends of the earth might see the salvation of God."
We come now to a great gap extending from Zinzendorf to Carey. For full sixty years not a single new missionary undertaking was set on foot. A few societies were formed in Britain which were evangelistic or semi-evangelistic in their character. Among them is found the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, dating from 1698, and which for a century and more supplied .Ziegenbalg and his successors with the sinews of war. And the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, chartered by King William in 1701, which afterward sent out John Wesley to Georgia. The first year its income was but £1535, and a full century afterward had risen only to £6407! The Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge followed in 1709, one of whose mission- aries, David Brainerd, in later years became. A few honored names can be mentioned of those who undertook to carry forward the work which Eliot and the Mayhews had begun during the century preceding. Such as Horton, who labored among the Indians upon Long Island. And Sergeant, who, in 1734, gave up a tutorship in Yale College and removed to Stockbridge to gather the scattered Mohegans and preach to them the Gospel, and whose successor Jonathan Edwards became in 1750-56. Brainerd was in labors abundant, 1744-47 in New Jersey and Eastern New York, as well as Kirkland among the Oneidas from 1764 onward. When, in 1766, Whittaker and Occum visited England in behalf of an Indian school at Lebanon, Conn., they easily raised £12,000 among the churches.
A few words will suffice to tell of the territorial growth during the eighteenth century of Great Britain through her colonies and her commerce, and that both in the West and the East. The Seven Years' War was of slight significance to the powers of Europe, but was of import unspeakable to the Christian world. For it ga,'e to PItt the peerless QPportunity to end for- ever, at Quebec, in 1759, the dominion of Catholic France in the New World, and in the East Indies as well by the battle of Plassey and the fall of Pondicperry. The Dutch, too, were largely expelled from their Eastern possessions, finally retiring from Ceylon in 1795. In the mean time, 1769-79, Cook's voyages of discovery had been made, so big with results to Christian missions.
Along with all this much-needed material preparation had gone forward for fifty years the marvellous revival work under the WesJeys and Whitefield, and their coadjutors, by which all Britain had been profoundly stirred and, as well; all countries adjacent. And the overwhelming and most blessed effects of that greatest effusion of the Spirit since Pentecost, scarcely less important to Christendom than the Reformation it~elf, had even crossed the Atlantic, and was renewing the religious life of the colonies from Georgia to Maine. In the momentous campaign about to begin against heathenism in all the world, not German or Scandinavian, but Anglo-Saxon Protestantism was to lead, and in Carey's bones the holy fire Lad already begun to burn.
ONE '1'tlOtJSAND MORE MISSIONAnt'ES Iron clItNA
ONE THOUSAND MORE MISSIONARIES FOR CHINA.
BY REV. A. P. HAPPER, D.D.
The churches should not forget the call sent forth by the General Mis- sionary Conference at Shanghai, in May, 1890, for 1000 missionaries for China within the next five years. For definiteness these five years may be understood to mean the years 1891-95. This implies 200 missionaries for each of these five years. Many of the friends of missions are ready to inquire, Why does the Conference call for so many for China when there are so many other countries needing missionaries ~ In this paper I wish to present some of the reasons for calling for 1000 missionaries for this great empire, and also give some of the reasons for the urgency of the call.
The first and most obvious reason for asking for so many is because the population of China is so numerous. There is no reliable census of the in- dividual population of this empire. The enumeration which is made by the Government is made with reference to taxation, and has reference to the households. When the number of the households is known, then the estimated number of the population will depend upon the number which may be fixed upon as the average of each household. Some compilers of statistics fix upon one number and some upon another. This is one reason that the estimates of the population of China differ so widely. Some esti- mate the population to number 250,000,000, some 300,000,000, some 350,000,000, and some as high as 400,000,000. If we take 334,000,- 000 to be the population of China, then it contains one-third of the non- Christian populations of the world, which is estimated to be 1,000,000,000. It is well known by all the friends of missionary work that not nearly one- third of the number of Christian workers in heathen lands is in China. In round numbers, and for the sake of definite statements at this present time, there is' only one missionary-taking the number of missionaries to be 1295, including men and women-to every 250,000 people. There is only one male missionary to every 283,000 of the male population, and one female missionary to every 239,000 of the female population. 'There is oulyone medical missionary for every 3,340,000 of the population. The . number of missionaries now in China is, therefore, utterly insufficient for the conversion of China to Christ. The number of missionaries now in China is less in proportion to the number of the people than the number of the other non-Christian lands. Hence the cull of the missionaries now in the field to the churches in Clnistian lands for this' reinforcement of Christian workers in this populous field.
A second reason for this call for 1000 missionaries for China is thi~. When the foundations have been laid, and the work in the various departmen1~ of work ha~ been commenced, doubling the number of the work!'r~ in- creases the results in some things threefold, in some things 8CV(,lIfold, alHl in some things seventeen-fold. The Rev. N. G. Clarke, D.D., Secretary of the American Board, in the annual survey of the operations and results of the year 1890, summarizes some of the results of the twenty-five years during which he has acted as secretary. During these twenty.five years the number of missionaries has increased from 223 to 533, which is twofold and thirty-nine hundredths more. But with this increase of missionaries the stations have increased in the same time from 342 to 1058, which is nearly threefold. The native pastors have increased from 60 to 173, or nearly threefold. The number of students in high schools and seminaries has increased from 437 to 7780, which is more than seventeen-fold. The number of these high schools and seminaries has increased from 18 to 122, which is an increase of sevenfold. The number of church-members has increased from 5247 to 36,256, which is nearly sevenfold. And the contributions of church-members have increased from $10,000 to $117,000, which is more than elevenfold. If the churches desire to see results of Christian work on the foreign field multiplied, the most direct way to effect that object is to increase the number of missionaries on the fields when the work is already commenced and the foundations laid.
A third reason for asking this addition to the missionary force is this: In every properly planned and conducted mission the work naturally en- . larges and expands, and requires an additional number of persons to follow it up and utilize these opportunities. If this is not done there is an obvious waste and a failure to improve the facilities of increase and enlargement which the labor already bestowed has secured. Hence, if the churches would properly secure the full results of Jabor already performed, they must increase the number of workers so as to properly improve every facility and opportunity secured by the labor of the laborers already in the field.
But besides the reasons already stated there are some considerations that should be specially regarded as reasons for increasing the missionary force in China. In this land there is a regularly organized government, which affords protection to life, and property, and residence in the midst of this multitudinous people. There are safe and convenient modes of travel to all parts of the country. It is true that the conveyances to the most distant places are not steamboats or railroads. But the native boats are safe and comfortable, though they are slow. The wheelbarrows and carts are not liable to accidents or overturnings. There are also safe and reliable facilities for sending 1ll0ney and other supplies to the most distant stations inland. There are everywhere houses that can be rented and used for residences, school-rooms, opium refuges, and preaching halls. Clothing, when using the native costume, can everywhere readily be obtained. Every yariety of food is abundant and comparatively cheap, and the fuel ,and facilities of cooking it always at hand. The climate is everywherp. comfortable and healthful, so that missionaries everywhere enjoy a fair degree of health and energy, and many live to an advanced age. The protection pf thc :Britjsh, German, /lnd tmericlln GoyeJ1lments is enj'oyed by their I respective citizens when laboring as missionaries in every part of this ex- tended country. The most cursory consideration of these statements show what special facilities are enjoyed for the prosecution of missionary laborers in China, as compared with Africa, the interior of Asia, or the Pacific Islands. These arc providential orderings that the churches should thankfully avail themselves of.
There are still other and yet more important facilities, that indicate that the Lord has prepared a highway for the introduction and spread of the Gospel among this people. This vast multitude read and understand one and the same written and printed language. The Bible, the whole Bible, is translated and published in this language, which is thus read among these 334,000,000 of people. There are also facilities for printing the sacred Scriptures in the Chinese language to any desirable extent. Ten millions of copies can be printed every year if the churches furnish the money to print them and the missionaries to distribute them. But not only is the written language the same all over the country, but the same spoken language is understood throughout two-thirds of the whole land. The missionaries who acquire the knowledge of this spoken language can travel through whole provinces, with 10,000,000 of inhabitants, preach- ing the glad news of the Kingdom. In the other third of the land there are. some ten different dialects; but each of these dialects is spoken by some 10,000,000 of people. The missionary, therefore, who acquires the s knowledge of anyone of them has 10,000,000 of people amon whom he can labor; and he will find ample scope for his most untiring labors, with every needed assistance. The whole Bible has been translated and pub- lished in all these several dialects, as well as in the general language of the whole country. But not only has the whole Bible been thus translated and published in the language of the whole country and of the several dialects, but compends of theology, religious books, commentaries on many of the books of the sacred Scriptures, religious tracts, school-books in geography, arithmetic, and other branches, and scientific, medical, and historical works have been prepared and published. High schools, academies, colleges, dispensaries, hospitals, and theological seminaries have been commenced and buildings erected. Common schools, Sunday-schools, church organizations, ecclesi- astical courts, and native associations for Christian work and co-operation in evangelistic work are in operation. Books for assisting in the study of the language, ~s grammars, phrase.books, dictionaries, conversation-books of great excellence and usefulness have been prepared and published.
Printing and publishing establishments, with all the various requirements for casting matrices, type-cutting, electrotyping, stereotyping, etc., are all provided, suitably housed, and have native workmen trained for all the various kinds of work.
With all these facilities and preparations on hand, the addition of mis- ~ionaries provides for extensiOIl and enlargement in every part of lllis&ionary work; for all these different departments of work admit of easy and indefinite enlargement and expansion, just in proportion to the number of missionaries sent. In the interest, therefore, of a wise economy, healthy growth, and rapid advancement, the Conference have asked for these 1000 missionaries within five years. Two hundred additional workers are very urgently needed each successive year for the work already commenced. And for the portions of China yet unreached and where work has never yet been commenced, yet a greater number is needed in order to hasten the conversion of China to Christ. We Christians pray that China may be converted to Christ. Our actions should correspond to our prayers. We may not expect the Lord to convert China by any miraculous means. We must, therefore, employ means adequate, by the Divine blessing to effect the prayed-for result.
r will only refer to two other considerations in conclusion. The Saviour's command is to " Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." Here are tens of millions of onr fellow men who have never heard the glad news of salvation. The door is wide open, the opportunities and facilities for obeying the command of our Lord are very great. Every consideration of loyalty to our Divine Master, and every incentive of love and ~on&ecration to our gracious and adorable Redeemer, who has redeemed us with His own precious blood, bind us, and should impel us to carry out this last command of our risen and ascended Saviour.
The other consideration is this: Weare responsible for this present generation who are living at the same time with ourselves. They are dying at the rate of 12,000,000 every year, or 33,000 every hour. We cannot, with our most energetic efforts, reach them all. But let us seek to reach as many of them as we possibly can during our lifetime. Let each and everyone do what he can. Let each one" do with his might what his hand findeth to do." Let us make the golden rule our rule of action in this matter, " Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them." It is very easy for us to arrive at the matter of duty. If we were in their condition, without the knowledge of the way of salvation through Jesus Christ, what would we wish those to do to us, who have that precious blessing 1 There is only one answer to such a question. vVe would wish them to impart it to us. Let us then strive with all our might to do this to those who have it not.
CANTON, January 6, 189l. It is said, upon the – au-t~ ho~r- it- y~o~ f -h-is– m-a- na-ger, Major Pond, that Mr; Stanley has decided to give the many articles presented to him by European authorities to General Booth, in furtherance of the latter's scheme for the benefit of East London. Should the rumor prove correct, the action of the distinguished explorer will go far to prove the strength and reality of the impressions made upon him vrhen in African wilds beyond human help; and to set an example of the sacrifice of our superfluities, in view of the necessities and extremities of the poor.
STUDENT VOLUNTEERS' CONVENTION
STUDENT VOLUNTEERS' CONVENTION.
BY MAX WOOD MOORHEAD, ESQ.
The first Convention of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions was held at Cleveland, 0., February 26th to March 1st. It was a unique conference. In the history of missions no such gathering ever assembled in our land or any other land. Its ultimate aim was to promote the cause of foreign missions. Upward of five hundred young men and young women, representing 159 educational institutions in the United States and Canada, were present. Nearly every heathen land where the cross has been uplifted had its advocate in the person of a returned foreign missionary. Secretaries' from various denominational boards and societies gave counsel in private, and participated in discussions in public. "It was to be expected," some one said, " such an occasion would give rise to extravagance in speech and action." But, on the contrary, the occasion was marked by rare moderation, but moderation compatible with zeal and glowing enthusiasm. Mr. John R. Mott presided with great tact and skill at all the meetings.
PERSONNEL.
The following are among those present who made aJdresses or engaged in discussions: Rev. H. N. Cobb, D.D., ReforJIled Church in America: George D. Dowkontt, M.D., International Medical Missionary Society; Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D., Board of Foreign Missions of Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.; Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., International Missionary Union; Rev. J. N. Murdock, D.D., American Baptist Missionary Union; R. R. McBurney, Chairman Foreign Missionary Committee of International Committee Y. M. C. A. j Rev. D. C. Rankin, Foreign Mission of Presbyterian Church in United States; Mrs. N. M. Waterbury, Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society; Professor H. H. Harris, Southern Baptist Convention; Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., American Board; Rev. Alexander Sutherland, D.D., Methodist Church in Canada; Rev. George D. Scholl, D.D., Evangelical Lutheran Board; Rev.J. O. Peck, D.D., Missionary Society Methodist Episcopal Church; Mrs. S.B. Capron, Woman's Board of Interior, Congregational; Miss Abbie B. Child, Woman's Board of Missions, Congregational. Turkey, Rev. Frank Gates. Africa, C. J. Laffin, the Congo field. Rev. George A. Wilder, the Zulu field. China, Rev. John L. Nevius, D. D., Rev. and Mrs. F. A. Steven. India, Rev. F. P. Graham, Rev. Henry Forman. Japan, Rev. Kajinosuke Ibuka, Rev. W. R. Lambeth, D.D. South America, Rev. J. M. Allis, Chili; Rev. George W. Chamberlain, D.D., Brazil. Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D.; S. M. Sayford, Esq.; Mr. R. C. Morse, General Secretary International Committee of Y. M. C. A.
But what; some one asks, is this Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign M.issions 1 What do~&it stand for? Whl-1t did it '~t~rt from 1 ITS ORIGIN.
Come with me to Princeton College back in 1883, and there we find a society the object of which was the cultivation of a missionary spirit among the students of the college, and the informing of its members in all subjects of missionary interest, especially tho leading of men to consecrate themselves to foreign mission work. The pledge, " We the undersigned declare ourselves willing and desirons, God permitting, to go to the unevangelized portions of the world," was embodied in our constitution. Mr. Robelt P. Wilder said at the Convention: "I can remember all if it were but yesterday the fellows sitting in a semi-circle facing the foldingdoors upon which was extended the map of the world. My father would point to his thirty years' experience as a foreign missionary and press home the biblical argument for missions, the need for workers, and the privilege of personally enlisting in the service. After hi~ appeals the old missionary would withdraw and we would kneel in prayer. In an adjoining room, unknown to any but myself, there was another praying; when the service was finished we two would slip off together and talk it all over. God alone knows how much those meetings in our parlor owed their success to the prayers of my sister, now engaged in missionary work in India; and well do I remember her saying just before I started for Mount Hermon, in July, 1886 : 'I will pray for a missionary revival among the college students where you are going.' "
As the days passed at Mount Hermon the conviction grew on Mr. Wilder that God would call, from that large gathering of college men a few, at least, who would consecrate themselves to the foreign mission service.
On the evening 'of July 16th a special mass meeting was held, at which Dr. Arthur T. Pierson gave a thrilling address on missions. He supported by the most convincing arguments the proposition that" all should go, and go to alL' 'This was the keynote which set many men to thinking and praying.
Several days before t}le conference closed a meeting was held which may occupy as significant a place in the history of the Christian Church as the famous Haystack Prayer-meeting, at Williams, so many years ago.
It is known as the " meeting of the ten nations." It was addressed by sons of missionaries in China, India, and Persia, and by seven young men of different nationalities-an Armenian, a Japanese, a Siamese, a German, a Dane, a Norwegian, and an American Indian. The J'lddresses were not more than three minutes in length, and consisted of appeals for more workers. Near the close, each sreaker repeated in the language of his country the words, "God is Love." Then came a season of silent and audible prayer, which will never be forgotten by those present. The burning appeal!! of this meeting came with peculiar force to all.
From that night on, the missionary interest deepened. One by one the men, alone in their rooms, and in the woods with their Bibles and God, fonght out the battle with self and were led to decide to carry the Gospel "unto the uttermost part of the earth." Before the meeting closed, exactly one hundred signified their desire to become foreign missionaries.
The enthusiasm, enkindled at Mount Hermon five years ago, has communicated itself to students all over the United States and Canada j and to-day" the movement numb'ers ~200 men and women on its rolls. Well may ex-President McCosh, of Princeton University, ask: "Has Imy such offering of living young men and women been presented in our age, in our country, in any age 'or in any country since the day of Pentecost r' In days whcn the Church of God is charged, and justly charged, with ignoring or dilltorting the teaching of Jesus about the power of the Holy Ghost for service, it is a noteworthy fact that the theme of Dr. A. J. Gordon's address, "The Holy Spirit in Missions," was the subject emphasized as most important by nearly all present. Said Dr. Gordon: "Here is something given as a direct duty. 'Bc ye filled with the Spirit.' How can I ~ some one asks. The answer is often made, You must empty yourself before you can be filled with the Holy Ghost. But who is sufficicnt to empty himself ~ I believe God's way is the expulsive power of a new affection, throwing off and casting away the old which we cannot rid ourselves of. There are two ways of emptying a tumblerful of water j you can turn it upside down, or you may drop quicksilver into it, drop by drop, until all the water will have gone out." . •. " I believe that just as certain as wind is the power that drives ships, just as certain as water is the power that moves the ponderous wheels of the Merrimac and Connecticut rivers, just as surely as steam is the power that makes the mighty steamship plough the great deep, so explicitly, by Divine appointment, the Holy Ghost is the power that moves the Church." • . • One who studied under Fletcher, of Madeley, says: "Fletcher was an admirable teacher. We had our Greek, and our Hebrew, and our theology. Then he would close his book and say, 'Young men, Hebrew, Greek, theology are very important. We have attended fully to these things for two hours. Now those of you who want to seek the power of the Holy Ghost, follow me.' And he would lead Ol1t that whole class into another room where," says this pupil, " we would often stay for three hours wrestling in prayer for the Holy Ghost, being told that all other learning was powerless without this." Referring to the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost, he said, in closing, " Let us go back to tho experience of that admirable writer (David Brainerd) whom I quoted in the beginning. He says, 'This promise is for us j it is right that we should claim it. It is proper that we should plead it now. It is right that we should look for the fulfilment of it immediately.' "
From the frank criticism that was invited by the Student Voll1nteer Movement for Foreign Missions-criticism of its methods and agencies employed in the propagation of itR work-it must have been evident to the intelligent observer that the volunteers had not a'lsembled in order to con-' gratulate one another, or with the expectation of hearing laudatory things said by outsiders.
PROBLEMS OF THE MOVEMENT.
On " Volunteer Life in Individual Institutions," Mr. Robert E. Speer, of Princeton Theological Seminary, expressed his opinion that every volun- , tecr should be, above everything else, the best Christian in his or her insti- tution. He or she should be the best personal worker, the bellt Bible stu- dent, so far as possible, the best student in every way that can be found in that place. But apart. from that, that individual life should b~rn also with a zeal" that cannot be quenched, with an intelligent zeal for spreading the Gospel in all the world.
On " Classification of Volunteers," ~Ir. Walter J. Clark, Corresponding Secretary, made the following statement regarding the distribution of volunteers: (1) In institutions of learning, 2600 : Academies, 500 ; normal schools, 175 ; theological seminaries, 500; colleges, 1200; medical colleges, 125; training schools, 100. (2) Out of institutions (owing to state of health, insufficient means, etc.), 700. (3) 'Graduates (post-graduates, special students, etc.), 600. (4) Ready to go, 100. (5) Appointed (not including class of 1891), 20. (6) Hindered, 250~ (7) Unknown (large majority of these lost trace of before the movement ,vas organized), 450. (8) Rejected by boards, 50. (9) Renounced, 450. (10) Deceased, 60. (11) Not students when enrolled, 600. In addition, at least 320 out of the 6000 volunteers have already gone to the foreign fields under the various missionary agencies.
[A noted foreign missionary recently said that not more than two per cent of those who volunteered in a missionary revival ever sailed. But already over five per cent of the members of this movement have sailed; and fully ten per cent of the Canadian contingent.] The importance of " Immediate Sailing" found a warm supporter in the person of Mr. William H. Cossum. He said he believed if these people (referring to the heathen) need help at all they need help immediately. " Don't stay in this country theorizing when a hundred thousand heathens a day are dying without hope because we are not there teaching the Gospel to them." Furthermore he said that the one thing which will secure the immediate sailing of the man who is a volunteer is the heart interest of that volunteer in the ·field to which he is going.
Robert P. Wilder, on the ".Volunteer Pledge," said: " , Man, of all luggage, is the hardest to move.' To ~how a man his sinfulness is comparatively easy; to move him to act is the most difficult part of evangelistic work. The head heeds the admonition ; the heart postpones assent. The princi.ple of decision is operative in successful work among Christians. One speaker impresses upon his audience the importance of Bible study, but presents no plan, and pleads for no decisions ; the other secures pledges and organizes a class. 'When the nail of conviction is driven in, he clinches it with a practical twist.' Should not the same plan be pursued in missionary meetings to secure prayer, money, and men ~ General appeals for prayer do good. But is not more accomplished by organizing prayer groups, whose members are pledged to pray for definite obje'!ts ~ Why not employ the same method in securing men for missionary stationR ~ The pledge of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions means more than a willingness to go anywhere; it signifies a purpose to enter foreign service. On the other hand, meu, by signing it, do not take their lives into their own control; the signers are still under God's direction; they will not become foreign missionaries unless He permit. The pledge means, We are fully determined to become foreign missionaries unless God block the way."
Mr. Wilder argued for the retention of the pledge as it now reads, on the ground that it adequately meets the requirements of the case, and that any alteration would seriously imperil the unity of " the movement." He demonstrated so ably that the existing pledge is the best possible one, that all his objectors were silenced, and convinced also, we trust. The old pledge was retained.
Stretched along one of the galleries in the auditorium of the Young Men's Christian Association Building, where the meetings were held, was a canvas on which was printed the watch· cry of the movement, " The Evan- gelization of the World in the Present Generation. "
" This does not mean," said Mr. Speer, in his address of Friday even- ing, "the conversion of the world; it does not mean the Christianization of the world. It does mean that every volunteer believes that in this gen- eration the Gosp~1 can be so presented to the world that the responsibility for the salvation of the inhabitants of the world will rest on the inhabitanttl themselves. " Mr. Speer said that the evangelization of the world in this generation is possible, because, 1st, the Church has the agencies; 2d, she has'the means; 3d, she has the men.
" A young doctor, not a Christian, said to me the other day, 'How is it that the Church wastes so much energy on the work abroad, when there is so much to be done in this land of ours r I asked him what he would consider a fair proportion of workers to keep in this land, and a fair pro- portion to send abroad. He said : 'I suppose two-thirds here and onc- third abroad would be treating ourselves fairly.' If we sent one-third of our workl'fs abroad and kept the other two-thirds at home, we would more than . tenfold multiply the ordained missionaries in the heathen fields from all the Christian nations in thc world, and it would be sending 400,000 lay workers out into the foreign world. If we did what an unbelieving doctor . said would be only a fair proportion to do with reference to this work, would it not he possible if 400,000 missionaries went out in the next twenty. five years, each having, out of the thousand million people in this world only 2500 to reach, speaking to only one a day in eight years, to evangelize the world before we die ~" ' Mr. Speer spoke in a way which gained a powerful hold on the minds and the hearts of his auditors. He showed himself to be a man of unusual gifts; but his power is not in close reasoning, nor in exquisite diction, nor in the music of a pleasing voice. He has, as one man said, " an unction from the Holy One."
The appearance of the well-known figure, Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, ' D.D., was the signal for applause from the students. His theme was ., The Evangelization of the World in this Gcneration-How Made a Fact." He gave" Men, Money, and Methods as the three great elements of the natural basis of the evangelization of the world, and the command of God and the presence of Jesus Christ as the two things which enter into the supernatural basis." To illustrate how the world might be evangelized if people would contribute only a small part of the money used for luxuries, the speaker held up a marquise ring set with seven diamonds, which had been brought to him by a young lady after hearing his sermon on the text, " If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." Why should not we show a spirit of enterpri~e in the Church such as the world shows in all business schemes 1 What is the matter with the Church, that in this nineteenth century she has scarcely one of those great master agencies which men use to carry their inventions to the ends of the earth 1 Why should we not have a great Church exploration society, and go forward and pioneer the way into destitute fields 1 Why should we not have a great transportation society to carry missionaries to other fields without cost g 'What is the reason that you will find the sewing-machine, the parlor organ, the kerosene lamp, and the circlet of glass beads in districts where as yet the Gospel of Jesus Christ has never been carried by its heralds 1 "I solemnly believe, and I say it with the emphasis of a dying man, that if the Church of to-day would resolve that the year 1891 should not go by until she had sent at leaRt one representative of Christ and Ris Gospel into every destitute district on the face of the earth, so that there should be no district a hundred miles square that should not be represented by one witness for Christ, before the year 1891 passed by there would be an outpouring of the Holy Ghost to which even Pentecost was simply the first drops of a coming latter rain."
REQUIREMENTS OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
Rev. J. N. Murdock, of the American Baptist Missionary Union, said that the first thing we must have in a missionary candidate is good health. We want the man of sound nerves, of reasonable muscles, of good stomach. We also want men of good common sense-not simply mental ability, but we want the roundaboutness of common sense. We want the men who are sonnd in faith and possessed of missionary convictions.
Rev. Dr. McLean, Secretary of the Missionary Board of the Church of the Disciples, said that what was wanted was not so many cultivated men, or uncultiYated men. but men of common sense, thoroughly consecrated to the work, and not only that, but men who were adapted to it. Rev. F. A. Steven, Secretary of the China Inland Mission, Toronto, said that he deemed thorough college education of the highest importance next to piety -education always stands first because it carries in its wake confidence and admiration. and a trained mind is always the most capable. Rev. H. N. Cobb, l).D., Secretary of the Reformed Church in America, said: "If anyone had ever felt that he was called by God to the work, no amount of impediment or non-8uccess should in any wise dishearten him." Rev. Dr. Peck, Secretary of the Methodist Missionary Board, on the subject" Mode of Application," said that in order to be successful each applicant should f(>el a clll so urgent that he would be determined to go somewhere, whether he was sent by the board or not. The" Volunteer's Preparation" was presented by Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D. Said he: "A missionary must be thoroughly acquainted with every part of his work. We must study the heathen system, and in studying it do it to find 0.1t just where the weak points are that they may be replaced by the Word of God. We must remember that this is an intellectual age, and many bright minds and pithy questions will have to be met with and answered. ,.
At the opening of one of the evening services Mr. S. M. Sayford announced that $700 had been voluntarily contributed to the expenses of the movement. He stated that all expenses up to the present time have been exclusive of salaries, as no salaries have been paid to officers of the movement. After prayer a collection was taken and it was found that the offering had increased to $1200. Besides pledges, coin, and bills, were passed in a gold watch-chain and a gold ring which the inscription said had been given to some boy by his mother.
" The Work (If the Young Men's Christian Association in Foreign Lands" was the subject of Mr. R. R. McBurney's address. He gave an account of the growth of Young Men's Christian Association work in Tokyo, Japan, where between sixty and seventy thousand students are gathered each year. He stated that the National Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association were empowered to establish such associations and place such secretaries in the foreign mission field as in its judgment may be proper. "We are receiving," said he, "urgent appeals from cities in India to aid in this work, and what we want is money j the men are ready to go."
Mr. Allis, of Santiago, Chili, gave the following advice to young missionaries: "First, cultivate your own piety j second, learn your own denominational methods j third, master the language; fourth, be selfreliant; fifth, go out married; sixth, select a wife who will be suited with her lot j seventh, take care of your health."
SERVICES OF THE CLOSING DAY.
The spirit of devotion deepened _very perceptibly as the sessions of the conference drew to a close. The Sunday morning meeting will be remem- bered for all time as one of great preciousness. Each person prayed for himself or herself, and words of humble confession alternated with utter- ance of joyous praise. The leader spoke of the Christian's ambition 1. To preach the Gospel where Christ is not already named. Romans 15 : 20.
2. Study to be quiet. 1 Thess. 4 : 11. 3. Study to be well pleasing in His sight. 2 Tim. 2 : 15. Mr. Robert P. Wilder, on Sunday evening, spoke on " The Perils and Privileges of the Student Volunteer Movement." Identified as he is with the history of the movement more completely than any other man, and known and loved by so many hundreds of volunte~rs, he was singularly adapted to speak on this difficult subject. "The three perils," Mr. Wild- er said, "were: first, lack of funds; second, opposition from friends; third, selfishness within the volunteer's heart." Concerning opposition from friends he said: "The most serious peril is that presented by homo ties. The windt! of oppo~ition from father and mother have changed tho course of many a man who has weathered the gales of fierce 0ppoilition.
You say, are we not told, ' Children, obey your parents r Yes, but com- plete the verse. It reads, 'Obey your parents in the Lord.' Are we obeying them in the Lord, if they interfere with our doing the Lord'8 work J"
He touched with delicacy and firmness upon the duty of one in regard to missionary service whose fiancee is not missionary-hearted. "Many sad complications would be avoided did volunteers live up to their pledge. One said to me not long since that his fiancee refused to accompany him. With my whole soul do I pity that man, but the fault is largely his own. Had he made it evident to her and to her friends that it was his unflinching purpose to go, he would have avoided this complication. Write such a letter to her as Adoniram Judson wrote to his fiancee. If she is t'horoughly consecrated, it will nerve her to new self-devotion. If she be unwilling to go, find out the fact as soon as possible, leave her, and thank God for your escape from a union which would defeat His purpose in your life." He emphasized the great privilege of securing recruits, and of arousing the home church to a greater interest· in missions. "It is in our power to stir Canada and the States, from Toronto to Texas, and from Nova Scotia to the Pacific. Think what God did through that one man, Wesley. What can he not accomplish through five hundred men and women if we let Him use us! Think of tbe churches and institutions which we represent. The way in which Jerusalem was kept clean was by having each man sweep before his own door. Let each of us sweep ~way from his own church and institution whatever ignorance and indifference there is in this the greatest work of the nineteenth century."
Following Mr. Wilder were a number of five-minute addresses. Mr. J. Campbell Vhite spoke of " Missionary Interests in the Southern States.".
Miss Nettie Dunn had a message for women volunteers. "There nre," she said, " fifty thousand Christian women in our colleges to-day, and only a handful of them going to the great, needy foreign field. Let us plan to multiply ourselves, tach oue of us, a hundred-fold within the next year."
Rev. Kajinosuke lbuka, of Japan, said: "The greatest need of Japan is Christ. We ask for one hundred young men full of the Spirit of Christ. And with those one hundred young nlen, with the force already on the ground, the whole Empire of Japan, with its 40,000,000 people, can easily be evangelized, God helping us, in this genoration."
Mr. Helms, of Kansas, in the very few minutes allotted to him, pictured in a vivid way the needs of " Darkest Africa," and in tones which thrilled one through and through, drew the sympathies of his audit'ors to the one place blacker than any other-to Africa, whose body and soul the social sin had eaten. He told orthe great marches in the world's history-of Xerxes, . of Napoleon, of Sherman, and of a swifter, mightier, more terrible march of millions of Africans, in rags and blth and disease, marching straight to hell. " We have written and sung and talked about Africa long enough j and if the Lord stood here to-night He would say, ' Let somebody go. ' "
Mr. Mott, the Chairman, then called upon men to give, in a single sen- tence, their dominant impression of the conference, or their dominant pur- pose forme,}. The following are typical testimonies: "My chief impres- sion has been my own insignificance." " I know what the power of the Holy Ghost is." "I believe the motto of ' the movement,' the' Evan- gelization of the W orId in this Generation,' can be realized.' , " I want to surrender myself wholly to Christ." " Woe .is me if I preach not the Gospel. "
At ten 0' clock the time approached to separate. Mr. Speer responded to the spirit of the closing scene in words fitting and beautiful: "Fellow students, may we learn among other things this year the language of the Lord's tender love. May it be this coming year that as our hearts form a wish it may be quickly laid at Ilis feet j that as quickly as our hearts gain a motive, it maj be handed over to Him j that as quickly as we see anything that our brother needs, it may be that we pray for him. And perhaps the best thing we can do to-night is just in the silence, and the stillness, and the sweetness of that holy place in our lives where you and I live alone with Jesus Christ, to commend unto God and the '"ord of His grace every volunteer who, with life devoted to Jesus Christ, shall sooner or later have the rare joy of holding up the life, and the death, and the blood of his Lord before the world."
[So important did it seem that this admirable report of this significant convention should be printed at once and undivided, that, at the risk of erowding out valuable matter already in type, the Editor has concluded to give the above report its full space in this number.-A. T. P.]
1891J EXTRACTS .AND TRANSLATtONS PROM FonEtGN PElUODICALS. 3(11
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The important Darjeeling Mission of India has four divisions: (1) Darjeeling, 2 ordained missionaries, 14 preaching stations, 13 schools, 21 teachers, 726 pupils j (2) Kalinpong (Church of Scotland Young Men's Guild Mission), 1 ordained misRionary, 4 preaching stations, 12 schools, 12 teachers, 341 pupils; (3) Sikkim, 1 ordained missionary, 7 schools, 7 teachers, 188 pupils j (4) Darjeeling Zenana Mission, 3 European ladies.
-" The time is gone by," says the Allgemeine Missionszeitscltrift, " in which missions were looked upon, or rather overlooked, as a thing by the way. They have come out of the corner and. become a public matter, even with us in Germany. We here leave unnoticed the question whether this change brings more good or harm.We only emphasize the fact, and the world of science and of economics, the literature of the day, the parlia- ments and the dip].omatic congresses, the statesmen, and above all the colonial politicians are interested in missiuns. "
Dr. Warneck notes two things: First the ignorant self-conceit of the German secular writers who, kuowing as good as nothing about missions, haughtily cut short all attempts of real knowers of missions to set them in the right light j second, the determined purpose to extol all Roman Catholic, and to decry all Protestant, missionary activity. "A Romish wind breathes through the world j it is the fashion to cocker Rome j and the daily press, like a lady that would rather be out of the world than out of the fashion, swings the Romish censer lustily with the rest." "Is it antipathy to cvang-elical faith, innn affinity with Roman secularity, colonial prejudice, lack of independc·nt judgment over against the authority of an imperial commissary, or mt're IHllve ignorance r'
"Like all knowledge, missionary knowledge must be tlte fruit of labor,. he that has nothing can give nothing, and he that labors not has nothing."
-The Zeitscltrift remarks: "There is a mighty quickening in the Brethren's Church, which, besides the youthful mission in Alaska and the Homona Mission in Sonthem California, is also advancing to an extension of the work in the Surinam bushland, as also in Australia, and an entirely new mission in German East Africa (at the north-eastern end of the Nyassa), a fresh and joyfully believing advance, which gives the testimony of fact that the old mission spirit is still awake in this missionary Church par excellence, an example to quicken a wholesome shame in our great state cb urches. "
-The Rhenish Missionary Society in 1890 founded 7 new stations: 5 in Sumatra, 1 on Dampierre Island, near New Guinea, 1 on Nias, near Rumatra, and is expecting to extend its work among the Hereroes in southwest Africa.
-In Holland the Inner Mission hag lately taken an upward movement rather at the cxpcnse of foreign missions. The extreme comminution of Dutch missionary force (eighteen societies for this small conntry) is also disadvantageous.
– The Zeitschrfit, speaking of Emin and Stanley, says that they are too profoundly unlike to understand one another j each has his bright side and. each his dark, and that German depreciation of Stanley and English depre- ciation of Emin are both unjust. Emin, however, it decidedly characterized as warm in heart but (yeak in will.
-The Kaukab i Hind (Star of India), of December 26th, 1890, says: " Word has just come from Calcutta that Dr.- Pentecost's addresses are making a profound impression on the higher classes of the European com- munity, and a great many are being led to devote themselves to God's service. "
-It may have been known, but it has been little heeded, that the Moravians have for nearly seventy years carried on a work among the lepers of the Cape of Good Hope. The following sentence from Bishop La Trobe's account of it pictul'es to us at once the extremity of human misery, and lo'e and faith working triumphantly through all : "Go into the wards of the hospital; on one couch lies a leper whose hands are gone, and before him an open Bible; he has reached the bottom of the page, but cannot turn it over; he looks around, and one who can walk, but is also without hands, takes another who has lost his feet, on his back, and carries him to the fir~t to turn over the leaf."
In 1865 the Baron and Baroness Keffenbrinck-Ascheraden having established a leper home at Jerusalem, the Moravian brethren were placed in charge of it. The first-fruits of honor in this form of the works of love in modern times, therefore, are theirs.
-A littlo blunder, reported in the Woman's Worlc of Shanghai, is one cf a thousand things which show how hard it is to work at first-hand in a foreign country. A Chinese womfm having been addressed by a foreign lady with the inquiry whether, as a sinner, she did not wish to be forgiven, took great offence, and angrily denied that she was a sinner. Of course the foreign lady set this down to the account of self· righteousness until, to her dismay, she found that she had addressed the woman as a " jail bird." Nothing can easily take the place of the native helper. To train them up may well be the great thought of those from abroad. "0 Lord," said a good deacon in Madura, " our missionaries, we doubt not, are at home in Greek and Hebrew, but what work they do make of Tamil I" It is the ultimate praise of vernacular familiarity given to Dr. Van Dyck in Syria, that" he knows even women's Arabic."
-"The English schoolmaster, John Horden, who in 1872 was consecrated first Bishop of Moosonee. comprising the whole coast-line of Hudson's Bay-a diocese of 1200 by 800 miles–is now," says the Ch1lrch Mis- sionary Gleaner, "in his fortieth year of service-a service consisting largely of incessant travelling over his vast sphere of work." The few thousand Indians and whites require five Bibles-English, Bree, Ojibeway, Chipewyan, and Eskimo. There are 4000 baptized Christians and 700 communicants.
-The Hindu, a Madras paper, edited by " a Hin,du of the Hindus, " is quoted in the Church Missionary Intelligencer as follows: "The progress of education among the girls of the native Christian community, and the absence of caste restrictions among them, will eventually give them an ad"antage which no amount of intellectual precocity can compensate the Brahmins for. We recently approved of the statement of a Bombay writer that the social eminence which the Parsees so deservedly enjoy at . the present moment was due to these two causes, namely, their women are well educated, and they are bound by no restrictions of caste. These two advantages slowly make themselves felt among our native Christian brethren, and it is probable they will soon be the Parsees <1f Southern India; they will furnish the most distinguished public servants, barristers, merchants, and citizens among the various classes of the nativec@mmunity."
-The Allgemeine Missionszeitschrijt for January, 1891, remarks that the Protestants of Germany in missionary achievement are as yet decidedly behind both the duties providentially laid upon them and their numerical strength. They are almost a fourth of the Protestant world, yet of 3000 ordained Protestant missionaries they only supply 561-less than onefifth, and of lay missionaries, male and female, less than one-fiftieth. Of 40,000,000 marks raised in Protestant Christendom for foreign missiuns, the Germans (including German Switzerland) contribute 3,000,000. Proportionately it ought to be 10,000,000.
-The Witness quotes approvingly Cardinal Manning, who declares, with Sir Bartle Frere, that England only holds India by "the divine right of good government," and that one of the things implied in this is the deliverance of female India from the curse of child marriages, compulsery betrot}:tals, and enforced widowhood.
-The Journal des Missions Evangeliques for October, 1890, giving an account of the hard conditions of life among the mountain Waldenses. says: "One might easily suppose that under circumstances so toilsome, the struggle against material difficulties must needs absorb all other thoughts. Far from it, however. Blessed with the ministry of devoted pastors who are daunted by no effort, Vaudois piety finds a place in heart and life for the things of the kingdom of heaven. As a result, from these houses, where superfluity is unknown, where even necessity often has to be strictly construed, there has descended a veritable army of evangelists, schoolmasters, professors, some of whom, raised by diligence to the heights of culture, are now the venerated chiefs of the Vaudois Church."
A young M. Pascal, a child of these valleys, has just been ordained at La Tour as a missionary for Lessuto. " May he help to make of the Basutos a people of evangelists for all South Africa as the Waldenses are coming to be for Italy."
-The brethren of the Zambesi are gradually finding their isolation somewhat relieved by more frequent intercourse with the colonial world, and with the world at large. But the same growth of publicity menaces them with the invasion of gain-seekers and all the desolations coming in the train of Mammon. Let us pray for them.
-Of tbe 520 organized Protestant churches of China, 94, remarks the Journal des Missions, provide entirely for their own spiritual and material wants.
Treating of the precariousness of the foreign protection accorded to the Chinese churches, the Journal inquires why they might not come nearer the requirements of Chinese society by organizing themselves; after the model of the Chinese clans, just as the churches of the Roman Empire gained long intervals of toleration by assum'ing the forms of beneficial, religious, and social collegia or guilds.
-The Harvest Field of Madras, for December, 1890, has an interesting articl' e on. the" Portuguese Inquisition lit Goa," in western India, showing ….-.-….. -.- how this hindered the spread of Roman Catholic Christianity. The Church of Rome teaching that it is unlawful to compel anyone to accept baptism, but lawful to punish him for defection after being baptized, the Goa . inquisition allowed Jews, Moslems, and Hindus to live unmolested, but claimed the right to punish them (though not with death) for publicly exercising their religion. Multitudes, therefore, who might otherwise have been won, refnsl'd to be baptized for fear of the ultimate penalties. And as the lesser penalties were severe enough, multitudes of the non-Christians fIe-d into other parts of India, which largely explains the collapse of the Portuguese power.
It must not be Rupposed that the Inquisition was always the protectress of error. Unhappily it was equally cruel when it defended the truth. Thus a Frenchman at. Goa, after months of imprisonment, was condemned to five years in the galleys (remitted, however, by the Crown of Portu- gal), principally fur having declared that no one can possibly be saved without extemal baptism. Here the Inquisition was plainly in the right and the Frenchman in the wrong. What a warning to us all not to excuse a persecuting zeal on the ground that it is zeal for the truth I • -The Harvest Field speaks a good word for the brave and faithful Ger- man brethren of Gossner's Mission among the Kols. It says: "There is no mission in the country more actively alive than Gossner's in Chutia- Nilgpur. The men who are controlling the work take a comprehensive view of their duty, and interest themseh'es in those political and social questions which so seriously affect the well-being of these Kols, who have come under their influence. They have battle on all sides of them. The Jesuits poach unconscionably on the one hand, and the S. P. G. harass them on the other; this in addition to the ignorance, evil habits, distress- ing connections and social disabilities of the Kols themselves. Yet they succeed, not merely encouragingly, but gloriously. Their last twelve months' census shows that 1073 have been baptized, and 2796 besides have broken caste and placed themselves under Christian instruction. A Ilew mission station is being takf'n up, to be called Buchselpur j and there are already 1000 Christians in the neighborhood as a nucleus. Two new churches have been built for native pastors j a native church endowment fund has been started, which promises to grow into importance. There are now 167 churches in the misRion, aggregating 11,552 full members, or a total Christian community of 35, I 03. The leper asylum has been specially fruitful lately in conversions."
-Gleanings in the Harvest Fields, York, England, organ of tbl' Metho- dist New Connection, says: ,. The best missionary periodical is TIn;: MIS- SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD. edited by Dr. A. T. Pierson. It is fresh, vigorous, varied, and.cheap."
-An article in the Gleanings, from Miss M. J. Waller, refers to an oeinion expressed by Sir John Pope Hennessy. that China is the ffeest country in the world. Miss Waller thinks that he has left the female half of mankind out of account. A wife who has lately fled from the cruelties of her husband's home, is sentenced to a rising scale of beatings, and if still refusing to return, to be officially sold. Miss Waller adds: "The severe discipline to which girls in China are subJected so thoroughly destroys all that is spiritual in their nature that it is humanly impossible to raise them from the state of cunning and deceit to which they hav(, been brought. They are just prepared to become moth!lrs-in-law in their tulU I believe the phlegmatic and crafty characteristics of the Chinese race, of which so many missionaries complain, are greatly owing to this moral death imposed on their women."
-The Jewilh Intelligence describes the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion. Dr. Alexander, the first Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, it will be remembered, was a Jew. His tomb bears the inscription, in four languages: "Whose Christian love won the good-will of his brethren of Israel. "
-M. W olkenberg, writing in the Jewish Intelligence, declares that some Jewish leaders are now, in desperation, aiming at "a substitution of Hebraic literature for religion, and thE exaltation of the race in the place of its Creed-its only preservative. Sooner will the rivers roll back to thcir source than Jews, once emancipated, will go back to the dead and deadening level of Talmndic trivialities. There is but one alternative-Christianity or total alienation from religious belief. And while many sink intothe latter abyss, we may thank God that the Church is at last visibly and indisputably exerting a potent influence upon many of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "
-The Ohristian for January 20th, 1891, gives a portrait and biographical sketch of M. Eugene Casal is, the eminent French missionary to the Basutos. It is interesting to know that he is of a Huguenot ancestry which, in the time of persecution, resolutely remained, saying: ".The seed of the true Church of Christ must not depart entirely from the soil of France; it is in the Lord's power to bring us better times."
–North Africa, devoted to the Kabyle and Berber missions, thus describes a citadel of Tangier in Morocco: "The Kasbah is full of strange contrasts. The streets narrow and dirty; the priso)Js in semi-darkness, with an evil odor ever proceeding from them, and filled with prisoners chained, starved, and diseased. Yet the opening of a door in one of the windowless walls and a few steps 'down some winding passages lead into sunlight, beauty, and romance; for a palace of a past age is here, with neglected gardens and a lovely court, in the centre of which a fountain is playing in a marble basin, surrounded by marble Corinthian pillars, and rooms with floor, wall, and ceiling displaying the finest specimens of Moorish art in tessellated work and wood-carving, the latter glittering with gold and soft colors, though the modern Moor delights in brilliant painting. The lace-like delicacy of the designs, both in wood and stucco, is indescribable." Christianity in various forms is once more setting its foot on that North African shore so great in Christian mp.mories. At a farewell meeting in Exeter Hall these quiet beginnings were aptly compared to the handful of marines that have brought one great region after another under the sway of the British crown.
-Says the Indian Witness: "The Rangoon Gazette does a good work in vindicating American missionaries in Burmah from the sneers and charges of Sir Lepel Griffin-that foe of missionaries"-and of Americans. He assert~d that these godly men had surreptitiously helped the Karens to arms and ammunitIon, and in so far, at least, encouraged them in wrong-doing. The Gazette declares the charges utterly " malicious and false," and says, " if the American missionaries often show much business shrewdness in mundane matters, they have also shown that the Christianity they produce in their converts is of a good practical sort, which statesmen should welcome instead of sneering at and maligning." Sir Lepel Griffin declares that the Burmans are the most interesting race in the world, because they count life its own sufficient object and reward. To this precious specimen of the English Antichrist, the moment a people begins to think of eternity, that moment it loses its interesting- ness. He dishonors even the Buddhism which he professes to admire- for that has a deep though hopeless earnestness. It searches through eternity, though it comes back like the wanderer of Jean Paul's dream, exclaiming despairingly: " There is no God !"
-The Missionary Record of the United Presbyterian Church in Scot- land for Jannary, 1891, has iateresting articles on their late eminent mis- sionary in North China, the Rev. Dr. Williamson. The Protestant missionaries of Tientsin, in their resolutions of sympathy, remark: "This long period of service in North China, extending over thirty years, and the many departments of Christian enterprise with which he identified himself, have familiarized and endeared his name to many, not only among his brother missionaries and the native Christians, but also among those who have ordinarily little sympathy with our work. His singleness of aim and earnest desire to promote the material, social, and spiritual welfare of China were apparent to all. By his early itinerations in the cause of Bible distribution, he did not a little to open the large regions to the Gospel message. By the preparation of books upon political, scientific, and theological subjects, he Rtrove to promote the much. needed education 'Of the people. His sympathy with all movements tending to further union and co-operation among the various branches of the Christian Church in China was well known, and his own effOlts in this direction had much to do with the success of the Missionary Conferences of 1877 and 1890."
To say that Dr. Williamson worked for Christian union is little more than another way of saying that he was a United Presbyterian missionary of Scotland. He that cannot work with a United Presbyterian brother cannot work with anybody.
-It is known that Protestant missions are extending from China proper into the northern regions of Mongolia and Manchuria, from which latter country came the prcsent imperial family. Dr. James A. Greig, nnw ,medical missionary of the Irish Presbyterian Church, though, as he says, still "a Scotchman and a United Presbyterian." writes to the Missionary Record concerning hi'S work. Speaking of one patient, suffering under a malignant tumor, he remarks: "I asked, ' Have you ever heard of Jesus ¥' , Never.' 'Have you ever heard of heaven?' 'Never.' • Of hell~' , Never.' Yet here he stood, as thousands in this dark land, on the brink 'Of eternity; the future dark and unknown, the present hopeless. After sim,plyexplaining to him the way of salvation, and urging upon him its acceptance, he left ns, bearing with him John iii. 16 as an epitome of all we had said. He left, but his Never remained. It sounded and reresounded through our ears and in our brain. ,. , -The Free Ohurch of Scotland Monthly remarks that their Budapest mission among the Hungarian JAWS has had an important incidental result in knitting various closer ties of brotherhood 'tfith the Hungarian churches. Scottish liberality has provided bursaries at the New College, Edinburgh, for Bohemian and Hungarian divinity students. A now financially independent German Reformed Church in Budapest has mainly resulted from Scottish labors. The leading Hungarian pastors express a warm sense of this catholic co-operation.
'I,. "The missionary campaign," says the Monthly, " opened enthusiastically in Glasgow, November 24th, with two great meetings of more than 3000 people, and had been continued throughout Scotland among grown people and children. In some of the country places, owing to the stormy weather, the attendance 'Yas small. But even in these cases a deep impression was invariably produced, and it was felt by the missionaries and others how great a mistake it would be to give populous centres a preference over quiet rural districts in the arranging of such meetings. The largest meeting was at Greenock, with 1600 children and 400 adults present. There were also crowded meetings in Ayr, Kilmarnock, and other places." It was felt important to engage interest, especially among children, in 8pecific missionary objects.
-Inasmuch as Muscat, in south-eastern Arabia, is the seat of Arab influence and power in Africa, Bishop French urges the establishment of a mission there to attack the evil in its source.
-The Church Missionary lntell(qencer for January, 1891, contains an article on Henry Martyn's Urdu translation of the New Testament. The Urdu, the basis of which is the fine Hindi language, greatly enriched and modified by Arabic and Persian, has been classed as one of the twelve ot thirteen conquering languages of the world. Martyn's Arabic translation was faulty, and soon abandoned by him. The Persian he cntirely recast. But his Urdu version went into use at onl:e, and for many years suffered no change. The following fine passage describes the inmost quality of the man: "There was in Martyn's rcligion the element of awe. There are depths in his mind. Deep calls unto deep. The deep of reverence calls to the deep of confession; the deep of realized forgiveness calls to the deep of charity. His critical ear detects in an instant a word or expression that sinks below the level at which the message of God ought to be expressed. And this sense of fitness affeCts his whole work. He is minutely careful of small things, but never small himself. Pettiness is not in him, nor pedantry, which is scholastic pettiness. Vulgarity is odious to him. Vulgarity he cannot away with. All his instincts are refined. He breathes freely only when the atmosphere is pure. He' prays over his thoughts as well as over his words. His citizenship is. in heaven, and there is dignity in all that he says. There are depths in his mind, and because there are depths there is elevation too. He humbles himself and is exalted."
-Bishop Westcott, of Durham, of whom we have not yet unlearned to think of as Canon Westcott, says, as reported in the Intelligencer: "The Rajah of Travancore-that state at the south-western extremity of India, one-fifth of whose people are Christians, Syrian, Roman Catholic, or Protestant-answering the missionaries who had thanked him for the protection afforded theU!, said: 'One cannot be sufficiently thankful for the introduction of this civilizing element and its steady development. Your labors have been increasing year after year the number of a loyal, lawabiding, and civilized population-the very foundation of good government. ' Again I ask, is that the language of a man who feels that he has in his ancestral faith a solid basis of an enduring empire ~"
The bishop quotes, with the like inquiry, the recent declaration of a non-Christian lawyer, that mission schools are the quinine for India's fever.
-The Bombav Guardian of November 22d, 1890, remarks; 'One of our correspondents recently started ·the question, 'Is Hinduism declining or advancing in this country~' To hear of the great Hindu religious congress just held at Delhi, attended by Hindu nobles, pandits, and Brahmins from all the sacred cities, orgallized and carried through with enthusiasm, it would appear that it was decidedly advancing; but, on the other hand, we are not without signs that tell a different tale. ""hen spring is on the way the edges of snow-drifts and ice-floes begin to melt, and though it may be long before the increasing warmth of the sun penetrates into the heart of these frozen masses, all who see them rejoice in the prospect of a general break-up."
– We observe in the Mildmay Service for the King the statement that 1 of eyery 60 Moravians becomes a missionary, and that the converts outnumber the parent Church by very nearly 3 to 1. Why are they any more obliged to this than we? And as it is fruitless to ask til< III to lower their stand"ard, there seems to be nothing for it but that we should exalt ours.
-The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada, according to its organ, the Canadian Church. Magazine and Mission News, has sent out a missionary of her own to J apanthe Rev. J. G. 'Yallt'r.
-In the Chronicle for January, 1891, the Rev. G. H. Macfarlane discusses the work of gathering in the non-castes of the Cuddapah district, in the Madras Presidency, a country larger than Wales, and with a popula· tion of about 1,150,000, nearly all speaking Telugu-the second in importance, we judge, of the four affiliated Dravidian languages of which the Tamil is the principal. Mr. Macfarlane gives his decided judgment that these non-cm.tes, or out-casteR (about 150,000 in the district) owe their abjectness of character to no mental inferiority, but purely to the pressure from above, and to the lack of stimulus to self-development. It requires, he says, two generations of education at most, to bring them to an equality with the Brahmins. This again shows that these nummons conversions from the classes which are only lowest because they have been held down, are preparing a silent revolution which will some day compel the Brahmins to come to terms. Even Hinduism, as Sir William Hunter has shown, is slowly elevating the aboriginal tribes, which it is rapidly incorporating, until some of them have even attained to the !<acred thread of the" twice-born." Christianity. therefore, as he suggests, instead of being: ashamed of these, ought to throw herself first of all upon them, and thus secure these 50,000,000 from being thoroughly absorbed by Hinduism. It is one of Canon Taylor's choicest blunders that he has turned these 50,000,000 into half a million!
As to the motives of accession to Christianity on the part of these noncastes or Malas, as they are called, Mr. Macfarlane says, very discriminatingly, and exactly in a line with Bishop Caldwell in speaking of both these and of the lower castes: ,. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has long been preached to these people, and many have placed themselves under instruction to learn something of its saving truths. It is not to be supposed that deep conviction of sin has led them to such a step. They have not so much spiritual enlightenment as to feel sin to be a burden and to be anxious to get free from it. What impressions these people have are more of the head than of the heart. They see something better in Christianity than in what their ancestors and neighbors believe. Indeed, many h(athen scolf at their own practices while continuing them. They conceive, in a bli.l)< sort of way, that the religion of Jesus is the true path of righteousness and salvation. They are anxious also for social improvement for themselves and education for their children. Many of their relations llave become Christians and are receiving instruction, and they donot wish to be cutoff from them and be unable to intermarry. These and other reasons influence them, and so they would like to put themselves under Christian teaching and get whatever advantages, temporal as well as spiritual, connection with the new religion involves. The purest and highest motives do not move them. But amid what is worldly and selfish some distinct perceptions of the truth and superiority. of the religion of Jesus Christ do weigh with them. And, in truth, they themselves, or their children, do attain to higher perceptions, but the spiritual faculty in them has first to be awakened. Again, although as a community they are not ruled by purdy spiritual motives, individuals of them lire, just as it happens among other classes that only single hearts are touched, 'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' 'One is taken and another left.' But in the case of these people we have the whole community willing to put itself under influences for good, so that the chances are that a large percentage of individuals will be awakened t(l life and godliness. Higher castes are as yet only in rare instances open to influence as communities. Only single converts are being made from them. " Again: "Conversions to Christianity from other castes only occur in individual cases. •A Sudra is not able to persuade family and friends to become Christians. A Brahman, far from inB.uencing them, is disowned and excommunicated by them. His means of support–unless he fills a public post-are cut off. The mission he has joined has to maintain him and find him employment. He is himself a distinct gain to the Christian Church j but Hindu society remains unaffected. It closes on the space he left void. He is only a sapling broken off a tree, which scarcely shows the wound. But the Mala becomes a Christian with his wife, children, and all connections. A great branch is torn away from the tree, and the rent left apparent. An entire layer of Hindu society is gained for Christ. It is, indeed, the lowest j but it can form a foun,dation on which a Christian Church for the whole of India can be built. India is called' the country of villages.' If the Christian Church is to lay hold of them and not leave them pagan to the last, it cannot be accomplished by the conversion of solitary individuals, taking them out of their families and society, and finding them employment within the bounds of the mission. Christianity must establish itself by fonnding its churches in every village, and let.ting converts maintain themselves by their own occupations. There are no evidences at present that this work can be done by large conver- I!ions from caste TIindus, but the way seems open for it through securing and instructing the Mala community."
We would Buggest, under editorial favor, that Mr. Macfarlane would do a great service if he would write for THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD an article explaining whether any large part of these out-castes are also outcasts, the descendants of those that have in various' ages been expelled from their respective castes, and precisely how those lower races that are attached to Hinduism without having been admitted to the rank of a caste, differ, in point of religious and social rights, from the members of the lower castes. Most of us have but a confused idea of this distinction, which we nevertheless see to be so important in India. Indeed, the whole subject of Caste needs a revised elucidation for the benefit of those that are interested in missionar7 work among the Hindus. -The warning given by the editor of the Allgemeine Mislionszeitschrijt against too great a precipitancy on the part of Japanese Christians to set up for them.elves, is re-echoed by the Rev. W. Muirhead, of Shanghai, who writes, in the January Chronicle: "It may be well to mention to you the latest news from Japan from a missionary point of view, that, in general, it is a cause for much anxiety. The Christians there are largely in a very independent frame of mind regarding the forms in which Christianity has been presented to them as not suited to their requirements, and they are resolved to form a system of their own, dispensing with their foreign teachers 8S much as possible, and doing things as they think best." If we 'were to describe as faults of the Japanese character exaggerated self-confidence and exaggerated patriotism, we should be saying too much. Yet they would. hardly deny that their dangers lie on that side rather than on the other. As President Garfield is said to have declared that he was "for protection, with a view to ultimate free-trade," 80, perhaps, our Japanese brethren would not be the worse of taking as their motto: " Frank deference to the elder Christendom, with a steady progress toward spiritual independence for ourselves."
-It appears, from the Chronicle, that the French authorities on the Island of Mare have finally become tired of forcing the people in the matter of religion, and that now, although there is a good deal of petty persecution, the only act of persecution on a grand sca,le that has lately occurred is the impending exile of a pastor, two deacons, and three private members for having mutually given and accepted a call to resume the care of the pastor's old church, without bethinking themselves of first obtaining formal permission.
-We observe the publication, by Bertelsmann, at that metropolis of 'missionary interest, Giitersloh, of a pamphlet, the contents of which were first published in the Allgemeine Missionszeitschrijt, entitled " Wie ist da8 Maluriafieber in den Tropell mit besserem Erlolg als bisher zu behandeln? " " How can malarial fever in the tropics be treated with better success than hitherto 1" The author, Herr Zippel, contends strenuously against the use of quinine and of drugs in general as remedies for this fever, and.in favor of the water cure. We have read his treatise carefully in its original form, and mU9t say that it bristles with a very staggering array of facts in disparagement of quinine and in commendation of water. The pamphlet of forty-six pages seems worthy of being translated. The present writer, who has some experience of pernicious tropical fevers, must own that, so far as this goes, it inclines him to think highly of water and not very highly of drugs.
-We see from China's Millions that our Swedish brethren in this country are sending out helpers to the China Inland Mission. " The first -Mr. Matson-reached Shanghai on October 28th, and Mr. and Mrs.
Wallen have since arrived."
The Emperor has ordered all the distilleries in the flQoded province of China to be closed for a year, in order to save the grain. Good out of evil! .
China's Million8 quotes from The 'Christian part of an address of Dr.
D. McEwen, at Manchester, in which he says: "The special work of the Christian Church Jo-day is the immediate evangelization of the whole world. Conversion, whether of the few or the many, is the work of God Himself; but it is committed to the Church to take the Gospel message to every creature j and the time has come, in the providence of God, when this ought to be done, nDt in a halting, tentative way, but by sweeping measures. Through the march of discovery, the progress of international commerce, and the translation of the Scriptures, the speedy evangelization of the human race has come within the region of practical Christian politics."
An epidemic of influenza, as well as one of fever, appears to have been very rife throughout China, of which the missionaries are having their share.
-The Rhenish Missionary Society ill joyful and thankful at having been able to report for the last year double the number of baptisms from among the heathen that there were four years previously. In 1886 there were 1070; 1887, 1277 ; 1888, 1628 ; 1889, 2289.
-The Church of Scotland Mission Record for January 1st, 1891, says: " As w~ go to press we have received the distressing news, wired from Mozambique on December 13th, 'Cleland died, fever, Blantyre.' This is the second death sustained by our mission staff since Blantyre was founded in 1877, and now we have lost an enthusiastic missionary, who had Africa written upon his heart, who felt her woes most keenly, and who has labored for her in painfulness and weariness and loneliness through nearly four anxious years. "
-The Mission Record laments the loss of Dr. Brown, late editor of the Missionary Record of the United Presbyterian Church: "In the Church of Scotland he had many attached friends, and the General Assembly seldom passed without his genial face being seen within our assembly hall. He was a man whose losll to our Scot~ish Presbyterianism is to be lamented at the present time, when in the growing desire for reunion, the help of generous, broad-minded men, of whatever Church, is greatly in demand." Happy Scotland, that has unity even in her divisions, and not, as some say of a great national church not far removed, division even in her unity.
It will be remembered that Disraeli. in one of his earlier romances, describes the Queen of Great Britain 'retreating before a too-powerful invader, as taking refuge in her fleet and establishing herself in the capital of her Indian Empire, from which, advancing westward, she sweeps Western Asia and all Europe under her sceptre, and reoccupies London. The subsequent achievement of the transplanted Asiatic, in placing the Indian diadem in all form on his mistress's brow, challenges a half-amused, half-serious attention, in these days of unsettled expectancy of nations, even to this fantastically gorgeous dream, and to the fine description of Calcutta quoted by the Mission Record from Sir William Hunter: "Calcutta still goes on growing with the growth of a vigorous maturity. Its unrivalled position at the mouth of the combined river systems of Northern and North-eastern India gives it a great advantage in regard to the older and bulkier staples of Bengal-rice, jute, and oil seeds-although even these have to a very large extent deserted the slower water-routes for the rail ways. The enterprise of its merchants and capitalists has called into existence new industries on a vast scale–'-tea-planting, coal-mining, engineering foundries, and steam factories of many sorts. The new railway to the west will bring to it an increasing share of the wheat trade; and it only awaits the better adaptation of the European smelting processes to the Indian coals and ores to become the financial centre of a great iron industry in Bengal. Meanwhile Calcutta sits calm and strong on its ancient river bank and watches the produce of the richest provinces of the world float down to it by many waters, or pour into it by an ever-extending network of railwa;ys. $edet aJternumq.ue Iwtf/bit," H ije~d,& 9q~ t4lt the two- ed~ed. sword of the Son of God should cut a~under the chains of Brahminical bondage, and India may perhaps spring forth into a magnificence of development passing the imaginations of antiquity concerning her uncounteJ. wealth.
The following passage from the Record is worthy of being pondered by American Christians: "The State may persecute, as the Roman State did, because anti-Christian; but it is hard to see why the people of a State preponderatingly Christian should persecute themselves, since they know that their faith makes not for the overtb.row but for the consolidation of national life. Or the State may try to ignore religion on the false theory of exaggerated individualism, which forgets that national life is the aggregate of the life of families, and that family life is based on the religious conception of marriage. The attempt to ignore the mightiest factor in the formation of national life can never succeed." Says the old Scottish Second Book of Discipline, magistrates "are callit in the Scripture nourishers of the Kirk, for sameikle as be them it is, or at least aucht to be, mantenit, fosterit, uphalden, and defendit against alt that wuld procure the hurt thereof." Whatever may be our theories respeCting the relations of Church and State, it seems as if Christians must allow that a modu8 vivendi between Christ and Antichrist was never in the mind of our Lord Jesus.
-The following, from a discourse of George Muller, delivered in his native tongue, in the Mission House of Basel, and appearing in the Neukirchener Heidenbote, ctlmes with especial authority from the lips of one whose faith God has so often changed to palpable fact. It assuredly belongs to the missionary work at a time when dignitaries of the Church raise the scoffing cry, " What do these feeble Jews r' "If we wish to have faith, we have purely to do with the promise as it is given in God's Word. We have not to question our thoughts and feelings j we have not to wait for special impressions, not to look to probability and outer circumstances, but purely and only to the Word of God, to believe what that says. Faith can act without feelings and probability j faith needs nothing but God's promise. If we wish anything more, this is no longer faith in the Word of God. " Faith is not concerned primarily with this or that fragment, but with all the promises, with the whole revelation of God in His Holy Word, with all the promises that have been made to the people of God. This, it appears to me, suffices for a definition of faith in the Word of God. "
-The Guardian commends to the public, as ft very valuable mine of information respecting India, on all its sides, Mr. S. W. Caine's new book, "Picturesque India." It regrets, however, the last chapter, "the tendency of which will be to strengthen the foolish belief that India is in danger,' near or remote, of a Russian invasion; and by pandering to this folly to condone the extravagant and wasteful military expenditures which absorbs so much of the revenue of India.' , -The Indian Witness, remarking on the lavish subscriptions in India for statues to departing governors, laments that thus far the Bowen Memorial Fund has barely touched 10,000 rupees. "George Bowen did a mightier. work for India, especially for Western India, than any half dozen bestatued governers." As George Bowen's former teacher, Dr. T. E. Skinner, said of him, " his face shone with the light of incipient trans- figuration w4ile he was sttn ~ student in VniOll Seminary-."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
:EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Fourteen Years of Earth-Hunger in Thus reads a dooument lately issued by Africa. the new French Committee on African affairs. It is, a long story already and [J. T. G.] not a very amusing one, this of the so- called Partition of Africa; yet it is, the " We are at present assisting at a London Times says, "so far an Rccom· unique spectacle in hi.story-the actual division of a continent scaroely known plislied faot that it is possible to take by the civilized nations of Europe." stook of the share which has fallen to
rn'1'EliN.A!t'10NAL lYliJPAltTMlllNT
the lot of each with some approach to Portuguese limitations, the English accuracy. " sphere•• , now and then," is suggestive. The MlJUvement Geographique, some short while gince, worked out the prob. British Africa, 1876: West Coast Col- lem of the European geographical exten_ ilion in Africa in a series of tables which onies, 15,640 square miles; Atlantic are the clearest presentation of this prog- ress which has fallen under ou.. eye. Islands, 125 ; Cape Colony and depend- It is astounding to note this projection of Europe on Africa within fourteen encies, 241,500 ; Natal, 21,000; Mauriyears, or since 1876, the year of the Brussels Conference, from which the tius and dependencies, 900. Total, scramble may be said to date. 279,165 square miles. So far as area goes, France has got more in this general looting than any British Africa, 1890 : West Coast Colother nation. In 1876 France had African possessions as follows: onies, 45,000 square miles ; Royal Niger French Africa, 1876 : Algeria, 123,000 Company, 400,000; Atlantic Islands, square miles; Senegambia, 154,400; Gaboon, 4830 ; Reunion, 964 ; Mayotte, 125; Walfish Bay, 460; Cape Colony, Nossi-Be, and Ste. Marie, 256. Total, 283,450 square miles. Her present pos- with dependenoies-Basutoland, Zulusessions stand in marked contrast with that, as witness the figures, which are land, Bechuanaland, etc., 500,000; not, of course, precise. Natal, 21,000; British South Africa French Africa, 1890 : Algeria, 184,480 square miles; Tunis, 44,790; Senegal Company and Nyassaland, 500,000; and dependencies, 580,000 ; Sahara and Western Soudan, 965,000 ; Gold Coast, Mauritius and dependencies, 900; 19,300; Gaboon and French Congo, 270,000; Madagascar and neighboring Zanzibar and Femba, 760 ; British East islands, 232,600 ; Reunion, 964 ; Comoro Islands, 798; Obock, 2316. Total, Africa (including sphere of influence), 2,300,248 square miles. 400,000 ; Somali Coast region, 38,000 ; In 1876 Germany had no claim to a mile of territory in Africa. At present Socotra, 3000. Total, 1,909,445 square her empire in the "Dark Continent" is great. miles.
German Africa, 1890 : Togoland, 7720 But Britain has no northern limit to square miles; Cameroons, 193,000; Southwest Africa, 385,000 ; East Africa, its sphere, and the" thin red line" is 450,000. Total, 1,035,720 square miles. at Cairo and Suakim. This may not seem vast compared with some, but the ratio' must be reck- It is doubtful if Portugal had more oned from nothing; and it must be borne in mind that this was all virtually than 80,000 square miles of territory in obtained within a few months, in 1884- 85 ; all else has been mere adjustment Africa in 1876, but the following may of boundaries. be accepted as substantially correct: .. Has Britain finished 1" is the signifi. cant question of the Mouvement Geo- Portuguese Africa, 1876 : Madeira, 314 graphiq'lle, in referring to the British sphere of influence. Taking the Anglo- English square miles; Cape Verd Isl- ands, 1486; Islands of Sao Thome and Principe, 417; Angola, 300,000; Mo- zambique, 300,000. Total, 612,217 Eng.
lish square miles.
Portuguese Africa, 1890: Madeira, 314 square miles; Cape Verd Islands, 1486; Guinea and Bissagos Islands, 2316 ; Sao Thome and Principe, 417 ; Cabinda, 460 ; Angola, 470,000 ; Mozam- bique, 300,000. Total, 774,993 square miles. • For the smaller states we can only give totals. In 1876 f:$pain had not more than 80,000 square miles. If all her claims were now admitted she would have 220,000. In 1876 Italy had nothing, …
officially, in Africa; she now claims, and no power contests it, 360,000 square miles. Turkey's claim to Tripoli is un· disputed ; and if her rule in Egypt is to be counted-though England rules it far more-she has, in a loose way,
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
enough beyond Tripoli to make perhaps Laying Siege to the 'Stronghold of the 1,000,000 square miles. Dalai Lama-The Moravian Mission among the Western Himalayas. SU1lOrLUlY. BY MV. ;T. T. lLUIILTON;, BETlILEHlCM:, l'A. The following is the summary of the above ciphering. Perhaps we would Among the flora of the Himalayas not better state in advance, for the benefit the least inteiesting is the juniperus of sticklers, that this is only an approx- excelsa, the" pencil cedar," a tree held imate putting of the facts: sacred by the Tibetans, who use it for their sacrificial fires. Clinging to the Portugal, in 1876, 612,217; in 1890, merest crevices, thriving on almost pre. 774,993 square miles. Spain, in 1876, cipitouB declivities, it roots itself with 3500; in 1890, 210,000. France, in a firmness that acknowledges alone the 1876,283,450; in 1890,2,300,248. Ger- superior power of the avalanche. Evermany, in 1890, 1,035,720. Congo Free green in life and when felled furnish- State, in 1890, 1,000,000. Italy, in ing most valuable timber, it is of amaz- 1890, 360,000. Great Britain, in 1876, ingly slow growth. A century may 279,165 ; in 1890, 1,909,445. Total, in elapse before a seedling from it deserves 1876, 1,178,332; in 1890, 7,590,406 the name of tree. Yet it can and does square miles. attain noble proportions, its trunk some- times measuring from nine to twelve If to this we add the areas of Egypt yards in circumference. To the juniand the Egyptian Soudan, of Tripoli, per of the Himalayas the mission of the Morocco, the independent Central Sou- Moravian Church among those moundan States, the Transvaal and Orange tains has been compared. Planted in Free States, and patches elsewhere not an almost inaccessible region and in the yet ensphered, it will probably be found face of gravest difficulties, its progress that, of the 11,900,000 square miles of has been slow. Yet faith foresees a day Africa, not more than 2,500,000 remain when the hardy evergreen shall flourish to be scrambled for. like a cedar of Lebanon. Possibly, as by the botanist, the juniperus excelsa·is We have left ourselves no room to regarded with peculiar interest, so also moralize on all this, as to its inherent for the friend of Protestant missions justice, its inspiration, its probable fu- the story of this undertaking, which inture, its bearing on the evangelization volves a residence for Europeans at an of the peoples; or on-what tempts our elevation a couple of thousand feet pen just now more than other points- higher than the famous St. Bernard the overstrained claim for benevolence Pass, and journeys through mountain in seeking the good of Africa. It is, at defiles far above the level of the sumleast, quite noticeable that this mag- mit of Mount Blanc, may in like mannanimous regard for the betterment and ner possess attractions. civilization of these, ofthe .. submerged tenth"-not of England, but of the Invited, in 1850, by the well-known whole human family-should date con· apostle to the Chinese, K. F. A. Gutztemporaneously with the fever for co- laff, to send missionaries to the western lonial expansion. Whether the govern· portion of that great empire, the Mis_ ments know it or not, the people are not sion Board of the Moravian Church deceived by this pious cant. It may called for two volunteers. Thirty reseem to serve their purpose, just because sponded. Two of these, Edward Pagell back of all this reckless rush for gain and A. W. Heyde, both laymen, having there really is a great percentage of earn- been selected and sent to Berlin for a est philanthropy which, while it is not course in medicine, in the summer of humbugged by this political hypocrisy 1853 proceeded to India. The original of motive, has the good sense to avail plan had been to seek Mongolia via Rus· itself of the opportunity thus afforded; but it would do this just as well without this rubbish of asserted magnanimity of motive. sia, but the Czar's fidelity to the tradi- about a hundred miles northeast of tions of the Orthodox Greek Church negatived a request for permission to Simla, and therefore on the very con· take this most direct route. At Kolghur, a statiol1, of the Anglican Church, on the fines of Tibet. Yet endeavors to in- Sutlej, north of Simla, the reside,nt missionary rendered them every assist- vade the land from this point also failed, ance in his power, and a beginning was made in the study of Hindustani and even though the people were willing Tibetan. When somewhat familiar with the latter an attempt was made to enter enough to send for the missionary to in- Tibet. But the boycott was most effectually employed to defeat this. Hardly oculate multitudes against the smallwas Pagell a few days' journey within the Province of Tsotso when he realized pox in a time of distress from that that starvation faced him. Not even could parched barley-meal be bought. scourge. The very lamas and nuns Water was to be obtained only on condition of a withdrawal from the coun- anxiously availed themselves of vaccinatry, and even after a promise to this effect had been given not more than tion, and honors were shown to the misone day's allowance of barley-meal could be procured by the missionary's attend- sionary such as only men of high rank ants. receive; but the work of vaccination Lama-ridden Tibet being thus barred shut, the best that could be done was to over, he was significantly reminded that seek Mongolia by way of Ladak, a former Tibetan province, now tributary to he belonged the other side of the bor~ Kashmir. Here also jealousy of Europeans drew forth a peremptory order to der. Nay, at a later time, so recently return across the border. as 1888, when another trial waa made, Satisfied that for the present an advance was impoRsible, the missionaries friendly officials gave assurance that it then found a permanent home in Kyelang, a village of Lahoul, within the lim- would cost them their heads if they perits of .British sovereignty. Here, a hundred and fifty miles from Simla, and mitted a European to pass. the same distaDce ,from Leh, the capital of Ladak, .at.a height of 10,000 feet Nevertheless, one barrier has since above 1Ie6,level,. in tb,e midst of a population prevailingly Tibetan and Buddh- thenl?roken down. The jealous suspiillt, they began their labors in 1856. cions of the Maharajah of· Kashmir have Before long. they were joined by the Re,.., H,. A. Jaschke. a.scholar pre-emi- yielded. In 1885 Leh became a third nent' in Jingu}J,tic abilities, who had resigned' his ~o-directorship of the classi· station of the mission, and is now ascal· college of the Moravian Church in Germany . that. he might share their suming the characteristics of its headlabors .. . In 1865, still keeping in view their quarters, as is natural, since it is an imultimattl purpo.se ofearryi1g the Gospel into Chinese territOlfY. they founded portant city, an entrepot of trade from a Bacond 4itation ·at.l'oo,.onihe .Sutlej, Lhassa, Yarkand, Bokara, Cabul, the Punjab, and Srinagar. Moreover, even though it lies at an elevation of 11,500 feet, it affords an excellent starting- point for evangelistic tours among Ti_ betan-speaking Buddhist populations.
Hindustani is the language of its bazar, and Islam is predominant. Here the hospital established by the British Gov- ernment has been made over to the mis- sionaries, and here, especially, they have an important school, a school the farther-reaching in its influence because the sub-ruler of the Province of Ladak last year promulgated a decree" that from every .family in Leh and the neigh- bo.rhood, where there ill more than one child, at least one child must be Bent to the mission school." True, the attend- anco at the portion of the curriculum which touches on ~eIigion is left .oP- tional, but at last accounts. there were about sixty present daily.
sioWnairtihe'sit(smatlh~reaensdtatfieounias!,.eel}e.avnsdll mis- Olll, about fifty native communicants, the ing my tent, I was obliged to take refugo growth of this mission has been juniper- under a large block of stone which promlike in its slowness. Yet the intricate ised some protection from the weather. network of rootlets thrown out in the It snowed heavily in the night and I evangelistic tours and in the scattering longed for the morning.' , of printed portions of God's Word and religious tracts in the Tibetan, may be Again, the missionaries here confront believed to have fastened it so firmly in a powerful and well organized system its unfavorable situation that, please of false faith. The lamas, clothed in God, it will defy the storms and endure their red robes and yellow peaked caps, evergreen for generations to come, at claim and receive divine honors. The length reachil{g a glorious symmetry and sense of sin has been deadened by the majestic size, " its leaves for the healing doctrine of the transmigration of souls. of the nations." Of repentance the people appear to have no innate conception. Gross supersti- Peculiar obstacles have been in the tions have debased even their Buddh. way of the progress of this mission. It ism. With complacent indifference has been found no child's play to lay they let the lamas do the thinking for siege to the stronghold of the Dalai them. With a liberalism that would Lama. First of all, the physical features delight the most thoroughgoing agnosof the field are unique. From April to tic, they meet the approaches of those October the two earlier stations, Kye· who would point out the way of salvalang and Poo, are absolutely isolated tion by affirming that" doubtless there from the rest of the world by the vast are many roads which reach one final masses of snow that block every pass. goal. " The prayer-mill mechanically The very battle for existence is severe, grinus out their devoticns. Pol'yandry there being so little arable land, and corrupts their morals. Holiness is supfalls of snow being unknown in no posed to be acquired by paying a lama month of the year. What is entailed in to read pages of the sacred books in an travelling may be learned from the unknown tongue. Lucky and unlucky following extracts from missionaries' days and divination, playas important a letters: "Passing through rivers, or part in their daily Iives as in those of over them, on swaying bridges made of the ancient Egyptian. Deception and boughs, crossing glaciers with danger- fraud are considered' far less culpable ous ice hanging from steep, rocky preci- than the killing of some noxious insect. pices, where one truly carried one's life Idolatry is so universal that when a in one's hands; traversing partly Tibetan has received a religious book snowed-up passes 14,000, 16,000, 17,- from the missionary he has been known 000 and 18,000 feet in height-there to keep a lamp burning and offer sacri. were so many gracious preservations fices before it in his house. from danger that the recollections of this journey are truly a page of memory Again, to profess the Christian rewhich my wife would not on any account ligion involves for the convert the being be deprived of. …" "Next morning completely disowned by his people. He we set off very early and soon hau noth- is boycotted. There have been ining but ice beneath and around us. stances when his life was endangered, Twice my horse fell with me through a or when he has died under suspicious thin coat of snow into deep fissures, but circumstances pointing to foul play. both times I was mercifnlly preserved. The jealousy of native chiefs and the "I spent a trying night in deep hatred of the more influential the vicinity of the monastery ; not being lamas have been manifested in the bringable to find shelter in the miserable huts ing of vexatious lawsuits against the erpcted by the side of the wall of rock, ' missionaries on various pretexts. ~tm Jess to discover a fit spot for pitch- And in addition to all this the barrier of language has often been great. Evenafter the Tibetan proper has been mas- ormation, a catechism, and a summary tered, it has appeared t-o be a dead of Christian doctrine, besides tracts and language to the mass of the people of a school-books in Tibetan, mustal.so be district, and especially to the women. numbered among the literary labors of Some peculiar dialect, like the Bunan the missionaries. Highly important, or the Trinan, has been all that they un- too, are Jlischke's Thibetan-English nerstood. Grammar (Kyelang, 1865; LondoD, 1883), and Thibetan-English Dictionary Under these circumstances it is not (London, 1881), which have called forth surprising that the missionary efforts high commendation from Professor Max have not as yet shown large measures of MUller. visible results. The Gospel, in these regions especially, must be addressed to .. All things come to him who waits," individuals as such, but they have so says a well-tried proverb. Its truth is little personal independence and force especially applicable in the case of him of character, that it is almost impossible who waits on the Lord. Full success for them to face public opinion and risk must attend the work among the all for Christ's sake. Yet the leaven of Himalayas sooner or later, and a breach the Gospel is working slowly and sure- be made in the wall that surrounds the ly. The lamas are indicating their can. stronghold of the Dalai-Lama. Mean· victioD that a contlict is UpOD them whil~, the missionaries are asking that fraught for them with the most serious the siege guns of prayer bombard the issues. Thus, for example, they have bastions of Lamaism. "Could you not, recently imported from Chinese Thibet in missionary circles at home, form a a famous Buddhist work in a hundred union which should make it a duty, not volumes, a load for twelve horses, at a occasionally, but regularly, to remember cost of $500, for the defence of their re- prayerfully the Himalayan mission?" ligion. They feel that the ground is was the request that came last spring beginning to slip from beneath their from the missionary at Poo. It has feet. Among the converts is to be reck- been ·answered by a number, who agree oned a learned lama, Sodpa. Gjalzan, whose father was an official at Lhassa, 1. To pray definitely at least one day the home of the. Dalai-Lama, the in the week for this mission, and for an Buddhist pope. . outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon its missionaries. Direct preaching, evangelistic tours, schools, and the work of medical mis. 2. To read regularly what is published siona.ries have been among the methods about this field, as material for suppliof attack employed here as elsewhere. cation and thanksgiving, and But particularly important has been the printing and distribution of the Scrip- 3. To plead for the opening of the tures and tracts. Many a Christian vol. door into Chinese Tibet, the great ume in Tlbetan has t.hus found its way stronghold of Buddhism, and one of the to Lhassa itself. Ever since the fall of few countries still closed to the Gospel. 18580. lithographic press has been busily employed, and the entire New Testa- The intercessions of the readers of ment, translated by Jlischke and Red. this magazine are likewise requested. slob and the converted lama, was printed at Berlin in 1883 and 1884 at the ex. " Working and Waiting for Tibet" is pense of the British and Foreign Bible the title of a book just issued by Mor. Society. The greater part of the gan &, Scott, London, containing a time· Pentateuch, Joshua, the Psalms, and ly and admirable description of this isaiah have also been issued from the mission work in the Western Himalayas, lithographic press at Kyelang. A his- the country and people, with chapters tory of the Christian Church to the Ref- on Duddhism and the Lamas. It is based on a German work by Hermann Gustav Schneider. It is illustrated, and if! to be sold at a low price. J. T. G.
1891·1
Editorial Notes. missionary lands. Besides, as there is ;T. T. G. nothing a Chinaman dreads more than singularity, this review will have the We cannot forbear adding a personal effect of inspiring a new and more agtestimony to the noble work of the Unity gressive interest in the work which is Brethren. in the Western Himalayas, enlisting the activity and labors of about which Secretary Hamilton writes. Christian communities in all lands. In 18137 the writer received from them Both the periodicals are issued under at his own request a dozen copies of the the auspices of a local society for the Gospels in Tibetan, then just issued "diffusion of Christian and general from their press, and found a way to knowledge," which is thereby solving send them by messenger through the the problem of enlisting in the cause of Nepal Passes into Tibet. It is with missions the interest and co-operation interest that after all these years the following letter is at hand: J. T. G.
KYELANG, Nov. 6, li67. of a large and influential lay element res- Rev. J. T. Gracey: ident in China. This society is com- posed of leading men of all nationali- DEAn BROTHER: Your letter, dated ties, consuls, Chinese customs officers, October 5th, reached me only the day merchants, bankers, and lawyers who, before yesterday. I am glad to learn with some of the older and more experithat you find no difficulties in dis- enoed missionaries, have' in this way tributing the Tibetan Gospels, and united to give the Chinese the benefits of our higher civilization and enlight- I am very happy to send you by thill enment.. Thus, the cause of missions post another supply of them. We are is being mightily sustained and promotall here very thankful that you assist ed by a' large and influential class of uur work in this way, and we shall be foreigners resident in China who, but always happy to hear that they find the for such an opportnnity-one whioh way into Tibet. they heartily approve of and believe in -would be almost entirely lost to mis- Allow me to send you also by book- sionary enterprise. post our Tibetan grammar and our dictionary. Please accept this as a broth- A correspondent from China, writerly gift. I take also the liberty to send, ing about the great Shanghai Conference together with the books, a few copies last May, calls it a .. glorious success," of grammars and dictionaries, in case and says the spirit of it still abides that there would be gentlemen who would like to buy them. 'rhe price of adictionary is rupees 2, and the gram. mar, 12 annas.
The Lord be with you in your wor~. In Him I salute you as your Brother, TH. RECHLER.
among the churches. .. Over one hun.
We have pleasure in acknowledging dred new missionaries," he says, .. have the receipt of the first number of a new arrived since our call for the 1000 was missionary literary venture, Ohung si issued !" The executive committees Kiao HwuiPao (The Missionary Review), appointed' by the Conference to provide edited by Rev. Dr. Y. J. Allen, also the . for the revision of the Bible have nearly Wan Krooh Kung Pao (The Review of the completed their labors by the election Times), under the same editorial care. of competent translators. There are to The latter is designed to reach the offi- be three versions, one in High Wen-Ii, cials and literary classell, who chiefly one in Easy Wen-Ii, and one in Man- , patronize it, while the former is devoted darin, and it is hoped that the entire to the native churches. The Chinese work will be done by the Dext General are given to imitation, and it is thought Conference, say ten years hence.
that this new periodical may avail itself of this peculiarity by laying be- Rev. Dr. Happer was compelled to fore them the history, objects, and meth- resign his muoh loved work in the col- ods of missions, as condncted in all lege at Canton, China, owing to the state fields, or, at least, in all foreign and of his health, which his physicians said
INTE:RNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
forbade all work involving either severe ton Springs, N. Y., June 10th to 17th. mental or physical strain, especially that May God bless and restore our dear which causes anxiety; and the college Brother Belden ! had reached a stage which required great care and responsibility as well as hard "A suggestive symptom," says the work. In a letter written to us, January Asiatic Quarterly Review, about China, 12th, he says he hopes to get away early "is the decree just issued that, on ill April. He hopes to resume his their next New Year's day the ambassastudies in this oountry, and is bringing dors of the Western nations," such as all his books for this purpose. His ob- ministers of Great Britain, France, Russervations and experiences on the field sia, the United States, and Holland, are during forty-seven years will enable to receive an audience of the Emperor, him to present most valuable addresses followed by a banquet, and this cereon foreign missions before the churches mont is to be continued every year. and young men in the colleges and sem- The question of audience has been uninaries. He hopes to be at the next der discussion for centuries. So far meeting of the International Missionary back as 1816 Lord Amherst flatly reo Union, at Clifton Springs, N. Y., June fused to kowtow-that is, to knock his 10th to 17th. head against the ground in presence of the Emperor. Thus, the British sailor It is with the deepest sorrow that paved the way for the American miniswe are obliged to say to the members of ter to dispense with the whole of this the Internation!11 Missionary Union that ceremony in order to ' protect those dutheir most faithful and efficient secre- ties which every Western nation owes tary, Rev. William H. Belden, of Bris- to its own dignity,' and to introduce, tol, Conn., has been stricken from the through the present Emperor, the brothlist of nctive workers, at least for" time. erhood of monarchies even among the On February 28th, at his own home and Celestials. " in the midst of his family, he was stricken with paralysis in a severe form, and The resignation of Rev. Dr. Lowrie, lay unconscious for some days. At as Secretary of the Presbyterian Mission. this writing, which is necessarily weeks ary Board, follows hard on that of Dr. away from the reading of it, his life Murdock, of the Baptist Union. "Ad. still hangs in the balance, but is not de- vancing years and providential circum. spaired of. This is not the time nor stances" compel these changes. The. plaee to say what Mr. Belden was and, Presbyterian Board requests Dr. Lowrie we hope, is to be again to the Union, to to accept the position of Emeritus Sechis large parish, and to other prominent retary, with a salary as heretofore, and enterprises. We cllnnot bring our- express their appreciation of his ability, selves to do more now than to ask the fidelity, and diligence in his general prayers of the members of the Union in superintendence through so many years. particular in his behalf, and to announce that his heroic lind devoted wife, even Miss M. Burt, of Springfield, 0., has in the midst of her troubles, elects to just issued a pan-denominational map take up his duties as Secretary of the I. of China, with the mission stations of M. U., as she is familiar with the con- all boards clearly and accurately loca~. dition of the work; and at this hour ed. The map is 34 by 45 inches. It is the work could scarcely be handed over offered at the very low figure of one dolto any other. The Union will feel un- lar. Around the margin of the map is der great obligation to her for this ser- an amount of interesting and instrucvice, and will render all the aid possi- tive matter such as is of general useful. ble in reaching all missionaries with no- ness. tice of the eighth annual meeting, at Clif.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Bound up with this number is 0. chart, Sarah Rhea, Melinda Rankin, and hosts prepared by 0. very intelligent student of women besides. of Buddhism and Romanism, by which he seeks to present to the eye the strik- There are at present some four mething similarity between the two systems. ods of conducting these lectureships, It has often been remarked by mis· and where one plan is not feasible sionaries in Buddhistic communities, another may be. that Romanism finds it difficult to make much headway because the Buddhists 1. The Occasional Lectureship, or claim that already they have in their such as may be provided for from time faith and worship so many anticipations to time, for 0. single season or term of of the new" Western religion" urged years. It is sometimes practicable for on their acceptance. The comparisons an institution to secure from individuals suggested in this chart confirm the fact, 0. donation for this purpose, or to apalready hinted by Church historians, propriate from current funds 0. suffithat many of the prominent features of cient sum to provide for an occasional Romanism are borrowed from paganism, course. as many of the statues of saints at Rome are really the gods and heroes of pagan 2. The Professional, Lectureship, Rome christened with new names. where, in the erection and endowment of a professor's chair, lectures on mis- Missionary Leotureships, sions are embraced as a part of the func- tion of the teacher. A chair of " Chris- These are deservedly growing in favor, tian Evidences and Missions" has thus for they secure careful and competent been provided for of late at that very preparation of matter on the part of progressive McOormick Seminary, at specialists in the department of mis- Chicago, as similar chairs have been sions, and they bring the great facts and established in other institutions. appeals of the world-wide field into contact with young men at the most im- 3. The Annual Leotureship. Suoh is pressible period of life, when the con- usually provided for by a fund whose victions and resolves are taking perma- interest is applied to this purpose. A nent shape and the sphere of life work generous donation or legacy is given or is being determined. We sincerely bequeathed to an institution, and by hope that this practicable and desirable the provisions of the gifL is restricted method of reaching students in life's to this use. The famous Bampton transition period will come to be uni- FoundatioIl' in Great Britain, and the versal in our colleges and theological Ely Foundation in this country, may schools, and particularly do we urge the furnish examples. The former is now establishment and delivery of such lec- in its second century, and has furnished ture courses where hitherto, we regret to the world some of the ablest oourses to add, they have been very strangely of lectures ever delivered. neglected-in our young ladies' colleges and seminaries. It must be remem- At Rutgers Theological Seminary, bered that some of the noblest pioneers New Brunswick, N. J., the editor-inin mission work, and some of the most chief has just concluded (February 23d) remarkable examples of apostolic con- 0. course of seven leotures on" Chrissecration, have been found among wom- tian Missions as a Divine Enterprise." en, like tbe wives of Adoniram Judson, Mrs. Dr. Grant, Fidelia Fiske, Mr. N. F. Graves, of Syracuse, has Harriet Newell. Rosine Krapf, Eliza put 0. certain sum year by year at the Asnew, Mfa, Sarah B, Capron, Mrs, disposal of the Seminary for such pur- pose. The first year six lectures were delivered by as many different men; last year, Rev. Dr. John Hall gave the en- tire oourse. Here, without any perma- Ill)p.t fund, the le<lt1:Il'eship is aunual, and we understand that Rev. Dr. A. J. and pllices as the trustees may deter· Gordon, of Boston, ill already appointed mine, between January and April of the Graves Lecturer for 1892. We congrat. second year of the lecturer's term. ulato the seminary on this appointment, 4. That the lecturer shall publish not • and sincerely hope that this generous less than one hundred copies of his lec· Syracusan may be led to provide for tures within one year following their the permanence of this Rutgers course. delivery, to be distributed according to 4. The Qu'ldrennial Lectureship. Of a list furnished by the trustees; and this the famous" Duff Foundation," in beyond these the published lectures be· Scotland, is perhaps the only example. come his own property. There are some features about it that Me unique and very desirable. We'give 5. Out of the income of this trust somewhat extended reference to it, as fund the trustees first defray all neces- it commends itself for imitation in cer· sary costs not falling to the lecturer to tain advantages in which it stands alone, defray; then, on delivery of the course, not to say unrivalled. the net proceeds of two yeMs go to This" Duff Lectureship" was founded the lecturer; and upon the publication in 1879 by William Pirie Duff, Esq" in of the lectures he is entitled to the in- pursuance of the will of his father, Rev. come of the remaining two years. Alexander Duff, D.D., " for the estab· lishment and endowment of a quadren- All other matters connected with the nial course of lectures on some depart. lectureship are left at discretion of this ment of foreign missions or cognate sub· Board of Trustees, who become final judges in every matter pertaini ng thereto r jects. A Board of Trustees was created, under these provisions. Rev. Thomas Smith, D.D., Dr. Duff's colleague in Cal. consisting of eight leading men, viz., cutta, became the first lecturer, Rev. Baron Polwarth, Rev. William Lindsay William Fleming Stevenson, D.D., the Alexander, Principal of the Theological second, Sir Monier Monier Williams, the Hall of the Oongregational Union of third, and the editor·in·chief of this Scotland; 'William Pirie Duff, Esq., REVIEW, the fourth. Hev. Robert Gordon,. of the Free Ohurch ; Rev. J. Marshall Lang, D.D., The special features of this lecture. of the Established Ohurch of Scotland; ship, which seem to us to be unique in Hugh M. Matheson, Esq., Duncan Mac· their desirableness, are these: . Neill, Esq., Rev. Andrew Thomson, D.D., United Presbyterian, and their 1. It is practically impossible that successors, as provided for. Here it this trust fund should ever be perverted, will be seen that some of the foremost abused, or wasted. men of the leading evangelical bodies are put in charge of this fund, with Mrs. 2. Though undenominational and Rebecca J. Duff Watson as consulting catholic in character, the evangelical member. standing and teaching of the lecturers is assured. It is further provided, 1. That the lecturer shall be a minis· 3. Ample time is secured for the ter, professor, or godly layman of any preparation and delivery of the course. evangelical church, and shall hold the The lecturer has at least two years from said lectureship for four years. the date of his appointment to get his 2. That the lecturer shall choose his course ready, and one year more to com· own theme, subject to the approval of plete its issue in printed form. this Board of Trustees, one year before time of delivery. 4. Ample provision is made for the 3; That the lectures, at least six in expense incidental to such preparation number, shall be delivered in Edinburgh and publication. But one series of lee· tures is called fur, but the lecturer holds PIld Glasgow, and Ilt 11llCP other tixulls his incumbency for a four years' term, during which the net income from the investment inures to his benefit. He is ~bus eD!ltbled to purchRRe any books, or bear any other needful expense of time are Roman Catholics, should read that, and st~ength incidental to preparation. out of a popUlation of about 2,000,000 5. The repeated deli very in the great centres of population insures a large and there are that number of Roman Catho- representative hearing, and brings the course before both the educated uni· lics." Until about thirty years ago, versity students and the popular assem- blies. only Lutheranism was tolerated in Nor- 6. The infrequency' of the course way. allows an opportunity to the trustees to act with deliberation. It would not In justice to Dr. McAlI and his work- always be easy to secure for each cur· rent year a lecturer who had made the ers, the REVIEW gives place to the fol- subject of missions a specific study, nor would it be always practicable even for lowing statement by the Rev. Dr. Mc- such persons to prepare a special course at short notice. All, approved by the Committee of Di- If any other lectureship of missions rection of the McAll Mission, at their has been established whose provisions are equally sagacious, and foresighted. meeting held on January 20th, 1891, re- and generous, the writer knows not of such; and the details of this Scottish specting certain re!lections recently plan are presented somewhat fully, in hope that the essential features may be made upon the position and constitu- largely and extensively copied in other parts of the Christian world. tion of the mission: That little paper which Chaplain Mc- The Committee of Direction of the Cabe is now distributing among the ,. Mission Populaire Evang~lique de host of the Methodists is a wide-awake France" would gladly pass over in silence and trumpet-tongued messenger of the an article in the American Baptist Mis- Gospel of Peace. It is well called World- sionary Magazine for January, 1891, and wide Missions, and we should gladly wel- briefer ones in L'Echo de la Verite (organ come it to a world-wide circulation. He of the French Baptists), and Evangelical hopes for a million and a quarter read- Christendom (organ of the British Evan- ers this year-and a million and a quar- gelical Alliance), in which our relations ter dollars for missions. Here is an with the French chur,ches are more or illustrated monthly, with nine pages of less pointedly referred to. Since, how- reading matter exclusive of advertise- ever, those statements convey the im- ments, and all for twenty-five cents a pression that the mission" is allying it- year in advance! It is published at 150 self more and more with churches per- Fifth Avenue, New York, and 144 Mon- meated with rationalism and formal- roe Street, Chicago. Chaplain McCabe ism." it becomes necessary to make has proven himself an efficient leader public an outline of facts bearing on the '. among the Lord's hosts as well as in the case. For it is obvious that, if such a , armies of his country• We bid him God- compromise existed, the work must for- speed! feit its claim to the confidence and sup- port of all faithful evangelical Chris- Dr. J. H. W. Stuckenberg writes from tians. We venture to affirm that the Berlin, March 3d. 1891: "The state- original basis of the mission, which is ment made in a recent number of the precisely that of the Evangelical Alli- REVIEW that, out of a population of ance, has been in no degree departed 6,000,000 ill Norway only about 100Q from. Our invariable rule of action is to accept only association with those who, so far as known to us, are strictly evangelical,' but without making any distinction respecting the denomination to which they belong.
It is quite true that we have come gradually into closer relations with the various French evangelical pastors and congregations. But this is surely occa- sion for rejoicing. It is not that the mission has changed, in any degree, its principles or attitude, but simply that these esteemed brethren have felt more and more drawn to ioin with us in the effort to spread the Gospel in their coun- try, and this increasing intimacy of as- sociation has been with those belonging to the Eglise Libre (Union of Free Churches), and with the Baptists" and Wesleyans, q,uite as markedly as witll those of the Reformed and Lutheran originated and sustained by a voluntary Churches. committee of faithful pastors and mem- bers in that congregation, with the Into the question of relations to the avowed aim of combating the tenden- State or form of Church organization cies referred to by the pure teachings we are precluded from entering, by our of the Gospel. Evangelical Alliance basis. That basis forbids us to make ecclesiastical ques- To comprehend accurately our positions a ground of separation. To do so tion, it is necessary to take into account would, in fact, involve a breach of faith the fact that these two contrasted tenwith all those who have contributed, dencies in the Reformed Lutheran whether by pecuniary gifts or personal churches form a strongly-defined line of service, to form and sustain the mission, demarcation, so that the more closely we the undenominational platform having associate ourselves with L:.~Ee faithful been from the beginning avowed and French brethren whom we honor and maintained. love (who constitute the evangelical sec- tion, and happily the large majority of The point at issue is this. "Ought these two communities), the more emthe mission henceforward to refuse co- phatic in effect is our protest against operation with the purely evangelical formalism and worldliness, and all that elements (and happily they are a large is unevangelical or indefinite in doc_ majol'ity) in those churches, because pastors and congregations exist within trine. the pale of those communities marked While thus affirming our resolve to by rationalistic or formalist tenden- co-operate with the faithful portions of cies ?" these two denominations, we are, and have evidenced ourselves equally ready M. Saillens, the writer of the article to join hands with the other faithful communities-Eglise Libre, Baptist and in the American Baptist Missionary Mag- Wesleyan. We have gladly set ourazine, has himself, for a series of years, selves to work with and aid them wherreturned and acted with us on the an- ever possible, and are still prepared to swer, " We ought to associate with those do so. esteemed brethren, and seek to strengthen their hands against the opposed ten- The Committee of the Mission is, natdency." Now he has changed his esti- urally, composed of members holding mate, but we have not changed, and can- each one his own views on church ornot change, ours. In fact, our entire ganization and government. We take co-working has been, and is an earnest our places on that committee, not as reppretest against the rationalIstic and resenting this or that denomination, formalist elements, because we have, on but simply as associated workers in the principle, refused co-operation with the representatives of those elements in common cause of evangelization. To every instance in which we have been accept co-working with our brethren, aware of their existence. This course whether holding our own views of of action has, on several occasions, re- church polity and organization or not, quired no little determination, and cost is obviously the sole principle on which us no little pain in withdrawing from a non-denominational (or as it has been those otherwise entitled to much esteem, justly defined, aU-denominational) miswhen the fact of their non-adhesion to sion can go forward. To depart from strictly evangelical ideas has become it would be to quit the ground of the known to us. Strong pressure has even Evangelical Alliance. We have studied been put upon us, repeatedly, to relax most carefully to adhere to that ground, this rule of action; but it has been rig- and shall do so still. idly adhered to in all cases. It has been stated that we have sought The fact of our having granted the use to favor the two larger churches more of the station of Boulevard Bonne Nou- than the others. Is it so? Take-e.g., velle, Paris, for worship instituted by a the Baptist denomination, which, as committee connected with the central yet, h~s only a few congregations in (Oratoire) parish of the Reformed France. We ha~e never yet refused, Church at an hour when our evangelis- when in our power, to aid any evangelistic meetings were not held, has been tic work connected with that communcited more than once, as if involving a ity. And in Paris we have incurred a compromise of the above principle, be- large outlay in order to enable M. Sailcause in that great parish, Unitarian or lens to have an open Baptist place of rationalistic elements exist. On the worship in the large Mission Hall of contrary, this was a fine opportunity for publicly evidencing our resolve to do Rue St. Denis. We joined with him our utmost to strengthen the evangeli- and the American Baptist Association in hiring that hall for the double purcal party, becaul!e the movement Wall pose of QUr evangelistic meetings and the formation of that church, and gladiy would indicate no favoritism whatever saw the most promising of our converts shown to the larger communities. Our from various stations gathered there. Wesleyan friends have their own evan- That this, Olle of the first·planted of our gelistic mission on the model of ours ; mission churches, should, by the seces- hence the small number of our stations sion of its pastor from ollr ranks and in which they have undertaken to work from united working with the churches, along with us. o.ur Baptist brethren take a separatist character, is, to us, the have received as cordial a welcome from cause of great regret. It is a step fitted us as those of any other body, and we to retard the movement for bringing our have held and still hold ourselves ready COilverts into fellowship, by presenting for enlarged co-working with them, as the aspect of liability to cause them to with all the congregations faithful to drift into sectarianism and separation. the foundation. truth of the Gospel, so long as that co-operation involves no It is true that, shortly before his lIud- elements inconsistent with the fraterna: den retirement from the mission, M. basis of the Evangelical Alliance as re- Saillens m"de overtures to our commit- gards Evangelical Christians in other tee respecting the opening of additional Christian communities. halls in Paris, which would be, like that of Rue St. Denis, centres of Baptist R. W. McALL, Hon. President. working. We did not then consider that the right moment had come, and, A friend writes us : indeed, our financial position abso· "On page 237 of the March number, I lut.ely forbade the added outlay. At find statistics of the American Mission the same time, we testified to M. Sail- in Egypt. They make a good showing. lead our readiness to aid him when the It would be as well to speak of the time seemed ripe for such extension and American Mission in China, or India, or our means enabled us to carry it out. Persia, or Syria; but the denomination doing the work gets credit for it by It is obvious, however, that an evan- being named. Why not name the gelistic work which welcomes co·opera- United Presbyterian Church of America, tion without denominational distinc- when speaking of her work done, as weH tions, and is prepared to open its sta- as naming other churches? This has tions in every district to the representa. been done not once only, but several tives of whatever faithful Christian timell during the past two years. body may be prepared to undertake the " We are not ashamed of our work effort, in order that the converts may be either in Egypt or in India, and it seems grouped in Christian fellowship, is that fair treatment would be to speak of likely, without the least favoritism, to our church in connection with her mishave a larger or smaller number of its sion work, as well as to mention others mission.halls linked with the several de- in connection with theirs. nominations, somewhat in proportion to the larger or smaller number of M. M. GILCRRIST. churches existing in connection with IRETON, JAVA.. each. Thus, taking the congregations of the Reformed Church (Eglise Re- Ohina Inland Mission, Shanghai. formee) throughout France as 700 or 750; after deducting a percentage for February 13th, 1891. the minority which are not professedly To the Ei,itor of The ,Missionary Review: evangelical, a figure of 500 or more remains. The Lutheran congregations in DEAR SIR: My attention has been France number about 100; a similar drawn to an article, which has appeared deduction must be made from their in more than one religious periodical in total. (These deductions, however, America, headed, "Chinese Dresll in happily do not apply to Paris, all the the Shanghai Conference. " pastors in charge in Paris in both of them being adherents of the Evangelical In that article the esteemed writer Alliance, with the exception of the di· gives publicity to reports which appear vided elements in the parish of the Ora- to refer to the China Inland Mission. toire, already referred to.) The Eglise namely: (1) "That one-half of thORO Libre (Union of Free Churches) counts, who enter China under its auspicell, rt)- say, 50 or 55 ; the Wesleyans, between 30 and 40, besides out-stations; the Baptists about 12 or 14. Comparing these figures with the extent to which our mission stations have become allied with these communities rellpectively.
we venture to affirm that the result turn within two years, either to their lies before them a much longer period of work. For, as I need scarcely indihomeland on e(2a)rth"T•ohr atto the home c~te, this low average of seven years' above;" and the average service is the inevitable result of the rapid increase of our numbers during reterm of service for the whole body is cent years. Taking the older members of the Mission only, the first 50 have only three and a half years." I am sure already completed an average of over seventeen years, and 16 of them have both the writer and your readers will be averaged twenty.four and three-quarter years. glad to hear that these rumors are en- On the whole, we are led to conclude tirely unwarranted. that our mission is, by God's blessing, one of the healthiest in China. 1. Looking into our statistics, I find Yours truly, that 539 personlil have been connected J. HUDSON TAYLOB.
with the China Inland Mission-either Mr. Frederick J. Stanley writes from Blauvelt, N. Y.: "Make your own misin Burmah or in China-during the last sionary maps and charts." The REVIEW, Volume II., page 129, contained a plan twenty-six years. If the above state- by Mr. Larken for constructing such. The objection is that his plan is too inment were correct, 270 should have left tricate and painstaking for a busy pas- tor or layman. China during the first two years of ser- Dr. Barrows, of Chicago, says: " Misvice. The actual number, however, sions make such rapid and marvellous changes, such advances, that no one who did so is lelia than one-llixth of can keep fully abreast with the knowl- edge of progress though he devoted his this; in point of fact only 44, of whom whole time to it." For that reason alone our maps and charts must be made 2 retain their connection with the mis- for present use only. This month's map will not do next month on any given sion, and may return to China. country or place of work, much less this year's map for next year. Hence make Of this number 21 were removed by them as cheaply and quickly as possi- ble, never sacrificing accuracy. My plan death, 5 were invalided home, including for years has been as follows : the 2 still in connection with the mis- .. Take some common thickmanilB (buff colored) paper. Fasten sheets together sion. ' Of the remaining 18, 4 resigned, 5 by mucilage or otherwise, till desired width and length are obtained. Then, were requested to withdraw, and 9 left with a match, or larger stick sharpened, draw tl1e map and letter it distinctly, the mission on account of marriage or using common fnk or writing fluid. Place on the map only the names of family claims. rivers and places necessary to give the audience the ideas and facts of the work These facts refer to our missionaries of God in that conntry. Make a chart of statistics on another paper to hang by during their first two years of service, the side of the map. A blackboard is a good substitute for the chart; but I find for which period they are considered probationers. There are now 122 pro- bationers in the mission, who have come out during lS89 and 1890.
2. We have had from the commence· ment 373 full members; 22 of them have died after an average service of more than eight and one half years ; 12 have been invalided home after an average service of six years and a half ; 4 have been transferred to the home de- partment of the work, while 21 have reo tired, 9 have been requested to resign, ..nd 18 have had to leave us on account of marriage or family claimll. Taking these 86 as a whole, the average period of service was six years and one month, not three and a half years.
There still remain 287 full members of the mission to be accounted for. In a few weeks these will have completed an average service of seven years. If the Master tarry, we may reasonably expect from past experience that there need for the board in addition to the his labors as Bishop Taylor and Dr. ohart, for there are so many facts to bring Summerville We1e in the same field. before the eye. Further on Dr. Pentecost said: " From month to month in my pas- "From them we will proceed to evan_ torates I have used these inexpensive gelize the English.speaking Hindus. and easily made helps-frequently pre· After them, we will evangelize the halfpared by some of the congregation-and breeds." The "half-breeds" regard found them inestimably valua.ble. En- themselves as Europeans, and will be in gage the young men and women in this attendance at church along with" the work." English." Many native Christians will be there also. These classes will be reached While publishing Mr. Stanley's letter, first of all, and should prove the ohief the editor .is not wholly in accord with helpers of the work of the evangelist. the idea thBt it does not pay to make a Further on he said: .. We have ohosen map for permanent use. Geographical the high castes, because no work of evanfeatures do not change. All other gelization has ever been done among changes may be marked by additional them." The missionaries to Calcutta labor, as new stations, etc., require only will be amused to see this statement. additions to a map already made. We Ever since the days of Dr. Duff the high make all our maps for permanent use, oastes have been the special subjects of and add new features as new develop- evangelization. For them schools and ments demand. colleges have been established, lectures delivered, special services held, books Mr. E. M. Wherry writes from Chi- written, and papers and magazines edoago, Ill., correcting certain inaccurate ited. The hope of Dr. Pentecost's laremarks of Rev. Dr. G. F. Pentecost, bors resulting in conversions rests upon and as we seek exactness of statement we the extensive sowing and watering of give Mr. Wherry's friendly strictures for the past half century on this high caste what they are worth. soil. We hope the evangelist will find himself,pleasantly surprised to find how He says: " Dr. Pentecost remarked, in much has been done in the line of his his address at Dr. Meredith's church, own plans. Brooklyn, " We need to be careful not to exag- 1. "There are 5,000,000 Hindus, younll gerate, to guard against a misapprehenmen, who speak English." sion of facts, and to present more and mare the work already accomplished by There may be 3,000,000 natives of In- the men in the field. It is bad policy, dia who understand something of the as well as bad morality, to minify the English language, but of th.ese Dr. Pen- results of missionary work in order to tecost will not find over 200,000 who can magnify the plans and methods of some appreciate an English sermon. The doc. new evangelistic project. Dr. Pentecost tor then goes on to say : has before him a grand work. His suc- cess, however, will mainly rest for its 2. ., We will go 11rst to Calcutta, result, upon the faithful labors of scores where we will open an evangelistic mis- of devoted missionaries and teMhers sion and begin on the English them- toiling for the same end and in the same selves. " field. "
On arrival Dr. Pentecost will have Rev. William H. Hannum, of Kplhafounp. about sixty missionaries, besides pur, S. M. C., India, writes under date many chaplains, many of whom have of January 15th, 1891 : been faithfully proclaiming the Gospel to these English people. He will find .. The annual meeting of the Kolhapur as many devout and godly men among Mission (Presbyterian) closed last week. them as he would find in any city possessing an equal number of people. There is, however, need of revival work" and we trust he may be as successful in It was held on the breezy hilltop of the consecration of the home Ohurch Panhala, and opened on Sunday, De- might rise high enough t.o bring us all cember 29th. Fourteen missionaries these! Mr. Irwin and I are the only were present, and their reports showed ordained missionaries that have come encouraging progress. More evangelis- within the last ten years. We must retic touring had been done than in any ~ember, too, that the Kolhapur Mission preceding year. Most of that work is only one of hundreds. How great is h,ad been done by the Indian Chris- the harvest, and how few are the labortians, and the native churches were be- ers! Volunteers, come! ginning to pay the travelling expenses of their preachers. This is promising, "At Panhala I saw a man 1::aptized because it shows that these Christians who had been kept waiting a long time are beginning to realize their duty to against his wishes. A candidate's give the Gospel to their countrymen. knowledge and sincerity must first be Besides this, the work of the high school, tested for awhile. An aged Brahman of the two boarding-schools, and of the widow has lately asked to be received, dozen day and Sabbath-schools, the and is now negotiating the sale of her zenana visiting, and the regular preach- land to free herself from heathen ening in the churches and bazars have tanglements. That will be a good test been prosperously maintained. The of her earnestness. A week ago I witmeeting took a recess of four days for nessed a marriage of two Christians. It the Christian Convention, or • Merla,' showed that Christians do better than which is held annually for the discus- the heathen in waiting till mature age sion of religious subjects, and for the to marry. meeting of the Presbytery of Kolhapur. This coincidence of the meetings gave " The Marathi language is, of course, us newly arrived missionaries the best new and strange to me yet, but I fed possible opportunity to learn the meth- safe in saying that though it will require ods and plans of the workers, and to hard and persevering labor, any student make the acquaintance of the Indian of average ability can certainly acquire brethren. The excellence of the native a good working knowledge of it. Mrs. preachers, in spite of their poor educa- Hannum, Miss Sherman and I have been tional advantages, impressed me with designated to Ratnagiri Station, which the correctness and importance of the has been unoccupied for some years policy already established in the mis- and which offers opportunities as well as sion, that through the coming years the difficulties. We are to settle there mission must decrease, and the Indian about February 1st." Church must increase, in relative importance. A great part of the work of As to Missions Among the Karens. ordained missionaries must be the training of the ministry and the guiding of Rev. H. Morrow writes from Tavoy, the infant Church. Burmah (December 16th, 1890), calling attention to certain inaccurate state- "Ihavenowhere else seen such prom- ments in regard to the Karens of Burinent, showy, and clamorous idolatry as mah. He says: "A marvellous change at Panhala, but this is only the expres- has been wrought in little more than sion of the general feelings of the Hin- h~lf a century-a short time in the hisdus. This only emphasizes the dire tory of a people-transforming a wild, need of this field. The mission voted barbarous race to one that is on the way to ask this year for seven ordained mis- to civilization, at least. sionaries, one missionary to teach the high school, one to teach an industrial "Dr. Brockett, in the November numschool, three lady teachers, and one ber of the REVIEW, on "education lady physician. Oh, that our faith and and evangelization in mission fields," appears to attribute the comparatively small Buccess among the Burmans to a lack of direct preaching and too much dependence on schools. The very op- anything these people may do. Our posite, however, is true. Burmese mis- friends at home would feel the same if sionaries have done but little school permitted to visit them in their native work, except calling together at certain jungle, living in huts in the dense forest, seasons a class of native helpers for in- often far separated from each other, struction in the Bible. If ever direct neither hearing nor lIeeing anything to preaching, from day to day and year to awaken thought or reflection. From year, by missionaries and native assist- year to year they live on in that condiants, has had a fair trial, it has been tion, growing old without seeing a sunamong the Blumans. At the same time, set. The wonder is that enough manwell prepared tracts have been sold or hood remains to make an impression on. given away by thousands-enough, it has been said, to whiten the ground. " But as to the methods pursued by And yet, although God has not left His Karen missionaries, we rely very largeservants without encouragement, no lyon what may be called education- Pentecostal season has cheered these al work. How do we obtain a footworkers. No doubt the number of mis- ing in a heathen viIlage? We get persionaries has Ilways been inadequate, mission to begin a school to teach their but many consecrated lives have been children to read, or a request may come given to this service. In this matter from some one or more of the people there is an inaccuracy in the letter re- to send them a teacher. If a suitable ferred to. At present there are twelve young man is available, one is sent, who male missionaries in the Burman de- teaches the children during the week, partment, and to the best of the writer's and on the Sabbath talks to all whom knowledge and belief this is the largest he can call together for a little time number there ever has been. During about God, and sin, and salvation. his term of fourteen years in the coun- After having learned to read, some amtry he has known the number to be as bitious boys and girls find their way to low as three. There are also ten wives the town schools, referred to by the of missionaries and eighteen widows writer as " academies," I presume, but and young ladies. by no means of so high a grade as schools so designated at home, These •• The honor of bringing the first Karen are schools where most missionaries and convert to Christ was not given to Jud- their wiYes, assisted in some cases by son, but to Boardman, by whom he was one or more young ladies, do their hardbaptized, May 16th, 1828, here in Tavoy, est and most important work. Here and within a few rods of the writer's boys and girls having learned to read residence. This Karen, Ko-thah-Byu, and write their own langnage, and in and others who very soon afterward em- some cases a little more, come to conbraced the new faith, went everywhere tinue their studies. Among these the preaching the Word, and large numbers Scriptures and Christian civilization were baptized. We who now labor with form an important part. In these this people have much reason to doubt schools such heathen children as above the genuineness of that so-called revival. referred to come in contact with the The Karens hailed the English offi- missionaries and the religious influence cials as their deliverers from Burman of the school, and are led to Christ. oppression, and American missionaries They return during vacation to tell their as those who could represent their parents and friends the wonderful grievances. The work at that time, as things they have been taught, and these it is indeed to.day, was largely in the children prepare the way at least for the hands of native preachers, whose weak- preacher's message. ness and inexperience led them to enroll converts too rapidly. Nor do we " In reference to the amount of benevwonder at this, nor, indeed, at almost olence and of Christian living found among these people, we are thankful that so much has been done, but we some fifty pages, and was at that time constantly have 'occasion to admonish remarkably complete. To that we must them and entreat that they abound more refer all inquirers. At the same time and more. The teachers in the village we have from time to time mentioned schools are now, almost wahout excep. here leading books on missions as they tion, paid by Government, their allow. appear. And we specially commend ances graded according to the certifi· certain cheap books recently issued, cates they have been able to gain. The' such as the" Lives" of James Calvert, pastors get their meagre support from John Williams, Robert Morrison, David the churches, as a rule, so meagre in Livingstone, Robert Moffat, William many cases that too much of their time Carey, Thomas J. Comber, Griffith John, is given to hunting, or fishing, or some James Chalmers, Samuel Crowther, petty trading, to feed and clothe their Bishops Patterson and Hannington, families. We are laboring to teach John G. Paton, John Hunt, etc.
th(lm a more excellent way. From year to year better educated men are enter- ing the ministry, but the number of A Word to Those Who Invite Speakers.
men who would be called educated at The editor-in.chief, in his own behalf, home is small indeed. So far it has not and that of many of his brethren, begs been the writer's privilege to know or to say to all who invite addresses upon hear of & Karen preacher that can be missions and other topics : compared to our ministers at home, 1. Busy men cannot afford time and even those not blessed with the best strength to go any considerable distance gifts. Many know the way to Christ, to deliver a single address, except on and can lead others therein, and for rare occasions.
this we are exceedingly grateful. 2. It is unfair ever to ask such men to II There have never been so many go and speak at their own charges, or workers in the Karen department as even for the payment of their empenses.
'to.day, and they are a8 follows: seven· Some one must be found to do their teen men, two of whom teach, in the work when they leave it. There are theological seminary; sixteen wives, many costs besides those of travel and of whom five are now in America, and hotels. And besides, the sacrifice is twelve widows of missionaries and unequal, where the whole outlay falls young ladies." on the speaker and none on the audi- ence.
Dr. John Pagan, of Bothwell, Scot· 3. Give a speaker plenty of tim" to land, who has just kept the quarter cen· make an impression. Begin a meeting tury anniversary of his settlement there, promptly, shorten preliminaries, and is illustrating by lantern slides the for- while the audhmce is fresh introduce eign mission work of the Church of Scot- the speaker. The writer recently went land. He has sent a list of 176 such 500 miles to deliver an address to which slides. Why would not snoh methods an hour should have been given. By be available here, in inciting to new and sheer mismanagement, he had barely a more intelligent mission work? half hour in which to speak and start for his return trip. Be gave ihree days The editor is frequently asked to send for one half·hour speech, and received to correspondents lists of good books on the costs of travel in return. It is very missions, and to publish such lists in plain that life is too short to throwaway . this REVIEW. This we cannot under- time and strength in such fashion.
take to do. In the report of the great If correspondents will heed these world's conference on missions in Lon. hints, it will make unnecessary much don, in 1888, the editor has added a letter·writing, and save much valuable bibliography of the subject. It covers I:, life-forc~ ,"" I:
TRE MONTHLY CoNCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY BEV. J. ~. GBA-OBY, D.D.
BUBMAH. The Society for the Propagation of the Within thepast&eventy.five years the Gospel entered Burmah in 1859, and political map of south·eastern Asia has Independent Burmah in 1868. The See materially changed. In 1820 the Emper. of Rangoon has had the honor of main.
or of Burmah claimed dominion over all taining all the missions of the Church the tribes of Burmah proper, 8S well 8S of England in Burmah from the first.
over Chittagong, Arakan, and the Tenas· What is known as tb,e Mission to Lepers Ilerim provinces, including a large part has aided the" Church" Missionary So.
of the Malayan Peninsula. On Novem· ciety, in its specific line in Burmah.
ber 30th, 1885, Theebaw, the last Em· The Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mis.
peror of Burmah, was a prisoner in the sionary Society include Burmahin their hands of the English army. He was India mission. A Lutheran mission sent to England, and a few weeks later was begun to the Karens of Burmah in the Empire of Burmah was annexed to 1884 by two friends, Hans Poulsen and British India, and the Burmese rule H. J. Jensen, who opened a station at ceased. At present, and for missionary Yaddu, near Taung-ngu; but wishing purposes, Burmah may be considered as to get to a people not yet evangelized, composed of Upper and Lower Burmah, they sought access to the Red Karens, comprising the late kingdom or empire and began their work at Pobja, the resi.
of Burmah, and Lower Burmah, all that denoe of the chief. We know of but portion of the country below the twenti· one unmarried lady who represents eth degree of latitude, as well as the them at present on the field. The Ameri· Tenasserim provinces and the present can Baptists have been 'the chief repre.
missioll stations in Arakan, and Shan- sentative of the Christian world in this land, in the east. land, and their success has been the oc· Burmah is about equal in area to New casion of great rejoicing far beyond England, the Middle States, Ohio, In. their own ranks. Bishop Cotton de.
diana, and illinois combined. Its pop· clared that there were three great mis- ulation is variously estimated at from sionary successes in India: 1. The 8,000,000 to 15,000,000. Except in what work of the" Church" in Tinnevelly; was until lately known as British Bur. 2. The work of the Lutherans in the mah, no census has ever been taken. "peasant Church" of Chutia Nagpur ; The population of British Burmah has 3. The work of the American Baptista been so largely increased of late years in Burmah. They now register 113 by immigration, that some estimates now missionaries in this country, with place the population all high as 10. 28,009 members in 528 churohes, in 000,000 for Burmah proper. There are the service of which are 540 native said to be forty·two different races in preachers; the pupils in schools num.
Burmah, divisible into four genelal ber 11,146. During the past year the classes-the Burmans, the Taligus or Karen Mission has been extending, el· Peguans, the Shans, and the Karens. pecially in the direction of Karenni.
The Peguans were once the lords of the The interests of the Gospel among the country; the Shans are a nomadic race Burmans has made 0. marked advance.
found ineastern Burmah, northern Siam, The first station in the Shan states has and south.western China. These first been established, and is now occupied three races are Buddhista. Of the Ka· by Rev. M. B. Kirkpatrick, M.D. The rens there are more than thirty tribes. Chin Mission in the western part of – The Sgau and Pwo tribes have been Burmah has made encouraging progress.
I largely converted to Christianity, and of,Tile work among the natiTe! of Indio., whom there are now more than half have formed many Christian Villages. a million in Burmah, is attracting in- millions or more. Siam means a brown creasing attention, and the rapid de- race. It is often called .. The Land of velopment of the country, now that it the White Elephant." The fiag of the has come ';holly under British rule, is country is a red ground with a white offering manifold opportunities and elephant upon it. The white elephant enlarged facilities for extending the when found is escorted to the city by missionary work to every part of the the king and his court, given a title of province. nobility, and if sick is attended by the court physician. The Methodist Episcc:>}lnl Mission was begun in Rangoon in 1872, and is now Until 1885 Siam had two kings, but conducted among the English, the in that year the office of one of them Tamil immigrants from India, and, in a was abolished. The present king is small way, among the Burmans. It thirty-seven years old, and is the first numbers 200 communicants in all. sovereign of Siam who ever went abroad. He is intelligent and progressive, as will WITHIN THIRTY YEABS-Two PIC- be seen from statements to follow re- TUBEs.-liirst Picture: King Theebaw garding the advance movements of was inaugurated as King of Upper Bur- Siam. In 1873 the custom of prostramah, at Mandalay, about thirty years tion on elbows and knees in the presago. He was an incarnation of cruelty. ence of his majesty was abolished. In Several hundreds of the nobility and of 1883 he showed his public spiritedhis own family were massacred to cel- ness in giving $4800 to aid the sufferers ebrate the event. To undertake mis- from earthquake in Java, while the sionary work in Upper Burmah meant queen gave half as much more to the death or captivity to the individual at- same object. Trade with foreign parts tempting it. When the city of Mandalay increases, and their fancy for European was built, the eight gates surrounding hats and caps resulted in the importathe city were supposed to have been tion in one year into Bangkok, the capmade secure against all invaders by the ital, of $18,000 worth of hats and caps. sacrifice of fifty-six young girls! In 1883 Siam first erected telegraph lines to connect it with the world· wide &cond Picture: In October, 1890, the lines of the cable companies. The Baptist Missionary Conference was held royal palace is lighted by electricity, in thifl same city of Mandalay. The horse-cars are on the streets of the cap- Judson Memorial Church was dedicated ital, and steam ferryboats are seen on during the Conference. Eight thousand the rivers. King's College is 8 noble rupees of the money needed were given edifice, with 250 students learning the by Christians in Burmah; the Karen English language and literature and choir furnished excellent music, and on Western science. It is equipped with the evening of the closing day there was philosophical and chemical apparatus held a. communion service 'at which there ordered from the United States. Prizes, were present Tamils, Telug11s, Burmans the highest in value £100, were disand Karens, Shans and Tounghus, Eng. tributed by the young Crown Prince at lish and Eurasians, Chinese and Amer- the last examination. The college has icans, representing 500 churches and recently been transferred to the spa- 30,000 members in Burmah, all .. one cious and beautiful edifice erected by in Christ Jesus," about the table of the the king in memory of his late queen, Lord. who was drowned. This is in striking contrast with the conduct of his prode- SIAM. ceRBor who, on the death of his wife, built a Buddhist temple and monastery. Siam is in ·Farther India, between Another illustration of the new order of Burmah on the west and Anam or things is the Home for Orphans, with Cochin China on the east. It is four times as large as the State of New York, with about the same population-six thirty. five orphans, erected in memory her rival's hands as Cambodia did. of a young prince deceased. Under Nor will France let England acquire former reigns the wats, or monasteries, more of Farther India than she now pos- were the only places where boys were sesses; and Siam is too shrewd, too taught their mother·tongue ; now na· wide-awake to give either of her powerti ve schools have been opened, and also ful neighbors any pretext to get a persc1l.o01s for the study of English and manentfoothold within her boundaries, the higher branches, one at least be- or to have any excuse for interfering in sides the King's College already alluded her policy. So, though pressingly beto. The progressive Government of set by English capitalists to let them invest in a grand system of railways they Siam are now planning to put np a had planned and surveyed, for travers- ing the whole length of the Menam medical college near the largest hospi- valley to connect with a line of their tal. The King's intention has been an· own from Rangoon to the west frontier nounced of sending six chosen Siamese of China, Siam has r(lsolutely refused boys to this country to receive a to allow them to build her railroads and thorough American education. They has decided at last to build them herare to come in the charge of a returning self. missionary. That also is a significant fact. The Government has known the Thus f(lr she has kept free from a navalue of missionaries to the land and tional debt, and is not likely to put herrecognized it in various ways. Rev. self, as Egypt and Turkey have, at the Dr. S. G. McFarland has for many years mercy of English creditors. In the New been the Principal of King's College. York Engineering New.~ for December, Dr. Hays has been appointed by the 1890, is an official advertisement by the lOng Director-General of all the Gov- Minister of Public Works in Sialll inernment hospitals, and that without viting tenders from American contracany restriction upon his teaching the tors for the construction of a Royal religion he professes to those under his Siamese State Railway from Bangkok, care. the capital, to Korat, an important town one hundred and sixty.six miles to the Politically Siam is likely to retain a northeast, over the mountains, on the position of prominent interest in the watershed of the great Cambodia River. world. She bids fair to maintain her Korat is the capital of the district from position as an independent kingdom. which the raw silk of Siam is derived. This is greatly to her credit in these Rice is very abundant there. Dr. days when the great powers are over- House, writing to us about that district, shadowing and absorbing the weaker says that when he was there in 1854, the ones, without so much as saying" by first time it was ever visited by a white your leave." Siam is still a kingdom. man, he found rice selling at half a cent A friend writes in this connection say- a pound, there being no market for it, ing : .. In these days, in consequende of and no transportation save in packs on annexations, protectorates, absorptions, the backs of bullocks several days' and turning into republics, it really travel through a dense and dangerous looks as if the Seventh Angel would jungle. have few' kingdoms' anywhere left to announce as having become • our .Missions: Foreign missionary work Lord's.' .. was begun in Siam by the American Baptists, under Rev. William Dean, But England and France both need D.D., as early as 1833. The American Siam to act as a buffer between their pos- Board followed in 1834. The Baptists sessions in the East, to prevent colli- now confine their work to the Chinese. sion, though each nation doubtless looks with a covetous eye on that fertile The Presbyterians commenced work land. in Siam in 1840. Rev. William P. Buell England will not let Siam slip into and wife began the work, but were there kok alone there are ten thousand priests three and a half years only. They who are dependent on the people for were followed in 1847 by Rev. Stephen daily food. Nowhere are the living Mattoon and wife, and S. R. House, force and the deadening influence of M.D. Both of these honored brethren Buddhism more felt than in Siam.
are still among the churches, Dr. Mat· We have little disposition and less toon,being now in Siam, and Dr. House, space to attempt a presentation of with his excellent and devoted mission· Buddhism as a system of belief; but as ary wife, is now in America. In the it is the latest" fad" among a class of first eighteen months of Dr. Rouse's' persons who dislike Christianity, be.
labor as a missionary physician he pre. cause of its rigorous demands upon scribed for 3117 patients. These first them, to prate about" beautiful Buddh· m,issionaries labored for twelve years ism," we beg to remind our readers of before seeing their first convert. All its practical output. It may have the work is now in a prosperous condi· tamed barbarians and helped to main.
tion, the mission schools are doing es· tain order and discipline among some pecially well, the Christian high school peoples, but it has not supported is a great success. The wholo country any people in their efforts to recupe· is open to evangelical work, and numer· rate after disaster nor in their en· ous converts are yearly added to the deavors after progress. The mission of churches. . . Buddhism is not to root out what it The principal stations are one in holds to be deadly errors, nor to pro- Bangkok, and one in Petchaburee, and claim truths, nor to build up a righteous one in Ratburee. Siam has 13 mission· kingdom. It seeks not to convert but aries, 10 married, and 5 single, ladies. to rescue from delusion and desire ; the LAOS. moral life is not the end but a means; morality is sheer mechanisID ; the end, The Laos are a hardy and industrious the aim is not to be good for the sake of race who inhabit five or six small king. goodness, nor righteous for the sake of doms north of Siam. They number be· righteousness. It aims at no ideal excel.
tween one and two millions. Mission lence for the sake of the excellence. .The work was begun among them in "1867, realization of the moral idea is a blank at Chiengmai, 500 miles from Bangkok. which Buddhism cannot fill. Its con· This and Lakawn are the principal sta· ception of the kingdom of God is radio tions; there are twelve out·stations. cally other than holiness, or ultimately The Laos Mission has 852 communi. holiness itself. Buddhism knows no cants, fOllr schools, with 229 pupils, 10 sin, hence it can know no punishment missionaries, with 8 married, and 4 sin. of sin and, of course, it can know no gle, ladies. pardon; nor can it know any prayer, The Bible has not yet been translated nor sacrifice, nor thanksgiving. It has into the Laos language, but one of the no parable of the prodigal son, or story missionaries was in this country last of " the dying .thief," because it has no year having a complete font of type God, no soul, no Saviour. .
made, at a cost of about $1000, and it is Sir Edward Arnold, author of "The anticipated that the Gospel will soon be Light of Asia," who has been esteemed given the Laos in their own tongue. a foremost champion of the beauties of BUDDHISM. the Buddhist legends, and as exalting Buddhism at the expense of Christian.
Buddhism is not the religion of any ity, in a conversation with Rev. Dr.
independent power on the earth at this Ashmore, on the Belgic, between San hour except Siam, but it is prevalent Francisco and Yokohama, said: in all the countries whiclt have come "I have been criticised for an im. under review in this study., In Bang. ~lied ;comparison between Buddhism and Christianity in regard to doctrines nothing ever disturbs the repose of derived from them and principles con- Buddha, or turns his heart with quick tained in them respectively. No such throbs of love and pity. He cannot object was in mind. For me Christian- stretch out his hand to save Question ity, rightly viewed, is the crowned a Buddhist as to his future state, and queen of religion, immensely superior he says, •It is all dark !' • I have stu- to every other, and though I am so great died many religions,' said one to a mis· an admirer of much til-at is great in siona»y, • and I have found no god that Hindu philosophy and religion, I loves as your God loves.' Buddhism would not give one verse of the Sermon will fade in the presence ~f a purer and on the Mount away for twenty epic holier faith."
poems like the • Mahabharata,' nor ex- change the Golden Rule for twenty· The •• Baptist Missionary Hand·Book"
• Upanishads.' " ' says: .. Rangoon, the capital of Lower It i8 needless to make reference at Burma, is on the Rangoon River, the this time to the moral result of Buddh- eastern delta.branch of the Irrawaddy, ism over Asia in general, but the testi- twenty miles from the sea. It is acces- mony of those who have had large ex- sible to large ships, and has a large and perience of it, and great opportunities of rapidly in~reasing foreign trade, and an observation in the Jands which we are important traffic by river. The city is now studying, is fairly in place. well built, and has a population of 134,- Bishop Titcomb, who had large ex- 176, an increase of a5 per cent since perience in Burmah, says of it, .. That 1872.
while the same old reverence exists for " Maulmain, the chief town of the Ten.
Buddhist law and religion which ~x asserim province, is situated at the junc- isted in its best days, yet dead worldli- tion of the Salwen, Attaran, and Gyne ness almost universally pervades daily rivers. It has a. good port, and a large life. Religious rites are observed, but trade in teak, rice, and ivory. The they are mostly of a formal character. scenery about the city is strikingly Large numbers of worthless and most beautiful, and its location healthful.
ignorant men are admitted into the Population, 93,187, an increase of 14 monasteries. Not one householder in a per cent since 1872.
thousand makes any serious effort to " Mandalay, the most important place obtain what is called the Path which of Upper Burma, and now the oapital leads to Nirvana; popular religion is a of the whole country, is a large city on life of easy·going conformity to outward the east side of the Irrawaddy River. It observances, accompanied by practical is connected with Toungoo and Rangoon self.indulgence. Idolatrous practices by a railroad.
are followed which in the law of primi. .. Prome is on the east bank of the Irra.
ti ve Buddhism were unknown. Images waddy River, eighty.five miles west of of Buddha are enshrined everywhere Toungoo, and one hundred and sixty- with a hideous prodigality, in stone, and six miles northwest from Rangoon, with wood, and metal." He says : .. The ap- which it is connected by a railway. It plication of any strong corrective prin. is the seat of a la.rge trade and manu- ciple has been lost." factures. PopUlation, 28,813, a loss of A missionary in Siam says: "The 7 per cent since 1872. "Bhamo (Bah.mau)is on the Irrawad· further we penet.rate in this system for . dy River, one hundred and eighty miles good fruits, for. justice, mercy, love, and above Mandalay, and only forty miles , purity of h~art and life, the more are from the Chinese province of Yunnan.
I we convinced of the utter rottenness It was formerly capital of a Shan prin- and deadness of the whole strncture. cipality, and has 8 considerable trade There is no living intercessor. Suffer. with China by means of caravans. By the rj ver it isabout eight hundred miles ing humanity may cry for help, but • from' Rangoon. "
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
BY MBS. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Woman's Union Missionary and Madanapalle. in India; Cairo, in Society of America for Heathen Egypt; McCall Mission, Paris. Lands.-Organized 1860. Corresponding Secretary, Miss S. D. Doremus, Amount of money raised in 1889, office, 41 Bible House, New York.• $43,267.34. Report for 1890 not out.
This was the p'ioneer society (Ameri- The Missionary Link is the organ of can) in zenana work in Ir.dia. this society. During the past year it has been changed from a bi-monthly to The society has work in three large a monthly issue. and important stations in India, viz., Calcutta, Cawnpore, and Allahabad. Woman's Foreign Missionary So- ciety or the Presbyterian Church.- In Calcutta there aro 16 missionaries, Organized 1870. Mrs. C. N. Thorpe, 55 native- teachers, and in the city and Foreign Corresponding Secretary, 1334 suburbs 64 schools with 1000 zenana Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. pupils. A girls' orphanage with 140 children, also an institution for the This society has work in Africa, higher (lducation of native Christian China, among the Chinese in California, girls. Medical work has been reopened, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, North a medical training class organized, and American Indians, Persia, Siam and a dispensary opened during the year. Laos, Syria, and South America. This is known as the Doremus Mission. The home work is represented by 48 Presbyterian societies, more than 1100 Allahabad.-Hf'lre there are 16 mis· each of auxiliaries and bands. Amount sionaries, 6 native assistants, 47 day of money raised from April 20th, 1889, schools with 1000 pupils, and 320 to April 20th, 1890, $144,617. zenanas with 398 pupils, in all 1398 persons under instruction. The Woman's Work for Woman, the organ of the Presbyterian Church, has Cawnpore.-In this city there are 13 16,300 subscribers. Children's Work missionaries, 5 native assistants, 968 far Children has a large circulation; figpupils, 37 day schools with 623 pupils, ures not given in report. This society 184 zenanas with 345 pupils. sends out quantities of missionary lea11ets. In Shanghai, China, 2 lady physicians are in charge of the Margaret William- The foreign work is represented by son Hospital, with 2 assistants and 5 139 missionaries, 16 of whom are at hospital helpers. A home for medical home and 10 of whom were sent out the workers has been donated during the past year, 5 of them self-supporting; year. A boarding-school with 40 girls, 10 missionary teachers and visitors, 84 and 4 native schools with a large Sunday- native helpers and Bible wo~en, 33 school, represents the work. boarding-schools, 153 day schools.
In Yokohama, Japan, a girls' boarding- Woman's Board of Foreign Mis. school has 140 pupils. Evangelistic sions of the Presbyterian Church.- and medical work are efficiently carried (Formerly Ladies' Board of Missions.) on. Six native teachers are employed, Headquarters, 53 Fifth Avenue, New 6 native medical assistants, 21 Bible York. women, 3 of whom are self-supporting, and 200 Sunday-school scholars. This board is composed of 25 Presby. terian societies in the New England To mission work in denominational States, New York, lind Kentucky. stations aid has been given by the society in the following places: Bassein, Its home work is represented by 504 in Bnrmah ; Dehra, Kohlapur, Bellore, auxiliary societies, 121 young people's and il58 children's bands and Sunday- schools. The amount of money raised from April, 1889 to April, 1890, $58,305. This board supports 23 missionaries, It has a Bureau of Exchange for the sup- 9 of whom are foreign and 14 home. ply of missionary letters and literature. Two have been sent the past year. It Periodicals, Woman's Work for Woman oontributes to work in Persia, Japan, and Ohildren's Workfor Ohildren. India, Siam, China, and South America. Amount of money raised during year, It contributes to the support of work $15,000. in India, Siam, Africa, Japan, Persia, South America, Syria, China, Mexico, Woman's OccidentaJ Board of Guatemala, and NorthAmerican Indians. Foreign Missions of the Presbyte- It has under its care 61 missionaries, rian Church of the Pacific Coast.- 11 of whom are at home. Summary of Offioe, 933 Sacramento Street, San Fran- foreign work not given in reports. oisco, Cal.
Woman's Presbyterian Board of This board supports 8 missions on Missions of the Northwest.-Head- the foreign field and has work in Japan, quarters, Room 48, McCormick Block, China, Siam and 'Laos, a medioal mis- Chicago, Ill. . sionary in India, also work in Persia and Syria abroad, and work for Chinese This society is represented by 10 women in San Francisco, Sacramento, Synodical societies, 66 Presbyterian so- San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego. cieties, and 1661 auxiliaries. Included Total receipts for year, $10,600. in this are Sunday-school sooieties and young people's societies and bands. Woman's North Pacific Presbyte- rian Board of Missions.-Organized Amount of money raised during the 1889. .Headquarters, Portland, Ore. year, $80,678. Periodioals, same as other Presbyterian boards. This society, so recently indepen- dently organized, has 2 Presbyterian Work is carried on among the North societies, Oregon and East Oregon. It Amerioan Indians, Mexico, Guatemala, reports 20 children's bands with 360 South Amerioa, Africa, Syria, Persia, menibers. Number of auxiliaries not India, Siam and Laos, China, Japan, given. Amount of money raised in and Korea. 1889, $5908.
Number of mIssionaries supported, Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- 70, of whom 7 are. medioal; Bible sions of the Cumberland Presbytewomen, 26; native teachers and pas- rian Church.-Organized 1880. Cortors' wives, 30; boarding-schools, responding Secretary, Mrs. J. C. Mcwholly supported, 7; pupils in other Clurkin, Evansville, Ind. boarding-schools, 211 ; day schools, 92. This society is represented by 46 Woman's Foreign Missionary So- Presbyterian societies; auxiliary sociciety, Northern New York.-Corre- eties 793, with a membership of 7900 ; sponding Secretary, Mrs. Archibald Mo- young ladies' societies, 8, with a mem- Clure, 232 State Street, Albany, N. Y. bership of 130; children's bands, 138, with 1741 members. Amountof money This sooiety oontributes to the work raised in 1889, $10,614. in Africa, China, Guatemala, India, Japan, Korea, Mexioo, Persia, Siam, Organ of the society, Missionary Syria, and to home work in Idaho and Record, with 3000 subscribers. A chil- Dakota. Home society is represented dren's paper is also published called the by 96 auxiliary societies and 100 bands. Missionary Banner.
It supports 4 missionaries, 5 native Eight stations in Japan are occupied pastors, 12 Bible readers, and 51 schools by the society, and in the Indian Terand scholarships. Amount of money ritory 1 missionary is supported by raised during past year, $9692. them. Appropriations have beon made for work in Mexico. Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions of the 50uthwest.-Oflice, Woman's General Missionary So- 1107 Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo. For- ciety of the United Presbyterian eign Secretary, Mrs. L. D. Hopkins. Church. – Corresponding Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Miss M. H. Mrs. W. J. Reid, 38 Federal Street, Morris, 406 North Greene Street, Balti- Pittsburg, Pa. more, Md.
This society is represented by 46 Pres- This society prints a report only once byterian societies, 764 auxiliaries, and in two years, after their Biennial Con- 18,819 members, and raised for foreign vention. The statistics given below are missions, in 1889, $13,024. Over$21,000 the latest. Number of Synodical soci- was raised by the Woman's Society, but eties corresponding to the district Syn- the remainder was appropriated to vari- ods in the General Synod, 20 ; number ous church and home enterprises_ of auxiliaries, including young people's societies and children's bands, 566; Work is carried on in Egypt and In- number of members, active, honorary, dia. Of the 23 missionaries supported and life, 14,472. Amount of money 9 are in Egypt and 14 in India. A me- contributed for the year filnding March morial hospital was opened at Sialkot. 31st, 1890, $22,752. Besides work in India, during the year. some of the Western States, the society has foreign work in India and Africa. The Woman's .Missionary Magazine, of In India zenana, educational, and medthe United Presbyterian Church, is the ical work is carried on. There are 12 organ. It has 3800 subscribers. schools, with 24'teachers and 719 pupils, located in Guntur and neighboring Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- towns. A very succelisful industrial sions or the Reformed Church in school has been established for Mo- America.-Organized 1875. Corre- hammedan girls and women, and a sponding Secretary, Miss Mary 0_ Dur- boarding-school with 35 pupils. The yee, 30 Washington Place, Newark, N. J. medical work is prosperous, and a tract of land has been secured upon which a The home force of this society is rep- hospital will be built. The women have resented by 267 auxiliary societies. a department in the Missionary Journal, Amount of money raised during year. which is published by the General So- $28,517. The society has work in ciety. China, Japan, and India. In Amoy a girls' boarding school with 48 pupils, a CongregationaISocieties.-Auxiliary day school, a Bible school, and a chil- to the American Board of Foreign Misdren's home are supported. In Japan sions and independent of each other are 103 pupils are in the Ferris Seminary, 3 organizations which are the channels at Yokohama. of woman's foreign missionary work in the Congregational churches of the At Nagasaki the Jonathan Sturges United States, viz. : Seminary has 22 pupils. In India 3 important stations are occupied, viz., Woman's Board of Missions, Woman's Vellore, Madanapalle, and Tindivanum, Board of Missions of the Interior, ,with surrounding towns. Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific. In the Hindu Girls' School, at Vellore, are 111 pupils, 61 at Madanapalle, Woman's Board of Missions.-Orand 49 at Tindivanum. Beside this, ganized 1868. Corresponding Secretary, work is done a!Dong the native women Miss Abbie B. Child, 1 Congregational in the zenanas. Eight high-caste girls' Bouse, Boston, Mass. schools have 585 pupils. The board, with headquarters at Bos- The Missionary Gleaner, organ of the ton, has work among the Zulus of South society, has 1485 subscribers. Africa, also in East and West Central Africa, European and Asiatic Turkey, In 1881 the :Woman's Board assumed India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Microne. the entire cast of all the work carried sia, Mexico, Spain, and Austria. on by the board in the various missions for women and girls. The home force of the society is rep- Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church General Synod.- resented by 1182 auxiliaries, of which The foreign work of the society is III are young ladies' societies, with a represented by the support of 4 mis- membership of 34,300; mission circles, sionaries, 3 schools, and aid toward 1 549, with 15,500 members. ship. The schools aided are in Tur- key, India, and Spain. Five thousand The board has under its care 111 mis· two hundred and ninety-five dollars sionaries, 32 boarding-schools, 228 day were given by the Congregational schools, 143 Bible readers, 1 hospital, 2 churches of California for foreign mis- dispensaries, and 1 training-school for sions in 1889. Of this $4319 were given nurses. by the women of this board, leaving $949 as given by the churches in gen- During the year 22 missionaries have eral, or by the 11,223 members of been sent out, 11 going out for the first the churches. Home statistics not time and 11 returning, and 8 have sev- given. ered their connection with the board. Organ of the society, Life and Light, Life and Light has 373 subscribers, published in Boston, with a circulation and has a column in The Pacifio to repof 15,500. The society also publishes resent its work. a periodical for children, the Mission Day-Spring, with a circulation of 18,730. Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific Islands.-Organized 1871. Amount of money raised in 1889, President, Mrs. Hiram Bingham, Hon- $115,000. olull1, Sandwich Islands.
Woman's Board of Missions of This board is Congregational and inthe Interior.-Organized 1868. Presi- dependent. It has work in Honolulu dent, Mrs. Moses Smith, 59 Dearborn among the. Hawaiians, Chinese, and Street, Chicago, Ill. Japanese. Six Bible women are em- ployed in Honolulu. Auxiliary soci. Thirteen interior States represent the eties are prganized in the adjoining home field of this board. The work is islands of Hilo, Maui, Kauai. represented by 1000 auxiliary societies and 365 junior bands. Receipts from June, 1889 to June, 1890, $1548. The society has work in Africa, European and Asiatic Turkey, India, Cey- Woman's Foreign Missionary Solon, China, 'Japan, Micronesia, Mexico, ciety, Methodist Episcopal Church. and Spain. -Organized 1869.
It supports 85 missionaries, 15 having This society includes ten associated been sent out last year. Amount of branches. Each branch has its territomoney raised for 1889-90, $56,041.89. rial limits, with Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer. These corresponding It has under its care over 30 Bible secretaries constitute a Committee of readers and 13 boarding-schools; other Reference, of which Mrs. H. B. Skidforeign statistics not given. more, No. 230 West Fifty.ninth Street, New York, is Chairman. Life and Light is the organ of this board; M"l.Ssion Studies is also pub- The work of the society in the home lished by the board, and over a 1,000,- field is represented by the following fig- 000 pages of missionary leaflets have ures : Auxiliary societies, 4308 ; young been issued. ladies' societies, 501 ; children's bands, 748; total organizations, 5557. Mem- Woman's Board of Missions for bers of auxiliaries, 112,834; of young the Pacific.-Organized 1873. Home ladies' societies, 10,119; children's. Secretary, Mrs. J. H. Warren, 1316 bandll, 15,997 ; total membership, 138,- Mason Street, San Francisco, Cal. 950.
The territory of this board covers all The society has work among the Gerportions of the country west of the mans in the United States, also 25 aux- Rocky Mountains. This board has 3 iliaries in Germany, and 13 in Switzerbranches, the Oregon, the Young Ladies' Branch, and the newly organized Southern Branch. land. Amount of money raised from Oc- ers is established at Kansas City, tober, 1889, to October, 1890, $220,329- through the munificent gift of Rev. $10,000 of this by bequest. Over $14,- Nathan Scarritt of property valued at 000 was raised beyond this for a $25,000 and cash $25,000. woman's college in Lucknow. Woman's Foreign Missionary So· The society has work in Japan, ciety of the Methodist Protestant Korea, China, India, Burmah, Singa- Church. – Organized 1879. Corre- pore, Bulgaria, Italy,. South America, sponding Secretary, Mrs. M. A. Miller, and Mexico. Box 1065, Pittsburg, Pa.
Of the 96 missionaries abroad, 34 are Since the organization of this society ih India, 23 in Japan, 20 in China, 4 in 5 missionariel> have been sent out to Korea, 7 in Mexico, 4 in South America, Japan, to Yokohamaand Nagoya, where 2 in Bulgaria, 1 in Italy, and 1 in Sin- prosperous schools are conducted. gapore. Included in these are 11 regularly graduated medical mission- The summary of work is comprised in aries. the following statistics, as nearly as can be approximated: Branches 14, with 7 The foreign work is represented by 25 others partially organized-an increase boarding-schools with 1671 pupils, 306 over the previous year of 1. Auxiliaries day schools with 9225 scholars, 300 Bible 355, an increase of 31 ; mission bands women, 8 hospitals and dispensaries. EO, an increase of 20 ; members 3700, The Heathen Woman's Friend is pub- an increase of 500; life·members 142, lished monthly by the society, with 19,- an increase of 9; honorary man· 236 subscribers, also a paper in German, agers 6, nn increase of 1; memorial with 2176, and a children's paper, with members 3. 5128, and a paper for women in India, in three dialects. Amount of money for the year, $4166. Organ of the society, Woman's Mis· Woman's Missionary Society of sionary Record. the Methodist Episcopal Church, Woman's Missionary Association South.-Organized 1878. Correspond- of the United Brethren in Christ.- ing Secretary, Mrs. D. H. McGavock, Organized 1875. Corresponding Secre- Nashville, Tenn. tary, Mrs. L. R. Keister, Dayton, O. This society has work in Africa, Ger- The work of this Church throughout many, among the Chinese in Portland, the Southern Methodist Church is rep- Ore., and during the past year they have 'resented by 1986 auxiliary societies and opened a mission in Canton, China, and 41,235 members. Young people's and sent 2 ladies to take charge of the work. children's societies, 995 ; members, 31,- They now Rupport 10 American mission. 132 ; total societies, 2991. Total mem- aries, 18 native helpers, a membership bership, 72,367. Amount of money of 1484, with property valued at $28,500. raised for 1889-90, $75,486. Amount of money raised for 1889-90, $4,567. The society has work in China, Mexi. Woman'sEvangel is the organ of the can border, Brazil, Indian Territory, society. and has 2,300 subscribers. and Mexico. It is represented in Woman's Missionary Society or. foreign fields by 31 missionaries, 20 ns· the Evangelical Association of North sistants, 37 native teachers, 10 board. America. – Headquarters, Napierville, ing.schools, 31 day schools, 1248 pupils, Ind. Has department in Missionary 1 hospital, 1 medical missionary, 1 Messenger published in Cleveland, O. foreign assistant, and 9 native hospital This society has work in Germany assistants. Value of property owned and Japan, and raises between two and by this board in foreign fields is $181, three thousand dollars annuall~, ~~ 000. Organ of the society, Woman's Mts. report of work has reached us., sionary Advocate, Nashville, Tenn'., with a circulation of 13,000. (To be continued.) A training.school for Christian work.
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1890
DR. PIERSON'S LETTERS FROM ABROAD
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
m. VOL. XIII. No.7.-01d Series.—JULY.-voL. No.7.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
DR. PIERSON'S LETTERS FROM ABROAD. No. V.-THE McALL MISSION. Paris, April 8, 1890.
The more I see of the so-called" McAll Missions," the more I am prompt~d to exclaim, "What hath God wrought!" In 1871, he and his wife came to Paris, to view the scenes made desolate by the Franco-Prussian war. That war had prostrated obstacles to the spread of the gospel among the French working people, and he found opportunity for disseminating among them tracts on the vital themes of the gospel. While standing on a corner in Belleville, opposite a wine-shop, distributing these tracts to passers by, a man stepped out from the throng, and, in good English, said: " Sir, I perceive you are a clergyman; if anyone like you is ready to come over here and teach us a gospel, not of superstition, priestcraft and bondage, but of simplicity, liberty and charity, there are many of us ready to hear; but we have done with the priests."
This is the substance of that appeal, from an unknown man, a man not even yet known to anyone connected with the Mission. That was the voice of another" man of Macedonia," saying, "Come over and help us," and Robert ~w. McAll heard in his voice the summons of God. Like Paul, he and his wife could say, "Immediately we gathered that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel" in France. And on the 17th of January, 1872, they opened the first salle in Belleville, little dreaming whereunto all this would grow. With no little timidity that first room was rented, and about five dozen plain chairs, a table, a Bible, and a parlor organ constituted all its furniture. The first night twenty-eight persons constituted the entire audience. Mr. McAll was no French speaker. He could say in the langu3,ge of those people, "God loves you," and" I love you," and that was his beginning. But those poor working people-the commune of Belleville-instinctively discovered that a man and a woman were come to seek their welfare. They were taken captive, as by surprise. There was about this Mission nothing priestly or churchly; no imposing ceremonial or ritual; no robes or vestments; no choir or procession; no altars or tapers; no crucifix or mass in a de:td l:tnguage. Everything was as simple as simplicity itself. A few verses of a hymn, a short reading of Scripture, a -prayer, a brief address, a warm hand of welcome-that gospel of the grasp-an atmosphere of cordiality and homelikeness, and withal, not a centime asked in return. Here was a new sort of religion, and of church and of worship. It was so different from anything the working men of France had seen before that they called it a " new religion,"
and a new word had to be framed to meet the case; it was "Mc- Allizing the people! "
Every regiment in Britain has two sets of colors: the regimental flag, and the Queen's colors; the former different in each regiment, and bearing the names of all the battlefields where the regiment has been engaged; but the Queen's colors are the same in all the regiments. Here no denominational banner was to be seen; only the banner of the cross, the King's own colors. Nothing indicated whether Mr. McAll was a Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregationalist, or Episcopalian. His peculiar" ism" could not be dis- (lovered, unless it was what the Frenchman calls Ohristianisme, as Rev. Howard Gill well says.
The work, thus carried on without ecclesiastical furniture and garniture, and on purely evangelical lines, without any trace of denominationalism, was also conducted on the most economical basis. Mr. McAll devoted his own means to the support of himself and the work, asking no compensation for his services, and freely giving all he possessed to enlarge and expand the Mission as new doors opened. But the work outgrew his slender resources; the room in which he began became at once too small, and a larger one was secured; then it outgrew the largest available place, and it became evident that God was calling for another salle to be opened; and this meant more cost, more work, and more laborers. Then came the appeal for helpers, and they rallied to the support of the Mission; and so salZe after salle was opened, and band after band of helpers was organized, until last year there were some 130, not only in the metropolis, but in all parts of France, and even extending into Algiers and Corsica. Behold how this humble work has grown in somewhat over eighteen years! That first night sittings perhaps for sixty; last year in the various salles an aggregate of 19,000; then two workers, Dr. McAll and his wife; now sixty persons give up their whole time to the Missions, and from 600 to 700 (lo-operate, lending such aid as occasion demands and their other work permits. That first night there were twenty-eight present; last year the aggregate attendance was nearly 1,200,000.
We have referred to economy of expenditure as a marked characteristic of the Mission. The entire income last year fell short of 19,000 pounds sterling (about $95,000), i. e., about one pound sterling for every sitting in these mission halls. On the average every five dollm's contributed insured one seat for a working man or woman, for 365 days, with all the evangelical influences of preaching, teach- ing, prayer, and other services throughout the year. If anything outside the Moravian Missions can show results of expenditure in excess of this, we know not where to look.
This is my fourth visit to Paris, and the last three times I have sddressed meetings from once to thrice a day. The halls have been crowded with audiences as decorous and attentive, and even enthusi- astic as I have ever addressed anywhere. There is an eagerness, an expectancy, a patience, an absorbed attentiveness, which indicate a rare preparation of mind and heart for gospel truth. In fact, in these McAll Missions the ordinary conditions seem to be largely reversed. Commonly the difficulty is, having a place of assembly, to get it filled; here the difficulty is rather to find places of assembly enough to hold the people. Superstition, corrupt religion, priest- craft, have done their work here; the people have swung away from Imperialism to republicanism, and from clericalism toward indifferent- ism. They have largely, as a prominent French woman phrases it, "lost their faith," and, though nominally adherents of the Roman Catholic Church, the bulk of the French working classes are" free thinkers," by which they mean that they have swept away the barriers and bonds of their foriner creed, and now are free to think for them- selves.
It is a golden day of opportunity for the Protestant Church in France, to give the pure and simpl~ gospel to the common people. With much sorrow we have learned of the closing of thirteen salles of the McAll Missions for lack of funds. This implies positive disaster, for each hall is a rallying and radiating point for the Christian. workers to meet and to disperse for wider activity. Round these salles gather all the beneficent influences of worship, preaching and teaching, Bible classes, converts' meetings, mothers' meetings, children's schools, etc. '1'0 close a salle is to dismiss workers, shut out the eager crowds, and, in a word, abandon a station which has been like a new fortress on the border of the enemy's country. Every -opening door demands expansion, and retrenchment is a double evil, for it means not only non-expansion, but actual contraction. Had Dr. McAll to-day $500,000 and 500 new laborers, he could use every dollar and employ every worker inside of six months! The Government looks with favor upon the work, as the Prefect of Police said, ~'Every new McAll station means a reduction ofpolice force."
While we write all this with profound conviction that no work of which we know, especially in Papal lands, deserves more hearty snd enthusiastic support, we feel constrained to add a few words, • not of cold criticism, but rather of sympathetic suggestion and fraternal caution. After speaking repeatedly in these crowded salles, we are strongly impressed with the neglect of proper sanitary precautions. The effort has been to conduct these lVIissions with the utmost possible saving of money; hence locations have in some cases been chosen, because cheap, which were both unsavory and unwholesome. A courtyard may be found which can be rented at a low rate, and where an iron room, ~ith glass ro.of, may be constructed at a very small cost. But what if in that courtyard there be one or more cesspools, as there are apt to be in such places ! We have spoken in audience-rooms where there was no facility or possibility of ventilation, and where the atmospere became sickening, if not stifling, before the time of dismission. Into these places Dr. lVIcAllleads the way, and is followed by his devoted band of workers, and in such an atmosphere they, night after night, attempt to carryon the vital process of respiration! One or two salles lately opened are conspicuous for the provision made for fresh air, and the increased safety and COmfo.l·t of all who assemble in them; but the major part of these assembly halls are shockingly devoid of any metho.d for either the escape of foul air or the ingress of pure air, and are strong reminders of the" Black Hole of Calcutta."
We feel constrained, in the interests of truth and candor, to say also that we feel sensible of a certain atmosphere of hurry and 'Worry about thif! mission work, which we believe ill comports with such a work of faith and prayer. Dr. lVIcAll drives himself and all his co.- wo.rkers at a toO. rapid pace. I arrived in Paris, April 1, at evening, and left for Rome, April 8, at morning. Between these dates I found myself "boo.ked" for fourteen services, at widely-separated points, and these fourteen services compressed into six days! And this is only a fair sample of how Dr. lVIcAll works himself and all his colaborers. From week's beginning to end it is one perpetual" drive," without even a day of rest. No wonder if workers have headache, shattered nerves, and shortened lives, and either must go away and rest, or run the risk of taking that long rest that has no waking hour until the resurrection!
We write sympathetically, for we fully understand how it is the very zeal and, consecration of this great organizer and the devotion of his fellow workers makes such disregard of God's eternal principles of health possible. And yet we insist that all this is a disregard of laws as fixed and irrevocable as the Decalogue. "Thou shalt not kill" is a command of many applications. If this is the Lord's work, worry and hurry are out of place in it; if it be not the Lord's work, disciples are out of place in it altogether. That is our short logic in this case.
While feeling constrained by candor to make these suggestions, we are by no means unaware that the sole impulse in this self-saCl'ifice is zeal for the Lord. In the face of this deep need and wide door, Dr. McAll and his fellow helpers feel urged on, by an inward passion for souls, to do their very utmost to overtake the spiritual destitution of these millions. They try to make up in a measure for lack of funds and of friends, lack of money and of men, by doubling their own activity. They shorten their hours of sleep and rest, and lengthen their hours of labor and wakefulness. But it is a serious question whether" in the long run" this pays. Life and health are valuable treasures, more easily lost than regained. Experience and capacity are still more valuable as qualifications for successful labor, and well-trained workmen must not be sa.crificed by indirect suicide. Dr. McAll himself is singularly fitted for this sphere. He is at once preacher and teacher, organizer and administrator, architect and draughtsman, a man of business and a man of piety. He has rare combination of traits; guileless like Nathaniel, shrewd like James, earnest like Paul, loving like John. He has been here over eighteen years, and has learned many lessons which he can impart to no successor. He has the "inside track" in this evangelistic race, and every way the advantage in seeking to reach this mercurial people. For such a man to be prematurely disabled, or removed from his work, would be an irreparable calamity. He may not account his life dear to himself, but he ought to account it dear to his Master and His work. We can see the marks of age upon him, which his years do not justify, and since we were here, less than two years ago, the lines have seriously deepened upon his face, and his work has left furrows of care that two years should not have ploughed.
We write it tenderly, but earnestly. Dr. McAll and his workers should consult health and rest. They do not honor God's moral and spiritual laws, while they neglect the physical, which emanate from the same source. And to insure this needed relaxation, recreation, abatement of excessive toil; to eliminate this hurry and worry, the Church of God must come up to the help of this devoted man and his helpers, and provide more money, and more men and women to enter this great and effectual door of service. It is a shame, a reproach, that no words can adequately express, that salles should be closed in face of such blessing on present work and such demands for new laborers.
We venture one more suggestion, applicable not to this Mission work alone, but to many other spheres of service. There should be more concentration and less diffusion. There is a mania in the public mind for mere numbers j and there is a natural, but perilous, temptation to pander to this abnormal passion. Unless the number of salles opened increases every year, as the offerings increase, a hasty judgment concludes that the money is either not needed, or not well spent. And so Dr. McAn is anxious that every pound or dollar con-
THE SCIENCE OF MISSIONS
tributed shall show results that appeal to the eye, and are appreciable numerically. We consider this a serious mistake, to cater to this insane popular demand for a mathematical standard of success. Our calm opinion is that if instead of adding another salle for a year to come, increased energy and efficiency might be imparted to those already open; if, instead of scattering more workers over a wider field, more workers could come to reinforce the overtaxed and exhausted ranks of those now in service, relieving those now employed of the needless wear and tear of excessive toil-no better use of money or of men could be made. The Christian Church should not identify itself with the world in this senseless clamor for a numerical showing of results. Lengthened cords imply weakness, without strengthened stakes. There may be extensity at cost of intensity. We want not simply an organization whose network covers immense territory, for we may attenuate such network until it is as frail as a spider's web; but we must have strong organization, strong enough to sustain its own weight and connect all its remotest parts by vital and helpful bonds.
For Dr. McAll and his work we have nothing to say but words of cheer and praise. If there be any fault, it leans to virtue's side. For constancy and energy of toil, for self-sacrifice I and devotion to souls, for economy ~nd sagacity of administration, this work is unsurpassed. But we should be more than glad to see the Church so generously sustain the work, that it may not unduly tax and prematurely disable these willing workers; and we yearn to see high spiritual standards of measurement used in estimating results. The door seems open to evangelize all France. Only money and men are needed. The people are more ready to hear than the Church is to help. How can the open eye be given to see the open door?
THE SCIENCE OF lHSSIONS.
BY PROFESSOR HOlIER B. HULBERT, SEOUL, KOREA.
It is probably impossible to expect that foreign missionaries will go into the field with greater zeal or devotion than were displayed by the pioneers of missionary work three quarters of a century ago. But in view of the mass of experience that has been subsequentlyacquired-the long list of successes and failures, the costly experiments that have been tried, the millions of pages that have been printed on the SUbject-in view of these things, I say, we have a right to expect that the missionary of to-day shall take the field with betterpreparation and better methods than then.
The development of the science OL war is marked by two things: the steady and rapid decrease in the mortality of soldiers, and the tremendous increase in the destructiye power of military engines. This 11y no means implies that the soldiers of to-day are braYer than those who fought the historic battles with sword and axe. But it does mean that those who have battleR to fight are quick to make use of every opportunity by which the maximum of execution can be accom- plished with the minimum expenditure of treasure and of hum:t,} blood. So in the mission field-the worker may not be braver than Judson or Carey, but he ought to be able to do more execution in a given time and with a given amount of expenditure. A thousand years ago a young man who could swing the broadsword and hack was a good soldier. He received no special training, he was not taught the science of war; but to-day the soldier is a specialist. He passes years in studying the special methods of attack and retreat, flank-movement and center-movement. Just so and not otherwise should it be in the missionary movement. The missionary ought t'o be a specialist. His training ought to be of a special nature. He ought to know something more than a college and seminary course can give him. Let us ask then what are some of the points to be observed in the preparation of men for the mission field?
First, The men to be sent as missionaries should be selected. You say, of course they should be selected. But too frequently they are not. I mean by that, that beyond a man's education and credentials of good and regular church standing, the Boards rarely look. If a yonng man wishes to enter West Point or Annapolis, he first undergoes a rigid examination. If there is a weak spot in him anywhere it is found, and his application is rejected. Our government recognizes the folly of educating and training for the army or navy a man who has some physical deformity which could hinder his usefulness. On the same principle and for identically the same reasons, candidates for the mission field should be carefully selected. In the selection, what qualities should be looked for? We pass over, as being taken for granted, a thorough consecration and a firm purpose to put the pure gospel of Christ before the heathen. After this the first quality should be that of phy~ical health. It often happens that men who have wasted their strength by confining themselves to their studies, who have permanently damaged their constitutions by lack of exercise, are sent into the mission field. Thel change is too much for them, and in a year or two they have to be put on the retired list before they have even learned the language of the people to whom they were sent. Or, if the case is not so severe as this, they live o'll in the mission work accomplishing only a fraction of the work an ablebodied man could do.
The second thing that is absolutely essential to successful missionary work is the habit of study, by which is meant the power to sit down and apply oneself uninterruptedly to one thing for several hours with- out letting the mind stray off into other lines of thought. It implies the power to concentrate the mind on one thing, and work hard while working. The reason for this is plain. The missionary's time is almost sure to be broken in upon at all hours and in a thousand ways, and so it is necessary that he should be able to sit down even for half an hour, and so concentrate his mind on his work that he can accomplish something even in that short time. However mixed his work may be, he must not let his thoughts get mixed.
And now, in regard to preparation for the mission field after deciding to become a missionary: First, do not put off deciding whatfield to go to until near the time of going. It is very common for young men or women to say, "vVhen I have finished my education and am ready to go, then I will decide where to go." Such a plan can only result in injuring future usefulness, and for the following reasons: Between the time when a man decides to go into the foreign field and the time when he starts, he ought, together with his other studies; to make a special study of the geography and history of and the general literature about the country to which he is going. From the moment he contemplates mission work he ought to consider himself as bound to become a specialist in regard to the country to which he is going. It is extremely probable that it would be much more difficult to get hold of the books about a heathen country in that country itself than in the home land. For instance, if I wanted a copy of the only grammar which has been published of the language of this people, Korea, I should have to send to Japan for one, or else borrow one and discommode my neighbor; but in New York I should drop into the Astor Library and ask for the Korean grammar in French, written by the fathers sent out by the Societ~ des Missions Etrangcres of Paris. Read ·all that can be read of the country before going there. Secondly, by deciding upon the field and having it always in view, and making it a special object of prayer, the young man has his enthusiasm aroused, and his sympathies engaged, and he enters upon the work when the time comes with double the power that he otherwise could have.
Mission life among the comparatively civilized and cultured Hindus is vastly different from mission life among the nomadic hordes of the Tartar plains, and a man ought to know which he is going to a long time before he goes. In deciding what field to enter, a man must be led largely by what he deems the needs of the various missionary lands. But one thing ought to be borne in mind-one's linguistic power, or the power of acquiring language has a very great deal to do with success in the mission field. Some men acquire languages readily, others with great difficulty. I have heard it said by a prominent and successful missionary in China that not half the missionaries in that great land are able, or will probably ever be able, to speak the colloquial language readily and correctly, not to say fluently. Of course, no one can vouch for such a statement, but it shl)ws a weak spot in the general subject of preparation for mission work as handled to-day. If a man is slow to acquire language, let him go to some Home Mission field, or to some country where they use a language cognate with our own, or 'some offshoot of the Latin. There is splendid work to be done in ,Spain and Italy and among the Spanish speaking peoples of Southern ,and Central America. But let no one think that simply because he has not studied foreign languages, he has no linguistic power; it does not necessarily follow. Don't give up the darker continents unless you are pretty sure that your linguistic power is beneath the average.
There is one thing more. Before leaving home for a mission field make one determination, and pray over it and place it deep in your heart, so that it cannot be changed; and that is, that whatever shall .happen, however yon shall be tempted to do otherwise, you will never allow yourself to be drawn into misunderstandings with other men on the field; that you will always be conciliatory; that you will go more than half way to meet anyone who differs with you in regard to ways and means and methods, unless some great principle is at stake. 'That you will always put the very best construction on the acts and -words of your co-laborers that you possibly can. But what are the reasons for the necessity of great carefulness in this particular? In the :first place, a young man starts for his :field with his heart brim full of enthusiasm, and with a good many plans laid as to his meth- ~ds of work; and it is often very difficult to give up those plans, although they may conflict with plans that are already being carried ·out in the same :field. It tends to dampen his enthusiasm when he nnds that the older and wiser heads tell him that his plans, although ·theoretically excellent, will not work when put in actual operation. 'I.'bis is likely to be one cause of difference of opinion. It must be remembered in the second place, that the relations of missionaries in ,the same :field are very different from those of any set of men at home. A dozen men or more, thoroughly in earnest, with ideas of their own, each feeling the weigbt of responsibility resting on his shoulders, and each having an equal voice in the management of the work and of the funds which are appropriated-in these circumstances, I say it would not be strange if each man should feel the importance of his own special work, and fail to appreciate that every other man's work is as important as his own. This, also, is a cause of difficulty at times.
There is one other thing which ought not to need mentioning, and yet which the history of missions warrants the mention of, and any .young man who contemplates foreign mission work needs to bear it ,in mind. The young man or wotnan entering the foreign :field must i!l]otgO expecting to make a mark in the world. He or she must be mrilling to be forgotten so far as the public at large is concerned. Of
THE LAW OF THE
course, in mission work as in everything else, those who are exceptionally bright or successful will make a name, but it comes unsought. We should blame a young seminary graduate if he entered upon ministerial and pastoral work with the strong and controlling idea of pushing his way as rapidly as possible to the pulpit of the largest or wealthiest or most influential church in the country. If such an idea is blamable at home, how much more so is it in the mission field,. where men are bound together so firmly that such ideas are sure to be soon discovered, and are almost sure to become a rock of offense.
These few cautions, while implying some of the unpleasant and undesirable features of missionary life, and so taking away, perhaps, a little of that romantic feeling which is sure to arise in the mind of the· young man or woman who is }ust starting for his or her foreign field, are yet necessary as enabling one to forearm against foreseen dangers. May the men and women whom God sends into the harvest be wise' as serpents and harmless as doves / THE LAW OF THE ADVANCE.
BY REV. THOMAS LAURIE, D.D., PROVIDENCE, R. I.
No Christian will deny that every command of Christ is to be' obeyed, because he is our Lord, so that debate concerning the command to preach the' gospel to every creature is limited to the manner of our obedience. The only question is, How shall the work be done?
Some say that when the Master bade us begin at Jerusalem, He meant that we were to go over the countries of the world in order,. finishing it in one land before we proceed to another; but that cannot be true, for preaching the gospel, like woman's work, is never done. So that if other lands must wait till the work is done in one, their' chance for hearing the gospel will be very small. It may be replied,. however, that it ie not necessary to wait so long, but the work is to e., be done as one ploughs a field,' i. we are to begin at the point.
designated, and regularly advance from there, leaving no places uuploughed, but throwing the soil from each furrow into the hollow of the preceding one, and that along its whole line without a balk.
This sounds very well. It is a beautiful picture to look on and see the work advance so regularly and so smoothly; but beautiful ideals are not often realized in practice. The actual carrying out of the idea differs very widely from the imaginary original. God has a perfect knowledge of the difference between the ideal and the actual,. and would it not be well, if instead of reasoning a priori what it ought to be, we simply ask how has the Lord of the harvest actually calTied on the work up to the present time? Holy Scripture is not a. collection of theories, but a history of actuRI transactions that have been brought to pass by the Providence of God working through men. in accordance with their nature. Does then inspired history give us a law of advance fitly repre- sented by the ploughman patiently plodding on in his furrow, one step after another, or has there been some law of selection manifest in the matter? Even from the first, when God laid a foundation in one family for a church against which the gates of hell should not prevail, He did not confine himself to the spiritual education of that one family. Why was Abraham chosen, that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed? (Gen. xii: 3.) God tells us why, when he says, on another occasio~ (Gen. xviii: 19):." I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, to the end that the Lord may bring upon Abra- ham that which He hath spoken of him." Here is not merely the training of Isaac, the heir of the covenant, but of Ishmael also, and the children of Keturah. Yea, the record speaks not of children only, but also of "a household" in addition, and few readers of the Bible notice how large that household was. On one occasion we are told that he armed three hundred and eighteen trained servants, born in his own house (Gen. xiv: 14). "This," according to one of . the latest commentators on Genesis (Murphy, p. 286), "implies a following of more than a thousand men, women and children." Then that large household was gathered from among the heathen, and trained to keep the way of the Lord, as well as to fight against oppression. In fact, it was the first missionary training- school recorded in history, and such continued to be the character of the households of his children after him, both as to numbers and training. Thus, when Israel went out of Egypt, we are told that "a mixed multitude went up also with them." (Ex. xii: 38.) We know not how large that mixed multitude was, but we know that it also was from among the heathen, and, in being joined with Israel, entered a training-school for spiritual profit to themselves and others. We pass over individuals, such as Jethro and Rahab, Ruth and Jonathan, son of Rechab, to emphasize the fact, that while the evil example of heathen outside of Israel corrupted the less spiritual of the chosen people, the good example of such elect souls as J ochebed and Naomi, Moses and Joshua, together with mul- titudes of unrecorded names, told with immense power on the con- sciences of the more thoughtful among the heathen. And if these things are true of the time of preparation, what may we not expect to find in the period for which it was the preparation? For all this was only laying a foundation for the command to preach the gospel to every creature. Even in his prayer offered at the dedication of the Temple, Solomon did not forget to make mention of" the stranger that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come from a far coun- try for thy great name's sake, and pray toward this house" (II. ehron. vi: 32, 33), and his father before him prayed (Ps. lxvii: 1, 2), ~'God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations," and that was the true spirit of the old dispensation, though the fullness of the time had not yet come for its complete development.
Let us now proceed to look at the Law of Advance under the gospel, as shown, first, in the conduct of Christ himself, and second, in that of His disciples under the leading of. the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord says of HimsiM, that He was" not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." (Math. xv: 24.) He, too, began his work at Jerusalem when he was only twelve years of age, but he was the author of such faith in a Roman centurion as the infallible judge Qf faith pronounced unparalleled in Israel. He attracted some Greeks to Himself, not merely by outward rumors, but also by the inward drawing of His grace. He walked far under a hot Syrian sun to work the work of faith in a woman of Samaria, and even went entirely Qutside of Jewish territory to meet the woman of Syrophrenicia, in whose heart He had been workiHg even before she met Him. One morning Peter broke in on the private devotions of his Master with his" All men seek for Thee," but the calm reply was, "Let us go to the other towns and villages also, for therefore came I forth;" and in the same spirit he said: "Other sheep have I, which are not of this fold; them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice." Still all this was only preparatory work, for as the Spirit was not given till Jesus was glorified, so His great command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, in which He expressed the yearning of His soul for a lost race, was not given till just before He re-ascended the throne of His glory, and, in determining the law of the advance of the kingdom, it is all important to know how the disciples were led of the Spit'it in their obedience to this command.
If the law of advance under the gospel dispensation had been patterned after the movement of a plough over a field, then, after Jerusalem, Bethany should have formed the next centre of Christian work, for it had peculiar claims as the home of the family whom Jesus loved, and where He spent so many happy hours. There also He raised Lazarus from the dead, and it was the place whence His ascending form was last seen by His disciples.
Then, by the same law, next after Bethany should have come Bethlehem, the home of Ruth and David, and the birthplace of the son of David. Instead of these places, the next centre is at Antioch, further from Jerusalem than Dan is from Beersheba, and almost halfway to the shore of the Black Sea. Having gone so far to find its first resting-place, does it there begin to take places in their regular order? Not at all. It next vaults across the lofty summits of the Taurus range to distant Antioch of Pisidia, more than halfway to the Grecian Archipelago-that, too, though Tarsus, the birthplace of Paul, stood in a direct line between the two Antiochs, and the apostle must have yearned to preach the gospel to the associates of his childhood and his nearest kindred. After leaving this latest missionary centre it would seem as though Paul was very anxious to make the regions near by partakers first in the grace of the gospel, but in two consecutive verses of the Acts of the Apostles (xvi: 6, 7), we are pold, first, that he was forbidden of the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, and then, when he and his associate essayed to go into Bithynia, the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not to do that, but, instead of either, he was divinely directed to find his next field of labor in Macedonia, and this reminds us that this whole line of movement from the beginning had not been left to chance, but was from first to last under the immediate guidance of the Spirit of God. It was not the Church at Antioch that chose PiRidia as the field to which Paul should be sent from the capital of Syria, but the Holy Spirit had said (Acts xiii: 2): "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." The undertaking then was wholly the Lord's, and He knew from the beginning where He would send them, and in what order it was to be done. And was not the tribulation that arose about Stephen permitted in order that the disciples might be scattered abroad from Jerusalem sooner than they would have gone of their own accord? This law of advance then, in regard to communities, was from God. W a~ it otherwise in regard to individuals? Was it not the Angel of Jehovah who spoke unto Philip, saying (Acts viii: 26), "Arise, and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza," where He had brought a man of Ethiopia, a eunich of great authority under Candace, the queen, to request from Him the knowledge of Jesus? (verse 31).. And was it not the same God (Acts x: 1-20) who moved Cornelius to send for Peter, and bade Peter go to Cornelius, nothing doubting? Thus, while Paul was divinely led along his checkered path all the way round to Corinth, arrangements were made to send the gospel as far as Ethiopia on one side and Italy on the other. In all these things we have clearly revealed the divine law of advance in the Kingdom of God. Has that law been changed? If not, then it is just as plainly revealed by the Spirit· how the kingdom is to advance in our day, as He has recorded the law of that advance in the days of the Apostles. And what God has so unmistakably arranged, let no man presume to disarrange.
We are not to evangelize our own conntry first, and then after tl!tat turn our attention to the rest of the world, but we are to work after the pattern set before us in Holy Scripture, and that both in the Old Testament and the New.
TELL THE TALE
TELL THE TALE.
BY PASTOR J. CLARK, ANTIGOUISH, NOVA S<;JOTIA.'
TeU the tale of Jesus' love Tenderly and sweetly; Like to one who fain would be In its power completely.
'Tis a wondrous, wondrous theme I Love o'er sin victorious!
'Tis the love of God's dear Son- Let His praise be glorious.
TeU the tale of Jesus' love Fresh from Truth's own pages; All its hold on man it keeps Through long-lasting ages_ While to you the passing years More and more endear it, Millions of the human race Die and never hear it i Tell the tale of Jesus' love Where life's ills are thronging; Nought like this in all the world Meets the heart's deep longing: Nought like this can cheer and bless Sinful, dying mortals; Nought like this can gild with light Death's dark, gloomy portals.
Tell the tale of Jesus' love; Think not, None will listen; Soon, beneath its sacred spell, Childhood's eyes will glisten.
Aye, and souls, perchance, e'en now, Wonder why you never Speak of Him whose name might bring Life to them forever.
Tell the tale of Jesus' love, Free from formal phrases; Let each meaning word and look Speak the Saviour's praises.
Heaven is listening! Wherefore wait? Haste I for time is flying: Speak as though you just had seen Christ for sinners dyiug.
Tell the tale of Jesus' love; Oh I 'tis worth the telling, Where, amid the multitude, Joyous strains are swelling; Yes, and where one sorrowing soul, Weary, burdened, lonely, Has no friend to come between Him and Jesus ouly.
Tell the tale of Jesus' love, Fervent prayer upbreathing; Plead as Christ would plead with men, Tears with words enwreathing; Plead as one whose gladdened heart Thrills with Calvary's story; Plead as one who longs to win Souls for God and glory.
Tell the tale of Jesus' love While the strength is_~iven; Glorious work on earth is this- Pointing souls to heaven!
TeU this tale of love until Soul from body sever; Then, among the saints above, Tell it ont forever!
FOREIGN MISSIONS IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
FOREIGN }IISSIONS IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
(Continued from page 341.) No man during the latter half of the 16th century did more to assist missions than the Hon. Robert Boyle. His wealth and influ- ence were used freely and habitually in their behalf, as the follow- ing instances will show: Dr. Edward Pacock was one of the first Englishmen who, by great learning and religious zeal, interested his countrymen in the literature and evangelization of the East. Boyle engaged him to translate Grotius's ".De Veritate Christiana Be- ligionis" into Arabic, bore the entire cost of printing it, and took means to have it circulated in various places in t~e Turkish "empire. He was at the expense of publishing the four Gospels· and the Acts, in the Malay language, but in the Roman character, and of sending them to the East for distribution. Through his influence and with his assistance the New Testament was translated into Turkish, and circulated in the empire; and he rendered similar service to the trans- lation made by Eliot for the North American Indians, through the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, the new Charter of which he was the chief means of obtaining in 1661. He had before this been the friend and correspondent of Eliot, and remained so till death, though theological differences separated them widely. He also powerfully imbued others with his own spirit, and probably did more than any other man to prepare for the organized efforts to spread Christian truth with which the 18th century opened. Some of its most influential leaders, as Dean Prideaux, the author of the Connection of the Old and New Testaments, and Archbishop Teni- son, received their evangelizing zeal fron~ h"im. He exerted his power- ful interest as a Director to induce the East India Company "to pro- mote the honor and worship of God, by the conversion of those poor infidels in those places where, by His blessing, they had so much ad- vanced their worldly interest." Failing in this he adopted the independent course of publishing the Gospels in Malayan, and this brought him acquainted with Prideaux, who from that time combined great zeal for Christian propagandism with unusual learning. * Already much had been written respecting the duty of imitating the Portuguese and Dutch in providing not only our countrymen abroad with Christian instruction, but such of the subject races as desired it. Prideaux, advancing on the general principle, urged that * Boyle left at his death the sum of £5,400 for the propagation of Christianity among infidel and unenlightened nations. With this sum an estate was purchased in Yorkshire, the annual rent of which was paid to William & Mary College in Virginia, until the commencement of the American war. In 1793, the accumulated capital, which now yielded near £1,000 a year, was appropriated "to the Society for the Conversion and Religious Instrnction of the Negroes in the British West Indies," which was then incorporated by royal charter. Brown's "History of Mis" zions, " Vol. III., p. 475. churches and schools should be erected at Bombay, Madras and· St. Davids for the instruction of the natives in their own language; that a seminary should be established in England to train ool'efully selected men for the missions; that natives of India should be brought over and educated here as missionaries; that as soon as practicable a. bishop should be consecrated for India; .that then the seminary should be removed there and placed under his care; that at once careful in- quiries should be made to ascertain how the work could best 1;>e carried on; that an act of Parliament be obtained, obliging the East India Company to carry it out; that wise and good men be chosen in London to direct the whole design, and that all good Christians pray for the success of it.* At the same time Prideaux wrote to Archbishop Tenison, begging pim to intercede with the King that the Company might be obliged to do "something toward that good work." He reminded him of the exertions of Boyle, with whom the Bishop had doubtless often conversed on such topics, when the one was incumbent of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields in London, and the other a parishioner; alluded to the mighty work before them, of the guilt of neglecting· it, of the hope he had because the archbishop had previously accepted from him proposals of a like nature, and concluded by saying that though there "is work enough at home," that isno reason for neglecting opportunities abroad, and if the Company cannot be moved to action, he suggests that the clergy should undertake it, offering a contribution of £100, and such future help as he could afford to give.t Thus did his zeal and sagacity suggest most of the plans which since have been adopted.
The appeal of Prideaux was so far successful that in the next Charter, granted by Willia:m in 1698, it was enacted among other important clauses that "all ministers sent to reside in India shall be obliged to learn, within one year of their arrival, the Portuguese language, and shall apply themselves to the native language of the country where they shall reside, the better to enable them to instruct the Gentoos that shall be the servants or the slaves of the same Company, or of their agents, in the Protestant religion." These words, alas, became a dead letter, though they were designed to be the basis of a grand evangelistic work on the part of the Company and everyone of its chaplains. The intention was noble and Christian, and it proves that some dignitaries of the Church of England were profoundly interested not only in the religious well-being of their own countrymen in India, but the enlightenment of the natives, almost a century before the famous resolutions of Wilberforce were passed by the House of Commons in 1793.
The zeal of Prideaux was not quenched by failure. In 1718 he * Anderson's "History of the Colonial Clmrch," Vol. II., p. 476, and Brown's History, Vol. m'F p.477. t "Life of Dean Prideaux," Vol. I., p. 151. addressed Archbishop Wake on the subject to which he Jiad called the attention of his predecessor twenty-three years before; stating, evi- dently as the result of careful observation, that it was "not possible to carryon the work of the ministry, either in the East or West In- dies, with any good success, nnless there be bishops and seminaries settled in them, that so ministers may be bred and ordained on the spot." Thus nobly in the midst of his home duties, and though greatly interested in sacred learning, did he seek to enlarge the bor- ders of the Kingdom of God, and though (as some will judge) his aspirations were fettered by too much dependence on political and ecclesiastical machinery, his zeal, wisdom, and breadth of sympathy, are worthy of the profoundest respect.
Shortly after this, in 1725, Berkeley, the friend of Swift, Addison, Steele, Pope, Chesterfield, and the favorite of Queen Anne, of whom Bishop Atterbury said, "So much understanding, so much knowledge, so much innocence, and so much humility, I did not think had been the portion of any but angels till I saw this gentleman," published "a scheme for converting the savage Americans to Christianity by a college to be erected in the Isles. of Bermuda." It has been charac- terized as one of the noblest designs that had ever entered into the human heart to form, .and undoubtedly displayed an unselfishness rarely equalled. He was Dean of Derry, with an income of £1,100 a year and the certainty of preferment, but, as Swift wrote in a letter, recommending the scheme and its author, to the Viceroy of Ireland: "He hath seduced to join him several of the hopefullest young clergymen and others here, many of them well provided for, and all of them in the fairest way of preferment. He hath been struck with a notion of founding a university in Bermuda, by a Charter from the crown, with a college founded for Indian scholars and missionaries, where he most exorbitantly proposeth a whole hundred pounds a year for himself. His heart will break if his deanery be not taken from him, and left to your excellency'S disposal." After delays most trying to a spirit so unselfish and noble, the Charter was granted, but the £20,000 he had been led to expect for the college was never paid by Sir Robert Walpole, so that after a residence of two years in America, he returned home, giving then, as ever, repeated evidences of remarkable zeal, benevolence and generosity. * But a deepening consciousness of the Christian duty of seeking the conversion of the heathen was not confined to Episcopalians. Dr. Doddridge thought much of the wide extent and deep degradation of heathendom, and was one of the first eminent non-conformists to de- * He gave back to the subscribers every farthing of the £5,000 he had received, or, when they could not be discovered, to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He gave half his books to Yale College, a gift alike liberal in purse and in sentiment, and the future bishop was, no doubt, equally surprised and amused to learn tbat they had converted some most promising st~,l'nts from Congregationalism to Episcopacy. vise means for its conversion. Whether he acquired his interest from Pacock and Prideaux, with whose lives and writings he, no doubt, was familiar, or from Eliot's remarkable history, or from his contem- poraries, Bishop Berkeley and David Brainerd, the true and worthy successor of Eliot among the North American Indians, or as an impulse of his own benevolent nature, we cannot tell, but he formed in his own congregation at Northampton, in 1741, a small society for the spread of the gospel among the heathen; urged other ministers to adopt a like course, was anxious to see some of his best students laboring in spheres such as Brainerd's, and wrote in his diary when those desires were disappointed: "I hope I can truly say, that if God would put it into the heart of my only son to go unde; this character, I could will- ingly part with him though I were never to see him more. What are views of a family and a name when compared with a regard to extend- ing my Redeemer's kingdom, and gaining souls to Christ." Noble senti- ments, rare alas now, as they were then! That most Pitthetic hymn, "Arise, my tenderest thoughts, arise!" one of the first of our noble series of modern missionary hymns, was written by him, and shortly before his early death, he wrote: "I am now intent upon having something done among the Dissenters, in a more public manner, for propagating the gospel abroad. I wish to live to see this design brought into execution, at least into some forwardness, and then I shall die the more cheerfully."* If the health and vigor of Doddridge had been equal to his learning and zeal, the awakening of missionary ardor, which distinguished the close of the century, might have taken place fifty years earlier.
But we must turn back to notice the beginning of that great and noble work which so many churches in so many lands are now prose- cuting in India; which, when completed, will be the grandest triumph Christianity has ever won over heathenism, or can win.
When Frederick IV. became King of Denmark in 1699, he imme- diately turned his attention toward the conversion of the heathen in .his India~' territory around Tranquebar. His tutor, chaplain and friend, DI Lutkens, to whom probably he was indebted for his Christian principles and benevolent aims, and whose soul longed for the conversion of the heathen, was commissioned to find men who, by learning, piety and zeal, were qualified for this mission. Lutkens begged that he might be allowed to go himself. "No," said the king, "I cannot send that hoary head to encounter the dangers of the voyage and the devouring heat of the climate. Seek younger men." He did so, but none were found in Denmark. 'furning to Germany, his attention was directed by Dr. Augustus Hermann Franke, whose aspirations were kindred to his own, to Bartholomew Ziegenbalz, who, with Henry Plutscho, embarked for India on November 29, 1705, and landed at Tranquebar on the following 19th of July. Seldom has a * Orson's "Memoir of Dr. J;>oddridge,"p. 126, and Brown's "History of Missions," Vol.m., p.491. mission been more fortunate in its founders. How nobly, and amid what difficulties, they labored among Danes, Germans, Portuguese, and especially Hindus, cannot now be described. The strength and .success of their endeavors chiefly arose from the fact that, unlike many in America who regarded their labors among the negroes and Indians as secondary to their ministrations among their own country- men, they were first and above all things missionaries to the heathen. Five converts were baptized on May 12, 1707, the first fruits of the harvest which almost every decade since has been gathered over a wide area, and with augmented richness. In 1711 the translation of the New Testament into Tamil was completed, though its publica- tion was delayed for three years. Plutscho returned to Germany in 1712, and Ziegenbalz died in 1719, but it is questionable if any mis- sionaries in so short a time, and with such limited resources, ever did more, in such varied directions, or with equally permanent results.* Happily the mantle of Ziegenbalz descended on a succession of men singularly able and devoted. Schultz landed in India in the same year that his great predecessor died, and labored until 1742 with wonderful zeal and efficiency. He was instrumental in sending Schwartz to Tranquebar in 1750, and when Carey began his noble career in Bengal, in 1793, Schwartz was still living at Tanjore. John Frederic Kierieander, a Swede, who was sent by the Christian Knowledge Society to Cudalore in 1740, and removed to Calcutta, in 1758, was still 'there. t J ainicke, who began his work in 1788, was vigorously sowing the good seed of the kingdom in Tinnevelly, which now bears such an abundant harvest, and Gericke, who began his labors in 1767, extending more widely than any of them to the south and north of Madras, did not finish his course until 1803. Thus far more had been done in various parts of South India and in Bengal than is generally supposed.
But we must now turn our attention to the formation of the two great English societies which, throughout the century, did so much to sustain the missionaries just named, to perpetuate Christian truth. and knowledge in the British dependencies and possessions, and still * The numbers of converts in 1712 was 255, and at his death 355, but the catechumens were numerous; the whole Bible had been translated into Tamil; many schools had been established; school books had been p"epared; the gospel had been preached far beyond the narrow limits of Tranquebar, and an interest had been awakened in missions, not only in various parts of southern India, but in Denmark, Germany and England, which powerfnlly tended to nourish the missionary sentiment into the strength it exhibited at the close of the century. See "Lives of Missionaries in Southern India," published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; Carne's "Lives of Eminent Missionaries," Vol. 1.; the "History of Protestant Missions in India, " Chap. I., by the Rev. E. Storrow, published by the Religious Tract Society, London.
t He was the first missionary in Bengal, and was invited there by Cleve. His labors were very varied, consisting of preaching to Danes, Portuguese and English; whilst his school labors extended to a large number of Europeans, East Indians, Mohammedans and Hindus. His success was greatest among Roman Catholics, but the number of his adult Hindu converts was considerable. He died in 1799. See "Sketches of Christianity in North India," by the Rev. 111. Wilkinson, and the Calcutta Review, No. XIII., "The First Protestant Missionary in Bengal." represent the evangelizing zeal of one of the most influential sections of the Church of England.
Two hundred years ago the religious state of most of the fourteen North American colonies was very deplorable. The six New Eng- land States, owing to a general diffusion of Puritanism with its simple forms of church life, were well supplied with churches, schools and ministers, but none of the rest were. The State of North Carolina will illustrate the condition of most of the other colonies. Through- out an area equal to that of all England, there were three small Episcopal churches. Nor did the Puritans to any adequate extent supply the deficiency. The clergymen were at least 120 miles distant from each other, and though required to itinerate, there were but two roads in the colony, both of which were very bad.
In 1696 Dr. Thomas Bray was appointed Commissary to Mary- land, or representative of the Bishop of London, who had ecclesiastical charge of all the British colonies. He had already gained repute as a preacher and organizer, and at once devised efficient measures for the spiritual benefit of the colony placed under his charge. But as the conception of the Bible Society grew out of the idea of supplying Wales with the Sacred Scriptures, so Bray was led on to form the plan of a "Society for the Spread of Christian Knowledge, byestablishing libraries for the benefit of the poorer clergy, and schools for the educating of children in all the colonies; by appointing an adequate number of missionaries for all the plantations; by allotting gratuities or pensions to the most worthy on account of their learning, labors or success; by providing specially for such ministers as most hazarded their persons in attempting the conversion of the negroes or native Indians, and by supporting the destitute widows and children of missionaries, more particularly of such as by their zeal and industry in converting souls may have occasioned the loss of life or goods."* This noble scheme was propounded in 1698, and led to the formation of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This was at once so successful, that in 1700 Bray, with the powerful aid of Archbishop Tenison and Compton, the Bishop of London, set about the formation of a society more purely evangelistic, and obtained from the king a charter in 1701, incorporating the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts."t Reference is often made to the eminent men whe founded the Baptist and the London Missionary Societies, but few religious societies have ever been favored with more founders and early helpers of eminence, learning and piety than was this one. At its first meeting, in addition to the three just named, there were present the well known Sir Richard Blackmore, Dean Sherlock, Dr. Kennett, Dr. Hody, Regius Professor * See Anderson's "History of the Colonial Church," Vol II., p. 409.
t "Missions of the Church of England," Chap. II., by Ernest Hawkins, B. D., published by Rivingtons.
THE INDIAN SOMAJES
at Oxford; Dr. Mapletott, a physican of eminence; Dr. Stanhope, Dean and author, and Melmoth, author of "The Great Importance of a Religious Life." The society received the approval of many bishops and of the University of Oxford, and the assistance, in one form or another, of Bishops Beveridge, Burnet and Patrick, of Dean Prideaux, of Burkit, the commentator of Nelson, author of the "Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England," of John Evelyn, Sir John Chardin, the traveler, and Dr. Ratcliffe, the physician.
The objects of the Society were declared to be two-fold. " First, the providing of learned and orthodox ministers for the administration of God's Word and Sacraments among the king's loving subjects in the plantations, colonies and factories beyond the seas, belonging to the kingdom of England, and, secondly, the making of such other provision as may be necessary for the propagation of the gospel in these parts," that is, for its extension among the heathen inhabitants ,of the countries indicated.
These two Societies for a time carried on simultaneous work, but gradually and harmoniously became more strictly what their names ,designate. In one respect have they altered. Practically they are ~ore exclusively sacramentarian. They never were other than strictly Church of England Societies, but their extensive and varied correspondence with learned and eminent men, throughout Europe, belonging to various churches, and the generous and free manner in which they gave assistance and encouragment to other than Episcopalians, justifies the expression of regret, that whilst Protestantism gives so generally indications of noble catholicity and a broadening liberalism, here there should have been retrogression.
It is beyond our range to give the history of the Societies; all we .can attempt is to indicate their aims and to glance at their foreign mission policy. ,( This series ofvaluable historicalpapers will be concluded in our ne:.ct.) THE INDIAN SOMAJES.
BY REV. F. F. ELLINWOOD, D. D., NEW YORK.
The founder of the first was Mohun Roy, who was born in 1780, 'and died in 1833. He attempted to find everything which modern sentiment considers noble and pure, in the Vedic literature. He opened a prayer hall for men of all creeds, but his system and his fraternity declined at his death, if not before, because the Vedas afforded no adequate inspiration. In 1866, Chesub Chunder Sen ,endeavored to revive the Brahmo Church by adopting the eclective principle and freely admitting the best things gathered from the sacred books of all religions, the Vedassimply holding a place among them. His great personal magnetism, his poetic and spiritual nature, and his literary genius enabled him to gain great influence, but cOUld not carry the conservative element in the Somaj into such dangerous concessions to foreign religions. He was not long in discovering the transcendent character of Christianity, as compared with all other faiths, and he proclaimed with such eloquence and fervor the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ that the Christian world began to hail the Brahmo Somaj as something fast approaching the threshold of the Christian Church.
THE ADI BRAIIMO SOMAJ.
This led to a schism between the progressive party which he represented and the strict Vedaists, who denied the authority of all other books and systems. As Chunder Sen and his party had borne off the name Brahmo Somaj, the conservatives adopted the name of Adi Brahmo Somaj (Great Brahmo Somaj). An adherent of the latter thus defines its relative attitude: " Its demeanor towards the old Hindu religion of the country is friendly, but corrective and formative. It is this circumstance which pre-eminently distinguishes it from the Brahmo Somaj, whose attitude towards the old religion is antagonistic and offensive. The mission of the Adi Somaj is to fulfill the old religion and not destroy it. The Adi Brahmo Somaj is accessible to all. The minds of the majority of our countrymen are not deeply saturated with Christian sentiments, and what would they think of a Brahmo minister who should quote on the vedic altar sayings from the Bible? Would they not from that time conceive an intolerable hatred towards Brahmoism and everything pertaining to it? "
It is easy to discover in this frank and well-worded statement the inveteracy with which the conservative Hindu mind clings to its old traditional faiths, entrenched as they are in the national pride, and how it resists Christian influence, even though half-conscious that it is the real regenerative power of modern India.
TIlE BRAHMO SOMAJ.
The Brahmo Somaj of Chunder Sen was the nearest approach that has been made to the Christian faith by any system in India. Since his death, and even before his death, signs of decay appeared. Chunder Sen had taken strong grounds against child marriage, fixing the marriageable age by what he claimed as divine authority. When, however, the hand of a rajah was offered to his own daughter, who was under the prescribed age, he yielded to the temptation. This greatly impaired his influence.
At the same time he drifted into a species of mysticism, and claimed personal revelations. Some disreputable extravagances were introduced into the worship of the Somaj, which soon led to divisions.
Mr. P. C. Mozoomdar, who has lectured in this country, and has written a book of charming style, entitled the" Oriental Christ," is now, perhaps, the leading exponent of the more orderly wing of the lapsed and waning Somaj. But without a Divine Christ he fails to revive the dead system.
The creed, drawn up by Chunder Sen, might fairly pass for the standard of any Unitarian church in this country. It is as follows: THE CREED.
I believe that f':xOd is a spirit, and that He is one. I believe that He is personal and living, with infinite attributes of wisdom, love, holiness and power. I believe that He is present in us all, directs all the functions of our bodies, according to laws, and watches over our thoughts and acts. I believe that man has a double nature-body and spirit-the body perish- able; the spirit immortal. I believe that the immortality of the soul means eternal progress in good- ness and godliness. I believe that sin, both inward and outward, brings its own punishment; goodness its reward; that sin is willful violation of God's law. I believe that Heaven and Hell are not material, but are states of being. I believe in prophets and teachers, through the lustre of whose words and example we learn of salvation and spiritual life. I believe that Jesus Christ was the chief of all prophets and teachers. I believe in the efficacy of studying the Bible, and the Hindu Scriptures, and the other sacred books of the nations. I believe Theism to be the dispensation of this age, and that it will be the religion of the future. I believe in the inspiration of certain teachers and prophets, especially Chunder Sen, but not that they are infallibly inspired. I believe woman's position in the Theistic Churoh to be very high, and 'that, without her influence, Theism will not take deep root. I believe in the duty and efficacy of prayer for all spiritual sood. I feel it a duty to propagate our faith. I believe in cultivating independence of thought and will. I believe in the ultimate triumph of· good over every form of evil, of truth over falsehood.
Near the close of his life (1883), Chunder Sen published an appeal to all churches, sects, creeds and cults to unite under the one banner of the Church of the New Dispensation, of which he was the apostle.
The assurance of this Pauline appeal is refreshing. It is as follows: THE APPEAL.
Cheshub Chunder Sen, Servant of God, called to be an Apostle of the Church of the New Dispensation, which is in the holy city of Calcutta, to all the great nations of the world, and the chief religious sects in the East and West; to the followers of Moses and Jesus, of Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster, Mohammed, Nanak, and of the various Hindu sects: Grace be to you, and peace everlasting. Whereas, sects, discords, and strange schisms prevail in our Father's family, causing bitterness, and even wars and carnage; and whereas, this setting of brother against brother has proved the prolific source of evil, it has pleased God to send into the world a message of peace and reconciliation. This New Dispensation has he vouchsafed in mercy to us in the East, and we have been commanded to bear witness of the nations of the earth. Thus saith the Lord: "I abominate sects and unbrotherliness; I desire love and concord, and that my children shall be of one heart, even as I am one. I have at sundry times spoken through my prophets and my many dispensations. There is unity in them. There is one music, though many instruments; one body, but many members; one spirit, but many gifts; one blood, but many nations; one Church, but mallf churches." Let Asia, and Europe, and America, and all nations prove this New Dispensation and the true fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man.
THE SADHARAN BRAHMA SOMAJ.
This is the result of another division, following Chunder Sen's defection. It means the " Universal" Somaj. It seceded and formed a new organization in 1878. Its leader is Sivinath Sastri, though means are taken to guard against the popish assumption and power which characterized Chunder Sen.
It has a republican form of government, and is very active. It has large prayer halls, students' weekly services, students' prayer meetings, a theological institute for lectures and discussions, a "Theistic Philanthropic Society," night schools for laboring men, a Brahmical Somaj for women, and schools of various grades. It sends forth missionaries, who are adopting some of the methods of Christians. All the Brahmo Somajas employ the press, and they support twentyeight periodicals. Yet they all show signs of decay as organizations, while, at the same time, their ideas live in the literature which they have produced.
THE ARYA SOMAJ.
But the most significant of all branches of the modern Hindu Somaj is known as the Arya Somaj. This is now in its full power and influence. It is evidently designed as a protest against the radical and broad church confession of the Brahma Somaj of Chunder Sen. The Arya Somaj professes to be purely Vedic, and to admit no Christian element. On the contrary, it is bitterly hostile to all that savors of Christianity. It borrows the stock phrases of our modern infidelity. Nevertheless, it has plainly been influenced by Christianity to a very great degree. Its current literature is full of assailments upon the Bible, yet the whole moral force of its creed has been borrowed from the Christian influence exerted in India during the last two generations. Its ethics are Christian, and not Hindu in any sense. It has turned its back squarely upon all that is characteristically Brahmanical, but it claims to derive all its inspiration from t,he Vedas. As the Brahmo Somaj is very nearly powerless, and as the Arya Somaj is that with which we are now chiefly concerned, some idea of its doctrines will here be in place. From a catechism by Ganeshi Lal, F. A. S., of Merut, we copy substantially the following doctrines: ARYA DOCTRINES.
1. There is only one God, omnipotent, infinite and eternal. When the Vedas speak of different names, as Agni, Vayu and Indra, they apply them to the same supreme God.
2. God was never incarnate. Vishnu's alleged incarnations, Rama and Krishna. were only good men.
3. God created the world by the union of atoms (supposed to be eternal) through His direct power, and the object of creation was the revelation of his attributes, and glory to his creatures. There are clear evidences of design in nature which bear witness to a divine creatorship.
4. The human soul, though encompassed by the infinite soul, is a distinct entity, endowed with thought, choice and free will.
5. God created man (the first man) out and out as an adult. "If they had at first appeared as infants there would have been nobody to care for them."
6. The universe was created nearly two thousand million years ago. Its future will be even longer than its past. Three entities are .eternal: God, the soul, and Pakriti, or the ultra atomic substance.
7. Man differs from the lower animals in having reason, but both have souls. 8. Religion consists of contentment, the virtue of returning good for evil, repression of the passions, knowledge of the Vedas, obedience to God, truth- fulness and justice toward all men. 9. Heaven and hell are not places, but characters and conditions. 10. Prayer is asking God for blessings which are beyond our own power to secure. They must be general, and not selfish, in their objects.
11. Transmigration is a true doctrine and is desirable for these reasons: (a) It maintains divine justice to all. (b) It opens the way of salvation to all. It is only a question of time. (c) It displays the love of God, as it gives all a chance, or chances. (11) It guards us from sin. (e) It proves our immortality. (j) It divides up eternity into a series of probations. (g) It explains the inequalities of human fortunes.
12. Moksh or Nirvana is a true doctrine of the ultimate. 13. Cremation of the dead is to be maintained as of great sanitary im- portance. 14. A missionary spirit is enjoined upon all Aryas in the promotion of their creed. 15. Caste is recognized as a character, but not as an outward condition; the true Brahman is one inwardly. Any man may rise above his rank by virtue , and culture. 16. Aryas, like Brahmans, are to be invested with the sacred thread. 17. Child marriage is strongly condemned for cogent reasons. 18. Widows are encouraged to marry. For neither child marriage nor the prohibition of remarriage are found in the Vedas. 19. The only revealed truths are those of the four Vedas. Other works derive their authority from them. 20. The six Darsanas, or schools of Hindu philosophy, are in the main ap- proved, especially the Yoga. 21. The Puranas, so-called, are condemned. The true puranas were ancient traditions, the works of the renowned rhishis. 22. The Vedas are free to all, men or women, and should not be monopo- .1ized by special classes. 23. Female education is encouraged. . 24. There should be no worship, except of the one true God. '25. Souls are eternal, past and future. '26. Vegetable diet, temperance and purity are enjoined• . 27. The worship of ancestors is forbidden. A few points in this creed are worthy of special note: Its testimony for the monotheism of the Vedas is clear and ex- plicit. Its humane elements in respect to woman and child marriage are evidently borrowed from Christianity and the higher sentiment which it has created. Its doctrine in respect· to caste is a virtual arraignment of the entire Indian cultus and civilization. It strikes a. blow at the all-prevailing pessimism of India in ascribing benevolence of design to the supreme and personal Creator of all things. In this respect it approaches very nearly to the Christian view and to that of" Plato and Aristotle. It is less grossly anthropomorphic and more spiritual than the old Hindu faith, in its conception of heaven and hell, which it looks upon not as places, but as characters and conditions. It is elevated in its moral standards, and it assigns to ethics a Godward side; obedience to God is one of its foremost'requirements. Its denial of all incarnations of deity. is a two-edged sword which strikes at both Hinduism and Christianity; it is so far in accord with Islam. Though it approves of Yoga, or asceticism in theory, yet its definition of true religion is as practical as that of the apostle James. It embraces the cardinal virtues of life, both activeand passive, such as contentment, repression of the passions, the return of good for evil, knowledge of the Vedas, obedience to God and truthfulness and just dealings towards all men. Its positivelymissi(Jnary character is in sympathy with Buddhism and Christianity, rather than with Hinduism. Its advocacy of female education is a proof that it has caught the spirit of Christian lands. In no one feature does the Arya Somaj strike more deeply at the root of old Hinduism than in its policy with respect to woman. Its doctrine' of transmigration is exceedingly plausible. No better reasons could be given for such a theory of eschatology. On the whole, there is reason to expect a wide-spread influence' from the doctrines of the Aryas. Their organization may not be' large. Their creed may not be widely accepted as a whole, but some, at least, of its principles are gaining an extensive following. Whole provinces are .practically renouncing some of the time-honored re– strictions respecting child marriage and widowhood. The public. sentiment regarding female education is being revolutionized. An aspiring girl may now claim all the privileges of university training- and university~onors. The Maha Rani (wife of the Maha Raja), of"
Mysore, has under her patronage a large seminary for the daughters of Brahmans, in which all the branches of female education are taltght, and which, except that its religious teaching is wholly Vedic, instead of Christian, closely resembles the higher class of boardingschools in Western lands. The medical schools, established by Lady Dufferin, and supported by Hindu patronage, are a concession to the same general movement.
THE LACK OF INFORMATION AND INDIVIDUALISM
The Arya Somaj, therefore, is but one factor, though It very important one, in a wide-spread Aryan revival. Tens of thousands of intelligent Hindus, who would be found too conservative to break so violently with the past as to adopt all the articles of this creed, are more or less in sympathy with its general spirit. The Vedantic philosophers can maintain their pantheism, in all its Alpine coldness and lifelessness, and yet take on the common-sense view of social ques- tions here taught. It helps th,em over the awkwardness of admitting the real advances of Christian philanthropy and the irresistible force of Western ideas. It challenges their united suffrages in support of the assumption that the new era of progress is not the product of Christianity, but of Vedic wisdom too long dormant and unrecog- nized. It challenges their respect, also, by its bold rejection of all . those base influences of idolatry alld superstition which have grown out of the debasing literature of the Puranas and Tantras, of which all educated Hindus are now ashamed.
The relation of the Arya Somaj to Christianity and to Western thought is unique and full of interest. It is exceedingly hostile to Christian propagandism, and yet it has borrowed its whole power from the Christian faith, while it gives the honor of Christ to a dead cult of the distant past.
THE LACK OF INFORMATION AND INDIVIDUALISM.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] PART I.
Just now a singular paradox confronts us. On the one hand, displays of God's providence and grace in modern missions, which constitute His trumpet-call, exceeding loud; and, on the other hand, a singular lack of response on the part of His church to His omnipotent challenge to holy enterprise.
The nineteenth century is the wonder of the ages. More of nature's mysteries have been penetrated, more of her secrets unlocked, more of her resources utilized, during the fifty years past, than during the six thousand years preceding. Ocean steamships and continental railways, all the marvels of electricity, whether as a motive power, a message-bearer, or an illuminator; all the wonders of spectroscope and spectral analysis; of anresthetics in llurgery, of illuminating oils and giant explosives; audiphone, and telephone, and phonograph-these are a few of the marvels of the last half century. Never before have all the elements of the universe come, bowing at the feet of man-gases, fluids, liquids, solids, the sunbeam,' the thunderbolt, the crystal, the cell-and said to man, "Call us by ou!" names, and use us for your service."
The only department of human enterprise that does not' seem to feel the quickening pulse of this nineteenth century is the missionary work of the church, the noblest enterprise of all the ages, and the most needing and in~piring a consecrated enthusiasm. With fifteen hundred million of human beings, out of whom only one-fiftieth are members of Protestant churches, and only one-fifth can be fairly reckoned as nominally Christian, we have sent to the whole field only one out of 5,000 of our church membership, and give annually only one out of every 5,000,000 dollars, aggregate income, believed to be .at the command of Protestant disciples! For example, the Presbyterian church, excelled by no other Protestant body in intelligence .and ability, finds it difficult to muster 500 laborers, clerical and lay, male or female, and to gather in a year an amount equal to one dollar for each member, less than one-third of a cent a day.
Mr. Gladstone has said that the first fifty years of this century ·surpassed in rapid progress, in art, science, invention, social reforms, .all the ages preceding; that the next twenty-five years surpassed the previous fifty; and that the next ten o~tran the previous twenty-five. Is it not a reproach that, with all else accelerating its pace, the ·Church of God remains so far immobile and immovable, that she is left far behind in the onward march of the centuries? Surely, if Christ did say" that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light," He never said that it ought so to he.
The question natually arises, Why is this so? and it demands a 'plain and exhaustive answer.
1. First of all, Information is lacking in the church at large. Knowledge does not always awaken zeal, but zeal of a true type cannot exist without knowledge. There may be fuel without fire, but not fire without fuel. There is not only amazing ignorance, but, in some parts, an audacious display of it. A few, perhaps, affect to know less than they do, as though missions belonged to a level far beneath them. Such remind one of Beau Brummell, who, with exquisite affectation, replied to a poor beggar who asked a ha'penny, " A ha'penny? And what is that? Really, I don't know that I ever saw one; but would a shilling do you?" The London Times, of October 14,1863, accounted for prevailing apathy as to the propagation of the gospel by the lack of satisfactory reports of resuIts-a parading of ignorance which was astounding, in view of the missionary literature, .already so abundant, which for reality or romance, power or poetry, was unsurpassed in the products of the human pen. At the very time of that challenge the writer might have read the story of William Carey in India, Robert Morrison in China, Robert Moffat in South Africa, Adoniram Judson in Burmah, V{illiam Johnson in Sierra Leone, John Williams in the South Seas,-those new chapters in the Acts of the Apostles.
The bulk of our church membership remains ignorant of the subject of missions. Even the geography of heathen lands is misapprehended. An intelligent Englishman sent to Dr. Duff a package,. containing other smaller ones, requesting him, at his convenience, to· hand one to a party at Bombay, and the other to another party at Madras; about as reasonable as to ask a New Yorker to deliver one package at Boston and the other at Washington, or Cincinnati. We have been accustomed to speak of Africa as the Dark Continent. But, the great subject of missions is itself a whole unexplored continent. It has more than a thousand million inhabitants. Its area is equal tofour-fifths of the habitable globe. Its vast "coast-line" has, as yet, been scarcely explored; here and there missionaries have p~netrated a few hundred miles towards its interior; a very few intrepid explorers have reached the heart of this Dark Continent of Missions; but their path of exploration has been very narrow. And to-day, not only are there vast tracts unoccupied by the missionary, but practically untraversed; and, as to the great mass even of intelligent Christians, there is no real acquaintance either with the wants and woes of these millions, or with what is now doing to relieve them.' Were the facts familiar; could the degradation and destitution of these unsaved millions be really understood and felt, the prevailing apathy would not last an hour. It is inconceivable that a true disciple can be brought face to face with the facts, both of man's extremity and the church's opportunity, without an immediate and enthusiastic response to man's wail, and to God's will.
The name of William Carey is a household word with all lovers of missions. How did that poor, unlearned, obscure cobbler of Hackleton come to flame with such zeal that it not only consumed him, but. set the church on fire? He began simply by gathering facts. He learned what he could of the earth's populations, how they were distributed as to territory, and as to religions; he made himself familiar with the awful destitution, degradation, depravity of heathen and pagan 'peoples; he made his own rude map of the world on great sheets of sole leather, or coarse brown paper; he kept before his mind'il eye this vision of a dying world until he seemed to hear the groaning of perishing millions, and could no longer stay at home. He had to go abroad and minister to this want and woe. His only hope of rest was in unresting labor for souls, paradoxical as it may seem. And so Count Zinzendorf led and inspired Moravian zeal. On the one hand he seemed to see that" Ecce Homo," constantly saying: " All this I did for thee; What hast thou done for ME?"
and, on the other hand, he heard from the thousand million of perishing souls, the cry: " Thou hast, with living Bread, Been made alive and fed; And canst thou shut thine eye And leave a world to die?" We can hardly understand how, as late as 1813, in the British House of Commons, Mr. Charles Marsh, in protesting against the introduction of Christianity into India, could, in the face of all the facts, aetually use the following language: "When I look at the peaceful and harmonious alliances of families, guarded and secured by the household virtues; when I see, amongst a cheerful and well-ordered society; the benignant and softening influences of religion and morality, a system of manners founded on a mild and polished obeisance, and preserving the surface of social life smooth and unruffled, I cannot hear without surprise, mingled with horror, of sending out Baptists and anabaptists to civilize or convert such a people, at the hazard of disturbing or deforming institutions which appear to have been hitherto the means ordained by Providence of making them virtuous and happy."
Over against such words as these we place one example only of the beneficent "institutions" which Mr. Marsh was so horrified to have "disturbed or "deformed."
There is a class of Hindu procurers known as " Panwas," who provide for sacrifice victims, also known as "Merias." These victims may be of any age, and of either sex, and are bought or kidnapped from the poorer classes. One condition of the virtue and value of the sacrifice is that the victim be bought with a price, as a life, unbought, is supposed to be regarded by the deity as an abomination. In every village victims are reared and kept ready for sacrifice, conveyed to the hills, and sold for so many lives, animals there taking the place of coin as standards of value. Dr. Duff has said that, in a hill district of no great extent, probably from four to five hundred such sacrifices have been offered annually for two or three thousand years.
In the vicinity of the village is a grove known as the "Meria grove," with a vacant space in the centre. The sacrificial festival consumes three days. After one day of drunken riot and excesses, on the second, with musical accompaniments, the victim is clad in gay attire and borne to the centre of the grove and tied to a post, anointed with oil, butter and tumeric, and, amid revolting orgies, treated as an object of worship. On the third day, the great day of the feast, the ceremony reaches its climax of horror and of cruelty. The victim mllst be unbound and unresisting, and to insure entire submission the bones of hands and legs are usually broken, and the head is thrust through a rift or slit made in a large branch of a tree. With the neck firmly held in this vise, and the extremities held by cords, the priest gives the signal by a sharp blow with a hatchet on the shoulder of the victim; then, instantly, like a pack of maddened bloodhounds, the whole multitude pounce upon the helpless being, and in a few moments every shred of flesh is torn from the naked skeleton, ana flung over the fields as a tribute to the goddess of the sacrifice. And this is only one specimen of these institutions that exist among this" cheerful and well-ordered society."" When Buchanan was yet fifty miles from Juggernaut's shrine, he knew it by the bones which paved his pathway, the remains of millions of devotees crushed beneath the gigantic car of that hideous idol-god; and when he came near to the altars and fanes, he found them covered with the green slime of the leprosy of lust and the red stains of human blood; he saw that two words-cruelty and sensuality-adequately describe the whole worship of this monster. Dr. Wilson, in Bombay, enumerated some thirty or more of these "beneficent institutions'] of East Indian life which the English supremacy in India has either abolished or abated. And yet Mr. Marsh had no words but those of surprise and horror when he heard that missionaries were likely to go forth to convert these people so blessed of "Divine Providence"! !
Information about mission fields and mission work is at hand, but it is hard to get it before the church. Occasional public meetings, with stirring addresses; here and there a newspaper column; now and then a sermon, or a missionary meeting-all this does not suffice. Somehow or other the knowledge of these facts must be given a wider .currency. Great hopes were entertained that when a single authorized -church periodical should, within its covers, embrace the whole scope -of missionary and benevolent work, it would insure readers. And so that" Great Eastern" of the Presbyterian brotherhood-"The Church at Home and Abroad"-was launched. One of the most gifted and honored men of the church was called to take her helm. The best business machinery was put in her hQld, and she was equipped with sails, and screw, and paddles. An excursion to all lands was offered at less than the cost, with every inducement that could be devised; the editorial committee invited suggestion and criticism, and tried to suit everybody-remodeled the new periodical within, and covered her with new sheathing; nay, even changed her figure-head and lettering; but, to-day, out of over 720,600 communicants, only about one out ofjorty-or, if those 720,000 represent 200,000 families, still less than one family in ten takes this, the only missionary magazine of the denomination! And this is simply one instance of the difficulty of making the fire burn even when fuel is furnished!
No wonder that when an English Canon, and a member of Parliament, assail aud criticise missions as at least, if not a failure, a toocostly outlay for the results, so many disciples should accept all their inaccurate statements and "illogical conclusions, and begin themselves to question whether the work were not a badly-paying investment! Ignorance can easily impose on ignorance, and superficiality mislead the superficial. How little knowledge, for instance, of Indian mis-· sions is sufficient to show that any man, however honest or intelligent, is incompetent to criticise the work in Hindustan, who skirts the northern limits only, and knows nothing of the missions in the Madras presidency; who does not go to the Telugu country, where 10,000 converts were baptized in a twelvemonth; or to Tinnevelly, where 16,000 were gathered in half that time! Missions must endure criticism and welcome suggestion; but let us have these at competent, hands. When we read such absurd blunders and reckless statements as have been going the rounds of the press, we are reminded of Dr. Parr's answer to a conceited student who proposed to him that they should together write a 'book. " Yes," said the doctor, "if I should put in all I know, and you all you don't, what a big book it would be!" or, of Dr. Bacon, who, when a disputant, in debate, said of his statements, that, if they were facts, "he did not know of them," quietly replied that "his knowledge, however limited, could not be set aside by his opponent's ignorance, however extensive!"
Information-yes, that is a foremost need. When William Carey saw himself a sinner and Christ his Saviour, he began to study the condition of the heathen world-when, in his little cobbler's shop, he made those rude maps, and hung them upon the wall where he could see them; when he studied those statistics until he filled in his maps with figures representing populations and adherents of false faiths, every new fact had thus both its visible sign and its constant reminder. No wonder that Thomas Scott, the commentator, used to call Carey's shop, "Carey's College!" When, afterwards, Carey eked out a preacher's scanty living by keeping school, or working at his cobbler's bench, as he taught his pupils geography, he would rivet their attention on the spiritual condition of the various lands under review. And, as he pointed to his map, and his finger rested on those vast areas given over to the darkness and death shade, he would say, " These are pagans, and these are pagans, and these, and these, and these-" until, overcome with emotion, he wept aloud. The subject will, to a true disciple, be more absorbing as he ponders it, until his zeal, fired, and fed, and fanned by knowledge, flames into a zeal-a passion for souls that consumes him, and renders impossible a listless idleness and apathy.
2. The sense of obligation is lacking,-of individual duty to the lost. The time has passed when missions are ridiculed by disciples, and even ministers of the gospel use unsanctified wit or logic to make the work appear chimerical-" the dreams of a dreamer who dreams he has been dreaming." But while the church does not deny her debt, it is paid, if at all, by proxy. We erect great Boards; put at their head some capable and earnest men, take a yearly collection, attend an occasional missionary meeting, perhaps subscribe directly for the support of some man or woman who goes to represent" our own church," and there, with most disciples, activity ends.
There are some great truths that must be burned or beaten intO' the conviction and conscience and consciousness of all believers-inculcated-"trodden in with the heel"; and, among them, this is foremost -EVERY BELIEVER IS A PREACHER-every hearer is a herald. Proclaiming the gospel is not an exclusive prerogative. From the moment we open the New T'estament the line between priest and people disappears, and never reappears in history until the church apostatizes. We are all a priesthood of kings, a kingdom of priests. All the rights of the "clergy" inhere essentially in the "laity"-indeed, those very terms are the invention of the Devil in the dark ages. It may be well to set apart certain persons to give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word; it may be well to have a class of men to act as bishops of the churches and exercise oversight of the flock, to insure soundness of teaching and practical piety. But, to make the ground work of the ministerial calling a" division oj labor," is one of the worst practical heresies that ever cursed the church. The labor of proclaiming the good news and seeking to win souls is universal and indivisible. God scattered the infant church, and, while the Apostles were yet at Jerusalem, these primitive believers went everywhere preaching the word. Philip-only a deacon-went down into Samaria and evangelized, yes, and baptized, and a new pentecost came to Samaria. The command-" Go ye into all the world "-came to the whole church, and the whole church obeyed. We must get back where the primitive disciples were. Preaching the gospel must be so universal, that if every ordained minister were shut up, like Luther at Wartburg, preaching will go on. Even the woman who finds Christ must remember Mary of Magdala, who first bore the tidings of a Risen Christ, and that nameless woman of Samaria who forgot her waterpot in her zeal to tell even the men of Sychar what a Saviour she had found. Christian women must not forget Phoobe, the deaconness; Priscilla, who taught even ApoIlos; and other women who, like Persis, labored much in the Lord.
Weare proclaiming no new doctrine. Any church that differs from prelatical bodies in affirming the parity of the clery, is logically compelled to concede the parity of the eldership also. The New Testament knows but one order of men entrusted with spiritual functions, the presbyter, and the presbytery is but a bench of elders, or presbyters. The presbyter may exercise the function of a ruler, of a teacher, or both; but it is difficult to find any scriptural basis for constituting the teaching elder a separate order in the church. Not a few intelligent New Testament students so far hold to the parity of the eldership that they question not only whether it is properto'speak of an elder as a layman, but even to re-ordain a ruling elder who develops teaching gifts and is called to the pastorate. To hold the parity of the eldership implies logically the equality of all believers. Essentially, inherently, the right of preaching, and even of administering
FAMINE AND THE WORK OF FAMINE RELIEF
the sacraments, belongs to disciples, as such, and whatever rights are surrendered are surrendered only in the interests of expediency. There is one right that never ought to be or can be conceded or transferred, namely, the right to proclaim the gospel. That must ever remain the inalienable, untransferable yrerogative of ,everyone who believes. To believe is, ipse facto, to be a preacher, with a divine right of one of God's kings and priests, to tell the good news.
'Ye must learn the power of illdividual work for Christ from Oncken, first a domestic servant, then a bookseller, then a tract agent, then, with six humble men in a shoe-shop, organizing an evangelistic church in Hamburg; then visiting every part of Germany, preaching, scattering tracts and Bibles, gathering converts, and organizing churches. Twenty-five years of labor showed over 65 churches and 756 stations and out-stations, 8,000 members, 120 ministers and Bible readers; 15,000 Bibles and Testaments and 458,000 tracts distributed in one year. Behold what results-one little church multiplies to 70; 10,000 souls are hopefully converted; 400,000 copies of the Scriptures and 8,000,000 pages of tracts have been scattered, and 50,000,000 of people have heard the message, and all this within a quarter of a century! Give us twenty-five hundr€d men of like consecration, and in another quarter of a century we can have 175,000 new churches, 1,875,000 gospel stations, 25,000,000 converts; we will scatter 160,- 000,000 Bibles, 3,000,000,000 pages of tracts-and, with these twentyfive hundred such men, we will tell the good tidings to the whole population of this globe within the remaining ten or eleven years of this nineteenth century!
Individualism is what is needed. God and man must unite to lay upon every believer's heart and conscience the weight of a world's lost conditition. To evangelize this race is a load that will crush the few; it can be lifted only by the many.
(Ooncluded in our next number.) FAMINE AND THE WORK OF FAMINE RELIEF.
BY REV. J. L. NEVIUS, D.D., CHEFOO, CHINA.
That famine is to be attributed to supernatural intervention-that is, to the expression of divine displeasure~and a punitive infliction for individual and national sins, is not only clearly taught in the sacred Scriptures, but is also one of the fundamental beliefs of heathen nations. This belief seems to be the interpretation which man's religious instincts put upon the evils by which he is afflicted. The Chinese, not only scholars but the illiterate as well, speak of famine as tien tsai, "heaven-caused calamities," and, in time of famine and other misfortunes, it is not uncommon for the emperor, on behalf of himself and his people, to confess his individual sins, and the sins of his nation, and implore immunity from these dreaded expressions of the wrath of heaven. In the religious conceptions of the Chinese the fact that famines are produced through the operation of obviously natural laws is regarded as perfectly consistent with referring them ultimately to a power above, but immanent in nature, acting through natural laws and controlling and directing all events. The destruction of property and life by the overflow of rivers, owing not so much to unusual meteorological conditions as to man's neglect (as in the case of the overflow of the Yellow river), though very similar in effect to providential calamities, are quite distinguishable from them. Famine is the result of the two opposite causes-drought and flood-which may be referred to one and the same cause, the unequal distribution of the rain-fall, producing drought in some places and floods in others. In that part of Eastern Asia which includes the great empires of Hindustan, China and Japan, the alternations of the winds of summer and winter are so marked as to produce what are called the northern and southern monsoons, to which the climatic peculiarities of this whole region are to be largely attributed. During the winter months the northern monsoon blows almost continuously, and sometimes with great violence, from the Arctic regions to the tropics. Early in the spring the tropical winds, charged with moisture, commence moving northward, at first continuing only for a few degrees of latitude, but graduallyasserting their supremacy, and extending farther and farther northward, until, in July and August, they constitute the southern monsoon, which, on the entire coast of Asia, extends from the tropics to forty degrees of north latitude. The region in which the southern monsoon and the colder breezes of the north meet, like two opposing armies alternately advancing and retiring (the colder atmosphere condensing the vapor with which the southern monsoon is surcharged), forms the rain belt, which, as it advances step by step to the north, brings what is called "the rainy season." The rainy season reaches Ningpo and Shanghai, in central China, the latter part of May, when the rain is almost constant, while north, in the province of Shantung, the sky is cloudless. This monsoon, after discharging its moisture in the south, often continues its course northward for several degrees of latitude with great violence, and almost as dry as the sirocco of the desert. In the latter part of July, and nearly the whole of August, when the air in central China has risen to a high temperature, the southerly monsoon blows past . that region, holding its moisture in suspense until it is condensed and falls in northern China and Manchuria. These two monsoons, with the fluctuations in their force and temperature, produce the very irregular rain-fall of the rainy season. In one section of country there is sometimes such an excess of rain as to form destructive floods, while in an adjacent region, north or south, there is a comparative deficiency. Sometimes the rain falls gently for days, and at other times in such volume that it is impossible to distinguish objects at mid-day a few hundred yards distant, and water-courses half a mile in width, in which the stream had shrunk to a little rivulet, requiring only a few stepping-stones for the foot-traveler to pass, in an hour's time becomes a rushing torrent, overflowing its banks, and rendering all passage, for the time being, impossible.
The province of Shantung has within the past thirteen years suffered from two destructive famines, in which millions of its inhabitants have perished. The famine which reached its highest point of intensity in the spring of 1877, was from drought, affecting thehigher mountainregionsofthisprovince, and extending west to the adjoining provinces of Shansi and Shen-si. In this famine the work of relief was carried on by missionaries with the most satisfactory results. The famine of 1889, which was produced not by drought, but by floods, affected the plain bordering on the Pe-chi-li bay in the northwestern part of the province. It covered an area of about 6,000 square miles, containing a population of not less than 1,000,000. In consequence of the excessive rains of the summer of 1888, the swollen streams in the central part of the province overflowed their banks and poured their contents through the villages, carrying away trees and houses, in some places denuding rich arable land of its surface earth, and in others covering the land with sand to the depth of one or two feet. Reaching the plain, the overflow of the streams, with the deluge of falling rain, united in a continuous flood to the depth of from one to ten feet, flowing onwards to the sea. Not only the crops, but a large proportion of the houses, were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of the inhabitants were left without food or shelter. They subsisted on wild grass, chaff and roots. As a natural consequence, physical weakness, emaciation, disease and death quickly ensued. The fearful privation and distress of the unfortunate inhabitants may be easily imagined. The harrowing accounts of individual suffering furnished by our missionaries are doubtless still fresh in the minds of many of your readers.
The work of relief commenced with January, 1889. Appeals for aid had been sent to Shanghai, Europe and America, and the generous response which they met in all quarters enabled us to enlarge the work so that it soon reached proportions which at first were hardly dreamed of. The contributions received for this local famine in Shantung, independent of the still larger amounts which were spent in the relief of the distress from the inundations of the Yellow river, amounted to about $300,000, and the persons who received aid aggregated more than 300,000.
The work of relief was carried on by the members of the English Baptist and the American Presbyterian Missions stationed at Ching Chowfu and Wei Hien, about a day's journey from the famine region. As our supply of funds increased the work was rapidly enlarged, until all the members of both mis- sions, including twenty persons, were engaged in it, assisted by a much larger corps of native workers. All adopted the same plan, co-operating and assisting each other in every possible way. Contributions, from whatever source, were paid into a common fund and divided equally between the two missions. Dis- tinctions of nationality and creed, and also territorial divisions for missionary work, were ignored. Six of our distributers were missionary ladies, five of them .accompanying their husbands. They sought out the sick, especially women and children, who were so nearly starved that they could only be brought back to life and health by special care, and more nutritious food than the general plan provided for. By finding out these women and children in their homes, and ministering to their individual wants, many were saved who would otherwise have been without hope.
This work of famine relief has not only saved the lives of tens of thousands, but it has had marked moral effects as well. The famine relief of 1877 gave a new impulse to our mission work in this province. Similar results have accompanied and followed that of last year. There are now in connection with the stations of the English Baptist mission and our own about 1,500 inquirers. It is not to be inferred that these inquirers all received aid, nor that most of them were thus led to enroll themselves as Christians. Such a result would give very little cause for congratulation for the present, or hope for the future. That a desire to secure sympathy and help in case of future emergencies has been, in some instances, one of the motives, even of sincere converts, and that in some cases it may have been the only motive of applicants for baptism, is more than probable. There are many beneficial results from this famine relief work, which have reached far beyond its territorial boundaries, and influenced many who had no need of help, even in times of famine. These results may be summarized as follows: 1. While the Chinese have hitherto been disposed to regard us with suspicion as the propagators of an exclusive and revolutionary foreign religion, the famine relief work has given missionaries a new introduction to the people as their true benefactors, presenting in a concrete form the central idea of Christi-
THE REVIVAL IN THE NESTORIAN CHURCHES IN 1890
anity, 8elf-sacrifice for the good of others. This favorable opinion of foreigners could only be arrived at by overcoming strong national prejudices. It was more natural at first to account for these generous gifts, this unremitting toil, and voluntary exposure to pestilence and violence, by referring them to sinister motives, generally expressed by the Chinese as" buying the people's hearts," which was at first supposed to be for political ends. These imaginary causes are, however, gradually giving place in the Chinese mind to the real ones. .
2. Missionaries in having entrusted to them large sums of money to be dis- posed of as they think best, are thus presented before the peopleas men possessed to a high degree of the confidence of those who know them.
3. What most suprises the Chinese, however, and has the most powerful and salutary moral effect on their minds, is the evidence given of business integ- rity. Here the character of the foreigner comes into direct contrast to that of the Chinese in that point, which discloses their national weakness. Their high idea of righteousness dominating covetousness, which is rarely illustrated in real life in China, is actually realized in this work of the missionary. These people believe, and probably with good reason, that a considerable portion of the famine relief funds intrusted to their own officials is absorbed by them, and never reaches those for whom it was intended. In the open and methodical way in which the missionary does his work there is no ground left for suspicion or distrust, and his manifest honesty is attributed to the superior excellence of the religion which he l'epresents.
As in Apostolic times God made use of miracles to powerfully attract public attention to those whom He had chosen to be His agents in propagating the gospel, and at the same time to .give evidence suited to the comprehension of the masses of its divine character, so in the present age God is subserving the same ends by this work of famine relief. It would be a great mistake, how- ever, to suppose that the spiritual results connected with this work are to be attributed to it as its efficient cause. We believe that that Divine power which opened the eyes of the blind was accompanied by a special influence of the Divine Spirit opening the eyes of the understanding, and enabling men to apprehend and embrace the truth; so now the same Spirit, through the liberality and in answer to the prayer of God's people, is conferring spiritual as well as temporal blessings on this people, making even the scourge of famine a blessing.
We call upon Christians in the West, and especially those who recently showed their interest in China by such generous responses to appeals for material aid, to pray that the enlightening and transforming power of God's .Spirit, now manifested in the famine region and its vicinity, may extend through- <Qut this province and the whole Chinese empire.
THE REVIVAL IN THE NESTORIAN CHURCHES IN 1890.
"The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad." We desire .all our friends to rejoice with us-rejoice over souls saved, over Christians awakened to newness of life, and over our churches filled anew with the spirit of love and unity and of zeal for souls.
Let us go back a little and glance at the dark back-ground which makes our present joy all the more radiant, and also at the steps which led up to the blessing in which we now rejoice. Last year was a year of trial and discouragement in many ways. Coldness within our churches, and opposition without, caused the utmost anxiety to those who had the work most at heart. The accessions to the churches were fewer than for many years. The reports at the close of the year showed there had been a net loss instead of gain. We almost began to fear the Lord had hidden his face from us and from our work.
The first sign of better things was a band of consecrated young men who met together frequently for prayer to God for revival of true piety among his people, and who made their voices heard throughout the churches, calling, in no doubtful accents, for a higher standard of Christian living and consecration. Their influence was felt, especially among our pastors. In the summer, at a Chautauqua-like gathering of our helpers, at the lakeside, the spirit of prayer was most manifest, and the need of the Holy Spirit was reiterated and empha- sized at every session. Then again, later in the fall, at the meeting of Synod, the same spirit was present, and a general expectation prevailed of a great blessing to be received. Before the college closed for the winter vacation there was a quiet but genuine revival among the professing Christians. Many who had hitherto bolstered themselves with false hopes confessed that they had never before e,xperienced a change of heart.
All these things we accepted as tokens that the Lord was near unto us to bless us, and that it was only for us to prepare the way for his coming. With this thought in mind, the Friday before the Week of Prayer was set apart as a special day of fasting and prayer, and was observed by the most of our churohes with solemn interest. But the Week of Prayer went by, and the greater part of the month of January, and though there was more than usual of earnest work on the part of many, in spite of the prevailing sickness, still we saw no such results as we had hoped and prayed for. But the blessing came at last, and it began when we least expected it. Two young men of the band above mentioned, who scarcely knew how to read, but in whose hearts the love of God burns warmly, together with one of our college teachers, moved by some Divine influence, united forces, and without consultation with anyone, proceeded to the large village of Ardeshai. The church there had been in a very languishing condition, but at the very outset of these young men's labors they were greatly blessed. The church was quickened and revived in a wonderful degree; large congregations assembled to the preaching, and many from out- side avowed their purpose to begin a new life.. The next week one of our largest and most influential churches began to experience times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and every week since we have had occasion anew to praise God for the cheering tidings of some church blessing in like manner. All our available missionary and native force has been taxed to the utmost in meeting the calls for help from churches holding extra services. In about ten of these there has been a deep work of grace, and in five or six others marked and encouraging interest. In many places there was much bitter opposition to the work by the enemies of the pure gospel; women were threatened and intimidated, and in one or two cases wives were actually driven from their homes by their enraged husbands, because they insisted on attending these services. Many persons noted for their wickedness have been wonderfully changed. Especially worthy of notice is the case of one of our native physicians, a graduate of our college and medical department. He has until recently given himself to very unchristian habits, and even delighted in the utterance of infidel views. The Lord has worked a change in that man's heart scarcely short of miraculous. His confessions, his prayers, and his walk, give the strongest evi7 dence of a thorough reformation. He recently visited the village in which he has worked most of his deeds of darkness, and there, before a large audience, he made a confession so humble and contrite, and with such evident sincerity, that the whole congregation was melted into tears, and many then and there arose and confessed their sins, and expressed their desire to experiencethe change
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES
wrought in him. Another of our native physicians of excellent capacity, who a few months ago was a slave to drink, has ever since the summer been a changed man and a Christian of shining example. His activity for the Master is delightful to behold, and his influence in the recent revival has been very stirring in many directions.
To speak of numbers at this time would be misleading. While upwards of four hundred have expressed publicly their desire to begin a new life, we can by no means count on that number as genuine converts. Still, we believe that the ingathering to the church will be very large. The work of grace has been to all appearances a thorough one, unaccompanied by undue excitement. Much of the preaching has been of the most searching, practical kind along the lines of sin, repentance and the new birth. In the village of Goolpashan, nearly fifty are propounded for admission to the church at the next communion. Probably a large number will unite with the church in Degala. Other of the smaller churches will be increased in like proportion, we have reason to expect.
Men's pockets have been reached as well as their hearts. The church in Goolpashan, always a liberal one, has increased its annual SUbscription fifty per cent., and they are planning to employ one of their own earnest young men as an evangelist for the neighboring villages. The church in Ardeshai was prompted to subscribe a large sum for a needed church edifice, one-third the expected cost, but double what anyone supposed could be raised in that church.
But the earnest spirit and newness of life manifested by many of the church members who have been hitherto very cold and worldly, are perhaps the most cheering aspects of these revival experiences. Our printing office has become a veritable Bethel. PrinterS and binders alike seem animated with a purpose to improve every opportunity to speak for Christ. No one drops in on any sort of business scarcely who does not have some helpful word addressed to him. Many a blessed influence has emanated from that building during the past few months. It was not so in former times.
And so having received these tokens of God's presence and favor, we are filled with rejoicing. As we look back over the past few weeks, we may exclaim with the Psalmist: "This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes."
[In transmitting the above joyful intelligence to us, Dr. Samuel Jessup, of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, adds (probably from still later accounts): "You have doubtless heard of the revival in the West Persia Mission. Our last dates from that field from Dr. Labaree and Mr. Coan are very encouraging. They report about four hundred conversions during the spring, and that the religious interest is still continuing. It is probable that after all the sifting and testing of these four hundred there will be three hundred or three hundred and fifty accessions to the church. It is pleasant in these times of financial depression at home to have such cheering intelligence from the mission fields."-J. M. S.] TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.
BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
Cowper's reference to the Moravians, as those who were willing to endure every hardship, in order "To plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose On icy rocks, and 'midst eternal snows,~'
receives illustration from this description of Labrador, in the Monatsbliitter for last March: "As always, so now, the weather and theftshing playa great part in the reports of ourmissionaries. Offence has sometimes been taken at these perpetual references to drift-ice and seals, but unreasonably. Labrador is one of the most inhospitable lands of our planet. It offers, it is true, water, air, and stone. But how scanty is its vegetable world, so far as regards advantage to man I A few berries and a little firewood-that is all the soil affords the Eskimo, and at the nortl;1ern stations there is great scarcity even of firewood; for what is called the 'Hebron woods,' is only·a low brush, consisting of birch and alder shrnbs, that just manage to creep out of the earth. As to the yield of vegetables, which the missionaries procure from their hot-beds and gardens, that, even in the most favorable summers, hardly pays for the care and pains spent upon the preparation of the soil and the tendence of the plants. Grain fields or potato grounds· are something wholly unknown to Labrador. And the ground (of this parsimony of nature is found in the extraordinarily rough, changeable, capricious climate of the country. Seven months long, even during the last ship's year (on the whole a right favorable one), did the winter maintain his iron dominion, and cause his snow-storms to rage. And these are storms of such a violence as the inhabitants of more temperate regions can scarcely conceive; storms which, e. g., in Hebron, carry off a good share of the toilsomely-collected garden earth, or, a few weeks later, so shake the little church, that amid cracking beams and roaring winds the preacher's voice is almost drowned. And even when approaching summer seems at last to be victorious over winter, he bides his time to return again and again with spiteful reprisals. Thus this year, as late as June 27, snow fell a foot deep in Okak, and at the other stations also violent snow-storms prevailed."
The Moravians, in choosing Labrador, were indeed illustrating their principle of going where no one else was willing to go. These circumstances of their people, and the obstinate improvidence which they engender, compel the missionaries to take a much greater share in providing for the bodily wants of their people than almost anywhere else.
Yet even in Labrador nature has another side. " All through this last fall we had mild and friendly weather. There were days, such as even at home, in dear Germany, would be reckoned as 'ideal' autumn days. And though we miss here the yellow stubble fields, yet the variegated woods fill the heart's desire. The dark, solemn firs, the lighter pines, among them the yellowing leaves of the deciduous larches, and, above all, the carpet of moSil at their feet, shimmering in the most various hues, joyfully convince the eye and the mind that not all the beauty in our land is glacial and cold."
-It seems that there are six stations in Labrador-Ramah, Hebron, and Okak, in the north; Nain, Zoar, and Hofienthal, or Hopevale, in the south. The number of adherents is: Adults. Children. Total.
Ramah…………………………………………………… 32 21 61 Hebron…………………………………………………… 147 236 Okak……………………………………………………. 209 89 332 266 Nain………………………………… …………………. 181 123 98 85 316 Zoar…………….. … ……. …………………………… 65 Hopewell ……………………………………………….. 221 33 95 1,309 -The Allgemeine Missions-ZeitschriJt, speaking of the difficulties caused by the rather high-handed proceedings of the German authorities on the Marshall Islands towards the mission of the American Board, remarks: "We have not too many friends, either in or out of Europe, and for that reason our youthful colonial policy should avoid every unprofitable irritation. It should be considered that it is a dictate of political wisdom to put one's self on a good footing with a long-established and influential Mission, if for no other reason because it has the natives on its side. Instead of this, during the short time that the German flag has waved over the Marshall Islands, one vexatious measure after another has been adopted against the Protestant mission there. If under such circumstances the German Government is felt as a hard yoke, and regarded with discontentment by the very best elements of the native population-the Christians-who, besides, are already tolerablynumerous there, while the report of such measures, spreading far and wide, renders it disagreeable even to the whites so far as they are not Germans, we are not to wonder at it." -In April, 1889, the Heidenbode, i. e., "Missionary," of'the Nederlandsche 'Gereformeerde Zendingvereeniging (Netherlands Reformed Missionary Society), connected with the Established (Presbyterian) Church of Holland, gave'the following report of its missionary work in Java: Residences. Population. Churches. Adherents.
Bagelen ……………………………………. . 1,269,000 21 2,411 Banjoemas…………………………………… .. 13 713 Tegal ……………………………………….. .. 1, H17,OOO 4 341 998,000 6 515 tfo:j~~~~::::·.'.':::::::.: .::::::: :::::: .::::::: :::: 532,000 9 637,000 1,013 "So that, in the midst of a Mohammedan population of over four and a half million souls (the population of the Netherlands) in numberless dessas (villages), spread over an extent of land of more than 6,000 square miles (half the size of the Netherlands), there are fifty·three Christian congregations, numbering altogether something over 5,000 souls, gathered out of the Javanese. Certaiulya cause of humble thankfulness to the Lord God, that He has been pleased to make the work in the gospel fruitful, and has extended His church, even in Middle Java. And yet it is a cause of the deepest humiliation, that there are still so many millions dwelling there who have not heard the gospel, because, through the unfaithfulness of the churches in Holland, there was no one to preach to them."
The spiritual and normal condition of the Javanese churches, though a plainly advancing one, is yet described as deeply colored by the inborn slavish- ness of a race that has been under oppression for ages. One excellent trait, however, is, that the church members, and especially the elders, are always ready to converse about Christianity. Two elders preached Christ in a village in the principality of Djokjakarta with such effect that fifty persons went over to Christianity, forming the first church in the principality. The common inaccessibility of Mohammedans to the gospel seems to suffer a decided exception in Java and Sumatra. And yet precisely there is where Islam is at the farthest removed from the gospel, since the people very commonly hold that Christ has forfeited his rank as a prophet by allowing his people to dishonor Mohammed, a doctrine which, of course, orthodox Mohammedanism would reject asabominably heretical, since it holds Christ, and even his mother, to have been, unlike Mohammed, conceived without taint of original sin; anticipating, as respects Mary, the papaldecisionof the Immaculate Conception by some twelve centuries. The language of the Koran is a little vague, but is so interpreted by scholars.
A great part of the Javanese, however, are heathen, or practice more or less of Mohammedanism without knowing much about the system. Indeed, the religion of the people at large is described as such a medley of heathenism and Mohammedanism, that some have, not altogether amiss, designated it as "Javanism." Lately, however, the Mohammedan element has been powerfully reinforced. .Ifthis process goes on, the susceptibility of the Javanese to the gospel is likely to diminish. It is to be hoped, therefore, that Netherlands Christians will pour out their gifts before the era of fanaticism fairly sets in. The practice of pilgrimage to Mecca is now so greatly facilitated by the use of steam, that Hadjis (i. e., pilgrims), with their intense consciousness of superior holiness; are rapidly multiplying, and with them the influence and intolerance of pure Mohammedanism may be expected to rise. Already there is at least one Hadji or more in almost every dessa or native settlement, from the seashore to the high mountains. Yet it may encourage us to reflect that in Sumatra, where Mohammedanism appears to be much more genuinely such than as yet in Java, half the 11,000 Christians have been won from it, a fact which that great authority, Sir William Hunter, declares to be more significant as to the hope of a future prevalence of the gospel in the Moslem world than any other that had been brought to his knowledge. The congregation mentioned above is only one of a number that have the fearfully oppressive government of the Dutch, who take about thirty-five cents out of every fifty that they,earn, abominate the whites, but are ready to hear the gospel from their own countrymen.
"Native preachers to evangelize, and native instructors for the native Chris- tian schools; then, native pastors and teachers for the native churches; and native Christian doctors for the care of the sick." This is the ideal towards which the Dutch missionaries are working.
– Dr. Warneck makes some comparative estimates as to the number of pupils in the Protestant and in the Roman Catholic missionary schools of India and Ceylon. In 1881 the Protestant schools numbered 4,175, with 234,759 scholars. In 1881, the Protestant Christians of India and Ceylon numbered 528,590. As- suming them in 1888 to have numbered 620,000, and that there were then 4,500 schools with 275,000 scholars-(the latter doubtless too Iowan estimate), these would average for every 1,000 Christians 440 scholars. But the Missiones Catholical for 1888 give the number of Roman Catholic Christians for India and Ceylon at 976,943, the number of schools at 1,280, with 70,138 scholars. This would give for every 1,000 Catholics 71 scholars. The Protestant zeal for education in India therefore appears to excel the Roman Catholics in the proportion of more than 6 to 1. Perhaps the Roman Catholics will do better in future, as Sir William Hunter attests that they are very much more attentive to education in India now than they used to be. On the whole, however, their ideal seems to be the same as that of their great antagonist, Mr. Froude, namely, to pick out the bright boys of the poorer classes for training, and to let the rest go. Where their practice is higher than this, it seems to be most frequently where it is stimulated by the force of an antecedent example. In view of this, it is a little difficult to keep our faces straight, when we read the declaration lately made in the German Parliament, "That the English government owes it principally to the Jesuit order, that it has achieved in India such results, and that it has gained its present stability."
Dr. Warneck remarks, that to all appearance the appeal of the viceroy of India to Christians to increase the force of Christian schools, is receiving deep attention in missionary circles, as the State declares itself willing to assist them by grants-in-aid, having become convinced that the result of its own government-schools, without religion as they necessarily are, is showing itself in a wide-spread popular demoralization. India has discovered this; but of course America will insist on learning the lesson for herself. "But whence are characters of the needed Christian maturity to be obtained in due numbers? We see it all leads out again to what is really the central missionary supplication: Lord, send forth laborers into thy harvest I"
-At the great missionary meeting at Christiania, special honor was rendered to the memory of an eminent Swedish missionary, Charles Alexander Ouchterlong. He was born in Stockholm, October 12, 1826. When a young private tutor, his eye fell on an article in the Lunds Missionstidning, entitled, "Is it right?" which determined him to a missionary life. It had, indeed, a remarkable working, for it sent out another missionary also, Carl Olaf Fast, who, going to China, was murdered by pirates, when only 28; but was, in his death, the incitement to embrace the missionary life for the eminent Swedish divine, Dr. Blomstrand, the most distinguished of Swedish missionaries, in his influence both in southern India and at home.
Ouchterlong likewise went to south India, where he labored with singular faithfulness and effectiveness for 36 years, and where he died a year ago. Oertainly that was a fruitful article in the Lunds Missionstidning. -Mr. Kabis, of the Leipsic Society, mentioning the recent baptism of a, Brahmin in Madras, says: "One after another came to convince the Brahmin of the folly of his resolution, especially an agent of the Hindu Tract Society, to which this conversion was especially odious, What-an uproar had been evoked by the mere rumor that a young Brahmin student in the Christian college intended to turn Christian I Indeed, it had led to the establishment of a Hindu divinity school in Madras. The Hindus had imagined that by word and writing, by street preaching and lectures, they were again masters of the field. It sadly dashed their joy of victory, that now once more a Brahmin, and he no youngster leavened with Christian schooling, but a man of ripe years, hitherto an orthodox priest, who understood not a word of English, should have been converted to the Christian religion."
The young Leipsic missionary Mohn, newly arrived in south India, writes: "On the evening of November 5th, we went ,by rail together to Majaweram, in order here, November 7th, to celebrate Brother Meyner's wedding. This fell just in the time of the great Bathing Festival to which as many as 50,000 to 60,000 assemble. The railway alone forwarded 27,000 persons last year. On the chief day we went to the bathing-place, and looked at the matter a little more closely. There was a tumultuous throng, hardly to be penetrated. We were the only white faces among all these dusky multitudes. The best place for viewing the whole affair appeared to be the flat roof of the idol temple. We climbed up to it by a ladder, without any opposition. From here we could overlook the human masses; they stood close packed together, some bathing, some chatting, etc. We saw also how they were carrying about different idols, which were adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones. All were greeted by the crowd with uplifted hands and loud acclaims. In view of this our hearts might well sinll:, as we beheld heathenism yet subsisting in its full, unbroken might. If we did not know that God's truth gains the victory, we should despair of the possibility that India will ever be converted. It is an almost impregnable citadel of Satan, and the individual mission stations are like oases in the waste, and the individual missionary is as a drop in the ocean. For instance, in each of such cities as Sidarnbaram, Kudelur, Kurnba-Konam, etc.,of 40,000 or 50,000 inhabitants, there is only a single missionary I What can a single man effect over against such masses? Even yet it is only a siege from without, we have not yet made our way into the interior of the fortress. Nevertheless we will not therefore despond, but with fresh courage attack the task in the name of the Lord-you at home with prayer and gifts, we in the land itself by preaching the gospel to the poor, blinded people, and attracting such as are willing to let themselves be saved. We know that the Lord by little can accomplish much. But Thou, 0, Lord Jesus, accept our poor, weak will, our slender strength, take also the offer of our youth, and fashion us into men, and into instruments of Thy mercy I Do Thou Thyself fulfill Thy work in power and bring hither to Thy flock them that are scattered abroad in the world, so that Thou canst SOon appear in Thy glory and conduct us out of the conflict and strife of time into Thy kingdom of peace! Amen."
-The following description of.Barsute heathenism is equally applicable to many other mission fields: "The adversary whom they combat, although wounded, is still on his feet and powerful, and he defends himself with a singu- lar vigor. This formidable adversary becomes more dangerous and more subtle as the strife goes on."
-Pastor Haccius, of Hanover, speaking of a visit to the only Jesuit station in the Transvaal, occupied by one priest and one lay brother, where he was very cordially received, inquired what success they had. They told him none. His companion remarked that they had come too late. "Yes," the father answered, "the Caffres had become so much accustomed to reading the Bible, that they scorned missionaries who made so little of it. Moreover, in their masculine pride, they take great umbrage at the honors paid to Mary, apparently not so much because she is a creature as because she is a woman." "But, if the Jesuits have here no spiritual, they have, at least, a terrestrial success. For they have, with admirable perseverance, turned the whilom farm into a lovely, fruitful garden, and laid it out with such perfection as I have never seen rivalled here. The most various sorts of trees had been set out, all manner of vegetables and flowers were reared; they had even made a trial of asparagus fields-and this all was skillfully irrigated. And, as a main proof of their industry, in beds and fields not a weed was to be seen. The two men, in their monotonous life, find their especial delight in this garden."
524 NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER
NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER.
John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides. An Autobiography. Edited by his brother. Second Part. New York: Carter & Brothers. $1.50. Those who read the first part of this fascinating autobiograpby will read with equal delight this second volume. For thrilling adventure, for heroic daring and enduring, for vivid romance and apostolic zeal, for robust piety and noble achievement, this work stands almost unrivaled in the annals of Missionary literature. We cannot do better than quote the Introductory Note to the volume from the pen of our associate, Dr. Pierson: "The avidity with which Part I. of Mr. Paton's remarkable life story was received by the public in· England has been no surprise. Before this second part was issued from the press three thousand copies were already sold, and the entire edition of 5,000 was so soon exhausted that it has beenimpossible to cope with the demand. We have no hesitation in pronouncing this second part the most fascinating narrative of missionary adventure and heroism and success that we have ever met. This volume abounds in poetry and pathos, dramatic interest and thrilling experience, lit up by the golden rays of a delicate and unique humor. It reminds one of a varied landscape, with bold mountains and modest valleys, where snow-crowned summits look down on summer gardens; where cascades fall into quiet streams, and where all the marvels of light and shade at once relieve and diversify the scene. The twenty-two miles' gallop through the Anstralian bush on the back of Garibaldi, which made the inexperienced rider drunk with ex- ·citement and fatigue; the Ariwan woman who, judging clothes an evidence of a new heart, proved her decided conversion by coming into chapel having her person grotesquely adorned by every article of male attire which she could beg or borrow, may illustrate the comical side of this charming story. The three years of progress among cannibals, in laying foundations of Christian families, schools, churches, and even social order, may serve as one of the grandest indications, through all history, of that gospel which is still the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation."-J. M. S.
Foreign Missions: Their place in the Pastorate, in Prayer, in Conference. Ten Lectures. By Augustus C. Thompson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1889. $1.75. These lectureswere delivered as the annual series under the Foreign Missionary Lectureship in the Hartford Theological Seminary last year. The topics and the method of treatment were of course chosen with reference to a select professional class-room audience instead of a large popular assembly. While of special interest and value to a Senior Class of Theological Students, they could not be otherwise than instructive, coming from the eminent source they did, to all the students and friends of missions throughout the world.
The topics of the several lectures will show the breadth of the discussion and the highly practical character of them all. I. The Minister's Sphere. II. and m. Missionary Obligation.
IV. Ministerial Prayer and Missions. V., VI. and VII. Missionary Concerts. VIII. Prayer for Missions Answered. IX. and X. Missionary Conferences. These topics are all vital to the missionary enterprise. They are each and all subjects of the utmost importance to be clearly under- ·stood and made practical in missionary life. And we rejoice that such a master in Israel has grappled with them, and set them forth so promineutly and with such clearness and force and wealth of illustration. "Mis.'lionary Obligation!" How faintly is it conceived or felt! Only here and there one begins to comprehend the significance of the High Commission of our Ascended Lord, or to see the Hand of God in the marvelous and supernatural movements of the day. Dr. Thompson shows the true basis of this "obligation"-the great underlying principles of all missionary work-and he enforces the obligation by weighty motives and facts. We call special attention to his remarks on "Missionary Concerts." He devotes no less than three chapters to the subject, showing the importance he attaches to the subject. It was a sad day for the Church when the" Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions" lost its hold and was largely given up by pastor aud people. The church ought to rally everywhere for its restoration. We know of no one agency so wisely adapted to interest and enthuse pastor and people and promote a liberal and self-sacrificing spirit, than such a regular monthly service can be made to be. We earnestly hope these lectures will fall under the eye of thousands of our pastors and leading laymen who now neglect this service, which was once observed so extensively and with such blessed results. The lecture, "Prayer for Missions Answered," is highly inspiriting, while the two last lectures on "Missionary Conferences" afford a fund of information and suggestion that can be extensively utilized by the friends of missious. The infiuence of such a volume-BO scriptural and philosophical in its teaching, so broad and catholic in spirit, so clear and incisive in its statement, and so eminently timely and practical in its cas~nnot fail to have its effect on the current thought of the day, even beyond the immediate circle of missions.-J. M. S.
A Century of Christian Progress: Showing also the Increase of Protestantism and the Decline of Popery. By the Rev. James Johnston, F. S. S. Second edition. Fleming H. Revell. New York and Chicago. Paper 25c., cloth 50c. We expressed a highly favorable opinion of this little work in our notice of the first edition in our issue for November, 1888. .The present editiou ,contains "all that is essential for demonstrative proof" found in the first, modified somewhat
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
so as to secure a wider circulation. The object of this brief remarkable treatise is: 1. To encourage hope in the evangelization of all nations, by showing the progress which Christianity, as a whole, has made in the past, and specially during the last century. There are now 400,000,000 of nominal Christians in the world. Fully 800,000,000 out of the 1,400,000,000 of the population of the earth live under the government of Christian States. With the exception of savage tribes, no nation is under the independent rule of an idolatrous government. The idols, though not abolished, are dethroned. 2. To show the growing ascendency of Protestantism, and, owing to its slow rate of increase, the relative decline of Popery. 3. To make Protestants feel their obligation to spread the religion to which they owe. the unparalleled position of power and intluence which, in Providence, they occupy: with their 135,000,000 stationed in almost every part of the habitable globe, and with 3,000,000 of converts scattered among the heathen of every race, it needs but the breath of the Holy Spirit to infuse life into them, and the evangelization of the world is as sure as the promises of God. 4. To warn Protestants of the danger and folly of mimicking the rights and yielding to the seductions of Popery, which has, as a religious system, as a moral intluence, and as a political power, proved itself, where dominant, an utter failure. Protestant statesmen, eccleSiastics, and ritualists, are now its greatest dupes, or are making dupes of the ignorant. All who are interested in the progress of the Kingdom of Christ should procure this book. It will impress and encourage as well as unfold how much is still to be done.-J. M. S.
In the Far East is an exquisite volume, with illustrations, containing letters from Mary Geraldine Guinness, on China, and published by F. H. Revell, Chicago and New York. It is sufficient to say of this book that it is written and edited by daughters of Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness, and introduced to the public by Dr. A. J. Gordon. The map of China, which prefaces the volume, is one of the best we have ever seen, prepared with artistic care. The letters are racy, homelike, and written with a woman's keen appreciation of everything she saw. They are full of information, and have a strange touch of sympathy about them which makes the whole world seem kin.-A. T. P.
Map of Central Africa. Published by the "African News," Vineland, N. J.-75 cents. This is an interesting and valuable map of Equatorial Africa, covering that portion of the continent between six degrees north and twenty degrees south latitude. It is 18×24 inches in size, but on the same sheet are severalinsets giving (1) the whole of the continent, with enlargements of the Delta of the Nile and southern Africa; (2) map of Liberia; (3) Angola; (4) Africa in its relation to other continents; (5) Bishop Taylor's missions on the Lower Congo. Leopoldville, on Stauley Pool, is made the centre of circular lines showing distances across the continent. The publication is specially designed to illustrate the missions and plans of Bishop Taylor, but willlfe valuable to anyone who desires a good and detailed map of this portion of the great continent. The map is on good paper, printed in colors, and folded into a cover which renders it convenient for use.-J. M. S.
II.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, It happens frequently that volun- and persuaded by the power of that teers are compelled to give as a reason love to a practical exhibition of for their non-departure to their chosen loyalty to their Master. "The Student missionary fields that there are no Volunteer Movement" has under- funds in the treasuries of the Boards taken, through her representatives, to send them. The Presbyterian to awaken churches to a consciousness Board of Foreign Missions carries, at of their duty and privilege in support- present, a debt of $60,000, and the ing missionaries; the missionary hav- financial status of other old-established' ing been urged as "a living link"
Boards is itself a commentary on the between the church and the foreign lukewarm interest manifested in the field. The following "Plan of Sys- cause of foreign missions by the multi- tematic Giving" has been adopted by tude of Christians possessing this individual churches in many parts of world's goods-men and women, en- New England and the East: rolled as church members, who are, we believe, not willfully disobedient THE PLAN. to .our Lord's commands, or deliber- 1. An opportunity will be given to all who so ately unresponsive to His love, but desire to subscribe to the following pledge: who simply need to be enlightened "I promise to give $ ….•….. and …….. cents each week during a period of five years from date, towards the support of a missionary in the foreign field, this sum to be over separately and go to other objects." and above my present offerings to the cause Before the adoption of the plan of of foreign missions."* systematic giving between $500 and $600 was raised by the church. The (Instead of weekly payments, quarterly or amount pledged per annum by this plan yearly payments may be made if so desired.) is something more than $2,700 (a sur- plus of about $400 over cost of support 2. The weekly offerings shall be placed in of our two missionaries; this sum being envelopes furnished by the church treasurer exclusive ofchurchcollection, Sunday- to those who subscribe to the pledge, and these school contributions, etc.). Two mis- envelopes shall be collected on each Sabbath sionaries and their wives are wholly in connection with the usual collection. supported. Our regular collections have been larger since the adoption of 3. It is suggested that a committee be ap- "the plan" than before. "I se~ no pointed by the church to assist the treasurer reason why other churches should not in the work of collection and in obtaining new quintuple their gifts to foreign mis- subscriptions. sions, to their own spiritual benefit, if pastors would do their duty in inform- 4. If the amount pledged in any church is ing their people of facts, and enlisting sufficient for the annual support of one or of their sympathies in the work, by the several missionaries, that church shall report adoption of this, or a similar plan." to the Foreign Board with which it is con- nected, that such a sum has been pledged for Between the dates April 8 and 26, five years, and request that the board appoint Mr. Robert E. Speer, traveling secre- one or more missionaries to represent that tary, has visited the following educa- church in the foreign field. tional institutions: University of Vir- ginia, Charlottesville, Va.; University 5. If the amount pledged in any church is of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C.; more than sufficient for the support of one colleges: .Emory, Oxford, Ga.; Rich- missionary and not enough for the support of mond, Richmond, Va.; Wofford, two, the surplus shall be sent to ihe Foreign Spartansburg, S. C.; Vanderbilt, NAsh- Board to be applied to the cause of foreign ville, Tenn.; Davidson, Davidson, N. missions in whatever way may be thought C.; Trinity, North Carolina; Pantop's best. Academy, Charlottesville, Va. Total number of volunteers secured within 6. If the amount pledged in any church is dates above mentioned, sixty. insufficient for the support of a missionary, that church may unite with neighboring Concerning Mr. Speer's recent visit churches of the same denomination in the to Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass., support of a representative. If this is im- a correspondent writes: "He ad- possible, the amount raised shall be for- dressed the whole school on the mornwarded to the Foreign Board, to be used as the ing of March 22, reading 2 Kings, board may direct. 7th chapter, and considering especially a portion of the ninth verse: 'Then 7. This plan is to be so carried out as not to they said one to another, we do not interfere in any way with existing missionary well; this day is a day of good tidings, agencies, but with the hope and earnest and we hold our peace; if we tarry prayer that it may result in larger contribu- till the morning light some mischief tions than have ever been made to the mission will come upon us.' cause. " A general interest," continues the A letter received recently by Mr. R. writer, "has been felt throughout the school since Mr. Speer's visit, which P. Wilder, from Rev. William H. seems to have lasted, and since he was here the volUJ.iteers have met once in Miller, of Bryn Mawr, contains facts two weeks for prayer, and to help one which demonstrate the practicability of support of missionaries by hundreds of other churches throughout the country-churches who have as earnest and aggressive and enthusiastic pastors as the incumbent of the Presbyterian Church at Bryn Mawr, who writes: "Our contributions to this special work are made in quarterly installments, paid directly to our missionary treasurer. The church annual collection, and the gifts of our Ladies' Society and of our Sundayschool to foreign missions are all made * This pledge is not legally binding. .another. Most of the nUp,lber have count of the heavy adverse balance been present, and are earnest, conse- with which the Treasurer's return for crated girls. Weare trusting that 1889 was closed, the unexpected be- much good may be done for God here quest is highly acceptable. Mr. Sturge's in our school, and later in other lands, interest in the foreign missions of the through these consecrated lives." English Presbyterians is remarkable, inasmuch as he himself was a member MAx WOOD MOORHEAD. of the Society of Friends. Previously he had contributed £1,000 towards it. Foreign Mission Notes. The missions are carried on in Amoy, Swatow, Hakkadom, Formosa, Singa- BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, A. S. A., pore, and Rampore Banleah, Bengal, BOLTON, ENGLAND. at an annual expenditure of about £17,000. – General Presbyterian Alliance. At the last meeting of the Foreign -British Churches and the Anti. Mission Committee of the Alliance, in Slavery Conference. The presenta- Edinburgh, a large number of repre- tion of some 120 memorials, princi- sentatives attended from the different pally from Scotland and Ireland, to Presbyterian churches in England, the Conference relating to primary Ireland, and Scotland. A resolution questions in its deliberations, is a sig- was adopted thanking Lord Salisbury nificant indication of the watchful at- for the protection afforded by Her tention devoted to the recommenda- Majesty's government to the mission- tions expected. The non-conformists aries on the Shire Highlands and in have been singularly energetic, especi- Nyassaland, against the encroach- ally the Society of Friends, in dis- ments of the Portuguese, and the se- patching petitions. Until the Church ,curity guaranteed for the continuance of England Temperance Society pre- .of the missions in Southeast Central sented a memorial signed by the Africa. It was decided to submit to Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Anti-Slavery Conference at Brus- and numerous dignitaries and lay- sels, the views of the Committee on men on February 26, the Established Slavery, and the reckless distribution Church of England (with the ex- of firearms and alcoholic drinks ception of a few wide-awake par- among the native races of the Dark ishes) had been entirely silent. The Continent. Other matters of vital in- memorialists touched on the special terest to foreign mission work had features of the traffic in spirituous €xhaustive consideration. The pro- liquors. They alluded to the practice jected union into one national church of Europeans forcing the natives to of the various Presbyterian missions allow the importation of drink; tothe in India, and similar proposals with inferior quality of the spirits sold; its regard to China, were favorably re- disastrous effects upon semi-civilized ceived. It was stated that a United races, and the need of repressing the Mission Presbytery is being formed in trade wherever practicable. The Manchuria between the agents of the President of the Conference referred Scottish United Presbyterian and of in his reply to the long programme, the Irish Presbyterian churches. consisting of difficult and intricate questions affecting slavery, arms, am- -Prelbyterian Church of England munition, and liquors, to be dealt with Foreign Missions. The Treasurer of by the 43 representatives of 17 powers. the Society is to be congratulated upon He anticipated that the enormous 'the intimation from the solicitors of tracts, chiefly under the swayof Islam, the late Mr. George Sturge, London- which at present were untouched, a noble advocate and patron of peace might be saved from the introducand missions-that they proposed for- warding, in aid of its operations, a donation of £5,000, from the "residue" of the deceased gentleman. On action of drink; and he was hopeful orating agency of education, superinthat an improvement was possible, tended by ~issionarY organizations. It where the traffic has a foothold, by the wascontendedthatwithmoreinforma- interdict of a general impost duty tion of the statesmanlike plans which upon an equalizing scale all round the had been inaugurated by Dr. Duff and coast. The deputation were urged to Dr. Inglis, beneficial results might be make public to the uttermost among traced which exceeded material arith- the nationalities represented at the metical calculations. Dr. Scott elo- Conference the legislation adopted, quently demonstrated that an evan- and, ultimately, to keep a vigilant eye gelistic mission must be an educational on its execution. It is evident from mission if absolutely successful. To their letters and speeches that the the twofold instrumentality of preach- English and Belgian delegates are in ing and teaching, much of the eleva- warm sympathy with the movement tion socially, intellectually, and relig-· for the repression, if not the total pro- iously in India, he held, was distinctly hibition, of the sale of liquors among attributable. In proportion to its re- the native tribes. sources, no educationally religious, -The Presbytery of Edinburgh and method had excelled that of the As- Indian Missions. On the mooted sembly, and to abandon the Hindus in question of higher education in India, this respect, meant Government teach- the report of the Assembly's Foreign ing,which regarded no religion. or per- Missions Committee was lately sub- version by Roman Catholic mission- mitted to the Presbytery. The Com- aries.
mittee was requested to pronounce May Missionary Anniversaries. whether the discontinuance of the current system of higher education -Wesleyan Missionary Society.
was advisable, and whether the cost At the annual gathering May 5th, in of maintenance could be reduced. For Exeter Hall, the best meeting known, education in Calcutta a sum of £1,157 according to Dr. Rigg, the report was expended, of which £594 repre- showed receipts amounting to £140,623 sented the outlay on higher instruction and the expenditure £139,814. The and £563 on elementary education. At actual debt amounts to £6,500. It Madras the expense was £385, of was stated that the total expend- which only £66 was laid out on ad- iture on the Indian Missions during vanced teaching. Of the Foreign the past ten years had increased by Mission revenue, £18,479, contributed £11,000, while the native contribu- in 1888, the Church at home spent tions had more than doubled, being only £660 on higher class training. now £17,247.
The recommendation of the Gen- -Church Missionary Society. On eral Assembly by the Committee to the 6th of May the 91st anniversary retain the high schools and colleges was attended by a vast audience in in India, was accompanied by valu- London. It appeared from the report able suggestions. These referred to that the Society had 297 stations; the utility of effecting co-operation in European missionaries, ordained, 282 ; this department with sister organiz- lay, 51 ; ladies, 57; total, 390. Native ations, of a modification in the scale of and Eurasian clergy, 287; native lay fees, of the missionary design of the col- and female teachers, 4,210; native leges b,eing emphasized, and of the in- Christian adherents (including Cate- culcation of a strong missionary spirit chumens), 187,785; native communi- among the teachers. Influential mem- cants, 46,520 ; schools, 1,772; scholars, bers of the Presbytery cordially sus- 72,277 (returns incomplete). Total re- tained the views of the Committee, and ceipts £260,282, and payments £224.- adverted in positive terms to the ameli- 585. A donor who had been interested in the newspaper reports of the Society servations. He thought that there gave £5,000. was a tendency to unduly exalt the negro, which only did him harm -British and Foreign Bible Society. and the missionary cause no good. More system was wanted in missions, The 89th annual gathering was cele- and the natives should be taugJ1t brated on the 7th of May, and, as in the value of labor. He had known former years, attracted a crowded as- several of their missionaries, and could testify to the thoroughly '*' sembly. Mr. Spurgeon, Mr. McNeill, practical manner in which they did their work. Young mIsslOnaries Dr. Newman Hall, and other distin- were apt to think that they were guished representatives of thechurches going to do something very wonder- attended. The free income of the S0- ful, that miracles would be worked ciety realized £113,773; sale of Script- on their behalf, in consequence of ures, £98,189; and various channels which ordinary precautions were often made the aggregate receipts £212,077, disregarded. The time seemed to have the expenditure amounting to £227,- come when God had decreed that 566. Encouraging signs were visible Africa should be subdued by the gos- throughout the world, particularly in pel, but there would be a great strug- France, Spain, Germany, Austria, gle between Mohammedanism and Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Christianity, and this would likely 0c- Persia, European and Asiatic Russia. cur on the Congo, or further north.
-Baptist Missionary Society. At the annual soiree held in CannoIiStreet Hotel, the chairman, Sir Francis de Winton, made some noticeable ob- Africa.-African Trade. Mr. Kel- capable with the progress of popula- tie, of the Royal Geographical Society, tion, order and civilization. gives some reliable statistics on this subject. The entire trade of Africa, -The strong position Italy now ocexports and imports included, he cupies at Massaua on the Red Sea, its reckons at 85,000,000 to 90,000,000 ster- military strength, its alliance with ling. Of this some 40,000,000 are to be King Menelek, itsrisingcolonyatAssab credited to the countries along the -all inspire the hope that Abyssinia Mediterranean. The West African and the Galla country may be speedily trade between the Tropics is about opened up to the gospel. The past 5,000,000. The entire trade of Central . labors of the C. M. S., since 1830, in Africa is some 15,000,000. The remain- these regions are well known. Gobat, ing amount must go to South Africa, Krapf, Isenberg, were among its faithwhere trade is increasing at present, ful agents; these were, however, it may be said, by leaps and bounds. gradually driven out through religious As an instance, the exports of Cape intrigue and the violence of King Colony for last year are reckoned at Theodore. There remain, however, 9,405,955l., being an increase of more valuable translations, such as those in than half a million (673,354l.) on the the Amharic, Tigre and Galla tongues; previous year. Of this amount, Trans- the last the laborious work of Dr. vaal gold stands for 860,945l. Of the Krapf. There are still, also, fragentire African trade, Mr. Keltie reck- ments of missions among the Falashas, ons that seven-eighths are derived in the Shoa country, and there is the from one million square miles, the Swedish Mission at Massaua, etc., remammg millions not yielding which General Gordon so generously 10,000,000 worth; that is, about a mil- supported. The church of Rome is lion on an average for each million of availing itself of the opportunity. It square miles. This suggests of what is said that Russia also is to establish a large development African trade is consulate and to send a mission. Itis to be hoped that evangelical missions will not be slow to avail themselves of French will now have it that the Mo- this open door. An immense region bangi is within their limits. In the of country opens out, if we include Lower Congo there is also progress. the territories north of the Blue Nile, Vessels now ascend, passing Banana Shoa, the high regions of the Interior, and Boma, to Mataddi, the basis of the the Galla country-all that may be railway to Stanley Pool. The laborers embraced under the name Ethiopia. here include Vei, Kru, Haussa, Loan- :111 The grand total, it is stated, amounts go, the Bangala of the district, who to 1,141,690 square miles, occupied by are found the best. It is hoped that numerous races, probably destined to the railway may be completed in four hold a high place in a future civilized years. Its length will be some 180 to Africa. 190 miles, and it will cost about a million sterling. Meanwhile there are -Mr. Mackenzie, of the British ox-wagons, and the cost is about East African Company, and Major 201. per ton, which leaves a good Wissman, have agreed upon a joint margin for railway profit. Commerce plan of action to prevent the sale of is extendmg in the Middle Congo; arms in their respective spheres of ad- there are three trade steamers plying, ministration, with a view to checking and two being completed at Stanley slave raids in the Interior. Also, that Pool. But the Middle Congo naviga- Mr. Mackenzie has concludedarrange- tion will not be safe so long as the ments with the Arab masters on the Arabs hold the strategical position of coast for the redemption of from two the Stanley Falls. Tippoo Tib, it is tothreethousandrunawayslaves. Still plainly seen, is not to be trusted. The more welcome is the news thalt he is Arabs must be dislodged from the framing a license law to prevent the position, if the slave trade and slavery sale of intoxicating liquors within Brit- in Africa are to be vanquished. At ish territory. So long as this latter present they can send out marauding traffic is unrestrained, no permanent expeditions in all directions. progress, no general development of the country's resources, no civilization -Congo Money. There in now a worthy of the name, can be expected silver and copper currency, but, exin Africa. If the utter destruction of cept at Boma and Banana, it is of no the native races, both in body and use for work among the natives. At soul, is to be averted, the "raging Banana they have for many years Phlegethon" of gin, rum, and gun- been accustomed to use English silver, powder, which the "white man" is and I believe all along the coast its pouring down the rivers of Africa, value is well known; but for us to must be stopped. Only the other day, adopt it as things now are would be it is stated, two German vessels dis- ruinous. There is as yet so little cash charged at Zanzibar more than seven trade and so little competitionamongst thousand cases of gin, or some hor- traders that cash has a very low value. rible compound so called. For instance, a certain piece of cloth, or any of the more common articles of -In the great inner valley of the trade, would in England cost one Congo there is a large extension of dollar; but to buy the same with cash operations. There are the American herewouldcost$2.250r$2.50; and while and English Baptist Missions at work, the traders aim chiefly to develop a and there is also the Mission of Dr.Guin- barter trade-native produce for Euroness. The exploration of the Mobangi pean goods-this will remain so. by Mr. Grenfell is an important fact. The river is beyond what was under- The native currency from Palabala stood to be the French boundary east- to Ngombi, say three days and a half ward, !!eventeen degrees; but, as with on this side of Stanley Pool, is blue Stanley Pool and the Kwilu, the glass (chopped) beads. I understand the bead is made by manufacturing a Ho-zi. A native Christian, thrown long tube, six-sided, of blue glass, out of employment for refusing to work on the Lord's day, went on the which is then chopped into irregular Monday afternoon to a tea shop to lengths, one-fourth to one-eighth of an preach the gospel. Mr. Wong there inch long. A string of about one hun- and then accepted it, and after some dred of these lengths or beads is the time returned to his native district to standard coin of the people. In the seek the conversion of his family and markets one can r3J.'ely buy food, etc., neighbors, while working on his own farm. After· several years of such with other goods. One must first sell work, a lady in England, recently de- his knives, or cloth, etc., for these ceased, sent him a small sum of money blue beads, and thereafter purchase to enable him to hire partial help on food, etc., with them. Beyond Ngombi his farm, that he might be more free for evangelization. The old man has the currency is a rod of brass, about been preaching the gospel there for 29 twenty inches long and one-eighth of years, and for over 20 years has shepan inch thick. It will no doubt be years ere the people take to a metal herded a little church in his house of 20 or 30 native Christians, the fruit of his labors.
(European) currency, such as is being A missionary, not connected with tried by the State, as they will be very the C. I. M., passing through a city slow in believing that one of these in the north of Kiang-su, preached .silver or copper coins represents so the gospel there. One of his hearers was much impressed, and obtained a many strings of beads or so many couple of tracts from a native helper.
brass rods. Another grave hindrance After studying them carefully, he is the fact that it will be very difficult went to the inn where the missionary to get the trading-houses, etc., with had stayed to seek further instruc- tion, but found that he had gone. In the State, to agree to a standard of deep hunger and thirst of soul, after exchange for coin and native cur- weeks of vain inquiry, he learned rency.-Rev. JQseph Clark, Palabala. that we had an out-station four days' journey to the south. Thither he re- China.-Value of a Single Proc- paired, and received much instruction, lamation of the Gospel. Dr. Med- but failed to find rest to his soul. Journeying four days further to the hurst, in 1835, landed on the island of south in search of help, Mr. Tomalin, Lam-yit and left books; in 1868 a of the C. I. M., had the joy of being native preacher vi.ted that island, instrumental in his conversion, and he and was preaching on the seashore, returned to his duties with Christian when two men said: " Come up to tracts and books, a rejoicing believer. the village; we have books that con- Before he left that neighborhood he tain the same doctrine; our father was the means of interesting about a -charged us before his death to take dozen people in the gospel, who subgood care of these books, for by-and- sequently became the members of a by some one would come to explain native church when one was formed them." In six months more than 60 there. Leaving the city, he went to persons were baptized on that island. his own native district, where he The first convert in the Presbyterian was greatly used of God, and three or ·church at Yu-yao read a sheet tract foul' village churches exist to-day, the posted on the city wall, and not liking outcome of his work in the Lai-gan the position assigned to Confucius, as district of the Gan-hwuy province. compared with the Lord Jesus, took One of the most remarkable helpers the first opportunity of going to dis- we have ever had in Cheh-kiang was cuss the matter with a native preacher, a literary man, Mr. Nying, whose con- which issued in his conversion. version was the fruit of a single con- The first convert the Lord gave us versation with Mr. Stevenson. Eternity in Ningpo rose up and testified to his only will show all the fruit of that acceptance of the gospel the first time man's conversion. One of the most he heard it. He subsequently became devoted native pastors we have in a native preacher, and died, I believe, Shan-si received his first leading to in the service of the United Methodist the truth through a gospel given him Free Church. by a man who procured it from one The oldest native helper in connec- of our missionaries on the occasion of tion with the C. I. M. is Mr. Wong, of a solitary visit to the neighborhood. Time would fail to tell of scores of Ohristians doing something on behalf of people who are under the same Im- similar cases which might easily be perial rule. An endeavoris at present collected, showing the blessing re- being made to drive home this fact, ceived through once hearing or with a view to the revival of the de- through receiving a book. Apart, al- funct Auxiliary Oommittee. together, from cases of distinct con- version byvisits of the kind proposed, Recently a meeting in aid was held the whole Ohinese mind is being en- at the Oonference Hall, Mildmay Park. lightened, and subjects for thought The chair was occupied by Dr. Ward- are suggested that cannot be forgotten, law Thompson, of the London Mis- and will surely bear fruit in days to sionary Society, who spoke of what he come. The Ohinese nation had lost had seen and heard of the work of the the knowledge of one living, personal Society in South Africa. The long- God. Without God there can be no continued and successful labors of M. true idea of sin, and there is no place George Oasalis in Basutoland, and for forgiveness and atonement. A the brave pioneering work of M. and dingle visit may sethundreds of people Mme. Ooillard on the Zambesi, were thinking and talking, and prepare the described in the terms of warm admi- way for a great work later on, even ration they merit. M. A. Boegner, where no immediate good is apparent. secretary of the Society, told in ex- -J. Hudson Taylor, in Ohina's Mil- cellent English the story of the exten- lions. sion of the work, which was begun in great weakness, but with faith in God, France. – French Missions in and a desire to obey the command to preach the gospel throughout the Africa. The Paris Society of Evan- world. There are in Basutoland 17 sta- tions and 111 out-stations; 5 superior gelical Missions has long been doing sohools, and about 111 primary schools; 190 native workers, 6,543 church mem- excellent work in the great harvest bers, and 3,332 candidates for member- ship. Special efforts have been made field. Quietly and persistently, since to render the work'llelf-supporting, but through the increasing poverty of the 1822, it has testified for Ohrist in people since the late war, this is'not yet possible. The Roman Oatholics distant lands where the gospel is un- are very busy, and the field must not be neglected. M. Boegner pointed known. Beginning in South Africa, out, in conclusion, that the pressing need to-day is a special fund of about it has done a work of unique interest £500 or £600 a year to support native evangelization. among the Basutos. Other regions Pastor G. Appia followed with a have also been entered in the true spirit vigorous address. He rejoiced to speak of the enthusiasm of the chilof gospel conquest, and an admirable dren of French Protestants in regard to missionary work. M. Ooillard's read!ness has ever been shown, on mission is, he said, full of promise. MdIle. Kiener, a Swiss lady, who is political emergencies arising, to oc- about to join the misflion party on the Zambesi, was present at the meeting, cupy spheres which only Frenchmen and was, in earnest prayer; com- mendM to the Lord for protection and could fill. We rejoice to state that blessing in her undertaking.
the Society is about to send a mis- sionaryto take the place of Rev. John Jones, of the L. M. S., who was ex- pelled from Mare, one of the Loyalty Islands.
A peculiar interest attaches to the work of the Society in South Africa, inasmuch as subsequently to the Ohurch of Ohrist being firmly planted in Basutoland, the people have been taken under British protection. Some years ago there was an English Oom- mittee in aid of the general work, and the assistance was gratefully received by the Society; to-day there is not only more acute need for such help, seeing the demands on the Society have greatly increased, but the fitness of things points the desirability of British
MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS
Jews.-The following is quoted awakened a marvelous echo, and from a recent address by Dr. Adolph although we may not be able to point Saphir: "The attitude of Israel to the to many results as far as baptism is person of Jesus himself has become concerned, and the organization of .changed, and also to the New Testa- such things as appear outwardly and ment, which formerly thousands and can be registered, yet the amount of thousands would not even touch with interest which has been called forth their hands, reg:trding itas an unclean among the Jews throughout all Europe thing. It is most astonishing how in the testimony which has been many thousands of Jews within the raised by him, clearlyshows that there last few years have begun to read that is something special in the present book, and to read it in an attitude day, that the Jews have entered into of compartive candor. Rabinowitz is a new phase, that the field is prea wonderful sign of the times, and the pared, that the hour has come, that it message which, as a Jew, he brings to is our duty to go in faith and in love, the Jews, that Jesus is our brother, and bring to them the glad tidings of whom we sold into Egypt, has salvation."
I1I.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
Africa. Algiers.
LETTER FROM REV. JOHN SCOTT. BAPTISM OF A MOHAMMEDAN IN A PRESBYTERUN Impolwerie, Natal, South Ajrica, CBURCH. March 12, 1890. My DEAR DR. PIERSON:-I have just time to On Sunday, April 27th, an interesting service :give you a short account of my work on Sab- (writesa correspondent) took place in the Scot- bath, February 23<1. After many delays and tish Ohurch at Algiers–the handsome edifice nearly two years absence, I held a baptismal presented to the Presbyterian Ohurch of Scot- service at H1atlkulu, one of my distant out- land by the late Sir Peter Ooats. In addition to stations. This station, not yet four years in the regular congregation, a large num~r of existence, is under the faithful evangelist, strangers were present, some of them being Petros Muyabi. I leave you to imagine my students of medicine attending the Ecole de feelings when I admitted 50 adults and 61 chilo Medicine in Algiers. There were also present dren to the visible church of Ohrlst. It was a Rev. J. Lowitz, agentoftbeBritishandForeigu long forenoon's work; in only one' case was Bible Society; Rev. Adolphe Goldenberg, mis- there a united family, father, mother and sionary to the Jews; the Hon. and Rev. Francis children; the majority of the adults were Byng, former chaplain to the House of Oomwomen; in two cases they brought twins, and mons; Mr. Borel, agent of the M'AII Mission, in each case a third child of three or four years etc. The occasion of the unusual gathering of age. A few years ago one o/the twins would was the public baptism and reception into the have been smothered, as that is Zulu custom. Ohristian church of Abdel Kader Ould Bouzian, In the afternoon, in God's glorious temple, we an Arab and Mussulman by birth, and a nasat down over 200 professing Ohristians to re- tive of Morocco. He has for the regular member our dear Saviour; whilst nearly 1,000 course been a student of medicine, has obheathen or semi-heathen looked on; they were tained his diploma as a medical practitioner, scattered about on the grass. It was impossible and has lately been chosen to the post of into hold the service in doors, as our little church terne or house surgeon at the Hospital Oivil at would not hold even the communicants, in Mustapha, having been promoted to this offact, it was nearly filled with the candidates t1ce after public examination, in which he was for baptism. successful over a list of above twenty others- We are not without our trials. Satan is mak- mostly French and other European students. ing a big fight, and, as usual, trying many Dr. Bouzian is a tall, intelligent-looking man, methods to hinder our work. The greatest seemingly about 26 or 27 years of age, with 1:..ial that I have met with as yet is the fall the tanned skin and large, mellow eyes of the into gross sin of one of my evangelists, a man wandering race. He is evidently a man of who seemed greatly blessed of God. His strong will and determination, and as he stood case is not concluded yet, but I feel it almost up before the congregation to answer the impossible that he can clear himself. Another questions put to him regarding his belief, his new foe is the Church of Rome, which is steal- appearance indicated that he fully realized the ing in, seeking to destroy our work. serious nature of the step he is taking, which ~iIl sever him forever from his kindred, and make him a marked man among the Arab enable it to rent rooms for its Sunday-school, p"pulation of Algeria. After a statement re- prayer meetingR, missionary work, and such garding the nature and ends of Christian bap- appointments for its life and work which every tism, and the reading of Scripture recording well-organized church in our land possesses. the conversion and baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, by the Rev_ J. Royd, Scottish clergy- The needs in Paris present unique and re- man, Dr. Bouzian was asked, in French, ques- markable opportunities for usefulness. This. tions regarding his belief and resolve to live a church ought to be made a centre of religious. Christian life, to which he responded in a soft life and activity. It is in close sympathy with but distinct voice, "Oui, c'est mon d~s-ir." He the forces which are at work in Paris_ We arc wasthen publiclybaptized,the old test benedic- praying and hoping that'some person or per- tion being pronounced in French, and immedi- sons will give the needed endowment. ately afterwards chanted in English by a choir of ladies. Dr. Bouzian was then solemnly ad- The pastor, or the American and Foreign dressed in French by the Rev. J. Lowitz (him- Christian Union, will be very glad to furnish self a convert from Judaism to Christianity), all information concerning our condition, need and, in accordance with an old French ecclesi- and plans. In the meantime it is necessary, astical custom, he was publicly presented with in order that we may meet our current ex- a French Bible in the name of the church. The penses, that we ask the co-operation of ceremony was deeply touching and interest- churches and friends in the United States. ing. Many will watch with keen interest the The following plan has been most helpful to- career of this young Arab surgeon, who has re- us in the past year. We desire to thank the solved to abandon the religion and friends of churches and individuals whose kindness has his early days, and to cast in his lot with the been so opportune and encouraging. The Christian church. plan is that individuals and churches rent pews for a term.of one or three years. France. The name of the party renting the pew will be A STRONG APPEAL. placed UpOI'. it, ,"nd the pew will be reserved for- the use of the persons or members of the con- [The Scotch church at Paris is doing gregations when they visit Paris. The pews a noble work for our Lord, and its contain six sittings, and the rent is $80 (eighty dollars) per annum. The.money may be sent by value is high above all denominational cheque on local bank by any church treas';rer questions. The editors with pleasure to Mr. Edward Henry, Treasurer of the Amerigive to the public this appeal in its can Church, 21 rue de Berri. Mr. Henry's address is 10 rue Poisson. behalf.-EDS.] Most cordially and fraternally yonTS, DEAR DR. PIERsoN:-The American Chnrch, EnWA.Rn G. THURBER. 21 rue de Berri, Paris, in its history of more than thirty years has justified the wisdom and PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE. Christian zeal of its founders and friends. It has fulfilled a most important mission in William Herrick, F. A. Gaylord, Eugene C_ ministering to the large nnmber of travelers Savidge, Edward Henry, R. S_ Waring, Henry who pass through Paris, and to those who for a Crandall. longer or shorter period have taken up their residence in this city. This church is vitally CHURCH COMMITTEE. r~lated with the Christian churches of the United States. It is their representative and Alex. Donaldson, A. A. Anderson, J. B. Rey.. servant; it seeks to care for the welfare of nolds, C. C. Curran, K. N. Cowedry, N. K.. those who are absent from their homes and Gillett. present in Paris. More than a thousand students in art, literature and other branches of INTl!:RESTING LETTER FROM MISSIONARY CHARLES study in this city need its helpful Christian care and sympathy_ There is a large field here E. FA.ITHFULL. for its best activity and service. Its position is strategic and most important. The Seamen'. Re.•t, Marseille, April 5, 1890.
It was established on an evangelical and DEA.R DR. SHERwoon:-It is Good Friday, union basis to be a home to members of vari- and on all public buildings, theatres of course ous households of faith. Its prosperity and included, and on the ships facing our MiSSion, efficiency are measured by the degree of sym- fiags fly at half mast, a sad but forceful illuspathy and co-operation it receives from the tration of a religion with a dead Christ. We· home churches. The resources of the church have hoisted full mast all our bunting, Bethel, are from weekly Sunday offerings, donations, English, Norwegian, and Swedish flags, and and pew rentals; the income from these when asked why, our reply was, we believe in' sources .has been inadequate for its support a living God and rejoice to witness to His' and work. The church should have an ample power and grace. endowment, the annual income of which would Taking advantage of the day, I had a special meeting this evening,when seven different na- tionalities joined, first in French and then in English (the latter is the language most spoken by sailors) in hymns, principally from the well known Sacred Songs and Solos, and then fol- lowed two brief pointed addresses from myself on the questions, (lIs it True 'r' andif so I' Where am I Drifting?" An American afterwards ex- tenance of the Rest with its varied branches pressed his pleasure at having dropped in; he of effort for the good of the souls and bodies was a civil engineer, and said he had heard of men. Dr. Pierson, who, by-the-bye, we are looking forward to see for a few hours next week. By The M'All Mission, that I have the privilege God's help we have gone forward in this work. of assisting, mainfains a steady course, and its Last year showed a considerable increase upon able director here, Monsieur Lenoir, is mO!3t the previous oue, over 100 more sailors having active in seeking to improve opportunities. lodged in the Rest. We had, however, very Emigrants leaving our port, as well as differ- serious difficulties to contend with, small pox ent classes of men, such as postmen, soldiers, and typhoid fever having three times visited gas men, rag-pickers, have all come in for a the Rest; though proving fatal in only one in- share of special attention. stance, this entailed much expense, and then the serious strikes in the British Isles further The Mission Interiore has also been at work complicated matters so that, though friends lately: a series of eight consecutive meetings were as liberal as ever, our receipts fell off, was held in a large building that was generally and the year closed with a debt of £80, half of well filled with respectful and attentive audi- which is, I regret to say, still unpaid. ences. Some instances are recorded of con- version, one of whom I had the privilege of Another feature of advance is the Temper- dealing with, and many heard, probably for ance Coffee House and Restaurant, that since the first time, the gospel in all its purity and the alteration of premises and transfer to the simplicity, ground floor of the Rest, has steadily pros- pered, though not as yet self-supporting. This An almshouse for aged Protestant men has very desirable object, howe"er, is kept well also just been acquired here, and is mainly in view, and I hope to report its realization due to the energetic, devoted and determined ere another year closes. It is a matter for efforts of Pasteur Edouard 1I10nod, one of our very deep thankfulness, that in this wicked council. and increasingly intemperate city there is at least one place where spirituous liquors Whilst thanking God for all that is thus go- are nnknown. The light wine of the country ing forward, ones heart bleeds for the multi- is allowed, however, at meal times only. As to tudes still unreached, and by the shameless our customers, they are "all sorts and con expose of the corruption and impurity on ditions of men," and even women, respectable every hand. Imagine this: An immense plaof course, soldiers, sailors, workmen, clerks, card outside a large music hall announces as even a priest has been patronizing us the last a spectacle, "Ie Parades et l'enjer;" (paradise few days (an ex-missionary), and men of all and Hell) and crowds went to see it. nations. We are often sadly reminded of Babel whilst listening to the varied tongues But I fear I have already over-stepped the talked, but we sing" 'tis better on before, " and limits of a letter. Begging a continuance of Pentecost in its fullness will yet bring these your sympathy and prayers that are offered jarring elements once more together. for great blessing on the other side.
Still, yet I have to speak of advance. For Japan. some years we have been trying to counteract the terrible evils surrounding the sailors in the Hiroshima, Japan. shape of tailors and tailors' runners, by sup- To THE EDITORS OF THE MISSIONARY REVIEW: plying clothes at a fair price. I have at last decided upon a regular shop where everything The enclosed Outline Map of Japan I am Jack requires will be obtainable. Just at the confident wiII be of great interest to you. very time suitable premises offered, a cheque Working at Hiroshima, as I am, I will state arrived for the rent until Michaelmas. So I how it looks from this standpoint. This map am encouraged to expect my Heavenly Father is designed to show the work of the "United to send what we require to purchase the stock. Church of Christ in Japan," which now in- cludes all churches connected with the Ameri- Briefly, then, there has been progress, for can Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyterian, which we thank God and take courage. ·We Southern Presbyterian, Scotch Presbyterian, feel we are eminently .•ower., but we seek to Dutch Reformed, and German Reformed. sow prayerfully and carefully, and fullyexpect a rich harvest. All my fellow workers at In January, at the council of missions laborpresent are heartily and happily one with me. ing in connection with this United Church, the We represent six different nationalities, and following general stptistics were presented for speak eight different languages. For all that 1889: In the United Church the number bapwe need both for personal requirements and tized during the year was more than 1,500; for the work, I am cast upon the faithfulness contributions by native churches, 18,071.05 yen of a Covenant-keeping God, the payments of (the equivalent of about $14,100 U. S. gold)_ the sailors for board being the only source of The number baptized in connection with a.1l income, and only a small portion, for the sus- denominations, 5,500; amount contributed by the native Christians of all churches, 53,500 yen (about $40,000 U. S. gold).
In view of such figures it would seem that Missions do .'pay. " By glancing at the map, you will see that The only foreign missionaries in all this while the work of the United Church has a region are three men with their wives, and wide reach, there are large blank spaces, es· one single lady, of the Presbyterian Mission; pecially on the main island between Osaka two Southern Methodists, and one Episcoand Shimonoseki, and on the island of Kyushu. palian; these at Hiroshima, with another In view of this, last October, at the annual Episcopalian on the coast to the north of meeting of the Western Japan Mission, which Hiroshima. The location of 80 many at has missionaries located at Osaka, Kanazawa, Hiroshima shows that it is regarded as a MAP OF JAPAN …….. ~,tne W'QI"fI: _ ~ Vntl.«:l atuf'ch ~ N'1IUn" CIt phlOM ~" UIe. .' …. ~n:90 ;OUfI"Ohee are underlined.. In an otIIo.,. PI_ _ho'Wn on I.hlll IlUIP _0'"
,. Irtf'"?'J- bu_ QD OI…."*'!- IuI_ ret bean Of'g_nleed.
Kyoto, and Hiroshima, the following resolu· strategic point. It is a fine centre for evangeltion was passed: istic tours, being in quick communication by steamer with any point on the inland sea, " That we respectfully ask the Board (Pres- which I have indicated by crossed lines. byterian) to send out, as soon as possible, at least five new men to aid in the work of the On account of the Government restrictions Mission, in view of the very pressing need in with regard to passports we cannot travel the region south and west of Osaka, and in with freedom at present; but even if the rethe island of Kyushu." vision of the treaties do not go into effect, as we had hoped would be the case this month, In Hiroshima and its immediate vicinity we yet we hope for a modification of present reo have considerably more than 100,000 people, strictions. We hope then to do more towards and to the west of this point there is a popula- filling up these blank spaces. tion of three millions.
~890.] INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
On this western part of the island Yamagu- evangelistic work, for though the A. B. C. F. ,chi and Shimonoseki rank next. If men were M. have a very large force in this place, located at Shimonoseki, they might not only among its quarter of a million of people, its work among the people on that extreme lower missionaries are carrying on scarcely auy end of the island, but, by a few hours' journey, evangelistic work. The United Church, how- reach important points on the coast to the ever, does not undervalue the work of educa- north of Hiroshima, which would take us two tion, as is proven by the Meiji Gakuin, at ,days to reach overland. Tokyo, with its academic .and theological departments; smaller schools with these same As to Yamaguchi, not as a centre but in departments at Nagasaki and Sendai, and still itself considered, perhaps there is not a more another to be started at Osaka. Also a boys' promising field in all Japan_ The people of school at Kanazawa, several girls'schools in Yamaguchi province are counted among the the same place; also at Tokyo, Yokohama, ,best as to sterling worth. Many of the lead.ers Osaka, and elsewhere. in Japan to-day are Yamaguchi men. One of the fioest schools in the empire is located Surely we no not undervalue the educational there. Work among people of such a character work, but we feel the great need of pressing will be productive of great results. The out into the regions beyond. We need evan- Presbyterian Mission, therefore, feels strongly gelists as well as teachers, and so we must inclined to man this field. have more foreigu missionaries to lead in this movement, and to strengthen and counsel the But not less urgent is the call from the island churches already established, for the fields are ,of Kyushu; we are, in fact, inclined to give its white to the harvest. 'claims precedence to all others. Here are 6,500 square miles of territory, with a popula- Affectionately yours, tion of six milUons, and the only foreign mis- FREDERICK S. CURTIS. ,sionaries of the United Chnrch on the whole island are those in connection with the Dutch Sweden. Reformed Mission at Nagasaki. However, these men are so taken up with school work, [We gladly lay the following brief that they have little time left for the evangel- but earnest request for prayer before istic, and besides, Nagasaki is not a good our many readers. It is made by an centre for working the island. Itis hoped that American, working as an evangelist in we may put men in some such location as Stockholm, Sweden-the Rev. Otis L. Kurame, which will' probably become a railroad centre, and an excellent base for opera- Leonard. As an earnest of his in- tions. l't seems strange that so important a terest in missions in his native land, part of Japan should have been so compara- and especially in our Student Voluntivelyoverlooked. ,Ve feel that we must go teer movement, he sends us $16 as a up at once and possess the land. contributioh to our Volunteer Fund, Although the names of places on this map besides renewing his subscription to seem well to fill up the empire, in reality there the REVIEW. A similar request, and a ,are wide spaces between, and though work is liberal gift for the same object, came established in all these places, in less than one- from him last year.-J. 11:. S.] third are there organized churches-as indicated by the underlining-and in only sixteen Request for Praye:. are there ordained foreign missionaries. I have indicated these places by a cross eX) DEAR BROTHERS AND SrsTERs:-Pray for under the names. Sweden! God has wonderfully heard prayer since I made my last request, and is sending Of course all this is only with reference to great revivals in various parts of the land. the work of the United Church. The Ameri- Hundreds are coming to Christ. Two young can Board work, which ranks next to that of converts, who have laid themselves on the the United Church, is almost entirely educa- Lord's altar, to go to the ends of the earth if tional, and its missio~aries ar~ located in He sends them, have been blessed to the consome ten different places. version of more than one hundred persons in a little country place. Pray that a PENTECOSTAL What we are emphasizing is the evangelistic REVIVAL may extend through the whole land, work. As an evidence ofthis is our just having and that thousands may be saved! gone into Kyoto with the pnrpose to do purely IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Eduoation in Japan. as uncivilized and uneducated, but it :BY PROF. M. N. WYCKOFF, OF JAPAN. may be a surprise to malny to know that I presume there are few people any- much attention has been paid to learn- where who now think of the Japanese ing, even from very ancient times. EARLY EDUCATION. Government to make education general. Native accounts seem to show that scholars were brought from China and Primary schools are found in all Korea about 300 A. D., to teach mem- towns and large villages, and are bers of the Imperial Court. About 675 attended by both boys and girls. The A. D., a university was established at studies are reading, writing, arithme- the capital,with branches in the princi- tic, history, geography and moral pre- pal towns of the various provinces. cepts. The course extends over a The object of this institution was only period of eight years, and pupils who to train men for Government service, have completed it in a satisfactory and not at all to promote general edu- manner are eligible for admission to' cation among all classes of people. the middle school. This university exertedgreatinfluence, and was the parent of many schools Middle schools have a five years' which sprung up in different parts of course of study, including, besides the the empire, but it was finally discon- subjects begun in the primary school, tinued. physical geography, algebra, geome- try, botany, physics, chemistry, Eng- DECLINE AND REVIVAL. lish as the principal foreign language, and German or French as a secondary From about 900 A. D. the interest foreign language. Middle schools are in learning gradually declined, but found in all the cities and large towns. in the year 1603 A. D., Tokugawa Some of them have an advanced course Ieyasu, the founder of the dynasty of extending over two years. They are Shoguns, which lasted till 1869, en- called" Higher Middle Schools," and couraged education, and Government their graduates are eligible for admisschools were founded not only in Yedo, sion to the university. They correbut also in the chief towns of the spond to our colleges, but resemble principal daimyos. rather the German gymnasia. Five of these gymnasia are under the direct These schools were designed only for control of the Educational Departthe sons of military retainers, but girls ment, and are located in Tokyo, and children of the common people Kyoto., Kanazawa, Kagoshima and had opportunities of studying in pri- Sendai. vate schools, or under private teachers, and many availed themselves of these Of great schools there are three, viz. :. advantages sufficiently to be able to 1. The Imperial University, in Tokyo, read and write the simpler forms of established and controlled by the the language, and to cast up accounts. Department of Education. 2. The Keiogijiku, an outgrowth of the school MODERN EDUCATION. of Mr. Fukuzawa, controlled by a pri- vate company. The foreign professors During the later years of the Sho- in this institution WE're selectE'd by gunate, the influence of the Dutch Mr. Knapp of the Unitarian Mission. language and learning was plainly They are all Unitarians, but claim perceptible, but it was not till after the that thE'ir rE'ligious views have noth-, overthrow of the Shogun and the ing do with their work as professors. restoration of the emperor to power, 3. The Doshisha, established by the that the present system of education American Board Mission, and dependwas inaugurated. ing upon that mission for its staff of foreign professors. This institution The Department of Education, or- owes much of its success to the labors ganized in 1871, has established a of Rev. Joseph Niishima, whose recent course of instruction which requires death is a great loss to the whole Chris– schools of three grades. These are: tian church in Japan. 1, Primary schools: 2, .Middle schools, or academies; 3, Great schools, or universities. These are open to people of all classes, and it is the object of the Besides the three kinds of schools parents and superiors, and obedience to them, were the corner-stones. These already mentioned, there are special ideas were kept constantly before the minds of the young, both at home and schools, such as normal, professional, at schools. The flood of new knowl- agricultural, commercial and indus- edge from the West has re-arranged the methods and teachings of the trial schools and kindergartens. Pri- schools, and largely destroyed the covate schools of any kind may be estab- operation of school and home, for most of the present generation of parents lished upon receiving the consent of are unable to follow their children in the proper authorities. There are the new paths of learning, and many have ceased trying to do so. In this many such schools, among them being way parental influence has lost much of its power. all 'the schools of the various missions This loss of reverence is in itself a working in Japan. The statistics for serious matter; but, when added to disregard of authority we find even 1889 show 142 mission schools, with 10,791 pupils. boys figuring as political agitators, we meet with a positive danger. It may PRESENT DANGERS. not seem credible, but to-day there is From what has already been said it probably no m,ore difficult problem confronting the statesmen of Japan will be perceived that school work in than the question of dealing with stu- Japan is well advanced, and it would dent politicians.
seem that progress and growth on Some remedy must be found. What· shall it be? is the cry on all sides. these lines are all that can be desired; Some educators advise that moral but the foremost native educators are teaching be emphasized in the schools, but that can produce littleeffect, unless to-day bewailing the fact that,although supplemented by home training, and made real by being revealed in human the schools are undeniably better in lives. Others are looking towards most respects than any that have pre- Christianity as a possible key to the ceded them the conduct of students solution of this problem, and we believe they will not be disappointed. In a has greatly deteriorated. In an address paper on "Educational Needs of Japanese Students," read before the delivered by Dr. Kinoshita, in Octo- Tokyo Teachers' Association in 1885, ber, 1888, to the students of the First when the loss of good manners had not yet attracted much attention, I Higher Middle School, occur these used the following words, which I words: believe to be just as pertinent to-day: " It is a regrettable fact that society " So far I ·have considered education generally seems to have lost the guid- merely as an instrument, and have ing principles of conduct, and one is endeavored to show how it may be not particularly surprised at seeing made most effective; but we must not the rude, disorderly, and even mean forget the uses to which the instrumanners of the present day. People ment may be applied. The surgeon's simply call them 'students' manners,' knife is most fitted for its proper uses a hateful but appropriate term. The when it is made of the best steel and present Japan is in a transition period has the keenest edge, but these very -she is not what she was-while the excellences make it the more dangernew order of things is not yet settled, ous in improper hands. Education is and you [students] are surrounded by a keen and powerful instrument, but those who have no feeling of selfrespect, and whose mannel1l are, to say the least, disorderly. In cOntrast with European countries, where the feeling of self-respect and the observance of social duties and the rules of etiquette are due to education at home, our country at the present day is in an unfortunate position."
Manyof the best men of the day are impressed in the same way as Dr.
Kinoshita, and are earnestly seeking a remedy for this state of things, which is serious, though not sur- prising.
In the old education, reverence for it may be the weapon of the evil as cellently educated, and offering the highest well as of the good. With the studies gnarantees of character and competence, who already mentioned we must, there- are willing to discharge the duties of teaching fore, combine moral teaching, in order for salaries quite inadpquate to compensate that our pupils may have their facul- laymen." ties not only developed, but developed in right directions; that th(lY may be I need not dwell upon the importnot only 'wise as serpents,' but also ance of this fact as related to the moral , harmless as doves.' Our work in this education of the rising generation. direction should be founded upon the Bible. All that is best of morals is Any sketch of education in Japan found there. I neither say nor think would be incomplete without notice of that the Bible should be our only text- what is being done for the girls. book, but whatever books or methods we use, our teachings should agree Advanced education for females is with Bible teachings. Nor, in my a growth of the last t,wenty years, but ·opinion, can we do better than to it has been taken up heaI1ily and follow the Bible plan. If I read my pushed with vigor in both Govern- Bible aright, its greatestaim is to lead ment and Jlrivate schools; indeed, DIen everywhere to know and trust there are some who think ij; has been Christ. Knowing Christ and trusting excessive. The missions are not back- Him brings us salvation, and we learn ward in this important work, and in to love Him as ourSaviour. Knowing our girls' schools are being trained Christ and trusting Him, we know and future mothers who will be able to Jove th~ Father who sent Him. Know- supplement the training of the school ing and loving Christ and the Father, with wise and sound home training we strive to be like them, and in this andinfiuence. With Christian teachers -effort we are not left unaided, for the and Christian mothers, we shall proba- Holy Spirit is given 'to guide us into bly find to-day's problem far on the all the truth '-not true knowledge way to a satisfactory solution. alone, but true living also. New Brunswick, N. J. " This is God's plan, and we cannot improve upon it. We may wear our- Meohanio Missionaries. selves out in trying to spread human opinions of right conduct, and accom- BY HENRY E. BROWN, SECRETARY plish little, but by this plan we have INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF Y. M. C. A., OBERLIN, OHIO. only to hold up Christ, and God does Friends of missions have learned the rest. ChrIst Himself said, , And four great lessons during the present I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men century, viz.: unto me.' Let us hold Him up before our pupils." 1. Native missionaries are neces- sary to the most rapid opening and Such is part of the training that is permanent development of mission fields. being given in all our mission schools, 2. Schools are absolutely essential. and I need not tell that such teaching 3. Physicians can reach some hearts and opent the way to some classes is bearing good fruit. God's word otherwise inaccessible. 4. Home churches are prospered in does not "return unto Him void." their local work in proportion to their gifts of men and money to missions. And this kind of teaching is not con- One more lesson remains as a com- plement to the work of the century, fined to mission schools. Many mis- to which the Divine finger seems to point distinctly, and for which the sionaries and Y. M. C. A. workers are other lessons have prepared the way, viz.: The preparation and use of ~mgaged in teaching in Government mechanical missionaries. In order to secure important testimony in reand private schools, and while not allowed to use the Bible in their regu- lar school work, they have abundant -opportunities in Bible classes, and by their daily living, to make Christ known, and they are making Him known. The Japan Mail, of Septem- ber 20, 1889, says: "The educational work of this country, as far as concerns foreigners, is rapidly being monopolized by missionaries. From mission- ary sources it is possible to obtain youths exgard to this question, the following become interested in missions through such a letter was recently sent to forty-nine practical effort? Mission Boards of this country. From the twenty-four replies already re- 70 per cent., yeS. 30 per cent., po.sibly. ceived, all the definite answers are col- lected and given in italics after their The large per cent. of affirmative respective questions. answers, and the favorable nature of nearly all the remainder, indicate a LETTER. remarkable readiness for the move- ment. There is an extensive movement to establish one or more Christian, un- LAY MEMBERS. denominational schools of technology, to fit men to become teachers of the The great problem, humanly speak- trades and first-class mechanics, and ing, in evangelizing the world, is the at the same time to enlist and prepare question of the general and effective them for personal work 'in winning use of all classes of church memsouls. bers. Great progress is already made in this direction, at home and abroad, The plan includes an effort, as Zenana Missions, Young Men's through Christian Colleges and Young Christian Associations, and Young Men's Christian Associations in great People's Societies of Christian Encities, to show young men of charac- deavor amply testify. ter and culture, who have mechanical ability, the large opportunities tbey The work by lay members which is would have for work for Christ in safest, and most profitable, and capaconnection with the trades. ble of largest extension, is that done for others of the same craft. If such I am gathering statistics and opin- work is to be done extellsively and ions from many sources showing the wisely, suitable men from some class imp0rtance of such a school. must be selected, who shall be "care- fully trained and directed in this work. I write you in common with other Mechanics comprise one of the best Mission Boards to ask: classes with which to promote this lay effort in mission fields. 1. Do you believe that good mechanics and mechauical teachers, who are interested in and The medical missionary has proved prepared for doing personal work for souls, a success. "Livingstone Memorial would be especially helpful in connection with Medical Missionary Training Institumissionary operations? tion," ofEdinburgh, together with its medical missions in India and Damas- 65 per cent., yes. 35 per cent., in some fields. cus, is doing a noble inter-denomina- 2. Would Christian mechanical missionaries, tional work in fitting English and who would support themselves as mechanics, native Christians to become physicians manufacturers, or teachers of the trades, be of both soul and body. The demand of material aid in gaining access to mission for mechanical missionaries will surely peoples, and in developing among them Chris- be as great, for it provides for the well tian institutions? rather than the sick. 65 per cent., yes. 35 per cent., scattering. 3. Would it be an advantage~to home KINDS OF WORK. churches to call on them to develop young men for such service? 1. To superintend the erection of 61 per cent., yes. 29 per cent., scattering. buildings, and provide the material 4. Could some ordinary missionaries wisely comforts of the missions. spend a little time at such a school before going to their missions? 2. To teach the skilled labor depart- 70 per cent., ye8. 30 per cent., to a limited ments of mission schools, which might extent. wisely be multiplied in many mission 5. Would some simple outfit of machinery fields. and tools. as foot·power lathes, blacksmith outfits, or small engines, such as might be 3. To build factories and shops, and made in a school of technology, be helpful in aid in developing the material remission fields? sources of mission countries, thus pro- 77 per cent., yes. 23 per cent., sometimes. viding opportunities for self-support, 6. Would some wealthy men probably and means of higher civilization for means of preparation for spiritual students in the schools, and for the work in the shops. communities to which they go after leaving school. It is unreasonable to 3. Well balanced. Mistakes are expect Christian churches to best illus- easier made than corrected. The deli- trate the power of the gospel to ele- cate service required of the mechanical vate men, while their members live in missionary cannot be rendered by hovels, and cultivate the soil without mere enthusiasts, or by those who are tools or machinery. Railway and tele- "carried about with every wind of graph, saw-mill and machine-shop, doctrine." are essential to the rapid evolution of a Christian people. These agencies PREPARATION REQUIRED. are sure to come ere long to every nation on earth which is not already 1. Culture. It is impossible for one supplied with them. If they are con- to accomplish most in this direction trolled by men of consecration and without a good education. While a prayer, who are more anxious to win· full college course is not absolutely souls than dollars, they will greatly essential, it is of vast service. One hasten the kingdom of Christ; but of the greatest mistakes now made in in the hands of mere seekers after technological training is the small .gain, they seriously complicate the amount of previous education re- .situation. Sooner or later Christian- quired. Cultureis especially important ity will be tested by its civilizing to one who would combine mechanical .agencies. If Christians, on the aver- ability adequate to an undeveloped age, have better homes and more country with spiritual power sufficient of the real comforts of life than to undeveloped minds. adherents of other religions, then will Christianity be appreciated, and 2. Knowledge of trades. If general Christians will secure a controlling in- cultureis important,athoroughknowlfluence. edge of the elements of several trades is demanded. To be a good mechanic KIND OF MEN NEEDED. is not sufficient. One must know the principles that underlie his trade. He 1. Consecrated. Many men are must also possess a fair knowledge of ,church members and highly respected the several related trades, which in their communities, who yet lack together make up the group to which the consecration necessary to highest his particular trade belongs. If he usefulness in this field. A desire to would be a good carpenter in a mission forsake all that interferes with winning field, he should also know something souls, and do, be, or become whatever of architecture, of bricklaying and would best promote this service, must stonecutting; if a machinist, he must be characteristic of the successful be familiar with pattern-making and mechanical missionary. the foundry.
2. Apt with tools. Some men seem 3. Theory and practice in personal to be "cut out" for mechanics. It workfor souls. The better education a frequently happens that one boy in a man has, whether in books or tools, the family is "always making something." less willing is he to do anything poorly; His deepest interest and best service therefore, the educated mechanic will are in the shop. An ambitious, though be likely to excuse himself from spiritmisguided, mother tries to make a ual work if he is not prepared to do it preacher of him. Pity the church well. Hence, training-class drill, inthat employs him! He may be very cluding study of the Bible with referanxious to do good, but what a mis- ence to inquirers, and actual work in take his choice of vocation! And winning men, must be a part of his what a blessing to him would be a education.
HOW SECURED.
1. Suitable men for this service are scattered throughout our churches and for and encourage mechanical ability colleges. They can easily be gathered in large numbers whenever provision in their boys, for the sake of missions. is made for their training. The recent enlisting of young men in Kansas and 2. Mission fields which secure the Minnesota for mission work, without even awaiting any human call, or aid of suitable mechanics in the mis- securingany financial support, testifies a rapid increase in zeal for missions. sion, and in adjacent shops and fac- 5,000 college students lately pledged to go as missionaries, if wanted, is still a tories, will make safer and more rapid .stronger testimony. Many of these men would doubtless make good progress, sooner reach self-support, mechanics, and would show their faith by their works in learning a trade and enjoy more home comforts, than before going to a foreign field, thns preparing to become self-supporting mis- had been possible without such aid. sionaries, if God calls to such service. Some countries will welcome the 2. Adequate preparation for the work proposed can be rapidly secured missionary that brings better tools and in a school provided for this special purpose. It is not necessary that such machinery, though at first caring a school limit its students to those nothing for Christian doctrine. It is expecting to enter a foreign field. Home missionaries are wanted in our impossible to foretell all the ways in shops and skilled labor schools, who possess the same consecration, charac- which the Holy Spirit will use this ter and training that are necessary to success abroad. The course of study new agency. Only one thing is im- .should be similar to those of the best ordinary schools of technology; but portant-that we see the door opening, should include, as electives, some other branches, as printing, brick and and enter in, ready, and hoping to .stone work, plastering, steam-fitting ,and work in sheet metals. know and do to-morrow what had not Provision should also be made for been possible to-day. the training-class and its personal work among the unconverted each Re1igion in Ohina. week. In this way the student will not only learn how to deal with men, POLYTHEISM; PANTHEISM; ATHEISM. but he will find whether he has special interest in such work, without incur- BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, P'ANG CUIA CHIANG, ring the expense of a foreign trip. No man is fit for foreign work who CHINA.* cannot succeed at home. Volumes ha~e been written upon the RESULTS EXPECTED. religions of China, and upon the relig- ious ideas of the Chinese. Confucian- 1. Home churches will receive great ism is now well understood, and both benefit in developing men for this Buddhism and Taoism have been so work, just as in furnishing men for thoroughly explored that it is hard to ~rdinary mission work. It will be a believe that anything of first-rate imglad day for Christ's kingdom when portance is to be discovered. At least pastorS shall urge the need of Christian one more book upon this topic, howmechauics, and parents shall watch ever, remains to becomposed, or rather to be compiled, namely, a Chinese Mythological Dictionary. Such a work should contain an account of all the principal divinities actually worshiped by the Chinese, with authentic histori- cal notices of such as are historical, together with a record of the steps by which many of them have been pro- moted in the Chinese pantheon, until, like Kun Ti, the god of war, from very humble beginnings they have become "adjuvant of heaven." The number of such divinities would probably be seen to be very much less than is ordi- narily supposed. Some of them would * Chinese Characteristics is the title of a volume soon to be issued, probably simultane- ously in England and America. The author, Rev. Arthur H. Smith, has very kindly given us permission to use such part of the advance sheets as we please in the REVIEW. We are bewildered to make choice of a topic out of the many which are dealt with in the work. To those who know the author, we cannot com- mend the book by anticipation better than to say that in treating of" Chinese Characteris- tics" the author has lost none of his own.- J.T.G. be perceived to be of purely local im- towards the worship of nature is a portance, and others to be practically mere truism. The recognition of irre- national in their influence. Some of sistible and unknown forces leads to them would -be found to have been their personification and to external continuously worshiped for more than act~ ?f adoration, based upon the sup- a millenium, while others have been pOSItIOn that these forces are sentient. recently evolved from the ranks of Thus temples to the gods of wind, ordinary humanity. Such a manual thunder, etc., abound. In China the would prove to be of the highest inter~ north star is an object of constant est both to the casual traveler, who worship. There are temples to the wished to get an idea of Chinese re- sun and to the moon in Peking, in ligious worship as it exists in fact, as connection with the imperial worship, distinguished from the theory, and also but in some regions the worship of the to the more or less permanent resi- sun is a regular act of routine on the- dent, who is often confused by the part of the people in general, on a day heterogeneous, if not contradictory , III the second month, which they are phenomena of worship in China. pleased to designate as his "birthday." Early in the morning the villagers go Into the disputed guestions con- nected with the religion of the Chinese to the east to meet the sun, and in the we have no intention to enter in any evening they go about towards the manner whatsoever. Whether the west to escort him on his way. This Chinese ever did have a knowledge of ends the worship of the sun for a year. one true God is indeed a point of con- An exceedingly common manifesta- siderable interest. Those who have tion of this nature-worship is in the examined most critically the classical reverence for trees, which in some writings of the Chinese assure us that provinces (as for example in north- the weight of scholarship is upon the western Honan) is so exceedingly side of the affirmative. By others who common, that one may pass hundreds have a claim to an independent judg- of trees of all sizes each of them hung ment this proposition is altogether with bannerets, indicating that it is denied. To us it seems to be of very the abode of some spirit. Even when much less practical concern than some th~re is no external symbol of worwould make it, and for our present ship the superstition exists in full purposes the question may be alto- force. If a fine old tree is seen standgether ignored. What concerns us in ing in front of a wretched hovel, it isour present inquiry is neither a histori- morally certain that the owner of the cal nor a theorf?tical matter, but a tree dare not cut it down, on account practical; to wit, '¥hat is the relation of the divinity within. It is often which exists between the Chinese and supposed that the emperor is the only their divinities? In speaking of the individual in the empire who has the disregard of foundations on the part prerogative. of worshiping heaven. of the Chinese, we have alreadyad- The very singular and interesting cereverted to the singular mixture by monies which are performed in the which the same individual is at once a Temple of Heaven by the emperor in Confucianist, a Buddhist, and a Taoist, person are no doubt unique. But it and with no sense of incongruity. It would be news to the people of China is in some cases not difficult to trace as a whole that they do not and must the stages by which the heroes and not worship heaven and earth each for worthies of antiquity from being themselves. The houses often have a honored came to be commemorated, small shrine in the front wall facing and from being merely commemorated the south, and in some regions this is came to be worshiped. All the gods of called the shrine to heaven and earth. China may be said to have been dead Multitudes of Chinese will testify that men, and by the rite of ancestral wor- the only act of religious worship which_ ship it may be affirmed that in a sense they ever perform (aside from ancesall the dead men of China are gods. tral rites) is a prostration and an offer- Temples are constantly erected, by the ing to heaven and earth on the first consent of the emperor, to men who and fifteenth of each moon, or in some while living have in various ways dis- cases on the beginning of each new tinguished themselves. It is impossi- year. No prayer is uttered, and after ble to say that anyone of these men a time the offering is removed, and, as may not in the slow evolution of ages in other cases, eaten. What is it that rise to the highest place among the at such times the people worship? national divinities. There can be no Sometimes they affirm that the object doubt whatever that as a nation the of worship is "heaven and earth." Chinese are polytheistic. Sometimes they say that it is "heaven," and again they call it "old man of the That there is a tendency in man sky" (lao t'ien yeh). The latter term pretation which is not only materialisoften leads to an impression that the tic, but which, so far as we understand Chinese do have a real perception of a it, is totally atheistic. After the Yellow personal deity. But when it is ascer- river emerges from the mountains of • tained that this supposed "person" is Shansi and Shensi, it continues its way frequently matched by another called "grandmother earth" (ti mu nai nai) for hundreds of miles to the sea. Insucthe value of the inference is open to serious question. The word "heaven" cessive ages it has taken many differis often used in the Chinese classics in entroutes, rangingthroughsixorseven such a way as to convey the idea of degrees of latitude, from the mouth of personality and will. But it is likewise employed in a manner which the Yangtzekiang, to that of the Peiho. suggests very little of either, and when we read in the commentary that But wherever it has flowed it has car- "heaven is a principle," we feel that ried ruin, and has left behind it a barren waste of sand. Not unlike this the vagueness of the term is at its has been the materialistic current inmaximum. To this ambiguity in troduced by the commentators of the Sung dynasty into the stream of classical use corresponds the looseness Chinese thought, a current which hav- ing flowed unchecked for seven cenof meaning given to it in every-day turies, has left behind it a moral waste of atheistic sand, incapable of supportlife. The man who has been worship- ing the spiritual life of a nation. Taoing heaven, upon being pressed to ism has degenerated into a system of incantations against evil spirits. It know what he means by "heaven," has largely borrowed from Buddhism, will frequently reply that it is the blue to supplement its own innate deficienexpanse above. His worship is there- cies. Buddhism was itself introduced fore in harmony with that of him who to provide for those inherent wants in the nature of man which Confuworships the powers of nature, either cianism. did little or nothing to satisfy. individually or collectively. His creed Each of these forms of instruction has been greatly modified by the others, may be described in Emersonian and as at present found in China, they phrase as " one with the blowing clover may be likened to three serpents. The and the falling rain." In other words, first serpent swallowed the second up he is a pantheist. This lack of any to its head, beyond which it could not definite sense of personality is a fatal go. The second serpent in like manner flaw in the Chinese worship of "heaven." swallowed the third to the same ex- The polytheism and pantheism of tent. But the third serpep.t having a the lower classes of Chinese are mouth of indefinite capacity, reached around and finding the tail of the matched in the upper classes, by what first, also swallowed this serpent up to appears to be pure atheism. Upon its head, leaving only three heads this point we are not prepared to speak visible, and an exceedingly intimate with the same confidence, as in regard union between all three of the bodies. to the prevalence of polytheism and Buddhism swallowed Taoism, Taoism swallowed Confucianism, but at last pantheism, for the reason that oppor- the latter swallowed both Buddhism tunities for a satisfactory estimate of and Taoism together, and thus "the what the condition of mind of the three religions are onel" The practical relatively higher classes of China relation of the Chinese to theIr "three really is, have not fallen to our lot. religions" may be illustrated by the relations of an Anglo-Saxon to the But from the testimony of those who materials of which his language is know most on this point, from the composed. " Saxon and Norman and abundant surface indications, and Dane are we," but even were it possifrom antecedent probability, we have ble to determine our remote origin, no difficulty in concluding that there the choice of our words would not be never was on this earth a body of edu- influenced to the smallest degree by the cated and cultivated men so thoroughly agnostic and atheistic as the extent to which we may happen to have mass of Confucian scholars. The Saxon or Norman blood in our veins. phrase "antecedent probability" re- Our selection of words will be deterfers to the known influence which has mined by our mental habits, and by been exerted over the literati of China the use to which we wish to put the by the materialistic commentators of words. The scholar will use many Latin words, with liberal admixture the Sung dynasty. The influence of of the Norman, while the farmer will Chu Hsi, the learned expounder of the lise mostly plain Saxon terms. But in Chinese Classics, has been so overwhelming, that to question any of his views has long been regarded as heresy. The effect has been to overlay the teachings of the classics with an inter-
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
either case the Saxon is the base, to nese, but such utter confusion as if which the other stocks are but addi- found on earth would be equivalent to tions. In China Confucianism is the chronic anarchy.
base, and all Chinese are Confucian, as Another significant result of the all English are Saxons. To what ex- union of all beliefs in China, is the de- tent Buddhist or Taoist ideas, phrase- basement of man's moral nature to the ology and practices may be superim- lowest level found in any of thecreeds. posed upon this base, will be deter- All the lofty maxims of Confucianism mined by circumstances. But to the have been wholly ineffective in guard- Chinese there is no more incongruity or ing the Confucianists from fear of the contradiction in the combination of goblins and devils which figure so the "three religions" in one cetemony largely in Taoism. Wealthy merchants than there is to our thought in the and learned scholars are not ashamed interweaving of words of diverse to be seen on the two days of the . . . . . . . national origin in the same sentence. month set apart for that purpose, worshiping the fox, the weasel, the It is always difficult to make a Chi- hedgehog, the ~nake, and the rat, all nese perceive that two forms of belief of which in printed placards are are mutually exclusive. He knows styled "Their Excellencies," and are nothing about logical contradictories, thought to have an important effect and cares even less. He has learned on human destiny. It is not many by instinct the art of reconciling prop- years since the most prominent states- ositions which are inherently irrecon- man in China fell on his knees before cilable, by violently affirming each a water-snake which some one had of them, paying no heed whatever to been pleased to represent as an em- their mutual relations. He is thus bodiment of Lung Wang, the god of prepared by all his intellectual train- floods, himself supposed to be the ining to allow the most incongruous carnation of an official of a former forms of belief to unite, as fluids min- dynasty, whose success in dealing with gle by endosmosis and exosmosis. He brimming rivers was held to be mi- has carried''intellectual hospitality" to raculous. This Lung Wang is gener- the point of logical suicide, but he ally regarded as the rain-god, in re- does not know it, and cannot be made gions adjacent to water-ways, but at to understand it, when he is told. a little distance in the interior, the god Two results of this mechanical union of war, Kuan Ti, is much more likely of creeds are very noteworthy. The to be worshiped for the same pur- first is the violence done to the innate pose; but sometimes both are supplant- instinct of order, an instinct for which ed by the Kuan Yin P'u Sa, or goddess the Chinese are especially distin- of mercy. To a Chinese this does not guished, which is conspicuously dis- seem at all irrational, for his mind is played in the elaborate machinery of free from all presumptions as to the the carefully graded ranks of officials, unity of nature, and it is very hard from the first to the ninth, each for him to appreciate the absurdity, marked by its own badge, and hav- even when it is demonstrated to him.
ing its own special limitations. Some- In connection with thf>se prayers for thing analogous to this might certainly rain, another curious and most sig- have been looked for in the Chinese nificant fact has often been brought pantheon, but nothing of the sort is .to our notice. In the famous Chinese found. It is vain to inquire of a Chi- novel called the' 'Travels to the West,"
nese which divinity is supposed to be one of the principal characters was the greater, Yii Huang or Buddha. originally a monkey hatched from a Even in the "Temples-to-all-the-gods " stone, and by slow degrees of evolu- the order is merely arbitrary and acci- tion developed into a man. In some dental, subject to constant variations. places this imaginary being is wor- There is no regular gradation of au- shiped as a rain god, to the exclusion thority in the spirit world of the Chi- of both Lung Wang and Kuan Ti.
v.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY SECRETARY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
APlea fOl the Senecas. inheritance. A bill which was before The people of the State of New the last Legislature proposed to abolish York are again brought face to face all tribal relations still existing among with an effort to deprive the Indians the Indians, and to carry out a division within its bounds of a portion of their of lands in severalty. The land so ,divided was to be rendered inaliena- to exist in the Indian Territory or ble for a given period, and steps were among the Sioux. There are no vast to be taken to extinguish those re- tracts of unimproved land which block versionary claims of the Ogden Land the progress of railroads and other Company, which have so long stood public improvements. The Tonna- in the way of all schemes to deprive wanda Reservation would, if divided the Indians of their lands. It was in severalty, afford only about seven- represented or implied that a majority teen acres per capita to the tribe now of the Indians were in favor of such a occupying it. On the Cataraugus Res- division. ervation the allotment would be still It cannot be denied that some ad- less. The truth isthatthe NewYork In- vantages would be secured by such a dians have already been so pressed and step, provided the consent of the ma- crowded by the white man through jority of the Indians should be freely every species of fraud, that they have given, and provided that only the un- but a very scanty provision. Why divided farmlands should be included. take away the little that is left?
But the reasons for such a measure do 2. It is proposed to break up the tribal not apply to the leased lands which lie relation by force. The enforcement .adjacent to large towns. of the laws of the State and the Some cogent objections have been abrogation of all tribal laws in con- raised against the bill which did not at flict therewith would be entirely first appear upon its face. it provid- just and prOPQr, but to break up the ed that certain lands in and around tribal relation as a guild would be Salamanca, and other villages on the tyranny. The Senecas have as good Alleghany Reservation, should be sold a right to perpetuate their chieftain- immediately, and it has been sus- ship and their old customs as the Irish pected that just here was the real se- Catholics have to parade the streets ·cret inspiration of the whole move- on St. Patrick's day; or the Odd Fel- ment. lows or the Masons to hold their secret Pending the discussions in the Legis- sessions and perpetuate their orders.
lature, a letter was published which 3. The Tonnawandas and the Tus- divulged the purpose of interested caroras have purchased their lands parties to secure the destruction of the and could no more be compelled to Iflases by which the village lands on give up their joint tenure than a real the Alleghany Reservation are held, estate syndicate in Salamanca or in and to secure a fee simple-in other the suburbs of Buffalo. It would be words, to get possession of the most a strange procedure to undertake to valuable lands. It was asserted that raise the Indians to citizenship by an Buffalo had done the same thing with act of the Legislature which should the Reservation of Buffalo Creek and violate every right which a citizen is why should not the citizens of other l!Iupposed to possess.
towns have the same privilege? The Tonnawandas, in a treaty of The time has come when the people 1857, paid the Ogden Company in cash of New York have a duty to perform for all the land which they now pos- in the interest of common justice sess, and not at any trivial rate, but at and humanity. They should know a maximum price of $20 per acre. A the truth in this matter as between supplement to the treaty allowed even the conflicting statements. A few con- a higher price to the Company in cer- siderations should be borne in mind: tain cases.
1. There is in the case of the New 4. The land in and around the vil- York Indians no such demand of the lages on the Alleghany Reservation public welfare calling for a breaking constitutes the chief and only adequate up of the reservations as are alleged provision of the Seneca Indians, and it is this that certain interested parties We of the Eastern and Middle States.
are now trying to secure through have been ready to criticise many of Legislative action. the schemes which have disgraced the Weare being told repeatedly in far West, and which are not wholly these times, that farming is so poor an unknown even now; but it may be industry that even the white man can well to consider our own history in scarcely obtain a livelihood on a farm this respect.
of average size; how then is the Indian . A single sketch will illustrate the to be supported on a much smaller methods which were pursued with the tract,and husbanded in Indian style? Indians of the Alleghany, Cataraugus.
The Salamanca leases will all be and Tonnawanda Indians fifty years needed as a supplemental resource. ago. Up to that time the Indians had The people of the State should hold held a tract known as the Buffalo them as saCred as those of the Sailors' Creek Reservation, lying in what is.
Snug Harbor in New York. It may now a suburb of Buffalo, and is worth be very undesirable to hold property millions of dollars. But in 1838 a under a perpetual lease. It is doubt- treaty was there formed whose pur- l~ss felt to be so by many occupants pose was to gain possession of all the of the vast properties of Columbia Indian lands in Western New York.
College; but who thinks of appealing It was negotiated by Ransom H. Gil- to the Legislature to compel a sale of lett, Commissioner of the United those properties at nominal rates? In States; butthe parties in whose interest how many instances are such property it was done were Messrs. Ogden and rights maintained without even a Fellows, or the Ogden Company.
question! Have the Indians, whose Under the guise of a "whereas," the tenure is the oldest and clearest of all, preamble to the treaty recited that the- no rights under similar circumstances? Six Nations "had become convinced 5. The people of New York should that their true interest must lead at least consult their own interest, if them to seek a new home among their they are not impelled·to act upon con- red brethren in the West." This was science and a sense of right. To allow untrue, as the sequel will show.
the Indians to be pauperized that a There had been a previous treaty.
few individuals may be enriched, is to which gave to them certain lands place burdens on the public treasury around Green Bay. By this new treaty for years to come. If the Cataraugus those lands were to revert to the Indians had been broken up as a tribe United StatesGovernmentinexchange· forty years ago and the fee of their for a large tract in Kansas, where all lands been placed in individual hands, the Western New York Indians were the adjacent counties would long since to be located.
have been burdened with taxes for the The so-called treaty, with some· maintenance of hundreds of paupers questionable signatures of the Indians, of every description. This must be so was submitted to the Senate in the in all cases in which Indians are thrust June following. After sundry amend- into "civilization '.' before they are ments, it was ratified with the proviso prepared for it; but especially so " that the same should be of no bind- where evil contact with white men is ing effect, and it should not be under- so close as in Western New York. stood that the Senate had assented to The public mind should be awakened any of the contracts made in connec- to serious apprehension by the fact tion with it until the same and the that there has scarcely been a treaty amendments added should be sub- or land purchase relating to the New mitted, and fully and fairly explained York Indians within the present cen- by a Commissioner of the United tury that was honest and equitable. States to each of such tribes or bands,. separately assembled in council, and Society of Friends, all expressed the they have given their full and volun- opinion that improper means had been tary consent thereto." The require- brought to bear to secure the assent ment that the signatures shonld be of the Senecas to the treaty. Mean- given inopen council was disregarded. while the Tonnawandas presented a Many were secured in private and by statement that only one of their chiefs questionable means. had signed the s<K:alled treaty, and that he lived off th~ Reservation. In 1840, the President, in transmit- " Still," says the report of the special ting the treaty to the Senate, saidin his committee of the New York Legisla- message: "No advance toward obtain- ture of 1888, " with what must have ing the consent of the Senecas to the been a full knowledge of all the facts, amended treaty in council was made, the Senate ratified the treaty, by the nor can a majority of them in council casting vote of the Vice-President, now be obtained. The provision of a both Senators from New York, one of resolution of the Senate, June 11, 1838, whom was Silas Wright, voting in its requiring the assent of each of the favor, and President Van Buren pro- tribes to be given in council, has not claimed it." been complied with as it respects the Seneca tribe, and furthermore, that But the Society of Friends, whose improper means have been employed philanthropy does not tire so easily as to gain the assent of the Seneca chiefs, that of most other peoples, still con- there is every reason to believe." Not- tended for justice and humanity. withstanding all this, the Senate short- They appealed to Daniel Webster and ly after ratified the treaty, and the others, but were told that a resort to President proclaimed it. the courts wonld be useless, because "they wonld not undertake to go In an early dispute relating to the back of a ratified treaty." Yet in respective jurisdictions of New York how many scores and even hundreds and Massachusetts over the lands of of cases have treaties, and even just the Six Nations, it had .been agreed and regular treaties, been overthrown that Massachusetts shonld have a right when it was for the interest of the of protest against any unjust aliena- white man to .set them aside? tion of titles held by the Indians. The Senecas, availing themselves of Mr. Webster advised a compromise, this agreement, now memorialized which was finally made. By its terms Massachusetts for protection on the the Indians were permitted to remain ground that of their ninety-one chiefs in the State and to hold a possessory a majority had not signed at all; that right to the farm lands of Cataraugus a part of those who had signed were and Alleghany Reservations, while the not chiefs; that some of the names Ogden Company gained the rich prize were forged; that some of the chiefs of the reservation in the suburbs of had been bribed by the Ogden Com- Buffalo. pany, and that the contracts for bribes had been in writing and were in their This history, which is abundantly custody; and that while the resolution verified by Governmental documents, of the Senate had required that the should fill every citizen of the State signatures of the chiefs should be with shame, and stir him to a firm given in open council, only sixteen resolve that this work of spoliation had been so given. The President, shall go no further. the Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, Governor Everett, of I have shown that so far as farm Massachusetts, Governor Seward, of lands are concerned there is nothing New York, a committee of the General left to excitethe cupidityof whitemen, Assembly of Massachusetts, and the unless there be a purpose to rob the Indians of their all and send them adrift. The movements now on foot must, therefore, either be influenced The Japanese on the Pacifio Ooast. by a disinterested desire to benefit the Indians by compelling them to divide The Japanese in California, mostly their lands against their will, or by in and around San Francisco, are now the expectation that somebody else variously estimated at from two to will be benefitted by the sale of village three thousand. More than half are lots. of those who have received Christian baptism in Japan. What should be done? 1. The lawsof the State should be ex- A more interesting and promising tended to these Indians as to all other classcouldscarcelybefound. Nobetter classes, and should overbear all tribal field for missionary labor exists on any laws so far as there is conflict and no continent; the churches and Young farther. Men's Christian Associations in this 2. It would be desirable by amicable country should be fully awake to the means to secure a full and inalien- opportunity. These young men repreable possession of a proper amount of sent the most vigorous element in the land for all who desire it and for no Japanese churches. Very largely they others. Those who prefer a tribal are of the higher middle class, and the partnership or syndicate, as giving very fact that they have crossed the a more permanent tenure, should be ocean for study or for practical knowlallowed to have it. edge of business is proof of their 3. The leases of valuable lands now energy and enterprise. Shall they be maintained as a resource for the met with cordial Christian fellowship, tribes should be left undisturbed both and strengthened for future usefulness for the good of the Indians and for in their native land-for they intend the protection of the public treasury from the burdens of wholesale pauper- to return-or shall their Christian ism. 4. The public should cultivate an faith and their high expectations be intelligent interest in these Indians, shocked by indifference and neglect? and should watch with jealous care all legislation which concerns them. Unfortunately the complaint i3 5. All possible effort should be put frequently made that they are disapforth to raise the lowest of them to pointed in their hopes, that their ideal the intellectual and moral estate of of American Christianity is dissipate,l, the highest. There is every encour- that the worldliness of the churche,; agement to such effort. and their practical indifference to the The Tuscaroras show a larger per spread of the gospel, give rise to grave cent. of church members than any misgivings. equal rural community of white people in the State. Mr. John Babberton has It is easy to see that such disappointshown in the columns of the New ments may often result in a similar in- York Herald that they are orderly and difference and even apostacy from the law-abiding, and that they bring no faith, whereas a cordial reception disgrace upon our average civiliza- with faithful effort and encouragetion. ment might confirm these men and fit Among the Senecas, in the Presby- them to go back to Japan as earnest terian churches alone there are about Christian laborers. They are nearly 300 communicants; 47 have been all young men, and as so large a proadded this year-a gain of more than portion of them are already Chris- 15 per cent. This is a higher ratio than tians, it ought to be easy to foster could be shown by the Synod of New such a prevailing Christian sentiment York. among them as should bring them all or nearly all to Christ.
Some of the missionary organiza- tions, as the Methodist and the Pres- byterian Boards, are in some degree showing their appreciation of the
EDITORIAL NOTES O~ CURRENT TOPICS
rare promise of this work, and vigor- foreigners and western civilization, ous Japanese churches have been and, in particular, the Christian re- formed. But there is a fine field for ligion, from Japan. 'Vhen he saw thesupplemental effortof the churches that the new order of things was to prevail he be~an to prepare for it. He in San Francisco, in fellowship and studied ' for81s:n medicine' in Tokyo, sympathy, in every form of encour- and was admItted to practice in 1882. "In the spring of 1885 he came to agement and help. These young men San Francisco for the double purpose are by no means inclined to be unduly of learning English and pursuing an dependent. The Japanese Presby- advanced course in medicine. He was terian Church, which numbers only invited to the Presbyterian Mission, where he found many of his countrysixty-five members, has contributed men in circumstances similar to his $1,174 during the year, besides sub- own. Dr. Sturge, of the Mission, gave him special instruction durin~ the scribing $800 toward the erection of a day, and Mrs. Sturge taught hIm in chapel. The Methodist Church is the evenings.
equally active and self-reliant. In "He was converted, and united with both missions Young Men's Christian Associations have been formed with the church by baptism and confession memberships much more numerous of his faith. He subsequently entered than those of the churches. the medical department of the State The following account, quoted from a letter of Rev. A. J. Kerr, of San University, where he remained two Francisco, reveals the character of years. He opened an office for pracsome of these men: tice on one of the principal streets, "A recent steamer carried back to Japan one of our elders, Dr. Kawa- where, during certain hours each kami. He is in some respects a very noteworthy man. In 1876, when only week, he gave free medical treatment seventeen years of age, he took part in Maebara rebellion against the Japanese to the poor of his countrymen. S"overnment. He was arrested and Imprisoned, but on the overthrow of "About a year ago he was elected the revolt he was released. The pur- to theeldership of the church, in which pose of the rebellion was to exclude capacity he served till his departure for Japan. Before leaving he asked for a letter of dismissal, that he might unite with a Presbyterian church in Tokyo, and he particularly requested that I would give him a letter to one of the sinall churches where he would find plenty to do."
VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
An "Extra-Oent-a-Day Band." work, and in remembrance of the [We give below a letter from a gen- Lord's command to preach the gospel to every creature, an Extra-Cent-atleman filling a high position in one of Day Band was formed at the church the leading banks of Boston, who is with which the writer is connecteddeeply interested in missions, and the Congregational, Newton Centre, after giving much thought to the sub- Mass.-at the missionary concert in ject, has devised and put in operation November last. Our members give in the church to which he belongs a one extra cent a day for missionary plan forsecuring specialaid to advance the cause. The plan is simple. feasible, easily worked, and affords the possi- bilityof grand results. Its immediate purposes. We started with about 40 success in Newton Centre is the pro- members, and have now 111. We phecyof success wherever it is wisely shall give in a year, with our present and efficientlycarried out. 'Ve heartily membership, $405.15, which will • commend the scheme to all our minis- practically all be extra. 'Ve did not ters and churches. Never was there wish to interfere with other ways of greater need than now to increase giving, and therefore we give but an largely our missionary receipts.- extra cent, and simple ways were J. M. S.] suggested for saving that small EXTRA-CENT-A-DAY BANDS.
To THE EDITOR OF THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD:-In view of amount. Our band has butone officer, the many present splendid opportuni- a treasurer (though the addition of a ties and pressing needs for mission president would give the organizat:A:l more form), who reminds the mem- Almost 1900 years have gone since -bel's monthly of their dues by means the great commission fell from the of small envelopes printed: Master's lips. Let the Church, follow- WILL M __________ ers and representatives of Him whose earthly life was a mission to a lost PLEASE HAND_..__._TO .aM'–_ __ world, resolve that ere this century closes the story of the Saviour shall In this Envelope. indeed be proclaimed to every crea- ture. That will make our age sublime! EXTRA-CENT-A-DAY BAND. With Extra-Cent-a-Day Bands To_……………………._._………………………………… everywhere doing. their fullest work, supplementing the present ordinary A few members, however, paywith- missionary contributions, the ways out any reminders. A small book is and means would be amply provided, kept by the treasurer, containing the and we may be sure that the Lord members' names, with space after each of the harvest would raise up laborers for entry of payments. We give one- in abundance. half of our contributions to the foreign work, through our American Board, I have pondered the Extra-Cent-aand onljl-half to the work in our own Day Band idea for many months, and land, through the several home mis- have come to believe in it enthusiassionary societies. One hundred dollars tically. It is simple and practicable, -one-halfof our moneyfor the foreign within the means of almost everyone, work-will be applied to build a school greatly needed, and fraught with prohouse and to support a teacher for one digious possibilities! year at Kumbhari, India. Rev. Chas. Harding, of Sholapur, India, has long Let Christ's followers of every name regarded Kumbhari as an important form such bands everywhere. I hope place to occupy, but his repeated ap- to hear of very many, and will gladly plications for an appropriation for that render such help as I can to all who purpose have not been granted, solely will address me. S. F. WILKINS. for lack of funds. Now, through our little band, this long-desired work is Newton Centre, Mass. already under way. This is one specimen of what we hope to do in for- " Shall Islam Rule Africa 7" eign fields, and in the home land as well. This is the startling title of a paper· One extra cent a day seems insig- by Rev. Lemuel C. Barnes, Newton nificant, but thirteen million Protes- Centre, Mass., read before the Ministant evangelical Christians in the isters' Conference of Boston, and pub- United States giving at that rate, lished by a Committee of the Conferwould add $47,450,000 a year to the ence, who "express their high appremisdionary treasuries, the total amount ciation of the writer's earnestness, contributed at present being about candor, and thorough diligence in in- $6,000,000. vestigation, and heartily commend his work to the candid consideration of Since our band was formed another Christian men everywhere." has started at Auburndale, and still another at Groton, Mass., and we The paper is a notable one. in some believe that such bands may be formed respects. It is written by one who in all the churches of our land. Such has carefully studied the problem, and bands, doing but half their fullest understands the present condition and work, would furnish means sufficient tendency of the African situation. It to more than quadruple the entire is written with candor, looking fairly present missionary activities of all the at all sides of the question, and duly Protestant evangelical churches of estimating the various factors which the United States. enter into the significant question he asks. His statements as to the growth and extent of Islam in Africa and and finally considers "the radical dif- elsewhere are bold and startling. They ference between Christianity and Is- .are too general and sweeping to be at lam," and "some special conditions -once accepted as facts. He divides of the conflict between Islam and the continent into two nearly equal Christianity in Africa."
portions, the northern and the south- Dark as the picture is made to ap- -ern. "The northern half has been at- pear, there is still solid ground for hope tached to the Arabian prophet; all its that Islam will never rule Africa.
roads lead to Mecca." It consists of Africa, in the marvellous providence i;hree zones: North Africa, the Sa- of God, is now pushed to the front, hara, and the Soudan, with an esti- and is destined in the near future to mated population of 18,123,846; be the arena of a sharp and decisive .2,500,000, and 83,800,000 respectively. conflict between Islam and Christian- "These three zones, which contain con- ity. In this conflict Islam will be ;siderably more than half the popula- shorn of many of the elements of its tion of the continent, are thoroughly past success; while Christianity will Islamic." "The whole northern half possess new and powerful auxiliaries.
·of Africa is as thoroughly Islamic as The sword and the slave trade have Turkey or Persia, if not more so." On been the right arm of Islam, but the the basis of t,he estimated total popu- days of their dominance in Africa are lation of the northern lobe of the con- numbered. Although the most diffi- tinent "its Moslem population is over cult and stubborn of all false religions rather than under 75,000,000," while to subdue, Islam cannot, we believe, the strength of Christianity is only withstand Christianity in a fair fight.
"35,777" souls; including "Romanists Now after 1,200 years of contact, for less than half a million western Chris- the first time Islam and Christianity tians." The writer states also that are to meet face to face for a trial of Islam has made large advances in the faith on an open, fair, broad field.
southern half of the continent. For the first time it is to be mainly a We have not space to follow him in trial of moral strength.
the details. "In a word," he says, The European nations, which have "the northern lobe of Africa is covered planted their authority and civilization by Islam, with mere traces of Pagan- in the centre of Africa, and have gone ism and touches of Christianity. The there to stay, will not long leave Is- southern wing of Africa is covered by lam to propagate itself by sword and Paganism,with a considerable area of the slave trade as in the past. The Islam in the north, and a considerable Congo Free State-the very garden of area of Christianity in the south." "Is- the continent-is already guaranteed lam has ren'dered void the Christianity religious liberty. These two religions that once reigned from the Pillars of span the continent. If Islam move Hercules to the Indian Ocean; and southward it will be because it has going beyond, has, century by cen- moral power for conquest, which we tury, pushed its way across the Sa- know it does not possess and never did.
hara, throughout the Soudan and Surely,when the Mohammedan pow- down the east coast, until more than er in Europe is crumbling to pieces; half the continent is in its grasp. The when no Mohammedan empire or grasp to-day is as fresh, warm and people anywhere is rising into signi- greedy as ever." ficant position .01' influence, and when The writer next discusses "what the leading Protestant powers of have been some of the great elements Europe are running a sharp race for ,of the religious strength and weakness the possession of African territory, of Islam and Christianity during the and the extension of Christian civil- centuries of their paralleled history," ization over the best portions of the Dark Continent, it is not the time to wrote to her of this opening, when. fear that Islam will rout or check Christianity and "rule" that vast con- she came and was introduced to the tinent, which is evidently destined to figure conspicuously in the future ladies of the three Zenanas. And from history of mankind, if we interpret aright the wonderful series of provi- that time the work spread rapidly. dences which has opened it up to view, and fixed the attention of the whole Now there is no need of work as a civilized world upon it, and enlisted, as never before, the combined forces bribe to learn to read; so anxious are of Christendom for the redemption and elevation of a degraded people.- the ladies in the Zenanas for instruc- J.M.S. tion that where we have one female The Origin of Zenana Work. [Understanding from Mrs. Arm~ missionary we ought to have a hunstrong, of Burmah, that Mrs. Elizabeth Sale, of Rockmount, Helensburgh, dred, and would if the Christian Scotland, could give information of the earliest movemeilt in this direc- Church were alive to its responsibilition, I wrote to her, and received the following reply. It will be of great ties. interest to all who are interested in woman's work for woman.-A. T. P.] " Excuse this hurried reply. " As soon as I knew enough of the " I am yours in the best bonds, language to make myself understood I began going into the villages among "ELIZABETH SALE." the women of India, in 1852. In 1856 I got first an entrance into a Zenana -We have received a copy of a letproper. In 1858 I began work in Calcutta, and worked more than a year ter addressed to the Corresponding in my first house before I got anyone to take anything out of my hand. It Secretaries of the American and Ha– was very difficult to get one of the ladies to look at a book, as they feared waiian Boards of Missions, and of the being made widows if they desired to know anything of the outside world. American Bible Society, from the As soon as some little bits of work were finished-a little pair of shoes Rev. Hiram Bingham, of Honolulu, and a bit of canvas work-I had them make up, which so delighted the hus- announcing the completion of the bands and brothers, that the' wonderful work' was taken to other houses, translation of the Old Testament into when invitations came to teach there also. The needle work had to be made the language of the Gilbert Islanders. the bribe to induce the women to learn to read. I had then been so far blessed, Seventeen years ago he and his wife, that the ladies in three Zenanas were who ably assists him in his work, redaily hearing the Scriptures read, and joiced in the completion and pub_ some had so far broken through their lication of the New Testament. And fears that they were learning to read. now, after more than thirty-one 'Years "In 1860 my husband was ordered from the beginning, he is able to to Europe, when I heard of the arrival announcP. the completion of the enof Mrs. Mullens and .her daughters. I tire Bible. We congratulate this be- loved missionary that, with the valu- able assistance of Mrs. Bingham, "a born linguist," he has finished the long and arduous work. It will be an enduring monument of patient and heroic work done for Christ. And we congratulate the Boards under whose auspices the translation has been made, and the American Bible Society which is to print it, "for a people now emerging from heathenism, and of whom not a few are waiting in eager- ness for a complete Bible."-J. M. S.
-We have received the printed ad- dress made by Rev. J. T. Stevens be- fore the Presbytery of Athens, Ga., entjtled, "The Gospel can, and ought to be preached to the whole Heathen, Jewish and Mohammedan world in the next ten years." So far as the "ought" is concerned, it is undoubted- ly true; and it "ought" to have been done ten centuries ago, and many more. But the "can," considered in the light of actual practical accom- plishment, we more than question. vVe doubt the wisdom of fixing on a brief definite period for the world's. evangelizatioI. It is a tremendous The Soudan Missionary Movement. work, the full import of which it is impossible for a finite mind fully to Thel'!'l sailed from this port a few take in. It is not a mathematical days Slllce three young missionaries, problem that a dexterous play of F. M. Gates, Warren Harris, and figures will solve. Let us give the facts, the arguments, the motives, qharles Helmick, for the.Soudan, Afand press and reiterate them with all possible force and urgency and nca. They are a part of that heroic faithfulness, but let us not presume band of Kansas young men, who, unto assign a period within which the der the powerful appeals of Dr. Gratwhole world "can" be evangelized. tan GUlllness, resolved to establish a. The appeal of our brother, so far as mission iii that vast unoccupied region facts, statements, and array of mo- of the Dark Continent without the tives go, is excellent, and cannot b3;c~in~ of any soci.ety, trusting im- plICItly III God and hIS promises. They fail to quicken the blood of any Chris- were business men, several of them tian who willreadit.-J. M. S. pro~i~ent offic~r~ of Young Men's Chnstlan ASSOCIatIOns. One of their number, Mr. Kingman, had gone in advance to locate the mission, and had Death of Alexander Mackay of Uganda. written to them to come on. They The Church Missionary Society has took with them implements for farmsustained an almost irreparable loss in ing and house building, and expect tothe death of this heroic missionary. spend their lives there. They express He has labored fourteen years in Cen- unbounded confidence in the PrOVIdentral Africa, and his brave continuance tial supply of their needs. Some will at his post, when others retired, and question the wisdom of their method, when difficulties and dangers thick- but all must admire their heroic and ened around him, has won for him self-sacrificing spirit. Others:will folmuch well-deserved esteem from all low as soon as they have finished their who can appreciate faith and Chris- series of missionary meetings, which have been productive of much good. tian courage. It was when the news of the assassi- Mr. Kingman went by way of Engnation of Mr. Shergold Smith and Mr. land, at the invitation of Mr. Graham O'Neill on the Victoria Nyanza Wilmot-Brooke, of England, who has reached him, near the coast, that he traveled extensively in the Soudan, pushed on to Rubaga, reaching Mtesa's and was about to leave again for that capital in December, 1878. Uganda country, and he kindly invited the· became his home from that time till Kansas missionaries for the Soudan he was driven out by the emnity of to have one of their number meet him the Arab traders nin~ years later. in England and sail with him. Our Even then he only retired to the south associate, Dr. Pierson, was present at the farewell meeting, iWnilEmxote-teBrrHooakll~ end of the Great Lake, where he has London, given to the now fallen asleep. He has carned his life in his hand all these years, and party, and made the Consecrating has seen colleague after colleague Prayer. Mr. Kingman joined this either carried off by death or obliged party at Liverpool, and took ship to retire from the field. No one could with them for Africa. During the read Mr. Mackay's letters in the Church voyage out he had ample opportunity Missionary Intelligencer without see- for conference with Mr. Brooke, and other members of the party, and so, ing that he was, over and above his on his arrival, was soon able to give missionary devotion, a natural genius. the needed information to his fellow- His translation of the Scriptures into workers in regard to their outfit, etc. the tongue of Uganda, his mechanical , contrivances, his marvellous tact and The agent of the steamship com- soundness of judgment, nis calm pany by whose line Mr. Kingman courage at the court of Mwanga-all sailed sent this telegram: "To-day marked him out as a man of extra- has seen, in the departure of Kingman ordinary power and devotion. He for the Soudan, the beginnin!5 of what was born in 1850 in the Free Church is going to be the greatest mIssionary manse of Rhynie, his father, the Rev. movement of this century. God bless A. Mackay, LL.D., being the Free it, and the West where it started. Church minister there. Mr. Stanley Keep believing." And adds Mr. Walspeaks of him in the most enthusiastic ton: "And so the Soudan missionary terms, classing him with Livingstone movement is no longer something and Moffat. The Christian Missionary talked of, but is now something real. Intelligencer for May has a deeply- Praise the Lord! "*-J. M. S.
interesting sketch of him.-J. M. S. * :';ee our June issue, pages 472-73.
556 PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
VII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Africa.-King Mwanga. Uganda is one made the first complete ascent of Mount Kil- ·of the most powerful of African kingdoms, ima Njaro, in East Africa, and finds it almost =d the conversion of its king to enlightened 20,000 feet high. A graphic account appears views, and his restoration to power by the aid in the Royal Geographical Society's Proceed- <)f Christians whom he had so cruelly pel"S!3' ings for March. This is the mountain that cuted, are events of no small importance to the was discovered by our missionary, Rebmann, -cause of missions and of civilization in Central on May 11, 1848; and his letter, announcing the Africa. From a cruel enemy he has become a discovery, was printed in the very first num· warm friend, so that he now sends to the ber of the Church Missionary Intelligencer, Protestant and Catholic missionaries south of 1849. The scientific world and the AthenaJum Victoria Nyanza, begging them to return to laughed at a poor missionary finding a snow- their work in his kingdom. " You will be at capped mountaln under the Equator. But liberty to do whatever you like," says he. Rebmann merely replied, "I was brought up H Do not imagine that Mwanga will become in Switzerland, and I ought to know a snow· bad again. If you find me bad, then you may clad peak when I see one." That discovery ·drive me from the throne; but I have given was the first event in the history of modern up my former ways, and I only wish now to Central African exploration. follow your advice." It is also reported that the English have completed a treaty with -The acceptance ofthe Italian Protectorate Mwanga, by which Uganda comes under the by the King of Abyssinia is reckoned as af- ·suzerainty of Great Britain. Still another re- fording much hope for missionary work in the port affirms that Mwanga has been defeated valley of the Nile. and dethroned. It is impossible to tell at present how much truth there may be in the.m -Along the valley of the Nile, from Alexan- rumors. dria to the first cataract, there are seventy mission stations, and seventy Sunday-schools, -The Brussels Conference. The results numbering 4,017 scholars, while the boarding will not be fully known till the Powers have and day schools have over 5,000 pupils. :Severally ratified its action. The report of the Maritime Committee is a long document, and -There are, in connection with the Pres- ;shows that all difficulties have been sur· byterian Board of Foreign Missions, nine mounted, and an agreement has been con· churches in the Gaboon and Corisco Missions, ·cluded on every point. If the recommenda· with 1,090 communicants enrolled, of whom tions of the committee be adopted, the 163 were added during the past year. repression of the slave trade by sea will be regulated henceforth by a complete code -The London Missionary Society has re- which respects the views of the various ceived news from its missionaries at the south Powers, and at the same time forms a code, end of Lake Tanganyika. They have beim in the efficacy of which cannot fall to make itself great peril from the Arabs, and in great straits felt. According to L'Afrique, all trade cara- for provisi()Ds and cloths for barter purposes vans, before starting from the coast, must and wages, but the worst is thought to be give a deposit to be forfeited if they trade in now over. slaves. Arms are not to be taken into the interior; and even on the coast, guns and -Stanley says that during his recent Afri- powder will be under close supervision. Slaves can expedition he came across a new and in- fonnd in any caravan or ship will, if possible, teresting race of blacks, the Wanoumas, who be liberated and restored to their own are absolutely European in type, and very in- country_ telligent. They appeared to be decendants of the ancient Ethiopians, who settled in some -A large quantity of intoxicants is being way not known to him in Equatorial Africa. imported by the Germans into their East These people never int..rmingled with the ab- Africa territory. Great care is taken to pre- original races, but kept their blood intact, vent this being brought into the English considering the ordinary negroes beneath sphere. The English are beginning to see the them. baleful effects of this trade in rum, and are restricting it. But they have not yet much to -Rev. Alfred Robert Tucker has been con· boast of. It should be said, however, to the secrated at Westminster as Bishop of Equa great honor of the African Lakes Company, torial Africa, to succeed Bishop Parker, dethat they absolutely refuse to have any share ceased, who succeeded Bishop Hannington, in the sale of intoxicants to the natives. The who was assassinated. British South African Gompany is also working in co-operation with the African Lakes -The Congo. Mr. Grenfell, of the English {Company. Baptist Societ~, reports that they are expect- ingto open anew station at Lulanga, some 150 -A German traveler, Dr. Meyer, has lately miles northeast from Lokolele. The officials of the Congo Free State desire the Society to make much greater advances up the river to Ukoto, some 400 miles, where the Arabs have as yet obtained no foothold. It is evident that the authorities of the Free State are desirous ox stables, damp huts, and filthy, small, dark to aid missionary societies in all possible ways rooms; of the ddys with students in wet grass, so that a barrier may be made against the on the mountain·tops and by the sea-side, of Arabs. Mr. Grenfell says that if the railroad the visits in a savage country, among the between Stanley Pool and tidewater were only aborigines, you will never fully know. Four· built, the Arabs would find their vocation gone. teen years of toil have passed away. Yester- He affirms that a railroad cOllld do much more day 1,273 rejoiced in singing praises to the than could an army. The work at Balolo station Lord God Almighty. To God alone be all is most promising. People listen attentively, the praise, honor and glory. There are now and express much surprise over the teachings hospitals as well as churches, native clergy- of the Bible. For instance, they cannot see men as well as teachers, colleges as well as why God should object to their stealing one primary schools in Formosa, and the native from another. But Mr. Grenfell says, that Christians largely aid them." though they acknowledge that the Command· ments are good, "they are not yet prepared Greece.-Mr. T. R. Sampson, an intelli- to accept the awkward restrictions their adop- gent missionary at Salonica, admits that the tion would entail."-Missionary Herald. call for laborers in Greece is not so urgent as. in China or Japan, but says that there is now -The following list gives statistics of the an opportunity in Macedonia, Epirus and various Protestant missions working on the Asia Minor such as never has existed before, and may not exist there long, should Russia Congo: or Austria come in. The work can be done Baptist Missionary Society. established 1878: only by Americans, for they are not mixed up with politics abroad, nor embarrassed by In the field, 24; on furlough, 7; studyingmedi- State establishments at home. The rest ot cine, 1; transferred to other missions, 3; in the world is open to Christians of all nations home work, 2; *left the mission, 4; dead, 25. alike, but in this part of Europe the circum- Total, 66. stances particnlarly favor those who come from the western world. American Baptist Missionary Union, estab· lished 1878: In the field, 23; on furlough, 9; India.- The Disintegration of Hindu- studying medicine, 1; in other foreign mis- ism. Thus the work goes on, and has been sions, 7; in home mission work, 8; *left the going on for seventy years, now with a larger mission, 5; dead, 18. Total, 71. staff and now with a less, but with an ever- increasing volume and with results which stIli Simson's (New York) .Mission, established in a great part await the future to declare 1884: In the field, 3; *Ieft the mission, 5; dead, them. This work among the lower classes is 1. Total,9. not so conspicuous in its results as that which is carried on among the higher. It is Swedish Mission, established 1886: In the not pulling down the pinnacles of the Hindu field, 10; on furlough, 3; dead,S. Total, 16. temples, but it is disintegrating their founda- tions. At Sal' Nath, near Benares, is a huge Bishop Taylor's Congo Mission, established Buddhist tope of brickwork, through which 1886: In the field, 11; helping other missions, 2; antiquarian investigators have driven a single *Ieft the mission, 11; dead,7. Total,31. tunnel jnst at the gromid level. The mighty mass stands all unshaken by that. But one The Congo-Balolo Mission, consisting of 11 by one the bricks are loosening where they are members, is not included in this list, as it has exposed, and by and by the.whole .tructure only recently been established. will collapse. We are driving tunnels in all directions through the mass of Hinduism. N. B. Those going home by April mail are The lower classes are being permeated by included above as "on furlough."-Missionary the dissolving element of Christian truth, and notes from the Congo. the mortar of ignorance and superstition is being picked out from the joints of the caste England. – The British and Foreign system. Even if the higher classes were un· Bible Society has, during the eighty-one years touched, the work in and around Calcutta of its history, issued from its London Deposi· could not fail to tell at last.-Christwn tory alone, 29,000,000 complete copies of God's Missionary Intelligencer. word, 32,000,000 Testaments, and nearly 12,- 000,000 portions of the Bible; a total of 73,000,- -A new sect, called the Arya Somaj, is at- 000, or nearly 1,000,000 a year, or enough to tracting considerable attention in Northfurnish every twentieth inhabitant of the western India. Its purpose is to oppose giobe! Truly England's noblest cathedral is Christianity by restoring the worship taught in the ancient Vedas. An orphanage and her great Bible Society. school have been established in ~arei1ly by the Formosa. – A Rapid Conquest. Some- sect, whICh is probably the first effort ever made by the natives of India to provide a times the conquest of Christianity in foreign home for the care of helpless and neglected fields is qnite rapid. Dr. Mackay, the distinguished missionary on the island of Formosa, off the coast of China, writes: "Fourteen years ago I arrived here. All was dark around. Idolatry was rampant. The people were bitteI towards any foreigner. There were no churches, no hospitals, no students, no friends. Year after year passed away rapidly; but of the persecutions, trials and woes; ot the sleepless nights; of the trawiling barefoot, drenched with wet; of the nights in * Many of these are connected with Mission work at home. children. The attempt is undoubtedly in- schools. The translation of the New Testa- .spired by the successful efforts of missionaries ment was not completed until 1880, and the in this direction, and is intended to keep the whole Bible at the beginning of 1888. A few ·children of Hindu parents from falling into months later one society had distributed over Christian hands. 100,000 copies of the complete Bible, and, previously, more than twice that number of -In politics, III religion, and in religious the various parts. No less than 575 daily and .and moral and social development, we have weekly newspapers, and 111 scientific periodi- entered, or are entering, upon a new era of cals are printed in Japan. There Is also a transformation under the quickening influence good system of postal and telegraph service, of the West; and it is the highest glory of the with extensive lines of railway in course of missionary that he has contributed no small construction. They manufacture their own share to this upheaval of a nation of 250,000,- locomotives and steamships, while last year's ®.-TheHindu of India_ imports with the United States from Japan amounted to $16,000,000 in value. -There .are 10,000 licensed opium shops in the British territories in India. The opium Madagascar. – The Chronicle of the habit is increasing rapidly. Ladies Missionary Society contains an inter- esting account of the opening of a new church -Rev_ E. P. Thwing, Ph.D., of Brooklyn, in Antranobiriky, Madagascar, on Christmas N. Y., has recently traveled 4,500 miles in Day. One of the principal pastors from An- India. He says that 8,000 entries are yearly tananarivo came with letters from the Queen made in the official catalogue of vernacular and Prime Minister-the former containing 101• .and English works, issued mainly by Hindus, Services were continued with great success .and on religion more than on any theme. for several days. .. But Buddhist theosophy will never tear Christianity in tatters." Dr. Thwing has been Scotland_ – The Free Church of Scot- .absent from home six months, and has land have received the following interesting traveled 20,000 miles. After the Shanghai items of news from their missions on Lake -Conference, in May, he expects to remain till Nyassa: Dr. Laws reports the baptism of 32 July in Japan. Mrs. Thwing is on her third converts at Bandawe. Dr. Elmslie records the missionary tour among the heathen villages, application of the two first wild 'Ngoni for 120 miles southwest of Canton. baptism. (2) Her Majesty's Consul, Mr. Johnston, F. L. S., having hoisted the British -As India is engrossing at the present fiag at the north end of the Lake-the mission- time so much of the attention of the Church, aries, after 13 years' heroic exposure to dan- some figures relating to its people and their ger, are now under some form of British pro- religion may be useful. In March, 1888, the tection against the Portuguese and Arabs_ population of British India, including the Pr0- (3) The Rev. A, C. Murray, with Mr. Vlok, tectorates and Feudatories, was reckoned by evangelist, has founded the first station of the Government at 269,000,000. It is calculated "the Dutch section of the Livingstonia Mis- that there are about two millions of Chris- sion" at Chewere's, fifty miles west of Lake tians in Indilt, counting Roman Catholics, Nyassa. This will constitute their central Protestants, and adherents of what are known 'Ngoni Mission, as Dr. Elmslie's is North as the Eastern Churches. To the Romish 'Ngoni, and Dr. Henry1s is South 'Ngoni. (4) -Church about a million adherents are as- Dr. Henry sends an account of wonderful signed; to the Syrian, Armenian, and Greek medical missionary work among South 'Ngoni Churches about 300,000; to the Church of Eng- of Chikuse's country_ land, 360,000; to the Presbyterian Churches, 20.000; and to other Protestant communions, Sweden.-A new Mission.-The Church 158,000. There are still 106,000,000 men and Missionary Intelligencer reports that a Swed- 111,000,000 women who can neither read nor ish expedition has been organized to proceed write. The languages spoken are 109. to Victoria Nyanza, with the intention of form- ing stations between that lake and Lake Tan- Japan.-The first Protestant missionary ganyika, for the purpose of co-operating in landed in 1854; the first baptism took place in the suppression of the slave trade. One hun- 1865; the first church was organized in 1872. dred Swedish artisans have entered into ar- Now there are 28 missionary societies at rangements extending over three years. The work, with a force of 443, male and female leader, Mr. Sachrissen, has had experience in foreign missionaries, 142 native ordained mis- Africa, both on the Congo and on the Zambesi. sionaries, 257 native helpers, 8 colporteurs Fifteen hundred native carriers are to be emand 70 Bible women. There are 396 stations ployed. Of the £250,000 necessary, £50,000 and Out-statIOns, 92 of the churches are self- have already been subscribed for this entersupporting, and 157 partly so, with a total prise. membership of 25,514, whose gifts, for all purposes, in 1888, amounted to $48,340.93. The -Swedish MISSionaries, numbering about Sunday-schools number 295, with 16,634 twelve, who were originally connected with scholars in attendance. There are 14 theo- the Livingstone Inland Mission on the Congo, logical schools, with 287 students, and 9,698 but who, at the time that mission was transhave been gathered into the missionary day ferred to the American Baptist Missionary previous nine months, the amount exported would be 209,127 gallons. Now, this is 209,127 Union, came under the direct supervision of gallons too much, but it is pleasant to notice that it is nearly a third less in amount than the Swedish Missionary Society, will soon be the exports of the preceding year, and only one-third, and in some cases one-fourth, the reinforced by seven new helpers from Sweden. amount of several preceding years. While we rejoice over the decrease that we can chroni- They have already had some fruit from their cle, there should be no slackening of effort to put a complete stop to this nefarious traffic.- labors; the congregations are increasing, and Missionary Herald.
the children are coming to school. -The American Board. Since the 1st of November the Prudential Committee has ap· Syria.-The Syrian Christians. Several pointed 52 persons to the various foreign fields. This is about as many as were apmonths since we gave some information pointed in the twelve months of last year; 21 of these are men, and 31 women. The list in· regarding the Syrian Christians in the Travan- eludes several children of missionaries, which shows that the infiuence of heredity tells. core region of southern India, and of the One of the latest appointments is that of Miss Susan H. Calhoun, whose father, the late Rev. reformed party, headed by Bishop Mar Atha- Simeon H. Calhoun, was one of the noblest workers the board ever had in its Syrian field. nasius, which sought evaugelical reformation Her grandfather, Andrew Calhoun, was one of the founders of Park Street Church. A son of within the old church. We referred then to Dr. Joseph K. Greene, of Constantinople, just through his studies at Andover, goes back to a prolonged lawsuit to determine whether Turkey, and a daughter of Rev. J. T. Noyes, of India, returns to the Madura Mission after Bishop Athanasius was in the rightful posses- a course at Wellesley. Her brother, Rev. W. H. Noyes, It will be remembered, is working sion of his office. This case, which has now independently in Japan.
been in the courts fifteen years, has been -Southern Presbyterian Foreign Mis· sions. The report of Dr. Houston, Secretary decided against the reformed party, it being of Foreign Missions, shows 14 missionaries sent out last year, being more than in any held that Mar Dionysius, who had been con- previous year. An important mission was started in the Congo Free State, Africa. Resecrated by the patriarch of Antioch. was ceipts from all sources, $107,627, being $11,000 more than in any other year. From legacies the legal head of the Syrian church of Mala- came nearly $15,000. The committee asks for one-fourth of the church collections, instead bar. It seems that the Court of Final Appeal, of one-sixth as now.
consisting of two Brahmans and a European -Presbyterian Church, Northern. Total receipts of the Board of Foreign Missions, barrister, presented two opinions in open $794,066.44. From churches, $291,791; from Sabbath-schools, $36,062; from woman's court, the Hindus favoring the authority of the boards, $280,285; from legacies and from mis- cellaneous sources, $73,120. There was a depatriarch of Antioch, while the English judge crease of $58,599 as compared with last year. Thirteen less churches contributed. There is gave his opinion that the Syrian church in at present a deficit of $60,275. There were sent out during the year to Mexico 5 mission· Malabar was of right entirely independent. aries; to Colombia. 4; to Brazil, 8; to Syria, 6; to Persia, 13; to Laos, 3; to Korea, 5; to China, This decision was not unexpected, and the 26; to Japan, 15; to Guatemala, 2; to Africa, 3; and to India, 16.-Total, 106. Besides outreformed party have been for some time pre- stations there are in the Indian mission 6 sta- tions, in the Mexican 5, in Gautemala I, in the paring to act independently. The Harvest Brazilian 8, in the Colombian 3, in the Chilian 4, in the African 17, in India 19, in the Siamese Field, in reporting this decision, well says: 5, in the Chinese 13, in the Japanese 5, in the Korea" 1, in the Persian 6, and in the Syrian 5 " A sad sight, truly, it is to see a Church which -in all 98.
has stood through a long course of centuries -Reformed Church. The receipts of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed as a conservator and witness of Christian Church for the year just closed were about $117,000, an excess of nearly $24,000 over the truth, notwithstanding much deadness, in a previous year. The debt of the board has been reduced from $23,500 to $16,500. very dark region of India, when once it begins to show signs of spiritual life and evangelical reform, crushed down again by the heel of a foreign ecclesiastic and his interested abet- tors in Travancore."-Missionary Herald.
Thibet.-A "Thibet Prayer Union" has been formed to plead for the opening of the door into Chinese Thibet, at which the Moravi- ans have been waiting SO long.
United States. – Boston and African Liquor Traffic. As the result of inquiries made at the Boston Custom Honse, we are glad to say that there has heen a great de- crease in the amount of ardent spirits sent to Africa from this port. The following table gives the exportation of rum and other spirits since July.!, 1882, down to the 1st of April of this year. In each ease the year ends with July!.
Year. Gallons Exported. 1883……………………. __ …….. 737.236 1884 ……………………………..576,268 1885 ." …………………………. 803.437 1886 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737,650 1887… .. … … .. …………………646,205 1888 …………………………….694,716 1889 .• _.. ….. .. …………….. 297,008 To April 1, 1890 (9 months) ………… 167.302 If the exportations for the remaining three months of 1890 should be at the rate of the
INDEX OF CONTENTS OF THE JULY NUMBER. [July-
INDEX OF CONTENTS OF THE JULY NUMBER.
PAGE PAGIIi' I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS••••••• 481-525 n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLI· tian Knowled~; also for the Society for the PropagatlOn.of the Gospel in Foreign GENCE …………………… 525-533 Parts, 500; Presbyterian Alliance, 527; m.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE.. 533-<i37 Presbyterian Church of England Mis- IT.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT••• 537-546 sions, 528; British Churches and the V.-MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS 546–551 Brussels Conference, 527; Presbytery of VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT Edinburgh and Indian Missions, 528; Wesleyan Miss. Society, 528; Church TOPICS…………………. 551-555 Missionary Societr, 528; British and vn.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTH- Foreign Bible SoCIety, 529; Baptist Mis- sionary Society…… .. …. •.. .. … .. … 529' LY ·BULLETIN ……………. 556-559 "Foreign Missions: Their Place in the PasvnI.-INDBEXERTO..C.O..N.T..E.N..T.S..J.U..L.Y…N.U..M..- 560 torate, in Prayer, and in Conference," noticed. … .. .. .. .. …. .. .. …. .. …. 524 Authors. FORMOSA.-Dr. Mackay's Fruitful EDITORS.-A. T. Pierson, The McAlI Mis- Work. . ……………… 557 sion, 481; The Lack of Information and Indivualism……………………….. 507 FRANCE.-The McAli Mission, 481; A Strong Appeal for Help, 534; Letter Brown, Henry E., Mechanic Missionaries. 540 from lI1issionary Charles E. Faithfull… 534 Clarke, Pastor, Poem, Tell the Tale…….. 494 Editorial Notes, J. M. Sherwood …….552-55 Frederick IV., King of Denmark,Efforts Ellinwood, Dr. F. F., The Indian Somajes, to Convert the Heathen in 1699…… . . .. 490· 501; A Plea for the Senecas, 546; The Gracey, J. T., D.D., International Depart- Japanese on the Pacific Coast……….. 550 ment …………………………….. 537· Hulbert, Professor H. B., The Science of Missions…………………………. 486 GREECE.-Call for Laborers…….. . .. 557 Johnston, Rev. James, Mission Notes…… 527 Laurie, Rev. Thomas, The Law of the ad- Guinness, Mary Geraldine, "In the Far vance…………………………….. 490 East, " noticed… .. … .. . •… .. …….. 525· Nevius, J. L., D. D., Famine, and the Work of Famine Relief ………………….. 514 INDIA.-The Indian Somajes, 501; Pupils Smith, Rev. Arthur H., Religion in China. 543 in Protestantand Roman Catholic Mission Storrow, Rev. Edward, Foreign Missions Schools, 522; The Great Bathin~ Festival, in the 17th and 18th Centuries……….. 495 523; Disintegration of Hinduism,557; A Starbuck, Rev. Charles C., Translations New Sect, 557; Dr. Thwing'sTravels, 558; from Foreign lI1issionary Magazines '" 519 Strength of the Church, and the Popula- Wyckoff, Professor 111. N., Education in tion ………………………………. 55& Japan……………………………. 537 Information, Lack of… …… .. ……… 507 Countries and Subjects. Java, Missionary Work in ……………… 521 AFRICA.-lI1ap of Central, 525; British Churches and the Brussels Conference, JAPAN.-Map and Statistics, 535; Educa· 527; African Trade, 529; Italy's Position, tion in, 537; Japanese on the Pacific 529; lI1ackenzieana Major Wissman, 530; Coast……………………………… 550 Inner Valley of the Congo, 530; Congo Money, 530; lI1ission Work in the Congo Jews, Dr. Saphir'sViews ……………… 533 Valley, 556; Letter from Rev. John Scott, 533; Baptism of a Mohammedan in Johnston, James, F. S. S., "Century of Algiers, 533; Shall Islam Rule Africa? Christian Progress," noticed……….. 524 552; The Soudan lI1issionary lI10vement, 555; King Muanga, 556; BrusselsConfer- MADAGASCAR.-Opening of a New ence, 556; Country of the Oil Rivers, Church.. . .. . …. .. .. ; . . . ………. 558, 556; Intoxicants, 556; Dr. Meyer's Ex- ploit,556; Various Items of Interest, 556; Mackay, Alexander, Death of … …….• 555 Stanley Fouud a New Race of Blacks, 556; New Statiou on the Congo, 556; Mis- lI1echanic Missionaries. ………………. 54!) sionary Societies on the Congo…….. " 557 Missions, How Advanced …….. '" •….. 49{) American Board, lI1issionariesAppointed. 559 Bingham, Rev. Hiram, Letter on Complet- Missions, The Science of.. … .. .. …. .. . … 486 ingTranslation of the Bible…………. 554 Moorhead, Max Wood, Volunteer Move- Boston and African Liquor Traffic …….. 559 ment ……………………………. 525· CHINA.-Famine and its Relief, 514; The Moravian lI1issions in Labrador………. 519 Religions of China, 543; Value of a Single Proclamation of the GOspel …………. 531 Nestorian Churches, Revival in, in 1890… 517 ENGLAND.-lI1issionary Operations in the 17th and 18th Centuries, 495; Forma- Paton, John G., "Autobiography," no- tion of the Society for Promoting Chris- ticed………………………………. 524'
Poem, Tell the Tale .. ……………… 494 Presbyterian Foreign Missions (South) re- port of last year … ………………. 559 Presbyterian Foreign Missions (North) re- port of last year……………………. 559 Reformed Church, receipts of last year .. 559 SCOTLAND.-Good News Received by the Free Church from Lake Nyassa…•. 555· Stevens, Rev. J. T., Address on Converting the World……… .. ……………. 554 SWEDEN.-Request for Prayer. 537; A New Mission in Africa, 558; The Force of the ~lission on the Congo to be Increased. 559 SYRIA.-The Reformed Party in the Syrian Church defeated after a long contest ………………………….. 559 THIBET.-"A ThibetPrayerUnion"…. 559 Thompson, A. C., Lecture on Missions ..•• 524 Zenana Work, Origin of……………….. 554
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1889
THE VINDICATION OF MISSIONS
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD~ VOL. XI. No.2-Old series.–FEBRUARY.–VoL. II. No. 2.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. THE VINDIOATION OF MISSIONS.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] ALL along the lines Satan seems to sound the signal for an assault on mISSIOns. Perchance the day has dawned, foreseen in apocalyptic vision, when" the devil is come down, having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time'" (Rev. xii: 12). Oertainly there is, just now, a very unusual commotion among the foes of Ohrist and His Ohurch, and it is manifestly caused by the unparalleled progress of Ohristian missions.
Satan is a master strategist. His favorite device is to employ respect~ able agents, and, best of all, professing disciples, to do his business. He disguises the personnel of the attack by getting them to hold the bow while he directs and discharges the venomous arrow. And so we find leading journals of America and Great Britain, and even a Oanon of the Anglican Ohurch, indulging in unfair and unfriendly criticism, and actually trying to prove" Ohristian missions a great failure" !
As to that" distinguished clergyman of the Ohurch of England," too much notice has been taken of him already. lIe has bought a cheap notoriety by his antagonism to missions, without ever earning a costly reputation by his defense of the faith. In the November issue of the Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer our friend" K." has given him and his paper an examination and an exposure so searching, so skillful, so analytic, so critical, that it leaves nothing for any other reviewer to do., . That scholarly article we wish everyone might read. It is at once a dissection and a castigation, reminding us both of the scalpel and of the scourge. The accomplished writer, with keen analysis of character and thorough knowledge of missions, cuts quick and deep beneath the cuticle of snperficial information and professed impartiality, and reveals the real ignorance of facts and perversion of the truth which vitiate th':) Oanon's essay. lIe calmly and coolly exposes and elucidates the entire structure of that misleading, if not malicious, paper, and justifies the judgment already pronounced upon its author by a very competent observer, that the" like of him for pretentious inaccuracy was hardly ever seen." In another aspect that reply isa terrible castigation. Long before "K." gets through, his victim is, figuratively speaking, dead under the scourge; and we wonder why the whipping goes on, unless it be on the principle of the boy who kept on beating a dead dog, because, as he said, "he wanted to show all living dogs that there is punishment after death." We hesitate to refer further to the Canon's essay, for it is not magnanimous to kick a foe who is already hors du combat, not to say lifeless. But while an author may not be worth notice, his false and fallacious statements and inferences may demand contradiction and exposure. 'Ve may not hope to overtake error, which" runs around the earth while truth is pulling on his boots," but we will do what we canto undo the mischief already wrought. Even out of the bramble may come a fire which, jf not quenched, sha1l devour the cedars of Lebanon; and so we undertake to address to candid minds some of the mighty facts and weighty considerations which, to every careful observer, are a triumphant vindication of missions.
It needs but little learning and less logic to see that the basis, on which the Canon rests the great missionary failure, is unsound. It will not bear investigation. First, as to the facts, so far as they are facts, there is nothing new. No intelligent student of Christian missions is taken by surprise or trembles with alarm. The main body of the. statements, based on comparative statistics, the most ardent advocates of missions, and even missionaries themselves, have not only conceded but furnished. He who has read Christlieb and Croil, Anderson and Stevenson, George Smith and Thomas Smith, Gammell and Goodell, Laurie and Livingstone, Bainbridge and Bartlett, Doolittle and Dorchester, Warneck and Wilder, Gordon Cumming and James Johnston, has seen these" vital statistics," facts and figures, fully set forth; indeed to Dorchester's" Religious Progress" and Johnston's" Century of Christian Progress," Canon Taylor probably owes no little of his own material. But while we concede the facts we dispute the inferences. Many a good scientist or statistician proves a poor philosopher or logician ; and even those who have gathered and classified these very facts follow them with no such induction, as is plain from their attitude toward missions, some of them being the foremost leaders and most eloquent pleaders of the whole mission host!
That is a false maxim that" facts and figures cannot lie." They may be arrayed in a garb so delusive, and arranged in a relation so deceptive, as to justify the quaint counter-saying, that "nothing can be made to lie so badly as figures, unless it be facts." For instance, the increase of popUlation is contrasted with the increase of Christian converts, and the former is shown to outstrip the)atter by ten millions a year; and this is one of this Canon's shots, by which he proposes to demolish Christian missions. But look at the comparative agencies producing these respccyve results. Suppose we estimate the unevan· gelized population of the Eastern Hemisphere at 1,000,000,000, and their annual net increase at 10,000,000, or one per cent. The whole Christian Ohurch at home sends into the mission field only some 6,000 men and women, and last year the "Ohurch 1-fissionary Society" alone reported 4,000 converts, or sixty-seven per cent. upon this whole force; while the entire gain from the whole mission field, in the last fully reported year, was more than 150,000, or tlOenty-five hundred per cent. If now we count into the working force the 30,000 laborers who .. are converts from heathenism, even yet the results are amazing; for, while the popUlation of these non-OhI'istian countries grew by one per cent., the number of converts advanced by over jour hundred per cent. upon the whole number of workers in the 'field! Does that look like failure?
But while we find fault with Oanon Taylor's figures and his worse .inferences, we most of all find fault with his sinking the Ohristian in the mathematician. Figures cannot exhaust facts. ~'here are results that cannot be reckoned by numbers or reported in figures, and the greater part of the actual fruits of missions cannot be thus estimated . or tabulated. Think of the direct results in the elevation of man as man, and in the creation of Ohristian communities in the very heart of heathenism and paganism! The gospel lever has lifted whole peo- ples to a higher level during this century of modern missions: new dignity has been given to manhood and womanhood and honest toil; new sanctity to marriage and family ties; new security to life and liberty, property, and happiness; cruel customs, degrading supersti- tions, caste distinctions, have been modified and even abolished; and there has been a wide diffusion of snch ennobling conceptions as the Universal Fatherhood of God and the Universal Brotherhood of man!
To. all tbese and many other direct results, we must still add the indirect influence of the gospel-refining, subduing, civilizing, even where it does not renew, sanctify, Ohristianize. There are many changes which stop sbort of conversion, which are both invaluable and inestimable. Dr. Lindley declared that when a naked Zulu got so far toward Ohristianity as to put on duck pants and a calico shirt and sit on a three-legged stool nine inches high, he was about nine thousand miles above his nude neighbors. Before Ohristianity entered India, lepers were treated with shocking inhumanity, many of them being buried alive. Not only has a stop been put to this cruelty, but for fourteen years there has beon a special Ohristian mission to the 135,000 lepers of India. Rev. James Ohalmers, the veteran missionary, after twenty-one years of experience among cannibals; after visits to the Loyalty, Samoan, Society, and New Hebrides groups; after ten years of life in the Hervey Islands, and almost tcn more among the savages of New Guinea, declares that he has never yet seen a single mall or woman that has been civilized without Ohristianity's influence; and he declares that the gospel is the only true civilizer, and that if this wel,"e all, it is worth while to send Christian missionaries to the field.
If Canon Taylor thinks missions a failure, he ought to have been wrecked, like a certain Scotcl~ seaman, on that islanl! in the South Sea, where, eight years before, a whole ship's crew were thrown ashore, escaping the devourillg jaws of an angry sea only to be roasted in can- nibal ovens and eaten by remorseless savages; yet here natives in English dress and with English words of welcome now. pulled their canoes toward htohsepitsainblkeinCgl~'isshtiipal, l eager to reseue the perishing and invite them tG homes. lIas CarlOn Ta,ylor heard Mr. Calvert and Mr. 'Yebb tell the story of Fijian missions? How heathenism has been so swept awuy that the visitor canllot believe that those people, polite as Parisians and honest as Norwegians, were wild cannibals a generation ago! How, out of less than 112,000 Fijians, over 100,000 are attendants on Christian worship! How, where fifty years ago there was not one Christian, there is to· day not one avowed hcathen 1 How there are over 1,200 placcs of ChriRtian yorship and not one cannibal oven or heathen temple! And yet Christian mi~sions are « a great failure"! Is it not rather the Canon himself?
ThG argument by which the Canon wonle1 reduce CIJristian missions to an absurdity is itself capable of an easy reductio ad absurdum. He calculates that at the present rate it would take from 300,000 to 1,000,- 000 years to convert the worh1-a result 'rather remote for any of us now living to hope to see! What a shallow argument against missions!
Shall we haul down the flag of the cross before this noisy cannonade?
Beholl! the logical inference as to all other work-reformatory, benevo- lent, philanthropic. 'Yhat if it can be demonstrated that, notwith- standillg the Herculean labor of temperance reformers, it would take, at the present rate, 1t million years to male every man a total abstainer or even to clear the world of drunlmrds, ronld that prove the temper- ance work a failure or lessen the value of mdivjdnals already rescned and homes already redeemed from this curse? Give the Canon's argu- ment a broad enough application, and all existing philanthropies would cease to-morrow! There arc in operation a thousand forms in which unselfishness ministers to want or woe-asylums for the blind and deaf, the incurable, the cripple, the insane; refnges for homeless orphans and midl11ght missions for lost women; soup-houses and cof- fee-rooms for the poor, lllght-schools and lodging-houses for bootblacks and newsboys. Blindness, prostitution, crime are said to be on the increase. All our best efforts canJlot overtake human poverty and misery. Shall we then pronounce all beneficent work a failure and abandon all eleemosynary institutions?
'fhis is a "distinguished clergyman of the Church of England."
'VeIl, how does he measure values? After the law of a carnal com- mandment, or after the power of an endless life? Hesults that affect a human soul-its character, history, destiny-are not to be gauged by quantity, but by quality; not to be counted by numbers, but weighed in the scales of God. Who shall measure the worth of one human being, of one human life, of one home redeemed from poverty and misery, lust and filth, rum and ruin? One child's possibilities for evil or gooel suggest a profound heig1lt alH1 depth which even the mind of a cherub and the heart of a seraph could not sound or explore. Even if eternity be left out of account, for the sake of benefits accruing in this life we shall still run the uneqm>l race with human sin and suffering, though we never supply all nleds or banish all crime and wretchedness.
Oanon Taylor's preaching, it is to be hoped, saves here and there one out of the thousands about him. Does he consider his ministry a failure? If so, why not doff his canon's robes and take up some work that pays better than preaching? The fact is, if he be a true disciple, his heart is better than his head, his love is sounder than his logic, and so he goes on patiently, rescuing here and there one soul from the awful wreek of faith and hope and love and life- because he cannot help, it. And so Ohristian missions are the necessary vent to a pent-up fire in our bones which makes us "weary with forbearing, so that we cannot stay" from the telling of the old story. It is because love, the expansive, expulsive, explosive law of the new life, will work to save, though the more abundantly it be lavished the less we be loved!
This question, "Do missions pay?" is a characteristic sign of our materialistic and commercial age. We have a supreme contempt for such methods of measuring duty and responsibility. A dIvine command is our authority for Ohristian missions, and their sufficient vindication. With results we have nothing to do, however discouraging. But since this Canon and oth~rs like him set up such standards of measurement, we cannot forbear to show that even on this basis mis- &ions are triumphantly vindicated. The witnesses that testify to the magnificent successes of missionary labor are legion. They may not, in the Oanon's eyes, be men of the highest learning, but they speak what they know and testify what they have seen; and their knowledge, however limited, cannot be offset by his ignorance, however extensive.
This paper in the Fortnightly Review hints that the quality of converts on mission fields scarcely justifies the expenditure in lives and treasure. Is the m'erage very high in the home churches? Where is the pastor who does not mourn over the dead driftwood that somehow gets into the current and then lodges in some bend of the stream to block all progress? Half of our church members give no sign of vital godliness. In a land wher~ the yery "atmosphere" is Ohristian, professing disciples trample on the whole decalogue, and even the churches are the shrines of idols. Oan we reasonably e:xpect a higher average of genuine a~d steadfast l)iety where the whole atmosphere is poisoned with paganism? But what are the facts? Whether judged by holy living or by ample giving, by faith or by works, the average convert in Turkey and Persia, Siam and Burmah, Ohina and Oaffraria, is far beyond the home standard, as the best missionaries testify with re- markable unanimity. Out of their poverty they give with an abun- dance of liberality that }mts to shame the gifts of our richest and most generous donors; and while Protestant Ohristendom sends to the direct mission work abroad only one out of every 5,000 members, these small churches, gathered on heathen soil, give at least one out of every hundred. .
In all.Oanon Taylor's comparisons of Ohristian life on these differ4 ent fields, there is the same obvious warping of facts by the determina- tion to make out his case. He repeats the common error of those who would applaud morality at the expense of piety, and who uniformly appropriate for the contrast the best specimens of the former with the worst of the latter. If the converts in the home and foreign fields are to be compared, we insist upon fairness and equity. Let us take for our examples those whose education, capacity, environment, oppor- tunity, most nearly correspond; and even then let us take into consid- eration every circumstance to which charity would accord a hearing in the court of reason and conscience. For a plant to live at all in a desert is a greater proof of vitality than for the same plant to thrive with lux.
uriance in a well-watered garden; and only they who, on pagan soil, where even the language has no terms for spiritual ideas, have seen the plants of godliness grow like flowers of Eden, can feel the full force of the proof that a divine Husbandman has been at work I But here, again, something besides numbers is to be taken into ac- count.. '1'he most subtle substances evade analysis, and the most im- portant results defy representation in the crude colors· of the mathe- matician or statistician. Theodore Parker rose from reading Judson's life to declare that if missions had produced but one such hero, all costs were repaid. With as profound persuasion do we affirm the same of multitudes of single converts in the foreign field. Foreign missions would be a grand success had they produced no results beyond creating, out of materials found in such soil, such men as Asaad Shidiak in Syria, .
Deacon Guergis in Persia, Kho-Thah-Byu and Sau Quala in Burmah, Africaner in Namaqualand, Kamehameha III. in Hawaii and Rona- valona II. in Madagascar, Tawai and Miti in New Zealand, Tubou and Bulu in Raabai and Finau in Vavau, Motele and Moshesh in Basuto- land, Pomare in Tahiti and Papeiha in Raratonga, Kayarnak in Green- land, Aquilar in Mexico, Leong-on-Tong in Ohina, and Brindelbund and Das Maitra in India; not to mention hundreds of others who are not individually named, like the converts of Uganda, who sang of Jesus till their tongues were crisped in their martyr fires! One might as well try to weigh in a scale the worth of a sunbeam as to estimate by mere arithmetic the value of transformed men and women, who in the ceuters o.f pagau, papal, heathen and M()hammedan communities shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of life. The unconverted pagans themselves often confess amazement at transformations of character so radical, and, with Pharaoh's magicians, are compelled to say, "This is the finger of God!" When the vindictive Indian learns to forgive, the brutal cannibal to be compassionate, the cruel savage to be gentle, the treacherous Turk to be faithful, the sordid Ohinaman to be unselfish, the vile Hottentot to be chaste, there is a creat-ive energy at work. This is more than ;eformation or transformation' it is a miracle. It contradicts nature and natural law, and argues a new nature, a new birth, a new creation. He who does not know how repeatedly and unmistakably such transfigurations have been realized, even amid the habitations of cruelty and the shadow of death, is not a competent witness as to the value of missions, and no man who does know these facts can or will pronounce missions a failure.
Moreover, when a man writes on the great missionary failure, first of all we would like him to settle the meaning of terms. What is a failure? Manifestly the opposite of success. And what is success? This is the accomplishment of a plan or purpose. In the last analysis, the success or failure of Ohristian missions must depend upon the real purpose of Ohristian missions.
Weare constrained therefore to raise the question, What is the purpose of the gospel in this dispensation? There is a grand distinction which even students of the Word and advocates of missions often overlook. With the work of conversion we have nothing to do, and for that we are not responsible. Our mission is one of evangelization. "Go ye into aU the world and evangelize-preach the gospel to every creature." Our Lord Ohrist never said that it was our duty to convert everybody, nor did He promise such a result. We give the community a free school, though not every boy that goes to school will turn out a scholar. Weare to give the community a free 'gospel, though not every hearer does turn out a convert.
"This gospel must first be preached for a witness in all the world." This means no superficial, hasty, formal proclamation of the good news of grace. It means thorough work, the implanting and erection of all the institutions of Ohristianity. Everywhere men are to be confronted with the Ohristian church and home, school and college, society and civilization. They are to see demonstrated before their eyes, and by the logic of events, what the gospel of Ohrist can do for the man, the woman, the child; what it can do to elevate labor, dignify humanity, abolish cruelty and eve!! discourtesy, supplant caste by a true equality, and lift all society to a higher level. The contrast will thus be made to appear between the religion of the Nazarene 'and all other faiths. The Mohammedan, heathen, pagan, will be compelled to confess the I immense superiority of a gospel that is not satisfied with mere evolu.
tion, but demands revolution; and that, not out of ruins but upon them, rears a temple to God, in which unselfishness, benevolence, ch:J.rity and purity arl' the white-robed priests. That is pr~aching the gospel as a witness, and it gives to all men a fair chance for intel- ligent choice. Such is the purpose of the gospel in the present age, and such is the commission of the church during this dispensation, viz., worrd-wide evangelization; and so far and so fast as the church accomplishes that mission, however few or many be the professed con- verts, so far and so fast does the church succeed in missions, for she is doing the very work her Lord has given her to do.
While it is not promised that everybody who hears the gospel shall be converted during thIS age of gospel wItness, great reAUlts have accompanied, and greater WIll follow, the missionary efforts of the church of God. Already results that rival Pentecostal wonders have been realized. McKay at Formosa gathered 1,200 converts at the Lord's table on the twelfth anmversaryof his advent to that island,.
William Johnson saw Sierra Leone transformed into a Ohristian state within seven years. Dr. Clough, at Ongole, baptized 10,000 converts in three months in 1878. The South Seas were Ohristiamzed in forty years, from TahIti to New Gumea. A thousand spires dIsplaced can- nibal ovens, in the Fiji group, in less than half a century Transfor- mations have taken place within the memory of men still living, that are as inexplicable by any human philosophy as the creation ·of a world out of nothing. Madagascar, Polynesia, the Karens, the Zulus, the Maoris, even the Japanese in our own day, furnish modern miracles as astounding as the cleansmg of a leper, the empowermg of the Impo- tent, the exorcising of the demoniac, or the raIsmg of the dead.
The fuller exhibition of the fruits of missionary enterpnse must be left to a future paper on the "ExpOSItion of Missions." But, as a specimen both of the success of missionary labor and of the witness of impartial observers, we refer the reader to the recently published" Life and Letters of Oharles Darwin." In contrast with Oanon Taylor's as- sault, let us OLce more summon this apostle of materialIsm from his grave, to give his testimony. Mr. Darwm, though not a Ohristian, had the. greatest reflpect for the good in Ohristianity, and was great enough to.acknowledge it. 'l'his isthe way in which he answered some shal- low critics of foreign missionaries. We give space to his testimony be- cause it deserves to be quoted in full. After his visit to Terra del .Fuego, he wrote : "The Fuegians are III a more miserable state of barbarism than I had expectpd eyer to have seen a human being. In this inclement country they are ahsolutely naked, and their temporary houses are like what children make in summer with boughs of trees. I do not think 'any spectacle can be more interesting than the first sight of man in his primitive wildness. It is an interest whioh cannot well be imagined until it is experienced. I shall never forget this when entering' Good Success Bay'-the veIl with which a party received us. They were seated on a rocky p~int, sur~'ounded by the dark forest of beech; as they threw their at'ms wildly around th,eir heads, and their long hair streaming, they seemed the ;troubled spirits of another world. . • . There is in their countenance an expresion which I believe, to those who have not seen it, JlJust be inconceivably wild. Standing on a rock they uttered tones and made gesticulations than which the cries of domestic animals are far more intelligible."
'Admiral Sir James Sullivan testifies that JUl'. Darwin" often ex- pressed to him his conviction that it was lltterly useless to send missionaries t~ such a set of savages as the Fuegians, probably the very lowest of the human race." But subsequently, about 1869, he wrote to the Admiral" that the recent accounts of the mission proved to him that he had been wrong in his estimates of the native character and of the possibility of doing them good through the missionaries, and he requested the Admiral to forward to the society an inclosed check for £5, as a testimony of the interest he took in their good work." Yet later, in 1874, 187'9, and 1880, he wrote: "I am glad to hear so good an account of the Fuegians, and it is wonderful; the progress of the Fuegians is. wonderful, and had it not occurred, would have been ,to me incredible. I have often said that the progress of Japan was the greatest wonder III the world, but I declare that the progress of Fuegia is almost equally wonderfu1. It is truly 'wonderful about their h<?nesty and their l::tnguage. I certainly should have predicted that not all the missionaries in the world could have done what has been done." * Again Mr. Darwin writes: "In our passage across the Pacific we only touched at Tahiti and New Zealand. Tahiti is a most charming spot. Delicious scenery, climate, manner of the people, all in harmony. It is moreover admirable to behold what the missionaries both here and at New Zealand huyc effected. I firmly believe they are good men working for the sake of a good cause. I much suspect that those who have abused or sneered at the missionaries have generally been such as were not very anxious to find the natives 71w1'al and intelligible beings. They forget, or will not remember, that human sacrifice and the power of an idolatrous priesthood; a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the world; infanticide, a consequence of that system; bloody wars, where the conquerors spared neither women nor children-that all these things, have been abolished, and that dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly reduced hy the introduc- tion of Christianity. In a voyager to forget these things is a base ingrati- tude; fOJ' should he chance to be at the pointof shipwreck on some unknown coast, he will mo~t devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far."
Weare compelled to leave the "pretentiously inaccurate" paper of Canon 'I'aylor with these brief comments on the" facts" it presents and the inferences it draws. Its answer must be found in the mis- * Vol. ii. 307, 308.
MISSIONS TO THE LEVANT
sionary annals of the entire century since the pioneer English mis- sionary went to India. There is not a true worker on'the field who will for a moment be disturbed by the recklelOs shots from this eccle- siastical gun. Nor will the missionary enterprises of the ch,urch be for one hour arrested or delayed. Infidels have been trying for cen- turies to overthrow the Word of God by scientific speculations. So soon as some new "fact" or "law" is discovered, they make haste to load up their guns and fire, expecting to see the defenses of the Christian faith totter and tumble under the tremendous shock of this scientific artillery. But 10 ! the 'fortress stands, with not even a hole or breach in the wall. And when we come to examine what was hurled against the walls, we find not some huge, heavy shot of solid fact, but a mere paper-wad of fanciful theory that took fire from the powder before it was out of the mouth of the gun!
We seriously apprehend that in this noisy assault on missions there is more flash and roar than force and nre. This gun kicks so badly that it were better to be before it than behind it. And when the smoke c1ears away and the effect of the assault is seen, this" distin- guished clergyman" will find himself famous only for his blunders, while his inexact statements and illogical conclusions may have led many a reader, like Nathanael, to come and see whether any good thing can come out of Nazareth, and to confess that the despised Nazarene is the Son of God and the miracle worker among the nations! These attacks, whether from nominal friend or from pro- fessed foe, are like the wild dash of the birds of the night against the crystal inclosure of that superb light that shines on the colossal statue in New York harbor: the assailants beat themselves into insensibility, while the light shines on undimmed, and the grand statue, reared on granite pedestal, stands unmoved and immovable, still guiding the watching sailor to a peaceful harbor.
MISSIONS TO THE LEVANT: THEIR PROBLEMS, METHODS . AND RESULTS. .
BY REV. EDWIN M. BLISS. [Our readers will be interested to know that the writer of this int~resting series of papers has but recently returned from Constantinople, where he spent several years as assistant agent of the American Bible Society for the Levant. Hence his thorough knowledge of the subject which he dis- cusses.-EDs.] UI. THEIR RESULTS.
IN considering the results of missions in the LfJ,ant we note: 1.
The development of the agencies employed. 2. The direct· effect ot those agencies in the establishment of evangelical communities and churches. 3. Their indirect effect upon other communities in the line of intellectual, social, and religious life. 4. The type of character developed as a foundation for the future. 1. The development of the agencies employed. The success of an undertaking is often measured in a degtee by the amount invested in it. The work: of the American churches in the Levant, commenced by the little band who sailed from Boston under the auspices of the then infant American Board, is now carried on by seven organized American societies-six representing the Congregational, Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterian, Southern Presbyterian, and Methodist denominations, and one, the American Bible Society, representing all, and helping to unite all upon the one foundation of the Word of God. There are also two colleges-Robert College at Constantinople, and the Syrian Protestant College at Beyroot-independent in endow)llent and management of the societies. Three more, at Harpoot, Aintab, and Marsovan, in Asia Minor, with endowments and boards of trustees, but practically under management of the societies. Two more, at Oroomiah, Persia, and Osiout, Egypt, under direct control of the' societies. There is also the Bible House at Constantinople, connected with no society, owned and managed by a board of trustees in New York, the income from which goes. toward Bible work, supplementing that of the societies. The Disciples of Christ and the Baptist Union are represented by a few native preachers, whose work has been, so far, almost entirely among the existing evangelical churches.
These different organizations are represented oy 133 American gentlemen, mostly ordained and married men, and 119 single ladies. They are located in 42 central stations, and have nearly 500 out-stations connected with them. Over 1,700 native preachers, teachers, and colporteurs work under their superinte·ndence. There are 185 churches with 15,226 communicants; 763 schools with nearly 33,000 scholars; 43,000 copies of the Scriptures, in whole or in part, have been distributed in one year. Unfortunately the statistics of religious and educational books are not kept distinct by the different societies. A general estimate of 50,000 books, 100,000 text-books, a.nd 400,000 tracts would perhaps represent the work of a year. Aside from these are the periodicals, 5 weeklies and 6 Ip.onthlies, the latter chiefly child's papers. One weekly in Bulgarian reached a circulation of over 4,000. '}'he medical work has assumed great proportions. Herc again no statistics arc given, but to say that 25,000 cases are attended yearly would probably be within the truth. These all involve an annual expenditure of Amel"ican funds amounting to nearly $500,000. How much the native communities contribute in salaries of preachers and teachers, tuition, cost of books, and general community and church expenses, it is impossible to say without better data than are furnished as yet. The value of property in land, buildings, school, printing and binding apparatus, stock of printed sheets, bound books, etc., is very great. In Constantinople alone it is over $400,000. These figures indicate the amount of the investment that the American churches have made in evangelical wo.rk in the Levant. The question then CDmes, Is this investment so. placed as to. secure the widest pDssible returns? The 42 central statiDns include nearly every city Df size and impDrtance in Bulgaria, RDumelia, Asiatic Turkey, NDrth Persia, Syria, and Egypt. AttentiDn has been paid especially to centers of pDpulation. There is prDbably no. country where the annual shifting Df the population is so great as in Turkey. Oonstantinople, Smyrna, Adana, even such interior places as Harpoot and 'Oesarea, are thronged by men who. leave their village homes for a few months or a few years to earn a little and then return. These are the peDple that are most easily reached, and there is scarcely a hamlet, frDm the Balkans to. the Persian Gulf, from the Oaucasus to. LuxDr, that has not some one or more Df those who have been reached by preacher, teacher, or colpor-. teur in the larger cities. There is also a regularly organized system by which the whole field is visited each year. The results are brought into. discussion III native presbyteries and uniDns, and then into annual meetings of the missionaries, where plans suggested on the field are scrutinized mDst carefully, matured, and put into. actiye operation. In fact, as a matter of business management Df the sums committed to their care, the missions of the American churches to the Levant have often won the highest encomiums from those who have taken the pains to examine into the matter.
2. The direct effect of these agencies in the establishment of evangelical communities and churches. The statistics already given show 185 churches with 15,226 communicants. Of these abDut 1,200 were added during the past year. If we follow the style of arithmetic in vogue with Oanon Taylor and others, this would give a cost to the American churches of about $400 per convert, tofay nothing of native contributions. Of course it is easy to say that this cost includes the expense of a vast school system, a large amDunt Df publication, etc. But as all these have for their aim the actual conversion of men, the number of such conversions must constitute, it is claimed, th(> real test of succelOs. Education, publication, etc., are all good, but are legitimate for a missionary society only as they have direct results in Ohristian life. What are these direct results, as shown by open connection with Protestant evangelical Ohristianity? Are they accurately measured by the membership in PrDtestant churches alone? NDt in the Levant, any more than in America. Hardly even as much. The position of the evangelical churches there, is not unlike that of the Puritans of two and three centuries ago. Membership in the old Oriental communions is a mere form, even more civil than religious in its character. A man partakes Df the sacrament very much, as he registers his name as a voter here. This, Df cDurse, is not true of all, but it is true to a great degree. When men leave the:se churches to CDnnect themselves with Protestants, they are actuated by differing mDtives. Some do it under the pressure of the longing fOl' a closer communion with God than is possible for them in the formalities of the old service; others from intellectual conviction that the Protestant worship is -purer an.d represents a truer faith than their own; others in disgust at the corruption of the priesthood; others in protest against ecclesiastical domination in civil as well as in church life. Were all these to be gathered into churches and enrolled as communicants, as they would have been by Xavier and the Moslem mis3ionaries over whom Canon Taylor waxes so eloquent, there would be 500 churches, and the communicants would be numbered not by tens but by hundreds of thousands. 'fhe missionaries in founding these churches have realized that the acceptance of Ohristian doctrine, the practice of Ohristian worship, amounts to nothing without Ohristian ll/e. With the exception, perhaps, of the first class referred to above, most have joined the new community with little or no conception of what Ohristian l~fe meant. They have come, for the most part, with old views, old practices, still in full sway. To bring them at once into the young, uneducated churches would have been to bind all to the level of those around them, with little or no hope of a pure, elevated Ohristian character. There have thus grown up around the churches large communities with many strong, intelligent men, accepting to the full, evangelical doctrine and worship, but remaining noncommunicants, because the heart does not seem yet to have accepted what is clear to the mind. 'fheyare passing through a process of education, and it is from their number chiefly that the additions to churches come. How to guide the churches so as to admit to thorn only those who have some conception, faint though it may be, of a true Ohristian life, and a genuijle purpose, however weak, to lead that life, has ever been a most difficult task, akin to that of Gideon in his assault upon the Midianites. 'fo gauge the direct effects of Ohristian missions by the membership of native churches alone would be as incorrect as to claim that Gideon's three hundred represented the whole result of Mosaic teaching.
3. The indirect effect of these agencies upon other communities-in the line of intellectual, social, and religious life.
At one time, Rev. Dr. Van Dyck, the veteran missionary to Syria, said, as he started for a village on Mt. Lebanon, "I am going to – – – to start three schools." "What do you want of three schools there?" "Oh, I am only going to manage one. But just as soon as I get mine started, the Maronites will start one and the Druses will start one. 'l'hat makes three." So it has been all over the Levant. Wherever the colporteur or evangelist has gone the teacher has followed. With the advent of text-books" things new and old" have been opened up out of the storehouses of ancient history and modern science. Ohildren have learned that the world is wider and older than they had supposed. Parents have learned from their children and have begun to
TO THE LEVANT
question the correctness of the views in which they have been trained. A very large percentage of the geographies, histories, and general text~ books have gone, not into schools but famllies, and families too not in any way connected with the Protestant communities. The result has been a general quickening of intellectual life. The old communi. ties found that men were beginning to think for themselves, and real~ ized that they must guide that thinking or it would wander far from their control. Hence, on every hand, schools have been started- Armenian, Greek, Bulgarian, Maronite, Moslem. These have been in some cases heavily endoweu, furnished with the best modern appli~ ances available, yet even so they have not been able to keep pace with the evangelical schools, as is shown by the fact that, periodically, anathemas are hurled from the old altars against those who dare to place their children under the baneful influence of Protestant teachers. Not long ago there was a most earnest appeal in the Turkish papers of Constantinople for teachers who could meet Protestantism on its own ground, could grapple intelligently and successfully with the questions of modern thought. They said, "The time is past when the dictum , of an Imam carries with it conviction. Men are thinking for them- selves, and if we would hold our young men true to the faith in which they were born, we must show them that we are the equals in thought of those who would entice them away." 'l'he result was a series 01 statements about Protestantism of much the same grade of accuracy as certain recent paragraphs on missions in the Evening Post of New York, and renewed press censorship so severe as almost to destroy the character of mission newspapers. No one can go through even the remoter sections of Turkey without seeing on every hand the signs of an intellectual life such as has not b8'en since the days when Byzan- tines fought over Greek prepositions in the baths of Constantinople; and there are few, even of those opposed to missions, but will admit that this is due primarily to them. The influence of Christian missiOl1E on the social life of the East has been most marked.
Scarcely, even under the caste systems of India, has the power of social custom been more severe than in the Levant. Fifty years ago ,there was little or no family life. The men during the day were at work, in the evening at the coffee-shop. rrhe wOmen bore children, cooked and served meals. The wife could not sit at the same table or tray with her husband, shared in no way the responsibilities and honor of the home. Marriage was a matter of barter and sale. Social entertainments were of the lowest grade. Oonver3ation turned almost solely on pyrsonal scanda1. Personal purity had not sunk as low as in some other countries, but it was by no means high. Business was purely a matter of keen wits, never of fair profit. He who could cheat most was the best man. This has not all changed. Else America might go to school to Asia. There has been, however, a wonderful
MISSIONS TO THE
improvement. There are comparatively few Turks now who would consider it an insult to receive inquiries after the health of wife or daughter, and the rigid, seclusion of the harem is more and more a thing of the past. In many a home the mother shares with the father the honor of receiving a passing guest, and the daughter feels free to express her feeling toward the suitor for her hand. The evening finds books and newspapers on the table, and the Vermont farmer who astonished Dr. Hamlin with his inquiries about Fuad "Pachy" finds his counterpart in the Koordish Sheik who talks intelligently about Bismarck and Giers, Gladstone and Boulanger.
The power of Ohristian missions over the religious thought and life of those who do not openly declare their adherence to evangelical Ohristianity is shown in many ways. Up to the present year there have been distributed by the Americ11ll Bible Society not less than 800,000 copies of the Scriptures. Add perhaps 700,000 by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and we have one and a half millions of copies put into the hands of the people. These have been in about the pro- portion of 1 Bible, 3 Testaments and 5 Portions, i.e., single Gospels, Psalms, and Proverbs. When it is remembered that the immense majority of these have been sold, and that certainly not more than one-half, if more than one-third, have gone into evangelical families; when it is remembered too that book-purchasing is not in the Levant what it is so often in America-that it almost uniformly represents a genuine earnest interest in the book-some idea may be gained of the unseen influence that is being exerted all over that great country.
A Bible Society colporteur in the inn of a small village on the Black Sea coast, was challenged to argument by a group of young men thoroughly versed in European infidelity. Being an uneducated man, he found it difficult to meet them. 'fo his utter surprise, a Turkish priest sitting by, asking him for a Testament, took up the argument, and utterly silenced the young men, who left acknowledging their defeat. To the colporteur who expressed his thanks for the timely aid, he said: "Go tell the gentleman at the Bible House not to be discouraged. There are many like myself who read this 'good Book, accept its faith, and are trying to lead the life of Ohrist. We do not openly confess Him, for we feel that the time has not yet come, but it will come, and then you will see the fruit of the seed you are sowing." Among the most significant facts in the religious life of the old Ohristian communities of the Levant are the changes that have been brought about in not a few places in the church services. Worship before pictures has been very generally discouraged, and in some cases the pictures have been taken down. It is becoming an increasing ambition on the part of the clergy to be known as good preachers, and many an earnest gospel sermon is given from pulpits where, until recently, nothin~ 'Yll,tlheard but an intoned liturgy in an unknown tongue. Sabbath-schools and Bible-claSiles have been established, and at the present time the Am~rican Bible Society is printing in Con- stantinople ail edition of the ancient Armenian Bible, at the com- bined earnest request of Gregorian and Papal as well as Evangelical Armenians.
4. 'rhe type of character developed as a foundation for the future. The en,rnest, thoughtful supporter of foreign missions will and must meet this question: What relation have these results to the ifuture? Weare glad of what has been and is being done; glad for every soul brought to a truly Christian life; glad for the growth in intellectual, , social, religious life of those who cannot see their way clear to join our numbers; but America cannot [tlways snpport the East. Foreign missions must inevitably have something of the exotic in their nature. A real live Christianity must be in a sense indigenous to the land where it lives. Is the character of t-qe native evangelical Christians such as to warrant the belief that in due time they will be able to develop their own life,' normally, successfully, and independently? For the answer to this we must not look to statistics of increasing or decreasing contributions. 'rhese are very apt to be misleading. Fam- ine, war, pe8tilence, emigration, taxation, all enter in as dlSturbing elements. In not a few cases increased missionary expenses are coin- cident with decreasing demands from native churches, because new doors are opened and new work commenced. Neither is the increase in church membership a very safe guide, as may easily be inferred from what has already been said. ,The correct flnswer can be funy gained only as we go into the churches, attend the meetings of pastors and helpers, learn their methods and their spirit, and this must be done, not only along the seaboard but in the interior. Anyone who will do this will find large churches managing all their affairs, financial, executive, religious, with skill-and success; local unions and presbyteries consulting earnestly and courteously in regard to the interests of the one great work; home missionary societies snpporting and conducting operations in outlying districts; Young Men's Christian Associations, not patterned after those here, but developed according to local needs and opportunities. Undoubtedly much is lacking. A single generation under such con- ditions as obtain in the Levant can hardly suffice to deyelop a Chris- tian people of the highest grade. There are not a few native pastors that are overfond of foreign money, seek unduly to copy foreign life. But they do not represent the great number of those who from pulpit and desk, by the roadside and in the home, are seeking men to lead in the life of Christ. There are church members who do not give of their substance as they shonld, but the proportion who give conscien- tiously the tithe, and even more, would put to shame many an Ameri- can congregation.
1889.J DELITZSCH'S HEBREW NEW TE:STAMENT
It.is easy for the chance traveler or" superficial observer to find occasion for legitimate criticism. Not so easy for even the carefnl sympathizer to judge accurately the forces that are working for the development of communities. 'fhose who know best and most intimately the local internal life of these communities and churches have the most faith in them. They recognize that mistakes are made, but they believe that throughout these lands dear to every Christian heart the life planted by the apostles, nourished by the church fathers, almost overwhelmed by the adhesion of an unconverted empire, held in bond for centuries by an ignorant ecclesiasticism, is now reasserting itself, and will erelong more than regain it.~ pristine purity and strength.
THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF DELITZSCH'S HEBREW NEW TESTAMENT.
BY PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH.D., COLUMBUS, O.
ALTOGETHER the most remarkable and unique work in modern mis- sion literature is Delitzsch's Hebrew translation of the New Testament. According to the latest reports, officially sent out from Leipzig, the modern headquarters of Jewish Christian enterprise, the British and Foreign Bible Society, since the first appearance of the new version in. 18'1'8, has published no less than nine editions, making a grand total of 80,000 copies. The literary success of the work, aside from its great merit as a mission agency, is indeed phenomenal. Fully 60,000 copies have been disposed of among the Jews of Southeastern Europe and Western Asia, and have all been employed in the gospel cause among the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 'The present is an exceedingly timely moment gratefully to call attention to this great literary monu- ment of modern mission enterprise.' It was in 1838, or just fifty years ago, that the first specimen chapters of the new translation were given to the world. For forty years the now venerable veteran labored incessantly and with characteristically German diligence, perseverance, and scholarly accuracy on his important task. In 1870 he published a translation of the Epistle to the Romans, with a full introduction on the history and present status of the Hebrew New Testament problem, together with extensive notes from the Talmud and the Midrashim! " in which he elucidated the methods and pri.nciples pursued in the work and gave the reader a clear insight into the intricacies 01 the problem and the thorough and scientific manner in which the author was solving it. It is accordingly now just one-half a century since the labor of love for Israel was undertaken by Delitzsch. It is proposed to celebrate this peculiar literary and mission semi-centennial in a manner suitable to the cause. An appeal has been published, addressed to the pupils and friends of Franz Delitzsch, asking for contributions toward the estab- lishment of a permanent fund, the income of which is to be used for the spread of this New Testament in Israel.. The appeal is signed by Pastor Wilhelm Faber; the energetic young leader of the Institutum Juda£curn of Leipzig, who has for the last six or eight years been giving his whole time and attention to this work, and has made eight long mission tours among the Jewish Diaspora of the East. A jubilee of this sort is certainly deserving of the sympathy and co-operatioh of active mission frienJs everywhere.
Another reason for drawing attention to this work now is_the fact that the version. is now to be issued in permanent shape and form. While the first nine editions were going through the press corrections of greater or less nnmber and extent were made in each edition. Hebrew scholars all over the world have taken a deep interest in the literary character, correctness, and finish of the work. Suggestions have been made by some of the best,specialists in this department, and these have been duly weighed and measured by the translator, who himself is doubtless the greatest Hebraist of this generation, if not of this century. How carefully this has been done by him is clear from a report, published in English by Delitzsch some six years ago, in / which he discussed some of the principal suggestions made, and made special acknowledgments to Professor Driver of Oxford for his valuable aid. In this way it can be candidly saia that probably no work issued within our day and date has been so searchingly examined under the critical microscope and has for so long a time been constantly before the eyes of our unofficial college of Hebrew scholars all over the world as has this Hebrew version of the New Testament. Accordingly it is a work of rare literary and critical correctness. It 1S now thought that it has reached the stage in which it can be given out in a permanent shape, and the coming tenth edition will be the first in that form.
The work is issued i.n two sizes. It ori.ginally apl)eared in a small 12mo form of 471 pages. The type was very small, but still clear-cut and easy to read. In this shape alone the first six or seven editions appeared. Later it became clear that its mission value would be enhanced if it could be published in the same type and size as the Old Testament Hebrew text and be bound with the latter, thus constituting the one Holy Writ of the two covenants in the sacred tongue of the chosen people. This was done, and it has proved to be a wise undertaking. The Jews in examining and studying the writings of the New 'l'estament do so solely with an eye to their relation to the Old, as the fulfillment and completion of the latter; To have the two together in ono cover naturally facilitated this work a good deal. As this edition of the t.wo Testaments in Hebrew can be had for about one dollar and· a half, no pastor able to understand this venerable tongue should be without a copy.
It would probably be hard to say from which side this noteworthy pUbhcation presents the greater number of attractive features-from its literary or its mIssionary. No doubt our readers are interested more in the latter, and these in themselves constitute an interesting chapter in the annals of this present mission century. On the face of matters it is certainly remarkable and almost beyond credence that a book written in Hebrew should be the most widely circulated specimen of the non-popular mission literature of the day. Jnd yet when certain facts, not all of which are generally known, are taken into consideration the strangeness of the phenomenon at least in part disappeared. It is generally accepted that the Hebrew is a dead language. This is one of the many popular mistakes of the times. It is true that for the Jew as we see him in America. and Western Europe the Hebrew is only a sacred language, which he uses pro forma in his synagogal worship and often does not understand any more than the Roman Catholic does the Latin of the mass. But the Jews of the western world and Western Europe are modernized, more or less superficially, and are by no means the representatives of genuine Judaism. These must be looked for further East. Of the six and one-half million Jews constituting the Jewish Dispersion, about four mil1:ons are found in the East, and for all of these the Hebrew is the only literary language in which they can be approached. They themselves generally speak not a pure Hebrew, but a jargon; but the pure Hebrew is the language of their books, papers, etc. It would be worse than a waste of effort or time to offer them a defense of the claims of the Ohristian faith in any other than their own literary tongue. They are a most peculiar people, and in the mission efforts among them this peculiarity must be taken into con-' sideration as a most important factor. They are the exact opposites of the Western Jew, who is ever willing to compromise with modern thought, if it only accrues to his social or financial benefit. The Eastern Jew is a conservative of the conservatives. The adherence to the ways of the fathers, so characteristic a feature of all Semitics, is especia~ly strong in him, and has made his system of religious beliefs and customs little better than a petrified formalism of the Talmudic centuries that have gone before. For them religion and religious instruction is unthinkable except in the sacred tongue.
It is for this peculiar people that the Hebrew translation of the New Testament has been made. The underlying principle in the undertaking was that the New Testament is the best commentary on the Old, and If the erring children of Abraham in the Orient could be persuaded to compare the words of the New Oovenant with those of thO Old they would, more readily than by any other way, learn that, as the Old is the necessary foundation of the New, so the latt~ is the necessary completion of the Old.
The adoption of this method of reaching these people was not a new discovery, nor is Delitzsch's the first Hebrew translation of the New Testament. Away back m the first Ohristian centuries there existed a Gospel for the Hebrews, which was doubtless a Hebrew translation (not the Hebrew original) of our present Matthew. During the Refor- matIon period a translation of this kind was made. Later portions were again translated, espeeially under the influence of the original InstUutum Judaicum of Callenberg, in Halle.. The present century witnessed repeated efforts in this direction. Especially was this true of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews.
With much expense and labor edition after edition was issued, 'until the final issue of 1863. This last is in general a good production, but not by any means equal to the work of Delitzsch. Shortly after the pUblication of tHe latter, an entirely original Hebrew translation was published as a posthumous work of the Jewish missionary Salkinson, and was edited by the Jewish scholar Ginsburg, the editor of the Mas- sorah. This, however, has not proved a satisfactory work in all par- ticulars. It also is extensively used for mission purposes.
How wise it was to select the Hebrew as a literary language for the mission work among the Jews of the East is apparent when we lo~k at the extensive use made of this language for literary work in general.
8alkinson himself has published a magnificent Hebrew translation of Milton's "Paradise Lost," and also of Walker's" Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation"; S. Hoga, a Jewish convert, has translated in ele- gant style Bunyan's" Pilgrim's Progress" and the "Old Paths" into Hebrew. The Book of Enoch has been translated into this tongue, also the Koran, Goethe's "Faust," and even Sue's "Mysteres de Paris." Periodicals, both religious and secular, in large numbers are published in Hebrew; some of them, as the IIamelliz of St. Peters- burg, are very influential. .
Just what the extent of the blessing achieved through this New Tes- tament is and will be of course no man can tell. That it has done great good is certain. There are ministers in the Lutheran church of Ger- many and America now who were converted in Russia from Judaism through studying this translation. It is also certain that the demand for the book is great among the Jews, and that there are many Nico- demus souls there who come to Jesus by night, but fear publicly to proclaim their newly found faith. As no Testament is given or sold to a person unless the missionary or colporteur is reasonably satisfied that the person receiving it will read and study the book, it lS evident that there is a real and not an imaginary demand for It. And this willing- ness and eagerness to search for the truth in the New Covenant book is the most pro~ising feature ln Jewish mission work in the Oriental lands. Faber's reports, published under. the auspices of the Leipzig Institutum Judaicum, are filled with accounts of eager anxiety on the part of these people to read of the M9ssiah. To bring them this news in an acceptable manner has been and is the great mission of Delitzsch's Hebrew New Testament. He has aided materially in solvmg one of the most intricate of mission problems.
A PILLAR ON THE BORDER OF EGYPT
A PILLAR ON THE BORDER OF EGYPT.
BY CRAS. S. ROBINSON, D.D., NEW YORK.
"PEOPLE are SO wofully like sheep I" thus once wrote Thomas Carlyle's piquant wife: "all running where they see others run-all doing what they see others do; have you heard of the wonderful Bishop Colenso! Such a talk about him too! And he is not worth talking about for five minutes-except for the absurdity of a man's making arithmetical onslaughts upon the Pentateuch with a bishop's little black-silk apron on !" This outburst of the indignant woman, made twenty-five years ago about an almost forgotten prelate, reminds us of the French proverb so often quoted: "It is always the unexpected that happens." Only we now propose to parody it by saying tl,lat it is always the absurd that grows popular. Just now it is the wild attacks on the books of Moses, forced forward by a desperate skepticism, which are drawing the crowd. It is God's own wisdom which has snddenly unearthed the mummies of Rameses's dynasty, making Egypt for a while the most conspicuous of lands.
In a previous article we have spent some space in showing how an irresistible pressure of Western ideas and civilizations is continually changing the face of Egypt and turning the people away from Oriental customs and worship. At that time it was announced that some sort of illustration must be adopted to serve as proofs of the prophet's open prediction that evangelization would immediately follow in the advancing steps of civilization. New Testaments would soon begin to arrive upon the cars. t can make that my theme in the present paper.
Still it seems to me that I can reach my end more safely by taking my readers with me again in a kind of tourist's ramble. We are to think with our eyes now. Arguments are not to be spun for an indoors debate when the question is one of fact and not at all of philosophy. Let us take a railway trip, the first and the simplest the country has to offer, going up the usual course after landiI)g on the frontier. It is worth while to keep looking out of the car-windows, from the moment when an Arabian official receives us at Alexandria to that when an enthusiastic American missionary welcomes us into his home in Cairo.
Of all the unearthly-looking fellow beings you ever herded with, you may be sure the people, eastern and western, who throng the trains and pour forth at each station are the most inexplicable and the most indescribable. Dresses in most Oriental countries denote rank, lineal descent, nationality, and occupation. Bnt who can interpret the inexhaustible variety of shades and discriminations presented in even this one day upon such a thoroughfare as the overland route to India across Egypt I Persians, Armenians, Copts, Turks, Frenchmen, British, Syrians and Greeks, besides the aborigmes of the region itself-aU of these our careful dragoman pointed out one after another in the single crowd we saw at the midway station-I cannot put down the Arabic name they called it by-lazily watching our arrival, halt and departure.
Dean Stanley, in speaking of the usual presentations hereabout, uses a most apt similitud~. He compares the lines of camels, the solio tary traveler who shows himself now and then, the stiff trees, few and far between, to the rude views of a magic lantern. Anyone who has o in the old times before photographs came in vogue ever seen tilOse preposterous paintings on glass for the Sunday-school exhibitions which were offered during such historic years as Biblical illustrations, will recognize some original models immediately. So clear is the atmos- phere that any object in the wide reach of landscape seems startlingly vivid and plain, even at a great distance. Along the tops of the low ridges and swells of land caravans are outlined upon thl) blue sky with an almost miraculous distinctness; and ~o stately and rigid, so precise in step and so ungainly in proportion, are the camels especially, that an observer can hardly refram from imagining they are mere figures shaved along, like so many fancifully-colored slides, into the groove of a lantern poorly focussed and dimly lit. Occasionally a lonely Arab appears in the field of view; then a company of merchantmen, resem- bling perhaps the Ishmaelites of old who bought Joseph; then a big 'rurk upon a small donkey; and all are so angular and awkward that anyone (if he has ever Leen in the stereopticon line) feels like begin- ning a lecture.
We became commentators upon this ride as usual, receiving at many points a happy explanation of some Scriptural text. A new building attracted my attention, and as upon nearer inspection I found that the walls were filled with cut straw, it became worth our while to ask the question as to customs in such matters; this resulted afterward in our visiting a quite extensive and busy manufactory of brick rIose by the station. There we learned with the aid of our eyes all we needed to be told; for the men were at the moment molding the square blocks of wet clay and chopping the stubble with which to mix them, while stretched out over the field were great patches of levelland covered with those which were already drying in the sun. No one can know the thrill that comes over the mind of a tourist when he sees such things, until he is in the midst of surprises, all going to prove that the same processes, the same habits, the same traditions, are found now as in Moses's time.
The maidens were coming in as the blazing noon drew on, with an awkward weight of some sort of grain which they had been industriously gleaning, done up in huge bundles and carried on their heads. This we noticed had not been cut with scythe or sickle, but the damsels had in their own fashion pulled it up roots and all. 'l'hus the proper untitheses of the royal preacher was reached in exact language when he spoke of "a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is . planted."
We observed also that large areas of land which had evidently at no great time back been covered with water were now ,baking under sun- ' shine as hot as if it had been the glow of a blast-furnace. Some portions of the soil had hardened as it dried; workmen were actually cutting up the caked ground with axes, and the plow was following along behind. Then first we really appreciated the admonition of the man of God: "For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your {aUoio ground, and sow not among thorns." These are the words of Jeremiah, and no doubt he addressed them to the Jews; indeed; Hosea says the same thing under the same figure: "Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." But scholars have ;;ettled 10:J.g ago that Jeremiah wrote his prophecy in Egypt, in full sight of what he daily interwrought into the forcible rhetoric he was wont to employ.
These are good exercises for a weary railway ride in desolate Egypt, especially if one is really jammed up against the uncleanest sort of things most of the time! As the day waned we drew closer, evidelltly, to some great center of population. A grove of palms appeared now and then; a few tamarisks with feathery branches; occasionally a white tomb with a diminutive dome over it ; then a train of camels, or a Mussulman cn a donkey. Just before our tickets were taken preparatory to an arrival, far off upon the right our attention IYas arrested by three vast masses of majesty, pinnacling their triangular shapes against the clear blue heaven, silent yet speaking, tranquil yet fllll of exciting history. And he must be tame of heart and dull of spirit tvho can now without emotion look for the first time on the Pyramids of Ghizeh!
Piazzi Smyth, astronomer-royal for Scotland, has prefixed to his interesting book, "Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid," a verse from Isaiah's prediction concerning this kingdom of the ancient Pharaohs-a verse which he makes the motto for the whole volume: "In that day shall there be an altar to the I.ord in the midst of the land of Egypt; and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord." He considers that the great pyramid is what the prophet intended by an "altar" or "pillar "-that is, a monument acknowledging the true God. The commentators do not agree with. him in this. Addison Alex- ander calls attention to the usage of the Hebrew language;. he the rather accepts the "altar" as a sign of devotion, and he does not refuse such a "pillar" as the sign of monumental or commemorative' acknowledgment. 'But he quotes other passages to show that an altar in the midst of the land, and a pillar at its border, denote altars and pillars throughout its whole extent. He translatesone· of the verses: "And Jehovah shall be known in Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day."
Josephus has been quoted as saying that he was the one who gained permission from ptolemy Philometor for Onias to erect the temple in Heliopolis for Jewish worship, and that he did this by showing him the passage from Isaiah under our study now, for this convinced thp, king.
At this point we must pause; thus much of the verse is absolutely fulfilled: Egypt is beginning to speak the language of Oanaan; civilization is changing the East into its own likeness. The rest of the prediction will be brought to pass soon: Egypt is to be converted unto God. The declaration of Isaiah is very explicit: there shall come one day when the land of Egypt shall change its form of religion, which is now that of the prophet of Islam, and receive the service of the Lord, the gospel of Ohristianity; then its life will be laid on God's altar. We have the fair permission to strengthen our faith with this prophetic promise that the cities of the Egyptian land will soon begin to see the true light that is shining for them; they will cry unto the Lord a great cry because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a Saviour.
Our illustration is just at hand. In witness of afact so specially welcome to every friend of foreign missions, and so honorable for a testj… mony to the zeal of one branch of our American Presbyterian d~nom ination, I shall close this article with a note lately received and published in the public prints, written by one who has been familiarly acquainted with Oairo itself and with its vicinity for many years: "Years ago, right opposite Shepheard's Hotel, was au open space, where dragomans piched their tents, so as to show travelers intending to take the trip across the desert to Sinai, or through Palestine, how the thing was done.; Now the dragoman's occupation is mostly gone; the railway and the steamship have made him a 'lost art.' Where the tents were pitched in front of and beyond Shepheard's are magnificent blocks of buildings, one of whichis the large edifice (covering a square) of the American United Presbyterian Mission.
" There is no thoughtful man but will rejoice when religious toleration, under the regis of England, shall cover this land as this day it covers India. Our United Presbyterian brethren hll.ve not awaited that time. Their works for the Lord here are already known in our own land. It is a proud sight for me to look upon the British soldiers flocking to the mission church in Cairo to attend the Sunday service, the week-day prayer-meetings, and the temperance meetings; but it is a grander sight to see the schools of these American United Presbyterians filled with Copt and Moslem children-to see large audiences of converted men and women on the Sabbath day come .up to the house of the Lord; and it is a thing of the moral sublime to find that now not a year goes by in this ancient land without more than two hundred souls converted to the Lord. What is especially encouraging is
A MISSIONARY l'OEM
that within a comparatively short time some forty Mohammedans havecome to the knowledge of the truth, through good report and evil report (mostly the l,atter), and some through persecution, and have taken their stand for the Master.
"Truly this work of our Benjamin among the American Presbyterian churches commends itself to all our brethren of the great Pan-Presbyterian band. We thank God and take courage when we think what He has accom- plished through His servants Lansing, Hogg, and their companions here. This day more than' five cities in the land .of Egypt speak the language of Canaan,' and the prophet's words have been fulfilled, which he pronounced 2,500 years ago: 'In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of'Egypt ' (Isa. xix: 19). The altar is erected, and thanks be to Him who has done this through the instrumentality of this faithful little . band of American Christian men and women."
A MISSIONARY POEM.
DEAR DR. SHERWOOD: It seems to me that the following, from Frederic Myers's "St.
Paul," is an exquisite description of the missionary work. It is put into the mouth of the A.posLle of the Gentiles. CHARLES C. STARBUCK.
EAST the forefront of habitations holy Gleamed to Engedi, shone to Eneglaim ; Softly thereout and from thereunder slowly Wandered the waters, and delayed, and came.
Then the gt'eat stream, which having seen he showeth, Hid from the wise but manifest to him, Flowed and arose, as when Euphrates floweth ; Rose from the ankles till a man might swim.
Even with so soft a surge and an increasing, Drunk of the sand and thwarted of the clod, Stilled and astir lind checked and never-ceasing, Spreadeth the great wave of the grace of God: Bears to the marishes and bitter places Healing for hurt and for their poisons balm'; Isle after isle in infinite embraces Floods and enfolds and fringes with the palm.
Ay, and afar to realms and to recesses Seen in a storm, discovered in a dream, Fields which no folk nor any power possesses, Oceans ungirdled of the ocean stream.
Yes, or if loose and free, as some are telling (Little I know it, and I little care), This my poor lodge, my transitory dwelling, Swings in the bright deep of the endless air.
Round it and round His prophets shall proclaim Him, Springing thenceforth and hurrying therethrough Each to the next the generations name Him, Honor unendingly and know anew.
MIRACLES 01l' :MISSIONS
MIRACLES OF MISSIONS.
MISSION TO THE HALF MILLION OF BLIND IN CHINA.f [EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] ANOTHER of those marvelous adaptations of history which so signally evince and evidence a divine plan has recently appeared in the Celestial Empire.
William H. Murray was bOl'n at Port Dundas, near Glasgow, and, as the only son in a family of ten children, would naturally have entered the saw- '
mill of his humble father but for the loss of his left al'm by accidental , contact with the machinery when only about nine years old. This occur- rence, which determined his future as outside the sawmill, was the begin- ning of a series of providential events which have made him the most conspicuous benefacbr of China's blind people that has ever appeared in that vast empire. With but one arm he could not labor physically to much purpose; but though he lacked bl'awn he had brain and he could study. He improved his mind, and before long' was employed in the l'llI'al districts neal'
Glasgow as a letter-carrier. His conscience was not asleep, and remon- sh'ated against the Sunday work which this occupation required. To avoid compromise with his moral sense and at the same time retain his position he surrendered two shillings out of each week's wages. His self-sacrifice was not only blest to himself, but sowed the seeds of that extensive reform now in progress to secure for government employes in the postal service a Sabbath respite ft'om work. , Brain and conscience thus being busy, young Murray found his heart awaking to a new longing to be of service, He felt witllin him a conscious- ness of a call to some mission among men, he knew not wllat. He applied to the National Bible Society of Scotland for work as a colporteur. The secretary felt drawn to the modest but persistent lad, but hesitated to have him give up a good position In government service for a venture which might prove a failure. But William lIfurray "pmyed himself" into the work of the society. His long daily walk he divided into three parts: a third of the way he studied the Scriptures in the original Hebrew; another third of his monotonous tramp he gave to New Testament Greek; and the last part of his walk was emphatically a walk with God, consecrated to daily prayer that he might be fitted for some sphere of personal, direct missionary service.
He longed to be pl'omoted from a royal mail-carrier to a messenger of good tidings to the King of kings. In 1864, now almost a quarter of a century ago, he was accepted as a colporteur of the Bible Society and began work on the Clyde, among the sailol's and seamen. Here was a new link in the chain which connected the sawmill in Scotland with this great work of opening the inner eyes of the blind in China.
The Bible Society soon found that" it neyer had such another colporteur"
as the quiet young man who, without any great mental endowments, graces of person or gifts of speech, was dmwing to himself the men that go down to the sea in ships to do business in great waters, and was rapidly picking up such phrases in various foreign tongues as enabled him to effect more sales of Bibles among sallors of all nations than any of his predecessors had done.
The colporteur was evidently a divinely called man.
As this work occupied him only in winter months, he was free in the sum- mer season to push his Bil;lle-cart along the rough roads of the Scotch Highlands. One-armed as he w~, he had two legs and a brave heart, and "''' Work.for the Blind in China." C. F. Gordon-Cnmming. Gilbert & Rivington, London, Eng. , so he patiently carried on his work, getting inured to hardness as became a good soldier of Jesus Christ. How many a mighty workman and winner of souls has been trained like Milne and Morrison and Curey and OnckeIJ, and Livingstone and McAuley and Johnson and Marshman and Buchanan and Clough, in a very strange school.
And now comes another link in this providential chain. William Mmray's unusual aptitude for languages attracted the notice of some of the directors of the Bible Society, and arrangements were made for him to attend morn- ing classes at the old college in H,igh Street. A friend hel ped to pay the necessary fees, and MUl'ray managed his studies so that they did not impinge upon other duties. He rose at 3 A. M. and studied till 8, then attended his classes till 10, then stood in the streets beside his Bible-cart till evening, .
when after a frugal meal he studied again till bedtime. .
Seven years of apprenticeship were accomplished, and in 1871 he was free to carry out his heart's desire. He sailed for China, where he was to spend half a year at Che[oo trying to learn to distinguish at sight the 4000 intri- cate, complicate characters by which the Chinese language is represented on paper. It has been quaintly said that he who would master the Chinese tongue needs a head of oak, a constitution of iron, lungs of brass, nerves of steel, the patience of Job, and the lifetime of Methusaleh. But Mr. Murray was not to be easily discouraged. He had tackled Greek and Hebrew char- acters, and· he was· not dismayed at the still more elaborate mysteries of Chinese words. He applied himself diligently, and in four months he acquired about 2000 characters. The Bible colporteur started on his work.
He devised a mule litter to carry his books, and ovel' mountain roads and facing cold winds made his first journey 250 miles in,to the interior of Shang- tu province.
Sixteen years of untiring work as a colporteur passed away, during which this one-armed man undertook journeys even into Mongolia and Manchuria, fording rivers, daring perils, enduring hardship, feeding on wretched fare, sleeping in rude sheds, or perhaps favored with more palatial accommoda- tions in the shape of the coffin which dutiful sons have with filial tenderness provided for their father in anticipation of h~s need, and which the generous host put at disposal of the traveler. Mr. Murray sometimes found himself in the midst of a riotous rabble, but again surrounded by those who clamored for the foreign" classic of Jesus," and on one occasion he found at evening that his sales had reached 3000 copies j then the people begged him to remain among them, and he did so for half a year. During his sixteen yeal's in China he has sold over 100,000 books, containing wholly or in part the Scriptures in the tongues of China and Tartary. These Bibles have found their way into humble huts of poverty, and even into the imperial palace j have been borne to gl'eatdistances by merchants and scholars who have bought them at fairs and public gatherings, and so this modest man has been permeating this vast empire with the Light of God.
But now we come to another link in this strange story of a useful life.
Mr. Murray saw in the thronged skeets hundreds of blind men, sometimes in groups or gangs of eight or ten, each one guided by another blind man in fl'ont, and the foremost guiding himself and all the others with a long stick- "the blind leading the blind." On one occasion a company of 600 blind beggars was seen waiting for a free distribution of rice! It is thought . that there are half a million of blind in China, and that this ,'ery nnusllal proportion of blind people is traceable to smallpox, leprosy, neglected ophthalmia, uncleanly habits, and the dense'smokecreated in their dwellings by the dried grass with which their ovens are heated. For generations these sights have been seen in the Celestial Empire-blind beggars, hungry and un. clad, beating gongs, singing songs, yelling in chorus, squeaking with flutes, or otherwise torturing the defenseless ears of bystanders until" cash" was given them simply to induce them to move on and torture somebody else.
These blind legions of China awaken a sort of pity and even reverence by their very infirmity and misery, and are addressed by title of "Teacher"~ Hsien-SMng-but the most of the adult blind are so hopelessly vile that Mr. Murray himself has never ventured into their night refuge in Peking, but seeks to isolate and educate the blind lads, beginning with them when but seven years old.
But we are anticipating. His soul was strangely drawn out in behalf of these thousands of blind children. His appeals to others in their behalf were met by the usual response, that the work already on their hands was too great to be done with the few helpers and slender means at their command. And so his only way was once more to " walk with God" in prayer for guidance and help. The Bible colporteur must himselfunderiake to help these sightless crowds.
Here we touch another link. Mr. Murray, before he left Scotland, had mastered Professor Melville Bell's "System of Visible Speech for the Deaf," and had found it so great a help in his Chinese studies that he had prepared a. pamphlet upon it for use of foreign students. The thought flashed on his mind that this system might be modified so as to become eyes to the blInd as well as ears to the deaf. He saw that the fingers of the blind must take the place of eyes, and that the first step was to reduce the sounds of the language to symbolic!orms. These he made in clay and baked, and from these the blind wei'e first taught to read. But two difficulties presented themselves: first, the system lacked simplicity, and, secondly, as the Chinese adore their written characters, they might worship these clay symbols.
While in Glasgow Mr. Murray had also studied Moon's "System of Embossed Alphabetic Symbols" and Braille's" Embossed Dots." Perhaps these might be adapted to the perplexing" tones" which make it possible for one word to mean a dozen different and absurdly contradictory things. How to bring all these linguistic mysteries within the touch of the blind was the problem over which William Murray thought by day and dreamed by night. One day, weary with work, he lay down for a noon nap, when, while yet awake though with closed eyes, he saw outspread before him the whole system he has since put in available form for use, and perceived that it would enable the blind to read accurately and in a short time the Word of God. He believes that vision to have been a revelation to him from above. He made no attempt at an alphabetic system. but employed numerals. He found that inst'ead of the ordinary 4,000 characters, a little over one-tenth of that number would suffice to represent the sounds of the language, viz., 408 dis· tinct syllables. Instead of figures he uses mnemonic letters, and ingeniously contrives that not more than three syllables shall be used to represent the longest word, corresponding to units, tens, and hundreds. He found Braille's system to be more helpful than Moon's, as being fitted both for writing and musica.l notation.
So pl'acticable has this method proved that a thorough acquaintance with both reading and writing may be acquired by a blind boy of average faculty in from six weeks to two months, whereas six yeal's of study would be required for seeing eyes to recognize the 4,000' distinct characters of the ordinary written language. For eight long years Mr. Murray worked to perfect the system which he saw in theory in that day-vision, and it must be remembered that he could devote only odd hours not already taken up with his Bible w<;>rk. His first practical test was upon "Wang," a rheumatic blind cripple, who soon learned to read for himself the blessed Word. Then a poor blind patient, who had been severely kicked by a mule, relieved the hours of suffering by studying the Murray system, and within two months even his callous fingers could feel the precious truth of God. Then a poor blind lad, left on a dunghill to die, after three months' nursing was restored to health and learned to read and write. Ne:Xt a blind beggar boy, an orphan taken in out ofthewinter's cold, within six weeks read more accurately and fluently without eyes than many do with eyes in a score of years.
Miss Constance F. Gordon-Cumming, to whose golden pen missionary literature owes so much, visiting Peking, was astonished as she stood at the door of a dark room to hear the Scriptures read by the touch by men who, not fOUl· months before, begged in the streets, half naked and balf starved. And the marvel is that this Bible colpodeur, this consecrated workingman, has been doing this work alone, from his slender income boarding, lodging, and clothing his poor blmd pupils! He seemed to hear the Master say once more, "Giveyetbem to eat," andsohe brought his barley loaves to Him to be blessed and multiplied, and they have strangely sufficed for others' wants as well as his own. One boy of twelve, left in his charge by an elder brother, and then left on his hands, though blind, not only rapidly learned to read and write, but became his main dependence in stereotyping and all other work, and developed such musical ability as to become the organist in the chapel of the London Mission.
The rumor of thlS wonderful school for blind pupils has spread far and wide, and some have come 300 miles to study the system. One pupil developed singular fitness for the ministry and was sent to Tien-Tsin as a candidate for the work. Another has undertaken to stereotype an embossed Gospel according to Matthcw, in the classical Mandarin dialect of scholars throughout the empire. The work is but at its beginning, for there must be at least eight different versions reduced to the dot system before the blind of the different provinces can find the system available to represent'the various colloquial dialects. The ingenuity of Mr. Murray reminds us of Bezaleel and Aholiab, whom God by His Spirit endowed for the mechanical work of the tabernacle. He has so simplified stereotyping in connection with his method of instruction that a Chinese lad will produce in a day more than three times as many pages as an ordinary London workman by the common method. Thus God is using the special sensitiveness of the fingers of the blind and their proverbial aptitude for music, to raise up blind readers of the Word and blind singers and players on instruments, who may make music the handmaid of evangelism. The system, as we have said, is singularly adapted to represent, not only the sounds used in speech, but in music too. The Peking pupils write out musical scores from dictation with such rapidity thlt an ordinary" gospel song" will be produced in· a quarter of an hour. By means of embossed symbols pasted to the keys they also learn to play the piano and organ. The written score being read with one hand and the music played with the other, the student soon learns both to sing and play by note. Then these Christian songs are made a means of attracting an audience, to whom one of the blind students tlien addresses his exhortation, and whom he recommends to buy and study the Bible for themselves. And-so a blind boy will often sell more books in a. day than the authorized agent Of the Bible Society.
Here we reach another link in this chain of providential purpose. We see why Mr. Murray was sent to China as a Bible colporteur. His bookselling and street preaching bring him and keep him on familiar and friendly terms with the natives and prevent his being thought a mere magician or conjur~r who by some weird power turns fingers into eyes. Moreover, the superl>titious respect felt for written characters and all who can read them, togeiner with the reverence and pity toward the blind, seem to open a new and wonderful avenue of usefulness to these blind Scripture readers and singir.g evangelists. Mr. Murray ought to be enabled to devote at least half his time to this work of instructing the blind, and abundant means ought to be given him to multiply his schools in every part of the empire. This new development in China suggests a key that may open the doors to 150,000,000 secluded Ohinese women. A blind woman taught to read the Scriptures may find her way to homes from which all missionaries are practically excluded. As yet popular prejudice has prevented Mr. Murray from teaching but one blind woman, who in a few months mastered reading, writing, and musical notation.
Mr. Murray, having often found genuine converts who had found salvation solely through reading the Word, and who sought of him Christian baptis,m, has been granted ordination and so returned from his visit to Scotland in 1887 empowered to do the whole work of a Christian minister, and will devote his time to the preparation of books for the use of the blind and instructing those to whom God has denied the girt of sight. Who can foresee to what extent the Providence that raised up this man for this unique work may be pleased to use him for the evangelization of the hundreds of millions in China, transforn:ing blind beggars into Scripture readers and teachers of others blind also, so that it shall be h;ue in a new sense that the blind lead the blind, but not into the ditch? The words of Isaiah shall be fulfilled: "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight." Isaiah xii: 16.
For the sake alike of completeness to this paper and for the information of those who are specially interested, we append a brief resume of Murray's "System for Teaching the Blind of China."
The plan that wonld most naturally commend itself to one wishing to teach the blind, would be to adopt phonetic spelling. I fonnd, however, that" numeral" spelling was greatly to be preferred.
Chinese, as a spoken language, may be reduced to 408 syllables. Now I take a representative written hieroglyphic of each of these 408 syllables, and for my own convenience place them in alphabetic order in a horizontal line. The Chinese know nothing of alphabetics.
Then in a line running parallel above that line of representative .sonnds, I write its equivalent in numerals; but instead of figures I use mnemonic lelters, viz. T or D represents 1, N .tands for 2, M is 3, R is 4, L stands for 5, 8h is 6,.;K is 7, F or V means 8, P or B is 9, and S stands forO.
Then, as the Chinese have no alphabet, I choose simple. syllables, as Ti for simple T or D, Ni or No for Q, etc. Therefore the two lines run thus: Ti Ni, Mi Rhi Li :-mnemonics. Gna Gnai Gnan Gnang Gnao :-Chinese. Shih Kei Fei Pei Tze:-mnemonics. Cha C'ha Chai C'hai Chan :-(Jhinese.
EXPLANATIoN • • These are the first ten mnemonic words. Chinese equivalents that stand for the numbers, and written in a large character, begin the sentence, which, according to the custom of ordinary Chinese bookS, is written perpendicularly, and is read from top to bottom.
The under line represents tell of the 408 Chinese syllables, and these, also in a larger character
WOMAN AND, WOMAN'S WORK
than the intermediary ones, are at the oottom, and finish the sentence. Thus: TI, sh1h, !lInan. tsai, t'ien, shang, che, hua, shih, nan, hsin, GNA.
There are thus 408 simple sentences. and the pnpll is reqnired to commit theAe to memory, a)ld thenceforth, to write the one, and read it as the other. This he does like a chain of events, and in a very short time, at the rate of aoout twenty sentences in a day. This is, in fact; his spelling lesson. I know that this description must appear complicated, but in daily practice it is found to oe qnite the reverse.
The superiority of this method over" spelling" is immense. As an example of its adyantages I would instance the Chinese word" C'huang Q" – a oed. It would require eight letters to spell this word, but by this plan I only need three, i.e. units, tens, and hundreds. There are no spaces or contractions to be a burden to the memory.
Then we only require. ten num erals for our "alpbaoet. '~_ But I saw the advantage of employing the other letters thus: namely, nSing the deep lettt!t's, as K, L, Y, N, in four sets of four to stand in the first space to represent tbe hundreds, and by that means they would answer a double purpose, namely, indicate also to which of the four" tones" the word belongs, each having a choice of four letters for each of the 408 sounds.
Let the sound and the number of its tone be indicated along with its aspirate, which is thus- C'huang Q, and be understood to be the hundredth iu the order of the syllabary; and as regards tbe four .. tones" to belong iu that sense (i.e., a bed) to the second. The letters K, L, M, N eqnal 100, and in that order indicate the 1st, 2d, 3d, or 4th tone. Then LOO equals C'huang Q. A person acquainted with the Braille alphabet will perceive that as only three letters are thus requit'ed, the L takes top, middle and lowest points, while the first line of Braille, which supplies tens and nnits, has only top and middle points, and consequently the word has always one deep letter and two hollow, making a wedge·like form; hence there is no need to separate the words in writing, and thus all space between words is saved, which of itself is no small gain, and at the same time greatly simplifies the fingering to the reader.
When time, material, expense, storage, and porterage are considered, it will be seen how important are all these points which tend to reduce the inevitable bulk of books for the blind. The fact lof each word being represented by three letters, and having thus a definite length and somewhat triangular form, is a great advantage in stereotyping.
It occurred to me that I could simplify the process of stereotyping; so instead of holding the punch in one hand, and having only the tip of the little fingEr to guide, while the other hand holds the mallet, I designed a table with a lever at one side, and a mallet to work by a treadle-the mallet always to strike the center of the table, and squared off the plain over which the block would have to describe. The treadle is of course worked by foot, and with side woods, the width of two words, and woods the width of a double line, which exaclly correspond in size with the latter; for the guide in shifting the block npward in the plain of the fixed mallet, as the other, the side woods keep the position sideways; the stereotyper moves these as he finishes two words at a time, the top piece, at the finishing of the double line, is taken from the top, and pushing up the block, he puts that wood at the next foot, and then the block is in proper position for striking the next, and is firm and fast in its position.
Thus the right hand, which would otherwise have had to hold the mallet, is left free to handle the manuscript, and to relieve the tip of the little finger and take. to guiding. Now, with us the process is so simplified that the operator can pell·mell with great speed and pleasure.
The advantage will appear best in the result, when I tell you that the boy can do with ease in one day what would take three men and one-third in England to 'do in the same time. So what a sighted man would take twelve months to do, my blind boy will do in three months, and the quality of the work is struck more perfectly.
WOMAN AND WOMAN'S WORK AT rHE LONDON CONFERENCE.
BY MRS. DR. J. T. GRACEY, BUFFALO, N. Y.
THE first missionary conference with representatives from various mission fields convened in the city of New York, May, 1854, That notable missional'y, Dl'. Duff of Calcutta, was visiting America, and the churches had been stirred by his eloquent words. His presence was the inspiration of this conference, which had an attendance of one Itundred and fifty members and was in session only two days. This meeting was the beginning of a new era in missionary work. Othel' conferences then followed in England and in the various mission fields of the world.
In the year 1878 a conference was held at Mildmay Park, London, at which thirty-five societies were represented, and this meeting was notable from the fact that for the first time missionary women took part in the proceedings. Mrs. Weitbrecht read' a paper on "Christian Vork Among the Women of India," and Miss E. J. Whately one on" Female Missions in, the East," and "English Mission Schools in Cairo" was read by Miss M. L. Whately. Several missionary ladies took part in the discussions which fOI– lowed the reading of these-papers.
Woman had gone to the isolation, the dreariness and monotony of heathen life; for years she had braved dangers and made all sacrifices, had established schools and been a transforming power in darkened homes, had aided in the translation of God's Word and Christian hymns, had given to heathen mothers a loftier idea of motherhool1, had been imprisoned for the gospel's sake, in loneliness and weal'iness had she patiently and lovingly toiled, yet only ten years have elapsed since she had a voice in the deliberations of a missionary conference. When she appeared she appeared to stay.
The General Conference of Missions, held in Exetel' HaJI, London, in June last, with more than twelve hundred delegates, has been universally conceded to be one of the most remarkable gathering~ ever held in the history of foreign mission work. It was notable for the presence of so many missionary women, and for the great prominence given to woman's work. Women were present from neat'ly all mission fields, and when one day the announcement was made that Mrs. Hannington, wife of the martyred Bishop of Africa, was in the audience, the applause was loud and prolonged.
Of the eighty-four American and continental societies represented, twenty-two were "Woman's Boards," each of them sending their own accredited delegates, more than fifty in number. On Saturday evening, June 9, the meeting was opened by a service of prayer and praise, and tables were set capable of accommodating hundreds of persons. At this opening session the Earl of Aberdeen presided, with his wife Lady Aberdeen on the platform at his side. Ecclesiasticism and doctrinal differences had no place, for the very introductory speech by Dr. Thompson of Boston sounded the keynote. "What have we come here for?" said he. "Not to see the old country, nor its cathedrals, nor the British Museum, nor the Tower of London, nor palaces, nor objects of art, nor to listen to the eloquence of Parliament, but to hear what the Pauls and Silases of the day are doing in the name of Him who made of one blood all the nations of the earth." "All one in Christ Jesus" was the prevailing spirit from the beginning to the close.
In the prepared programme Woman's W Qrk was tRe assigned topic for two of the regular sessions for delegates, and for one of the large public evening gatherings. Then there were meetings held exclusively for ladies, and women were made prominent as speakers at a number of public meetings, and some were even called upon for responses at lunches and breakfasts. From many lands the missionary woman was present, and told het· sweet and thrilling story, that reached all hearts.
Arrangements were made to hold the morning sessions for women in the •. Annex," a hall holding about two hundred and fifty; but the" Annex" was too small, and it was necessary to adjourn to the large hall to accom- modate the large crowd. Some one writing of these meetings said: "The women excelled the brethren in the directness and clearness of their state- ments, and the practical presentation of their work." Almost every phase of mission work was discussed at these sessions. As China was represented, it was claimed that in no country is woman's work so valuable as in the Celesttal Empire; others claimed that Japan most needs woman's help; 9thers maintained that of all countries India needed her, and the statement .vas made that one married missionary, with the feminine influences of home, is worth more than twenty single men, and that often the missiona.ry's home had been the first object lesson of love in heathen countrieR, and the wife has been the great helpmeet, carrying on work which her husband could not do.
Sir Robert Phayre presided at one meeting. " His thirty years' experience in India," he said, "convinced him that it is impossible to attempt to convert a world of men, leaving out the women, as that is clearly contrary to God's manifested will." He referred to the great amoupt of misery behind Zenana walls, as having come to his knowledge in connection with his official duties, but said, "There is no amount of oppression and evil-doing that cannot be removed by prayer."
Miss Rainy of the Free Church of Scotland spoke on "The Place of Female Agency in Mission Work." She said: ., Women should take up this work because it is evident on many grounds that the Lord will have it so. The scheme is of Him, and the way to carry it out has been made clea.r by Him. Missiona.ry women giw their attention to teaching in Sunday, weekda.y, industrial, and boarding schools, taking charge of orphanages and seminaries, Zenana mission work, or house to house· visitation, evangelistic work in villages and country districts, holding Bible classes and mothers' meetings for converts, training and supet'intending native agents, preparing a verna.cular literature for women, and last, but not least, laboring as medical missionaries among women and children."
Miss Marston, M.D., read a paper on "Woman's Medical Work." She said the work was most hopeful, that "the hospital is an institution of increasing vaIUl'>, and both there and in the dispensary the people are pleased rather than otherwise to listen to the message of the gospel. The difficulties of Zenana medical work were enlal'ged upon, and, in conclusion, several suggestions wel'e given. Specia.lists being, a.s a rule, inaccessible, a.~d consultations being out of the question, medical women in India. must either be able to undertake all and sundry cases, or have the pain of occasionally rejecting them. Experience led to the recommendation that, in addition to the usual cUl'l'iculum, there should be a year's study of special subjects."
A number of ladies took part in the discussion that followed the reading of this paper. Miss Cross spoke of the shocking condition of the women in government pl'isons and hospitals, and gave an account of a visit she paid to one of the prisons, where she saw a large number of women condemned for the crime of murdering their female children.
Mrs. Emmerson of New York read a history of the Woman's Union Missionary Society of America, a society representing all evangelical denominations, organized in 1860.
Mrs. Cappin of the African Church of America was eloquent in her justification of woman's work in many lines. She said that what was required for those women was not mere" book learning," but thorough technical education in the art of housekeeping, a.nd above all in the art of making bright, happy Christian homes. It must be remembered that their work was not merely to educate, however grand a'work that was in itself, but to win the precious souls of those women for the Lord Jesus Christ. The objpct of the society must be strictly evangelistic-that of carrying the gospel, whether by education, Zenana missions, medica.l missions, 01' whatever agency might be employed, to the homes of the East. She greatly deplored the small number of lady workers in the field, and she felt it her duty to speak out ~nd to tell ner Chfistia,l1, sisten; Qf the ~reat ~eed of worker!!, Mrs. Edge of China asked Christian mothers to put no obstacle in the way of their daughters, should the LOI'd call them to missionary work.
Mrs. Quinton spoke of the women of the Indian tribes of North America.
She said: "These 'women are hungering for spiritual instruction, and almost as soon as they hear the gospel they give their heart!! to God."
Miss Abbie Child of Boston, Secretal"y of the Woman's Board (Congrega- tional), spoke on the" Need and Preparation of Missionaries," saying, "The time is past when anybody can be a missionary."
Miss Jet'roam, for twenty-eight years a missionary in North India, said: "While preparation is of immense importance, yet missionaries cannot be manufactured; like poets, they are born, not made; nay more, they are called, and called .of God; only the Master can make a missionary. The training is in the Lord's own school."
"The Necessity for Trained Native Christian Teachers" was discussed by Miss Askwith of South India, under the following heads: Who are to be Trained?
What Objects must be Kept in View when Training?
What Methods Should be Employed in Training?
This paper disclosed the fact that there was great need ~for establishing a, United Training Institution for Zenana teachers, in which they may be taught and practically fitted for their special work. l1iss A., in closing, said: "If India is to be won to Christ, if its womanhood is to be raised from the bondage and degradation of ages, it must be greatly through the agency of Christian Indian women. We have intrusted to us the training and education of considerable numbers of these our young sisters, who, with God's blessing, may be a power for good in their native land."
Probably the" Relation of Woman's Boards to the General Boards" was among the most stirring subjects discussed. Everybody had an opinion, and both men and women said that women ought to be represented in the general boards. This was a perplexing question to some, and a special meet- ing was called to consider it.
DI·. lfurdock of the American Baptist Union" read 3, paper in which, while he placed great estimate on woman's work, he advocated that all female agencies should abide by the rules of and be governed by the poli- cies of the General Board; that it would be better for both and have a better effect on the natives when women' recognized the headship of man in order- i.ng the affairs of the Church of God,' remembering that 'Adam was the bead.' He dwelt very impressively upon the union of man· and woman in the work, though it would be a sad day for the church when diVIded by woman's boards eQ.deavoring to work independently."
A somewhat emphatic protest was offered by some of the ladies to the sentiments of the brave Doctor, and one-an American-remarked Botto 'l)OCe, "All buncombe!" Experiences were given. Some worked indepen- dently in a great measure, others jointly. One, a Nova Scotia board, helped the parent board by raising money for each "mission, and thus felt that they had an interest in all." Another complained that they were "hampel'ed in their work by male committees." while another, the presi- dent of a very large and influential society, said she "Vould rejoice to see their work lll,erged into one, for the burden and responsibility were great on women alone. She thought, however, that in that case woman should have a place on committees.
" The Evils of Child Marriages" was discussed by Miss Whately, for years missionary in Cairo, Egypt. She said "this custom was a p'eat hindrance to missionary work. There are now hundreds and hundreds of Mohammedans who attend my school and other schools, but no matter whether it be a native Copt or a Mohammedan, the girl is taken away at twelve."
Bishop Crowther, the rescued slave boy, now a bishop of the Church of England from West Africa, said: "Long ago, among the freed slave children at Sierra Leone, invaluable services were rendered by ladies. Men were helpless with their threats and scoldings, but by kindness the ladies enticed the children to school, and taught them with great succ~ss. To-day, also, ladies are filling very important posts in the Niger territory. Often children had to be whipped into school by the native :schooimaster, till a white lady came, who brought pictures and lesson sheets from England, and taught the children to sing. Soon the news spread, and the other children of the station came with zest, and learned to love education. At Bonny it was agreed by the chiefs that $10 a year should be paid for each boy and girl who attended the school. When the time came the chiefs objected to pay for the girls, 3S they could not afterward earn money as boys could. The Bishop himself then agreed to pay for the girls, who were trained to read, and sew, and knit and make bread. etc. A certain day came when the chiefs were entertained, and Miss Susan Jumbo-daughter of Oko Jumbo-made the brea.d, whtch her father praised without knowing "'I'ho had made it. When informed, he was greatly pleased, and from that time native scruples as to the utility of investing money on the education of girls disappeared.
Lady Aberdeen presided over a special llJeeting, and in a clear rich voice that could be heard all over the large auditorium, said: "The missionary conference, with its many testimonies of the world's need and of God's gracious work among the heathen, should awaken all Cll'istian people from selfish slumbers. She regarded the sight of so many missionaries and their active friends as a grand' one, and when she thought of the great number of Bl'itish and American nationality, she could not but realize that God has committed to the English-speaking race a very high duty in the evangelization of the world. Last year, with Lord Aberdeen, she had the privilege of seeing some of the missionaries at work in India, and also of attending such conferences as workers can there hold for prayer and mutual encouragement and help. The experience was one never to be forgotten. While now thanking the American delegates for coming to this great conference, she cordially aclmowledged the vigorous work of their agents in the mission field, and also that America had greatly inspired and quickened England in missionary effort. The missionaries have all told us one thingof the power of love, the power of Christ's love when it takes hold of the soul. ,.
In reference to openings in Japan, Dr. Warren of Japan said: "The women have'not been in the degeac1ed position they have in other countries, but have long been a great power both in society and politics. The childeen are under regular instruction, and the way is gradually being prepared for the reception of the gospel. Higher educatibn is well to the front also, and the openings for missionary ladies at the present time are many and important. What is wanted is that this. educational work should be accompanied by Christian teaching. Many things combine to accentuate this call to service for Christ, and already much blessing has [attended the efforts of women in the country.
"There is a great opening just now for work in mission schools. The Americans have done a great deal in this and in other respects. First in the country by some ten years, the Americans have ever since kept to the front, Especially are they ahead in women's work. The laborers do not go over in ones and twos, but in sixes and dozens, and their schools have been remarkably successful. In evangelization, also, the women have been greatly blessed. In conclusion, the speaker earnestly begged for more female laborers for Japan."
Of the openings in India, Rev. Mr. Karney said: "India is waiting for Engbsh women to go to her, not mere educators, Dot mere Christians, but consecrated workers for Christ going in the power of the Holy Ghost."
Of openings in China, Dr. Swanson said: "That if the mothers, the wives, and the daughters of a country are secured for Christ, the men are sure to follow; and in no country has a woman more influence than in China.
"There are difficulties to face. Those who go have to go into a new civilization, and to tread on ground more dangerous than they sometimes are aware of; but in the work of education an immense service is being done, not only among the young themselves, but indirectly among their parents also. Therefore th'! speaker maintained that China, of all other countries, is the field for the mission of women. The empire is awakening, .and now is the opportunity. She must either start into life or be buried out of sight; but she is not going to be buried. Here is the chance for pious women, and the female population is constantly sending forth a wail which calls loudly for the light and liberty of the gospel as well as education."
Rev. Dr. Langford, Secretary of the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society of America. said: "Looking back upon the past, with its record of glorious enterprise and results, and looking to the futm'e, with its blessed possibIlities and opportunities, the speaker thoroughly believed that woman is to take a larger part than in the past in the evangelization of the worldnot only by going out into the field, but by looking to things at home. In the work of organization, and in getting together and putting into shape the facts which may kindle the fire of enthusiasm for missions, the women have a sphere of great influence. The pastor cannot find time, and has not the aptitude to do many things that are expected of him. In America the women have realized this and they are taking the missionary interest quite into their own hands-editing papers, distributing tracts, sending out reports and circulars, and, having faith to believe that it was by the Spirit of the living God that great works will be accomplished, they have organized prayer unions, to present the matter continually at the Throne of Grace. In conclusion the speaker prayed that God would own woman's work by making it a blessing to the entire human family."
The many social gatherings afforded a rat'e opportunity for these worldwide representatives to catch a glimpse of the best circles of Christian England. Our American ladies received very marked attention, and made an impression in the meetings, because, it is said, "They spoke with such freshness of thought and ease of manner."
The meeting was a great inspiration to aU who were present, and marks certain great facts, viz. that woman is a great power in missionary work, and that there is no longer separation or isolation of nations, of denominations or of language. There is one Bible, one faith, one great desire, on the part of missionaries, to preach the" unsearchable riches" to the people of the earth that are in darkness and the shadow of death.
lS89.] MISSIONARY HEROES IN AFRICA
MISSION ARY HEROES IN AFRICA.
BY ROBERT N. CUST, LL.D., LONDON.
My subject is not so much Africa, its people, its customs and its misfortunes, as the Christian pioneers and their work, and to this I restrict' myself. The missionaries cannot speak of themselves; it is the last thing that they woul<Lwish to touch upon, except to describe their shortcomings. A particular church or society cannot speak of the whole class fairly, as of some they know too much, and of others nothing at all. We see them in the committee room, when they are young and ardent for the fight, scarcely knowing the difficulties with which they have to contend. 'We see them a few years on more thoughtful, more subdued and chastened, yet not less earnest; we see them still later on, broken down, unequal for further service in the rleld, yet still longing to laugh at the doctor, and go back to their life's work. Some we never see again, for they remain where they fell. Many of them are men of high talent, who in secular professions might have achi{'ved wealth and fame, or in the home church might have risen to dignity and influence, but, smitten with the wondrous love of saving the souls of the heathen, they have gone forth, and fresh candidates for the holy offioe are never wanting. What is their motive? A simple faith in the Word of the Lord, who bought them. Wishing that my hearers may carry away something that may cling to their memory, I ask them to think of the famous eleventh chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, in which he traces back to faith all the great events in the history of Israel, and I ask leave reverently to adapt his argument to the history of the pioneers of African Missions.
By faith the United Moravian Brethren at Herrnhut in Germany, more than a century and a half ago, were stirred up to send out a missionary to the poor Hottentots, who were treated as dogs by the Dutch colonists. By faith George Schmidt at once offered himself to go out, and suffered hardship with a persecuted race, and, having been blessed by the conversion of a few, was forbidden to baptize them, and summarily sent back to Europe by men who called themselves Protestants, and who were jealous of their own liberty. By faith, fifty years !:.tter (1792), the United Brethren sent out three more missionaries, who founded the illustrious mission of Genadendal, or Vale of Grace, on the very walls of the ruined house of George Schmidt, seven years after the great patriarch of African Missions had been caned to his reward, dying, like Livingstone and Krapf, on his knees.
By faith the London and Wesleyan societies, the Established Church of England, the Free Church of Scotland, and the American Board of Foreign Missions, took up a share in the blessed work amidst other races of South Africa, and out of their ranks by faith Moffat undertook to translate the Bible into the language of the· Be-Chuana, Wilder into the language of the Zulu, and Boyce, Appleyard, and others, into the language of the Ama-Xosa, or Kafir-Ianguages deemed at the time to be incapable of expressing simple ideas, but which, deftly handled, proved to be apt exponents of every variety of human thought, with an unlimited vocabulary, and an unsurpassed symmetry of structure.
By faith Moffat's son-in-law, Livingstone, abando:<J.ed his home, his chapel, and his school, and started off on his great missionary progress, which was destined to illuminate all Africa south of the Equator. By faith he bore up under the perils, the fatigues, the opposition and the bereavement of his deal' wife, who sleeps on the shore of the Zambesi. By faith he worked his way to Benguela, on the west coast, Kllimani on the east, and Nyangwe on the River Kongo to the north, discovering new rivers, new lakes, new tribes, and new languages. Fi"om the drops oC sweat which feU from his limbs in those grea': travels have sprung up, like flowers, Christian missions, founded by men of different denominations and different views of church govm"nment, but united in the fear of Uod, the faith in Christ, love of Africa, and veneration for Livingstone. To the impulse, given by this great apostle, must be attributed the missions of the Establh,hed Church ot Scotland at Blantyre, the Free Chm"ch of Scotland at Livingstonia, the London Society on Lake Tanganykia, and the Universities Mission at Zanzibar. To these must be added the missions of the Church of Rome. In an interview which some years ago I had at Tunis with Cardinal LavigEH"ie, to implore him to locate his Equatorial MisSIons at a certain distance from stations occupied by Protestants, to which he agreed in word, though his practice has been different, he spoke with admiration of Livingstone. But to this servant of God ~t was not conceded to seQ one single ft"uit of his labors. He saw no mission spring up; like Moses, he only beheld the promised land from Pisgah; he died without knowing of the secret of the source of the Nile and the Kongo. But even after death he seemed to have power to charm and to conquer, for by faith his bones were conveyed by his faithful Africans to the sea-shore, from Ilala on Lake Bangweolo, where he died, along a route never traversed before, as if the great discoverer had power to add to geographical knowledge after his death, and the great philanthropist wished te leave a lasting proof that the natives of South Africa can be faithful and loyal, and capable of high enterprises, if they are kindly treated.
By faith Krapf and Rebman sat year after year at the watchtower of Mombasa, waiting till the day should dawn, calling to each other, "Watchmen, what of the night ?". writing home descriptions of vast lakes, and snowcapped mount~ins on the Equator, causing themselves to be derided, both as missionaries and geographers; yet they lived to be honored in both capacities, they lived to see the day dawn at last, to hear of Frere-Town being es- tablished as a station for released slaves at Mombasa, to hear of those internal seas being navigated, and that snow-capped mountain being visited. In hi~ old age Krapf in tearful gratitude read Henry Stanley's challenge, which rang with trumpet-sound from the capital of U-Ganda, and was gallantly answered by the Church Missionary Society, and he lived to hear of the great Apostle's Street, which by faith he had suggested, being carried out from Zanzibar to the Great Lakes, to be extended westward down the Kongo, until hands are shaken with the Baptist missionaries working up that river from the West.
By faith the good Baptist Society established themselves in the island of Fernando Po, and, driven thence by the intolerance of the Spaniards, they crossed over to the mainland, and found what seemed once, but, alas! is no longer, a more enduring inhel"itance in the Kamerun Mountains. By faith here Saker lived, labored and died, translating the Holy Scriptures into the language of the Dualla. but leaving his work to be revised by his .young daughter, opening out a new field for the talent and zeal of women. Hence in fullness of time by faith Comber started to conquer new kingdoms of the Kongo. making, alas! the heavy sacrifice of the life of his wife at San Salvador, before he reached Stanley Pool, with the great heart of Africa open to his assault; for in their hands the Baptist missionaries had carried gentle peace, and their vessel with that name still carried them onward on their blessed and peaceful enterprise.
By faith our good brethren in North America were among the first to send out their agents to West and South Africa, to pay back the debt which they oweu, and to atone for the wrong which their forefathers had inflicted. The sun was thus taken baek to the East, to lighten those sitting in darkness. Each and everyone of their churehes by faith have vied in the desire to found strong missions, translate the Holy ScriptUl:es, and to press ,.forward the work of freedom, education, ciyilization and evangelization.
By faith the holy and humble-hearted Protestant churches on the Continent of Europe, less amply endowed in material resources. but more richly in intellect, industry and self-consecration, have sent forth a golden stream "- of missionaries from the centers of Basle and Canton de Vaud in Switzer" land; of Barmen, Br"lmen, Berlin, Herrnhut and Hermansbul'g" in Germany; from Norway. Sweden, Finland and France, to hold the fort in the most exposed situations, to suffer imprisonment, to achieve great literary works, to found living churches, and attract to themselves the affections of the African. The names of the devoted men and women who have lived and died for Christ may not be known to the world, but are written in the Book of Life.
By£aith Samuel Crowther was rescued from the captivity into which he, like Joseph, had been sold by his brethren, was restored to his country, to be no longer a slave, but a teacher, a leader, a benefactor, and an'example; by faith he was set· apart to give the lie to the enemies of the African, to stultify the idle taunt, that a negro is incapable, by his nature, of culture, piety, honesty, and social virtues; by faith -he was raised up to mark an epoch in the sad chronicle of his persecuted race, and to be the firstfruit of the coming harvest of African pastors and evangelists. By faith his son Dandison, Henry Johnson and James Johnson were blessed with the great grace of being allowed to tread in his footsteps.
If any of my readers desire to know the real worth of the African mission– ary, let them read the lives of 11rs. Hinderer at Ibadan, and 11rs. Wakefield at Ribe, and of many other noble men and women, of whom this self-seeking world was not worthy, who left comforts at home to labor among the Africans; who, in spite of overpowering maladies, have, been, like Hannington, unwilling to leave ihe country of their choice, and determined to return in spite of the warning voice of their doctor, or who, like him, have died as good confessors, counting not their lives worthy, but to fill up what remail!s of the sufferings of Christ. Such lives, in their simple eloquence, cannot fail to chasten the proud heart, to drive out selfish egotism, and to sustain the sinking spirit; they leave a ray of tender light behind them, showing that the age of chivalry and of self-abnegation has not entirely passed away; that the nineteenth century, in spite of its wbrldliness and infidelity, is still able to supply crusaders to fight the battle of our 1I'£aster.
We read often in secular books, and too often in missionary biographies, how our Heavenly Father is supposed on some occasions to have graciously interposed to save the life of one of His poor children; in Roman Catholic accounts this benevolent interference is always attributed to the Virgin 11ary, or St. Teresa. Not a sparrow, indeed, falls without His command; but if sur:h interference is presumed when a good man's life is saved, how shall we account for the absence of this providential care when the good man is cruelly killed, or cut off by premature disease? Such is but a narrow view of God's providence. His ways are not our ways; He has chosen His servants for particular services: some to honor, some to dishonor. Some are selected to -live and work, to others is conceded the peculiar grace to die nobly and set a gloriolls example. Deaths are required as well as lives to complete the picture of the new life. Some may follow the steps of our Lord in a life of beneficenM and mercy; to others is granted th'e sweeter lot of filling up that which is behind of His sufferings. And in the last struggle how by grace they have been sustained, doing nothing common or mean in the last memorable scene of their earthly passion, but sealing their faith by their manner of meeting death!
Hear some of the dying words of these soldiers of Christ. In the hour of death all things are terribly real. There is no room for deception or false enthusiasm there. I have selected these words without distinction of country or denomination, but their number might be multiplied indefinitely. Arrhenius, the Swede, had only a few months of labor in the Galla country after years of preparation for his duties. His last words were: .. Jesus, help me I Jesus, help me I Amen."
Prretorius, the Swiss, was sent out for a few months' inspection of the missions on the Gold Coast; he called upon me on his way out, and promised to call again on his return; but after a few weeks in Africa he fell. His last words were: .. Is it true that I am going home to-day 1"
Of all the smaller English missions, the Livingstone-Kongo was conspicuous for its overflowing (If zeal and life and promise, and of all its agents McCall was the brightest; but he was struck down in mid-work. His last words were recorded by a stranger who visited him. Let each one of us lay them to our hearts: .. Lord, I gave myself, body, mlnd and soul to Thee. I consecrated my whole life and being to Thy service, and now, if it please Thee to take myself, instead Q/ the work 1vhich I would do for Thee, what is that to me 1 Thy will be done I"
He had hoped that his destined course might have been among- the brave [wd strong, to toil with high pUl'pose in the service of the African; but God had chosen another part for him, and as a true Christian he recogI).ized that God had chosen it well, and no weak mUl'mul'S escaped the lips of one who was ready to liv:l or ready to die. Golaz, of the French Mission to Senegambia, as well as his young wife, died within the year after their arrival. His farewell words were : "Do not be discouraged, if the first laborers fall in the field_ Their graves will mark the wall for their 8uccesSorS, who will march past them with great strides."
Pinkerton, of the American Mission in Zululand, was ordered to lead a new mission into Umzila's kingdom; he conveyed his wife and children to North America, and returned joyfully to his task. He met with many obstacles and rebuffs, but at length found himself well on the road. His last written lines were to his wife: "Thefutnre will bring its needed light, and work, and solace. My thoughts turn sadly to you and our children. All well. We go right on."
It was to him, indeed, all well, for in a few days he breathed hill last sigh alone in the African jungle; he had gone right on into glory I .On the other side of Africa, Bagster, of the same mission, had been sent to found a mission among the Ambandu; a few months before his death he had proposed to write on" The Missionary's Joys." In the last page of his jOUl'nal we find: .. We hear His voice of cheer: Go forward: one mau of yon shall chase ten thousand; the Lord your God has promised yon .the good land, which be has given to yon; most joyous is the service of our King I "
Thomson, of the Baptist Mission in the Kamerun country (that famous mission which has during 1885-86 been uprooted and destroyed by the late German Emperor), a few weeks before his death in September, 1884, unconscious of the l'uin which was so soon to come upon the scene of his labors, on his chapels and his mission schools, wrote as Collows : "I am sustained and upheld amid many and heavy anxieties by the growing conviction that the dear Master is, in His great condescension, nSing me here for the settlement of many difficulties; and llook forward to;the future with more hope than I have known for years. I believe the work here will soou assume a better and a brighter aspect, aud my heart glows within me, as by faith I see the time. Oh for more and more of grace to cast all our burdens upon the divine bnrden-bearer I Onr hope and trust are in Him alone I "
With such men (and these few are but types of many) Africa and the whole world can be conquered. Such deaths are great victories. Such words tell us that some portion of us is immortal. These confessors saw the promises afar off, and were persuaded of them, confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims, and desiring a better country, that is a heavenly.
Still, they were men with like weaknesses, and cravings for love, as ourselves, and it is with heavy heart that I read of the last moments of such servants of God, dying sometimes without the solaces of religion, with no fond breast to lean upon, with none of the ordinary necessities of civilized life to sustain and comfort and smooth the path to that bourne, which men call death, but which indeed is th~ portal to everlasting life. The last journal of Hannington (who was present when I read this address four years ago) brings this point of view vividly before me. I can see that faithful Christian in the midst of his sad environment, oppressed with anxiety for the future of the work to which he had consecrated himself, still sustained by the daily reading of, and meditation upon, the Psalms of David. We find in these pages, so wonderfully preserved, no rebellious murmuring, no cries for vengeance, no appeal to the arm of the flesh. Still, as he lay tossing on his unsavory heap of straw, before his feverish eyes, during those sad days and weary nights, would rise the vision of the peaceful home, the pleasing duties, the loved companion, the little children, whom he had voluntarily left, obeying the call to serve his Master; and not in vain, for a still voice would whisper to him: "It is the Lord's will: obedience is of the essence of true courage and true love. The battles of the Heavenly King are fought in suffering as well as doing, and in dishonor, in prison, and in shameful death, as truly as In the mission chappel, the mission school, and the center oj a Christian village."
We seem at this period of the history of our missionary churches to be living over again the trials and persecutions of the early Christians in the first century. Do we not seem to hear the echo of the words of the Virgin-Saint, who at ArIes in France was slowly let down feet-forward into a vessel of boiling oil, becauRe she refused to deny her Master?
.. Jesus Christ, help me! Praise be to Thee! Lord Jesus, grant me patience! I sutrer for Thy name's sake: I suffer for a little time onlll; I suffer oJ '~1I own accord: Jesus, let me never be confounded! take me ! take me ! ..
Time would fail me to tell of Schlenker, and Reichardt, and Schon; of Goldie and Edgerley ; of Casalis, Mabille and Coillard; of James Stewart, of Lovedale, and his namesake on the Nyassa; of Grant and Wilson; of Ram-· seyer and Christaller ; of Mackensie, the Bishop who died on the River Shire; and of Steere the Bishop who sealed up the translation of the last chapter of Isaiah ready for the printer, and then fell asleep at Zanzibar; oC Parker, the Bishop, wise and gentle, holy and self-restrained, who was called to his rest on the Southern shores of Victoria Nyanza; of Wakefield and New; of Stern, Mayer and Flad; of Southon, the medical missionary, who died at U-Rambo; of dear Mullens, who could not hold himself back from the fight, and who sleeps in U-Sagara; of many a gentle ladies' grave-for women have never been found wanting to share the honor and the danger of the Cross.
NOTES ON NEW BOOKs OF AMISSIONAlty CHARACTER
I have seen and known so many of them. A few weeks before we were holding sweet converse, and then the tidings of the death of Fome one of them came floating back by letter or telegmm. They had, indeed, all gone into a br country, and to me they seem to be all there still; and, when I am musing about Africa, or studying some point connected with thatcou~try, and I look up from my paper to my African library, the forms of departed fdends seem to enter at the open door, and I seem to see theil' faces again, and to ask them their opinion. Young Riviere, a Jesuit priest, who had been turned out of Algeria and taken refuge in North Wales, used to corre- spond with me about Afdca. One day he called upon me in London and told me that he had received his orders to start at once to the Zambesi Mission field, to take the place of a dead colleague. He pl'omised to write to me from Tete, and to clear up many questions for me; but he never reached his des- tination, for he sank under his iil'st attack of fever at the mouth of the Zam- besL Differing as I do from the Church of Rome in every principle and detail of their evil system, I can still recognize and thank God for the zeal, and love of souls, and total abnegation of self, which distinguishes hel' mis- sionaries. Oh, when they are such, would that they wel'e ours!
I often think of that famous scene in one of Walter Scott's romances, where the clansman and his seven sons all fell for their chieftain, stepping forth, one after the other, gladly into the gap, and Cl'ying: "One more for Eachim !" So it is with the reserve forces of missionaries. "One more for Christ!" And how much better to have young lives and treasure spent by the missions in trying to save African souls, than wasted by the English nation in slaughtering the unoffending and undaunted freemen of the Sudan, for the purpose of main taming an imaginary prestige of having the strength of a giant without the grace of knowing how to use that strength as a Christ- ian. Wherefore, seeing that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and press forward more and more upon our bounden duty aud service to evangelize Africa. We owe this debt to those who have gone before, that they should not have diedin vain. The .Missionary is indeed the most glorious outcome of 'the nineteenth century; the honest God-fearing man in the darkest corner of the earth, where he is most wanted. to represent the highest type of 'Christian patience and mo- rality.
.. Oh I that we now had there But one ten thousand of those men in Engla.nd, Who do no work to-dall ! ..
NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER.
[EDITORIAL.l Report of the M/,8sionary Conference, London, 1888. Edited by Rev. Jas. Johnston, F.S.S., Secretary of Conference. Vol. 1. London, Jas. Nisbet & Co. This is the first volume of what promises to be the most perfect encyclopedia of missions in the world. We can say no more. We would not be without that report ifit cost $100 instead of $2.00. The most distingni,hed men in tbe world, in the departmcnt of Oriental languagcs, rellgions, philosophies, and ~nstom., as well as the specific history of missions, are among the contributors to these volumes.
This first volume contains exhaustive papers on Islam, Buddhism. Roman Catholici.m, Relations of Home aud Foreigu lIfissions, Commerce, etc. Then Part II. gives the mission fielus of the world-India, Ceylon, Burmah, China, Japan, Africa and Madagascar, Turkey, Oceanica, North and South America, etc. The second volnme will be eqnally comprehensive and valuable, let us rather say invaluable. I have bought twenty-five copies myself to give away, and if I had the money would pnt a copy in the hands of every minister and theological student III the country. The Arner lcanedition is issued by F. H. Revell, Bible House, N. Y.; Chicago, 150 Madi~on St.-A. T. P.
Life Of John Mlson, D.D., F.R.S. By George Smith, LL.D. London, John Mnrray. This is another of Dr. SmIth's masterly bOoks on missions. We intend to give hereafter a review article
ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK
-on this remarkable man, but for the present advise every lover of heroic life and labor to read the volume. The following landatory notice from the leading journal of the world, the London 7'imlJ8, we adopt verbatim: "Dr. Smith's life of the late Dr. John Wilson of Bombay is without exception one' of the most valuable records' of missionary work in India ever submitted to the English public, and equally worthy of its subject and its author. • • • Dr. George Smith's mature knowledge of Indian affairs has enabled him to give an admirable presentation of Dr. 'Wilson's life and labors in con- nection with the great public improvements and progress of the years, extending over two genera- tions of official service during which he resided in Bombay. Dr. Smith has given us not simply a biography of Dr. Wilson, but a complete history of missionary, philanthropic, and educational enterprise in Western India, from the governorship of Monntstuart Elphinstone,1819-27, to that of Sir Bartle Frere, 1862-67. He has arranged the many subjects with which he has had to deal and the materials placed at his disposal with great simplicity, clearnesr, and efIect."
Distinguished Witnesses. By Rev. John Liggins. New York, Baker & Taylor Co. This book is timely. It fits the need of the day as tenon fits mortise in a good joint. To decry and even deny the good results of the work of heroic missionaries is easy; but the logic of events will convince any candid mind, and in this book there is a mighty massing of testimony. Nehemiah is not alone in his experience. He met manifold forms of antagonism: apathy and lethargy on the part of Jews, maliciOus enmity and derisive ridicule upon the part of Ashdodite and Ammonite and Arabian. But he simply held his tongue, minded his own business, and built the wall, hung the gates and established law and order. "A light word is the Devil's keenest sword;" there are still many that are willingly ignorant, and if all that they do not know were published, the world itself conld not 'contain the books that would be written. We must disregard the assaults of ridicule and enlighten ignorance. Let us give tae people the facts, and the facts in abundance. They may become to some the fingers of God.
In this valuable 'l'olume the high character and grand influence of missions are established in the mouth, not of two or three, but of hundreds of unimpeachable witnesses. Representative men and women, whose names carry the weight of authority, and from every class in the community, here appear on the witness stand, commanding a hearing in the Court of the Judgment. They speak what they know and testify that they have seen, and only those whose eyes are blinded by prejudice or whose hearts are hardened by willful hostility, will refuse to receive their witness. Modern missions have little to fear from the harsh or hasty words ofa few like Dr. Oscar Lenz, Winwood Reade, Sir Lepel Griffin, J. J. Monteiro, Mrs. Scott Stevenson, or even James A. Froude and Canon Taylor, while such as R. H. Dana and J. P. Donovan, JamescRussell Lowell and Alfred Rugsell Wallace, Robert N. Cnst and James B. Angell, Wm. Elliot Griffis and Wm. Fleming Stevenson, Sir Bartle Frere and Sir Thomas Tancred, and Sir Richard Temple, Lords Lawrence and Loftus, Napier and Northbrook, Generals Edwards and Haig, Wallace and Wilson, Taylor and Gordon, Admirals Wilkes and Sullivan, Foote and Gore; nay, where Darwin no less than Dutrerin, and Keshub Chnnder Sen,.no lessthan Constance Gordon Cummiug, feel constrained to give testimony to the unspeakable value of Christian missions.-A. T. P.
Ohristianity and Humanity. By Chas. S. Eby, B.A. This is a course of lectures delivered in Meljis Kuaido, Tokio, Japan, and addressed to the young Japanese mind. The author is a wideawake ~tndent of the great problem presented by a people just losing faith in the traditions and religions of the p·ast and in danger of embracing any plansible errors which offer themselves. The house is empty, swept, garnished; and now the question is. Shall it be abandoned to the occupation of a sevenfold worse infidelity, or preoccnpied by Christian belief? The author says that a short time since the cry was" No religion" ; then another cry was heard, ~'Give us some religion " ; and now the question is, " What religion?" These lectures are an attempt to answer this last inqniry. They were delivered in English and Japanese on alternate Saturdays. Two of the lectures are contributed to the volume by Prof. J. A. Ewing and Prof. J. M. Dixon, respectively. It seems to us that this outline of Christian apologetics is a very thoughtfnl and fresh one, calculated to awaken attention and well repaying careful reading. Not a few Occidental students will find in them much strong meat for thought.-A. T. P_._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ II.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
Missionary Society of the Methodist turns from the various Annual Con- Ohurch (Oanada), ferences show an aggregate gain in the membership of the church of SIXTY-THIRD annual report, 1887-88. over 10,000, and a fail- proportion of The General Board in their report this gain has been won on mission fields. On the financial side there is say: "The results of the past year's an advance of some $18,000, sufficient, work call for devout thanksgiving to the Head of the Church. The reat least, to show that interest in ality and zeal, and should lead us to mission work is by no means on the consider whether the time is not near decline. . . . Since our foreign work when the church should turn hereyes was begun fifteen years ago, the in- toward yet another part of the negcome of the society has steadily risen lected field of foreign heathendom. from $108,000 to $220,000, and such Verily, the fields are" white unto showers of blessing have fallen upon harvest," and the demand of the hour the home churches that there hasbeen is for reapers to gather in the Eoheaves. an almost continuous revival. The reports this year from Japan willgive After a full and detailed statement a further stimulus to missionary liber- of operations, the following summary isgiven: DlCOlllE A]iD EXPENDITURE FOB 1887-88, COMPARED WITH THAT FOR 1886·87. Income.
Increase. Decrease. Toronto Conf~rence. " ………………………………….. '" $44,488 15 $62009 London………………………………………………… . 16,810 44 54042 Niagara …………..•…………………………………… 25.788 71 Guelph ………………………………………•………. 17,883 01 1,09230 $3io'oo Bay of Quinte Conference …………………….•…..•…… 19.387 29 21824 ~~~t[~~! ~~df~~~~.w~~i C6riti~eric~'::::::::::::::::::::::::: 34;70833 2,001 15 272'4R 6,59536 1,131 94 British Columbia Conference ……………..•……………. 2,.33 17 Nova Scotia Conference. . …………………………… . 11,594 88 New Brunswick and P. E. I. Conference ….•………•..•…. 8,736 15 750'99 92 15 Newfoundland Conference …………………………….. . 5,405 42 30132 Legacies •………………………………•…………….. 14,802 38 12,89608 Donations on annuity •……………………..•………..• 1,500'00 Indian Department ……………………………………. . 8,875'58 Miscellaneous …………•…•………..•……………….• 2,01807 4oo'7i 17240 Total iucome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $219,480 00 $19,953 2.'1 $2,34759 Net increase……………………………… . 17,605 66 Expenditure. $i60' 95 $4.55079 TorontoConference, including Japau …………………….. $29,21804 London Conference…………………………………….. 10,034 61 154'94, g: ~:e~~a:::::::::::::::::::::::.,…… ','.:::'.:::::::::::::::::::::: ~:!~ 532 99 2754 2;66993 Bay of Quinta Conference . …………………….. '" … .. .. 10,752 55 1,055 57 Montreal Conference, including French Methodist Institute.·. . 25,165 79 Manitoba and North-West Conference…………………… 29,681 70 1,426'si British Columbia Confereuce…………………. …..•…… 17,765 28 Nova Scotia Conference ………………………….. :. . . . .• 6,615 91 685 81 New Brunswick and P. E. I. Conference…. ……………… 7,587 51 51018 28 Newfoundland Conference… .. .. …………•.•…•……….. 12,678 42 Mouut Elgin Industrial Institution……..•..•• , ••.• , •. •• •. . . . . 3,458 33 2,03049 Sundries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. .. .• •. . •. . . •. . . . . . . • 18,359 28 Cost of management……………………………………. 10,571 51 33305 2,227 12 1,62898 Total expenditure …….•…•…•……•….•… " $195,469 5! $12,343 17 $6,15978 Net increase….•……••……………..•….•…•……….. 618,339 Leipzig Missionary Society. the mortality has beeu so great that it has less European missionaries than stations at present. Number of stations…………………….. 23 Ordained European missionaries………… 22 British and Foreign Bible Sooiety. Native preachers ………… '" …•……… H Candidates.. . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . '" THE eighty-fourth report of this Catechists.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 57 noble society is a voluminous book Teachers……………………. : …•••…• 267 and one full of interest. The circu- I ,ferior assistants of varions sorts………. 130 lation of the Scriptures last year was the largest in the history of the so- Total force ………………………472 ciety, the total number of Bibles, Testaments, and Portions being INCOME FOB LAST FISCAL YEAR. 4,206,0::12. The gross total of re- ceipts amounted to £250,382 lOs. 5d. C) ltributions ………………….. $69,61440 The total of expenditures, £224,823 lItere.t on legacies, profits of the Mis- 98. lid. This pays the debt of previ- ous year, over £10,000, and leaves sionsblatt, etc…………………. 4,098 72 Balance in treasury•….••…… 10,440 240 £15,000 in the treasury toward a.n- Total. ……….•….•..• ,. …..$84,153 a6 other year's work. Expenditures ……………………$7!,825 60 Balance in treasury…………. $11,835 60 This shows a falling oft" of nearly $4,000 from 1886. The society's chief work is in South India, where it numbers more than 13,000 church Imlmbers. Notwithstanding it has sent out in the last three years eleven missionaries, . 125 The society a.fl'ords essential aid to tion cif the revised Rarotongan Bible. a large number of missionary soci- In Northwest America the work is eties by liberal grants of Bibles and .chiefly "among our own people." Testaments for distribution in their respective fields. Thus in West By the important work o~ giving Africa the society's work blends with grants-in-aid to missionary societies that of the Church Missionary and for the employment of Bible-women Wesleyan Societies' work. Develop- in the East, 300 Christian women ment is the law of South Africa, and were occupied in making heathen Bible work keeps pace with it. In and Mohammedan women better ac- East Africa the society works largely quainted with the ·Word of God. with the Universities' Mission, par. Translations in six fresh languages ticularly at Zanzibar and Lake Ny- were added to the list in 1887-88, and assa; it also helps the C. M. S. In with the com pletion of the version for Egypt direct colportage work has Japan last year it is believed that for the first time been commenced the entire Bible now exists in all the among Moslems. In no part of the great languages of the world. So society's work are the accounts more mightily grows the Word of God and discouraging than in Syria and Pal- prevails! estine. The Government opposes, the people are ignorant and unawak- Seventh-day Baptist Missionary Sooiety. ened. In Abyssinia but little work was possible, owing to the Italian THE forty-sixth annual session was military occupation; while Arabia held at Leonardsville, N. Y., Aug. 23, seems ready to be more largely oc- 1888. The society maintains a succupied. From Persia comes the rec- cessful mission in China. The staord of the sure though gradual ad- tistics of the evangelistic and school vance of the kingdom of God, while work there are encouraging. Mr. and there are indications of the disinte- Mrs. Randolph have been added to the gration of Mohammedanism. The Shanghai mission. The society also work in India is carried on by six has a small mission in Haadem, Holauxiliary societies-those at Cal- land. Also mission work is carried cutta, Madras, Bombay, Bangalore, on in Austria, and on alimiterl scale Allahabad, and Lahore; it is charac- among the Jews in New York City. tel;ized as wide and resistless, though But the society's efforts are laJ'gely gradual in its advance. Threeauxil- expended in home mission work, iaries, Jaffna, Colombo, and Kandy, chiefly at the South and West. work in Ceylon. In Burmah the society gives grants of Scriptures to SUMMARY. the Burmah Bible and Tract Society. In Malaysia the work is only in its , Ohina.-3 American missionaries; 2 native sixth year, but is vigorously advanc- preachers; 2 native teachers; 1 Bible woman; ing. In North China the agent con- 5 other native helpers; 5 baptisms; 4,220 pa_ siders that Bible work is the most tients at the dispensary; 82 medical visits; 40 extensive seed-sowing of all the forms snrgical operations. of missionary enterprise. In Mid- China there is cause for much en- Holland.-l paid missionary, bnt really 3 couragement. So also in South workers, and 5 additions. China. No message of the year is brighter than that received from Mission to Jews.-2 workers; much persoual Japan. The sales have nearly quadrupl~d. In Melanesia and Polynesia work; nO baptisms, but several adherents. One event of the year is the comrle- Horne MissWns.-24 workers, including the secretary; 150 additions-85 by baptism; and 5 churches and 7 Bible schools organized.
Scandinavian MzssWn.-l worker.
Total fO'T' America.-26 workers; 150 addl- tions-85 by baptism; 5 cburches and 7 Bible schools organized, one church and one school being among colored people in New Orleans.
Total additions on the whole field, 100-91 by baptism, Reeeipts. age the funds needed for the sup. Balance cash In treasury, port of their Bethel and its w.ark, and perhaps a surplus to be sent September 12, 1887…… $247 35 to the general treasury in New Receipts by contributions and income from bequests and permanent funds, York. Where it is not possible to from September 12, 1887, raise sufficient money in the vicinity to September 20,1888…. 8,633 01 of the work, the parent society feels Received on loans ……. " 3,800 00-$12,680 36 bound to supplement the deficiency. " E:r:pens68.
Paid salaries and other ex- At present, says the Secretary, penses from September there are urgent calls to service in 12,1887, to September 20, behalf of the three millions of sea, 1888 …………………$9,700 98 men of all nations, and there is Paid loans …..•………. 2,800 00-$12,500 98 Cash balance September a great opportunity to enlarge this 20,1888………….. .. $17988 work. Men are wanted specially en- dowed for labor among seamen. We The Amerioan Seamen's Friend Society. need more money. We need collec- THIS society was organized more tions from churches. In arranging than sixty years ago. Its object is the list of benevolent objects we.
",to improve the social and moral respectfully ask church officers to condition oi seamen, by uniting the remember that our society is a Home efforts of the wise and good in their and Foreign Missionary Society to bellaH; by promoting in every port seamen, who would be largely neg- boarding-houses of good character, lected were it not for its efforts in savings banks, register offices, libra- their behalf. We need gifts from ries, museums, reading rooms, and individuals. American shipping mer- schools; and also the ministrations chants who formerly helped our of the gospel and other religious caus,e are few in num.ber compared blessings. " with other days when there was an At the present time there are 17 American marin/e. But the seamen, laborers at 14 home stations, and 19 whether on sailing vessel or on laborers at 17 foreign stations, repre- steamer, whether American or for- senting this society. eign, are swarming over the world, The Loan Library work is efficient exposed to moral temptations, phys- and useful, the society having sent ical hardships and corrupting influ- out nearly ten thousand of these ences.
libraries to entertain and instruct Finances.-During the year ending seamen. It acts also as an agent of March 31, 1888, the cash receipts of the Bible and Tract Societies in dis- the society from legacies, donations, tributing the Word of God and relig- loan library contributions and other ious publications among the men of sources of income amounted to $45,- the sea. It has published 56,900 027.08. The disbursements for mis- copies of the Sailors' Magazine, 20,- sionary work, publications, loan hbra- 000 copies of the Seamen's Friend, ries, expenses, etc., amounted to and 124,200 copies of the Life Boat $41,004.81.
during the past year. In some ports The society owns a Sailors' Home the society is aided by local Sea- in New York, in which 111,326 sea- men's Friend Societies, auxiliary to men have found, since 1842, the com- this society. These develop local forts of a home and protection from sympathies, utilize local energies, the sharks which prey upon "pOel"
choose competent missionaries and Jack" in a great seaport. It is the superintend their work. It is ex- policy of the society to foster by its pected of these, wherever possible, influence homes, orphanages, savings that they will raise in the vicin- banks, reading rooms and similar ad·
OORRESPONDENOE AND GENERAL INTELLlGENOE. 12'7
juncts to the fundamental work of for the sailors' legal rights, hying to preaching the gospelandsavingsouls. secure them by legal f'nactmentsand It also stands up, as far as it can, to vindicate them when violated.
III.-CORRESPON DENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
Africa. to the mission, and at a very low rate. It is toaching to print the fol- LAGOS, WESTERN AFRICA, Sept. 30, 1888. lowing response from a far-off mis- DEAR EDITORS.-Although I am unknown sionary, Mrs. Dr. Metheny, though her own mission· is in great need.- to you in the 11esh, yet I beg to write to you EDS.] that I have been traveling all over West- MERBINE, July 30, 1888. ern Africa conducting revival meetings, MRS. M. E. BEALL-DEAR SISTER: I read and delivering at the same time some tem- your appeal for funds in THE REVIEW. It perance lectures, and so try to deepen the stirred my heart so that I felt that though Ilpirituallife of a few who are only satisfied I could only give a little, I must give that, with mere formal Christianity, and to save and perhaps the Lord would put it into the some from the cursed rum and gin traffic, hearts of others who were more able, to give which is daily slaying its thousands in our according to their ability. We are in debt streets. I desire humbly to appeal through ourselves somewhat for our own house, your kind infiuence to a few or all of the which we built large enough to accommo- Religious Tract Societies in the United date our boarding-school and preaching ser- States, for a free grant of Gospel and Tem- vice. Onr Board was not willing to go to perance tracts, which will be of great use the expense of building, and we felt that we in my evangelistic work. The part of the could not do without the buildings. so we country where I am now conducting mis- took the savings of my husband's life-time, sion services is totally in want of $2,000, and $800 of'a legacy which his danghtracts and wall sheets of Scripture texts. ter left me. The $2,000 was all swallowed up I shall be exceedingly thankful, and my in the lot, so in order to complete the house poor African brethren will be g-rateful to we borrowed money from the Board, to be you, if you will supply us with these. Before repaid by the rent of the house. The mission this gets to your hands I shall be at Accra has the use of the first and second stories. for revival services, where you will please Our work here is new-begun in 1883-though addresame. I have been sixteen and a half years in the field-ten and a half in Latakia, Syria; six I am your faithful, humble servaut, as a teacher. My husband has been twenty~ four. There are now 171 communicants in GEORGE ROSE. and about Latakia. The force there con- sists of Rev. Easson and family, Dr. Balph East Oentral Africa. 23, 188~ and family, Misses Wylie, Edgar, and Dodds of the girls"school. We here are all one BANDAWE, LAKE NYASSA, Aug. family-Dr. and I, our four children, Misses Sterrett and Joseph. We have some Roman DEAR EDIT<»IS : In the article, •. The De- Catholics, but more Maronitesandstill more Greeks. Our special work is among a pagan' serted Mission," in the May number of THE sect, nominally Moslems, but really a secret sect. We also do some work amonlr bona_ REVIEW (p. 361), I notice the following: fide Moslems. For this reason we a~e bit_ terlyopposed by the Turkish Government. "Exclusive of • . . efficient help rendered One of our teachers has for more than three months been in prison for teaching among without compensation by the African Lakes these people. Our life is one continual strain of anxiety on account of our poor Co." people. Since coming here we have had a great number of people under instruction, Work done" without compensatirm" means a.nd we have a congregationol church mem.. bers, and their children, numbering 60. Bework done at the expense of the 8hareholders, sides these some have died and some have gone away. In all 30 adults have been bnt I venture to assert that au exnmination of brought in from.heathenism. How could any the books of the Livingstonia Mission will ie Of Us endure one had not the fure Word of prove, in the most conclusive manner, that the statement in THE REVIEW has not the slightest fonndation in fact.
School work is at present in fnll swing at this station. A staff of 36 native teachers is kept well employed; abont 1,000 children attend the schools dally to receive religions and other in· strnction. Yonrs trnly, ROBT. GOSSIP, Jill.
Asia Minor.
[IN the July number, 1888, p. 530, we gave a brief appeal from Mrs. Beall of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, for help to purchase property essential God to rest on t Dear sister, I hope your selves exceedingly well off if they could· get fur- work may be abundantly blessed. Please lough as orten as the average civil servant get~ remember our work (Reformed Pres. Cove· it, not to speak of the three months' privilege nanter) in your prayers. leave which the latter can enjoy once in three years withont his right to furlough being af- "!Oour sister in Christ, Cected. A good deal might be said abont the devotion of the average civil servant to his MARY E. METHENY. work; bnt my design in writing is purely de- fensive. In di a.. Dr. Cust complains that the domestic affairs [WE admit the fo!owing from a of missionaries bulk too largely in official re- worthy missionary in IIl(lia as but ports. Sometimes it may be so; but that evil fair. In the September number we conld be easily remedied. Let no such subjects printed an able article, written by be referred to in official documents, except in Dr, Cust, entitled" The Heroic Mis- so far as they affect the work of the mission. sionary Society." Some of its criti- Onr critic may allege _that they ought not to cisms we thought at the time" un- affect it. Would the general of an expedition, duly severe," and so expressed our- or the governor of a province, allow them to sel ves in a footnote, p. 669. Our COl'- affect his work? Perhaps he might. The com- respondent, in a private note, says: parison, for which I am not responsible, is not "I know that you have given no a very happy one. When do you find generals sanction to the opinions which I con- or governors living with their families, as you demn, but rather the reverse. All often find missionaries with theirs, in isolated the same, I think it a pity that such places. where in times of illness no ejfic :ent help statements as Dr. Custmakes should is to be had for love or money? A general or go unchallenged. A good deal of governor can easily find a competent nurse to this kind of writing has appeared wait on his Wife, even if she do not happen to lately in Scotland, and I think it is have a European lady's maid with her; this a fitted to do no little harm to the miSSionary caunot always do, even if he could afford to pay for her services. Many mission- cause of missions." In the end we aries have to send 100 miles or so for a nurse believe such discussions will do good when one must be had, and when she comes rather than harm to the cause of she is often no acquisition; but all the same he missions.-EDs.] has to pay her an exorbitant fee, besides giving her food and drink while shei. in his house, and Il'IDIA, Sept. 25, 1888. more money for her traveling expenses than he DEAR EDlToRs.-Is it quite true that" mis- would ever think of spending in such a journey. siouaries have not a Warmer friend than Dr. Cust"? Was he practising the charity that What is a missionary to do in such circum- .. thinketh no evil" when he insinuated that stances if his wife take serionsly ill? He can missionaries .. take a worldly view" of their scarcely hope to have a nurse in his house till a w-'rk, .. and mix up a mission to a dying world week has elapsed, if he be able to get one at all. with visions of early matrimony, social advan- Is he to leave his wife to languish, and perhaps tage, and a pleasant career"? Individuals may to die, all alone, with no one to minister to her, do so; but I do not happen to know them. in order to preach to the heathen? If he may Most missionaries of my acquaintance might not leave his work for a time tl> attend to his have rlone better in respect to this world if they wife when she is really ill, is he entitled to give had remained at home. Again, each man must np preaching when his own health is such as to judge for himself whether or not he should indicate ueed of rest? If a missionary ought to marry, and if so, when. The primitive Church act in this way, ought not every Christian in knew no restriction in this matter, nor should every land to do the same? In that case, what we, beyond what is .. needfnl for the present" are we to understand by the words of Christ, exigencies ofeach. .. Go ye and learn what that mean.eth, I will lie says: "lIow often the Indian official or have mercy and not sacrifice" ? soldier has to ~hip off a sick wife, and cannot accompany her." In my experience this has Dr. Cnst further thinks that the attention of been quite as often done by missionaries, in pro- the mission committee is too mucb taken np portion to their nnmber. One would fancy with affairs of missionaries' familie., ., as if they from such remarks that Indian civil servants were a board of guardians of the poor." This is – were either more devoted to their work than not true of all committees. One committee that missionaries are to theirs, Or that their oppor- I know of acts on the prinCiple of paying mis- tunities of going home on furlongh' or short sionaries well, and leaving them to look after leave were fewer. Now I think the most self- their own wives and children. If all missions indulgent of missionaries w01lld thinlt tbem- were to act on this principle, they woulcl be re- lieved of this trouble, but at a pretty large in- crease in expenditure. As I understand it committees take tbis trQuble on themselves on grounds of economy, so that they may decide urging them to remain firm to their purhow much should be given in each case to en- pose of working in foreign land's~' even able a missionary to "provide for his own" in a decent way. It does seem hard that a mi,- though their entering upon that work seem sionary separated, at no small cost of feelin!!" from his children, should be grndged what is tu them to be long delayed. ' necelJaarv for their snpport. There are people at home rolling in wealth, and enjoying "very The meetings during the five days Were luxury which it can command, who grudge tae small allowance made towards the board and held as follows: Each morning the meeting maintenance of children who are to all intents and purposes in the position of orphans for the began with a short song service, toen the sake of missions. sermon, followed by many short, earnest tes- We welcome fair, well-considered criticism; when we err, tell us our fanlt iu a brotherly timonials in quick succession. After breakspirit; but do not join the common enemy in mali!!:ning and misrepresenting us. We can fast at ten the children's meeting and the bear the tannts and contempt of the ungodly; now we are being wounded, and that most ministers' meeting. At twelve a. sermon deeply, by our friends-onr best friends, it seems. Our time will soon pass away; to our again, and at three a Hindustani service~ own Master we shall staud or fan; but let Christian critics beware, lest by their harsh In the evening the opening song service treatment of us they discourage others from entering ou the work, and S3 injure the cause and the sermon. followed by an exhortation they seek to serve. It would have been easy to write at much greater length; but I forbear, from the leader and an invitation for all to as I do not wish to encroach unnecessarily ou your space. stay to the after-meeting. T-hen following LETTER from Miss Libbie C. Griffin: the benediction the precious after.meeting, BALASORE, ORISSA, Oct. 23, 1888. when sinners came to the altar and were Gon- THE Missionary Conference held each year at Lucknow, the capital of Onde, India, verted and missionaries and lay Christians began this year Oct. 10 and closed Oct. 14. They are held under tl}e auspices of the came and the Holy Ghost came upon them. M. E. lIfission in India, but attended by many missionaries of other denominations. Christians talked of rest, of complete sur.
Rev. J. H. Schiveley, pa.tor of the :r.r. E. render, and perfect trust. Some said that Church, Lucknow, leader this year, is a henceforth Christ should not only be with real evangelist. Sermons were preached by Rev. Tracy, Pres. of Etoma; Rev. Fore them but in them, taking entire possession, man, Pres. Fatipl'; Rev. Pa.rsons, Wesleyan, Lucknow; and Rev. GrilIln, F. Bap- and others that they believed that Jesus tist, Balasore; and by M. E. missionaries as follows: Dr. Johnson, Lucknow; Rev. would help them hereafter not only to con. Stuntz, Bombay; Rev. McCoy, Calcutta, Editor of the Indian TVitne88; Rev. Mansel, trol their tempers, but to lose them, so that Cawnpore; Rev. Marne, Calcutta; Rev. Hollister. Nagpur; Rev. Hoskins, Shah nothing would anger or irritate. A Church Jehanpur; Dr. Scott, Bareiley; and Rev. Thoburn, Simla. The sermons were strong of England missionary thought that he and spirit»al, aiming to bring sinners to Christ and Christians to an entire conse- should have grace to go home and treat his cration. The presence of such workers of many years as Dr. Scott, Rev. Mansell, Dr. servants better, and a Methodist missionary Waugh, Dr. Johnson, and Dr. Parker, was most helpful. Long may they live to help got back the peace of mind that he had lost not only the heathen. but the young missionaries who need their counsel so much_ in building a church and dealing with the Rev. Forman was doubly welcome because of his work in the home colleges. At the lying, cheating, thieving masons who per. Lucknow Missionary Conference a resolu- tion was passed telling of the tha.nkfulness sisted in putting mud where bricks and of the missionaries for the volunteers and mortar should be. Many missionaries knew from experience the ~emptations and trials of these two men and thanked God for the new-found power which should enable them to work with and for these heathen, so full of dark ways and vain tricks, and not be worried, or wounded, or made to sin by them. Saved to the nttermost even here, soldiers pledged themsehes to be as loyal to their new-found Saviour as to their queen, and men, women and children said. "I have found Jesus and mean to serve Him as long as I livp,." Thf':re was joy among the angels and gladness in our hearts for the wonderful things God did for us -all at Lucknow. And greater joy shall come when the beathen for whom we go now to labor shall yield to our God theirSaviour_ How to Make Missionary Wall Maps and Oharts.
(See MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD for December,p.962.) FIRST secure a carpeted room, sufficiently large for the purpose, and after removing all furni- ture spread on the carpet old uewspapers, lapping – their edges four inches. Upon these lay a sheet of muslin. 2ay 8×12 feet. This musliu is double- width ordinary sheeting muslin, and while the lIIap !s necessarily limited to 8 teet ill width, It can be 89 !nany yards long as is Wished, all in New York City. one piece, no seam.. A CONFEIlENCE ON MISSIONS TO TR!!= JEWs. This piece of muslin tack at the corners and midway of the sides and ends. Then take ~ of THE First lIebrew Christian Church in a pound of white glue and dissolve it in one gal- America, Rev. Jacob Freshman, pastor, lon of boiling water, and with a Jlat three·inch- which worships at 17 St. Mark's PIa."", New wide varnish brnsh apply it rapidly and York, recently entertained a" conference" smoothly to the muslin, and as soon as the mus- of friends of Jewish missions. The conlin is covered quickly untack it and remove the ference was opened with a sermon by Dr. papers that are sticking to its back (the glue hav- lIoward Crosby, from the text, .. Salvation ing goue through the muslin), and then relay it is of the Jews," which he maintained to be on the «arpet (a cushion of air underneath pre- not only an original but a continuing and venting its sticking to the carpet) and retack it, an ultimate fact; the Jews, pervading all taking care to keep the edges parallel with the the populations and speaking freely aU the washboard, the room beinglarge enough to allow languages of the world, are destined, with a passage all around the muslin. Donot stretch their matchless aggressive energy and abil.. it too tight. The sizing will dry in four hours. ity, to become the pre-eminent apostles and Next take a straight·edge as long as the map the predominant agents of the King whom and draw with lead pencil parallel lines for they have hitherto rejected. Among the latitude and longitude, and with these as guides speakers on succeeding days were Drs. Aloutliue the map with a lead pencil. Then color bert Erdman, James Morrow of Philadelthe land portions, etc., using Fletcher & Co.'s phia, JaB. M. King, H. Friedlander of Jeruinks. These come in powder form, in small salem. J. 111. Buckley, Wm. T. Sabine, Geo. packages, 25 cents each, and comprise nine col- Alexander, Henry Wilson, and others. The ors, but by combiuing them a number of addi- audiences usually crowded the little chapel, tional colors can be made. These powders are which accommodates about 200, and manireadily dissolved in water (Yo pint) and can be fested absorbing interest and great earnestkept bottled for an indefinite time. Pour some ness for the restoration of God's not-castof the color out in a saucer and dilute it and ap- away but temporarily blinded people. ply with a fiat bristle brush. Care must be taken not to let it dry on you, and it is best to Perhaps the most striking feature of the put thA color on a light tint and by repeated conference, next to the report of Jewish coats darken it to the right shade. The coloring evangelization in New York and other cities will then look smooth and not smeared. When from this center, was the Rev. Dr. Friedall the coloring is on, then take liquid India ink lander's account of the Jews in Jerusalem (25 cents a bottle), andwith a small ~-in6h rOltna at the present time. They are divided, he sable brush blacken the outlines and lines of said, into three classes: latitude and longitude, and make a wide border for the map. Use the brush as you would a (1) The Spanish-speaking Jews, descendpencil, drawing it toward you and backing ants of ancestors who Were expelled from away. Of course these maps are made on your Spain four centuries ago and took refuge knees. If the India ink is too black or too in Jerusaiem; filled to this day with the thick, dilute a little with water. submissive complaisance which ages of oppression had taught them, together with Next take a lead pencil and outline the letter- the extreme Oriental courtesy which they ing (make it bold), block letters, and then fill in have assimilated from the Turks, and which with India ink. If you choose you can buy two makes them the most agreeable (while yet sizes of stencil letters and outline your letters no less impenetrable) listeners to Christian with them, and then fill in with the India ink argument and the New Testament Scripafterward. The India ink must be the last color- tures. They number '1,000, more or less, or ing on, for it will wash add biur if colored over. about one-third of the JeWish population of Jerusalem. Wheu your map is finished, trim the ends only. Leave the selvage on edges to prevent the (2) German – speaking Jews, who began map from tearing. If you are careful to draw voluntarily to emigrate to Jerusalem from your lines with a straight-edge and parallel and southeastern Europe as missionary pilgrims at right angles to each other, you will have a about fifty years ago on the removal by the pleasing-looking map. If the sizing makes it Turkish Government of the restriction on stiff, fold it up until about two feet sqllare, and Jewish families in Jerusalem to 300; always then roll it. The creases will all come out. You proud and fearless to beJews in their native can thus carry it anywhere, and in use suspend it countries; drawn to Jerusalem by intense trom the two corners and middle of the upper religious zeal, for the purpose of devoting edge. themselves solely to devout exercises, to the exclusion of business, and supported in P. S. In using the Fletcher inks it is best to their austere lives by contributions from keep the maps rolled up, as the colors fade those they had left behind; in these devslightly after long exposure to strong .l!unlight. otees the missionary eocol/nters all the fierce intolerance of militll.nt Judaism, and ~NQTr ~~UAlIE! PA, QLME~CE l/4lIl!;XN. it is even dangerous, Bometimes~ toapproo.ch remaining on bond and mortgage,and some them in the hated name of Jesus; they pur_ $5,000 have also been paid for repairs, al- sue with extreme ardor works of super_ terations, and furnishing, which have COD_ ,erogation to acquire surplus merit before verted the lower part of the house into a God, and make the greatest possible sacri- tastefnl and inviting place of worship, with fices to maintain, as they do, among other reading and prayer-meeting room, the upper things, scores of Hebrew libraries and read- fioors serving as the pastor's residence. The ing rooms in the city, tending and mending property is vested in a board of trnstees, of every book with scrupulous care. which Drs.Crosby, Deems and Vincent,Ralph Wells, Esq., and a number of other well- (3) The latest comers, who in recent years known Christian laymen are members, and have been driven out in utter wretchedness the work enjoys the auspices of an advisory from Russia, Roumelia, etc., and kllew not committee, in which to the above-named where else to go but to the land of their clergymen are added Drs.•T. M. Buckley, fathers, a shipload of them having ev..n Wm. Ormiston, Wm. M. Taylor, Wm. T. been turned back from New York. These Sabine, R. S. MacArthur, and others. people are more accessible from having im- bibed something of the modern spirit, and Mr. and Mrs. Freshman serve unitedly also from the contrast of Christian truth without salary, depending solely by faith and love to the combination of superstitiou on the offerings which individuals may be and cruelty which forms of nominal Chris- moved to make expressly for their support, tianity had presented to them in Europe. the collections and general donations going This last migration Dr. Friedlander was to the payment of ordinary church expenses inclined to regard as a beginning of the and of such assistants and publications as return, analogous, in the poverty and lowli- can be afforded for the almost unlimited de- ness of the exiles, to the earlier period of mands of the work, the expenses of con- the return from Babylon. All these Jews verted Jews preparing for the ministry- speak from three to six languages; but, said of whom there are now ten so engaged or Dr. Friedlander, you need not greatly ad- laboring under Mr. Freshman's direction mire their learning, for they get their six in other cities-and to the bnilding fund. languages in infancy as naturally as they A beautifnl bi-monthly paper, called The learn to sneeze or eough. Hebrew-Christian, is published at the mis- sion, at 50 cents a year. The story of the mission in New York under Mr. Freshman may be summarized Mr. Freshman is a preacher of terse and as follows: Mr. Freshman came here in 1881 thoughtful as well as impassioned eloquence from the Montreal Methodist Conference, and usually gives the Sunday morning to after some years of successful pastoral ser- the presentation of the cause of Israel in vice in Canada; following his conversion other churches to which he is invited, with (with that of his father, a Jewish rabbi of the highest acceptance, whether to cultured Hungary) from Judaism to Christ. Having or uncultnred hearers. In his own church a strong impulse to engage in evangelizing he preaches in English on Sunday evenings, the Jews in New York, he commenced l'ublic and in German on Saturday afternoons to services in the small lecture hall of the full audiences of Jews. The pathos and Cooper Union on the first Snnday in Jan- power of the testimonies heard in these nary, 1882. In two months he was enabled meetins-s from the Jewish converts are to organize a Hebrew-Christian Church such as nothing less than the" great trib- with ten converted Hebrews, the number ulation" through which they enter into the required by Jewish custom for a congrega- kingdom of heaven could elicit. " tion. During the succeeding struggles with poverty the little church was tossed about, WILLIAM C. CONANT. occupying at different times the lecture room of Dr. Howard Crosby's church, of THE following letter from Rev. the Seventh Street Methodist church, and Geo. S. Mott, D. D., will explain itself : again the room in Cooper Union, and one at the corner of Grand and Allen streets, where FLEMINGTON, N. J., Oct. 26, 1888. preaching, Sunday-school and prayer-meet- REV. A. T. PIERSON, D.D.: I am greatly in- ings were conducted in the German lan- terested in the missionary intelligence guage. The church is denominationally which you furnished for The Homiletic Re- Hebrew-Christian and nothing else. view, and now in THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE'VORLD. You have for so long a time At length, in 1885, the buildiug No. 17 St. made this a specialty that you must be famil- Mark's place was purchased for $20,000, by iar with the many sources of information re- the aid of such men as Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, specting the foreign field, and I have go.th- Rev. D. Stuart Dodge, Hon. SamnelMorley ered a large amount of material which prob- of England, and others, who contributed to ably you have not given to the churches. I the initial payment of $5,000. The indebt- take the liberty, therefore, of making this edness has since been reduced to $10,000, suggestion to you: There is very much needed for us pllrstors a. good eyclopredia of foreign missions ual harvest; but as Mr. Grenfell was combrought up to the present time. Probably ing down the river, on his way to England, you have seen "The Cyclopredia of Missions" he met a band of native evangelists going by Newt.omb. This was published in 1834, forth on an evangelistic tour. They had set and this statement shows at once that it out of their own accord, without even th~ does not meet present wants because of the knowledge of the missionary, evidently takmarvelous advance in the work. The defect ing upon thclll8elves the Lord's command to of the work is the details. At the time it go and preach the gospel. They had not only was published these details were perhaps forsaken their own superstitions, but were desirable, but much respecting climate and vigorously seeking to propa.gate their new geography and natul'al history can be ob- faith.-Mi8S. Herald. tained from other sources. But my idea is that the articles "ould be wrought over, and' -George Schmidt. Foremost in the fight that they furnish much valuable material with ignorance and evil in South Africa for a new book. In the early days of my stands the figure of George Schmidt, pre_ pa"torate I often consulted it, and even now pared for the hardships of his missionary it is nsMul as a history of early missionary life by six years of imprisonment for conwork. In my opinion a work of this charac- science' sake in Bohemia. during which his ter would be of vast benefit to the cause of brother in tribulation, Melchior Nitschforeign missions. I believe many pastors mann, died in his arms. Whence came the aTe deterred from presenting foreign mis- zeal whkh moved Schmidt to make his way sion work because they cannot get the ma- alone to South Africa in 1737, and to dwell terial without a qnite laborious search, and among his little colony of Ho'ttentots in they have not the time for that. Bavianskloof, until in 1743 the persecutions of the Dutch settlers and clergy drove him There is another work containing very val- from the country, and their intrigues preuable information-" History of the Propa- vented his return? Whence came the argation of Christianity Among the Heathen," 'dent heart's desire, which led him day hy by Rev. Wm. Brown. This is a history, and day to a quiet spot near his German home, not, therefore, in the serviceable for,n of a and there poured itself out in prayers for cyclopredia. It was pubJished byWm. Black- his orphaned tlock far 'away, until, like wood, London, 1834. It is an extensive trea- Livingstone, he died on his knees pleading tise spread out into three volumes. for Africa.? Such burning Ijve and such persistent prayer are not of man, they are I write to you because I do not know any of God. And though the answer tarried one who can so well perform the task. We long.-yes, fifty years-it came before this have cyclopredias on almost every subject. century commenced. George Schmidt was but not one that has come to my knowledge no longer on earth to hear the reports of adequately meeting the needs of the grand the three men upon whom his mantle fellmovement in foreign missions. how:they found the spot which he had cul- tivated, the ruins of his hut yet visible, the GENERAL INTELUGENCE. whole valley a haunt of wild beasts; and, Africa.-The Congo Tribes. Those who better, ho'Y they found one, surviving become intimately acquainted with' the member of that little congregation of 47 negro race as found in various parts of who had long waited and hoped for the re- Africa bear testimony to its good quali- turn of the beloved teacher. This was an ties. The coast ne"ro who has learned aged blind Hottentot woman, who welcomed some of the vices of civilization is un- them as Schmidt's brothers with" Thanks doubtedly a sorry specimen of human- be to God." and unrolled from two sheepity ; but where native tribes can be found skins her greatest treasure, a Dutch New uncontaminated by contact with foreign- Testament which he had given her. Soon ers. they exhibit sterling qualities. Rev. this so-called Bavianskloof (i.e. Baboon's George Grenfell, who has visited all the Glen) was changed into" The Vale of Grace" tribes along the Congo, says that the negro (in Dutch, Genadendall, and where Schmidt's would stand his ground before the white poor hut stood there is now a. la.rge settleman. "There is a vitality of race and ment, with a congregation of more than power about him that is going to make him 3,000 members. From this center the work take bis place some day among the nations has spread over Cape Colony, and beyond of earth." In support of this opinion, he its borders into independent Kalfraria. gives several incidents showing the vigor Now its two provinces include 16 stations and fidelity of the natives, and especially with their filials, where 60 missionary mentioned an incident which he witnessed agents have charge of 12,800 converts. at Banza Manteka, the station at which the American Baptists have recently received Lib..ria.-On the 22d of November last the so many converts. Three years ago their Secretary of the Manchester Geographical Sociplace was a stronghold of grossest supersti- ety read an interesting paper contributed by the Hon. G. B. Gudgeon, consul-general for Liberia, tions, and there seemed no hope of a spil'it- 1889.] ,CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 133 in London. It was stated that the famous preach the gospel and couduct mission schools ,negro republic of Liberia was founded by the for from 15 to 45 rupees per month. They have American Colonization Society in 1822. The made this choice· out of love to Christ, whom work of civilizing and Christianizing the inbab- they greatly desire to serve. itants of that almost unknown country was en- tirely carried on for more than twenty years by It is now proposed to enlarge the college, add this society. The missions established along to its staff of professors, and extend its coorse, the coast and at various points inland had de- of study. The additions will include a fnlly veloped iut'? Liberia's prosperous towns and equipped medical department, with ho.pital and settlements. It became an independent state in dispensary. Bursaries will also be founded in 1847. Nearly 2,000,000 sonIs were subject to the aid of poor studeuts professing the Christiau role of the Liberian Republic, consisting of faith. The rising generation demands the about 40,000 freed slaves and their descendants, higher educatiou, aud it Is hoped by this means the remainder belonging to numerous aboriginal to provide it iu connection with Christian pre- tribes. While the state possessed a seaboard cepts, sanctions and influence. There is reason of 500 miles and an interior extending over 200 to believe that J affna College will yet be a great miles, she had acqnired no territory except by blessiu!!; to the Indian Empire. The directors treaty, purcbase, exchange, or barter. 'Bishop have appealed for £30,000. £3,000 ha. already Taylor had described the country as healthy and been subscribed. its climate salubrions and enjoyable, without a plague of flies and with few mosquitoes. Many China.-There is a party of progress in travelers had confirmed the bishop's testimony. China as in Great Britain and Irelaud, and The RepubliC of Liberia stood before the world ma.ny difficulties and discouragements as the realization of the dreams of the founders are enconntered there by those 'who of the American Colonization Society, and in resolutely'· go forward. ' For many years many respects more than the realization. Far a woman has rnled the Chinese. The Re- beyond the recognized limits of the country, gent till some two years ago, and since the and hundreds of miles a way from the coast, the Assistant Ruler, the Empress has been in- efl'ects of American civilization were to be wit- vested with immense power, which she has nessed. Men of color entirely governed the nsed to help rather than hinder the pro- republiC, an< if any proof were wanting of the gressive party. Within her pa.lace grounds, capacity of fteedmen to govern, Liberia was an says the North Ohina ,Herald, there are interestiug illustration. The ability, learning, steam-launches on water and model rail- and skill of many of Liberia's citizens were ways on land, and no doubt in the palace found in their code of laws, which for human· itself there are other products of Western ity, justice, and morality nO other country could civilization. The Empress has not refused excel. The Euglish tongue is spoken through- to listen to the VOIces Which speak to her out the republic.-From our English Oorre- from the West, nor has she shown indiffer- spondent. ence to the suggestions of change coming from the same quarter. It is now an· Ceylon.-Education. An important center nonnced that in the second month of the of Christiau activity in Ceylon is the Jaffna Col- next Chinese year the Empress will retire lege for the training of native helpers, which from office and leave the youug Emperor originated iu a spontaneous effort on the part of to reign alone. He has come to the throue the native Christians in 1867. Abottt £l,~OO at a critical time. The first railway ha.s toward its cost was raised in Ceylon, and £6,000 been opened, and may be followed by the contributed by American friends. Iu 1872 the inroads of the iron horse, with its inevita- college was opened under a board of directors ble following in the overthrow of old cns- securing its undenominational character. Never- toms and the introduction of new condi- theless it is a distiuctly and decidedly Christian tions of social life and trade. We find, too, institutiou, and has from the beginniug been that the Chinese Telegrapil Company is presided over by Rev. Dr. E. P. Bastin!!;s. successful, paying a good dividend in the sixth year of its working. The young Em- There is a flourishing preparatory school. All peror, in a decree, acknowledges with filial students reside on the premises, and are thus gratitude the services rendered by the re- separated from heathen associations and brought tiring Empress during the last thirty yearll. ander Christian influence. Every year there and promises, "with awe and care, to have been conversions, and the majority of those give his whole heart to the mnltitudinons who graduate do so as Christians. There is a affairs of the nation." Should yonng China Y. M. C. A. in connection with the college, and pursue an onward and upward course, being many of the members are good workers in the duly conservative of all that is good in the town aud neighborhood. A goodly number of present, and yet earnestly amending and the graduates have become pastors, catechists, reforming and perfecting the institutions and teachers, not onIy in Ceylon, but also iu of the empire, the future of China is as- India. Some of those who might have been re- sured. For ourselves we look hopefully to ceiving salaries of from 80 to 150 ropees per days to come. There will be disappolat- mouth iu secular employment are content to meuts and reverses. These cannot be avoided in taking new departures. But if penditure in India., and not engaging in righteousness and good will are shown in wars as they have done in the past. relation to foreign countries, and at home proper respect be paid to public opinion, Hawaii.-Since publishing the report on and as much regard to whatever can pro- Polynesian missions we have received a furthel' mote the well-being and prosperity and letter on Ha wail, from the very highest Amer- social happiness of the people, China will ican authority. It confirms aU that is said in maintain her place in the great East and the previous letter, and enlarges on One or two win the confidence and alliance of the more points. ., The American missionaries in Ha- powerful West. waii regard the Anglican mission there as an intrasion, except as a single American Episcopal India.-How the Opium Traffic Arose. Mr. minister might have been serviceable near the David Maclaren, who h"s been identified palace. . . . I am not aware that there are with anti-opium agitations since 1840, gave any Episcopal Hawaiians, save a few, particu- a brief account of the traffic. First of all larly near to royalty, and they have a pretty the East India Company, which was the surry time of it now that the kine; has become Government of India a.t the time, made so utterly degraded. While Queen Emma lived opium from the juice of the popPV. Then they had some show of respectability; she was that company sold opium to China. Thirdly, s gaod· woman. they withdrew from the shipping into China, and left that to private merchants, who .. The alienation of the roysl family from the were imprisoned, with the consequence that ecclesiastical attachments of their country has the Chinese war took place. After that the deprived the latter not only of a valuable ele- introduction of opium was legalized, and ment of moral leadership, but of moral influ- the Chinese began to grow it for themselves. ence. The adoption of Christianity by the king In due course the English Government took and the chiefs had great inlluence on the over the government of India, and now the masses, and led many, douhtless, to a formal largest manufacturer in the world is Queen profession of their faith. Victoria. Then the Chinese began to draw a revenue from opium, not only from that .. There has been developed of late, largely imported, but from that grown in the coun- through the influence of the king, some disposi- try. So the Government which had said it tion to revert to heathenism, not very widely, would never draw a revenue from the misery but in some cireles. The king, as you know, of the people, has been induced to do so. has introduced heathen customs abont his pal- We are responsible In the sight of God for ace, and this tells on the weaker natives."- all these evils. How shall the united influ- Charle,. O. Starbuck. ence of missionary societies and churches be brought to bear? I do not know what Japan.-Japanese Views of Christianity. .we can do. We can say to the Government, Several eminent publicists of Japau are however, when the Chinese treaty expires, carrying on a. very interesting discussion that the Chinese shall be at liberty to do as just now. The object is to determine they wish. The Indian Government are still whether or nat it is adVisable for the the makers and producers of the article. people of Japan to embrace the Christian Samples are brought from China, and ex- religion. The Japan Weekly Mail, in a lmined chemically, in order that the same recent issue, summarizes this discussion. kind may be produced. If we say, .. Give it It states that those connected with the up," then bd.nkruptcy seems to stare the movement say that Christian dogmas are a Indian Government in the face, because of bitter pill to swallOW, but advise that it be the failure of revenue. If the opportnnity swallowed promptly for the sake of the after for repentance is not accepted, surely God effects. Mr. Fukuzawa. a well-known wri- will take the matter into His own hands. ter, urges this course, a'though he says he Tberefore, I think, we must teach the peo- takes no personal interest whatever in re- ple of this country, EO that when God's ligion. and knuws nothing of the teaching judgment falls upon us we may be able to of Christianity; but he sees that it is the recognize it. The country should be warned creed of the most highly civilized nations. that the judgment of God will descend upou Professor Toyama of the Imperial Univer- Us in respect of this. At the same time we sity has published a work to support his must use our endeavors to induce the Gov- view. He holds that Chinese ethics must ernment to stay tbe evil. It is said, .. The be replaced by Christia.n ethics, and that 'government must live." That is what the the benefits to be derived from the intro- poor outcast of the street says. Do we ad- duction of Christianity are (1) the improve- , mit it in her case? Is the argument more ment of music; (2) union of sentiment and valid, then, in the case of a !,overnment? feeling,leading to harmonious co-operation; I do not see the way o.ut of the difficulties and (3) furnishing a medium of intercourse involved in doing right, unless it be by our between men and women. It is argued by government considerably curtailing ex- others that the youth of Japan, being free from the thraldom of~reeds, aud free to act according to reason, are so far in advance of Europeans, and instead of talking about adopting a foreign religion, Japanese should number as representatives to act along go abroad and preach their religion ot with an equal number of represeutatives of the Foreign Mission Committee in the manreason to foreign countries. Other writers agement of the mission. 2. The Foreign urge the same views. The writer in the Mission Committee should be approached at Yokohama newspaper says that those who its meeting on·the 17th inst., and requested urge the teaching of Christianity represent to appoint a sub-committee with powers to an influential section of educated Japanese complete all arrangements as to details opinion: theyare sig-ns of the times. "To wi.th this Committee, so as to secure that Japan, in an emphatically agh~stic mood, the mission may be undertaken by the came Western science, with all its marvel- Guild at asearlya date as possible. 3. That ous revelations and attractions. At the the salary of the Guild missionary be fixed shrine of that science she is worshiping to begin at rs.3500 [equal to about £240 per now." annum at present rate of exchange], which the committee understand is the minimum Moravians.'-Among the marvels ofChris- salary paid to ordained missionaries by t:anity must surely be reckoned the missionary the Foreign Mission Committee, and that work, trom century to centory, of the Moravian the terms of the appointment be otherwise brethren. At their formation they cOjDmenced the same as those in use by the Foreign to send out missionaries when they had only Mission Committee. 4. That the Rev. J. 600 members. They labored for fifteen years in A. Graham, M.A., should be formally ap- Greenland without a convert, and yet in dogged pointed soon, and arrangements ma.de "for f.ith and patience they went forward, and to-day his ordination, so as to allow of his 1I"0ing there is not a professing pagan in the whole out to India in autumn. 5. That the Foreign district which they missioned. Their work Mission Committee shall be responsible for among the Hottentots is of a similar character, seeing that the mission, before being trans… and true to their traditions they are once more ferred to the new management, is in posses.. the pioneers of an apparently impossible mis- sion of suitable buildingsfor carrying on the sion. Four of their uumber are at work right work. 6. As already arranged, the ultimate up on the borders of Thibet, and have estab- control of and responsibility for the manlished three small churches. At one of these agement of the mission shall vest with the churches they have been at work for eighteen Foreign Mission Committee, and the joint years and have made eight converts. Here is a committee elected for its management will chance for doubters like Canon Taylor to connt he in the same position as the corresponding up the cost of each convert. But let Canon Committee of the Universities' Mission. 'laylor wait until the Lord of the harvest has 7. In the mean time, and until such time as brought in the sheaves by and by, and he will the new management can be instituted, the no doubt find that, as in Greenland, so in Thibet, present Guild Mission Committee shall carry the time is coming when" a nation .hall be born out all the necessary arrangements on bein a day." The never-tiring patience of the half of the Guild." Moravian brethren has won many a hard-fought field for Christ.-Bombay Guardian. -Alexander Duff… There was an old man I wanted to see when I first went to Europe ScotIand.-The Church of Scotland in 1867. I was told not to fail to go to Edin- burgh and See Dr. Dull' of the Assembly. I Young Men's Guild held a seventh stayed inEdinburgh a week, to gel; a little of the old man's fire. He pleaded for an honr annual conference of delegates at and a half once for India, and at the end of that time he fainted away. They took him Kircaldy in November last. The at- up and carried him to the vestibule. When he revived, he said, 'I didn't get qaite tendance was large (170). Its prog- through; let me go back and finish,' They said, 'If you go back, it will cost you your ress has been marked. The aim of life.' 'Well,' he said,' 1 shall die if 1 don't.' So they carried him back. As they passed the guild is to keep young men from upthe aisle the people rose, and tears Jlowed falling into temptation. The report down every cbeek at the sight of the old of Mr. M. G. Thorburn upon the veteran. He said to them, 'Fathers and mothers ofScotland, is it true that you have Guild Foreign Mission recommended: got no more sons to give to India? I have spent twenty-five years of my life there, "1. J:c"or the work of organizing in support a.nd I have comeback to die. Thereisplenty of the mission there should be a large and of money in the bank. but your sons are not representative Guild Mission Committee, willing to go. If a call comes from the Queen consisting of, say-1 member elected by each to go there in the army, they are ready. Is Couucil of the Guild,15; 10 members elected it come to this, that the Lord calls for reat the annual Conference, 10; 10 members elected by the Committee of Management, 10–35. The duties oC this committee would be: (1) The advocacy of the mission throughout the Guild and the Church. (2) The completion and working of the organization already instituted in support of the Guild Mission. (3) The election of 12 of their
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT. [F~B
cruit..for His kingdom, and they will notgo l' England to help her to resist what wa.s un- And turning to the moderator he said, • If just and unrighteous in the aggression, and ithere is no one to go to India, I will re- with England's help the Syrian chnrch had turn to them, and will let them know that restored to her those liberties which she there is one old Scotchman that can die was on the point of losing. The Lord had for them if he can't live for them."'-D. L. till this day preserved the faith of the Syri- Moody. an church, which was as strong and stead- fast as ever it was. Those who belonged to Syria.-Ancient Syrian Church. Bishop that church believed in Him in whom they Mar Gregor.ius has been making an earnest were first taught to believe. Manyadvanappeal in England on behalf of the Syrian tages, however, had been in great measure church. His remarks in Arabic were inter- taken from them. Their written books preted by Mrs. Fynn, widow of the late con- were few, and of printed books they had sul in Jerusalem and daughter of the late none. There WOUld have been no schools at Rev. Dr. McCane, prebendary of St, Paul's all but for the help which was given some and professor of Hebrew. The bishop refer- fourteen years ago by the late Archbishop red to the persecution to which the Syrian of Canterbury to the Patriarch, who then church had been subjected from the earli- visited England in company with the bishop. est times, and to the great destruction of Since then the Patriarch had been able to precious mannscripts and printed books. open elementary schools, with such native which had taken place. That persecution, teachers as he could command, to teach he said. had come down the ages, through reading1 writing. and the first doctrines of the Mohammedan occupation of the coun- Christianity to some 2,400 children of Meso- try, and even within the last forty years potamia. On the other side of the Euphra- there had been Christian martyrs among tes, where the bishop is located, no schools his people. Not long ago the Egyptian had yet been established. Educationally, Government tried to annex Syria to Egypt, that part of the country was dry and and along with that there was an attempt parched. He appealed to the people of Eng- to bring the Syrian church into a subordi- land to help him to establish schools and nate position, if not to extinguish it alto- the printing press in Syria, in order that a .gether. This was a cause from which the knowledge of the truth might be spread far Syrian church had often suffered. When and wide among the populatiou.-li'rom our the Egyptian Government made this at- English Oorrespondent. tempt the Turkish Government called upon IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."
The Character of the Chinese. and attach shameto vice. It is often BY REV. J. H. ROBERTS, KALGAN, said that vice iii never deified in CHINA. China. Yet a few such cases have THE character of. a people is of been found. There are gods of cru- chief importance to tl;:le missionary. elty, of revenge, of fornication, and I propose, therefore, to delineate of gambling; but no temples have the character of the Chinese, and I been eI'ected in their honor. In Kal- will first describe gan there is one temple to the god of I. GOOD ELEMENTS. wine. But these exceptions are so The first sentence learned at school few that they only prove the rule.
is, "In the beginning, man's nature If, among myriads of divinities, there is good." While this is false, as ap- are only four or five gods of vice, and plied by the Chinese to the individual, those not regarded with honor nor it is true if applied to the race. Man, much worshiped, and among thou- "made in the image of God," retains, sands of temples there is only one to when fallen, some lineaments of the the god of drunkenness, it is seen divine likeness. More of these traces that in general the Chinese do not of primitive excellence seem to have worship vice. The idols mostly rep- been retained by the Chinese than by resent great and good men of yore, other heathen nations. who are worshiped for their virtues 1. The first good element of their displayed when they wet'e on earth.
character is that they honor virtue '1'he ancient empet'ors, Yaoand Shun, who lived soon after the deluge, were hundred feet high. Her mother did' patterns of virtue, and are still re- recover, and she fulfilled her vow; garded with reverenee by all the and now her image is carved on the nation. The Emperor K'ang Hsi, face of that cliff, and is worshiped who. died in the year of our Lord with divine honors. She thought 1721, is to this day loved and honored she was saving her mother's life., not chiefly for his success as a war- While her zeal was misdirected, was rior, but for his justice and sincere not her motive most noble? Reverlove for the people. He often jour- ence for parents is a root from which neyed through the country in dis- many other virtues may grow. It guise, to learn whether the govern- hallows the family, it honors marors and judges were doing their duty, riage, it encourages economy and and to see what could be done to ben- temperance, and it prepares the mind efit his subjects. Once, on sll;ch a to reverence a Father in heaven. journey, when in Mongolia, his presence became known, and an attempt S. A third good element of their was made to assassinate him. character is subordination. They know how to obey. As children they A servant offered to exchange ob~y their parents, not merely till clothes with him, and was killed in they themselves become ofage,but as his stead, while the Emperor escaped long as the parents live. Theyounger to Kalgan. For this devotion the brother obeys his older brother, and servant was deified, and is now wor- never expects to be on a strict equalshiped as the tutelary divinity of ity with him. The people obey the the (Upper City of Kalgan. Other Emperor as the vicegerent of heaven, instances of servants dying to save the embodiment of justice, and the their masters might be mentioned. compassionate father of them all. The virtues of self-sacrifice, brother· Disobedience to his commands is ly love, and chastity, exhibited by often punished with death, or with the few, are admired by all the !la- death preceded by tot'tme. While this tion. Memorial tablets and arches leads to cruelty on the part of the are erected in honor of heroic men, magistrates, it enforces obedience on – vil·tuous women, and filial children. the part of the people; and the latter The way the peopJe cherish the believe not merely that the rulers memories of such persons shows that have power and must be feared, but' there are some good feelings in their that they have the right to rule and hearts. ought to be reverenced. So a law- abiding spirit is a common virtue 2. A second good element of their among them. Socialism and anarchy character is that they honor their never enter into their thoughts. parents. Filial piety is the chief When mobs and riots occur, as they part of their religion. In infancy sometimes do in China, it is always they are taught to worship their par- with the connivance of the magisents; when older they serve them trates, never in violation of their devotedly; and when the parents are commands. The people feel that to dead they offer sacrifices annually at violate the law would make them their graves. Some have been known become rebels and traitors. The law to lay down their lives for their par- was published once for all, at the beents. A hundred years ago in a vil- ginning of the present dynasty, 244 lage among the mountains east of years ago, and as it is never altered, Kalgan a girl was in grief because it is honored as the expression of her mother was dangerously sick. absolute right. What the people She vowed that if her mother might lack in independence and liberty is only recover she would sacrifice her- balanced by their gain in hearty self by leaping from a precipice two allegiance to their rulers, and in makes them willing listeners to our unquestioning submission to the law. preaching. They have a great affec- Their love for their country is in- tion for birds and flowers, which tense, and is the source of their hos- shows a kindly disposition in their tility to foreigners. But their patriot- hearts. They are very industrious. ism does not lead them to try to direct They are always at work, and are the affairs of the government, but sure to havp. a gl'eater influence in only to submit to its control and to the world than an ease-loving peoobey its commands. This obedience ple would. They have a lively coninclines them to be peaceable, patient, science and a ch'ar knowledge of right and contanted, and to obey the law of and wrong. In every quarrel some God, when they learn what that law peacemaker will come forward, who is. will appeal to the innate sense of justice in both parties. Anyone who 4. A fourth good element of their will not listen to such appeals is recharacter is the feeling of personal garded as a bmte. Again, they have responsibility for their actions. This a gl'eat longing for immortality. feeling is stronger in China than in Some of them eat pills to ward off America. If it is proved 'that a death and make themselves immorcriminal did not know the law, he is tal in this world, and others perfoI'm considered less guilty; but no plea acts of penance in order to obtain would be made of hereditary predis- happiness in the world to come. di~position to cOInmit crime; and an Their actions show a human nature insane person, if harmful to others, like ou!· own. Their pain and sufferwould be punished the same as other ings, their bereavements and afflicmen. The feeling of responsibility tions, are as real and as sad as any pervades all classes and affects all which we have to endure, but are a the affairs of daily life. If you sus- thousand times more pitiful because pect that a man wants to steal your they have no comfort and no hope. goods, put them in his care and they will be safe. He can be held respon- 5. I will mention one more good sible for anytlung that has been com- trait of their character, and that is mitted to him fOl' safe keeping. The that they have a worshipful spirit magistrates are considered respon- toward anythin/r that seems worthy sible for all public calamities. They of di vine honors. This leads them blame themselves if there is drought, to worship many idols, many objects or famine, or inundation, regarding of nature, and the good and gt'eat men it as a sign of the displeasure of Hea- of the past. But the worshipful ven on account of their sins. While sentiment is good in .itself, and exthe idea of responsibility is carried tremely valuable in relation to our too far, its result is good. The missionary work. The Chinese are Chiuese expect to see virtue reward- often said to be materialists and atheed and wrong-doing punished, both ists, but they are utterly unlike the in this life and in the life to come. perfected atheists of Western lands. They want to worship some divine It would be easy to enlarge on their being, only they do not know whom politeness, which, with all its abuses to worship. They believe that there through hypocrisy, is a form of good- must be a deity to worship, 01' else ness, and enables them to appreciate, there would be no impulse to woras a savage nation could not, the ship; and they know that a divine gentler Christian virttws, such as being is as necessary to the human meekness, patience, condescension. heart as light is to the eye, or food to and humility. They are an affable the hungry mouth. So their spil'it people. They enjoy being talked to of adoration and of trust in a divine on any subject whatever, and this being is very strong, but it finds tory, an extensive and beautiful litamong the gods of China no object erature, and polite manners. Being worthy of exclusive worship. Now ignorant of the greater civilization let the infinite power and wisdom of Europe and America, they natuand love of God be made known, and rally became self-conceited. They the worship which has been divided know that foreigners have greater between many false gods may be unit- mechanical skill than they, but beedly given to him. It is a naturalJine lieve that they are our superiors in of thought to their minds, when they morals and religion. They despise grasp the idea of the creation of the us on account of our short, tight-fitworld, that the God who could make ting clothes, which are as ridiculous the heavens and the eal"th is so far to the Orientals as their long flowing superior to the false gods as to be garments are to us. They despise alone worthy of praise. Many will us for using a knife at the table, confess the greatness and goodness which they regard as a sign of barof God who are hindered by fear of barism. They despise us for our lack persecution from becoming' Chris- of reverence for Confucius, and fOI' tians; and all the people will admit, our attempt to teach them not to at least in theory, that religion is of worship their ancestors. The wicked the utmost importance, and that the conduct of foreign sailors and mersalvation of their souls ought to be chants in China has sometimes the chief object of their lives. brought disgrace upon aU foreigners, and upon the Christian religion. All GOOD TRA.ITS ILLUSTRA.TED. foreigners are hated and feared, as enemies and kidnappers. The Port- The good traits of the Chinese are uguese traders at Macao, near Canillustrated in their treatment of for- ton, enticed the natives on board eigners who reside among them. their ships and sailed away with Theil' feeling of superiority to for- them. American and English ships, eigners was natural in the circum- as well as those of other nastances. For thousands of years tions, were used for this purpose. they have shown themselves supe- In 25 years, ending in 1875, those rior, in arts, in etiquette, in litera- traders stole and sold into slavery ture, in war, and in the science of five hundred thousand coolies. government, to all the nations with whom they came in contact. The The hatred of foreigners was in- Koreans, Mongols, Thibetans, the creased by their connection with opiaborigines of China, and the people um. The Chinese had a prohibitory of Anam, have confessed their inferi- law, and supposed that they had a ority by sending tribute to China. right to keep that poisonous drug out When new races from the distant of their land. They captured over lands of Europe, with light hair and twenty thousand chests of opium, blue eyes and a strange language, worth six million dollars, which the came to China with gifts for the Em- English, in violation of the law, had peror, it was natural that they brought to Canton; and they dug should be regarded as representa- trenches by the seashore and detives of barbarous tribes seeking the stroyed the opium, by mixing it favor and protection of the" Son of with lime and salt water. It was an Heaven." This title is applied to the outburst of indignation against a Emperor, and" all under heaven" is great wrong, like the Boston Tea one name of his realm. A civilized Party, just before the Revolutionnation in the midst of ruder ones ary War. But the British bayonets has reason for self-gratulation. The in 1842 compelled the Chinese to Chinese are a vigorous race, with a permit the trade in opium, and to large and fertile country, a great hisrefund the value of the opium which BEARING ON MISSIONS. they had spoiled! To this day the English Government has been rais- The good elements of Chinese char- ing opium in India and sending it acter and the generally kind treat- to China! No wond,er that the Chi- ment which foreigners have received nese have hated foreigners I If you are of great importance in their bear- or I were in their place we should ing on the future ot missions. They feel as they do. A foreigner can strengthen our hope of the salvation hardly ever go out on the streets of that great empire. It is evident without being reviled as "a foreign that there is a sturdy race, with devil," and the native Christians are many noble haits, in some respects called "slaves of devils," but the peculiarly prepared to receive and term denotes fear of foreigners as believe the word of the Lord. The much as hatred, and is a sign of op- Chinese are a grand material of position to us coHectively and on which to make Christians. Their / political grounds, but not individu- conservativeness, though now a hin- ally, nor because of our religion. In drance, will lead to a thoroughly 1860 the French and English soldiers reasonable faith and to a firm adher- scared the Emperor out of China ence to the truth. Apart from all propel', burned his summer palace conliiderations of the worth of the near Peking,and forced open the gates soul, are not these people, when of Peking by threats of bombard- compared with other heathen, well ment, and it would be strange if worth saving? And is it not evident such a war had left no bitterness that the consecrated money and the in the minds of the defeated peo- lifelong labors of the missionaries. ple. given for their conversion to Christ, will not be spent in vain? The war in 1884 was considered by most of the foreigners in China as un- II. BAD TRAITS. just on the part of the French. Yet, while the war was being waged, at a Secondly, let us consider their time when no Frenchman had a character as depraved and degraded right to expect safety in China, the by their sins. Let no one think from Roman Catholic priests and other what has been said that so good a peaceful Frenchmen residing in ev- nation needs nothing more. There ery part of the land were protected is another side of the subject-a sad from violence by a special decree of and painful one-and the facts may the Emperor. Other instances might well call out all our sympathy. The be given of kindness shown to for- last words of Confucius were: "The eigners. The Chinese idea is that great mountain is broken! The foreigners in their country are their strong beam is thrown down! "The guests, and ought to be welcomed wise man is decayed!" These words and cared for with the utmGst of truly symbolize the ruined condition hospitality. "When foreigners suffer of China. If you scan the faces of from a Chinese mob, it is generally the people you will see an expres- the result of their own imprudent sion of moral degradation. Tbere conduct; 'but the government is are no radiant faces except those of ready to pay the damages and pun- the little children. Vice among the ish the offenders. If a foreigner boys, and pain, from their bound should be murdered in China, the feet, among the girls, make the feat- criminal would pay the death pen- ures wrinkled and sour at the age of alty. Would that a Chinaman's from eight to twelve years. With death from violence in America all their pure ideals and lofty aspira- were equally sure of being avenged! tions and clear knowledge of their duty, they live very wicked lives. As soon as a child learns to speak it learns to revile, to deceive, and to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But lie. The impulses in us to do the those who become well acquainted same are checked through the wise with us do trust us, and the people training given us by our Christian as a whole are learning to trust forparents, but there is no moral gov- eigners where they would not trust ernment in the family of the average their own countrymen. The impe- Chinaman except that of caprice and rial custom-houses, along the coast, passion. The adults often bring upon are in the charge of foreigners, who, themselves severe diseases merely by unlike their Chinese predecessors in fits of uncontrollable rage. They office, collect the taxes without stealmake little 01' no effort to subdue ingthem. their own tempers, and bow can they teach the children to control theirs? The skill of the Chinese in cheating is well known, and exhibits at once Theil' character is thol'Oughly theirintelligence and their depravity. insincere; This is a fruit of Con- Chinese workmen need to be watched fucianism. Confucius deliberately as much as any in the world. Every told a lie; and a motto of his dis- shop or store has two sets of weights ciples is that" a lie is the excellent and measures, one for buying and subterfuge of a perfect gentleman!" the other for selling. The houses The result of such teaching is a na- are surrounded with walls instead tion of liars. Theil' heart and theilT of fences, to keep off the thieves, tongue are utterly false. Only a few but the thieves will come through questions are replied to truthfully, the gate unless it is constantly such as asking which road you should watched. If you hire a man to take, but if you do not ask with all watch your gate he will lay a tax on the forms of Chinese polite~ess, you everything that comes through your will be answered with a lie. From gate. If you hire a cook he will lay being insincere they have naturally a tax on everything which comes become suspicious of each other; into your kitchen. As it is impolland experience in dealing with them sible to avoid being cheated, each deepens one's conviction that their man tries to cheat others the more, suspicions of each other are well to make up for his own losses. They founded. Supposing the mission- are willing to be deceived, if thereby aries to be like themselves, they at- they may learn how to deceive othtribuM an evil motive to everything ers. One man asked me to sell him we do. We cannot take a walk for some eye-salve-he was sure that I exercise, nor pick up a pebble to look had it-an ointment which would at it, without being suspected of make the eyes lustt·ous and which, if searching for their hidden treasures rubbed on the skin, would remove 01' of stealing away their good luck. every wart, or sore, 01' ft'eckle, or It has been commonly reported and other dEifect. He expected that I believed in China that foreign resi- would sell him some soap, 01' somedents dig out children's eyes to make thing like it, and was willing to pay medicine of them! and a cellar under a good priceforit, expecting to more the foreigner's house is believed to than regain his money by palming conceal human skeletons ! One cannot off the same fraud upon others. A ignore such suspicions on the part of great amount of petty thieving is his parishioners. To deny the crimes done. You can see the rascals steal-· imputed to us would be useless. So ing on the pJrblic streets in the day- we take our visitors down-stairs and time. The thieves are in Jeague show them the cellar. It is a great with the police, and pay them a trial that they cannot trust us. We share of the spoils for the privilege want thelli to trust us, so that they of pursuing their calling u~molested.
will believe .out' message !J.nd have .A bo1<'t man will punish the t4ief by beating him, and a wealthy man can which he treats. It represents one have the thief arrested,bambooed, family in poverty and wretchedness and even tortured to make him con- as the result of using the ordinary fess and restore the pl'operty. An native liquor called" sake." In con- honest person, if falsely accused, trast with this is another family would be tortured in the same way. where temperance prevails, and they Wine-drinking and gambling are al- are enjoying every comfort.
most universal. The best of the One of these tracts came into the Chinese feel free to gamble during possession of a wealthy and influen- the first five days of the New Year. tial man named Nakayama, living in A man who earns eight cents a day the town of Fujioka, in the province will eat four cents' worth of fooct of Joshiu. He was much addicted to and dt'ink two cents' worth of wine, the use of "sake," and was, in fact, leaving only two cents 10 feed and a real drunkard. When under the clothe his numerous family and to influence of liquor he was very cross clothe himself. Drunkenness is not to his family, and it quite destroyed often seen, but is the source of a the peace and comfort of his home.
great deal of crime. All forms of The reading of the tract made a deep vice are extremely prevalent, espe- impression upon his mind, and he cially in the citIes, but also in the resolved to reform. The result was villages. It is surprising to find, in such a happy change in himself and the midst of such general wicked- in the condition of those around him ness, some places of the utmost de- that he wrote to Mr. Tsuda to express pravity, so vile and so violent as to his obligations for what he had make the other places seem virtuous learned, and to tell of the great ben~fit by contrast. One such notoriously that had accrued to himself and his bad place is Ni Chiianz, which ffieans family by abstaining from the U!';e of ]',fud Springs. A man went from intoxicating liquor. Mr. Tsuda wrote there to Kuan Ch'ang to see what he to him in reply that unless he believ- could steal. He stole a leg of mut- ed in the God who made and keeps ton from a poor shepherd in a neigh- us all, and trusted in Him for boring village. The latter found the . strength, he might not beable to re- mutton at the thief's house, and sist the cravings of his depraved merely asked whence he had got it. appetite, and continue as he had For this insult the thief beat him till begun. Mr. Tsuda also told him he was almost dead, and fined him about Christianity, and urged him to to the amount of twenty-six pounds accept its teachings.
of mutton, to be divided between After some months Mr. Tsuda went two temples, as an acknowledgment to Fujioka on business, and called of error in even suspecting the thief. upon Mr. Nakayama, who received This villain is the next-door neigh- him very cordially. Then Mr. Tsuda bor of one of our Christian families, told him more particularly about the ana persecution by such men is truly true God, and Christ the {)Illy Saviour to be dreaded. from the guilt and power of sin. Mr.
[Concluded in next iB8U8.] Nakayama is a man of good eciluca- Incidents of the Work in Japan. tion and intellectual abilities, and BY A RESIDENT MISSIONARY. quite readily understood and fully A JAPANESE Christian, named accepted all that he heard.
Tsuda Sen, has written a tract From that time he began to attend against the use of strong drink, the Christian services, together with which is having a considerable circu- his family; and his faith and love • lation and influence. On the title- have been (ncreasing ever since. page is a picture illustrating (in the Such has been the influence of the style of the Japanese) the evils of gospel upon his heart that he has become, in tt'uth, a new creature, and is attached to the parents on account the cHange is apparent to all. As an of such sinful and cruel practices. It illustl'ation of the power of religion was formerly sanctioned by the Gov- in his daily life, his wife had been ernment, and even while the laws somewhat careless about a quantity have been modified the public senti- of silkworm eggs, and they were ment is so corrupt and the morals of partially destroyed. The loss invol v- the people so utterly vile that but ed was a considerable sum, and she little change has probably been ef- tl'embled in fear that he would become fected. The life of such poor girls violently enraged, as was common is often one of untold bitterness.
heretofol'e, and would punish her Many are the cases in Tokyo where severely. But to hel' gl'eat astonish- they have become desperate and ment, wilen lie found out what had gone and thrown themselves into happened he remained perfectlycalm, the river in order to get" anywhere, and did not reproach her at all. anywhere, out of the world."
After a little thought he said, " We One of the great and blessed results can distribute them among our poor of Christianity is the elevation of the and unrortunate neighbors, and so morals and the creation of a better they can secure a larger Cl'op the public sentiment in regard to the coming season. Thus it will perhaps treatment of women. The result of be bcttel' than if we had sold them Buddhistic teachings makes wom!l,n and taken all the money otm;elves."· a mere appendage to man, and her This conduct on the part of her . only use to minister to his comforts.
husband so astonished and impressed Some years ago a bright and pretty his wife that she said, "This mnst be girl, who had become a Christian due to the power of this Chl'istian and was attending one of the mission relig'ion and the help of God. If this schools, was informed that her par- is the resnit of Cl1l'istianity, then I ents were unable to met all their want to become a Christian also." pecuniary oblig-ations and she had From that time she became an ear- been sold in order to satisfy their nest seeker after the blessing of God's creditors. She was very happy in the saving- presence, and now she and all school, and the tidings was to her the family are rejoicing in a Chris. like the sentence of death. Such tian's hope and a Christian's peace. were the customs of her people that The geeat change for the better she felt there was no hope. But that has come to Mr. Nakayama's when her teacher, Mrs. John Bal- home has been seen and felt by his lagh, heard what had happened she neighbors. In this way many have went to the girl's home, and found been led to a conviction of the bene- her there in a state of most perfect fits that result feom following the wretchedness. Mrs. Ballagh em- teachings of Christ, and have thus ployed every means that she could become. seekers after the same bles- to get the girl released, but no argu- sing. Some time ago one of the mis- ments or entreaties would move the sionaries visited that town, and found heaets of the cruel creditors; and, in ten persons who were awaiting bap- fact, the parents looked upon it as tism. A good Christian church is an act of filial piety on the part of a now growing np in that place. daughter to thus sacrifice heeself for One of the worst things that is met theil' benefit. Mrs. Ballagh tried to with in this heathen land is the sell- move the hearts of the parents with .ing of their daughters by the parents pity for the poor and helpless chiltl; to lives of sin and shame. It is a she told them of the great sin which.
custom that has been long established they were committing against God, and is so common that it is done,with- and ihatsuch acts would surely briug OJl.t !Shame, and no lll,rti<mla.r disgrace His jJl.dgment upon them~ but it wa.s
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS. [FEB
all in vain. The reply was simply; one to procure her release. One day she happened to hear the preaching "It has been done, and there is no of the gospel and was convinced of her sin and need. She was also truly help for it." penitent, but was in great trouble, as she saw no way to escape from her Mrs. Ballagh then turned to the present sinful and sad condition. Her only way to get free was to pay girl, who sat weeping, andsMd, "Fol- the price for which she had been sold, and f01' some time she remained as low me." Both then rose and passed she was, but in great sorrow and try- ing to devise some means to escape. out of the room and into the street, At last she resolved to sell all she had, even her clothing, and thus purand thence to Mrs. Ballagh's home. chase her release. When she was set free she came to the preacher There followed a demand that the and announced her faith in God and her purpose to do His will. AHer she girl should be given up, but Mrs. had given satisfactory evide)1ce of her change of heart she was re- B:tllagh refused to do so. It was ceived into the church and is now a consistent and happy follower of finally arranged that Mrs. Ballagh Christ.
should pay the sum of $20 and the girl would be released. .
The girl then resumed her studies at the school, and at the completion of her course was married to one of the native officials. She has now a pleasant home and continues a faith- ful member of the church.
In one of the recent papers is an account of a pOOl' girl who had been sold in a similar manner and had no V ..-.:.THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY A. T. PIERSO:-r, D.D.
CHINA. The grand difficulty lies in the "tones." The language has "only SOME instructive and suggestive some four hundred and odd distinct facts and thoughts are all we have sounds" wi th which to express "ten space for. In the February issue of thousand words," and many of these 1888 the vastness of the Middle words are homophonous, although, Kingdom, the peculiarities ofChinese "by an ingenious system of infleclife and the religions of the empire tions of the voice, the number of were referred to at some length. separate sounds-to a Chinese ear, at We add here some matter of general least-is more than trebled. These interest and importance. The area inflections are the tones. In Peking of China is only one-third that of the there are only four of them, but in United States, yet China's popula- the south those who are knowing in tion is six times as large. The Uni- such matters declare there are twelve ted States if as thickly populated as or more. II' W here the sense of words China would contain over a thousand depends on nice distinctions in the million of people, or more than t wo- tflne of the voice, the opportunities thirds as many as now live on the for blunders become countless and earth. boundless. As instances of the mis- takes to ~hich foreigners are con- Language. Here missionaries con-. stantly liable, we may mention a front one of the mountain obstacles few cases. A man wishing to tell of which not even faith removes, a mountain two hundred" Ii" in without hard study, as we have height, used the expression "erh already shown in the article on the pai Ii," instead of "e·:jl pat Ii," ., Miracles of Missions," in this number. and by so doing gave the man to , Let his words be sincere and truthunderstand that the mountain was ful, and his actions honorable and ()f the height of two wMte pears! carefu!.' Such conduct maybe prac- Aga.in, Miss Gordon-Cumming tells, ticed even among the rude tribes of the south or north. When he is ain her charming book on China, of standing, let him see these two rules man, a resident minister, who told as it were fronting him. When he his steward to buy 400 poundsofMon- is in his carriage. let him see them at: golian potatoes, and the astonished tached to the yoke, then he may be steward brought him 400 pounds of able to carry them into practice." (b) eels. A lady ordered a pair of ducks, "The course of the mean cannot be roasted and served with gravy-sauce, attained to." (c) "To take example and her butler remonstrated that from others, to practice virtue is to they would not be eatable. She im- hold them in the same practice; patiently told him to do as he was therefol'e, there is no attribute of the told, and next day her guests saw a superior man gTeater than his helppair of her best gaiter-boots served ing men to practice virtue." (d) Subup for game, nicely roasted and ject for verse competition: " The moistened with gravy! You salute early morni~g red is harbinger of a man" My friend," and find you rain." Itmay be admitted at once have said" You fool," or address that these subjects are stiff, and we him as "My lord," and are cha- should especially like to see what a grined to discover you have accosted body of English competitors would him as "My pig." make of "The course of the mean cannot be attained to." The idea, Dr. MacKay of Formosa tells us too, of the two rules attached to the that the syllable to, in Chinese, has yoke of a carriage would form a eight different tones, while each tone puzzler to the majority of English has a different meaning. This is a boys. fair example of the many obstacles to be me,t with in this.extraordinary ,Filial Reverence in China. A mislanguage, that seems devised by the sionary of the China Inland Misdevil to keep missionaries out of sion tells an interesting stol'y of a China. mandarin who gave an entertain- ment a.nd presented a large testimo- Education and Competitive Ex- nial to the Christian hospital out of ammations. There are 10,000 cells gratitude for medical services renfor examination of candidates. The dered to his aged father. The son leader of the successfullistis led about was absent on duty and the father as Mordecai was by Haman. His was relieved from a sickness which name is graven on stone in the tem- was supposed to be fatal. His gratiple of Confucius, with all other suc- tude was 'boundless, and the memocessful candidates. rial tablet on which were inscl'ibed the thanks of the donor was eight Students preparing for competitive feet by four in size, suspended from a examinations may like to know the bamboo pole, carried by two men sort of questions with which the and preceded by a band of musicians. Chinese student, under similar cir- As theyapprolched the house large cumstances, has to grapple. The bunches of firecrackers were fired, Imperial Gazette is good enough to and the tablet was presented with publish the subjects for three prose very polite words. The most striking essays and a verse competition, set incident connected with this story is in the examinations for the degree that while the old gentleman was at of Metropolitan Graduate: (a) "Tru- the worst, a.nd when it was supposed Chang, being asked how a man should conduct himself so as to be everywhere appreciated, replied: that he could not recover, the wife of to the dead they are always written the absent son, acting in the place of and' fastenecl. upon the hands of the her husband, performed an act which paper men.
was supposed to propitiate Heaven Habits of the Chinese. Accord- and to secure the restoration of her ing to our notIOns of living, they father-in-law. With her own hand live on a starvation basis. Ex-SeCl'e- she cut a piece of flesh from her tary Holqomb of the American lega- own arm and had it cooked and ad- tion at Peking is authority for the ministered to her father-in-law that statement that in that vast empire he might recover. That such a thing 300,000,000 out of 403,000,000 of its in- is possible in these days, and that it habitants expend for food less than was done in the sight of mission $1.50 per month. This seems incredi- premises and by an educated and ble. These people appear to know prominent family, gives striking tes- how to make their mites go farther tinlOny to the df>pth of superstition than perhaps any other people upon in heathendom as well as to the sen- the face of the earth, timent of ~lial piety which exists Boots are an object of honor, es- among the Chinese. pecially if they have been worn by Ohinese Graveyard Customs. The an upright magistrate. When a Chinese in this country adhel'e tena- judge of unusual integrity vacates ciously to their old country customs. his office, crowds accompany lJim to To provide food for the dead, and the city gates, and his boots, dra'Yn servants to wait on them, is too fool- off with great ceremony, are enshrin- ish for any portion of the human ed in the hall of justice. A new pair race. But lately the time came for is put on and drawn off, five minutes this custom to be obsel'ved, and the on his feet being sufficient to conse- Herald says that every Chinese crate them!
grave in Woodlawn and Greenwood Chinese Religions. The most cemeteries has been decorated with leamed writer on Chinese literature incense paper, joss sticks, roasted holds the God of China to be our God, pigs, and othel' articles. At one of and as he ascended the "altar of the graves was laid a whole pig, heaven," he took off his shoes I But roasted beautifully brown and nicely if so theoretically, it is 'not so prac- spiced, the odor of which, when car- tically. ried past the Cl'owd that wereJooking Confucianism is really not a re1igio~ on, was so aromatic that it made at all, yet it is practically the relig- them hungry. The whole pig thus ion of China. Confucius was a Chi- roasted was a little over two hundred nese philosopher, who taught that pounds. After an hour's exposure man's duties al'e summed up in five before the spirits of the dead it was relations-that of king and subject, brought home in the evening. It parent and child, husband and wife, was cut up into three-pound slices {'IdeI' and younger brother, and that and sent around to the different of friend to friend. It does not shops on Matt street and eaten up. recognize the relati~n of man to The most peculiar of all the ceremo- God. Whoever cares to study this nies of the week was the sending of whole subject will find Rev. B. C.
servants to the dead. This is done Henry's book on " The Cross and the by making paper men and w~men, Dragon" one of the most fascinating which in the midst of the sacrifices and instructive volumes in,the whole are burned, the bystanders saying, range of missionary literature. It "Here are the servants who will , is published by Randolph & Co. So wait upon thee." If there are any also would we recommend Rev. H: important messages to be conveyed C. DuBose's volume on "The Dragon Image and Demon, or Th.e Three pl·esented four images, correspond- Religions of China," published by A. C. Armstrong & Son. The chapter ing to the four cardinal virtues-pion Confucianism is especialJy analytical and clear, and we have from it ety, morality, equity, wisdom, thus: I the best conception we ever had of the character and influence of this —, – -, —, – _. ethical system. From a double combination they The higher classes either embrace the doctrines of Confucius or of get eight signs, which respectively Lao-tse(orLau-Kiun), a philosopher. Both deny divine revelation, are little represent heaven, moisture, fire, winds, ,water, mountains, thunder, and earth, thus: – – -===-==-==, — —- ~. ~, =-=—-::::::::::=.=::::::= . Confuci~s arrang;d these i~~rcle; CJ ,CJ A HIDEOUS DOD IMAGE OCCUPIES ODD THIS CENTRAL CIRCLE.
CJ c::J more than systems of ethics clothed and this is held to be a complete dein a fantastical symbolism. Thus scription of the universe; and, corre- Confucius teaches that from the sponding with mental and moral original substance (Tai-ki) two prin- properties, he constructs his ethical ciples emanate: YANG, perfection, system! The whole thing strikes the the celestial, light and caloric, the Occidental mind as mere child's play, masculine principle symbolized by toying with blocks and making new the longer line – – – ; and YIN, i~ combinations out of one long and two perfection, the terrestrial, darkness short blocks. and cold, the feminine principle, representea by the divided line – -. By Hence comes one of the most curicombining these symbols, there are ous features of ConIucianism, the Ohinese Philosophical Ohart. We give a sort of diagram of this really bor a humble hut to live in ! While remarkable relic of the religion of a we are pla.ying at missions, here is a grea.t people. large and consecrated body of liIative evangelists being raised up from the Round this, rudely radiating in poor native converts of China, the eight directions, are the aforesaid house of a devoted millsionary their eight combinations of heavy dark thQological seminary, and their field lines or ba.rs, the difference being in the province of Shantung-with half the arrangement of the longer and as large a popula.tion as the United shorter ones. States-and their "wages" fifty to sixty dollars a year! A "Christian Mission Institution for Horne and Abroad" was estab- Tht' Medical Missions are very uselished Dec. 25, 1879, and is therefore ful, but have some curio;1s, experinowin its tenth year. The founder is ences. One day there came into the Pastor Samuel T. Davis, M.D., Den- dispensary a young man of twenty, ver, Col. It is a faith work, and one with a large wound, evidently cut or of its four departments is Foreign dug out with a dull instrument. His Missions. Itsupports native preach- father had been ill with dropsy, and ers in China, who at a very small the relatives decided that tile son cost preach to their kinsmen acc.rd- must. sacrifice himself to save his ing to the flesh. They are trained father's life. A piece of flesh was to preach, teach, and labor, under cut out of his left arm and cooked the direction of Rev. Dr. Hunter Cor- and given to the patient as the infalbett of Chefoo. For this life work lible remedy. Nevertheless the pagiven to winning souls they get only tient died. The relatives decided food and clothing, and travel in the that the lad must be lacking in puri- Shantung province with its 35,000,- ty of motive and filial piety. And so 000 souls. We know of no work the poO"r boy had not only to grieve more apostolic in plan and conduct for his father's death and a bad arm, on the fa.ce of the ea.rth. They but had to bear the reproach of unpreach in villages, by the wayside, cles and cousins. on streets, wherever they can get hearers; they guide inquirers, open In a temple outside of Peking is a I'Ichools, and do any work for which brass mule of life size, supposed to they are deemed capable. Dr. Cor- have wonderful healing properties bett furnishes annual reports of this for patient~ suffering fl'om every imwork. In 1887–88 twelve were sup- aginable disease. They first rub the ported by this "institution." The particular part of the brass mule cor- Lord's blessing attends their work in responding to the painful regioD. of a. remarkable manner. In one year, their own bodies, and then with the 1884, Dr. Corbett by this method same hand rub their own disabled gathered in, after careful examina- member, and the pain is expected to tion, 348 converts; while Dr. Nevius, go. Is your tooth aching? Just pursuing similar plans, gathered 260, scrub the mule's teeth, and afterthese two men together in one year ward your own, and the cure is coml'eceiving 608 new disciples. The plete. Have you an ulcer of the corself-denial of these poor natives-who nea.? Pass the tips of your fingers to are no sooner brought to Christ than and fro over the particular eyeball of they become evangelists to their fel- the mule, and then with well-regulow-Chinese-is something marvel- lated pressure rub repeatedly the ous. They live on about four or five dollars a month. One of them gave affiicted eye. True, the eyeballs ot his own house and, lot for a church and school, and then hired of a neigh- the mule hl,ve been gradually worn away by constant frictign, until now only the empty orbits are left; but the success is guara.nteed to be as 'verts come pri~cipally from the real as form~rly. The temple is cov- lower classes; we have never known ered with laudatory tablets in honor of a mandarin becoming a Christian, of the mule, which is patched in all who was in office at the time of his directions with fresh pieces of brass, conversion. Literary men areeeidom put on to cover holes produced by con- found among church members; but a stantrubbing; andanewmulestands very few Buddhist and Tauist pri,sts awaiting the day when the old one have been led to Christ. has fallen to pieces. The principal hindrances to mis- A Sketch of the Missions. When sionary work are: 1. The notorious this century began China was desti- conservatism which resists anything tute of the gospel. In 1807 Dr. Mor- foreign. 2. Self-satisfied pride. 3, The rison, first Protestant missionary to veneration paid to their sages, Con: China, landed at Canton, a few years fucius, Mencius, and others. 4. Evil Jater followed by Dr. Milne and oth- reports, spread among the people, ers. First these men sought to ac- poisoning their minds against the quire the language, constructing a. missionaries and their message. dictionary and translating th~ Scrip- 5. Superstition. 6. The opium traffic, tures; but thirty years after, there with its untold misery, leading to were only three native P"otestant enormous crimes. OhrisUans in the whole country, and only six in 1843; there were 350 in The main helps available to the 1853; 2,000 in 1864; 20,000 in 1875; missionary are: 1. The street chapel, ten years later fully 25,000, and now with opportunity after the preaching over 30,000. for personal conversation. 2. Itin- erary journeys for evangelistic pur- In 1885 about 60(, missionaries were poses. 3. Day schools, which influ- in China, in connection with thirty- ence parents as well as pupils and two societies in upward of seventy afford nucleus for meetings of a gen- cities and towns, in fifteen out of eral charlLcter. 4. The dispensary eighteen provinc_es, over 1,100 native and hospital, which afford access teachers and preachers being associ- gained in no other way. 5. Social ated with them in their work, in calls. 6. The bookstore, reading more than 500 stations. In 1875 there room, and guest rooms. 7. The wide were no missionaries west of Han- distribution of the Word of G~d and kow, on the Yang-tse-kiang, 600 of religious tracts and books. miles from the sea, but in 1885 fifty men and women were located in From all parts come reports of western China, somp of them 1,500 steady progress in Christian work. miles from Shanghai; and the jour- The Rev. Mr. Lloyd has labored in ney from that port to their stations Tuh-chow, under the auspices of the takes longer than from America, or Chul'ch Missionary Society,for twelve England, to China. In 1885 only two years. The' 1,600 converts whom he medical missIOnaries were at work had found in 1876 have grown to among the hundred millions in west- 6,000, him.self having baptized 1,000 lern China. in ten years.
During the l-ast ten yeaJ's the Bible Chinese Christians are, almost to societies have been making great a man, ready to pray in public, to efforts to scatter the Word of God_ exhort one another at their meetings, The most fruitful field is Fuhkein, in and to speak for Christ to their which are about one-third of the neighbors. Rev. Hunter Corbett whole number of converts; and yet bears witness to their childlike faith it was for eleven years before the in the power and willingness of God first convert was brought in. Con- to fulfill evel'y promise, to their un- shaken faith in prayer, their love for
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN. [FEB••
the ScriptUl'es, and their honest and Darkness overspread'!' the earth,andgr088 faithful effort to live blameless lives, Not a few have persevered in the darkness the people, but God's glory sha.ll study of the Scriptures untu they re- arise on thee and His glory shall be seen on peat entire chapters and !Sometimes entire books, from both Testaments, thee 1 We have only to lift up our eyes toand, better yet, they are ,able io explain them. dayand seeon the very summits of heathen- SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. dom, in the midst of the death-shade, the The Vision 01 the Cross. Late one sum- waving flag of the Cross! 'l'he glory of God mer afternoon there was a rain shower in Vi~ginia, Nevada. It was very unusual, for transfigures it, and while it waves and! during summer rains are almost unknown in Nevada. The rain lasted but a few minutes, burns, the strongholds of Satan are giving f but clouds and dense darkness overspread the sky. All thevasteastern slope of Mount way before the onset of the missiona.ry' Davidson that overlooked the city was covered with a pall. and the mountain could host I scarcely be distinguished from the cloud' masses that formed its background. As al! TEXTS AND THEMES. ' eyes looked in that direction, a little tongue of mellow golden flame could be seen upon I WHAT saith the Scripture f regarding tbe very summit, wavering in the midst of midnight blackness. It was very small, 1. Tile Condition of the World: "The whole but it looked large, by contrast with the darkness around it. No one at first under- world Iieth in wickedness."-l Jobn v: 19• stood what it wa6. It was thenation's flag waving from the mountain peak. It hap- .. The dark places of the earth 'are full of the pened that, through ' narrow rift in the clouds, the rays of the sinking sun had found hal>itations of cruelty."-Ps. Ixxiv: 20. ii. their way, and that flag was the only object theytoucled, It was directly in,their path The Divine Purpose and Command: .. God and they rested on it and glorifled and transfigured it. And for an hour that burn- our Saviour will have all men to be saved, ing banner of the Republic held the fascinated gaze of the multitudes. How strange! and to come unto the knowledge of the That sinking, sun that transfigured the nation's emblem had that same day looked on truth."-l Tim.ii: 4. "Goye into all the world the fall of Vicksburg and the victory of Gettysburg 1 and preach the gospel to every creature." -Mark x~i: 15. iii. The Divine Promise: .. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."-Gen. xii: 3. .. I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy pos- session."-Ps. ii: 8. iv. The Grand Motive : .. For ye know the grace of onr Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."-2 Cor. viii: 9.
". Freely ye kave received, freely give."- Matt. x: 8. v. The Final Consummation: "1 beheld, and, 10, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Sa.lvation to our God which sitteth upon tbe throne, and unto the Lamb."-Rev. vii: 9, 10.-Selected.
VI.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS: MO~THLY BULLETIN.
Atrica.-Cardinal Lavigerie's mission for the northern portion of Natal about Greythe suppression of the African slave trade town. Most of the Boers belong to the has been encouraged by the Pope's gift Dutch Reformed Church, and while they of S60,OOOto his enterprise, accompanied by have a.ttended outwardly to Christian ora letter from Leo praising the Cardinal dinances, they have heretofore cared little for his crusade, and encouraging him to for the native population. Three years ago go ahead in his work. His plan includes a religious awakening began among these tbe raising of a volunteer corps to fight the Boers, and the genuineness of this interest ,slave traders of the Dark Continent with was shown by their de.ire to reach the Zucarnal weapons. About a score of chival- lus, whom they had regarded as little better rous young Belgians have alreadv formed than animals. There are now fifteen the nucleus of this new Salvation Army. preaching places where the gospel is pro- claimed, and which Mr. Scott says are -Scotch Free Church Mission Among the simply the farmhouses of the Boers. He Zulus. The Rev. James Scott of Impolweni, speaks of seeing eighty Boers and three or Na.tal, writes to the Free Church Monthly in four hundred Zulus gather together for reference to an interesting work among the worship. The Zulus come from kraals and Dutch Boers, and extending to the Zulus in villages, both old and young. some ,clothed, back to carryon mission work in his native but most of them heathen in their blankets. land. .
Over one hundred in Greytown have been Alaska.-The Moravian mission on the formed into a na.tive church in connection Nusbagak river is 8,000 miles from supplies and with the Dutch church. This work is now trained workmen. It was so cold there on the being carried forward under the direction 18th of December, '87, that the moisture in the of a committee of the Dutch farmers, em- smoke congealed and filled up the ohimney ploying three native evangelists. One of with frost so that Mr. Wolff was compelled these evangelists is the son of the Znlu twice to go up on the roof and clear out the warrior who in 1836, at the signal from Din- chimney so that the stove mil(ht draw.
gaan, the cruel tyrant, fdl upon the Dntch Burlllah.-The latestintelligilDce from Tavoy leader Retiefand his party of about seventy tells of great suffering on account of the scarcity men, murdering them all in cold blood. and higb price of rice. In the town it was sell- This father still lives, and is a member of ing for more than double the ordinary cost, the Christian church and listens gladly to while far in the jungle, where the Karens live, his son as he preaches the gospel of peace. it Was not to be had at any price. The govern- -The Baptist Mission on the Congo, ment was shipping it from Maulmain and Ran- West Africa, continue~ to prosper. Seven- goon, and sending it inland as best they could to teen were recently baptized at Batlza Man- save the Karens from starvation. It was not teke, the scene of the great revival, and given to them, but sold at a price much below seven at Palabala. All who have been what it cost. The carriage of rice a distance of baptized at Palabala are men. The drink fifty to one hundred miles On a jungle path, at'a traffic offers great hindrance to the prog- season wben the rainfall averages sixty inches ress of the gospel; per month, is no slight nndertaking. Some had -The Liquor Traffic. In Africa we have to already died, either Qf starvation or from eat- contend against the devit's mIssionary ing improper food, and there is little doubt that .agency. The liquor traffic is increasing, before their next harvest is reaped in December .and it is a gigantic evil-greater, even. many of these poor people will die.
than the slave trade-debasing the people -The Sgau Karen Mission at Rangoon, Bur- .and ruining legitimate commerce. In mah, bas been under the care oftbe Vintons from Wes~ Africa ithas deepened the degrada- its beginning in 1836, and now the na.tive tion of the negro instead of civiJizing him. Christians are to erect a large schoolhouse as a Over 1S0,OOO,OOO gallons of spirits had been .. Vinton Memorial." More than 3,000 rupees imported last year in the district of Sierra were subscribed at the first meeting.
Leone, and in Lagos it was far larger, while Ceylon.-Mission Work at Jaffna. News all the land was strewn with demijohns. from Jafl"na, Ceylon, tells of continned bleSSing The Niger Company imported 220,000 gallons following upon the recent awakening among the during the last two years,and 500 cases of chnrches. Believers have been quickened to gin and 500,000 gallons of rum were landed uew zeal in the work of God; and the conver- by the Caliban, in which I sailed from Liv- sions among the heatben bave been very cheer- erpool. The selling price of rum is less than ing: At a recent communion service six stu- a penny a gallon, and the gin sold at three- dents of the Jall"na CollAge were received into pence a bottle. The liquor so sold was of the church on profession of faith. Tl:e religions the most execrable character.-Rev. W. interest is deepening in this important educa- ..Ililan. tional iustitntion. Besides the two weekly -In the schools of the Scottish Free • prayer·meetings conducted among the profes- ()hurch Mission at Bandawe, Lake Nyassa, sors. tbere are now three such meetings held 1,179 pupils were in attendance the day be- weekly among the students themselves.
fore they closed for the vacation. Of these China.-Forty years ago Dr. Morrison was <)ne-third were girls. Thirty-eight native addressing in a locked inner room two or three teachers are a t work in the schools. Chinese, who listened in peril of their lives; -Basutoland has frequently been saved now tbere are in China some 50,000 converts.
l~om the destruction of its nationality by .. Do you think," asked the captain of the ship the intervention of the missionaries, and who took him out, .. that you can make an the natives blessed their name. The result impression on the 400,000,000 of Chinese?"
in respect to education is that we have 80 'No,~' he answered, "but God can."-Oanon elementary schools, having together 4,666 Farrar.
pupils, besides the normal school and the -The Blind in China. A half a million. it higher girls' school, :with 30 or 40 pupils,and is estimated, are totally blind. The sight- 15 industrial, biblical,and theological school less crowds at ·Canton present a pathetic .stations, 94 out-stations, 19 missionaries, 176 spectacle. A photogl·aph we have seen of native workers, 6,029 communicants, and a party of them before the Presbyterian .3,412 catechumens.-Rev. A. Boegner. Missionary Hospital, taken· last winter by -It is stated that a nephew of the late Edward W., son of Dr. Thwing of Brouklyn, King Cetewayo, after six years in Sweden is a. moving appeal in itself. Mr.J. Cros~ett, in theological and other studies, has gone a.t the United States consulate, Shanghai, writes, Oct. 10, earnestly begging for teach- denominations. One hundred new missionaries ers of deaf, dumb and blind Chinese. For- were last year sent ont to China, and already eign residents are willing toaid in supporting this year several parties have been despatclied_ schools for such. Wealthy natives will help, During the last three 1I10mhs 42 have left Engspecially those who are in commercial rela- land, and 16 more leave in December. News tions with foreigners. Mr. Moody at Chi- had just been received oCthe death of one of the cago, Dr. A Gordon ..nd Dr. Cullis ofBoston missionaries in China, Mr. Eldred S. Sayers, wh() are interested in this movement. Mrs. went ont in 1886, makin~ 3 deaths in November. GUTizslafl', a pioneel missionary-, secured the -Our English Correspondent. education of a Chinese girl and a Portugnese girl at London, both blind, to labor in China. England.-Turkcy Missions Aid Society_ The latter died, bnt the other, known aD The receipts of the society for the year 1837-88 Agnes Gntzlalf, founded an enterprise at were 813,980. The society conducts no missions Ningpo. A hospital at Shanghai was an- of its own, but III a spirit of broad catholicity other memorial she left at death. Teachers aids existing organizations in Turkeyt largely of like consecration are now urgently those of the American church. needed. A professor in the Government School at Korea has expressed a willingneis -When Garibaldi had been defeated 0.1; to come to China. Will not America send Rome, he issned his immortal appeal: "Solother teachers f diers, I have nothing to olfer you but cold and hunger and rags and hardship. Let him wh() -Rev. D. W. Nichols writes from Nankin, loves his country follow me I" And thousands Sept. 24: The grent examination that hll9 been of the youth Qf Italy sprang to their feet at tha~ going on for the paot two weeks has closed. high appeal. And will you, the trustees of pos- Students from ,,11 parts of three provinces were terity-will you tnrn your backs to the appeal here. There were three courses in the exami- of your Saviour Christ f I know that you will nation, requiring three days to each. When the not. You cannot all be missionaries; but some students enter the examination hall, they are of you may be called to that high work, and all not allowed to go out until the examination in of you may help it forward.-Canon Farrar. one conrse is completed. On Friday night, September 14, at midnight, the gates were -The Church of England Women's Missionopened, and the students began marching out, ary Association has sent out four ladies to Jerucontinning in solid phalanx for twenty-four hours. Twenty·nine tlwu8an d were enrolled a salem to form branch of Mrs. Meredith's work and entered for the ftrst examination. Early there, for education and sick nursing among Saturday A.M., Sept. la, we missionaries were on women and children in the East. Two mor.. ladies follow directly. There is work for many the ground with 15,000 books for distribution more as soon as they are ready to go. among the stUdents. Had we had 100,000 books we could easily' have given them away, -The Church Missionary Society has 33a and not more than one to each individual. At missionaries, and received more than three any time during the day we had a commanding hundred offers of service in the year ending view of from one hundred to one hundred and April 30, of which forty·six were from women. ftfty thousand people. So eager were they for the books that it was with diMcnlty that we Fiji.-From special information respectwere enabled to give them to the student•• ing this colony, anticipa.tory of the Blue- Thus 15,000 books have gone out in one day. book tor 1887, it appears that the total Many of these books will go to the remoter population that year was 124,658, eighty-four parts, where the voice of tbe servant of God has less than in 1336, the faIling olf being mainly never been heard. in Indian and Polynesian laborers. Educa- tion seems to be ina satisfactoryeondiUon. -The mission property both of Catholics and It is almost entirely under the care of the Methodists in Chungkinl!;, destroyed by the missionaries. In 1887, 41,724, children Were anti·foreign riois of 1888, is being replaced with at the Wesleyan mission schools aud abou1; costlier ouildings. 1,000 at the Roman Catholic schools. There is a Government Industrial School, at which -The missionary work in China seems to be youths are tra.ined, among other things, in everywhere becoming easier and more promis- boat building, house building, and cattle ing. If the Cbinese Government does not re- tending. In 1887, 102,890 persons attended taliate on Americans for the exclusion of the the Wesleyan places of worship, and 9,83() Chinese from this country and so obstruct the the churches of tle Roman Catholic mismissions, we may look for great results in the sions. The total number of pure Fijians in next rew years. 1887 was 110,754.-0ur English Corr8llpondent.
-China Inland Mission. Ou December 3 FInland.-Rev. Eric Jansson reports 180 Exeter Hall, London, was filled with a large baptized during the year in Finland. The audience a.sembled to bid farewell to a band of missionaries abont to depart for China under mission work encounters great opposition the auspices of this mission. Last year the in- from the priests of the state church, but come of the mission was £33,700, aud the stalf the progress among the people is encournumbered 324, includin~ representative. of six aging.
France.-There recently died at Montpel- ier, France. a.n old servant woman, who had l:iven in the course of some years no less than 10,000 francs, the result of most care- work of the publication department has heeD ful economy, to the French Protestant For- the issue of aeveral books for edncated Hindus._ eign Mission Society. She loved missions, regularly read the missionary journals, and -Special fO'ltures of encouragement in th& never prayed without mentioning by name work of the Inolian Female Normal School aad M. Coillard, a veteran missionary in South Instruction Society are the Zenana work a~ Africa.-Spirit of Mi8.i<>'M. Lucknow, where the pupils have increased from 400 to 500; the work at Patna, which has beel) -A second Baptist church is to be formed enlarged and consolidated; the school work at. in Paris, France. As the flrst church has Bombay, especially that of the Normal School. recently opened a new hall for evangelistic which has supplied teachers to East Africa. services, this will make four places for wor- Western India. Karachi, and other places; Mr•• ship in that city under the control of the Sorabji's work at Poonah, which is in a most Baptists. flourishing condition; and, lastly, medical work.
India.-Speaking in Edinburgh, at the -The prlOces of Rajpootana have abolished opening of the session of the Edinburgh the custom of infant marriages. In the futnre nO' Philosophical Institution, upon .. Madras girl shall be married under the age of H, and and Southern India," Sir M. E. Grant Duff, no boy under 18, unless prior to the adoption of' G. C. S. I., late governor of Madras, said that this law a contract of marriage had been en- the two great languages of the Madras pres- tered into. These princes hold the highest rank. idency, each spoken by about 12,000,000 peo- and their example will have wide influence. ple, were Telugu and Tamil, both Dravidian tongues. Less than 36,OCO people out of -The proportion of the native Christian 31,000,000 claimed English as their mother studenls ot the University of Bengal who hav~ tongue. As to nationality, the immense become Masters of Arts is 23 time. ~reater majority were Hindus; and next to them, than of the Hindn and Mohammedan stndents. but 'at an enormous distance in point of numbers, came the Mohammedans; then Italy.-We have,noted the publication of th~ came the Chrietiaus-far more numerous in Bible in Rome by Martini, the well-known pub- southern Iudia thau in the north. Among lisher, in penny parts. The experiment half the Christians 68 per cent. were Catholics been succe"sfnl beyond expectation. About 50,- and 32 per cent. Protestants. Among the 000 copies are sold every week. The book ilJ Protestants the Anglicans were the most well printed, and each part has been reduced numerous, and in Tinnivelly they had a to eight pages. large number of nati'e converts.-Our En- glish Correspondent. Japan.-Buddhism cannot long hold itlJ -November 2 three missionaries sailed in the ground, and Christianity must finally prevail Pavonia for the re-enforcement of those de- thronghout all Japan. Japanese Buddhism ,md voted toilers in that far-off land who labor Western science cannot stand together. They under the appointment of the Free Baptist are Inconsistent the one with the other.-Jap- Foreign Board. Rev. and Mrs. E. B. Stiles are an<!86 Gazette. known as the A. C. F. missionaries, becanse , their support is to be provided in fnll by the -One of the most hopefnl indications for th& new Free Baptist organization, which is com- fnture of Christianity in Japan Is the missionary posed chiefly of young people and known as the character of the native Christians. They arC' Advocates of Christian Fidelity. Rev. F. W_ zealous in carrying the gospel to their 0 IVn peo- Brown, it is understood, is to be snpported, d ple, and also to Korea and the islands dependent least in part, by the Missionary Board of Hills- on Japan. dale College. -N0 better proof of the genuine Interest of' -Pundit Raghumith Rao, the Dewan of In- our Japanese Christians in the new civilization dore, has put forth a catechism of the Ayran- could be given than their contributions the past Vedic religion, which has excited great atten- year for edncational and religious objects. tion, taken 'llJord fer word from the West- amounting to over $41,000; and it is not pro- minster Shorter Oatechism, leaving out the fessed Christians only that give, but others, im- references to Jesus Christ I This is certainly pressed with the character of the work in prog- the most remarkable plagiarism of modern ress, especially thonghtfnl parents, for the sak~ times. of the morlll cnlture obtained in our schools. A few weeks since word came from Mr. Neesima -The Christian Vernacular Education So- of $31,000 subscribed by a few Japanese gentle ciety reports that the Training Institntion at men, including two of the highest officials in th8' Ahmednagar has been in fnll working order government, toward the enlargement of our throughont the year 1887, with fifty-seven Doshisha school so as to make ita Christian uni– atudents in attendance; thirty students left the versity.-Miss. Herald. Dlndigal Institution with teachers' certificates. The system of inspecting and improving the -A revival has been going on simultane- indigenous schools in Bengal has been vigor- ously worked. Nearly 7,000 children are under ously in different parts of Japan. As a result. Christian instruction. The chief feature of the the increase in all the churches of Tokio cannot. be much less thana thousand. Yokohama has; also enjoyed a rich blessing, and reaped a glori- ons harvest. Many of the cities and towns ot the empire are now wonderfully stirred up. -"-A Worthy Example. An exchange says that a brewer who did a large business at Mish, teacher's use. The pup,i1s provide themsulves IIi 1ms, Japau, has become a Christian and joined with a primer, a copy of the New TestamclIt, the church. He had a long and hard struggle to the native Christian newspaper, a catechism, ,give up his profitable business, but at last the grammar, and geography. The teachers are .grace of God triumphed; he gave up brewing supported in part by the natives. The object and gave his large arid costly building to be used of these schools is to teach the children to read as a church. the Bible, and so these schools become the chief auxiliary to the direct preaching of the -Japanese Mission to Christendom. A gospel.-Chronicle of London MiB8. Soc. .Japanese paper published at Kioto, called the -At Tamatave, the capital of Madagascar, 11iJO'U of Asia, has a report of a proposed mis- Mrs. Mary Clement Leavitt, representing the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. recently ,gion for the conversion of Europe and America addressed an audience of 1,500 natives, the lecto a "purer faith." Its conductors say that ture being translated by an interpreter. The they have noticed that Christianity is on the Tamatave paper gives a full account of the occa- .decline, and that, as religion is indispensable to sion, and thanks God for the arrival of "that man, this mission is projected. There is al- grand woman, Madame Mary Clement Leavitt ready a Buddhist mission in the United States, of the United States." and something of a literature has been created. The Watchman says: "Whereabout the evi- Mexico.-The Presbyterian missionaries -dence of the' decline' of Christianity has been 'noticed' we caunot conjecture, but it was in the city of Mexico have recently located seven -probably in some of those pessimistiC utter- preaching stations in the outlying wards and auces now and then put forth by weak believ- districts. In this way they touch the people ·ers, or the still more insignificant boastings of who could not be brought into anything known unbelief." as a church edifice. Lay talent is utilized, one- half of these services being sustained hy native J a va.-Missionary work began 40 years ago. elders. Seven societies of Holland are represented by 26 missionaries, having 25 mission stations, Paraguay.-The South American Missionnumbering 12,000 native Christians. The Brit- ary Society has started a new mission under ish and Forei~n Bible Society has one agent in very favorable auspices. ·east Java, and will soon send another for the west. Not only Java, but the whole Dutch Persla.-Dr. Bruce writes to the Church India, including Java, Snmatra, Borneo, Cele- Missionary Intelligencer: "We have no oppobes, has a strong claim not only on Europe, but sition from Moslem priests or people worth <ou Christian America for the gospel. Twenty- mentioning; the latter, in nine cases out of ten, ileven millions of people and only 69 Christian gladly receive our colportenrs and evangelists, missionaries to give them the glad tidings I In and welcome their visits. The Moslem priests .all Malaysia, with its 35,000,000 people, there now ha"e lost all their power for good or evil is only one Ame"ican misBwnary. in Persia. The Persian Government is also liberal iu its treatment of Christians and Jews, -In the central district of Java there are but through the intrigues of the Roman Catholic ,some 5,000 native Christians in connection with and (led by them) of the American ecelesiastics, the Netherlands Reformed Missionary Society. it allows Protestant Christians to be opposed, For many years this field has been under the and thereby gives us great trouble. During all .exclusive care of one missionary, who is sta- my mission life among Mohammedans, every tioned at Poerworedjo. Receutly two other persecution and opposition to our work from mis~ionaries have been sent to Poerbolingo, one which we have suflered has been set on foot, <of whom is to be engaged in training native not by Moslems, but by nominal Christians." -evangelists and preachers. Still more recently :a young medical missionary has been sent out. -High Church missionaries from England He is to be supported by the Dutch Reformed are establishing schools and churches in utter Missionary Society in Londou. An attempt is indifference to the work done by American men being made to form the various churches or and women in past years, thus fomenting stations into a presbytery, presided over by a schisms aud divisions. synod. Meanwhile Christianity is spreading .also in the Djogjokarta district, and some 5,000 United States.-Indians of North Amer- natives have accepted the truth. ica. The amiual conference of the Dakota In- dian churches and missions of the Presbyterian Madagascar.-The growth ofth'e elemen- and Congregational denominations was held in -tary schools has been extraordinary. Twenty- September at Oakes, Dak. There were repre- five years ago they numbered seveu, with 365 sented there all the missionaries to the Dakotas scholars; in 1886 they nnmbered 1,005, with of the Presbyterian Foreign and Home Boards, 102,747 scholars. The several provinces are and those of the Congregationalists under the -divided into districts, and each district has a charge of the American Missionary Association. meeting-honse, used both as a church and There were present also 228 native delegates and ilchool-honse. Most of them are built of adobe, visitors, besides those from the Cheyenne River with thatched roof, and are very plaiu buildings, Agency. The attendance ran from 500 to 800. with mud 1I00rs. The school outfit consists of :a few lesson sheets and text-books for the -The American Baptist Missionary Union calls for eighty meu to fill vacancies and open new work on the various mission fields.
STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS
VII.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
Foreign Mission Work of Women's Sooieties.
UNITED STATES.
Receipts.
Denominations and Societies.
1887-8. In aU.
– — —;—- 1861. . Woman's Union Missionary Society, New About york …………………………….. 53 i32' 27 $43,024 $1,000,000 1868.. Woman's Board, Boston (Congregational). 102 1,700 123,240 1,651.329 1870.. Woman's Board of the Interior (Congre- gational) …………………………. 62 1,500 51,117 481,175 1872.• Woman's Bo..rd of the Pacific (Congrega- tional) …………………………….. 5 75 4,045 45.151 1870.. Woman's Board, Presbyterian Church …. 133 111 2,725 1870.. Woman's Board, Presbyterian, of the 159,640 1,647,618 Northwest ………………………… 71 57 1,522 102,499 726,277 1870.. Woman's Board, Presbyterian, of New york ……………………………… 41 32 900 65,1'44 (30,346 1871. • Woman's Board, Presbyterian, of North- ern New York …………………….. 5 13 220 10,413 120.812, 7,193 1877 .. Woman's Board, Presbyterian, Southwest 7 376 28,968 20,732 Woman'sBoard, Presbyterian, Southern. 457 172,906 1879.• Woman's Board, United Presbyterian 43 15,619 66,273 Church …………………………… 7,658 1879.. Cumberland Presbyterian Church ……. 822 42,771 1869.. Methodist Episcopal, North …………… 75 4,383 191,158 1,680,000 ,1878 .. Methodist Episcopal, Soath …………… 22 '45' 2,399 6"9,729 355,345 000 7,100 1879.. Methodist Protestant …………………. 11,288 25,000 1861.. Friends ………………………………. 8 1,854 ……4.0.,0..0.0 Evangelical Association………………. 78 1875.. Christian Woman's Board (Home and For- 697 26,226 145,120 '"7" eign) •………….•………………… '"7" 315 "'i7:ii44 61,472 14,197 1875, . United Brethren ………………………. 1875.. Reformed Chnrch (Dutch) …………… 200 …..1.2.6.,8..7.4 1879 .. Evangelicwi Lutheran (Home a.nd Foreign) 436 27 1870.. Baptist Woman's Society (Northern Con- 1,859 75.369 780,606 vention) ………………………….. 38 44,846 1871. . Woman's Baptist Society of the West….. 45 313,628 Executive Committee Auxiliary to South- 15.554 80,000 ern Baptist Convention ……………. 7,200 1873 .. Baptist Free ….. __ , ' …………………. , 6 60,000 25,321 – -2-72,6-71 – – – – – – – 1871. . Protestant Episcopal …………………. – – – – Totals………………. 680 424 21,l134 $1,117,110 $10,307,990 CANADA.
1876.. Woman's, !,?o.ci"ty (Presbyterian), West- 475 $25,657 ern DivisIon ……………………… . 5,091 1877.. Woman's Society (Presbyterian), Eastern Division ………………………… . 6,182 1877.. Woman's Societies (Baptist), Ontario and 4,493 Quebec…… " ………….. ' …….. .. 189 14,197 Woman's Union (Baptist), Maritime Prov- illces •……•…………….•….•…. 1881.. Woman's Society (Methodist) ………. , .. .
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
1834.. Society for Female Education in the Eastl 40 $.%,000' 1852.. Zenana Bible and Medical Mission ……. . 202 50,000* 1859 .. Ladies' Wesleyan Missiollary SOciety….. ' 30 ';ii;' 35,000* 1860 .. British Syrian Schools ………………. .. 28 116 2.';,(lOIl* 18'18 .. Ladies' Association (Baptist) …………. . 44 105 3O.0no* 1~"3 .. Female Association (Irish Presbyterian).. 12 160 10,000* 1878.. Female Association (Presbyterian Churca of England) ………………………. . 13 8 10,000' 1830.. Church of England Zenana Missionary Society…………………………… . 88 49 1880.• Zenana Medical College……………… " U5,Oro 4,000* Ladies' Committee Auxiliary to London Missionary Society……………. '…. . 24 250 Ladies in Connection with Society for Propagation of Go.pel …….. , ……. . 71 300 Ladies' Free Church of Scotland ……… . 32 177 * About this sum annually. J.M.S.
View of the Missions of the A. B. O. P. M. for the Year 1888-89
MISSIONARIES AND ASSISTANTS. I PREACHING. CHURCHES. i EDUCATION.
g g ] .s MISSIONS. oi ~• I ~fr~C.lrl<n~tl 00 AMERICAN. NATIVE. ~'CI 'CI 'i0'<.:M: ~g• ~ –,–..,,—,.._ _ _1 -_–,,—;—;—1 .~S~ 00 0 ~QJ t~ . § :"8 .. oi 't1 ~. ;;~r.IJ. .-~!: bD .j..J Q,) 0 d~ oJ ~• aj 0~0 ~ .~~ ~~ 0 ..d U~l .~S ~Il <= §• :'~" dj ~ ~ ~.h ~.~ i ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ i ~ ~ ~.~ 'I'~ ~ n j ~o· g ~ ojr18Q,)_ 0 .~O ~ ~ ~:; '8t. ~ :; "" "" .., – – ~ ~ <= 0 tl .S 00 8 00 '§+3 … -< … tti'< '", Sw ~ ~ 6 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ !~.2 ~'g ~ :ags ~ ~ in .A 0 f 2 = ='3 ==-1 19142 150 =. = 115 E",st Central Africa. i883~ . do: ""' ~t] 1l ;, ""' e3:; p:; -I<> ..q z§ '" ~ a5 0 ~ r.r. -;: -§ o§ i:'5 :Zuuel~u-:M,tips~s:i~otnT.~.~.~.!.~.~.~. 1~8~3g5 .$ 0 'E-< 00 E-< ~8 "2197 -n-3 –17 2 12 •35 -1 -,8 25 1 .6,891 16~ '9'7'9" 108 -:-1' . '1'~; – 1 ";';' -:-2' – -2115 5 10 8 2~9~ 4 [3 82 uu 100 25 1,47! 1,655 2.548 19 51 '''6 'ii" 1 …. 12 2 100 100 14 "ii:i' 'i "i2 1 …. 1 2C' 20 . "3:508 I~ 2~ 1~ ~g 2~ 3~~ IH lk~~ 2.~ J~ ~ 3~ 'lll 5,ra~ 6,~~ Western Turkey …. 1819 8 121 22 2 64 17 m 16:g<fs 29 244 1 Ii 7 32,177 Central Turkey ….. 1847 2 51 7 3 7 9 26 19 27 110 4, 160 IIl6 60 10,000 1157,,0~5163 33 4,050 229 1 7 2 89 4 195 95 .,15 4,448 Eastern Turkev ….. 1836 5 115 Ii 1 15 11 41 27 51 170 48 296 337 124 11,010 41 2.542 151 1 526 5 2241238~III1I045543 5,261 6,392 7,9~5 1 8 14 553 3 24..0712'~; 2,802 Mar"'thi. ….. : ……. 1813 7 102 12 1 10 6 29 15 32 HI 67 255 284 88 3.076 3.351 27 1.823 157 1 9 7 514 5.680 , 13.508 Ma.dura …….. : .•.. ISH 12 234 10 •••. 10 8 28 20 144 2~298 31 423 451 234 7,214 11,881 36 3,233 239 1 10 7 6. 4,779 Ceylon ………….. 118~1863 7 25 5 .•.. 4 4 13 11 30 34 304 317 39 1,065 1.806 14 1,389 79 II 6 +57 2 132, 127 7,864 8,455' 6.545 Hong Kong………. 1 3 1 2 34 19 1 5.752 1 …. 3 8 …. 11 12 4 f 384 15 308 54 1 .. '2 "43 8 384 384 10 Foochow ………… 1847 3 21 6 1 6 6 19 2 12 21 1 41 00 26 650 1,250 105 2'''3 •• 17 299 388 349 13 12 42 92 4 976 161 North China …….. 1854 7 29 18 4 20 8 50 …. 17 26 684 2.485 11 2 -42 3 44 10 142 204 Sh&usi.. …………. 1882 2 …. 4 1 4 1 10 .. . …. …. …. …. 10 2 76 75 1 5 5 . . …. .., …. .. …. …. …… .. … 4 22 27 76 27 21 53 11 112 188 171 6,309 11.000 43 6.340§ 2,1l4§ 2 92 61.054 91.0eO…. …… 2,206 41.022 } ~':f..~h~r;,· j~pai{:: m.~ 8 124 23 1.486 Micronesia ………. 1852 3 46 7 1 7 6 21 12 2U 14…. 47 68" 103 7.785 12,300 47 4.844 549 2 30 2 58 2 64 41 1.933 2.085 2011 8 13 537 Western Mexico …. 1872 2 6 2 …. 2 1 5 1…….. 7 8 181 2 120 150 2 110l1~ 10 1 12…. …. 1 23 1 30 30 Northern Mexico … 1882 3 5 4 …. • 2 10 …. 3 3 2 9 194 3H 4 93 95 3,076 68.. 2 …. 3 ~~~~i~·::.:::::::::: }~~~ ~ ig ~ …. ~ ..~ ~ …: ~~ ~ n jg l~ ~~ ~:~ ~ ~ i M1~ 7~ 7~g "7' .. 19 'i "·S 1 4 656 === 19 166 268 17 50 Tota.I… No. Pacific Institute 1872 1…. 1 …. 1…. 2 …. …. …….. …. 2…………· .. · . . . . . · · …. · .. · 1 14…. …… ………….. H 90 960 167* 160 126t 472 448 1.253 2.135 2,607 1~161'188j100.914 33630.11461 4.388 25169 3.947 3.008 892 34.855 42.733U $124.274 * Of whom eleven are physicians. UInciudlDg 80mI' under IDstructlOn but not reported in school. , The CommonSchools of Jafl'na, connected with the mission. are under t Of whom four are physICians. the direction of a lloa.rd of Jl;<lucatlQIl, alld tho teachers are not reckoned as :I: Including Hawaiian missionaries. Ch~;be:,hich might be added 753 baptized believers not yet orpnized Into missioll helpeu.
•
STATISTICS OF THE'WORLD'S MI!,SIONS
Reoeipts of the lfissionary Sooietyof the Methodist EpiBoopal Ohuroh for Year. 1887 and 1888, AS REPORTED TO THE GENERAL MISSIONA.RY CO){M;:TTrlE, NOVEMBER 14, 1888.
RBCEIP'FS I'RO>l EASTERN CONFBRENCES.
CONFERENCES. IFrOW:O;~l'!FrOl8sr~~· I,! Increase. r Decrease. (List omitted.) Oct. 31: 1887. Oct. 3i, 1888.
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …. ….. $S8fI,673 92 3629.983 77 $27,517 5.3, $67,207 63 RECEIPTS FROM: WESTERN CONFERENCES.
CONFEItBI)CES. i8 Dec~ dFrl;t~~· l'!Fr0 8,fOt';; 1,/ (List omitted.) . Oct. 3i, 1887. Oct. 31', 1888. Increase.!_ Total…. ……………………. $375,121.00 Ji370,597 471 $12,068 28 $16,592 80 Total Receipts from November I, 1886, to October 31, 1881………. …… ..•…. $1,044,19591 18ST, to October 31, 1888………………….. 1,000,581 24 .. ..
Decrea.se .. eo •••••••••••••• eO ••••••••• " . eo eo •• 0' ••••••••••••••• eo •••••.•• eo •• eo. $44,21467 RECBIPTS DURING THE L4ST NINE YEARS.
Sundry t::;ources.
$22,47841 Conferences. – – – – – – – Legacies. ,3i,710 27 YEAR!!. Totals. Increase. $557.371 14 $5,511 84 1880 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $500,182 46 33.865 2f 20,83286 625,663 89 68,m 75 18~1. ………………. 570.96577 <l~,605 O~ IM~2 ……………….. 6:!1,38108 '18.091 ~ 21,67984 691.6M 01 00,00212 22,60604 751,469 90 59,803 89 1883 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650,77254 49,970 O~ 28.966 85 731,125 86 20,34404* 188~ ………………. 652,18800 1885 ………………. 694,03495 101,901 8~ 30.891 5t- 8:6,828 36 95,702 50 1886 ………………. 836,592 37 932,20891 133,95821 21.577 89 992,12847 165,300 11 1887 ……………….. 935.12138 76,743 22 1.0~4.795 91 52,66744 1888 ………………… 35.843 7b – – – – – – 41,983 67 – – -23,4-76-19 1,000,581 24 44,214 67" Totals …………. $6,393,448 45 $558.PZg 4' <!!'?Rfl.':'1":2 /"IF $7.221.73078 NOTE.–A star (*) after amounts III the last COll" 1, '(l.teR a decrease.
-Gospel in all Land•• German Evangelioal Mis!ion Sooieties.
[For the following table we are indebted to Rev. Dr. R. (irundemann, of Germany., "'" ,;, .;.,.;.,. ..: …; <= () 'j:; of ",,=of OJ ~".,,,~'0" '2 ,,0 SOCIETIES. wi <=8 0. S" """.."~, OJ "s~":.l<A~= OJ'~ ~ ~ ~N~'" " .,: :0;; ~ .,; :,z;,. >4 o..~ 0 .'.c0c: "Il< >'I 8~ "00 '" " ..,00>'1 ———~———— Moravian ………………………….. 107 147 83,052 29,283 590 208 $17,407 $101,281 Easel, Evangelical Mission ………… 42 120 19,187 9.497 1,057 208 7.486 199,507 Berlin, Evangelical Mission………… 48 60 17.764 8.400 1,225 53* 3.377 71.611 Rhenish Mission (Barmen) …………. 53 66 29,125 9.666 1,100 66* 5,370 88.440 North German (I:!remen)…………… 4 8 325 114 5 199; 20.389 556 Gossner Mission …………………… 13 19 34,000 11,868 1,775 80* 1.685. 42,431 Evangelical Lutheran, Leipzig …….. 2"J 22 14,014 4.500* 796 129 3,993 67.596 Hermannsburg…………………… 61 71 11,196 5,000* ….. 88* 2,000 63,713 fit. Chrischonat……………………. 1 15 400 20 5 1* 120 8,132 40* ….. 4* 200 6,585 Jerusalems-Verein………………… 3 2 150 2* 43 14,914 BreckluD). (Schleswig-Holstein)…….. 4 8 ……. '''ii' 1* 40 8.773 Berlin Woman's Mission for China…. 1 1 81 80* 77 3* 74 2,523 Neukirchen Mission…. …. …….. …. 5 5 305 3,239 East Africa.. Vereln (Berlin)……….. I 2 2 ….20* 3.000 2 3,OCQ – – – – – – —- – – – – – – – – – – Bavarian Verein·for East Africa…… 1 CO.I. Prot. Mission Verein (for Japan). 1 Totals…………………………. 368 550 209.850 78,679 6.756 823 41,994 J700,1l4 " Estimated. t Statistics of Syrian Orphan Home only. -A. B. 0. F. M.'B Almanac of Mi88ion., 1889. Foreign Missionary Sooieties of the, United States, 1887-88.
Mission- ..: …. — .. .. " " ..s .n… aries. ,/, 8- .,./,, p.1. g.; … " <I <I .<:1 d! 0 5l <i C1l SOCIETIES. '" .si III 'a American Board•…•.•.. ,; I '" '" "" ~.d.,! .<:1 0 "" " ~ j ~ ~ s oj d!" " ~ ~ … <$ — — — – – _~.S Z 's, 0 — – – '" — — "" -rn- 0 Z .a &: <;) .. <!l '"p… .".<.I. <;) $667,289 90 g60 186 286 2,135 836 30.M6 4.386 1,018 42,733 Preshyterian Board, No. 901.180 112 400 205 297 1,126 311 23.740 2,~97 464 23.77() Preshyterian Board, So. 88,049 08 89 31 35 44 ' 39 1.897 305 20 1,2;{S Ref. Church (Dutch) …. 155.381 12 123 29 32 293 47 4,559 180 122 3,357 United Presh. Board …. 103,323 15 154 19 21 385 32 6.878 1.437 216 9.942 Cumberland Presb. Ch .. 15,265 3 5 6 8 13 8 500 225 6 283 Reformed Presb. Church Asso. Ref. Presho Church 21,133 ….. 2 6 4 5 50 2 209 44 32 1.165 Reformed Church of the 2,696 4 2 ••••• 8 8 206 76 2 28 U. S. German … '……. 20.000 3 12 5 7 18 8 1,170 420 5 21& Ref. Presho Gen. Synod.. 4,000 2 4 2 ….. 7 2 20 5 1 28 *Baptist Mis. Union ….. 390,83.5 60 831 101 161 1.798 642 61,062 5.070 754 17,.504 Baptist Southern Conv.. 86,38.5 14 72 24 34 59 48 1,967 344 17 610 Free Baptists….•……. ….. 3 59 6 13 15 10 654 62 85 3,058 Seventh Day Bantists… 15.2{4 1 2 3 9 1 23 5 3 76 Baptist Conv. of U. S, … 4.529 4.598 3 2 2 1 2 1 175 50 2 27 Q:erman Baptist Breth- ren (Tunkers) ………. ….. ….. ……. 1,620 2 ….. 826.7~* 6M *Methodist Epis. Chnrch ….. 234.584* 104t Meth. Epis. Church, So.. 3 …. 5 lliO 31i ….. 131; 192 2.0~1 505 22.535 2.711 694 22,448 28 23 80 42 3.786 450 54 1.545 Protestant Methodist… 3 3 7 4 2 229 84 5 350 18.000 Africa" ~Ieth. Epis()opal 12,000' 7 5 7 1 8 9 900 302 5 408 Free )[ethodist…. , ….. 3 14 6 3 ….. 2 45 Prot. Epis. For. Miss.Soc. 2.000 41 14.'; 75 28 227 32 6 "443 91 3.364 189,932 23 3 2,073 11,074 16 5 5 4 224 ..1.2..3 9 443 Evangelical Association 14,619 5 4 14 4.105 19 462 Un. Brethren in Christ.. 4 25 Evangelical Lutheran, General Synod ……… 30.000 2 2 4 3 147 101 3.436 1,178 161 3.,558 Evangelical Lutheran, 10.288 6 50 5 4 72 4 805 235 57 767 General Conncil ., , …. For. Chri.tian Miss.Soc. (Disciples) ….. , .. , …. 24 12 22 24 2,473 798 18 ….3.8..0 51.408 24 …..2 …..6..1 43 ….. Amer. Christian Conv… 2,000 2 21 1 6 3 ….. — — – — — — – – – – –7- – TFhrieenMdesn.n..o.n.it.e.s………………. …. ·22:700· 1 . ooii 3 9 6 4 392 671 ….. 100 7 6 —- Total. ………….. $3.906.967 1,1113 2,954 927 1,200 8,617 2.243 174.784 21,978 3.864 137.905 * Work of these societies in Protestant countries of Europe 1S not here reported. t Principal and subordinate stations. :(: The portion of the missionary receipts of the church appropriated to Foreign n Mis~ions. ple te re tu rn s. '
Incom Moravian Missions are included in the tabJe of British societies. -A. B. O. F. M. 's Almanac of Mi.sions. 1889.
Canada.-The Canadian Congre- tionality. In Oceania, including the Phil- ippines. the Malay Archipelago. Anstralia. gational Year-Book fol' 188~-89 re- and New Zealand. the number is 276; in America, inclnding certain specified States ports the following statistics: of the Union. portions of Canada, British Honduras, Brazil and Pern.l.130 ; the total Churches. St… Minis. Mf'm· number of Jesnits scattered over the globe tions. ter!;. bel'S. in purely missionary work being 2,377. These 26 49 6,300 are' of various nationalities, but the vast Ontario ………. 77 1,650 majority are French.-London Times. Quebec ………. 20 15 17 Nova Scotia…… ]7 21 7 858 -The Cherokees have in operation 100 11 341 common schools. with an aggregate attend- New Brunswick.. 3 4 ance of 4,049 pupils and an average of 200 2.486 ; a high school for boys. with an aggre- Newfoundland & o3 180 gate of 211 and an average of 156 students; Labrador … , .. . 5 24 a. female seminary. nearing completion, The Northwest.. . 4 with a capacity for 165 students; an orphan asylum containing 145 children,-Ghri.tian 126 75 84 9.529 Advocate. Nashville. -Jesuit Missions. In the Balkan peninsula there are. 45 Jesuit missiona.ries; in Africa, and especially E;;-ypt, Madagascar and the Zambesi region, 223 ; in Asia, especially Armenia. Syria, certain parts of India, and parts of China. 699. In China alone the number is 195, all of French na- Oontributions to Missionary and Bible -Statistics show that there are in Bur- Societies for rifty Years. mah at the present moment 502 Baptist IN view 'of the Missionary Conference, it may not be nnseasonable to present to your readers churches, with 28,559 communicants and the results of a carefrrl examination of the home contributious to the five great religiOUS institu- about 70,000 adherents. In 404 schools theretions named below during the first fifty years of the present reign. I have divided that examina- are 12,000 pupils, and during the year there tion iuto decenniums, bringing out the average amounts contributed in each, with the relative hl"ve. been 2,134 baptismsupon a profession increase or decrease upon the preceding period. With these it is unnecessary to occupy your of fmth. The report reminds the Christian columus. public that it is just seventy-five yea-rs. It may be interesting, however, to notice that -whatever it may be owing to- the decennium since Adoniram Judson, driven out of Cal- 1848-1857 differs from aU the rest in the lower rate of increase, while in the case of two of the cutta by the officials of the East India Comsocieties there is a positive decrease of two per cent. and eleven per cent. respectively. pany, arrived in Rangoon and established The increase of the avera~e annual amount the first Baptist mission at Burmah.-ChriB-· of home contributions, including legacies but excluding dividends, in the last decennium, 1878- tian Weekly. '57, over the first,l838-'47, was, in the case of the Baptist Miss. Society… £34,953 or 157 per cent. -The Methodist Episcopal Church have. Wesleyan Miss. SOCiety. 34.114" 45 .. Church Miss. Society .. 102,717 .. 118 .. 2: missionaries in Italy, 25 native prea.chers" London Miss. Society… 23,707" 3~ British and Foreign 883 church members, 16 Snnday-schools and Bible Society……… 62,101" 131 392 scholars. In lIIexico tney have 9 mis- A/!:gregate increase (five sionaries,33 native preachers, 995 church SocietietJ).. .. .. . …… 257,592" 86 The annual average amounts of the five soci- members, 740 probationers, 30 Sundayeties for the last decenninm was £556,631, and the total amount for the jifly year. £20,798.160, schools and 1,202 schools. being about the amount spent on drink in this country in sixty days at the rate of last year's Jews.-Between the years 1880 ,and 188& consumption. It ought to be stated that these amounts in- the Jewish population of Prussia has include both ordinary and special contributions, excepting in the case of the Church Missionary creased only 2,763. The proportion of the. Society, where the figures of the special contribntions for the whole period conld not be .0 Jews (366,543) to the entire population. easily ascertained. The annual average orthese, in that society, for the last jive years was £19,- shows a falling off of .04 per cent. The 115. ProbablY this was a high avera!':e. One feature brought out in this examination is diminution has been chie11y in the provinces. worthy of note. WhQn a large contribution has been raised for a special object, it does not seem of Posen and Silesia. There were only three to teU adversely on the succeeding years; rather the contrary. So at least it seems to be towns in the entire kingdom with a. Jewish. in the case of the British and Foreign Bible So- Ciety. In 1854 that society raised special con- population exceeding 15,000, viz., Berlin. tributions of almost exactly £100,000 for the JUbilee and Chinese New Testament Funds. 65,355; Breslau, 17,655; and Frankfurt, 15,- with the result that the aggregate ordinary contributions (exclusive of legacies) for the three SM.-Jewish Chronicle. . follouing years exceeded those of the three previous years by almost £30,OCO, or twenty-three -The various Protestant missionary orper cent.; and that notWithstanding that in one of the last three years a further special contri- ganizations at work in India have 249 mis_ bution of £10,000 was raised for these objects. sionaries, 317 native preachers, and 83,819' But when the speCial contribution is raised not for any definite object, but merely to make up .. native communicants. This is an increase deficiency in previous years, I apprebend the result is very different.-Davia McLaren, in of 67 missionaries, 76 native preachers, and British Weekly. 23,748 native communicants since 1881.
-The Lutheran Missions among the Ta- mils of South India amount to 14,000 adher- ents, 22 European missiol~aries, 12 ordained natives, 6 caudidates, 56 catechists, 241 teachers, 149 schools. and 3,653 scholars.
-The General Missionary Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church has appro- priated for the coming year $1,200,000 fol'"
home and foreign missions, of which $100,- 000 is to meet outstanding drafts and inter- est. The receipts from the churches were· $2,900 larger than ever before, but the treas- ury was $78,340.13 in debt at the end of the year. The appropriations for mission wo"i-k are about fifteen per cent. less than last year. The foreign missions r"eceive $511,- 639.01, divided as follows: India, $109,300.
China, $108,019.01 ; Japan, $60,166; Korea.
$16,104; JlIalaysia, $6,500; Africa. $4,800; South America, $52,960; Italy, $47,000; Ger-· many, $30,300; Sweden, $25,068; Bulgaria.
$19,220; Norway, $14,000; Switzerland, $9,840 ; Denmark, $8.362. The new Malaysia.
Mission was regularly constituted. Dr.
Thoburn is missionary bishop of India and ¥alaysia. In al the foreign inissions there are 720 native preachers and 41.338 church.
members.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS. [FEB., 18t!9
VIII.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
(The Ia.ck of spa.ce constrains us to layover a. mass of Bilitorial Notes already in type.-ED8.] Editorial Oard to the Publio. The Bound Volume for 1888.
IN the Jan. number of this REVIEW, TilE IIrstvolume ot THEMIssION.l.BY RETIIIW .(1888) we admitted an article from Bev. Wm. Clark, D.D., on "1I1ission 0:1' THE WORLD Is now bound loud on sale. It.
Work in Papal Europe,'" and in a appearance is certainly striking, and marks an prefatory note we warmly indorsed advance, it not a new epoch, in mlssionary"litthe writer and commended his cause erature. It is a royal octllvo, printed on heavy -the Female College /Lt Florence, and lirst quality of paper, making VT4 compact Italv.. Dr. Clark was a stl'anger to pages, and substantially and prettily bound in us, but he presented so many strong crimson cloth with gilt back.
teliltimonials from eminent clergy- No ODe can form a correct Idea. of the extent, men and others whom we knew, that t:vharroiuetgyhatnhdisqiumalpietyrioalf viotslucmone.tenAts btriilel fhBenlaolYok'iss we unhesitatingly gave full credence ~ will show that it i. in itself a IUrrary of mission liurature, containing matter equal to half a dozto hIS statements, and said what we -did in his behalf. We deeply regret en books, and al1 fresh and in"pirlng, and from the ablest missionary writers in the world. At to say that we have lately received the same time it is an invaluable cvclopOJdia Of ~vidence from the best sources of in- milsions, containing a vast amount of the latest and most accurate information on every subject formation that wI! were deceived and connected with Christian missions. 'rhe eight imposed upon Ly this man, and that departments are crowded with matter of inter- est and importance to the friends of missions, he is unworthy of confidence or aid, in al1lands and in aU branches urthe Church.
.and we hereby withdraw our indorse- I. Literature Qf M"tssions. Contains some 130 separate article., most of them original, and ment and forbid him to use it. From by the ablest writers at home and abroad. the American consul at Florence we learn that no such institution now II. Organized Missionary Work. Gives the ~xist!S in Florence. And Dr. Cyrus latest reports of over 130 of the leading mission- Hajlllin assures us that our statement ary societies of the world. .about his services at Constantinople is essentially untruthful. It grieves III. Corrupondence and General Intellius. tu make such a statement, but gence. From leading mis.ionarie. in all lands, truth and justice and the cause of a. well as intelliltence from the world-field. -Christ demand it at our hands. IV. International Department. By Dr. Gr,,- A Oorreotion. cey, containing 100 pages of great interest and value. IN our January issue we gave V. Moothlll Concert of MissWns. By Dr. A. .credit for the article-" England and '1'. Pierson. Full 01 stirring papers and sugges- Foreign Missions "-to Rev. James tive themes and thoughts.
.Johnston, "Secretary of the World's VI. P,ogre88 and Results Q.f Missions. A world of the latest doings and facts, gathered Missionary Conference." We were from every source and field. misled in making this statement in a VII. Statistic, of the Wcrld's Missions. A way that attaches no blame to any large amount of the latest and most authentic etatistics. Ma!lY invaluable tables, etc., etc. -one. But we -desire to state that, VIII. Editorial Notes on many current subthough possessed of the same hon- jects of missionary interest.
()toed name, our c;::ontributor is an- Aud to add to the value Ofthi8 bound volume, It conta.ins a full and skillfully prepared Indez -other clergyman, a resident of Bol- of Contents, 80 tbst every topic treated in it, and ton, England, who has volunteered every important faet or statement or table of to post us from time to time with the etatistics given can be readily found and made -current ongoings of missionary life available to the rietasdleirt.eraOrynemwerililtsbIeitasmvaazsetdn,eosns in Great Britain. He will continue examination, at his useful service and, when the topic of scope, and the plenitude and va ue of Its his- is too brief for a separate paper we torical and statistical information. It will adorn tihall append his simple initials, or Our English Correspondent, as in and be a valuable acquisition to anI library, the present number. private or public. The price is but $2.50, free delivery. It Is a marvel of cheapne!s.
Statistical Tables.
.. The :Miseionary Review," in the hands ofMr. Wilder, earned a deserved reputation for the ekill and pain.taking labor ebown in the matter of missionary statistics. "Wild…r's Tables" were Simply marvel. in their way and are cited ". authority everywhere. We had hoped and planned to carry on this good work unto perfec- tion, but our wishes and plans for the first year failed. But we still purpose to accomplish it a$ any cost, and are maturing arrangements tha$ will bring it about during the year. In tile meanwhile we avail onrselves of the results ot others' labors. The tables we give this month, published by the Ameri"an Board, are exceed- ingly valuable for reference, while onr own table on wom~n's work is full and reliable.